[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Alright, take your Bibles if you would and open them to Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28.
[0:11] We're going to study the passage of Scripture in Matthew chapter 12, but you're going to kind of need it in the context of what happened in Matthew chapter 11 that you just got through with.
[0:21] In Matthew chapter 11, Jesus has said to the guys, Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. In Matthew chapter 12, the apostles are walking with Jesus in the ministry on the Sabbath day, and they come through a cornfield, which was a normal way to walk somewhere.
[0:40] The paths went right through the fields, and it was a custom that if you were walking through the field, you could just reach up and grab a new corn and open the new corn and peel off the corn and start eating. It was okay. It was legal. You weren't stealing as long as it was on the path and you were just going through the field.
[0:56] But on the Sabbath day, they had made up all kind of rules that you couldn't do anything like that. You couldn't eat. You couldn't be walking. You couldn't be grinding the corn. You couldn't be doing anything. And so there's an accusation made in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 1.
[1:11] Your guys are doing what's unlawful on the Lord's day. So I want to show you. We're going to give you a little bit of a graphic illustration of what's going on here so you can see what's happening.
[1:22] And so I want Cannon to come up here, and then we're going to have Jesus over here. And Jesus is a lot bigger than Cannon. Come over here and stand by. You've got to get down here. They've got the things too crowded up here if you all do anything.
[1:34] And so it's going to be Jesus. The little guy here is Jesus. Amen? Because he's big enough to help this little guy carry his burdens. If you would, Jesus, step over there. We'll just pretend I get to boss you around today.
[1:45] And so religion had come along and said to Cannon, Cannon, if you really want to please God, you must keep the Sabbath day and obey the rules on the Sabbath day.
[1:56] If you don't obey the rules, God's not pleased. And by the way, you need to pray before you eat. Okay? You pray before you eat. If you don't pray before you eat, God's not going to be happy. And then, by the way, you need to keep the Ten Commandments.
[2:11] All right. And so, anyway, probably Cannon is beginning to feel a little burden. How many of you all think he's burdened? Say amen. And he's probably been, how strong are you, Cannon?
[2:22] How long can you do that? And so Jesus said unto him, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. Could you help him out some?
[2:34] A little guy here, this is Tim. His name is Tiny Tim, for real. And when he came here, he introduced himself as Timmy. He's a little big for a Timmy. Amen? Okay, Timmy, you can set that down if you would.
[2:47] Out of the way. And so what happened is, Jesus came, and he gave rest. And after he gave the rest, he said to them in Matthew chapter 11, he said, I want you to take my yoke.
[2:57] Can you go get my yoke, everybody? And so he said, I want you to take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in spirit. My burden's light. My yoke is easy.
[3:07] And so he came to them. He came to them with this burden, and he said, take my yoke upon you. So you're going to get to Matthew 12 in a minute.
[3:18] But anyway, stand right over here there, Jesus. And watch this. If you would, go ahead, Jesus. Put the yoke on. This yoke really does weigh about five pounds, right, Tim?
[3:30] Yeah. About five pounds. Put that yoke on. I said, don't just pouse, so we don't mess you up there. Now watch this. He said, come and take my yoke on you, and learn of me.
[3:41] And that's really what happens when you get saved. Canon is really carrying a lot of the weight. Say amen. And so you guys pull the plow. Come on, serve God. Come this way.
[3:52] And so Jesus said, come unto me, all you that labor, before he was laboring and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And by the way, you think he's rested. I mean, when he gets through plowing the field all day long today, I think Tim's going to be really tired.
[4:06] And I've got a funny feeling. Canon's going to be like, man, that was the easiest plowing I've ever done in my life. Can you say amen? And so as they were walking through the fields in chapter 12, they're walking through the fields.
[4:17] One of the disciples reached over, and he pulled out an ear of corn. And he just started eating some corn. The Bible says he plucked the corn, Matthew chapter 12. And then in one of the other gospels, he twisted the ear of corn and got some corn off.
[4:32] And so there were some other guys in the field, and they were watching. And, man, you're really eating it, aren't you? Praise the Lord. This guy goes right along with my...
