Luke 6:6-11; Stretch Forth Your hand

You have your Bible there once you turn with me

to Luke chapter six. So we continue in the Gospel

of Luke Luke chapter six. Now, last week we started

Luke six, and Luke six begins with Jesus on the

the Deutero proton, the second Sabbath after the first Sabbath,

whatever that was some designation for a special Sabbath. And

the disciples are plucking the grains from the from the

ears of the mature wheat as they pass through the fields,

and the Pharisees are following along, and they say, what

are you doing breaking the Sabbath? And so Jesus explained,

and we talked about all of the example that he

gave with David and so forth. Last week, now we

come to another Sabbath. So we're going to look today

beginning in verse six. So you notice in six came

to pass on another Sabbath. So we're still in.

This sabbath period. Jesus is teaching.

The question of how to act on the Sabbath day.

Still is following Jesus in today's passage while he is

in the synagogue teaching on the Sabbath day. I was

thinking if there was an old Testament.

Example of what we're about to read.

And I came upon the story of Daniel, and I'm

sure you remember the story of.

Daniel in the lions Den right.

Most of the time when we think of that story,

we think of the lions, you know, and the den,

and the long night the Darius spent in prayer and fasting,

and maybe we think of our favorite preschool picture of

Daniel surrounded by sleepy lions, or perhaps something a little

more artistic, maybe Daniel kneeling in prayer and a light

coming down through the opening of the den and an

angel standing beside him or something, you know, something like that.

And then of course the lions off in the in

the in the.

Corner, you know, gathered up in the corner.

But Daniel's story, the story of Daniel and the Lions,

then begins somewhat like what we're about to read today.

The way Daniel was betrayed is the same way that

the Pharisees are trying to betray Jesus, because it says

then the presidents and the princes sought to find occasion

against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find none

occasion or fault forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was

there any error or fault found in him. Then said

these men, we shall not find any occasion against this Daniel,

except we find it against him concerning the.

Law of his God.

And so I think what we have here is the

Pharisees trying to do the same thing. They want some

breach of the law evident in the life of Jesus,

and of course they're not going to find it, because

he perfectly kept the law.

And as the Heidelberg.

Catechism teaches us in today's sixtieth Question and Answer, he

kept it so that he could be the perfect substitute

for us and impute to us God's righteousness, just as

if we had kept the law perfectly. So this passage,

and we're gonna read six to eleven Jesus is in

this synagogue. On another Sabbath, we're going to read sixth

through eleven. And this passage can also be found in

Mark chapter three, verses one through six, and in Matthew

chapter twelve, verses ten through fourteen. You'll find the parallel

versions there. So why don't we read Luke six verses

six through eleven. And it came to pass also on

another sabbath that he entered, and there was a man

whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and pharisees

watched him whether he would heal on the sabbath day,

that they might find an occasion against him. But he

knew their thoughts and said to the man which had

the withered hand, rise up and stand forth in the

midst And he arose.

And stood forth.

Then Jesus then said, Jesus, unto them, I will ask

you one thing. Is it lawful on the sabbath days?

To do good or to do evil? To save life

or to destroy it? And looking round about upon them,

he said, unto the man, stretch forth thine hand. And

he did so, and his hand was restored.

Whole is the other.

And they were filled with madness and commune one with

another what they might do to Jesus, Father, help us

today as we consider this passage, and give us your

spirit today, because we are incapable. Father, unless you give

it to us, we can't find it for ourselves. Speak

to our hearts, Lord, and your spirit blow through this

hall today and touch the hearts of the ones Father

that are here mine as well. Give me unction as

I preach Father, speak to each one of us today

from the words of Christ, before we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Now, I'm going to entitle this message effectual calling and

the madness of unbelief, And I'm just going to break

it down into just a few parts. First of all,

the situation, where they are, when they are, who's there,

and so forth. And then we're going to talk about

the question that Jesus asks the Pharisees. So last week

they're asking him a question, and this week he asked

them a question. And then we're going to look at

the confrontation between inability and responsibility. And then we will

look at the result of the entire matter. There at

the end of the end of the message, So the

situation Jesus continued to keep the Sabbath.

Now verse six, we have it this way.

It came to pass also on another Sabbath that he

entered into the synagogue and taught. Now we don't know

what synagogue this is. Maybe it's a synagogue in Compernaum,

we don't know, but it's a synagogue. We've seen him

intentionally centering his teaching ministry in the synagogues of Galilee

and specifically in he was quietly making a statement about

his own perfect obedience to the law of God. And

I doubt anybody in his day, and sometimes nobody in

our day, recognizes the fact that Jesus is a Sabbath keeper.

