the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even
of the Sabbath. Now, when he had departed from
there, he went into their synagogue. And behold,
there was a man who had a withered hand, and
they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to hill
on the Sabbath? And they asked him, so that they
might accuse him. Then he said to them, What
man is there among you who has one sheep? And
if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not
lay hold of it and lift it out. Of how much more
value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it
is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then he
said to the man, stretch out your hand. And he
stretched it out and it was restored as whole
as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and
plotted against him how they might destroy him.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word,
Lord God. It is light. Lord, it is illumination
to the path that you have called us to. Lord,
would you help us this morning? Give us discernment.
Give us understanding and eyes, Lord, that will
see the glory of Christ in this passage. Father,
deliver us from religious hypocrisy. Draw us
closer to you, Lord God. Make us more into your
image. Lord, indeed, we ask this morning that
your face would shine upon us now, Lord, as we
hear from heaven through the preached word. Prepare
soil, prepare horse for this horde. May they
receive it as it is, the word of God and not
the word of man. We ask this in Christ's name,
amen. In February of 2011, Tim Moots, Kenny Barkas
and I had an incredible opportunity to travel
to Israel. We went with Glenn Matthews and a
group that he was hosting there. I remember we
flew out of JFK and we flew on an Israeli airline
called El Al. I think over there is around an
11 -hour flight. I think back was 14, and I could
be a little messed up on my numbers there. But
the trip was pretty amazing. It was eye -opening,
it was inspiring. We're able to walk where the
Son of God once walked. For me, the most emotional
time is when we start in what is known as the
Via Don Rosa, the painful path where Jesus was
forced to carry his cross. And you're walking
in that same path where the Son of God was carrying
his cross. But there are many things that stood
out, but one of the things that stood out that
might seem surprising to you is actually when
we're staying in our hotel and it happened to
be the Sabbath. Now we're in Israel. So Sabbath
is from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.
During the Sabbath, the hotel elevator automatically
stops on every floor. Now the rest of the week
you may go in and if you're on the fourth floor,
push the button four. It won't stop on every
floor, but not on the Sabbath. it's going to
stop on every floor so that no button would have
to be pushed. Now you may be wondering, why would
they do that? Now the Orthodox do it because
in Exodus 35 verse 3, God said, you shall not
kindle a fire throughout your dwellings on the
Sabbath day. Now you may wonder what does that
have to do with pushing a button on an elevator?
Well again, if you're Orthodox and you're an
ultra conservative Orthodox Jew, they believe
that by touching that elevator button you cause
an electric current to take place, which in essence
is kindling a fire, which then is a violation
of Exodus 35 verse 3. See, in their view, the
prohibition against creating or kindling a fire
extends all the way down to touching an elevator
button. Now you and I might be sitting here this
morning wondering, is that really what God had
intended in the law? No, of course not. But this
same scrupulous attention and detail to the minutiae,
it was there happening in Jesus' day as well.
Every religious leader, scribes and Pharisees,
but the Pharisees were the ultra conservative,
the very Orthodox, and they had developed an
elaborate set of Sabbath rules which they expected
everyone to keep. They had rules about how many
steps you could take before if you took another
one, you would break the Sabbath. Then they even
had rules on what scenarios was okay to help
someone on the Sabbath and what scenario would
it be not okay and you'd have to wait for another
day. Now in our text this morning, Matthew 12,
our Lord is going to reveal the true intention
that lay behind the Sabbath, but even more importantly,
how he fulfills it. Now I've said many times
from behind this pulpit that there are times
when chapter and verse divisions don't make sense.
You have to understand chapter and verse divisions
were not part of the original autographs. In
fact, the Bible you hold in your hands, those
chapter and verse divisions did not come about
until the year 1227. So it's relatively recent.
Now we should be very thankful for them. It's
a great work. But there are times, there are
places when a chapter ends with a break and a
new one begins that I don't think the author
intended for that to be separated right there.
And our text is one of these examples. In chapter
12, out of nowhere, we begin with Jesus getting
into trouble with the Pharisees over the Sabbath.
But as we looked last week, if you look at the
end of chapter 11, I'll have these on the wall,
chapter 11 ended with Jesus issuing a call for
those who were burdened. and weighed down to
come to him for rest. Matthew 11 38. Rest. What's
the Sabbath a day of? Rest. He says if you're
burdened, if you're laboring and are heavy laden.
