Christ is Lord of the Sabbath

Q: What does the Bible say about the Sabbath?

The Bible teaches that the Sabbath was made for man and is fulfilled in Christ, who is Lord of the Sabbath. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus affirms that the Sabbath was created for man's benefit, emphasizing that it is a day of rest and mercy, not a burden. He declares that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, highlighting His authority over it as God’s instituted day of rest. Christ fulfills the intent of the Sabbath as He offers true rest for our souls, relieving us from the burdens of legalism and works righteousness. Believers find their rest not in observing a day but in Jesus Christ Himself, who provides eternal rest through His redemptive work.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to understand the Sabbath?

Understanding the Sabbath helps Christians see Christ as their ultimate rest and freedom from legalism. The understanding of the Sabbath is crucial for Christians as it illustrates the fullness of rest and grace found in Jesus Christ. Rather than adhering to ceremonial laws, believers are called to embrace the liberty that Christ has provided through His sacrifice. The Sabbath highlights the need for spiritual nourishment and allows Christians to recognize Christ as the God-given solution for sin and unrest. This perspective frees us from a burdensome religion centered on works and reintegrates the basic truth that we rest in what Christ has accomplished, not in our own efforts.

Q: How do we know that Christ is Lord of the Sabbath?

Christ is recognized as Lord of the Sabbath through His actions and declarations in the Gospels, affirming His divinity. Christ is affirmed as Lord of the Sabbath based on His authoritative interpretation of the Law as well as His divine ability to grant mercy and make exceptions to the Sabbath observance. When the Pharisees confronted Him about His disciples picking grain on the Sabbath, Jesus pointed out that their actions were in line with the mercy that the Sabbath allows. Additionally, His statement that 'the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath' establishes His authority over the day created by God for rest. This claim underlines His identity as both God and Redeemer, demonstrating that He is the fulfillment of the Sabbath’s purpose.

Come back to Mark chapter 2. Mark chapter 2. The title of this message, Christ is Lord of the Sabbath. He's Lord of the Sabbath. Now our Lord and His disciples, they walk through the green fields. on the Sabbath. They're on their way to a synagogue because if you go over and read Matthew 12 where this same story is told after they meet with the Pharisees, it says they enter into the synagogue. Our Lord was always where the Word of God was, was being read anyway.

And while on their way, the disciples They pluck some, it says ears of corn, but it's grain of wheat. They pick some because they're hungry. They need breakfast before they get there. And what a humble breakfast. They take some grain, they rub it in their hands to get the husk off, then they just eat the grain. This speaks of their poverty and the simplicity of their life. Our Lord truly became poor that you and I might become rich and He lived so simply and the disciples lived so simply they did not live a lavish life they lived a life of poverty they were poor now as they are headed toward the synagogue and as they walk through the grain fields and they start picking some of that grain the pharisees see this and this is sad But this is what a legalistic spirit will do, it'll accuse everybody that doesn't live up to their standards.

They see this and they accuse them before the Lord of breaking the Sabbath, not knowing that the Lord of the Sabbath is standing there in front of them, not knowing that He's the one who instituted it. The Sabbath is not over Him, He's over it. THERE IS NOTHING OVER HIM, AND HE IS LORD OF THE SABBATH. HE SAID THE SON OF MAN IS LORD OF THE SABBATH. THEY HAD NO IDEA WHO THEY WERE STANDING IN FRONT OF, GOD! THEY ARE STANDING THERE IN FRONT OF GOD, AND THEY ARE ACCUSING HIS DISCIPLES OF BREAKING THE SABBATH. AND THEN THE LORD, THEIR ADVOCATE, THEIR ADVOCATE STANDS UP FOR THEM. THEIR ADVOCATE RESPONDS TO THEIR ACCUSATION.

You know what the Lord said to them one time, You are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. And the devil is identified in another place as the accuser of the brethren. what do the pharisees do constantly accuse the brethren constantly they was making accusations against them now the first thing we see here is how the pharisees find fault again because after this episode he goes into the synagogue we'll see the next time in chapter 3 and he heals a man with a withered hand Well, they accuse him again of breaking the Sabbath.

