Straightened Up on the Sabbath

Luke chapter 13. The study of Luke is a great, great study. It has changed my life and ministry here at Christ Community Church, just based on what the Lord is doing. We've gone through the gospel of Mark. We're now doing the gospel of Luke. One day we'll do the gospel of John. That'll be the next gospel, but that's not going to be until 10 years after this one's done. Okay, that'll be the gospel of John. That is if the Lord tarries. And then after John, we'll do Matthew. That's in 20 years. So I got a plan.

I do have a plan. You know, if the Lord tarries, I got a plan. So that's where we're going to go. And in between, we'll do different epistles as we study the life of Paul. But right now we're in Luke. We'll be here for a few more years, Luke chapter 13. And it's a moment with the master where he is able to do what only he can do. And those little snippets of the life of our Lord, as Luke portrays them, really truly help us understand his character, his nature and his work. And so we're going to read through it together and then we'll study it.

Luke chapter 13, verse number 10. And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who for 18 years had a sickness caused by a spirit. And she was bent double and could not straighten up at all. And when Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, woman, you are freed from your sickness. And he laid his hands upon her and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. And the synagogue official indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath began saying to the multitude in response, there are six days in which work should be done.

Therefore come during them and get healed and not on the Sabbath day. But the Lord answered him and said, you hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him. And this woman, a daughter of Abraham, as she is, whom Satan is bound for 18 long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day? And as he said this, all his opponents were being humiliated. And the entire multitude was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by him.

It's interesting to note the contrast of the multitude who rejoices at the work of the Lord and the opponents of our Lord, which basically is the religious establishment who became indignant and were humiliated because of what Christ said. There's a synagogue. We don't know where it is in a town. That's not mentioned on a Sabbath. We do not know, but that's not important. What's important is what takes place. The Lord doesn't want us to know the town. Doesn't want us to know the synagogue. Doesn't even want us to know which Sabbath it was.

It was toward the end of our Lord's ministry because he's on the decline of that last year. So he's on his way to Jerusalem and it's soon going to be the time for his death. But what happens here happens quite frequently. One, there is the compassion of the Christ. Two, there's conflict with the Christ. Isn't it interesting that when our Lord was so involved in showing compassion, it erupted such great conflict with people. Christ is one who attracts conflict. We don't like to think of Christ that way, but that's exactly the way he is.

It's always been that way with the Lord. I mean, when he was born, there was conflict because Herod was jealous that there was another king that was born. And so he slaughtered all the babies two years and under. That's quite a conflict. The apostles, they would follow in the steps of the Lord and they would share the gospel and they were persecuted and martyred because of the gospel they shared because they followed Christ. And there was the early church and those involved in the early church and the persecution they faced because they shared the same gospel and preached the same gospel that Christ preached.

All through the centuries, Christians have been martyred for their faith. Even read today about an Iranian pastor who was on trial to be executed because he would not deny the Christian faith. In America, Christianity and those who hold to the truth of the scriptures are vilified and condemned over and over again. Christ is the center of controversy and all kinds of conflict, even though he was involved in much compassion for people. You would call back in John chapter five at the pool of Bethsaida, the house of mercy.

Bethsaida means house of mercy there in Jerusalem. We go there when we go to Israel and we talk about that, those pools and what they mean. And there was a man that was lame for 38 years, could not walk. And the Lord had compassion on him and healed him. And because the Lord healed him on a Sabbath day in Jerusalem, controversy erupted. So much so that they plotted to somehow want to kill him because he had so in their mind violated the Sabbath and was contrary to their religious system. There was another day in which Christ had entered a synagogue and it was a Sabbath and he would heal a man with a withered hand and that erupted conflict with the religious establishment as well, just because he showed compassion on the Sabbath day.

In our text, we have Christ in a synagogue on a Sabbath. This is the last incident where Christ is in a synagogue. Last one in a synagogue was an important place for Christ to go because it was a place of instruction. There was no temple. It was destroyed. And you'll recall that when Israel went off to Babylonian captivity, they met with Ezekiel to be instructed. And that's how the synagogue basically started. So when they went back under Nehemiah's reign to rebuild the walls around the city and then to go back and rebuild the temple, they began to establish these different kinds of synagogues, houses of instruction.

Historians tell us that was somewhere between 240 and 250 of them in the Galilean area. They also tell us that there was over 500 of them in the city of Jerusalem alone. Okay. Simply because Jews were into receiving instruction about what it is they believed. And so they would meet for instruction from those in whom the ruler of the synagogue would bring in to speak, whether it be a rabbi, whether it be a priest or something like that. But there was no pastor that was here. There was no governing board except for there was a lay eldership board there, but in each synagogue and they would come for instruction.

