Matthew 12, 9. And when he was
departed thence, he went into their synagogue. And behold,
there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked
him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days that
they might accuse him? And he said unto them, What man
shall there be among you that shall have one sheep? And if
it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on
it and lift it out? How much then is a man better
than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do
well on the Sabbath days. Then saith he to the man, stretch
forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth and
it was restored whole like as the other. Then the Pharisees
went out and held a council against him. how they might destroy him. And then look at Mark chapter
3. We'll look at each account of this same event. In Mark 3,
1. We have another. Mark 3, 1. And he entered again
into the synagogue, and there was a man there which had a withered
hand. And they watched him, whether
he would heal him on the Sabbath day. that they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man which
had the withered hand, stand forth. And he saith unto them,
is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days or to do evil, to
save life or to kill? But they held their peace. And
when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved
for the hardness That word is stubbornness, blind
stubbornness. He looked at him with anger. And he saith unto the man, stretch
forth thine hand. And he stretched it out, and
his hand was restored whole as the other. And the Pharisees
went forth and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against
him. how they might destroy him. And
then look at Luke chapter 6. We have some things in each of
these accounts that are not in the others. Look at Luke 6, 6. And it came to pass also on another
Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and taught. And
there was a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes
and pharisees watched him. It was his right hand. You know,
even that is significant because in the scriptures, the right
hand signifies power. The Lord Jesus Christ sits on
the right hand of the majesty. On why? On how? Why? Because
of what Brother D taught this morning in the Bible class, because
he's sovereign, because he's all powerful. He's omnipotent.
The right hand. But our right hand, not so much. It's useless. It's shriveled
up. Oh, but when we were yet without
strength, Christ died for the ungodly. When we had no power to come,
no man can come, he exerted his power. Almighty to save. And the scribes and the Pharisees
watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath day, that
they might find an accusation against him. But he knew their
thoughts. And he said to the man which
had the withered hand, rise up and stand forth in the midst.
Can you picture that? He said, stand up and come stand
here in the middle of everybody. I don't know much about this
man with the withered hand, but what little we do know, he doesn't
strike me as somebody that would call attention to himself, do
you reckon? And he arose and stood forth
and then said, Jesus, unto them, I will ask you one thing. Is
it lawful on the Sabbath days to do good or to do evil, to
save life or to destroy it. You see, if the Lord doesn't
save your life, he's destroyed it. Him not doing good to you means
you're going to hell. And looking round about upon
them all, And we know from Mark's account that he looked upon those
who had stubborn hearts of rebellion against the grace of Christ,
the power of Christ himself. He looked with anger upon them.
But he said to that man, stretch forth thine hand, and he did
so. And his hand was restored whole as the other, and they
were filled with madness. That's where we are by nature,
filled with madness. And communed one with another
what they might do to Jesus. Now, as we've seen before in
the scriptures, a man's hand, or the hand when
it's referred to, represents a man's ability to work, a man's
ability to accomplish. what he wants to accomplish.
In Ecclesiastes 9.10, it says, whatsoever thy hand findeth to
do, do it with thy might. If it's worth doing, it's worth
doing. Do it with your might. Isaiah
said in 59.1, behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened. that he cannot save. We know
that God is spirit, but he's pictured here as having a hand
because the hand signifies ability. His hand didn't wither. His hand's
not shortened, that he can't save who he wants to save. He
said, I give life to whom I will. Nobody can stay his hand or say
unto him, what doest thou? There's nothing wrong with God's
hand that prevents him from doing what he is purposed to do. He
said, I've purposed it, I'll do it. He'll save his people from their
sin, that's what he came to do. To save his people, that's what
he did. He saved his people by living
for them, by dying for them. But there's something wrong with
our hand by nature, and that's what's pictured here. Not only
are we unable to do what we purpose to do,
but we can't do what's required of us. You know, the Lord has
righteous claims upon us. He demands obedience. He demands
perfect obedience to his law, to his every will expressed,
and he's worthy of it. He requires it. And to fall short
of that is to be sinful and wretched and vile in his sight and unable
to come into his presence. This poor man was unable to do
anything. He pictures us as we are unable
to do what's required of us. This man would never have been
hired at all like those in the parable of our Lord taught in
Matthew 20. You remember that parable where
the householder went out and hired some folks in the morning?
