The Burden of Misapplying God’s Word | Mark 2:23 - 3:6 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark)

Christ is risen. I don't think we should say that once a year. He is risen. He is alive. He is our Lord, and he is coming soon.

If you have the living word in your hands, would you meet me in the gospel according to Mark in chapter two, beginning in verse 23? And our brother prayed, but we'll pray again as we have God's word before us opened and ask him to help us as we seek to understand his word, his will. Lord, we thank you that you have been with us up to this point in the gospel of Mark. And, Lord, you have not failed to show us the glory that is in your son. And, Lord, as we approach this text, we pray that your Holy Spirit would help us see the beauty in Jesus again.

And, Lord, we pray that as he is magnified, that our hearts would also be magnified in love for him. And that, Lord, he would receive greater worship, greater devotion, greater adoration as we realize that he is our substitute. He stood in our place. His righteousness is ours, and we belong to him. We give you glory and thanks for this word in advance.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Mark two twenty three. One Sabbath, he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?

And he said to them, have you never read what David did when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who are with him? How he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar, the high priest, and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat and also gave it to those who were with him? And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath. A careful reading of the gospels will show that one of the major controversies that centered around the person of Jesus Christ was his behavior on a particular day of the week.

That day of the week may not have much relevance to us Gentiles, but it is a day of the week that was and still is a trademark for the Jewish people. That day, as you heard many times just in our reading, is known as the Sabbath, which in the Hebrew simply means to rest or to cease. It was on the Sabbath, which defines Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, according to Jewish law, that some of the most memorable miracles of Jesus took place. But it was also on that same day that the ever present Pharisees manifested the depths of the cruelty and coldness of their heart, especially as it contrasted to the warm compassion of Jesus Christ toward people. It's so strange to think how a day that was divinely ordained by God to cause reverential meditation, refreshment from work made these Pharisees so intensely vexed and frustrated.

And it is in this teaching that you will see why. Why why was it that these Pharisees were so caught up in responding to something that was holy and for the good of man, but instead became a burden and something to be dreaded. And it's gonna be a lesson for you and I to understand that we can take God's word and misapply it. We can take God's word and reinvent the purpose of it and bring harm to ourselves and to others. But more than that, it is the activity of Jesus on the Sabbath that will bring even greater support to his nature and character.

It was on the Sabbath that the Pharisees wanted to flex their empty religion, their performance of piety, but it was also on the Sabbath and many occasions that Jesus proved that he was who he said he was, God in the flesh. And as you as you behold that this afternoon, may it pull on your heart to worship and adore him to a greater degree. But on this particular Sabbath that we just read, the the critical Pharisees vocalize their unjustified concerns, not because Jesus performed a miracle. In fact, Jesus wasn't the direct object of their scorn. It was his disciples and what they did.

And these disciples just ate some grain, but that was significant to the Pharisees. These pseudo spiritual spies were flustered by the sight of these men snacking on some grain as they walked along a path. And here's what you and I are gonna do this afternoon. The same way that these disciples walk by specific path in order to nourish themselves by receiving some kind of strength from these little nuggets, you and I also, as we glean through this passage, are going to pluck some truths from these verses and receive nourishment for our souls. What do we see here in verse 23?

Jesus was making his way to a certain destination, and we are told that his disciples accompanied him. And as they accompanied him, they were just pulling some grain as they passed by some fields. And Matthew is more specific with this exact scene by telling us that they were hungry, so they plucked the grain so that they could eat. And I cannot help but even at this point, draw a simple principle that will hopefully help you and I as we commit ourselves to following Jesus. These apostles in training, as they trailed behind their rabbi, show us that living for the Lord Jesus, serving his purposes and his cause does not guarantee luxury or uninterrupted physical convenience.

These disciples not too long ago were feasting at Matthew's house, enjoying a banquet. Just a few short hours later, few days perhaps, here they are taking some colonels, rubbing it in their hands, and trying to make the most out of it. When we follow the Lord, we have to understand that it is not always convenient to our flesh. It does not guarantee that everything will be brought before us on a silver platter and that we will have no discomfort or no test or no concern, at least immediately. What I see here with these disciples is a perfect example of quiet contentment in Jesus Christ.

