LUKE 6:1-11 RELIGION VS RELATIONSHIP PART 22011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 6:1-11 Religion Vs Relationship Part 2

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011. Well this morning as we look at Luke chapter 6, we're looking once again at the subject of religion versus relationship. It's something we discussed last week as we were finishing up chapter 5 and the question of fasting that was there.

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And as we go forward now into chapter 6, we're talking about religion once again with the religious leaders as kind of the antagonistic people in the story today. They're coming against Jesus, they're coming against the disciples, and they're coming against a man who is sick with the rules and regulations that they hold higher than the Word of God.

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And so once again, we're looking at this subject of religion versus relationship. And God's going to be challenging our hearts in regard to our personal walk with the Lord and us hearing from Him and walking in obedience to Him.

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Now, if you want to, on your own, check out the parallel passages, I like to give them to you so you can be a good student of the Word and read them through later. In Mark chapter 2, verse 23 through 3, or chapter 3, verse 6, you have this same account, but Mark's telling of the account, so that's Mark chapter 2 and then the beginning of chapter 3, and then also you find it in Matthew chapter 12, verses 1 through 14, and so I

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I'd encourage you to check it out later on and you can see a little bit different perspectives as these different authors write about this same account. Well, as we talk about these religious leaders once again, both of the accounts, both of the situations that we're looking at here have to do with the Sabbath.

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And the Sabbath is something we need to kind of understand before we dig into the portion this morning. The Sabbath was given by God to the nation of Israel as a command and as a day of rest. In Exodus chapter 20, God gives the command in verses 9 and 10. It says, "...six days you shall labor and do all your work."

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But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

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And here we have the understanding of what the Sabbath is all about. This is the law that God set for his people. This is the command that he gave. And that was six days you can work. In fact, six days you should work. It's part of God's plan for us to be involved in working and doing what he's called us to do. But six days are set aside for that.

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But the seventh day is what the Lord called the Sabbath. It's a day of rest and you're not to do work. And not only are you not to do work, but you're not to have people work for you. You're not to put your servants to work and, you know, I can't work the field, but you go work the field for me. You're not to put your animals to work. It was a day of rest for the entire household, for the entire family.

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And that's what God instituted. It was something for man's benefit. It was something for the benefit of the people of God that they would have a day to not have to work, but that they would rest and be able to recuperate and also spend time with the Lord on that day.

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But what had taken place since Exodus chapter 20 up until Jesus' day is the religious leaders of Israel had added on to this command for the Sabbath. They'd added on to the command to rest. And so no longer was it just a day that you were not to work, but they added on all of these rules and regulations about how you were to behave on the Sabbath.

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So, they had very strict guidelines about what kind of things you could do, how far you could travel, what you could carry. In fact, some would say, you know, you can't carry anything in your hand, you can't grasp hold of it, but if you could carry it with the back of your hand, you know, that's okay. So, as long as you carry it around like this and not hold it this way, then, you know, you're okay, you're not breaking the Sabbath. And so, that's just a silly example, but that is the extent that they went to.

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If you cut your finger, you could work to stop the bleeding, but you couldn't put ointment on the cut. Because what the religious leaders said was putting ointment on the cut would be making it better. You can stop it from getting worse, but you can't make it better. You can't help it to heal on the Sabbath because, well, by their definition, that's work and that's violating the Sabbath.

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And so they took it to a far greater extent than what God ever intended by adding on all of these ridiculous rules and regulations, all of these crazy limitations that they applied to the Sabbath and they forced upon the people.

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But it was never God's intention. It wasn't that God said, you know, you can't do all of these things. What did he say? He said, the seventh day is a Sabbath. You shall not do any work. And so then they would jump on that and take that and add on their own rules and regulations on top of that. But it was held to in such a way in Jesus' day as if it was the very word of God.

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And so, you'll see here in this account, they're coming against Jesus very strongly for what he's doing on the Sabbath day because they, in their opinion, believe that this is the word of God. This is what God wants. And you are breaking what God has commanded. You are breaking what God has desired.

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In Exodus chapter 31 verse 16, God continues on to talk about the Sabbath and it says, "...the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant." This is an important verse to understand as well because we understand here this covenant about the Sabbath day is something that God specifically gave to the nation of Israel.

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There's some laws, there's some things that God has instructed the people and they're specifically for the nation of Israel and there's other laws and other things that God has commanded that apply to all believers everywhere. And the church had to deal with that very early on and we find that in the book of Acts chapter 15.

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And the apostles of the church, the leaders of the church, as it's in the very early stages, have to get together to decide what to do with all these Gentile believers. A Jew, of course, is a descendant of Abraham. A Gentile is anybody else. And there was a lot of people that were getting saved, a lot of Gentiles who were not...