[4:42] They don't feed students at the training center. Amen. And so anyway, so there were some Pharisees hiding out there. You can be a Pharisee. You look like one step right here. And the Pharisee was hiding out in the trees or out in the field.
[4:56] He didn't belong in the field either. That guy shouldn't have been picking corn. What's this guy doing in the field? And he said, hey, what are you doing? Don't you know this is unlawful for you to be eating the fruit, to be plucking that corn and eating that corn on that day?
[5:10] And so there's an accusation. Now, before the Pharisee shows up, this guy's like having a blast. He's enjoying life. He's resting. Jesus said, come unto me, all you that labor, and I will give you...
[5:21] Take my yoke upon you, and you'll get what? Rest. Two times the word rest is used. The interesting thing is this is all going to take place on the Sabbath day. The word Sabbath has as its base meaning rest.
[5:35] It was the day of... And it was the day of ceasing labor and rest. So he got saved. Are you getting tired yet, Tim? Nah. And so all of a sudden, this guy, he's just enjoying serving God.
[5:47] I mean, look how easy it is. Look how the burden's on the Lord, not on him. That's what happens when you get saved. But then religion steps in. And religion says, that's not right. You're not supposed to enjoy God.
[6:00] And you're not supposed to enjoy living. And you're not supposed to enjoy serving God. That's just not the way it is. What are you doing eating that corn? And that's exactly what goes on in the story you're about to read. You can get rid of your yoke now.
[6:11] Y'all can sit down. Now take your Bibles and go with me to Matthew chapter 12. I want you to go home. I want you to understand what's happening in the story. You've got a man burdened down with rules and regulations.
[6:23] Jesus puts him under his yoke. He eats an ear of corn. Other people accuse him. They put the burdens back on him. And in the story, Jesus says, you guys don't understand.
[6:34] I am the God of mercy. I'm the God of kindness. I'm the God of sweetness. So take your Bible, if you would, Matthew chapter 12 and verse 1. Matthew chapter 12 and verse 1.
[6:46] It says, at that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day, the Sabbath day, the day of rest, through the corn. That's where we got that. And his disciples were hungry. And they began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat.
[7:00] So they're getting the corn and they're eating. But when the disciples saw it, they said unto him, when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day.
[7:11] Do you remember what Matthew 11, 28 through 30 was about? That's the verse right before Matthew 12, 1. It was about, I know people have been putting a lot of junk on you. I know religion has been wearing you out.
[7:22] And I know they've been giving you a whole lot of rules you've got to obey. And that's why people are kind of upset with church anyway. I know that. So come to me. Come to me, all you that are labored, all you that are heavy burdened, and I'll give you rest.
[7:33] I will give you rest. In verse 28 in your Bible, you should circle the word rest. He said, you come, I'll give you rest. He says again in verse 29, he said, you shall find rest.
[7:44] But chapter 12, verse 1, he runs into religion, which you run into every time you step around any Christian people. The second you decide you're going to serve God, everybody's like, can I steal his rest?
[7:56] In chapter 12, verse 2, they accuse him of violating the law. They said it is not lawful to do that upon the Sabbath day. Sabbath speaks of what?
[8:06] What's the Sabbath day about? What's the base word is? Rest. What did Jesus offer them two times? What did the Pharisees offer? Rules. They were going to put extra burdens.
[8:16] Let me just tell you some of the rules. Not in the Bible. Not in the Bible. But the independent Pharisees, the independent religious crowd, this is some of the things they said.
[8:28] You cannot travel more than 3,000 feet from your house on the Sabbath day. However, if you were to take and go about 2,900 feet and put some food there, you could go another 3,000 feet.
[8:40] So all you've got to do is take some of your food, put it about 3,000 feet away, and that's considered part of your house. So you can drop an ear of corn over there and keep going. They even had a rule where if you took a piece of rope and stretched it across the street to your neighbor's house, you'd still be in your house because it was your rope as long as you went across the street.
[8:58] They said you could move from one place to another place. You could even move some objects in your house from one place to another place. But the rabbis never could figure out which one was right. They argued. You can't move this, but you can't move this.
