Well, returning to our study tonight in the Gospel of Mark, I invite you to turn to that Gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. We're in Mark chapter 2 tonight and moving into chapter 3. They really are two sections here, but the common theme is the issue of the Sabbath, so I thought it would be helpful to take them together. So we're looking at chapter 2, verse 23 through 3, 6 of Mark. And this is the word of the Lord, beginning at verse 23 of Mark, chapter 2. One Sabbath, he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the disciples were saying to him, and the Pharisees, excuse me, were saying to him, look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? And he said to them, have you never read what David did when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him how he entered the house of god in the time of abathar the high priest and ate the bread of the presence which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat and also gave it to those who were with him and he said to them the sabbath was made for man not man for the sabbath so the son of man is lord even of the sabbath again he entered the synagogue and a man was there with a withered hand and they watched jesus to see whether he would heal him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him and he said to the man with the withered hand come here and he said to them is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm to save life or to kill but they were silent and he looked around at them with anger grieved at the hardness of of heart their hardness of heart and said to the man stretch out your hand he stretched it out and his hand was restored the pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the herodians against him how to destroy him may the lord bless the hearing of his word it is remarkable how bad the confrontation is and how much attention is given to it in the scriptures between jesus and the Pharisees and the religious leaders. I thought to myself, why does the New Testament and the Gospels, the four Gospels, give so much attention to this battle and fight between Jesus and these groups? It was obviously, and you can tell here, it's much bigger than just a disagreement over a few practices. It really does come down to how you understand the whole person of jesus christ his person and his work and his mission it's a big issue that the new testament is putting a lot of spotlight and focus on to have us address this problem jesus took it head on in his first sermon in the sermon on the mount we can't imagine sitting there hearing that sermon and there is the religious leader standing there And then he says something like this in the midst of the sermon, unless your righteousness exceeds theirs, scribes and the Pharisees, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. Do you know how offensive that was? That is taking the whole thing right to them. It's a powerful statement because the sermon then goes on, if you understand the sermon, to expose how law-breaking the scribes and the Pharisees really were. And that helps you see in light of what we studied this morning, that when God put Israel under the law, there were many who in the old, by faith, came to Christ. This is what Jesus told us. It was about Him. And so many people came to Jesus. We see this in the Old Testament. But looking at Israel as a nation and looking at the story, we see what happened. It was a bad ending so far for the nation of Israel on the time when Jesus comes on the scene of history. They had took the law and they had run with it in a self-justifying way. Your righteousness, he says, needs to be better than those who you think are the most moral, upstanding, high keepers of the law in society. And you stand back and you say, whoa. These are the pastors. I remember as a kid looking at pastors and thinking, those are the saved guys, you know. Those are the really holy guys. And Jesus is throwing them under the bus. Why? It's like hearing Jesus say tonight, you see Pastor Gordon? You better be a lot more holy than him. I don't know what you think about me, but that should have some kind of effect i am your pastor this was the response of the disciples when jesus dealt with the rich young ruler we looked at that this morning when the rich young ruler had come and asked for salvation and he didn't cut it he didn't make it jesus had put the law in front of him he walks away sad the disciples were mesmerized they're thinking to themselves if this moral upstanding keeper of the law can't be saved who can he's the best he's the best we've seen this is your model man and they were in panic and that leads you leads me to something that machin said about the sermon on the mount when he said the new law of the sermon on the mount in itself can only produce despair strange indeed is the complacency with which modern men can say that the golden rule and high ethical principles of jesus are all that they need in reality if the requirements for into this if the requirements for entrance into the kingdom of god are what jesus declares them to be we're all undone we have not even attained to the external righteousness of the scribes and the pharisees how shall we attain to that righteousness of the heart which jesus demands the sermon on the mount rightly interpreted then makes man a seeker after some divine means of salvation by which entrance in the kingdom can be obtained even moses was too high for us but before this higher law of jesus who shall stand without being condemned the sermon on the mount like all the rest of the new testament really leads a man straight to the foot of the cross j gretchen machin i understand what jesus what he just said