Luke 6:3-5

Luke chapter 6 reading verses 1 to 5. We looked at the first two verses in a previous study. We’ll look at verses 3 through 5 in particular this morning. And it came to pass on the second Sabbath after the first that he, meaning Jesus, went through the corn fields and his disciples plucked the ears of corn and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. And certain the Pharisees said under them, why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath days? Jesus answering them said, Have you not read so much as this? What David did, when himself was a hunger, and they which were with him, how he went into the house of God, to take and eat the showbread and gave also to them that were with him, which it is not lawful to eat, but for the priest alone. And he said unto them that the son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath. And God blessed to us is sacred and holy word this morning. Years ago I used to do a lot of military simulation gaming as a hobby. These games would often involve extensive and complex rules, which led to disputes about how the game was supposed to be played. If the different players interpreted the rule differently, then there were debates and arguments about how this should be played, well, what we’d end up doing was we would write to the designer. of the game and ask him, since he wrote the rules, ask him how is this, you know, how’s this rule supposed to be interpreted? And he would give us the definitive answer. Once we got the definitive answer from the designer, then there could be no quibbling anymore about the rule. This is it. This is the definitive answer. We come to our passage this morning while traveling on the Sabbath day, A special Sabbath, we said, here of one of the feast days. Christ’s disciples became hungry. You’ll notice that says David also became hungry, and this is what he did, so it implies that. Matthew’s Gospel tells us that they were hungry. And because they were traveling through a grain field, they pluck some of the grain, rubbed off the husk, and ate the grain or the corn. They were just meeting a basic human need, and Jesus here does not rebuke them for it. However, the Pharisees who were great adversaries of the ministry of Christ, they speak up, they find fault. You have violated the Sabbath day. The disciples had transgressed the traditional teaching of the Sabbath by the leaders of the Pharisees who taught this, according to John Gill’s, and his explanation of some of the Jewish writings. He that reaps on the Sabbath day ever so little is guilty of stoning. And plucking of ears of corn is a derivative of reaping. So if you just pluck the corn and eat it in your hand, why, it’s just as if you went out there with the oxen and plowed the field, or reaped the field in some way. Now Jesus is going to respond to the accusation that’s been made against the disciples. Now, what is interesting is that he tells us here that he speaks as the Lord of the Sabbath. As God, he designed the Sabbath. He has the final word on the Sabbath. After he speaks, no one can quibble anymore about how the Sabbath is to be interpreted. because Jesus as the creator and establisher of the Sabbath says this is the way it’s is fine to do it and way it should be done. My topic this morning is the Lord of the Sabbath. Now the first thing we’re told here. You were told a proper understanding of the Sabbath requires a knowledge of the Word of God. Have you not read as much as to this? this. Verse 3 begins. So one of the things he’s telling us here is that you must carefully read the scriptures. The Pharisees picked a quarrel with Christ concerning one of the ten commands, the Sabbath in particular. The law of God is under question. You’ll notice here that Jesus does not refer to any of the traditions of the elders. He takes them directly. to the Scriptures concerning the Sabbath Day. He directs them straight to the Scripture. Have ye not read? Scripture should govern us alone and not the traditions of the elders. Many mistakes arise because of ignorance or forgetfulness with regard to the Word of God. ye do err, Jesus said on another occasion, not knowing the scriptures. And so here he is. He’s saying, haven’t you read? When you give proper regard to the scriptures and their authority, you’re going to find an apt example from it will prove conclusive. You’ll notice how he is going to prove his point from an example here, from David. This is not a Bible reading age, I’m afraid. There’s much ignorance that prevails about its basic teaching. Perhaps we can add that even much apparent Bible reading is not really Bible reading at all. All the eyes glance over the words on the page, but somehow rather we’re not retaining or we’re not gaining the benefit that we should from the Word. You can simply read the Scriptures to meet your daily requirement without having the ears to hear what actually the Scripture is teaching. This was the problem of the Pharisees. They didn’t benefit from reading the Word of God. They didn’t read with spiritually enlightened eyes, and therefore they didn’t learn anything from their reading. That was sold. benefiting. The tradition of the elders had become so mixed with the Word of God at this time that it influenced all their reading of the Scriptures so that even when they did read it, it was corrupted by the traditions that they held. I’m afraid this happens even today when people put their trust in false teachers that twist the Scriptures. And then what happens is when they read the Scriptures, they read it with this twisted view. view of things. If you don’t know the context of the scripture or a scripture quotation, because you’re not regularly reading the scripture and you don’t know what came before or what came after, you can be persuaded by a lot of things. Just take a scripture out of context and people do it all the time and run with it. I would