Remember to rejoice in the fact that Jesus perfectly kept

all the requirements of the law as a man, so

that his sacrifice on the cross would be without blemish.

He came to Nazareth there in verse in chapter four

and verse sixteen, and he went into the synagogue on

the Sabbath day.

We've had that in chapter four.

In chapter four again we had he came down to Capernaum,

a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days.

And we have it again here in chapter six, and

we're going to see it again multiple times as we

make through make our way through the Gospel of Luke.

He was teaching exactly as Isaiah prophesied in sixty one

one and two, good tidings under the meek, liberty to

the captives, the acceptable year of the Lord. I know

I keep referring to Isaiah sixty one, but folks, that

is his pattern, and we must continue to remind ourselves

of that. So he goes into the synagogue and teach

to teach.

What's he teaching.

He's teaching these things, tidings to the meek, good tidings

to the meek, liberty to the captive, and the acceptable

year of the Lord. How wonderful would it have been

to hear the word of God teach the word of God.

Wouldn't that have been something?

So Jesus is there, he's on the Sabbath, he's teaching.

We know what he's teaching. And there's a member there.

And I just want to say, because we don't know.

The Bible doesn't say, but I just would like to

think he's a member in good standing in the synagogue.

The man with the withered hand. Notice, and there was

a man whose right hand was withered. Now, of course

you have to immediately you see the Luke in detail

here his right hand. So the other evangelists don't tell

us which hand, but the physician Luke just can't help himself.

He's diagnosing the situation. It's his right hand that's withered.

This man was there, he was a member of the

synagogue where Jesus was teaching.

Let's just suppose we don't know.

The Bible doesn't tell us, but I would just like

to think that he was. And isn't it marvelous that

this man didn't let his disability keep him away from

Sabbath observance. He didn't blame God for his condition which

might have kept him away. We can be so very

childish about our hurts and disappointments, but this fellow shows

us some He wasn't He was right there. He was,

He was just there like he had always been there.

This was just another Sabbath for him. He was practiced

in attendance at Sabbath time. And so with her hand

and all, he goes for his regular devotion to the

Lord to go worship him. Then there were the religious leaders.

Look at verse seven. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him.

Now they were hoping for evidence, just like in Daniel's case,

to persuade others against Jesus. Matthew in his Gospel account

in chapter twelve has Pharisees and Herodians, Mark just has

the Pharisees. Only Luke here includes the scribes. So we

have the scribes and the Pharisees, and they're watching him.

So the crowd could have included scribes, Pharisees, and Herodians.

They're all there in.

The synagogue with the regular attenders, and of course Jesus

and the master of the synagogue and so forth.

And it says they watched him.

Doctor Vines and doctor Roberson both say that the Greek

word here suggests that they're not watching from a disinstrument,

that they are not watching from disinterested motives, if I

can say it, But they were watching for their own advantage.

They wanted to see.

Him do it, just daring him to do it. This

points to the deadness of their darkened hearts, which they

had hardened by strict, unyielding legalism. Jesus told them he

was lord of the sam He's already announced that, you know,

whether he would heal on the Sabbath day. That's what

they want to know. And so their trap is naturally set.

You have a compassionate savior plus a man with a

withered hand equals they're hoping a violation of their tradition.

And so can't you just imagine the anticipation of these

fellows as they watched Jesus that day in the synagogue. Oh, oh,

they just knew he would not be able to help himself,

And that's of course what they wanted. They want more proof,

they want more proof. And do we need any more

proof to convince us of the sinfulness of sin? That

men would watch the Savior to trap him. How awful

and dark and.

Gross is that?

How gross and awful and abusive is it that they

are using this man with a withered hand to further

their cause? Then you have the question, and I think

this is perhaps the unmentioned miracle here in this passage

of verse eight.

He knew their thoughts.

Now, we've already seen this amazing ability of Christ in

five verse twenty two, when he perceived their thoughts. Remember

when the man was let down on the couch, in

the couch by the ropes through the roof, and all

the people, the religious guys that were there, said, how

can he forgive sins?

Only God can do that, you know? And Jesus knew

exactly what they were thinking.

Well, he knows exactly what these guys are thinking too.

