I was glad when they said, let
us go to the house of the Lord. This is the day that the Lord
hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in
it. And they said, we shall go up
to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. And he will teach us his laws
and we will walk in his ways for from the house of the Lord
shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. These are all expressions that
come out of the Old Testament that anticipate, eagerly anticipate
the worship of God, the gathering of the saints together before
God to exalt God in praise and song and to worship together. These are messianic impulses. If your heart can say, I was
glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the
Lord. You have a messianic impulse in your soul. This is not natural
to the fallen man to worship God and to hear the word of the
Lord and to to honor the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
to want to be in the fellowship of the saints. The psalmist spoke
of it often in that messianic voice of Christ. I delighted
in holy day. I enjoyed my walk to the house
of the Lord. I enjoyed fellowship with the
saints as we made our way to the house of the Lord. Can you
imagine the joy that Christ had as he worshiped with the people
of God himself? Our text implies by its opening
statement in Luke chapter 13 and he was teaching in the synagogue
verse 10 and he was teaching in the Synagogue on the Sabbath,
how come because he enjoyed Being with the people of God. He enjoyed
waking up very early in the morning Anticipating gathering with God's
people and anticipating the wonders that would take place With him
being there. I told our men this on Saturday
night. The Lord would wake the disciples
up early They would take their long walk through the cornfields
and jack up all of the religious notions of the Pharisees Eating
breakfast on their way to church. You just didn't do that. You
know, you know, you don't eat breakfast on the Sabbath day
You don't test they did it all the time Every time they pass
through the cornfields, the brothers would grab a ear of corn and
be eating it on their way to the house of the Lord. Now I'm
talking spiritual to you. Do you know how to eat on the
corn of the word of God on your way to the house of God? The
Pharisees would say, now, why do your disciples violate the
traditions of the elders? Because they're hungry. That's
why. And I'm the Lord of the Sabbath.
That's why. And why do we come together?
Why do we worship? Why do we gather? The word synagogue
in our text is the word to gather, to gather, synagogue, to bring
the people together. Well, the text implies while
we gather, notice what it says, and he was what? Teaching. It's in what we call
the present continuous sense. It means that every time Christ
went to church, he taught. It means when the people of God
gather together, they gather together to be taught. It's the first point in your
outline. We come together to be taught of God. John 6, 45,
and they shall all be taught of God. Everyone that had heard
of the Father and have learned of the Father cometh to me. Teaching
is a critical component to worship. When you come to worship, you
come already predisposed to be taught. That means you are ready
to listen. You aren't so quick to speak.
You're quick to hear in worship. Because in worship you are being
educated. Didaskalon, I've told you before,
means to be instructed. It means to be advised. It means
to be counseled. It means to be taught. That's
what's happening in worship. And our Master is called the
Great Teacher. When you come to church, you
and I want to be taught by God. And so there is primarily a giving
over of our heart's mind to what the worship experience is centrally
about, and that is being educated by God. Every aspect of worship
should be centered in a work of us being taught. Now there
are, in your outline, a number of aspects of teaching that we
have to be reminded of. First and foremost, our souls
are taught in a very reflective way. What do I mean by reflective?
Some of us have been in church for decades upon decades upon
decades, and for me, church gets better every week. Because I'm
getting closer to that real church thing, where it gets done real
right. I heard about it. I read about
it in the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 4 and 5, how
they worship the Lamb of God that sits on the throne. And
all the elders and all the four living creatures and all the
angels and all the redeemed say, worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to redeem us from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. That's
an awesome worship service. The central revelation is the
revelation of the crucified Christ. It's true up there and it's true
down here. You are only worshiping to the
extent that your mind's eye is made to see the glory of God. in the face of Jesus Christ.
You are only worshiping as you are brought to bear on your heart
the reality of the God who loved us and gave himself for us. You
are not worshiping until your heart is pulsating with the glory
of God in Christ. And that comes cheaply through
the means of proclamation. And what do I mean by primarily
reflective? I mean that Many of us have been
taught the word of God for a long time. And so for us, a lot of
what takes place on Sunday or whenever we gather to worship
is reflective. The word of God causes me to
reflect on my ways. Doesn't it cause you to reflect
on your ways? That's what David said in Psalm 119. I reflected
on my ways. I thought on my ways. And then
I turned my feet unto your testimonies. I lined my ways up with your
precepts and I asked the question, am I right with God? And then
I made haste after I got the conclusion, I'm not right with
God. I made haste to keep your commandments. I came to the throne
of grace and I asked for mercy in time of need. I said, Lord,
I'm not thinking right. I'm not acting right. I'm not
doing right. I need your grace today, not only to worship you,
but to leave this place and worship you with my life. The Word of
God, for those of us who are mature and have some knowledge
of Scripture, is reflective in that it causes us to remember
God's precepts. I remember your statues, David
said. I remember your statues, and
guess what? They comfort me. Remember the
Word unto your servant, upon which you have caused me to hope.
This is my comfort, because your Word quickens me. It gives me
life. David says, when I remember your
statues, I remember your promises. Isn't that good? When you come
to church and the gospel is preached and the word is faithfully expounded,
you are reminded of the faithfulness of God. How God keeps his people
and watches over his people and provides for his people and cares
for his people. A lot of it for us is reflective. Then there's that aspect of the
teaching that is not only reflective in nature, but affirming. Don't
you need to be affirmed? Some of us are messed up when
we come in here. I'm telling the truth. I've been
talking for five minutes. I'm getting ready to start telling
some truth now. Y'all better get up and get out of here because
I'm getting ready to tell some truth. Some of you are messed up when
you come in here. And what you need is an affirmation whether
or not God has touched you. That's what you need. Because,
you know, you haven't quite figured out what those immutable evidences
of grace really are because, you know, you're playing games.