That's on the same day this all happens. And it came to pass, verse 23, that he went through the cornfields on the Sabbath day, and his disciples began as they went to pluck the ears of corn. Whose field were they plucking these ears of corn? His. I thought about that when I was reading this. They're going through the field and they're just plucking this corn and somebody supposedly owned the field. God owns all things. That's why I said supposedly. You know, we think we own everything. We think we own our house. We think we own it. Don't pay your taxes and see how long you own it. Really, don't pay your taxes.

But God owns everything and this field is His. This is the Lord's field. The Earth is the Lord that follows thereof and they who dwell therein. So if He lets His disciples, if He wants them to pick grain on the Sabbath day in this particular field, it's His. It's His. He's Lord of it. He's Lord of it.

And the Pharisees, verse 24, said to him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful? Here is an example in these Pharisees of religious legalism, do's and don'ts. They focused on ceremonies, not mercy, not your good, BUT ON CEREMONIES, ON TRADITIONS, AND AT OTHER TIMES THEY ACCUSED HIM OF BREAKING THE TRADITIONS OF THE ELDERS." Well, that's not breaking a commandment of God, breaking a tradition that some elder set up. But they focused on CEREMONIES, TRADITIONS, AND OUR RELIGION.

That's the religion without Christ. All religion without Christ is legalistic religion. And every one of us by nature are a bunch of legalists. Everybody thinks they can please God by what they do or don't do. Even a criminal thinks that he can please God if he just quits stealing or whatever it is he's doing.

JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY ONE WHO IS PLEASED GOD. THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED. HE DIDN'T SAY THAT ABOUT ANYBODY ELSE. HE'S WELL PLEASED WITH HIS SON AND HE'S WELL PLEASED WITH THOSE IN HIS SON. HE'S THE HEAD, WE'RE THE BODY. IF HE'S PLEASED WITH HIS SON, THE HEAD, HE'S PLEASED WITH THE BODY, THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST.

NOW THE PHARISEES we see here they prefer their traditions to God's Word they prefer tradition to the to God's Word now I know this is true if you go back in the Old Testament it's true they were not to harvest their crops on the Sabbath day they would do no work but they were allowed to do acts of mercy and grace they were allowed to do that THEY WERE ALLOWED TO EAT! THEY WERE ALLOWED TO GET UP IN THE MORNING AND EAT BREAKFAST! THAT WASN'T AGAINST THE LAW OF THE SABBATH! AND THAT'S ALL THEY WERE DOING WAS EATING!

Our Lord points out over in Matthew 12 in this same situation, this same story, He says to them, HE SAID TO THEM, WHAT MAN SHALL THERE BE AMONG YOU THAT SHALL HAVE ONE SHEEP, AND IF IT FALL INTO A PIT ON THE SABBATH DAY, WILL HE NOT LAY HOLD OF IT, AND LIFT IT OUT? HE SAYS EVERY ONE OF YOU WILL DO THAT. IF YOU HAVE A SHEEP AND IT FALLS INTO A DITCH, YOU'RE GOING TO GO OVER THERE AND GET IT OUT.

WELL HOW MUCH MORE TO FEED A HUNGRY, A HUNGRY MAN? HOW MUCH MORE IMPORTANT IS IT TO FEED THESE DISCIPLES, TO LET THEM EAT? THEY ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN A SHEEP! FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN AN ANIMAL! YOU CONDEMN THEM AND YOU'RE READY TO KILL THEM BUT YOU WANT TO SAVE AN ANIMAL! HOW PERVERTED ARE YOUR JUDGMENTS!

The Pharisees were void of mercy and grace just like their father satan they were not gracious or merciful they were not forgiving they were hard hardcore legalistic on everybody they they put demands on people that they couldn't even bear they wouldn't even lift a finger to bear the disciples here were they were innocent where our Lord would never have defended them.

