 Luke chapter 6, I'll read to verse 5, we'll look at that passage and then we'll move on into verse 6 and conclude at verse 11. I need to tell you that normally when I'm doing studies in the gospels, I have a tendency of taking the entire time in the first portion. For example, I would take 40 minutes, 45 minutes just to speak to you about verses 1 through 5, and so for me it's a little difficult to try and do these two two studies, but that's what we're doing. I'm trying to get through Luke before Jesus returns. We'll see. I kind of hope I don't. As a matter of fact, I really hope I don't, and I know you do too, that the Lord might return would be just a wonderful thing. But until that point, let's look at this passage together. Beginning at verse 1, reading to verse 5, Luke chapter 6. 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 it's not lawful to do on the Sabbath? But Jesus answering them said, shut up! No, he didn't. Sometimes you wish he would though, don't you? Jesus answering them said, have you not even read this? What David did when he was hungry? He and those who were with him. How he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, and also gave some to those who were with him, which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat. And he said to them, the Son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath. So as we look at chapter 6, it opens with two controversies. Both of these controversies relate to the Sabbath observation. Verses 1-5 concerns itself with physical labor being performed on the Sabbath. And then as we'll see in a moment, verses 6-11 are concerned with the fact that Jesus heals on the Sabbath. Now we know that at this point Jesus has already begun alienating the religious leaders of his day. And they've already begun making accusations against him. We've seen that already in chapter 5. For example, in chapter 5 verse 21, we've seen that they've already accused him of blasphemy. And in chapter 5 verse 30, they've also already accused him of living an unholy life. And so he's already alienating the religious leaders of his day. And so what is happening now as we enter into chapter 6, is they are beginning to search for scriptural reasons to reject Jesus Christ. He's already addressing and has addressed the attitude that they possess. They're already, he spoke about that in chapter 5 verse 39, when he had said, no one having drunk old wine immediately desires new, for he says the old is better. When it says the old is better, that word better simply means it tastes better. It's more agreeable to our pellets. In other words, the Pharisees had no desire for what he has to offer them. They are rejecting him because their desires, their hungers, are for something other than what he is offering them. Their tastes are different. They don't want what he wants to give to them. And so they're rejecting him. The Apostle John speaks concerning that kind of attitude in John chapter 1 verses 10 and 11, when John says that Jesus was in the world and though the world was made through him, the world didn't recognize him. And he came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. And so they are beginning to reject him now. They're beginning to make accusations concerning him, and they are at this point beginning to oppose him. Now, one of the primary reasons for their opposition related to the observation of what is called the Sabbath. You see, Sabbath observation is at the heart of the Jewish legalistic religious system. It is the traditional day of rest that is observed by the nation of Israel. See, the Bible speaks concerning the word Sabbath. We all know that word Sabbath. In the Greek, it's sabbaton. In Hebrew, it's shabbat. When you go to Israel today, they have greetings on shabbat, shabbat shalom. They'll speak to you in that way because the Sabbath is still recognized as being a day of inactivity. The word Sabbath literally means to cease work or to rest. You first see that mentality, that rest all the way in the first book of the Bible, in the book of Genesis, in chapter 2, at verse 3, where it says that God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because he rested from all his work which God had created and made. And so in honor of that day, the Lord declared it to be a time of rest as well as remembrance. The Jewish nation was to rest on the Sabbath and to remember him on that day. And so God gave them this Sabbath rest in the law. You see that if you take notes in Exodus in chapter 20, verses 9 through 11, where God says, 6 days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God. In it you shall not do any work, you nor your son nor your daughter, your manservant nor your maid servant, nor your cattle nor your stranger that is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and all that is in them and rested the seventh day. Therefore, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. The Sabbath day is the day of rest for the nation of Israel. Sometimes I'm asked the question, well, if God gave the nation of Israel the Sabbath, why do we go to church on Sunday? Seeing they observe from Friday, sundown into Saturday, sundown as Shabbat, why don't we go to church on Saturday rather than attending church on Sunday? Why is that? And the quick answer is because Jesus was raised on the first day of the week, and the church has from the book of Acts on been meeting habitually on the first day of the week in celebration of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, Paul is speaking in the book of Romans to those in the Roman church who had questions concerning holy days and observations like that said that some people look at one day as more important than the other and others deal with each day as equally holy. And so we can have services where we observe or