Lord of the Sabbath

We're continuing our study through the Gospel of Matthew and today come to Matthew chapter 12, and I ask you to open your Bibles there. We're going to be looking at the first 14 verses of Matthew 12. If you're visiting here, I should explain that we began the series in Matthew almost a year ago, and we have come today to Matthew chapter 12.

Here is a question. How should followers of Jesus regard the Sabbath, regard Sunday? Some Christians, such as Seventh-day Adventists, transfer the principles of the Old Testament Sabbath to Saturday. Others transfer the Old Testament regulations regarding the Sabbath to Sunday. Others believe that the Sabbath, one of the Ten Commandments, that that doesn't apply to Christians today and have no qualms at all in missing worship on Sunday, if their children are playing a sport, if they want to have a game of golf, if they want to spend time visiting family, or simply want to have a lazy day at home. So, there's all kinds of ideas regarding the Sabbath, regarding Sunday.

What do you think? What is clear is that the Sabbath was central to the Mosaic law, and what is also clear that breaches of the Sabbath under the Old Testament Mosaic law were regarded as very, very serious, as we shall see. So, we're going to learn about the Sabbath as interpreted by our Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to listen to his words. We're going to listen to his teaching about the Sabbath. Now, you're sitting there, and you think of all subjects, John, why would you choose to preach on the Sabbath?

Think of what our country is going through. Why don't you be more relevant and practical in your teaching? Good question. The only answer I can give is that God has called me to preach his Word, and as an old English bishop said, while others are preaching to the times, may not one poor preacher preach for eternity. So, I want to preach the eternal truths of the Word of God and to keep true to Scripture, and the Spirit of God is directing us to this passage today. So, let's open our Bibles, and we're going to see in the first eight verses that Jesus has authority over the Sabbath, that he is Lord of the Sabbath.

Matthew 12, first of all, the first two verses. At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. The Pharisees are criticizing the disciples of Jesus for picking grain on the Sabbath.

Now, you may think this is very, very trivial, but I want you to understand that work of any kind was not permitted on the Sabbath. Well, you turn with me, if you have your Bible there, to the second book in the Old Testament, the book of Exodus, and I want to read to you some of the teaching of the Lord under the Mosaic law on the Sabbath, Exodus chapter 31. Exodus chapter 31.

Now, here is some of the provisions under the Mosaic law relating to the Sabbath. Exodus 31, verse 12. And the Lord said to Moses, so this teaching is coming from the Lord. It's not just Moses' idea, it's coming from the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, you are to speak to the people of Israel and say, above all, you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

You can see how serious this is. Verse 15. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord.

Whoever does any work on the Sabbath shall be put to death. Therefore, the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone written with the finger of God.

Isn't that amazing? The Ten Commandments are given to Moses on Mount Sinai and the Ten Commandments are written with the finger of God. Now did you notice as I read that the Sabbath was a sign.

Verse 17. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel. This is a sign of the Mosaic covenant with a covenant of God. With a covenant comes a sign. What's the sign of the covenant with Noah? The rainbow.

We look at the rainbow. It's a sign of that covenant. The sign of the Abrahamic covenant was circumcision. The sign of the Mosaic covenant is the Sabbath. And as we read then, work was not permitted on the Sabbath. Now what was the Sabbath? The Sabbath was from sunset on Friday to the sunset on Saturday.

That was the Sabbath. When I was a teenager, my family and I, we lived in Gibraltar right on the southern tip of Spain for three years. And we had a number of Jewish boys in the school we attended, boys only school. And my brothers and I on Saturday evenings went to a certain place, really in the center of Gibraltar.

It was a very small place. And we would watch some of our friends and some of the Jewish community and they were standing and we used to smile because they were looking west. They were looking for the sun to set.

That was like us as boys. We sometimes wondered, okay, when is Sunday over? These boys were wondering, when is the Sabbath over so we can get on with life?