[9:09] They never could figure it out. But they were told they could never carry a load on the Sabbath day that weighed more than a dried fig, one fig. They could eat nothing on the Sabbath day larger than an olive.
[9:22] And by the way, if they took a bite of an olive and found out it was bad and threw away half of it, that was still they'd eaten a whole lot of olives. So that's all they got. They could not throw an object up in the air and catch it with the other hand because that would be work.
[9:36] They couldn't take a bath on Sunday because if they did, some of the water might spill on the floor and wash the floor, and that would be work. If it was Friday afternoon just before the Sabbath started and you reached over to get some food and the Sabbath came, 6 o'clock hit right at that time.
[9:54] As you brought that back, you'd be working. So you better drop the food really quick. You can't eat on the Sabbath or it would be wrong. They couldn't light a fire. They couldn't put one out in their house.
[10:05] They couldn't move a chair because they moved a chair. They might be plowing up the ground. If you were sick, they could put a tourniquet on your wound if you got your leg cut off, but no ointments because they couldn't heal you.
[10:16] They could try to keep you alive. The day of rest had become stressful, not restful. Did you bless that food? Did you wash your hands?
[10:28] They did anything they could to kill the joy of the moment. That's who the religious people were. By the way, in a second we'll go see what the Bible actually said about the Sabbath, what God said about the Sabbath.
[10:42] Jesus deliberately violated Sabbath traditions on several occasions because external laws never make you holy. And in this passage, Jesus is going to teach us some great lessons about the Sabbath and about himself.
[10:57] But if I can leave you with nothing else, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you what? That's what he said. So the first thing was an accusation.
[11:08] Now look at verse 3, if you would, and notice the answer Jesus gives. And because of time, we're going to have to rush through it, but you can read these later on. And Jesus turns to these rabbis, these Pharisees, these spiritual leaders, and he said, Oh, you want to accuse my guys of eating on the Sabbath?
[11:24] Have y'all never read the Old Testament? And in the Old Testament, there's a story about David. And David and his men are going out, and he goes to Ahimelech, and he says to Ahimelech, Do you have any food here?
[11:36] And Ahimelech said, I don't have any bread except the show bread, the bread that was put on the table as a part of the worship service. And David said, Well, can I have that bread? And the guy said, Well, if your guys hadn't been with any girls, I guess they could have the bread.
[11:50] And they get the bread given to them, and nobody ever condemned that. David's a big hero. And David said, My guys are hungry. David's guys are hungry. David did it, and it was okay. My guys are just eating some corn on the way to serve, and you're upset about it.
[12:03] I'm not really getting this. I don't know why your rules are so important to you. I'm not getting that. He said, By the way, if that rule's not enough for you, do you realize that on every Sabbath day, the priests, the Levites, the guys who are actually the men of God, that's the hardest day of work they have because they're sacrificing all day long.
[12:21] So in the morning, somebody comes in with a lamb, a ram, a bullock. And all day long, man, they are working like crazy. They're killing those animals. They're shedding their blood. They're offering the sacrifices.
[12:32] They're burning the sacrifices. Jesus said, I don't know. You guys haven't read the Bible yet? You're kind of upset about my guys getting a little bite to eat on the way in here. They just ate raw corn. That's all they did.
[12:43] You guys are kind of upset about it. I just want to know, you haven't read about David, and you probably haven't read about the priest, or you all don't know that. What's going on? So Jesus is a little bit antagonistic towards them. He was a little bit of a smart aleck towards them and telling them about what was going on.
[12:59] David was their hero. Not one reference in the Bible said they did wrong. The priest. And then he calls another verse to them. And he's using three Bible references. They come to him and say, what you're doing is not lawful.
[13:10] And he said, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm a Bible preacher. I read the Bible. Here's what the Bible said. He said, David, that's in the Bible. You all know that. That story's in the Bible. Where's your story? And then he says, hey, do you not know about the priest?
[13:22] That's in the Bible. You all know that? Then he says, why don't you look at Hosea chapter 6 and verse 6. And Jesus, or God said in Hosea 6, 6, he said this. As he answered them, he said, you realize that they were making sacrifices.
