In case we are guilty of, as they say, losing sight of the forest for the trees,
it might be helpful for us before we dig too far into Sabbath issues
to kind of take a step back and just be reminded of the purpose
and what's actually happening here in the Gospel of Mark.
You remember that the Gospel, the singular purpose of it,
is to proclaim the good news, as we see in chapter 1, verse 1,
to proclaim the good news that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah and the Son of God.
And then by extension of that, understand that Jesus' death paid for the sins of His people
and His resurrection secured eternal life for all that belong to Him.
So when we come to these Gospels, and we've talked about this so often,
they're not biographies, they're Gospels, they're proclamations.
They're not for entertaining us, they are for persuading us.
And as Mark is going through, and Matthew and Luke and John as well,
and they're presenting the identity of Christ,
they're presenting the identity of Christ for a purpose.
We can't just stop at who He is, which is where a lot of people get stuck.
They're happy to admit even that intellectually speaking,
Jesus was unique, that He was from God, that He possessed the power of God.
They may not have very many qualms with His identity, but then they stop there.
And instead of allowing His identity to persuade them into what He taught, into what He did,
they just kind of give intellectual scent to Him, conform to some religious ritual,
claim to be a Christian or whatever, and kind of move on from there.
But we can't stop there, right?
The purpose in identifying Christ is to actually show us what His purpose was, why He came.
And so the issue when we're studying about the life of Christ,
and we understand that, and we see all of these claims of divinity,
and we see all these demonstrations of deity and His healings,
and all of these other things,
the issue is as we continue to read through the Gospels,
we find out that there's a big problem.
And that's the fact that He died.
This Savior died.
That wasn't supposed to happen, right?
At least in the minds of the Jews,
their idea of Messiah was not that the Messiah would die,
but that He would live, He would reign,
that He would establish His kingdom.
And so the issue is that as Jesus comes along,
and He shows all these things, and people begin to follow Him,
and then the problem is He died.
But that's not supposed to be what happened.
Well, what was the purpose of that?
Well, the purpose of that death was to take our place,
to pay for our sin.
And fortunately, gratefully, it didn't stop with His death.
He resurrected from the dead.
He secured life, giving proof that all of His claims were true,
that He is indeed the Messiah.
Therefore, the issue was not with what happened to Jesus.
The issue was with how we, as mankind,
were interpreting what the Messiah was supposed to be to begin with.
And so as Mark is going through this,
he's identifying who Jesus is,
and all of that is for the purpose of the Gospel.
And the truth is, He is indeed the Messiah.
He is the Son of God.
And there's been overwhelmingly compelling evidence,
even in the first two chapters,
that that is indeed the case.
It is hard to argue against it.
The only way that you can argue against this fact
is just to say that every bit of this is just a lie.
It's made up.
But there's just too much evidence to say to the contrary of that.
He is Messiah.
He is Son of God.
And if that's true, His death had a purpose,
and His resurrection is fantastic and even expected.
Well, such immensely good news,
you would expect,
would be universally celebrated and accepted, right?
But it wasn't.
It wasn't.
Over and over in chapter 2 and chapter 3,
in the first part of chapter 3 at least,
where we get to today,
this is actually Mark's purpose in writing these events.
He's bringing out the fact that
though Jesus is good news,
though He is Messiah,
not everyone believed that.
Not everyone wanted to accept that.
In fact,
the very people that should have,
the very people that should have recognized who He was,
actually denied Him and rejected Him
and even went so far as to oppose Him,
to seek His own destruction.
And that's really what's unfolding here.
We see all of these various conflicts
that Mark is bringing together.
And the issue here,
in each one of them,
really the link between them all,
is this issue of authority.
The Pharisees and the scribes,
and even to an extent,
as we saw last week,
the disciples of John the Baptist,
had placed themselves
in a position of authority,
religious authority.
And now,
here comes Jesus,
naturally as the Son of God,
teaching with tremendous authority,
demonstrating that authority
and that power in healing.
In fact,
there's a Greek word that's used over and over,
even up to this point in Mark,
excusia.
It means authority or power.
If you remember in chapter one,
Jesus went to the synagogue,
and all the people were astonished
because he didn't teach them
like the scribes taught,
but he taught as one with authority.
It's that word,
excusia,
authority,
power.
There was significance
to his person
in his teaching.
Okay?
