Healing on the Sabbath: Mercy Over Ritual

Death comes and the kingdom grows. And here today in this passage that Ms.

Sharon read earlier for us, Luke 13, 10 through 14, verse six.

And if you need to read that again, I encourage you to do that.

Even read this afternoon again, but Luke bookends the next section of his gospel

here with accounts of two miraculous healings.

In Luke 13, verse 11, we're introduced to a woman, it says, who had been crippled

Luke 13:11

by a spirit for how many years? 18 years.

Demonic affliction in the New Testament often manifested itself through physical suffering.

You can look in Matthew 12, 22, and in this woman's case, according to the passage

here, she was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

And the long duration of her suffering makes her situation here all the more

pitiable and all the more startling here at Jesus' healing power.

And the terrible oppression of an evil spirit here had defined this woman's

life, think about this, for almost two decades.

But Jesus' power here in this passage and his authority, church,

is such that he can set her free from her infirmity, it says in verse 12,

with a touch of his hands in verse 13.

And for her part, the woman knows that Jesus' ministry represents the work of

God. And so she knows to whom she should offer praise once she's able to straighten up in verse 13.

And then as we see, we'll take a quick jump here so we can look back at this.

But in chapter 14, verse 2, we actually read about a man who had dropsy.

Remember that other healing in this passage? And it's an often painful condition

where the tissues in the body swell with excess fluid.

Now it's commonly referred to as edema, right?

And so that's the swelling of the legs, the feet, all that. But unlike the bent-over

woman in the synagogue that we saw earlier, there's no indication that this

man's condition is the result of direct demonic influence in the passage.

But Luke here, being the doctor, you know, you like Dr. Luke,

he's about the details, but he reports the healing simply with a minimum of

detail, merely just telling us here in this passage that Jesus took him and what?

He healed him and he sent him away in verse 4.

Of chapter 14 and that brings us this morning to the question of the sabbath in this passage.

The question of the Sabbath, the power, Eastwood, and compassion of Jesus is

on clear display here in both of these healings, is it not?

But there's actually a much larger issue at stake in these events.

In fact, the setting for each of these miracles is what day again?

The Sabbath day, right? You can look back in verse 10 of chapter 13,

verse 1 of chapter 14 there of Luke. A day when the people of Israel had been

instructed by the Lord to rest from their labors.

Jesus' act of actually healing on the Sabbath brought him into conflict with

the scruples of the religious leaders who actually seemed to believe that healing

constituted work that was unlawful on the Sabbath.

And so what we end up with here, what we wind up with, a pair of disconnects,

right? That would be funny if they were not so sad.

You see here, you got a woman is released, y'all,

from demonic oppression, but the synagogue leader is indignant,

and he scolds the crowd for not coming to get healed on the other days that

they could come, some other day but the Sabbath, in verse 14.

And similarly, the prospect of healing, again, of this sick man,

is met with the stony silence, as we see in this first point,

of the religious leaders.

And this conflict seems to be exactly, don't miss this, Jesus' intentions.

For in each of the case, if you look in the passage, Jesus is the one driving the action. Is he not?

He saw the afflicted woman and he called her over to himself,

it says in verse 2 of chapter 13.

He himself initiated the conversation about whether or not it would be appropriate

to actually heal the sick man on the Sabbath in chapter 14, verse 3 as well.

You see, Jesus' ministry blesses the two people who are healed.

Now, y'all probably, I don't know if any of you have ever needed a healing or you had an infirmity.

Maybe some of you can relate to some of these right here and maybe in a little different way.

But don't you think these two people, obviously in this passage,

they are blessed to be healed.

But it also serves to highlight the hypocrisy of his opponents.

They imagine that, y'all, they are the ones who love the law of God,

but they're actually criticizing Jesus for doing something that's obviously

in keeping with the purpose and the spirit of God's law.

Jesus here demonstrates that their hypocrisy, he demonstrates it by pointing

to the way that they treat what?

Their animals, for one, right? Surely they don't allow their animals to dehydrate

and go hungry, because it is the Sabbath, he says in verse 15, right?

