The lesson this morning is taken
from the first six verses of Luke chapter 14. Luke chapter
14, and I would remind you that verses and chapters were added. Don't ever think because a chapter
ends that he's ending his subject. They were put in there for study
reasons so that we could remember and recall where we read that,
where it's located, and so on. And they added chapters and verses.
In the beginning, it was just written. There was no divisions
in it. And there shouldn't be any divisions
in the Word of God. The Word of God has one message.
What chapter? Luke chapter 14. The subject, as best I can discern
it, I wasn't real happy with my title. But the more I read
it, the more I settled on this title. is the wonder of the Sabbath. The Sabbath, although it has
become a point of argument and contention, the Sabbath is a
wonderful thing. It's a wonderful thing. The beginning of the Sabbath
is with God himself. He rested, he said, from all
his works. So let's read these verses together. Luke chapter 14, beginning with
verse 1. And it came to pass, as he went
into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread
on the Sabbath day, that they watched him. And behold, there
was a certain man before him which had dropsy. And Jesus answering,
spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal
on the sabbath day? And they held their peace. And
he took him, and healed him, and let him go, the man with
the dropsy. and answered them, saying, which
of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will
not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day? And they
could not answer him again to these things. I want to limit
my comments this morning to three things. First of all, to the
situation itself. Here's a situation. Our Lord in the ministry faced
many a situation. All His preachers, all His apostles,
all His prophets were put in situations. You're not going
to preach His gospel and not have situations. And so here
is one, and how the Lord dealt with it. And then secondly, I
want to show us some real spiritual instruction in these verses.
This was not just something to put them down, but something
profitable to believers. And then I want to speak just
a little bit on the wonder of the Sabbath. So let's look at
the situation itself. Our Lord was, as well as all
his preachers, constantly confronted with certain situations. And
this whole event was carefully planned out by the Sanhedrin,
the High Council of Israel. And it was set up to snare our
Lord and prove him to be an imposter. That's what's behind this whole
thing. This house was the house of a
chief Pharisee. If you were a chief Pharisee,
you were a member of the Sanhedrin. And he was well known. He was
highly regarded. And the invitation was an obvious
setup because when Christ came through the door, they watched
him. They didn't watch him to see
the wonder of his miracles. They watched him to see if he'd
do something that they could accuse him of. It tells us that
over and over and over all through the Scriptures. These men, now listen to me,
would not have had a man with a dropsy over to eat after the
preaching of the gospel. They would not have done that.
They'd had the hierarchy, they'd had the highly esteemed, they'd
had all these people, their friends and their relatives and people
who were behind them and people that promoted them. They'd never
had this man with a dropsy. Dropsy is just another word for
modern day edema, a swelling, a retention of water. And no
doubt this man's kidneys were messed up and he couldn't, he
would retain water but he couldn't get rid of it and he was swollen. And if you've ever been around
anybody with that, there's an awful order. They even put a
sack on them sometimes to collect this fluid and stuff. It's a
nauseating. They would never have had this
man over. Come on over and eat. No, they wouldn't even have spoken
to him. They'd have probably walked out around him. But here
he is. Here he is. He was a pitiful case. And from
what the scripture tells us about Pharisees, this would never have
happened. It just would never. They arranged
for this man to be there, hoping to see Jesus violate the Sabbath
day. They knew he healed people. They
knew he cast out demons. They wanted to see if he was
going to do this on the Sabbath day and violate the Sabbath day.
Now the problem is this. You can't do anything hidden
from God. Over and over he tells us in
the Old Testament, God does. You thought I couldn't see you.
You thought you were hiding from, you can't hide from God. Jesus
Christ is God. God come into the flesh. David said, he understandeth
my thought afar off. Way before I even come up with
what it is I'm going to say. He understands. He knows. The
scripture said, there's no creature that's not manifest in his sight,
but all things are naked and open under the eyes of him with
whom we have to do. And these men who were watching
him, now listen to me, they never said a word. Not one time. They didn't open
their mouth. They didn't introduce Him to the man with dropsy. They
didn't say anything. But the scripture says in Luke
14, 3, Jesus answering them. Well, they didn't ask Him anything.
