Would you turn back to Luke chapter
six? We read in verse six of Luke
chapter six, 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. He was drawn up, withered away,
dried up and paralytic. He could not open it. It was
impossible for him to open his hand. It was dried up and it
was withered. And the Lord looked at that man
and said, stretch forth thy hand. He commanded him to do. what he could not do. And that's what I've entitled
this message, doing what you cannot do. And when the Lord
commanded him to do with that, which he could not do, he did
that, which he could not do. And the Lord Jesus said in John
chapter 15, verse four, and he's speaking to his disciples. He
said, without me, you can do nothing. He did not say without
me, most things you can't do. He didn't say without me, you
can do hardly anything. He said, without me, you can
do Nothing. Don't you know that so even right
now? Without him, I can't believe. Without him, I can't love. Without
him, I cannot trust. Without him, I can't even think
right. I can't think the right thoughts,
I can't have that. Without Him, I can do nothing.
All I can do is sin and love myself. I know that's so. Paul
said, I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. I just know this. Without me,
you can do nothing. How much more is that true of
the unbeliever? Without me, you can do Nothing. Now the doctrine
of free will, man's ability to choose that which is good, is
the biggest lie that's ever told. It's just not so. Without me, you can do nothing. Our Lord said, no man can come
to me. except the Father which has sent
me draw him, irresistibly, invincibly by his grace. The only way me
or you will come to the Lord Jesus Christ is if the Father
draws us to him. And if the Father draws us to
him, we will come. He will not take no for an answer. Doing what you cannot do. Now let's read this passage of
scripture again together, verse six. And it came to pass also
on another Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and taught.
And there was a man there whose right hand, his right hand was
withered. What does the right hand signify?
Power, ability. This man had no power. This man
had no ability. His right hand was withered. And my dear friends, you and
I have no power and no ability. No ability to call on God, no
ability to look to Christ, no ability to believe, no ability
to love God, no ability, period. The right hand is withered. No power to do anything. Nothing. His right hand was withered. But you know what? That's a good
thing. See, the scripture says, when
we were yet without strength. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Paul said, when I'm weak, when
I'm powerless, when I'm impotent, when I have no ability, then
am I strong. It's a good thing to have no
ability. Now, somebody's thinking, what's
all this about? Well, if you know you have no
ability, you know what it's about. But it's a good thing when we're
without strength, without ability, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. Now this man's right hand was
withered. Verse seven. Here's our old buddies,
the scribes and the Pharisees. The natural man's religion. I
said this last week. You don't have to look very far
to find a scribe and a Pharisee. Two places you can always find
them. First, in here. And next, the person sitting
by you. This is the religion of the natural man, a scribe
and a Pharisee. He thinks something he has done
separates him from somebody else. And the scribes and the Pharisees
watched him. They watched the Lord Jesus.
They saw this man with a withered hand and they knew Christ had
the power to heal him. And the scribes and Pharisees
watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath day. Wouldn't that be awful? If he
healed this person on the Sabbath day, that they might find an
accusation against him. You see, if the Lord was right,
they were wrong. So they wanted to find an accusation
against him. And we know from Mark's account
in Mark chapter 3 verse 5 that they had hardness of heart. The Lord looked at them at this
time and was grieved because of the hardness of their hearts. And this effect of the hardness
of their heart is seen in them finding fault with and setting
in judgment on the Lord, looking for a reason to find an accusation
against him. Now, this word hardness of heart,
we're going to look at it in a few moments, it's also translated
blindness, where you cannot see. Now, what is hardness of heart?
When I think of a hard heart, First thing I think of is someone
who's unfeeling and unsynthetic toward the needs and plights
and calamities of others. That's what we think of when
we think of a hard heart, someone that's just indifferent about
the problems other people have. And that is the effect of a hard
heart, but a hard heart really comes from self-righteousness. That is where the hard heart
comes from. That person who is self-righteous
is blind and deceived and hardened in his sin, and that's why he's
self-righteous. You have to have a hard heart.
