The Sabbath in the NT -- Jesus' Teaching #2

Recap of the Series and Jesus' View of the Moral Law

0:04 The following message was preached Sunday, October 4th, 1998 to Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church at Sea-Tac, Washington. The speaker is Pastor Robert Martin. This message is the 13th in a series of 24 titled, The Christian Sabbath.

0:24 We come again this morning to our series on the Christian Sabbath. Again, as has been true throughout this series, now at its 13th message, we are seeking to answer the question, does God require us to keep Sabbath one day in seven under the new covenant established by our Lord Jesus Christ?

0:49 And if so, if indeed that is our duty, how may we do so in a way that fulfills our obligations before God?

1:00 Now thus far in this series, by way I trust of quick recap, we've examined the Sabbath, the Sabbath's creation as recorded in Genesis chapter 2. We've seen clear evidence of the Sabbath before Sinai. We saw the Sabbath made part of the law of Moses in the fourth commandment. We've examined the statements of the old covenant prophets concerning the ordinance of God's holy day, including they're looking forward to speak of that day in the present age of the new covenant.

1:38 And we've already learned that in August of 2018, and we've already examined the statements of the new covenant prophets concerning the ordinance of God's holy day, as we've seen in the previous weeks, begun to examine what the New Testament has to say about the Sabbath, starting with what the New Testament says about God's moral law as a whole. And our assumption in beginning there was that whatever the New Testament says generally about the moral law of God holds true also for the fourth commandment. And we examined two texts that revealed our Lord's own view of God's moral law. In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, verses 17 through 20, and in Mark's Gospel, his dealing with the rich young ruler in Mark 10. And then we saw a number of texts, I'll not enumerate them again, but a number of texts, especially from the writings of Paul. And in these texts, we saw that our Lord and His apostles spoke about the moral law of God. And in these texts, we saw that our Lord and His apostles spoke about the moral law of God. And in these texts, we saw that our Lord and His apostles spoke of the moral law of God in the most positive way imaginable, and that they said nothing to indicate that they excluded the fourth commandment in their thinking when they spoke of the moral law in this positive way.

Jesus' Teaching on Sabbath Works: Piety and Necessity

2:58 Now, last time, passing from what the New Testament said about the moral law generally, we came to what Jesus our Lord said and did concerning the Sabbath. And in this part of our study, we are employing a common distinction used when discussing works permissible on the Sabbath. That is, the distinction between, on the one hand, ordinary labors, and, on the other hand, works of piety, necessity, and mercy. Furthermore, in examining what Jesus has to say about the Sabbath, we recognize that everything He said, with the single exception of His statement in the Olivet Discourse about fleeing on the Sabbath, Matthew 24 and verse 20, but that everything else that our Lord says concerning the Sabbath arose out of His disputes with the Pharisees and the scribes concerning His own Sabbath behavior. We saw, first of all, last time, that Jesus had no dispute with the scribes, no dispute with the Jewish doctors of the law over works of piety on the Sabbath.

4:21 The Jews recognized that such works were legitimate on the Sabbath day. One might pray, one might offer sacrifice, one might attend public worship, one might circumcise one's children. That was the issue, if you'll recall, in John 7. Indeed, those things ought to be done, Jesus said, that the law of Moses may not be broken. And Jesus agreed. He agreed with their assessment that works of piety, that is, those works which constitute a religious worship of God, that those are permitted on the Sabbath day. It was only on the question of works of necessity and works of mercy that there was dispute between Jesus and the rabbis of His day. Well, we then...

5:14 Then, seeing that there was no essential dispute over works of piety, we turned next last time to examine what Jesus said and did concerning works of necessity. And our text was Matthew chapter 12, verses 1 through 8, with its parallels in Mark and in Luke. And those passages record our Lord's dispute with the Pharisees concerning the action that He and His disciples had engaged in in plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath day. And on that occasion, when confronted with that activity, with being accused of profaning or breaking the Sabbath, our Lord spoke in defense of His action, declaring Himself and His disciples guiltless of violating the moral law of God. And in His defense, He did several things. First of all, He directed them to the example of David, who in a time of necessity ate the tabernacle showbread. And our Lord's point was that if the divinely ordained law concerning the showbread could be set aside when necessity demanded it, how much more could a man-made Sabbath rule be

6:37 set aside for the same reason? And then second, He pointed them to the testimony of the Scriptures concerning the existence of...

6:46 Of a category of works, Sabbath works of necessity. The Pharisees' doctrine had no room for those kinds of works. They had no category in their Sabbath doctrine, works of necessity. And Jesus showed up the deficiency, the defect, in their doctrine at this point.