[13:33] And God said, I'm tired of your sacrifices. You can bring all the offerings you want to church. You can pray all the prayers you want. You can get baptized all the times you want to get baptized. But what I want to know is when are you going to show mercy?
[13:45] That's what Hosea chapter 6 and verse 6 said. So he threw it right back in their face. You accuse my guys. You accuse my guys of eating on the Sabbath. You accuse my guys of profaning the Sabbath.
[13:56] And I have an answer for you. And I've got three Bible verses for you to look at and for you to consider. God wasn't interested in the performance of their religion. He was looking for what they did in the services.
[14:08] But not looking for what they did in the services, but more how it affected how they lived. There's nothing you can do for God that relieves you of the responsibility to live out God and the love he's placed in you.
[14:21] You know, it's amazing. We're kind of like them. We come to church. We're all religious and holy. We walk in. We've got to be dressed right. Talk right. Walk right. Carry the right Bible. Say all the right stuff. But when we leave here, man, we're the meanest people on the planet.
[14:33] We walk out judgmental and critical like these Pharisees did. And Jesus said, that's the way it works. That's not the way it works. That's not how you guys should be. The third thing I want you to check out.
[14:43] Go with me if you would to Matthew chapter 12 and verse 6. Notice his authority. Notice his authority. But I say unto you that in this place is one greater than the temple. Look at that verse, would you?
[14:57] Jesus says to them, maybe you guys don't understand who I am, but I am greater than the temple. I am God. The temple is for worship in me, and my guys are walking with me, and I am greater than the temple.
[15:14] So I want you to get a hold of something. But Jesus was saying, I am God. Maybe you've run around with that group of people that say Jesus doesn't. The Bible never says he's God. Jesus pretty well claims it for himself a lot in the Bible.
[15:26] And in this verse right here, he says, there's one amongst you that's greater than the temple. Guess who it is. Look, if you went to Matthew chapter 6 and verse 8, if you would. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 8, he said, For the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath day.
[15:41] The Son of Man, Jesus, Lord, God, ruler of the Sabbath day. He's greater than the temple. Didn't they realize that David didn't defile the temple because God approved?
[15:52] Didn't they realize that someone greater than the temple was with them? The temple was built for Jesus. He's letting them know he is God. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is the Lord of the Sabbath.
[16:05] He is Lord over everything. He is king. And what did he actually say? Look at Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8 with me. This is the actual commandment that was given. There's nothing in here about 3,000 feet.
[16:16] There's nothing in here about eating half an olive and spitting the other out. There's nothing in here about stringing a rope from one side of the road to the other side of the road. There's just nothing in here about that. In Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8, he said, Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
[16:29] This is where the Ten Commandments are given. Mark that down in your Bible. Exodus chapter 20. He said, keep it holy. Now, if you've got your Bible open, circle the word holy and realize that holy means dedicated, separated, sanctified, set apart for somebody.
[16:46] So, for example, how many of you in your home have a chair that's daddy's chair? Hold your hand up. You've got a chair that's daddy's chair. Hold your hand up. Oh, man. Some of you guys, you all need to talk to your wife about that.
[16:56] Amen. I've got a chair. That's my chair. You come in and sit in that chair. I'm going to even be looking at you like, what are you doing? I come in walking into my big office over there sometimes and one of the guys will be sitting in my chair. I walk up.
[17:07] I don't even hesitate. I'm just like, I just stand there and lay it up. It's my chair. Amen. That chair is holy unto me. How many of you have, how many of you have a glass you use?
[17:17] Everybody knows that's your glass or your cup. Just think about it. That's what holy means. Now, look at the verse. Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Keep it separate for me. It's my day. He's going to say that.
[17:28] Keep it separate. It's for me. Look, if you would at chapter 20 and verse 9. In chapter 20 and verse 9, he said, six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the Sabbath day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.
[17:40] Now, look at what it says. It's the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Verse 10. Sabbath. Rest of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work. Thou nor thy son nor thy daughter or thy maid servant.
[17:51] The man's servant, maid servant, cattle, stranger that's within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and the sea and all that's in them and rested. And on the Sabbath day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath and hallowed it, separated it to himself.
