Sunday
Morning Bible Study
May
11, 2008
Introduction (play Mom’s
video)
First
Commandment: God is number one (no other
gods)
Second
Commandment: Get the picture right (no graven images)
Third Commandment:
Honor the name. Now for number four…
Illustration
What
would cause an innocent woman to welcome time behind bars? According to Maria
Brunner, all it takes is her “lazy” husband and “demanding” children. Brunner’s
husband is unemployed, so she supports their three young children by cleaning
other people’s houses. Even without a job, her husband managed to run up quite
a number of unpaid parking tickets. The bill totals nearly $5,000. Mr. Brunner
kept the tickets a secret from his wife, but as the owner of the vehicle, she
is responsible. Maria cannot pay the fine, and unless her husband can come up
with the money, she will spend three months behind bars in her town of Poing,
Germany. Maria’s reaction? “I’ve had enough of scraping a living for the
family…. As long as I get food and a hot shower every day, I don’t mind being
sent to jail. I can finally get some rest and relaxation.” Police reported that
when they went to arrest Maria, “she seemed really happy to see us. . .and
repeatedly thanked us for arresting her.” While most people taken into custody
hide their heads in shame, Maria “smiled and waved as she was driven off to
jail.”
www.timesonline.co.uk (5-15-05);
"I’m Ready; Let’s Go,"
Illustration
Rest and relaxation doesn't seem to come as
easily or naturally to Americans as it does to those in other nations.
According to the 2006 World Almanac and Book of Facts:
• a worker in Italy averages 42
vacation days per year.
• a worker in France: 37 days
• a worker in Germany: 35 days
• a worker in Brazil: 34 days
• a worker in the United Kingdom:
28 days
• a worker in Japan: 25 days
• a worker in America: just 13 days
Anyone want to move to Italy with
me???
The World Almanac and Book of Facts (2006) (World Almanac Books, 2006)
Illustration
A
Tacoma, Washington, newspaper carried the story of Tattoo the basset hound.
Tattoo didn’t intend to go for an evening run, but when his owner shut the dog’s
leash in the car door and took off for a drive with Tattoo still outside the
vehicle, he had no choice.
Motorcycle officer Terry Filbert noticed a passing vehicle with something
dragging behind it: it was “the basset hound picking [up his feet] and putting
them down as fast as he could.” He chased the car to a stop. Tattoo was
rescued, but not before the dog had reached a speed of 20 to 25 miles per hour,
rolling over several times.
Too many of us end up living like Tattoo, our days marked by picking them
up and putting them down as fast as we can. (John Ortberg, LeadershipJournal.net (7-11-02))
Illustration
A
photographer was snapping pictures of first graders at an elementary school,
making small talk to put his subjects at ease.
"What are you going to be when you grow up?" he asked one little
girl.
"Tired," she said.
:8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Sabbath – shabbath – Sabbath; from shabath
– to cease, desist, rest
Remember – zakar – to remember, recall, call to mind
God doesn’t tell the Israelites to establish a Sabbath day, He asks them to
“remember” the Sabbath day.
The principle of the Sabbath dates back to the beginning of time:
(Gen 2:2-3 NKJV) And on the seventh day God ended His work
which He had done, and He rested
on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. {3} Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,
because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
rested – shabath
– to cease, desist, rest
When the Israelites made it out of Egypt and into the wilderness, God began
to feed the people with this stuff called “manna”. All the people had to do was get up in the
morning, go out of the camp, and collect the stuff. Six days in a row there would be manna around
the camp. On the sixth day they would be
allowed to collect twice as much as the other days because on the seventh day
there would be no manna.
(Exo 16:23 NKJV) Then he said to them, "This is what the
LORD has said: 'Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake
what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for
yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.'"
For the last couple of months, the Israelites had been learning about this
“Sabbath” day, a day of rest.
They needed to remember these things (Ex. 16:23)
keep it holy – qadash
– (Piel) to set apart as sacred, consecrate, dedicate
How were the people to make this a
“holy” day? By not working and by honoring God on this day.
:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
:10 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.
labor – ‘abad – to
work, serve; to labor, work, do work; to work for another, serve another by
labor; to serve as subjects
work – m@la’kah –
occupation, work, business; from mal’ak –
messenger, representative
work – m@la’kah – occupation, business; from mal’ak – messenger, representative – it’s what you do for a
living, it’s what you’re “sent” to do, it’s your “calling”.
cattle – note that God is concerned that even the
animals get a Sabbath rest.
Lesson
Work is good.
We’re going to be talking a lot today about rest, but keep it in
perspective, rest comes after you’ve worked hard.