That leads us to the next point. Their actions here in this passage actually

betray the fact that they understand that the law regarding the Sabbath was

never intended to create or perpetuate suffering.

If it's permissible, Jesus is letting them know here in this passage,

to care for a donkey on the Sabbath, how much more is it permissible to heal

a daughter of Abraham. Do you see it there in the text?

Who has been suffering for so long at the hand of Satan.

Jesus calls it out in verse 16.

Y'all, they end up humiliated by their own hypocrisy, unable to see Jesus's

actions here as wonderful, it says in verse 17.

They were missing the boat, right? The healing of the man with dropsy or edema

took place in a similar environment of distrust, right? Of suspicion.

They were looking for ways to trip Jesus up, right? They were just meticulously

trying to find something.

And Luke tells us that Jesus was being carefully watched, all right,

in the home of a prominent Pharisee.

In verse one of chapter 14, Jesus, y'all, may well have had a reputation,

of performing acts of mercy on the Sabbath by this point.

And his opponents here, once again, we're looking for a reason to criticize Jesus.

In verse 3, Jesus presses home the question that everybody's asking.

Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?

His opponents here in this passage refuse to go on record with a response.

In other words, they don't have the backbone or really any real convictions to stand on, right?

But Jesus's actions make his answer very clear. just as he did in chapter 13,

he demonstrates here the hypocrisy of those church who would pit God's law against God's mercy.

What does he say in chapter 14? He said, if any one of you has a child or an

ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?

Verse 5 of chapter 14 again exposing

their hypocrisy what does it do to his

opponents in verse 6 there that last verse sharon read it silences them wow

we might not relate to the way that the pharisees zealously guarded the observance

of the sabbath as we see in this next point But there might be, church.

Some things in our own lives that have become so important to us that we miss

out on what God is doing around us. Do you hear?

There might be some things in our life that have become so important to us that

we miss out on the things God is doing around us.

Sometimes I believe with all my heart, y'all, that we put our schedules and

our calendars in such a way that we schedule God out of the equation.

But let me say this, church programs, personal discipline, styles of music you

throw, whatever, may be all well and good, but if they prevent us from showing

mercy to those in need or helping others to grow in Jesus,

y'all, then we have to ask ourselves whether the Lord would have us reorder our priorities.

We were reading a passage this morning, Proverbs 3, 5, and 6,

and one of the cross references we were looking at was Matthew 6, 33.

Some of you probably could quote it right now.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things that

you have need of, right, will be added to you.

And I think so often, I know I, and I believe we're all in this boat as humans,

reorder our priorities.

Acknowledge Jesus. Acknowledge his presence in everything we do.

Acknowledge God in our life. Put him first.

And that brings us to the kingdom, church, that actually grows. The kingdom that grows.

The Greek text of chapter 13, verse 18, actually contains that really nice word, therefore.

Un, in Greek, which helps us to really interpret Jesus' words here in light

of verses 18 through 21, right?

In light of the healing that came immediately before them,

the demonstration of power here that could deliver this bent over woman from

the power of Satan has in verses four and five raised the question that Jesus

picks up in both verses 18 and verse 20.

If Jesus is establishing, church, the kingdom of God, What will it look like?

Will it be characterized by spectacular displays of spiritual might?

Will there be a military and political conquest attached to it?

Jesus' answers here might not be what we would expect initially.

What does he say? Don't miss this today. The kingdom of God is like a mustard

seed planted by a man in his garden,

it says in verse 19, and like yeast that's mixed into about 60 pounds of flour in verse 21.

Each of those examples, y'all, puts in our minds something that might seem small,

maybe insignificant, right?

But ultimately, what's going to happen? It's going to grow to have an extensive

impact. As we see in this first point here, a tiny little mustard seed,

Eastwood, can grow to be an impressive tree, according to this passage, that can shelter birds.

That tiny little seed.

Also, in this next point, a small bit of leaven or yeast can have massive influence,

leavening all of a large batch of dough.

Little, something that starts so small, can have such a massive impact.

And y'all, even that's for evil or good, right? And this is what the kingdom of God is like.

Its beginnings, y'all, may not be impressive to the Pharisees and the rulers of the synagogues.

