We've been studying the book
of Luke since toward the end of August. And now we're going
to be in verse 11 today through, 11 through 20, I believe. 11 through 19. We left off last time we got
together with the healing of the man with the withered hand
and we looked at the spiritual implications of that and what
it was about. how the Pharisees and the scribes
were gathered together, and they knew that that man with a withered
hand was there, and how they looked to see if Jesus would
heal him so they might have something to accuse him of healing on the
Sabbath day, and they weren't there for good purposes. And
so we're going to read from verse 11 through verse 19 this morning,
and then We're going to be going back and forth between Luke chapter
6 verse 11 through 19 and the 109th Psalm and those, how they're
related. So beginning in verse 11, And
they were filled with madness because he had healed this man
with a withered hand. He had told him to stretch forth
his hand and he did so. And his hand was restored whole
as the other. And they were filled with madness
and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus.
And it came to pass in those days that he went out into a
mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called
unto him his disciples, and of them he chose twelve, whom also
he named apostles. Simon, whom he also named Peter,
and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew,
Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called
Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot,
which also was the traitor. And he came down with them and
stood in the plain in the company of his disciples and a great
multitude of people. came out of all Judea and Jerusalem,
and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear
him and to be healed of their diseases. And they that were
vexed with unclean spirits, and they were healed. And the whole
multitude sought to touch him, for there went virtue out of
him and healed them all." And so that'll be our block of scripture
that we're going to look at today. So several things that are brought
to our attention here in these few verses, beginning with verse
11, we find the Lord, he's always dealing with two kinds of people,
the goats and the sheep. And we find the Lord faced with
his adversaries who were filled with madness, it says. They were
filled with madness. I always think of our pastor's
message on good words and comforting words. They weren't there to
hear the gospel from the gospel himself. They weren't there to
hear the good words. They weren't here to hear the
comfortable words. They were there because they
were filled with madness. And it says that they communed
with one another what they might do to him. not thank God he's
here, not how wonderful. Look what all he did. Look at
all the people that he healed. Look at all the wonderful things.
Look at all the wonderful works. Surely this must be the Son of
God. No, it's we got to get rid of this guy, what they might
do to him. And then it says, and it came
to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to pray. And it came to pass It always
brings to our mind that something has been predetermined here.
Something has been foreordained by God the Father. Something
has been determined before to be done. It came to pass as God
predetermined it. It came to pass as it was written
of him. The previous verse again explains
to us that Jesus was interacting with these two different groups
of people, the individuals, the masses and disciples that came
to him to be healed and hear the word. And then this religious
group, the Pharisees and the scribes that he was disrupting
their hierarchy, he was disrupting their power scheme, he was disrupting,
the people went after the Jesus instead of after them. And then
thirdly, out of his disciples, he had a multitude of disciples
that were following him from the days of John. And out of
those disciples he chose twelve and also named them to be apostles
or ambassadors messengers of the gospel. That was why he picked
them. They were imbued with some special
gifts and things for the accomplishment of his purposes. But he chose
them specifically to be ambassadors of the gospel, to be his representatives,
to preach the gospel. And then, Judas Iscariot is kind of singled
out here at the very end, being conspicuously named as a traitor. But he was chosen and named an
apostle according to God's purpose. We'll see that he must be betrayed. It was according to God's eternal
purpose there. And then it says multitudes came
to be healed because power issued forth from him. Here it's called
virtue. But I think the translators maybe
slipped a cog here when they translated that word because
there's a couple of words in the Greek that are, they're very
clear in their meaning and definition and yet they kind of, willy-nilly
interpose them according to some purpose that they had. And when
we think of virtue, we think in terms of moral excellency. But the word here really speaks
to efficacy. In the Greek, the word is dunamis,
the word where you get dynamite, where you get power. The word
that's translated in Acts chapter 1 verse 19, we believe according
to the working of his mighty power. And we'll look at that
again here in a minute. And in the word that they're using as virtue
in the Greek is the word arete. And it's usually translated praises
and we'll find A couple of examples of this here in Acts chapter
2 verse 22. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
to God among you by miracles. And that was that Greek word
dunamis, by power. and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you as you yourselves know. Him being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken them by wicked hands, have crucified and slain."
