Good evening. Let's open tonight's
service with hymn number 233 in the hardback timbrel, 233. We just sing the first three
verses, just the first three verses. ? Depth of mercy can there be ?
? Mercy still reserved for me ? ? Can my God his wrath forbear
? ? Be the chief of sinners spared ? I have long withstood His grace,
Long provoked Him to His face, Could not hearken to His calls,
Grieved Him by a thousand falls. ? Now incline me to repent ?
Let me now my sins lament ? Now my fowl revolt before ? We believe
and sin no more Please be seated. Good evening. Let's open our
Bibles to Psalm 85, Psalm 85. We'll begin reading in verse
one. Lord, thou hast been favorable
unto thy land. Thou hast brought back the captivity
of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sins. I wanted to emphasize the past
tense of that because that's exactly what the Lord did, every
bit of that at the cross. Thou hast taken away all thy
wrath. thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine
anger. Turn us, O God of our salvation,
and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Wilt thou be angry
with us forever? Wilt thou draw out thine anger
to all generations? Wilt thou not revive us again,
that thy people may rejoice in thee. Show us thy mercy, O Lord,
and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord
will speak, for he will speak peace unto his people and to
his saints. Let them not turn again to folly.
Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him, that glory
may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the
earth and righteousness shall look down from heaven. You see the cross in verse 10,
don't you? And you see the resurrection
and the ascension of Christ in verse 11. Yea, the Lord shall give that
which is good and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before
him and shall set us in the way of His steps. Let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
oh, how thankful we are that Thy dear Son was able to send His gifts before
Him, that He was able to recommend himself to thee and those for
whom he lived and died by his perfect obedience and perfect
death and perfect righteousness, perfect satisfaction of justice. Lord, we thank you that we can
look by the power of your spirit and the revelation of your word
in faith to Christ and rest in him. Lord, we pray tonight that you
would minister grace to the hearts of your people. We pray that
you would reveal more of your glory, that you would cause us,
Lord, to be turned and in turning our hearts toward Christ, that
we would find in Him all that we need, that we'd be fully satisfied,
content with all that He has and all that He is. Lord, we pray for our brethren
that are suffering so now and ask Lord that you would, with
great trial, accompany their hearts with great grace. We know
that where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. We know
that your grace is sufficient for all our needs. Lord, we pray for our brethren in Missouri
and Iowa and Tennessee and pray, Lord, that you would give
comfort as only you can. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's stand together again, hymn
number 474, 474. No chorus, just sing the verses, no chorus. What have I gotten, but what
I've received? Grace hath bestowed it, and I
have believed. Ghosting excluded, pride I amaze. I'm only a sinner, save my grace. Once I was foolish, and sin ruled
my heart. Causing my footsteps from naught
to depart. Jesus hath found me, happy my
case. I now am a sinner, saved by grace. Tears not a failing, no merit
had I. Mercy had saved me, for else
I must die. Sin had alarmed me, fearing But now I'm a sinner saved by
grace Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows Loving his Savior to
tell what he knows Please be seated. Let's turn in our Bibles together
to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. For a few
weeks now, we've been looking at the miracles that our Lord
performed that are recorded in scripture. We know that he did
many things that are not recorded. John tells us that. Many other things did the Lord
do that are not written, but these have been written. that
you might believe and that believing you might have life through his
name. And it's amazing how oftentimes
the Lord would perform a miracle to affirm what he just said,
what he just taught. And the miracle is a testimony.
We saw that last week with a man who was sick with the palsy and
The first thing the Lord said to him when his friends lowered
him down from the roof, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the Pharisees,
who is this? Only God can forgive sins. And
what did the Lord say? What is easier to say? Thy sins
are forgiven thee or take up thy bed and walk. But that you
might know that the son of man has power to forgive sins. I
say unto thee, take up thy bed and walk. And so the miracle
was a confirmation, it was a testimony, an affirmation, proof if you
will, of what the Lord had just said about his ability to forgive
sin. We see that again tonight in
the miracle of this man who had a withered hand. He had an arm
that was diseased or atrophied for some reason, we don't know,
but he was unable to use one of his arms. And the Lord healed
him and restored the strength of that hand. And the reason
why he did it is to give testimony to what he had just taught. in the beginning of this chapter.