No complaints, no squeaks, no squeals. Here they are walking along with Jesus and just enjoying what has been provided for them in the natural. And there are some days where we will know feasts, and there are some days where we will know some fast and fast that we did not intend to explore willingly. But look at these disciples. I love the fact that there is silence on their part.

There are no complaints from them because their rations look much more different than it was just a few days ago. The celebration that they enjoyed in Matthew's home. And here's how I take it, as long as Christ is with us, it doesn't matter what is before us. As long as Christ is our portion, it doesn't matter what kind of portion we have in the natural. Any portion is a full portion when Christ is our true portion.

And so there's such a plainness about this scene. Here they are just gazing and grazing while they walk in the shadow of their savior, and the simplicity is so beautiful because what we look here and see is that the Lord, and following him, does not mean that we will experience a series of supernatural events continually. Be encouraged that the same way the Lord was in the presence of his disciples in the grain fields, so is he with you and I when we are going through seasons of what may be ordinary or mundane. You see, Jesus knew that his servants were hungry. He can see it.

Despite the fact that he was omniscient, he could see it. And Jesus doesn't take it upon himself to perform some kind of a miracle, instead he allows his followers to pluck some grain to silence their grumbling bellies, and he was just as present with them then as he would be when he would feed the 5,000. And so Christ is with us, if I can use this word, in our snacking, just as much as in our serving, that his watchful eye is strong even what seems to be normal, routine, mundane, just as much as it would be when we see him do miracles in our lives. And may we not reserve our praise to him only when we are promoted in an unusual way or only when we seem to have this supernatural opportunity open for us in our favor. Because his grace spreads out and extends far beyond the undeniable interventions that he provides for us.

See, what these disciples are doing is what any ordinary Jew would do. It was a common practice. But even though this this is something that we would dismiss as just going to the gas station to pick up a little thing because you're hungry and your commute was a little longer than you thought it was. These disciples are experiencing and are recipients of the goodness of God. Even in the plucking of the grain, not just filling the baskets after a miraculous provision of just a few pieces of bread and fish into feeding the multitudes, even in that.

And the reason is because what these men are doing was only possible because God made it possible. He actually made it law. He actually codified it through Moses. So you're gonna have to hear this verse and understand that understanding this verse helps us see and understand the rest of the text. In Deuteronomy twenty three twenty five, God gave instructions to the Israelites and he said an interesting thing in this verse.

If you go into your neighbor's standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor's standing grain. So he actually created a law that these men were fulfilling, that they were walking in faithfully. And this was just one facet of the welfare system in Israel. Not not a system that makes you lazy, but one that gives means to strengthen the hungry traveler while at the same time not significantly stripping somebody's hard earned profit away from them. And though no law exists like this for you and I in the new covenant, does not this verse show us and give us a glimpse of the mindfulness of God for you and me?

Like, he he actually cares about going from point a to point b and making sure that your belly is full. And so he creates this law that is fair and just, and it shows his love for the Israelites just as much as when he reign manna from heaven for forty years, a recurring miracle day by day. His love is just as strong in this law as it was in the miracle. And what am I trying to propose to you and I? May we love him in the natural, not just in the supernatural.

May we praise him and credit him for his goodness, and what seems to be something that his fingerprints are not on, when in fact, he is the supplier of all our good. He is the perimeter of all the things that we enjoy. And so I'm refreshed by this visual of Jesus walking. I don't know how it looked. Was it one line where they spread across the field?

There's Jesus walking and his disciples plucking, and maybe one disciple is trying to jokingly take the grain out of the other hand of another disciple. But something happens because what's so beautiful in this scene, what what showcases the goodness of God and even encourages us to know silent satisfaction as we follow Jesus no matter what's in our hand was something that was totally different in the sight of these Pharisees. A sharp accusation arose in those fields. I don't know where they were. I don't know if they were in the field spying.

