548. Gospel of Luke - Chapter 6 (#1) - Jesus Heals the Man with the Withered Hand - May 8, 2024

[00:00:06] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.

[00:00:15] But in prayer, Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord, I pray that you give everyone ears to hear and a heart to receive everything you have in store for them today.

[00:00:33] I ask this in Jesus' name, Amen. This is Proverbs 8 beginning in verse 1.

[00:00:41] Does not Wisdom cry out and understanding lift up her voice? She takes her stand on the top of the high hill beside the way where the paths meet.

[00:00:53] She cries out by the gates at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors.

[00:01:00] To you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men.

[00:01:06] O you simple ones, understand prudence, and you fools, be of an understanding heart.

[00:01:15] Listen, for I will speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things.

[00:01:24] For my mouth will speak truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

[00:01:31] All the words of my mouth are with righteousness. Nothing crooked or perverse is in them.

[00:01:39] They are all plain to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge.

[00:01:46] Receive my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.

[00:01:53] For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.

[00:02:01] I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence and find out knowledge and discretion.

[00:02:08] The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.

[00:02:17] Counsel is mine and sound wisdom. I am understanding. I have strength.

[00:02:26] By me, kings reign and rulers decree justice. By me, princes rule and nobles all the judges of the earth.

[00:02:37] I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently will find me.

[00:02:44] Riches and honor are with me, enduring riches and righteousness.

[00:02:51] My fruit is better than gold. Yes, then find gold and my revenue then choice silver.

[00:02:59] I traverse the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of justice.

[00:03:05] That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth. That I may fill their treasuries.

[00:03:13] The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his way, before his works of old.

[00:03:20] I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning before there was ever an earth.

[00:03:28] When there were no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains abounding with water,

[00:03:35] before the mountains were settled, before the hills I was brought forth.

[00:03:41] While as yet he had not made the earth or the fields or the primal dust of the world.

[00:03:49] When he prepared the heavens, I was there. When he drew a circle on the face of the deep.

[00:03:56] When he established the clouds above. When he strengthened the fountains of the deep.

[00:04:03] When he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress his command.

[00:04:11] When he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him as a master craftsman.

[00:04:20] And I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.

[00:04:26] Rejoicing in his inhabited world. And my delight was with the sons of men.

[00:04:35] Now therefore listen to me, my children, for blessed are those who keep my ways.

[00:04:42] Hear instruction and be wise and do not disdain it.

[00:04:48] Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.

[00:04:57] For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.

[00:05:04] But he whose sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.

[00:05:15] Friends today I'd like to take a closer look at verses 12 and 13.

[00:05:21] I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge and discretion.

[00:05:29] The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.

[00:05:41] Friends we will come back and visit those two verses prior to closing today.

[00:05:46] But what I'd like to do at this time is to continue in our study of the Gospel according to Luke.

[00:05:54] And on Monday's podcast we completed chapter 5 and today we are going to begin in chapter 6 beginning in verse 1.

[00:06:06] This is entitled Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.

[00:06:13] Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first that he went through the grain fields

[00:06:21] and his disciples plucked the heads of grain and ate them, rubbing them in their hands

[00:06:29] and some of the Pharisees said to them, why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?

[00:06:38] But Jesus answering them said, have you not even read this?

[00:06:44] What David did when he was hungry? He and those who were with him.

[00:06:50] How he went into the house of God took and ate the showbread and also gave some to those with him,

[00:07:00] which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat.

[00:07:05] And he said to them, the son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath.

[00:07:14] Friends, the first point that I would like to bring up today is the Pharisees question Jesus and his disciples.

[00:07:24] Now I am reading out of the Nelson study Bible and I'd like to go over a couple commentaries found in my Bible.

[00:07:34] Number one, it says plucked, ate and rubbing.

[00:07:40] According to Jewish tradition, the disciples were reaping, threshing and preparing food

[00:07:50] and so were violating the commandment not to work on the Sabbath.

[00:07:56] It is clear that at this point the Pharisees were watching Jesus carefully.

[00:08:04] Now listen to verse two, what is not lawful?

[00:08:11] The Pharisees wanted to know why the disciples had violated the traditions surrounding the law of Moses.

[00:08:20] In responding to the Pharisees charges against his disciples, Jesus appealed to 1 Samuel chapter 21 and 22.

