Jesus vs. Religion Pt 1

Good morning, everyone. Would y'all stand, please?

Would you bow your heads and join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity this morning to come together and worship you in song, to study your word together, Lord. Would you just bless our service, Lord? Be glorified, anoint this service by the power of your Holy Spirit. Fill us afresh, Lord, this morning, Lord. And we just ask that you would just bless everyone that's listening on Facebook and

viewing or right here personal and then live in person with us, Lord. We just give you thanks in Jesus' name, amen. I searched the world, it couldn't fill me, treasures that fade, never enough, they're shaming.

Because of your great love with which you loved us, we praise you and thank you for that. We give you thanks this morning. All that's going on. In our world, Lord, we know that only you really trust in us. Like that middle verse of the Bible, it's better to put your trust in God.

We thank you so much. You're worthy, worthy of our praise, Lord. You're worthy of our praise.

Positionally, intercession for us. Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit to guide us and to convict us of sin, convince us of sin, righteousness, and judgment, Lord. We know that you are in control. We can trust you in every area, Lord. So move this morning continually in this service as we, that spiritual food that we eat, need, by the power of your Holy Spirit, to bring it forth as you would have it.

Good morning.

Glad you can be here this morning. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. If you would locate your seat, we'll go over a few announcements.

Over on the left-hand side of your bulletin, all the things that are going on this week, including the fact that tonight is the Marriage and Family Study. So those are the things happening kind of throughout the week, and then a few things to pay attention to. In the middle section of your bulletin, a reminder about KidCheck. Make sure you scan that QR code if you've got kids you're checking into Sunday school.

That way we can streamline that process. The Family Life Services Banquet is coming up April the 2nd. So the church always purchases two tables for that. So if you're interested in tickets for the Family Life Services Banquet, come talk to me afterwards, and we'll get you taken care of with that. Family Life Services, if you don't know, is the crisis pregnancy center.

They do a great deal of work within the community to help young, unexpected mothers make wise decisions and godly decisions for their families and for their babies. So we love being able to support them. That's coming up April the 2nd. We have a fellowship event coming up April the 9th in the next week or so. We'll give some more details on that. It got moved to April the 9th so that there would be no interference with April the 2nd,

the FLS banquet. So those are the things. We'll see you next week. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Those are the things that are going on, but we do have a couple of additional announcements.

I am going to invite Lisa Holland to come up and share about Feed the Need. So guys, I'll give her this other mic.

Thank you. So I have to apologize. I was a little delayed on some of those words because I was multitasking. So we're showing a video without sound. So Jake, if you would go ahead and show that video. I was trying to work on sound problems and the words while we were in worship, you know. Feed the Need. While we show a video, Ark City Christian Academy is a local Christian school.

Last year, you helped us. We fed the need. We packed 10,000 meals and shipped them to Haiti. We're doing that again this year, and we're just hoping and praying that you will first partner with us in prayer. Go ahead and play it, and I'll kind of talk through. So as you donate, you're helping us be able to feed the need. So what is Feed the Need? Well, this guy is telling you exactly what I'm telling you.

Right now, he just has a different voice. So there you go. But he's just talking about it's a fun time. Our kids from 3-year-old through 12th grade pack the food. You guys back there helped pack the food last year. It was fun, wasn't it? It was a great time. They get to wear those beautiful hairnets and everything, and we have different things that the kids will do.

The tiny kids will color on the boxes. They help. They help pack. It's fun. When they're involved in the packing, it goes a little slower, but it's fun. But we're just teaching them about everything. We know that our meals are going to Haiti this year because, and I think that's where a large majority are going right now, because of the pirating and hijacking as they are shipping it.

Their shipments are being taken, and so they're going to Haiti. And Haiti's had the least difficulty receiving the food. What we want to do at Ark City Christian Academy, is to raise children who are Christian leaders in the community so that they will go out and they will spread Jesus. And so one of the heart's desires is that we would train our kids how to reach out, how to not just stay in their little bubble.

So on March 31st, we will be packing boxes, packing meals from K-3 through 12th grade. And we have fun with it, too. I mean, like last year, they did donut eating relays. They hang it from a string, and then you get to be the silly one that reaches behind. You don't eat it. We do have a goal of $60,000 to raise. Part of that will feed the 10,000 meals, and then part of it does go to help benefit our school.

This is a picture of our school and chapel. You see them having fun praising, and it's a lot of fun. So as you are praying about Feed the Need, you're praying for these kids. You're praying that the Lord will help them grow. We do ask. We ask that with Feed the Need, yes, number one, you can pray. Awesome. Thank you. You can go ahead and clear that. Number one, you can pray.

That is like our biggest, biggest thing. Pray for our kids that are packaging it, that they will see that need for Jesus more in their lives. Pray for the recipients of the meals. We want them to not only be fed physically, but we want them to be fed spiritually. So pray for everyone that will handle those meals and the shipping and the receiving. And so that's what we're doing.

And then also pray financially. If you, I am not a fundraiser person, but hey, that's my job. Isn't it funny? God is, he has a sense of humor. But in order to keep our tuition where we can have families send their kids to a Christian school, we have a tuition gap. And so we are trying to find ways that will help send the word of God out, but help feed that need financially as well at ACCA.

Okay. So. See me. There's a lot of other families in the school. Mr. Nichols, Pastor Ryan. I can call you Ryan here. I know he teaches our high school Bible and we are so thankful for that. Our kids, our junior high and high school kids, we have a group that are getting ready to leave tomorrow morning on a mission trip. And I just found out that one of our members was taken to the emergency room this morning and may not get to go.

One of our leaders, hey, that's good. You know, God is at work and he's doing great things. So if you would also pray for our mission. Team as they get ready to go, that would be great. So thank you very much. Great question. See, I think it even says it on the video where to donate. Hey, you can donate. You can donate to me. Write it out to Lisa Hall. No, just kidding.