And then immediately,
that excusia,
that power is demonstrated
as the demon-possessed man
in the synagogue
is freed from that bondage
simply by Jesus' word.
When we get to the story
of the paralytic,
the word is used again.
Jesus looks at the Pharisees,
and he says,
I'm going to do this
in order that you may know
that the Son of Man
has authority,
excusia,
to forgive sins.
And we see this.
The issue is the Pharisees
believed themselves
to be the authoritative power.
And then here comes Jesus
showing that that's actually not true.
He is the one with the power.
He is the one with the authority.
And what happens?
They're threatened.
They didn't like that very much.
There's this struggle now.
The gospel of grace
versus the gospel
of religious observance.
The gospel of works.
And now they're fighting
against one another.
Who's right?
Who has the real authority?
Who has the real power?
And that's what's really unfolding
here in these stories.
When we get to the final two
that we just read about,
the issue is elevated.
And it all has to do
with Sabbath observance.
It was one thing for them
to see Jesus not fasting,
following their traditions of fasting.
It was completely intolerable for them
to see that he didn't conform
to their traditions
of Sabbath observance.
And that's the issue
coming to the surface here.
So much so that this is the thing
that pushes them to the edge.
And when we get to the very end of it,
all of this is kind of building.
Here he is, Jesus is forgiving sins.
And now he's hanging out with sinners.
And now he's not fasting.
And now he's not doing the Sabbath thing.
And what's the result?
We're going to go find our enemies,
political enemies,
and we're going to find a way together
to destroy this man.
Why?
Because he didn't conform to their rules.
It's this battle of authority.
The first thing we're going to look at
is Jesus confronting religious perversion
or religious distortion,
however you would prefer to say it.
Look with me again at verse 23.
And it came to pass
that he went through the fields of grain
on the Sabbath day,
and his disciples began as they went
to pluck the ears of grain.
And the Pharisees said unto him,
Behold, why do they on the Sabbath day
that which is not lawful?
Now, if you'll remember from your history classes
in school,
you will know that the Romans
were partly known for their road system.
Well, even as that is true,
their roads weren't quite like our roads.
We can literally find a road to go anywhere,
can't we?
There's roads everywhere.
It wasn't exactly like that in Jesus's day.
There were some main routes
that people could follow,
but if Jesus and his disciples
were looking to go to the next town over,
per se,
they might not look for a road.
They might just cross through an open field.
And in the process of traveling
from place to place,
they would have crossed people's property.
They would have crossed pastures.
They would have gone places
that were relatively unmarked.
But what's happening in this instance
is Jesus and his disciples
are traveling from place to place
and they're doing just that.
They're cutting through someone's field.
Now, if you're reading along
in the King James with me,
it says cornfields
or they were plucking corn.
Okay, well, corn wasn't discovered
at least by civilized society
until the 1600s.
That's not what this means here.
This is an old English word for grain.
It's probably wheat or barley.
And as they're walking
through this wheat field,
it has ripened probably in the spring
or the summer and it's ripened.
And they're taking the heads of grain
and they are eating them
because they're hungry.
The issue wasn't that they were taking
from someone else's field.
In fact, the Bible actually said
that that was perfectly fine.
The issue isn't with the fact
that they were taking
from somebody else's field.
The issue was timing.
They were doing this on the Sabbath day,
which is what becomes the issue here.
Now, the confrontation arises in verse 24.
Look at it with me again.
The Pharisee said unto him,
look, look at what they're doing.
They're angry about this.
Why are they doing on the Sabbath day?
And then they use this phrase,
that which is not lawful.
Now, when we first look at that,
we think, oh my goodness,
that's a good question.
How in the world could Jesus
allow his disciples to break the law?
That doesn't sound right.
What the Pharisees meant was not,
why are they breaking God's law?
What they meant is,
why is he breaking our law?
The issue for this timing here,
as we study,
is really is just an extension
of this legalism
that we looked at last week
with the fasting.
Yes, God had established the Sabbath.
No issue there.
He had established circumcision as well.
No issue there.
God had designated those things
for a specific reason.
What the Pharisees had done
is they had distorted
what God had intended to be a blessing.
They took the Sabbath laws
that God had made
and they added all of their extra traditions,
all of their extra burdens
onto the people.
And they were unbelievable.
Still are today.
There is a Jewish manuscript
called the Talmud
that is followed religiously by Jews.