A woman who can now stand up straight, though, a man whose limbs are actually

no longer filled with fluid, those things might seem like just mere drops of

water in the whole big ocean of human suffering.

But how can that be the kingdom of God? How can that be?

Y'all don't miss this. If you give it time, Jesus is telling them here,

challenging them, it will change everything.

It will grow and it will spread like a tree.

It'll transform everything like yeast in the dough.

That's the way the kingdom of God will work. It doesn't work like the kingdoms of this world. Amen.

It doesn't. In fact, In fact, you know, the kingdoms of this world actually

rise to power suddenly so often

and spectacularly only to fade from the scene in just a blink of an eye.

But instead, as we see in this next point on the screen, it grows slowly.

God's kingdom grows slowly and imperceptibly until it has achieved incredible influence.

And I think to today, you know, the history of the church actually serves,

y'all, as an illustration of Jesus' teaching.

In the book of Acts, if you remember, we see a small band of disciples actually

grow to the point where people from every nation on earth are able to actually

perch in its branches, it says.

The message about Jesus spreads slowly slowly.

But until it's just reached every part of the map, leavening the entire lump

of the world, if you will,

the very existence, Eastwood, of our faith, separated as we are from Jesus's

earthly ministry by a great span of distance and time here, it actually gives

evidence for what Jesus is teaching right here.

As we see in this next slide, it's actually the way of God to begin something

great in small and unimpressive ways that actually confound human expectations and vanity.

Though the beginnings may seem humble and the growth may even seem small,

Eastwood, nothing can stop the kingdom of God from spreading through the whole world.

You know, we probably sit here today. We're worshiping the Lord here at Eastwood

Baptist Church. We're in Babonette, Alabama.

And some people will classify, obviously, our church as a small church, you know.

But, you know, we've known that God has been moving in our midst,

and he's been bringing us people. We've been growing. God has been doing things.

And sometimes we're like, man, is this what the kingdom of God is like?

Yeah, it's what it's like.

Jesus says in this passage, starts out really small.

Really small, and it explodes. The impact explodes.

Wow. God here, the kingdom of God, nothing can stop it from spreading throughout the whole world.

Though the opponents of the church may seem fierce and powerful,

and by the way, don't we have opponents of the church today?

Nothing, church, I want you to remember this, nothing will prevent Jesus's kingdom from growing.

Nothing. You can't stop it.

God is on the throne, not man. God is on the throne.

It doesn't matter who sits as the president of the United States of America.

God is on the throne, and his purposes will come to pass.

Let me tell you something. This should be an encouragement to us when it doesn't

seem that God is at work in the world around us sometimes.

When we share the gospel, by the way the good news you know what i figured out

in order to appreciate the good news you got to first know the bad news.

Y'all, we have to be honest. We are all, apart from Jesus Christ,

giving us his righteousness, we are filthy, dirty sinners in need of a savior.

And until we humble ourselves and realize that, and the bad news is we can't,

our righteousness is a filthy rag.

So we can't do anything to help ourselves, Eastwood.

It's not like you can give enough money or not like somehow you can help enough

people or do this, that, or other good work. No, it's not about that.

It's about we're bankrupt spiritually.

We need Jesus' righteousness. We need somebody who stood in our place as the

perfect substitute, truly God, truly man.

And he took our place on the cross. That's what we need.

But sometimes when we share the gospel, this good news, but we don't see immediate

good fruit, we have to remember, Eastwood, that God works in his own ways,

in his own timing, does he not?

When our churches and our daily lives just seem ordinary and unspectacular.

Y'all, we should take comfort from the lesson of the mustard seed.

God does not often work in ways that seem impressive at the beginning.

We can continue being faithful, knowing, though, that God is in no hurry and

that he is content to build patiently and slowly. Amen.

How many of you like that instant microwave stuff? I mean, you hungry, what you gonna do?

Bada-ba, bada-bam, right? It's done. That's just not how his kingdom works.

He's patient. And by the way, aren't you thankful he's patient and kind and

willing with us, with me? Hallelujah.

I mean, I don't want him to get in a hurry. And by the way, he is so patient.