But the point is, it was from sunset to sunset. Now the Pharisees, these are the religious rulers, these are the experts in the law. They are the ones who go around with the robes, rather hypocritical people, but they know the law. They have studied the law in a meticulous way, memorized large parts of it. Certainly the Ten Commandments, certainly the regulations that we just read from Exodus chapter 31, they know. And they love the Sabbath because it is the pinnacle of their self-righteous legalism. We've seen before that the Pharisees, among other things, were legalists.

They loved the meticulous interpretation of things. Now here are Jesus and his disciples and they're walking through the grain fields. Now there's no Starbucks, there's no McDonald's, there's no Bojangles in ancient Israel, and as they're walking through the fields, what are they doing? It doesn't say Jesus did this, but the disciples, they did what you have done. They take some of the grain, they're hungry, and they eat the grain and the Pharisees.

Can you just see them? They're looking and saying, ha, ha, ha, we've got him this time. This is a breach of the Sabbath. The race is aware of a fine legal point. Does plucking the grain constitute work under the Mosaic law? Is this a breach of the Sabbath regulations? Not surprisingly, the Pharisees responded in a positive, these are merciless legalists, and they're very happy to find fault with the disciples of Jesus. There they are, they're violating the Sabbath regulations.

Now, under the law, it was permitted to take some of the grain. They're dealing with a largely agricultural economy, so you go for a walk, you're hungry, you're with your family, and the law said in Deuteronomy, it's quite permissible to take the grain and eat it. So that was not the point of the Pharisees. The point of the Pharisees was, aha, you've done it on the Sabbath and we've caught you.

They said, they interpreted, that the taking of the grain, rubbing it in their hands was threshing it, blowing the chaff away was winnowing. You've worked on the Sabbath. You've picked grain and you've worked to prepare it and you are in breach of the Sabbath. You can't prepare your food on the Sabbath.

Did you get the point? Jesus is going to respond. He's going to respond to the criticism of the Pharisees by asking questions, and then He's going to state a conclusion. First of all, He says, in actual fact, Mr. Pharisee, there is Old Testament precedent for breaking the law in similar circumstances. Verses 3 and 4, are you following me? Matthew 12 verse 3, He said to them, have you not read?

That must have been like a sword through them because they did read, they knew their Bibles as it were, but He's saying to them, we don't know your Bibles as well as you think you do. Have you not read what David, that's King David, did when he was hungry and those who were with him? How he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests. Don't you remember He's saying to them, King David, Israel's greatest king, violated the Sabbath, violated the law by eating the bread of the presence, the bread that was in the tabernacle. King David, the Lord's anointed, and his men ate the twelve loaves of consecrated bread which were in the house of God in the tabernacle. Now these twelve loaves represented the twelve tribes, and the priests in the tabernacle, consequently the temple, kept these loaves and they were removed every seven days.

What happened to the bread? It was eaten by the priests. Along comes David and his men, he's anointed by God, but he's not yet crowned king because King Saul is the king, the evil king, and he's hunting David. He wants to kill David, and David and his men are harassed. They're tired, and they're hungry, and they find themselves right at the tabernacle. And in the tabernacle there are these twelve loaves, given to the priests and his sons, but now David and his men eat the bread.

Jesus is saying, remember that? There was a precedent for people eating in violation of the Sabbath. This was a breach of the ceremonial law, but ceremonial law may be broken in exceptional circumstances as was the case when David, God's anointed, and his men were being hunted by King Saul. And furthermore, there is no record in scripture of David being condemned for that action. Have you not read that? Now if David, Israel's greatest king, had authority over the ceremonial law so that the physical needs of his men and himself could be met, how much more can the disciples of King Jesus, David's greater son, ignore the Pharisees' legalistic interpretation of the law?

There you are. Think of David. That's his first answer in verses three and four. Here's the second answer, verses five and six. Or have you not read, again, you don't know your Bibles, you should know this, have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and they're guiltless?

I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. Old Testament precedent for breaking the law, yes, but secondly Jesus is saying, don't you know that in the temple the priests, they work on the Sabbath. What are they doing on the Sabbath? They're working, they're killing animals, they're presenting sacrifices, they're praying on the Sabbath, and all of that is instructed under the Mosaic law in Numbers chapter 28.