jesus was not saying you guys need a better moral life than the scribes and the pharisees he was saying entrance into glory is so high we're all undone now if you understand that you understand tonight why there's such a knock down drag out fight with jesus and the pharisees it's big because he was exposing their entire system of ethics and their external righteousness as full of hypocrisy that's the battle that's what's going on he's saying you guys have created an entire system of superimposed traditions and in even with the law you don't keep it you see why he would be so angry at the hardness of their hearts when he has come to lay down his life and make a way for them? And they're going, no thanks, I'll do it myself? Jesus is saying, if you're so tied to that, and this is the battle I left off with last time with the fasting one, if you're so tied to that kind of righteousness, you'll never find what Jesus is offering very exciting or very attractive. What does that say to us tonight? It says a lot as we open up this section. I thought about the words of the Heidelberg 44 and asked the question, no one in life can obey the ten commandments perfectly well why does god want them preached so pointedly why does god want them preached and the first thing we might be tempted to say is well god wants us to be holy but that's not the first thing the heidelberg says god wants obedient lives amen but that's not the first thing it says this first so that the longer we live the more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly listen to this the more eagerly look to christ for forgiveness and righteousness great answer the gospel jesus was offering was completely incompatible with any form of sinful human righteousness completely incompatible in other words if you're holding on to your own you're going to hate what jesus was doing and you would have been one of those with the stone standing there jesus was furious at the false teachers in israel who were attempting to set up an alternate system of righteousness apart from what he came to offer and and and they were furious with him and wanted to kill him because he was a serious threat to their foreign judaism their system of their own righteousness and now tonight we turn to the highest expression of israel's piety the highest testimony of their claim to be the people of god and guess what it was the sabbath the sabbath that was it if you asked a jew what marks you as god's people you know what they would say the sabbath the sabbath our separateness in celebrating the sabbath all spiritual pride could be most evidenced in what they had done to the sabbath Tonight we have a great Sabbath confrontation. And in the midst of it, Jesus declares his authority over the Sabbath. And then he displays his authority with the goal, displays that authority with the goal of leading Sabbath keepers to him for forgiveness. What the Heidelberg was talking about. And that thought takes us now to the context of Mark. Jesus has been doing things that have been greatly offensive. It really did start when he declared forgiveness. It really did. When he declared forgiveness to that paralytic, son, forgiven are your sins, that inaugurated the fight. And then he walks up to the tax collector sitting in the booth, the scum of society, and makes him one of his own, in his own circle. And before we know it, we find him sitting on the Jewish fast, eating with the tax collectors and sinners. I mean, everything he's doing is making them furious. In fact, you'll know that this had earned him by the authorities the title. There goes that friend of tax collectors and sinners. And then Jesus, hearing that, took it. You're right. It's exactly what I am. They used it in a derogatory way. He took it and said, I am. That's who I've come for. That's who I've called to repentance. Well, that leads us to where we are now. In verse 23, we read that one Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, And as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? You need to understand, just like that confrontation with the Sermon on the Mount, just like him eating on the appointed Jewish fast, Jesus, the text wants you to know, notice here, that Jesus had purposely taken them on a long Sabbath walk. You should see this. He's purposely provoked. he's taking them on a long sabbath walk i remember walking through linden years ago thinking someone might see me walking on the sabbath isn't that something they might think i'm exercising jesus is uh doing that he's walking and all of a sudden as they're walking they start grabbing grain you'll notice here they're hungry uh and they go through the grain fields and as they're hungry obviously the permission of jesus because they would have wanted to know if this was okay at the permission of jesus the disciples take their heads hands and they start plucking heads of grain and luke even tells us that they started doing this you say why these details that may not seem like a very important detail they're walking they're plucking and they're rubbing they had just violated some major sabbath rules in israel When they picked the grain, they were reaping. When they removed the husks and the shell, they were sifting. When they rubbed, they were threshing according to the Jewish laws. And in major ways, they had just violated the Sabbath. And you might say, well, this is kind of a point. Do we really want to offend? Look, isn't there a time to be all things to all people or is there a time not to be? This was the time not to be, clearly. I believe that the Jewish Talmud has something like 24 chapters on Sabbath observance. If you're ever bored, you can spend some time reading that. Keep in mind, you