It's a pretty pathetic sight. But this group of religious elite thought that they found something that would disqualify the credibility of Jesus' closest students. And so they say, look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? Well, you and I just heard it in Deuteronomy. What they are doing is lawful.

It was permitted. It was granted. There was a green light. But their issue was not so much of the plucking and the eating per se as much as it was that they were doing this on the Sabbath. Were they right?

Were the disciples breaking the law? Were they working on a day that was calling for rest? The short answer, no. No. You and I should be acquainted with the Pharisees enough to understand that they were masters and notorious for taking man made tradition and elevating it to the degree that it would eclipse the simplicity and the clarity of God's word.

And if this is saying anything, it is showing how their tradition mangled. It absolutely tampered with something as holy as the Sabbath until it became unrecognizable. Until it lost all its life giving value. Until it was marred into something that was hideous instead of something that was holy. Legalism tends to do that.

You see, if there was something that these Pharisees were doing on the Sabbath is that they utilized it as a weekly platform to pump their pride. And so week after week, these men would not only impose their regulations and their rituals that were out of bounds of the Bible, but they would they would use this time to also police the population, and to criticize, and to point out, and to disqualify men standing with God based on the fact that they are not adhering to their own rules. And so you can imagine how this day was generally dreaded by the Israelite. We don't want the Sabbath to come because out come the cockroaches. Here come the Pharisees sniffing and looking, and we see a a snippet of it even here.

I mean, here's Jesus traveling with his disciples and up come these Pharisees popping their head out of the grains and say, look look what they're doing. Write it down. And instead of it being a day of rest for God's people under the old covenant, it was a day of unrealistic expectations in the name of righteousness, quotation marks. Oh, this is a sad thing. All these rules, all these ideas conjured up by men who think they are pious.

Do we have a glimpse? Do we have any idea of what kind of these rules look like? Yes. We do. The Mishnah, which is really just a historical book of a collection of the Jewish oral traditions, shows us actually just some of the rules that were implemented on this day.

The mission is not a divine book. It's a historical book, and they have a section on the Sabbath. And it is through that that we can see what it was that the Pharisees were trying to implement so strongly. So on that list, there are 39 works that were prohibited, forbidden, that would violate their idea of the Sabbath. And there are some things there that were obvious types of labor, like hunting or plowing.

But then as you read on you realize that the category of work included hard to believe practices. For example, a legal work would constitute writing more than one letter on a on a page, or God forbid you erase two letters, it would mean tying a knot, untying a knot, sewing more than one stitch, cleaning clothes, walking a certain amount of steps, and other paralyzing practices. So with that in view, it's no wonder that the Pharisees were shaken by the side of the fact that these disciples were plucking grain, because it's highly possible that in this one scene alone, what they estimated was that these disciples were breaking the law because they were traveling too far, and they were working. Yes. This is work according to the Pharisees.

The plucking, the removing of the shell, the blowing of the chaff equated harvesting, and threshing, and winnowing. And so they said, you're working. You're working. Sounds ridiculous. Is it not?

May I propose to you that in this day today, the same spirit is at work in many ministries. That might be foreign to you, but just just look out into the horizon. Stay in this thing long enough. Open your networks and converse with others who are part of different denominations or different network of churches, and what you'll realize is there are some churches who have required specific measurements of clothing. Not not modesty, I mean here comes the ruler, and let's see how long the sleeve is.

Let's see how far down the dress goes. The same people will condemn the application of cosmetics on a woman's face, or on a woman's body, who demand limited technology in each family's home, and who exalt these rules which have zero benefits to true sanctification. And the sad part is people eat this stuff up. It's attractive to some. To some, the temptation is lawlessness.

I believe that's the greater issue with American Christianity. But to others, it is legalism. And what you have is people who who live their life in this way and who adopt these strict observances to these rigid rituals because they think this is what pleases God. This is what puts a smile on his face. Would you like to know how the Holy Spirit saw these Pharisees?

