In the second chapter of Mark's
Gospel, we read the following, And again Jesus entered into
Capernaum after some days, and it was noise that he was in the
house. And straightway many were gathered
together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them,
no, not so much as about the door, and he preached the word
unto them. And they come unto him, bringing
one sick of the palsy, which was born of four. And when they
could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered
the roof where he was. And when he had broken it up,
they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When
Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son,
thy sins be forgiven thee. but there were certain of the
scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts. Why doth this
man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
only? And immediately when Jesus perceived
in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto
them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Why reason ye
these things in your hearts? Following the introduction of
Mark's gospel in chapter one, the beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the son of God, and the account of the voice
of one that cried in the wilderness, John, going before Christ and
preparing the way for the coming of Christ himself. As Jesus appears
following John and comes into Galilee and preaches the gospel
of the kingdom of God, events follow rapidly one after the
other. We see the impact of Christ's
ministry, of the preaching of the Gospel, very clearly. Many come unto Him, many sick
come unto Him and are healed. Event follows event, and we see
the impact of the Gospel, both in terms of its effect upon the
needy, the blind, the deaf, the lame, the broken, the bruised,
the poor, the needy and also its effect upon the religious
and their response to what they hear Christ preaching and what
they see Him doing. We see the effect upon the one
and the effect upon the other and indeed in these accounts
we see how the Gospel proves to be a saver of life unto life
and death unto death. And this second chapter in Mark's
Gospel sets this plainly before us. In this chapter we have three
key events or sections in which various things happen but in
which we see the hateful opposition of first the scribes unto Christ,
and then the scribes and the Pharisees together, and then
the Pharisees themselves, all laid bare. The scribes and the
Pharisees heard and saw what others heard and saw, and they
questioned, and they reasoned, and they found fault and they
rose up in their hearts with condemnation. What a contrast
there is here between those who are with a need, who heard Christ's
message gladly and came unto Him for salvation, came unto
Him to be cured, came unto Him to be saved. with the reaction of the scribes
and the Pharisees, those who were religious, those who knew
the scriptures, those who should have been looking for the coming
of Christ and received him when he came, their reaction when
the Saviour, when the Messiah stood before them, when the servant
of the Lord came into their midst, was to question and to condemn. to find fault. They reasoned
in their heart with this reasoning of man's wisdom in which they
found nothing but condemnation. And Jesus immediately perceived
in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves. and said unto
them, why reason ye these things in your hearts? Yes, the reaction
of the religious is laid bare before us. To which Christ presents
to them this question as he does to you today who reason in the
same way. Why reason ye these things in
your hearts. What things? What things? What did they reason? What did
they ask? With what did they find fault?
With what do you find fault? How do you reason in your hearts? What is your reaction to Christ
and his gospel? Do you find yourself, perhaps
unconsciously, asking the same questions, pointing the same
finger, finding the same faults? What did they ask? Well, firstly,
following this first account which we've read of the sick
man, the man with the palsy, who's lowered in from the roof
by his friends before Christ, under whom Christ says, son,
thy sins be forgiven thee. Firstly, these scribes who were
sat there said, asked, why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
only? Who can forgive sins but God
only? They saw what had come to pass. They saw this needy man, lowered
in from the roof before Christ by his friends, who wanted to
do him good. This man who wanted to come before
Christ, this man who had a great need. And they saw Christ's compassion
under him. And how Christ says under him,
thy sins be forgiven thee. And all they can do is find fault
in it. All they can do is find fault. Now when you hear the gospel,
and when you see the work of God in the gospel, do you reason? Do you question? Do you find
fault? Do you accuse Christ of blasphemies? Do you say only God can forgive
sins? How can He do this? Do you deny
that Christ is God? Consider this short account.
