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Rest in Christ or burdened with legalism? Is there a way out?
Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Gabendroff and in real time it is chaos. September 20th, 2024. As you can probably tell, my voice is getting stronger and my nose is less affected by my, who knows how long, 21 days, longest three months of my life, latest COVID round.
I know lots of people are getting it and seem like there's a lot more masks around, but maybe that's just me. Today on the show, I, Mike Gabendroff, want to talk about Jesus. Let's talk about Jesus. Before I do, hey, thanks for listening and give us a rating.
That's what I think podcast people are supposed to say. Write to the station in Powell, Wyoming and in Anchorage, Alaska and Belize and say thanks for carrying No Compromise Radio. Thanks to Patreon folks.
And you can still get Discovering Colossians, updated Sexual Fidelity, and Cancer's Not Your Shepherd on Amazon. If you want to order a bunch, that is 10 or more, mix and match, email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com, 40 off.
All right. Lastly, for announcements, Cancer's Not Your Shepherd, a 17-part series on American Gospel Television, AGTV, I believe it's found there, and you can watch probably six to 10-minute snippets per chapter that mirror the first intro plus 16 chapters of Cancer's Not Your Shepherd.
Speaking of cancer, the leukemia drugs that I'm taking are working. In two months or a month and a half, I have a PET scan, CAT scan, echo, bone biopsy, and I think that's it, to check the aneurysm in my artery and to see if the leukemia is gone.
My guess is the leukemia will not be gone because they slowly kill it, that is chronic leukemia, CLL, and they say it usually takes two years to eradicate it. You can kill it faster, but then it can't leave your body fast enough and you can't excrete it through your kidneys.
So it's the slow go, but it is working and I am thankful. I always talk about my diets and stuff like that, try to every kind of diet. Right now, I'm just trying to eat 20 carbs or less a day. So I don't know if that will also help.
I believe in regular medicine to some degree, skeptical sometimes. And okay, if keto helps because you basically can't have sugar and cancer like sugar, all right, well, keto for cancer it is, but I don't think that's the ultimate hope for Mike Ebenroth.
Today, I'd like to talk about, like I said, Jesus, specifically His Lordship. And we talked about that a little bit last week, but I want to continue to talk about the Lordship of Jesus. And as you probably know, the Church, Christ's Church, has always recognized the Lordship of Jesus.
And of course, where I'm going with this, it's pretty easy to figure out. I want you to recognize the Lordship of Jesus, that He is King, that He is Lord, that He is Yahweh, that He's Master, that He is Adonai, that He is the Lord.
Sometimes people think, since I have critiqued, quote, Lordship salvation, end quote, that I don't believe in the Lordship of Jesus. Obviously, I believe in the Lordship of Jesus. Jesus is Lord. And whether you go to 1 Timothy 6, or you go to Philippians 2, or whether you go to any other passage in every New Testament book, Jesus is Lord.
And what are the implications of that? Like I said, the Church has always recognized the Lordship of Jesus. And even if you go to the Apostles' Creed, I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.
Nicene Creed 325 slash Constantinople, I think 381, we believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, light from light, very God from very God, begotten, not made, of the same essence as the Father.
Through Him, that is Jesus the Lord, all things were made. For us and for our salvation, He came down from heaven. He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man. Newer ones say human.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. The third day He rose again according to the scriptures. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, or the quick and the dead.
His kingdom will have no end, or it will never end. And therefore, I'm just trying to show you in Church history, even post the book of Revelation, that the Church has believed that Jesus is Lord. Heidelberg Catechism, question 34.
Why do you call Him our Lord? That's a good question. If someone asked you, dear no-compromise listener, very astute listener, non-no-compromise radio, what would you say? Why do you call Him our Lord?
Okay, that's right from the Apostles' Creed, our Lord. Why do you call Him our Lord? I believe in Jesus Christ as only Son, our Lord. And you would say, that's the wrong answer. I can't hear you. Answer of Heidelberg Catechism 34.
Because not with gold or silver, but with His precious blood, He has set us free from sin and from the tyranny of the devil, and has brought us body and soul. Excuse me, who has bought us? That's a big difference.
You could say He brought us to the Father. But here, He bought us, think redemption, body and soul to be His very own. That's why we call Him our Lord. The Church has always recognized the Lordship of Jesus.