we can arrest on certain days that are not necessarily the Sabbath day. It can be a Sunday, it can be a Wednesday, it can be any day of the week. And so that's another reason. The third reason is because the Sabbath was for the nation of Israel and is not necessarily for the church. According to Exodus chapter 31 verse 13, the Lord God says, 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. And so the Sabbath keeping is for the nation of Israel and not necessarily for the church. Now over the centuries the Jewish religious leaders observed Sabbath. Unfortunately they began to add rules and regulations to it. And so any kind of work imaginable was strictly forbidden. I was reading concerning some of the things that were forbidden and you'll find it interesting. For example, tailors did not carry a needle for fear that they might be tempted to sew. Clothing could not be washed or dyed. Fires could not be littered or extinguished. Baths could not be taken for fear water would fall on the floor and wash it. You could not carry anything heavier than a dried fig. Chairs could not be moved because dragging them might make a furrow in the ground. Women did not look into mirrors in the event that they might see a gray hair and pluck it out. False teeth could not be worn because they exceeded the weight limit you were allowed to carry. And so there were quite a number of rules and regulations that related to the Sabbath observation. And so the Sabbath during the time of Jesus became a time of frustration as well as stress because the people began to be tired of bearing an ungodly yoke of man-made oppressive regulations. And so the Sabbath is a very important element in the religious observation of the Jews during the time of Christ. And so Jesus is going to be having some controversies related to the observation of Sabbath. And that's what we see here. Notice verse 1 again here in chapter 6 of Luke. It says it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that he went through the grain fields. His disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands. So he's walking through grain fields, as Luke says, and his disciples are so hungry that they begin to just reach up to the grain and they're beginning to pluck it. Now, somebody might be saying, aren't they stealing? They're going through somebody else's field or biofield and they're taking the food from it. Isn't that wrong? Well, no it isn't because under the law of Moses, that was permissible. In Deuteronomy in chapter 23, 25, God had said, when you come into the standing corn of your neighbor, you may pluck the ears with your hand. In Leviticus chapter 19 verse 10, you shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather every grape of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and stranger. I am the Lord your God. It was permissible for them to do that. They were hungry, they were passing through, and so it was permissible for them to be able to reach up and to take that fruit. It's similar today. I might have a neighbor who has an orange tree and his orange tree is the branches are spreading out and so the branches are over my property line and I can go there and I can eat his oranges and enjoy them as I do and not feel guilty. Actually, I'm just teasing, but that can take place and it's all right and so there's nothing wrong with it. So as this is taking place though, I want you to see that the Pharisees respond. Verse 2, it says, some of the Pharisees said to them, what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath? Now what are you saying? Well, I want you to notice in verse 1 how it says, they plucked the heads of grain and they rubbed them in their hands. To the Pharisees, what they were actually doing was reaping when they plucked it and threshing when they rubbed it in their hands. So they were actually guilty of breaking two laws, at least in the way they thought. You see, the law doesn't say that. This was really their own religious tradition and in their own mind, their religious tradition was equal to the Word of God and so what they're saying is you have broken rabbinic law. It is not lawful for you to do that on the Sabbath. Now in verse 3, you have Jesus there answering them and he says, have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry? He and those who were with him, how he went into the house of God, took and ate the show bread and also gave some to those who were with him who were not lawful for any but the priests to eat. So what he does, and you might not notice this at first reading, is he actually gives to them a cutting statement. What he is doing is offending their pride because in the way that he asks them and notice how it says in verse 3, have you not even read this? He's speaking to the legal experts in the religious law of the nation of Israel and in saying that to them, he's actually cutting into their pride because these of all people should have known and understood and indeed they have read what God would have to say about that and so what he's doing is he's offending their pride for belief that they are experts. I want you to see something else though here because I think this is the way that you deal with those kinds of controversies and questions. I want you to see how he responds to this. Notice that he doesn't argue with them about religious tradition. Notice that with me. He didn't start an argue with them about religious tradition. He simply quoted Scripture. He asked them concerning what the Word of God has to say. That is a very, very important thing to learn to do guys. To be able to point to Scripture, let's see if I can bring this home in a way that's non-offensive. No, so I'll just say it this way. Somebody asked me once, why don't you honor Mary, the mother of God and this was a Catholic speaking and this is how they phrase the question, Mary the mother of God. Why do you as a Protestant not give honor to Mary? My response? Of course we give honor to Mary. Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And obviously we give honor to her. So I said, you know in the Gospel of John in chapter 2 where Jesus is there and his mother is at the wedding feast of Cana of Galilee and his mother walks up after discovering that there is no wine. They've run out of the wine and all. How Mary says to Jesus they have no wine. You remember that story and I know all of us in this room do. And yes, you remember how when Jesus spoke to his mom and shared a few things do you remember how she said to the men whatever he says do it? And that's John chapter 2 whatever he says do it. Yes, I do honor the mother of Jesus Christ because she said whatever he says do it. Now let's ask the question, what does he say? And what he says is unless a man is born again he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That's what he says. What he says is I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me. That's what he said. And so when I'm listening to what Jesus said I am honoring his mother because it is his mother who said whatever he says to you, you do. See there's no need to argue religious tradition. All you need to do is open up what the Scripture says. What does the Scripture say? And then follow that. And so Jesus doesn't begin to argue with them about the variety of things that they've added to the law. What he does is he simply quotes Scripture. Now the Bible tells us in 2 Timothy in chapter 3 verses 16 and 17 all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. So God's word is all that is necessary for us to handle these kinds of controversies. So what does he do? Well he asks the question again in verse 3. Have you not even read this? What David did when he was hungry he and those who were with him. So he refers to what we would call today 1 Samuel chapter 21. A story that is found there with King David and that's the story about David when he fled to a priestly city called Knob. That's where the Tabernacle was at that time. Tabernacle being the tent of meeting where God would meet with the nation of Israel. And so he went to the city of Knob where the Tabernacle was at that time and he and his men had no food. Now as they had no food they actually were given the show bread and that's what Jesus refers to in verse 4 how we went into the house of God took and ate the show bread. The word show bread there speaks of 12 loaves of bread that are called the bread of the presence. The bread of the presence represents the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel which are before the Lord both night and day. But the bread was to be eaten not by common but by the priests. And yet David who was not a priest went and he and his men ate of that bread. You see according to Exodus 29 verse 32 the Bible says at the entrance to the tent of meeting Aaron and his sons are to eat the meat of the ram and the bread that is in the basket. They are to eat these offerings by which atonement was made for their ordination and consecration. No one else may eat them because they are sacred. And yet God allowed this law to be violated so that David and his men might be fed. And so the point he's making is human need is more important than man-made regulations. And so if a man-made regulation is broken it's not as important as when you care for a human being and that's the point he's making. And so he closes with verse 5 by saying the son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath. In other words I have authority to change your way of viewing the Sabbath because what I am doing is I am reading my people the terrible burden of your religious traditionalism a traditionalism that is devoid of the spirit of God and is filled with man-made regulations and rules that do not bring people to God but simply weigh them down. If you take notes Matthew chapter 11 verses 28 through 30 powerful scripture that goes along with this because Jesus in that passage said it this way he said come unto me all you who labor are heavy laden I will give you rest take my yoke upon you 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. See so when you have a relationship with the Lord he doesn't add a burden to you he doesn't add what is called the yoke of the law to you he gives you his grace because his yoke is easy his burden is light and so if I am laboring in my walk with the Lord perhaps I am not wearing his yoke perhaps at this point what I am doing is trying to do it on my own when a farmer would be breaking in an ox a young ox he would put that ox next to an older one and they would put a custom fit yoke over their shoulder area and it was the older ox that basically did all the work while the younger one began to walk alongside of him as the work was being done Jesus is saying I have a custom made yoke that will be fitting right over you so that as I walk in this perfect way you will match me step by step and I will bring you into the peace that religious traditionalism never will bring to you people today try to have peace with the religion but what we need is peace with our God and our peace with our God comes through faith in him and so the Lord Jesus Christ makes it very easy for us to understand my yoke is easy he says my burden is light moving on into verse 6 it happened on another Sabbath also that he entered the synagogue and taught and a man was there whose right hand was withered the scribes and Pharisees watched him closely whether he would heal on the Sabbath that they might find an accusation against him but he knew their thoughts and said to the man who had 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 a life or to destroy it and looking 