You have to have a hard heart to feel like you have any righteousness.
It shows how blind you are and deceived you are about yourself.
Only a hard heart could think something like that. And with
this hard heart, this self-righteous heart, comes this wrong attitude
and hardened attitude and unconcerned and abuse for others. They didn't
care a thing about this man with the withered hand. They only
wanted to accuse the Lord. They thought if we can make his
candle dim, our light will shine much brighter. So they were sitting
there watching the Lord, wanting to accuse him of healing somebody
on the Sabbath day. Verse eight, But he knew their thoughts. Lord knows my thoughts. My thoughts are what I really
am. Somebody says, you can't be hanged
for your thoughts. Well, I can't hang you for your thoughts and
you can't hang me for my thoughts, but God can. He knows the thoughts. He knew exactly what they were
thinking. Whatever's going through your
mind and heart right now, the Lord is reading it. He's reading
my heart right now. He knew their thoughts. And he said to the man which
had the withered hand, verse eight, rise up. and stand forth
in the midst and he arose and stood forth. Now he wanted this
to be public so that all could see the truth never seeks to
be hidden. He wanted everybody to see exactly
what he was going to do. So in verse nine, then said Jesus
unto them, knowing their thoughts, knowing they wanted to accuse
him, Then said Jesus unto them, I'll ask you one thing. Now he
asked them a question that could only have one answer. Then said Jesus unto them, I'll
ask you one thing. Is it lawful on the Sabbath days
to do good? What's the answer to that? Yes. That's self-evident. Yes. Is it lawful on the Sabbath today
to do evil? No. Now in Matthew's account
of this same story, we read where the Lord said to 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? Would you do that on the Sabbath
day? Of course you would. You wouldn't say, well, I'm just
going to leave him in the pit in misery because it's the Sabbath
day and far be it from me to break the Sabbath. Well, that's
a, Complete misunderstanding of what the Sabbath is in the
first place. The Sabbath is to teach us to rest in Christ. It's
the rest of not working. And they were making a work.
Oh, forbid that we should ever do anything like that on the
Sabbath day. The Lord said, will he not lay hold on it and lift
it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore
is it lawful to do well on the Sabbath day? Of course it is. Turn with me to Mark's account
of this. Mark chapter 3. Verse 1, And he entered again
into the synagogue, and there was a man which had a withered
hand. And they watched it, 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 day or to do evil, to
save life or to kill? But they held their peace. Now
they were always ready to say something, always. But here they held their peace.
Why didn't they answer? Because they knew any answer
they gave would condemn them. They knew that. So at this time,
they pled the fifth. They held their peace. They gave
no answer. Verse five, and when he had looked
round about on them with anger, well, that's not very Christ-like,
is it? Oh, when he looked round about
on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts."
He was grieved over the hardness that would cause this harsh, critical, unfeeling, judgmental,
suspicious attitude. And can you imagine what this
look must have looked like? I've tried to picture in my mind,
I know we don't know what the Lord looked like as far as that goes,
but I've tried to picture in my mind Him looking over that crowd in
anger, looking at every one of them, being grieved, grieved
with the hardness of their heart. In their hardness, they would
not see what was obvious. What they did see, they would
not acknowledge. these people finding fault with
the Lord for healing on the Sabbath day, and their unbelief and their
hardness was not a lack of proper information. Now, I say again,
the answer to the question was obvious. Of course it's lawful
to do good on the Sabbath day. Of course it is. It's obvious. Is salvation all of grace? You know, the answer to that
question is obvious. If you understand anything about
your own sinfulness, the answer to that question is obvious.
