Well, welcome to our continuing
study in Luke chapter four. And we've been focusing lately
on chapter four, verse 31, 32, and kind of a little bit in review
here that he had left Nazareth and came back to Capernaum. And in our, in our, so far we've,
we've done four lessons from chapter four. We've, we discussed
the, the temptations that Christ endured
on our behalf and that was victorious. What we could not do for ourselves,
our high priest was able. And then in chapter 4, verse
14 through 25, where the truth of God collides with natural
man's idea of God, this scripture that he went to the synagogue
on the Sabbath day and they handed him the role of Isaiah for the
read and he read the scripture. and said, this day is a scripture
fulfilled in your ears. And then, as I tell you of a
truth, the sovereign mercy where many widows were in the days
of Elijah and many lepers in the days of Elisha. And God,
according to His sovereign purposes, exercised mercy on whom He would
have mercy. And they were Gentiles. And then
last week on our lesson, And He came down to Capernaum, that
walled city, the city of comfort of Galilee, and taught them on
the Sabbath days. And they were astonished at His
doctrines, for His Word was with power. He just didn't read the
Scriptures, and it had more than just a physical aspect to it. It was with power. And they were
astonished at what He said, because it was so contrary to what they'd
been taught, what they'd been living. So today's lesson in our continuing
study as we look at verse 31 and 32, it says he taught them
on the Sabbath days. And we find that that's what
he was really doing in Nazareth when he went to Nazareth and
he stood up for it to read and they gave him the role of Isaiah
and And he said, the Spirit of the
Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel
to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. And they were fine with that
until he gave them the application of it and taught them. This was
the reading part that was read in power, and then he taught
them, and he said, This day is a scripture fulfilled in your
ears. So the part about that he was
anointed and he was sent. the personal application of it
there. And they kind of took exception
to that and wanted to throw him off the hill there and kill him.
And so he taught them in that synagogue on that Sabbath day
and then he's teaching them in Capernaum in the synagogue in
this Sabbath day. And we looked at these doctrines
that were astonishing and we're going to kind of go through them
one at a time here and cover them. And today we're going to
look at the part where the significance of the implications of the Sabbath,
the truth of the Sabbath would have indeed been astonishing
doctrine to those listening who viewed it as just another unbreakable
law which must be obeyed according to the law of Moses. And the
Jews, they unfailingly took offense at anything Jesus did on the
Sabbath days, omitting their own activities, which they did.
But almost every time we see anything happening on the Sabbath
day, We see Jesus exercising sovereign mercy on someone, healing
them, or doing some miracle on the Sabbath day. And all they
looked at was the physical law, thou shalt not do any servile
work on the Sabbath day. And they missed the spiritual
application of it. So by this verse we can deduce
that he taught on several Sabbath days, because he uses the word
days plural. And we've already, in the previous
lesson, took a look at what he typically taught when instructing
and revealing himself. As we mentioned earlier in Luke
4.18, he applied it to himself. These scriptures are talking
about me. He, God, hath anointed me to
preach the gospel, to deliver, to heal, to recover. And this
day the scripture is fulfilled in your ears. He says, I'm here
and I'm doing it. And so he taught them that. Then
again, as we looked last time in Luke chapter 24 verse 27,
and he was speaking to his disciples, and he said, And beginning at
Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the
scriptures the things concerning himself. And so we can say that
when He taught, He was teaching them the things concerning Himself
in all the Scriptures. Search the Scriptures in John
chapter 5. It says, For in them ye think
ye have eternal life, and they are they that testify of Me. And so there was a big difference
in him, in someone just reading the Scriptures and then reading
them with power and authority. And he taught them on the Sabbath
days. And he had read. So it seems fitting to examine
the Sabbath day, a day that was specifically set aside by God
for the purpose of reflecting on His finished work. And like
so many religious things, The ceremony or the tradition became
more important than the spiritual example it was intended to display. And then it became a primary
source of works, not doing anything, nothing that you could be caught
at on the Sabbath day. The very word Sabbath is a kind
of Greek transliteration of the Hebrew word, which is essentially
Shabbat, which is essentially means a ceasing of activity and
giving the idea of desisting from exertion. And also there's
an element of celebration in it. So we turn back to Genesis chapter
two, where this, was instituted, this observance.
