Turn with me please to Luke's gospel chapter 14. Luke chapter 14. And we're going to read from verse 1 down to verse 6. Luke 14 verse 1. And it came to pass as he went, that's the Lord Jesus, into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day, that they watched him. And behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.

And Jesus answering, spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees saying, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go. And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day? And they could not answer him again to these things.

Amen. May the Lord bless this reading to us today. This is very similar to miracle that the Lord performed that was recounted actually in the synagogue in the previous chapter, but this is different. This is an occasion in a Pharisee's home. And the reason why the Lord was invited to this Pharisee's home for a meal is not given. We don't know what the circumstances were for this invitation. The Pharisee's desire to be gracious, his desire to be hospitable to a visiting stranger to the town, to the synagogue would be a worthy reason in itself. And perhaps as this was the Sabbath, the Lord had been invited to dine after attending worship earlier in the day. However, I'm sorry to say that I don't think this Pharisee inviting Christ into his home was altogether spontaneous. There may have been more sinister motives in this invitation. The Pharisees were not at all sympathetic or supportive of the Lord's ministry.

And as such, they are a picture of man's self-righteousness and man's self-worth in his own sight. Most people that we know have no need for the Lord in their lives. because they have no concept of their sinfulness. They are righteous in their own sight. And that's a picture, or at least the Pharisees and the attitude of the Pharisees is a picture of that widespread sense that the natural man possesses of his own self-worth. These men were holy in their own estimation and they delighted to point out the sins of others, to condemn others, and thereby distinguish themselves as not being guilty of those particular crimes.

And I fear that that was the motivation that was at work here on this Sabbath day. The Pharisees often tried to catch Christ out by contriving a situation in which the Lord's kindness, his goodness, his generosity would be used against him. And this appears to be such an occasion. seems to be something of a trap laid for the Saviour by those who were present.

And I say that for two reasons. We're told two things. That a man with dropsy was in attendance and was seated beside or directly in front of Jesus. And it's very likely, or at least we should say possible, that this man was purposefully placed there in order to create a spectacle. Because we discover as well that the principal activity of the other diners was watching Christ to see what he would do when confronted with these circumstances, when presented with this man's need.

And be all this as it may, the plans and the schemes of devious men are well known to the Lord. And I want to point out to you, I'm not going to miss the opportunity to point out again, the inclusion of the little phrase here in Luke's writing, a certain man. Luke supplies us with this phrase, no doubt at the direction of the Holy Spirit and here is a testimony once again to the distinguishing grace of God. This was a certain man, this wasn't just any man, this was a particular man that was known to the Lord and it speaks to us both of that grace of God that distinguishes one from another and the continuing labour of Christ to seek out and save all the lost who had been committed into his hand by his Father in covenant mercy. Here was a certain man and it was now on this Sabbath day that this certain man would meet his saviour, that this certain man would be healed by the Lord.

It had been the Lord's plan from time immemorial, the Lord's intention to be gracious to this man. If these Pharisees manufactured this whole event through evil motives in order to snare and accuse the Lord, then they merely succeeded in putting before the Saviour one of the Lord's elect children, and putting in place the circumstances under which mercy was dispensed for the healing of his body, and we trust, for the healing of his soul. They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

And of course, the Lord was not unaware of their ruse. He inquired of them, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? And that question was not asked out of ignorance. The Lord wasn't asking them for their opinion on the law of Moses or the traditions of the fathers. It certainly wasn't asked in order to seek their permission to progress. Jesus well knew that the law and the traditions of the Jews allowed for acts of mercy on the Sabbath, especially if there was danger of death.

Nevertheless, this situation gave these Pharisees sufficient grounds, sufficient leeway to criticise and condemn the Lord if he had acted as they fully expected him to do. And it seems that that was their purpose. And here we can see the true nature of a legalistic attitude. It looks for an opportunity to find fault. And it's even willing to exploit a situation of hardship, a situation of distress at a personal level in order to gain an advantage in an argument and appear to seize the high ground and gain some benefit from that.

The Lord asked his question of these men, but he didn't wait for their answer. He knew their hearts. They held their peace. They didn't know an answer. And he pressed right on to the blessing of this poor sufferer. And we're told that the Lord took him and healed him and let him go. And I think that there might be more to this phrase than immediately meets the eye. The Lord took him and healed him and let him go. Taking this man seems to suggest that the Lord touched him. The man is said to have suffered from the dropsy and that dropsy seems to have been a form of swelling that was caused by excessive water or fluid retention. Now, different parts of the body that can be of greater or lesser seriousness But it is perhaps acceptable for us to say, it's certainly possible, that the Lord touched the swollen area and the bloated, extended area simply shrank before the onlooker's eyes. He took him. Then he healed him. This wasn't a short-term fix. This man was healed. He was made better. Whatever blockage caused the original condition was removed and remedied and the man was made well. And then the Lord let him go.