What they're doing is permissible. So you're getting excited about my men taking a little piece of grain as they walk, but think of the priests in the temple, what they do, and they are guiltless. And furthermore, I tell you, verse six, something greater than the temple is here. What is greater than the temple? The kingdom of God, Jesus himself.

He's there. Yes, the priests could break the normal Sabbath regulations because they were permitted to do so in their worship and therefore surely someone who is greater than the temple can interpret the law. What was the Sabbath?

Jesus is reminding. The Sabbath was designed by God for man's rest, for his joy, for his renewal, for his blessing and his worship. What were the Pharisees doing? They were turning a blessing into a burden. They were turning something which was a delight given by God into something which is oppressive. Mercy and compassion are gone in their place, are guilt and condemnation. If you were here last week, we heard the words of Jesus at the end of Matthew 11, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. The burden of Jesus is not oppressive.

His commandments are not grievous. Ah, but the burden, the yoke of the Pharisees was heavy. It was joyless. It was oppressive. These were legalists. These were hypocrites.

They were making life difficult for the oppressed such as the widows and the orphans. When we were in Israel, we stayed in this hotel several times, beautiful hotel in Jerusalem. We were there on the Sabbath, on Shabbat as it's called. In the elevators, there was a number of elevators in the hotel, and on the Sabbath a notice was put up which read, Shabbat elevators. For your convenience, elevator number six is a Shabbat elevator stopping on each floor. Why would you have on the Sabbath one elevator which is designed to stop on every floor? Because the Orthodox Jew interprets pressing the button as work. You say that's ridiculous. That's what they believe.

That's a meticulous interpretation, we would say a wrong interpretation of the law. And so you can't go and say, well, my room is on floor nine and I'll press nine. That is working. That's the Sabbath. You can't work on the Sabbath. You're exercising energy by pressing the button. So let's go on the Shabbat elevator, elevator number six, and it stops at every floor and you just stand on it. And you make sure if you're on floor ten you don't get on the Shabbat elevator because it stops number one, number two, number three.

No need to press a button. But Jesus says, Mark records, the Sabbath was made for the good of man, not man for the Sabbath. Something which was given by God to His people for their blessing has become something oppressive. And notice what Jesus says in His brilliant conclusion in verses seven and eight. And if you had known what this means, He's going to quote from the Old Testament scriptures, it was Essex. If you had known what this means, I desire mercy.

Ah, that's it. God wants mercy and not sacrifice. You would have not condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. No wonder they said never man spoke like this man.

Here is the master teacher. What is he saying to the Pharisees? That Jesus is Lord over the Sabbath, therefore He can override the Sabbath regulations.

He is the Christ, He's the Son of God, He's the Son of David. Jesus is not only greater than the temple, He's not Lord of the Sabbath. That is, He has sovereign authority to override and to determine the laws of the Sabbath. After all, He wrote the Sabbath.

He's God. And if David, if King David could override the Sabbath regulations, surely David's greater son, our Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah certainly can. And the spirit of the law is what? Is it for oppression?

Is it to point a finger at someone? Is it to be the legalist? Is it to embrace a lifeless ritualism? Some kind of mechanical religion?

Absolutely not. No, the spirit of the law is worship. It's worship of God. The spirit of the law is to be merciful, is to be compassionate, and the spirit of the law is much more important than the letter of the law.

The Pharisees are concerned with the meticulous letter and the dissection of it and they took the law and they expanded the law, so it became an absolute burden on people. Paul's going to say, for the letter kills, but the Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, gives life. And if Jesus, the Son of Man, notice in verse 6, Jesus describes Himself as the Son of Man, really His favorite self-designation, the Son of Man, God's perfect man. He's God but He comes into time and space as God's perfect man, as the Son of Man in fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy. He's the perfect man and as the perfect man He is Lord of the Sabbath.

He's greater than King David, greater than the temple. It's not for the Pharisees to say how the Sabbath should be interpreted. We learned as we went through the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the total fulfillment of the law and He's also the interpreter of the law and mercy and compassion are much more important than the meticulous observance of ceremonial law. Notice again verse 6, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. That's in the Old Testament, Hosea 6. It's in the New Testament, it's in the teaching of the Lord.

