Matthew 12, let's begin by reading
these verses one more time. All right. Verses one through
eight. It says at that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day
through the corn and his disciples were in hungered and began to
pluck the ears of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw
it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is
not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. But he said unto them, have
you not read what David did when he was in hungered and they that
were with him? How he entered into the house
of God and did eat the showbread, which was not lawful for him
to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the
priests. 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? But I say unto you that in this
place is one greater than the temple. But if you had known
what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, you
would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man
is Lord even of the Sabbath day." There came a point in my life
years ago when the Lord opened my eyes to the message of this
portion of Scripture. But until that time came, I was
always very intrigued by these verses. Very intrigued by him. When you read these verses at
face value, it almost appears as though that our Lord is okay
with the disciples breaking the law. If you look at verse two,
it says, but when the Pharisees saw it, they saw the disciples,
they were walking through cornfields, plucking the corn, and shucking
the corn and eating the corn, which in and of itself was not
lawful. The Old Testament law says that if you're hungry, you
can't pluck a bunch of corn to go sell it and make money, but
if you're hungry, you are allowed to eat, but not on the Sabbath
day. And when the Pharisees saw what
the disciples were doing, they said to the Lord, Your disciples
are breaking the law. They are breaking the law. And
he answered them this way. He said, did you not read what
David did? He ate what was not lawful for
him to eat. There's a story where David was
running from Saul. And he ran to, he was hungry
and his men were hungry. So he ran to the temple to this
particular priest and he lied. He told the priest that Saul
sent him on a mission and Saul didn't send him on a mission.
And he said, I need that showbread right there. And he took it and
ate it. The Lord said, did you not read
what David did? He took the show bread and he
ate it. His men ate it. It was only lawful
for the priest to eat that bread. And then he said, have you never
considered the fact that the priest in the temple work all
day long on the Sabbath day? And they're blameless before
God. So at first glance, you can wonder,
is he condoning breaking the law? And let's go ahead and answer
that. All right. God forbid. Absolutely not. This is the spotless
one that we're talking about. This is the spotless Holy one. This is what he said in Matthew
five. He said, I did not come to destroy the law. I came to
fulfill it. Never did he break one of God's
holy laws and never did he encourage or condone anyone else in breaking
God's holy law. Never. If that's what we see
in this, then we haven't seen the truth of this word yet. This is a subject that I love
preaching to people and it's because the Lord opened my eyes
to it and it was just so wonderful to me and so freeing to me. And
so every time we come to this place in the scripture, I look
forward to telling it to people. I pray the Lord will help me
and I pray the Lord will bless this and I pray this will set
us free. Now, there are three different
views that people have on this subject of the Sabbath. Those who have any desire in
them of keeping the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath, resting
on the Sabbath, okay? There are three different views
that people have. All three of them are built on
not doing any work on it. Turn with me, if you would, to
Exodus chapter 20. This is where our Lord gave the
Ten Commandments. Exodus 20, if you look with me
at verse 8, He said, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. That means don't do any work
on it. Don't add any of your own works to it. Keep it holy. Set it apart. Sanctify it. That means set it apart from
you. Set it apart from you. Verse nine,
six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh
day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not
do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant,
nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that
is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested
the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day
and hallowed it." He set it apart unto himself. And he told man, don't touch
it. Don't add any of your own works,
the works of your own hand, don't add anything to it. So again,
there are three different views that people have on this subject
of the Sabbath, three different categories of people. The first
category of people view the Sabbath day as being the seventh day
of the week. That's what he just said right
here. The seventh day. It's what we call Saturday. On that day in the mind and the
hearts of this category of people, they don't add any of their own
works to it. That's their desire. Okay. They don't want to add any of
their own works on Saturday, the seventh day. And they very
much condemn the second category of people. That's the first category
of people. Okay. Saturday. They very much condemn
the second category of people who go about their business on
Saturday because they view the Sabbath as being the first day
of the week, what we call Sunday. Sunday is their Sabbath. The
apostle John called Sunday the Lord's day. And it's because
that's the day that he arose from the grave, the Lord's day. The Apostle Paul designated Sunday
to be the day that God's people would come together for worship.
So, for those who are trying to rest on their Sabbath, Sunday's
their day. All right? And they very much
condemn people who don't cease all working on Sunday. And you've
met people like this and I'm not talking about everybody.
