Turn with me to Luke chapter
14. Luke 14. Today, we're looking at our Lord
who heals a man with a disease called dropsy. And he does this
at the chief Pharisee's house, and it was on the Sabbath day. So let's begin here in verse
1. And it came to pass, as he went
into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread
on the Sabbath day, that they watched him." This man is called
a chief Pharisee. A chief Pharisee, he may have
been a ruler of the synagogue. He may have been a part of the
Sanhedrin. He was a chief Pharisee, a teacher
of the Jews. And on the Sabbath day, as I've
read in various commentaries, a number of them, that it was
very common for the Pharisees to throw a great feast in line
with how wealthy they were. It depended on how wealthy they
were. It's not described here as a
feast. It makes me wonder if this was
a modest meal because it's simply worded that he went there to
eat bread. He went there to eat bread on
the Sabbath. And it just makes me wonder,
you know, was this, was it a more modest meal? Was it a feast? Was it a part open to the poor? I don't know. No one really says
much about it, just that normally it was a great feast, a great
feast in line with how wealthy that person was. And the other
thing that we see here is just what it says to us, how Well,
it doesn't even say that our Lord was invited. So again, I'm
assuming he was invited to go there. But whenever someone did
invite him, because Pharisees did have him over, they urged
him, they asked him to come to their house. And whether it was
a publican or a Pharisee, we never read of our Lord saying
no. We never read of our Lord turning
down an invitation to eat with those who invited him. And he
would go to the Pharisees' house, and we know that he went to the
publicans. He went to Zacchaeus' house. We know that after Matthew
was called Levi, that there was a great feast in which many publicans
came. And that really irked the self-righteous
Pharisees. That really bothered him that
he would do that. In fact, if you just look over
at the next chapter, Luke 15, we're told that the publicans
and sinners drew near to him. They wanted to hear him speak. And verse 2 says that the Pharisees
and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and
eateth with them. There's no greater place for
a sinner to be than to be where the gospel is being preached
and declared. Because if the Lord's going to
do anything for them, he's going to give them his word. they're
going to hear the word of the Lord. And they're going to, that's
how the Lord's going to deliver them from bondage and darkness
and wickedness. It's through his word, ministering
that grace, which was ministered to us. That's how we were delivered,
through the word, through the preaching of the word. And so
this shows us a lot about self-righteousness. This teaches us a lot about self-righteousness,
and the self-righteous were always very mindful about the keeping
up of appearances. They wanted to make sure that
they were in line with the customs and traditions that they had
invented, that they made and how they interpreted the law
to suit themselves. He told some of the Pharisees,
our Lord Jesus Christ told some of the Pharisees, farewell, ye
reject the commandment of God that ye may keep your own tradition. They would set aside the word
of God in order to keep their traditions and their customs. Our Lord also pronounced this
woe upon the Pharisees saying, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites. For ye are like unto whited suppickers,
which indeed appear beautiful outward. On the outward form
ye look great, but are within full of dead men's bones, and
of all uncleanness." we see how that our Lord shows
us many examples of self-righteousness in the scriptures. This is brought
to a head in every dialogue he has with the Pharisees while
he walked in the flesh here on earth. We see it in with the
prophets as well, but especially here with the Pharisees, and
they counted themselves as the keepers of the one true religion,
that they worshipped God in truth. And we are to strive for the
truth, but we ought to take note of these warnings to us. This is not about, oh, look at
them. This is really, look at me. Look at me, because we're
looking in a mirror when we read the word of God. We're actually
looking at a mirror. We're seeing ourselves. We're
seeing our own heart. We're seeing what we are by nature
in Adam. And so we're to take heed of
this, not worrying about others, but looking at my own heart and
saying, Lord, have mercy on me. I'm the sinner. Because when
we see our own sin, we're not too worried about what other
people are doing, are we? We're not thinking about what
others are doing when all we see is what a vile, wretched
sinner I am. And it makes us mindful of our
need of grace. And it makes us mindful to be
empathetic to others, to show charity to others, true love
and gentleness and kindness, just as we need it, as we need
it. Because we're sinners and we
fail. And we err in many ways. And so we need the grace of God. And so we have these warnings
repeated to us because the truth is we're nothing without Christ. And it's very easy for any one
of us, when we think we're something, for the Lord, thankfully he does
this, for the Lord to humble us and to bring us low in ourselves
so that we remember what we are, how that we've been saved by
grace, how that we need him always. And it's for our good, because
then we go forward, Lord willing, we go forward in a much more
gracious and charitable manner toward our brethren and toward
others who need grace. And so Paul said this to the
Colossians in 2.8. He said, beware lest any man
spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of the world, after the elements,
the base things of this world, and not after Christ. And we see the rudiments and
the elements of this world in religion. especially in religion,
and the form that man puts on it, and what he does. And so
the Pharisees, no doubt, are eating bread on the Sabbath day,
and as they're eating their bread, they're totally ignorant of the
fact that they are eating with him who is the bread of heaven. there in the flesh. Turn over
to John chapter six. John six. Here are Lord is talking
to Jews who who acted like they they believed Jesus of Nazareth
to be the Christ and they're looking for him. They're going
after him. And our Lord says in John six verse 35 through
37 will look at Jesus said unto them, I am the
bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that ye also
have seen me and believe not. And our Lord was speaking spiritual
words here. These are spiritual words. not
physical words, we're not feeding upon Christ literally, it's a
spiritual feeding upon him. So that you that trust Christ,
you that believe Christ, that he is our righteousness, our
acceptance with God, our being received of God through Christ,
it's your, The feeding on Christ is that you want for no other
righteousness. You're not looking for another
salvation. You're not looking to add to
your salvation. You're satisfied with Christ
and His righteousness as the Father is satisfied with Christ
and His righteousness. And that's the thirsting and
the hungering that ceases because you're satisfied in Him. You
found Him who is the salvation of all of Israel. of all his
people, who are Jews and Gentiles, and made Jews according to the
heart, a heart work, all right, a heart work. And so, verse 37,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out, because God reveals
them who are his children by faith, by faith, trusting Christ. trusting him for all their righteousness.
So in addition then to him being the living bread from heaven,
back in Luke there, well, you might as well stay in John, but
back in Luke, we're told that it was the Sabbath day. Not only
is he the bread of heaven, but we're told that it was the Sabbath
day. Well, who is the Sabbath rest of the people of God? The Lord Jesus Christ. Here's
the Sabbath rest. eating with them, in their company,
in their midst, and they're missing him. They missed him as the bread
of heaven. They missed him as the Sabbath rest of the people
of God. Think of that, Christ being the
Sabbath rest, with what he said in Matthew 11, 28. Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you what the Sabbath pictured. I will give you rest. Rest. Rest. He is the rest of God for
the people of God. The Sabbath, under the law of
Moses, it pictured, it typified rest. Pictured in that physical
ceasing from labor. They stopped working physically. And there's some healthy benefits
to that, to having downtime and a time of rest. But it pictures
a ceasing, a resting from laboring under the law to make a righteousness
for yourselves. It pictured that stopping of
trying to justify myself before God with my works and looking
instead to Christ for his righteousness. That's how he is the Sabbath
rest of the people of God. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
four. We'll just look at a few verses.
Hebrews chapter four. We'll look at six verses here. First in Hebrews four, verse
two through four. Hebrews 4.2, for unto us was
the gospel preached as well as unto them. but the word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it. And so they looked obedient outwardly,
they went out of Egypt, right? They left Egypt and they were
on the outside, they appeared good, but there was no spiritual
life there. No spiritual life. Look at verse
three, especially this first phrase here, for we which have
believed do enter into rest. You've entered the Sabbath of
God for the people of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. You've entered
rest. And there's a difference that
faith reveals. It reveals and makes known them
that are God's children. they believe. As he said, As
I have sworn to my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest,
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world,
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. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
is the fulfillment of the Sabbath day, not only in the law, but
going all the way back to creation, as we saw when we were in Genesis
one and beginning that talks about the seventh day in the
beginning of chapter two, it all testifies of Christ and the
redemption that our Lord Jesus Christ accomplished for us. Now, in that same chapter, Hebrews
four dropped down to verse nine, 9-11 There remained at therefore
a rest to the people of God, for he that is entered into his
rest All right, not that land. Over there in the physical land
of Canaan there, not that land, there's a rest, which is the
Lord Jesus Christ. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from
his. And there's the picture. We cease
from trying to justify ourselves. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief." Not laboring to justify yourselves, not laboring to sanctify
yourselves, but as brethren called of God into the body of Christ,
into his church, we go in the commission of our Lord to bear
witness of Jesus Christ, to testify that the Son of God came in the
flesh fulfilled all the law for the righteousness of his people,
and showed himself to be the fit sacrifice, the Lamb of God,
who then went to the cross willingly and laid down his life, shedding
his blood, as the sacrifice of the people of God unto the Father.