And so you need to be reminded once again what it means to be
a child of God. You need to be affirmed in the
fact that when God saves us, He saves us by His grace and
He draws us by His Spirit and He plants faith in our heart
and our journey from here to glory is a struggle. I need to
be affirmed in that. I need to be reminded that my
mind is going to be going back and forth to and fro yes and
no, right and wrong, so long as I need to grow in grace and
in the knowledge of the Lord. I have to be reminded sometimes
that my struggles are going to have me more inclined to look
at myself than to look to Christ. Am I telling the truth? Sometimes
you come in here and you have spent all week long looking at
yourself and you say, why am I miserable? Take a hint. Looking at yourself. I'm just
helping you. See, you think your misery comes
from the outside of you, but it doesn't. You are miserable
because you are miserable not by nature. Oh, wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? So if I spend
a whole week ruminating and reflecting on and focusing on who I am,
I'm really gonna lose it by the time I come to church on Sunday.
Cause I'm not right with God and I need to hear the gospel.
I need to hear the truth of the word of God. I need God to show
up on Sunday and speak to my heart and actually do something
for me that I can't do for myself. And you know what that is? We
learned it last week. Turn me away from me to Christ. I need to be turned. Oh Lord,
turn me away from me to Christ. Is this not true? So the Word
of God is not only reflective for all those of us who are old
oak trees, we're set in our ways and I thank God for... Isn't
it wonderful when you finally get set in your ways? Growing
up in the faith and growing up in life, there are parallels.
I remember in my youth, one of the things I hated was how fickle
I was as a young man. I really hated being tossed to
and fro by every wind of doctrine. I'm talking about the impulses
in my testosterone-driven nature inclining me to do evil when
I knew it was wrong. Lord, when is this going to stop?
When is the brother going to grow up? Some of you understand
what I'm talking about, right? And then you get a little older
in the Lord and He has actually established you in certain principles
and you go, I'm not as moved as I used to be. I thank God
for that, don't you? Because the storms still come.
The storms still come. But God has granted me grace
to take roots a little bit deeper. So when the wind blows, my tree
may sway, but my roots don't move. I need that. need that so I enjoy hearing
the same things over and over and over again I'm fast I'm looking
forward to the study in the book of Hosea I really have been doing
a lot of work in there myself I said I was gonna actually do
a series out of it but I'm gonna leave it alone now that you're
gonna be teaching on it but I'm I'll tell you what when we come
to church we are here ladies and gentlemen to be taught. And
for those of you who are new, ignorant, don't know God, when
you come to a gospel preaching, Bible teaching church, you're
going to be informed about things you don't know. See, don't ever
come to church, I'm talking about the true church, and think you
know everything. Don't ever come to church and
think that you won't hear something that is so diametrically opposed
to your thinking. Because God does that when God
is God. He will show you that your thoughts
are not His thoughts and your ways are not His ways. That you
think backwards and He thinks forward. That you think downward
and He thinks upward. You think wrong and He thinks
right. God will show you that your ideas about salvation are
wrong. He'll show you that your ideas
about his nature are wrong. He will dismantle all of your
false notions about God and life and he'll put you to the place
where you have to ask the question, do I know God at all? God will
do that to you. especially for our religious
folk in this 21st century that love to pretend that they know
God. You know, we've been talking about that on Friday. He that
said he knoweth God but doesn't keep his commandments is a liar
and the truth is not in him. See, Christianity is not about
what you say. Christianity is about what you
are, not what you say. Just because you say you're a
Christian don't make you a Christian. Did you get that? That's the
cheapest grace on planet Earth to say you're a Christian And
therefore, you are a Christian. You are not a Christian because
you say you are one. You are a Christian because you
are one, if indeed you are. And so when we come, we are taught
things that blow us away. We're going to see a man today
who was blown away by some teaching that he presumed that he already
knew. So we come to church to be taught because we're ignorant.
We come to church to be taught because we're wrong. We come
to church to be taught because all of God's children are taught
of God. We come to church so that we
can be taught. How we ought to respond to this great redemption
that God has wrought for us in Christ Go with me in your Bible
to Titus chapter 2 verses 11 through 13. Keep your hand here
I just want you to see this the effectual work of biblical teaching
when the Spirit of God is in it exalting Christ in our life
Sounds like this according to the Apostle Paul in the book
of Titus. Here's what he says. I want you
to hear this Titus chapter 2 you know what he says he says that
grace teaches us some things in Titus chapter 2 verse 11 through
13. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men. And what does it do? It
teaches us. Do you see that? When grace has
effectually been communicated to your soul, it teaches you
some things. Now watch what it teaches you.
It teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust We should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. That's
our response to the grace of God. You guys see that? I respond
to the grace of God as it informs me by departing from thinking
like the world, acting like the world, craving the things of
the world. Verse 13, because my aspiration
is finally realizing who I am in Christ one day when He shows
up, looking for that blessed hope. Do you see that? and the
glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
What is a born-again Christian? What is a grace-oriented person?
He's a person who has learned by the grace of God not to be
distracted by the cares of this life because he's waiting on
Jesus. What is a grace-taught person? He's a person that has
learned not to be distracted by the cares of life because
he's waiting on the revelation of Jesus Christ. waiting for
Christ to come, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us
from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works. This is what grace teaches us
as we sit under the teaching. Point number two, go back to
your outline. Not only are we taught when we come to church
and Christ is the great teacher, no doubt, but do you know the
doctrine of Christ is powerful? The doctrine of Christ is powerful. You may not have recognized this,
but wherever Christ teaches, things happen. One of the things
that Luke is doing in the narrative is demonstrating that when Christ
shows up at church, church is different than church is when
Christ doesn't show up. Because when the teaching takes
place by him, things actually happen. I don't know if you heard
our elder's prayer, but his prayer was totally inconsonant with
my objective today. Lord, show up. Do something for
me like you did for this woman. Show yourself mighty in my life
like you did for this woman. Is that the way you think when
you come in here? If you don't, it's because you're not like
this woman. But when Christ shows up and He teaches, it's powerful. I want to show you two examples
in the book of Luke. Wherever Christ taught, things happen. Going back in your Bible to Luke
chapter 4. Notice what it says in Luke 4,
32 through 37. This is the same scenario. Our
Lord loved to go into the synagogue. He loved to meet the people of
God. He loved to manifest Himself to the people of God in ways
that were unique so that when they left, They know they met
with God. Luke chapter 4, as he is in the
synagogue doing ministry, this is what we read over in verse
32. Verse 31, and he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And here it is again, and taught
them on the what? Sabbath day. And they were astonished
at his what? Doctrine. For his word was with
power. In the synagogue, there was a
man which had a spirit of unclean devil and cried out with a loud
voice saying, let us alone. What have we to do with the Jesus
of Nazareth? Are you come to destroy us? I
know who you are, the holy one of God. Jesus rebuked him, saying,
hold your peace, come out of him. And when the devil had thrown
him in the mist, he came out of him and heard him not. Now,
mark this saint. And they were all amazed. And spake among themselves, saying,
what a word is this? You know what they were amazed
by? The doctrine of Christ that had
the power to liberate another person who was in bondage. What
a word was this? You know what they were inferring?