[00:08:32] David and his men ate the showbread that only the priests could eat.

[00:08:40] This was not lawful but God did not punish David for it.

[00:08:47] Such bread was taken from the twelve loaves placed on a table in the holy place and changed once a week.

[00:08:59] Jesus pointed out that if David and his men could violate the law to satisfy their hunger, his disciples could do the same.

[00:09:11] Jesus may have been attempting to show that the law was never intended to be applied so absolutely that it would take precedence over the necessities of daily life.

[00:09:27] And friends, I really like the wording of that.

[00:09:31] The Pharisees were so steeped in tradition.

[00:09:37] I kind of liken the Pharisees to an auditor and someone who goes into a company and looks at all the accounting records,

[00:09:47] look at everything that the company is doing, and having a checklist and check, check, check, check, check.

[00:09:55] And they are scrutinizing everything that Jesus and his disciples are doing.

[00:10:01] And they don't care if it's a good thing or not.

[00:10:05] That is totally irrelevant to them.

[00:10:09] They were simply checking, is it right? Put a check. Is it not right? A demerit.

[00:10:17] And they are counseling them and telling them not to do and questioning why they're doing it.

[00:10:25] Let's look at the commentary for verse 5.

[00:10:28] Regardless of the laws and customs that the Pharisees cited, Jesus has authority over the Sabbath.

[00:10:38] Jesus' claim of divine authority here is similar to his claim of authority to forgive sins in chapter 5.

[00:10:50] Let's go to verse 6.

[00:10:53] Now it happened on another Sabbath also that he entered the synagogue and taught,

[00:11:00] and a man was there whose right hand was withered.

[00:11:05] So the scribes and Pharisees watched him closely.

[00:11:10] Now I want to stop just for a moment. They were watching Jesus closely.

[00:11:19] Now this is a really important point, because they were not overlooking anything that he did.

[00:11:26] Whatever Jesus or his disciples were around, they were watching them like hawks.

[00:11:34] They wanted to find something that they could accuse them of.

[00:11:40] So they were looking at every single detail of what they were doing.

[00:11:47] Whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against him.

[00:11:56] But he knew their thoughts and said to the man who had the withered hand,

[00:12:03] Arise and stand here, and he arose and stood.

[00:12:09] Then Jesus said to them, I will ask you one thing.

[00:12:14] Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?

[00:12:25] And when he had looked around at them all, he said to the man, stretch out your hand.

[00:12:33] And he did so and his hand was restored as whole as the other.

[00:12:40] But they were filled with rage and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.

[00:12:50] Friends, the second point that I would like to bring up is Jesus heals the man with the withered hand.

[00:12:58] But something else that I really want to focus in on is this.

[00:13:05] Jesus asked them a simple question.

[00:13:10] Is it lawful to do good or to do evil on the Sabbath?

[00:13:19] What I really want to point out here is they refused to answer Jesus.

[00:13:27] They did not answer him.

[00:13:31] And imagine the look that Jesus was giving these people.

[00:13:37] He is in the synagogue, all eyes are on Jesus, all the Pharisees are watching him,

[00:13:47] and he is prepared to do good and to heal and restore a man who has a withered hand.

[00:13:57] Friends, we don't see withered hands very often.

[00:14:01] And to be perfectly honest, I'm not even sure what that looks like.

[00:14:06] I imagine the hand is probably kind of scrunched up and he's unable to open up his hand and maybe show his fingers.

[00:14:16] But it was something that was unpleasant and all Jesus wanted to do was restore the hand

[00:14:23] so the hand could be used like the other hand.

[00:14:27] But he bothered them.

[00:14:31] But I do want to go to this verse and they were filled with rage.

[00:14:37] Now, I'm going to go to the commentary on verse 11.

[00:14:40] It says rage here is irrational or mindless anger.

[00:14:48] Parallels to this story are found in the 12th chapter of Matthew and the third chapter of Mark.

[00:14:56] Make it clear, listen carefully to what I'm going to say here that the Pharisees started to plot against Jesus in earnest after this confrontation.

[00:15:12] I really want you to keep that thought in mind because we are only in the sixth chapter of Luke.

[00:15:21] So I don't know how far this is in the Jesus's ministry.

[00:15:27] My guess is it probably has only been four or five, maybe six months.

[00:15:33] He still has three years left.