And you don't have to scratch your head about it. If you know
anything about yourself, who you are, and your withered hand,
you know in your case, salvation must be all of grace. because you have a withered hand,
and there's things that you cannot do. You can't come to Christ
unless He causes you to, and you know that. You have a great
need for God to do something for you. You have a great need
for God to choose you, because you know you won't choose Him
unless He first chooses you. You need a lexicon. You need
Christ to die for you and put away your sins. You have an absolute
need for that because there's nothing you can do to stop your
sin and do anything about it. You have a need for His grace
to be irresistible and invincible toward you. You need His grace. The answer is obvious. Is salvation
all of grace? Well, I know in my case, it must
be that way or I will not be saved. Is Christ's righteousness
the only righteousness? The answer to that is obvious
to those who are not blinded by self-righteousness. The answer
to that is obvious. Yes, Christ's righteousness is
the only righteousness I know of. His obedience is the only
thing I'll plead before God because I have no personal righteousness. That answer is obvious to those
who are not blinded. Unbelief rejects that which is
obvious. It's obvious to those who see. Now, our Lord asked these men
a question where the answer was obvious. Now, then, let's go
on reading in Mark 3. And when he looked round about
on them with anger being grieved over the hardness of their hearts,
he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. Now he called upon this man to
do something that he could not do. His hand was withered. It was paralytic. He couldn't
stretch forth his hand. What if I said to somebody in
a wheelchair, get up! Why? I would almost be mocking
them. They can't get up. And yet he said to this man with
this withered hand, stretch forth thine hand. Now we learned something
about gospel preaching here. First, the gospel is not an offer. It's a command. He didn't tell this fellow, if
you have the faith to stretch forth your hand, it'll happen.
He didn't say, if you will, if you choose me, then you'll be
able to stretch forth your hand. He didn't offer him salvation.
And God doesn't offer me and you anything. Salvation is not
an offer. Gospel preaching is not an offer.
God is not offering you mercy if you'll just take it. God isn't
offering you grace if you'll just take it. God isn't offering
you forgiveness if you'll just take it. The gospel is not an
offer in any respect. The gospel is a command. Stretch forth thy hand. And he did that which he could
not do. Now, this exposes two great errors. First, it exposes the error of
free will. Now, most people believe that
men are fallen, they do bad things, they're sinful. but they have
the ability to choose Christ. They have a free will where they
can choose to be saved. They can choose to accept God's
offer of salvation and then be saved. And they think why God
would never command someone to do what you can't do. You must
have the ability to do this. No, you don't. No more than that
man had the ability in and of himself to stretch forth his
hand. He had no ability, but God commanded him to. Now there's
somebody else that says, well, it would be wrong to tell someone
who has no ability to do something to do it. Why? If somebody's
dead in sins and can't believe and can't come to Christ, you
ought not tell somebody who's dead in sins and can't believe
and can't come to Christ to believe and to come to Christ right now,
God commands you to. The Lord did. The Lord did. That's the way
he did things. You know, in preaching the gospel,
the Bible is not so much addressed to believers, the Bible is not
addressed to unbelievers, the Bible's addressed to men. men. And Christ tells me and you to
stretch forth our hand. Stretch forth thy hand and he
did so. He did what he could not do. Now listen real carefully. The
power to do comes with the command and the Lord will not be disobeyed.
He's the Lord. He will not be disobeyed. If
He tells you to stretch forth your hand, you know what? You're
going to stretch forth your hand. If He tells you to believe, you
know what? You're going to believe. If He tells you to bow the knee
to His Son, you know what? You're going to bow the knee
to His Son, because the Lord will not be disobeyed. Somebody
says, I'm not doing it, and He didn't speak to you then. Because
if He speaks to you, you will bow, you will stretch forth your
hand. When He commands, He gives the
life, He gives the grace, He gives the power to obey His command. When He, by His Spirit, through
the preaching of the gospel, says, Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and thou shalt be saved. You know what you're going to
do? You're going to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The only
time you believe is when he says to believe. You see, you don't
choose to believe. You believe because you got no
choice. He told you to believe and that's what you do. You find
yourself believing. You don't go, I'm going to believe.
Oh, it doesn't work that way. You believe when he says believe.
