I feel that way often when we
come in here with desire. Have I desired? I'm looking forward to both of
these messages. I hope you are. The first one,
perhaps you've never seen it. It's a type of Christ. We're
going to go back to 1 Samuel 21. All right, Luke chapter 6, let's
read the text, verses 1 through 5. It came to pass on the second
Sabbath after the first that he, our Lord, went through the
corn fields. And his disciples plucked the
ears of corn and did eat, and rubbing them in their hands.
Certainly the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which
is not lawful to do on the Sabbath days? And Jesus answering them
said, Have you not read so much as this, what David did, when
himself was unhungered, and they which were with him, how he went
into the house of God, and did take and eat showbread, and gave
also to them that were with him, which it is not lawful to eat,
but for the priests alone? And he said unto them, That the
Son of Man is Lord, also of the Sabbath. And another place, lest
I forget, another place, and that's recorded three times,
that makes it pretty important, very important, but another place
he said, man wasn't made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath
for man. That can't be said of any of
the other law. God wasn't made for man. Man was made for God, and man
was made to serve our brother, our neighbor. But he said of
the Sabbath, man wasn't made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath
was made for man, his benefit. Well, once again, the Lord was
confronted by these Pharisees who, again, they're asking, why,
why, why? The Pharisees, as you know, were
religious people, men, and they could quote scripture. Now this
is important because it's so common. They could quote scripture. The phylacteries that they wore,
you know what those were? Those were scripture verses that
they had memorized. And according to the number of
scriptures they knew, they would put these in little boxes and
put them on their wrists or on their forehead. Scripture says,
let it be a front look for your eyes. They took that literally.
But they would wear these things for everybody to see. Look, and
they made broad their phylactery. Look how many Scripture verses
I know. But they didn't know the truth.
They knew Scripture, but they didn't know the truth. The truth
was standing right in front of them. They didn't know it. Christ
is the Word. They didn't know Him. They knew
the letter, but they didn't know the purpose of the law. And our
Lord antagonized them. Have you not
read? That made them boiling mad. Have you not so much as, haven't
you at least read this? What David did? And the men that
were with him? Now, as I said, the Lord recorded
this three times, Him walking through this cornfield. The first thought that occurred
to me was, whose field was this? Who did it belong to? He didn't
ask anybody. No, because it doesn't belong
to anybody, it belongs to the Lord. The earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof. This was His field, like those
boats He got into. But what he did was a violation
of Sabbath day law. Look at Numbers 15, with Numbers
chapter 15. The Sabbath day, our Lord set
forth as a day that was to be strictly observed. Numbers 15. Our Lord was very
strict in His commands concerning the Sabbath day. You were not
to do any work I mean not lift a finger. Not do anything. You weren't allowed to travel
anywhere except to go to the tabernacle to worship. No activity
at all. Zero. No cooking. You don't cook food. You don't
build a fire. You don't gather sticks to build
a fire. Look at Numbers 15. This is how
strict the law is. Verse 32. Numbers 15, 32, while
the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a
man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. They that found
him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron and
unto all the congregation. They put him in war because it
was not declared what should be done to him. The Lord said
to Moses, that man shall be surely put to death. All the congregation
shall stone him with stones without the camp. And so they did. They
stoned him with stones and he died for picking up sticks on
the side of death. Isn't that too hard? Isn't that
too unreasonable? You know, this is why Paul said,
you that desire to be under the law, don't you hear it? Paul was a Pharisee. He knew
the law. revealed himself to him, then
he really knew the law didn't he? He said, I used to be blameless,
now I understand the reason for the law. It's not to justify
us or make us holy, but to show us we're sinners. And the law
is spiritual, he said. It has a spiritual purpose. What is it? Well, Galatians says
it's a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, to point us to
Christ. First it shows us sin, that we've
broken it, and secondly it points us to the one who fulfilled it,
who kept it. It's all a picture, a type, a
shadow, a symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ who came to keep
the law, He who magnified the law. and made it honorable. And that's what this story we're
going to look at tells of. But this man picking up sticks,
do you think the Lord killed him for picking up sticks? This man didn't care about God.
He didn't care about God's Word. God looks on the heart. You know
good and well the Lord doesn't punish the innocent for breaking
little things like that. This man He had no regard for
God whatsoever, and he just picked up sticks, but the Lord is just.
He didn't kill the innocent. But what that's a picture of
is, at one time, you remember when the ark was being, on a
cart, ark of the covenant was being carried on a cart, which
was all wrong. It was supposed to be carried
by the priest. There was a fellow named Uzzah,
And that cart was teetering with the ark on it, and Uzzah reached
up to steady, I'm going to help the ark out, keep it from falling.