Now think about who he was speaking to. He was
speaking to all those people who were burdened
and heavy laden with all the extra laws and all
their traditions that the religious leaders had
placed upon them. And in chapter 12, Matthew
seamlessly gives us an example of one of those
heavy burdens that these leaders had placed upon
the people. Now the question in chapter 12, it's
not if the Sabbath matters or not. Of course
it does. It did then. But the question is, what
was God's intention when he gave the Sabbath?
Jesus' offer of rest in chapter 11 is contrasted
with the Pharisees distorted view of rest in
chapter 12. Now look at 11, 28 through 30. I
have it on the wall behind me. Jesus speaking,
very end here. Come to me all you who labor and
are heavy laden, that means burdens are on your
back, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke,
not the leader's yoke, upon you and learn from
me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, not like
the Pharisees. You will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light,
contrasted with chapter 12. At that time, Jesus
went throughout the grain fields on the Sabbath.
His disciples were hungry, and they began to
pluck his heads of grain and to eat. The Pharisees,
they're observing him. And when they see what
his disciples were doing, they don't go to the
disciples, they go to Jesus, and they're like,
look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful.
It's what is profaning, what is breaking the
Sabbath. Now, I don't want to defend the Pharisees,
but you have to understand their mindset. They
viewed obedience to the law as loyalty to God,
and they were right. And so when they saw Jesus
and his disciples doing what they thought was
breaking the law, What they thought or assumed
was a violation of it, they were very incensed.
They were aggravated. So now they had zeal. They
had zeal for the law of God. But here's what
had happened. They had built a fence, their own
laws, around God's law in order to keep people
from breaking it. So if God said this, they would
have a standard out here. So even if you broke
that one, at least you wouldn't be breaking God's
law. That was the first intention. But there
was a problem inherent in that philosophy. They
began to elevate their own traditions and rules
as authoritative as God's law. They took what
they said and they raised it to the status of
what God said. So in time, they came to believe
that breaking their laws was the same as if someone
was breaking God's law. And Jesus wasn't going
to stand for any of it because he was the law
giver. Now understand, We need to look back at
the Old Testament. What were the prohibitions
given in the Old Testament concerning the Sabbath?
I mean, this was a big deal in Jesus' time. This
is one of the reasons he gets crucified, by the
way. But surprisingly, if you go back to the
Old Testament, the commands for the Sabbath are
relatively brief. You've got the Decalogue. You've
got the Ten Commandments there in Exodus 20.
Let's just read it, and it's pretty straightforward.
Exodus 20 verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day to
keep it holy. How are you going to do that? Six
days you shall labor, do all your work. But the
seventh day is the Sabbath, or the Shabbat, of
the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work.
Who? You, not your son, not your daughter, not
your male servant, not your female servant, your
animals, not your cattle, not your worker, your
slave, the stranger who's within your gates.
Why not? For in six days the Lord made the heavens
and the earth, the sea and all that is in them,
and he rested the seventh day. Therefore the
Lord blessed the Sabbath day and he hallowed
it. He set it apart as holy. So what do we get
from this one? No regular work is to be done.
You can't work. This is a day of rest, okay?
Move over to Exodus 31. Therefore the children
of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the
Sabbath throughout their generations. Notice
this last phrase, as a perpetual covenant. It
was a covenant sign. between the nation of Israel
and God. This is a sign of their covenant, part
of the Mosaic law. Now, the next place, and this
will be the last one we stop, chapter 35. Then
Moses gathered all the congregation and the children
of Israel together and he said to them, these
are the words which the Lord has commanded you
to do. Work shall be done for six days, but the
seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath
of rest to the Lord. Now, whoever does any work
on it, shall be put to death. You shall kindle
no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath
day." So again, we have a reiteration. You don't
get a work on the Sabbath, and there's a little
bit more specificity here. You can't kindle a
fire on that day either. So if we want to sum
up, and just for sake of clarity here and conciseness,
the Old Testament prohibited you could not work.
Do you remember when the children were in the
wilderness in their desert wonderings for 40
years? They could not collect any manna. On the
sixth day, they had to collect twice as much.
On the seventh day, they collected none. They
couldn't kindle a fire. You couldn't harvest.
If it was harvest season, that was the day you
didn't go out to the fields and harvest. No commerce.