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descendants from Abraham who were getting saved. And some of the people in the church were saying, well, they have to convert to Judaism. They have to start keeping the law and keeping the Sabbath and be circumcised and do all of the things that are instructed in the law.

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And so there was this commotion that was going on within the church and the apostles met together. They sought the Lord and they agreed that the rules and the things that God had specifically given to Israel did not apply to the Gentiles, to the church, but only to the people of God, only to those of Jewish descent. So

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Otherwise, you and I as Gentiles would have to convert to Judaism in order to be saved. And we'd have to follow the law and keep the commandments. And that's what the people within the church at that day were trying to make happen. But the apostles said, no, this isn't how we are saved. We are saved by grace and it's through faith.

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And so this is why you and I are not held to the Sabbath law today because Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath law. He is our Sabbath rest. And we don't have time to get into all of the details of that aspect of it, but I just bring it up so that you know this is why we don't enforce or practice

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the Sabbath today, although it is encouraged and it is a great principle to follow, God wants you to set aside a day to take a break from, you know, the normal work things that you do and spend time with your family, spend time with Him and have a day to rest and recuperate that you may be able to be faithful to your duties the rest of the week.

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Now, there's also some confusion within the church today about the Sabbath day in regards to, well, many refer to it as a day of worship. And so, for example, like the Seventh-day Adventists, they're not the only ones, but they're an example of that, where they believe that the Sabbath day is

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is the only day that you can worship God or you have to worship God on the Sabbath day. And so they look at us and they say, "You guys worship on Sunday." That's blasphemous, that's incorrect. You have to worship God on Saturday. Now Saturday is the Sabbath. That has not changed. And yet many will accuse the church of trying to change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.

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But the Sabbath was never intended to be, you know, the day and the only day of the week that you worship the Lord. That's not at all what God intended. Again, you go back to Exodus 20, six days you shall labor, but the seventh you shall do no work. That's what the Sabbath is about. It's the six days of labor and then the seventh you do no work.

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It's a day of rest, not a day of worship. Not that you can't worship God, not that you shouldn't worship God. Of course you should. But it's not that we tried to change and say, well, no, you have to worship God on Sunday. That's not the issue. The issue is the Sabbath law is for the nation of Israel, but it was also a day of rest, not particularly a day of worship according to what God had commanded.

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And so the day of rest is the Sabbath day, the seventh day. And it was a day that they held to, like I said, with very, very strict traditions on top of the word of God. And so they didn't just have it as a day of rest, but it was a day of rest with all of these rules and stipulations.

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And as we look at these two accounts of what happened on the Sabbath day, it's a challenge for you and I as believers to check our hearts to make sure that we don't follow the pattern of the religious leaders of Jesus' day. And so again, we're looking at the subject of religion versus relationship. And for you and I, we need to consider these things because relationship can so quickly become religion.

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It's so easily and it's very subtle many times in our hearts. When I talk about religion, I'm really referring to legalism, where it's rules and rituals, it's a system, it's a program, and it's ceased to be about connecting with Jesus and hearing His voice and walking with Him and following the things that He puts upon our hearts.

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And that's what relationship with Jesus is all about. It's connecting with Him and walking with Him, knowing Him, hearing His voice and sharing with Him. But it's so easily and subtly, we kind of gradually get there. We don't always recognize it, but we get into a routine. We get into this idea of rituals or religion. And then right on top of that comes these legalistic ideas in our hearts.

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And like I said, it can happen so quickly. I was noticing this week as I was reading my devotions one of the days, that even from the moment I began to read the scriptures that God had before me that day, and then to the end of that time of reading,

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Somewhere in that time, I had switched from relationship to religion. What I mean by that is I started out, I opened up the Word and I began to read and my heart was saying, I want to hear from you, Lord. I'm seeking the Lord and I'm looking for what He wants to speak. I'm looking for what He wants to show me.

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But about halfway through or so, my heart changed and I was like, "Man, I can't wait to just finish this chapter. I have other stuff to do." And I was just checking off a list, you know, a task on my list of, "I just got to get this done so I can do the other important stuff that I got to do." And somewhere in the middle there, I just, I'd lost that connection. I'd lost that seeking Jesus. And I had to go back and say, "Lord, forgive me. And I want to hear Your voice and reconnect with Him."

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And so like that, it just so subtly and quickly happens that, you know, hey, you're coming to church one day because you love the Lord, you want to worship, you want to hear His word, you want to learn of Him. And then, you know, next week you're coming because it's what you're supposed to do. And then, you know, we begin to build this legalism into our lives.

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Often times, legalism and this religion as I'm referring to it, it starts out well with good intentions. Things like devotions and you're supposed to read the Bible and so I'm going to read the Bible every day. But if it's not part of a relationship, if it's just a system of rules and regulations, then you've got to watch out because that is deadly. That is dangerous for us as believers. Right?