God desires mercy and compassion rather than some mere ritualism which leads to hypocrisy and deadness. So Jesus, verses 1 through 8, has authority over the Sabbath. Secondly, Jesus does good on the Sabbath, verses 9 through 14. The controversy with the Sabbath continues, verse 9. He, that is our Lord, went on from there and entered their synagogue and the man was there with a withered hand and they asked Him, here's the Pharisees again, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse Him? He said to them, which one of you has a sheep if it falls into the pit on the Sabbath will not take hold of it and lift it out? Or how much more value is a man than a sheep?

It's an irrefutable argument, isn't it? If you do that for a sheep, surely you can do much more for a man. So it is lawful, here's the point, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then He said to the man, stretch out your hand and the man stretched it out and it was restored, healthy like the other. What did the Pharisees do? The Pharisees went out, that is they leave the synagogue and conspired against Him, how to destroy Him.

Can you imagine it? The Lord Jesus is in the synagogue, there's a man with a withered hand, may well have been born that way and the Pharisees are there and what are they doing? They're criticizing Jesus, not for healing the man, they're criticizing Jesus for healing the man on the Sabbath.

Incredible, isn't it? The Pharisees said that a sick person could only receive medical help on the Sabbath if he or she was in a life threatening situation. So if you're about to die, someone has a heart attack here and it's the Sabbath, we're allowed to help that person but if you've got some other condition that can wait for the next day. Clearly a man with a withered hand, that's not a life threatening situation, therefore Mr. Pharisee would say, why are you healing him on the Sabbath?

This is the Sabbath, you could have left it to the next day. I mean after all, he's still going to have the withered hand then, why are you doing this on the Sabbath? This is what the Pharisees are doing right in the synagogue. The Pharisees are looking to accuse Jesus.

Verse 10, and they asked him, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him? They come to a place of worship, they're there not to worship, not to learn, not to glorify God, they're there to criticize Jesus. The Pharisees are so focused on the legalistic interpretations of the law as devised by themselves with all of their bizarre interpretations of the law, they so focus on that that they've lost sight of people. They don't see, they don't really care, but a man is there with a withered hand. They don't celebrate the power of God in their midst. As this man, Jesus, says to the withered man, stretch out your hand and right before them they see themselves a miracle. They see the power of God in action through our Lord Jesus Christ so that this man's hand which was withered is just as healthy as his other one and it happens before their eyes and they criticize Jesus. In fact, they leave the synagogue in order to conspire to kill Jesus.

Oh, but they're concerned about maintaining the law. They're concerned that there might be a breach of the law and Jesus is saying, listen, isn't it lawful to do good? You're doing evil, you're criticizing, you're going out and conspiring among yourselves to kill me and you're criticizing me?

Is it not lawful to do good on the Sabbath? Can I just pause there? Have you ever come to worship, say it here at Calvary, and you've come with a critical spirit? You're there and you want to criticize one of the musicians. And even more unbelievable, you want to criticize the preacher. You find some little point. He's slightly off.

You find something about a song, something about the way a musician sounds that you don't quite like and you focus on that. Don't do that, don't do that. When you come, think of the privilege. Do you realize that you're coming to the house of God? Jesus describes the tabernacle in verse 4 as the house of God.

Oh, I'm not talking about this building. I'm talking about when we, the people of God gather as we're doing on the Lord's Day, gathering to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ who's here and that we, the people of God are the very body, the very temple of the Holy Spirit and that we would come with a critical attitude and lose sight of the very point of worship and lose sight of our magnificent God and lose sight of our glorious Jesus Christ because we're occupied with some minutiae, something that doesn't quite fit in our idea. And Jesus is saying, listen, God wants mercy and not sacrifice. You see, legalism and ritualism, it loses sight of people. It loses sight of worship.

It leads to a dead religion. So these Pharisees who know their Bible very, very well and love to pray with their loud prayers, but when it comes to it, their heart is far from God. And even in the presence of the power of God, it sounds almost unbelievable, doesn't it? Even in the very presence of the power of God when they see in the synagogue a man healed, they still turn on their heel and go out and say, now how can we get rid of this Jesus?

