Healing and Putting Away

Matthew 19 verse 1, and it came to pass that when Jesus had finished these sayings he departed from Galilee and came into the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan. Now we just studied what is referred to in this text as these sayings, so we know that That which he had something to say about was stumbling blocks, impediments to entering into the kingdom of God and how they are to be dealt with, how they cannot be tolerated, they can't be allowed to impede us from coming to him and knowing him.

He spoke of forgiveness when a brother becomes the problem. There's to be great, great room for forgiveness, as there was in him for us, so in us for others. And here, as he finished those sayings, he departed from Galilee and came into the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan. I thought there was interesting symbolism here, that beyond Jordan is where the Lord healed everybody in this text. And that causes us to think about when we cross Jordan, we will truly be healed.

Every problem, every disease, every worry, every fear. Great multitudes followed him across Jordan. I don't want to go across Jordan without him, do you? I want to follow him there. I want to cross for the very reason of being with him. Paul said it's better. It's better to be on the other side of Jordan in order to be with him, which is far, far better.

And he healed them there. The tree of life, it says in Revelation, was for the healing of the nations, the healing of all of those whom the Lord has called out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. And the Lord healed of every imaginable ailment. We've seen that sometimes when it says the Lord healed them all, it mentions some of the things, lunatics, the lame and paralyzed, But all of the ones that the Lord healed had one thing in common, and that's the simple truth of salvation, is that they had absolutely nothing that they could do about it themselves. He didn't treat people for colds. He didn't recommend holistic cures, he just flat out healed people of incurable diseases. The lame, the blind, the deaf, even raising the dead.

The woman who had the issue of blood, if there had been any earthly cure for her ailment, sounds like she did a pretty good job of looking for it. But she had only grown worse, the leper who had no doubt of the Lord's ability and yet came to find out if the Lord would be willing to heal him. That's us, the woman of Canaan whose daughter was grievously vexed with the devil. What's she going to do about that? Came and took her place at the feet of the master as a mercy begging dog. Came away rejoicing. These people all had disparate of self.

That's what we've got to do now. Even as believers, don't start thinking that you're sufficient for anything. Don't start thinking that above that you are able, above that which the Lord has taught us to be, to know, to take our place. helplessly and hopelessly before Him, we depend upon Him for everything, because we, without Him, can do nothing. It's very simple.

And that bears reminding, doesn't it? It bears remembering. It bears remembering when this world, this life, the cares of this world, beat on us and bruise us and knock us down, that either the Lord is going to lift you up or you're not going to be lifted up.

Casting how much of your care upon Him? How much of it? Casting all of your care upon Him for a very good reason. He cares. He cares. He cares for you. It's personal. He cares for you. He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. People who can work it out themselves, people who can decide their way out of their problem. Think about it, worry about it enough.

You're never going to come to the Savior. You've got to come to the end of all of that. You've got to despair of self before you'll ever come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the truth of that in these physical ailments, curable physical ailments, teaches us the spiritual truth that the only cure for our soul's diseases is the Son of God, and He cured us by giving Himself for us. If you can walk an aisle and be saved, then you'll walk an aisle. That's what you'll do. If you can read a scripted prayer and be saved, you'll read a scripted prayer.

All of us are naming the leper, aren't we? If the Lord would give us something to do, we would do it. Some great thing, something we can boast about. Why does it matter if it's a great thing? Because that's what we're going to boast about. I made my decision. I have decided to follow Jesus.

Religious people will do a lot that someone has told them will save them. We'll read our Bible through in a year, even though we can't understand a lick of it. It's a chore, but they'll do it. They'll do it. Come to church and sit there and count the ceiling towels and play games on their phone and go home feeling like they've done their Christian duty. People will do anything except nothing.

They'll rededicate their lives every couple of weeks. Because, you know, walking down the aisle is only good for so long. You've got to redo it. Why do you think that is? Because the only value to it is how you feel about yourself. You walk down an aisle, boy, you know, I think everything's right between me and God now. But then you start realizing, as you live your life, that maybe everything isn't right. I better go fix that. I better go reset. Can't put a Band-Aid on cancer. You can't put an ointment on gangrene.

If you're the leopard who cannot change his spots and therefore cannot do good, if every time you try to put your finger in a leak in the dam, three more leaks spring up, if you find that you cannot do anything that is not evil, the more you do to try to gain God's favor, the more you sin and fall short of the glory of God. If you find that your nature didn't magically change when you decided you wanted to be saved, then you know you need God's son to do something for you that you cannot do for yourself.