encourage you to attempt to read your Bible through once a year. It takes three chapters. a day and five on Sunday to do that. But I always encourage people read the scriptures because you have to know what the Scriptures say. It takes some dedication. It takes some discipline to do that. But I think it’s important that we apply ourselves to reading the script. Have you not read? Well, you ought to know this. It’s in the Scriptures. Now, you must understand the principles taught in the Scripture. The Pharisees studied the sacred books of the law, but they had this sort of strange, curious knowledge of scripture. For instance, they would make notes and memorize or keep track of that which is of little importance. For instance, they would know what the middle verse was of the whole Old Testament. They would know the verse that was halfway to the middle verse of the Old Testament. They would know how many times a single letter was used in the Old Testament. Or how many times a particular word occur. However, when it came to drawing a principle from the scripture that would spiritually benefit, and they failed miserably. They knew this story about David and the showbred, but they didn’t grasp the implication. of it. So Christ is you’re going to draw a principle from the account of David and the showbred, which evidently the Pharisees weren’t able to do. Now, Jesus often does this. Paul does it also. I’ll give you another example. For one of the examples we have in scripture is in order to prove that a person’s soul continues to live after they die. You remember that Jesus referred to the burning bush episode where God in addressing Moses speaks of himself as I am the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob. He puts it in the present tense. He does that because Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are still living. That’s the whole point of it. It’s not in the past tense. He’s the God of not of the dead but of the living, Jesus. says. So the principle is the souls of those who have died continue to live, there’s life after death, just simply from the phrase that God uses to tell who he is to Moses. You remember that Paul, in explaining the Abrahamic covenant in the book of Galatians, observes that the promise regarding Abraham’s seed is in the singular. It’s not in the plural. It’s He doesn’t say to seeds but to seed. Speaking of Christ, the seed of Abraham. And therefore he concludes that the promises of the covenant are not for the natural children of Abraham. Just because you happen to be born in the line of the Jews here. It’s not national Israel, but it is applied to Christ and those who are in Christ. The spiritual seed of Abraham, believers alone. And the principle is this, if you be Christ, then are you Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. So you see how he draws a conclusion from a very simple statement that is made. It’s this ability to extract a principle that you must possess in order to benefit from the Word of God. When we studied through First and Second Samuel of the whole life of David, what we were doing all along is trying to draw a principle from his life about certain things that we could apply to ourselves. We have to be able to do these things when we read scripture. It doesn’t come naturally. It comes by the illumination of the spirit. We’re taught by the Spirit of God. And hence when they need to pray open my eyes that I may make. behold wondrous things out of thy law. So you’re told a proper understanding of the Sabbath requires the knowledge of the Word of God. We have to know the Word of God, and we have to be able to draw the principles from the Word that are there for our benefit. Now, secondly, you should ponder the law of necessity regarding the Sabbath from the life of David. Here’s what he says in verse 3. he says, have you not read so much as this? What David did when himself was hungered and they which were with him. How he went into the house of God and did take and eat the show bread and gave also to them that were with him, which it’s not lawful to eat but for the priest alone. Now, you probably know the account of David and the showbread, but I’ll tell you probably know. direct your attention just for our refreshing our memory to 1 Samuel chapter 21. Here’s what he’s talking about. First Samuel chapter 21. Let me just read the first six verses here. Then came David to Nob to Ahemolek, the priest. And Himalek was afraid at the meeting of David and said unto him, why art thou alone, and no man with thee? And David said unto Himalek, the priest, the king hath commanded me a business, and has said unto me, let no man know anything of the business, where about I send thee. And what I have commanded thee, and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place. Now, therefore, what is under thine hand? Give me five loaves of bread in thy. hand in my hand or what there is present and the priest answered David and said there is no common bread under my hand but there is hallowed bread if the young men have kept themselves at least from women and David answered the priest and said unto him of a truth women have been kept from us about three days of these three days since I came out and the vest. of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel. So the priest gave him hallowed bread, where there was no bread there but the show bread that was taken from before the Lord to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away. This story involves David fleeing from the wrath of King Saul who’s trying to put him to death. thought of jealousy. He’s joined by a few companions and he makes a hasty escape. It’s interesting that 1 Samuel doesn’t actually tell us he has companions. It tells us that David says, my men are in another place, but in Luke’s gospel, we’re told that he actually gave some of the bread to his men. So he must have had these men in some other place somewhere. Some people must have joined him in this escape. Well, David is not. not sure who can he, he can trust here among all the Israelites. So he decides he’s going to go to the tabernacle and to the high priest thinking that I can trust him, that he’s not going to turn me in. And he seeks to help of the high priest, but he doesn’t want to tell him the true story. Here he makes up this story about an urgent business of the king. So while his companions hid elsewhere, David appeared alone before the high priest and asked for some type of provision for himself and his men. While neither Luke or 1 Samuel specifically say that it was the Sabbath day when this occurred, it seems reasonable to draw that conclusion. 