Turn with me in your Bibles please
to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12. Tonight we're
going to talk about the man with the withered hand, but a little
more specifically, we're going to talk about the determination
of our Lord. When he goes after that one sheep
that we just read about, He seeks it till he finds it. Henry Mahan has got a message
out on the trail of God's sheep. And when God gets on your trail,
you're as good as God. And He'll bring you back with
Him and rejoice over you. Thank you for that reading. It
goes right along with what we're going to be talking about tonight.
Revelation, excuse me, Matthew chapter 12 and go down to verse
8. Down to verse 8, there's been
a controversy already over the Sabbath. Our pastor talked about
that a couple weeks ago. And in verse 8 it says, for the
Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day. And when He was
departed thence, He went into their synagogue. And behold,
there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked
him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days, that
they might accuse him? And he said unto them, What man
shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and 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. Then saith he to the man, Stretch
forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth, and
it was restored whole like as the other. All the three Gospels, Matthew,
Mark, and Luke, all three record this same incident, but in each
one there's a slightly different phrase or two. And what I'd like
for us to do, if you don't mind, let's just read each one. Let's
go to Mark Chapter 2 right now. Mark Chapter 2. Actually, we're going to start
with the last verse of Mark chapter 2. This is the same incident,
the same withered hand, the same critics, the same Lord. Verse 28 of chapter 2, Mark.
Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. And he entered
again into the synagogue, and there was a man there which had
a withered hand, and they watched him, whether he would heal him
on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him. And he saith
unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it
lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil, to save
life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And
when he had looked around about on them with anger, being grieved
for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch
forth thine hand. And he stretched it out, and
his hand was restored as the other. And the Pharisees went
forth, straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him,
how they might destroy him. But Jesus withdrew himself with
his disciples to the sea. Luke chapter 6. Luke chapter
6. Luke chapter 6, we'll begin with
verse 5. And he said unto them that the
Son of Man is Lord also of the Samoth. And it came to pass also
on another Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and talked,
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 accusation against him. But he
knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered
hand, Rise up, stand forth in the midst, And he arose and stood
forth. 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 around about upon
them all, he said unto the man, stretch forth thy 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. This man with the withered hand
wasn't seeking after the Lord Jesus Christ per se. Now he did
come to the synagogue And at the synagogue they were taught
the word of God. And at the synagogue they had
their own style of worship and things, but he wasn't necessarily
seeking after Jesus Christ. Remind you of what Isaiah said,
I'm found of them that sought me not. He came to see this man. He was on the trail of this man.
He came to one particular man at that synagogue. And it was
the man that had the withered hand. I'm sure there were other
people at the synagogue, and I'm sure there were other people
who had some type of ailment here or there of some kind. But
he looked at that man and said, stand forth, rise, stand forth,
come here. And to that man God's grace was
given. His hand restored just like the
other. This is Jesus Christ who is Lord
of all things. For of him, through him, and
to him are all things. The word Sabbath, as we have
read here several times, the word Sabbath means rest. And
our Lord is our resting place. Now the rest came after six days
of creation. So He's Lord of creation as well. He is the Creator. In the beginning, it says that
God made the heavens and the earth. In John chapter 1, it
tells us who He is. In John chapter 1, John chapter 1, it says, in the
beginning, was the Word. And the Word was with God. And
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him.
And without Him was not anything made that was made. Now skip
down to verse 14. And the Word was made flesh.
and dwelt among us, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. You see, He's Lord of the Sabbath.
He is Lord of all things. He's Lord of creation. He's Lord
of providence. An ungodly king tells us that. Look in Daniel chapter 4. Nebuchadnezzar
went crazy. God made him go crazy. He was
out there in a field eating grass like a cow. His skin and hair
matted like feathers. And then the Lord brought him
back to his senses. In Daniel chapter 4, Here's what
he said in verse 34 and 35. And at the end of the days, the
days of his craziness going out of his mind, I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned
unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored
him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom is from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. He did it according to His will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth
and none could say His hand or say unto Him, what are you doing? What doest thou? You see, He's the Lord of Providence.
Everything that comes our way. Everything. Sometimes we call
them good, sometimes we call them bad things. But all things
work together for good. The dem that are called, the
dem that love the Lord are called according to his purpose. He's the Lord of salvation. Look
at Isaiah chapter 45. Isaiah chapter 45. I want to establish that we're
talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and He is the Lord for
of Him and through Him and to Him are all things. Isaiah 45 look at verse 22. Look unto Me and be ye saved
all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none other. Jesus Christ is Almighty God. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? Our God can do all things. All things are possible to Him.