And as you know, on Sunday mornings, I've been going through the book of Luke, which we say the gospel, you could say Luke, book of Luke, gospel of Luke, are most technically the gospel of Jesus Christ, according to Luke.
And you see the demonstration of His Lordship in many ways, including Jesus' work on the Sabbath. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, He says that in chapter six, verse five. And we talked a little bit last week, what would be the demands of knowing that truth, that Jesus says He's the Lord of the Sabbath, which basically means He's God, He's the master, He ordained the Sabbath, He knows what the Sabbath is for, which is for rest for God's people.
It's good for God's people. God recognizes that we're finite and weak, and we need rest. And therefore, Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, He is Yahweh Himself. And we looked at Exodus 20 with the Ten Commandments, and even Genesis 2 with the creation account where God rests.
Jesus goes on to heal a man with a withered hand, withered right hand, Luke notes, because he's a doctor, a dried up hand, of course, your right hand, most people are right-handed, and it would be hard to work back in those days if you couldn't use your right hand.
So, what I'm asking today is, is Jesus Lord of the Sabbath? Is He? Yes. Does He demonstrate it? Yes, He does, by healing the man with a withered hand. By the way, Jesus didn't work on the Sabbath. He just said, stretch out your hand.
And matter of fact, the text reads this, Jesus, you know, knows the scribes and Pharisees are there, He knows what they're thinking, and He rose and stood there. You know, the man did after Jesus said, come and stand here.
And Jesus said to them, I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it? And after looking around at them, He said to him, stretch out your hand. And he did so, and his hand was restored.
But they were filled with fury and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus. Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath. He declared that in 6 .5, and He demonstrated it in verses 6 through 11. What does it mean for us big picture?
What's a truth that we can settle in on understanding Jesus as Lord, understanding with the church Jesus as Lord, with the apostles Jesus as Lord, but specifically, Lord of the Sabbath. Is there any wonderful truth in there, marvelous truth that we can say to ourselves, praise God, I mean, that He's Lord, praise God, that He's our Lord, praise God, that He's my Lord, praise God.
But can we flesh that out a little bit? I went to Harvard last night with my wife and listened to a scholar talk about the incarnation, how God could become man. Could God die on the cross? Could God be crucified?
What about divine nature and human nature in the sun? And he was talking about when you think about the incarnation and you think about one person and these natures, you have to say one who, eternal Son of God, and two what's.
Human nature is what one, divine nature, what two. That's kind of nice. One who, two what's. That's when you think about the incarnate Son. Well, I'm talking today not about that. And by the way, we thought it was a very good lecture.
I was around a lot of different people that didn't look like Protestant evangelical Calvinists. I didn't really talk to too many people. I just kind of sat there, Kim and I sat there, but it was good.
And then we went out to dinner afterwards at Havadyad. I did not pack my cat in Havadyad because we took the T, we took the subway in. There you have it. Thursday. And then we went and saw a mountain biking movie.
So it was a wild couple of days. I had my Muay Thai boxing lessons on Wednesday night. Then Thursday, I worked. Thursday late afternoon, we had the Trinity deal. Then the Havadyad car pack, and then the mountain bike movie.
Come on. I went and bought almost a pound of sushi grade tuna at the fish store and just sliced it up thinly, put some wasabi on it, and a little bit of soy sauce. That was my lunch today. So we are living large on 20 carbs or less.
I think I'm about four today, so I have 16 left. What must I do with those 16? Wonderful truths about Jesus as Sabbath. All right. Here's what I want you to think of. Who is going to be the one who is going to secure the ultimate Sabbath rest for his people?
I think that's really the question. I mean, you obviously know the answer. But why does Jesus do so much work on the Sabbath? I think it's giving us a hint. It's a pointer. It's a reminder that while the Sabbath is for physical rest, which certainly could lead to some spiritual rest, right, on the Sabbath, the ultimate rest, the ultimate Sabbath rest, the ultimate spiritual Sabbath rest, and of course it would include physical in terms of glorified bodies, is because of Jesus and what he's done, what he secured, and what he has accomplished at Calvary and beyond.
Now, most of the time people will just see in Luke 6 the demonstration of Jesus' lordship of the Sabbath by the withered hand man who got healed and the declaration of Jesus Lord of the Sabbath earlier.