That when we go to church on Sunday, really nothing happens. When we go to church on Sunday,
we just go through the motions of religion. And we have fallen
prey to thinking that it's okay to just come, go through the
motions and go home. And God not show up and do something
for someone. Most of all, me. That's called
religion. Every time Christ showed up in
the synagogue, though, church was a little different that day.
Then we read over again in the Gospel of Mark, I want you to
see it in the Gospel of Mark chapter one. Verse 27, no, go
to Mark chapter 11. I'll use verse 15 through 19
in Mark, and then we'll go back and develop the rest of our points.
What am I saying? I'm saying that the objective
of a God-centered, a Bible-based, a Christ-exalting worship is
for Christ himself to show up. Don't ever settle for anything
less than you experiencing a revelation of the glory of God in Christ
when you come to church. Don't subconsciously say, well,
if I can just get through those two hours, I'm cool. You're not
cool at all. You're not cool. You are very
uncool. Mark 11, verse 15, and they came
to Jerusalem and Jesus went into the temple. See, the Lord loved
to go to the temple. Ah, this was a different worship
on this day, wasn't it? A little bit different. Guess
what he decided to do when he came to the temple? Clean the
house. Look at it. He came to the temple and he
began to cast them out that sold and bought in the temple. You
mean no ATM machines? No. And he overthrew the table
of the money changers and those that sold and those that, and
the seats of them that sold doves. And he would not let any man
carry any vessel through the temple. My goodness. You know,
he meant to rest on that day. You know that, right? On that
day, everything was quiet. No business. This is called a
man, by the way. A real man. He changed worship
that day, didn't he? Didn't he disturb things that
day? I bet the people were so happy when he just changed the
form of worship that day. Good, I'm so glad we're doing
something else finally. Verse 17, and he taught, saying
unto them, is it not written, my house shall be called of all
nations, the house of prayer. But you made it a den of thieves
and robbers. And the scribes and the chief
priests heard it, sought how they might destroy him. Uh-huh.
For they feared him. And I want you to hear it, saints,
because all the people were astonished at his doctrine. At his doctrine. Go back to your text. What do
you mean? Doctrine encompasses not only what we say, but what
we do. Doctrine encompasses a comprehensive
response to biblical truth I've taught our men this last night
as we were dealing with the ER indicatives, which are wonderful
concepts in the scripture Do you know there are hundreds of?
Indicatives in the New Testament that state what you and I are
as a metaphor you and I are the light of the world That's what
the Bible says. It didn't say we will be it says we are and
The Bible says we are the salt of the earth. It didn't say we
will be, it says you are. The Bible says that you are the
vineyard of the Lord, not will be, you are. You are the church
of the living God. You are the ground and pillar
of the truth. You are the righteousness of
God in Christ. You are this, you are that, and
you are the other thing. You know what amazes me about
this? This is the way God sees me. This is the way God sees
me and I need to get a grip on that Don't we now you know what
our Lord is doing when he comes into the temple in the synagogue.
He's making those indicatives of reality He's making the church
the way it should be He stripped the church of all of the religious
cons. He stripped the church of all of the salesmanship he
stripped the church of fleecing the sheep and he turned it into
a a House of prayer. I bet you pray. Listen, going
through with whips, tearing up. I bet you people was praying
that day. I bet you people were praying that day. Listen, if
God shows up, you're going to do two things. You're going to
pray and you're going to praise. If God shows up, you're going
to pray and you're going to praise. If he ever shows up, if he doesn't
show up, nothing will happen to your heart. His doctrine is powerful. It's
a doctrine that invades. It's a doctrine that exercises
demons. And this is a doctrine that exercises
crooks out of the church. I love it, don't you? God's going
to clean this church up. He's going to purify the sons
of Levi. Point number three, his doctrine
powerfully liberates. See, not only is it powerful
in the fact that it makes an impact and it shakes up our world
and it destroys our assumptions and it brings us to bear on the
reality that God is sovereign, God is sovereign. God is sovereign,
but God's power is designed to liberate men and women. See,
this is what we call the messianic insignia. The objective of Christ
is to liberate the soul. The goal of truth is to liberate
and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. This is how you know God's in
it because your soul is being liberated. Liberation takes place
wherever truth is proclaimed and received in the soul. Liberation
from ignorance. Liberation from darkness. Liberation
from deception. Liberation from Satan. Liberation
from false teaching. Liberation from the influences
of the world. Liberation from error. Liberation
from demons. Liberation from all that which
is not like God. It should take place. It should
take place when you're under the teaching of the Word of God.
The Word of God should be going on the inside of you and bringing
into captivity everything that does not conform to the knowledge
of God. It should take place in the liberation
of your soul, affirming you that the handcuffs of grace are on
you. And he is gradually bringing you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. I'll tell you sometimes when
I'm wrong. And it's hard for me to admit I'm wrong. And the
word of God comes in and says, Jesse, you're wrong. That's liberating. At least I'm not crazy. At least
I know I'm wrong. See, because people are so deceived
today, they don't even know they're wrong. And when God says you're
wrong, at least he's talking to you because you are in trouble
when God doesn't talk to you. You are your own worst enemy.