If we fail in this particular class, he'll give us a do-over in it,

right? Just like a loving father.

Man, the kingdom of God is built patiently and slowly. And that brings us to

the question, a lot or a few?

The events recorded here in Luke chapter 13, verses 22 through 35,

Luke 13:22–35

they don't necessarily follow chronologically from those of the previous passage.

In fact, verse 22 seems to indicate that some time has actually passed since

the conclusion of verse 21, as Jesus actually traveled around the region teaching.

But the question that's posed in verse 23 does seem to indicate that Jesus'

warning about judgment and division have actually touched a nerve here.

And so somebody asked this important question.

I don't know if you've thought about this before. Listen to it.

Will those who are saved be few?".

Will those who are saved be few? Is Jesus saying that something less than all

of Israel is going to take part in the redemption of the Messiah?

Jesus here, he does not answer the question directly, but two illustrations

that he actually uses to speak about salvation.

Let me just tell y'all, they're very sobering, by the way. First, he says what?

Look at verse 24. he says that it is entered through a narrow door gate,

right? Verse 24, narrow.

Y'all, contrary here to the common religious pluralism, if you will, of our day,

which actually likes to imagine that many religions of the world would just

represent different paths to the same salvation. You've heard that before, right?

But as we see in this first point, Jesus teaches Eastwood, that the only way

into salvation is through a proper response to him and his teaching. That's it.

It's a narrow door, not one that a person would just go through casually or accidentally.

It's narrow. The way is narrow. And you remember in other passages,

remember, it's narrow but the way to destruction is what broad or wide right

not only is salvation like a narrow door but it's a door that jesus says in

verse 25 what will one day be what closed or permanently shut.

Cutting off, he says here, anyone who is not already inside.

The opportunity to respond to the message of Jesus was actually fleeting for the people in that day.

In other words, it was going away because Jesus was making his way to Jerusalem, was he not?

Verse 22, where what would happen to him? He would be executed.

The crowds might be taking comfort.

It even says here in the passage from the fact that they're actually eating

and drinking with Jesus, that he's teaching in their streets.

You know, it's kind of like, you know, Jesus is my buddy.

He's right here in my town. I've been eating and drinking meals and drinking

and eating meals with him.

So they're taking comfort in that fact.

It says in verse 26, they might even imagine that this indicates that they're

on the side of his salvation.

But y'all, unless they respond to his message of repentance all the way back

in verse 5, you know what he's going to do?

According to verse 25 and 27, he will disavow any knowledge of them.

You remember those words, depart from me, you workers of iniquity or lawlessness, I never knew you.

For us today, 2025, about to be 2026, the urgency here this morning of Jesus's

message all comes from the certainty, we've learned the last couple of weeks,

number one, of our death.

The soul that sins, it shall surely die. Do you know the ultimate statistic?

One out of everyone dies.

You can't escape it. Why do you die?

Why do people get sick with cancer and die? Why do people get in head-on collisions

and die? Why do people just die?

Sin. The wages of sin is death.

That's why you die. that's why we all die we're all on death row,

You see, the certainty of our death brings urgency here of Jesus' message.

And the possibility, we also learned the other week, that Jesus might return any moment.

In the terms here of Jesus' response, these events have the effect of actually

closing that door. That, what kind of door?

Narrow door. Closing the door of salvation.

Y'all, there will come a day when it is too late and there will no longer be

an opportunity to respond to Jesus's message.

And I don't know when that day will be for you.

Today is the day. If you have not responded in repentance and faith,

if you've not laid it all down at the foot of Jesus, because as you know, D.L.

Moody said, the ground is level at the foot of the cross.

We're all sinners. We're all in need of a savior. and I'm thankful that the

blood of God Almighty can cover any sin.

No sin can rise above his love. His blood is shed for me.

None of it. But there's coming that day, y'all, when that door,

that narrow door, will be shut permanently and there won't be an opportunity

for you to respond before you die.

And when you're dead, you're dead.

In the sense of being able to ever respond to that message.

It's over. And none of us know our appointment with death, but we do know we have one.

Some of y'all may be saying, Brother Judd, I came here to get pumped up today.