You can donate to Arc City Christian Academy via check or cash. You can give that to me. You can drop it by the office. I can get you the address. If you are on Facebook, you can find me and I have a link. You can also text ACCA. A-C-C-A. To 71777 and then make a donation there as well. So plenty of ways. Get with me afterwards and I can let you know.

Okay. And then one more announcement. Sandra needs to come up and talk to us a little bit about Sunday school, which seems to be blowing up at the seams right now. Yay for tiny people.

Yeah. As you guys at first service don't see it as much. But as you're leaving, I think you probably see a lot of the families coming in. And it's great. We love it. It's really a blessing to see just the little ones coming in with their families, the parents determined to raise them up as Christ calls. But part of that is we need some more hands, some more helping hands.

And we have enough teachers right now that we have three classrooms plus a twos and threes.

Classroom as well to be able to rotate every three months. And so if you are praying so and feel so led to be a teacher, that would be awesome. We can always use more. But what our immediate need is basically crowd control. So so that our classrooms are getting pretty big. We're getting like 12 and 15. And when you get. 12 or 15, three, four or five year olds, it's yeah, it's a challenge.

And so if you just want to be a helper, though, it says parents, but it would be awesome if you could just come in, help them go to the bathroom, you know, help with snacks, those kinds of things. You don't have to teach the lesson, but if you feel so led, you can join in as well. But just to. Make sure that the kids are are being able to learn and focus, because, like I said, there's a lot going on in each of the classrooms and with that many kids.

So that'd be awesome. And then the other quick announcement is we finally have our Matthew T-shirts. And if you ordered one of those, see me after or in between services or I'll I'll catch up.

All right. Thank you. Lots going on. And it's awfully fun, isn't it? OK, those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced and for our what's going to be a unison reading this morning, we are going to be in Psalm 133, Psalm 133. We'll be looking at the New American Standard Bible just so we all sound the same.

You don't have one. There should be one in a row. Near you. And as you are turning to Psalm 133, if you would stand. In the honor of the reading of God's word, Psalm 133, a song of a sense of David. And again, if you'd read along with me, it's a short one. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity. It is like precious oil upon the head coming down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard coming down upon the edge of his robe.

It is like the dew of Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded blessing, life forever. And Father, we do thank you for the fellowship that we have when we gather together. I thank you. Lord, if we've learned anything over the past couple of years, it's that the fellowship of the brethren is truly refreshing. And so, Lord, I thank you that you have provided that for us.

And Lord, I pray that as we continue. I worship service now by getting into your word and worshiping you through the study of your word. I ask that you administer to our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit. Lord, focus our hearts on you. Focus our minds on you. And help us to take in everything that your spirit would want us to learn this morning. In Jesus' name.

Amen. You may be seated. If you would open up in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 12.

Matthew, chapter 12. Well, by way of introduction, before we get into our study this morning, we had a great time down at the conference in Tucson. It was, for the most part, an uneventful trip down, except for one stop to put a new set of tires on a car. So, other than that, a very uneventful trip on the way down. And even that went really fast. Rick's car had to get new tires on it in Oklahoma City.

And I'm pretty sure the guys that work for NASCAR are the ones that actually put the new tires on. Because that's... That's the fastest I've ever seen new tires get put on a car in my entire life. So, that happened incredibly fast. And then we were back on the road and everything went great. So, it was a wonderful trip. And we learned a lot of very good things.

The focus of the conference was prophecy. And what I took away from it, the biggest things that I took away from it, were those signs of the times. The stage being set economically. The stage being set politically, globally. Culturally. In so many ways for everything to take place as the Bible has said. And, you know, on the prophetic timeline, we're not waiting for anything right now for the church to be taken home.

Jesus can do that at any point in time that he wants to. And I believe that probably it's going to happen very soon. I don't know what very soon means because none of us know the day or the hour. But the focus was that in the midst of all of the things that are very true of prophecy, if it does not translate. If it doesn't translate into the way we live our everyday lives.

And it's just a bunch of information that does us absolutely no good. And so, knowing that the time is short, we should be living with that sense of urgency. As a matter of fact, one of the quotes that I took from Gary Hamrick was, a lack of holy living is a lack of expectant living. Because we should be living our lives in a very expectant sort of way. So, that's the biggest takeaway from the conference.

A lot of the things that we've been talking about here that I can't always give you all of the details because quite frankly, nobody knows all of the details beyond speculation. But what I can tell you is that we should be ready. We need to be ready for whatever's coming. We need to be ready for the persecution and the suffering that we may face between now and the time that Jesus takes us home.

And we need to be ready to see our Savior any day so that our lives can reflect the servanthood heart that God wants for us to have. Amen. So, with that being said, we jump into Matthew chapter 12. The title of the series that we're going to get into in Matthew chapter 12 is Jesus versus religion. And so, this is going to be Jesus versus religion part one as we look at the first 14 verses of chapter 12.

Now, remember, Jesus had met with some opposition as far as the religious community was concerned. One of the times when he had cast out a demon and everyone was amazed by it and said, we've never seen anything like this before. The religious leader said, he cast out demons by the power of the demon. So, we could see a little bit of rejection coming there. When Matthew, the tax collector, was called by Jesus to be one of his followers,

we know that Jesus went over to Matthew's house and ate with a bunch of other tax collectors and notorious sinners. And we remember how the religious leaders responded. They said, doesn't your boss know how bad some of these people are? And Jesus had to tell them, remember, I came for those who know that they're sick, in need of physicians, and not those who think that they're already okay.