7:05 He directed them to the activity of the priests. And He tells them that the priests performed their priestly ministry, their priestly works, even on the Sabbath, works of necessity. And yet were guiltless. And therefore, by analogy, He argued that necessity also allowed a hungry man to pick a few heads of grain to feed himself. Jesus, in essence, says to these men, biblically, the category of Sabbath necessity exists even if your Sabbath doctrine doesn't recognize it. And then third, He charges them with having a narrow heartedness, merciless Sabbath doctrine. He cites Hosea 6 and verse 6, and there He argues that God has no pleasure in narrow hearted, merciless religion. The Pharisees, it seems, had no room in their doctrine for works of necessity because they had, in fact, no room in their

8:13 doctrine for works of mercy. The Sabbath doctrine that they held, like the rest of their religion, was the expression of a small hearted, merciless formalism. Man, in their view, no matter his need, man must bend to their Sabbath rules. And Jesus condemns this for this. He condemns them for having a narrow hearted, cold hearted, callous, merciless religion. And then fourth, He states the purpose for which the Sabbath is. The Sabbath was created, saying the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Now, what He is doing is taking these scribes back to creation. That is, back to that point

9:06 when God created at the beginning the Sabbath for mankind. Sabbath was made for man. And His point is that God created, if you go back as we did at the beginning of this series, to see what is sacred. He said in that Genesis passage about the creation of the Sabbath, if you discover that God created the Sabbath to be a blessed day, it was to be a day of delight and joy. The day was never meant to be a burden for mankind. But the scribes had no understanding of that basic principle. In their view, their Sabbath rules must be obeyed no matter the burden that it becomes. but keeping the Sabbath means that you must go hungry until tomorrow.

9:56 And so be it in the eyes of the scribes and the Pharisees. In Jesus' thinking, as pious as that may sound to a certain kind of ear, it misses the purpose for which God made the day. And then fifth and finally, Jesus spoke as one having unrivaled authority on the issue or the question of what is dancing presently into the eye of the saints. For the study is trying to speak absolutely sure that the Sabbath being kept and accompanied by including, proper or correct or lawful Sabbath observance, saying, the Son of Man, speaking of Himself, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

10:38 He acted and He spoke as one having authority. But how did He use that authority? Not by ruling that the fourth commandment is no longer valid.

10:53 Not by saying that He as Lord of the Sabbath now gives the fourth commandment a meaning that it never had before. And not in justifying works of necessity by throwing the door open to every other justification of Sabbath breaking invented by the cleverness of man. Those things He did not do. As Lord of the Sabbath, He did not cancel the Sabbath.

11:19 He did not invalidate the fourth commandment. He did not pour into it a meaning it had never had. And He did not, by specifying the category works of necessity, He did not then legitimate every other category that man in his cleverness has invented in order to be free of the fourth commandment. No, Jesus used His authority as Lord of the Sabbath.

11:47 He used it to denounce the scribes' rigid, heartless doctrine. He used it to set His disciples forever free from any form of sin. He used it to set His disciples forever free from any form of sin. He used it to denounce the scribes' rigid, heartless doctrine.

11:57 He used it to set His disciples forever free from any form of Sabbath doctrine, which, though it may claim to represent the letter of the law, nevertheless misses the spirit of the law. In other words, He used His authority to restore the Sabbath to its original purity before it was buried under the rubble of man's traditions. He takes us, by His authority, back to the creation Sabbath. That is, to an institution made for man to be a blessing and not a burden, a delight and a joy and not dreariness and drudgery.

Introduction to Works of Mercy and Uncontroversial Healings

12:36 Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, came not to abolish the Sabbath, but to set it free from the corruptions and the traditions of men so that all of the sanctity and all of the blessing invested in that day at its creation remains for His new covenant people of God. Now, this morning, we come to the final class of works that are lawful on the Sabbath. We've considered the issue of works of piety, saw there was no dispute between Jesus and His contemporaries on that issue. We've seen how He dealt with works of necessity.

13:19 This morning, we come to the final class, the final category of works lawful on the Sabbath, and that is to works of mercy. Now, much that Jesus said, when defending works of necessity, applies here as well. Especially His saying that the Sabbath was made for man and His claiming that He Himself was Lord of the Sabbath, acting with supreme authority. And therefore, when He disputes with the rabbis about works of mercy, He also, in fact, is returning to the purpose of the Sabbath as established at creation, before it became encrusted with man's heartless traditions. And He, again, is acting and speaking as Lord of the Sabbath. The fact that He does not repeat that language every time He has a Sabbath controversy does not mean He's acting in some other character or from some other principles. But now, coming to the works of mercy, by far the majority of texts in the Gospels that record our Lord's actions and sayings concerning the Sabbath have to do with works of mercy.

14:37 That is, with works on the Sabbath which elevate compassion on the needy and afflicted above what was believed by the scribes to be the strict requirement of the fourth commandment. If you ask, Pastor, what do you mean by work of mercy? Well, what I mean by work of mercy is what is shown in our Lord's own dealings on this matter. That is, they were works on the Sabbath which elevated, that is, raised compassion for the needy and afflicted above what was believed traditionally to be the strict requirement of the fourth commandment.