You're kind of making me go, you know, man, yes, Debbie Downer, right?

No, I'm giving you reality. In fact, it actually says that Ecclesiastes,

I believe that the wise person, the wise man thinks much about death,

but the fool only lives for having a good time.

Y'all, I just have to say again this morning, it's not too late right now.

It's not too late right now. Have you repented? Have you put your faith in Jesus?

Have you entered through that narrow door, not on your own merits,

but on the merits of what Jesus did for you?

He was born of a virgin. We've learned about this here at Christmas.

He lived a perfect sinless life in thought, word, and deed.

He was God in the flesh, yet he was also truly human.

If he hadn't been both, salvation wouldn't have happened.

It took the blood of God to pay for my sins, and it took a perfect substitute as a human in my place.

I need that. You need that. You need, I need the righteousness of Christ imputed

or credited to your account.

When God looks at you on judgment day, and that could be today,

he looks at you, he sees Jesus.

He looks at the cross, he sees you in Christ.

We're buried with him. We're raised to newness of life. At this moment,

y'all, anyone who actually knocks on the door of salvation will have it open for them.

Talks about that all the way back in chapter 11, verse 9 of Luke.

You see, Jesus does not force his hearers to guess about the proper response to his warning, does he?

Look, in chapter 13, verse 24, the command is what? Look at this,

as we draw here near close, to make every effort to enter through the narrow door.

Remember, we saw that it was a narrow door.

Jesus is telling them here, make every effort to enter through the narrow door.

The sense of that Greek word there that Luke uses, agonesis,

it has the sense of intense exertion, if you will, toward a goal.

We can't take for granted, in other words, that we have entered into God's salvation,

but we got to invest all of our energy, he's saying, in making sure that we

are through that door before it is too late.

We should not misunderstand this, though. I know some of you may have thought

of this when I just said that, and even when you heard those words from Jesus.

You may have misunderstood. Jesus is saying that we got to strive to pile up

good works that will merit passage through that door.

Nope, that's not what he said. As we see in this point here,

the point is to labor hard at listening and responding to his message.

In other words, y'all ever had that, you know, when you have the remote control

for the TV, I know guys love those.

Ladies, I don't know if y'all are obsessed with them like we are,

but we love to push the buttons.

Some of y'all saying, yeah, you do love to push the buttons.

But anyway, there is a button on there. It starts with an M.

You know what it's called?

Mute. And I think sometimes we like to hit the mute button when it comes to things of God.

It's like, let me get out of here, Brother Judd. I know I've heard this a thousand times before.

Let me get out of here. I got something to do today. And we hit the mute button

on God's Holy Spirit. it.

His point here is labor hard at listening and responding to his message.

My people perish through lack of knowledge, right? You know,

a lot of times I think we turn a deaf ear to a loving call to us in our life

because we think that, hey, I got it all figured out.

And we don't. We don't.

And let me just tell you here, there's going to be some unexpected guests,

Jesus said, and he's going to kind of get under their skin.

You know, I've talked about pushing buttons. Jesus might be pushing a few buttons here.

If Jesus' audience, as we see in this next slide of unexpected guests,

if Jesus' audience found it surprising that the door of salvation was narrow

and likely to close at any moment, y'all, guess what?

They're probably even more surprised

to find out who would make it through the door and who would not.

The Jewish nation, Eastwood, took great comfort from the fact that they were God's people.

After all, right? They had access to God's word, all of the promises that God

made to the patriarchs, all of it.

But in Luke chapter 13 here, verse 28, Jesus seeks to actually undermine their

Luke 13 · chapter mention

self-reliance, their self-confidence.

They'll experience great sorrow and pain. Look at what he says. Look at the text.

Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Did you see that? When they find themselves, what?

Thrown out. Left to actually just gaze on their beloved patriarchs and prophets

enjoying that great feast that they would celebrate the ultimate coming of the Lord, right?

The ultimate coming of the kingdom of God. It talks about in Isaiah 25 for the

Old Testament roots of that image. You can look at that today, Isaiah 25, 6 through 9.

But as we see in this first point on this slide, the shock of their exclusion

church will be actually compounded by the sight of what? Remember from the passage, non-Jews.