You are your own worst enemy. Our Lord came into church this
day, which he loved to do, because he had a mission. He had to affirm
his messianic calling first and foremost, and that's what he
does. He comes to men and women to liberate them from the power
of darkness. unto the glory of God verse 11
through 13 and behold as he was teaching as he was communicating
biblical truth expounding the scriptures there was a woman
which had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and she was bowed together
and could in no way lift herself up thank you Luke the doctor
the physician who knows how to hone in on the specific medical
characteristics of a person to help us understand precisely
her infirmity and it's designed for you and I to be empathetic
with people's infirmities. He's careful to do that. He's
a doctor. He knows her issue. It may have
went over your head. It may have went over your head.
Hear this sister coming to church. She comes to church. She's messed
up, but she's coming to church. Can you identify with her? Every Sabbath day making her
way to church Every Sabbath day making her way to church pastor
man. She's messed up. That's you Did
you miss that that's you Week in and week out Sunday in and
Sunday out was that woman hungry? Her soul was hungry She knew
where God was She knew where to find God She came to church
this day. She didn't know she was going
to meet her God. This is the beauty of the worship.
This is the purpose of the worship, that the spirit of Christ would
meet such people like this, and I appreciate my elders words
again. Lord, make me to understand that
by the end of the seven days after I worshiped you, I'm bowed
down again. Troubled with issues. troubled
with struggles, troubled with pains, troubled with difficulties. She comes in week in and week
out. Our Lord's preaching, expounding
the scripture, and he sees her. He sees her. And when Jesus saw
her, he called unto her. Our Lord here is now showing
us the priority of worship. His job is to deal with men and
women's issues. His objective is to help men
and women get liberated from their problem. In fact, actually,
what our Lord is here about to demonstrate is his lordship over
her life. See, every one of us, whether
we know it or not, we have been and maybe are in some kind of
bondage. This I know, prior to my salvation,
I was a slave of sin. I was a slave of the devil. I was in bondage to the world.
I thought like the world, I acted like the world, and I was in
captivity to this whole world's agenda. This I know. I was a
slave in Pharaoh's army, and it was going from bad to worse
by the time I was 18 years old. And God showed up in my life,
and you know what he did? He liberated me. See, again what
we are talking about is the Messianic signet. How do I know that I
know Him? Because He liberated you. He
showed Himself to be Jehovah in your life. I am Jehovah. I am the one who brought you
out of the house of bondage, out of the iron furnace. You
shall have no other God besides Me. See, the same Jehovah 1800
years earlier is the Jehovah in that synagogue ready to meet
this lady in need, ready to meet this lady in bondage and deliver
her from her troubles. Y'all know that Savior? Do you
know that Savior? Do you know that Savior that
knows how to liberate? The Scriptures makes it very clear that whomsoever
the Son shall set free shall be free indeed. And hear it again
one more time. Turn in your Bible to Isaiah chapter 61. I want
you to see it for yourself. Isaiah 61. Because Isaiah 61
is being fulfilled here as Jesus had already echoed to his cousin
John who was wondering, are we looking for someone else or are
you the man? And Jesus said, remember the
Messianic signet? All you got to do is examine
my works and you'll know if I'm the man. Isaiah 61 verses 1 through
3. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings.
Was Christ the preacher? Was his message good? and he
preached it to the meek. Do you see that? If you understand
the language behind that, the meek are the brokenhearted, the
meek are the afflicted ones, the meek are the ones that are
bowed down, the meek are the ones that are in bondage, the
meek are the ones who no longer pretend that they don't need
God. The meek. The meek are the ones
who know they need God. That's what it means to be meek.
He preaches the gospel to the meek. God has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted. Do you see that? To proclaim
liberty to the captives. Isn't it interesting what Jesus
did when he met this woman? He saw this woman coming into
church. The first thing he said was, woman, you are loosed from
your infirmities. You know what he was doing? Proclaiming
liberty. He hadn't done anything yet. He simply spoke the word. The people in the church are
wondering, what's he talking about? They're getting ready
to see. Messiah had shown up. Why? Because truth, when it's coupled
by God's Spirit, is designed to liberate us. I mean, the liberation
for us who are Christians is incremental, but every week you
should be liberated a little bit more and a little bit more
from the error of your ways. You and I should be liberated.
To be taught of God is to be gradually and incrementally liberated
from the darkness of error. Every week I should go away liberated
a little bit more. Liberated a little bit more listen
to what it says verses 1 through 3. We'll go back to our text
Here was the sign that Jesus would show up and manifest his
father's glory in the life of needy sinners He proclaims liberty
to the captives the opening of the prison to those that are
what's the word bow? to proclaim the acceptable year
of the Lord and the day of vengeance and of our God to comfort all
that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion. Was this
woman mourning? My goodness. You have the affliction
she did, she was mourning. To appoint unto them that mourn
in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for
mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, in order that he might be what? Hence, go back
to our text, whenever Christ shows up and teaches and men
and women are impacted by his teaching, it's designed for those
who are impacted to bring glory to God. Salvation is not about
you and it's not about me. It's about the glory of God.
The redemption of sinners is not about the sinner. It's about
the glory of God. If God saves you, it's for his glory. If he
delivers you, watch this, over and over, Lord, I get tired of
getting being delivered. You need to be delivered every
day. And please listen to me. Don't get tired of being delivered
because this ain't about you. See, when God is through delivering
you, it'll be over with. But so long as God wants to get
glory to himself through you, let him deliver you because it
ain't about you. It's not about you. Well, Lord,
I keep getting in trouble. Well, that's because your middle
name is trouble. What you do when you get in trouble is say,
Lord, help me. Call upon me in the day of trouble.
I'll deliver you, but you're going to glorify me. That's what
God does. See, you don't understand. God's
in the business of glorifying himself through the gospel. He's
in the business of glorifying himself through the gospel. And
so not only are we here to be taught, not only is his doctrine
powerful, but his doctrine liberates persons. It liberates from bondage. It liberates from ignorance.
It liberates from air. It liberates into that glorious
liberty that's in Christ. Now, I want to talk to you a
moment about the process, because the process is so evidently in
our text. What happens when God liberates?