Oh, yes, they did. In their hearts and minds. And
He, knowing their thoughts, answered them. dealing with what was on
their minds, answering the thoughts of their hearts, and he asked
these lawyers and Pharisees if it was lawful to heal on the
Sabbath day. He knew what they were planning,
he knew what they were plotting, they knew that he could see the
snare before him. And still they said nothing.
They wouldn't say a word. They wouldn't say yes, they wouldn't
say no. And again, he answered the thoughts of their hearts,
and he said, which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into
a pit and will not straightly pull him out on the Sabbath day?
And they could not answer him. They would not in the beginning,
and now they could not. They could not answer him again
to these things. And self-righteous legalistic
religionists always deal deceitfully with men. When Saul of Tarsus
was converted, given the revelation of Christ, began to see what
he was all them years, exposed as a hypocrite. Here's what he
wrote to the Romans. He said, I mean the Corinthians,
he said, I have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. Was he dishonest? Not in his
own eyes. In his own eyes, as touching
the law, he was perfect. He was blameless. But now he
sees himself as he really is. And he said, I've renounced the
hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness. Oh,
my soul. When he saw the truth, how it
must have stabbed him in the heart. My whole walk as a Pharisee
was walking in craftiness, being clever. Listen to this, nor handling
the Word of God deceitfully. Oh, my soul. I done that. I did that in religion, same
as Paul did, same as anybody else did in religion. But now
he sees the truth and he said, I renounce these things. I don't
do that anymore. But our Lord uses this situation
not only to expose these men, but to display His mercy and
grace. They didn't interrupt His purpose
one iota. Not one iota. All mercy and grace is given
in spite of the satanic religion of Antichrist. These men were
trapped in their own traps. And if I might use a little slang, they were entrapped. They were
entrapped, and he shut their trap. This is a situation, and it always
is. It always is. It doesn't come
as a surprise to me when men do these things. It doesn't surprise
me one iota. And then secondly, I see here
an instructive display of God's mercy and grace. Six times in
the book of Luke and the book of John, Christ did miracles,
healed men, cast out devils on the Sabbath day. Six times. You think about that. What is
six? What's that number ringing in
your head? That's the number of man, isn't it? That's the
number of man. And six times in Luke chapter
4 verse 31, if you've taken notes. In Luke chapter 6 and verse 6. In Luke chapter 13 beginning
in verse 10. Luke 14 that we're studying this
morning. John chapter 5 verse 1 and John
chapter 9 verse 1. So that without question, our
Lord establishes what He said in Mark 2 verse 27. You can read
that this afternoon. That the Sabbath was made for
man and not man for the Sabbath. This is about giving to man something
that he can't produce. Rest for his soul. Rest for his soul. Salvation
for a sinner. It was God's gift to us, a day
of rest, a day of worship, a day of thanksgiving, but the grand
design of the Sabbath is to point us to Christ. Christ is our Sabbath. We don't celebrate a day, we
celebrate a person. Christ is our Sabbath. He's our
rest. He's the day of salvation. When
he said today is the day of salvation, what's he talking about? He's
talking about Christ. Read Hebrews 3 and 4. He'll tell
you what it means. What would today be without Him?
What would today be without Him? Just another day. Isn't that
so? Today is the day of salvation.
There's three things being manifested in these six miracles manifested
on the Sabbath day. First of all, they were all done
on the Sabbath. You think our Lord did this by
accident? You think it just happened to
be the Sabbath and man just happened to be? No. No, He did it on purpose. He did it on purpose. They were
all done on the Sabbath and His miracles were performed to confirm
Him to be the Christ and they were performed to show us the
absolute necessity of Christ. And they were performed to paint
us a picture of a poor needy sinner and the wonder and kindness
of a willing Savior. Our Lord healed on Saturday to
show us what it's all about, a day of salvation, a day of
salvation. It was good news to needy sinners. The only one there that day,
or at least at this particular time, that really understood
and appreciated that day and that man was that man with the
dropsy, the sinner. The sinner. Good news to needy
sinners. And then the second thing I want
us to see is that each of the miracles were accomplished by
Christ alone without any contribution from the sinner. Every time he
healed on the Sabbath there was no contribution from the sinner.