So let's read it together. Matthew chapter 12, at that time
Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn and his disciples
were now hungered and began to pluck the ears of corn and to
eat. Now in the Bible corn doesn't necessarily mean an ear of corn,
it could be wheat or some other kind of grain, probably what
it was. and rubbed it in the hands and
blew the chaff away and ate the grain. And when the Pharisees saw it,
they said unto him, behold, thy disciples do that which is not
lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. It wasn't that it wasn't
lawful to help yourself to another man's field for a bite to eat,
that was lawful, but that they worked on the Sabbath day that
they would have taken food and prepared it on the Sabbath day is what they're
talking about and what they're offended by. But he said unto
them, have you not read what David did when he was a hungered
and they that were with him? How he entered into the house
of God and did eat the show bread, which was not lawful for him
to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the
priest. You remember the story? We looked
at that 1 Samuel chapter 21 a couple of months ago, where David is
fleeing from Saul and he goes into the priest, the tabernacle
and takes that which was preserved for the, he was hungry. And now
the Lord's affirming that that was lawful for him because he
was in need. Or have you not read in the law
how that on the Sabbath days the priest and the temple profane
the Sabbath and are blameless? If anyone's working on the Sabbath,
it'd be the priest. Those that are slaughtering the
animals and participating in the worship and sacrifice, they
were doing lots of work on the Sabbath, but Those things were
not contrary to the Sabbath. In verse six, and I say unto
you that in this place is one greater than the temple. Now
here's what the miracle is gonna prove. The miracle that our Lord
is gonna perform is going to be a testimony to these Pharisees
and a testimony to us that our Lord is greater than the temple. And in verse seven, but if you had
known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Now that's the title of this
message, mercy, not sacrifice. They thought that they were earning
their favor with God. by the sacrifices that they were
making, the things that they were abstaining from, and the
things that they were doing on the Sabbath. The keeping of the
Sabbath was somehow giving them hope of salvation. And the Lord saying, you know
nothing about mercy. And had you known that I will
have mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned
the guiltless. He's talking about those disciples.
First of all, he's saying my disciples are guiltless in what
they did. They weren't violating the Sabbath. They're with me. And I am the Sabbath. And so he says in verse 8, for
the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day and when he was
departed thence he went into their synagogue. Now, the accounts
of this are not perfectly clear as to where exactly was most
think that he was in Capernaum, still in Capernaum. And Mark
records this miracle and so does Luke and none of the three writers
tell us exactly what city was in but it was probably there
in Capernaum. And so in verse 10, and behold
there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him saying, is
it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day that they might accuse him?
They were hoping that he would heal this man so that they could
make accusations against him as they had just made against
the disciples for having violated the laws of the Sabbath. And he said unto them, what man
shall there be among you that shall have one sheep and if it
fall into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not lay hold on it and
lift it out? That'd be working on the Sabbath. The Old Testament Sabbath laws
were very clear about working on the Sabbath. You remember
that time when they brought a man to Moses Right after the Sabbath
had been instituted, they brought a man to Moses for having picked
up sticks to build a fire on the Sabbath. And Moses went before
the Lord. And the Lord instructed, told
Moses to have him stoned. And he was put to death for having
picked up sticks on the Sabbath day. The problem these Pharisees are
having is that they're not understanding that the Sabbath was made for
man, not man for the Sabbath. The purpose of the Sabbath, that
the Lord Jesus Christ himself is the Lord of the Sabbath. And
they thought that the things that they did physically on the
Sabbath were somehow going to earn them salvation. And, Our Lord's making it clear that
this matter of work, working on the Sabbath is not picking
grains of wheat, or eating showbread in the temple, or serving in
the temple in the sacrifices of animals on the Sabbath, or
lifting up a sheep out of a ditch, or healing a man on the Sabbath.
