Luke chapter 6. Notice carefully verse 5, and
underscore this at least in your mind. And here's what I want
us to think about. Here's the subject and title
of this message. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of Man, is Lord. He is Lord. also of the Sabbath. The Lord Jesus Christ is Lord
and God over all things concerning our salvation. Now notice carefully
what it says there in verse 5, that the Son of Man is Lord. Now what does that tell us? That
tells us that our Lord Jesus Christ was God Almighty manifest
in the flesh and His flesh was the flesh of a real man. He had no sin, knew no sin, and
did no sin. He had not the sin of Adam imputed
to Him because He was begotten of God. That body born of Mary
was begotten of God the Holy Spirit without sin. But let us not forget, He was
a real man. the Son of Man, who is also God,
the Son of God, or God the Son. That's why many times in Scripture,
the Lord Jesus Christ is called God, our Savior. He is the Word. In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,
and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. You see how significant
that phrase is? Our Savior was a real man, and
our Savior is also totally and completely and fully God. The old theologians referred
to the Lord Jesus Christ as the God-Man, and truly He is both
man and God in one person. The Son of Man is Lord of salvation,
and the Son of Man is Lord of forgiveness. You remember, turn
one page back in Luke chapter 5, You remember the paralyzed man
was healed? And he says, verse 22, when Jesus
perceived their thoughts, He answering and said unto them,
What reason you in your hearts, whether it is easier to say,
Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Rise up and walk? But that ye may know that the
Son of Man Now who is this Son of Man? He is God Almighty. have power on earth, upon earth
to forgive sins. He said to the sick of the palsy,
Arise, I say unto thee, Arise, take up thy bed, your couch,
and go into thy own house. And immediately he arose up before
them, took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own
house, and glorified God." We see there that the Son of Man
has all power because the Son of Man is also God the Son. He is Lord of salvation and He
is Lord of forgiveness. Our blessed Lord and Savior.
Jesus Christ, who is the able Redeemer of His people. He shall
save His people to the uttermost, all that come to God by Him,
because He is able. He is able to accomplish all
that He has promised. The Lord Jesus Christ accomplished
all of our salvation as the absolute Lord and Sovereign of all things. Now, when he came here, manifest
in the flesh, he never stopped being God. He took upon Him what
He was not, flesh, but He never stopped being God. The wise men
came and they asked, where is He that is born King? When He came here, He came as
Lord of the Sabbath and Lord of all salvation. He is King
of kings and Lord of lords. When He lived His life, 33 some
years in the flesh as a real man, He demonstrated that He
was Lord. You remember the storm in the
sea and the disciples in the ship, and the ship was taking
on water and about to sink, and they asked the Lord Jesus, they
said to him, don't you care if we perish? And he arose and rebuked
the sea and the wind, and there was a great calm. And they said,
what manner of man is this? that even the wind and the seas
obey Him." What kind of a man is this? He is the God-man mediator. You see, He came as King and
Lord, as God. He was born as such in the flesh. He lived as such in the flesh. And also, the Lord Jesus Christ
ascended to heaven Having accomplished our salvation when He by Himself
purged our sin, He sat down on the right hand of the throne
of God. The God-man mediator came forth
from the tomb. He died a real death. They buried
His body. And forty days later, after his
resurrection, three days, he came forth from the tomb, and
forty days later, the God-man Mediator ascended to heaven,
and he's seated there right now. And we're awaiting his coming
back to receive us. unto himself." You see, He's
Lord in creation. He created all things by the
word of His power. He is Lord in providence of Him
and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be the glory.
And my friend, He's Lord of salvation. Your salvation does not depend
on you. Your salvation depends totally
on Him. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. Salvation is not in your hands.