Men and women from darkness into his marvelous light. Here's the
process. The first thing that happens is that god calls you
Do you notice chapter 13 verse 12 part b says and when jesus
saw her he what call? Her do you see it? Call you will
sit in church According to the providence of god Now mark this
now for years You may have been just auspiciously granted the
privilege of being related to a family member who went to church
and heard the truth and they invite you to church. Or you
may be like a lot of us have children who sit under the gospel
because their parents are teachers or pastors as I am. And you have
been blessed to be part of a gospel church. But for you, this is
an experience like window shopping. You just looking from the outside
in. Nothing has happened Until the
gospel comes to you. Until the Spirit of God through
the preaching comes to you. Until God calls you personally. Until you hear the voice of God
through the preaching personally. Until you hear His name, your
name rather, being called by Him personally. He called her
personally. The Bible tells us in John chapter
5, the hour is coming. when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God." See, if you're a believer in Christ,
you were dead! And a voice came to you, and it spoke to you personally. And that voice said, Jesse, come! And you know what I did? I came. This is God. Don't you play with
God. You know these people that talk about, well, you know, don't
resist the Lord. I need to help you understand
nobody can resist the Lord. The only way you can resist him
is if he don't call you. If he leaves you to yourself,
all you can do is resist him. Are you hearing me? When omnipotence
calls, guess what you do? You come. We call it his omnipotent
grace, his irresistible grace. When he draws a sinner, that
sinner is coming to God. And you can sit on the outside
and say, you know, I think they come into God. No, we know they
come in when they come, don't we? I kind of think they come
in where they ain't coming yet. Because when a sinner is called
by God, the sinner comes. That woman got up with her cripple
cell and she started coming to the front of the church because
God called her. The gospel is a personal call.
It's a very personal call. Have you heard that call in your
soul? Are you playing games with God?
The gospel is not only a personal call, it's a call to come to
Christ. Do you see what the text says?
And he called her to him. Now, this is the big difference
between false religion and true religion. We have no intentions
of calling you to the altar. That's why we don't have one.
We have no intentions of calling you to the preacher. That's why
we don't open the doors to the church. We have no intention
of cajoling you and making you make a decision based upon our
compelling you. Because to come to us is to come
nowhere. Do you know where you got to
go to get saved? Do you understand that? Listen
to me. You got to travel an eternity
to get saved. You are in hell. God is in glory. You are in bondage. God is liberty. You are the furthest away from
God. The only way you can get to God
is if he gets you and carries you into his presence. Well,
Pastor, how do I get there? Right in your seat. The journey
is from the heart to heaven by faith. And God has to take you
there. God has to take you there. Now,
here's the thing. The Lord Jesus is physically
in this place, just in case these preachers want to keep ripping
you off. By the way, mark this down. I want you to get this
now. The man preaching in our text is God. Do you get that? We're getting
ready to deal with that here in a moment. This is God preaching. He showed up and took over. and
began preaching. This is what we call a real anointed
service of worship. When God shows up, this ruler
is set aside. This is about God and His elect
child. This struggling sinner who has
never experienced the power of God because religion can't save
you. God shows up. He calls her. He calls her to
Himself. She comes to Him. It's a personal
call. It's a personal call to come
to Christ. And it's a personal response
too. You notice nobody else in the church came. Do you notice
that? When Lazarus was in the grave,
our loving Lord who loved him some Lazarus, didn't he love
him some Lazarus? He came and he stood on the outside of that
tomb. Inside that tomb were dozens
of dead folks. That's how it goes in church.
You know what he said? Lazarus, come forth. He told his disciples to move
the stone. You know what a brother was doing? He was coming forth. I'm just telling you how it was
done. I'm telling you how it was done. New life within, bondage
without. The grave had tied him up, bound
him up, decreed him dead. But life was infused in his soul. I don't care how you come to
Christ, you just come. You're not coming dignified.
Listen, you got issues. Liberty is a process. One strand
of grave clothes at a time. Do you understand that? One strand
of grave clothes at a time. This is why some of us who've
been in the Lord a long time, you better, you better, you better
remember the hole from which you were dug and the pit from
which you were hewn and remember how God saves a sinner because
they don't look like you when God saves them. And then you
better ask God to give you grace to not only remove the stone
but loose him from the grave clothes. And that takes patience
and time. Get a brother to looking like
what he really is in Christ. He probably smelled bad too.
That's all right, he was alive. Hallelujah! A personal call,
a personal response. She came, come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The
command is all that the Father giveth me will come to me. Do you know no one's coming to
God unless he was given to God by Christ? No one's coming to
Christ unless he was given to Christ by God. The only people
that are coming to God are those who were given to Christ, and
they are the ones who are going to hear the gospel. That's why
we keep preaching. We are under no illusions. We
don't expect anybody to come to God but those who are called
by his grace. We're not going to lie to you.
The world's not coming to God, but his elect are. We're not
going to lie to you. The world is not coming to God,
but his sheep will hear his voice. We're not gonna lie. We're not
gonna play games with you See the greatest con I could perpetrate
on you is to tell you salvation is for you to come to this altar
But if I tell you the true that salvation is as high as the heavens
are to the earth as Wide as the universe as far as you can imagine
it on either side and its distance I'm telling you that salvation
is impossible with you that God has to do it All right, therefore,
there is no physical bodily movement to get saved. You get saved in
your seed. When the Spirit of God comes
and meets you where you are and does an operation of grace on
your heart, open up that heart, take that stony heart out, put
a new heart in, a heart of flesh, and begins to write His laws
on your heart and mind, put His Spirit within you, make you a
son of God so He can be your Father, cause you to praise Him
and glorify Him for His saving grace. Only God can do that.
Only God can do that. You can't do that. You can't
do it. You can pray for it, but you
can't do it. He powerfully liberates. Listen to what the text said.
When Jesus saw her, he called her to him and he said, Woman,
you are loosed from your infirmities. He declares to her her freedom. He declares to her her freedom,
and then he proceeds to manifest that declaration. Verse 13, and
he laid his hands on her. Do you see that? He laid his
hands on her, and immediately she was made straight. Immediately
she was made straight. In other words, he didn't lay
hands on her and tell her, you feel anything, sweetheart? Honey, you feel anything? Well,
I think so. We're going back to your seat.