That's not what the Sabbath is about. It never was about that. This miracle our Lord is telling
us, the purpose of the Sabbath. In verse 12, how much then is
a man better than a sheep? Wherefore, it is lawful to do
well in the Sabbath days. Mark's... telling of this story says that
our Lord looked on these Pharisees with anger, being grieved for
the hardness of their hearts. I don't want to have the Lord
look at me with a look of anger. I need I need mercy. I need compassion. Surely, as we just read in Psalm
85, the Lord would have plenty of reason to be angry at me.
But if the Lord shows us how mercy and truth met together
and how righteousness and peace kissed each other on Calvary's
cross, then we have the hope of knowing that we're not trying
to earn our salvation by our law-keeping. We're looking in
faith to the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ as our
Sabbath, our rest, and all the hope of our salvation. That's what they weren't doing. In verse 13, then saith he to
the man, stretch forth thy hand Now, in Mark and Luke, the scripture
says that he called the man out and stood him in the midst of
the Pharisees. He wanted to make a display of
what he was about to do. He didn't do this thing quietly
over on the side of the room. He made a public display out
of it, declaring himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath and saying
to you and me, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. Then saith he to the man stretched
forth thy hand and he stretched it forth and it was restored
whole like as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and
held counsel against him how they might destroy him. Mark says they were filled with
madness. And in all the stories, the scripture
says he withdrew himself. He left them to themselves. Those who were looking to their
law-keeping as the hope of their salvation, he left them to themselves. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. These Pharisees knew the word
grace. They knew the scriptures. They
knew what the Bible said in Genesis chapter six that Noah had found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. They knew the 40-something times
that the word grace would have been used and what is used in
the Old Testament, right up to the last example in the book
of Zechariah, the next to the last book of the Bible, where
Zechariah cries, grace, grace unto it. And then in the close
of that book in chapter 12, The Lord said, I will pour out upon
the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the
spirit of grace and of supplication. But they did what all men do
and what you and I are prone to do. And that is
that they mixed works with grace. They thought that, yes, every
religion in the world will tell you that grace is required for
salvation. It doesn't matter. The Hindus
will tell you that. The Jews will tell you that.
The Catholics will tell you that. Every form of Christianity will
say that salvation is by grace. But the problem is that they
changed the meaning of grace. They destroyed the meaning of
grace, in fact, because grace in order to be grace has to be
free grace and it has to be sovereign grace. And that's what these
Pharisees knew what grace was, but they thought that grace alone
wasn't sufficient. Here's the message tonight, brethren.
Christ is all and he's in all and salvation is by grace alone. And I know you need to hear that
because I need to hear that. Truth is, there's a recovering
Pharisee in each one of us. And there's something in every
single one of us that is prone to look to something other than
Christ for the hope of our salvation. We're prone to question our salvation
when sin creeps into our hearts. We're prone to take comfort in
something that maybe that we're not doing or some good work that
we did do. We're prone to compare ourselves
to one another and judge others because of something they're
doing that we're not doing. You see, this insidious spirit
of works and mixing works with grace is everywhere. As a matter of fact, we often
speak of the flesh warring against the spirit and the spirit against
the flesh, but as we grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ,
the war is not over some blatant act of gross sin and disobedience. That's not the war. What is the
war, child of God, that continues to rage every day in your heart?
Is it not this need to be brought back to see that salvation is
all of God and it's all in Christ and it's all by grace and that
none of my law keeping, none of my works, if it is of grace
it can no longer be of works otherwise grace is not grace. And we pollute grace with thoughts
of of self-righteousness and works. Now, we're not going to gather
here tonight and point our finger to all the religions of the world,
and they are. They're blatantly. I think it's interesting that
this man only had one arm that was withered, one arm that was
useless. In Matthew, it says his hand.