Would you like to know what he perceived? Would you like to know what concerns him? The same Pharisees who seems so disciplined, who seems so devoted to the cause of God. Oh, in one of the teachings of Jesus where the Pharisees were in attendance, he taught about money and the Holy Spirit gives us a commentary on something hidden. Apart from this, we would not have known, we would have probably assumed, but the Holy Spirit exposes these same men who ran around bullying people with their standards.

Turn with me to Luke chapter 16, and look at this short verse with me. In Luke sixteen fourteen to 15, we are told the Pharisees who were lovers of money, heard all these things and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, you are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Beneath the rituals, under the holy garments and quotation marks, the public prayers, the constant fasting, the nagging criticism, and the fault finding in the name of holiness was a burning infatuation for money.

The God that most people worship today. Yeah. These Pharisees might have been able to fool others, and they might have thought and believed that they were fooling God, but this verse proves, listen to me this afternoon, my people, my brethren, my sisters, my fellow followers of Christ. What this verse proves is that the Lord looks past our daily and weekly performances, and the only thing he considers is what lives in the deepest chambers of your heart and mine. What a scathing statement Jesus makes.

For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Can you imagine he's speaking about their empty religion? This might not shock you until you do a comprehensive study in the word of God to see what is under the category of abomination, like pervert sexual practices. And yet there is a high spot for empty religion under that condemning category. And imagine imagine doing all these things for for the sake of people seeing how spiritual you are, and God sees it as a heap of stench and smell.

I cannot help but move past this text without considering the thought. Not just not just for those who might be Pharisaical, who have magnified tradition and magnified outward behavior and not what God puts weightier emphasis on. But even for us in our performances, in in our service to God, what does it matter? What benefit is it if there's no spirit inspired pulse behind it? God forbid that we would go through the mechanics of Christianity with hollowness, with emptiness, with no connection to this pleasing my Lord from a position of being saved by his grace.

Yes. And I can't help but look at this verse, and this is what came to mind when reading it. Oh, Lord, you saw their hearts. You saw their loves. You didn't see the length of their beards and their garments.

You didn't see the lengths of their prayers. You didn't see the length of their fasting. You saw what they loved, and this is what you look for. Oh, if God were to come into your heart and pull it out in the open, what kind of love would he find there? What would he see in that heart?

What would he discover? Pass through all the practices and all the performance if God were to come just to see the pulse of your heart, what would he see? Is there a love for him, or are we just empty performers convincing ourselves and others that we're okay? Everything is fine. What do our affections beat for?

What directions are our hearts set toward? Who is it that we are the most captivated by? And who is it that we are the most fearful of disappointing and grieving? Oh, would he see the reflection of his own face when he pulls out that heart and looks at it to see what kind of loves we have in this life. And may he by his grace keep that love alive for him until this heart is transformed in the resurrection, only by his grace able to perfectly love him for all of eternity.

And so we come back to our text in Mark two to see Jesus' answer to the allegation made by the Pharisees, and he would do so by masterfully referencing a scripture. You wanna deal with legalistic people? Go to the bible. You wanna deal with people who love tradition? Go to the bible.

And we read it, but we can read it again. In verse 25, and he said to them, have you never read what David did when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar, the high priest, and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him? It's a very simple story. If you were with us on Fridays, we covered this in first Samuel. We're in second Samuel now.

It's a story of David who had to flee his home, his work, his family, because of a sudden exile, because Saul turned on him and was ready to kill him. And because he had no time to prepare, he comes to the house of God empty handed, and he seeks something to eat because he is hungry, him and his men who accompanied him. And so he asked the priest if there's anything for him, and the priest said, there's nothing here but the holy bread. The holy bread was something designated for the priest alone to eat. It was to be there on the table of showbread, and once they would recycle the bread with fresh hot bread every week, they would eat the old bread.

That's what David was looking for, and it was granted to him. Now that simple story may seem straightforward, but the question is, why is Jesus alluding to it? Out of all the things, why this story? And let me give you what perhaps you grew up understanding it to mean. If you grew up in the church, let me give you the most popular interpretation.