He dismissed him. He dismissed him from the table. He dismissed him from the gathered assembly. He dismissed him from the company and presence of these Pharisees, these hypocrites. Well, I like that. I like it. He separated him from these self-righteous men. There was no need for the healed man to stay in their company. No need for him to hear their criticism of his healing or witness the Pharisees' opposition to the Saviour. The man's business that day there at the Pharisees' house was done. and he went home perfectly cured. And I think that's a lovely picture of salvation.

Is this not what the Lord does in a saving way to all his people whom he converts and transforms inwardly by grace? The Lord takes us and heals us and lets us go. He comes to where we are. He meets us in our need. He touches us with his hand of grace and mercy.

This man couldn't do anything to heal himself. Had he been able to heal himself in any way, he would have done it long ago. But Christ touched him. took him up out of his helpless state, lifted him up as he lifts a sinner out of the depths of sin and as he cleanses a soul of that bloated ugliness of rebellious opposition against God and as he heals from that killing disease of sin. Christ heals by applying a saving touch. He washes away our iniquity by his own blood.

And he cleansed this man's body of the poisonous toxins that filled his organs. And then he let the man go. And Christ lets us go, go free, go home, go out with joy, rejoicing in the gift of new life and spiritual transformation. And he separates us.

This is one of the beautiful realities of conversion. I was speaking recently to someone who was obviously struggling between this, about this idea of the difference between regeneration and conversion and what that meant. But this is what the Lord does. He makes us anew, but he changes us. He changes our experiences. He changes our desires. He changes the way in which we live.

And he sends us out away from these self-righteous hypocrites that merely were trying to condemn and criticise the Saviour. And I think perhaps there's a little lesson here about Christian liberty as well. The Christian liberty of the believer is potentially being alluded to here. There is a freedom from the bondage of sin and Satan that is effected when Christ brings that healing power into a man's soul. But there's also a liberty from condemnation that attends our situation.

These Pharisees sought to find occasion to condemn the Lord for what he did on the Sabbath day. And we all still find that there are those who wish to condemn the Lord's people and bring us into bondage despite the liberty we're with, we have been made free.

Recently, I was asked again the question about what was okay for a Christian to do on a Sunday and what was not. What are permissible activities for a Sunday? what many people unhelpfully call the Christian Sabbath. What is acceptable conduct on the Christian Sabbath and what is not? Well, let me give you my understanding. You can do exactly what you want to do on the Sabbath day. It is no different from any other day.

The Sabbath was a picture given to the Old Testament people of resting in Christ from all our labours, resting in Christ from all our own works. It's a type of laying down our own self-righteous works and trusting in the complete sufficiency and the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ for all our acceptance with God. And when the Lord Jesus Christ lets us go from the curse of the law by showing us that he has fulfilled all our righteousness, that all the righteousness that we require is in his righteous act of laying down his life for his people.

And it is essential, as his people, that we insist upon our freedom from the law, or as Paul calls it in Galatians 5.1, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Every redeemed, converted child of God has the Holy Spirit dwelling in their heart. He leads us into truth. He witnesses with our conscience concerning our conduct and our values and our activities. And our principles of conduct are governed by what honours our God, what magnifies our Saviour, and what helps and encourages our brethren. Those are the principles, those are the foundations upon which a believer lives his life. And we live by faith in the Son of God, the salvation that he has gained, and the freedom that he has purchased for us.

The Lord exposed these Pharisees as the hypocrites they were for condemning this man to suffer and despising the Lord for his works of mercy. They were bound up in their own self-righteousness, their own works. They had no hunger for the true righteousness that comes from God, and they had no love for the Lord Jesus. They were strangers to grace and they were ignorant of Christ's justice and mercy and kindness.

By God's grace, he has given us that righteousness which is from above and he has given us a desire after justice and mercy and kindness, a hungering and a thirst after the good things of the Lord. and we as his people are set free from the bondage of sin and Satan, from the bondage of the law, free to worship him in spirit and in truth, free to live to his glory and for the blessing and encouragement of our brothers and sisters in the Lord. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us today. Amen.