When he says stretch forth your hand, that's when you will do
it. Everybody he speaks to, they
do what he says. He commands, he causes them to
obey the command. I think of Lazarus. That's my
favorite example. Lazarus, come forth. No. Didn't happen, did it? He that was dead. dead in trespasses
and sins, utterly unable to do anything, he that was dead came
forth. You see, he speaks with the power
that raises the dead. Stretch forth thy hand, and he
stretched it forth. That is the call of irresistible,
invincible grace. He doesn't take no for an answer. He's not gonna have his. He says
to you, and you respond. Because he always speaks in irresistible,
invincible grace. Now think about those terms.
Irresistible, what's that mean? It means you can't resist it.
You can't resist it. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Everyone up will. You can't resist
it. And you'll find, and it's not
like you're not wanting to and you're getting drug against your
will. No, you will find the Lord Jesus Christ and His grace irresistible. You have to have Him. You have
to have His righteousness. You have to have His precious
blood to put away your sins. You have to have Him to do something
for you. You know that. You find Him irresistible. You find His gospel irresistible. You can't get away from it. It's
irresistible and it's invincible. That means you can't say no.
You can't fight it off. I'm so thankful for irresistible
grace because if it wasn't for irresistible grace, I know I'd
resist it. And I know I'd be in hell. Oh, I love... Stretch
forth thy hand. He stretched it forth. The grace of God, the Holy Spirit. Now the Lord said, no man can
come to me. No man can come to me. If God
leaves me and you to ourselves, we can't come to Christ. We can't,
we lack the ability. Except the Father which has sent
me, draw him. Draw him invincibly and irresistibly,
but turn it around. If he draws you, you know what?
You'll come. and nothing can keep you from
Him. What happened? Stretch forth
thine hand. And what did He do? He stretched
it out. How long had it been curled up
and paralytic? I don't know. But when the Lord
said, stretch forth thy hand, dried up, withered hand came
out. Now, the scripture says when
he did that, his hand was restored whole as the other. There's two
or three things I want us to notice about that. I mean, the
first thing is this wasn't a process. It wasn't something that happened
gradually. You're just kind of getting a little bit better.
No, all of a sudden, his hand was whole. It wasn't a process. It happened immediately. When he stretched forth his hand,
it was restored whole. It was complete. It wasn't like
it was still kind of paralytic or lacked strength. No, it was
complete. Now listen to this scripture.
Colossians chapter two, verses nine and 10. It says, in him,
in the Lord Jesus Christ, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily, and you are complete. If the Lord speaks to your heart
and you stretch forth your hand, you do it right now. You don't
wait till tomorrow. You do it right now. It's immediate. It's
complete. And you are completely justified
in God's sight. You have no sin. You stand before God right now
without guilt. It's all been washed away. That's
what happened. This stretching forth. See this
stretching forth of hand was not an act of sight. He didn't
say, can I do it? No, it wasn't. It wasn't by sight. It wasn't a thing of the senses.