There are some folks who have it in their head that they don’t need to
work. They expect you to support
them. From time to time we will be some
of these folks coming to church and asking for money. Please don’t misunderstand me – church is a
fine place to come to when you need help.
But some of the folks that show up on our doorstep aren’t looking for
help, they’re looking for a free ride.
The Bible says:
(Eph 4:28 NKJV) Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather
let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something
to give him who has need.
As we mature as Christians, we should be giving out more than we get. Work is good.
:11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and
all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the
Sabbath day and hallowed it.
God is reminding the people of what
we just read in Genesis 2. The principle
of the Sabbath rest dates back to God’s own example.
God worked for six days and then
rested on the seventh. God has already
set apart the Sabbath day as special, it’s our job to honor it.
The Israelites had been slaves for four hundred years. I’m not sure they had any days off in Egypt.
God has now delivered them from the slavery of Egypt and wants them to
experience His rest.
Legalism
As with all of the law a good concept can get twisted by our stupid
legalism. Though I’m not sure where the
good ideas are here …
Illustration
Young girls are never allowed to walk a tightrope in Wheeler, Mississippi,
unless it’s in a church.
In Blackwater, Kentucky, tickling a woman under her chin with a feather
duster while she’s in church service carries a penalty of $10.00 and one day in
jail.
No one can eat unshelled, roasted
peanuts while attending church in Idanha, Oregon.
Turtle races are not permitted
within 100 yards of a local church at any time in Slaughter, Louisiana.
-- Robert W. Pelton in The Door. Christian Reader, Vol. 33, no. 5.
Judaism & Traditions
The Jews don’t believe that the first five books of the Bible were all that
Moses received from God. They also
believe that God told him a lot more things, things that were passed down from
rabbi to rabbi until they were finally written down 200 years after Jesus. These teachings – six volumes - are called
the Mishna.
The Mishna has an entire book that gives lots of details just about the
Sabbath Law (the entire section has 24 chapters)
Chapter 1: Regulations
Regarding Transfer
…A tailor shall not go
out with his needle when it is nearly dark on Friday, lest he forget and
go out (carrying it about with him) after dark …nor shall one search for vermin
in his garments …
Chapter 3: Regulations Concerning stones, hearths, and ovens.
MISHNA II.: (Victuals) shall not be put either inside or on top
of an oven that was heated with straw or with stubble; a firing-pot that was
heated with straw or with stubble is (considered by the law) as a stone, but if
it was heated with pressed poppy seed or with wood it is considered as an oven.
MISHNA III.: An egg shall not be put close to a boiler to get it settled, nor must it be wrapped
in a hot cloth. R. Jose permits it; also it must not be put into hot sand or in
the (hot) dust of the road that it be roasted (by the heat of the sun). It once
happened that the inhabitants of Tiberias had laid a pipe of cold water through
the arm of their hot springs. But the sages explained to them that on the
Sabbath this water is considered like any other warmed on the Sabbath, and must
not be used either for washing or drinking; and should this be done on a feast
day, it is like water heated by fire, which may be used for drinking only, but
not for washing.
MISHNA V.: Into a kettle, the hot water of which has been spilt
out and which has been removed from the fire, cold water is not permitted to be
poured, for the purpose of heating; but it is permitted to pour water into the
kettle, or into a cup, for the purpose of making such water lukewarm.
Chapter 5: Regulations concerning what may and may not be worn by
animals on the Sabbath
MISHNA I.: What gear may we let animals go about in and what not? The male camel in a bridle; the female cannel with a
nose-ring; Lybian asses in a halter, and a horse in a collar.
Chapter 15: Regulations concerning the tying and untying
of knots
A woman may tie the
slit of her tunic, the bands of her hood, the bands of her girdle, the
straps of her shoes and sandals…R. Eliezer, the son of Jacob, says: "One
may tie a rope in front of cattle, in order that they may not escape." One
may tie a bucket (over the well) with his girdle, but not with a rope.
Chapter 18: Regulations regarding the clearing off of
required space, the assistance to be given cattle when given birth to their
young and to women about to be confined.
MISHNA: One may
set a basket on end for chickens, in order that they may climb up or down upon
it. A runaway hen may be chased until she goes back again. One may lead about
calves or young asses to exercise them. A woman may lead her son about to give
him exercise. R. Jehudah says: "When (may she do) this? If the child lifts
one foot and sets down the other; but if it trails (its leg) behind, she must
not."
Chapter 23: Regulations concerning borrowing, casting
lots, waiting for the close of the Sabbath and attending to a corpse.
MISHNA: A man may
borrow of an acquaintance jugs of wine or oil (on Sabbath), provided he does
not say to him: "Lend (them to) me…."