[18:05] But look, if you would, at verse 10. The Sabbath of the Lord thy God. And then Jesus looked at him and said, I'm Lord of the Sabbath. You know what he was saying, don't you?
[18:16] I'm God. That's who I am. So I can say what I want to say. I do what I want to do. I created you, made the earth, temple belongs to me, Sabbath belongs to me. I'm God.
[18:26] We worship God in human flesh, Jesus Christ. We worship him. The day was hallowed and separated to God for his purposes.
[18:37] In Mark chapter 2 and verse 27, Jesus even said, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. I didn't give you a rest to put more rules on you.
[18:48] I gave you a rest because you've been working all week. I gave you a rest so you could worship me. It was a blessing to you, not more rules. Don't forget the story. You started out with all that burden.
[18:58] He said, come unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. And he took and he gave you rest. And he put you under a yoke that he carries the yoke. And his yoke is easy and his burden is light. And now all of a sudden the religious people are saying you've got more rules put on top of you.
[19:12] And Jesus said, that's just not the way it is. They accuse. He answers. And he says, I have authority to do what I want. Then if you would, go with me to verse 9. In verse 9, he takes action.
[19:24] Look at what he does in verse 9. We're in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 9. And when he was departed then, he went into their synagogue. So he finishes up there. And later on, he goes to a synagogue.
[19:34] Now, synagogue is a worship place for them. It's kind of like when you say, I'm going to church. It's a synagogue. It's a place where they got together outside the temple and they worshiped together. And he goes to synagogue.
[19:45] In verse 10, when he got there, there was a guy whose hand was withered. His hand was all shrunk up and didn't work. It would be like somebody had polio or something else wrong with their hand. And he shows up there and things aren't good.
[19:56] And so they ask him saying in verse 10, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? They're out there to say, we're fixing to nail him. Because Jesus can't get around people that are messed up without trying to fix them up.
[20:08] And they knew that. So they got this guy who was messed up and brought him into church service. They didn't want him to get any help. They just wanted to have him to lay a trap for Jesus. So here's this guy with his hand all messed up and he's sitting there in the service.
[20:19] And Jesus is there and they know Jesus sees him. They say, hey, Jesus, you think it's okay to heal that guy on the Sabbath day? You know it's against our rules. You can't do that. We just want to accuse you that they know something about Jesus.
[20:31] You don't like to get around that kind of stuff unless he's going to do something to help people. He came to give us rest. Religious people came to give us more rules. He came to give us rest. And in verse 11, Jesus said to them, well, guys, let me ask you a question.
[20:45] If you're on the way to church or synagogue and you're on your way to the synagogue or you're doing something else and you see your sheep and it's fallen in a pit and it's laying in a pit, would you do anything to get your sheep out?
[20:57] And of course, the answer, it's a rhetorical question. Of course, we take care of our sheep. And Jesus says, so y'all think a sheep is more important than a man? You'd rather take care of a dog than you would a man.
[21:07] You'd rather take care of an ox more than you would a man. You'd rather take care of a jack donkey more than you would a man. That's just ridiculous. That's just not the way it works. That's what he says in verse 11. He said, if you have one sheep and fall in a pit on Saturday, would you not lift it up and get it out?
[21:22] Verse 12, he said, so isn't it okay to do good on the Sabbath? Wherefore, it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath. And he has the guy stick out his hand and he heals the guy right there.
[21:34] He didn't just talk about the Sabbath being different. He didn't defend his disciples. He now heals a man when they're questioning him. He said, you guys are too worried about animals and not worried enough about people in verse 12.
[21:47] If something happened to one of their animals, they made an exception. Here's a man in need. They don't want to help him. They have no desire or intentions. They just want to trap Jesus.
[21:59] But Jesus heals him. And when he gets through healing him, if you look at your Bible in chapter 12 and verse 14, they decide that they will kill him.
[22:10] Look at Matthew chapter 12, verse 14. You're too nice to the people. We're going to take you out. Chapter 12, verse 14. Then the Pharisees went out and he'll counsel against him how they might destroy him.
[22:23] So let's go through the story again. And I'm going to give you some application that you can take home with you to work through this passage of Scripture. Listen to this. They came. They're walking through the field.