15:23 There was a priority given to mercy over tradition and over strict interpretation. Now, there are six occasions on which God has given us mercy. One is Jesus healed on the Sabbath day. For our purposes this morning, two of these can be dealt with in summary fashion for though they record an incident of our Lord's healing on the Sabbath, the Gospels on these two occasions record no controversy or no words passing between Jesus and His detractors.

15:57 First of all, in Mark 1, verses 21-34, you need not turn there, and it's parallels, we read of Christ's healing a man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue at Capernaum. And we read on the same Sabbath of His healing Peter's mother-in-law. But in those accounts in the Gospels, no mention is made of any controversy arising from that incident. No one comes to Him and accuses Him of Sabbath breaking.

16:30 No one speaks any word that we're aware of. No mention is made of any controversy whatsoever from what He did, on that Sabbath day. Though it does become, what He did on that day, does become the occasion of a rumor that spread throughout Galilee and it became the occasion of many coming to Him to be healed as soon as the Sabbath was over at sundown. But that text, as far, other than showing us that Jesus felt free to heal on the Sabbath, a point that we'll see in other texts, it doesn't contribute anything in terms of what Jesus, said in defense of such an action.

17:11 And then secondly, in John 9, verses 1-16, we read of Jesus anointing a blind man's eyes with clay on the Sabbath. And yet, as John goes on to record, though the Pharisees interrogated the man himself to discover who had healed him, and though some on that occasion said, this man is not from God because he keeps not the Sabbath, there is record, there is no conversation between the Pharisees and Jesus himself. And so we know nothing on that occasion of what Jesus' defense was or was not. The incident does, of course, reveal the heartless, merciless spirit of the Pharisees, but there's no record of Jesus making any defense of His action on this occasion. Now this leaves us with four occasions on which Jesus not only performed a Sabbath work of mercy, but also verbally defended His actions. And in the time that remains to us this morning, we're going to look at these four incidents in the order in which they occurred in our Lord's ministry. We'll turn first, please, to John 5.

Jesus Heals at Bethesda: The Father's Example of Mercy (John 5)

18:30 Already in the earlier part of the service, we've read the first 29 verses of this chapter. I'm not going to read it again. Again, I assume that it is familiarly, familiar to all of us. I would assume that it's not necessary to re-read the first 19 verses, which is the portion which addresses the issue before us.

18:53 But suffice it to say, by way of summary, that the scene here is very touching. This man, John tells us, has suffered for 38 years. And his only hope is a miraculous cure in the waters of the pool. But there is no one, who is able to help him to enter the pool first when the waters are troubled.

19:19 And our Lord, with compassion and pity, with mercy on this man, in his helpless condition, heals him, telling him, Arise, take up your bed and walk. And when the man does so, he is charged by some who see him with Sabbath breaking. They say to him, It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to take up your bed.

19:47 And later John tells us, after finding out that it was Jesus that had healed the man, and that it is Jesus that had bid him to take up his bed and walk, for this cause, John says, the Jews persecuted Jesus because he did these things on the Sabbath.

20:06 Now Jesus' response on this occasion is very important. It's very important in showing how he justified worship. It's very important in showing how he justified worship. John says, and here I direct your attention to verse 17.

20:25 Verse 16 says, For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus because he did these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, My Father works even until now, and I work. For this cause, therefore, the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also caused the Jews to die. He called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

20:54 My Father works even until now, and I work. Now what is Jesus saying in these words? Well, his point is that he is doing nothing other than following the example of his Father's observance of his own Sabbath rest.

21:16 He's doing nothing different than what his Father does by way of works on his own Sabbath rest. My Father works until now, and I work. Now it is true that on the Sabbath day, the scripture says, or on the Sabbath day rather, that God rested from his work of creation. And it is true that by that example, by that rest, he set the example for us to follow.

21:47 That we should rest from our labors on the Sabbath. But Jesus' point is, and we know it to be true, that in fact, God's rest on the Sabbath day in his Sabbath is not an absolute rest from all works. He continues even in his Sabbath rest. He continues those things necessary to sustain the world that he has made.

22:16 He continues to carry on those things that fulfill his redemptive purposes. Perhaps on the Sabbath day more than any day of the week. And he continues to do those things, other works of mercy, on the Sabbath as well as on the other days.

22:36 The Father's Sabbath rest is not absolute.

22:41 He continues works of mercy. In mercy, he sustains the world that he has made. In mercy, he prospers his gospel, calling from darkness into light, his people that they might be saved. On the Sabbath day, he comes by the Spirit as the Spirit of conviction, as the Spirit of assurance, working those works which he does on the Sabbath day, perhaps more than any other day.