1 Samuel 216 indicates that the showbread had just been removed from the table of show bread in the holy vise. So the just baked bread, still hot, could be placed on the table. This was done on the Sabbath day, the law tells us. And so now we understand, you know, at first you might read this saying, what does this have to do with the Sabbath day? It was on the Sabbath day that this occurred, which is under discussion. scripture says in Leviticus 248, Every Sabbath, he, the high priest, shall set it the showbread in order before the Lord. And Leviticus 249, the old bread shall be errands and his sons, and they shall eat it in the holy place. The Jewish writers claim that the showbread was not, not to be eaten on the day and was only to be eaten on the day and the night of the Sabbath day. It was not to be eaten on any other day, supposedly, according to them. Now, by law, it’s Aaron and Moses that were supposed to be able to eat the showbread. Those loaves that were taken off the table. in the holy place that were set there 12 lows, one for each tribe, and five of them here are given at least to David. Since there’s no other bread available, the high priest says, this is all I can give you. And David takes it and eats it, even though it’s not common bread. He says it’s common in the sense that it’s no longer before the Lord. Gil concludes here, he says, Now, our Lord’s argument stands thus, that if David a holy and good man and the men that were with him, who were men of religion and conscience, when in great distress, through hunger, ate of the showbread, which was unlawful for an ante to eat of but priest, the high priest himself, ascending to it, then it could not be criminal in his disciples when a hungered, to pluck, rub, and eat a few ears of grain, which were lawful for any man to eat, even though it was on the Sabbath day. That seems to be the basic thrust of the argument. So you know the account here of David and the showbred. Now, the law of necessity is the key to understanding here David’s actions. In Matthew, gospel, we have an additional statement that’s made about this account that I’m going to read for you, which seems to indicate that necessity takes precedence over ceremony. For example, Jesus tells us, in Matthew 12, 7, quoting for the Book of Hosea, chapter 6 and verse 6, but if he had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, you would have not condemn the guiltless. My disciples are guiltless in eating, this grain. Jesus reproved the Pharisees for not considering why the ceremonies were appointed by God in the first place. To what end are they directed? This is a common problem in every age, where people become so attached to the ceremonies that they forget that they forget that God, God is a God of mercy and loving kindness. No ordinance of God is to be pressed so far as to cause you to neglect the plain duties of Christianity. God puts a higher value on mercy than sacrifice, we’re told here. Now, think about how important sacrifice was in the Old Testament, and yet Jesus tells us that I will have mercy and not sacrifice. So the end of all laws God, the laws of God, given by God himself, is the point you to Christ. The law’s purpose is the point is to Christ and the mercy that is in Christ. The Pharisees with their man-made Sabbath regulations distorted the whole benefits of the Sabbath as it relates to man and made a burden. and made it a dreary, troublesome day. The Sabbath was a merciful ordinance. It was merciful ordinance. It was merciful because it would give man rest from his laborers one day a week and time off to apply himself to the worship of God. Right? And so the rest of the Sabbath was ordained for man’s good, the benefit of his body, that he could get rest, and the benefit of his soul that he could worship the Lord. Charity, then, would not forbid a man or a person to eat in order to satisfy his bodily needs on the Sabbath day as he goes about serving the Lord. Thus Jesus says the disciples are killed us. Now, think about the law. We have the law of God, not working on the Sabbath. But remember what the law says, what if your neighbor’s lamb falls into a pit? Your own lamb falls into a pit on the Sabbath day. Wouldn’t it be the merciful thing to do to get the lamb out? Wouldn’t it be the loving thing to do to help your neighbor as he tries to get the lamb out of the pit? You know, leave the pit in the ditch the ditch the whole time in the pit? No, you’re going to get it out. Right? If we go out of church this morning, and one of you has a dead car battery, and I have jumper cables in my car, I’m going to give you a jump, even though it’s the Sabbath day because you need it. It’s necessary. If a loved one becomes seriously ill on the Sabbath day, well, you ought to be in church. Isn’t it the merciful thing to do is, well, I might have to stay home and take care of them because that’s important too. That’s the right thing to do too. If God was merciful in giving the Sabbath day the man, then he’s not going to begrudge you, works of necessity that are done on the Sabbath day. So you should properly, you should ponder the law of God and the law of necessity with regard to the