That ark is a picture of Christ, the work of Christ. And Uzzah
reached up to touch it and God killed him. Don't you lay a finger
on the ark. What all this is showing us is
the work of salvation is Christ's alone. No cooperative effort. Don't add anything to it. Don't
touch it. The Sabbath is a picture of Christ
in whom we rest. Look at Hebrews 4. Hebrews chapter 4. And amazingly, those who, well,
the seventh-day Adventists, Russellites, is what they should be called.
But they thought it was a man named Charles Russell. But they
use this Hebrews 4. How blind can you be? They use
Hebrews 4 as a text to prove that, see, we're supposed to
keep the Sabbath. How blind can you be? This refutes
that. Hebrews 4 tells us about the
Sabbath, all right? Verse 3, we which have believed
do enter into rest. What rest? As I have sworn in
my wrath, that they shall enter into my rest. All the works were
finished from the foundation of the world. He spoke in a certain
place of the seventh day on this wise. God did rest the seventh
day from all his works. Now why did God create the seventh?
Well, he showed that it's finished. The work is finished. There's
nothing left to be done. It's finished. God didn't rest. For being tired, he rested, meaning
there's nothing left to be done. It's completely finished. You
don't need to add to it. You don't need to help it. It's
done. It's complete. That's a picture of Christ, His
finished work. When Christ was hanging on the
cross, He said, It's finished. Nothing to add to it. And you don't help it. It's His
work. His work. God's work. Not God and man.
God's work. And God did read. Alright, read
on. Verse 6, See, and therefore it remaineth that some must enter
therein. Down in verse 9, There remaineth
therefore a rest, a keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from
his. He's talking about a day? No,
he's talking about Christ. You know what Noah's name means?
Rest. That's what Noah's name means.
Rest. God brought all those animals
to Noah. They came to him. You and I talked
about that. God brought them. They didn't
come of their own free will. God set them, brought them, drew
them to Noah and Noah brought them into the ark. And what did
they do while they were in the ark with Noah? What did they
do? Nothing. Rest. Noah did all the work. Noah built
the ark. They just rested. That's a picture
of Christ. That's what the Sabbath day picture,
okay? There is no Christian Sabbath. You understand that? There is
no Christian Sabbath. Paul said to the Galatians, who
somebody brought them back under the law, said you have to be
circumcised and this and that and the other. He wrote things
like this. He said, when the fullness of
time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons. Listen to Colossians
2. He says, He blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that
was against us. The law is a curse. We can't
keep it. It's too strict. If you break
a point, even if you didn't know it was there, you're guilty.
If you break one point, you're guilty of it all. It's a curse.
Nothing wrong with the law. But it's us, we can't keep it.
Can't plead ignorance. But Christ, see these handwriting,
these ordinances were against us, contrary to us. He took it
out of the way, nailed it to the cross. When Christ was crucified,
this is, as it were, put on top of His cross. Finished. Paid
in full. Kept the law. All the ordinances. All the law, every jot and tittle
of God's law, every precept, every command, Christ said, I've
kept and I pay for that broken law with my own blood. Like the
Ark of the Covenant. The Ark. Inside that Ark was
a copy of God's law. Unbroken. Kept. That's Christ. He kept the law.