And then in Acts, as we mentioned in Acts chapter one, verse 19,
it says, and what is the exceeding greatness of his dunamis, his
power to usward. to the church who believe according
to the working of his mighty power. Now this mighty power
here is a different word. It's the word that means the
application of that power. So we have the power, the dunamis
power, and then we have the application of it. So if we read that again,
the exceeding greatness of his dunamis, his power toward usward
who believe according to the working of his application of
his power, his application of his power to the church that
causes them to believe the gospel, causes them to believe that he
is the son of God. And then, This word, oretes,
that's normally translated as virtue, we find in 1 Peter 2,
verse 9. But you are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people that you should
show forth the praises of him that called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light." That's really the right translation
of virtue there. It's that Greek word, arites,
and praise here is the optimal word. I think if you read that,
now we go back to our text verse. Let's see. Verse 19, and the whole multitude
sought to touch him, for there went power out of him and healed
them all. The power of God Almighty went
out and healed them all. What a picture of the church
here. And if we think in those terms, it makes sense. He healed
them all. a picture of the church here.
And so I think that's a more correct rendering in this case.
And that's what it says in my Greek interlinear that power
went out of him and healed them. Now there seems to be a direct
connection here between this block of scripture that we're
looking at with a type of Christ that were presented with in Psalm
109 in David, which corresponds in a prophetic way with the events
which we read about, and it came to pass. So let's turn over to
Psalm 109 after we've read through here in verse 11 through 19 in
Luke chapter six. Turn with me back to Psalms 109. And again, we're looking at David
as a type of Christ here, and no doubt these very circumstances
affected him at that moment. But he was writing as holy men
of old were driven by the Holy Spirit. They were scribes. My
tongue is a ready writer. I'm a scribe for this Holy Spirit. He said, hold not thy peace,
O God of my praise. This arete is kind of a thought
that we have here. For the mouth of the wicked and
the mouth of the deceitful are open against me. They have spoken
against me with a lying tongue. They compassed me about also
with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause. For
my love, they are my adversaries. But I, and we notice here these
next few words are given to us in italics. They were supplied
by the translators for some purpose that they thought would aid in
the understanding of it. But I think it was perfectly
understandable without those. He says, but I, prayer. I give
myself unto prayer. And it kind of changes the thought
from a works kind of oriented application of I'm just giving
myself into prayer. I'm working at that from I am
prayer as it applies to the Lord Jesus Christ. And they have rewarded
me evil for good and hatred for my love. Set thou a wicked man
over him and let Satan stand at his right hand. When he shall
be judged, let him be condemned and let his prayer become sin.
Let his days be few and let another take his office. Let his children
be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children be continually
bag bonds and beg and let them seek their bread also out of
their desolate places. And so far it goes on to prophesy
about Judas Iscariot here as we're told by Peter in his book. And we'll look at that in a minute,
but as we're gonna be going back and forth between Luke here and
this Psalm 109, so you can kind of Keep your hand, as Norman
always says, keep your finger here and turn over there. And
keep your finger there and turn back over here. So, as we look
at this, the first three verses of Psalm 109, hold not thy peace,
O God of my praise. And we think of the covenant
of grace when we think of the praise of God. For the mouth
of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against
me. They have spoken against me with a lying tongue. They
compass me about also with words of hatred and fought against
me without a cause. And as we look back to Luke chapter
six and look at, let's look at verse seven. And the scribes
and the Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the
Sabbath day, that they might find an accusation against him. They were not there for comfortable
words. They were not there for the praise
of God. They were not there for good purposes. They were there
listening for him to say or do something that they considered
illegitimate according to the law of Moses and that they would
have an occasion to accuse him with the ultimate aim of causing
his death. That was the remedy for a lot
of these violations was death by stoning. And in verse 11,
it told us, they were filled with madness and communed one
with another what they might do to Jesus. They compassed me
about with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause.