And Luke tells us he knew their thoughts. Yeah, he

knows what's in the heart of every man. Remember what

John told us about Jesus in chapter two of John's

gospel right there at the very end. But Jesus did

not commit himself unto them because he knew all men

and needed not that any should testify of man, for

he knew what was in man.

Yeah, I read that a dozen times. He knew what

was in man.

And so Jesus knows their thoughts, he knows their motives,

he knows what they want right. He knows that they're

just waiting for him, baiting him, hoping that he sees

the man with the withered hand. Now, Matthew told us

that they asked a question. First, if you look at

Matthew's gospel in chapter twelve in verse and they asked

him saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath

days that they might accuse him? Luke does Luke leaves

that out? But isn't it interesting the question that Matthew.

Has is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?

Because I want you to compare that to what Jesus

asks them in just a moment. And also before we

get there, I want you to see the fearlessness of Christ.

He prepared to give them everything they needed to accuse him,

because as soon as he knew their thoughts. He looked

over here to the man with the withered hand, and

he said, rise up and stand forth in the midst. Now,

everybody in the synagogue is seated. Jesus is, you know,

up on a dais of some kind. But he's seated,

and everybody else is seated on the floor before him.

And so he sees the man in the.

Crowd, and he says, stand up, rise up, and stand

forth in the midst. So in the middle of the

crowd seated, you have one man standing, and him with

that withered hand, that withered right hand. I mean, Luke

would want me not to express that, he said to

the man with the withered hand. And Jesus didn't try

to talk his way out of this. And then heal

the man later. And know he went right to him.

Everyone sees it. He says, rise up, stand forth in

the miss Matthew Henry says, Jesus Christ was neither ashamed

nor afraid to own the purposes of his grace in

the face of those who he knew confronted them. So good,

rise up and stand forth forth in the midst. And

he arose and stood forth. So the man himself showed

courage as well. I mean, how embarrassed would he be?

He got a synagogue full of people, and you know

it was because Jesus is there teaching him. By this time,

his fame had spread across all the country. And so

you have the Herodians, the Pharisees, the scribes, and then

everybody else, the regular members of that church. And then

you know, people just were packed into that place and

Jesus points this one guy out and says.

Stand up. What would you How would you feel?

Maybe a little uneasy because you've been singled out and

told to stand up, Maybe just a little bit. But

notice the man's courage. He must have known the deceit

of the legalists and their abuse of him as a

fulcrum upon which they hoped to move Jesus into inaction,

whether the Lord healed him or not. He was not

about to be used by bullies, and so he stood up.

He stood up.

Courage all around here, except for the cowardly legalists over

in the corner. Now here's the question. Jesus said on them,

I will ask you one thing. Is it lawful on

the Sabbath days to do good or to do evil?

To save life or to destroy it? Now, remember Matthew

records their question is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?

Jesus flips that on its head, and he says, well,

is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good? Is

healing a good thing or a bad thing? Is it

an evil thing? Is it a life saving thing or

a life destroying thing?

Which is it?

So Matthew gives us this little bit on this point,

because we know their question about healing on the Sabbath,

and now we have Jesus's question about doing good on

the Sabbath, and he does it with this illustration. Notice

Matthew chapter twelve. This is not in Luke's gospel, but

we have a little bit more here in Matthew them,

what man shall there be among you that shall have

one sheep? And if it fall into a pit on

the Sabbath day? Will he not lay hold on it

and lift it out? How much? Then is a man

better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do

well on the Sabbath days. So he gives them this

little illustration because everyone would have known that, right, if

you go home and your one sheep is falling into

a well, well you're gonna get it out, doesn't matter

what day it is, because you don't want the sheep

to die, and you want to heal it up if

it's been injured. I will ask you one thing. Is

it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good or

to do evil? Okay, there's his question, to save life

or to destroy it? And then we have the confrontation

between inability and responsibility Verse ten. And looking around about

upon them all, he said, under the man, stretch forth

thy hand, and he did so, and his hand was

restored whole as the other it says they're in verse ten,

looking round about upon them all, I wonder if he

was waiting for a reply, was.

Somebody gonna say something? Jesus asked a question.

Isn't it the response of the student to give the

answer back to the teacher when the teacher asks a question, Yes.

Who's gonna do it?

Who's gonna be the brave boy or girl? I mean,

you've already got one brave man standing there waiting. So

he's still standing there. But Jesus is talking to the

people about doing good or evil on the Sabbath, and

he's still standing there. Now he asks a question. He

looks around on everybody. He's looking over here at the legalists,

those dark hearted, hard hearted men, and I'm upon everybody

else that's crammed into that synagogue.