Then on top of that is a mercy seat where the blood was poured
and sealed to cover the transgressions of the people that broke the
law. It's all Christ. Christ is our
rest. Did he not say, come unto me? He stood up. Come unto me, all
ye that labor and are heavy laden. Paul was laboring to keep the
law. God brought him to Christ. And Christ said, I will give
you rest. Free from the law. We're going
to sing this. O happy condition, the Lord Jesus hath bled, and
there is remission. Cursed by the law, bruised by
the fall, Christ hath redeemed us. You understand that? The
Sabbath. The Sabbath day. Alright? The
Lord walked through the cornfield. His cornfield, mind you. It's
his law. He wrote it. One time they said,
you can't do that. The law of Moses said, it's not
Moses' law. They were talking to the one
who wrote it. Remember the woman called, Moses said, what do you
say? He could have said, I wrote the
law. And this is what I say, justified. You can't do that. I just did. Who is he that can
do it? It's God that just did it. Christ
did it. Alright? He said in our text,
the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. He's the Lord our
Sabbath. Alright, go to 1 Samuel 21. This
is the story that our Lord is First Samuel 21. You'll love
this. If you've never seen it before, or even if you have,
it's probably been a long time. First Samuel 21. What a picture of Christ this
is. Every word, every line, every phrase. Then came David to Nob,
to him elect the priest. David. Here's David. Now this is when David was running
from, not running, but fleeing anyway, from Saul and his enemies. And was not our Lord pursued
from His birth until finally the cross? Alright, David is
the king. Whether anybody knows it or not,
God said so. He's God's king. Here comes the
king. The only ones who know he's king
are the ones he chose, a few men, these men that were with
him. When he came to Nob, the word
Nob means fruitful, our Lord and our King came to this earth
to do this, to bear fruit. He said, herein is my Father
glorified that you bear much. So He came as a man, four men,
to bear fruit to the glory of God. The fruit of righteousness
and peace and these things. To bear fruit and to make us
fruitful. He had some men with Him. There's a place in Revelation
that talks about the leaves, the twelve manner of fruit on
this tree of life. And the fruit, the leaves are
for the healing of the nation. Oh, that's a picture of Christ
and His people. who bear fruit also unto him. Well, the priest, verse 1, was
afraid when David came. He was afraid. Isn't that the
beginning of wisdom? This is what tells me that most
people do not know Jesus. That's the way they refer to
it. And there's no fear. But the
fear of the Lord, when you finally realize who He is, you'll fear
Him, and you'll call Him Lord. Well, he was afraid at the meeting
of David. When you meet the son of David,
you'll be afraid. And he said unto him, Why art
thou alone, and no man with thee? And David said, verse 2, David
said unto Himalek the priest, The king hath commanded me a
business. hath said unto me, let no man
know anything of the business whereabout I send thee, and what
I have commanded thee. I have appointed my servants
to such and such a place. I am alone, because the King
hath appointed me a work, me a business to do. And no one
knows about it, but these that I have chosen, my appointed."
Here it is, listen to this, in Isaiah 59. King hath appointed
me a business. Himelech said, why are you alone
and no man with you? Listen to Isaiah 59. Speaking of Christ, he saw that
there was no man. None righteous, no not one. None
that doeth good, no not one. glorified God, bore fruit. No,
not one. None that could redeem his own
self. Not one. And therefore, his arm brought
salvation unto him. His righteousness, it sustained
him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet
of salvation upon his head. And he put on the garments of
vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. David
said, The king has appointed me a work to do. I've come to
do a work. And no man can do it but me.
And does not Christ say, did he not say from a child in Luke
2, do you remember? He left his father and his mother
and went into the temple. And there he was, asking, being
asked questions. And when they came looking for
him, he said, wished you not? that I must be about my Father's
business. So as a child even, he was sent
to do a business, to do a work, to glorify God, redeem his people. And it's a work that he alone
must do. He alone saved his people when
he had by himself purged our sin. He sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on High. God said, well done, my good
and faithful servant. So many of the battles in the
story of David, God makes it sound like David did it single-handedly. That's the way God puts it. And
David did destroy his enemy. And David did wipe out the Philistine
by himself. Well, not literally, but Christ
did. Literally. The Son of David did. So this was the business that
he was sent to do, and no man knew it. It was kept secret. It was hidden. Except to some
that he'd chosen, who knew, this is the king. He's going to ascend
the throne. That's what they knew of David.
And like Abigail, remember Abigail? God told her, didn't tell her
husband. That old fool. He hated David. God hated him. But Abigail, she knew who this
was. And God had hid these things
from the wise and the prudent. Those Pharisees, they didn't
know the truth, though He was standing right in front of them.
They didn't know who He was. They didn't know why He was there,
why He had come. And He told them this story,
but they didn't know. They didn't know. And so many,
so few today understand as well. These appointed ones, they know.
Alright, look at verse 3. In 1 Samuel 21. Verse 3. 1 Samuel. David said, Now therefore,
to the priest, what is under thy hand? And he looked and he
saw bread. The priest was putting the showbread
on the tables. And David walked right in there.
Apparently. What is under thy hand? Give
me. He didn't ask him. Give me five loaves of bread
in mine hand, or what there is present. Give me five loaves
of bread. Isn't the Word of God called
bread? Did not our Lord say, man doth
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth
from the mouth of God? Christ Himself is called the
Word, and He calls Himself The bread. I am the bread of life. The bread of God. The bread come
down from heaven. David said, I did eat your word,
and it was like, oh. Manna, bread from heaven. Sweet, like a wafer with honey. That's Christ's. His Word. God gave to Christ, like Emelech
gave to David. God gave Christ five books, the
law, the five books of Moses to keep, to ingest. You remember the story of Joshua?