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The bottom line is, you need to be connecting with Jesus and hearing His voice and walking with Him in obedience as He speaks to your heart. In all things, that's how we need to live. And it must not be legalistic for us. Well, as we look at this portion, verses 1 through 11, there's four things I'd like to highlight for you as we look at religion versus relationship once again.

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The first thing we see is found in verses 1 and 2, and that is that religion leaves you empty. Religion leaves you empty. Look at verse 1 and 2 again. It says, Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first, that he went through the grain fields, and his disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. And some of the Pharisees said to them, Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?

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So now Jesus is with his disciples. They're passing through a town and there's grain fields along the way. And so they're walking through the grain fields and the disciples are hungry at this time.

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Now, Jesus had, you know, said in his ministry before that, you know, that foxes have holes, you know, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. He did not live in luxury. He did not live, you know, with an abundance, but they just kind of, you know, survived as God provided for them. And so one of the ways that God provided for the disciples while they were with Jesus is they were walking through the grain field. And so as they're walking through the grain field, they're picking the heads of the grain, right?

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And they're rubbing them between their fingers. The actual edible part of the grain is kind of inside the kernel. And so they would kind of rub the outside, get rid of that, and then they would eat the little kernel that's inside. Maybe like you would, you know, unshell a sunflower seed or something like that. They were taking it out and then eating the seed that was edible.

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And so they're walking through the grain field and that's what they are doing. Now the Pharisees, the scribes, they come and they say, hey, why are you doing this? Why are you doing what's not lawful to do on the Sabbath, they say in verse 2. And so they're saying, hey, you can't do that. That's illegal. That's wrong. That is unbiblical. You cannot do that. Now what was wrong with what the disciples were doing?

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First of all, it was not because they were picking the grain out of the field. In Deuteronomy chapter 23, verse 25, God gives the people the right to pick...

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or things as they're walking through a field, that they're able to take what they can carry or take an apple and eat it or something like that. They were allowed to do that. The law allowed for that. What they couldn't do was take a sickle and begin to harvest and start filling baskets and buckets and take away the fruit of the landowner.

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But if you're walking through a field, you're allowed to take what you could grab, or if you're hungry, you could have something to eat. And so it wasn't illegal in the sense that they were stealing from somebody. It was allowed in God's law. God had provided for that. The problem that the Pharisees had with what the disciples were doing was the day that they were doing this on, because it was the Sabbath day.

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And again, the Sabbath day was meant to be a day of rest, but they had piled on all these rules. And so they interpreted, they understood by picking a piece of grain, a head of grain, and then removing the kernel and then eating it.

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You're harvesting, you're milling, you're doing work, they were saying, they were declaring. And so you weren't allowed to, under their interpretation of the Sabbath, under their rules and regulations, you weren't allowed to take apart the grain. If it wasn't already taken apart, then you couldn't eat it. And you couldn't pluck it off the stock either because then that's harvesting. And so they were saying,

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being very legalistic and looking at the minute details of what these disciples were doing and accusing them of violating the Sabbath. But the reality is what the disciples were doing was not a violation of the Mosaic law. It wasn't a violation of the Sabbath. It was just a violation of the religious leaders' traditions.

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The extra regulations and rules that they had piled on to on top of the Sabbath law. And so it wasn't a violation of God's law, it was a violation of their traditions. But once again, they had begun to hold their traditions higher than or as high as the Word of God. And so this is what they held themselves to, it's what they held the people to, it's what they required of everybody.

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And so this is a little glimpse for us of legalism. It's just one aspect. It's just regarding the Sabbath law and plucking the food out of the field. It's just one aspect of it, but it gives us insight into really the devastation and the destruction of legalism. And as I said there, point number one is legalism or religion leaves you empty.

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The disciples were hungry as they're walking through the field and they weren't doing anything wrong. But the religious leaders, if they would have had their way, they would have stayed empty. They would have left hungry, not having their needs met, not being filled. The Apostle Paul...

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seriously came against legalism and religion like these Pharisees were practicing. Which is amazing because you might remember he was at one time studying to be, he was the top of his class to be a Pharisee. And so he knew it very well. But he writes the book of Galatians to those who had begun to fall prey to this legalistic doctrine.

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He writes and he devotes really the whole book of Galatians to the subject of legalism. And there in Galatians, he calls what is taking place, this legalism that is going on, another gospel. And so we need to understand how serious it is that, you know, when legalism is taking place, when this type of religion is going on, Paul says it's another gospel.

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It's not the gospel of Jesus Christ any longer because now you are seeking to approach God and come to God based upon the keeping of all these laws and regulations. Whether it be the Old Testament or extra laws that you've piled on top like the scribes and the Pharisees did. It's another gospel. It's not...