What prophetic words from David. And as we view this from the
Lord, perspective in Psalm. He's saying, I was there to redeem
the church and they were there to accuse me of all kinds of
vile things. They were there to find a way
to put me to death, which turns out to be in the purpose of God
because that it was necessary that he should die to pay for
the sins of his people. And so they communed with one
another. They got together. They had their secret meeting. And they said, we got to do something
about this guy. He's a disruptor. He's bad. Bad for our business. And even
in the midst of the multitudes, which thing ought to have brought
forth the praise that this Greek word arete for the Lord, this
who only can call you out of darkness and into his marvelous
light is what it tells us in first Peter chapter two, verse
nine, even in the midst of this healing and this enmity came
from every direction. And I think it's important that
we understand that. This enmity toward God as a result
of the fall. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. He can't understand them or know
them. The natural man is enmity against
God. These scribes and these Pharisees
were just the spear point of that enmity that was caused by
the fall. And he said earlier in Luke chapter
six, when they were accusing him, he says, well, I'll 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? The sovereign Lord God Almighty
was within his right to do any of those things. It's only by
sovereign grace that he exercises mercy to anyone. Because there
are none deserving. He says, I would be within my
rights if I just destroyed all of you right now. But that was
not in his purpose. His purpose was the redemption
of the church. And so we find them accusing
him and even in the midst of all these wonderful works that
he did, these healings and casting out evil spirits and healing
the people that had various diseases and crippling problems. All these
things that are just emblematic of the results of the fall. He
healed them all. What a picture of the church.
But this enmity came at him in spite of that from every direction.
He says, they compassed me about with words of hatred. When we
think of a compass, we just think of the points of a compass that
go around in a 360 degree circle. And there's a little
point at every degree. He says, they compassed me about with hatred. And they fought against me without
a legitimate cause. It's interesting that they always
tried to find ways, the lawyers always tried to find ways. Well,
we talked about this in our last lesson. The lawyer said, well,
the law says that you can't tie a knot for fetch water with a
rope with a knot tied on the bucket on the Sabbath day, because
that would be work. But it was legitimate for a woman
to tie her girdle, so they said, well if you have the little woman
go out and tie her girdle around the bucket handle and lower the
bucket down with her girdle and fetch a pail of water and carry
it in by the girdle, she's not touching the bucket and she's
not tying a knot in something that she's not supposed to. It doesn't violate the letter
of the law, but it sure violates the spirit of the law. And what
was the point of the Sabbath? The Sabbath was to recognize
the finished work of Christ and not to interject your own works. As it says in Hebrews, when we've
mentioned this quite regularly, that he that enters into the
rest of Christ has ceased from his own works. And that was the
point of the Sabbath, was to have people remember to recognize
that the finished work was in Christ and that their works were
not to be interposed in the place of that. And in fact, the law
of Moses said, if you violate that, the result is death. And that's what happens when
you violate the gospel. If you substitute works for grace,
the result is death. And there's no substituting allowed
in there for the death of Christ. So in the midst of this healing
and this animosity that came at him, that compassed him about,
and he said, is it lawful for me to destroy or to save life? Even though I have the right
to do either one. What was his response? His response
was, and it came to pass, he went up into a mountain to pray. In Psalms, it says, I prayer. For my love, they are
my adversaries. And we're going to look at that
block, that little part of the sentence in a minute here. my love, for my love, for the
church. That's who he's talking about
there. For my love, they, the ones that are at compass me about
with hatred and animosity, they are my adversaries. If he wasn't
there to save the church, if he was just there to continue
on in the shenanigans that they were up to, they would have been
his buddies. But because he was there for
the purpose of redeeming the church, And he was calling out
the hypocrisy of the law and all their legal works for righteousness. They were his adversaries. For
my love, they are my adversaries, but I prayer. And again, we note
that give myself, says I give myself unto are supplied words
and supplied words to aid understanding
in their view and not really a direct translation of what's
in the actual Hebrew there. I think a more correct understanding
of this as relates to the Lord is, I prayer. Matthew Henry says,
I am prayer. And it's important for us to
look at this in relationship to Luke 6 verse 12, and it It
came to pass in those days that he went out into a mountain to
pray and continued all night in prayer to God. And it says back in verse 11, they
were filled with madness and they communed one with another
what they might do to him. They were communing with one
another for evil purposes. He was communing with God for
the redemption of the church. He was communing with God because
he was about to do something that, from our standpoint as
natural men, defies logic. If we knew somebody was against
us and hated our guts and was out to get us, We wouldn't name
them as one of our close compatriots, but it was necessary according
to the purpose of God for the redemption of the church that
this be done. It came to pass. that he went
up into a mountain and prayed. What they call a mountain back
there is probably not what we would consider a mountain like
Mount Hood or Mount Adams or something of that nature. It
was more of what we would consider a lump or a hill. It's not the physical characteristics
of it that are important here. It's the spiritual aspect. When
it talks about going up into a mountain, it's a spiritual
application of that. He goes up to a higher plane
and communes with God, communes with him about the redemption
of the church, communes with him about the things that must
surely take place. the things that are about to
take place, the things that he is going to directly put into
play here. As his enemies communed with
one another, the Son of God communed with God the Father regarding
the things which surely must come to pass as it is written
regarding the people God the Father gave him in the covenant
of grace. He could have destroyed them.