could only walk on the Sabbath 1,999 steps, 3,000 feet from your house. Rabbis had so hemmed themselves in. They found one way around that. They said, well, if you need to do something, what you can do is after those 1,999 steps, You can place some food right there, and then you get another $3,000. You get another $19.99. Edersheim has, if you ever have the life and times of Jesus in Edersheim, in the back he has an appendix on all these Sabbath rules that they have. You can look this up. I found this one in there reading it, that an egg, if an egg was laid on the Sabbath, it could not be eaten. You want to know why? Well, it wasn't destined for a weekday. So it didn't really exist then. but if the hen was kept not for laying but for fattening then you could eat the egg because that is part just like part of the hen that fell off they said you'll find that in edersheim what i love about this is how we get a glimpse into the kind of lord we have he said to them have you never read what david did when he was in need notice how caring he is when he was in need and hungry he and those who were with him how he entered the house of god in the time of abathar the high priest and ate the bread of the presence which is listen not lawful highlight big quotes i want to emphasize not lawful for any but the priest to eat and he gave it to those who were with him it's a fascinating rebuke don't you know your bibles haven't you read your bibles you remember david who you hold so high do you remember what he did when he and his brothers were hungry when he and his friends were hungry they went into the house of abathar the high priest to eat the showbread which you know was not lawful you know that was a complete violation of the law here's the effect of this leviticus 24 9 said this and it shall be talking about the showbread for aaron and his sons and they shall eat it in a holy place since it is for him a most holy portion out of the lord's food offerings a perpetual due the law said it was for the priests feel this feel this when jesus says this to them did you forget david he ate what was not lawful that makes us nervous did he just justify david doing something not lawful i'm trying to get in their heads at that moment jesus says great king david gave it to a whole bunch of people with him who should not have eaten and what is the effect of that well it's easy they did what was not lawful what do you think god thought about that they were hungry they were needy and as they're sitting pondering it. They probably started putting it together. Deuteronomy 23, 25 said, if you go into your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you should not put a sickle to your neighbor's standing grain. They did nothing wrong. They did nothing wrong, Jesus and his disciples. His point was this. David did and his friends did what was not lawful. What do you think of that if he didn't honor a ceremonial command for the sake of need what about the greater than david who's come should he worry about extra biblical man-made sabbath regulations why do you think i should honor your legalism when my friends are hungry what do you think and the point is actually far bigger it dawned on me David and his band of brothers were hungry why because they had been run out by an imposter Saul and because of persecution they could not even he could not even walk openly in his kingdom and I wonder if they saw the application at that moment you guys had so of a so oppressed Israel and now like Saul you've oppressed her king. You are the oppressors of her king like Saul and we have nowhere openly to go so we have to be out here walking and eating. We have to eat away from my capital because you want to destroy me. Now this is a great moment to stop and realize what we're prone to do. That's what I believe the effect of this is. What does it really show us about our Lord and what does it show us about us well it's a marvel because the king of creation loves to feed his sheep what a wonderful thing to think about he loves to feed you he desires to feed you he's concerned about their eating and when jesus said which of you uh has a son who asked his father for bread would give him a stone jesus wants to give these good gifts from the father to his children they are out ministering the gospel they're hungry and notice what happened here come stiflers of joy here come the legalists what does this really show well when the law is properly doing its work in the heart it humbles the heart and it turns a person away from themselves and they come to Christ think of this morning but there's another way you could go when you're handed the law and that's the picture of israel the law was given to drive you to christ and they took the law and they did not use it properly and they said okay all the words of the law will do and more and that's what you get when people live under the law that's why i made that distinction this morning let me describe the church of jesus's day when he comes on the scene of history the pharisees and the sanhedin the ruling jewish council undergirded by a hard kind of legalism within the confines of a closed community that demonstrated nothing of what we sang at the end of our service this morning gracious god my heart renew make my spirit right and true and bad fruits were fostered in israel here's what jesus was running up against and you can put this together from every kind of of situation where jesus is not the center where you don't have people turning from their sins and finding life in him and it becomes a legalism and a club this is what you get here are some bad fruits that we find in israel of what taking the law and saying we'll do it and then we'll do more