There are two dozen chapters
committed specifically
to Sabbath observance.
And in those 24 chapters
on Sabbath observance,
there are 39 categories for work.
And under each category for work
is a full description
on what they believe to be lawful
and what they believe to be sinful.
If you were a writer,
if that was your occupation,
it would be unlawful for you
on the Sabbath
to carry around a pen.
Now, it's not a problem
for anybody else
to carry around a pen on the Sabbath
unless it exceeded a certain way.
You had to weigh it to make sure.
But if you're a writer,
just to carry your pen
meant that you were
in danger of performing work.
Therefore, you were breaking the law
by doing that.
You couldn't sew
more than one stitch.
I don't know what one stitch would do,
but you couldn't sew
more than one stitch.
You couldn't write
more than one letter.
All of this is described.
Unbelievable.
That wasn't God's law.
That was the Pharisaical law.
That was just rabbinical tradition
or burdening the people.
That's what these men
were accusing Jesus
and his disciples of.
The bottom line is
that the legalists
had taken something
that God meant for a blessing
and they had perverted it
into a burden
and a method
of gaining acceptance
from God.
Spurgeon wrote this
years and years ago.
He said,
we have some of that sort
of folk living now
who take the smallest matter,
which is altogether insignificant,
in which there is neither good
nor harm,
and magnify and distort it,
and then make a person
a grave offender
all for next to nothing.
Well, that's what's
happening here.
Jesus confronts it.
He confronts it in three ways
and we'll move quickly
through these things.
He confronts it first
by giving a precedent
A precedent of King David.
Then he provides
some doctrinal clarity
and then he proclaims
his own divine authority.
Let's first look
at David's precedent.
David's precedent.
Look with me again
at verse 25.
Verse 25.
And he said unto them,
Have you never read
what David did
when he had need
and was hungry?
He and they
that were with him?
How they went
into the house of God
in the days of Abiathar
the high priest
and did eat the showbread,
which is not lawful to eat,
but for the priest,
and gave also unto them
which were with him.
So the event
that Jesus is referring to here
is in 1 Samuel chapter 21.
You'll be familiar
with what happens
just before this.
You remember
who was David's best friend?
Jonathan.
Who was Jonathan's father?
Saul.
Who wanted to kill David?
Saul.
And so Jonathan and David
were working together.
They had made this deal
that if Saul
was still intent
on killing David,
Jonathan was going to
signal him
by shooting some arrows.
And so he comes out
and he signals them
that yes,
dad's trying to kill you.
You better run.
And so David goes on the run.
And he's got just
a couple of men with him
and that's it.
They got nothing.
He leaves
and he starts running.
They go on
probably a couple of days
journey from Gibeah
to a place called Nob.
Nob is where
the tabernacle was.
And when they show up there,
they're starving.
Like they're starving.
They're going to die
if they don't eat
something soon.
And David goes
into the tabernacle
and he finds the priest
who 1 Samuel 21
tells us is a himalek
at that particular point.
And he walks in
and a himalek says,
what do you need?
And he says,
we need something to eat.
Can we have whatever bread
that you have available?
Well, the problem is
the bread that was there,
the bread of presence,
the bread of show bread,
was not lawful
for anybody else to eat
in the ceremonial law,
the ceremonial law
that God had given.
And so the man
reminds him of that.
Well, this is only lawful
for the priest,
but since you are
in such need,
here you go.
David and his men ate it.
Now, Jesus' argument here
is that if God was pleased
for David to violate
the ceremonial law
in order to survive,
then it certainly wasn't
a problem for the Son of God
to allow his disciples
to violate the mere tradition
of men.
That's the whole point.
Now, in Matthew's account
of this,
Jesus adds another precedent
in Matthew chapter 12.
In this one,
he says,
have you not considered
the priest
how on the Sabbath day
they still perform
all their duties?
They're doing work
and yet nobody thinks
anything about it.
In other words,
God has provided
certain exceptions
to ceremonial law.
And then he tells the men
in Matthew chapter 12,
he says,
go and learn what this means.
And he quotes Hosea.
He says,
I want mercy,
not sacrifice.
In other words,
God doesn't care
about all your externalism
if he doesn't have your heart.
And that he meant
for this ceremonial law
to be subordinate
to the needs of man.
So there was no true violation
of God's law
taking place here
because God wasn't displeased
with what David did
and Jesus affirmed it here.