Salvation is in His hands. He will have mercy on whom He
will have mercy. The Lord Jesus Christ is Lord
of all things. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is our Sabbath rest. because he finished salvation. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and we are complete in him. Our Lord's
first recorded words, we studied it in Luke chapter two when he
said, I must be about my father's business, right? And he said,
I always do the will of my father. My meat is to do the will of
my father and to finish his work. And then at Calvary's tree, what
did he say? His last words. It is finished. The Lord Jesus Christ finished
and accomplished the salvation of God's people and now we rest
in Him. We do not observe a day, a time,
or a place. We worship God in spirit and
in truth and we find rest in Christ who finished our salvation. We don't find acceptance in a
day, nor do we try to honor a particular day, we are made accepted in
the Beloved, in the Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are
accepted in Him. You see, the point I'm trying
to make is, and I want you to think about this a lot today
and in the days to come, the Lord Jesus Christ is our Sabbath
rest. We're resting in him. And that's
why the Apostle said, let us labor or strive to enter into
that rest. The Lord of the Sabbath has come
and fulfilled the law of God for us. That's what he did in
his life, honoring every precept of that law. He said, I didn't
come to destroy the law. I came to honor the law and the
prophets. And the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed
us from the curse of the law with his own blood. Believers
are now no longer under the law. We've been set free. I don't
look to a day, I look to a person. I don't look to a law, I look
to a person. Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ has set us free. We sang just a moment ago, The
old hymn by an old preacher, free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus hath bled and there is remission. Cursed by the law,
bruised by the fall, grace or Christ hath redeemed us one time. He offered one sacrifice for
sin forever. By the one sacrifice, He perfected
forever them that are sanctified. My friend, He is our Sabbath
rest because the Lord Jesus Christ is our salvation. Salvation in
a person. He that hath the Son hath life. Now, let's go back and look just
a few moments at verses 1 and 2. And it came to pass, it came
to pass by the will of God, the purpose of God, God brought this
to pass, that on this second Sabbath after the first, the
Lord Jesus Christ and his disciples went through this cornfield.
I kind of get in my mind a picture of them heading out on that Sabbath
day to the synagogue to worship and to read the scripture, and
on that way they hadn't had any breakfast, And the Lord didn't
perform any miracle. He said, I have provided this
corn in this field. It says in Matthew 12 that they
were hungry. So as they went through this
corn field, they began to pluck some of those dried ears of corn.
Have you ever done this? I have. You get that dried up
corn and you kind of rub it and get some of those kernels and
They're pretty tasty, aren't they? They're pretty good. And
that's what these disciples were doing. They were hungry. The
Lord Jesus Christ as a real man was hungry. It says there in
John chapter 4 that He was weary in body, He sat down on that
well seeking a drink of water. He was tempted and tested in
all points like as we are, yet without sin. He was a real man. He was hungry and He was thirsty,
and here they were eating. in this cornfield. And evidently
these pharisees, I think they just kind of followed him around
looking for any kind of slip or mistake that they might point
out, ah, see, we told you He's not the Savior, He's not the
Christ. And certainly the Pharisees said
unto them, Why do you do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath
day? Now if you study that out and
go back to see what the law says, the law says that you were not
supposed to reap the harvest on the Sabbath day, that is,
you weren't supposed to go out and harvest a whole field on
the Sabbath day, but you were allowed to go into the field,
and if you needed something to eat that morning, and it was
a Sabbath day, you could pluck that corn, and you could have
breakfast. That was not contrary to the
law, but these Pharisees in their own mind had conjured up this
thing that they had violated the law of God, when in fact
the Lord Jesus Christ never did. Works of necessity and works
of mercy were allowed on the Sabbath day under the law. The Lord healed that man with
the withered hand, and He did so on the Sabbath day. We're
going to see as we study through the book of Luke, many times
the Lord on purpose picked the Sabbath day to do His miracle
to show that He is Lord of the Sabbath. Now, if you'll find
Luke or Matthew chapter 12, turn over there, hold your place there
in Luke, and find Matthew chapter 12. And here it talks about in verse
10, the healing of that man who had the withered hand, Matthew
12 verse 10, And they asked him, Is it lawful
to heal on the Sabbath days that they might accuse him? And he
said unto 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 his sheep
out of the pit? You see, works of necessity and
works of mercy were allowed. How much then is a man better
than a sheep? Wherefore, it is lawful to do
well on the Sabbath day. Then saith he to the man, stretch
forth thine hand, and he stretched it forth, and it was restored
whole as the other." So works of mercy, works of... Grace,
works of love, were allowed to be done on the Sabbath day. The Lord Jesus Christ honored
every jot and tittle of that law for us. The Scripture says
of Him, He had no sin, knew no sin, and did no sin. Now why
is that so important? Well, He had to be the Lamb of
God without blemish and without spot. But He also was working
out a perfect righteousness for us. Now the Pharisees were so
particular to observe the outward things, but omitted the things
that were not convenient for them. If you will turn over here
back to Matthew chapter 15, Matthew chapter 15, and here's
what the Lord says about them. Matthew 15, 7, verse 7. Well, he said, you hypocrites,
well did Isaiah prophesy of you, Matthew 15, 7. This people draw
nigh unto me with their mouth, they honor me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me. And then he said, but in vain
they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men. You see, they had invented a
law and said that the Lord Jesus Christ had broke their law. Now,
he didn't break the law of God. Clearly that is taught in Scripture.