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For by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. That's Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. That's the gospel. That we come to Jesus by faith. It's by his grace. And it's not based upon legalism. And to try to come to God based upon legalism is another gospel. It's not the message of the truth. Read the book of Galatians and you'll see what Paul said there.

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I was reading one testimony of a guy who was involved in a very legalistic batch of the Christian faith, you know, one of the churches, and it was very legalistic, and so he grew up in that, and he was holding on to. But one of the things that was interesting about his testimony was he kept describing as he was, you know, growing up, and he was living the life in this church, and he was holding fast to the legalism that was taught there,

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He kept describing how empty he was and how miserable he was. And the reality is, is that's what religion does. It leaves you empty. It seems to, it looks like, hey, this is a good idea. But once you're bound in it, once you're caught up in it, you find it leaves you empty. It doesn't fulfill you. It doesn't satisfy you. And you don't connect with God by legalism, by following rules and regulations.

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In Colossians chapter 2 verse 23, Paul there again is dealing with some legalism that's within the church. And he says these things, that is the legalistic things, he says these things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

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The things of religion and legalism have an appearance of wisdom. There's an appeal to us. We look on the legalistic aspect or focus on things and it appears to be wise. Why don't we make a rule that everybody has to read the Bible?

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Why don't we make a rule that everybody has to come to church every Sunday? I mean, it makes sense. It sounds good. But the problem is when you start making rules, when you start applying legalism, now the focus has changed from what Christ did for us to now what you must do in order to be with Him.

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And so the focus changes off of the Lord and now it's placed upon us. It's another gospel. It has the appearance of wisdom. It sounds, hey, that sounds pretty good. You know, it doesn't always start out bad, that, you know, malicious, you know, like, alright, we're going to destroy these people's lives. Let's put all these rules in place. No.

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It's good things. It's like, hey, wow, you know, I've really found that reading the Bible has just been exciting for my life. And so now I'm going to make sure I'm going to put a rule in place. I'm going to make a law. I have to read the Bible every day. And that's great. And hey, you should read the Bible every day, but not as a way to get to God.

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but as a way to spend time with the Lord. Not as a way to be pleasing to God, but as a way to connect with Him and hear from Him. It should be done out of a living relationship that you have with Him, not because it's a rule that you have to keep because that's what Christians are supposed to do. Because you can read the Bible every day because you're keeping your system, you're keeping your laws, and it will leave you empty.

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If you're not connecting with the Lord, if you're not enjoying that relationship with the Lord, learning to hear His voice and walking with Him as He speaks to your heart. And so religion will leave you empty. It will leave you hungry. You won't be satisfied.

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Only Jesus can do that. And we see that here in verses 3 through 5. Now, the second point we see is that Jesus meets your need. When you're with Jesus, he'll take care of you and he'll meet your need. Look at verse 3 and 4. It says, But Jesus answering them said, Have you not even read this? What David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him.

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how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those with him, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat. So Jesus is challenging their accusation. The Pharisees say, it's not lawful for you to do that, to eat the grain as you're passing through the field.

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It's the Sabbath day. You have to rest. It's not lawful for you to do that. And Jesus challenges their accusation. He challenges the basis for their argument or their accusation. And he does so with an example out of 1 Samuel chapter 21.

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Now it's very interesting, this example that Jesus uses, because Jesus shares it from the perspective of the priest. But here's what happened. David is running from Saul. He's fleeing for his life because Saul is trying to kill him. And as he flees for his life, he comes to the priest at the tabernacle and he had...

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fled for his life so he didn't take anything to eat or to survive off of. And so he goes to the priest, he says, hey, do you have any food here? And the priest says, no, I don't have any food. The only thing I have left is last week's bread. There was bread that they would place there on the table within the tabernacle and then every week they would take that bread off and put on fresh bread. And so they had the bread that they'd taken off the table and God had instructed in His Word that that bread was only to be used

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and eaten by the priests. And so the priest says, look, I don't have any other food except for this bread that just came off the table. But, you know, that's only for priests. But, okay, I'll give it to you since you're in need. I'll give it to you as long as, you know, you've been kept yourself holy. You've kept yourself set apart for the past few days.

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And so David says, great, I'll take it. And he goes on. Well, what's also included there in 1 Samuel chapter 21 is a lie that David tells. David tells the priest, hey, my men are outside. My men are around the corner. They're down the street and they don't have food. We haven't eaten. You know, do you have food? And so he actually doesn't have any men with him. He's by himself. But he tells the priest, I have my men here. We're hungry. Do you have any food for us?

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Now, as Jesus recounts this story, he's not telling it from David's perspective, which was, you know, that he was by himself, but he's looking at it from the perspective of the priest. And he's saying, David, when he was hungry and those who were with him, because from the priest's perspective, all he knew was that David and his men were hungry.