He defends them because they're innocent of breaking the Sabbath. Over in Matthew 12, let's go over to Matthew 12 because the same story is over there in Matthew chapter 12. Let me see what verse I want to look at. in verse six verse uh verse four because he speaks of david here david how he entered into the house of god did eat the show bread which was not lawful for him to eat neither for them which were with him but only for the priest and remember this verse after we go back or have you not read because this is not what mark didn't mention this 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 TO YOU THAT IN THIS PLACE IS ONE GREATER THAN THE TEMPLE. BUT IF YOU HAD KNOWN WHAT THIS MEANS, THAT I WILL HAVE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE, IF YOU KNEW WHAT THAT MEANS, THAT'S OVER IN HOSEA 6-6, HE'S QUOTING HOSEA 6-6. HE SAYS IF YOU HAD KNOWN WHAT THIS MEANS, I'D HAVE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE, YOU WOULD NOT HAVE CONDEMNED THE GUILTLESS.

HE SAYS THEY ARE NOT GUILTY. They're not guilty of breaking the Sabbath. If you only knew, if you only knew that the one standing here is Lord of the Sabbath. And I'm telling them, you pick, pick the grain and eat. I'm telling them to do it. They are guiltless. They are guiltless. Our Lord is the one who justifies us. He's the one who justifies us. CHRIST DECLARES THEM NOT GUILTY.

And these Pharisees, they judge them not according to scripture, but according to tradition. That's how they judge them. That's how they condemn them. They would rather put them to death for doing this. THINKING they are doing God a service. SLAPPING EACH OTHER ON THE BACK FOR PUTTING THEM TO DEATH. You know the scripture gives us warning against such pharisaical attitudes. BEWARE OF THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES, THEIR HYPOCRISY.

THEY'RE STANDING THERE IN FRONT just as guilty of everything that they judge others by and condemn others by and they're guilty of every bit of it. Guilty of every bit of it. Self-righteousness produces criticism of others. Here's how you can tell a legalistic spirit in somebody and I believe I mentioned this last week is this they seek to regulate the lives of others by their lives they are the standard.

Christ is the standard, not us, He is. Now, here's a question, where do we get our doctrine from? Our teaching, our doctrine, what we believe, what we believe, where do we get it from? Is it tradition? Is this passed down from people in days gone by?

We get it from the Scriptures. We get it from the Word of God. Christ answers His adversaries with the Scriptures. He never, every time He answered a question or answered an accusation, you know how He answered it? With the Scriptures. HE ANSWERED IT WITH HIS SCRIPTURES, AND HE CITES DAVID'S EATING OF THE SHOWBREAD. THEY KNEW THIS. HAVE YOU NEVER READ WHAT DAVID DID? ABSOLUTELY. THEY READ IT MANY TIMES. THEY READ IT MANY TIMES. WHEN HE HAD NEED, SEE HERE'S THE KEY, HE HAD NEED AND HE WAS HUNGRY, AND THEY THAT WERE WITH HIM They read that story many times but were ignorant of its spiritual meaning. Totally ignorant.

There is no law against eating if you're hungry. There's no law against eating on the Sabbath if you're hungry. If a sheep falls in a ditch there's no law that says don't get him out. THERE IS NO LAW AGAINST SHOWING MERCY! THERE IS NO LAW AGAINST THAT! IT SUPERSEDES EVERYTHING! TO SHOW MERCY! HERE IS WHERE MEN ERR! AS OUR LORD SAID IN MATTHEW 22-29 THE LORD ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM YOU DO ERR!

THIS IS WHEN THE SADDUCES CAME TO THEM! And they said, this woman, she's married a husband, he dies, she marries another one. And she ends up marrying seven of them, they all die. Whose wife is she gonna be in heaven? They thought they really presented a problem. They thought, we got him. Now who's this one woman who's married seven men? Now which one, which husband's gonna be, which one's gonna be her husband?

And the Lord said, you do err not knowing the scriptures, Here's your problem. You don't know the word of God nor the power of God is what he said to them. People read the scriptures like the Pharisees and the scribes. They read them daily. They read them daily and they were totally ignorant of what they were saying. People can read through the Bible. There's many people who read through the Bible, you know, they read through, you know, every year they read through the Bible and don't know what it's saying.