And that's the spiritual teaching of this text and every text of scripture for that matter. Every text of scripture. That's why Abel brought a sacrificial lamb instead of the work of his own hands. He knew that by the teaching of God through his parents, that whatever he did would be non-acceptable in the sight of God. So he took a lamb and he shed its blood, an innocent lamb. And the scripture says he did that by faith. And faith just has one object, one object.

So look at verse three of our text. The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him and saying unto him, is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? Now think about this in a couple of different ways. Think about what the Lord was doing when the Pharisees came and asked a dumb question. A question that had already been answered by the Word of God. That's why the Lord said in verse four, haven't you read? If you'd have read the Bible, you wouldn't be asking me this question. That's true of a lot of things that go on in religion. when the Lord reveals his son in you and the word of God to you, questions like this, he hath given us an understanding that we might understand the scripture. He opens our understanding.

They came asking this question, well, he's healing people, he's changing lives. And more importantly, he's showing who he is. that salvation, all salvation, spiritual salvation, eternal salvation, is in His hand and His power to give. He healed people of physical ailments, but also He did what He did that men might know that the Son of God has power on earth to forgive sins. It's one thing to have the power to open blind eyes, And nobody but God can do that.

And they recognize that. They said that they knew mentally who he was because of the miracles that he did. He said, the miracles that I do, they give witness of me. My father gives witness of me, but to forgive sins, even they knew no man can forgive sins, but God only. That's exactly right. But he showed this, and he revealed this. Everywhere he went, he showed who he is, and he's changing people's lives. He's teaching, and he's healing, and changing people's lives forever. And here come the Pharisees. Let's ask a stupid question for a bad reason.

Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? There were two trains of thought among religion. There were two sects of religion. One said that they were hardliners. You cannot put away your wife except for the cause of adultery. Then there were others that said, well, Moses made provision for divorce, so if you wanna divorce your wife, just do it. It doesn't matter what the reason is, it's up to you. And so they're asking this question to try to trip him up. And notice the words put away, put away your wife. Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? that the Roman society was notoriously wanton and adulterous, and the Jews had been greatly influenced by the Romans who had conquered them.

And so it was like then, like it is now, marriage didn't really mean a whole lot to anybody. But the Pharisees now, they were hardline, you know, on the surface at least. They were committing the sins that they denounced, but they sure did denounce them. to be seen of men, to justify themselves before men. So people just, just like now, they did what they wanted to do for as long as they wanted, and then they just walked away for whatever reason suited their fancy at the time.

And let's just state right off the bat that the Lord, whenever he teaches concerning earthly things, it always is a spiritual message. Always. And he took them right back to the Word of God, didn't he? Always did. And contrary to the not so much the teaching, but just the attitude of our society these days.

Young people need to understand what a precious and priceless and beautiful thing marriage is, the sanctity of marriage. And when Paul spoke about it in Ephesians chapter five, he said, after speaking about how a man ought to think of, feel, and treat his wife, and the wife, the husband, he said, I'm talking about Christ and his church. I'm talking about Christ and his church. And that's what our Lord was talking about here. When he's dealing with the subject of marriage and divorce, he's speaking of himself and his church. He's speaking of that which is pure and beautiful and precious.

The Pharisees considered themselves better than everybody else. And so they're trying to trip up the Lord here. No matter which way he answers it, there's going to be people mad at him and they're going to be able to blame him. That's the kind of question that dishonest people ask. You can't win with whatever answer you give. And they're trying to expose the sin of others here.

They're trying to show how holy they are. But in doing that, they expose their own inward sin. And our Lord calls them on it. Let's look at it. And by the way, religion is exactly the same way today. They love to expose and condemn outward sin. They preach against sin. I like my preacher because he preaches against sin. Well, that's great. But what's the remedy for sin?

Walking an aisle, be dedicating your life, turning over a new leaf for Jesus, They preach against all of the bad stuff, adultery, drugs, alcohol, and religious people love to hear about it. They love to hear about it. I was in it, so I know what I'm talking about. They're just like the Pharisees, of whom the Lord said in Matthew 23, 25, woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.

For you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter. but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter." In other words, what has to happen is the impossible part. You can't clean your heart, you can't create in yourself a clean heart.

But he's saying that's what your first consideration's got to be, is what's in here, because what's in here will dictate what comes out. Clean that first, which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also, that you'll act according to your heart. People are gonna always act according to their heart. Your sinful heart will act according to your sin. and the new heart that the Lord has given you will act according to his nature, desiring to worship, loving him because he first loved us, gratitude and praise and honor unto him. That doesn't happen any other way, except by a new nature, a new heart. In other words, a clean heart. Create in me, David, a clean heart and a right spirit. That's the only way that happens. It's a creative work of Almighty God.