God said to Joshua, write a copy of this, memorize it, take it
down deep into you, you're going to keep it for the people. They
don't know it, but you must, because you're their law keeper.
That's Christ. His name is Joshua. So God gave
to Christ the five books of Moses to keep for us and to teach us
from it, to magnify it, to show us what it really said. What
does it say? To Him give all the law and the
prophets witness. They speak of Him. He said they
are they. It's testified me. He said Moses. Wrote of me. What's the law about? Cried. And he made it honorable. Verse
4, the priest answered David and said, there's no common bread
under my hand. And brethren, there's no word
of God insignificant or common. Not one word. Not one unnecessary,
one common, one vain word. Moses said, these words aren't
vain. They're your life. Every word. Every jot and tittle. Every comma. Like, remember what
Brother Chapman said, what's after Jonah 2.8? Salvation of the Lord. What follows
that? A period. Aren't you glad it's a period? Not a colon? Period. This is the king's business. Alright? No common bread, verse
4, under my hand, but hallowed bread. If the young men have
kept themselves at least from women, David answered the priest
and said unto him, Of a truth, women have been kept from us
about three days since I came out. Are you breathing? Three days
after I came out, these men, their vessels are holy. I've got chills running up my
spine. These young men that are with
me, since I came out, after three days, their vessels are holy. They're virgins. Sanctified. You want to turn
with me to John 17? John 17. If you don't want to,
do it. This is good. Alright? David
said, the priests said, they must be holy. These men, they're
not priests. They can't do this. But David
said, they're with me. I've made them priests. And doesn't
Revelation 1 say, unto him that made us kings and free. David's
a king. They're going to reign with him.
And he's made them priests. Let them come into the holy place
and eat holy bread. Why? Because David said, I said
so. He made it so. He commanded it.
He made them like Him. As He is, so are they. Holy, set apart, consecrated
for God's use. They're holy, David said, since
I came out. And when Christ made that sacrifice
on Calvary's tree, by one offering He hath what? Perfected forever
them that are sanctified. And he's able to present us as
chaste virgins. Look at John 17, this is what
he said, verse 2. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. Christ chose his disciples. He
chose all his people. And gave unto them eternal life.
Now in verse 8. I've given unto them the words
which thou gavest me. Like that bread. David gave them
that bread. They received it. And we eat
His flesh and drink His blood. Verse 14, I've given them Thy
Word. The world hath hated them. Those
that were pursuing David were pursuing those that were with
David. Those that hated David hated those men that were with
David. But I love that story of when
they came to David and David said, Your life is safe with
Me. Those that are after Me, got
to get through Me to get to you. Isn't that what He said in the
garden? If you seek Me, you've got to let these go. Verse 17, sanctify them through
thy truth. Thy Word is truth. Verse 19,
for their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified
through the truth. Is this not wonderful? Alright,
go back to 1 Samuel 21. And it says here, so these men
with me, they're holy. And so, verse 6, the priests
gave him hallowed bread. There's no bread there but the
showbread. It was taken from before the Lord. They put hot
bread in the day when it was taken away. And now a certain
man, verse 7, of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained
before the Lord. And his name was Doeg of Edomite,
the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul. This man was
a traitor. He's going to betray David to
his enemy. And it says right there, he was
of the Lord. In John 17, our Lord said, those
that thou hast given me, of all which thou hast given me I have
kept, I have lost none. But why? The son of perdition. God put Judas in with our disciples
to betray him, just like this man. Alright, go back to Luke
chapter 6. So the priest gave these men
hallowed bread. Christ took the corn. They all
ate it. He gave to them this hallowed
bread, the priest did, and God gave to Christ the law. He gave a people to Christ. And
as I said, as we noted, there was a traitor among them, which
represents Judas Iscariot. And in Luke chapter 6, So our
Lord concludes after that story, verse 5, the Son of Man is Lord
of the Sabbath. Do you understand the purpose
of the Sabbath now, a little bit? Do you understand Christ's
purpose, Christ's business? You see, Christ, like the Sabbatarians,
Seventh day or first day cemetery? They're ignorant. Paul said in
Romans 10, they're ignorant of God's righteousness and going
about to establish their own. By the deeds of the law, no flesh
will be justified. Christ, Paul wrote in Romans
10, 4, Christ is the end of the law or righteousness to everyone
that believeth. What did the man with David do?
Nothing. They just followed him. David
did it all. He was there on business. He
was doing it for them. He gave the command. He got the
bread, gave it to them. He kept them. He protected them.
He saved them. He did it all. They just followed
him. And they were sure thankful.
Christ is our Savior.