And so, he'd met with a certain amount of opposition as far as the religious community of the day was concerned. But what we see in chapter 12 is an official turning of the religious community against Jesus. As a matter of fact, in the first 14 verses, we'll see that Jesus will anger them so much in the area of religion that they will begin to seek to destroy him and begin to plot his death. And so, as we approach this chapter, we understand that that's what religion is going to do.

And so, as we approach this chapter, we understand that that's what religion is going to do. And so, as we approach this chapter, we understand that that's what religion is going to do. And quite frankly, if I was to look at what I would call religion today, or maybe we would even throw the term church on it today, I think that's kind of what's happening with Jesus in the church today as well, is that Jesus really a lot of times in the overall church today isn't really that welcome in a lot of the church in America, a lot of the church in the Western culture. It's kind of interesting to see everything that's taking place in the church right now between the fact that social justice seems to be the greatest thing in the world,

the greatest thrust of the church, or the fact that most are wanting to what's called deconstruct their faith from all of the social norms of faith. All of it has the same issue, and that's getting away from Jesus being at the center of it. And so, my prayer is that for us here at Calvary Chapel, that we would keep that focus, that we would keep Jesus exactly where he intends to be, right at the center of the church. Because if we don't follow him, if we're not knowing him, then what's the point?

And so, as we get into Matthew, Matthew 12, we see a couple of issues that surround particularly the Sabbath day. So, in chapter 12, verse 1, it says this, At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and his disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, Look, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath. But he said, Have you not read what David did when he became hungry?

He and his companions, how he entered the house of God, and they ate consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but for the priests alone? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath, the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent? But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, I desire compassion and not sacrifice.

You would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. Now, as we can see, as many of the stories in gospel accounts go, a scene is set for us. It's the Sabbath day. And on the Sabbath day, Jesus and his disciples were walking through one of the grain fields. Now, that sounds a little odd to those of us that live in Kansas.

We're surrounded by grain fields all the time, but I don't know about you, but on any of my journeys, I've never thought to myself I could really take a shortcut by walking through a grain field. Now, that happens, especially with kids that are out playing or a farmer that is out working. But these are just average guys that are not kids out playing nor farmers out working. So how on earth did they find themselves happening to be walking through a grain field?

Well, because of the agricultural nature of the way Israel was set up at that point in time, there really were paths, walking paths that were cut through grain fields to make it easier for people to walk through. It made it easier for people to access the towns if they were walking through the countryside. So what they're doing is they're walking along this path that a lot of other people would have walked on. Now, we're given the detail again that this was on the Sabbath day.

We'll talk about why that's important in just a moment. But as they're walking through this grain field on the Sabbath day, we're given one little description of the disciples. Did you pick up on what that one little description of the disciples was? It said they were hungry. They were hungry at this point in time. Now, I looked up this word hungry. And it really does mean famished or in a great need of food.

It wasn't like they just needed a snack because they were snackers. That would be me, right? Like when we took our drive, I would be like, ooh, you know what sounds good right now? A snack. Right? I wasn't really hungry. I just wanted to eat because I was bored. That wasn't what the disciples were doing. Remember, they're with Jesus. And what did Jesus say to those that would follow him?

The birds of the air have nests. The foxes have holes. But... The Son of Man doesn't have anywhere to lay his head. In other words, he didn't really have a home that he lived in, nor a refrigerator that he stored all of his snacks in. So his disciples, who were undoubtedly working every bit as hard as Jesus, which I think was very hard, found themselves to be hungry.

And so as they're walking through the field, they simply reach out their hand, grab hold of the ends of one of the stalks of grain, pull some off, rub their hands together to get rid of the chaff that would be on the outside of the grain, and put a little in their mouth. I remember doing this when I was, as a kid, going out to a friend's farm and taking the wheat and chewing on it and it turning almost into a gum, you know? And so this is what the disciples do. But as the disciples do this, there's an issue that comes up.

And remember, who's right there with them this entire time watching them do this whole thing? Jesus. So if they had been doing something wrong or in violation of the law, you would think Jesus, the giver of the law, would have looked at them and said, boys, that seems like a bad idea. I understand you're hungry, but you need to wait. It's the Sabbath day. But Jesus never says that.

But that's okay. The Pharisees are there to take care of him. Notice what it says. But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, look, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath. Now, if you have zero understanding of the Sabbath day and what the children of Israel viewed the Sabbath day as, you might originally think, you might initially think,

you might initially think, you might initially think, they're upset that they're stealing someone else's grain. It's not their field. Surely what the Pharisees are upset about right now is theft. But that's not the case. Because if you were to look at Deuteronomy 23, verse 25, exactly what's happening right now with the disciples is totally allowed by travelers in the land of Israel.

Now, the moment they take out a sickle and begin to cut the grain down, that's when it's against the law. But up to then, the law makes it a provision for a traveler who is hungry to take a handful of grain and to eat that grain. So if they're not stealing grain, what is it that the Pharisees are so upset about? Well, what the Pharisees are so upset about is that Jesus' disciples, in their minds, were breaking the law of the Sabbath day.

As a matter of fact, they could have been brought up on several charges. They could have been brought up on the charges of reaping on the Sabbath day, of threshing on the Sabbath day, on the Sabbath day, of winnowing on the Sabbath day, and of preparing food on the Sabbath day. That's what a good lawyer can do, right? They can really come up with some charges when they need to.

Because as they picked the grain and as they rubbed the grain together in their hands, allowed the wind to blow away the chaff and then put it in their mouths, they would have been guilty in the minds of the Pharisees of all four of those things. Now, before we get into anything else having to do with this, I want to give us a brief background on the Sabbath day. Because those of us that are Western culture Christians oftentimes don't understand what the Sabbath day meant and what God's original intention for it was. So let's spend just a few moments talking about the Sabbath day, the law of the Sabbath.