They were standing around waiting to be hired. I've seen that in
Kingwood, Texas. There was a corner where Some
fellows would wait around in the mornings because they knew
that people that needed workers for that day knew that spot too. And they would come and they'd
say, I want you, you, you come with me today. I'm gonna have
a job for you. I'm gonna pay you. And that's
what this man did. The householder went out in the
morning and he hired laborers to work in his vineyard from
among available workers who had gathered there for that reason.
And he says in verse three there of Matthew 20, And he went out
about the third hour. After having hired some in the
morning, he went back out at the third hour and saw others
standing idle in the marketplace and said unto them, go ye also
into the vineyard and whatsoever is right, I'll give you. And
they went their way. And again, he went out about
the sixth and ninth hour and did likewise. At about the 11th
hour, he went out and found others standing idle and saith unto
them, why stand ye here all the day idle? And they say unto him,
because no man hath hired us. That's what we're waiting for.
He saith unto them, go ye also into the vineyard and whatsoever
is right that you shall receive. And that's what he's teaching
there in Matthew 20 in that passage, whatever's right, that's what
God will give you. But here in our text, though he taught that
parable for another reason there in Matthew 20, the fellow in
our text this morning, he never would have been hired at all.
Not with a withered hand. He couldn't do anything. If there
was some small task that he was able to perform, he wouldn't
have expected to receive the same pay as other men. But here's
the spiritual lesson. Our Lord requires of us perfection. And we can't do it. We can't
perform it. He requires perfect obedience
to his law. And you and I are deformed. Man was created perfect in the
beginning, no flaw, no handicap, no deficiency, holy and upright,
walking upright and sinless before God. But man was before God accepted
and blessed on the condition of performance, on the condition
of law, the condition of obedience. As
long as Adam and Eve enjoyed all of God's paradise and obeyed
God in abstaining from the one forbidden tree, all was well. But man fell and proved what
I said last week. If you let me, if you allow me
to eat anything but grapes, what do you think I'm going to want?
Grapes. They were able to eat anything they wanted in the garden.
but that one tree, and what was the one thing that they decided
they couldn't live without? Man fell, man sinned, and man
is still on a footing of law before God, by nature, but with
a great handicap now. a great deformity, a nature that's
depraved and deformed and bent towards evil. We do evil with
both hands earnestly, the prophet said, by nature. We come forth out of the womb
speaking lies, we're shaping an iniquity. And yet, even without the advantage
that Adam had in the garden of being created holy and upright,
man still has the insane notion that he's able to do something
for God. God's able to save us. That leper
was right. If you will, you can. His hand's
not shortened, his hand's not drawn up and withered, but ours
is. We can't reach out to God. That's
what religion likes to tell you. Just reach out to God. Just take
the first step and he'll meet you halfway. But you're lame
on both your feet. How are you going to take the
first step? How are you going to reach out to God with a hand
like yours? We cannot reach out to God and
would not if we could. In fact, we cannot because we
will not. Did you know that? The problem
is our will. The very thing that evil, satanic,
free will religion appeals to. The will of man. That's not the
solution. That's your problem, is your
will. 1 Corinthians 2.14, but the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. First of all, because their foolishness
unto Him. It seems like idiocy, the gospel
to you by nature. It's foolish. It's nonsense. It's ridiculous. You don't have
the desire, the heart for it, the will to do what God says. Neither can he know them. You
don't have the ability either because you're flesh and the
flesh profits nothing. They're spiritually discerned
and you have no spiritual discernment. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh and only that which is born of the spirit is spirit
and therefore can discern that which is spiritual. So you'll
have to be born from above. That's what that born again means
there in John 3. Born from above. or you can't
see the kingdom, much less enter it. Christ said, you search the scriptures,
you know your Bible or think you do. They didn't know much,
did they? Because every time they said
something, he said, haven't you read the scriptures? What Bible
are you reading? Have you ever wanted to say that
to somebody? What Bible have you read? Apparently not this
one. And you will not come to me that
you might have life. You will not. That's your problem.