He could have destroyed those people that were against him
with a thought, the merest gesture. But that would not have achieved
the purpose of God in being just and the justifier of them that
believe. His answer was found in prayer. Remember what he said
to Peter? I have prayed for you. And remember
that word prayed there was a term that that had to do with the
concept of obligation. He was obligated to pray for
Peter because Peter had been given to him from before the
foundation of the world by God the Father. Peter's name was
written in the Lamb's Book of Life. He was obliged to pray.
He said, I'm obliged to pray for you Peter. Satan would like
to sift you like wheat, but I'm obliged to pray for you. And
remember what he said in John 17, I pray for them. I pray not
for the world, but I pray for them whom thou has given me.
I pray for them because He is prayer. He is the, it's not just,
so many times prayer just becomes a laundry list of shopping items. Oh Lord, you know, I need a new
washing machine. I need a new this or I need a
new that. And the Lord, when He prayed,
He was only about one thing. He said, I came to do the will
of the Father. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that of everyone He gave me, I should give eternal
life. And that was the redemption of the church. When He prayed,
it was about that. It wasn't about anything else. He would heal them all. And to
heal them all, to be saved meant He must die. And the things that
must take place for that to happen are being enacted. Remember,
he said, for my love, they are my adversaries. And if you recall
in John chapter 15, verse 13, he said, greater love hath no
man than then He laid down His life for His friends. There's
no greater love. Because of the great love wherewith
He loved us, it talks about in Ephesians. Let's turn over there
and read that from Ephesians chapter 2 beginning in verse
4. Ephesians 2 verse 4, who is rich
in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us. And you
know what it says right before that, it talks about our condition
before. And even when we were sinners,
Christ died for us. While we were yet sinners, while
we were without strength, Christ died for us. But God, who is
rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved us, even when
we were dead in sins, have quickened us together with Christ. By grace
are you saved. Dead in sins, made alive by Christ. I was thinking this morning,
I almost brought a charcoal briquette. It's a pretty good example of
something that is pretty dead. Maybe once it was comprised of
things that were alive, but now it's dead. And you can fan that
briquette until you're blue in the face and it is never going
to make a flame. It is dead. And religion, I just
read the other day. Well, there's just that spark
of life and all it takes is just a fan. Somebody to fan that spark
into a flame for the Lord. Well, we're just like that briquette. we can't be fanned back into
a flame of life unless there's an external application of flame. That is the only way that's gonna
happen. And so even when we're dead in sins, he hath quickened
us together with Christ. By grace are you saved. Let's
move on down to verse 25 of Ephesians chapter two. It says, Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave
himself for it, that he might sanctify it and cleanse it with
the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself,
a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
but that it should be holy and without blemish. He gave himself
for it. Greater love hath no man that
he lay down his life for his friends. And that's what it tells
us over here in Psalm 109, for my love. for my love, they are
my adversaries, for his eternal electing love. And then the next verse in verse
five says, they've rewarded me evil for good and hatred for
my love. Even though he said unto them
all, Whosoever will may come, but they won't because they are
involved in enmity because of the fall. Their nature is against
him. They've rewarded me evil for
good. He did all these wonderful things.
In one of the Gospels he says, for which one of these good works
do you stone me? for healing somebody that was
crippled before, for taking away a disease that was making somebody's
life miserable, that was going to end in their death. For which
of these good works do you stone me? They rewarded me evil for good.