It was first mentioned, I think I had them put this up there, I can't remember. It was first mentioned in Genesis 2, verse 2. If you remember, it says, on the seventh day, God rested from all of his laziness, labors. That Hebrew word that's translated rested there is the Hebrew word sabbat. We get our word Sabbath from that. If you will, he ceased from his work on that day.

And when it says that God ceased or rested from his work or took a Sabbath from his work on that day, it literally means that he just stopped. He was done with his work of creation, therefore he ceased and rested. It wasn't that God, who was tired, God who wasn't like, whoa, been building the earth for six days now. That's about all I can do. No, he was just done.

So he rested. And it says that God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath day. Now, if you move on in the Old Testament, you come to Exodus chapter 20, verses 8 through 11. It's the middle of the Ten Commandments. And in the middle of the Ten Commandments, we see that God gives the command about the Sabbath day. He says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

For six days a man shall work, but on the seventh day he shall rest. He shall cease his regular work, his regular labor, and he shall take a day of rest that day. We know that that meant that all regular labor was to be ceased. They weren't really to travel very far. They really weren't even to kindle a fire that day according to God's law in the Old Testament.

It was actually just supposed to be a day where they just did nothing. Boy, that's quite a thought, isn't it? It's quite a thought to think about taking a day where you just do absolutely nothing. Where you just rest. We'll get into that in just a second. So, then it's going to be referenced throughout the Old Testament. As a matter of fact, the violation of the Sabbath day

was a very serious thing. Now, there was a point of the law that was given. As a matter of fact, I think that there's four reasons why God gave this law of the Sabbath day. Right? Some were very practical. Some were very spiritual in nature. The first reason why I believe that God gave the Sabbath day is because God was giving us a structure for time. God gave us a structure for the way

that time was supposed to be set up. And you know, it's kind of funny. During the French Revolution, they tried so hard to get away from anything that the church would have said that they tried to have, I think it was a nine-day work week. Might have been a 10-day work week. But everybody was so exhausted that, but nobody could keep up with it. It's almost like God intended for us

to work for those six days and then to take a day off. Right? And so they had to go back to that standard of a seven-day week. And so it's the way that our time is structured. The second reason why it's given to us, it was given to man as a day of physical rest. Again, they did very arduous labor at that point in time. And it was really important for them physically, emotionally, and spiritually

to take one day where they just did nothing. Where they allowed their bodies to recover. Where they got caught up on sleep. Perhaps, take this for what it's worth, they even got caught up on some time with their family. You see, while we are not under the law of the Sabbath as New Testament believers, and I'll talk about that in just a minute, I do think there's something to be said

for taking a day off. I do think there's something to be said in our culture for taking a day where you don't do anything. Now, if you're like me, if you ever take a day where you do that, you think of a million and one things that you should be doing on that day. And you actually can kind of feel guilty to take a day off. I want you to know that's the enemy.

Because he doesn't want you to rest. Because the enemy knows that the more he can keep us constantly running, the more he can distract us from what God wants for us to do. You see, there's a really important thing of hitting rest. Reset in our lives. And so he gave it to man as an opportunity for physical rest. The third reason I think that God gave the Sabbath day to the nation of Israel

is so that they would be able to take one day to do nothing but focus on the Lord. That on that day, when they knew I'm keeping the Sabbath day because this is a law that God has laid out and we know that God requires rest on this day, it was a day in which they could focus on their relationship with the Lord where they could center themselves again, if you will, for lack of better terms, back on their relationship with the Lord because you know that as you go through your week, you start off really well, right? If you're anything like me, Sunday's a great day. And man, it's awesome and you get your heart refocused and then Monday comes and you're a little less focused and by the time Friday got there, you're like,

what did we even talk about on Sunday and what am I doing here? Right? Because that's kind of what we do. But don't worry, Sunday's coming again. And so it's that day that you can get your heart and mind focused back on the things of the Lord. But then the fourth reason that God gave the Sabbath day is because it was a foreshadowing of the rest that we would have in Christ.

Isn't it kind of interesting, the terminology that's used there in Genesis chapter two, verse two, it says on that day, God rested from all of his work. If you will, God ceased from all of his working. What are we told? What are we told? All that happened after Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Do you remember what it says that he did? He sat down at the right hand of the Father.

Why? Because he had ceased from all of his working. Therefore, what are you and I to do in our lives when we come to faith in Jesus Christ? We simply cease from all of our working because we have the distinct understanding that we have to do something. I can never do enough to earn my salvation and Jesus did that for me. He did everything that was necessary for me to be saved

and the day that I come to Jesus, the day that I come to him because I am weary and heavy laden, I find rest for my soul. I finally find myself collapsing at the feet of Jesus and saying, I don't have what it takes. And he says, that's okay, I do. And you can be done with your work now. You can be done with your striving now. You see, it was a foreshadowing of that.

That's why God took it so seriously in the Old Testament. But you see, the religious leaders of the day had done what we can all tend to do with something really good. They perverted it. You see, what they did is they began to add laws to it. They began to add rules to it. You can carry something in one hand, but not in two hands. You can walk for a thousand feet,

but not 1,100 feet away from your home. You know, you can do this, but you can't do this. You can think about doing work, but you can't actually do the work. And they began to make extra laws that went along with it. And what was intended to be not only physical rest, but also a picture of spiritual rest, they actually turned into a burden for man. They turned it into something that was a burden.

And isn't it kind of interesting, the segue that takes place? What was the very last thing that we read? I don't know. It's been a couple of weeks. What was the very last thing that we read in Matthew chapter 11? Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And then what is the next thing that we see the Pharisees doing? Turning a day that was intended to be rest

into a day that became a burden. And so, as the Pharisees see the disciples doing this, they say, hey, you're breaking the Sabbath day. You're breaking. You're breaking. You're breaking. You're breaking. You're breaking. What God truly intended. Well, before I get any further, I just realized I got ahead of myself on my notes here because I get excited. I wanted to talk for just a moment

about the New Testament believer in the Sabbath because there's always that thought, so what should we be doing with the Sabbath? If God took this so seriously in the Old Testament, then should we not also be paying attention to the Sabbath day? Shouldn't we be following the rule of the Sabbath? As a matter of fact, there are some who say, why on earth do we meet on Sundays?