It'll probably show up a little later. If not, then your faith
wasn't strong enough. You remember that cry? I don't
because I don't go to those churches. I just hear about it. If God ever touches you, you'll know it and the world
will know it. Let me help you again. The presence
of the messianic savior. when he actually works, does
it so that the Father is actually glorified. See, true believers
know the difference between cons and crooks and the authentic
article. We know the difference. Do you
know the difference? Had a young man trying to get
me to go, last night, yesterday, washing my clothes at the laundromat,
because I wash my sweat clothes like every three, four, five
months. You know how fellas do. So I don't do it at home because
I clog up the washing machine at home. So I go a long ways
away so nobody can see me. fella coming to the coming to
the wash house and he zealous young guy about 20 years of Latino
guy zealous it can be my pastor holding a miracle service tonight
from seven to two o'clock in the morning why don't you come
i mean we're gonna have all kind of people getting healed and
and and the lame gonna walk in the blind gonna see and the the
we got these special ministers coming in i bet you do he said
would you come here take one of our tracks i said i'll take
your track if you take my track Take my child. I'll take yours
if you take mine. And I said, read it. Make sure
you read all that. And then if you want to, have your pastor
to call me. I'd love to talk to your pastor. OK. Yeah, I'll take Jehovah's Witness.
Yeah, give me yours. Here, take mine. Read it. Read it all. I mean, every bit
of it. You see? And my prayer for that young
man is God would open his eyes, because he's Balaam's ass right
now doing Balaam's bidding. until he gets a revelation of
the angel of the Lord with a sword drawn ready to slay that false
prophet that's using him to send people to hell. That's my prayer
for him. That's my prayer for him. The
Lord lays his hand on this woman as only the Lord can do and she's
immediately made straight. And you know what the text says?
Watch this. She was made straight and she
what? Glorified God. Oh, here it is. This is so very important. Point
number four, it results in worship. When God saves you, it results
in worship. You cannot be saved and not give God glory for it.
It's not possible to meet the God of glory and not yield forth
the praises due to his name. It's not possible to be saved
by the grace of God. and not let somebody know it.
It's not possible to meet Christ and the power of his redeeming
grace and somebody near you not know it. It's impossible, but
that you will glorify God when you are saved. See the word there,
Edoxion, is the Greek term for glorifying God outwardly. The little E in the X is a proposition
like out, exit the door. Doxology is where we praise God
at the end of worship. When a man or a woman has experienced
God's grace, the glory that's on the inside comes out and the
world must reckon with the reality that God touched you. They might
call you touched, that's okay. It's okay. Are you hearing me? It's for his glory. Oh, he didn't
went nuts now. Now he always talking about Christ.
That's right. Now he's always quoting the scriptures.
That's right. Now he's always offending us, calling us dead
and wicked and unsaved and need God and need to be born again,
need to be redeemed. You need Christ. You need faith.
You need grace. That's right. That's what we
do. That's what we do. See, we were miserable physicians
like everybody else. We were going around telling
people that all your problem is you need counsel. No, you
don't need counsel. You need salvation. Am I making
some sense? No, your problem is not that
you got your theses wrong or you need a new job. No, you need
salvation. People don't like that today.
The root of the problem is the root in man, which is his nature. His nature is corrupt. He needs
a new nature. And only God can do that. And
by the way, the church's job is not to do anything else, but
to in every way God equips us to communicate biblical truth.
That's your job. Your job is not to water down
the gospel and make people feel good where they are. Your job
is to get where they are. and wait for God to open the
door and shoot the arrows of grace right at the bullseye of
that target and let a man or woman know you need Christ. That's
your job. That's my job. The world would
change if we started doing that again. People would get saved.
You and I would get thrown in jail. Hallelujah. We'd get persecuted. Amen. We'd be in the newspapers. God would be glorified all over
again because the truth is proclaimed. But it first needs to start in
the church. So Jesus did. So let's check
it out. He moves by his grace in the
healing of this woman. And who could deny that her healing
had such an ecstatic dynamic to it? She was 18 years in her
infirmity. Isn't that verse 11? There was
a woman which had a spirit of infirmity 18 years. By the way,
this is not a demon. You need to understand that,
you know. The spirit of negativity is on
you. The spirit of gloominess is on
you. The spirit of... Listen, quit
assigning every sociopathic problem to a spirit. Don't blame the... Listen, the demons get too much
blame. Do you know that? We're always blaming the demons.
No, that's you all jacked up, all by yourself, without a demon. Your funky attitude? That's you. You good at that all by yourself.
You don't need a demon to be funky. That negativity? That's
all you. That sarcasm and ridicule? That's
you. That ain't no demon. That's you.
You need to get on your knees and say, Lord, have mercy on
me. I'm sorry for blaming it on the demon. He got his own
troubles. You keep blaming stuff on demons. I was at a men's meeting the
other day. We met up because we're branching out and so I'm
thanking God for this because I'm ready to go into the pit.
I'm ready to teach my guys how to go into the pit. Quit talking
church. Go into the pit. Meet people
in the pit. Talk with people in the pit. Identify with them
in the pit. Take the Savior into the pit. Bring people out of
the pit. But do you know the people that are in those dark,
dark pits which half of you are scared to go into? They done
been to church too. They done been to church too.
So I expect this now every time I get around a group of new guys
and we sitting and we talking. Inevitably, somebody gonna rise
up. They in the pit now. I'm talking about dark pits and
gonna start preaching like they liberated. Man, do you know where
you are? You in the pit, brother. In the
pit is where we are designed to meet people's needs. In the
pit is where we are to help people grow. In the pit is where we
call them out. This woman was in a pit. Christ
went into her pit and got her. But some of the people that are
in pits are in churches. You bring your pit with you every
Sunday. Every Sunday. And sometimes we
have to be liberated out of that pit. But I want you to be careful
now. It's not always the pit. that you think I'm talking about.