It seems that people think that Jesus is by pointing to David providing an illustration to promote a principle of mercy. Meaning what? After the Pharisees condemned the disciples, the Lord points to David to teach that under certain circumstances, God is willing for ceremonial laws, for rules to be set aside for the sake of meeting a human need. It's a lesson on compassion. The idea here is that observing regulations is not more important than providing assistance in emergency situations like David was in.

And even if our help means that we need to bend the commands of God a little bit, then let's bring it about. So you can imagine how a text like this is often referred to to support the notion of situational ethics. All that means is that under unique situations, it would be acceptable to commit, if we're honest, what would be known as a sin in order to promote a greater good. So that's what Jesus is teaching. Look, David did what was wrong.

He wasn't punished for it because there was a need. So why are you Pharisees getting all flustered when the disciples here are just doing the same thing? They're eating. Okay. If it if it confuses what it means to be not working on the Sabbath, what's the big deal?

Personally, I do not believe that's what Jesus is teaching. And I may have stepped on some toes, but would you bear with me? Because I've heard this from many people myself, and as I looked further into it, I realized that perhaps that is not Jesus's main point. Maybe that's not even his point at all. Because this would make sense.

This message would fit if the disciples actually broke the law, but they didn't. They were guiltless. But look how Jesus speaks about David in verse 26. How he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar, the high priest, and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat. So what David did was a clear violation of God's law.

He did break it. It's undeniable. That alone should cause us to at least question the popular understanding and interpretation of this passage. Why would Jesus use a guilty man to justify those who are guiltless? Definitely not to promote situational ethics, but I present to you the possibility and the strongest understanding that he is calling out the inconsistency of the Pharisees.

In other words, think about it this way. As Jesus brings about David, he is not justifying David's trespass. He is not justifying an idea that God winked at this whole thing and turned back because David was hungry, and you know, okay, if we have to ignore the law for him to be fed, then we'll do that. That's not what's happening here. This is Jesus using the story of David to corner the Pharisees in their hypocrisy.

Here's how the argument goes. Are you willing to overlook what David did and how he broke the law, while you at the same time are condemning my disciples for breaking your human tradition? Do you see? It helps to go to Matthew's version to see this expounded. So go to Matthew chapter 12, and look with me here in verse five.

In the verses preceding, he says the same thing that he does here in Mark two. He brings up David. But when we come to Matthew 12, he builds on that point, and he brings up another example. And so in Matthew twelve five, notice what Jesus says. Have you not read in the law how the Sabbath On the Sabbath, the priest in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?

So what is he saying here? Even the strictest Pharisee wouldn't see the priest guilty on the Sabbath for performing more work than any other day of the week, for killing the animals, preparing the sacrifices, performing their duties. But according to their laws, the priest should be guilty. The priest should be hey, according to your standards, the priest themselves should be indicted. And yet, they are quick to come to the the disciples in their modest grain picking, and to criticize them and condemn them, something that took much less effort and work than what the priest did on the Sabbath.

Now, some might protest, those who know their bibles well and know the story well, who might have used this story to justify certain things. And so the protest says, brother, Jesus quotes Hosea in chapter 12 of Matthew verse seven. And what do we see in Matthew twelve seven? Jesus says, and if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. You see, God is trying to show us that sometimes the most compassionate thing to do is to meet a need even though we ignored a law that might hinder that mercy from being extended.

You see? God is promoting mercy. Mercy is so great that it it exceeds above law keeping and rule observing. But is that how Jesus is applying Hosea? Is that is again, is that what Jesus is doing here?

Is he trying to make a case for situational ethics? All you have to do is read the verse again in verse seven very carefully to see, no. He is not that's not his point. Look again. And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless.

That's the main point. That's what he's trying to drive at. You are condemning the guiltless. And by quoting Hosea, he's actually exposing how merciless their traditions are. And so he says here, I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

You're condemning the guiltless. That's how we know the disciples were guiltless, and you're doing this with your supposed justification that your your observance, your strict standards are some kind of a sacrifice to God. When in fact they are merciless, you are merciless. God desires mercy. But as we heard, loveless spiritual sacrifice, especially when it violates and contradicts his word is an abomination.