And the Lord would want to talk to the Jewish people. So he knew that the best place to be with Jewish people was of course in a synagogue. And yet when he came to this synagogue on this day in this town and healed this woman who had been bent over for 18 years, this ruler of the synagogue had no compassion for the woman, never rejoiced over the miracle that was performed, never rejoiced over the power of God that was put on display. And in fact, he became rather indignant because of what had taken place.

Conflict around Christ had erupted. Jesus said in Luke 12, these words, I have come to cast fire upon the earth. Remember he told you back in Luke 12 that that phrase I have come is a phrase that indicates why Christ came to earth. I've come he says to cast fire upon the earth and how I wish it were already kindled, but I have a baptism to undergo and how distressed I am until it is accomplished. Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you no, but rather division. For from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three.

They will be divided father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. Christ is the divider of man. Christ in Matthew 10 says he came to bring a sword, an instrument of division. So what happens here is another act of division because that's what Christ does. Do you suppose that I came to bring peace? Well, of course you're the Prince of Peace. Of course you came to bring peace.

No, no, sorry. Came to bring a sword. Really? Sometimes we get all confused about why Christ came. The Prince of Peace would come and bestow peace upon man who was at not at rest, right? Would he not come and and and take people and put them together and and cause them to have comfort and joy? No, he came to bring division. Oh, to those who are with him, peace. Those who are against him, no peace. Conflict, problems, hardship. In Christ in this in this scenario, we learn a lot about our Lord here.

You always learn a lot about the Lord whenever you study the Bible. When you look at these little snippets, these pictures, these these incidences in the life of our Lord, it tells us a lot about his ministry and and what he did.

And he came and he exposed error. He exposed hypocrisy. He exposed the phony religious system of the day called Judaism because it was truly apostate Judaism. Israel had defected from the faith. They had turned their back on the Messiah. Now, they would never admit that. That's why they hated Jesus so much. They saw themselves in a certain way. A lot like people today. They they go to church and they're involved in ministry and they see themselves a certain way. They don't see themselves God's way.

You see, that's the problem of not humbling, submitting yourself to the authority of Scripture and following through with what God says because you you get this illusion about your spiritual condition.

And a lot of people in the church today are have this illusion that they're walking with the Lord. They're on fire for the Lord but in reality they're not because that's the way the religious establishment was. They thought they were on fire for the Lord. And Jesus comes and says, you know, you you think that you are spiritually rich. He says, I'm going to tell you something. You're not. You're spiritually poor. You think that you're free. Jesus says, I'm gonna let you know you're imprisoned.

You think that you're able to to honor God and we'll say you're in bondage to your sin. You think that you have no burdens but you are entrenched in all kinds of burdens. And they hated him because of that. They hated him because he called it like it is. They hated him because he exposed their sin. They hated him because he he measured their life to a perfect standard. And man doesn't like to be measured to a perfect standard. That's why he measures himself by himself see. Because if he can do that then he can formulate a a system whereby he's okay.

And that's exactly what Israel had done. They had formulated a system that that made them look okay. And and the greatest way to see that was in their rules for the Sabbath. They know they couldn't keep the first commandment, second commandment.

They knew that. They knew they couldn't love God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength or the neighborhoods themselves. They couldn't do that. They knew that. And so they developed all these rules and regulations that somehow that if they kept they would be under the illusion that they were right with God. And and they taught the people the same thing. And they believed it. They believed it. And they bought into it. And yet the Sabbath became such a burden to people. Instead of being a time of rest and a time of joy to to worship and honor God it was just such a such a burden because there was nothing you could do.

And and if you did something wrong then then you were a sinner. And it just was just one burden after another. And yet that was the self-styled religious system of the day that Israel had had promoted. So Jesus came and he assaulted their Sabbath rules. He it was an all-out war against their Sabbath rituals. And and you know he they just they just couldn't stand him. They couldn't stand Jesus. And on this day like always when he was compassionate and kind and merciful he was hated. By those he indicted because of his message.

Jesus in this last recorded incident of him in a synagogue provokes great conflict. Four things I want you to see about conflict. Number one conflict clarified.

Conflict intensified. Conflict magnified. Then conflict dignified. Okay. First of all conflict clarified.

Verse 10. Here it goes. Ready? And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. There's a conflict. Well how can there be conflict? They say there was conflict there. Oh yeah. Well there was conflict. Every time Jesus opened his mouth there was conflict. With those who didn't agree with what he said or believed in who he was. He in his teaching because he is the God of truth he spoke truth would provoke all kinds of conflict of those who lived in error or lived a hypocritical kind of life.

