Okay now, back to our Bible study. And this is possible. This is
possible to stay with the Word of the Lord, book by book, chapter
by chapter, verse by verse, word by word, thus saith the Lord. Luke chapter 13, verse 10, down
through verse 17. will serve as our text today,
and I'm taking the title for the message from verse 12, where
it says, the Lord says, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmities. Again, the Lord says down in
verse 16, Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham,
whom Satan hath bound, lo these eighteen years, Be loose from
this bond, and we're going to do it on the Sabbath day to honor
God, to honor God. So I'm entitling the message,
and it's kind of a long title, Being Set Free from Iniquities
or Being Set Free from Infirmities, Iniquities, and Bondage. Our Lord said, If the Son shall
set you free, You shall be free indeed. Now, be sure you get
this. The only one who has all power
to do so is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is none other than God Almighty
manifest in the flesh. Our Lord prayed in John 17, Father,
you've given me power over all flesh that I should give eternal
life to as many as thou hast given to me. This is what the
Lord has done for us. The last verse in verse 17 of
Luke 13, And the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that
were done by him. This woman, when she was healed,
she glorified God in all things that were done. Also know too
that the Lord Jesus Christ in doing that, healing this poor
woman, setting this sinner free, is fulfilling the very purpose
of his mission of his life, mission of mercy, toward those spiritual
sons of Abraham. Those spiritual sons of Abraham,
remember down in verse 16, the Lord called her a daughter of
Abraham. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, remember,
turn back to Luke chapter 4, verse 18, Luke 4, 18. The Spirit
of the Lord, this is why He came. He's reading from the book of
Isaiah, there in the synagogue, and the Lord reads, the Spirit
of the Lord, Isaiah 61, Find Luke 4.18, "...the Spirit of
the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliberate to the captive, recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty them that are bruised." You see, the very thing
He is doing in setting this woman free is fulfilling this Scripture. "...to set at liberty them that
are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of
Jubilee." And he closed the book, gave it again to the minister,
and sat down, and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue
were fastened on him, and he began to say unto them, This
Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. The Lord healing this
woman and all the others that we have studied and read about
is the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrating that He is the Messiah and He
is fulfilling the very Scripture, the very Word of God that is
written of Him. This woman, like Zacchaeus, was
one of God's elect for whom the Lord Jesus Christ came to seek
and to save by His power, by His grace, and by His mercy. Turn to Luke 19. We're going
to see this when we get over to Luke 19 in a few months. You remember the story of Zacchaeus
and the Lord told him to make haste and come down Luke 19 verse
9, And the Lord said unto him, This day is salvation come to
this house, forasmuch as he is also the son of Abraham, a son
of Abraham. Now he's saying more than he
was just a natural descendant of Abraham. He's saying he is
a spiritual child of God. For the Son of Man is to come
to seek and to say, Not to try, he came to seek and to save that
which was lost, that lost sheep the Lord must save. Now while
the Lord Jesus Christ is sitting in the synagogue, look at verse
10, Luke 13, 10. As he was teaching, and he was
teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day, and he was
teaching. in one of the synagogues on the
Sabbath day. What was he teaching? What was
his lesson? What was his lesson that day?
I believe it's exactly what he did in Luke chapter 4. He took
the Word of God, he read the Word of God, applied it unto
himself, and said, this day is fulfilled in your ears. I know
that's what he did. He was teaching of salvation
in the Messiah, in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he said, I'm here.
I'm the one. Send Him God. While the Lord
Jesus Christ is teaching in the synagogue, the synagogue of the
Jews on the Sabbath day, fulfilling the very law of God, teaching
the way of salvation in the Lord Jesus, remember He said, I am
the way, I am the truth, the life. There was a woman there. She had a terrible disease. Notice
verse 11. And behold, there was a woman,
which had a spirit. Evidently it was an evil spirit.
It says down here in verse 18 that Satan had bound lo these
18 years, and there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity
18 years, and was bowed together and could in no way lift up herself. She couldn't straighten up. Evidently,
she would just almost double over. I don't even know if she
could walk. If she could walk, all she could
see was the ground. She couldn't lift up her head. She was bowed down in a terrible
condition for 18 years, which caused her such pain, such agony,
such grief and she could do nothing. She could in no wise, no way
lift up herself. She couldn't improve her condition.