We're creatures of flesh only. And so we're unable to even perceive
spiritual things, much less act upon them. That's why Christ
said to his disciples who asked him, who then can be saved? Who
can be saved? This young man came asking about
how he could go to heaven when he died, you know. We went around
knocking on people's door and asked them if they wanted to
go to heaven when they died, and they said, yeah, I'd like to go to heaven.
Well, just can you answer a couple of questions here? Check, check,
check. You're saved. God just saved you. Really? The Lord sent that man away sorrowful.
He walked away on his own. Sorrowful because of his depraved
will you will not come to me. You will not Get rid of your
idols and follow the true God You will not sell all you have
and come follow Christ You want to go to heaven when you want
to inherit eternal life, but you don't love the Lord Jesus
Christ And Paul said if any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ,
he's gonna have to go to hell That's the only place for you
And me Who then can be saved? This man
came asking about it. And he said, with men it's impossible.
But with God. Your hand is withered. You can't
do anything. But God's is not. His hand is
not shortened that He cannot save. You'll never get to Him. He'll
have to come to you. This is what Christ said in John
6, 44. No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him. And I will raise him up at the
last day. If the Father draws you to me, I'll raise you up
at the last day. We'll dwell forever in glory.
You'll behold my glory forever. If not, you won't come. He can do something about this
problem, if he will, but you can't. You can't. With men, it's impossible. You
cannot come to him. You can't take the first step.
Why? You're like Mephibosheth. You're lame on both your feet.
You can't see the kingdom of God. Why? Because you're blind
as Bartimaeus. You cannot come into the presence
of him who is holy. Why? Because you're a leper,
like the man in Matthew 8, and he cannot abide your presence. He dwelleth in a light to which
no man can approach. And you cannot perfectly perform
what God requires of you, and he requires perfection, because
you have a withered hand. With you, it's impossible. But our Lord Jesus Christ is
able to heal. And He can heal on any day He
wants to heal. He deliberately healed on the
Sabbath day in order to infuriate these Pharisees and to teach
the truth that He is the sinner's Sabbath. He is the sinner's rest. You remember the end of chapter
11 In the first part of chapter
12, that's what he's been teaching now. He's still teaching concerning
who the Sabbath is. And he does so here. Three things,
and I'll be brief this morning. Our Lord is able to heal. His word is a word of power. And he's merciful to sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ is able
to heal. How? Why? Well, because he's
the mighty God that Isaiah was talking about in Isaiah chapter
9. For unto us a child is born. Unto us God's Son is given. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. and the government shall be upon
his shoulders. You know what that word government
means? Dominion. All dominion, all authority,
all power is given unto me in heaven and earth that I might
give eternal life to as many as thou hast given me. All dominion shall be upon his
shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful. Have you ever called his name
Wonderful? Have you ever called him Counselor?
Oh, I don't know anything, do you? And the more I do by his grace
know, the more I realize how little I know. Oh, but my Counselor
is wise. I don't counsel him, he counsels
me. Who hath been his counselor?
But you know who my counselor is? This one right here, the
mighty God. The mighty God. That's what D
was talking about this morning. He's the mighty God. If we ever
see him as he is, we'll bow before him as we ought. He's the mighty
God. the everlasting Father. I'm glad
he didn't just stop there at the mighty God. He's everybody's
mighty God, but he's not everybody's father. He said to those fair, you're
of your father, the devil. Oh, but if you're able by God's
grace, if you have the sweet, glorious privilege of calling
him father, whereby Paul said, we cry, father, father, the prince of peace. He's made
peace for his elect by the blood, the precious blood of his cross. Christ said in Matthew nine,
six, I have power. He healed that man. He said,
what's easier to say, rise, take up your bed, or walk, or thy
sins be forgiven thee? He can do either one. He can
do either one. He can make you a lame man walk,
or he can forgive sins. About the same to him. As far as how easier, the word
easy. But he said, I said what I did
so that you'd know that the Son of Man has power on earth to
forgive sins. Oh, that's the one that says,
come to me and I'll give you rest. He has dominion. He has authority. He has power
to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, and every problem you have
is gone. But how can he now? How can he?