The Lord had the sharpest rebukes. For who? Who did he have the
sharpest rebukes for? The self-righteous Pharisees
who would justify themselves and condemn others. If you find
Matthew again, chapter 23, verse 23, Matthew 23, 23. Whoa! Whoa! He says, unto you scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and
cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment,
mercy, faith. These things you ought to have
done, and not to leave undone. You blind God, you strain at
a knack, a knack, and you swallow a camel. That's exactly what
they did. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! For you may clean the outside
of the cup and the platter, but within you're full of extortion
and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse
first that which was in, that which is within the cup and the
platter, that the outside may be clean also. Or unto you scribes
and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like whitened sepulchres,
a gravestone, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but within
you are full of dead men's bones. Even so outwardly you appear
righteous unto men, But within, you see, God looks on the heart.
Within, you're full of hypocrisy. Now, here's another rebuke. Find
Luke 16, 15. Luke 16, 15. These Pharisees
were always going about to justify themselves before men, and God
rebuked them openly. Luke 16, 15. You are they, which justify yourselves before
men, but God knows your hearts. that which is highly esteemed
among men," he says, "...is an abomination in the sight of God."
You see, he had strong rebukes for these self-righteous sinners,
but the Lord had tender compassion and encouragement upon sinners
to come unto Him and rest. We're going to read in a few
minutes from Matthew chapter 11, where the Lord said, "...Come
unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, He said, come
to me, I will give you rest. The Lord Jesus instructs us to
come boldly as mercy beggars unto the throne of grace, that
we may obtain mercy, find grace to help in time of need. This
is a faithful saying. This is worthy of all acceptation,
that the Lord Jesus Christ came to save Sinners. Can you identify with that word?
I can. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
the ungodly. Can you identify with that? I
can. Come to Christ just as you are. A vile, wretched, guilty sinner. And don't try to justify yourself.
Plead, I'm guilty. Lord have mercy. You see, this
thing of self-righteousness is a deadly and damning thing to
our soul. Nothing will more hinder you
from coming to Christ as a naked, guilty sinner and resting in
Him than your righteous self. Religion without the Lord Jesus
Christ is a deadly thing. In Isaiah 65, He said to those
that say, I am holier than thou. Have you ever heard that statement?
It comes from Isaiah 65. You know what the Lord says about
those who say, well, I'm not like you. I'm holier than thou. You know what God says about
that attitude? It's smoke in my nose. It's nothing but stink
in the nostrils of a thrice holy God. Someone told the old preacher
in England, Charles Spurgeon, back in the 1850s. They came
to him one day and said, Mr. Spurgeon, he said the biggest
hindrance of any man coming to Christ was his sinful self. To which Charles Spurgeon replied,
no, that's not so. It's the man's so-called righteous
self that will keep him from Christ. Not your sinful self.
If you ever know yourself to be a true vile sinner, if God
has ever taught you in your heart what you are before Him, you'll
plead for mercy. You'll sue for mercy. And the
Lord always shows mercy to those who call upon Him. I'd come to
Him as a vile sinner and begged for mercy. Now, back to Luke
chapter 6. The Lord Jesus Christ, having
heard this accusation against Him and His disciples, look what
He does. He defends them with the word
of truth. He takes a scripture about David,
how David was on the run from King Saul, and he was hungry,
and he went to the sanctuary where the shewbread was on the
table, and David asked the priest there, Can I have that bread? We're hungry." And the priest
said, OK, if you're in need, you can have the bread. You see,
the Lord defended his people with the Scripture. Have you
not read so much as this what David did when he was hungry,
and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the
house of God, and did take and eat to show bread, and gave also
to them that were with him, which is not lawful to eat, it was
reserved just for the priest. But the Lord here allowed this
as an act of mercy, and David and his men did eat, and were
satisfied, and were blessed. Now, the point I want to make
here on this is this. I love the way the Lord comes
to the defense of His disciples. He doesn't try to justify what
they did, but He does defend them with the Word of Truth.
He is the Lord Jesus Christ, our Advocate with the Father.