I'm talking about people who in their heart and their mind,
they're trying to rest on the Sabbath. And they, they condemn those
who work on Sunday. So, you know, you got the first
category that condemns people who work on Saturday. And then
the second category condemns people who work on Sunday. You
can't do anything. You can't mow your grass. You
can't let your children play. You can't even shuck corn to
eat it. You can't do anything. Category
1 is resting on Saturday. Category 2 is resting on Sunday. And then there's Category 3. They've had the truth of the
Word of God revealed to them. And they're not resting on Saturday
or Sunday. They're resting on Jesus Christ. They are resting on Jesus Christ. Now, here is the message of our
text this morning, all right? This is what I pray God will
reveal to every single one of us here. The Sabbath is not a day of the week. The Sabbath is a person. God's Sabbath is a person and
his name is Jesus Christ. He is the holy one. He is the
one who finished all the works of God. He is the one who God's
people would not dare try to add their works to. They wouldn't
dare. We rest on Him. We rest on Him. We rest on the
work that He has already finished. Already finished. And we spread
the warning, all right? We spread the warning of condemnation. to anyone who tries to rest on
anything else. There is no other rest. There
is no other rest. The fact of the matter is, this
is the honest truth, the act of trying to make sure that you're
not doing anything, you're not doing any work on a particular
day of the week, you're trying to really make sure you're dotting
all your I's and crossing all your T's, that no labor's happening,
that's a work in and of itself. That's hard. You've got to do
a lot of work to do that. That's man trying to add the
work of his own rest. That's no rest at all. Any rest
that is not on the true Sabbath is no rest at all. Alright, somebody's
going to say, somebody will hear this and say, well then tell
me this. Tell me this, why does verse
8 right here in Exodus 20 say, remember the Sabbath day? Why does verse 10 say, but the
seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God? Why does it
say the Sabbath day? Here's the reason why. Turn with
me to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, verse 1, it says, for the law, and remember we
were just in Exodus 20, that was the 10 commandments. Chapter
10 says, for the law, having a shadow of good things to come,
and not the very image of the things, can never, with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually, make
the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once
purged should have had no more conscience of sins. But in those
sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. The law is not the very image
of the thing that can save us. And it's because of our sinful
flesh. Romans 8 says, what the law could not do in that it was
weak through the flesh. The law could not save us. The
law could not justify us. All right, then here's the question.
Why did God give it to us? To point us to Christ. to point us to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 4 right here says, It is
not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take
away sins. Well, then why did God tell His
people for all those years that they had to have a sacrificial
lamb? All those years, why did they
do it? Why did God say that to them? Here's the reason why.
He was pointing them to Christ. pointing them to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse four says, it's not possible that the blood of
bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when he
cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest
not, but a body hast thou prepared me. The law is the shadow image.
Think about a shadow. When the sun shines, it creates
a shadow. The law is the shadow image. You know, if I go like this,
you know what my shadow would look like? This. If I go like
this, it's going to look like this. The law is the shadow image pointing us to what saves us. The law is not the very thing.
It's the shadow image that reveals Christ. John the Baptist pointed
at the Lord Jesus Christ and he said, behold the Lamb of God. God's Lamb of sacrifice. This
is critical to understanding this.
God's Lamb of sacrifice is not an animal. It's not an animal, it's a person. Why did God say take an animal?
It's because that animal was the shadow image of the person.
John looked and he said, I saw a throne in the midst of the
throne. I saw a lamb, Jesus Christ. That lamb is the shadow image
of the person. Verse five, wherefore, when he
cometh into the world, he sayeth, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest
not, but a body hast thou prepared me. Animals were offered only
until he came into the world. After the person was revealed,
that shadow image was not needed anymore, wasn't needed anymore,
all right? God said in His law that we have to have a high priest,
and we do. We have to have a high priest
who can make intercession to Him on our behalf. After God
said that in His law, He ordained mortal men, to that position
throughout the years. Man after man after man. Are
mortal men our high priest? Do mortal men make atonement
to God for us? Here's the answer, no. No, they
don't. Hebrews 4 says, we have a high
priest that is passed into the heavens. It's Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. 1 Timothy 2 says there's only one
mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Hebrews
7 says His priesthood will continue forever. It'll continue forever. Why did God raise up all those
mortal men throughout the ages? Why did He do that? They were
a shadow image picturing Jesus Christ. Look at chapter 9, Hebrews
9, verse 6, it says, Now when these things were thus
ordained, the priest went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing
the service of God. But into the second went the
high priest alone, once every year, not without blood, which
he offered for himself and for the heirs of his people, the
Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the holiest of all
was not yet made manifest. while the first tabernacle was
yet standing, which was a figure for the time then present in
which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not
make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the
conscience." You see what that's saying? Everything he did when
offered blood, it didn't make anybody perfect before God. It
didn't make himself perfect, it didn't make the people perfect.