He confronted their self-style religion. Listen. Jesus when he came he came to preach the gospel. And there's only there's only one way to heaven right? But in reality there are two roads. But there's only one way to heaven. One road says you can do it by your works and your merits and if you just maintain a right morality you're going to get there. Another one says no matter what you do you can't make it. It's all by grace alone through faith alone in God alone. Right? One is by the divine himself.

The other is by human works. In other words when we did our study in the the kingdom living in Matthews 5 6 and 7 there the roads are number one the road of human achievement or the road of divine accomplishment.

I can try to make it on my own human efforts and achieve my way there but you'll never make it. Because it's not by works of righteousness which we have done. It's by the washing of regeneration and renewing the spirit of God. Or you throw yourself in the mercy of God and you you beg mercy from him and you come to him by faith through grace and you are saved by the act of God and his work in you. Well the Jews had established a system which made them. What's up Richard? How you doing buddy? Yeah there's the man you want to see about being an usher by the way right there.

But they developed a system of of works. You maintain a certain morality. You meet a certain set of standards and they had to bring the standards down to their level in order to to make it. Then you're on your way to heaven and Jesus said no that's not the way it is. He's the only way and he's the truth and there is no other way. He struck at the heart of the system. He was teaching. What was he teaching? Someone said and he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. How would you answer that?

What does he teach? Well turn back to Luke chapter 4 with me for a minute. You will get an idea. Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4 it says in verse 43 I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also for I was sent for this purpose. You can be sure that whatever Jesus was teaching it pertained to the kingdom of God and I thought about that today and I thought about the ministry. In fact if you go over to Luke chapter 8 in verse number 1 it says something similar. It says and it came about soon afterwards that he began going from one city and village to another proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God and the twelve were with him.

And then you go over to chapter 9 it says in verse number 2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God. Verse 6 and departing they began going about among the villages preaching the gospel and the healing everywhere. So whatever Jesus preached it was about the kingdom of God. Whatever the apostles preached it was about the kingdom of God. So let me give you this.

The voice of the kingdom of God was John the Baptist. Remember in Luke chapter 3 it says that when John the Baptist came it says these words Luke chapter 3 and he came into all the district around the Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Well what's that? Matthew 3 tells us. It says now in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. John was the voice of the kingdom. He is the one who came preaching about the kingdom.

Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He was the voice of that kingdom and he would pave the way. He was the forerunner to the Messiah and you will note that in the book of Matthew it's the kingdom of heaven is used 32 times. In the book of Luke the phrase kingdom of God is used 31 times and there's sometimes discussion among theologians about the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God but there need not be a discussion because over in Matthew chapter 19 it says this and Jesus said to his disciples in verse 23 truly I say to you it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven and again I say to you it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

So he uses the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God interchangeably and the reason Matthew uses the phrase kingdom of heaven is because Matthew's audience was Jewish and Jewish people don't mention the name God. So they substituted the word God with the word heaven or the name Hashem right and so Matthew's account calls it the kingdom of heaven Luke's account calls it the kingdom of God but in Matthew chapter 19 the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are used interchangeably and then he goes on to say these words and when the disciples heard this they were very astonished and said that who can be saved.

So the kingdom of God is about salvation. John was the voice of the kingdom. Jesus, Jesus was the verification of the kingdom of God. He verified everything about the kingdom. He is the truth. In fact Luke 16 if you go back to Luke 16 verse number 16 it says these words Luke 16 verse number 16 the law and the prophets were proclaimed until John since then the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached. In other words you know the law and the prophets is representative of the Old Testament right. It's called the law and the prophets because at the time of Jesus there was no New Testament it was all Old Testament right.

It's called the law and the prophets. Well the law and the prophets were all about the promise of the coming kingdom. Well John was the final prophet in proclaiming the promise of the kingdom and he was the first prophet to proclaim the fulfillment of the kingdom and the Messiah and so when Jesus came he verified everything John said.

He's the verification of the kingdom. He showed how valid John's message was because he was the Messiah. So you had the voice of the kingdom who's John the Baptist. You had the verification of the kingdom who was Jesus. Oh by the way Paul was also a voice for the kingdom because in Acts 26 he says that he went around proclaiming how man would be saved out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's Son. So Paul became in the epistles a voice of that same kingdom. Oh by the way you and I are also voices of that same kingdom but more about that in a second.

So John was the voice of the kingdom. Jesus was the verification of the kingdom and in Matthews 5, 6, and 7 you have the virtues of the kingdom. It's all about kingdom living. Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Multitudes of people were coming to Matthew chapter 4 and they were wanting to be healed and Christ healed them all. Some were paralyzed. Some couldn't see. Some couldn't walk. Some couldn't talk. There were all kinds of diseases and issues in people's lives.