They never see Christ. They never see Christ. They never see mercy. They never see Him. He's got to reveal Himself. They read the Scriptures and were totally ignorant of Him. They read the Scriptures and the Scriptures speak of Him. The Law and the Prophets and the Psalms speak of Him. And there He stands in front of them and they don't even know Him. He came unto His own and His own received Him not. They turned thumbs down on Him. They rejected Him. They despised Him. This is not the Messiah. He wouldn't look like this. This is the carpenter's son.

You see how we are so impressed by appearance, we can be so fooled by appearance. Being ignorant of God's Word is dangerous, it's dangerous. I told someone that called me the other night, someone called me and I told gave him this I said, get in the word of God, ask the Lord to make himself known to you. He promised those who seek me with all their heart will find me. I said, that's all I can tell you. Somebody's been watching us. I said, that's all I can tell you. There's nothing I can do for you. I can't do anything for you.

CHRIST IS THE ONE WHO CAN DO EVERYTHING FOR US! HE'S THE SAVIOR OF SINNERS! HE'S THE SAVIOR OF SINNERS! IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW HIM, GET IN THE WORD OF GOD AND SEEK HIM! BECAUSE HE PROMISED, HE SAID YOU WILL FIND ME IF YOU SEEK ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART! YOU'LL FIND ME! YOU'LL FIND ME!

HOW OUR LORD ALWAYS USED THE SCRIPTURES WHEN ANSWERING THEIR ACCUSATIONS. AND WE OUGHT TO STUDY THE WORD OF GOD. I CANNOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH TO YOU TONIGHT, AND TO ME. STUDY THE WORD OF GOD, DILIGENTLY SEEKING THE LORD TO OPEN THE SCRIPTURES TO YOU. EVERY TIME I STUDY A PORTION OF SCRIPTURES TO PREACH FROM, I ASK THE LORD EVERY TIME, OPEN THE SCRIPTURES TO MY UNDERSTANDING. ENABLE ME TO GIVE THEM THE MESSAGE THAT'S IN THIS PORTION OF SCRIPTURES. These are my prayers when I prepare to preach. ENABLE ME TO GIVE THEM THE MESSAGE THAT YOU HAVE FOR THEM THIS EVENING.

ENABLE ME TO RIGHTLY DIVIDE THE WORD OF TRUTH. most people go to church so-called I don't like to use that phrase but people know what I mean when I say that they're just going to a to a some kind of service they call it going to church they go there and the only thing they know is what the preacher tells them they never open this book THEY ONLY KNOW WHAT THE MAN IN THE PULPIT IS TELLING THEM, AND WHAT DOES THE WORD OF GOD TELL US?

TRY THE SPIRITS! In 1 John chapter 4, TRY THE SPIRITS! Because everyone stands and opens this book and speaks, is speaking by a spirit, either the Holy Spirit or another spirit. Paul said they'll come preaching another gospel, another Jesus, another spirit.

But they can't tell you. And I know, I know people and you do too. You know people that they go out here to these other services. Now you sit down and you cannot have an intelligent conversation with them over the gospel of Christ. You can't do it. Can't do it. I believe I can and I believe you can. You can go to the Word of God and say, this is what I believe because this is what the Word of God says.

I do not believe I am saved because I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. No one's ever been saved because of that. They're saved because God has made them accepted in the Beloved. That's what it says in Ephesians chapter one. He has made us accepted in the Beloved. THEY HAVE NO CLUE AS TO WHAT THE WORD OF GOD REALLY SAYS, THEY JUST KNOW WHAT THAT MAN STANDING IN THE PULPIT IS SAYING, AND THAT IS DEADLY! THAT'S DEADLY!