Their plan was to kill him. Hatred and evil because the people
went after him who had the words of life. That's what the disciples
said. Where should we go? You have the words of life. There's
no one else. He disrupted their power, their
hierarchy. And now it must come to pass
as it is written that Jesus must be betrayed according to the
purpose of God and the redemption of the church. Verse six, set
thou a wicked man over him and let Satan stand at his right
hand When he shall be judged, let
him be condemned and let his prayer become sin. You know,
you think about Judas was among them. He did everything they
did. When they prayed, he probably
stood up and prayed. He was right in there with him,
but it was only only here and not here. Let his days be few
and let another take his office. Let his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow. And so on it goes about his posterity. And we notice in Luke chapter
six, verse 16, the last words of that verse is, and Judas Iscariot,
which also was the traitor. Now we know that Peter correctly
understood this to speak of Judas Iscariot because he writes that
in Acts the first chapter. When Judas was off the picture, when he'd hanged himself, Peter
said in Acts chapter 1 verse 16, Verse 16, man and brethren,
this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy
Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which
was a guide to them that took Jesus according to the determinate
counsel and purpose of God. He was numbered with us and had
obtained a part of this ministry. Boy, I just think about, When
the Lord was talking with his disciples, and he says, one of
you is going to betray me. And they all said, is it me?
Is it me? And the ones that were regenerated,
the ones that were born, said, man, I know it could be me. I
know in my heart that it could be me. I hope it's not. I pray it's not. But I know it
could be. And Judas says, I hope he doesn't
find out it's me. There is a big difference. Now
this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity there
in Acts chapter one, verse 18. And falling headlong, he burst
asunder in the midst and all his bowels gushed out. And it
was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem insomuch as that
field is called in their proper tongue aseldama, that is to say,
the field of blood. For it is written in the book
of the Psalms, Psalm 109, let his habitation be desolate and
let no man dwell therein. And let his bishopric, or his
office, let another take. Let his days be few, and let
another take his office. That's from Psalm 109, verse
8. Right in the middle of David, the prophecy by the mouth of
David, it says. Turn over to Matthew 20, verse
18. It says, behold, we go up to
Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief
priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to
death. He prayed about that, picking that guy that night. He went up into a mountain and
prayed, Lord, I've got to pick the betrayer tomorrow among my
friends. I've got to pick the guy that's
going to rat me out. but it's according to your will.
It's according to your purpose. It's according to our agreement
in the covenant of grace where I said, I give my life for the
sheep, for the people whom thou has given me. Matthew 20, 19,
the next verses, and shall deliver him unto the Gentiles to mock
and to scourge and crucify him. In the third day, he shall rise
again. There, my friends, is the gospel
from the very words of Christ that He knew ahead of time, that
He knew He must fulfill for the redemption of the church. Matthew
26, verse 2. You know that after two days
is the feast of the Passover, the very picture of the Lamb
that was slain and the blood that was applied in Egypt. The Son of Man is betrayed to
be crucified. Matthew 26 verse 24, the son
of man goeth as it is written of him, written in the law, written
in the prophets, written in the Psalms. It goes as it is written
of him, but woe unto that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. It had been good for that man
if he had not been born. But for my love, I do this for
my love for the church. I do this for my love. They are my adversaries. And
that will take us to the end of this block of scripture. And
the next time we're going to be looking at what's called here
in this part, the sermon on the plane. and Sermon on the Mount
over in Matthew chapter five. And they're a little bit different,
but essentially the components are the same, but they each bring
us a different perspective about the Lord. But one thing I would
like to call your attention to is the first things out of his
mouth deal with the church. Blessed be, blessed be. And when he gets done doing all
that, Then he says, woe to these other ones. Woe to them. And it's just like in the closing
of Matthew, where they have what they call the great white throne
judgment. The first thing that happens, he says, welcome you
blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared from you
for the foundation of the world. And they get ushered out. Then
he says, then he turns to the left and says, whoa, to you guys. I never knew you. This is the
same, the same thing. Blessed be, blessed are ye. And the only ones that are blessed
are, are the church. Ephesians chapter one, we might
go there and look at that. He's blessed us with all spiritual
blessings, every single one. He didn't leave a one out. So
we'll stop there, and till the next time, my friends, be free.