A Mission of Mercy

caught me singing got into that song it was a blessing to me mark chapter 3 mark chapter 3 the title of the message a mission of mercy a mission of mercy Previously our Lord and His disciples were on their way to the synagogue. As they traveled they plucked ears of corn because they were hungry and they needed to eat.

And the Pharisees immediately found fault with them for doing so on the Sabbath day as if they hadn't eaten that morning. I'm sure they ate breakfast. But our Lord, you know, our Lord said this about the Pharisees because the Pharisees condemned them for doing this on the Sabbath day. But the Lord said in Matthew 23 for they, that is the Pharisees, bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on men's shoulders but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. They would rather those disciples go hungry until the next day than to eat a little breakfast on the Sabbath day, which they did, I'm sure.

But let's remember this, our Lord said back in Mark 2, 28, THEREFORE THE SON OF MAN IS LORD ALSO OF THE SABBATH. Let's never lose sight who is Lord. There is nothing He is not Lord of. You know, He says here, THEREFORE THE SON OF MAN IS LORD ALSO, for your information, ALSO OF THE SABBATH.

It's My day. that's why he's saying this is my day i'm the one who who established it it's my day it's mine now the lord enters the synagogue to preach to teach and to save i believe he saved this man because he says later later on in his verses whether is evil is it lawful to do evil or good to save life or to kill.

He did not only just heal the man, I believe he saved the man because when the Lord said to that man, stretch forth thine hand, he did so by faith. And faith is a gift of God, but he did so by faith. When the Lord spoke, I'll get to this later, I'm getting way ahead of my message. But when the Lord spoke and told him to reach forth his hand, faith was involved. He believed the Lord, and he did. Well, I'll get to that later.

So now the Lord enters the synagogue, and our Lord was never afraid of evil men. We should never, ever be afraid of evil men. It says in Proverbs 29 25 the fear of man bringeth a snare but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe whoever puts his trust in the Lord you really trust him to keep you he said he shall be safe Now verse 1, And he entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there which had a withered hand.

As much as he was hated by the Pharisees, he never avoided their presence. He never avoided their presence. The Lord Jesus Christ never altered in any way, shape, or form. He never altered His course because of opposition. HE NEVER ALTERED HIS MESSAGE BECAUSE OF OPPOSITION. HE ENTERED THE VERY PLACE WHERE HIS ENEMIES GATHERED. IT'S INTERESTING. HE ENTERED A PLACE WHERE HIS WORD WAS BEING READ AND YET THEY WERE HIS ENEMIES. HIS ENEMIES WERE READING THE WORD.

BUT THERE WAS A SPECIAL PERSON THERE. says there was a man there which had a withered hand now this man with a withered hand is going to be an example of our spiritual condition all of the healing that our lord did he gave sight to the blind he enabled the lame to walk he raised the dead all of these are spiritual conditions they reflect our spiritual condition he's not he's not just going around showing he can heal the body THAT'S NOT THE PURPOSE OF THIS. THE PURPOSE IS TO SHOW SPIRITUALLY WHAT HE'S ABLE TO DO FOR US.

AND THAT'S WHAT I'M INTERESTED IN. WHAT CAN HE DO FOR ME SPIRITUALLY? I CAN GO TO THE DOCTOR, I CAN GET MEDICATION FOR A LOT OF AILMENTS, BUT I CAN'T GET ANY MEDICATION FOR MY SPIRITUAL CONDITION. ONLY CHRIST, THE PHYSICIAN OF SOULS CAN HELP ME THERE. That's the only place he can, I mean, that's the one place nobody else can do anything for me but Him.

Whenever the gospel is preached, Christ is present and sinners are made whole. Sinners are saved. We saw this last Sunday when I baptized, I can't think of her name, Carrie. When I baptized Carrie. See, I don't have that written down. But when I baptized Cary, so when the gospel is preached, the Lord has saved some of you, many of you that are here tonight.

I've learned that Wednesday night, Henry always said this, Wednesday night is the very core of the church. He said that's the very core of the church, is on Wednesday nights. And the Lord has saved you, the gospel is preached, and He called you, and He gave you life. And you believed, as that song says, I know not how, I just believe. Well, He worked in you faith. He worked in you faith.

And though the synagogue was filled with many lost people, many lost people were there, if not all of them, but there was one man there whom Christ had come to heal. he had his eye on this one man this demonstrates our Lord's divine sovereignty remember when he healed that man who had an infirmity for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda I think it was he said there was many impotent folks many our Lord walks up to one man He walks up to one man and says, would you be made whole?