BECAUSE WHEN YOU FIND ONE TRUE PREACHER OF THE GOSPEL, THERE WILL BE A THOUSAND OTHERS LYING ON GOD, AND THERE WILL BE SOME THAT ARE SO CLOSE THAT THEY WOULD DECEIVE THE VERY ELECT IF IT WERE POSSIBLE, IF IT WERE POSSIBLE. NOW OUR LORD MAKES THE SPIRITUAL APPLICATION OF DAVID IN THE SHOWBREAD HERE, IN VERSE 26, AND HE WENT INTO THE HOUSE OF GOD IN THE DAYS OF ABIATHAR THE HIGH PRIEST, AND DID EAT THE SHOWBREAD WHICH IS NOT LAWFUL TO EAT, BUT FOR THE PRIEST, AND GAVE ALSO TO THEM WHICH WERE WITH HIM. David and his men had NEED THOSE WHO COME TO CHRIST, THOSE WHO TRULY COME TO CHRIST AND ARE SAVED ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NEED. IT'S NOT THOSE WHO SOME PREACHER HAS SCARED ABOUT GOING TO HELL SO THEY GO MAKE A PROFESSION.

NO, YOU CAME TO HIM OUT OF NEED. LORD SAVE ME FROM MY SINS. WE COME TO HIM OUT OF NEED AND HUNGER. HE THAT HUNGERS AND THIRSTS AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL BE FILLED. David came on behalf of his men because they were hungry, they had a need, they were hungry!

And David knew, he knew, and I believe this is when David did this, he did this, he did this I believe, no doubt, on the Sabbath day. You see on the Sabbath day the old bread, that bread had been there for a week, that bread is taken off and it's eaten by the priest, and the new bread is put on there for another week. And every Sabbath that is changed out. And when David came to him, I have no doubt he came to him on the Sabbath knowing that bread was going to be taken off that table.

And he said to the priest, the high priest, he said, I'm hungry. I'm hungry. And my men are hungry. And we need something to eat. And that priest did not turn him away. He gave him that bread. He gave him that bread of presence, of God's presence, that bread that represented the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the picture. Is not Christ the showbread?

And do we not come here to feast on Him, to the house of God? Not this building! If we gathered in my backyard, the house of God would be in my backyard tonight. That s what he s talking about, spiritually. We come here to the house of God to feast on Christ and are not we made priests? Are we not allowed to eat the showbread, Christ, because He's made us priests? They were the ones to eat it. We are made priests of God in Christ, and is He not our Sabbath? And has He not given us the right to eat, the authority to eat, the power to eat?

To as many as received Him, to them gave He the POWER to become sons of God. What a beautiful picture! Our Lord is the TRUE BREAD OF HEAVEN! He's the BREAD OF LIFE! He said that in one place in the Gospel. And the CHURCH IS THE PLACE WHERE HUNGRY SOULS ARE FED! YOU HUNGRY TONIGHT? I've been feeding on this for a few days. I've been feeding on it for a few days. I hope the Lord enables you to. And then the Lord over in Matthew, as I read to you earlier, He said that the priests profaned the Sabbath and are guiltless.

You see, the priests, they didn't stop offering the lambs. They didn't quit shedding blood on the Sabbath. Those lambs were offered day and night, seven days a week. And those priests had to kill the animal. They had to slay it. They slayed it, then they cut him up. They washed the parts. They went about in the temple doing the service of God. It didn't stop because it was the Sabbath. And Christ said, one greater than the temple is here. So you boys ought to shut up. To put it the way I'd say it. That's what I would say. I said, you guys need to shut up. One greater than the temple's here. But that's me.

And he said to them, the Sabbath, now the Lord gives truth here about the Sabbath. He said, the Sabbath was made for man and you guys have turned it around. You've turned it around, you've used it as a whip and not as a blessing, not as a benefit. The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Man wasn't made for a day.

When Adam was created, what day was it? The sixth day. And what was the next day? What was the seventh day? Sabbath. It wasn't the Sabbath was made and then Adam. Adam was made and then God gave rest on the Sabbath day. It wasn't. The Sabbath was made FOR man, it was made for man's benefit. The Sabbath was instituted for man's benefit.