There's one Advocate, Jesus Christ the Righteous. He's the God-Man
Mediator. Against any and all that would
accuse us or them, the Lord Jesus Christ answers for us or them
with the Word of Truth. with the word of truth. As the
Lord does for us right now, against any accusation of the devil,
who stands for us against any accusation? Turn to Revelation
chapter 12. The Lord right now ever lives
as our forerunner, entered into the throne of God, seated at
the right hand of God, ever to intercede, he ever lived to intercede
for us. In Revelation 12 verse 9, Strength, and the kingdom of
our God, and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of the
brotherness cast down, which accused them before our God day
and night. Look at verse 11. They overcame
him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony.
What was the word of their testimony? I'm determined to know nothing
among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And they loved
not their lives unto death. When Satan would accuse us, The
Lord Jesus Christ stands for us and answers those accusations
by His blood atonement. The Lord answers for us today,
therefore we rest in Him. And in the day of judgment, the
Lord will answer for His elect. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather,
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also
makes intercession for us. Isn't that good news? The Lord
answers for us right now. And in that day of judgment,
He will answer for us. And He will present us to the
Father, holy, without spot, and without blame, spotless in His
sight. As God sees Christ, so He sees
us. As He is, so are we in this world. How are we? How does God see
us? In Him. in Christ. God sees us in Christ. And we are made accepted in the
Beloved. Now, Luke chapter 6, verse 5,
He said unto them, The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. He is Lord of our rest. Now, He has never said in Scripture,
It is never said in Holy Scripture that the Lord Jesus Christ becomes
Lord by something we do or by something we contribute. Not
at all. Or by some decision we make.
Some say in religious circles, well, make Jesus your Lord. You can't do that. How can you
make Him Lord? Who are you? You see, God has
made Him Lord. God has made this same Lord whom
you crucified. God has made Him Lord and Christ. He's not Lord by some decision
we make. He's not Lord by something we
do. That's impossible. He is Lord by the eternal, unchanging
decree of God. We acknowledge His Lordship.
We bow to His Lordship. We honor His Lordship. We submit
to His Sovereign rule over all things, but we don't make Him
Lord by something we do. He is Lord by the eternal unchanging
decree of God. Psalm 2 verse 6, God said, I've
set my king upon my holy hill Zion. In the verse I've already
quoted, Peter said, this same Jesus whom you have crucified,
God had made him both Lord and Christ. Never say, or if you
hear someone say, well I've made Jesus my Lord. I've made Jesus
Lord of my life, or something to that effect. And correct them.
You don't make Him Lord. You bow to His Lordship. You
submit to His Lordship. But He's Lord by the eternal,
unchanging decree of Christ. We come to Him confessing Him
to be Lord, not to make Him Lord. Now let me give you several examples
of that. The leper came in need to the
Lord Jesus Christ. You remember what he said? Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. Now what he said didn't
make him Lord, did it? But he acknowledged his Lordship.
The leopard came and said, Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. And he said, I will be thou clean. Thomas, when he fell down before
the Lord Jesus Christ, he owned him as my Lord and as my God. The thief on the cross. Do you
remember what he said? Lord, you're coming into a kingdom. Remember me. And we read in John
13, 13, the Lord said to the disciples, you call me Lord and
Master, and you say well, for so I am. We also read in Philippians chapter
2, God had given him a name which is above every name. That at
that name God has highly exalted Him and given Him above every
name that which is named, that every knee should bow and every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is what? Lord. Our confession does not make
Him Lord. We only acknowledge His Lordship. He is Lord by the
eternal and changing decree of God. Secondly, He is Lord not
only by the decree of God, but He is also Lord by purchase. He bought us with His own blood. Turn over to Romans chapter 14. Romans chapter 14, verse 8 and 9 of Romans 14. For
whether we live, we live unto the Lord, or whether we die,
We die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore or
die, we are the Lord's by purchase. For to this end Christ both died,
His purpose, died and rose and revived that He might be Lord
of the dead and the living. He's every man's Lord by purchase. He bought the church with His
own blood. You are not your own, you're
bought with a price. He redeemed us, He bought us,
He delivered us with His own blood. You see, He is Lord of
the Sabbath by decree, He's Lord by purchase, and thirdly, He's
Lord of all salvation, Lord of all grace, Lord of all mercy. He has all power to save. The
disciples asked this question, well, who then can be saved?
Remember what the Lord said? With men it is impossible, but
not with God. For with God all things are possible.
You see, He has all power to save. Let's read that one more
time. In John 17, verse 2 and 3. John 17, turn there. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. He's
Lord in salvation. He will have mercy on whom he
will have mercy. John 17, look at verse 2. As
thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou hast given to him. There is electing
love. There is sovereign power. This
is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God.