This man's sick of the palsy. Unable to move, unable to help
himself and unable to come to Christ. Along with the others
in the city, along with the others around, he'd have heard of what
Christ was preaching and what Christ was doing and of those
that were healed by Christ. And here he is, he wants to be
saved and his friends want to help him. But how can he get
to Christ? He's sick and he's in bed. He
can't move, he can't move to him. And he certainly can't get
into this house where Christ is. As we read, it was noise
abroad that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered
together insomuch that there was no room to receive them,
not so much as about the door. And Jesus preached the word unto
them. And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy,
which was born of four. And when they could not come
nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where
he was. And when they had broken it up,
they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When
Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son,
thy sins be forgiven thee. He was unable to come to Christ. He was sick and in bed, he couldn't
move. And if he could move, and his
friends would have carried him, his way unto Christ was blocked. His way unto Christ was blocked. So they went up upon the roof
and they removed stones from the roof. They removed the roof
so that they could make a hole to lower him down from above
into the house and unto Christ where he stood. He was lowered
in from above. He was brought into the house
where Christ was. from above. And in this account and in the
miraculous healing of this man, as Christ both forgave his sins
and healed him of the palsy, we see the work of God in salvation. And we see a picture of from
whence that salvation comes. This is not merely an account
of a sick man being healed, nor is it an account of the means
to which his friends had to go in order to bring him to Christ
because of the crowd. Though these things might interest
us, there is more than that to this. There is a spiritual picture. This man, sick, in bed, as it
were dead to all means and purposes, he couldn't move around, he was
unable to move, he couldn't come to Christ on his own, is lowered
into the house wherein Christ dwelt from above by others. And in this we see a picture
of the gospel. This man, as it were dead in
trespasses and sins, unable to come to God, unable
to come to Christ of his own strength, without the means of
saving himself, is brought unto Christ by others from above. He's lowered down. Spiritually,
this is a picture of him being lifted up by God. Lifted up by the Spirit. And brought into the house of
God, brought into the place where Christ dwells. From above. He's brought down, as it were,
from the heavens above unto Christ who saves him. We see in this
the work of God, the Spirit. in taking a wretched sinner and
preparing him for salvation. The Spirit of God has before
taken this dead sinner and shown him his great need, shown him
his inability, shown him his need to come unto Christ and
he picks him up and he brings him down from above and lays
him at the feet of Jesus The man had nothing to do with this. His friends did it physically
but it's a picture of the Spirit of God picking this man up and
bringing him down from above unto Christ. It's a picture of
God from heaven above coming into this world and plucking
up a sinner and bringing that sinner unto Christ. He had four
friends. A picture of the four corners
of the earth into which the Spirit of God goes. He goes across the
four corners of the earth finding the elect of God and bringing
them, lifting them up from the four corners of the world, then
bringing them to where Christ is, bringing them to the house.
It was noise that Jesus was in the house. And this man is lowered
down from above. into the very house where Christ
is, unable to move himself, unable to save himself, but brought,
as it were, from the four corners of the earth to the very feet
of Jesus, the very feet of the one who can forgive his sins
and the one who can make him walk. That's the account. And that's from whence his salvation
came, from above. And when the scribes saw this,
they reasoned in their hearts and said, why doth this man thus
speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
only? Christ says unto this man, Son,
thy sins be forgiven thee. And they say, how can he say
that? Only God can forgive sins. And in this they show forth what
knowledge they have. They know that only God can forgive
sins. Only God can save the soul. Ultimately they confess here
that salvation must be from God. But in asking the question, they
cast doubt upon who Christ is. For they see Christ as a man.
and they say for him to say such things to this sick man is blasphemous
because Christ is acting and speaking as though he is divine,
as though he is God. Who can forgive sins but God
only? They question the divinity of
Christ. That's the first point in which
man doubts the Gospel. When mankind hears of Christ,
when he hears of Jesus the Son of God, he doubts who he is. He doubts that Jesus is God himself. He doubts that he came from God. He doubts that he's the Son of
God. He says, but he's a man. He's
a man in history like any other. Oh, he had a following. Oh, the
history books speak of him. Oh, he's recorded of in the Bible. But how do I know he's God? They
cast doubt upon him. And they cast doubt upon salvation. In asking this, they essentially
ask, is he God or is he man? Surely he's just a man, they
say. And whilst they recognise that it's only God that can forgive
sins, their hearts and their reasoning,
as you see later on in the chapter, is such that while they recognise
that God must forgive sins, they think that man must come before
God to warrant that forgiveness. Their attitude is that to receive
the forgiveness of your sins. You must live in a certain way
that God should be pleased to forgive you. If you live according
to our law, if you live according to our rituals, if you live this
way and do these things like we do, the scribes and the Pharisees
say, then God may forgive you. But if you're a sinner, if you're
a publican, if you've not lived as we do, why should God forgive
you? So whilst they recognise that
only God can forgive sins, behind their reasoning that goes forward
in this chapter, in the following accounts, is laid bare, it is
exposed what they really think. They know that salvation is ultimately
from God, but they think that they earn it from God. They think
that they can bring down God's salvation. They think that they
can, as it were, climb up unto God, into His presence. And yet
in this example given us of this sick man, we have an example
of a man that can't get anywhere near Christ, that can't get to
God, that can't do anything to merit this salvation. So he's
lowered down from above into the very presence of Christ.