You could not buy or sell on that day. You could
not carry burdens that could wait until the next
day. And you were not allowed to treat the Sabbath
as if it were an ordinary day. You couldn't just
go on your business like nothing else was special
about it. So this was a day. designed by God
for Israel to cease from ordinary labor for two
purposes, their bodies and animals needed to
rest, and for worship. Keep that last part in
mind, worship. But by the time of Jesus in Matthew
12, there was this oral tradition known as the
Mishnah that had developed and had grown to play
a huge part in Israel's identity. The Pharisees
now were imposing their own Sabbath regulations
upon the people. These burdens were impossible
to keep. No one could keep them. So they're burdening
the people with a host of rules. Now keep in
mind, I showed you pretty much everything the
Old Testament says about it. It's not quite that
much. But in Matthew 12, the Pharisees have a
long list of rules. So now here's what we find.
The disciples on the Sabbath, they're hungry.
They're walking through a field with some standing
grain that had not been reaped. They plucked
a little bit, crushed it in their hands, and
ate it. The Pharisees looked at them, and they
considered to pluck the grain and to crush it
in your hand is to reap and to thresh. And that
is a violation of the Sabbath. Therefore, in
their mind, Jesus and these disciples cannot
be of God. And they begin to rebuke Jesus. because
he's allowing his followers to do what was unlawful
to do. Now, in reality, they were not defending
God's honor. They were defending and protecting
their own religious system. The disciples had
not broken any of God's laws at this point. People
ate on the Sabbath. There was no prohibition
against plucking a piece of grain and eating
it. But what God had intended for a blessing,
which is the Sabbath, they had turned into a
burden. and Jesus will not bow to them." And
we see his answer, and he is masterful. Listen,
I love to see our Lord in action in this chapter
here. In verses three and four, he said, oh,
so you want to accuse me, huh? Well, you guys
are experts in the law. Let's go back to the
law. Have you not read what David and his men
did when they were hungry, how they entered in
the house of God and they ate the bread of presence,
also known as the sure bread, which was not lawful
for anyone to eat except priests, and yet they
ate it. So these religious leaders, again, what
were they doing? They were going to use God's
law as a weapon. They were using it as a club
to bludgeon others with it. They had missed God's
heart in giving the law. So Jesus, he's going
to take them back to, at first you're like, well,
why is he going there? Because he's so masterful
in this. He takes them to 1 Samuel 21. David
had already been anointed king. Saul hates him,
he's trying to kill him. David has a group of
men with him, and they're on the run from Saul.
These guys are running so much they get hungry.
It's not the Sabbath, excuse me. They do come
to the temple. They come to the house of God,
and you have Ahimelech, the priest, was on duty.
And they're like, hey, listen, we're starving.
Can you give us any food? Ahimelech says, the
only food that I have here is just this bread
of presents, the sure bread. But that can't be
eaten by anyone except priest. Yet, in spite
of the prohibition, Ahimelech, the priest, willingly
gives David and his men this bread of presents
to eat. And the point that Jesus was making was
that the law will yield to mercy. If David and
his men could eat the holy bread out of necessity
and be guiltless, be innocent, then his disciples
could pluck and eat standing grain and not be
guilty of breaking the Sabbath. Now, the Lord
never said the law doesn't matter. Rather, he
was showing the Pharisees how they had misinterpreted
the law. Verse 5. He gives another example. This
one's even more specific. He said, well, if you
think I'm breaking Sabbath, what about your priest?
Don't they work on the Sabbath? I mean, they're
offering sacrifices. God doesn't hold them guilty.
So, here's what, again, just master logic here.
He's showing the Pharisees how inconsistent they
were. If all work that was done on the Sabbath
was forbidden, then the priest who served at
the temple on the Sabbath would be guilty. Because
the law that God gave required daily sacrifices
and daily offerings that had to be made, including
on the day of Sabbath. But so the priest, they
had to offer sacrifice, they had to kindle a
fire. They had to offer sacrifices. And Jesus
said, but yet they don't profane. They're not
violating the Sabbath because their service in
the temple took precedence over Sabbath observance.
The priests, they were innocent because worship
does not break the Sabbath. Worship fulfills
the Sabbath. There were two purposes. You rested
and you worshiped. The purpose of the Sabbath
was never meant to simply stop what you're doing
and just rest. As though we just all need to
lay around in bed. That was never the purpose.
It was meant for worship and to point to the
true rest found in God. And this is the million
dollar point. Now you see why Jesus's statement
in Matthew 11 is so amazing. Come unto me, Jesus
said, and I will give you rest. He didn't say
obey the law. He didn't say do this or that.