Is not Christ for our benefit? Did He not say, I didn't come to destroy the world? I came to save sinners. I didn't come to destroy lives, I came to save lives. Your lives are already destroyed, that happened in Adam. Christ is for our benefit, He is our rest. YOU CAN STOP LABORING TO PLEASE GOD. IT'S IN US BY NATURE NOW. YOU CAN TAKE THE MOST ROTTEN PERSON OUT THERE AND IT IS IN THEM. THEY HAVE A LEGALISTIC SPIRIT. THEY THINK SURELY I'M GOING TO END UP IN HEAVEN.

I HAVEN'T HURT ANYBODY. I HAVEN'T HURT ANYBODY. AND I'VE WATCHED A LOT OF DOCUMENTARIES OF CRIMINALS. I HAVEN'T HEARD ANY OF THEM SAY I OUGHT TO GO TO HELL. THE ONLY PEOPLE THAT SAY I OUGHT TO GO TO HELL ARE THE ONES GOD SAVES. They're the only ones who put the noose on their neck and say, Lord, if you send me to hell, you're right.

But I sure hope you don't. I hope in your mercy. I hope in your mercy. Lord, let your blood be propitiation for my sins, my sins. The Sabbath was to be a blessing, it was not to be drudgery. It was not made to be a whip that was used by those legalistic hypocrites. The Sabbath pointed to salvation and rest in Christ. Christ said, Take my yoke upon you, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Our true Sabbath is a blessing. Our Sabbath is REST. The Sabbath was the type and the shadow of what every redeemed sinner has in the Lord Jesus Christ. Complete REST. STOP! STOP! Stop what you're doing and rest in Christ for salvation. Just rest in Him. Just rest in Him. CHRIST HIMSELF IS THE BELIEVER'S REST.

It says in Hebrews 4.9, There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. Now here's another point, and legalistic people were not like this in our day. This rest is for the elect of God. is for the people of God. This rest, this Sabbath rest, was not given to the Philistines, the Hittites, the Amorites, it was given to the Israelites, God's people.

Christ is not the rest for everybody. Now to everyone who comes to Him, He's the rest. To everyone who flees to Him, to everyone who's hungry, spiritually, To everyone who has need, have they need their sins forgiven? Christ is for you! But He is the rest to God's people, and God's people are just sinners. Sinners saved by grace, that's all they are, and that's all they ever will be in this life. Sinners saved by grace. WE REST FROM WORKS, WE REST IN HIM BY FAITH, WE REST IN CHRIST'S FINISHED REDEMPTION.

HE SAID IT'S FINISHED, ISN'T IT? REST! THEN REST IN HIM. REST IN HIM. MAN WAS NOT MADE FOR THE SABBATH. THE SABBATH WAS NOT THE END IN ITSELF. IT'S ONLY A TYPE. THAT'S ALL IT EVER WAS. There was 2,000 years from Adam to Moses. Not one of them had a Sabbath to keep.

Now the Sabbath wasn't given until after Moses. The law was given at Sinai. What about all those before Christ? I mean before Moses, the giving of the law? Everyone whom God has From the first to the last, Christ has always been and always will be their Sabbath. They had the Sabbath, it was Christ. It was Christ. And then the Lord gave it as a day so we might have, you and I, in this day may be able to look back at that day and see what that day meant. It pictures Christ. I hope that wasn't confusing, but it pictured Christ. BUT HERE'S THE KEY!

THE SON OF MAN IS LORD ALSO OF THE SABBATH! HERE HIS DEITY SHINES FORTH BECAUSE GOD GAVE THE SABBATH! AND HE SAID THE SON OF MAN IS LORD OF THE REST! He's Lord of the rest. He's Lord of the Sabbath. He instituted it and He fulfilled it. He's Lord of it. He has all authority even over the Sabbath. And if I say they can pick corn on the Sabbath, they can pick corn on the Sabbath. Because I'm Lord of that too. Now what's our relationship to the Sabbath?

THE OLD TESTAMENT SABBATH OBSERVANCE WAS A TEMPORARY TYPE. THAT'S ALL IT EVER WAS. THAT'S ALL THOSE TYPES, THEY WERE JUST TEMPORARY. THE NEW TESTAMENT DOES NOT IMPOSE SABBATH KEEPING ON BELIEVERS. I looked up AI, I asked AI about Sabbath Day at Venice because they keep Saturday as a Sabbath WE DON'T DO THAT! THAT'S NOT TAUGHT IN THE WORD OF GOD!