23:11 And on the Sabbath day, the Father, with the extension of his own healing power, heals multitudes. Though it's the Sabbath.

23:21 The Father's rest is not absolute. And our Lord's point is this, that if the Father continues works of mercy on the Sabbath, then is not what I have just done in healing this man in accord with the Spirit of the day.

23:43 Well, his argument is airtight, isn't it? If it is permissible for God, who is the author of the law, if it is permissible for God, who wrote the fourth commandment, if it is permissible for Him to do a work of mercy, then that category of works must be permissible on the Sabbath day. And what I have done is not Sabbath breaking. But now turn over to John chapter 7.

Jesus Defends Healing as a Work of Piety (John 7)

24:15 In John chapter 7, we have a bit more information about what flowed out of this incident. John 7 verses 21 through 24.

24:30 Jesus has gone up to the feast, has been challenged by the scribes. Verse 21, Jesus answered and said, I did one work, and you all marvel because of it. Moses has given you circumcision, not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers. And on the Sabbath, you circumcise a man.

24:52 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man completely whole on the Sabbath? Judge not according to a prophet, but judge righteous judgment. Now, what was the issue on this occasion?

25:17 Well, the issue was a work that he had performed on the Sabbath of making a man whole. And in point of fact, the issue that is disputed on this occasion is still the work of mercy that he performed in healing the infirm man at the pool of Bethesda. Chronologically, in the life of Christ, we have no other record of a work of this sort on the Sabbath. on the Sabbath day to this point.

25:44 So, he is still being challenged. He is still defending himself for healing that man at Bethesda on the Sabbath day. Now, note very carefully how he defends himself now on this occasion for that previous act. Earlier, he had said that what he had done was justifiable because it was a work like that which his father performed on the Sabbath.

26:11 But here, he defends himself by saying, by representing what he did as a work of piety, as a work of religious worship offered to God. Consider what he does. He says, If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses should not be broken, that is, if a work of piety is permitted on the Sabbath, are you angry with me because I made a man whole? Are you angry with me because I performed a work of mercy on the Sabbath?

26:55 He makes a comparison. There is a contrast.

27:01 They are to bring these things together in their thinking. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath and it is not law-breaking, that the law of Moses should not be broken. If a work of piety is permitted on the Sabbath, are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath, that is, that I engaged in a work of mercy? He is drawing a comparison against circumcision on the Sabbath, which was a work of piety, and healing on the Sabbath, which was a work of mercy.

27:36 Now, how can he do that? How can he make that comparison? Doesn't the comparison fall apart? Isn't he, in fact, comparing things that aren't alike, a work of piety, on the one hand, and a work of mercy on the other?

27:54 At first appearance, it may appear so. But in point of fact, he is not engaging in an illegitimate comparison. And the reason is that a work of mercy is, in fact, a work of piety as well. A work of mercy performed on the Sabbath day is an act of worship offered to God as well as an act of worship.

28:21 It is not as well as an act of worship as well as an act of worship. It is not as well as an act of worship as well as an act of worship. It is not as well as an act of kindness done to the need. That's our Lord's point.

28:27 And he says to the Pharisees, after setting this contrast before them, in essence saying that you have no real room for a work of mercy because you do not view it as an act of worship offered to God.

28:44 He says to them, judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

28:52 You see, the scribes and the Pharisees, the scribes and the Pharisees, the doctors of the law and the rabbis, they saw nothing religious. They saw nothing pious in an act of mercy on the Sabbath day.

29:09 All they saw was a violation of their Sabbath rules. They saw nothing religious, nothing pious in an act of mercy. Piety for them, true religion for them extended no further than keeping their Sabbath rules.

29:32 They saw nothing religious, nothing religious in what Jesus had done. They saw nothing pious.

29:38 Jesus warns them not to judge what He's done in that way.

29:45 Don't judge by appearance, He says. To appearance that is viewed simply in terms of their Sabbath rules, His action would never appear pious to them.

30:01 A godly man never broke their rules in their judgment. That was the framework in which they viewed what He did. And by that set of man-made rules, no act of mercy would ever be viewed as an act of worship if done on the Sabbath day. But Jesus says to them in essence, righteous judgment requires that what He has done be judged on the basis of other principles, of larger principles, especially by the principle that is articulated for us in Paul's words in Romans 13, verses 9 and 10.

30:43 He says, For this you shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love works no ill to his neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law.

31:11 What Jesus is saying, is that a work of mercy is the fulfillment of the law.

31:19 A work of mercy which displays compassion and pity and love. That is the fulfillment of the law and therefore it cannot be a violation of the law at the same time.

31:35 Judge righteous judgment, He says.

