Good morning, everybody. The meeting at Fairmont was really good. Brother Marvin is doing really well and seems just like himself. So it was good that he's, you know, he had another seizure recently, but he's doing really good. And they have him scheduled to go to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio to have some tests run, but he was his normal self, joking and carrying on, so.

The messages were really good. Brother Gabe brought two outstanding messages. It was good to get to sit and listen. And I can't wait to get home to hear Brother David's messages today. If you can listen, they're on YouTube and they're on Sermon Audio. And all the brethren there said, tell y'all hello. and it was a packed house. There was a lot of people there. And it was good to see there was a lot of young people there too. So it was a really, really good meeting.

Let's turn in our Bibles to Luke chapter six. If you can, listen to the messages that I preached. I preached from passages that I've preached here, but the messages were not the same. The same good news, but the message was not the same. So, Luke 6, verse 6, says, and it came to pass also on another Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and taught. That's our prayer this morning, that the Lord will enter and teach. We need him to be the teacher, the preacher here this morning.

It says, verse six, and there was a man whose right hand was withered, and the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath day, that they might find an accusation against him. This occurred to me as I read that. Our Savior knew the Pharisees were gonna be there. He knew they were gonna be watching, looking for something to accuse him with.

But he went there, and he went there to teach. Never let anybody or anything stop you from assembling where the gospel is preached. I can't tell you how many times through the years that I've come here knowing I was going to be opposed and came anyway. And I've been in other places where that's been the case. But you always end up being happy you went because you end up being blessed by the Lord. But he went anyway, he knew they would be there, he went. And it says verse eight, but he knew their thoughts.

And he said to the man which had the withered hand, rise up and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing, is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good or to do evil? To save life or to destroy it? And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, stretch forth thy hand. And he did so. And his hand was restored whole as the other. And they were filled with madness and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.

Our subject is our healer and our rest. Our Lord Jesus is the only one that can heal us. and he is the one in whom we rest. When he has healed us, we rest in him. I wanna show you, first of all, why we need Christ to heal us, and then secondly, how he heals and how he is our rest. Now, first of all, we see why we need Christ to be our healer.

We're the man with the withered hand. That's us. This man, had a hand that was withered. That means dry, wasted, incapable of working. It says it was his right hand, probably his dominant hand, making it where he couldn't work. Brethren, by nature, every person that the Lord saves, both our hands are withered, our hearts are withered, our head, our feet, and all points in between.

We are totally ruined in sin and can do no work We cannot, we're unholy in the womb and we're guilty in Adam to start with. So we can't do anything to make ourselves righteous or holy. We can do no work to save ourselves. We have to have Christ to heal us, to make us know he is the rest of his people. Now we see somebody else here that illustrates our need.

It's these scribes and Pharisees. It says the scribes and Pharisees watched him, not to be saved by him. They watched whether he would heal on the Sabbath day, that they might find an accusation against him. I never want to preach about the scribes and Pharisees and make it out to be that those are just people out there or in false religion. You and me by nature are the scribes and the Pharisees.

And even as a believer, we still have an old nature that is a Pharisee, constantly wanting to point the finger and excuse self. We see here the hard heart of every sinner that comes into this world. This is the sin nature in every sinner. The Lord, it said in Mark, it said, he looked around about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their heart. This is a hard heart.

The Lord is about to heal a man that had a withered hand, paralyzed, and they're watching to see if he would do that on a day. On a day. They were more concerned with keeping a day than they were with Christ. He's the lawgiver. He's the fulfillment of the law. He's the end for which the law was given. And they're more concerned with keeping that day than they are with him.

And they're more concerned with their own sacrifice than they are with mercy. They don't want to see this man healed. They don't want to see the Lord show mercy to a needy sinner. They want to be recognized for their sacrifice and they want to accuse him for not obeying the day.

You remember we saw before In Matthew, he said, if you had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. I will have mercy and not sacrifice. You would not have condemned the guiltless. Our Lord Jesus is the guiltless, and he's the reason his people are guiltless. But our Lord saves entirely by mercy. That's the only thing salvation could be is by mercy, because we can't earn it It has to be by the Lord being merciful. Because we couldn't be saved any other way. But he is not interested in our sacrifice.

Christ made the sacrifice. He is the sacrifice. And God is thoroughly pleased with his son. And he's gonna have his people be pleased with his son. And he is not interested in the sacrifice me and you make. We can't make a sacrifice that even comes close to what the Lord's Son did.