Well, he's God. Well, I know that he's God. I know a little bit about that.
He's revealed that, hasn't he? Ain't no question about that. He can do as he pleases, but
how can he forgive my sins and still be God? If someone is holy
and just and right, and he just arbitrarily forgives evil, does
not he cease to be holy and just and right? Yes, but God does not forgive
my sin arbitrarily. That is, just on a whim, without
any righteous basis upon which to do so. How then? Our Lord
is able to heal. He has power, but is it right
for him to do it? Is it right for him? Listen to
what Isaiah said in Isaiah 53 five, listen to this verse. But
he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and with his stripes we are healed. He has the authority
to say, stretch forth thy hand, thy withered hand by nature,
powerless to do anything for God, much less the perfection
he requires. But he heals us with his stripes. That's how he heals us. He causes
our hand to be made whole. He causes our lame feet to be
strengthened that we might come to God. That's how He draws us. He brings us. He heals us. Christ died the just for the
unjust that He might bring us to God. You see that? It's by
His stripes we are healed. I think I see now, don't you?
A little bit. Not only with His almighty power
are we healed, but with His stripes. Not only is He God and can do
what He pleases, but He's right to save us because of our sacrifice
because of our Redeemer who died in our place, who suffered in
our stead. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. Our transgression was laid upon
Him. He suffered in our place as our
propitiation, our sin offering. And so he can heal us and be
right to do it because our sins were fully punished. The justice
of God completely satisfied in the punishment of my sins because
my sins were laid on him and the wrath of God was poured out
upon him for them. And he suffered and died in my
place. And when he did, he healed me. When he did, my withered hand
was made whole. in him his hands not withered
and I'm in him now when he says thy sins be
forgiven thee it's more than just a best effort he has already accomplished my
redemption which makes him able to be just and justify me and
so when he speaks secondly his word is a word of it's a word
of power it's the word of power when he says stretch forth thy
hand then that which cannot happen will happen it's not down he
doesn't make it possible for you to stretch forth your hand
when he said let there be light he didn't make light possible
there was light but wait there's no sun yet he didn't create the
sun till later how can there be light because he said let
there be light This man was born with a withered hand, just as
you and I are born with our problem. Have you ever seen anybody like
that, deformed in some way? I've seen that specific thing
with a little shriveled up hand. And you and I were born with
our problem too. Our problem is not what we do,
it's what we are. What we do is a symptom of our
problem, just as this man's doings, his limitations, were a result
of what he was. His root problem was what he
was. He was the man with the withered
hand. And what our Lord commanded this
man to do was the one thing that he was utterly incapable
of doing. Have you ever heard somebody
say, God wouldn't command you to do something you couldn't
do? He hasn't ever commanded anybody to do anything that they
could do. You realize that? Thou shalt not commit adultery.
You can't do that. You realize that? Thou shalt not steal. You can't
do that. No way. Lazarus come forth. God won't
tell somebody to do something they can't do. The one thing now, if he had
told that man, I want you to swim the Sea of Galilee and I'll
be waiting for you on the other side and I'll save you. You know,
he would have gone into some kind of a training program and
he would have strengthened all of his other members to make
up for that shriveled one. And he would have figured out
a way to do it. You reckon? He'd have taken a shot at it. But what he would have had to
do was figure out a way to do it with a shriveled hand. but
stretch forth thy hand. The one thing. With man, it is impossible. You see, it's not difficult for
you to come to Christ. No man can. How is it going to happen then? By the power and authority and
mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 1.16, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, Paul said, for it's the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believeth. God, in the gospel,
commands sinners everywhere to repent. But repentance is not
something that we're capable of doing. We're withered, we're
lame, we're blind, we're without strength. We have no spiritual
understanding, much less ability. But repentance is God's gift.