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 but they were filled with rage and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus now once again he is teaching once again this is a Sabbath he is in a synagogue present in the synagogue is a man who is afflicted with a withered right hand again his opponents are going to have an opportunity to accuse him and notice this is interesting to me how it says in verse 7 notice how the scribes and the Pharisees watch him closely whether he is going to heal on the Sabbath this is interesting because they are watching him hoping to catch him do something good you know I have had people catch me do something bad plenty of times they are actually caught doing something good and that is what they are doing they are watching him closely that they might find an accusation against him now the word watched there is a word that speaks of watching with evil intent close scrutiny they are looking with the intent of finding fault with him they are not observing him as somebody who admires him they are not observing him as those who cannot keep their eyes off of somebody that they love you know we understand that I mean if you got a girlfriend, boyfriend, husband wife, children, grandchild whatever and you see them and sometimes you just can't take your eyes off of them you know for me that is the way it is with my family that is the way it is right now with my grandson Josiah and the minute I see him I just have my eyes on him I can't take my eyes off him because I love him so much you know there are times that you look at that person and you just can't keep your eyes off of them because you love them you admire them or whatever it is that is not how they are looking at Jesus because they are going to find him doing something that they can accuse him of but the thing that they are looking for him to do is something good they are looking to see if he is going to do something that they can find fault with and so he is under a microscope now by way of application believers even today in the 21st century are often under the same kind of microscope people will watch your life because as they do so they have the gospel they have lived out in living color if you will your life, my life is observed by people there is no doubt about it and it is not because we are kind of paranoid and this and that we have got this fear that we are being watched all the time now the reality of the fact is when you say I follow the Lord there is no doubt about it people do keep an eye on you because you have made that statement that you follow God and so it makes a testimony of a pure faith powerful because people will watch you now the Bible tells us if you take notes Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 the Bible tells us that we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them God intends in other words for those of us who are believers to walk in good works and we are living letters known and read by all men Paul said it this way you yourselves are our letter written on our hearts known and read by everybody you show that you are a letter from Christ the result of our ministry written not with ink but with the spirit of the living God not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts during the time of the writing of 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 2 and 3 during the time of the writing of that letter there were letters of recommendation that would be written say that you were in this fellowship and you went from this fellowship to another state and you have ministry and you desire to serve the Lord at a Calvary ministry in New York and so you come up to me and you say I'm going to be going to upstate New York and I understand that there's a Calvary chapel up there and I say there are several Calvary chapels up in the upstate New York area well I'm going to be going to Calvary Chapel Finger Lakes and I say well that's great I know the pastor there I've known pastor's father for many years we're on the radio out there in Finger Lakes that's great well you know I'm going to be doing some ministry and I want to because I'm going to be there for a little while can you write me a letter of recommendation and so I say no no I say sure how much you want to give me so I say of course and I write and I say this is so and so been in our fellowship for this long here great person loves the Lord tremendous ministry highly recommend them and while they're with you should you have opportunity to use them encourage you to do so they're blessing to all of us that's a letter of recommendation that's what Paul's talking about you see because people would sometimes come into churches just like this two thousand years ago and they would claim to have some kind of authority they would say I have a message from the Lord and so the question would be asked what fellowship do you come from oh I come from the church of Ephesus who's the pastor there you know I find it interesting I have people on occasion approach me and speak to me and they say well I just came here from such and so church and I say really how long were you there always there for three years really what's the pastor's name they don't know they say oh really you don't know well you know I wasn't there that long how long were you there two years really how interesting is that some people don't even know the pastor's name because they really don't go there a lot of people claim to have a church that's theirs but they don't even really go there 30% of the church is gone every Sunday every Sunday that we have church services at least 30% aren't even here in two or three years and they'll say oh hi pastor how you doing you know and I say fine how are you doing where you go to church oh I still go with you I haven't seen you yeah well I still go there