31:40 One of the great defects in the Sabbath doctrine of the Pharisees was that they could not see beyond their own rules to see that a work of mercy was indeed a sacrifice well pleading to God offered in worship to Him.

31:57 My Father works till now. I do nothing other than what my Father Himself does on the Sabbath. He works works of mercy. I work works of mercy.

32:09 What I do is not a violation of the law. It is in the highest sense the fulfillment of the law for it is an expression of compassion and love. You have not judged righteously. You've simply judged in accord with your rules.

Jesus Heals the Withered Hand: Exposing Hypocrisy (Matthew 12, Mark 3, Luke 6)

32:27 Well now turn with me to Mark chapter 3 to the second text. And here I have provided you at least most of you I believe were handed a sheet of paper as you came in a Xeroxed page out of this Harmony of the Gospels as I did last time. I thought it would be helpful if you could see Matthew, Mark, and Luke in their account side by side and follow. As I read.

32:51 I don't know if there are other copies of that that are left. If there are if those would be shared perhaps parents to share with your children so they could see. But in Mark chapter 3 we have another account of our Lord healing on the Sabbath. I would like to actually read the passage rather in Matthew and then bring in from Luke's Gospel and Mark's Gospel at the appropriate places.

33:17 So we'll begin Matthew chapter 12 and verse 9. And he that is Jesus departed thence and went into their synagogue and behold a man having a withered hand and they asked him saying is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day that they might accuse him? And here bringing in from Luke chapter 6 and verse 7 the scribes and the Pharisees watched him whether he would heal on the Sabbath that they might know how to accuse him but he knew their faults. And then there's a statement that comes in from Mark's Gospel at this point and he says to the man that had his hand withered stand forth and he says to them that is to those scribes and Pharisees that are gathered there he says to them is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do harm to save a life or to kill that they held their peace and when he had looked round about on them with anger being grieved at the hardening of their heart now picking up again in Matthew 12 and verse 11 he said to them what man shall there be of you that shall have one sheep and if this fall into a pit on the Sabbath day will he not lay hold on it and lift it out

34:46 how much then is a man of more value than a sheep wherefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day it says saith he to the man stretch forth thy hand and he stretched it forth and it was restored whole as the other but the Pharisees went out Luke says in verse 11 of Luke 6 they were filled with madness the Pharisees went out and took counsel against him how they might destroy him now in bringing these three accounts together we get a full picture I believe of what our Lord did and said on this occasion on this occasion the scribes and Pharisees had challenged Jesus before he had worked any miracle before he had done anything that they judged was objectionable they challenged him the controversy between Jesus and these scribes has now escalated to the point that they are no longer responding to his actions but they are in fact plotting to entrap him and watching for anything that they can use to accuse and condemn them or to condemn him and Jesus knowing their thoughts that their question isn't sincere

36:12 turns their question back on them they had asked is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath well he turned that question back on them he asked them is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do harm to save a life or to kill now you see that was the proper question and by that question he revealed their hypocrisy he revealed their insincerity when they held their peace when they responded to that question with stone cold silence Mark says that Jesus looked round about on them with anger being grieved at the hardening of their hearts their silence to his question showed that their hearts had a callous across it that they were heartless and cold their silence revealed not only the insincerity of their question but it also revealed the hard callous on their hearts towards those like this poor man who needed mercy this man in fact was nothing other than a prop in a scheme to entrap Jesus that's all he meant to them

37:39 there was no sense that this man's affliction ought to move their hearts as it did Jesus' heart he was just a prop in a scheme there was not as much as a single drop of pity in their hearts towards this suffering man and Jesus as he viewed that heartless cold Sabbath doctrine they had and what it had turned them into in terms of their practice he was angry he was grieved Jesus then exposes the ludicrous hypocritical nature of their Sabbath rule that forbade him to heal this man on the Sabbath day he says to them or he asked to them and I wish that we could have a recording of his voice to pick up the tone of this question I can't imagine that the tone of this question was asked in a very quiet half-whispered way I can only imagine that the anger and grief that he was feeling in his holy soul was voiced in this question he asked what man shall there be of you that shall have one sheep

39:07 and if this fall into a pit on the Sabbath day will not lay hold on it and lift it out I can only imagine that all the anger and the grief that was dripping his own heart then some of it had to come out in the way he asked that question which of you shall have one sheep and you wouldn't lay hold on it and bring it out of a pit on the Sabbath day the way that he asked that question shows that he knows that from a regard for that sheep's value that not one of them would leave it in a pit on the Sabbath but would rescue it I have no idea what a sheep was worth in those days one sheep probably wasn't worth very much compared to what was likely the more than ordinary wealth of these scribes and Pharisees but he says then which of you if it were just one sheep wouldn't rescue it on the Sabbath day and he reasons if you may have mercy on a sheep on the Sabbath day with regard to its value why may not I have mercy on this man with regard