Now what does the hand represent in the Bible? Does it not represent
works? We place our hand to something
and we defile it. When we build an altar, we're
not to hewn it with tools because as soon as we do, we've defiled
it. If we touch something and we're unclean, that thing becomes
unclean. And then the arm of the Lord
is Christ, spoken of, his strong right arm. And this man, like
you and me, had two arms, but only one of them was withered.
What is that a picture of? He had a good arm and a bad arm. It's a mixture of grace and works. Yeah, we hear the Lord heals
this man's withered arm, but the real miracle is to make both
our arms withered, is to take the strength out of our works,
to leave us shut up to Christ and so that we've got nothing
we can do but look to him for his mercy. Grace. Grace. Oh, can grace be free enough? We have to add adjectives to
grace, but the truth is there is no grace that's not free grace.
There is no grace that's not sovereign grace. It's God's grace. I'll have mercy upon whom I will
have mercy. And so grace is all of God. You
know, and it's all found in Christ. Is this spirit of works and this
spirit of unbelief, is it not the sin that does so easily beset
us? Is that not the struggle that we have and why we need
to keep hearing the gospel and why we need to keep being brought
back to Christ? to be reminded again and again
and again that everything is in him and that I'm dependent
upon his mercy and that God says I will have mercy and not sacrifice. It's not our sacrifices or our
lack of sacrifices that in any way merit us favor with God. Christ is our rest. These men,
like many who try to observe Sabbath day rules today, are
in fact violating the Sabbath in their attempt to keep the
Sabbath. In their attempt to not work on the Sabbath. I remember
one time I was invited to preach at a free church of Scotland. That was the name of it. It's
a denomination. They're Calvinists and it was
in Scotland and the elders came that night
and interrogated me and found out that Trish and I were planning
after the service the next day to take a trip in the car and
go visit some ruins nearby, some castle ruins. And, oh no, you
can't do that on the Sabbath. They withdrew their invitation
for me to preach and got one of the other elders to preach
in my place on Sunday morning because I was gonna break the
Sabbath. The Free Church of Scotland. Oh, and that's just one example
that I've experienced. You see it everywhere. That's doing exactly what these
Pharisees were doing and doing exactly what you and I are prone
to do if we have any thoughts, any thoughts whatsoever, that
our righteousnesses are anything other than filthy rags. The sin that doth so easily beset
us, our unbelief, our looking somewhere other than Christ to
try to find rest and hope and peace and salvation, and not
believing that our salvation is by the free and sovereign
grace of God alone in the glorious person and in the accomplished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that mercy and truth met together
at the cross. God did not sacrifice the truth
of his justice, the requirements of the law to be met. They had
to be met. The law has to be met. And the
Lord Jesus Christ, the only one that kept the law, he's the end
of the law for righteousness and he sent his righteousness
ahead of him. to recommend him to God. And
now we look in faith to the Lord Jesus himself for all of our
recommendation and all of our acceptance before God. We can't
send our righteousness, we can't add anything to what he did. You know, turn with me to John
chapter 3. John chapter 3. Look at verse 19. This is the
condemnation. That light has come into the
world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be manifest, that they are
wrought in God. We come to Christ in faith. Faith. looking to Christ alone,
resting all the hope of our salvation in His glorious person and His
accomplished work. And we have no hope. We have no confidence in the
flesh. No confidence in our flesh. We're rejoicing Christ Jesus. And yet, when we we lose sight of Christ,
is it not because we're in some degree taking pleasure in our
unrighteousness? We're looking to something that
we've done and to find our comfort and our hope and our rest. Looking
to fleshly means... Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
four. Hebrews chapter four. Oh, that... Doesn't take much for that Pharisee
to rear his self-righteous pride, does it? Doesn't take much. We... See somebody doing something
we're not doing? Hebrews chapter 4. Let's begin at verse 3. for we
which have believed do enter into rest as he said as I have