[00:15:37] So during those three years, they continued to view and watch and scrutinize every single thing that Jesus did.

[00:15:49] Let's go on to verse 12.

[00:15:52] Now it came to pass in those days that he went out to the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God.

[00:16:04] I really want to pause there because a lot of times we don't really key in on the fact that Jesus often did this.

[00:16:14] He often went alone by himself to pray, but this verse tells us he prayed all night long.

[00:16:27] And ordinarily when Jesus went to pray, he would be praying about an important decision that he was going to be making soon.

[00:16:40] So what I'd like for it to point out is if Jesus did this and if he's going to be making an important decision and Jesus prays in earnest.

[00:16:55] Now friends, I'm not asking you to pray all night, but I am asking you that if you have an important decision to make, please don't do it on your own without going to prayer to God and asking him what you should do.

[00:17:17] And when it was day, he called his disciples to himself and from them he chose 12 whom he also named apostles.

[00:17:29] Simon whom he also named Peter and Andrew his brother.

[00:17:35] We've already met them.

[00:17:36] They were fishermen James and John.

[00:17:39] Those are the two sons of Zepid.

[00:17:42] Those are the other two fishermen who've already been called Philip and Bartholomew.

[00:17:48] So these are just now being chosen.

[00:17:51] Matthew, who had already been called and Thomas James, the son of Alpheus and Simon called the zealot.

[00:18:02] Judas, the son of James and Judas Ascariot, who also became a traitor.

[00:18:11] Now friends, we will pick up here tomorrow.

[00:18:15] But what I'd like to do today prior to closing is to go back to our proverb of the day in Proverb 8.

[00:18:23] And what I'd like to mention about Proverb 8 is the entire proverb for the eighth day of each month is about wisdom and the importance of having wisdom.

[00:18:35] But let's look at verses 12 and 13.

[00:18:40] I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge and discretion.

[00:18:49] So friends, that's a key to us.

[00:18:51] This is wisdom speaking to us.

[00:18:55] And they're telling us the importance of finding out knowledge and discretion.

[00:19:04] And I don't talk about discretion very often, but discretion is a key proponent of living our life as a Christian.

[00:19:15] Because discretion is something that you can ask God about should I mention the goodness of God?

[00:19:24] Should I bring up the Bible and Scripture to this individual?

[00:19:30] That is what having discretion or a discerning spirit is all about.

[00:19:36] Let's go to verse 13.

[00:19:38] The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.

[00:19:49] Now I really want to listen to the commentary for these two verses.

[00:19:55] Listen carefully to what I'm about to say.

[00:19:58] The words I wisdom dwell with prudence introduce the second section of this passage about the excellence of wisdom.

[00:20:11] Again, in this context we see wisdom tied directly to the fear of the Lord.

[00:20:21] The offer of wisdom is held out only to those who fear God.

[00:20:28] Coming to wisdom requires turning away from all that God hates.

[00:20:36] Evil, pride, arrogance, misbehavior and perverse speech.

[00:20:44] Jesus said that the truth is found in him.

[00:20:50] So I want everyone to listen to what I'm going to say next.

[00:20:54] If there is anyone listening today and you have yet to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior,

[00:21:03] and if you are seeking to acquire wisdom, these two verses tell us that the only people who have access to wisdom

[00:21:19] are people who have received Jesus as their Lord and Savior and are willing to give up their life, basically,

[00:21:32] and turn over and submit to the Lordship of Jesus.

[00:21:38] That is the only way you will ever acquire wisdom.

[00:21:45] And my call to action is very simple today.

[00:21:48] Have you submitted your life to Christ because you would like to have wisdom as a bonus?

[00:22:03] Just a thought.

[00:22:05] Give it some thought.

[00:22:07] Having wisdom means having a fear of God.

[00:22:13] Friends, I will never end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

[00:22:22] If there is anyone listening today and you've never taken that step, I invite you to repeat a simple prayer after me today.

[00:22:30] Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner and in need of a Savior.

[00:22:36] I ask that you come into my heart.

[00:22:39] I ask that you lead me and guide me from this point forward.

[00:22:44] I make you my Lord and Savior.

[00:22:48] Now may the Lord bless you and keep you.

[00:22:52] The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

[00:22:57] The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

[00:23:03] Friends, please join me again tomorrow as we further explore wisdom today.