here's what you got number one bad fruit number one cult-like behavior was being fostered all over israel as particular interpretations of the law were pounded into the people a guilty hold came over them they were brainwashed that if they departed from the tradition of the elders at any point and that's what i'm emphasizing the tradition of the elders superimposed over the law they were departing and endangering their souls before god the people had to adopt the fine interpretations of the law as the leaders had defined it contrary to the will of god it's bad fruit number one you can tell me in history if you've ever seen this bad fruit number two a martyr complex developed what do i mean they beat everyone over the head with their interpretations of the law and they were as they presented themselves the last ones standing on the truth the last 7 000 who had not bowed down the need of bail we're the only upholders of the tradition left were the only ones bad fruit number two a martyr complex bad fruit number three the law itself became a rule of self-promotion and pride oh they swung hard with it to the condemnation of everyone else it was a whipping post israel was taught to seek confidence in their good record keeping of the sabbath and the duties on the sabbath and that produced a confidence in the tradition and not jesus bad fruit number four fighting and division were a way of life if you went into the sanhedrin and you went into the pharisees having their councils it was like republicans and democrats with the head when the heavy hand of the law was used to justify one's own position to the condemnation it aroused all sorts of bad fruits in them works of the flesh Paul talks about that and I'll say bad fruit number five no peace and joy I could keep going the Pharisees did with the law something terrible we're going to go farther with the law let's fine-tune the law let's make the law a little more tidy up for people and in the process they created a yoke of bondage that no one could keep I wonder how many people today stay away from christianity because that's how we're perceived and presented and what then becomes of christianity when leaders are imposing things and extra biblical things are imposed you start laying burdens on people and then what becomes the perception of people when they think about christianity or they think about the church the tragedy was the religious leaders were supposed to represent god and in the process they created in the minds of people a god you could never get to a tyrant they created a system of laws and legalism and and it was assaulting the character of god who had made a way for people to come who had made a way for people to be forgiven and a sense is that god through these leaders presentation in their fighting bitter hard spirits that's how people saw god a tyrant ready to pounce on the least infraction and we come back to this morning he gave the law for what reason the law was added for transgressions until the seed who has come who is christ the law was given to lead people so that they would come to christ and be forgiven and then live according to the law in the newness of life and enjoy god but how said when someone was hungry they had made it so bad that they felt condemned if they ate wrong on the sabbath think about that and the scene goes on probably the very next sabbath he ends back up in the synagogue and now it's sabbath worship now it's church time and he enters into the synagogue and and a man was there with a withered hand that we read and and they all watch jesus they're all there like hawks ready to pounce on jesus to see whether he would heal him on the sabbath so that they might accuse him that he probably was planted there by them by them the man's hand was dead whatever it was now they believed that any healing could be done by a position it could be done on the sabbath but it had to be a life and death matter this is a hand okay do you see again the emphasis feasting eating on the fastings walking when he shouldn't now it's a hand jesus doesn't have to deal with this on the sabbath he didn't have to did he it could wait to make a comparison how would you feel uncomfortable helping someone change a tire if it were right here across the street after church? Should you be afraid? No? He should just wait until Monday to fix his tire, right? He doesn't have to touch this today. Yet we read, Jesus says, step forward. Tell me, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill? Silence. Is it okay to do good? Do I have the right on the Sabbath to help somebody? Can a doctor treat a patient? Or should I wait? Should a fireman come to your house if it's burning or not? Why do you think you have a Sabbath? Stretch out your hand. I wish I could capture the tone with which he said it. Stretch out your hand. And immediately, it's healed. And the text ends that they ran out to destroy him, aligning with one of the worst political groups of the day, the Herodians. Pharisees and Herodians hated each other. I mean, this is just mesmerizing. If you as a Christian today said, I believe we should honor the Sabbath, what is the first thing people think that means when we say it? Well, I dealt with this up north in Linden. When I said we should honor the Sabbath, Everyone said, you guys still believe you can't mow the lawn on Sundays? That's how the Sabbath was understood. And I thought that's the greatest tragedy. That's the greatest tragedy that that's how the Sabbath has been pitched. Something went wrong if that's what they think the Sabbath is. And I believe that sort of mentality resulted of a failure of people in the practice of the Sabbath who had forced servitude for a long time. And we