Mark has it this way.

And when he had looked around about upon them, on

them with anger, being grieve for the hardness of their hearts,

he saith under the man, stretch forth thy hand.

That's Mark chapter three.

Looked about, looked around about on them with anger. Oh,

how would you like to be under that gaze?

No, thank you.

He was grieved at their hardness of hearts, at the

hardness of their hearts. So he said to the man,

stretch forth thy hand. The command of Christ called for

response from the man. But isn't it interesting what he

asks him to do? Stretch forth thy hand. Can you

imagine children at play with a child who had a

withered hand saying, let's hear you clapped to this beat.

I can imagine it. I'm sure you can't do.

Or maybe they would reply that they would play the

high five game up high, down low too slow, yeah, oh,

And then they would laugh because he couldn't do it,

or she couldn't do it because of the withered hand,

or a cruel hearted man walking up to this man

holding out his right hand, saying put her there, friend,

Oh wait, you can't. It'd be cruelty, We would say,

this is that's ridiculous. Why would you be so cruel?

Why would you what would you point out the man's disability,

knowing that he can't hold his hand out and shake

your hand?

Why would you do something like that?

Yet, even though his inability was clearly seen by all

the pharisees. Had you seen it and they knew his

inability clearly? Everyone did? Jesus called on him to do

something he couldn't do. How'd that happened? Stretch forth your hand?

I can't stretch forth my hand. My hand's withered. How

am I supposed to stretch forth a withered hand? Can't

do it? His inability met with faith in Christ and

his command, and.

He did so.

He couldn't do it, and yet he did it. How

does that happen? How many times did he want to

touch the head of his child with his right hand,

or hold the hand of his wife with his right hand,

or go fishing with the rod and the reel, or

go play golf?

He couldn't do any of that?

But Suddenly here in the synagogue, the spirit of God

blew over his heart, which was tenderized, perhaps by the

fact that he was there listening to Christ's teach, and

perhaps that teaching had done something to him, and he

was softened, and inwardly he was saying, Oh, God, be

merciful to me, a sinner. He wasn't concerned his hand.

He was concerned about his soul. And then when Jesus

told him to stand up, more faith rushed in. And

he stood there and he said, whatever Jesus wants, I'm

gonna do. But he can't stretch forth his hand until

he did.

And he did.

Because faith was injected into his heart by the spirit

of God, and he gave him the ability that he

could never have done on his own. Ladies and gentlemen,

we are just as withered as that man. We cannot

respond to the command of Christ to believe. And it's

all over the New Testament. Believe on the Lord Jesus

Christ that now shall be saved Romans chapter ten. We're

commanded all the time in the scriptures to believe. Paul

told the Philippian jailer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

And you and your whole household will be saved. But

we can't believe. It is not in us. We have

withered hands, withered hearts, withered souls because of sin. And

it's not until the Spirit of God blows across the

dead strings of our heart that suddenly faith is infused.

And then suddenly we can believe. Where does it come from?

I don't know.

It's the work of the spirit of God.

So there Jesus is teaching. There, Jesus is giving.

This command, and suddenly somewhere in the back, through the windows,

through the doors, comes the Spirit of God like that breeze.

You don't know where it's coming from.

You don't know where it's going, and it strikes this

man's heart. Some point during the service. He was strangely

warmed and his heart was tendered. And when Jesus said,

stretch out your hand, he did it. He did something

he could never have done, no matter who said it

to him. But Jesus commanded him. The spirit of God

gave him faith to believe in the world, work and

words of Christ, and he did it, and his hand, here's.

The result, was restored. Whole is the other.

Notice again, we have doctor Luke two normally working hands.

No therapy needed, new muscles, new bones, new nerves, new ligaments,

all of it, whatever needed to be new, Suddenly it's

all new. This is a picture of salvation. How does

the feverish mother in law serve dinner? How does the

paralytic walk, How does the withered hand stretch out? They

are all pictures of our inability. Sin has burned us

up with fever, has paralyzed us, and has withered us,

and yet he calls on men to respond to something

that they cannot respond to on their own.

There's this gap that.

Exists between God's command and our responsibility. We are responsible,

and he commands us to come, and yet we cannot

until God doesn't work in our heart, giving us the

ability to repent and call on Christ. And then our

stony hearts are made brand spanking new. Even though sin

has crippled us, the Holy Ghost can give us faith

to believe to revive our hearts, giving us that ability.