In Genesis chapter two, we read this in verse one through five,
and thus the heavens and the earth were finished. Important
to keep that word finished in mind there. and all the host
of them. And on the seventh day God ended
his work which he hath made, and he rested." And that word
rested is the Shabbat. It's the same word that we have
the Sabbath comes from. He rested on the seventh day
from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh
day and sanctified it because that in it He had rested from
all his work which God had created and made. And again, that word
just means ceased. Not that he was tired from his
exertions in creation. He just spoke, as we read it,
if we wanted to go over to John chapter 1. And we could read
about how those things were made by Christ. And in Genesis chapter
1, God said, let there be, and there was. So it was not that
he was tired, it just means that he ceased because it was finished.
And then in verse 4 of chapter 2, these are the generations,
or that word means history, of the heavens and of the earth
when they were created in the day that the Lord God made the
earth and the heavens. And then in verse 5, some important
words here, it says, in every plant of the field, before it
was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For the Lord God did not cause
it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the
ground." So from this and other Scriptures, we can understand
that everything, that even all things were in God, and were
in His sovereign will and purpose before they were created by Him,
and not by accident. They were in the mind, the heart,
the soul, the will, the purpose of God before He created them.
He created them, we can read from Isaiah, He created them
not in vain. He created them according to
His purpose. For Him they were created. All things were created by Him
and for Him. So it was not, well, let's just
stir some stuff together and see what comes out of it. Everything
was created with an object, with a purpose. No one builds anything without
a plan and an idea of what they want, even if it's only in their
mind. I build a lot of stuff and sometimes I kind of lay it
out in my mind before I build it. And other things that I build
that are somewhat more complex, I would draw out a schematic
or a plan of it and then I would follow that plan and it would
come out the way that I drew it. In eternity, this is especially
true of God. In eternity, in the will and
purpose of God, everything was by His design, everything according
to His purpose, everything in order and accounted for, including
sin and the fall of man accounted for, and everything was finished.
Every plant before it was in the earth. Every herb before
it grew. And then we would look at even
the lamb slain from the foundation of the world was in God. It was all finished. In Ephesians
1, It talks a little bit about this
in Ephesians 1, verse 3, "...Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ, according as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world." So even the people
of God were in God before the foundation of the world. And
we could read more about that in John 17. Thou has given me
a people, thine they were. And he said, that we should be
holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself. according
to the good pleasure of His sovereign will, to the praise of the glory
of His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved,
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace. So thus the purpose
of the Sabbath was for man to reflect on the finished work
of the Lord, to celebrate this primary element of the Gospel.
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. It is finished. He was the Lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. There was nothing left to be
done by anyone. And thus we have this word, the
Sabbath, the ceasing. the ceasing of exertion, the
ceasing of work. The finished work satisfied God
the Father. Every time He built something,
every time He said, let there be, it says God saw that it was
good. He was satisfied with the product.
And again in Isaiah it said, He created it not in vain. Not
useless, not worthless, not a ruin. He said, it is finished, satisfied,
and that alone satisfied Him. Nothing else but the finished
work of His own Son. We love to sing that hymn. Nothing
could for sin atone. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
No works. In Isaiah chapter 53, yet it
pleased the Lord to bruise him. In verse 10 there of Isaiah 53,
He hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering
for sin. He shall see his seed and prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. and he shall see the travail
of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge my righteous
servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities."
So this finished work of Christ, this lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, was the only thing that would satisfy God the Father.