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He went into the house of God, Jesus says, and he took the showbread. The priest gave him the showbread, which was only to be eaten by the priests for him and for his men to eat. And so what Jesus is pointing out is the priest made a decision based upon the information that he had. And that was these men are hungry. This bread is over.

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Normally only for the priest, but because there's this need, well, it's okay for them to eat of this bread so that they can have their needs met rather than, you know, causing them to continue to go hungry.

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And so Jesus quotes this account to challenge them with the action and the decision of this priest from the perspective of the priest and the law. Although David lied, the priest did not know that. And so he provided the bread based upon the principle that God would prefer to meet the human need over keeping ceremonial law.

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God would prefer to meet human need over keeping ceremonial law. That's what the priest decided. That's what Jesus is saying. And that's what the Pharisees, the religious leaders, did not understand. To them, the most important thing was the law. Who cares about the people? And we'll see that as we continue on in our portion this morning.

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The people are secondary. The most important thing is the law. And if the people have to suffer, the people have to suffer. If they have to die, they have to die. If they have to be hurt, they have to be hurt. If they have to suffer harm, well, the most important thing is the keeping of the law. Again, legalism. Very legalistic.

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In this account over in Matthew, in Matthew chapter 12, Jesus adds a little bit on and it says in verse 7, he tells the Pharisees, if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. Jesus points out what God had declared already in the Old Testament. God said, I desire mercy and not sacrifice.

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Now, did God command sacrifices? Yes. But were they the most important thing to Him? No. What was the most important thing? Mercy. He wanted their hearts to be united with Him. He wanted their hearts to be right with Him. He wanted them to show mercy, not just offer sacrifices. And so God says, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. And Jesus says, if you had known what this means...

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Then you would not have condemned the guiltless. Here you're condemning the disciples as they're eating the bread there in the field or eating the grain in the field. He says, if you knew what God's word meant, if you knew what God meant, you would not be condemning those who were guiltless. Jesus also points out in the Gospel of Mark, again, it's the same account, but Mark's telling of it in verse 27 says,

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Jesus says, Mark chapter 227, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Jesus points out, look, the Sabbath was made for man, to help man. It was made to benefit man. Man was not made for the Sabbath. Man is not a slave to the Sabbath.

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God gave Sabbath to give man a break and a time to rest. He required it because, you know how it is, we won't listen if it's optional, right? We won't take a break if it's optional. And so he required it, but not in such a way that you could never ever violate it or God would hate you forever. He required it in a way that, hey, man comes first. Meeting human need is the first priority over keeping ceremonial law.

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Now Jesus will go on in verse 5 here of Luke chapter 6, and it says that he said to them, the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath. And so Jesus says, look, I'm the creator of the Sabbath. I'm the overseer of the Sabbath, and I am the object of the Sabbath. And so here in quite a few different ways, Jesus is addressing the Pharisees.

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First of all, he's pointing out the account there in 1 Samuel chapter 21. He's saying, look, the priest made a decision. He knew God and based on what he knew about God, he decided these guys can eat the bread. God would prefer that their needs would be met because he desires mercy and not sacrifice. And he's talking to the Pharisees. He says, you guys don't know this. You don't understand that God prefers meeting human needs over keeping ceremonial law.

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He says, look, Sabbath was made for the man. It's a tool, it's a benefit, it's a blessing to humanity. It's not a burden. It's not meant to be a burden. And you are placing these huge burdens on people that God never intended. But then he also says, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. Now, if the Lord of the Sabbath is not offended by the disciples plucking the grain and eating it,

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well then for sure the religious leaders should not be offended and accusing them and condemning them for doing so. He's the Lord of the Sabbath. He's the author of it. He's also the object of it. In Colossians chapter 2,

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Verse 16 and 17, Paul there is talking about not letting people judge you regarding food or drink or festivals or feasts or Sabbaths. And he goes on in Colossians 2.17 to say, "...which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ."

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The Sabbath day was a shadow of what was to come. That day of rest was a shadow, a picture of the rest that would come through Jesus Christ. He's the substance. He's the Lord of the Sabbath. And so the point is, you stay focused on following Jesus. And you don't have to worry about the law. You stay focused on the Lord. You walk with Him and hear from Him. You don't have to worry about if it's illegal or legal, biblically.

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When you're with Jesus and He says it's okay, you're okay. And if He says it's not okay, then don't do it. Don't practice it. It's about walking with the Lord, connecting with the Lord. Now those who do not have a closeness to God in this way, those who don't have that relationship with the Lord, they live by laws.