yeah right in your dreams you know you go to St. Mattress the church of the Living Springs so there are letters of recommendation and so they'll say where do you come from we come from Ephesus really who's the pastor well John is pastor in the church oh that's great there's a letter of recommendation oh yes they'll open it up and it's a commendation to them well that's what you are do you know that do you know that when Paul was writing here in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 2 and 3 he was saying in its context that the there are people who are demanding this is the context of this there are people who are demanding that I have a letter of reference to point out that I really have authority in the body of Christ he says I don't need a letter of recommendation the reason I don't is because you are my letter of recommendation because your walk with God demonstrates whether or not I'm called by God to equip the saints for works of service so do you guys who call this church your home do you realize that you are the letter of recommendation for Calvary Chapel Chino Valley do you realize that that when you leave this place and go out into the job site or go wherever it is that you go to school your neighborhood or whatever you realize that do you realize that you are the letter that your neighbors and your fellow workers and your fellow students your unbelieving friends and relatives you are the letter that they're reading it's very important for us to understand that because it causes us to be on our toes because we are bringing either shame to the name of Christ or glory to it by the way that we live and so people do watch you and they watch you very very carefully because that's true Christians need to conscientiously guard their walks so that we might appropriately model the grace of God that's lived out in a person's life that's why 1st Timothy chapter 4 verse 12 is so important because Paul when he's writing to a young man by the name of Timothy says to him let no one despise your youth but be an example to the believers in word in conduct in love in spirit in faith with all purity I was 23 years old once and I was teaching Bible studies at the age of 23 my first congregation consisted of my family and some neighbors my dad was 47 my mom was 43 and I am 23 years old and I've been out of the military for several months and a relatively new Christian of probably less than 3 years or so in my walk with the Lord at that time what gave me at the age of 23 the ability to communicate the things of God the man who was almost 50 years old it certainly wasn't eloquence and it most certainly wasn't intelligence it was not a lot of experience with God because I was a new believer what was it you know part of what it was with my dad is my dad saw transformation he saw a kid who was in rebellion and had been so for years transformed miraculously by the power of the spirit of God and my dad who was 47 years old respected me at the age of 23 as his Bible teacher and my dad respected me to the day I buried him as his pastor and I never forgot Paul's words to Timothy let no one despise your youth but be thou an example of the believer because that's what it's all about you see there's more to life than doing what pleases me and trying to be authentic to the point where my carnality is excused because it's real and I'm being real in front of people God hasn't told me live a carnal life and call it authentic God has said live for Jesus Christ and demonstrate that it's possible to live a successful life and to have a life that's blessed by God and that's what he was speaking to this young man Timothy because Timothy is a young man in a society much like ours he speaks to the older people not the younger ones and therefore Paul says you need to have an example he says be an example in a word when he speaks of being an example that's your speech because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and so you're to live is an example of word he says in conduct that means you are recognizably growing in Christ likeness it speaks of your manner of life he speaks of love may that be so evident in you that they know that God has done something in your life he speaks about their spirit that speaks of your mental attitude your charitable and loving and caring individual he speaks about faith because it speaks of your faith in Christ as well as the way that you live and he speaks about your purity because that speaks of your moral excellence or your sexual purity he says this is what you ought to be living like in order that people will see the power of God to transform lives Jesus is here and it's a Sabbath there are people gathered around but they intend to find as it says in verse 7 an accusation against him now they expect him to heal they know he's going to do something they expect him to heal or do something like that and yet even though they're aware of the fact that he has the power to do that they still are bent on rejecting him and so what they want to do is they want to convict him of breaking the law of Moses in order that they might discredit him you see to accuse Jesus was to find him in violation of breaking the law of the Sabbath and that would constitute a charge they could bring against him against the Jewish religious before the Jewish religious court because under some conditions working on the Sabbath is actually a capital offense it's something that is punishable by death Exodus 31 14 says observe the Sabbath it's holy to you anyone who desecrates it must be put to death whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people so Jesus is being watched and he knows it what does he do does he hide they're keeping it on me notice what he does it says in verse 8 he knew their thoughts and he said to the man who had the withered