I'm sure she tried. I'm sure others tried to straighten
her out. They couldn't do it. She would
double up, bend over. She was in a good place. She
went to the house of the Lord. She went there maybe seeking
mercy, I'm sure she did. She went there maybe many times
before seeking help and crying unto God. One day her prayer
was answered. No accident. that the Lord Jesus
Christ was there that morning, when she came that Sabbath day,
and this poor, infirm, frail, sinful woman, maybe even demon-possessed,
met the Lord Jesus Christ, the great physician of sinners. And we know it's no accident,
it's by the good and wide sovereign providence of God. And I love
this statement, look at verse 12. And when the Lord Jesus saw
her, he called her and said unto her, now we don't know her name. I'm sure the Lord knew her name,
probably even called her name. He knows his sheep by name. Woman,
you're loosed from your disease immediately. The Lord saw her. The Lord called her. Woman, you're
loosed from this disease of which Satan had bound you these 18
years. Look at verse 13. And he laid
hands on her, and immediately she was made straight. He laid her hand, now this is
the hand of the Almighty God. He laid hold of her, and immediately
she was made straight, and immediately she said, and glorified God. She didn't say, well this is
my lucky day. She knew exactly who healed her. She glorified
God. The only one she knew in her
heart, the only one who could do this was Almighty God. And
she glorified the Lord. He laid hands on her, made her
whole, healed her, and she truly gloried in Christ. She gloried in God. Who is the
Lord Jesus Christ? He's God Almighty. Just like
that man in Acts chapter 3 who was begging alms there in the
temple. And he looked at Peter and John expecting to receive
some money. And Peter said, we don't have
any silver or gold. But what I have I'm going to
give it to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rise up
and walk. And immediately his ankles were
straightened and he went leaping and praising, not Peter and John,
but the only God, our Savior. We see who the Lord Jesus Christ
is here, God Almighty. If He wasn't God Almighty, He
would have stopped her. Don't glory in me, glory in God
alone. And He glorified God, and I take
that to mean that He glorified the Lord Jesus Christ as God.
Remember the Lord said, you've seen me, you've seen the Father.
I and my Father are one. Now we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ came to save sinners. This woman was in a desperate,
desperate condition as we see in Scripture, and He healed her. Now, this glorious story of this
woman is the same story of every sinner whom the Lord Jesus Christ
saves. If you're justified in Christ
and saved by His grace, this is your story. This is the way
God saved you. First of all, we see this, our
condition, like this woman, having an infirm body, a weak and sinful
body, but more than 18 years, we're born this way. We're born
lame and crippled and diseased. We're born bowed down with a
spiritual terminal disease called S-I-N. You have it, I have it,
every son of Adam has it. We have absolutely no way, no
will, no ability like this poor woman to lift ourselves from
the pit of total depravity and total corruption. No way, it
says there. In no wise, no way could she
lift up her body or straighten out her problem. Just straighten
up. Just straighten yourself up and
you'll be okay. She couldn't. And we can't straighten
ourselves up. We can't make our life right
with God. Don't ever say that. He makes
us right in Christ. But we have this corruption of
sin, don't we, that we deal with every day. this corruption of
the human flesh. How did we get that way? Born
in sin, shapen in iniquity. In Adam all died. In Adam all
sinned. You remember we studied in Romans
3, there was none righteous, no, not one. We call this total
depravity. Her condition is our condition
by nature. Totally sinful, dead in sin,
shapen in iniquity. Now you'll never understand salvation
by His redeeming grace until you understand ruin in the fall. You'll have no appreciation for
what Christ did at Calvary until you see how desperately ruined,
sin, disease, from the bottom of our feet to the top of our
head, full of wounds and bruises and iniquities running sore before
God Almighty. With no ability to believe the
Gospel of Christ, no ability to repent, At all. We have no ability. You remember
our Lord said this in John 6, 44? No man, does that include
you? No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me draw him. Man's will is not free. Oh, he has a will, but it's in
bondage to his nature. If your will was absolutely free,
walk out that front door and take wings and fly. Start flying. If your will is free, I'm going
to will myself to fly. Start flying. You see, your will