He healed them all but he knew that physical healing wasn't going to meet the deepest part of their lives. Their souls had to be changed. So he starts talking about the kingdom and in Matthews 5, 6, and 7 that recorded sermon of our Lord on the sermon of the mount he talks about the virtues of his kingdom because he was the verification of that kingdom. And the voice about the kingdom? It had already come. John had proclaimed that kingdom. Do you know there's a villain of the kingdom? They're all V's by the way just in case you didn't know where we're going.

There's a villain of the kingdom. That's the adversary. That's satan. Right? He's the villain of the kingdom. In the parable of the wheat and the tares it's how satan sows the tares among the wheat because he's the villain of the kingdom. In Matthew chapter 13 it talks about the parable of the sow in the soils how that first seed is thrown on the hard soil and satan comes and snatches it away because he's the villain of the kingdom.

Man is in the kingdom of darkness and Christ came to preach to release man from that darkness that they might experience the light of the Lord and satan is against that. He's the villain of the kingdom. He's against all the virtues that the kingdom offers. He's certainly against the one who verifies the kingdom Jesus but there was a voice who came crying in the wilderness repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. You also need to know that there is also the victory of the kingdom. The victory of the kingdom.

When Christ came he came proclaiming the victory of the kingdom. There was a voice who came. He verified the kingdom by his own life. He spoke about the virtues of the kingdom. He spoke about the villain of the kingdom. He spoke specifically about the victory of the kingdom. We'll talk about this next week. Parable of the mustard seed. The parable of the leaven and how the kingdom of God is going to infiltrate in society begin to grow and expand and in Revelation 20 there is a literal kingdom upon the earth.

Speaks of the victory of the kingdom and Jesus would do that. He also spoke of the venture of the kingdom. It's a risky venture. If any man come unto me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. If any man come unto me and hate not his father, mother, brother, sister, he's not worthy of me. If any man come unto me and does not even hate his own life, he's not worthy of me. That's the venture of the kingdom. It's risky business. It's a dangerous business but he would speak about the venture of the kingdom.

You have to. He would speak about the virtues of the kingdom because that's what made the kingdom so appetizing. He also spoke about the value of the kingdom. The parable of Matthew, the parable of Matthew of the treasure of the pearl speaks of the endless value of the kingdom. Christ would have to speak about the value of the kingdom, right? How valuable it was to enter it. Why would I deny myself, take up my cross and follow Christ? Why would I be willing to turn my back on my family, turn my back on those relationships closest to me because of the value of the kingdom.

It surpasses anything this eternity. It is so valuable. I'm willing to give everything away just to obtain the gospel, the kingdom of God. Once he would tell you about the voice who came proclaiming the kingdom of God and that he was the verification of that kingdom, speaking about the virtues of the kingdom, the villain of the kingdom, the values of the kingdom, you can become a vessel in the kingdom, a vessel fit for the master's use. It's all about salvation. It's all about the gospel. It's all about the truth.

Jesus came preaching and teaching the synagogues. What did he teach? The kingdom, the place, the sphere of where God rules, basilia. It's about his rulership. We're his vessels. We're his children. We're ruled by the king. He told Pilate and John 18 verse 36, my kingdom is not of this world. The place where I rule, it's not here. Oh, he rules it because he's in control of it, but there's going to come a day where he rules on earth forever and into eternity. But he rules in the hearts of men. At this point, all those who subject themselves to him become vessels of the kingdom.

He rules. He oversees. That's his sphere of influence. Well, that in and of itself is going to cause conflict. That's going to be a major problem for people because you see, at the end of the kingdom, you got to repent of your sin, repent and believe the gospel. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's the verity, by the way, of the kingdom, the verity of the kingdom. The truth of the kingdom is you got to repent of your sin to enter the kingdom of God. And so he would come preaching that it would be against everything they said.

You see, because in this synagogue, error was there. In this synagogue, Satan was there. In this synagogue, hypocrisy was there. Oh, by the way, in every church, there's error, Satan and hypocrisy. It's in every church. Do you think for one moment it's not in this church or every church? What did Paul say to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20? After my departure, savage wolves will rise from where? Within to turn me away from the faith. They come from within, they don't come from without. Error goes to church, hypocrisy goes to church, Satan goes to church.

Just like he did in the synagogue in this day. Remember back in, I think it's Luke chapter four, Christ is preaching in a synagogue in a Capernaum. If you've been to Israel with me, we've been to that synagogue and preaching in that synagogue, there was a man who was demon possessed right there as Jesus is teaching. And he screams out because of the holiness of God, he can't help but scream. And Christ cast the demon out of the man right there in that synagogue in Capernaum. Satan had gone to, like a better phrase, church that day.