hand arise and stand here and here rose and stood so he takes the offensive to do something in plain view of everybody and that's his habit he tells the man arise and stand you see later on in John chapter 18 verses 19 and 20 the Bible says the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and teaching and this was Jesus's response he said I have spoken openly to the world I always taught in the synagogues or at the temple where all the Jews come together I said nothing in secret so Jesus did things openly he wasn't hiding it I don't know if I mentioned this to you recently one of our ministers was invited to go and do an outreach at a particular church they asked would you come and share and he was asking me what do you think should I go and I said what do they want you to do he says well they're going to have some music but they said that I could share but I have to be careful not to bring too much conviction because they don't want us to make the people uncomfortable there because they want us to evangelize but not bring conviction and I said that's an interesting way to think how long do you have to speak about 15 minutes of refreshments and they're going to have a pep talk for 15 minutes and they call it evangelism and that's kind of the state of the church today unfortunately guys unwilling to say the hard thing for fear of offending sensitive hearers Jesus was not afraid of telling the truth and neither should we be and he did it openly he asked the question basically is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good to have a life or to destroy it now doing good is actually the life of the believer that's what we're supposed to do Psalm 37 3 trust in the Lord and do good Ecclesiastes 3 12 there's nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live James 4 17 to him who knows to do good and does not do it to him it is sin it is the life of the believer to be known for those who do good and so he asked the question that actually begs the answer the answer obviously is it's always right to do good and so in verse 10 looking around at them he said to the man stretch out your hand he did so his hand was restored as well as the other they were filled with rage and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus now in Mark chapter 3 verse 5 Mark says he looked around at them with anger being grieved by the hardness of their hearts when it says he was grieved that word grieved means an anguish it's a heart that is filled with pain when he speaks of the hardness that speaks of a callousness he's angered at their fault finding he's angry at their evil thoughts and their obstinate refusal to answer and it's their hardness to people's pain that causes Jesus to get angry and they would rather this man remain crippled than to break their traditions regarding the Sabbath their regulations and their rules were more important to them than somebody's eternity years ago I was an assistant pastor in another Calvary chapel and we wanted to do a series of outreaches and at that time we were renting a church we didn't own it and so we spoke to the the elders of the church their committee and we said we want to do some outreaches to reach this community and we want to rent the church facilities on Saturday night so we can have a series of concerts so we can reach the kids of the community and we were going to be bringing in some bands and all and the first thing they asked us was what kind of musical instruments did they play in these bands and we said well just normal instruments you know they have drums and guitars and things like that no you can't you can't use electric guitars in the sanctuary but you can use it in the fellowship hall so we said we can't rent the church sanctuary why? because you're going to have electric guitars and it was like but we can have it in the fellowship hall yeah you can have it in the fellowship hall and we're Calvary guys so we walk out of that meeting going I guess God doesn't like to go to the fellowship hall and he only hangs around in the sanctuary it made absolutely no sense to us does it make sense to you it didn't make any sense to me at all it's like the Lord says no here you have to have pipe organs in here you know but out there you can rock it doesn't make any sense you know it didn't make sense then it doesn't make sense now and the thing that was sad is that these people didn't realize that what we wanted to do is reach people for the kingdom of God to transform their lives to the gospel of Jesus Christ but their tradition but their sense that you can't have that kind of music in this facility would keep them from reaching the youth reaching the people who will listen to that music and then come on in and they'll hear the music we've been doing this for 25 years you'll hear the music and some of you don't like it I know I get the letters sometimes the music but I don't like that just turn your hearing aid a little lower it won't hurt that bad but they get caught up it's the old wine skin kind of thing you know it's the old wine skin thing and these people didn't want us to reach the crippled those who were lost because we wanted to use certain instruments that they had a problem with drums and electric guitars and that was 20 some years ago 26 years ago 27 years ago and it hasn't really changed even to this day and how does Jesus respond to that with anger they would prefer people to remain crippled as long as it doesn't break the traditions and that to me is still a sad fact continues to be this way but notice what Jesus does he speaks to this man and he says stretch out your hand no wait a minute how can he it's crippled it's withered it's paralyzed it's immobile the guy could have been reasoning within himself and he could have said to the Lord listen my hand is withered how can I