And he said, I have no man. I wrote an article on this today. I have no man to help me when the pool is stirred to help me get down there. And the Lord saved him. The Lord made him whole. He said, rise, take up your bed and walk. We don't hear or read of anybody else there saying, Lord, would you save me? WOULD YOU HEAL ME? IT WAS MANY IMPOTENT FOLKS THERE, BUT WE DON'T READ OF ANYBODY ELSE ASKING FOR MERCY, ASKING FOR THE LORD TO SAVE THEM. OUR LORD DEMONSTRATES HIS DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY AND SALVATION. THE LORD SAVES WHOM HE WILL. HE SAID I'LL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I'LL HAVE MERCY, AND WHOM I WILL I'LL HARDEN. DOES HE NOT HAVE? The divine right to do that? No one wants mercy anyway. They don't want it.

He has to show it to us before we want it. But our Lord demonstrates His divine sovereignty. He came to preach, He came to save, He came for this one man. This one man. And we do not read that this man was seeking the Lord. When the Lord I'm trying to speak in language we can understand. I'll say when the Lord found you, but He knew you back in eternity. He knew you back in eternity. But you and I were not seeking the Lord until He called us. I'm trying to say this You know, Solomon said the preacher sought right words. And that's what I do when I pray. I try to seek right words.

But when the Lord called us, we weren't seeking Him. Samuel was not seeking the Lord when the Lord called him, was he? He went and laid down and he said, Samuel, Samuel. And he thought it was Eli calling him. Until the third time Eli said, Samuel, if it happens again, you just say, speak Lord. Samuel wasn't looking for Him.

There is no sinner ever been saved that was looking for the Lord before the Lord found them and saved them and called them and sought them. He saved us in eternity past, I know that, but there comes a time He seeks us here and calls us. There comes a time for that. But our Lord was seeking Him, He was after Him. You see, this is a picture of our spiritual inability. Don't let this go over our head. We hear from the pulpit here a lot, but don't let this go over your head, or my head.

Our Lord said in John 5.40, Let us never get old for the fact that God called us. God saved us.

I was telling Vicki today, I took her out for her birthday, yay me, but I took her out for her birthday. And I told her, I said, as we was walking together, I said, you know, we're going to have a new body. The Lord's going to give us a new body. We're going to have a new body. Not going to be a body that's growing old and hurts and aches and... We really are, I said, this is real! We don't live in the reality of what we have ENOUGH! We're going to have a SPIRITUAL BODY, a POWERFUL BODY!

This is temporary. This tent is going to be taken down. And then I'm going to have a new body. But listen here, here's a picture of our spiritual inability. John 5, verse 40, and you will not come to me that you might have life. You will not do it. You will not. That's your problem. Here's your problem right here. You will not. There's man's great big will. Man's will is to not come to Christ. That's everybody's will that's born of the flesh. That man would not come any more than the Pharisees would come. He wouldn't either.

John 3.20 For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deed should be reproved. That's everybody, isn't it? That doesn't just belong to the Pharisees, that belongs to us too. We did evil, If you're self-righteous, you're evil. If you're just an out-and-out rascal, you're evil. If one or the other, you're still evil. And you hate the light, you won't come to it unless your deeds should be reproved.

You don't want to deal with it. But this man's condition, look at it. He said, which had a withered hand. You ever see a withered branch? on a tree, it's dead, isn't it? It's dead. This man's hand was basically dead, that's what it was. It was a withered hand, it was useless. His right hand was USELESS!

We are spiritually USELESS! Anybody ever called you useless? I remember Dad got so mad at us one time, he said, James, you boys are USELESS! I've never forgot that! I remember that all these years later, Dad says, You boys are USELESS! USELESS! SPIRITUALLY USELESS! That's US! We are WEAK, we are HELPLESS, we are UNABLE to do ANYTHING SPIRITUALLY, we are BROKEN BY SIN and DEAD! WITHERED! WITHERED! The withered hand symbolizes HUMAN WEAKNESS, our weakness. Spiritual inability and the ruin brought on by sin. There will never be a withered hand in heaven. There won't be. There will be no lame person in heaven. There will be no blind person in heaven. There will be no dead person in heaven.

All that's over with. But we see these things, they symbolize our spiritual condition. But as I was looking at this, and I wanted to put this in here, I thought of the SIGNIFICANCE of the RIGHT HAND. You know, there's a lot said in the Word of God about the RIGHT HAND. You remember the ram? Well, I haven't got there yet. In Exodus, the ram of consecration? The blood? You know what the blood of the ram of consecration was done? It was put on the right ear, the right thumb, and the right toe. Big toe. It's all on the right.