When God said the day of worship was on Saturday, that's a great question. I'm glad you asked because there's a biblical response to that. First of all, we're not bound to the same Sabbath law that the children of Israel were. Why? Because Jesus fulfilled it. We're told in the book of Colossians chapter 2 that the shadow was the Sabbath day and all of the festivals and all of the sacrifices that were to be made.

But the substance is of Christ. Therefore, if I want to keep the Sabbath day truly today the way it's intended to be kept, then I will find my rest in Christ. Do you realize that nine of the Ten Commandments are all confirmed for us in the New Testament? In other words, there is a New Testament equivalent to what's said in nine of those Ten Commandments. Except for one.

And that's the Sabbath day. Why is the Sabbath day not confirmed in the New Testament as something that we should continue to live by? Because it was fulfilled by Jesus, by Him becoming our Sabbath rest. So, why do we meet on Sunday instead of Saturday? Well, there are several reasons why. Most of them start in the Gospel of John. If you find in the Gospel of John, when Jesus rose from the dead,

what day of the week did Jesus rise from the dead? He rose on the first day of the week. That's Sunday. Do you realize that for the next two consecutive Sundays, according to the Gospel of John, when did Jesus appear to His disciples? It wasn't on the Sabbath day. What day did He appear to them? He appeared to them on the first day of the week. When you move into the book of Acts, you find the early church.

When was the early church meeting? It said they would gather on the Lord's day, the first day of the week. When you move into the book of 1 Corinthians, when Paul is talking about the first day of the week, and as he's talking about giving, he says, when you gather as a fellowship on the first day of the week, the Lord's day, that's when you pay attention to these kinds of things. Why do we meet on Sunday instead of on Saturday?

Because Saturday is the shadow. Sunday is the substance. Saturday pointed us to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, pointed us to the fulfillment of rest that we'd have in Jesus Christ, but on Sunday, we celebrate that He fulfilled it. And so we come together on a Sunday morning because Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday. Our rest was guaranteed on a Sunday.

And so that's why we're all here this morning. You may not have realized this, but you gathered this morning to celebrate Easter. You gathered this morning to celebrate the resurrection. You said, Ryan, that's in another month and a half. No, it's not. It's today. Because every day, every Sunday when we gather, we celebrate our risen Savior. Okay, back to this little situation here.

Now, they've gone through, they've gathered their grain. That was good. They had them a little snack, and the Pharisees were sitting there going, went straight Karen on them, right? Like, what are you doing? What are you doing gathering grain on the Sabbath day? You are violating the Sabbath day law. And so Jesus, He gets with the program here. He's going to give them three reasons why they need to stop talking.

Verse 3, it says, But He said to them, Now, the first example that He uses is David and the showbread, right? And if you were to want to have a reference for this story, you would look up 1 Samuel 21. So it might not be a bad idea in the margin of your Bible to write 1 Samuel 21 out there to the side, because that carries this story. We're not going to read it right now for time's sake.

I'm just going to tell you what happened. David was fleeing from Saul. David had already been anointed the king. Saul knew that his days were numbered, and so he was seeking to kill David. While David and his mighty men, the guys who joined him, were on the run, they came to the place of the tabernacle. And as they came to the place of the tabernacle, they were very hungry.

And so he asked the priest there, he said, Do you have anything to eat? And he said, All I have is the showbread. Now, within the tabernacle, there was always 12 loaves of bread that were there. They were replaced every week with fresh bread. But the only ones who were, according to the law, allowed to eat the bread, the showbread that sat on the table, were the priests.

And yet, David shows up, and he and his men are in great need, because they are very, another really good word here, very hungry, same kind of word that's used. They're very hungry. And so David says, Do you have anything? And he said, All we have is the showbread. But you know what? You can have it. Why? Because there was a human need, and that human need superseded the ceremonial law.

Because God did not create the law to be a burden for man. God gave. He gave the law to be a help to man. And so he gives this first example of David. Now, why is it important that he gives this example? Because who does everyone look at as the greatest king Israel ever had? David. So if you're looking at a guy who was like the standard for awesome, it was David.

But you know what's kind of an interesting little aside here? David, the properly anointed king, was fleeing for his life because he had been rejected by the nation. Does that sound familiar? Jesus, the properly anointed king of Israel, has been rejected, is being rejected by the nation. He said, Hey, haven't you read what David did? He ate the showbread, something that, ceremonially speaking, he shouldn't have done.

And yet he did it anyway, and God approved of it. He moves on from there to give a second example. He says in verse 5, Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath, and are innocent? But I say something greater than the temple is here. The second example that he gives is the priests working on the Sabbath day.

That was their big day to work. He said they work and labor harder on the Sabbath day than any other day of the week. They labor in the temple because it's a part of their job. And he looks up at them and says, But I tell you, someone even greater than the temple is right here. Oh, man. So first of all, he used the example of David, the greatest king. Now he says someone greater than the temple, their greatest hope,

is standing right there in front of them. Oh, man, this is going to really tick the people off. Well, he goes on from there to give a word from the prophet. Notice what it says in verse 7. But if you had known what this means, I desire compassion and not sacrifice, you would have not condemned the innocent. Now, the last example that he uses is that God desires mercy.