is bound by your nature. Your nature is to stay on the
ground. You're grounded by the law of
gravity. And our will is embonded to our
sinful nature. It cannot act outside of its
nature. Man's will is like free running
water, always downhill. It's never Godward and upward,
but always selfward and downward. No man can come to me except
the Father which sent me. Notice in this story, who took
the initiative? The Lord saw her. The Lord called
her to Himself. The Lord saw this woman in her
terrible condition, as it says in 12 and verse 13. The Lord saw her in this terrible
condition, but He didn't turn away from her. He turned toward
her. He turned toward her in love,
in compassion, long-suffering in mercy, and He completely healed
her. Immediately, she straightened
out. What a glorious day for her. This is exactly what happens
to every sinner whom the Lord wisely saves. He's able to save
to the uttermost all that come to God by Him. The Lord saw us. When did He see us? He saw us
in that eternal covenant of grace before the foundation of the
world when the Lord says this, All that the Father hath given
to me will come to me. Those that come to me I will
in no wise cast out. When were we given to the Lord
Jesus Christ? Before the foundation of the
world. God chose the people in Christ. and predestinated them
to be just like the Lord Jesus Christ. All that the Father giveth
to me shall come to me, and those that come to me I will in no
wise cast out. He saw us in that eternal covenant
of grace, and then one day He crossed our path. One day He
called us in sovereign mercy. One day He crossed our path with
the gospel and set us free. You shall know the truth, and
the truth will set you free. Whom the Son sets free, they
are free indeed. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath set us free." And then, the Lord saw us, and then
the Lord does this. He calls us. He calls us with
the Gospel. He calls us with the truth of
the Word of the Lord. The Lord calls us by His will,
by His grace, and this call of God is the irresistible call
of God the Holy Spirit using the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ that is effectual and irresistible to the hearts of
God's people. His sheep hear His voice, He
knows them, and they do follow Him. This call here is a personal
call. Matthew, you remember, we studied
Matthew? Follow me. We talked about Zacchaeus
a moment ago. Zacchaeus, come down. This day
I must abide at your house. It's a personal call, but it's
also a powerful call, isn't it? It's a persistent call as well. It's an irresistible call. I'll
give you a good example of this call of God and how powerful
that it is if you turn to John chapter 11. The Lord saw us in
that covenant of grace, and then one day He called us with the
gospel. He called us and revealed the
gospel unto us. Look at John chapter 11. You
remember the story of Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus
who had died. Lazarus had been dead four days,
laying in the grave. And the Lord told them to remove
the stone. And the sisters were concerned
about the odor, the smell. His body is rotting flesh. Don't
remove the stone. He stinks. But the Lord said,
do it anyway. And the Lord walks in front of
that tomb, John 11, verse 43. And when he had thus spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, the voice of God that wakes the dead,
Lazarus. Come forth. Now what's going
to happen? Is there an option here? Can
maybe Lazarus not respond? Maybe he doesn't feel like responding
that day. Maybe he's not willing that day.
No, he did. But the voice of God, the power
of God wakes him from the dead. Lazarus, come forth. And he that
was dead came forth bound, hand and foot with grave clothes,
and his face was bound about with a napkin, and the Lord Jesus
Christ said, Loose him and let him go. Just the same way the
Lord loosed that woman from that bondage of her infirmity, just
the same way the Lord has loosed us from the reigning, damning
dominion of sin and has made us free and set us free in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He laid, look at verse 13 in
our text, He not only saw her, called her, He laid His hand. He laid His hands upon her. Now I love this. I kind of got
the picture in my mind that He embraced her. He took His hands
and laid His hands on her. I think He embraced her. He laid
hands on her and immediately she was made straight and glorified
God. Now, He laid His mighty hands
of sovereign power upon us immediately by His grace through the blood
sacrifice of Christ, forgave all of our sin, completely healed
us, immediately healed us, and set us free like that wild man
in the tombs. naked, wild, and running, whom
no one could tame, till he met the Lord Jesus Christ. And they
came, and they found him sitting, clothed, and in his right mind."