40:35 to his value is he not worth more than a sheep he reveals the ludicrous nature the ridiculousness of their Sabbath rules by their own practice they justified him by their own practice they proved his principle that it is he says lawful to do good on the Sabbath day in other words it is lawful to do as I have done to engage in a work of mercy having bested his adversaries and escaped their trap Jesus then turns without any further ado and heals the man there is nothing further for his adversaries to say there is nothing further that he needs to say he simply turns now and heals the man and all that his adversaries can do now is leave in defeat though they do not leave and surrender for being filled with madness Luke says they immediately conspired together how they might destroy him alright turn third to Luke chapter 13 you have seen the occasion of his healing the man at the pool of Bethesda you have seen now this occasion recorded in

Jesus Heals the Infirm Woman: Mercy Over Delay (Luke 13)

42:03 Matthew Mark and Luke of his healing in the Capernaum in the Capernaum synagogue now we come to Luke 13 Luke 13 verses 10 through 17 here an incident recorded only in Luke's gospel Luke chapter 13 verses 10 through 17 and he was teaching in one of their synagogues on the Sabbath day and behold a woman that had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and she was bowed together and could in no wise lift herself up and when Jesus saw her he called her and said to her woman you are loosed from your infirmity and he laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight and glorified God and the ruler of the synagogue being moved with indignation because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath answered and said to the multitude there are six days in which men ought to work in them therefore come and be healed and not on the day of the Sabbath the Lord answered him and said you hypocrites does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to watering and ought not this woman being a

43:33 daughter of Abraham whom Satan has bound behold these 18 years ought she not to have been loosed from this bond on the day of the Sabbath and as he said these things all his adversaries were put to shame and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him on this occasion again finding himself in a synagogue it's interesting just in passing how much of what our Lord had to do in correcting the misconceptions about the Sabbath that his day had to be done in church here again he finds himself in the synagogue and on this occasion in mercy he heals a woman who has suffered for 18 years with what Luke calls a spirit of infirmity with an affliction that was demonically caused now the chief figure in this account other than our Lord Jesus Christ is the ruler of the synagogue and the ruler of the synagogue was the chief officer of the assembly he was usually the most prominent and elder in the community and his primary responsibility was to keep order in the synagogue in the public assembly and on this occasion we see this man zealous to do

45:03 just that in a matter which he clearly regards as disorderly Jesus has healed this woman on the Sabbath in his synagogue and zealous for the law zealous to keep order he stands to rebuke what Jesus did and from the opinion that he expresses on this occasion he likely is a Pharisee who zeal for the traditions of the scribes fuels this indignation at Jesus supposed Sabbath breaking now his words are not addressed to Jesus privately he does not take Jesus aside and inquire why did you do that on what basis do you feel justified in doing that knowing the traditions of the elders no he does not take Jesus aside privately but he speaks to the multitude immediately and he does so apparently to counter act the impression that has been made by Jesus healing this woman we know that at the end of the passage says all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him this man is clearly trying to dampen the fervor trying to pour water on the flame of rejoicing what he believes is an unholy flame of their rejoicing in a profaning of the Sabbath day

46:31 he says there are six days in which men ought to work it is remarkable because it reveals the very point of controversy between Jesus and the scribes over works of mercy you see for that synagogue ruler viewing what Jesus did within the framework of his understanding of what a work of piety was that indeed you just don't do that on the Sabbath our rules don't permit that that's breaking the law for him nothing to be clearer she's waited for eighteen years to be healed what's one more day that reveals everything you need to know about Phariseeism by the way and their doctrine of the Sabbath what's one more day she suffered for eighteen years what's one more day you see for Jesus the issue couldn't be clearer either God in his law our Lord teaches us on this occasion does not require that one more day

47:59 he does not require that one more day when it is in our power of the Sabbath to reach out in mercy without delay he doesn't require it that one more day is heartless and hypocritical and then in a way reminiscent of the argument used on that previous occasion he again exposes the ludicrous hypocritical nature of the Sabbath rule that condemned him for healing this woman on the Sabbath again verses fifteen and sixteen you hypocrites does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to watering ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has bound lo these eighteen years to have been loosed from this bond on the Sabbath if the needs of an ox if the needs of a donkey can be met on the Sabbath without breaking the law if mercy can be shown to an animal who is not even made in the image of God by leading it to be watered may not

49:28 a daughter of Abraham a member of the covenant community be mercifully released from Sabbath from Satan's bond without containing the Sabbath well the answer was obvious if you could water an ox you could heal a daughter of Abraham it's no wonder that Luke says that all of his adversaries were put to shame fourth and finally if you look with me please to Luke chapter 14 verses 1 through 6 we come to the last of the incidents on which our Lord heals on the Sabbath and speaks in defense of his actions Luke 14 verses 1 through 6 and it came to pass when he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread that they were watching him and behold there was before him a certain man that had the dropsy and Jesus answering spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees saying is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not but they held their peace and he took him and healed him and let him go and he said to them which of you shall have a donkey or an ox fall into a well and will not immediately draw him