sworn and the reason I want to read this is you know the word
Sabbath is the word rest and the Lord's going to make it very
clear here that he as he just said in Matthew chapter 12 one
greater than the temple is here and that he is Lord even of the
Sabbath and so we have We which have believed enter
into rest. We look to Christ as he said,
as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest,
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world,
he accomplished in time on the cross, what he purposed in eternity
in the covenant of grace. These things were accomplished. They were finished even before
the Lord said it is finished. They were done, so we're looking
to him. For he spake in a certain place
of the seventh day on this wise and God did rest the seventh
day from all his works. Now he's looking at the work
of creation and seeing that seventh day. Why did God rest on the
seventh day? Because he was finished. Everything
that God created, he created in the first six days. He didn't
do anything on the seventh day because it was finished. And
so the Lord's saying, we're this seventh day of rest. And isn't
it interesting that in the Old Testament, the Sabbath day, the
seventh day of rest, was the last day of the week. It was
Saturday. As if We come before God in the Sabbath day to plead
his forgiveness for the sins committed that week. But what
happened in the New Testament? The Lord Jesus raised from the
dead on the first day of the week. And under the law, under the
economy of the law, you look for grace at the end. But in the gospel, it begins
with grace. It begins with grace. We live
our lives from grace. And so, no place that the Lord's day
is called the Sabbath day. We're not referring to Sunday
as the new Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath. but we
have what the scripture calls as the Lord's day, an opportunity
for us to gather together in worship and praise and beginning
our week in grace. Verse five, and in this place
again, if they shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it
remaineth that some must enter therein. And they to whom it was first
preached entered not in because of unbelief. They were holding
on to what they were doing and not doing. Again, he limited a certain day
saying in David, today after so long a time, as it is said
today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. The Lord
was angry and grieved at these Pharisees because of the hardness
of their hearts. And now what he's saying is,
don't harden your heart. Don't think that, you know, these
men hated Christ because he robbed them of their righteousness. God makes us to be sinners. We
rejoice in having a righteousness outside of ourselves. We rejoice
in having a perfect righteousness before God in the person of our
Savior, our sin bearer. For if Jesus had given them rest,
now Jesus is same as Joshua, I believe the Lord's referring
here to Joshua. Joshua brought the children of
Israel across the Jordan into the promised land, which was
their land of rest flowing with milk and honey, but it was only
symbolic. What he's saying here is that
Joshua didn't really give them the rest. Then would he not afterwards
have spoken of another day? There's another day when this
rest, there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that has entered into
his rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did
from his. Oh, and don't you love the next verse
because here's where our struggle is. This is the struggle between
the spirit and the flesh. This is the labor. It is a labor,
it's a labor of faith. A labor of faith to enter into
His rest. Why? Because there's part of
us that wants to work. There's part of us that wants
to add to. You know, maybe if I can just
pray more, maybe if I can just do more, maybe if I can just
stop this and start doing that, maybe I can improve my position
before God. We have those thoughts. Enter
into His rest. It is a labor to enter into His
rest. The children of Israel were in
the wilderness and they were hungry. God sent a manna from
heaven. And the Lord Jesus makes it very
clear that that manna was him. I am the bread that came down
from heaven. That manna was white. It was sweet like honey. It was
plentiful, it was daily bread, it was sufficient. It was a food
that had everything in it required to sustain every aspect of their
physical life. And after a while, what did they
say? We loathe this light bread. We've been having manna for breakfast,
manna for lunch, manna for dinner. We've been having manna, manna,
manna every day. Well, just like you and me, the
flesh, the flesh gets tired of eating the same thing every day.