It wasn't he who did it. God must forgive him and God
brought him unto the Saviour. Is salvation of God or is it
of man? Does man have a part in it? Is
it God that forgives you if you make yourself forgivable? Must
you do these things in order for God to do that thing? Will
He forgive you of your sins if you come unto Him in such and
such a manner, having done such and such a thing? Does God save
the religious, the godly as it were, the righteous, those who
work at their salvation, those who make the right decisions,
those who are zealous? Or does he save those who are
lost and helpless and fallen and wretched in their sins? The
example we see here makes it plain that it's the latter. Christ
came to save sinners and here's a broken sinner without any means
of saving himself and God plucks him up and lowers him down from
the heavens above unto the feet of his son who can forgive him
of all his sins. But the scribes accusing of blasphemy. Because in Christ they saw but
a man. Now when you read of Christ,
when you hear of Christ, who do you think he is? What think
ye of Christ? Is he but a man? Or is he the
Son of God? Can he forgive your sins? And where are you? Are you one
that's come into the house on time, in your own strength, and
sat down where the scribes sat? Oh, you were able to get there.
You got there nice and early. You were ready and waiting to
hear this man, hear this man Jesus speak. You got there nice
and early before everyone else. You were more zealous. You made
sure you found a space. You were ready to hear and you
were ready to ask your questions and cast your doubt. Or has God
proved you to be helpless? Has he shown you your sickness? Has he shown you your sin? Has
he stricken you down and laid you as dead in a bed? Is it God that must pluck you
up and bring you up? and lower you down from above
at Christ's feet. Has God broken you? Has He in
His Gospel sent a voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare
ye the way of the Lord, make His path straight. Has He sent
a John the Baptist in the Gospel unto you to break you and show
you your sin and show you your state and bring you in before
Christ as one convicted and broken and bruised without strength,
without ability, without goodness in yourself, knowing that you
are Sick. Knowing you're sick of the palsy. Knowing that you've got nothing. And you need forgiveness. Yes, they knew that only God
could forgive sins. They knew that ultimately salvation
must come from above. So they felt they could earn
it. So God orders the events here to bring this man who had
no ability in himself to be brought to the Saviour from above. In a figure he's brought to the
feet of Christ. It's heaven's work. The Spirit
of God comes down and lays him at the feet of Christ that he
may be forgiven of his sins and that he may then walk before
God. no longer in his bed, no longer
asleep, no longer dead. This man and all like him who
are brought to the Saviour in this way are no longer dead. When they're laid down before
Christ and He looks upon them and He forgives him of his sins,
when they are forgiven of their sins in the way this man was,
then they live and they rise up and they walk. For to be forgiven
of your sins is to be pronounced righteous. You're no longer full
of sin. You're no longer guilty. You're
no longer dead. You rise up risen again from
the grave. And you rise up like this man
and walk before God. Immediately when Jesus perceived
in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto
them, Why reason ye these things in your heart? Whether is it
easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven
thee, or to say, Arise and take up thy bed and walk? But that
ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive
sins, he saith to the sick of the palsy, I say unto thee, arise,
and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately
he arose, took up the bed, and went before them all, insomuch
that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never
saw it on this fashion. as Christ first forgave him of
their sins and they cast doubt upon Christ cast doubt upon his
divinity accusing him of blasphemy because they said only God can
forgive sins and because to hear Christ saying to the man that
thy sins be forgiven him was to them just words they couldn't
see the effect of it But Christ makes it plain that if your sins
are forgiven you will live and you will walk. And he shows them
that he can make him live and walk because he is God. And he does save. And he does
bring life. And he is able to forgive him
his sins. And to Christ, to forgive him
his sins is to make him live and walk. And to make him live
and walk is because his sins have forgiven him. You will never
live and walk before God unless your sins are forgiven. And if
your sins are forgiven, you'll never remain in the grave. You'll
never remain asleep, you'll rise up and walk. They're one and
the same, they're connected. Because Christ took away the
sins of his people at the cross, because he suffered in their
stead, because he bore their sins and the judgment against
their sins, they are spared the judgment. Because he took the
guilt upon himself, they're no longer guilty. Because he was
condemned, they're no longer condemned. There's no condemnation. He took the condemnation. He
took the judgment that they might live. because he bore their sins. They are pronounced righteous
before God. Holy, forgiven. They're forgiven
of their sins because the sins are taken away. The price has
been paid. They have been blotted out. They've
been washed in his blood. He cleanses them. The price has
been paid. The debt has been cancelled.