People from, it says literally in verse 29 of Luke 13, people from the east

and west and north and south. That means everybody.

You know what they're doing? Whether they look on it and gaze on it,

taking their place at the great celebration.

Because you remember the passage our Lord we read? They thought that it was

all okay because Jesus was just hanging with them, right?

They were hanging with Jesus, but they never responded properly.

They never actually listened to his call that he was telling them to enter through the narrow door.

And so they look at all this stuff they're counting on and they're starting

to gaze and they see people, hey, they're getting in.

I thought I was God's chosen people.

But he says, look, they're taking your place at the celebration.

The coming of Jesus, y'all, reverses human expectations.

As we see in this next point, the people of God are not those who are born to

a certain nation, but rather, they are actually those who receive God's Son with faith.

That's the people of God who receive his Son with faith.

And some of you are probably thinking, yep, you're thinking about passages and

all Israel will be saved.

One day they'll turn and they will repent, right?

But the first will now be last and the last will be first, he says in verse 30.

The insiders here, in other words, have traded places with the outsiders.

Do you see that in this passage?

We got to make every effort to ensure that we make it through the door and into

that great celebration.

Y'all, into that great celebration. And by the way, there's nothing new here

as we see in this next slide.

Nothing new. Luke has already given us an indication that Herod Antipas,

you remember him, is going to be a problem.

He had beheaded John the Baptist all the way back in chapter 9,

verse 9, and was perplexed by the meaning of Jesus and his ministry, it says.

He'll also appear later, by the way, in the passion narrative that we get to in Luke 23.

But for now, you see in the passage here as we draw to a close,

some of the Pharisees warned Jesus that Herod wants to kill him.

It's not clear, y'all, whether these particular Pharisees were actually motivated

by just a benevolent, I guess you would say,

desire to protect Jesus, or whether they just simply couldn't resist an opportunity

to frustrate one of Herod's plans because they hated him so much.

But as we see on this slide, Jesus, for his part, what does he do?

He actually dismisses Herod. What does he call him?

A fox, right? And he vows to continue the God-given mission of driving out demons

and healing people in verse 32. Wow.

That'll ultimately, y'all, culminate, though, in his crucifixion.

That's where his mind is set, right?

His crucifixion and his resurrection on the third day.

Jesus would, in fact, here, leave the area where Herod has authority.

And actually, he would head to Jerusalem. them.

But not because he was fleeing his treachery in any way, but instead,

what does it say in verse 33?

He must press on today and tomorrow and the next day. He was on mission with his father.

He was on mission. That's an expression really that is kind of a Hebraic idiom,

if you will, for a short indefinite period of time. He's got his press on.

The historical record here supports It's Jesus' pointed characterization here

that Sharon read towards the end of her reading of Jerusalem as the city that

actually kills the prophets and stones those sent to them.

Remember I was saying earlier about hitting buttons, hitting the mute button?

It's like, hometown, hit the mute button.

And in this sense here, Jesus' picture of Jewish people, again,

being outside of God's kingdom, it's not a new development, nothing new, right?

It's the continuation here of a longstanding pattern of rejecting God and the ones he sent.

I hope that's not a pattern in your life or my life. Do you reject God's discipline in your life?

Do you reject things that God sends your way? Do you ultimately,

do you reject his plan of salvation? How do we respond when God Almighty disciplines

us, corrects us, or challenges us, or offers us salvation? How do we respond?

Even with Jerusalem's record of rebellion that Jesus points out,

the posture of Jesus' heart here toward that city, can you see it in the passage?

It's like that of a father, y'all, mourning over his son's waywardness.

This anguish. Or a hen, you see that? "'seeking to protect her chicks.'.

As we see in this next point, in the end, Jesus' compassion,

y'all, and this is so sad, you don't be met with rejection.

I hope that's not your response today. The city is neither going to receive

Jesus nor care, his care to them or his love for them.

You see, when we walk away from God, when we turn our back on his salvation,

when we don't want to enter through that narrow door, we don't humble ourselves

under the mighty hand of God, We just ignore that kind of love,

right? We turn our back on that.