We need Him and Him alone. Without the Holy Spirit, this is all a man's religion is, is what we see in the Scribes and Pharisees. Without the Spirit, we are carnal. We only hear this book in the letter, and we try to keep it in the letter, You remember when you didn't know the Lord and you would read and all you looked for were the do's and don'ts and you were trying to do what it said but nothing about the scripture made any sense. And you try to do what it said but all you really regarded as doing and not doing was just the outward. You didn't know anything about inward sin and we didn't know anything about the fact that we are totally ruined in our nature and everything we do is sin. It was all carnal.

That's why the Jews required a sign. That's why they wanted to see a sign. They wanted to see an outward work because they had no inward spirit. They had no spiritual discernment to see spiritual things. And that's every one of us. We cannot understand this book and we cannot hear that the law is spiritual and reaches to the heart until the Lord gives us spiritual discernment. And when a man is lost and when he does not have the spirit, everything we did was to be seen of men. That's all our religion was. We still have a good bit of that with us now in our nature. But that's all it was without the spirit.

And the Lord said, how can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek not that honor that comes from God alone. We cannot believe Christ while we're seeking to please men. Can't do it. Cannot do it. When a man is following a man and trying to please a man and trying to please other church members, rather than his only concern being the grace of God and being found in Christ, there's no faith involved. The law is not of faith. The law simply says, do everything the law says. Do it all with no sin. No faith is involved. And as long as a man's trying to come to God in the law, by the law, he cannot believe God, cannot do it.

That's the Lord's word. Now, if that's you, if what I'm declaring here is you, if this is what I am and what you are, And the Lord's made us to know that we are the man with the withered hand, that's us. We are the Pharisee, we are the scribe, the sinner, ruined, totally ruined, incapable of doing anything to save ourselves. If that's you, I have good news.

Because our Lord said just before this, he said, the whole have no need of a physician, only those that are sick. And I didn't come to call the righteous, He said, I came to call sinners to repentance. You know, we have to go nowadays, we have to go on a website to see if the physician is taking new patients. Well, the great physician is taking new patients, but he only takes patients who cannot in any way help themselves. The only patients that he takes are ones that are so ruined that we need him to do all the healing. We need him to be our righteousness and our holiness. Now secondly, let's see how the Lord saves his people. How is he our healer and how is he our rest?

Well, he saves through this gospel. You see where he was. He was in the synagogue and he was teaching when this happened. That's how the Lord's gonna heal. It's gonna be through the gospel that gives him all the glory and reveals to us that we're the sinner. Anytime a person's under the gospel, it's not by accident. It's not simply of the person.

The Lord brings, every time somebody comes in here, I don't take that as a light thing. When you're here, the Lord brought you here. And anybody that comes in, just some new person that comes in, they're here because the Lord brought them here. And the message they hear, they're not gonna leave out here the same as they came in here. The message is either gonna save or it's going down, but it's not returning void. It's accomplishing one of those two things.

But listen, let's go to 1 Corinthians 1 and just see one more time why this is the case. I know you know this, and you know when I have you turn to these scriptures, I know you know these things, but people are gonna hear this, and I want them to look this up. I want them to see this, and I want you to see it again. Look here, 1 Corinthians 121.

After that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Everybody in the New Testament, the Lord saved through a man preaching the gospel to them. Paul, even Paul, the Lord called him, but the Lord sent Ananias to him. And he said, going down the page there, here's why.

Verse 29, that no flesh should glory in his presence. This is how he's gonna bring that to pass. But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. The Lord will accomplish that. He's gonna make his people cease glorying in ourselves and glory only in him. Now, the Lord Jesus knows the heart, and he knew their heart. It says there in Luke 6, 8, but he knew their thoughts. Now, for the believer, that's the best news you can ever hear, that the Lord knows your thoughts.

And here's why that's good news, because we don't know our heart. We don't know our sin nature. And the scripture says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And we can't know it unless the Lord reveal it. We always need the Lord to be our wisdom. We need him to give us spiritual understanding.

And he knows the heart and his word is quick and powerful. It is a two-edged sword and it's reaching to the thoughts and intents of the heart. That's Hebrews. Thor, the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, reaching, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." That's terrifying for an unbeliever. But for a believer, that's good news.