So you think I'm talking about this woman. I'm not. I'm talking
about the ruler of the church. He's in a pit. Listen to the
text. When the Lord laid hands on her
and immediately she was made straight and glorified God, the
ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation. Man, what's
wrong with you? He got issues, doesn't he? And
we need to learn some lessons about those issues. He's the
one that runs the church. He's called the ruler of the
synagogue. He's a leader in the church. Basically, he organizes
the church. The ruler in the synagogue makes
sure the chairs are all lined up, make sure the hymns are in
the right place, make sure the scroll of scriptures are at the
right place that they're supposed to be. The ruler in the church,
his objective and goal is to maintain the decorum in the church. That's his job in the church.
His job was to open up the scriptures and make sure they're read. He
may preach or somebody else may preach, but he he maintains the
order in the church. Now, Jesus did this frequently.
He often went into the church and challenged the rulers in
the church. Do you know why? Because the
rulers in the days of Jesus are very often like the rulers in
our day. They make the mistake of worshiping
the ritual rather than the reality, of getting caught up in the form
rather than the substance, of falling prey to the tradition
rather than the truth. And when the truth comes in and
discombobulates them, they are offended because the controls
are removed from them. Do you see that? He's standing
on the sideline. How do you get indignant his
wrath was kindled against Jesus? His wrath was kindled against
Jesus because he actually saved somebody. How do you get indignant
about that? Because your head's on backwards.
Because you don't actually come to church to see people saved. You come to church to go through
the forms and the motions. And you figure church is good
if you get out of here without incident. That's amazing, isn't
it? That's amazing. Our elders said
Lord do something for what happens when God does something for a
sinner He breaks He tells it She cries She's shaken up Maybe
multitudes are moved by the truth of the glory of God in Christ
Maybe you get mad But you ought to get glad Often there's rejoicing
Uncontainable joy at the revelation of his glory. I can't help myself
When God liberates your soul But the ruler of the synagogue
wouldn't have it listen to it and the ruler of the synagogue
answered with indignation Because that Jesus had healed On the Sabbath day lordy lordy Now, it's all right to heal Monday
through Friday, but don't heal in the church service. Something's
backwards, isn't it? You see how jacked up his head
is? You know what has gotten him? Just the protocol, the rote
form. What's interesting, too, is the
word ruler there is not ruler like archion, chief, leader,
or master. It's the Greek term for an alley
rower. the bottom of the ship. Like
in 1st Corinthians chapter 3, we are servants of the Lord.
Our job is just to row the boat in the direction that the captain
says row. Heck, we don't even get to sit up top on the deck
and see the sun. We just slaves at the bottom
rowing the boat. This man's an alley rower. Watch
this, telling the master of the church how to act. Did you get
that? Now what he should have done
is was be thankful that Christ showed up at church that day.
And what he should have done was set the Scriptures just right
so when the Master came, he would take the Scriptures, read the
Scriptures, explain the Scriptures, and minister truth by the Scriptures
to the hearts of the men and women. The goal of the preacher
is to give the book to Christ and get out the way and let Christ
work in the hearts of men and women to redeem them to himself. Because that's a sphere that
only God can do. That's a realm that only Christ
can work in. Only Christ can leave this pulpit and minister
to your heart by the gospel. Only Christ can do that. I can't
do it. Our elders can't do it. Only
Christ can do that. And can I tell you what it results
in? When you come to experience the liberating grace of God in
Christ and it evokes worship in you, you know what it produces?
The true rest. the true rest, the true Sabbath,
the real Sabbath. I get it all the time. Give me
a few more minutes of your time. Pastor, I'd like to know what
you believe about the Sabbath day. So tell me, sir, exactly what
you mean by your question. Well, do you believe that Saturday
is a Sabbath? I say no. Oh, oh, so then you
wanted them people that changed the Sabbath from Saturday to
Sunday. I say, no. Then they go, well,
then what day is the Sabbath? I say, the Sabbath is not a day.
The Sabbath is a person. The Sabbath is a person. The
Sabbath is a person. The rest is in a person. The
day pointed to the person. Are you hearing me? Liberation.
in a person. It's not on a day. Well, when
do you start your Sabbath day? Oh, I start mine at 6 o'clock
in the morning. Well, you're wrong. Because the
Jews started theirs at 6 o'clock in the evening on Friday. So
you're already jacked up. You're under the curse of the
law. You following me? Okay, well, I'll straighten it
out. Well, then what do you do on the Sabbath? Well, you know,
I try to avoid, you know, a lot of strenuous activities and stuff,
because I really want to honor God on the Sabbath. All right. Do you cut your lights on when
you go to the bathroom? Yeah, I do. You're in sin right
there. You're in sin right there. You're not to kindle any fire
on the Sabbath. You with me? I'm liberating right
now. Am I teaching right now? Am I teaching? See that fella,
that fella that went to worship on that day and fell asleep,
and it was cold one morning in the book of Numbers, he looked
out his tent and said, I don't see nobody out, it's the Sabbath.
He went and snuck and got some wood and lit that fire. And somebody
else was already outside. He said, oh, look at Brother
Jones. He went and told Moses, that brother was in trouble,
wasn't he? Lord, what shall we do to that brother for kindling
a fire? Kill him. Why? Not because he lit a fire
on the seventh day. But because in lighting a fire
on the seventh day, he denied that rest is only found in Christ. Are you hearing me? See, your
attempt at religious observances can actually obscure the glory
of God in Christ. So how did our Lord respond to
this man? How did he respond? Was he politically
correct when he spoke to this brother? Watch this. Because
that Jesus healed on the Sabbath day and said unto the people
now, you know, he think he got a case Don't he he not only got
indignant with Jesus. He turned to the people and said
there are six days In which we can heal like they healed on
any of the days I don't read anywhere where any of them healed
anything or any other six days. Do you I? Like, you know, we
just have the power to heal. And you know, he'd have an argument
if we healing folks all through the week. And then on Sunday,
we just kind of tired of healing folks, you know, and we just
want to worship today. We'll get back to healing tomorrow.