Jesus Heals the Man with Dropsy: Consistent Hypocrisy (Luke 14)

50:57 up on the Sabbath day and they could not answer again to these things this text need not delay us long or detain us long there is nothing really new that we have not already seen the venue is different no longer in the synagogue now they are in a Pharisees house one of the rulers of the Pharisees apparently Jesus on this occasion has been invited to eat from the reference to their watching him it is possible though I suppose it is not certain but it is possible that the situation is contrived that the whole scene is contrived so there will be opportunity to entrap him in Sabbath keeping it is possible that this man with the drop seat has been invited specially to be a prop to lay a trap to be the snare stick if you will obviously mindful of their intent Jesus takes the initiative and he asked the lawyers and the Pharisees present the same question that he had posed in the synagogue on an earlier occasion he asked is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not and as before that question is met with silence they won't say that healing on the Sabbath is allowable for that would require them to repudiate their traditions and to repudiate their Sabbath rules if they

52:27 grant that then they've got to go back and rework their whole Sabbath doctrine at that point they've got to admit their own hypocrisy they've got to admit the ludicrous nature of their rules and yet they don't dare say that it isn't proper to heal on the Sabbath for Jesus has already on previous occasions shown the hypocrisy and the callousness that that opinion reflects they're caught between a rock and a hard place they can't say yes they can't say no so they say nothing and seeing that they've made no objection beforehand they hardly can complain after the fact he turns from them heals the man sends him on his way and then doubtless regarding their silence as just as grieving as before Jesus again appeals to their inconsistent practice saying which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a well and will not immediately draw him up on the Sabbath day the argument as before still in our in answerable for what the Pharisees allowed themselves for their own benefit they would not allow to Christ for the benefit of another man they would rescue their ox they would rescue their donkey for the value of that ox or that donkey they would leave it in the well or in the pit

53:56 for a whole other day only to come back and perhaps find the animal dead no immediately he said immediately he would draw it up he won't let me heal this man if one man have mercy on an ox without profaning the Sabbath then certainly one can have mercy now these are the incidents found in the Gospels in which our Lord is challenged condemned for profaning the Sabbath because of a work of mercy and these are the incidents on which he defends himself but now before closing this morning there's one further statement in the Gospels that comes from the lips of our Lord about the Sabbath the and here I ask that you turn with me to that passage in Matthew 24 this will not detain us long but I'm trying to be comprehensive I promise to you that we will deal in this series with every passage in the scripture that has relevance direct relevance to the issue of the Christian Sabbath and lest it be thought well there was one we didn't deal with here it is Matthew 24 in verse 20 in the Olivet Discourse Jesus says to his disciples and pray that your flight be

The Olivet Discourse and Disciples' Sabbath Observance (Matthew 24, Luke 23)

55:25 not in the winter neither on a Sabbath now why did Jesus say that he is obviously saying that they are to pray that they're fleeing Jerusalem in the time of the trouble that's coming if it happens on one of these two occasions will be with much greater difficulty if it's in the winter it will be attended with greater difficulty than if they were having to flee away with their families and what goods they could carry so they're some other time of the year likewise on the Sabbath it will be more difficult but why what's the issue well behind that statement I believe is the reality that for his disciples fleeing on the Sabbath will mean that those Jews who are scrupulous about keeping the Sabbath traditions according to the traditions of the elders will not help them to escape at all they can't expect any help from their non-Christian Jewish neighbors who are scrupulous about keeping the law on the Sabbath day for that would require them to engage in an act of mercy not permitted by their Sabbath doctrine

56:50 I can't help you I'm sorry it's the Sabbath day though you're fleeing for your life I can't help you works of mercy are not allowed it's not an exception but we've now examined every word recorded in the New Testament that Jesus spoke concerning the Sabbath we've seen his grief over the scribes and Pharisees hardness of heart we've seen him show up the defects in their Sabbath doctrine we've seen him take us back to the Sabbath as established at creation we've seen his defense of works of necessity and mercy we've seen him speak as the Lord of the Sabbath what we've not seen is the Lord of the Sabbath abolishing the Sabbath day we've not seen that and the reason we've not seen it is because he never did that he never did that there is not a word that came from his lips either about the moral law as a whole or about the fourth commandment specifically there is not a thing that he did as