to atone for our sins, to obtain the forgiveness of our sins,
to satisfy the justice of God which was against us, and to
make us acceptable unto the Father by Him so that He as our substitute
has saved us, has put away all that separated us and God. And so we're laboring in declaring
this word because this is the rest for the people of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ. We want all of God's people to
be brought in, and they will. They will. He does this. Now,
the point of me showing you all this is that the Pharisees were
completely blind to the rest of God, which is Christ. They
trusted in a physical day, just as they trusted in all their
works. They thought by what they were doing, in voluntarily submitting
themselves to this day that this was earning them favor and merit
with God. So look over at Colossians chapter
two. Colossians chapter two and verse
16 through 19 here, four verses. Let no man therefore judge you
in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new
moon or of the Sabbath days. Whether it's a special Sabbath
day or the regular Sabbath day every seven days, don't let anyone
judge you as though you're somehow an offense to God because you
don't keep it the way they keep it. These are a shadow of things
to come, but the body is of Christ. Through faith, you enter the
rest of God for the people of God, by faith. Don't miss Christ
in your pursuit of keeping the law. You neglect him in favor
of putting on a voluntary humility, as it were. And in doing so,
you're in grave danger, missing Christ. I mean, you can keep
all the law and miss Christ and go to hell. So verse 18, let
no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility, a voluntary
humility. and worshipping of angels, intruding
into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by
his fleshly mind, and not holding the head, from which all the
body, by joints and bands having nourishment ministered and knit
together, increaseth with the increase of God. And so Christ
is made all to the people of God. He's all our righteousness.
He's all our acceptance. Not, well, he did some good stuff,
now let me go and finish it off and improve upon it. You can't
improve upon the perfect righteousness of Christ. Whatever you need,
He has undertaken and promises to give you all that you need,
to instruct you, to keep you, to chasten you, to provide for
you, to turn you again unto Him as often as needed. He's everything,
brethren. Listen to Peter, 1 Peter 2, verse
7 and 8. Unto you, therefore, which believe,
He is precious. Is he not? When Christ is your
all, he is precious to the sinner, to the sinner's sake, to the
sinner who has no righteousness of his own. Christ is precious,
precious indeed. But unto them which be disobedient,
meaning they don't believe, They have no faith. They're going
about to establish their own righteousness and have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. They're disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed. The same is made
the head of the corner. You ever see a stone, a big stone
in your way, and you keep tripping over it, it's just messing you
up, you just want that path cleared, and you put it out of the way
finally one day. That's what they did, they put Christ out
of the way, because they were stumbling over him. A stone of
stumbling and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at
the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. Appointed, and we're looking
at some Pharisees here that were appointed unto this, and they
continued resisting Christ, steadfast, resisting him. They would not
hear him, they would not submit to him, they would not believe,
even though he did wonderful works. So going back to our text
now in Luke 14, this is evident now with the Pharisees who invited
Christ because it says that they watched him at the end of verse
one. They watched him. They were looking for sin. They
were looking to hang something on him to put him to death. They
despised him, something to discredit him. And so whether they asked
him to come or they just opened it up indiscriminately to some
part of the town to eat bread on the Sabbath day, they watched
him. As he thinketh in his heart,
so is he. Eat and drink saith he to thee,
but his heart is not with thee. Proverbs 23, seven. Now we're
told in verse two and behold, there came a certain man before
him, which had the drop seat. And so how this man came into
this place, we're not told. We're not told if the Pharisees
had him there. We're not told if he was a servant,
if he was born into the house, was a child of someone's there. We don't know if he was invited
there or how he came, just providentially, he's there. He's there and he's
there before Christ. All right? We're told, however,
that he was a certain man, and that means that the Father of
Lights wanted him there, and so he was there. Our Lord, our
God, Almighty God, put him there, brought him there. And he had
the dropsy, and that's a swelling of water. That's a water retention. I think today it might be called
edema. And where it's a swelling, typically it starts down at the
ankles and feet and legs, and it's really puffy and filled
with water. And it's not good. It's often
the result of congestive heart failure, as I understand it. And so it's not good. This man
was very sick. This man is going to die. And
it's going to be a painful death. And while I was thinking on this
man's condition, it occurred to me that this man's physical
condition is a picture of the Pharisees, who are swollen with
pride, filled with arrogance. And it's not leaving. It's not
leaving them. It's not departing. It's not
coming out. It's staying there and just filling
them up with pride and arrogancy. And they are puffed up with self-righteousness
and confident in themselves that they please the Father. However,
the fact that they hated Christ and would not hear Him shows
they didn't love the Father. They hated Him who sent the Son. They despised Him. And this was
that description that Paul gave to the Colossians when he spoke
of those that were well-worshippers, right? They had a voluntary humility
in submitting themselves to certain laws and traditions and customs. And they were vainly puffed up
by their fleshly mind. And that's what this man was,
puffed up with water. That's what the self-righteous
Pharisee is, puffed up with water. And that's what we are when we
think we're something when we're nothing. We're vainly puffed
up. And that's when we hurt our brethren. That's when we do damage to our
brethren. But thinking of those that are
puffed up, and in a voluntary humility, keep the Sabbath. I
remember meeting a younger man, probably in his 20s, maybe 30s,
had a nice family, wife and children. And he was going to a church
that was faithful in preaching the gospel. faithful pastor,
preaching Christ, exalting Christ, and the salvation of the Lord
Jesus Christ faithfully, and this man had gone for a while,
left, came back for a short while, and left again. because they
didn't keep the Sabbath the way he thought it should be kept.