We need to destroy Him. They went out and conspired against Him, verse 14, how to destroy Him. But Jesus, of course, has silenced them.

They can't answer. First of all, by healing the man, Jesus is not working. He didn't work.

All He did was speak. So no legal charge could be made against Jesus. It's ridiculous to say that when Jesus says, stretch out your hand that that's work.

Surely not. Furthermore, there is no moral charge against Jesus because surely it must be lawful to do good on the Sabbath. That's what Jesus said. So it's lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

Of course it is. It's lawful to be merciful and kind on the Sabbath. How can you Pharisees disagree with that?

No legal charge, no moral charge. You see, Jesus loved people on the Sabbath. The Pharisees, when it came down to it, were hating Jesus on the Sabbath.

They were plotting the very murder of Jesus on the Sabbath, thinking evil, wanting to do evil, with all of their cloak of hypocrisy. Here is legalism. Here is self-righteousness. Here is the outworking of hypocrisy.

It leads to death. It leads us away from God. And Jesus silences His opponents, and they walk out of the synagogue. They don't care for the man. They don't rejoice with Him. They don't say, how wonderful, brother, that you're healed. No, they go out, and they want to get rid of Jesus. The evidence of the power, what does it do?

It hardens their hearts. Here are four concluding lessons for us on the Sabbath. First of all, followers of Jesus are not under the Mosaic law as a rule of law.

I realize there's people who dispute this, but I believe this is the truth. As followers of Jesus, please hear me, were not under the Mosaic law as a rule of law. Romans chapter 7, I'll just read one verse. Some of you will remember we went through the book of Romans. Romans 7 verse 6, Paul says, but now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, the Spirit of God, not in the old way of the written code.

We're not under the law. Israel was under the Mosaic law. The Sabbath, as I say, was a sign to Israel of the Mosaic covenant, but Jesus has come. The law is given by Moses, but grace and truth come through Jesus Christ. With Jesus, the new wine has come.

The new era has come. There is the dawning of the kingdom of God, the new dispensation has come, a new covenant has come. And it's interesting to note that the only commandment of the ten commandments, which is not repeated in the New Testament, is the commandment regarding the Sabbath. In fact, Paul says in Colossians 2 16, let no one judge you on the question of the Sabbath. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law.

He's the interpreter of the law. And so we're not under the Mosaic law as a rule of law, that would be bondage. You say, well that sounds wonderful, now I can just live as I want.

No, no, hold it, hold it. You're not under the Mosaic law as a rule of law, but if you're saved by the grace of God, you're following Jesus. That means He's Lord.

That means you do what He says and not what you want. And Jesus said if a man loves me, anyone here love Jesus? Anyone here love Jesus? Yes. If you love me, keep my commandments.

Oh. Easy to sing, I love you Jesus. If I love Jesus, I obey Him, I follow Him, I submit to Him, He is Lord of all. And the great commandment isn't that we love one another. And John says His commandments are not grievous. Paul says in Galatians 6 verse 2, that we're to bear one another's burdens. The Pharisees didn't do that, they put burdens on you. They got their widows and they put further burdens on them. They ignored the orphans.

They ignored the sick. No, we bear one another's burdens and when we do that, Paul says, we'll fulfill, do you remember it? Galatians 6 verse 2, we'll fulfill the law of Christ. I'm under the law of Christ. And His yoke is easy and His burden is light. And Jesus never leads me into sin and He never leads me where He Himself hasn't first gone.

I'm to follow Him all of my life through death and into His eternal kingdom. So we're not under the Mosaic law as a rule of law. Secondly, the Lord's day is Sunday, not Saturday, not the Sabbath. Why do we as followers of Jesus come together on Sunday? Well, it is the Lord's day.

John calls it that in Revelation 1. He was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, on Sunday. Why is Sunday the Lord's day? What happened on Sunday?

The resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Sunday, the Lord's day, is the day of resurrection. It's the day when the church comes together. The early church met for communion. They met for worship. They collected their tithes and offerings on Sunday.