It was a type, it was a picture. Verse 10 says, which stood only
in meats and drinks and divers washings and carnal ordinances
imposed on them until the time of reformation. But Christ being
come and high priest of good things to come. by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building. Christ is our high priest. He just said Christ is our tabernacle. Christ is our temple. We just read a moment ago in
the text, he said a greater than the temple is here. Why did God give his people a
temple? It was a shadow image of Jesus Christ. His people being in Him, worshiping
God in Him. If we want to be saved, we don't
need to be in the temple. We need to be in Christ. We don't
need to be in church, we need to be in Christ. God said in His law that we have
to have an altar. We have to have an altar. Hebrews
13 says we have one. It's Jesus Christ. God gave us the ordinance of
baptism. He told us to observe it. This
is what John the Baptist said, though. He said, I'm baptizing
you into water. He said the Holy Ghost is going
to baptize you into Jesus Christ. He is going to plunge you. He is going to immerse you into
the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism is a shadow image of
the fact that God's people have been immersed into the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's all it is. We partake of the Lord's table.
That unleavened bread and that wine in us is not the hope of
glory. Christ in us is the hope of glory. That bread and wine is just a
shadow image. Do we understand that? All of
these things point us to the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything
that God gave to us in his law, all of it was given to point
us to Christ, including a day of rest. Including a day of rest. Why did God command a day of
rest for his people? It was a shadow image to point
us to Christ. Go with me back to Matthew. Matthew 11, look at verse 28,
Matthew 11, verse 28. Our Lord said, come unto me,
all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest unto your souls." He said, I will give you rest. I am your
rest. Your work is finished in me.
Your work is finished in me. To truly rest on the Sabbath
is not to rest on a day, it's to rest on a person. It's to
rest on a person. God's lamb is not an animal.
God's priest is not a mortal sinful man. God's temple is not
a building. God's altar is not a table. God's
Sabbath is not a day. All of it is pointing us to the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Once that's revealed to a child
of God, That child of God becomes free from the law. The bondage of the law. That
child becomes free in the Lord Jesus Christ. Free indeed. And this is what happens in the
heart of that child. That child desires to obey the commandment. That's what the child wants to
do. I want to obey the commandment that has been given to me. God's
people don't have a heart to break it at all. All of them
want to obey that commandment with all of their heart. They
can't help but obey that commandment with all their heart. That's
all they can do, is obey that commandment with all their heart.
In our text, Matthew 12, the disciples here were walking with
the Lord, and I'm done, I'm closing. But our disciples were walking
with the Lord and they're following Him. Where did the disciples
go? Wherever he went. They're following
him. They're looking to him. As they're
walking here, they grab a few ears of corn and they start peeling
the husks off. And the Pharisees said to the
Lord, and this is how you can spot a Pharisee. The Pharisee
said, your disciples are not obeying the Sabbath. Judgment,
judgment. Let me point out your sin. I'll
point out your sin and show you how you're doing wrong." They
said, your disciples are disobeying the law. They're not resting
on the Sabbath. Look at them. They're not resting
on the Sabbath. Here was his reply to them. Oh,
yes, they are. I almost titled this message,
Oh, Yes, They Are. I went with something from the
scripture, but that's what he said to them. Oh, yes, they are.
Your disciples are not resting on the Sabbath. Oh yes, they
are. They're not breaking the law. They are resting on their Sabbath. They are resting on me. I'm their rest. Verse six, he
said, I say unto you that in this place is one greater than
the temple, greater than your shadow image that you're holding
to. That shadow image that could
never take away your sin. Oh, may God reveal this. Shadow
images cannot save us. Shadow images cannot save us. Only Jesus Christ can do that.
Verse 7, he said, but if you had known what this meaneth,
I will have mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned
the guiltless. He said, I will accept mercy
because of my work for my people. I will not accept your sacrifice
of your work. And he said, if you knew that,
you being guilty of not resting on the Sabbath. would not have
condemned those who are resting on the Sabbath. He said, you're
ignoring Christ focusing on a day, not resting on the Sabbath. But
he said, my disciples who are ignoring the day because they're
too busy on focusing on Christ, they're resting according to
God's command and they're going to be found innocent. God's people
rest on the Sabbath every day. What do y'all do on Monday? We
rest on the Sabbath. What do you guys do on Tuesday?
Rest on the Sabbath. God's people rest on the Sabbath
every single day. Christ our Sabbath. Verse eight
says, for the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day. May
Christ reveal that to our hearts. May he give us rest. All right.