They're free. They who were once dead, they
who were once sick, they who were once laid in the grave,
rise up and walk. And they rise up and walk because
their sins are forgiven. then he can say to a sinner like
you and I, in grace, with power and certainty, he can either
say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or he can say, rise up and walk.
But His salvation is so sure and certain, His work was finished,
that both come together. You will rise up and walk before
God in faith because your sins are forgiven. And if you walk
before God in faith, if you hear this Gospel and believe it and
know it and know who Christ is, then it's because your sins are
forgiven. They're one and the same. and
the pronouncement of your salvation comes from above the work of
your salvation came from above everything to do with your salvation
came from above and the pronouncement to you of your salvation comes
from above you never sought God by nature. You never sought Christ
by nature. You were dead. You were sick. But God found you. God finds
us. God finds us where we are. and he brings a John to prepare
us for Christ and to show us what we are, to show us our weakness,
to show us our poverty, to show us our sin, to show us that if
we're left in that state then we're condemned and we're lost.
and to show us that we need to be cleansed by the blood of Christ.
We need to be brought to Christ. We need to be picked up by the
Spirit of God and let down as it were through the roof of the
house of God and laid at the feet of Christ who can and does
forgive sinners of all their sins. He can and does wash them
in His blood. He can and does give them life
and strength and power to rise up and walk before Him. Why do you find fault? Why do you claim that this Saviour
is not who He is when He speaks and there is life? when he speaks
and sins are forgiven. Why reason ye these things in
your hearts? The chapter goes on. Secondly,
And he went forth again by the seaside, and all the multitude
resorted unto him, and he taught them. And as he passed by, he
saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom.
and said unto him, follow me. And he arose and followed him.
And it came to pass that as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many
publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples. For there were many, and they
followed him. Here we are, Jesus again in a
house with publicans and sinners, sat together with him. where
they eat and they drink. And when the scribes and Pharisees
saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said under his
disciples, how is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans
and sinners? Why does he eat and drink with
publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith
unto them, they that are whole have no need of the physician,
but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. See their attitude. First the
scribes had doubted the divinity of Christ. And now they find
fault with him when he eats and drinks with sinners and publicans
because they see themselves as having turned from sin and turned
from the ways of the sinners and the publicans, as walking
zealously in the things of God, as being zealous about God's
law, and the order in the priesthood. They see themselves as walking
right before God, and they think that those that come into the
presence of God, or one that claims to be the Son of God,
must be a certain way. If this man is who he claims
to be, if this Jesus is who he claims to be, then why does he
walk with sinners? We can't go with them. God can't
look upon the wicked and we won't walk among the wicked. Then why
is he mixing with sinners and publicans? Can you see their
attitude to you? The judgmental attitude. The
superior attitude. Can you see how their hearts
reason? Is that how your heart reasons? Do you think God will mix with
those who walk right and will frown upon those who are yet
in their sins? Oh you won't go near them because
you've moved on because you're seeking to please God and you'll only
please God if you move away from these wicked people who would
defile you and tarnish you. Oh, how you must make sure that
you're unspotted with anything, unblemished in order to receive
God's favour. And yet how astonished these
religious men are when Christ comes and they find him eating
and drinking with sinners and publicans. How could he? If he's the son of God, if he's
who he claims to be, if he's a minister of God, if he's a
prophet of God, how can he mix with these people? How can he
come to these so low, so wicked, so sinful? Christ makes plain why he came. They that are hull have no need
of the physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. I've not come to
save those who've turned from their sins and have made themselves
righteous, those who are self-righteous. I've not come to save those that
think they can save themselves. I've come to save the sick. I've come to save sinners who
have no ability to cleanse themselves. who've got no righteousness,
who've got no good works, who've got no strength. I've come to
save the sick, the weak, the sinful, the lost. I've come to
call sinners to repentance. He shows here the depravity of
man. how fallen man is and how man
has no ability to improve himself before God. He exposes the lie
of their thinking. They think that man can make
himself better. They think that through their
religion and their zeal and their effort that they can cease to
be a sinner. and that they can come before
God in a better state which merits his salvation, which merits his
favour. They compared themselves with
these and they said that those people are sinners and publicans.