I wanna know I'm in his presence all the time. I wanna know that he knows because he is the one I need to keep me constantly. I need him. And he knows. And as the gospel goes forth, he singles out his elect. You could be sitting in a congregation full of folks, but he's gonna make you feel like you're the only one that he's speaking to.

He said there, In verse eight, the Lord said to the man which had the withered hand, rise up, stand forth in the midst, and he rose and he stood forth. That's my prayer when I preach, that the Lord would single out his child. Those that God chose and trusted to him, those Christ laid down his life for, when this gospel goes forth, he's gonna single us out and he's gonna speak to us personally through this gospel, just like he did this man. And we see here how the gospel is sharper than any two-edged sword. The gospel does two things. It kills and it makes alive. It wounds and it heals. And we see that right here, Luke 6 verse 9.

He called this man, makes this man stand there, and then it says, and Jesus said unto them, I will ask you one thing, is it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good or to do evil? to save life or to destroy it? The answer was clear, but he's the lawgiver, he's the Lord of the Sabbath, he's God, and he came to make his people know he is the rest that the Sabbath pictured, the lowest.

So the gospel, Colossians 2 tells us that all of those Sabbaths were a shadow. They were a shadow, but the body is Christ. They all pictured Christ. With that last one we saw, it began saying this happened on the second Sabbath after the first. Christ is the second Sabbath after the first. Just like he's the last Adam, he is the second Sabbath. After all those Sabbaths under the old covenant, he came forth and showed he is the rest of his people. He's the one who fulfilled it all for his people. But here's what I want you to see. The Lord Jesus, he's speaking to this man that he's about to heal, and at the same time, he's speaking to these Pharisees, and he shuts their mouth.

They thought, if he doesn't show mercy, we're gonna accuse him of not being merciful. And if he does show mercy and heal this man on the Sabbath, we're gonna accuse him of breaking the Sabbath. They thought they had him. And the Lord asked this question, is it lawful to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill. And he was doing good, he was saving, he was showing mercy.

What they had in their heart was murder, killing. And that's all a legal heart is. We saw that last time. And no sinner's gonna be able to be saved by the law. And the Lord's gonna do, he's gonna kill us and all our good works and all our good deeds and all our law keeping, just like he shut their mouth, as he heals us and creates a new man in us.

He's doing both with this word. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It's killing and it's making a lot. Go with me to Galatians 3. Look here, Galatians 3, verse 21. Is the law then against the promises of God? Galatians 3.21, God forbid.

For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, all, that's what the law was given for, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ, by his righteousness, by him fulfilling the law, might be given to them that believe, to them that stop working and believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith.

But after that faith has come, we're no longer under a schoolmaster. Our Lord Jesus makes us to know that we're his child because he had grace and saved us by grace. He chose us by grace, he redeemed us by grace, and he came and revealed himself to us by grace. And when he does that, just like he's healing this one man with the withered hand, at the same time, he's killing the Pharisee in us.

Go with me to Romans 7. whenever Paul was lost and he just thought, he thought obedience was in the letter of the law only. And he thought, looking at his outward obedience, he was blameless. But here's what he said, verse nine, Romans 7, nine. I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, He thought it was, it was given to kill. Read 2 Corinthians 3, it was given to speak condemnation and slay us. And he said, and I found it to be unto death. Verse 14, here's what he found out. The law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. That law reached his heart and he realized now for the first time, his sin was in his very nature. Everything about him was sinful.

A young man at the meeting this weekend asked me what repentance was, and he said, you know, he said, the way I'm understanding it now is repentance is more than just being turned from individual sin. He said, it seems like repentance is the Lord making you see there's nothing about you that's good. I said, you got it. That's what repentance is, making you see you can't trust a thing about you, anything about yourself.

Trust him only. So that's what he did. He looked around about them all, on them all, and he said to the man, he's looking at them and he's shutting their mouth and he's speaking to the man he's gonna heal. The Lord does this in one person. He speaks to our self-righteous Pharisee and shuts the mouth and slays us while he's creating a new man and making us whole.

And he said here in Luke 6.10, and he said to the man, stretch forth thy hand This man's paralyzed. This man can't do a thing. And the Lord says, stretch forth his hand. What did the Lord tell when he took Ezekiel into that valley of dry bones? He said, can these bones live? They're scattered, they're dry, that's us. And he said, speak to these bones and tell them to live. Speak to dead bones and tell dead bones to live.