None whatsoever. No amount of working or not working
will accomplish anything concerning salvation. You can work or not
work. It don't make any difference.
Man, the one significant thing about this day is Christ. He's
our rest. He's our rest. When God created
the world, it said He rested on the seventh day. Was He tired? Huh? God created the universe. He created something that we'll
never find the end of. Was he tired when he got done? Was he exhausted from the work
that he did? Why does he say he rested on
the Sabbath day? Well, let me read you what it
says over here in Ephesians 1.11. Here he's talking about abounding
toward us in all wisdom and prudence, showing us Christ, who he is,
why he came, what he did, where he's at, what he intends to do.
And then it says he is the steward of time. All time is vested in
him. When he finishes his work, time
will be no more. He's the steward of time. Everything
in time is designed to His end. And it says in Ephesians 111,
in whom, that is in Christ, whom we were chosen, predestinated
under the adoption of children, redeemed, enlightened, in whom
also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated, according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. Now watch this, verse 12. That,
here's the reason, that we should be to the praise of his glory
who first trusted in Christ. Why did he rest on the seventh
day? Didn't he know that Satan was
cast out into the earth? Did God not know man was going
to fall? Did God not know in just a few generations that every
imagination of man would be only evil continually? Did God not
know about Babylon, the coming of Babylon, the confusion of
language, the separation and division of nations? Did God
not know Israel would forsake him and go into bondage? Was
God ignorant? Was He blind to the fact that
when He sent His Son, He's going to be rejected of man? No! Well, then how could He rest?
He rested in His Son. That's what that seventh day
of rest is all about. He rested all His purpose, all
His glory, all His intention, all His love and justice, and
everything that makes Him God, He laid it into the hands of
His Son. And he rested. You think you and I could rest
in him? God did. In whom you also trusted. That's
what that next verse in Ephesians said. In whom you also trusted. In whom you also rested. When
you heard the gospel of your salvation. When you heard the
truth. Then you rested in him. God rested all His everlasting
purpose of grace into the hands of His Son. And from Romans,
now listen to me, from Romans through Revelation, the Sabbath
is only mentioned twice. Now He mentions it a lot, Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, and the book of Acts. He mentions it
a lot of times. And every time He mentions it
there, it has to do with the law. It has to do with that legalistic
Sabbath. But then in Romans through Revelation,
when he begins his epistles to the churches, and in the book
of Revelation, the Sabbath is only mentioned twice. First of
all, in Colossians 2 verse 16, he said, let no man therefore
judge you in meat or drink, or in respect of a holy day, or
of new moons, now listen, or of Sabbath days. Any of them. Feast days. Holy days. Don't let anybody judge you in
that. Why? Well, they're just a shadow
of things to come, but Christ is the body. You can't have a
shadow without a body. Huh? I look down there on the
floor, there's a shadow. Pull away my hand, there isn't
anything. Christ is the body. All these things are just shadows
of Him. They're just pictures of Him.
Vague outlines of Him. And you cannot honor or keep
or rightly observe the Sabbath without faith in Christ. He's
our Sabbath. He's our rest. And then the second
reference is in Hebrews chapter 4. Listen to this. I'm going
to read several verses to you if you want to turn over there.
Chapter 4. In verse 1, he said, Let us therefore
fear, lest a promise being left to us of entering into his rest,
any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was
the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it. The Sabbath day was declared to them. Moses didn't
just throw it out there and let every man decide they're going
to interpret it any way they want to. He told them what it
meant. The gospel was preached unto
them. The same as it was unto us, but the word preached did
not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. For we which have believed do enter into rest." What's that
mean? That means we trust Christ. That's
what that means. How much? Same as God did with
everything. Relayed all His feet. We do enter into rest, as he
said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest.