And Jesus, in speaking the truth, conflict erupted with his enemy, the adversary. And of course, Christ cast him out. That is the man who was demon possessed. And so because of Jesus's message about the kingdom, the truth of the kingdom, it went against everything they believed about what they thought heaven was and how to get there. And he came and slammed the door shut on their belief structure so that others would not be led away into error. And they hated him because of that. Listen, whenever you preach the truth, conflict is going to erupt.

Some of you have faced that even in your own families, right? You want to live the truth, you want to teach the truth, you want to obey the truth, and you have conflict, husband against wife, because one believes and one doesn't, right? Or you believe the truth and your wife believes the truth, but your kids don't. So there's conflict that erupts. It's there. Whenever you proclaim the truth, conflict erupts. It just does. Whether you're at church, whether you're at home, whether you're at a Christian school, that's what happens.

I can tell you story after story after story about my college days experience as a college pastor, and all the conflict that erupted just because I opened the Bible on a chapel service and began to preach the truth. I began to preach the truth. I was going to a Christian college not too far from here. He'd asked me to come and do a series of chapel messages, so I went to go do them, and I went to preach. And as I was preaching, I was preaching specifically about the effects of sin, the consequences of sin, how important it was to repent and turn from your sin and follow the Lord.

The very next day, I was at a restaurant getting ready to speak once again at that chapel service, and there were a series of students that were in that same restaurant, and they all got up from the table and walked over to me. They said, you're the chapel speaker, aren't you? I said, yes, yes, I am. Thinking they were going to say something good, they said, you know, we don't really like what you said the other day in chapel. In fact, we were greatly offended that you were so hard on sin in the things you said.

We hope that things will change in today's chapel service. Oh, little did they know that they would not change. So I finished my meal, my breakfast, and I went to that chapel service and sat down with the chaplain of that school. He said, you know, we had a lot of feedback about your sermon on the other day. I said, did you? He said, yeah. You know, you're a little harsh on sin and its consequences, and the students didn't leave really feeling good about what they heard. So you think that you could just tone it down a little bit today?

I said, probably not. In fact, I was planning on being a lot harder today than I was the other day. He said, oh, that's too bad. Then I went and preached harder than I did the day before, or the two days before that. You know, whether it's a Christian institution or whether it's a church, if you preach the truth and it comes against people who want to live in error, conflict will arise. It is inevitable. So Jesus comes preaching the truth. What's going to happen? Conflict. Conflict clarified. It's clarified this way.

Whenever you come to preach the kingdom of God, that God has a right to rule your life because He's the King. You must submit to the kingship of the King. You must come to Him by faith. You must turn from your sin and follow Him. When you do that, people who don't want to do that will come against you. That's just the way it is. It's always been that way. It will always be that way. And unfortunately, churches today, because that's the way it is, they soft soap the message. They don't deal with sinful issues.

They don't deal with the hard issues. They don't come out and speak against them because that offends people who come. So they kind of go softly on crucial issues as to not to offend anyone. Jesus never did that. In fact, Jesus is so wise. He looks for a way to intensify the conflict. Conflict magnified. Number two, conflict intensified.

Look at this. This is so good. And behold, be aware there was a woman. A woman? Yeah, a woman. Now, women in Judaism were looked down upon. I mean, they weren't the epitome of society. They were the low life of society, just a step above sinners, prostitutes, and death gatherers. Okay. But there was a woman there who for 18 years had had a sickness caused by spirit. She was bent double and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, woman, you are freed from your sickness.

And he laid his hands upon her. And immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. Conflict intensified. You see, we've already talked about this. Remember in Luke chapter 13, verse number one?

The Jews had a perspective on people who were sick and diseased, and that is they were out of fellowship with God. They were sinners. Something was wrong with their life. Remember the man in John 9 who sinned, this blind guy, who sinned as to why this man is born blind, him or his parents. That was the natural consequence of someone's problem. There was sin in their life. Remember Job? Job, we know you're the most righteous man on the face of the earth. That's what the Lord God said. But there must be some secret sin in your life as to why you lost your entire family.

You lost your health. You lost everything yet. You must be a sinner, Job. That was their belief. That's why they came in Luke 13. There were some people who sacrifices were mixed with their own lives as Pilate killed them. And Christ says, do you think they're worse sinners because of their death?

Or the tower that fell over and 18 people were killed, are they worse sinners than everybody else? That was their belief. If tragedy happens to you, you're a sinner. If you're born this way, you must have been born in sin. You're a sinner. Here's this woman, 18 years bent over. She must be a sinner. And Christ intensifies the conflict, calls her out of the crowd. She had to be the back. She couldn't have been the front. She was a woman. Christ saw her. He's teaching about things pertaining to the kingdom.