So if God was okay with that,
there was no issue
with what these disciples
were doing on this day.
All right?
That's David's precedent.
Second,
doctrinal clarity.
Doctrinal clarity.
Now look at verse 27.
And he said unto them,
the Sabbath
was made for man,
not man for
the Sabbath.
Now,
the rabbinical traditions
had confused
the relationship
between the Sabbath
and human life.
And Jesus
set this right.
In other words,
the ceremonial laws
were a means
to an end.
They were not an end
in themselves.
God did not create us
to fulfill the Sabbath.
He created the Sabbath
to fulfill us.
So Jesus then brings
some great doctrinal clarity
to what these men
were saying.
Now,
let's talk about the Sabbath
just for a quick second.
And I don't want to
bore you to death.
We're just going to talk
about it for a second
because I think this is
helpful for us right now.
And then we're going
to move on, okay?
You say,
why in the world
don't we observe
the Sabbath now?
Jesus wasn't abolishing
the Sabbath in this passage.
He wasn't saying
that it wasn't necessary.
Now,
there's going to be a time
where it is no longer necessary,
but that's not what
Jesus is doing here.
There's a couple of things
we need to understand
about the Sabbath
and the scriptures.
First,
the Sabbath
is a creation ordinance.
It was instituted by God
at creation
as a Sabbath principle.
So you understand?
God creates everything
there is in six days
and then on the seventh day
he rested
and then he set that day apart.
He made it holy,
sanctified it
for the benefit of mankind.
Now,
it wasn't that God
needed rest.
That's not what that meant.
He's all powerful.
He doesn't get tired.
What he was doing
was just stopping from work.
That's what the word means,
to cease from work.
He was setting a principle,
a patterned example
for our benefit.
In other words,
God was saying,
six days,
do all your labor,
do all your work
and then on the seventh day,
rest.
Stop from your work.
Recreate.
Reflect.
Rest.
It's a principle,
an eternal principle,
really.
Rest.
Okay?
It wasn't until
thousands of years later
that this became
a part of God's law.
That was with Moses
in the book of Exodus.
God established it
as a law
for his nation,
for Israel,
not for the world at large,
but for Israel.
And it was a part
of their ceremonial law.
Now,
they obeyed that
because God said to do it
and God was serious about it.
Those who broke it
were put to death.
And we see examples of that
in the Old Testament.
God cared about it,
but it was a law for Israel
and it was a part
of the ceremonial law,
which meant
that it was pointing
to something
more significant.
And so now we come
to the New Testament.
Well,
if that was so important,
Israel is God's people,
the church is God's people,
wouldn't that mean
that God desires
for us to observe the Sabbath?
Well,
no.
That's why Jesus
is so significant.
These ceremonial laws
are all fulfilled
in Christ.
We don't celebrate
or observe the Sabbath
in the same way
that Israel did
for the same reason
we don't sacrifice animals
for the atonement
of our sin.
Because Christ
has fulfilled that.
All of those things
were pointing
toward something greater.
They were pointing
toward the gospel
of Jesus.
And then in Colossians
chapter 2,
Paul tells us
very plainly,
Colossians chapter 2,
16 to 18.
Paul says,
don't let anybody
judge you.
Don't let anybody
judge you
on the basis
of festivals
and feasts
and religious observance.
And then he says,
or Sabbath days.
He said,
all of those things
are a shadow
of what is to come
and their fulfillment
is in Christ.
So what's the point
of that ceremonial law?
Every day
they were working hard.
They were working hard.
They needed rest.
As spiritually speaking,
they were doing
the sacrifices
over and over
and over and over.
But it was never enough.
This rest was never enough.
But there would one day
come a real eternal rest
and it came through Christ.
Now,
what has not abolished
is the Sabbath principle
set forth at creation.
I think we need
to take that serious
as Christians.
I think God intends
for us
to rest,
to have time
where we cease
from our work.
And so there's doctrinal clarity
Jesus brings here.
And then thirdly,
he appeals to his own
divine authority.
Look at verse 28.
Therefore,
the Son of Man
is Lord
of the Sabbath.
Son of Man,
that's a reference
to himself.
His favorite thing
of calling himself
in the Gospels
is Son of Man.
It's a reference
to Daniel chapter 7.
And he says,
I'm Lord of the Sabbath.
He appeals to his own identity
for his argument.