stay in our Sunday clothes all day. They were amazed at when people got out of their Sunday clothes. I've heard that one. You don't travel. And you ask, well, what does observance mean? And very few could, I'm not talking about any particular community. I think among Christians, I think Christians struggle to articulate it. In his book on the Lord's Day, I remember reading Joey Piper's book, The Lord's Day, years ago. And he opens the book with an instructive analogy that I want to read just for a moment. It goes like this. One day there was a king who had built a splendid city. In the middle of the city, the king designed a beautiful park with ponds, fountains, springs, magnificent trees from all over the world, inciting stretches of lawn. Weekly, the king met with his subjects in the park and the people delighted in the time with him and one another. One day the king had to go away. And in his absence, the rulers let the park become run down. And it was overrun with weeds. The trees were not pruned. Everything was in ruins. a new group of rulers came in and they were concerned to restore the park to its former beauty. They pulled out the weeds, they replanted, pruned trees, but they were fearful that it would again fall into disrepair. In order to protect the park, they put a fence around the park's border and along the pathway so that people could look at the beautiful sights in the park, but they could not actually use the park. Then one day the king's son came and an anger tore down the wall. said enough of this this park is for the people to remember my father and enjoy him but you've kept them out of the park do i need to explain that the sabbath was a beautiful park it fell into ruin and these leaders came in and put a hedge around it no one could get to enjoy it with all these rules and Jesus is dealing with that this was for people to enjoy me and my father and in the midst of all this Jesus makes a startling claim so shocking this is what they wanted to kill him for the son of man is lord of the sabbath He didn't just say that. The Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath. I'm Lord of it. What he just said was, I made the Sabbath. I created the Sabbath. I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. Whoa. Imagine sitting there and hearing that. You've completely misunderstood it. You've wrecked it. Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. He just said, I've declared my authority over it. It's a fascinating statement. He said, the law of the Sabbath was a gift to you. Did you hear him? God didn't create man to be a slave to honor the Sabbath. Isis Christ made the Sabbath for you. I desire to give you a gift in the Sabbath. And when you put it together, he gave us the Sabbath because he knows how weak you are. He knows how tired you are. He knows how hungry you are. He knows spiritual hunger, physical hunger. He knows everything that you need and He wants to give you real rest. He wants to comfort you and give you rest. To worship Him, to enjoy your God. It's an opportunity too to do His works. Did you know that? It's an opportunity to love your brethren. The Sabbath was a platform to love God and love man. The love of God and worshiping Him and resting your bodies and then the love for your fellow neighbor to pray for them, to care for them, to bring meals to them, to help them, to love them. Yes, that is the work of the Sabbath that God loves. And all they cared about was their tradition. More than human suffering. All I know today as we close this is the two systems of righteousness have been presented and now two sets of anger. They're mad at him and he's mad at them. And I can tell you, I know what side of anger I don't want to be on. They're furious at Him. And now for the first time in the Gospels, one of the rarest times in the Gospels, we read that He looked at them with rage. This is the King. He could have put an end to them. Grieved. Think about these words. Grieved in His heart over the hardness of theirs. That should give you some kind of indication of how offensive it is when they had tried to establish their own righteousness. before God. This is where they ended up. It became a yoke no man could bear. And I close by saying that's where human righteousness goes. It's selfish, it's full of pride, and it never gets there. And now you understand how special it is when Jesus said, in the midst of all of this, come to me. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Come to me for righteousness. I'm going set you free so that you can begin to enjoy this sabbath and the kind of joy and delight in which it was intended but you'll only know that when you're truly free and that's why jesus came let's pray together tonight gracious heavenly father this is a wonderful section of scripture to study because it shows the ugliness of our hearts and the pure beautiful heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for your love, Lord. Thank you for giving us a Sabbath. May we be the most humble people on the earth who confess our sins and come humbly to the foot of the cross, as Machen said, trusting in Christ for righteousness and enjoying you the way that we should in freedom. Forgive us when we try to impose things on you that are contrary to your will and law. And let us this week think a lot about how much you've given to us in your beloved Son so that we can live in the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit in the course of our lives. And then on the next Sabbath, come back and worship and enjoy you. Thank you, Father, for the privilege of being in your house. It's been good to be in the house of the Lord today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.