Interlude: Jesus, Healer of Hearts•
A Sermon by Dr. Bob Griffin, Teaching Elder at Sovereign Grace Church
I. FACING PERCEIVED PIETY
A. HELPLESS
Luke 13:10-13 On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.
1. CONDITION OF THE WOMAN
2. CONDUCT OF THE SAVIOR
B. HYPOCRISY
1. RESPONSE OF THE PIOUS
Luke 13:14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”
2. REASONING OF THE GREAT PHYSICIAN
Luke 13:15-16 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then must not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
3. REACTION OF THE PEOPLE
Luke 13:17 When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.
II. FACING PERSISTENT PERFORMANCE
A. HEAVEN
Luke 13:22-24a Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way toward Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door.”
1. INQUIRY
2. INSTRUCTION
B. HOPE
Luke 13:24b-27 “. . . because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with You, and You taught in our streets.’
“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from Me, all you evildoers!’
1. WORKS SALVATION
2. WRONG REPLY
C. HELL
Luke 13:28-30 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”
1. DESTINY
2. DECISION
III. FACING POLITICAL PRESSURE
A. HAZARD
1. DEATH THREAT
Luke 13:31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”
2. DETERMINATION
Luke 13:32-33 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day–for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!”
B. HAVEN
Luke 13:33-35 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you uninhabited. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord.'”
1. CALAMITY COMING
2. COMING OF MESSIAH
IV. FACING PERSONAL PRIDE
A. HEALING
Luke 14:1-4 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”
But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away.
1. RELATIONSHIP
2. REAL NEED
B. HAUGHTY
Luke 14:5-6 Then he asked them, “If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?” And they could not reply to this.
1. ANXIETY
2. ARROGANCE