We're not, we're scribes and we're Pharisees. We're religious. We've turned from their ways,
we're walking a better way. Surely God will approve us because
of what we do. Now is it wrong to turn from sin?
Of course it's not wrong to turn from sin. We're called to turn
from our sins. Everyone whom Christ saved, he
said, go and sin no more. But there's no turning from sin
in our own strength. It's their attitude to these
that looked upon them and condemned them in their hearts and thought
that they were better than them. These scribes and Pharisees looked
on others and they felt that because they were doing different
things, because they lived a different way, that they were better. They
felt that their works had made them somehow better before God. They didn't know themselves. They didn't know the state of
their own heart. They didn't know that God looks
beyond the outward form and their outward conduct and looked within
at their hearts and saw just as much wickedness within them
as he saw in these others. And yet they were walking in
a state where they felt that God would be pleased with them. And they walked in a state where
they felt they were different from others. Oh, they looked
upon these sinners and publicans and they felt like they were
less than them. But we're not walking like you
are. We've turned from your sins. We're holier than thou. How much of this attitude pervades
this world and its religion? And yet we're all sinners. We're
all the children of wrath. were all lost and Christ came
not to save those that think that they're better, those that
think they're righteous, those that think they're holy by their
own efforts before God. He came to cause sinners to repentance. And note what He does here. He eats and He drinks with these
sinners. He comes to where they are. He
comes to them in their lost condition. He comes to them in their poverty
and weakness. And when Christ comes under His
lost, fallen people and brings the gospel unto them, He eats
and He drinks with them. He brings them food and He brings
them drink. He brings them what they need. He comes unto fallen sinners
with His gospel. He comes and He spreads before
them a feast, a feast in the gospel. He breaks bread unto
them. He comes as the bread of heaven
and He's broken before them. And He gives them of Himself
to eat. And He says, this is my body
broken for you, take, eat. And this is the blood of the
new covenant which is shed for you. Drink ye all of it. He comes with his gospel and
in his very gospel, in his very self, in what he does for them
in the gospel, in his own death, he breaks bread and gives them
drink. He eats and He drinks with publicans
and sinners. What unites Him to this people
is His own work upon the cross for them. It's His own sacrifice. It's His own death. He loved
them and gave Himself for them. He brings them food and He brings
them water. He brings them drink and that
food and that drink is Himself. They didn't need to be in any
state in order to receive these things. They were gathered with
him as sinners and publicans. and he washes them in his blood
and he gives them his flesh, his body, his broken body, the
bread of heaven to eat. They eat and they drink with
him as one with him. They're one together, one in
the body, one in the house, one in the blood of Christ, together
as one in the house of God together. Why does this man eat and drink
with publicans and sinners because it's sinners that he came to
call to repentance. And it's his own body and his
own blood that saves them. Following this, in verse 18,
we read another question related to this about fasting. And the
disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast, and they
come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of
the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? Why do they fast but
you don't? Why do they do these things but
you don't? Why aren't you as religious as
they are? Why do they suffer in this way
but you're eating and drinking? Jesus said unto them, Can the
children of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom is
with them? As long as they have the bridegroom
with them, they cannot fast. But the days will come when the
bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall
fast in those days. No man also seweth a piece of
new cloth on an old garment, else the new piece that filled
it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. And
no man putteth new wine into old bottles, else the new wine
doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles
will be marred. But new wine must be put into
new bottles. Why don't the disciples of Christ
fast as John's did? Well John's disciples fasted
because they were waiting for the coming of the bread of heaven.
Because they were under the conviction of sin. because they knew that
they were waiting for the coming of Christ. John prepared the
way. John showed us how empty we are
without Christ, how hungry we are without Christ, how barren
we are without Christ. But when the bread of heaven
comes, then they eat, and then they drink, and then they're
filled. We don't fast when we have Christ because we have the
gospel. We have the bread of heaven.