That's what we're doing. We're speaking and preaching and saying, believe on Christ. Stretch forth your hand and lay hold of Christ. And a dead man can't do that. But when Christ speaks it and he speaks in power, the man did so. His hand was restored whole as the other. When Christ, he's the power. And when he speaks and says, believe on me, That's how we have faith. That's how faith is given. He makes you be able to do what he commands for the first time. And when this man, when he said, reach forth your hand, this man reached forth and he was whole.

And when Christ makes whole, listen, what does whole mean? Whole means whole. Christ does not partially make a man holy. H-W-O-L-E is to be made holy. That's what holy is, to be made whole. And when Christ creates a new man in us, that new man is holy because he's W-H-O-L-E. He's whole. He is healed. Paul said the Father has made us meet, fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and light right now. When you've been born again and Christ enters in, The holiness of the new man is the Lord Jesus.

And he makes you see he sanctified his people by his will, by his holy heart, by his one offering on the cross. And when he does that, he makes you believe him and he robes you in his righteousness. Perfect obedience to the law and makes you to know now you can stop working for acceptance with God. That's how he is our Sabbath rest. I'm not trying to keep the law. I have kept the entire 600 and something commandments in the law. I've kept them in perfection. And I didn't do it. Christ did it and rode me in his perfect righteousness.

And that's so of you that believe. That's rest. That's rest. And when you've truly been sanctified and your heart's been made whole, you stop looking to yourself. you look only to Christ. You stop trying to do what you do to be seen of men and please men, and you seek that honor that comes from God alone. And that honor only comes to those he's regenerated and made to rest in his son. And the honor is Christ. It's being made righteous and holy by Christ alone. That's the honor God gives. Here, go with me to Colossians 2. I just want to read this so we can see everything I'm saying. Colossians 2. Look at verse 10. And ye are complete in him. That's being made whole. You're complete in Christ. which is the head of all principality and power, and here's how he healed us. In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without your withered hands.

He put off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. This is all what he did for his people. We were buried with him in baptism. When he was immersed in our sin and then immersed in the just judgment of God, all his people were. And wherein also you're risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who raised him from the dead. And then you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him.

He came and spoke life and he forgave you all trespasses. All of them. I remember your sin no more. He blotted out the handwriting of ordinances, all the law 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 in it.

Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days. I don't see, I know men are lost and blind, but if the Lord ever gives a man sight to know that right there, he will stop letting men judge him for not keeping a day.

I'm not keeping a day. I'm resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Look, those were shadows of things to come. They pictured Christ. But the body is of Christ. He's what they all pictured. He's the meat. He's the drink. He's the light. He's the rest. He's everything pictured in all the law. Christ is.

But unless he intervenes, unbelief, going on trying to keep the law and trying to come to God by your sacrifices is utter madness. And look what it says, Luke 6, 11, and they were filled with madness. There'll be somebody hear this message and they'll be filled with madness because nothing that's being said is putting the work in the sinner's hand. It's taking it all out of the sinner's hand and saying Christ is all. And that fills men with madness to hear that. And the man that's filled with madness when he hears the gospel that gives Christ all the glory, in his heart is crucifying Christ afresh.

That's what they did. They communed with one another what they might do to Jesus. And he left them to themselves, and eventually they cried out, crucify him, crucify him. That's the madness of a legal, self-righteous, self-sanctifying, lost sinner right there.

That's what the Lord saved us from, and that's what he keeps saving us from, and I pray he Never, never, never let us to ourselves, but keep being merciful. Keep showing us that he's our rest. Keep making us know we are whole, complete in him. All right, let's pray, brethren. Our heavenly father, our great God, our father, our savior.

Lord, thank you for choosing your son to be everything to your people. Thank you for sending him, and we thank our dear Lord for coming forth, laying down your life, and truly making us complete. Lord, thank you for coming and revealing the gospel in our hearts, for shutting our mouths and killing our pharisaical nature. And Lord, thank you for creating a new man and making us believe you and rest in you. And Lord, please don't ever leave us to ourselves. We pray that you would continually make us hear this gospel and continually keep us resting in Christ alone. Lord, we pray that you would be honored and glorified in everything that we say, everything that we do, and that we might be found in your righteousness alone. Thank you for mercy, Lord. In Christ's name we pray, amen.