And his conflict is intensified because now his conflict is with Satan because she'd been touched by a spirit, a demon spirit. And that's why she was the way she was, bent over because of some act of Satan. How? Don't know. Why? Don't know. The Bible didn't tell us. It's irrelevant to the story. But there must be something wrong with her as to why she's that way. Folks, that's just not Judaism. That's study too. I remember years ago when my first wife had cancer and she was, you know, very sick and just about to die.

And at the school I was teaching at, there was a whole bunch of charismatic students. And they came to me one day, about 10 of them. And they said, you know, pastor, we really want to go over to your house and pray over your wife and heal her. I said, really? Well, that's great. No, we really think that we can heal her, but we know there must be some sin in her life or yours as to why she has cancer. I said, really? You really believe that? Oh, yeah. Yeah, we believe that. I said, you know, that's not the case.

And so I went through the scriptures with them about why people are sick in scripture, why Paul had a thorn in the flesh by Satan, why Paul left Trophimus and Miletus sick, even though he had the gift of healing. And talked about sickness in the Bible in a biblical perspective. They didn't listen to any of that. They didn't care. They had their mind made up because of their theological system and the charismatic movement. If you are sick, if you are ill, you're not healthy and wealthy and wise, then you have some kind of sin.

You don't have enough faith to be healed. And so word began to spread throughout the college campus that the pastor didn't have enough faith. For his wife to be healed. Or he was in sin or she was in sin. That began to spread. Then Sandy died. Then Sandy died. And the conclusion was either their theology was wrong or our college pastor didn't have enough faith to believe his wife could be healed. And God forbid their theology be wrong, so our college pastor must not have enough faith. Or his wife was living in sin.

That was their conclusion. See, it happens even today. It's not like it's just happening in the Jewish life. That's the way people think. Really? Jesus was going to dispel all that. He's going to erase all that. That's not the case. I mean, it follows right on the back side of that whole parable of the barren fig tree and the caretaker saying, just give me one more year. One more year. Talk about this last week. One more year to fertilize it, to dig around the tree. And then maybe it repents. And if not, cut it down.

Show us the compassion of Christ and the mercy of Christ and the patience of Christ to give people another opportunity. This woman has now another opportunity, see? Another opportunity to be healed, to be saved, to come to know the truth of Almighty God. It's a great story about the character of our God and how he works in the lives of people. So he dispelled the demon. She was healed. Woman, come over here. Now, she's bent over. So in order for her to look up, it's very difficult for her to look up.

She's been bent over for 18 years. The humiliation of being called out in front of everybody. Woman, you, come here. You know, why was she there? Did she know about Jesus? Probably. Did she think she was going to be healed? I don't know. What did she think about God, the great creator and redeemer of mankind? Did God care about her? Was God concerned about her? Had she prayed before? Probably. Had she had others pray for her? Probably. She was an outcast because she was viewed as a sinner as to her condition.

And Christ brings her up in front of everybody. How many people are in the synagogue? We have no idea. The Bible didn't tell us. But he calls her out. He simply says to her, woman, you're free. You're free from your sickness. And he laid his hands upon her and immediately she was made erect. Can you imagine that? And she went down to Casa Kalina for therapy for the next six months. No, because when Jesus heals you, there is no therapy. When Jesus heals you, there is no time element. From the time he says you're healed to the time you're completely better, you are instantaneously, perfectly made well.

And that's what happened. Because having been bent over even for a day would cause your back, your muscles, your spine, everything to ache once you stood up. But for 18 years? Can you imagine? There's no therapy though. So, healed. Spine's perfect. Muscles perfect. Everything's put back together just right. She was healed. Just like that. Woman, you're free. You are free from your sickness. Can you imagine how she must have felt? Well, we know she glorified the Lord. Oh, Lord God, thank you. Now, does she know who Jesus is?

Does she know he's the Messiah? No indication. She glorifies the Lord. She knows God did it. She knows God used this man to heal her. Whether she knew that Jesus was God, the Bible didn't say. That the man born blind and john blind, you know, it doesn't make a difference how I can see. Know this, that the man who did it was used by God to heal me. Know that. And that's what happened here. She was healed and conflict was intensified simply because he was now fighting his adversary. But for Jesus, that's no big deal.

Conflict clarified, intensified, now conflict magnified. Okay, this is in verse 14 and following. The synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the multitude in response, there are six days in which work should be done. Therefore, come during them and get healed and not on the Sabbath. You know, he didn't even go say anything to Jesus, did he? He saw what happened. He could have said, wow, this is great. Wow. Whoa, man, look at that.