There are two issues dealt with in this condemnation of the Lord that he spoke to them. First is what the Pharisees prided themselves on not being outwardly It's exactly what they were condemned of on the inside, where it counts. They condemned adultery, but they were spiritual adulterers. In Hebrews 12, 16, Esau was called a fornicator for selling his birthright. You say, well, what does that have to do with that sin? What in the world?

Well, it means, the word means one who can be had for a price. Look it up in the scripture, fornicator. One who can be had for a price. Someone who will sell out when and if it's to their advantage to sell out. That's what he did. He thought it would be advantageous to him He cared less for that birthright than he did his own fleshly needs and desires. And the Lord called him a fornicator. And that's exactly what our Lord is dealing with in our text. Esau sold that which was precious for that which his flesh desired. And it's the same principle That's fornication.

The second thing is this, the problem on the inside got to be dealt with in order to truly accomplish the cleaning of the outside. In other words, you don't just need new habits. You need a new heart. You need a new heart. You need a new nature. You must be born again from above. You must be born again. Then, as our Lord promised, the outside will be changed.

It's not going to be perfect. It's not going to be spotless. There's one spotless one. There's one sinless one. There's one in whose mouth no guile was found. There's only one perfect, righteous, holy human being, and that's our Savior, and He is our righteousness. He doesn't make our righteousness to be like His. He is our righteousness. We're never going to be righteous inside or out.

But when the inside is clean, and the Lord said of His disciples, you're every whit clean. When you're clean in Christ, when Christ is your cleanliness, you're clean all the way. You're clean all the way. And when that's true, the outside will change. The motives change, then the deeds change. When the desire changes, then the actions change.

A religion focuses exclusively on the cleaning of the outside. Their message is not the message of Christ crucified. Their message is not the message of the successful God-satisfying sacrifice of the Son of God, wherein we stand righteous in the sight of God in Christ. That's not their message. Their message is what you do determines everything.

And the problem with that is, is what you do, no matter what it is you do, is defiled. So you stand defiled in your heart before God, trying to wash yourself with soap on the outside. And God despises that worse, according to himself, than a man who doesn't even try to clean up. Hypocrites, you hypocrites, you're acting like you're clean, when inwardly you're full of corruption, death, defilement, and that which is obnoxious. to the nostrils of God.

They do not preach Christ, and only Christ can change the heart, and He does it by the foolishness of preaching, by means of the preaching of the gospel. Hearts aren't changed by preaching against sin. Hearts are changed by the preaching of Christ crucified. That's the means by which God does that. They didn't preach Him.

Having said that, The problems with society, you could sit there and talk about it. Okay, the problem with society, a lot of people say, is the breakdown of the family, the home. Okay, there's a lot of truth to that, outwardly speaking. You know, when we're just dealing with earthly matters, that's a big problem.

God instituted marriage and the family order in his word. Children, obey your parents and the Lord. Fathers, mothers, provoke not your children to wrath. He spoke about that, but when he was speaking about that, he was speaking of himself and his church. God has a world, not so that people can be good fathers and mothers and children be good, obedient children. He has a world to make a bride for his son. And listen, the solution to the family, the problem of the breakdown of the family is a spiritual one.

If you put two gods in the same household and you raise up little gods in that same household, there's never going to be peace. There's never going to be harmony. It's never going to last. It's never going to be what God ordained in the beginning. Same with that marriage of Christ and his church and the children of God in his family. The solution is not what you do. The solution is what you are. God makes you a child. He births you again from above. And now, if a man and a woman know God, and neither one of them is God, and they both look to the God, then that's a happy marriage.

It doesn't mean that personalities won't get in the way and there won't be divorces and things like that. But the ideal, and that's another thing that's dealt with in our text, They brought up later, and we'll look at it in a minute, Lord Will, and how that Moses allowed for divorce. And the Lord said, because of the hardness of your heart, divorce is allowed, was allowed then.

But it was not so from the beginning. The way God ordained things, his revealed will is one thing, and then what happens is another thing. It's just another thing. There's God's revealed will and his secret will. And we'll talk a little bit about that in a minute.

But all of our problems are spiritual problems. The reason that children don't have any respect for their parents, if they don't, is because they don't have any respect for God. And the reason that men and women can't get together is not because they're from two different planets, it's because they're from one man. and they both still wanna be God, and it's never gonna work out. Even if they stay together, it ain't working out.

If the outside of the cup is gonna be clean, then there got to be a work done on the inside, on the hearts of men. And that's the purview of God alone. And so, as we look at this, We just look to Him, we have to look to Him, don't we, for the solution to every problem, and understand that our real problem is our spiritual problem with God, and the real solution is that one-man with God, reconciliation with God made by the blood of Christ's cross.

Healing and Putting Away

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Healing and Putting Away

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