The importance of this Sabbath in ceasing cannot be overstated
and it was of such necessity and importance spiritually that
the penalty for violating this ceasing was death. In Exodus
chapter 31 verse 15 it says, six days may work be done But
in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whosoever doeth any work in the
Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death." It was supposed
to picture this ceasing, this finished work of Christ, and
the picture of it didn't allow for anybody else or anything
else to enter into any work that was designed to engage God in
satisfying Him for sin. The spiritual application is
plain. In salvation, works equals death. And in Proverbs, in Proverbs
chapter 14 and 16, it says, there is a way that seemeth right unto
a man. And then as our pastor pointed
out in his Wednesday night sermon on but God, we have this conjunction
word but again here that links something to the something that
happened before. There is a way that seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." That's
what happened. That's the result. It seemed
right to a man, Contrary to what man thinks and
what he designs, it doesn't have the end result that he anticipated. It results in death. There is a way that seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. And this
observance, like the declaration of sovereign mercy, was established
in the law of Moses, which testified of Christ. In Exodus chapter
20, in verse 6, we start there because it talks about sovereign
mercy. And showing mercy unto thousands
of them that love me and keep my commandments, Not all, not
showing mercy to everyone, but unto thousands it says. Thou
shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Now that
just doesn't mean, well we shouldn't use it as a swear word, or we
shouldn't say it in a light way. What that means is, if you look
up that word vain, it means desolation, destruction, ruin, uselessness. And so when we substitute our
own works in the place of grace, in the place of the finished
work of Christ, we're taking the name of the Lord and making
it useless. We're saying that it wasn't finished. It wasn't
satisfactory to God. We have to do it ourselves. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him
guiltless that taketh his name in vain." Anyone that doesn't
cease their own works and depends on their own works for righteousness,
that makes the finished work of Christ useless, vain, that
destroys it, They will not be held guiltless. The ways thereof
are the ways of death. Verse 8 of chapter 20 of Exodus,
remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. We're to take that time
from Exodus. They were to take that day and
reflect on what the Lord had done for them. They'd been delivered
out of Egypt. They'd been They'd seen mighty
works of God. They'd had the Passover where
they were spared from the Passover death. And yet, they didn't hold
to it. But they were supposed to remember,
the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, in that thou shalt
not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant,
or thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within
thy gates, Everyone was to reflect on the finished work of Christ,
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. The finished work
of God, which it would have been so astonishing that no one would
or could believe it unless by divine means and the power of
God. In Habakkuk chapter 1, Habakkuk
wrote by the Spirit, he says, behold ye among the heathen and
regard and wonder marvelously for I will work a work in your
days which you will not believe though it be told to you. It's a marvelous work. It's a
work of grace. And yet, you won't believe it.
And actually, Paul and Barnabas quoted that in Acts 13, a wonderful
chapter there that talks about the miraculous power of sovereign
mercy that the Lord exercised. In Acts 13, They were preaching there, Paul and Barnabas.
Verse 37, But he whom God raised again saw no corruption, be it
known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this
man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him
all that believe are justified from all things which you could
not be justified by the law of Moses. You couldn't be justified
just by making sure you didn't do any work on the Sabbath day,
or making sure that you didn't murder anybody, or you didn't
steal, or all those other things that are listed, and made sure
that you observed all the sacrifices and all those things. You could
not be justified by that. Beware, therefore, lest that
come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets. Behold, ye
despisers and wander and perish. The ways of a man seem right
to him, but they are the ways of death. And if you hold to
that, perishing is what happens. For I work a work in your days,
a work which ye shall in no way believe, though a man declare
it unto you. Verse 44, we'll skip there to
Acts 13-44. And the next Sabbath day came
almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But
when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy and
spake against those things which were spoken by Paul. contradicting
and blaspheming. They were making the name of
the Lord vain. Even though they claimed on the
surface to be representing Him and holding to what He said,
they were completely wrong. They contradicted and blasphemed
and made the name of God and the finished work of Christ a
vain thing. In v. 46, when Paul and Barnabas
waxed bold and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first
have been spoken to you, but seeing you put it from you
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn
to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. no
other name given among men, whereby we must be saved." And then we
see this sovereign power of God that came in power in verse 48. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. and as
many as were ordained to eternal life believed." Religion would
like to turn that around saying as many as believed were ordained
to eternal life, but that's not what it says. It's the other
way around. The ones where God had exercised His sovereign mercy, in predestinating them, in ordaining
them to eternal life. They were caused to believe.
Now let's turn to Hebrews chapter 4, which gives us the true explanation
and the application of this Sabbath of rest, or this ceasing, this
doctrine, which would have been so astonishing to the people
who were steeped in works, just like those Jews, and in that
group of Jews were proselytes, and they'd been indoctrinated
into this keeping of the law, and getting circumcised, and
all those things that were physical outward exercises. And to those who were delivered
out of Egypt here in Hebrews chapter 3, describes to us those
ones that were brought out of Egypt and all the mighty things
that were done and all the exhibits of the Lord there that showed
them who He was, and that He spared them and delivered them
out of Egypt. They saw the gospel firsthand. They observed the Passover and
were spared. And in Hebrews 4, verse 2 says, That's the one Paul's writing
to in Hebrews. He says, was the gospel preached
as well as unto them? And he's declaring there that
the gospel was declared to those people coming out of Egypt. But, there's that word again.