They had fellowship. So Sunday is the day of resurrection. It's the day of new beginnings. It's the day of the Spirit of God. So our day of worship is not Saturday, but Sunday. I like to call it the Lord's day.

Listen to the writer in Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 10. You know this pandemic has presented us with problems about meeting together. I'm very glad that we can meet in a lawful way like this.

We understand some of our brothers and sisters. I would love to be here but because of illness or some precondition, they're unable to meet. But how wonderful that we can meet here.

I know the masses are a pain in the neck. Thank you for cooperating and the social distancing. But how wonderful to meet as the people of God.

Isn't this much better than watching on live stream? And I can tell you, I forget for how long, Pastor Hathaway and I and a few others, we met in an empty sanctuary and I preached to that camera week after week. And it was tough going. God helped. But how much better this is than to see your faces. And for those of you who have got your masks on, you've got beautiful eyes.

That's all I see. But wonderful. And this encourages us, doesn't it?

It's just not the same watching by live stream, is it? We miss our brothers and sisters. And this is what Paul says, or whoever wrote Hebrews. Hebrews 10. I tend to think it wasn't Paul, but whoever it is, it's the Word of God. Hebrews 10 verse 24, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.

You can't do that alone. Not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. That we as the people of God are to meet together.

It's a command. It really blows my mind that some pastors have closed down their churches and say, we're not going to meet until this pandemic is over. I don't know when it's over, but we can meet, certainly not in perfect circumstances, but we're trying to obey the Word of God that God meets us, wants us to meet together.

Yes, we want to be respectful to the governing authorities, but above all, we want to be true to the Word of God. So thank you for coming together and not neglecting the meeting of yourself together. And having said that, we understand that some, because of age, because of some precondition, are not able to meet.

We long for the day when we can all meet and the COVID-19 is just a memory. So number three, work is not our top priority in life. Do you understand that? Work is not to be your top priority in life. Now having said that, some of you don't struggle with this because you need to work a little more. My dad used to love to quote the verse, Paul says, if a man wants to eat, he should work. And my dad would say to us, you eat like man, but I'm not sure if you want to work like man. So I was brought up, as many of you were brought up, to encourage to work.

Do you realize that Adam worked in the Garden of Eden before the fall? Work is not wrong. It's hard because of the fall, but God wants us to work.

He doesn't want us to be lazy. He doesn't want us to sit at home not working. So if you're not working, pray to God to give you employment and to work. I realize some people because of illnesses can't do that, but most of us are able to work. Having said that, there's a danger for some of us, myself included, to make work our top priority. God didn't make you to work all the time.

All of us need a time of rest, a time of renewal. This was one of the beauties of the Sabbath. Here are the children of Israel. They're slaves in Egypt.

Was there any Sabbath rest in Egypt? No, they're slaves. You work and you work and you work and you work. And they had their taskmasters and they never got a break.

Can you imagine? Work, work, work, work, work. That's what it was, to be a slave in Egypt. Now God in His mercy delivers these people and He gives them this commandment, not as a burden but as a delight, that one day you don't work. Even the animals were to rest. There was kindness to the animals. There was a recognition that your animals, your working animals needed to rest. God did not make us as machines.

He didn't make us as robots. We are to try to be balanced in our life and I realize that's difficult for some of us. There are some who are naturally lazy and there's others of us who may tend to be workaholics and that is wrong.

Both are wrong. We're to work hard but we're also to have a break. Vacation, enjoy your vacation. Don't feel guilty because you're on vacation. Don't feel guilty when you have a time off. If you don't rest, you're going to become exhausted, you're going to become tense, you're going to become stale and irritated, impatient, taking yourself rather seriously and probably a bit of a bore because all you talk about is your work. That can lead to burnout, that can lead to breakdown, that can lead to serious problems in the family. Here's a man who works, works, works and spends so little time with his family and his children.

Don't do that, sir. Why are you working so much? Do you think your business will fall apart if you take a day off, take a week vacation or even better, two weeks vacation? You know, many Europeans have a better idea of vacation than Americans.

When I came here I was amazed. He was a young man and I asked him, I said, how much vacation do you get a year? He said you get five days. I thought, five days? That's ridiculous, poor guy. Five days a year? He just begun.