There is his deity, the only true God, Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. Here is his finished work. I
have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work that
you gave me to do. He is Lord of all our salvation. Now, here's a scripture I mentioned
earlier I want you to turn to. Find Matthew chapter 11. He is
Lord of our Sabbath rest. Matthew 11 verse 25. He is Lord
of our Sabbath rest. We come to the Lord by His irresistible
call. He says, Matthew, follow me.
He said, Zacchaeus, come down. He said, Lazarus, come forth. And we come to him by the irresistible
call of God. Notice Matthew 11, verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed
them unto babes, even so, father, for so it seemed good in thy
sight." Matthew 11, 27. All things are delivered unto
me of my father. The father loveth the son, and
hath given all things into his hand. John 3, 35. And no man
knoweth The Son, but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." If
the Lord ever reveals Himself unto you, this will happen. Verse 28, Come unto Me. You'll
come to Christ. What do I mean when I say believers
or sinners come to Christ? We come to Christ without moving
a muscle. We come to Christ by believing
Him. Christ is received by saving
faith. He said, come unto me. How do
you do that? By faith. By faith we come to
Him. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you, what's that word? Rest. Are you weary? Are you heavy laden? Come to
Christ by faith, and rest in Him. Take my yoke upon you, learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest unto your soul. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
Sabbath rest. That's why he said, let us therefore
labor to enter into that rest. There remaineth a rest therefore
to the people of God. The Lord Jesus Christ in scripture
is called the Lord our righteousness. Now, how righteous do I have
to be to stand before God accepted? I have to be perfectly righteous.
How can that be? Only in Christ, our righteousness. He is the Lord, our righteousness. He's called in Jeremiah 23, verse
6. And believers rest in Him. That's why we count everything
else lost, dung and ruined, that we may win Christ and be found
in Him who is our righteousness. He is the Lord our peace, Judges
6, 24. Therefore we rest in Him. You see, I'm not trying to make
peace with God. You can't do that either. The
Lord Jesus Christ made peace for us and we rest in peace. We rest in Him who accomplished
our peace. Who reconciled us unto God in
the Lord Jesus Christ. God was in Christ reconciling
us unto Himself. Being justified by faith we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He made peace with
His own blood. He is the Lord our peace. Now
rest in Him. He is our peace. He is our righteousness. He is our redemption. He is our
Redeemer. We rest in Him who accomplished
redemption by His own blood. He is the Lord our Shepherd.
You remember Psalm 23? The Lord is my shepherd, and
because He is, I shall not want for any good thing. You see, I'm resting in Christ
who provided all things for me. He is the Lord our righteousness,
the Lord our redemption, the Lord our peace. He's called the
Lord our shepherd. He's the good shepherd who laid
down His life for the sheep. He is the great shepherd. of
that everlasting covenant signed in his own blood, sealed in his
own blood, and he is the chief shepherd that's coming back again.
He is called also in Scripture the Lord our help. He is the
Lord that healeth thee. You see, with his stripes we
are healed. You see, I'm resting in him.
He is my help. He is my strength. We rest in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is also called Jehovah Jireh
the Lord will provide. And only that which God has provided
will God accept. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, who are you resting in? What are you resting in? Are
you looking back to a time, a place, or a date to try to find comfort,
assurance, or rest? Forget it. Forget it. Put it
out of your mind. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ
right now in your heart and come to Him by faith and rest in Him. You see, we don't look to a day.
We're not under the Sabbath day, any day to observe. We rest in
Christ. We rest in a person, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our salvation. He hath
the Son, hath life. Now in closing, let me give you
this. When God finished creation, what did He do? He rested, right? Creation's done. God sustains
His creation. It's upheld by the Word of His
power. But when God finished creation, He rested. When the
Lord Jesus Christ finished salvation, when He by Himself purged our
sin, it says many times that He sat down on the right hand
of the throne of God. Why did He sit down? The work
of redemption was accomplished. Done. And when believers come
to the Lord Jesus Christ, we rest in Him who finished our
salvation. We rest in the Lord who is the
Lord our rest. You see, this One who is called
the Son of Man, He is Lord. of our salvation. He's Lord of
our rest. We rest in the Lord. Oh may God,
may the Lord our God give us rest in Him now and forever. No longer going about to establish
a righteousness of our own, but rather resting in Him, the Lord
of our Sabbath, the Lord of our salvation.