He commanded, and it was done. He spoke, and it was done. This is the one who's talking
to this man with the withered hand. As we mentioned this morning
from Psalm 71 verse 3, He commanded our salvation. He's Almighty
God. He does what He will, when He
will, where He will, and to whom He will. He's Almighty God. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causeth to approach unto him. Wherefore he is able
to save to the uttermost all them that come unto God by him. And when he goes after his one
sheep, he doesn't stop till he finds it. He will not be deterred. He will not fail. It will be
done. In eternity God chose whom he
would have as his elect. He gave those elect to his son
who would be surety for them. He would make sure that each
one of those would come to his father. He would bring many sons
to glory. But not just many sons. He wouldn't
lose one. Not one. If he got on your trail,
and you're one of his, He's not going to lose you. He's able
to keep. He's able to save. He's able
to do all that He says He will do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask or think. That's Almighty God. He's the
all-knowing God. He knew their thoughts. Does that cause fear to you a
little bit? Or a whole lot? that God knows
your thoughts. Now I don't know your thoughts.
Now sometimes you can see in somebody's eyes something about
what they're thinking. Especially if they flash with
anger. But I don't know what you're
thinking. You don't know what I'm thinking. But God does. God does. He knows every thought. That's why David said, search
me, O God, and know my thoughts. Try me. Know my thoughts. See if there be any wicked way
in me. He's the all-knowing God. You know, he wasn't surprised.
When he came to the synagogue and all these critics were on
one side, all the people were on the other, and there was a
poor man with a withered hand right in the midst of all this,
he wasn't surprised. He knew it was going to be there.
He knew exactly what he was going to do. It wasn't a thing that
took him by surprise. You see, he was determined to
do something that day, and it was a Sabbath day. And how could he have this kind
of authority? Let me just say this. Jesus Christ
is the authoritative Lamb of God. Not just the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, but they fled from the wrath of the Lamb who sat
on the throne. He's the authoritative Lamb of
God. He can do whatever He purposed us to do. As a matter of fact,
He said all power is given unto me both in heaven and earth.
And how did He get that? He bore our sins on the tree. He satisfied God's justice for
His people. He redeemed us. He bought us
with the price of His own blood. He was buried and rose again
the third day and God has exalted him and given him a name that
is above every name that at the name of Jesus Christ every knee
should bow. They'll give him the glory no
matter whether they are his sheep or the goats. They will give
him the glory. Remember how Moses talked to
Kohath that day? I'll get his name here in a minute.
Help me out if you know it real fast. Anyways, the guy that stole
the wedge of gold and the Babylonish garment and God was going to
pour out judgment upon he and his family, he said to that man,
give God the glory. Even in judgment, give God the
glory. He gets the glory no matter what
it is. He must get the glory. He's the
authoritative Lamb of God. He's the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. And He is not deterred by any
circumstances of life. They don't take Him by surprise.
They take us by surprise. I remember years ago, a few years
ago, not that many, but a few years ago, I preached a message
here on remember thy creator in the days of thy youth. And
on my way home, I had a heart attack. And as I was laying there
waiting for doctors to take care of me or whatever they could
do, as I was laying there, I thought, what a wonderful illustration
God has given. to this congregation you don't
know just when the Lord will say it's time and when he says
it's time for those who know him it's just a step between
us and God we're going to sleep here and wake up automatically
there with him you see he shall not fail he'll
not be discouraged Luke said he set his face to
go to Jerusalem. He said to his disciples, I must
go. He will not fail. Isaiah said
it this way. I've set my face like a flint. I must go. The good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. I lay down my life for the sheep.
I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it up. That sounds kind of determined
to me, doesn't it to you? That sounds like nothing would
deter him. It was the Sabbath day. Is it
lawful to do anything on the Sabbath? Well, if a sheep fall
in the pit, you go grab it out of there. And a man's better
than a sheep. That's what he said to him. A
man's better than a sheep. There was a sheep there. had
a withered hand. And he's going after him. On
the Sabbath day. That man couldn't do anything
for himself. He was in the pit. And his hand was all withered.
He was in a synagogue full of people. He taught in their synagogues. He worshipped in their synagogues.