He said if you want the true rest that the Sabbath
had always been pointing to, come unto me. I
can give you the true rest that the Sabbath can
only represent. All that the Sabbath was pointing
to was fulfilled in Christ. And this is the point
this morning. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can
offer true rest for your soul because He is the
only one who has been sent by God who is able
to save you. So if the priests are not guilty
and they serve at the temple, how much more innocent
are they who serve Jesus because He's greater
than the temple? Priests can serve at the physical
temple and they're held innocent. So anyone serving
Jesus is even more innocent. Because Jesus is
greater than the temple and that's look at verse
6 and this friends is astounding Yet I say to
you that in this place There is one greater than
the temple This is one of the clearest claims
of deity that Jesus makes He said in his own
words from his own mouth. He's greater than the
temple. Now. What was the temple? It's a center
of Israel's public life. It was the center of
Israel's identity. It was the place of worship
The temple was a place where Jews could go, they
could meet with God, they could have their sins
atoned for, and they could also enjoy God's presence
and have true fellowship with Him. The temple
was at the very heart of Israel's national identity,
and Jesus is standing there and saying, and I'm
greater than that temple. That's amazing. In
John's Gospel, chapter 2, Jesus said, in fact,
I'm the true temple of God. What was the temple
for? It was a place where God met man. Jesus
said, I'm the true temple. I'm the ultimate place
where God meets with man. Now this statement
no doubt got to the Pharisees. It hurt them.
Who did this man, who did Jesus think he was?
How could some man claim to be greater than the
temple? They're indignant. How do you know that?
Verse 14, they went out and plotted against him
how they might kill him. He's a blaster in their
eyes. No way this man's from God. And they wanted
him dead. But Jesus didn't stop. Look at verse
7. He says, but if you knew what this means,
and now he quotes Hosea 6, verse 6, I desire
mercy and not sacrifice, you wouldn't have condemned
the guiltless. He's quoting Hosea 6. Let me give
you the whole verse. I desire mercy and not sacrifice,
and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Now God was not saying that sacrifices were unimportant.
On the contrary, he's the one who commanded sacrifices
to be offered. So what did Hosea mean when he
wrote that? A true relationship with God is more
important than religious performance. See, the
problem in Hosea's day, get this, was that Israel,
they were going through the motions, they were
offering sacrifices, they were giving their daily
offerings, and yet their hearts were far from
God. They were cold toward God. Plenty of religious
activity. They didn't stop being religious. But
there was no love for God. No heart behind it.
And Jesus is indicting the Pharisees with the
same condemnation. They performed religious duties.
In fact, they were very diligent to do so. But
they hammered others. So they were very good
at keeping what they thought they should be keeping.
But they looked down their noses at other people
who didn't. They failed to show mercy. And there
was no heart for God behind all of their religious
actions. And you say, well, how do you know there's
no heart for God? Jesus said this. They did not
show mercy. Showing mercy is one of the ways
we prove that we know God. Or in other words,
you might say this mercy flows from a real relationship
with God. Micah 6 -8, he summarizes, he says,
and what does the Lord require of you? Three
things, to do justly, love mercy, and to walk
humbly with your God. You do right, you love
mercy, and walk humbly with him. All of our religious
acts, all of your religious acts, they are a
stench in the nostrils of God if they're not
done out of love for God while at the same time
showing mercy to others. God doesn't need it.
In fact, he got tired of the burnt offerings.
He said, it's a stench to me. Stop bringing your
offerings. I don't want it anymore. Now one example
of how they failed to show mercy was in an, it's
a law called Corbin. Corbin was developed by
the religious leaders. It was anything that you
had that you wanted to dedicate to God, you labeled
it Corbin, and then it went to temple use. Now
the scribes and Pharisees, religious leaders
at this time, usually were pretty wealthy. Scribes
were their aristocrats. So they had some means.
And what they were doing, sometimes their parents
were in need. They were poor. And the Pharisees
refused to help them. Now they had the means,
but they refused to because they said, all my
riches are korban. That means dedicated to the
temple. Now what's interesting, I get to use
them while I'm alive. But when I die, now they
go over to the temple use. It's Corbin. Thus,
I can't help you, Mom. I'm sorry, I can't help
you, Dad. These things belong to God. I'm sorry.