And what he's talking about there is that they wouldn't enter into
his rest. They would not. For he spake in a certain place
of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh
day from all his works. And in this place again, if they
shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore, 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, saying unto David, Today, after so long a time,
as it is said, Today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your
hearts. For if Jesus, that ain't talking
about Jesus Christ, that's talking about Joshua. For if Joshua had
given them rest, they would not afterward have spoken of another
day, there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, how do you know when a man enters into his rest? He also
has ceased from his own works as God did from his. He quits
trying to earn God's favor. He sees God's favor in his son,
and he has it. He has it. And it's got nothing
to do with his words. It's got nothing to do with it. And it was all ordained, he tells
us that in that verse. And most were there as pawns,
called there for ungodly reasons. And then lastly, I want us to
see the wonder, the beauty and glory of the Sabbath. In verse
4 of Luke 14, it says, He took him. Who? The man with the dropsy,
the sinner. He took him. What'd he do with him? He healed
him. He healed him. Then what'd he
do with him? Ah, he said, I'm gonna put you
under these Pharisees. You keep the law and they can
go. What'd he do with him? He let him go. He took Him as God took us by
an act of sovereign mercy and grace. He took Him by divine
election. He took Him by covenant provision,
by divine union with His Son, by representation and substitution. And He took us the same way.
And He healed us. He took away our sin, provided
for us a perfect righteousness, reconciled us to God by the death
of the cross, abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
He intervened. He took us. Not everyone. He took this man. He didn't take
that Pharisee. Later on, He'll tell that Pharisee
his part. You chose to sit in the chief's
seat and now I'm kicking you out and you don't have a seat. You don't even have a seat. You
thought you were somebody and you're nothing. That man who
exalts himself, he's going to be abased. But that man that
humbles himself, he's going to be exalted. He intervened. He took us. Not
every man, but he took this man. This old swollen man. I tell
you, we retain water too, don't we? Watered down gospel and watered
down doctrine, watered down preachers. Yeah, we retain all that water. We're swollen. Our heads are
all swollen up. We think we're somebody because
we come to church every Sunday. Oh, how swollen we are because
of this water retention. But Christ healed us. He caused
us and enabled us to expel what we've been keeping inside and
couldn't get rid of. He took him, he healed him, and
then he let him go. Do you know what that means?
Do you know what it means to be set free? Free from the law. How great is that? How wondrous
is that? That law, that perfect law, that
law by whom God opened earth and swallowed up the core of
Dathan and Abiram and a hundred thousand more, time and again,
judged them according to the law. That's the footing they
wanted to stand on and that's the footing He judged them by.
Free from the law. Who can keep the law? When I
would do good, evil is present in me. I know, Paul said, in
me dwelleth no good thing. How am I going to keep the law?
And I stand before God in whose holy perfection. That law means
perfection. He demands perfection. But He
set us free from that law. Christ honored that law, exalted
that law to its highest level. And how do we keep the law? By
faith in Christ. He's my righteousness. Oh, I
hope you don't have any thoughts of producing a righteousness
of your own. Oh, my soul, no. We're free,
he said. You can go. You can go. Them Pharisees, they didn't understand
what took place. All they saw was a violation
of the Sabbath. God set this man free. He's free
from the law. And listen, you're free from
the curse. That curse can't condemn you. Not in Christ. Not in Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. That curse can't touch me. It can't touch me. And I'll tell you something else
we're free from. We're free from the dominion of sin. Romans 6.14,
listen to this. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you're not under the law. You're under grace.
There was a time when sin dictated your thoughts, it dictated your
reason, it dictated your walk, it dictated everything that you
did. But that law don't rule anymore. And this is not talking
about being free from the presence of it or even some kind of limitation
of its power. It has to do with its governing
rule. It's not the law or the curse
of sin that decides my destiny or dictates my reason or keeps
me in line. It's the love of Christ. The
love of Christ constraineth us. It's the free grace of God in
Christ. As sin hath reigned unto death,
even so the grace of God shall reign. Believers are not under
law, they're under grace. And it was not law that set this
man free. It was mercy and grace that set
him free. What is the wonder of the Sabbath?
Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh my soul, when I look at the
Sabbath with eyes looking at Him, what a wondrous thing it
is, the Sabbath. How do we teach it? in him. Can you do that? You can if God will enable you,
and I pray that he does. All right, thank you.