WE DO NOT KEEP A DAY WE LOOK TO A PERSON! WE LOOK TO HIM, THEY KEEP A DAY, WE LOOK TO THE SABBATH MONDAY THROUGH SUNDAY! WE LOOK TO THE PERSON, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! WE'RE NOT KEEPING A DAY! THAT'S RESURRECTING THE LAW! THAT'S ALL THAT'S DOING! Colossians 2 16 17 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. Let no man judge you. You know the scripture says that every man will fall or stand before his own master. Which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.

Here's something interesting, I don't have time to read it, when you go home, Acts chapter 15. I believe it's the first, well that chapter, remember whenever there was a controversy over circumcision? Well, turn to Acts 15, I'll just try to read part of it. I want you to see this. There's one point I want to make, but you have to see something, I think, in order for me to make it clear. In Acts 15, this is when the apostles went up to Jerusalem, they had a conference at Jerusalem about this thing of circumcision and keeping the law, and they had to settle this matter. And then, just to shorten it all up, look in verse 24.

AS WE HAVE HEARD THAT CERTAIN WHICH WENT OUT FROM US HAVE TROUBLED YOU WITH WORDS SUBVERTING YOUR SOUL, SAYING YOU MUST BE CIRCUMCISED AND KEEP THE LAW, TO WHOM WE GAVE NO SUCH COMMANDMENTS. NOW HE SAID THEY WENT OUT FROM US. IT SEEMED GOOD TO US, BEING ASSEMBLED WITH ONE ACCORD, TO SEND CHOSEN MEN UNTO YOU WITH OUR BELOVED BARNABAS AND PAUL. men that have hazarded their lives with the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We've sent therefore Judas and Silas who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.

For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things that you abstain from meats offered to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication from which if you if you keep yourselves you shall do well fare you well so when they were dismissed they came to Antioch and when they had gathered the multitude together they delivered the epistle which when they had read they rejoiced for the consolation now did you did we read anything about keeping the sabbath if there was a keeping of the sabbath it would have came up right there they said this is all we're going to tell you to do You abstain from meats offered to idols so you don't offend the weaker brethren. That's what that's for. And you abstain from fornication and sins of this flesh.

But they don't say one thing about keeping the Sabbath. We don't keep the Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath. The Lord Jesus Christ is our Sabbath. That's the reason I had to read that. Believers live by faith on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our rest, He's our salvation, and not anything that we do, nothing. Returning to legalism undermines the work of Christ, doesn't it?

Listen to what Paul said in Galatians 5.2, and I'm going to close here in just a couple minutes. Paul said, Galatians 5 to 2, Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. If you're circumcised for the purpose of the law, Christ is become useless to you. He's become useless because you can't mix the two.

We are called to liberty in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Galatians 5 verse 1, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. What did He make us free from? The LAW! We sing a song, Free from the law, O happy condition. Do's and don'ts, we're free from that. Be not entangled again with a yoke of bondage. That's what the law was, it was a yoke of bondage.

In Acts 13, 38 and 39, let me read this. 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 from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. And in Exodus 31, and we're not going to go there, but if you can remember it read it in Exodus 31 verse 14 and 15 in short let me paraphrase it says this if any man or any man or woman does any work on the sabbath they shall be put to death now let me put that in a spiritual sense if anyone adds anything to Christ If we do any work to add to our Sabbath, you're going to be put to death. You're going to perish. It's Christ and Christ alone. He's our Sabbath.

Christ is Lord of the Sabbath

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the Sabbath?

Why is it important for Christians to understand the Sabbath?

How do we know that Christ is Lord of the Sabbath?

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Christ is Lord of the Sabbath

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the Sabbath?

Why is it important for Christians to understand the Sabbath?

How do we know that Christ is Lord of the Sabbath?

Sermon Transcript

About John Chapman

Comments

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