They're not healing nobody. What does it sound like? It sounds
exactly what like what Jesus is about to say. There are six
days in which men ought to work in them, therefore, come and
be healed. Hallelujah. You got to wait for a day that's
not the Sabbath day for you to get healed. And the Lord answered
him and said unto him, you hypocrite. Do you see that? I love the Lord
because he tells it like it is. The man was a hypocrite. And
this makes me examine myself. Because do I come to church and
pretend that I'm on the Lord's side, that I'm a friend of the
bridegroom, that I rejoice in the grace of God and am nothing
but a hypocrite? Do I come to church ready to
teach and explain and expound the scriptures concerning the
glory of this person called Christ, who has taught us in the scriptures
that wheresoever the spirit of the Lord is, liberty is going
to take place? And yet I'm a servant of bondage.
I'm a slave to bondage. I'm a slave to tradition. I'm a slave to ritual, a slave
to form and not a slave of Christ. I'm not a friend of the bridegroom.
You mean I don't have room for the bridegroom to come and I
step aside and say he must increase while I decrease. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Am I here to enforce the rules in spite of Christ's objective
to liberate souls? How does Christ respond? Verse
15, verse 16, I'm sorry. No, verse 15. The Lord answered
unto him, You hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath
loose his ox or his ass? from the stall and lead him away
to watering. See, not only does the Lord call
you what you are, but his arguments are powerful because he raises
the skirts and shows your practical hypocrisy. He said, each one
of you rulers, each one of you Pharisees, Each one of you scribes,
you have written in your laws, in your rabbinical writings to
make sure on the Sabbath day that you take your asses and
your oxen and loose them from the stall so they can go to the
watering hole and get water. You know what our Lord just exposed?
He just exposed all of the animal rights advocates. You hypocrites. You love animals. You love animals
because of their practical benefit for you. And you have no concern
for the eternity bound souls of men and women. We got things
upside down, don't we? Don't we got things upside down?
Oh, take care of the whales. Listen, the whales can take care
of themselves. Listen, if the whales ever rebelled
against the human race, we'd have some problems. What I'm talking about is the
ignorance of the church when it begins to take the rules and
try to bring the ruler into slavery to the rules. The rules are guidelines. They are a framework. They're
parameters. We'll talk about this. They're necessary. The
problem with the world is no limits, no boundaries, no parameters,
no rules. We have rules, but they're designed
to make way for the ruler. Are you hearing me? Listen to
what he says. I'm almost done. Ought not this
woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound. Do you
see that? How did he bind her? Her physical
infirmity, which can be medically identified, her being bent over
backwards for 18 years, that affliction wore on her mentally. It wore on her psychologically.
It wore on her emotionally. So much so that it opened the
door for the devil to come in and beat her down. Beat her down. The enemy knows that he can get
you through your body. This is not demon possession. This is demon oppression. This
is why you don't hear Jesus speaking to a demon here. He speaks to
demons. They are personalities. He would
have said, demon, Loose that woman. Are you hearing me? No. This woman's issue was that she
was struggling with her condition. And she was so weak. But there
was enough grace to get her to church week in and week out.
Because she knows that somehow faith comes by hearing. And hearing
by the Word of God. And one day, the power of the
Gospel might show up and liberate me from my bondage. That's why
we tell men and women to stay under the gospel Let me talk
to you a few more minutes 18 years. That's a long time to
be waiting to be saved But what's your alternative go
to hell 18 years is a long time Is that
true? waiting for Liberty But if you
know that there's no other place to go but to him then you wait
Then you wait until he shows up you wait You wait. Blessed are they that wait on
the Lord. They shall renew their strength. God will show up if
you wait. You young people, wait. You lost
people, you wait. There's no way to be saved other
than by Christ. If you wait, God will show up. You guys believe that? This individual
missed the point. God rebuked him. Showed that
he was actually demonstrating the compassion and the mercy
that come from a Redeemer who laid down his life For their
sin my last point. Are you ready? Here's the last
one. I love this Stand up straight Now that's an imperative from
the Old Testament Executed by Christ in the life of this woman.
She was bowed over She was bowed over. She was bent over. And that bending over demonstrated
that she was in bondage. But Christ said that she was
a child of Abraham. Do you know what that means?
She was one of God's elect. Do you know what that means?
She was one of those children that was promised in Abraham's
loins when God told Abraham in 430 years, your children are
going to be brought out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
I'm going to lead them out and then I'm going to lead them in.
And do you know what the book of Leviticus says in chapter
26 around verse 13 or 33? It says that when I brought you
out of Egypt, I caused you to stand up straight. Stand up straight. You're not a slave anymore. Stand
up straight! You're not under the control
of the devil anymore. Stand up straight! You're a child
of the living God. Stand up straight! I've laid
my hands on you. Get up! You see, the people that
are standing up are made in the image of God. You're made in
the image of God. You're sons and daughters of
God. You're not slaves of this world system. You're not slaves
of the devil. Stand up! Stand up and walk like
dignitaries. Walk like kings and queens. Walk
like sons and daughters of God. Walk like children of grace.
Objects of grace. Mercy and grace in your life.
Stand up! Now you can do it. You can do
it. You know why? Because He's laid
His hand on you. You already did. He laid his
hand on the girl and he transferred his righteousness to her and
took her sin. He laid his hands on her and
he became sin for her and she became the righteousness of God
in him. He laid his hand on her who had this infirmity, ostinato. It means to be without strength.
And every one of us was without strength one day. and He infused
strength into her. In other words, the reason she
stood up straight was because the grace of God infused her
life. See, you can't stand up unless
God calls you to stand. In fact, that's the literal Greek
term, Hebrew term back there. To stand up straight is to be
appointed. To stand up straight is to be established. To stand
up straight is to be helped. To stand up straight is to be
strengthened. To stand up straight is to be
made strong. That can only happen by the grace
of God. It's a remarkable intimation.
I'm done here. When Christ takes the bowed down sinner, whose
life was formerly depicted by slavery to sin and bondage to
Satan, and straightens them up, you know what he has done? He's
restored you to the image of God in Christ and made you to
be what you were destined to be. a son and daughter of the
living God. Sons and daughters of the living
God are liberated. They're liberated in their mind.
They're liberated in their heart. They're liberated in their life.
And they're being conformed to the image of Christ every day. Am I making some sense? Amen.