God desires mercy and not sacrifice. The word compassion is what's used in the New American Standard here, but the word mercy is what's intended. God desires mercy and not sacrifice. Why? Because God's greatest desire with the law was to be a help to man. God does not desire to put a burden on us that's so heavy that we can't keep, so heavy that we can't bear it.

He says, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. He goes on from there to make one more statement in verse 8. For the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. Now, I feel like in that statement, we get the real heart behind what was the issue with the children of Israel, with the religious leaders of the time. You see, the real heart behind it is that they had missed,

what the Sabbath day was actually supposed to point to. That the Sabbath day was supposed to point to a fulfillment that would come through the Messiah, a fulfillment that would come through the Son of Man. In it all, they had missed Jesus. I think it's important to point out that Jesus never at any point in time broke God's law as far as the Sabbath day was concerned, but he was completely willing to break man's law as far as the Sabbath day was concerned.

Man's law was not God's law. But in it all, they had missed Jesus. I listened to a podcast on the way down to Arizona. It was actually a podcast series. It was on the fall of a great megachurch. That's what the podcast series was about. It was really interesting to listen to because as you listen to it, it not only talked about this particular megachurch, but it talked about megachurches and church movements in general.

They even referenced Calvary Chapel in it and talked about the rise of Calvary Chapel. The biggest thing that I heard in the entire thing was they just keep missing Jesus. Even when they were talking about Calvary Chapel coming to rise as it was, it was interesting the way that they put it. They said, And then Chuck Smith began to bring in the hippies so that he could add to the church that he was building.

And I thought that's somebody who doesn't understand what really happened in the Jesus movement because you see, he had no desire to build a big church. He had a desire to see people come to know Jesus. But as you listen to all of the things that go on in church culture today, all of the church growth methods, all of the church growth philosophy, all of the church growth ideas that come into play, you see, you see, you realize that in it all they completely miss Jesus. They want to establish a building that gets really full and then they want to establish their rules and say, if you want to be a part of this church, you have to follow these rules.

If you want to be a member of this church, you have to follow these rules. And oftentimes those rules have nothing to do with Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I hope that if I ever come to a point where I stop pointing you to Jesus, that you remove me from this place. Because at that point in time, I'm no longer helping anyone. I've become a part of the problem.

Because Jesus is our only hope. He is our only way. And he is the only truth and the only life. The problem that had happened in the New Testament here, in the Gospels with these religious leaders, is that they thought that they could find hope and life in their rules. And they quit realizing that they could find hope and life in the person of Jesus Christ.

And they completely missed the point. And so Jesus said, the Son of Man is even Lord of the Sabbath. Well, Jesus isn't done taking them off yet. Verse 9. Departing from there, he went into their synagogue. And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned Jesus, asking, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him? And he said to them,

What man is there among you who has a sheep? If it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep? So then it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then he said to the man, Stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out into the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him

as to how they might destroy him. Second, this scene sets up for us, right? It says he departed from there. Now, from this gospel account, it would seem that Jesus left the field and went into the synagogue. And that potentially is true. Other gospel accounts make it feel like this is potentially another Sabbath day. Either way, it's the Sabbath. And Jesus enters the synagogue.

Now, I want to point something out to you that several other commentators pointed out as well. And based on what we just talked about, I think it's really important. Because did you notice it says, departing from there, he went into their synagogue? Notice he didn't go into his house. He went into their synagogue. I think it's just an interesting point to be made

that Jesus didn't feel welcome in the place where he should have been the most welcome because he didn't feel welcome in the place where they were reading the scriptures that testified of him. And I wonder, I just wonder, if Jesus was here today and someone was writing the account of him arriving at a church, would he say, Jesus went into their church because he's not welcome there today? It's just something for us to ponder, something that should constantly cause our hearts to be searched by the Holy Spirit to make sure that he's welcome in our churches today. That's an aside.

So, as he's there, we're also told of a man that's there. It says, a man whose hand was withered. The idea is that something was wrong with his hand and it was somewhat shriveled up and he wasn't able to use it. Now, the Pharisees took note of Jesus and they took note of the man because do you notice what they were looking to do? They were looking to accuse him.

In other words, they were sitting back and they were going, oh, it can't get better than this. We know Jesus can't help but do nice things for people. The man goes everywhere healing people all the time. It's obnoxious. That guy needs healed. Today's the Sabbath day. Right? I don't know if they did. Feels like what they promised. Probably did. And so they look to see if they can accuse him.

And so as they look to see if they can accuse him, they ask him a question. Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? And you know, someone in the back was like, oh, we got him on this one. He's going to blow it. I love the way that Jesus responds. He said to them, what man is there among you who has a sheep? If it falls into the pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it?

And lift it out. Before I get into that specific question that Jesus asks, I want to point out that the way that Jesus responds is by asking a question. You see, one of the greatest debate techniques that you can use is when asked a question to then turn that question on the other person because it puts them back on the defensive. And sometimes, and I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, sometimes I think we as the church have decided we can't ask hard questions anymore.

Like, oh, I don't want to ask him that. Like, that might be offensive. Everything about the gospel is offensive. Okay? You want them to understand, you want a person to understand, you're a sinner, right? I don't know when the last time you called someone a sinner was, but they don't usually handle that very well. But you see, the gospel had to first offend me.

I remember every time the word of God says, you're a sinner, I'm like, well, that's offensive. Important to hear, but offensive, right? I get offended by God all the time. And he's okay with that. Because if he doesn't offend me, I can't change anything. And so I think sometimes as the church, we just need to start asking really hard questions of people. We need to start turning the tables

and not be afraid to ask a question. We say, what if they ask me something I can't answer? What if you ask them the same kind of question? Because if you begin confronting people with the truth of who they are, with the truth of the sin that's in their lives, eventually the law, which is what you'll use to ask those questions, will stop their mouth. And once you finally ask that question,

that they go, I don't know. You can say, now let's talk. Because they're ready to hear the truth of the gospel, the same truth that you had to have your mouth closed to listen to as well. I was witnessing to a guy up in Kansas City one time, young kid, 15, 16 years old. And I was talking to him through that way of the master, which I've kind of talked to you guys about before,

taking him through the law. And I took him to that part where it says that if you look with lust, it's the same as if you've committed adultery in your heart. And he goes, and I said, so if you had to stand before God in all of those sins, what do you think God would say? And he goes, I don't know. And I said, does that worry you? And he said, and I got to give him the gospel.