That's amazing. There was no praise. There was no recognition of God's power. There was nothing. He was angry. He was displeased. He was indignant because those who live hypocritical lives can't see the work of God, or they don't want to see the work of God. All they could see is their own system, their own belief structure, and they are immune to understanding and seeing the truth. And here was Jesus healing this woman in conflict now is magnified. You know, the miracle he did. Why did Jesus do miracles?

Out of compassion? I mean, he could have done any miracle. He could have created a whole new planet for a miracle. That'd be a miracle, wouldn't it? I'm going to create a new planet right over there. Bam, there it would be. That'd be pretty cool, wouldn't it? He could create a whole new temple, a whole new city. He could do anything you want from the miraculous standpoint. Would you not agree with that? Anything he wanted to do. But his miracles were focused on the pain of people, showing compassion, because he was demonstrating to them the heart of God, which is the heart of compassion, right?

This man didn't know the heart of God, so he couldn't have been rejoicing. Instead, he was indignant. He was angry. He was displeased. And he doesn't even go to Jesus and talk to him. Instead, he addresses the audience. He addressed the audience. He didn't deny the miracle. He couldn't deny the miracle, right? Did the synagogue ruler know she was been over for 18 years? Sure. Luke mentions that, because everybody knew it. So he couldn't deny the miracle. They never denied his miracles. We've told you this over and over again.

They never denied a miracle Jesus did, because they couldn't. It was obvious. They just attributed what he did to who? Satan. Must be Satan. Can't be God, because he breaks the Sabbath. He's not one of us. He believes something different. He says something different. He must not be like us. And of course, he wasn't. Deuteronomy 5 says you were not to work on the Sabbath. That's true. Sabbath was made for man, that he might learn to rest. So let me ask you a question.

Where's the work? What's the work here? Is the work in what Jesus said? Woman, you're free. Is that work? Is that the work? Or was it her standing erect, having been bent over for 18 years, now stands up. Is that the work? What's the work? There is no work. You see, there is no work here. And even if there was, he is the Lord of the Sabbath. He can do whatever he wants to do. On that day, he is the Lord of that Sabbath. But there is no work. And think about this. They couldn't have had a rule of no healing on the Sabbath, because nobody healed.

Right? Think about it. Well, let's think. Let's say, okay, there is no healing on the Sabbath, because that would be a violation of the law. So let's make that a part of our code of conduct. Nobody healed. So they couldn't have had a rule, no healing on the Sabbath, because they had never seen a miracle until Jesus came. See? In 400 silent years before God had even spoken to Israel, to the Old Testament and the New Testament. And so Jesus comes and heals this person. And the guy says, you've got six days to be healed, which really is an indictment against the woman, right?

Poor lady. What did she do? Jesus said, come. So she comes. Woman, you're free. Stand up. She stands up, touches her. What did she do? Did she ask to be healed? No. She didn't ask to be healed. Lord, please heal me. She wasn't asking that. There's no indication that she raised her hand and said, I'd like to be healed. Can you take care of me? Jesus is preaching about the kingdom. She gets healed because of the compassion of Christ. Conflict becomes magnified. It says in verse 15, the Lord answered and said to him, you hypocrites.

You know, Jesus never spoke very kindly to hypocrites, did he? You hypocrites. You phonies. You're a fraud. You're a fake. Nothing true about you whatsoever. You're a liar. See, you call somebody out today, people say, you're just so unkind. You're just not loving. I guess Jesus wasn't very loving, was he? No, on the contrary. He is love. So everything he said was loving. You hypocrites. You frauds. Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him?

Because in the Mishnah, the Mishnah simply is the codification of Jewish rabbinic teaching. That's all it is. There was the law. Sure, you got to lead your ox to drink if he's thirsty, right? And they had a set of rules of how far you could go and the size of the water hole. Yeah, they did. It was kind of cumbersome, but they could do that. And Jesus calls into question their own belief structure. This woman, a daughter of Abraham, as she is, whom Satan has bound for 18 long years, should she not have been released from the bond of this bond on the Sabbath day?

I mean, what better day to do it? What better day that when you gather to receive the instruction about the character and nature of God than for her to be healed on this day? What better day to do it? Because in the Mishnah, there was the mercy that would be available for people. They never had a law against showing mercy. No, because God wanted them to be merciful. He says, this is mercy. This is just compassion. This is love, kindness, goodness. This is what this is. That's all it is. And you hypocrites, you'll take care of your donkey, your ox, but you won't take care of this poor woman who for 18 years has been this way.