In 2 Timothy 2.25, Paul said to Timothy, those who oppose themselves,
and God might give them repentance. That's how he'll do it, through
the teaching and preaching of the gospel. The gospel is God's
power. That's how he exerts his power
to save now. He's not going to save you apart
from the gospel. He's going to use the gospel
to save you. A sinner can't just decide to repent
of his own free will, and neither can a man with a withered hand
stretch forth his hand. Neither can a lame man rise and
take up his bed and walk. Neither can Lazarus come forth.
But when Christ says, come forth, the dead comes forth. Is it simple? Is that as simple as it can be? It's the power of Christ. Salvation
is of the Lord. This is what Paul is saying in
Romans 1 16. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. It's not the power of my persuasive
abilities. I don't have any. It's not my
power to get somebody saved. I don't have any. If I get you to make some kind
of a decision, you'll be a decision-making wretch before God, a hell-bound
decision-making wretch, unless Christ saves you by His power. When the Gospel is preached,
the Lord Jesus Christ exerts His power in the saving of sinners. When, how, and where, and upon
whom he is pleased to do so. With the command Lazarus come
forth goes the power for the dead to come forth. That's what
happens when the Gospels preach. Or doesn't at his sovereign discretion. That's why we pray the way that
we do. Lord, if you will, you can. How in the world did Lazarus
obey that command? How did he even hear it, much
less obey it? The same way that you obeyed
the command, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. The same way Thomas obeyed the
command. Thomas, you come here and be
not faithless, but believing. The flesh profiteth nothing. It is the spirit that quickeneth. But Chris, will God have mercy on me? I believe what you say. I believe
that He's God. I believe that He does as He
pleases, with whom He pleases, when He pleases, the way He pleases.
And I see how a holy God might yet have mercy upon a sinner,
because a substitute has come, because the Savior, the Redeemer,
the Christ has come, God with us, and has lived a perfect,
righteous, holy life in the stead of his people. and died the spotless
lamb, an ignominious, vicarious, substitutionary, perfect, acceptable, sufficient
death for his people. I see how that
he might be just and yet justify through the redeemer, through
the redemption. It's in Christ Jesus. And I see how that if he says
the word, I'll be healed. But will he have mercy on me?
That's what that leper wanted to find out, wasn't it? He didn't
have any doubt about the Lord's ability. He came to find out
if the Lord was willing to have mercy on a wretch like him. Did
you come here this morning for that reason? Well, let me tell
you this. He's plenteous in mercy. Psalm 86 5, For thou, Lord, art
good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them
that call upon thee. Can you picture this poor man
with the withered hand standing in front of everybody, probably
embarrassed and shamed to even be seen? The Pharisees asked the Lord,
is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? Is it right for you to have
mercy on somebody like this in order that they might accuse
him? And that's when he said to this man, get up and stand
here in the midst. And in Mark's account, we're
told that the Lord looked around at them all with anger because
of the hardness of their hearts. Isn't religion cruel and heartless
to demand of the sinner what he cannot perform? And the Lord looked with anger
upon them and spoke peace, spoke healing, spoke mercy to the wretched
man with the withered hand. And he said unto them, what man
shall there be among you that shall have one sheep? He told
us right here why he had mercy on this man, because he's one
of my little sheep. And even you heartless fools,
for a different reason, if you had a sheep fall in a pit on
the Sabbath day, you'd go get it out because you wouldn't want
to lose anything. But because the Lord Jesus Christ
is love, because he's the God of all grace,
because he's tender and compassionate and long-suffering towards sinners,
he said to this little sheep of his, stretch forth thy hand. And with that command went the
power to obey the command. He stretched it forth and it
was restored whole and then look at verse 14 We see the almighty
purpose of God's grace here This is God's almighty purpose
of grace seen in verse 14 Then the Pharisees went out and held
a council against him the Lord Jesus Christ how that they might
destroy him You see God's eternal purpose of grace even in that,
especially in that. This passage is a picture of
the healing of our souls. How will that be accomplished?
Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him, how
they might destroy him. The destroying of him is the
healing of me. By his stripes, I am healed. His death is my life. Thank God for sovereign mercy. Let's bow in prayer. Brother Ken Milton asked the
Lord to bless this to us this morning.