Sabbath from the life of David. The third thing we see here. is you should realize that Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath as verse 5 indicates to us here in the book of Luke in chapter 6. The son of man is Lord also the Sabbath. Now the Son of Man is an Old Testament phrase that is used with reference to the Messiah. You want to look at Daniel 713 as one of a good example of that. Christ is the creator of the Word. world. And therefore, he initiated the Sabbath on the seventh day of creation. We look at the creation account. And what does it say? And on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made, and God blessed the day, and sanctified. He set it apart. He sanctified it apart. He set it apart of special. He then is the Lord of the Sabbath. He’s the creator of the Sabbath. Therefore, he’s Lord of the Sabbath. He has the right, he has the authority to govern how that Sabbath day is to be observed. It doesn’t matter what the tradition of the elders say. It matters what the Lord of the Sabbath says. There is no higher authority than Christ regarding the Sabbath. It is called the Lord’s Day, right? He can make such alterations as he deems fit, so that if he wishes to change it from the seventh day to the first day of the week, he can. Now, the Jews would agree that God who instituted the Sabbath could change it or dispense with it as he sees fit. It’s interesting. And if you read the story of the capture of Jericho, how they destroyed the city and so forth, and the walls falling down and so forth. They had to go out and march around the city quietly the first six days. But on the seventh day, notice the seventh day was the seventh day. The scripture says, the seventh day you should come past the city seven times in Joshua at six four. The day on which Jericho, fell and they went and slew all the enemy and burnt the city and so forth. Evidently, was the Sabbath day. Were they profaning the Sabbath on that day? Well, they were doing what God told them to do, right? As long as they’re doing what God told them to do on the day, it can’t be a profanning of the day because he’s the Lord of the Sabbath. Christ’s authority supersedes that of the Pharisees so he pronounces the actions of the disciples. So he pronounces the was acceptable. They didn’t violate the Sabbath Day. Besides the Pharisees had no right to add their regulations to the Sabbath and demand compliance. When we look at this phrase, the Lord of the Sabbath, this teaches us a couple of things. One, we must not be deceived into thinking that the ordinance of the Sabbath, It’s just a Jewish ordinance which the New Testament Christian doesn’t have to obey. That’s a popular view today. The dispensational it’s certainly promoted. You know, we’re told that Ten Commandments, the Old Testament laws, and for the church today. Many have reached and preached that Christians are not under any obligation to keep the Sabbath holy. It’s only for the Jews. We’re also told that the New Testament doesn’t teach anything. about obeying the Fourth Commandment. How conveniently they have forgotten what Jesus said right here in this text of Scripture. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. And besides, as Scripture reveals, the Sabbath is actually a creation ordinance from Genesis Chapter 2. It was instituted by God, and as a creation ordinance, it’s for all mankind. It’s not just limited the Jews. Now, the fact that he tells them the remembered of Sabbath day indicates they have forgotten it. They have forgotten what was originally given by God. So all mankind should obey it. Jesus doesn’t become the Lord of the Sabbath just for a few years. I’m only going to be a Lord of Sabbath until I die on the cross, and we change the day of the week to worship to Sunday, and then we’re not going to have the Sabbath anymore. I’m not going to be the Lord of the Sabbath. It comes to an act. No, it doesn’t come to an end. From the beginning of creation and the Sabbath establishment, all the way till the new heavens and the new earth, he is the Lord of the Sabbath. That’s what we should understand. So when Revelation, when it talks about the Lord’s Day, that’s talking about the Sabbath day. Therefore, the passion of the modern church to eliminate the Sabbath Day is unbiblical. It’s really anti-Christ, because it’s not. takes away his lordship of the day. So while the Pharisees were guilty of adding all these regulations and all these traditions to the Sabbath Day, they were being too strict. However, we have the opposite extreme today. People want to do just the opposite. They want to take away from the Sabbath’s obligation altogether. And dismiss it as irrelevant. Both views are wrong. So we have a duty to be. submissive to our Lord and to honor the day. Well, let me conclude. While playing, you know, military games, but we had a question about rules, we wrote the designer and got the definitive answer. When it comes to the Sabbath day, Jesus Christ is the designer. He can give us the definitive answer on how this day is supposed to be observed. We have three basic lessons here. We need a proper understanding of the Sabbath. That requires a knowledge of God’s word. we must not transpose on the Sabbath our own ideas. Secondly, we should ponder the law of necessity regarding the Sabbath. Truly necessary work may be done on the Sabbath day. And David’s account indicates they had to eat the show bread on the Sabbath. They had to take this and eat that bread. The third thing is, realize that Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath. He has the right. is the authority to decide what’s right or wrong. It’s his day. And thus, we have the teaching here that exonerates the disciples and shows us that Christ is indeed controlling all these matters, and he will decide what’s right and wrong, and they are guiltless in what they have done. Well, let us go to the word of prayer.