And the reference to your house there in verse 35, man, it could refer,

you know, broadly to the city or maybe more narrowly to the temple in particular, possibly.

In either event, though, God's judgment, the point here, is going to fall on them.

God's judgment, apart from Christ, y'all, is going to fall on you.

It's either going to fall on Jesus. He took it. He paid it all.

Or you're going to refuse that gift and you're going to take that on you.

You'll bear the full brunt of God's wrath.

In either event, it's going to happen. Those who wish to be like Jesus,

y'all, would do well to consider his compassion.

Do you see his compassion as he grieves for Jerusalem, for that rebellious city?

As we see here, this next point here, a Christian, hopefully all of us,

But if you don't know the Lord, like I say, today can be your day.

A Christian, y'all, should take no delight in the condemnation of the sinner.

None at all. Let's look at Ezekiel 33, 11.

But you know what? We should all be moved to tears, y'all, at the thought of

somebody sitting beside you today, rejecting the very gospel,

the very good news that could save them.

Don't walk away. The reference to the crowds here calling out,

blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

In verse 35, well, it initially calls to mind Jesus' triumphal entry,

doesn't it, into the city.

But it's unlikely that this is what he's referring to right here for two reasons, I think.

First, Matthew actually places this statement here after the triumphal entry,

right, in Matthew 23, verse 39.

Matthew 23:39

And then second, the city's rejection that we see of Jesus in this passage doesn't

seem to fit well with the crowd's exuberant reception of Jesus at that triumphal entry, does it?

So we see that here in the passage that it's more likely that Jesus is here.

Actually, he's quoted from Psalm 118, verse 26, as a reference to his future return in judgment.

Psalms 118:26

At that time, y'all, the people of Jerusalem will have no choice but to acknowledge

Jesus as the Lord's King.

The very thing, Eastwood, they're being invited to do throughout this passage

we studied this morning, the same is true for each one of us.

Take a look at this slide. will either hail Jesus as King now, today.

Or, and we'll so enter the great feast through the narrow door,

or else we'll be gnashing our teeth as we're forced to acknowledge him after

the door has been shut. Do you see that in the passage?

Do you see that? Have you entered through that narrow door?

I'm gonna invite you, just stand

with us for a moment, bow your head for a moment. Boy, what a passage.

Yeah, it's a little lengthy, but let me tell you, what a passage.

Jesus is calling out,

people to see the kingdom of God, first of all, to see that it starts small like a mustard seed.

May not seem like it has a lot of impact, just a little here,

a little yeast there, but it grows. It makes such a great impact.

And he lets people know, look, there's one way, there's a narrow door.

And y'all, you don't go through that door accidentally. In fact,

some people in the South think they're born through the door because of the family they're in.

You don't go through that door because you come to church every Sunday.

The only way you and I enter through that door is by humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God.

Letting the Holy Spirit reveal God to us.

Kneeling before Him and surrender. Kneeling before Him and saying,

Jesus, forgive me, a sinner.

And we go through Jesus. Amen? We go through Jesus. He's that door. He's that narrow door.

We go through Him alone in Christ alone.

This morning, if you've never repented and put your faith and trust in him,

if you've never had that life change, y'all, today is your day of salvation.

Right where you're standing, just let him know. Say, Lord, forgive me a sinner, Lord.

Lord, forgive me, Lord. I believe you died in my place that you rose again on

the third day, defeating death, hell, and the grave, Lord.

I put all my hope, all my trust in you alone for my salvation.

Nothing I have in my hand I can bring to offer.

Only to you, Lord, I cling to what you did for me.

If that's you today and you prayed that prayer, I encourage you right now, step out, come forward.

Let us know what Jesus has done in your life.

Some others here today, maybe you've been coming to Eastwood Baptist Church.

Maybe you have been saying, Lord, I know God wants me here.

Lord, I know you want me here. And maybe God's showing you today,

hey, today's the day you need to come join Eastwood Baptist Church to plug in,

to be a part of this local body of believers.

Whatever it is, you do as God leads. Father God, even now, we ask that your

spirit would continue to move, Lord. Help us to obey.

Help us to trust. In Jesus' name.