[22:34] And all they did was innocently pull some corn off, open the corn, take some corn out, throw some corn in their mouth. They were hungry. They accused them.
[22:44] They said, you're not respecting the Sabbath. You're not respecting the Sabbath. What you've done is wrong. It's illegal. So there was the accusation. You've got to remember where it came in your Bible.
[22:55] It came in your Bible right after Jesus said, I know they've been putting a lot of burdens on you. And I know there's a lot of junk and stress on you. Come to me and I'll give you rest. Come to me and I'll change that.
[23:07] And they did. And then the religious crowd came attacking them immediately. The religious crowd came attacking them immediately. Jesus answers. He gives them three Bible reasons that what they're saying is wrong.
[23:19] Because most of the time all this junk that's been put on you, it's not in the Bible. It's in what people made up. And that's what Jesus was showing them. You're saying it's illegal to do this.
[23:29] You're saying the Bible says not do it. But Exodus 20 doesn't say it's not right. And all these stories I'm about to tell you, they don't say it's not right. I think you guys are messed up. I'm the guy that's here to give mercy.
[23:41] And so he gets through that discussion. He tells them he's the right to say what he wants to say. And then he goes out and on purpose right in front of them when they're trying to trap him, he heals a man.
[23:52] So how do I apply that to my life? How do I leave here this morning and say, man, what's it got to do with the Sabbath day? How does that fit into my life? I mean, why are we having this discussion? Why did God put that story in the Bible?
[24:04] I want you to understand something. Jesus came to rescue us from ourselves, our sin, our selfishness, and men that would burden us down. Now listen to what I'm fixing to tell you.
[24:16] There's religion all over the world. If you look at the idols around the world, you'll find their gods aren't very happy gods. They're kind of mean gods. Totem poles and even the gods of the Hawaiian Islands or wherever, they're always kind of got a scowl on their face.
[24:34] Not our God. God is a wonderfully good, gracious, long-suffering, merciful God that you want to hear more about in the afternoon from Numbers chapter 6.
[24:45] But he came to rescue you. You are burdened down. And you do have junk. And you're not born again. And you don't know that you'd go to heaven if you died. And you want to.
[24:56] And alone at night, you cry out and you say, God, what do I do? Where do I turn? I don't know what to do. And it seems like everything people tell me to do is just more stuff. And I try it and it messes me up.
[25:06] And I've done everything they tell me to do. And I just don't seem to get things straight in my life. I don't know what to do. I'm all messed up. And here's what Jesus said. Yeah, you are. Because you ain't never going to fix it. Come to me. Come to me.
[25:17] And I will give you rest. Come to me. And I will make a difference in your life. Come to me. I came to save you. Every religion and everything in the world says, you do for God.
[25:27] You do for God. You do for God. The Bible says, God did for you. It's a totally different thing. God did for us on the cross of Calvary. Realize that religion, even Baptists, will always be adding to your burdens.
[25:44] They keep throwing more stuff on you. Keep trying to put it on you. Accept the gift of God and His grace. Accept the gift of God. But it's grace. Grace means goodness and mercy and kindness and longsuffering extended to you.
[25:58] Boy, go back to Matthew 11 and think about that. That's the craziest story in the world. All these people come to Jesus. All that junk's going on in their life. And He says, just come to me. I know you're burdened.
[26:09] I know you're trying to do right. You're trying to keep the Ten Commandments. You're trying to take care of the Sabbath day. You're trying to do all the rules everybody's giving you. And you can't handle it. Come, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke.
[26:20] And just like Tim had the yoke and it didn't touch cannon. He said, come, take my yoke upon you. Submit to me and follow me. My yoke is light. And my burden is easy.
[26:31] I'm a good God. I'm a good God and I care about you. Come. Remember that you do not serve men. But you serve the Lord Jesus. Be sure that you have come to Jesus with your sin.
[26:42] And He will save you with no work on your part. No work on your part. Listen to me. What I want you to hear is something quickly. This is the Bible right here. He doesn't do 99.9% for you.