But in this one day He singled out a man. One man. Now his critics were there. These
Pharisees and Herodians. Pharisees and scribes and then
later on they got together with the Herodians which were two
complete different sects. But they got together on behalf
of Jesus. Let's destroy him. They sought
for things and ways to destroy us. Peter said it this way, you
by wicked hands put Jesus Christ on the cross, but that was the
determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. That was his way of doing
things. They watched Jesus Christ. Remember
what we read there? They watched him. Can you just
imagine how depraved Men are that they sit around and watch
just to see if you do anything wrong. Ladies and gentlemen,
brothers and sisters, I preached for 40 years in a church like
that. We just sat around. The only
thing we looked for was wrong. Never looked for things that
are good. Never committed much of anything that was good. But
always looking for something wrong. Oh brother, what you did. Now we need to do something about
that. They watched him. They wanted
to accuse him. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. They were enemies. They sought
to destroy him. Several times they, for instance,
they took him to the brow of the hill, going to throw him
over. The other time they were going to stone him. But he walked right through the
midst of them. They didn't touch him. He was not intimidated. He was
not intimidated by his critics. And you know, It does hurt us
sometimes, especially if there are people who are close to us
that criticize what we believe, who Christ is, sovereign free
grace. Sometimes it hurts, doesn't it?
Sometimes it hurts. But we can't be intimidated by
it. We must stand and say, this is what the truth is. This is
what the truth is. And of course, he was not deterred
by the man with the withered hand. His right hand, that's
a picture of all mankind. We're withered, we're shrunk,
we're wasted away, we're dead. That hand was useless. There
was nothing to it. David said this in Psalm 102,
my days are like a shadow that declines. I'm withered like grass. Now what Isaiah said, what shall
I say? Tell them that all men are grass,
and that they'll wither away. This man had a withered hand,
and he calls to this man, in the midst of that congregation,
his critics and the other people who were there, who were worshiping,
he says, arise, stand forth, And he calls to this man. It
was no accident that our Lord Jesus was there. It was no accident
that that man with the withered hand was there. It is no accident
that you and I are here tonight. None. And it's no accident that
the Lord is here tonight. All on purpose. All on purpose. But there was only one who could
help this man. Only one, and that's our Lord
Jesus Christ. I was found of them who sought
me not. This man wasn't seeking, but
our Lord was on a mission. He came to seek and to save that
which was lost. He came into the world to save
sinners. He was on the trail of a sheep.
He would not be deterred. He would not fail. He will not
lose one. God will. They shall. Boy, that was a good message,
wasn't it, during the conference? God will. They shall. And that's what's happening right
here. And you know, though we read about this man in three
different books of the Bible, three of the Gospels, as far
as I know, he's never mentioned again. As far as I know, he only saw
the Savior once. That was all that was needed.
That was all that was needed. He saw him once, that took care
of things. Our Lord was not deterred by
that withered hand. Who made that withered hand? Who's the first cause of everything? We call them problems, but who's
the first cause? As a matter of fact, all things
work together for good, don't they? But we call them problems.
They're not problems. They're good things for us. They
work for us. They guide us. They help us. Who's the first cause? And he
does all things after the counsel of his own will. This man had
the withered hand. It was for God's glory. It was
for God's glory. Jesus Christ was going to come
and do something for him. The grace of God was going to
be seen on one particular person in that congregation. And isn't
that how God works? One-on-one. One on one. Even when there were 3,000 saved
at Pentecost, individually, they were saved. 5,000 later, individually,
they were saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. Multitudes after that,
and of priests, and I wonder if it was many of those priests
who cried, crucify him, crucify him, and got the crowd all stirred
up in the mob. I wonder if God spoke to those
guys. And they were delivered just
like the others. You see, he had that withered
hand. We read it this morning from
Romans chapter 5 and verse 6. We're without strength. We have
inability. We can't do anything for ourselves. There was no way for this man
to do anything for himself. He was in need of mercy. He was
in need of this grace. Something had to happen or it
would never happen. Have you seen these people that
have a handicap? And another sense of theirs is
enhanced and strengthened. A blind man I have a blind man
that lives, a deaf man. I have a deaf man that lives
across the street from me. When I go there, all I have to
do is knock on the door. But he's deaf. He feels the sound. Or I stomp on the porch. He feels the sound and comes
to the door. Now I can't talk to him in sign
language. I can say hi to him and that kind of thing, but that's
all I can do. But every once in a while, I'll
take them over something to eat, some fresh corn or something
like that. And that's what I do. And just a moment, the door opens.