He had to work a whole year and then he got five days vacation. I'm not a machine. You need rest.

You need a time for personal renewal. Students, I've met students coming to Calvary Church and you've told me you don't come to church sometime because you're at home studying. Now, you're either a very poor student or a lazy student or a very disorganized student. Let me tell you, you do not need to study all the time.

I can tell you from experience. In fact, God didn't make you that way. You need to stop studying. Take a day off, preferably the Lord's day. Don't study at all. You say I've got an exam on Monday, get up early on Monday and study.

That's what I used to do. Your brain needs a break. You can't study, study, study, study, study, study. You can't work, work, work, work. Stop.

Stop. Rest. God wants you to rest. God wants you to get a change of pace.

The Lord's day is a day for personal renewal, for worship, a day of serving God, a day to show mercy and compassion to others, a day when we can spend more time with our families. Number four, experience the true Sabbath rest. You say, what do you mean to experience the true Sabbath rest?

Do you remember the message last week? You hear the words of Jesus, come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest, rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your soul.

Have you experienced that rest? See, the physical rest of the Sabbath has become the salvation rest of the true Sabbath. And we enter into that rest, that rest which will never end when we come to Jesus Christ. When we answer His call, come to me and we come and we stop our own efforts, we stop trying to save ourselves, we stop trying to change our life by ourselves and we realize that we can't do that and we've got to stop working for our salvation. And we've got to remember that magnificent cry on the cross when Jesus was on the cross atoning for our sins.

You remember that magnificent shout. It is finished. Finished? What was finished? The work of salvation is complete. Our Lord Jesus Christ comes as the Savior of the world and He does His work perfectly, 100 percent. Everything has been accomplished for your salvation. You don't need to do anything. It's all done, perfectly done. It's a masterpiece. Do you think your little piece can improve in the work of Christ?

Absolutely not. It's all done. Therefore, it's to be received. You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you're saved. You come to Him and find rest for your soul if you've never done that.

Well, you can't. And also, follower of Jesus, some of you are restless and I realize, and Pastor Navy referred to it in his prayer, this time of the election has been difficult for all of us, hasn't it? But not just the election, the pandemic and life itself and so many people are on edge. They're frustrated.

They're even angry. They're irritated and we lack peace and we're anxious and we're fearful. Brother, sister, God doesn't want you to live like that. He wants to give you peace, a peace which passes all understanding. This is the true Sabbath rest. Psalm 46 verse 10, be still and know that I am God.

You know what it is to be still? It's to stop fretting. Stop worrying. Stop trying to control everything you can't. Stop getting upset with things that you have no control over and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Will you do that? Here is the wonder of the Christian Gospel. In the midst of the storm, in the midst of the most difficult time of your life, when your world is turned upside down, you can obtain this peace and this rest through Jesus Christ. We often sing, on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. When darkness hides his lovely face, what do we do? We rest on his unchanging grace.

That's it. Resting on Christ. Isn't it a tough week? Some bad news about your family, personal relationship with health. It's difficult, isn't it? Life is difficult. Life is hard. Take it to the Lord Jesus. You're weary.

You're heavy laden. Come to the Savior and find this rest. This rest now, can you think of heaven? Perfect rest. Perfect rest.

I officiated a funeral yesterday, one of our brothers at Prego, in the presence of the Lord. And I thought, now he's at rest. Rest. Eternal rest. And those of us who love Christ, we're going to that eternal rest. May we experience it here and now.

Not in a perfect way, I understand. We're so easily shaken. But let's keep coming to Christ, our magnificent Savior, who still says, come to me and I'll give you rest. Father, help us. Sometimes we are legalists in our hearts.

Sometimes we're critical. Forgive us, Father. Sometimes we're more focused on the problems of life rather than Christ. May our eyes be on Him.

What a good God you are. What a perfect salvation is found in Jesus Christ. Some are here that have never surrendered to Christ. May they come with their sin and receive that forgiveness. And may all of us leave, Father, with this rest, this rest for our souls found alone in our Lord Jesus Christ. In His name we pray. Amen.