Under John's ministry, a picture of the law, the preparation for
the coming of Christ, the true bread is yet to come. The law
was sent forth to slay sinners, to show us our sin, to show us
how empty we are, to show us how weak we are. to show us the
death within our hearts. And under the preparation of
the gospel, God sends forth a John at the beginning of the gospel
to convict us and to bring us down low and broken before God. He puts a hunger and a thirst
for righteousness in the heart of the sinner. He shows us how
empty we are, how barren we are, how starving we are without Christ. But the sinner under such a ministry,
under John's ministry, finds there's no food anywhere but
Christ. He can go to the law and he can
try to live the way the scribes and the Pharisees lived, but
he's starving. He's fasting, there's no food
there. He can go to all manner of religion
and do all manner of things, but he finds there's nothing
there. And he has no strength and no ability. The law demands
righteousness of him, but there's no righteousness to be found
in the law. It demands it, but there's no
righteousness in man to provide it. The Lord demands righteousness
but it gives none. There's no food there. Yet when
the broken sinner is brought by the Spirit of God and lifted
up and brought down into the house of God at the feet of Jesus,
then Christ gives him bread which brings forth life and he gives
him living water which he drinks forevermore. And when you're
brought to Christ, when you're one with Christ, when you eat
and you drink with Christ as a sinner saved by his grace,
you will never fast. You'll only fast when you're
without him, when he's depart, when he's no longer there, when
you don't hear the gospel, then you'll feel the hunger. Then
you'll know that without Christ you're nothing. Without Christ
you can do nothing. Without Christ you have nothing.
But when Christ is there in the Gospel, then you feed. Oh what a difference there is
between the works of man and the grace of God. Between law
and grace. Between faith and works. As Christ
says, you put new wine into new bottles. There's no mixing of
the ministry of John and Christ here, or of Moses and Christ. You don't take the works of men
or the fasting of men and put the Gospel into such a form.
But the Gospel comes in Christ, who stands before publicans and
sinners as broken, and shows the wounds in His hands and His
feet and His side from whence the blood came forth. And as
they see Christ by faith, as the Spirit brings them under
Him and opens their eyes to see Him and opens their ears to hear
Him and they're given faith to believe on Him, then they eat
of His body and drink of His blood and they're fed forevermore. Forevermore. Why does this man
eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Because it's publicans
and sinners like you and I whom he came to save by giving his
body and giving his blood to wash us from our sins and to
feed us on the bread of heaven. Lastly we read this account from
verse 23 And it came to pass that he went through the cornfields
on the Sabbath day, and his disciples began as they went to pluck the
ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him,
Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them, Have ye
never read what David did when he had need, and was not hungry,
he and they that were with him? How he went into the house of
God in the days of Abiaphar, the high priest, and did eat
the showbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and
gave also to them which were with him. And he said unto them,
The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. The Pharisees
said unto him, Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that
which is not lawful? Here again they reason in their
hearts and they find fault. They see Christ on the Sabbath
day with his disciples. They see his disciples eating
with him and they say, but that's not lawful. It's not lawful for
you to eat on the Sabbath day. We have a custom. we have a rule
we have a law we have a Sabbath and you should be fasting on
the Sabbath you should be doing this and doing that but not what
you're doing and they bring this law upon this people as a form
of bondage why do you not walk as we think you should Christ says but the Sabbath was
given for man. It was given for the good of
man. It was given as rest for man. And the food that these eat when
they're with me is for their good also. The Sabbath is a picture
of rest. It was given to man not to rule
him, not to constrict him, but for his good. Man wasn't to serve
the Sabbath, he wasn't to serve the law and the rule of the Sabbath
as though it constrained him, it was given for his good. The
Sabbath was given to man to serve him, to bring rest to man. It was for his good and to eat
on the Sabbath is to be blessed, to eat of Christ on the Sabbath,
to eat of the Gospel on the Sabbath. It's to be blessed of God, especially
when that food and drink comes from Christ, especially when
we eat of the Gospel and eat of His body and eat of His blood.