His other sense has been increased. I wonder because of this withered
hand, now this is surmise, this is not preaching, okay? I wonder
if that withered hand, because he had that for probably such
a long time, that this left hand was strong, ever so strong, and
much stronger than normally it would be. And when the Lord made
this one whole, I wonder if it was just like that one. Strong
as that one could be. I do know this. When the Lord
saves His people, He makes them just like Him. He was in need of mercy. And
our Lord went to the heart of the problem. The heart of man's
problem today is sin. And the gospel is the only thing
that goes to the core, to the heart of man's problem. I'm a helpless sinner. I'm in
need of a Savior. And I need Him every day. Every
day. Our Lord commanded this man to
surrender that problem. Stretch forth thine hand. The problem was his hand. Stretch
forth your hand. He didn't say stretch forth your
feet. He didn't say wash your hands. He didn't say anything
else. He just said to this man, arise,
stand forth. And he looked around at all these
critics around with anger. because of the hardness of their
heart and then he spoke to the man. I'm not even sure if he
even looked at the man because of these critics who were there. But he said to the man, stretch
forth thine hand. He commanded and it was done. He stretched forth his hand. This hand that had no ability. He had no hope of having a hand
that would be a good hand. A usable hand. His life was without
God. Our life was without God. We
have no hope of doing anything on our own and for ourselves.
And God says, I command, I commanded your salvation. I said come, and you came. I said look, and you lived. I said believe, and you trusted
me. Well, all I have to give to the
Lord is this old sinner. I don't have anything else to
give him. I'm not worth anything. I'm unworthy. There's no godliness
about me. I'm ungodly. I have nothing to
give to Him. But who I am, and who am I? I'm a sinner. He commanded to surrender the
problem. And when we come before God,
I'm a sinner, Lord. I have no hope. I have no way
of knowing I could have any hope. And if you wanted to send me
to hell, you could do it and be right in doing so. And he'll say to me and has said
to me, that's all I wanted. It's all I wanted. I commanded
you, and you did. It's all I wanted. I wanted you, as a sinner, to
come to me because I'm the only one who can cleanse you. I'm
the only one who can pardon you. I'm the only one who can forgive
you. I'm the only one who can make
you whole. Our Lord said, my sheep hear
my voice and they follow me. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. Faith, repentance, surrender,
whatever you want to call it, is a gift of God. according to
the working of His mighty power. And when you read in Ephesians
chapter 1 where it says that according to the working of His
mighty power, the very next phrases say it was resurrection power. The power that He had to bring
Himself from the dead. That same power. So what did
this man do? Well, let's think about it a
minute. I've often thought whenever the
children of Israel were bitten by the snakes and Moses commanded
to put up the pole with a brass snake on it and told them just to look, look
and you'll live. I've often thought, I wondered
how many people were like people of today. Oh, that's silly. That can't be true. Why would
I even look at something like that? And by the way, it was
probably not a real big thing, so if you're going to take a
good look at it, you're going to have to go find it. It's going
to be somewhere there. Moses has got it up there in
the air. Now if you just look at it, you'll live. I need to
go to a doctor. I need to get that snake serum
out. Now look at that. I wonder, I wonder, I wonder
how this man, if this man, he didn't, but if this man would
have thought about it. Oh my goodness. Stretched forth
my hand. This hand's been like this since
I've lived. How in the world? It's useless. I can't move it. It's withered. It's drawled up. It's wasted
away. It's as good as dead. And he tells me to stretch it
forth. Do you know there was no hesitation? No hesitation. When the Lord commands, it's
done. He stretched it forth. And it
became whole. Just like the other. We have passed from death unto
life. We're translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom
of God's dear Son. Being made whole at that moment,
it was immediate, it was perfect, it was permanent. Eternal salvation. Ye are complete. I'd like to
close tonight with Isaiah chapter 40. Isaiah chapter 40, a few
verses from Isaiah 40. I'm sure I haven't said everything
that could be said about the man with the withered hand. But I'm glad that God came to
me, a withered old sinner. I said, come. And I came. And I was made whole,
just like He said. Isaiah 40, down to verse 28. Hast thou not known, hast thou
not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of
the ends of the earth, fainteth not? Neither is weary. There is no searching of his
understanding. He giveth power to the faint.
That's me. And to them that have no might,
he increases strength. That's me. Even the youth shall
faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But listen
to this. But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary,
and they shall walk and not faint. That's what the Lord will do.
He'll make you whole. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for
your Word tonight. Thank you for meeting with us.
Thank you for the blessing of the Holy Spirit who guides us
into truth. And thank you, Lord, for your
salvation, that you made my salvation. Oh, thank you, Lord, that you
took this old withered hand and made it whole. In Jesus' name,
amen. Let's stand and sing a couple
of stanzas of amazing grace. How sweet the sound.