See, our right hand has been destroyed, our power. We have no power. Christ said to Pilate, you have no power at all against me. And you and I don't have any power except what He gives us. Listen here, God's right hand is the hand of power. Psalm 118.15 The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. Isaiah 41 10. I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Exodus 15 6.

Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power. You see, the right hand stands for power, authority, favor, blessings, and fellowship. That's what the right hand stands for. Listen to this concerning Christ who occupies the place of supreme honor. Psalm 110, Sit thou at my right hand. Hebrews 1-3, He sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.

And then the right hand is also associated with blessing. When Jacob blessed JOSEPH'S SONS, HE TOOK HIS RIGHT HAND AND PUT IT ON THE HEAD OF EPHRAIM, AND BLESSED HIM. THEY WOULD TAKE THEIR RIGHT HAND AND DO THAT. AND THEN IN FELLOWSHIP, IT SAYS IN GALATIANS 2.9, THEY GAVE TO ME AND BARNABAS THE RIGHT HANDS OF FELLOWSHIP. NOW THIS MAN'S RIGHT HAND WAS WITHERED, IT WAS DEAD, HIS.

But Christ, God's right hand, is all-powerful and we're going to see this. His right hand was withered. It's a picture of what sin has taken away from us. However, our Lord Jesus Christ restores what sin has taken away. We are at the right hand of God in Christ. Now there's a contrast here between two conditions, but both have the same root problem, SIN.

I have redone this outline probably three times, but I think really the last time I felt like I really had some light on it. Because this man's condition was no better than the Pharisees, he's lost too. He's lost, just like the Pharisees lost. See here, the man had an obvious disability that could be seen. You could see he withered. I've seen a withered hand before. I've seen one person I knew, his hand was just totally useless. It was withered.

The Pharisees had a hidden corruption that only God could see. See, we see the outward effects of sin. GOD SEES THE ROOT OF ALL OUR PROBLEMS, THE INWARD CORRUPTION OF THE HEART. OUT OF THE HEART PROCEED WHAT? EVIL THOUGHTS, ADULTERIES, MURDERS, THEFTS, AND SO ON. OUT OF THE HEART. THAT'S WHAT GOD SEES. WE CAN SEE THE OUTWARD EFFECT OF IT. GOD SEES THE HEART. GOD SEES THE HEART.

Now the Pharisees, they watched while Christ works in verse 2 and they watched him they watched him they were conspiring against him whether he would heal him on the sabbath day that they might accuse him ain't that mean oh so mean i went back and i looked and i did some searching to see if there was any law against doing good on the Sabbath day and there's not, there's not.

There are some Jewish traditions that they have added but not God. God did not restrict doing good on the Sabbath day. He didn't do that, they did. They were not watching to learn, they were watching to accuse. LIKE SOME PEOPLE LISTEN TO PICK. THEY LISTEN TO PICK AT THE MESSAGE, NOT FEED ON IT. NOT FEED ON IT. THEY WOULD RATHER SEE THE MAN CONTINUE SUFFERING THAN TO SEE CHRIST HEAL HIM AND GET THE GLORY. THAT'S WHAT THEY'D RATHER SEE. AND THIS REVEALS THE HARDNESS OF THE HUMAN HEART. THIS HEART'S IN EVERYONE. before God saves them.

Like father, like son. You remember the Lord said to the Pharisee, you are of your father, the devil. In first Peter five, eight, be sober, be vigilant. That's be sober and be on the watch. because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour like father like son they were seeking to devour him they were wanting to accuse him they want to murder him they want to kill him and you see that at the end of this but here christ calls his sheep that does not stop him from calling his sheep THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AS HE SAID TO PETER, SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST YOU.

THE GATES OF HELL WILL NOT KEEP OUT THE GOSPEL. IF GOD HAS A SHEEP SOMEWHERE, I DON'T CARE IF IT'S BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN, THAT'S NOT AN IRON CURTAIN TO GOD. IF HE HAS A SHEEP THERE, HE'S GONNA SAVE THEM. HE'S GONNA SAVE THEM. and he said here in verse 3 and he's and he saith unto the man which had the withered hand stand forth here's the call he calls him forth christ publicly separated this man from the rest of the crowd this is so beautiful he's standing there the pharisee's watching him and he calls this man forward he separates the sheep from the goats HE SEPARATES THE TARE FROM THE WHEAT and HE CALLED HIM OUT FROM AMONG THE OTHERS, COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM. Christ separates The gospel, I tell you, when God saves you, He's going to separate you from the world.