And so standing there in the middle of everybody, so

everybody can see the.

Legalists, the.

You know, the special crowd that just came in because

Jesus was there, and the regular membership of the synagogue,

all packed in here, and Jesus sitting up on the dais,

and the man stretches out his hand, and guess what

everyone witnessed the glorious work of God and that man's life.

You don't know how, but it did stretch forth his hand.

What a good work that was. And look at verse eleven,

what happened there? In verse eleven? They were filled with madness?

What language? What language is that?

What a contrast to the other reactions recorded by Luke,

And what a contrast to what happened just previously in

the passage that Mark tells us about that he looked

around about on them with anger because of their heart,

and he was grieved because of their hardness of heart.

This is just the opposite of that.

That's good intention.

You know, when you're a parent and your child is

something that disappoints you and you're grieved over what they've done,

and you're angry about what they've done because they've done

something wrong. But this is just the opposite of that.

They are filled with madness.

What a contrast that is.

And once more, the good doctor Luke gives us a

diagnosis of their condition. The truly crippled in the synagogue

that day. Were the legalists not the man with the

withered hand? They were enraged that they couldn't answer Jesus' question.

Doctor Robertson said that the Greek here means that they

were so filled with rage that it.

Tended toward insanity.

That's how angry they were, filled with madness. But you

know who wasn't filled with madness? The man standing there

in the middle, what was he filled with?

Oh?

Can you imagine the party going on in his heart?

Can you imagine the party going on around him? Everybody

joyful the work of God. But these guys filled with madness.

I think what we also should remember here, just as

a side, the gospel always creates this kind of division.

Paul says in First Corinthians, chapter one, the preaching of

the goss of the cross is to them that perish foolishness,

but unto us, which are saved, it is the power

of God.

And that certainly happened here, didn't it.

So they go out filled with madness, and they commune

with one another what they might do to Jesus, And

we know what they did. Eventually, their own belief was

not without works. From this time they began to work

out how to get rid of Jesus. They made a

plan and followed it. Just like a living faith has worked,

so a dead unbelief also has wicked works, and they're

following that wicked plan Commune. And you know, I think

it is a marker. I think it's Matthew. Matthew that

says that the Pharisees went out and they communed with

the Herodians. Isn't that an interesting combination of groups. The

Herodians were a political party, the Pharisees were a religious group,

and somehow they decided to get together so that they could,

you know, manipulate the situation to perfection. So let me

close by just making a couple of applications. So first

of all, let me just ask you, how do you

treat the Sabbath? What keeps you away from attending worship

at church? Do those things rise to the level of

a crippled limb? Over the course of my ministry, I've

known folks who skewed worship because of an illness, and

then I would see them at the store or a

community event or shopping.

At the mall.

I would then expect to see them at church. But

in some cases I'm still waiting to see them at

your church. Not the church attendants will save you. But

sitting under preaching and teaching not only is healthy for

a growing Christian soul, but it is the means that

God is set for men to receive faith. What would

the man with the withered hand have missed if.

He decided not to go that Sabbath?

Second, be careful of those today who will lump Bible

believers in with legalists. They don't believe the Bible is

the finished revelation of God, that it is, that it

is reliable, or that it is true or trustworthy for salvation.

For them, it's just another way. And they've decided for

themselves away, created by themselves and approved by others like them,

And they will call you a pharisee if you don't

agree with them and approve of their wicked deeds. Jesus

believed the Bible and kept the law perfect because he

wouldn't jump on their bandwagon. They sought to destroy him

because of that. Sounds like the tolerant, intolerant legalists of

our day, doesn't it. And legalism can take many forms.

And then finally, stretch out your hand the command of

Christ still stands. He calls us to believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. And yet

you say, how I cannot, How can I believe? I

can't believe. Stretch out your hand. Despite your inability, you

are responsible to respond to the Lord. Is he doing

the work in your heart? Stretch out your hand. Would

you bow with me, our Father?

Help us.

In our inabilities, in our weaknesses, in our witheredness, in

our crookedness.

Father, help us.

We hear your command. And yet we cannot, not because

we don't want to, but because we can't fill us

with faith so that we might believe. Maybe there's one

under the sound of my voice today and they're beating

on their hearts, saying, Oh God, be merciful to me,

a sinner, Make strong, Father, the withered heart today who

calls out to you in faith. Well we pray in

Jesus' name, Amen,