It was by faith. Christ told him to stretch forth
his hand and he did it. Christ tells you to believe on
his son and you do it. Christ tells you to, or God tells
you to believe on his son. Christ tells you to come to me
and you do it. It's an act of faith and believing
you are complete. You can't get any more saved
than you are right now. You're not going to be more holy
in heaven than you are right now. You won't be any more justified
than you are right now. You're complete in the Lord Jesus
Christ. His hand was restored whole as
the other. And it was permanent. It was
permanent. No mistake about this. Permanent, perfect, and complete. Turn with me for a moment to
John chapter 5. Very similar story. John chapter 5. After this, there was a feast
of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is a
Jerusalem by the sheep market, a pool, which is called in the
Hebrew tongue, Bethesda, having five porches. And in these lay
a great multitude of impotent folk. Do you know what that means? Powerless. without strength,
without power, with no spiritual ability. Where do you fall in
there? Where do I fall in there would
not perhaps be a better question. Blind, halt, and withered, just
like this man was, waiting for the moving of the water. For
an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled
the water. Whosoever therefore then first
after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of
whatsoever disease he had. Now I would be hanging out by
this pool too if I had a disease, wouldn't you? I'd want to somehow
get in this water before anybody else did. And there was a great
multitude of impotent folk waiting. Verse five, and a certain man
was there. There were a whole lot of men
there, a great multitude, but there was also a certain man. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
always deals with certain men, certain men. And this man had an infirmity
38 years. We don't know exactly what it
was, but it might be thought, because the Lord went on down
to say, sin no more, lest a worse thing come to you. It might be
through some kind of sinful life, he brought this on himself. But
let me ask you a question. It's never a problem you and
I have. We brought it on ourselves. It's all our fault. Our sinfulness,
everything, it's our fault. So you can't look down at this
man and say, well, what kind of man was he? Was he guilty
of some kind of secret, horrible thing? Perhaps he was. But this
is the way it is with you and I. Any problem we have, it's
our fault. fault, just like this man's problem
was his fault. He said, sin no more, lest a
worse thing happen to you. But here he lay thirty and eight
years. Verse six. When Jesus saw him lie. And knew that he'd been now a
long time in that case, you see, the Lord knew everything about
him. He saith unto him, now I want you to notice the simplicity
of this question. Wilt thou be made whole? Are you willing? Thought you
said no such thing as free will. There's not, but that doesn't
take away from this. Are you willing? Are you willing to be
made whole? Not, or can you do something
to make yourself whole? But are you willing, he says
to this man, this impotent man, are you willing to be made whole? Are you? Are you willing to be
made whole? Now there's only one who can
do that for you. That's the Lord himself. But here's the question.
Are you willing to be made whole? That's a very simple question.
And it can be answered very easily. Yes or no. But the impotent man
answered, he evidently did not hear what the Lord said. The
impotent man answered him, sir, I have no man. When the water
is troubled to put me into the pool, but while I'm coming, another
steppeth down before me. Now he didn't hear what the Lord
said because the Lord didn't say, are you able to get into
the pool? He didn't say, are you able to crawl in or get,
but he said, are you willing to be made whole? Are you willing
for me to do something for you where I do it all and you don't
have anything to do with it? It's simply my work. Are you
willing to be made whole? Well, I don't have anybody to
get me in. Then the Lord said to him the same thing he said
to the man with the withered hand, Jesus saith unto him, rise,
take up thy bed and walk. He couldn't do it. Well, he could
when the Lord told him to. And immediately the man was made
whole and took up his bed and walked, and on the same day was
the Sabbath. He did what he could not do. Now, the Lord commands me and you
to believe his gospel. But I can't. If he commands you
to, you can. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. God commands you to believe. Well, what if I'm not one of
the elect? You don't need to worry about that. You are commanded
to believe on His Son. What if Christ didn't die for
me? Listen, faith isn't believing that Christ died for you or didn't
die for you. Faith is believing that He's
the Son of God. You are commanded to believe on His Son. And the right and the ability
comes with the command. God commands all men everywhere
to repent. I'm one of them. So he's commanding
me. The ability comes with the command. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. And this is what you'll do. You'll
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. And let's
look back in Luke for just a moment. Luke chapter six. Verse 10, And looking round about
them all, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he
did so. He did what he could not do,
and his hand was restored whole as the other. Verse 11, And they
were filled with madness, and communed one with another
what they might do to Jesus. They were filled with madness. Now, in this thing of Christ commanding
us to do what we cannot do, and when he commands us to do what
we cannot do, we do what we could not do. This is either going
to fill us with gladness or madness. Which does it fill you with?
It fills me with gladness to think that he commands me to
do what I cannot do, and I do it. It fills me with gladness. I love sovereign, irresistible,
invincible grace. I don't apologize for it. I love
it. Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth. and
it was restored whole just as the other. Let's pray.