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Legalism is an indication that we've lost that closeness, that connection with the Lord. When we start putting on these laws and putting on these burdens, it's an indication, it's a warning sign. And again, I'm asking you this morning to take note, to take a look at your heart and see, is there some legalism that's growing or been in place in your life? And that you've replaced relationship with the Lord with these laws and regulations that God never required.

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When we are living in legalism, it's an indication that we've lost that connection with the Lord. We're not walking with Him. And so we apply rules and regulations because we can't hear His voice. We didn't meet with Him today. We don't know what He's saying. We don't know what He wants. And so we do our best by applying these things. And again, it usually starts out well. It starts out good. You know, reading the Bible is a good thing.

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But if it becomes a law, if it becomes a legalistic thing, and you're not connecting with the Lord and hearing from Him, you need to check your heart. Because that's what God wants. He desires mercy and not sacrifice. And you could think, well, I'm so pleasing to God because look at all the wonderful things that I do. Look at all the laws I keep. That's what the Pharisees were like. They were saying, hey, we're so holy, we're so righteous because look at how well we keep all of these laws.

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But the reality is, legalism, religion, it leaves you empty. And it's Jesus who meets your need. You want to be satisfied? You want to be fulfilled? You want to experience life and life more abundantly? Jesus said, that's what I came to give in John chapter 10 verse 10. Abundant life. Connecting with him. Walking with him.

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And so religion leaves you empty, but Jesus meets your need. Now as we go on verses 6 through 11, we see the second occurrence of what took place on a Sabbath day and the conflict between the religious leaders and Jesus.

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By the way, this isn't the last time we'll see this conflict. We'll see it again as we go through the Gospel of Luke. It's something that they came against Jesus many times about. But as we look at verses 6 through 9, we see point number 3, and that is that religion leaves you withered. First of all, it leaves you empty, but it also leaves you withered. Verse 6 says,

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Now it happened on another Sabbath also that he entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered. So the scribes and Pharisees watched him closely, whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against him. Here in this portion, as we go through verses 6 through 11, we see really the distortion, the twistedness in the hearts of the religious leaders.

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In the first account, we see they totally misunderstand. They totally miss it. They're not understanding what has taken place. But here we see their hearts are really far from God. Their hearts are really twisted. Because here's a man within their midst who has a withered hand. And as he is there within their midst, it says that they're watching closely to find out.

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Is he going to heal this man? Because it's the Sabbath day. And under their strict rules and regulations, again, remember, they could stop the bleeding, but they couldn't do anything to make it better. Healing was, well, it was something that they said, that's not to be done. You can't do that. So they're waiting. Is he going to heal? In verse 7, it says that they might find an accusation against him. They're looking for...

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an accusation. They're looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, to condemn Jesus. This is what legalism turns us into. It turns us into people who are looking for reasons to bring accusation against people. It turns us into those who are looking at other people's lives so that we can point the finger and say, "Ha! You're a sinner! You failed! You fall short!" Legalism does this to our hearts.

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But the religious leaders can't see this and we'll see it even gets darker as we get to the end. So they're looking, they're here, they see this guy who has a need and they're looking at Jesus saying, alright, is he going to heal? Alright, now is going to be our chance. He's going to heal this guy and then we're going to be able to accuse him because he's broken our laws. He's broken what God has said. But the reality is, God hadn't said it. It was their traditions. It was their own rules and regulations that they had put in place.

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And so they watched him closely, whether he would heal on the Sabbath. Now, here's the amazing thing. They believed that Jesus could heal. They weren't wondering, I wonder if Jesus could heal this guy. They weren't wondering, I don't know if he has the power. I don't know if he would be able to. They don't doubt his power or his ability to heal. They believe he can heal. They believe that he will. And so they're watching closely. This is very important.

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Because it's not enough to believe that Jesus can work miracles. It's not enough to believe that Jesus is a good man or a great teacher. That's not enough. The Pharisees believed that. You must have a real relationship with Him. That's the only way to be saved. That's the only way of salvation. To really connect with Him. To know Him. Not just to believe that He's powerful. Not even just to believe that He is God.

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but to walk with him, to follow him, to obey him. People who are bound in legalism are withered. They see this guy with the withered hand, but it's really their own hearts that are withered as they have no compassion, no mercy for this guy. They don't care about this guy with the withered hand. It's an opportunity for them. All right, now we can pounce on Jesus when he heals on the Sabbath. These guys, they're burdened, they're bitter. Their hearts are withered.

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Because they've been caught up and bound up in these rules and regulations. Instead of looking for God to do a great work, they're looking for a reason to accuse Jesus. We saw this in chapter 5 as well. Remember in chapter 5 verse 30 of Luke when the religious were complaining about the sinners while Jesus is meeting the needs and calling them to repentance? God's doing a work and the religious are complaining about it.