[26:55] He does 100% for you. He doesn't say, I'll meet you halfway. If you'll be faithful to church and you'll quit doing all these things you shouldn't do and you'll start doing all these things you should do, then I'll help you.
[27:08] He doesn't help people. He does it for people. Sometimes I hear people say, God helped me. You know, they were talking about their salvation. No, He didn't help you. He just did it for you. That's what He did.
[27:19] He did it for you. Come to Him and accept that grace. And as Christians, can I say this to you? Don't be going out putting rules and regulations on people. Let's don't ever fall in the trap of the Pharisees.
[27:32] In all honesty, in John chapter 10 and verse 10, the Bible says, The thief comes about for the steel to kill and destroy, but I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly. And cannon under that yoke was like the happiest guy.
[27:44] Hand me some corn. I'm going to eat some corn. I'm walking with Jesus. Where else could you be? What better could you have it? How much better could you have it? I'm with Jesus. I'm eating corn. I'm enjoying life. I'm not burdened down.
[27:55] I got this other guy doing everything for me. Man, this is great. Joy. That's what Jesus said. I came to give you life and life more abundant. Your spiritual life should be like the most exciting thing in the world.
[28:09] He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. And so when you realize you've been forgiven and all the junk's been wiped away and your past has been made clean and you're a new creature and everything else is behind you, when you realize that, then show that to other people.
[28:27] Christians ought to be like, man, I'm so happy. You need to know Jesus. He can work in your life too. I was under all the burden and all the pressure. I was weighed down and beat down before too. But Jesus changed me.
[28:40] So, you know, I grew up with all kind of rules. I grew up with all kind of rules. I knew I was saved by grace, but I thought that after grace, I had to do a whole bunch of stuff for God to keep being happy with me.
[28:52] And keeping the Sabbath was one of those things I had to work at. I had to work at resting. I had to be real careful. Don't get that food in your mouth. Don't eat too much. Don't go places.
[29:02] Don't do this. That's not the story of the Bible. Here's the story of the Bible. You objectively failed God. Nothing good about you. But the God of heaven loves you.
[29:14] And he took all of your sin and all of its consequences. And he went to the cross and he paid the price. And he said, it is finished. And that means it's finished.
[29:25] You can be saved. And if you're not saved, you could be, you can be, you should be. It's all been done. Nothing is waiting on you except this. Believe. Accept. He's done everything.
[29:38] It's not like he's understanding. If you quit this and this and this, I'll save you. That's what he's saying. He's looking at you saying, you ain't good enough to do anything for me. I just do stuff for you. I'm good. I'm God. I'm doing a work in your life.
[29:50] So it's really funny. The passage of scripture about the Sabbath day and the rules comes right after getting the rest. It comes right after getting the rest. That's not really funny. It's divine. It's not really funny.
[30:00] It's God saying, I said I gave you rest. So if you don't know rest today and you're not saved, get saved. And if you're like Austin and you've spent much of your life under all the rules that mom and dad and churches and everybody put on you, always feeling like maybe I just don't quite measure up.
[30:18] Maybe God just doesn't quite love me. Maybe I'm just not quite going to. Don't let religion steal your rest. He said, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.
[30:33] It's like the little boy down at the creek swimming or down at the swimming pool swimming, and everybody else is making fun of him, and everybody's just throwing rocks at him or hitting him, but he can run home and climb in his mother's lap and lay his head on her chest, and she'll wrap her arms around him and say, I love you.
[30:51] Don't worry about it. I'm your mother, and I care about you. Here's what God said. I know there's a bunch of junk beating up on you. Come. Come. Even if you're saved, come.
[31:01] I love you. I love you, and I'm at work in your life. Come sit in my lap. Let me hug you. Let me show you. You are loved. Father in heaven, I thank you for the opportunity to preach.
[31:13] I thank you for the opportunity to share this passage of Scripture. I pray that it will mean much to your people as they go home, and I pray that they'll be excited about learning about what you're saying, and it'll be real in their hearts and in their lives, and I will give you praise for all you do.
[31:25] God, show your power in us. Magnify yourself. God, save those in the room that haven't been born again. I pray. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia.
[31:37] For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com, where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.