Now,
we've seen
in every single one
of these conflicts,
Jesus at some point
has referenced
his own identity.
The Son of Man
have power on earth
to forgive sin.
He is the merciful God
who befriends sinners.
He is the Lord,
the groom
that has come
for his bride
at the wedding feast.
And now he is Lord
of the Sabbath.
This matters.
What's Jesus saying?
Jesus is saying,
I have the right
to interpret
both the reality
and the practice
of the Sabbath
because I am the one
who instituted it
to begin with.
He was saying,
I am God.
Listen to me.
I put this in place.
Watch me.
Forget about your own rules.
Watch me.
Listen to me.
This was their issue,
wasn't it?
His purpose was
he was trying
to get these men
to see his identity
in order that
they would recognize
his authority.
And if they would
just recognize
his authority,
they would find out
that all of this effort,
all of this work
is worthless
and unnecessary.
That he came
to lighten that load.
Indeed,
to get rid of that load.
He came to offer
grace and mercy
if they would just see
who he really was.
And so he confronts
this religious distortion
or perversion.
Secondly,
we see Jesus confronting
the hardening of their hearts
or religious hardening.
This one gets a little
more practical for us.
Look with me again
at verse number one
of chapter three.
And he entered again
into the synagogue
and there was a man there
with a withered hand.
Now the issue
between these two examples,
not only were
the Pharisees'
externalism
leading them
to pervert
the word of God
in favor of their own rules,
but their traditionalism
was actually hardening
their hearts
to the truth
of the gospel of grace.
Their commitment
to their own truth
above God's truth
was hardening them
to everything
that was good
and logical
and reasonable
and compassionate.
And this then becomes
the theme of this second part.
Jesus is confronting
this hardness.
He's trying to open
their eyes
to the true condition
of their heart.
Now the scene here
takes place
in a synagogue
on another Sabbath day.
Now this is proof here
that Jesus was not
trying to abolish
the Sabbath
because he's still,
he's going to synagogue
on the Sabbath.
It's not that he was
being rebellious.
That's not the point.
He was correcting
their error.
And when he shows up
at the Sabbath this day,
there's a man there
with a withered hand.
Now,
based on his interaction
with Jesus,
I assume that his condition
was that his hand
was somehow curled
or withdrawn.
It was possible
maybe that he couldn't
extend it at all.
It was just kind of
tucked back into his body
in this deformity.
Luke, I think it is
that tells us
that it was his right hand.
Therefore,
probably was
even more difficult for him.
Not only did he only
have one hand,
but it might not
have even been
his dominant hand
that he could use.
It's just a difficult
situation for this man.
Not life-threatening,
but hard,
difficult life to live.
Now,
some have suggested
that the Pharisees
had actually arranged,
as they did at other times,
for this man to be there
on the day that they knew
Jesus to be there.
And we think that
because in verse 2,
they're watching him
to see if he'll heal him.
They were wanting
to trap him.
They wanted to trap
Jesus here in this moment.
And there's a tremendous
amount of irony here,
isn't there?
The Pharisees,
on one hand,
fully acknowledged
Jesus' power
and willingness
to heal the man.
Yet,
they simultaneously
desired to have him
killed
for doing it.
Now,
if this doesn't show us
how our hearts
can be hardened
to the point
that we just become
absurd in our thinking,
on one hand,
they're realizing
he has this power
that only God has.
But we're gonna kill him
because we don't like that
he's doing it
on the Sabbath day.
What?
What was happening
to these men?
They had ignored
what God wanted.
They had left
God's word
and they had
dedicated themselves
supremely
to their own tradition,
their own form
of religion,
the own things
that they wanted
and their hearts
just kept getting
more and more hard
and so that
the son of God
is standing before them
and they even know it.
Intellectually,
they know it
and yet they still
deny him
and they still reject him.
Why?
Because they were
committed to religion
not to the Lord.
This was God's issue
in Isaiah
with the nation of Israel
all together.
Remember he said,
I'm so full of sacrifices
and I'm tired
of your Sabbaths
and I'm tired
of all the things
that you're doing
because your heart
is far from me.
You are wicked people.
You're doing everything
you're supposed to do
on the outside
but inside you are just
wicked
and you don't love me.
And here we see
that exemplified
in the Pharisees.
They were doing
all these things
everybody thought
they were just like
the most spiritual people
in the world
but the truth was
they were wicked,
wicked people.