The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. It's His to say
how the Sabbath is to be taken. He gave it for man's good. He
gave it as a picture of that eternal rest which he brought
in for his sheep. And when He came unto these publicans
and sinners, and when He gave them to eat, and when He forgave
their sins, and when He led them forth, and they walked with Him
in newness of life and everlasting righteousness, they went into
everlasting rest. They walk with Him in an everlasting
Sabbath. The day of the Sabbath that the
Jews had of old was just a picture of what Christ brought in in
the Gospel here. And these disciples who'd heard
the Gospel from Christ, these sinners and publicans who walked
with him, these forgiven sinners, these sick who now live and walk
with Christ forevermore, live in an eternal everlasting Sabbath. and a Sabbath in which they continue
to eat and to drink with Christ. He's the Lord of the Sabbath.
The picture of the Sabbath of old was a picture of this which
he's brought in. Which he's brought in through
his death. All they could see was the outer
day. All they could see was the law
and the ritual. And they couldn't see that he'd
fulfilled it. He couldn't see he'd brought
in the reality of it. He couldn't see that he was the
God that gave that law, that gave that custom, that gave that
day as a picture of the eternal day, which would be brought in
when he died and rose again. And when he rose again, After
the Sabbath on the first day of the week it was the end of
the Sabbath and the end of the law and the end of the types
and the figures because the reality was there. And that which had
been given to man to serve man had now been brought to its fulfilment. He walked with his people in
an everlasting Sabbath. When you know Him, when you're
in Him, you've entered into the Sabbath, into rest, never to
be removed from it. In an eternal Sabbath, eternal
rest, where you continue to eat and to drink of Christ. Why do they on the Sabbath day
that which is not lawful? They were doing that which was
lawful. They'd been delivered from the
law and its condemnation. They knew the grace of God and
His salvation. They were walking, resting in
Christ. They were resting in the Sabbath. Outwardly to man they were doing
things, they were working, they were eating. But they weren't,
they were resting in the true fulfillment of it. But man will
always find fault and he'll always go back to the law and he'll
always try to bring believers back under the law and back under
the ritual and back under the form of religion when he doesn't
know the reality of it himself. These Pharisees had the form
and none of the reality. They didn't know Christ for who
he was. They found fault with all he
did and said and found fault with his disciples and all they
did and said. Why reason ye these things in
your heart? But you should be doing this,
but you should be doing that. Oh we know you believe on Christ
but you should be doing this and doing that. Trying to bring
you back under law and back under condemnation. Trying to bring
you back where they are. Because they've never tasted
the grace of God. Because they don't know that
this man before them is the son of God. Because they don't know
what it is to eat of his body and drink of his blood and walk
with him in an everlasting eternal rest. Oh what subtle questions
these are that come from the heart of men. Are these questions
in your heart? Or are you like that? Man of
the palsy, as God the Spirit by the Gospel lifted you up and
placed you down before Christ. Do you contend against the Gospel? Do you contend against it? Always
reasoning that man has a part to play. That we must make a
decision for Christ. That we must live a certain way
for God to have favour upon us. Always reasoning. Why reason
ye these things in your heart? Or do you contend about how Christ
comes to where sinners are? Do you look upon those who follow
Christ and find fault in them, judging them, accusing them because
they don't live the way you think they should? Why reason ye these
things in your heart? Or are you bound to your do's
and don'ts of religion? Your touch, not taste, not handle,
not religion. Your Sabbath days, the things
you must do and the things you mustn't do. Are you bound to
the outward order when you've never seen the inward reality
and all these things and the things that all these things
point to? Do you just have the outward
shell of religion and none of the life within? Why reason ye
these things in your heart? Salvation is of God, it comes
from above for sinners who have no strength, no righteousness,
no life. no goodness within themselves
it is all of grace and when grace comes to a sinner it comes from
above and it's abundant it brings life, it brings rest and it brings
food and wine sinners that know this life and know this saviour
eat and drink with him this gospel sets us free It brings us into
eternal rest, eternal. There's no returning to works,
no returning to the law, no returning to bondage, no returning to condemnation. There is no condemnation. It brings grace, faith, liberty,
life, righteousness. It is all of God. It comes from
above. It takes a vile wretch of a sinner,
hopeless and helpless, and it lowers him down from above at
the feet of Christ, who says unto him, Son, thy sins be forgiven
thee. Has the gospel done that for
you? As God the Spirit found you, a sinner and a publican,
a wretch, dead in trespasses and sins, and as he picked you
up and lowered you down from above unto Christ, who's looked
upon you in love, as one who loved you and gave himself for
you, and said unto you, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.