You know, we make a big meal and we have leftovers and I can
eat them the next day. By the third day, you know, I
don't want that anymore. I don't want it anymore. I'm tired of that. Let's get
something different. That's the flesh. And when they, because
these, Israelites, unbelievers, they said, we loathe this light
bread. We loathe this light bread. And so they asked for flesh,
give us flesh. And God sent quails by the droves
until they were vomiting quail out their nose. He gave them
what they asked for. He gave them flesh. Oh Lord,
don't give me flesh to eat. Don't let me be content in looking
to anything that this flesh does or doesn't do as the hope of
my salvation. And Lord, when I look away from
Christ and I try to find comfort and peace and rest somewhere
other than the Lord Jesus Christ, cause me to vomit that flesh
up, cause me to get rid of it, cause me to turn from it and
to find my hope only in Christ. I've got a Pharisee in me. I've
got a Pharisee in me that would take comfort in sacrificing. And Lord, remind me that you
are the Lord of the Sabbath, that you are my Sabbath, and
that you will have mercy. You will have mercy and not sacrifice. Only sinners need mercy. And mercy is all a sinner needs. And mercy is the only thing that
will meet a sinner's need. Why? Because they have no sacrifice. They can't look at anything that
they do as a place of rest. A sinner sees that their righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Everything about them falls short
of the glory of God. They must have a substitute. They must have a compassionate,
successful Savior to stand in their stead and present Him before
God for all their acceptance. They cannot look to anything
that they've done as the cause of their salvation. and they
cannot look to anything that they're doing as the evidence
of their salvation. If we look to our works for either
the cause of our salvation or the evidence of our salvation,
we're not looking to Christ. And how prone we are to do that. You struggle with that, Pharisee,
every day? Is it labor for you, spiritually? to enter into his
rest? Lord, make us like the publican
who smote himself upon the breast and would not so much as even
look up and said, oh Lord, have mercy upon me, the sinner. Make us like blind Bartimaeus
who though the crowd tried to shut him up, he cried all the
louder, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. I need mercy. Make us like David. David, after having, yes, committed
murder, we often think of David's sin with Bathsheba, But David
had her husband and a hundred of his men put to death. Nothing short of murder for that.
A lot of murders in the Bible. First crime recorded was a murder. That's just flesh unrestrained. That's what it is. And David,
cried, have mercy upon me, oh God. According to thy loving
kindness, according unto thy tender mercies blot out my transgression. David didn't say, Lord, I'm gonna
be penitent now, I'm gonna really, I'm gonna be real sincere about
this and I'm gonna, no. He said, Lord, if you're going
to blot this sin out, you're going to have to do it according
to your mercy. You're going to have to do it according to your
tender mercies. You can't find any reason in
me to do it. Sinners have no other basis on
which they can come to God other than Christ. They have no other
claim to make. Ken Singh, I have, I need no
other argument. I need no other plea. It is enough
that Jesus died and that he died for me. I will have mercy and
not sacrifice. The Pharisees plotted how they
would kill him. And the sinners, you read on
in this chapter, he withdrew himself from them and all the
sinners followed him. And the scripture says, and he
healed every one of them. He healed every one of them. Oh, what a merciful savior we
have. Let's pray together. Our heavenly
father, thank you. for delighting in showing mercy
towards sinners. Thank you, Lord, for being so patient and long-suffering
with us, how prone we are to wander, how prone we are to leave
the God that we love, how prone we are to look to our righteousness
and to try to find rest and comfort somewhere other than Christ.
Lord, thank you for reminding us again tonight. that Christ
is all, he's all our righteousness, and that we have no place but
mercy to be found in thy presence. We ask it in Christ's name, amen. 28, let's stand together. Mercy on whom He will, and whom
He will, He hardens still. To whom He will, He gives His
grace, and when He will, He hides His face. Let none despise God's
sovereign throne, He does what He will with His own. It is his right to save or kill
according to his sovereign will. Yes, God saves some and others
leaves to reap the fruit of their own ways. In the eternal ages
past, God made His choice and it stands fast. Aware that I'm
a guilty man and that I'm in God's sovereign hand. Prostrate I fall before His throne,
a wretched, helpless girl. ? If you will, you can, I say ?
Take all my guilt and sin away ? A guilty sinner at your throne
? I beg for mercy through your son ? Now trusting Jesus Christ,
God's son ? I know that I'm his chosen one And God's eternal
sovereign choice Makes this poor sinner's heart rejoice.