And the same thing
happens now.
And it happens
in churches
when people come in
and they've got
all the things together
and they've really
built up this
externalism in their lives
but their hearts
are far from God.
Jesus is confronting that.
He's confronting
these people
that have hardened
their hearts
through this.
Let's look how he does it.
What were they hardened to?
First,
they were hardened
to true worship.
They were hardened
to true worship.
Look at verse 2.
And they watched him
whether he would
heal the man
on the Sabbath day
that they might
accuse him.
Accused here
is not just
pointing out
that he did something
on the Sabbath day.
They were seeking
to bring formal charges
against Jesus
which meant
that he would have been
a candidate
for execution.
They were trying
to kill him.
They were trying
to charge him formally.
So they're watching him.
They're keeping
their eyes on him.
Well, what's the problem
with this?
Well, there's a problem
that they're trying
to kill him
but there's also
a problem that
they are
the Sabbath keepers
and God had said
to the nation of Israel
part of the reason
I want you to keep
the Sabbath is
because I want you
to reflect on the fact
that I delivered you
from bondage in Egypt
and that I have made
my covenant with you.
Same reason we worship today
just from the New Testament
perspective, right?
God has delivered us
from our sin.
He has delivered us
from death.
He has covenanted
with us to be his people
for all of eternity
and so we worship him
Jesus who is our
Sabbath rest, right?
So all of it
is still there.
Worship was a part
of this Sabbath observance.
Worship was the last thing
on these guys' mind.
Now listen,
they were where
they were supposed to be.
They were in our terms,
they were in church
on Saturday
but we would say
on Sunday
they're in church.
They're doing everything
they're supposed to do.
They're following
all the rules.
As far as everybody
else can tell,
they've got it together
in ways that nobody
else does.
And yet the last thing
that they think about
doing on this Sabbath day
is worshiping the Lord.
Why?
Because they're watching
Jesus to see
if they can trap him
so that they can charge him
so that they can kill him.
And it's amazing
how this happens
with us, doesn't it?
We start to give
into our traditions,
we start to give
into the things
that we have created
on top of God's law
and those things
start to become
more important to us
than what God
has actually said
and it hardens our heart
to true worship.
So we'll come to church
on Sunday,
we're there.
We look the way
we're supposed to look
however we've determined
that's supposed to be.
We do the things
we're supposed to do
but our hearts
are far from the Lord.
The last thing
we're thinking about
is worship
because we're making sure
that we've got
all of our formalism together
or we're making sure
like the Pharisees,
everybody else
has all their formalism together.
You ever been around
people like that?
You ever been a person
like that?
I have.
And what happens
is we come into church
and we've got all these
things in our mind
and we're thinking
okay,
this is how we're
supposed to dress
and this is what
the music is supposed
to sound like
and this is how
the songs are supposed
to be structured
and this is when
we're supposed to do this
and this is when
we're supposed to do this
and all the things,
right?
And then we come in
and we make sure
that all that stuff
is happening.
We make sure
that everybody else
is doing it too
and then we come in
on Sunday
and we leave
at 1130
or 1230
or 130
whenever it is
we leave the door
and we haven't given
the Lord one ounce
of attention that day.
We haven't worshipped
at all.
Why?
Because we're just
consumed with self.
We're consumed
with what we want.
We're consumed
with our preferences.
We're consumed
with these legalistic mindsets
and it's ironic then
how sometimes
we become hardened
to the thing
that we think
we are actually
trying to preserve
and we think
we've got all
of these traditions
and these formalities
and things
and in the process
of that
we are preserving
true worship
and then in reality
we're actually denying
true worship.
We're not actually
engaging our hearts.
The problem's not
with tradition.
The problem is
with our heart
and so they had
become hardened
to that.
Weren't thinking
anything about the Lord
on this day.
Secondly,
they were hardened
to compassion
and this is as clear
as anything in the passage.
They were hardened
to compassion.
Look with me
at verse 3.
And he said
unto the man
which had the withered hand
stand forth
or stand in the middle
of the room.
He brings him up
in front of everybody
like we did
with Joseph and Missy.
Everybody's looking
at this man
which you know
had to have been
just like the worst thing
for him.
He probably hated that.
We're going to come back
to that in a minute.
And he said unto them
to the Pharisees that is,
is it lawful?
Is it right?