So understand, let me say this again, Jesus is using David as an argument to expose the hypocrisy of the Pharisees who are willing to run around with their traditions and hit people over the head when they would not dare do that to the priest who worked just as hard, if not twice as hard on that day, and David, their beloved hero, who actually broke God's law. Let me pause and say this at this point. This is an example for us to remember something so crucial, and it is to rightly divide the word of God. To rightly divide the word of God, lest we be found guilty promoting legalism like these Pharisees, or lest we make the mistake of making some room for lawlessness by misunderstanding the teachings of Jesus Christ. And legalism and lawlessness thrive on the same malpractice.

If you wanna know how these things grow and how they become strong and how they make way in people's lives and ministries, it's actually found in Matthew 12. Jesus, in two different verses, in the same confrontation with these Pharisees, says in verse three and verse five, have you not read? Have you not read? Have you not read what the law says? Have you not read?

What is this? This is an accusation of ignorance. You don't know your Bible. And if you know about it, you have misapplied it, and this malpractice is what breeds either legalism or lawlessness in our lives. What is extremely needed is a careful interaction with the scriptures, lest we open a door for a world of sorrow to flood the lives of naive people.

And so Jesus here says, have you not read? What another scathing statement to Pharisees who are apparently experts of the law. You clearly didn't read. You clearly didn't see it. Listen, much of the division in in our evangelical circles can be solved if we just really get to the Bible and stick with the Bible.

On on any extreme, on any doctrine of this is what we should do or this is what we should should not do, praise God that most of those feuds are secondary issues. But I wanna be as close to the truth as possible. That's what I want. I want every facet of the will of God to be in line with the truth of my life. And you wanna know how we can solve most of these issues between brethren who love Christ?

Just to stick with the word. I'm not concerned about your denominational tradition. I I I really am not. I'm not even concerned about what the ancient fathers believed. They're not my authority.

Have you not read? Have you not read? Jesus is my example and yours, I hope. And if you think that the Pharisees were rattled by what he just said, you would be right. I would love to see the sight of these spies all for a sudden becoming silent because Jesus wields the sword of the spirit.

I remember I was on a walk not too far from you, and it was on a midday morning, and, from a from a distance I saw what you cannot deny to be two Mormons. The bicycles gave it away. The bicycles and the white dress shirts, I don't mean to be I'm not trying to mock them, but I'm just being honest. That's how I recognize them. And so I just walked and walked and walked, and they were sitting there, and I thought, you know what?

Let me just plop beside them. And they they they were young. I knew that they were on mission. You know, Mormons, if you don't know this, Mormons dedicate, if they're serious Mormons, two years of their life. They pause on everything in life to do mission.

They go to a different country. They raise their own funds. They move away from home, and they preach a false gospel for two years of their lives. And most of them do at the younger years of their lives. And so I sat beside them and hearing their idea of the gospel and hearing what heaven's all about, and it's amazing.

If you study cults, all cults really have a fascination for sexuality. Study cults very carefully and you'll realize that there is this emphasis on sex. Look at Islam. Mormons, what what's the what's the pinnacle of glory? You having a celestial wife and populating planets.

And so we talked about that. We talked about their understanding of heaven. Well, there's no real hell. There's three tiers of heaven and if you were good enough, you can get to the top tier. If you don't, you're in this lower compartment.

And so we really wanna get to the top. And the idea of the top is, in their language, enjoying family and having your loved ones and you dig deep, it's much more than that. And here's where the argument ended, and there was different arguments, but this is this is all that put a stop to any idea being proposed on their part. Have you not read? And I looked at him and says, have you not read what Jesus said to the Sadducees who try to make a case against the resurrection?