Now, I can use them right now, but I can't give
them to you. What did Jesus think of that? Mark
7. Notice how the Pharisees hypocrisy. He said
to them, all too well you reject the commandment
of God. That you may keep your tradition. Do
you see they had elevated their tradition? Because
here's what God's law said, honor your father
and your mother. And if you curse your father
or your mother, let him be put to death. Serious
things to honor mom and dad. But here's what
you say. If a man says to his father or mother,
whatever profit you might have received from
me, now I'm sorry, it's Corbin, that means I
already gave it to God. Then you no longer let
him do anything for his father or his mother.
Now notice verse 13. You make the word of God
of no effect through your tradition, which you
have handed down, and many such things you do.
They thought in their mind we're being really
religious. I mean, they're devoting all that
I have is to God's, it's Corvin. But I can't
help anyone who's in need with it. And Jesus
said, you think that honors God? And the Lord
further angered them. His rhetoric, the Lord
Jesus kept speaking, verse 8. For the Son of
Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. Whoa. Another
explicit, clear claim to deity. God gave the
Sabbath. It's the fourth law, the tenth commandment.
And Jesus claimed to be Lord of it, which means
Jesus is claiming equality with God. He didn't
abolish the fourth commandment. He claimed authority
over it. He said, since I'm the one who gave
you the Sabbath, I'm the one who can tell you
what to do and how the Sabbath should be honored
and observed. Now friends, if they want to kill
him before, they really want to kill him now.
Now they got what he was saying. Again, it's
why in verse 14 they're like, this guy's got
to die. And later on that same day, They follow
him. There's another confrontation. They move
from a private setting to a public one, the synagogue.
Look at verses 9 to 13. They'll be on the wall.
I'm not, for time's sake, I'm not going to reread
it. We read it earlier. But that's when they
go into the synagogue and there's a man there
who has a withered hand. And the Pharisees want
to trap Jesus and they're like, hey Jesus, can
you heal on the Sabbath? Jesus then answers them.
Let's pick the confrontation up. So we're moving
from private to a public setting. They're in
the synagogue. Apparently they follow him there.
Still the Sabbath same day and gathered in their
midst as a man with a withered hand Now we might
think well, okay, but this was a big deal at
that time Since he had a withered hand and labor
was manual. He would have been unemployable His
family would have suffered economically this
man and his family would have if he had a family
would have been suffering Now the Pharisee saw
this man and they asked Jesus a question But
they're not asking in good faith. It tells you
it was designed to trip him up that they might
accuse him. They needed something that they could
nail him with. Is it lawful, Jesus, to heal on
the Sabbath? Now aren't they supposed to be the
ones that love this day? They're weaponizing
the day. They're supposed to be leaders, examples
to the flock. You see here their cold, dark heart.
So this man is suffering and they're not moved
at all by his suffering. He was simply a pawn
in their game in an attempt to trap the Lord.
That's it. Now let me just state the obvious.
You do not want to get into a debate with the
Son of God. He wins every time. He does it here.
Now Jesus, I love this, he doesn't immediately
say, yes, it's lawful to heal. But he doesn't
say, no, it's not lawful to heal. He said, okay,
I've got a question for you. Which one of you
all has a sheep, one sheep, and it falls into
a ditch or falls into a pit, and that day happens
to be on the Sabbath? Do you not go and lift
that sheep out of the pit? And the implied answer
is, of course they do. What are you going to
do if one of your animals falls into a pit? Are
you going to wait until this Sabbath is over
and leave that animal sitting there in that pit?
Or are you going to reach down and get out immediately?
Now Jesus knows the answer. He had seen this
happen. And by the way, it is okay to do so.
Of course they're going to go get their animal
out immediately. And Jesus argues from the lesser
to the greater. of how much more value, then,
is this man, withered hand and all, than a sheep?
Now he answers the question. It is lawful to
do good on the Sabbath. Basically, if you would
rescue some dumb sheep on the Sabbath, how much
more valuable are those who have been created
in the image of God? If you're going to help
your animal out, how are you going to go help
this man? How cold must your heart be? Again,
the Sabbath was not a do -nothing type of day.
It was a day where they found delight in God
and were to do what honors Him. This is what
made Jesus mad. He says it's always right to
do good, even and especially if it's a Sabbath.
Look at verse 13. He said to the man, stretch
out your hand. And he stretched it out. and it
was restored as whole as the other. Jesus healed
this man with his word. No medical procedure
needed. There's no work. Jesus didn't do surgery.
He said, stretch it out. This is another proof.
Friends, this is another proof. Matthew is writing
about the kingdom. This is another proof that
the kingdom of God had come. Why? The lame was
being made whole. He's restoring what was broken.