They were meant
to do good
on the Sabbath
or to do evil
on the Sabbath
to save life
or to kill it.
But they held their peace.
They kept silent.
The hardness
of the Pharisees' hearts
had brought
two emotions
into Jesus
that we're going to get to
in just a moment.
But those emotions
were produced
by this response.
in the grain fields,
it was the Pharisees
who confronted Jesus.
In this case,
it's Jesus
that confronts
the Pharisees.
And there's kind of
a recall to
the healing of the paralytic.
He reads their minds.
They're not verbalizing this
at this point.
He just knows
what's in their heart
and he addresses it.
And so Jesus
confronts their head plan
head on
by bringing this man
up to the front
of the room.
And then he turns
to the Pharisees
and he says,
listen,
is it right
to do good
or evil today?
That's a simple question.
There's only one
possible answer
to that question,
actually.
It wasn't tricked.
There was one answer.
Well,
it's right to do good.
It's never right
to do evil,
but it's right
to do good.
He was exposing
the hypocrisy
that was in their hearts.
They wanted
to deny Jesus
the right
to heal this man
on the Sabbath
while blatantly
planning to do evil
themselves
on the Sabbath.
There's hypocrisy here.
He's also confronting
their lack of compassion.
They didn't care
anything about this man.
They couldn't have cared
less if this man
was actually healed
except for the fact
that Jesus healing him
gave them an opportunity
to accuse him.
And again,
in Matthew's account,
Jesus confronts
these men
with a different story.
And he says,
which one of you,
if you had a sheep
on the Sabbath
that fell into a pit,
wouldn't get it out?
And then he looks
at him and he says,
is not a man
better than an animal?
That depends on
who you ask
that question to.
But they would have
certainly answered,
well, yeah.
Man's better than him.
He's drawing out
this lack of compassion,
this hypocrisy
that existed
in their hearts.
Well, to what end?
Their lack of compassion
had placed them
as enemies of God
rather than
the representatives
that they thought
they were.
one of the things
that we see
over and over
in the scripture
is that for those
who love God,
those who pursue him,
those who follow him
begin to exhibit
his heart.
And what is clear
through the scripture
is God's compassionate,
merciful heart.
So on one end,
there's the Pharisees
who say that
they are following God,
yet they are nothing
like him.
And then there's Jesus
on the other end
in contrast to that,
who is the very
nature of God,
the very expression
of who God is
and what's he doing,
showing compassion
to this man.
It's logical,
but their commitment
to tradition
had hardened them to it.
Now,
their silence
becomes an issue.
It wasn't that
they didn't know
what to say.
It wasn't that
they felt bad.
That's not what's
happening here.
They just refused
to say what they knew
to be true.
To answer
in the affirmative
to Jesus' question
meant that they
were acknowledging
that it was good
for him to do
what he was doing
for this man.
And they just refused
to do it.
So they kept silent.
They said nothing.
They couldn't say
that it was right
to do evil.
There were only two choices
in the question,
but they refused to say
it was right to do good.
They prefer that
he just do nothing.
They would have
rather this man
continue in this disability
the rest of his life
than for Jesus
to heal him
on the Sabbath day.
No compassion.
Tradition did that.
Harden them.
Thirdly,
they were hardened
to grace.
This is the best part.
Look at verses 5 and 6.
When he had looked
round about on them
with anger
being greed
for the hardness
of their hearts
he said unto the man
stretch forth
thine hand
and he stretched it out
and his hand
was restored
whole as the other.
Now,
like I said a minute ago
the Pharisees'
hardness
had produced two emotions
in Jesus here.
Anger
and grief.
He was angry
at the hardness
of their hearts
but he was heartbroken
by the condition
of their soul.
Can I say
this is the wonder
of God's grace.
The wonder
of God's grace
is that he cared
just as much
about the Pharisees'
spiritual condition
as he did
about the man's
physical condition.
Yes,
he was angry
at the hardness
of his heart
but that anger
was produced
from compassion
for those men.
And we look
at people like that
and we think
man,
I just,
I don't want
anything to do
with them.
I'd just rather
them not be
anywhere in my life.
Jesus didn't do that.
He looked at
with compassion
even on these Pharisees
who were denying him
who he knew
would continue
to deny him
yet he was grieved.
He felt sorrow
in his heart
for them.
Why?
Because they were
doing this denial
to their own
destruction.