So conflict is magnified. Wow. Conflict then is dignified. And as he said this, all his opponents were being humiliated. There were a lot of opponents and they were humiliated and thus they should be. If you come against the truth and you have a belief structure that's contrary to the Word of God, God is going to humiliate you horribly, but not near the humiliation they're going to have on the day of judgment if they don't repent of their sins, right? And they're humiliated. And the entire multitude was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

You know, this woman straightened up on the Sabbath is like a metaphor for Israel's crookedness and needed to be made straight because they were bent over. They were so crooked. They needed to be made straight. And this conflict is dignified in the fact that not only were these men who opposed Christ humiliated, but the others who saw were overwhelmed, overwhelmed by the acts of kindness and compassion by this one called Jesus the Messiah. She becomes to us, this woman, even an analogy of salvation because she can't do anything.

She didn't ask to be healed. She was healed. It was a sovereign choice of God. Of all the people that were there today, maybe there were others there who was sick. We don't know. But she was a sovereign choice of Jesus Christ our Lord. Just chose her right on the crowd. You, come. Today's your day. Today you're going to be healed. And it was no effort of her own. She did nothing, didn't ask for it. We don't know about insatiating faith, right? Does she have faith to be healed? No. There's no faith on her part because faith is never a prerequisite for healing.

Christ healed people all the time with no faith. No faith. That wasn't a prerequisite. He heals who he wants to heal, when he wants to heal them, how he wants to heal them. And she experienced the sovereign choice, the sovereign deliverance that produced praise because of what God did in her life. You know, a lot of us are bent over by the burdens of our sin. Not physically, but spiritually. Sin tends to weigh you down, doesn't it? The psalmist says, I've only got a few minutes left, but the psalmist says in Psalm 38, verse number six, I am bent over and greatly bowed down.

I go mourning all day long. Sometimes we're bowed down because of sin. David was. It just wore him out. Sometimes people are worn out because of the sin. Not because of anything. It's just a sin. It could be a secret sin. It could be a ton of sin to just worn out, bowed down because there's sin. Others, as the psalmist says, and Psalm 42 are not bowed down because of sin, but they're bowed down because of sorrow. The psalmist says, why are you sunk down? Oh, my soul. And why have you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall again praise him for the help of his presence. Sometimes it's because of sorrow and shame. Others, it's because of suffering. Psalm 44, verse number 25, for our soul has sunk down to the dust. Our body cleaves to the earth. The psalmist said because of his affliction and his oppression in verse 24. Maybe here tonight you're bowed down because of Satan. You're in the kingdom of darkness and don't understand the kingdom of God is your son. Maybe you're bowed down because your sin is weighing you down.

Your sorrow over some difficulty, some pain, some overwhelming problem that seems to encompass your soul. Or maybe you're bowed down because of your suffering. It's been so long. It's been so excruciating. What do you do? You go to the deliverer, the one who can make you straight and raise you up, who can revive your soul. Only the Lord can do that. Your pastor can't. Your husband or wife can't. Your parents can't. Although they'll lead you to the truth, but only God and his word can do that. That's why the psalmist said in Psalm 119, these words very clearly, this is my comfort and my affliction.

Thy word has revived me. It's instilled. It's instilled and infused in me the ability to stand strong. Turn away my eyes from evil and revive me in thy ways, verse 37 of Psalm 119. Behold, I long for thy precepts. Revive me through thy righteousness. My soul cleaves to the dust. Revive me according to thy word, verse 25 of Psalm 119. Revive me according to thy lovingkindness, that I may keep thy testimony of thy mouth, verse 88. I will never forget thy precepts, for by them thou hast revived me. Verse 107, I am exceedingly afflicted.

Revive me, O Lord, according to thy word. Over and over again, the psalmist said, revive me. Revive me, Lord, according to thy word, according to thy testimonies, thy precepts. God's word causes you to stand erect, stand strong, because God uses his word in the lives of his people. God is so good, so great, so wonderful. The story of this woman and God's miraculous work in her life is what God wants to do in all of our lives. Who are bent under the load of Satan, some sin, sorrow, or suffering, he wants to straighten you.

Won't you let him do that? Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for tonight, the chance to be in your word, the joy we have in studying you. For truly, Lord, you are a great God and you're worthy to be praised. Your work is beyond comparison. It's incomparable. We are grateful that we can study the scriptures to see what you did and what you want to do even today in our lives. Take the wounded soul, take the broken soul, take the sorrowing soul, the suffering soul, cause them to be revived, stand strong, because your word is our comfort amidst our affliction, amidst our oppression, and even our depression.

Cause us to stand on truth, for you, Lord, are the God of truth. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.