Jesus brought wholeness to this man. The Lord
had come to restore all that sin had broken.
He had come to bring shalom, peace, or wholeness
back to the creation and we see this here. And
this is what we don't want to miss this morning.
Christ ensures, the Lord Jesus Christ ensures
that the brokenness of this world is not permanent.
Right now we do see children get cancer and we
see godly people die and suffer and we see all
kinds of things, but that's not permanent. Christ
ensures that what is broken will be made whole
one day. And this healing here, it's a preview
of what life in the coming kingdom will be like.
There'll be no withered hands. There'll be no
lameness. There'll be no blindness. All will
be made whole and perfect when God brings the
kingdom when he returns. Now you would think
the Pharisees like they would fall on their faces
in repentance, like we're so sorry. Oh my goodness,
did you see what Jesus did? By His word, He makes
the withered hand whole. Verse 14. They went
out and plotted against Him how they might destroy
Him. It's killing. It's too dangerous. Here's
the irony here. Those who claim to care about
Sabbath keeping broke the Sabbath by plotting
to murder the Son of God. It's the highest of
honor. See, their hypocrisy knows no bounds.
In these Pharisees, you start to see something.
We talk about the depravity of the human heart,
how depraved is mankind. Look at the Pharisees.
Here's depravity cloaked, robed in religious
garments. They were willing to kill God's son
because he wouldn't follow their man -made rules.
That was it. And friends, let's not miss the
big picture here. What's the point of Matthew
in writing this down and recording it for us?
What does God want us to know? This passage reveals
God's heart. God has a heart that moves toward
human need and moves toward human suffering.
You should not walk away from this passage thinking,
well, the Sabbath doesn't matter. That's not
the point. Nor should you walk away thinking,
well, God will accept me only if I get the rules
right. Only if I follow X, Y, and Z perfectly.
That's not the point. Rather, Matthew 12 is showing
something much bigger. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is
Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus is Lord of the law.
He's Lord of the commandments. But even more
importantly, Jesus did not come to crush sinners.
He did not come to crush them and lay more heavy
burdens on them so that they might be accepted
before God. Instead, what did Jesus say? I came
to give rest to weary souls. I came to bring
mercy to a world that deserves condemnation.
This world, friends, you and I, we deserve to
be condemned. We are Sabbath breakers. We are
law breakers. And what did the law of Moses say?
Those who break it deserve to die. We deserve
condemnation, but Jesus did not came to condemn
he came to save And he still offers rest Come
to me he says all you who are heavy who labor
and are heavy -laden And I will give you rest
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me For I'm
gentle the Son of God is gentle. I'm lowly in
heart I love this next phrase, and you will find
rest for your soul. He doesn't offer physical
rest, but if you're weary and you're struggling,
he says you can have rest. That noise in your
soul can be silenced. The Sabbath was never friends
intended to focus on a day. It was always pointing
to a person. Don't miss that. The Sabbath was
given so that we might see Christ. It was born
toward Him. And this is what I would say as we
close. The same one who healed this man's hand
is the same one who went to the cross for sinners,
who suffered, who died, was buried, and rose
again the third day. And according to the Word
of God, He still saves all those who will call
upon His worthy name. This is the point of Matthew
12. This is the God that we serve. This is the
Savior with whom we commune. He gave his life
for us, friends. Let us live our lives for him.
Let's close in word of prayer. Father, I'm thankful,
Lord, for your word this morning. It's rich,
Lord. It's so very rich. It nourishes our soul.
God, we start to see who Jesus really is. This
offer of rest, it's wonderful, Lord. And there's
no limitations to those who are weary. burdened
downed, tired of trying to jump through the hoops.
Jesus extends his hands and says, come to me
and I will give you rest for your soul. Lord,
I don't know those who have gathered here this
morning. Perhaps there are some who has a tremendous
noise in their soul. Their soul is not at rest.
They're weary. Would they know they've done wrong?
They've broken your holy law. They're away from
you. And Jesus said if they will come to him,
he will receive them and give them rest. Lord,
would you awaken them to their need this morning
and to the solution? Bring them to Jesus that
he might save them. Lord, we're so very thankful
that God, by your spirit, you draw sinners to
yourself. Lord, continue to do so. Draw sinners
to the bleeding side of Christ and in his atonement
may they find true soul satisfaction. Do this
to the glory and honor of your son's name. It's
in that worthy name we pray, amen. This morning,
we had the privilege of celebrating both sacraments,
baptism and communions we do every Lord's Day.