And then this
whole episode
turns into
an expression
of God's grace.
Now remember
Jesus' healings
are never just
about healing.
They're parables
of a greater healing
an eternal healing
of heart
and of soul.
So this is about
the gospel of grace.
Now,
I think it's interesting
that Jesus asked
the man to do
the one thing
that he couldn't do.
He's got a withered hand.
It's curled.
It's withdrawn.
He can't stretch it out.
And what is it
that Jesus tells him
to do?
Stretch out your hand.
We can't do that.
He can't do that.
It was going to take
faith
on this man's part
to receive this miracle.
Jesus was willing
to provide it.
But it was going to
take faith
on his part.
He's going to have
to stick his hand out.
He could have run
out of the room
embarrassed.
He could have said,
I can't believe
you brought me
in front of all
these people.
I'm embarrassed.
I don't want to have
anything to do with you
and I'm going to leave.
Because what was Jesus
really doing
bringing this man
up to the front?
We say,
this is kind of cruel.
No.
This is what happens
anytime somebody
comes to Christ.
He strips them down
of anything
that they're trying
to hide.
He forces us
to confront
our own condition.
In salvation,
Jesus forces us
to confront
our own condition.
It's only then
that he can change
our hearts
and that we will
exhibit that faith
and receive his grace.
That's what he's
doing with this man.
The man didn't have
to stick his hand out.
He could have ran
out of the room
and he would have
stayed disabled.
But Jesus says,
stretch out your hand.
What does the man do?
He stretches out his hand.
Now, his hand
doesn't come out
and then all of a sudden
Jesus heals it.
No.
As it comes out,
he recognizes it's healed.
which tells us
another thing
about God's grace.
Yes, it takes our faith.
We have to exercise
that faith
but what we realize
is that God's
already been working
in his grace
behind the scenes
to make all of that happen.
It's fantastic.
What joy
this man must have
experienced
in that moment
to see this grace
and to witness
what Jesus
was doing for him.
It stood in contrast
to what the Pharisees
believed and taught.
They insisted
a commitment to law
is what was necessary
but Jesus demonstrated
this was all
of God's grace.
This man didn't
deserve healing.
The fact of his disability
didn't make him
deserving
of any kind of healing.
That was God's grace.
Same thing with our soul.
Now,
I love how Jesus
did exactly what
the Pharisees
hoped that he would do.
Did you notice that?
But he did it
in a way
that they could charge him.
This is awesome.
These men
are watching Jesus
meticulously
to see what he will do
because they want
to charge him.
They want to accuse him.
They want to murder him.
And Jesus heals the man.
But how does he do it?
He's standing there.
If he had pockets
in his robe,
maybe he's sticking
his hands in his pockets.
And he just says,
hey buddy,
stick your hand out here.
And he's healed.
The miracle happens.
But what are they going to say?
He talked to him.
That went against the rules.
He could talk.
What they wanted Jesus
to do was like touch him
or do something physical
so that they could say
he did work,
that this miracle
was a work on the Sabbath
and they could charge him
and have him put to death.
But Jesus accomplishes
this miracle
all at the same time
of not doing it
in a way
where they could actually
charge him
with anything
in that moment.
It's just fantastic,
isn't it?
I wish I could think
like Jesus thinks.
And it's just awesome to see.
And what's the result of it?
It infuriated them.
Look at verse six.
And the Pharisees went forth
and they bowed to Jesus
in conviction of heart
and said,
Lord, forgive us
for our denial.
What a wonderful demonstration
of compassion
and grace you have given.
Please forgive us.
That's not what they said.
That's what they should have said.
They said,
we're going to go find
the Herodians
who are our political enemies
and we're together
going to see
if we can find a way
to destroy them.
Why?
Because he didn't follow
their rules.
Their traditionalism,
their legalism
hardened them
to grace
in two ways.
They were infuriated
that this disabled man
received grace.
They probably thought
he was disabled
because God didn't love him.
God didn't want anything
to do with him.
They was mad at him.
They didn't like
that he received healing.
But there was a different
hardening to grace
and it was the grace
that they themselves
could receive.
The evidence was there
of who Jesus is.
It's clear.
They knew it.
They just refused it.
How many people
will there be
that we meet
in this life,
especially in
our,
where we live
in this cultural
Christianity,
that know the truth,
but they still
deny that truth.
They harden
themselves
religiously
to the very thing
that can save them.