Why? Why? Not because I'm all that smart. I just started asking questions. I remember listening to Stuart and Stuart. Do you guys remember those guys that used to come and play music sometimes? He was talking about one of his neighbors and he said, I have stopped telling people what I think and started asking them what they think. And then that immediately opens up a segue for me to share.

He said, what you'll find is most people don't know what they believe. Well, tell me about the God that you believe in. And he said, four religions were presented to me in one conversation of the God that this person believes in. And every time they would present a new religion, I would ask another question. And pretty soon I said, I don't mean this as rude,

but do you really know what you believe? And they were like, not a clue. He said, well, can I tell you what I believe? And they said, sure. And he said, I got to share the gospel with them. And they got saved. You see, we've got to start being people that are willing to ask questions. We can't be so scared all the time. Because the boldness of the Holy Spirit

wants to course through you to start asking those hard questions. And so they asked Jesus a question. The question intended to snag him. They say, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? Which, according to their law, it was not. If someone, for instance, let's say, you got a really bad cut on your arm and it hit a major artery, you could stop the bleeding, but you could do nothing to heal the wound.

You could stop it from bleeding out, but you couldn't suture it up, according to their law. Dumbest law I've ever heard. But that was the law that they had established. And so they ask him this question. Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? And so he says, well, let me ask you a question. If you have a sheep that falls into a pit, are you willing to stoop down

and get that sheep out? Of course the answer is yes. Of course if you've got an animal that's stuck in the bottom of a pit on the Sabbath day, you're going to help get that animal out. And then Jesus sends it home with this statement. How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep? A question that in our culture, unfortunately, or a statement in our culture,

that unfortunately needs to be made sometimes. Because we have come to a place where we worship and serve the creature rather than the creator. He said, so then, and I love this statement, man. He just brings it home. So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. He said, I'm going to leave it at that. It's completely within the realm of the law for me to do a good thing on the Sabbath.

It says in verse 13, and then he said to the man, stretch out your hand. He stretched it out and it was restored to normal like the other. In all of this talk about the Sabbath day, I think it's easy for me anyways to forget how miraculous this is that just took place. Because Jesus finally deals with all of their legal objections to what he's doing. He kind of doesn't care how they feel about it anymore.

He says it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. And this guy whose hand is shriveled up, he looks at him and he says, stretch out your hand. It's kind of interesting the way that Jesus does this, right? A lot of times we've seen Jesus touch them or something along those lines. But this time he has this guy take a step of faith. Because before his hand is healed,

he says, stretch out your hand. Well, what is the one thing this guy's wanted to do his entire life when his hand's been all shriveled up and he can't use it? He's wanted to stretch out his hand. But he can't. Why? Because he's bound by a physical ailment. And so Jesus looks, and he says, stretch out your hand. You can imagine in his mind he's going, that's a great idea.

I wish I'd have thought of that one. I should just stretch out my hand. What have I been doing wrong all this time? Right? It sounds ridiculous. But oftentimes the things that God asks us to do kind of sound ridiculous. And he's like, I want you to do it anyway. It's going to be awesome. You're going to love it. So what does he do? He takes a step of faith.

And that's exactly what it was. He stretches out his hand. I love what it says because it says, he stretched it out, middle of verse 13, and it was restored to normal like the other. Now, imagine if his hand is shriveled up. When any part of your body is not used, your muscles begin to atrophy. And so they're just not there. And eventually if a part of the body can't be used,

that part of it gets really skinny, doesn't have the same kind of skin on it, doesn't have the same kind of muscle on it, nothing looks the same. And even when it's healed, I remember when even tiny little Nora had her arm broken, I thought nothing can get skinnier than her arms until she had a cast on her arm for six weeks. And I was like, turns out it can get skinnier. Right?

Because she hadn't used it. And I remember looking and going, oh my gosh, they don't even look the same. That's just so wild. Like you're so little. And yet that arm, smaller. Because it didn't look the same. And yet when he stretched out his hand, what does it say it restored to? Restored to normal. Just like the other one. In other words, when he stretched it out

and it was healed, there was no difference. It was a complete healing that took place. And I think on the inside, Jesus had to have just been like, yes. Good was done on the Sabbath because he is more important than a sheep.

Well, of course, at this point in time, the Pharisees are like, man, we were wrong. You're right. What an amazing thing. So glad this guy's healed, right? Nope. Verse 14. The Pharisees went out and conspired against him as to how they might destroy him. What a bummer. The truth is right in front of them and they completely missed it. Jesus is right in front of them

and they completely missed it. Instead, they want to destroy him. What an unfortunate thing took place in the lives of these Pharisees. Well, that's the part we're going to stop on today. But let's put a little bow on this and give us some things to take away. I've posed this. It's three questions based on these two stories about Sabbath and healing and the rejection of Jesus

by the religious community. I've posed three questions that I would like to conclude with that hopefully will create a little bit of thought in our hearts as we go out from here. Number one, are you following the rules of man or the word of God? Are you following the rules of man or the word of God? I think sometimes it's important for us to examine why we do what we do

to make sure that the things that we do are because that's what God wants us to do. And not because it's a rule that somebody else has created for us. But may I say, for those of us that have walked with Jesus for a really long time, I think the most important thing we can do is examine why do I do what I do? Is it because it's a rule that I've come up with or something that God wants me to do?