That's what happens when the Lord lays hands upon us. Every
sinner who the Lord does justify by His grace, they give him all
the glory as this woman did, and she glorified God. Those
who are saved by grace know who saved them. It's the Lord. It's the Lord. This is the Lord's
doing and it's marvelous in our eyes. This woman knew who healed
her. She glorified God and every sinner
saved by grace knows that His blood justified us. Being justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Being
justified by His grace freely, we know that His righteousness
alone is that which is imputed unto us. Blessed is the man whom
the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. Those saved by
the Lord, they always say that salvation is of the Lord. It's His doing. His doing. Now look down at verse 16. Ought
not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound,
lo, these eighteen years be loosed from this bondage on the Sabbath
day, this woman was a spiritual daughter of Abraham, like Zacchaeus. She was more than just a natural
descendant of Abraham and Judith. She was a true, spiritual, full-blooded
Jew, just as every believer is right now. You remember from
our study in Romans chapter 2? Don't turn there, let me just
read it to you. For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly,
neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh,
but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is
that of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise
is not of men, but of God. This woman, like Zacchaeus, like
all of God's elect, have been made a spiritual nation, a spiritual
people in Christ. Turn to Galatians chapter 3.
Galatians chapter 3, verse 6, Galatians 3, 6, Even as Abraham
believed God, and it was accounted or imputed to him for righteousness,
know ye therefore, this is Galatians 3, 7, know ye therefore that
they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham,
those who are of faith. The scripture foreseeing that
God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before
the gospel, unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be
blessed. So then they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham. Now stay right here in Galatians
3, look at Galatians 3 verse 24, Wherefore the law was our
schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified
by faith, that after that faith is come, we are no longer under
the schoolmaster, no longer under the law. The law shall not have
dominion over you, For you have been set free. For you are children
of God by faith in Christ. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew
nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free.
Neither male nor female. You are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs
according to the promise. She was liberated and set free
because she was one of those chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Well, that day in the synagogue,
look back to Luke 13, everybody was happy that this woman received
salvation. No. No, there were some people
there that got mad. Why would they get mad? These
religious men, the ruler of a synagogue, The ruler of the synagogue answered
with indignation because that the Lord Jesus had healed on
the Sabbath and said to the people, well, there are six days which
men ought to work and in them you come to be healed on one
of those days. Let's not do this healing stuff on the Sabbath
day. And the Lord said to him, you're an hypocrite. You're just
a lost religious hypocrite. Did not each of you on the Sabbath
day loose his ox or ass? That's what they did that morning.
They took their livestock out of the barn and watered them
and loosed them and watered them and lead them away to the watering.
Ought not this woman have the same privilege that you give
to a dumb animal? To your ox or to your ass? Two things here. Some were made
to rejoice in the salvation of the sinner. It said all the people
there rejoiced in the glorious things that he had done. Some
were made to rejoice in the salvation of the sinner. Some were angered
at the Lord's act of mercy. What a terrible contrast. Some
rejoiced and some got mad. You know what's still true today?
When the gospel is plainly declared, The gospel of God's sovereign
saving grace in the Lord Jesus Christ is still true today. Some
folks get mad, filled with wrath, malice, envy, and anger, and
some are made to rejoice in the salvation of sinners. You see,
it's the Lord's mercy that causes the distinction. Who made you
to differ from another? What do you have that you did
not receive? If we received it, why would you glory in the flesh?
When you read through the book of Acts, as we did earlier, you
read about the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
by the apostles, especially the apostle Paul. And in all those
different cities where he went preaching the gospel, two things
always happened. When the gospel was preached
in those cities by the apostle Paul, two things always happened. Do you remember what they were?