The traditions of the Mishna weren’t actually given to Moses, but made up
by the rabbis over the years. This is
one of the things that Jesus confronted the Pharisees about continually, that
they held the traditions of men more important than the commandments of
God. They dishonored God with their
traditions, including their Sabbath laws.
In the New Testament, we see Jesus getting into trouble for healing people,
for asking people to pick up their bed, allowing His disciples to pick grain,
and for having someone wash mud from their eyes on the Sabbath.
In one instance Jesus healed a woman who had been crippled for eighteen
years…
(Luke 13:14-16 NKJV) But the ruler of the synagogue answered with
indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd,
"There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be
healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day." {15} The Lord then answered
him and said, "Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose
his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? {16} "So
ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound; think
of it; for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?"
You would help your animal on the Sabbath, why not help people too? In another confrontation over the Sabbath
Jesus said,
(Mark 2:27 NKJV) "The Sabbath was made for man, and not
man for the Sabbath.
The Sabbath was intended to be a good thing for man, not
some complicated law that makes life more difficult.
Saturday or Sunday?
There are some churches that say we must worship on Saturday instead of
Sunday because of the Sabbath Law. Here
are some things to keep in mind:
1. It was to be sign
between Israel and God (not a Gentile thing)
(Exo 31:13 NKJV) "Speak
also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for
it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know
that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
Eze
20:12 "Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them
and Me, that they might know that I [am] the LORD who sanctifies them.
2. Sunday honors the
resurrection
(John 20:1 NKJV) Now on the
first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still
dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
We set aside Sunday as a day of worship because Jesus rose on a Sunday.
3. The early church
met on Sunday
(Acts 20:7 NKJV) Now on the
first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul,
ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until
midnight.
(1
Cor 16:2 NKJV) On the first day of the
week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper,
that there be no collections when I come.
4. Any day is okay
with God
(Rom 14:5 NKJV) One person
esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be
fully convinced in his own mind.
The Principles
Lesson #1
You need rest
It’s good for you. You need rest.
(Deu 5:14 NKJV) … the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD
your God …that your … servant …may rest
as well as you.
Rest gives us “margin”
Illustration
In
2005, a team in the Netherlands worked with meticulously to break the world
record for falling dominoes. To accomplish the feat, they needed to set up over
four million dominoes.
Their painstaking labor came within inches of destruction when, after a
long day of setting up the plastic rectangles, one of the team members left a
window open. A sparrow flew in and knocked down approximately 25,000 dominoes.
The reason all the dominoes did not fall is interesting. The organizers
placed 750 built-in gaps intermittently throughout the succession of dominoes.
The intentional gaps were a safety device, allowing enough space for a domino
to fall without knocking over the ones behind it. This way, any accidental
domino-knocking would be contained and would not totally devastate their
efforts.
“Sparrow Nearly
Ruins Record,” news.yahoo.com (11-14-05)
That’s what a day of rest gives us – those “gaps”, the “margin” we need in
our lives to slow down and do things right.
It can actually make you more productive to
take a day of rest.
Illustration
The story is told
of two men who had the tiring job of clearing a field of trees. The contract
called for them to be paid per tree.
Bill wanted the day to be profitable, so he grunted and sweated,
swinging the axe relentlessly. Ed, on the other hand, seemed to be working
about half as fast. He even took a rest and sat off to the side for a few
minutes. Bill kept chopping away until every muscle and tendon in his body was
screaming. At the end of the day, Bill was terribly sore, but Ed was smiling
and telling jokes. Amazingly, Ed had cut down more trees! Bill said, "I
noticed you sitting while I worked without a break. How'd you outwork me?"
Ed smiled. "Did you notice I was sharpening my axe while I was
sitting?"
Stand Firm (June 2000), p.13; submitted by
Bonne Steffen, Wheaton, Illinois
The Sabbath is supposed to be a day to get closer to God.
It was supposed to be a day marked with prayer (Lev. 24:8) and sacrifice
(Num. 28:9). It was to be “holy”
Illustration
We are too busy to
pray, and so we are too busy to have power. We have a great deal of activity,
but we accomplish little; many services, but few conversions; much machinery,
but few results.
—R. A. Torrey,
American evangelist (1856–1928)
“I’m of the opinion that busyness is a deeper
threat to the soul than pornography ever was.”
—Author and speaker Gordon MacDonald
Illustration
There is hardly ever a complete
silence in our soul. God is whispering to us well-nigh incessantly. Whenever
the sounds of the world die out in the soul, or sink low, then we hear these
whisperings of God. He is always whispering to us, only we do not always hear,
because of the noise, hurry, and distraction which life causes as it rushes on.