stretch it out make it whole first and afterwards I will do as you say isn't it interesting that the Lord Jesus Christ gave to him an impossible and you gotta see this an impossible command and then the power to fulfill it he gave him an impossible command stretch out your hand he can't because it's withered it's paralyzed there's no way he can do that but he says stretch it out it's a command and as the guy obeys he gives him the power to fulfill you know the Bible in Luke 1.37 says with God nothing will be impossible when the Lord gives a command the Lord gives the power to fulfill it it would appear reasonable if he thinks I can't do it heal it first and then I'll stretch it out that appears reasonable it's even logical but in his case it would have been foolish so when God says move it's wise for us to do so faith disregards apparent impossibilities where there's a command and promise of God interestingly enough the man was healed with a word without even a touch the Sabbath was unbroken even according to the most rigid interpretation of the letter of the law Jesus through a word healed this man didn't even reach forth and touch him but you know what they didn't see it what was their response did they say oh my God I just saw a miracle did you see that can you imagine what it would have been like to be there to watch this man they all knew had a withered hand a crippled hand to see it receive strength again could you imagine how hardened in your heart you have to be to reject that and to actually get angry but that's what happens and discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus legalism is always the enemy of grace always has been always will be this man obeyed and was healed by way of application what do you think the Lord may be speaking to your heart today as a believer what has he been telling you that he wants you to do praying I really can't do that Lord unless you do certain things to make it possible I can't do that well you know what I've discovered if the Lord puts it on your heart to do something it's just utmost wisdom to do it when he puts it on your heart I was speaking to a friend of mine just today and I'll close by illustrating it in this way he said I had a Bible track I was driving and he said and I was praying fervently Lord I want to give this track to somebody I want to give this track to somebody and just Lord just show me who you want me to give this Bible track to I want to share your love with somebody today I'm going to this gas station and Lord I know you have somebody in this gas station that you want me to give this track to so he says he pulls over and he begins to you know he's there at the gas station and he's just looking around to see who the Lord is going to bring for him to give this track to well this guy comes walking out and he says I'm going to be honest with you pastor he says he was a gang banger and as he walked out he had tattoos all over his head and everywhere and he looked really rough and he said and I just thought no that can't be the one I'm supposed to give this track to he says no you know send me a 95 year old harmless old woman you know but I'm a little nervous with this rough looking guy so he's looking around he says nobody else walks out so this has got to be the guy so he says so I'm standing there and this guy's walking by and he says so I called the guy hey come here and the guy looks at him like what he says come here and the guy walks over and he says I want to give you something and he says the guy says yeah what do you want to give me he says this and he hands him a track as they hands him the track and starts to talk to him about the love of Christ and this guy's a rough looking guy and the guy says you know talks to him a little bit and he says where do you live and the guy says well I live over here in Diamond Bar he says what have you ever heard of Rawl Rees and the guy says I don't think I have he says oh he's got a church right here you know he tells him where Rawl's fellowship is and all and the guy says well wait a minute come with me so my friend walks with this guy to the car this guy's car and his wife is there in the car and he says he says give me that picture so his wife gives him a picture and it's a picture of him and several of his guys and they're all kneeling down and directly behind them is a picture of Rawl's church building he goes is this the church you're talking about and my friend says yeah that's Calvary Chapel Golden Springs he says we were there last week I've never been there before I don't go to that church I've never been there before but one of my friends was killed and we went to the funeral there and so my friend says well that's the church I'm telling you about and continued sharing with him and so he finally looks at the guy and says do you want to receive Christ as your Lord and Savior and the man goes yes I do and the wife says now you wait a minute I want to receive Jesus too and my friend says they kneel down next to the car they kneel down next to the car in a gas station and they gave their hearts to Jesus Christ what does God want to do with you what does He want to do with you He could do yeah clap go ahead let it go come on you're going to clap clap like you're at an opera oh that was nice no that's that's what God wants to do all you have to do is to say here am I I'm willing to do it I'm willing to do it openly I'm willing to do it for you God nothing's impossible with you let's see what you want to do you'll be surprised what God can do through a willing vessel just be open and don't get caught up with legalism let God's Holy Spirit work freely through you don't get angry you know when you see people are doing things differently just let God take care of that but you walk in the grace of God and watch what the Lord will do