58:20 Lord of the Sabbath that can legitimately be interpreted to mean that as Lord of the Sabbath he has abolished the Sabbath day he never did it and it does not matter that popularly in our day that there are multitudes who think as the Lord of the Sabbath that he abolished the Sabbath day that doesn't matter what sayeth the scriptures the scriptures never give us even for a moment not even a hint that as Lord of the Sabbath we abolished the Sabbath day we came to the New Testament having seen nothing in the Old Testament that would lead us to expect that the Sabbath would be set aside now we've examined what the New Testament has to say about the moral law what Jesus had to say concerning the fourth commandment and I simply pose the question I have posed all along the way in this series have you seen anything yet have you seen anything at all which gives you the idea that the Sabbath is no longer obligatory for a disciple of Jesus Christ have you seen anything in all of the passages and we've looked at all of the passages except for now a couple in Colossians and Hebrews that we're going to come to in due time

59:49 have we seen anything yet have you seen anything yet that will lead you to believe that the Lord's day the Sabbath day God's day is not still obligatory upon you as a disciple of Jesus Christ apparently those who walked with him who witnessed his example who heard his words apparently nothing that he said or did led them to believe that keeping Sabbath was not their duty as his disciples say pastor how do you know that I want you to turn to one last passage Luke 23 in verse 56 I wonder how many times we have read these words and their impact has not been made on us in our thinking about the Sabbath day Luke 23 in verse 56 this is after our Lord has been crucified he has been placed in the tomb we pick up the reading verse 54 and it was the day of the preparation and the Sabbath began to dawn and the women who had come with him out of Galilee followed after and beheld the tomb

61:19 and how his body was laid these are not Johnny come lately these women have come from him out of Galilee they have been with him in all of that ministry in Galilee they have been with him in all of that ministry leading up to Jerusalem they have heard all that he has said seen all that he has done the women who had come with him out of Galilee followed after beheld the tomb how his body was laid and they returned and prepared spices and ointments and on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment when I first looked at this text I wondered am I the only person in the whole world who believes that this shows that they had heard nothing or seen nothing to turn their hearts away from the Sabbath day and then I picked up Bishop Ryle's expositions expository thoughts on Luke's gospel and I want you to hear Bishop Ryle as I close he says we see in these verses the respect paid by Christ's disciples to the fourth commandment we are told that the women who had prepared spices and ointment to anoint our Lord's body rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment

62:46 this little fact is a strong indirect argument in reply to those who tell us that Christ abolished the fourth commandment neither here nor elsewhere do we find anything to warrant any such conclusion we see our Lord frequently denouncing the man made traditions of the Jews about Sabbath observance we see him purifying the blessed day from superstitious and unscriptural opinions we see him maintaining firmly that works of necessity and works of mercy were not breaches of the fourth commandment but nowhere do we find him teaching that the Sabbath was not to be kept at all and here in the verse before us we find his disciples as scrupulous as any about the duty of keeping holy a Sabbath day surely they could never have been taught by their master that the fourth commandment was not intended to be binding on Christians do you feel the impact of that last statement surely he says they could never have been taught by their master that the fourth commandment was not intended to be binding on Christians these women had been with him apparently from the beginning

64:14 they had come out of Galilee with him had made their way through all of that ministry leading up to the cross they are now at the tomb they have heard what he said they have seen what he has done and they on the Sabbath rested according to them apparently nothing he said nothing he did had even given them a single faint question mark over whether it was their duty as his disciples to keep the Sabbath day open now granted it was the Jewish Sabbath we have yet to see how in the working of the spirit through the apostles the day was changed from the seventh to the first day of the week but nonetheless there has been nothing in anything he said nothing in anything he did that has allowed them to cancel their conscience on the issue of keeping the Sabbath hope God willing next time we will come to Colossians chapter 2 and to the statement that Paul makes in the 16th verse there but I ask you again as we come to that pivotal text is there anything that we've seen so far that would predispose us to think that we're going to read anything further on that would

65:43 tell us that the Sabbath is no longer our duty as anything in all that is recorded in the Old Testament before the law under the law in the speaking of the prophets anything that we've seen in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ anything at all that would cause us to think well when we come to these key texts in Colossians and Hebrews well certainly there we're going to see confirmed to us how our Lord abolished the Sabbath anything to prepare us for that kind of approach now Father as we draw near again we do thank you for your word we thank you oh Lord for its instruction we thank you especially for the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and for his sacred example and Lord as you have bidden us in your word that we should be like you that it is enough that we should be as our master as you have told us in your word that your work in us is to make us like yourself so Lord we pray

66:59 that on the Lord's day that we would give ourselves to works of mercy Lord that we would not look upon such things as intrusions upon the proper use of the day but would even do as you did and look for opportunity to extend mercy and compassion in the name of God Lord we ask for your mercies upon us we pray oh Lord that on this Sabbath day you would work in our hearts we pray that you would continue your great redemptive works in our midst we pray that you would work on Lord we pray that by the spirit you would call out of darkness many into the marvelous light of your son we ask these things in Jesus name Amen