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They're just caught up in complaining about the sinners because they're caught up in the legalism of it. They're caught up in their rules and regulations. Ooh, I would never touch a person like that. I would never talk to a person like that because they're so self-righteous in their legalistic standards. So their hearts are withered. That's what legalism does. It causes you to be twisted, to lack compassion. If you're bound in legalism, you'll notice that in your heart. You'll begin to see that in your life.

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And they would have others be withered with them. Misery loves company. And you can count on it. People who are caught up in legalism are miserable. And they try to get everybody to be miserable with them. "These are the laws that I follow. This is what I live by." Of course, they don't call them laws. We know better than that. But they try to then impose these same things, these same standards on everybody else. Everybody is judged on that same standard that they're not able to keep either. And that's why they're so miserable.

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And so their hearts are withered. They see this man with the withered hand and they're looking for an accusation. They're looking for an opportunity to accuse Jesus. But it tells us in verse 8, it says, but he knew their thoughts. Jesus knew what they were thinking. And he says to the man with the withered hand, arise and stand here. And he arose and stood. Then Jesus said to them, I will ask you one thing. Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil? To save life or to destroy?

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Is it lawful to do good or evil, Jesus says. He has the guy stand up. This poor guy, right? I mean, the Pharisees see him, they think, alright, this is our opportunity. We can use this guy to get to Jesus. Jesus has him stand up. He's already got the withered hand. Now he's like, oh man, everybody's looking at me. I'm the center of attention. What's happening here? And as Jesus has him stand up, he asks the religious leaders,

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What would God have us do? Good or evil on the Sabbath? To save life or to destroy? He uses this man now as a living illustration to try to open their eyes to the condition of their hearts. To show them their lack of compassion. To give them an opportunity to care for this man. To care for this one that is there in their midst. But the most important thing to them was their traditions. It didn't matter...

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if this man had to suffer. It didn't matter if this man wouldn't be healed. The most important thing was their traditions. That was the highest thing for them. So he says, "I'll ask you, what should I do? Good or evil?"

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Now later on in Luke, another situation with the Sabbath day healing, the Pharisees are coming against him and Jesus rebukes him and says, look, every single one of you would pull a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath day. If your sheep was walking and it fell into a trench or a ditch, you would help it out. You would pull it out. You wouldn't just leave it there to suffer. You would get it out of there. And yet, although every one of them would do that,

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They would say, but you can't heal this person who's been afflicted with this condition for so long. And so they had more compassion upon animals than they did upon other people. Again, legalism, it twists our hearts. It causes us to be withered. There's no compassion or mercy any longer. But that's not how God is. God puts people first. God puts people first. He's not looking for an excuse to condemn you like the religious leaders are.

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He's not thinking, aha, here's the situation. Now I can finally pounce on you. That's not God. God puts people first. He's not like the religious leaders. Warren Wiersbe says, the scribes and the Pharisees had transformed the Sabbath day from a day of blessing into a day of bondage. And Jesus deliberately healed on the Sabbath so he could challenge them.

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He goes on to say, it is always right to do good and meet human need, for love fulfills the law. Love fulfills the law. The scripture is quite clear on that. And to express love, to love people, to have compassion on people, that's the fulfillment of the law. That's not breaking the law. And so we see that the religious, or when you are religious or religion, it leaves you withered.

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Twisted. Empty. Without compassion. But that's not how God is. And the final point is that Jesus makes you whole. Jesus makes you whole. If I can get it to work here. Jesus makes you whole. You just have to write it down for yourself. Verse 10 says, And when he had looked around at them all, he said to the man, Stretch out your hand. And he did so. And his hand was restored as whole as the other.

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So Jesus has him stand up. He says, stretch out your hand. And as he does, his hand is healed. This is the way that Jesus works. He makes you whole. He makes you whole. He restores. He gives life.

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Now as he looks around in verse 10, it says he looked around at them. We have some insight from Mark chapter 3. It says that he was grieved by the hardness of their hearts. He looks at these religious leaders and he's grieved. Oh, your hearts are so hard. You don't have compassion for this guy. You don't love this guy. He's grieved over it. But Jesus has compassion. And so he heals this man. But it's amazing how Jesus heals him.

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This is how God pretty much always works. So you can count on this. Jesus did not just heal his arm while it hung there withered. Here's the guy, he's got the withered hand, whatever that looked like. And Jesus could have just healed him and then all of a sudden he looks down and goes, Whoa, my hand's alright. What happened? I didn't even notice. Jesus could have done that. But what did he do? He gave the man a command. It required faith. Faith is obedience to God at his word. Faith.

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God the Son gave him a command, gave him the word, and he believed God at his word. And as he obeyed, as he stretched forth his hand, he was healed. This is the way that God works. Jesus makes you whole as you obey him. You know, we're all human. We all have issues.