But did you know those same two accounts, the declaration and the description, I mean, the demonstration, are found in Matthew? And Matthew gives us a little hint. Here's the hint. Matthew 12 gives the account, almost exactly the same as the Luke account, with a few other things added, as you would imagine, with a synoptic similar gospel.
My question is this. I've given you a lot of questions today. What precedes Matthew 12 and the declaration of Jesus' lordship over the Sabbath and the demonstration of Jesus' lordship over the Sabbath?
What precedes that? Well, remember, no chapter breaks originally, and there's a context, and you know what it is? Here it is. This is the good stuff right here. This is, I want you to wake up. That's what they do on Presby-Cast.
All you have to do is push that button a few times on the air horn on your set. Matthew 11, preceding all this talk about Sabbath healing, Sabbath declarations, at that time Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.
Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
All right, now we come to the that you know, you love, you're thankful for, but now I want you to think about these three verses are prior to the declaration that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and the demonstration that Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath as he healed a man with a withered right hand by talking only.
Psalm 29, like the voice of the Lord is mighty. Here are the verses that tie in, that tuck right in, that lead to the discussion of the Sabbath declaration and demonstration. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you what?
Now I get at rest. Think Sabbath. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. What a great tie-in.
Do you see it? The last Adam, the ultimate Adam, Jesus, is going to come live perfectly, of course, showing God's mercy and kindness and healing and teaching, and he's going to die on a cross as a substitute, the sinless substitute and representative, raise himself from the dead in victory and triumph and ascend into heaven.
Would you say that the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus makes certain that there's an ultimate Sabbath rest for God's people? Not just on earth, but the ultimate rest. Would you say to yourself what Jesus did, not only on the Sabbath, but his whole life, death and resurrection, would prove that he's the one that can give the rest for their souls?
In other words, I think Nick Beck is right, and I got this from him. How do you know Jesus can give you the ultimate rest that you need, eternal rest? Ultimate spiritual rest? Well, because he's Lord of the Sabbath, which is supposed to give you rest.
He shows himself by performing miracle after miracle after miracle on Saturdays. By the way, I'm the one who can give you the ultimate rest. If I can heal on the Sabbath, there's ultimate healing through me to give you the ultimate Sabbath rest.
Batzik said the restorative Sabbath day healings foreshadowed the ultimate healing that Christ secured for believers in the resurrection on the last day. I will give you rest. Okay, it gets better. Remember the context with the Pharisees, the legalists, the hypocrites, the lawyers, lawyers?
They weren't trying to say, let's obey God's laws only. They were trying to say, let's obey God's laws, and here are our extra laws and traditions and extras to God's Mosaic law. There'd be nothing wrong with the Pharisees saying, we ought to obey God's moral law.
That's fine to do. That'd be good to do. That's right to do. But if you want to earn God's grace, obey the law, moral law, that'd be wrong. If you want to say, look at God's moral law, because it'll show you that you need a Savior.
And if you have a Savior, it'll show you how to live. It'll norm your life. It'll guide you. That'd be good to say. But it wouldn't be good to say, if you keep these laws, you'll go to heaven. If you keep these laws, you'll stay in heaven.
And it'll especially, especially, especially be wrong if you said there are extra laws outside the Bible and you need to do those. That is a burden, and that makes people labor, and that makes people who are heavy laden.
Okay. See it? The Pharisees have a horrible yoke and a horrible burden, a yoke that is hard and a burden that's heavy because you not only have a distorted view of God's moral law, you have all these additional things to do.
And Jesus said, you know what? These Pharisees that make you tired, give you no rest, turn Sabbath on earth into something that's hard and not right. Jesus said, I'm going to give you rest. I'm going to give you rest.
And to prove to you what kind of Savior and Lord I am, I'm Savior over the day of rest. And I'm going to do things on the day of rest because it's pointing to a greater thing that I'm going to accomplish and give you rest for your eternal souls.
The burden of all that legalism in addition to Sabbath rules and regulations, how hard that must be, put on their backs and they're just stooped over. I mean, back in those days, first century Judaism, if you were to keep the Sabbath and make it holy, that's part of life, you know, circumcision, dietary laws, and that, I mean, those were the big things.
John Nolan said, here we see the disciples operating under the yoke of Jesus who declares them guiltless when they satisfy their hunger on the Sabbath in a manner deemed contrary to the law by the Pharisees.