The word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith
in them that heard it. And remember we always like to
exercise that definition of faith where it says total reliance
on Christ for salvation. If you just replace that word
faith with total reliance on Christ for salvation, it brings
many things into the proper perspective. Not being mixed with total reliance
on Christ for salvation, the word preached didn't profit them. For we which have believed, do
enter into rest. And that word means ceasing.
As he said, I have sworn in 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 he's referring back to Genesis
chapter 2 that we read earlier in the lesson. God did rest on
the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again,
if they shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore that it remaineth
that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first
preached entered not in because of unbelief, And again, He limiteth
a certain day. This word limiteth means to ordain
or determine the determinate. As we find in Acts chapter 2
verse 23 where it says, He was delivered by the determinate
counsel of God. So this limiting here, this limiteth
a certain day means that He ordained it, He determined it. He limits
a certain day to saying in David, today, after so long a time as
it is said today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your
hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, and that's what's
required, then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day. There
remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. And here's
the crucial verse in verse 10. For, because of what we've read
there, for he that is entered into his rest, Christ's rest,
his completed, finished work, He has also ceased from His own
works as God did from His. And so, believers enter into
that rest. When a person is regenerated
by the Spirit, and they've experienced grace, true grace, they quit. They cease trying to do their
own righteousness. They cease their own works of
righteousness. They quit trying to justify themselves. They quit saying, well, I hope
my good works outweigh my bad works in the end. God will recognize
that on the whole, I was a pretty good person and I did the best
I could with what I had. That has nothing to do with it.
What has anything to do with it is a person totally relying
on Christ's finished work for their salvation and nothing else. The true purpose of the Sabbath,
as taught by the Lord of the Sabbath, was to rest in the finished
work of Christ. Mark 2.27, he said, the Lord
is speaking in your red letter editions, it will say, And he
said to them, the Sabbath was made for man and not the man
for the Sabbath. And then he says, I am the Lord
of the Sabbath. I am the one that exercises sovereign
mercy. And when I exercise sovereign
mercy on someone on the Sabbath day, they cease working. They cease their own exertions
in trying to heal themselves from their sin and healing themselves
from their fall. And their exertions in self-righteousness
stop. They cease. We'll close with a verse from
Colossians chapter 2. If you turn over to Colossians
chapter 2. This ceasing from your own works
is so prevalent everywhere in the scriptures. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works. It is not of him that runneth
or him that willeth, but God that showeth mercy." And so forth. The Scriptures make it plain
that works have no part in salvation. And as we mentioned last week,
there was a man on television who says, here's all the things
you need to do if you want to be saved. You say this. You say
that. You repeat this prayer. then
you say this, and then you call my number and tell me about it
so I can get you on my mailing list." So, in Colossians 2, verse
16, it says, "...let no man therefore judge you in meat, or drink,
or in respect of the holy day, or the new moon, or the Sabbath
days, which are a shadow of things to come. But the body is of Christ."
Let no man talk you into the things that are just physical
things that you need to do, and physical observance of them will
create a sense of righteousness in you. In verse 10 of chapter
2 of Colossians, it says, you're complete in Him. You are complete
in Christ, in whom also you are circumcised with a circumcision
made without hands, not the physical act, but the spiritual act, in
putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision
of Christ, buried with him in baptism, risen through him in
the faith of the operation of God, who raised him from the
dead, and you, being dead in your sins in the uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven
you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them. And that's what we're to rest
in, that's what we're to cease in, this finished work of Christ
on the cross. And this Sabbath day was a shadow
of things to come, a picture just as these sacrifices in Leviticus
and Exodus and Numbers were pictures of the work of Christ on behalf
of his people and their redemption and their atonement. This too
was a picture, a shadow of things to come, and represented the
Lord of the Sabbath and His finished work. So next time we get together,
we'll look at the next astonishing doctrine, the Fall. The astonishing
doctrine of total depravity. Man lost all ability to do anything
spiritual, in fact, became enmity against God. And this doctrine
just simply is not believed except by those who through the new
birth have experienced grace. And religion will say we're only
wounded by the fall and still possess a spark of life which
only needs to be emotionally fanned to bring it back to life.
So we'll look at that next time, Lord willing. And thank you for
your attention and as always, be free.