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We all have hurts and pains. We all have backgrounds. We all have things that we don't want other people to know about. We all have heart issues. And God's working on those heart issues. But sometimes we just want to sit back and wait till God finished the work in me and then I'll step out in faith and then I'll be obedient to you. But here we have a great example from this man.

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That we need to step out in obedience to God and as we do, as He's speaking to our hearts and directing us, as we step out, He will make us whole. You know, sometimes a person will say, Lord, heal my hurts and then I'll go minister and encourage other people.

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We think to ourselves, you know, I'm discouraged. I'm down. I can't encourage others. I need other people to encourage me. But you know, so often God says, no, you go encourage them. And as you step out in faith and obedience as I'm speaking to your heart, I'll heal your heart. I'll make you whole. And we find that as we minister to other people, God is ministering to us and meeting our need.

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But we so often, we just want to wait. Okay, God, you meet my needs and then I'll go. But this man, he stretched out his hand and as he did, as he was obedient, he was made whole. Jesus says, you minister to others. I'll heal your hurts. I'll take care of you. Or sometimes people will say, you know, Lord, pay my bills and then I'll go on the mission field. But you know, to many people, God says, go on the mission field and I'll take care of your bills.

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If God is speaking to your heart, you need to be obedient and you need to step out in faith. And as you do, He'll take care of your needs. He'll make you whole. He'll heal the hurts or pay the bills or whatever it is that needs to be done. Your job is not to worry about those things. Your job is to connect with Jesus, to hear His voice, to obey Him. And then He will make you whole. And so God does a great work. Jesus heals this man. He's made whole as He steps out in faith.

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But we finish it off in verse 11. Again, we see the darkness of the hearts of the religious leaders here. In verse 11 it says, But they were filled with rage and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus. They were filled with rage. A man is made whole and they're filled with rage. Amazing.

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Again, it shows the wickedness of their hearts. Again, it shows the danger of legalism. This is why it's so deadly. Because it twists our hearts and causes us to be enraged when God does a mighty work. When God heals a person. When God ministers and touches a person. The religious, the legalistic person oftentimes is enraged.

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David Guzik points out, apparently the religious leaders thought it was fine to be filled with rage and a desire to kill a godly man. That was fine. But don't you dare heal somebody on the Sabbath. You see how backwards we get? This is what legalism does. It's what religion does. They're okay being angry and wanting to kill somebody. But don't break our laws. Don't break the Sabbath. We need to be careful. How's your heart?

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How's your relationship with the Lord? Is it based upon rules and regulations? Things that might be good, but that God hasn't required. Things that God has required, but you've now added on top of those requirements, your own requirements and your own standards. Can you see in your heart these similar characteristics to the Pharisees? That emptiness, that wither, there's no compassion. The Pharisees couldn't see it.

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Jesus did a miracle right in front of their face to challenge their hearts, but they still refused to see it. Instead of recognizing the state and the condition of their heart, they filled themselves with rage and plotted how they could take Jesus out. This morning, I want to encourage you. It's about relationship with Jesus. You need to connect with Him. You need to hear His voice. And if you don't know how to hear His voice, if you don't know how to connect with Him, you need to stop everything else.

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And learn that first. You need to come to Jesus by faith. Not on the basis of your works or your laws. Not trying to be pleasing to Him because of what you do. But believing in what Jesus did for us upon the cross. And as you come to Him, He meets your need. He makes you whole. And He'll speak to your heart. He'll reveal Himself to you. He's a living God. He's not dead. He's alive.

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And He doesn't just reserve this kind of relationship with Him for a select few. Read Hebrews chapter 10. He invites us. He calls us to enter in to His presence. He invites us to be with Him, to hear from Him. And we need to keep our lives based on that. Hear from the Lord. Walk with Him. And respond as He speaks to your heart. That's what He desires.

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Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray for each heart here. God, that you would protect us from, Lord, this dangerous and destructive legalism that creeps in so subtly. Lord, I pray that you would cause us to recognize the signs as we become empty or withered, as we see those laws being put in place by our hearts. God, I pray that you would help us to recognize those things.

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Lord, those who are caught up in it right now, I pray, Lord, that you would open their eyes, that you would break through, Lord, that you would remove the blinders, that they would see how you did these works, you did these miracles, so that we might have the opportunity to recognize that we need a real relationship with you and not just a bunch of rules and regulations to follow. So, God, I pray that you would draw us near to you. And, Lord, as we...

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Come to You in faith as we believe in You and receive Your work for us. God, I pray that You would speak to our hearts. Lord, that You would reveal Yourself to us. Lord, that we might know You fully and completely. That we would have a real, living, vibrant relationship with You. God, I pray that for each one who's hearing this. Lord, draw us near. Help us to walk with You. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.