Because for those of us that have walked with Jesus for a long time, we're really good at creating our own rules. We're really good at creating the book of opinions. Right? And as we create that book of opinions, we put them not only on ourselves, but then what happens is if I'm not just content to put it on myself, who do I begin to put it on? Yeah, that's right.

Everybody else. You know what? It's worked for me. It's probably going to work for you too. Well, show me where it says that in the Bible. Well, it's in there somewhere. That's not what I said. Show me where it says it. Because I appreciate that if that's a conviction for you, that's good. But it's not a law that we have to live by. Are you following the rules of man

or the word of God? And may I say, in order to identify that, you got to know what the word of God has to say. I really think we are suffering in the Western culture church with a famine of God's word. We are so spiritually anemic, so spiritually anorexic that we can't always know what God's word has to say because we're not in it for ourselves. Number two,

are you living under the burden of the law or the freedom of mercy? Are you living under the burden of the law or the freedom of mercy? I'm amazed at how many people are living under a burden of a law that they've created or that somebody else has created for them. And as they're living under the burden of that law, they've lost all of the joy in their walk with Jesus.

They've lost all of their joy in following him and it's all become about a list. It's a list of do's and don'ts. You say, Ryan, I go to Calvary Chapel, I read the Bible all the time, I don't struggle with the law. You know what I find is the longer I walk with Jesus, the more he reveals the legalism that's in me. The more he reveals the burdens that I have placed on myself

or that other people have placed on me. And as I start shedding those things for what God's word really has to say, I start living according to mercy. When I start living according to that mercy in my own life, you know what I find happens? I show that same kind of mercy to other people. I find I'm not nearly as hard on people as I used to be because I'm like, man,

if God's that patient with me, probably I can be that patient with you.

Number three, is your focus on knowing Jesus? Is your focus on knowing Jesus? It's a simple question that I ask all the time, but I think it's an important one to be asked again. Because even as we were down at this conference talking about all of the cerebral things that have to do with prophecy, all of the, who might this be, who might this be, where does all of this come into play?

I love that they always brought it back to the same thing. But if these things don't bring you closer to knowing Jesus, then they're worthless. And if all of the knowledge that you gain, if all of the things that you gain don't continue to put your focus back on knowing Jesus, then you've missed the point. If you create a megachurch that has 17 satellite campuses, but in all of it, you've missed pointing people to a relationship with Jesus Christ, then you've missed the point.

I want it to be the focus I have in my life, and I want it to be the focus that you have in your life. Because when it comes right down to it, when I stand before my Savior, I want to be able to say, I spent my life pursuing the knowledge of you. And I spent my life pointing other people to pursuing the knowledge of you. Amen.

This morning is Communion Sunday. And again, Communion is all about Jesus. On that last great night of the feast, Jesus stood in front of His disciples. He took the bread, and He broke it. And He said, Take and eat. This is My body which has been broken for you. And then He took that cup, and He said, This is the cup of the new covenant in My blood. And He said,

As often as you drink of this, remember me. And so every time now that we do this, we declare the death of Jesus. We declare what he did for us so that the one thing that keeps us from knowing him, sin, is completely dealt with. It's no longer in the way. And so when we come together, we're told to do so in a worthy manner. And as I've shared lots of times before, that means two things.

First of all, if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then if you partake in this, it won't really do anything for you. It'll be a sad cracker and not nearly enough juice. It won't do anything for you because it means nothing to you. So the first thing that you need to do in order to partake in this in a worthy manner is your faith needs to be in Jesus Christ.

And it's always as simple as, Lord, I'm a sinner. Please be my Savior. It's as simple as that. That decision needs to be made before you partake in this meal. But for those of us that have walked with Jesus for any amount of time, we know that partaking of this in a worthy manner means that our heart needs to be right with the Lord. Because though positionally we belong to him and our sins have been cleansed,

we know that sometimes things get in the way. Because we can't go through a day without ending up getting stained by the things of the flesh or the things of the world. So our hearts need to be cleaned before the Lord. And the only way our hearts can be cleaned before the Lord is through confession. So as the worship team comes up, and as the ushers get ready to come down to hand out the elements,

I would ask you that you would begin to pray something in your heart. That you would begin to pray that God would search you, that God would know you, and that God would reveal any wicked way in you so that you can be cleansed by that power of the Holy Spirit. And as he reveals those things, to you, simply begin to confess those sins to the Lord. And keep in mind just exactly what Jesus did for us on that cross.

Amen. So I'll invite the ushers to come down. As you receive the elements, if you would please stand, and then we'll all partake together.

Father, we come before you, and Lord, I thank you for your body that was broken for us. Lord, that you were with us. Lord, that you were willing to bear in your own body on the tree, not only the physical stripes, crown of thorns, the nails through your hands and your feet, but Lord, you were willing to bear in your own body on the tree all of our sin. So Lord, I thank you so much for your body that was broken for us.

Father, I thank you for your blood that was shed for us through Jesus on that cross. Lord, the blood that flowed from your side. Lord, the blood that is enough to cover all of our sins. I thank you for the blood that you shed for us on that cross. And Lord, I thank you that what you did was enough to not only pay the penalty for our sin, Lord, but to grant us your righteousness.

Lord, I thank you for the oneness that we have now with you because of the cross, and the oneness that we have with all of our family right here because of the cross. And we just thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen. You may partake.

Would you bow with me one more time? Lord, thank you so much for your word. Lord, keep our focus and our eyes on you. Lord, as we leave this place, may your word continue to sink deeply into our hearts, fashioning us into who you want us to be. Lord, I thank you for this family. And I pray that that spirit of family, that spirit of love through your Holy Spirit would continue to flow.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Have a great week. Be blessed.