He's going to separate you from the world. He's going to separate you from your worldly friends. He's going to separate you from everything that has to do with this world. He's going to wean you. Now that weaning takes time. He's still weaning me. I've been around, I believe the gospel, nearly 50 years. I'm still being weaned away from it. But He's doing it.

Thank God for that. Thank God He weans you from this world, preparing you for that world to come. My, what's coming? What is coming? When Christ saves, His work becomes known. He doesn't do this thing in a corner, secretly. He calls Him forth. This is going to be a public demonstration of the grace of God and the power of God standing in their midst. God standing there, it's God standing there. I tell you, if God calls you, you're coming. If God calls you to stand forth, you're going to stand forth. And when Christ saves, His work is known.

The woman with the issue of blood. She said, if I can but touch the hem of his garment, and the rendering of that is she kept saying, if I can but touch him, if I can but touch him, if I can but touch him, I'll be made whole. And she did. And he turned and said, who touched me? And his disciple said, are you speaking in our language?

Are you serious? Everybody's touching you. He said, no, somebody touched me because I perceived that virtue's gone out of me. There's a lot of people in that throne, everybody's reaching out and touching him. But there was one who touched his heart. There was one who had a need. And she reached out, and she touched him. And you know what he did?

She was gonna slip off. She was gonna slip off. She had this issue of blood, she's weak, she's anemic. She's fought this crowd, and now she's gonna slip off and go back home. No, she's not. There ain't no secret disciples. There are no secret disciples. He said, who touched me? He called her forth and made her confess. It says before all, why she touched him. Why she touched him. No, he's going to, he's going to make his work known.

And then Christ exposes the wickedness of their hearts in verse four. Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days or to do evil to save life? That's why I believe he saved this man. He said to save life or to kill. Now be careful. This is the first thing I thought of. I thought, be careful. Well by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Be careful how you answer this. Be careful. You ever watch that movie, that movie 300? And that guy is standing there over at Pitt, that guy Kenneth King, he says, now be careful how you answer this. And they kicked him down in the hole.

Be careful. because by thy words i shall be justified and by thy words i shall be condemned in matthew 12 37 but the answer was obvious that's why they held their peace they said they held their peace the answer was obvious it's better to kill it's i mean it's better to save life it's better to do good you see the lord now listen the lord made them their own judges the Lord made them their own judges not doing good when good ought to be done is evil and they knew it and they wouldn't they wouldn't even say they wouldn't even say well you're right they wouldn't do it they just wouldn't say anything The judge of all the earth exposed their hypocrisy. I was telling Vicki this when we were talking today, I said, I think probably one of the most prevailing sins in religion is just this, hypocrisy. Just flat out hypocrisy. Being one thing here and another thing at home or in the workplace or out there in the world. hypocrisy listen in Matthew 12 and he said unto them in Matthew 12 11 and he said unto them what man shall there be among you that shall have one sheep and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day would he not lay hold on it and lift it out well you know they would they know they would well is it not right for the lord to lift one of his sheep out will we do something and then not allow him to do it You know what, this is the sinfulness of humanity, this fallen race.

We want to be sovereign. You say who comes in your house or who doesn't, don't you? Everybody here, you say who comes and goes in your house. Is God not allowed to say that? Is He not allowed to do that? You are lords over your property. Is He not allowed to be Lord over the universe? It's all His. The earth's the Lord's. Fullness thereof and they who dwell therein. Psalm 24, verse 1. That's hypocrisy right there. Now Christ, I want us to see here, the Lord's command gives power.

When it comes to a person in power, when he sends the gospel in power like he did to the Thessalonians, Paul said the gospel came not into you in word only, because it does to some people. To some people the gospel comes in word only. But he said it didn't come to you like that, it came to you in power and in demonstration of the Spirit. You believe the gospel.

You forsook your idols. You forsook your idols. verse 5 and when he had looked around when he had looked round about on them with anger being greed for the hardness of their hearts notice both here the both the anger and grief of our lord let me tell you something about his anger it's not with animosity I don't know that I could ever be angry without wanting to get even or something.

I don't know. Probably not. I'd say probably not. There's going to be some kernel of wanting to get even. That's not the kind of anger he has. It is a just anger for their sin and their hardness of heart. And that's what made him angry. And it grieved him, it says. You know the scripture says in Psalm 7, 11, God judges the righteous and God is angry with the wicked every day. To those who don't believe, I say to any person who does not believe, I'm not saying to you God loves you, but I can say this to you, God's angry with you. I'm not going to say God loves you, but I'm going to say God's angry with you.