—Frederick W. Faber (1814-1863)
Illustration
Pastor John Ortberg writes:
Not long after moving to Chicago, I called a wise friend to ask for some
spiritual direction. I described the pace of life in my current ministry. The
church where I serve tends to move at a fast clip. I also told him about our
rhythms of family life: we are in the van-driving, soccer-league, piano-lesson,
school-orientation-night years. I told him about the present condition of my
heart, as best I could discern it. What did I need to do, I asked him, to be
spiritually healthy? Long pause. “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry
from your life,” he said at last. Another long pause. “Okay, I’ve written that one
down,” I told him, a little impatiently. “That’s a good one. Now, what else is
there?” I had many things to do, and this was a long-distance call, so I was
anxious to cram as many units of spiritual wisdom into the least amount of time
possible. Another long pause. “There is nothing else,” he said. “You must
ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” I’ve concluded that my life and the
well-being of the people I serve depends on following his prescription, for
hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. Hurry destroys souls.
John Ortberg,
LeadershipJournal.net (7-4-02)
Do you need this too???
Lesson #2
Resting grows faith
Faith that God will supply if I take a day off each week.
Manna - God promised to provide enough for them to take a day off.
While there are some people who like to work as little as possible, there
are some of you who have the mentality that you must work as much as you can
because it all depends on you.
You see the economic problems up ahead.
If you take on that second or third job, you might be able to make it.
I’m not trying to discourage you from being
responsible. I applaud you for being
responsible.
Illustration
Sherman James, an epidemiologist
[someone who researches epidemic diseases] at the University of Michigan, describes
a personality type named John Henryism. The name refers to the American folk
hero who, hammering a six-foot-long steel drill, tried to out-race a steam
drill tunneling through a mountain. John Henry beat the machine, only to fall
dead from the superhuman effort.
As James defines it, John Henryism involves
the belief that any and all demands can be vanquished, so long as you work hard
enough. On questionnaires, John Henry individuals strongly agree with statements
such as “When things don’t go the way I want, it just makes me work even
harder,” or “Once I make up my mind to do something, I stay with it until the
job is completely done.” They believe that with enough effort and determination
they can regulate all outcomes.
Robert M. Sapolsky, Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, (W.H. Freman and Co.,
1998)
What if God wants you to leave a little room for Him to work?
When the Israelites were facing an invasion from Assyria, they had a choice
to make. They could either trust God or
trust in Egypt. They could ask God to
deliver them or they could make an alliance with Egypt and ask the Egyptians to
save them.
(Isa 30:15 NKJV) For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of
Israel: "In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and
confidence shall be your strength." But you would not,
For some of us, we need to ask ourselves, “Can I trust God enough to take a
day off and leave things in His hands?”
Lesson #3
Trust God’s rest
The writer of Hebrews (Heb. 4) takes our idea of a Sabbath rest and moves
it one step further.
He uses the picture of Israel coming into the Promised Land as a type of
this Sabbath “rest”.
The first generation of people in the wilderness didn’t
enter into the Promised Land because they didn’t trust God.
The “rest” becomes a picture of eternal life, the ultimate rest, the rest
that Jesus gives.
If some of those people didn’t make it into the Promised
Land because of unbelief, we ought to be careful that this same fate doesn’t
befall us.
(Heb
4:1-11 NKJV) Therefore, since a promise
remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come
short of it. {2} For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them;
but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith
in those who heard it.
The first generation of Israelites coming out of Egypt
were told that God would take care of them.
They were promised that God would take them into the Promised Land. But they didn’t believe it.
The writer is now going to quote from Psalm 95 which
talks about the Israelites not coming into God’s “rest”…
{3}
For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore
in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,' " although the works were
finished from the foundation of the world. {4} For He has spoken in a certain
place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day
from all His works"; {5} and again in this place: "They shall not
enter My rest."
The writer now reminds us that back in Genesis 2 God had
already established “rest”. And yet by
Psalm 95, the people had not yet entered into that rest.
{6}
Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was
first preached did not enter because of disobedience, {7} again He designates a
certain day, saying in David, "Today," after such a long time, as it
has been said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your
hearts." {8} For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not
afterward have spoken of another day.
Joshua took a later generation of Israelites into the
Promised Land, but they didn’t actually enter God’s “rest”. David wrote four hundred years later that
they had not entered God’s “rest”, and that we should not harden our hearts
like they did.
{9}
There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. {10} For he who has
entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
{11}
(Heb. 4:11 NKJV) Let us
therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the
same example of disobedience.
God has a place of rest for you.