That one woman had several wives whose husband will be hers in the resurrection, and Jesus says, you do not know the scriptures or the power of God, those who will be resurrected unto life will be like the angels of God. So you guys are you're you're motivated for your works here because you wanna get to the top tier of heaven, which the main theme of it is populating and having a family. And Jesus himself said, you ain't gonna get married. Have you not read? Oh, would we know our Bibles so that we can be free from false doctrines.

So we come to Jesus. Where was I? And they were talking to him about these disciples, and they're rattled. What is Jesus gonna do? Apologize for being too strong?

No. He's gonna he's gonna up up the ante. If you think they're mad now, he's about to make them very mad. And he's gonna do so with two statements. We're gonna stay in Matthew since we're already there.

Two of these statements are in Matthew. One of them is shared with Mark, almost word for word. And so here's what he says in verse six after he talks about the priests. And Matthew brings up something in verse six. I tell you something greater than the temple is here.

Why doesn't Mark bring that up? Well, if you understand Matthew's main audience, they were Jews. This would mean a lot more to the Jew than the Gentiles that Mark was writing to. So he brings up the temple. He brings up the the that prized building for the Jewish people.

And he says something astounding. I mean, he could have stopped at bringing up David and the priest, and they could have moved on, but, like, what Jesus loves to do is bring up further truth using these opportunities to amplify his person. I tell you something greater than the temple is here. This is after he spoke about the priest who work in the temple even on the Sabbath. Jesus means that he is greater than the temple, which is what he is saying, the one and astounding claim this is because this is what he is conveying.

If the priests of the physical temple pay attention to this. If the priests of the physical temple were allowed to be dismissed from the binding regulations of the Sabbath, because the nature of their work was divinely ordained. How much more should these disciples of mine be exempt, because they're eating as a result of their service to what the temple is pointing to. Do you see? If you're willing to overlook the priest because of their sacrificial service in the physical house of God, do you not realize that these men are working because they have been serving the one who is greater than the temple?

And he's here. Greater than the temple. Who does this man think he is? I'll tell you who he is. He is the true Ark of the Covenant.

God's presence dwelling with man. He is the sacrifice that fulfills all the shadows of the ceremonies and the ordinances. He is the priest who does not continually stand to perform sacrifices, but now is seated at the right hand of God because his shed blood suffices the standard of God's righteousness. He is our omnipresent access to the father. That veil has been torn and at any time, at any place in the name of Jesus, we can come boldly to the throne of grace.

He is to be worthy of all praise and reverence and adoration for his beauty outshines Solomon's designs and Herod's expansion to that design. He is greater than the temple, and he is our temple, Jesus Christ. Think he stopped there? I mean, it's possible for these Pharisees to have misunderstood what he said. They did that many times.

Maybe he did register. But what Jesus is about to say in his second statement shared by Matthew and Mark would be clear as day, because how he ends this whole discourse, how he ends this dialogue with these men is by saying, so the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath. Mark says it almost word for word. Here's the translation, and it's a beautiful translation. He looks at these Pharisees who were running around Jerusalem and the different streets in of Israel to try to try to find people who are breaking their law.

And he says, you don't get to make the rules about the Sabbath. I do. I am the Lord of the Sabbath. I'm the one who has authority over it. I created it.

I instituted it. I declared it, and I alone determine what happens on it. I mean, I to see their faces, these men who who who made so much about who they were around the Sabbath and here's Jesus looking at them and saying, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. Even I, yes, am Lord over the Sabbath. Up to this point in Mark we've seen him Lord over so many things.

Lord over temptation, Lord over sin, Lord over demons, Lord over disease, and here he is now saying I'm Lord even of the Sabbath. I wanna end here because, again, we we we could be tempted to just look at that as an observation and admire the insight, not realize how it has direct instruction for our lives. We get into a lot of trouble in our spiritual endeavors when we feel confident like the Pharisees to add or remove rules or interpretations to the things that God has made clear in his word. We get into a lot of trouble. But what kind of blessing and purity comes and is assessed and is maintained in every believer, especially leaders in the church who would live in light of the lordship of Jesus Christ in all things, who'd really believe that as Jesus highlights the Sabbath, he says, yes, I'm even Lord of the Sabbath.