And so he would depart from Christ the faithful exaltation and glorification
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who saves his people to the uttermost.
And he despised that word in order to go and voluntarily practice
his version of the Sabbath. And he walked away from Christ
in that. I pray the Lord bring them back. But it's just an example of that
puffed up voluntary humility that you would so hate the preaching
of Christ and prefer a dead letter preaching of the law in order
to keep the Sabbath. There's something wrong in that.
There's clearly something wrong. Now verse three, Jesus answering
spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees saying, is it lawful to heal
on the Sabbath day? So this is Christ knowing their
hearts. He's going to bring this out. He's going to call attention
to what they're thinking. He can't do this. He ought not
to labor on the Sabbath day. He can't heal this man there.
And so Christ knowing their hearts, because he's almighty God, The
fullness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily in him, and he knows their
schemes that they're devising. Verse 4, and they held their
peace, and he took him, the man with the dropsy, and healed him,
and let him go. And so this is a miracle. He healed the underlying cause,
if it was congestive heart failure. healed. And then, not biologically,
this water retention did not go away. Miraculously, it went
away. It just faded away and was gone. It was removed. And so it's a
picture here of grace. This miracle is a miracle of
grace. The self-righteous Pharisee couldn't
save this man. This man couldn't save himself
and deliver himself. It required the work of God to
do this for him. It required our Lord to do this
for him, a certain man to whom God would show mercy, to whom
God would be compassionate, so that it's not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. And so Christ took him and healed
him and let him go. And this is what our Lord does
for his child through his blood redemption. And in the day of
grace, he takes us to himself and he heals us of our hatred
and rebellion and sin against him. He heals us of that and
he sets us free in faith, trusting him. to follow Him, born again
by His Spirit, revealing faith in us, that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophet Isaiah, saying, Himself took
our infirmities and bare our sicknesses." Matthew 8, 17, which
is from Isaiah 53, and I think verse 5 or 6 around there, but
it's a picture of Him bearing our sins and our iniquities. or we cannot heal ourselves of,
he does it as our substitute. Now, in verse five and six, he
answered them saying, right, because they're thinking, oh,
the horror, this man just labored on the Sabbath day to heal a
man, right? And he answered them. the thoughts
of their heart, saying, which of you shall have an ass or an
ox fallen into a pit and will not straightway pull him out
on the Sabbath day?" They're hypocrites. Because if their
beast of burden, if their beast was fallen into a pit and about
to drown in a pit, they would immediately get that thing out
of there. They would do it. They would
pull out their serving ass or ox. How much more should Christ
pull this man out, a servant of God, and heal him and restore
him rather than let him drown in a horrible death? and his
swelling and water retention there. So they cared more for
their own possessions than they cared for this son of Abraham
who had the dropsy. And so they could not answer
him again to these things. God had settled it there anyway
for us. They didn't need to answer. They're
hypocrites, and they're self-righteous, puffed-up, vain hypocrites, and
it's a warning to us That's our nature. When we're looking into
the mirror, into a glass, we see our reflection and we see
that's us by nature. Lord, save me. Save me from this,
that I not be cruel and heartless and evil toward others, but be
kind and gracious. By nature, we're the sinsick
soul. We're the ones full of this pride and filthy water as
it is. And so, brethren, look to Christ. You look to Christ. He is the
rest of the people of God. He is the bread of heaven given
for us to feed upon and rejoice in Him for what God has done
to save us to the uttermost. I pray He bless that word to
your hearts. Amen.