There is “rest” that comes from knowing God.
Knowing Jesus gives us God’s peace in our heart.
There is an ultimate “rest” that we will have in heaven.
God’s rest doesn’t come from works. God’s rest comes from believing.
What is it that God wants you to believe?
(John 3:16
NKJV) "For God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting life.
Misc. Sabbath notes:
No fire was to be kindled on the
Sabbath day
(Exo 35:3 NKJV) "You shall kindle no fire throughout
your dwellings on the Sabbath day."
For modern Jews, this means you
can’t turn on your electric lights on Saturday.
In Israel the lights in your hotel room can be programmed to come on by
themselves on the Sabbath. Half of the
hotel elevators are programmed for orthodox Jews – they stop on every floor –
you don’t have to press a button to get an elevator, just wait for it.
Pentecost (Sunday May 11, today) or
“first fruits”, was celebrated one day plus seven Sabbaths after the Passover.
(Lev 23:15-16 NKJV) 'And you shall count for yourselves from the
day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave
offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. {16} 'Count fifty days to the day
after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the
LORD.
It’s kind of interesting that God
sent tongues of “fire” on the disciples on the day of Pentecost. Maybe it wasn’t on a Sabbath… but maybe if
their fires had all gone out the day before (a Sabbath), God is showing them
how to light their “fires”.
The Sabbath principle applied to
years as well – to the land…
(Lev 25:4 NKJV) 'but in the seventh year there shall be a
sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the LORD. You shall neither
sow your field nor prune your vineyard.
When the Jews did not follow this
principle, they were taken off to Babylon while the land got all the Sabbaths
it missed.
2Ch 36:21 to fulfill the word of the LORD
by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as
she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
It was to be a day of worship.
Prayer and service:
Le 24:8 "Every Sabbath he shall set
it in order before the LORD continually, [being taken] from the children of
Israel by an everlasting covenant.
Sacrifice:
Nu 28:9 ‘And on the Sabbath day two lambs
in their first year, without blemish, and two–tenths [of an ephah] of fine
flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, with its drink offering––
God was grieved when His people
didn’t obey the Sabbath:
Eze 20:24 "because they had not
executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, profaned My Sabbaths, and
their eyes were fixed on their fathers’ idols.
Eze 22:8 "You have despised My holy
things and profaned My Sabbaths.
Eze 23:38 "Moreover they have done
this to Me: They have defiled My sanctuary on the same day and profaned My
Sabbaths.
In Nehemiah’s day, the Sabbath was
being broken.
Ne 13:15 In those days I saw [people] in
Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and
loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all [kinds of] burdens, which they
brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned [them] about the day on
which they were selling provisions.
Ne 13:17 Then I contended with the nobles
of Judah, and said to them, "What evil thing [is] this that you do, by
which you profane the Sabbath day?
The disciples pick grain on the
Sabbath.
(Mark 2:23-28 NKJV) Now it happened that He went through the
grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the
heads of grain. {24} And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do
what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" {25} But He said to them, "Have
you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with
him: {26} "how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the
high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat, except for the
priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?" {27} And He said
to them, "The Sabbath was made for
man, and not man for the Sabbath. {28} "Therefore the Son of Man is
also Lord of the Sabbath."
It’s not wrong to take care of your
hunger on the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is made for man, not
man for the Sabbath.
Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.
Jesus heals a withered hand on the
Sabbath.
(Luke 6:6-11 NKJV) Now it happened on another Sabbath, also,
that He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand
was withered. {7} So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He
would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. {8}
But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand,
"Arise and stand here." And he arose and stood. {9} 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?" {10} 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. {11} But they were
filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
It’s not wrong to do good on the
Sabbath.
Jesus healing the man at Bethesda,
taking up his bed on the Sabbath.
(John 5:8-18 NKJV) Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your
bed and walk." {9} And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed,
and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. {10} The Jews therefore said to him
who was cured, "It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your
bed." {11} He answered them, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take
up your bed and walk.'" {12} Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who
said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" {13} But the one who was healed
did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that
place. {14} Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him,
"See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon
you." {15} The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had
made him well. {16} For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to
kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. {17} But Jesus
answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been
working." {18} Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because
He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making
Himself equal with God.
Jesus worked on the Sabbath because
God worked on the Sabbath.
Jesus made Himself equal with God.
Jesus healed a blind man with spit
and clay on the Sabbath:
(John 9:14-16 NKJV) Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay
and opened his eyes. {15} Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had
received his sight. He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I
washed, and I see." {16} Therefore some of the Pharisees said, "This
Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath." Others said,
"How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" And there was a
division among them.