There's some truth to that. And he goes on to say, we should not overlook the fact that Matthew places the section immediately after Jesus' words about his yoke being easy and his burden light. That's right.
He's the Lord of the Sabbath. And to show you the truth of what he said in chapter 11, he heals the man with a withered hand. Sabbath rest, ultimate rest, spiritual rest, eternal rest that you have, dear Christian.
Isaiah 57, back in the day, the Miles Coverdale Bible in 1535 said this, but the wicked are like the tossing or raging sea that cannot be quiet, whose water foameth with mire and dirt. There's no peace for the wicked, God said.
There's no rest for the wicked. And can you imagine? We get rest and we were wicked. Remember depravity? Remember what we were like before we were saved? Remember what you were like before you were saved?
I remember what I was like before I got saved. Can there be peace? Can there be rest for the wicked? No rest for the wicked except for Jesus. I looked up antonyms for restlessness, duh, strain, toil, drudge, grind.
How do you get saved? Do more. How do you keep saved? Do more. Do more. Try to please God by your works. Try to please God by doing good, by doing more good than bad, by having enough penance, or by faith alone, which is a gift, non-meritorious instrument.
Receive all the benefits of Christ Jesus, because if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved. And did you not, before you got saved by the Spirit's power and illumination, begin to feel the weight of sin, the burden of sin?
Did you not become wearied and burdened of sin? Even that is wonderful goodness of God, to try to give you a burden. It's sad when unbelievers have no burden of sin. Zero. Think of, you know, some of the stories in Pilgrim's Progress type of thing.
It's what I have my mind go to. I need a Savior. I feel sin's burden. And if you look back in chapter 11 of Matthew, Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, I don't think they felt so much burden for sin, because they didn't repent at Jesus' preaching.
The opposite of feeling burden of sin is thinking, just, okay, how do you get to heaven? Be good. How do you get to heaven? Just die. How do you get to heaven? Be baptized. Instead of trusting the Lord Jesus, come unto me.
What's Jesus saying? Believe. Knowledge, assent, and trust. Believe me. I, Jesus, have earned the way to salvation. I am the one who is the sin bearer. I am the one who is raised in resurrection power.
And the response, if you come to me by faith, I will give you rest. I'll give you assurance of salvation. I'll give you peace in your mind, in your will, in your heart, in your emotions. And it's free.
So come to me. Why be a slave? Trust Jesus. Eternal rest for you who trust in Jesus and has forgiveness from all their sins. And now free from any kind of legalism, from the Pharisees, this smashing, suffocating burden that they have that's heavy.
By the way, trying to get to heaven by being good must be such a burden. It is a burden. Jeremiah 6 even speaks of this rest. Thus says the Lord, stand by the roads and look and ask for the ancient paths where the good way is and walk in it and find rest for your souls.
But they said, we will not walk in it. And for you, Christian, we get rest today. We don't have to earn our salvation, hope of heaven. And we get eternal rest in the future to come. Come to me. Not do, not don't do that, but simply come.
Have you come to Jesus by faith? J .C. Ryle said, beloved brethren, see that you refuse not him who speaks to you this day. If a letter came to you from the ruler of this country, you would not despise it.
If you were sick and advice came from a wise physician, you would not reject it. If you were in danger and counsel came from your best and truest friend, you would not make light of it. Then hear the words that Jesus sends to you this day.
Listen to the king of kings, then body and soul shall be his. Come unto me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give the rest. Spurgeon said he doesn't say come to Moses. He says, no, come to me.
He didn't say, you know, come to group think. No, come to me. By faith and trust in Jesus alone, all those who are burdened. And for you, Christian, just think back to the day when you were burdened and Jesus gave you rest.
Peace. Peace with God and peace that passes all understanding. That's who God is. That's who the Lord Jesus is. The church has always recognized the Lordship of Jesus. And one of the reasons why we have recognized that is because out of all the institutions in Mosaic law that they were thinking about back in the Bible days, when Jesus was on the earth, circumcision, huge dietary laws, huge, but the hugest I'm smiling Sabbath and Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.
Jesus is Lord. And Jesus work on the Sabbath shows forth that one day he's going to accomplish the greatest thing in terms of the death of the son, the resurrection of the son to prove that he gives us eternal Sabbath rest.
Think Hebrews three and four.