And the only hope you've got, the only refuge you have is Jesus Christ alone. That's it. That's it. God's love is found in His Son. The love of God is found in the ark. Everybody outside that ark drowned. Everybody. Then Christ turned to the man and He said, Stretch forth thine hand. Oh, the Word of God, you know, Scripture says it will not return void. It'll accomplish that which He sent it to accomplish. Stretch forth thine hand. This is not an invitation. There's not a back-and-forth debate going on here. There's no question-and-answer situation. It's a command, and with the command we have POWER TO OBEY.

THE MAN DID NOT FIRST GAIN STRENGTH AND THEN OBEY. HE JUST DID WHAT THE LORD SAID. THE LORD SAID IT AND HE JUST DID IT AND HIS RIGHT HAND WAS MADE WHOLE. HE OBEYED CHRIST AND CHRIST GAVE HIM STRENGTH TO OBEY. THIS IS HOW GOD SAVES SINNERS. THE GOSPEL COMMAND COMES IN DIVINE POWER. He said, BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND THOU SHALT BE SAVED.

And lo and behold, I found myself believing. And some of you did too. You found yourself believing. He said to believe and you found yourself believing. And in the result of Christ's power, He stretched it out. He stretched it out. LORD I BELIEVE, HELP THOU MY UNBELIEVER. I BELIEVE. Face the gift of God, you know that? If you truly believe, God gave that to you, and you're saved. You are saved, I'm telling you, you're saved.

And He stretched it out, and His hand was restored whole as the other. He had His help meet back. I was reading in the scriptures where God created Adam, I was reading this week, God created Adam. And he said, it's not good that man should be alone. So he created him a help, meat, not mate, meat. He created one fit for him to help him.

Sometimes I just get off on a tangent with my thinking, but I was thinking the other day, I was looking in a mirror and it just struck me how My body is in my right side and my left side are a mirror of each other. Two eyes, two hands, two arms, two legs. It just mirrors each other. And they both go together to what? Help each other. To help each other. Meet, fit, to help each other.

His right hand was withered, it was dead. The body was out of sorts. It was out of sorts. We should mirror Christ. That's a whole other message. But anyway, Christ restored what had been ruined. The outward healing reflected an inward reality. That's what was reflected. Now the man possessed what he previously lacked. Now he could serve. NOW HE COULD USE WHAT HAD ONCE BEEN DEAD.

Vicky had her shoulder replaced, she couldn't use her arm for six weeks, she had to just use one arm. And I had there for about a week or so, I had to use just one arm, I couldn't use my left arm. And I'm telling you, that is out of sorts. That's just not natural. It's just not natural. NOW HE CAN SERVE. NOW HE COULD USE WHAT WAS ONCE DEAD, NOW HE CAN PRAISE GOD, NOW HE CAN LIFT UP HIS HANDS IN PRAISE AND WORSHIP. CHRIST, THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD'S POWER, MADE HIS RIGHT HAND WHOLE. IT'S CHRIST WHO MAKES US WHOLE.

And there's a two-fold response though to this message or to this situation. Verse 6 and I'm going to close. And the Pharisees went forth and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. You see the miracle produced two responses. One man was restored The religious leaders became hardened, they became mad. The same sun that melts wax hardens to clay.

Christ's grace revealed what was truly in THEIR HEARTS. You know, God's grace at WORKING US produces kindness and joy and love and peace and long-suffering. But I tell you what, when a self-righteous person sees grace and they hear grace, it makes them mad.

I know I experienced this when I heard Henry and I started telling the people where I was going about. They got mad, I had to leave. It produces a response, I assure you it will. They saw a miracle, they witnessed divine power, yet they left potty in his murder. Such is the madness of fallen man. Listen, men are born mad. They live mad. And apart from God's grace, they're going to die mad. And they're going to spend eternity mad. Weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth. They're mad! Mad. Now I'm closing.

This passage is not just about a withered hand. Christ healing a withered hand. He created the world, surely He can heal a withered hand. It's about a withered sinner meeting the Savior of sinners. It's a mission of mercy the Lord came to save. The man could not heal himself, religion could not heal him, the Pharisees could not and would not help him. But listen, Christ spoke, Christ commanded, CHRIST GAVE POWER AND CHRIST RESTORED HIM COMPLETELY. WHAT SIN TOOK AWAY, CHRIST RESTORES AND MUCH MORE.

A Mission of Mercy

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A Mission of Mercy

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