What do we what do we know? What would we know if we believe that Christ is Lord over, yes, everything? Even fill in the blank. Lord, you have the final say. You are the Lord of what we preach at this church.

You have complete lordship over what we sing, how we deal with one another, how we build our lives in your name. Teach us to see that your way is the only way and it is the best way. Teach us to understand your word that we may apply it so that you may be maximally glorified, that we may be maximally blessed. Teach us to understand that your decrees were designed to be adorned to a certain degree, for you are our Lord. Yes, the Lord of everything.

Do you wanna know what happens when you and I make our own rules, and I bump into a lot of Christians who do, about what it means to be a true follower of Jesus Christ? Do you wanna know what happens when we come up with our own convictions and standards that contradict this book, that violate the clear teachings of Jesus. We get exactly what the Pharisees produced by promoting their rules. Burdens. Burdens.

Legalism, clear burden. It's obvious. Miserable people, miserable ministries, no joy, no freedom, and it doesn't even it doesn't even heal you. Some of the most heinous people come from legalistic backgrounds. But lawlessness being loose and light with God's word that also brings burden into our lives.

It does. The guilty conscience of the natural repercussions of sin Robbed of the the blessing of God's face shining upon us. Robbed of the assurance that our lives are not open to Satan and his schemes. Robbed of fellowship with God. Burdens.

When we come up with our own rules, when we come up with our own ideas of what it means to be a true believer, oh, we open our lives to burdens. When Jesus said, come to me. Come to me all who weary and are heavy laden. When he says take my yoke upon you. You know what he's saying there?

Take my burden upon you. Roll off the burden of your own ideas of what it means to please God, of what it means to live free in this life, and take my yoke upon you. It's light. It's life giving. It will set you free.

I wanna ask you today, for those who are visiting especially, is your relationship with God according to this book? Are you burdened? Are you burdened by sin? Are you burdened by trying to strive your way to please God? Are you burdened with the sense of purposelessness where you're just floating around in this life?

You're just a number. Come to Jesus and trust that as he lays upon you his word, it will be the most freeing thing you've ever experienced. He made you. He created you. And when he did, he gave us the option to continue in fellowship with him or to have our own way.

And when we made our own way, we turned our back on him and we walked as fast as we can. Some are running in the other direction. But because he loves you, he dies for you, and he calls for you to come back to him. He paid a price, the price that separates you from him, and he wants you to know the life that only he can offer because he is the author of life. He's the author of life.

So stop running. Stop making up your own idea and rules about what life is. Come to the one who created you and who died for you, And you will know not just life according to the words of Jesus, but life abundantly. And that's not waiting for us in heaven. Oh, no.

You can bubble up with that joy in life today. Even in this chaotic world, you can know a deep seated joy that no one can rob from you. And he paid a high price for that to be real. Would you give up? You know what repentance simply means?

Give up. Stop. Fall at his feet. And as you're there, look at those feet and realize that they were pierced for you. He was nailed to a piece of wood so that you can know freedom.

And I pray that you you would be saved today. And for those who are saved, would we prepare our hearts to partake on the truth that Jesus took our place and that we have life in him alone? Let's do that. Lord, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts that you are a good God. You were not like pharaoh.

You do not make our lives a burden. You do not call us to make bricks without straw. Oh, Lord, even in our obedience to your word, you empower us And you forgive us when we fail. And you do not give up on us because your love is patient. Thank you.

And Lord, as we partake of this meal, we pray that our eyes would be on the grace of God in the person of Jesus Christ, that all that we hear about do's and don'ts come from the position of being forgiven freely because of the Lord Jesus. Lord, may this have a sanctifying effect on this congregation. We wanna be in your will. We wanna please you. We wanna love you.

Lord, look into our hearts, and would you see a love for you? A true love for you. An imperfect love, yes, but a love nonetheless. We we adore you, Lord. And for the cold heart, the cold heart that will walk up to this table by faith, may this revive them.