Riot and revival. Riot? They picked up stone to
stone him. They tied him up and beat him,
the Apostle Paul. They threw him in prison for
preaching the gospel. Some folks got mad, some were
made to rejoice. I tell you it is the grace of
God, the grace of God that makes the distinction alone. The self-righteous
hypocrite, was not concerned nor thankful about the blessing
bestowed upon this poor woman and the healing that she freely
received from the Lord, this ruler of the synagogue and his
Pharisee friends were more concerned about their phony piety and observing
a day rather than showing mercy." And the Lord sharply rebuked
them. He said, you're nothing but a
religious play actor. You're a hypocrite. Look back
at Luke chapter 12. You remember the Lord warned
the disciples Luke 12, verse 1, "...beware of the leaven of
the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." And the Lord exposed their hypocrisy,
didn't He? He said, you care more about livestock, being watered than the salvation
of sinners. And religious lost people today
care more about their religious customs and religious tradition
than the truth of the gospel being declared. Don't they? Turn to Matthew 15. Our Lord
uses this same rebuke over here in Matthew 15. you or they would
justify yourselves before men. But God knows your heart. That
which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the
sight of God." Matthew 15, look at verse 7, Well did Isaiah prophesy
of you, Matthew 15, 7, saying, His people draw nigh to me with
their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart is
far from me. But in vain they do worship me,
teaching for doctrine the commandment of men, rather than the truth
of God. Now, the Lord exposed their hypocrisy. And look what it does down in
verse 17. He said, when he said these things, all his adversaries
were shamed. Now, what does that mean? It means his enemies were put
to public shame. He shamed them publicly, and
all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were
done by Him. All the people were made to rejoice. You see, the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ is all about what He has done for us. What has He done for us? Well,
I'll give you three things in closing. What has the Lord Jesus
Christ done for His elect, His bride, His family, His church?
Well, in eternity, He stood as a Savior and surety of the everlasting
covenant. In eternity, He stood as a Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. In eternity, He stood
as a surety of the everlasting covenant of grace. He stood for
us in that eternal covenant of grace that is ordered in all
things and is sure. And in time, what has the Lord
Jesus Christ done for us? God Almighty manifested in the
flesh in the fullness of time. God sent forth His Son made of
a woman to redeem them that were under the law. God in eternity
has done all things for us, chose us unto salvation, and in time
God incarnate worked out perfect salvation for us, righteousness
established, redemption accomplished, reconciliation completed. I love
this Scripture in Daniel 9, 24, prophesying about what the Lord
who purposed salvation and eternity, and what He accomplished in time.
To finish transgression, He appeared once in the end of the age to
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, to make an end of
sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal up division, that is to complete the work,
and to anoint the most holy. The Lord Jesus Christ is anointed
in all of his offices, prophet, priest, and king. Now, what the
Lord has done for us, All the glorious things that were done
by Him in eternity, in time, and in glory right now. He ever
lived to intercede for us right now. They rejoiced and we rejoiced
in all things that are done by Him. Salvation is not what we
do for the Lord. You understand that, right? Salvation
is not what we do for the Lord. Salvation is what He has done
for us. It's not do, it's done. Work
salvation said do, do, do, do, do, do something for God. Grace
salvation says it's done, well done. The Lord said at Calvary,
it is finished. Two Scriptures on that point,
the Lord finishing salvation for us. Psalm 57, 2, the Lord
said, I will cry unto God Most High, unto God that performeth
all things for me. And then in Job 23, 14, He performeth
the things that are appointed for me. He performs the things
that are appointed for me." And then Psalm 98, verse 1, "...O
singing to the Lord a new song, for He hath done marvelous things.
His right hand and His holy arm hath gotten the victory for Him."
Thanks be unto God who has given us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. They rejoice. Do you? Do you
rejoice in the Lord? Worship God in spirit. Rejoice
in the Lord. Have no confidence in the flesh.
All the people rejoice for the glorious things done by Him. Salvation is a glorious thing
done by Him. Because it's done by Him. May
the Lord cause us to rejoice in the salvation of sinners.
May the Lord be pleased to save us as His sheep. and call us, lay his hands upon
us, and call us by his grace out of darkness into his marvelous
light that we might show forth the praises of his glory.