Luke 13:10-13

Luke chapter 13 in verses 10 through 13. And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. Behold there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and was bowed together and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, said under her, woman, thou art loosed from thine iniquity or thy infirmity. And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God. May the Lord bless to us, is sacred and hope. Holy word this morning. There was once a gentleman in London, England, who met with a beggar on the streets and having compassion, he reached into his pocket and pulled out seven sovereigns, and he gave six of them to the beggar and went on his way and went on his way. But the beggar followed him and robbed him of the seventh. And so he took all seven of the gentleman’s sovereigns. Six sovereigns weren’t enough. He had to get that last one as well. He may be thinking, well, how greedy can a guy get? How ungrateful the man was. well, that story, if we think about it, clearly sets forth the ingratitude of the worldling. For God gives man six days out of the week to do his work and to pursue his pleasures. But God says one of them, I retain for myself the Sabbath, the seventh day. day. And our text indicates this event took place on the Sabbath day, which is important. God gives us six days to our labor and enjoy our pleasures. But one day of the week, he has set apart as holy unto himself. And it is a day for worship and helping others. Dare we steal it from God. That would certainly reflect badly upon you. Now let me begin as we look at this story of the infirm woman, and we’ll be looking at this week of Lord willing next week. By saying this, you should learn from Christ example how to use the Sabbath day. You’ll notice you find Christ here faithfully worshipping on the Sabbath day. In verse 10, here we find he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. The Lord spent his Sabbaths in the synagogues mostly. And on the Sabbath day, Jesus was careful to attend services. It was his custom, we’re told. You read when Christ came to Nazareth that he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as his custom was. in Luke 416. You and I should be very conscientious about the Christian Sabbath, as conscientious as Jesus was about the Jewish Sabbath. The church assembly is of a vital importance, and as a believer, you must not forsake it. In Hebrews chapter 10, we read this. Let us consider one another. to revoke unto love and good works. We have a duty toward one another. Now part of carrying that out is this, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner summits. Part of this encouraging other believers is to gather with them on the Lord’s Day. You must not stay home and just read a Christian book. You have an obligation to encourage us Christians concerning the worship of God. And we have to realize this, that God meets with his people in a special way on the Sabbath day. And we dare not miss that. We should keep that in mind. Remember what Jesus promised. For where two or three are gathered together, there I am in the midst of them. So remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Jesus did. Secondly, you find Christ taught the people on the Sabbath. Not only was he there at worship, but we find that he was a teacher. He was a prophet. He was given the gift of utterance, and he would teach the people. From his mode of proceeding in the synagogue on the of Nazareth on the Sabbath day, you recall it appears that Jesus taught the people by the Sabbath. reading and expounding a passage from the Word of God. We remember in Luke chapter 4, he was given the scroll. He opened it up to that passage in Isaiah. And he began to explain that this passage is being fulfilled today before your eyes. And he explained the passage to them. This is what the ministry is to do as well, to give the meaning and the sense of what the scriptures teach. And is Christ not now in the midst of our assembly ready to teach us? The scripture says this in John 645. It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. The way we really learn is not just using our intellect. It is to be instructed. by God himself in the things of his work. You hear the minister expound a passage of Scripture, but that passage is powerfully conveyed when Christ opens your heart to receive it. It’s one thing to hear it. It’s another thing to have ears to hear it. What does Jehovah declare in Exodus chapter 20 in verse 24? In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee and I will bless thee. There is a blessing associated with being in the house of the Lord on the Sabbath day. And thus, you attend the worship service of the church. You are promised His gracious presence and blessing upon you. This should be blessed. lead you to say as Peter once said it’s good for us to be here what blessed days are the Sabbaths delight in them as Isaiah tells us and come seeking God’s promised blessed Spurgeon related as a story one time when he had a friend that was looking for a place to rent in Newcastle England and And he was taken into the house and see, he saw the rooms and so forth, but then the realtor took him up on the house top. And the agent said to him, you see that there is a fine view from here. You can see a long way today, but on Sundays, you can see Durham Cathedral from here. Spurgeon’s friend, why on Sundays? agent said you cannot see it all the rest of the week because of the smoke from all the factories and things that were being used at the time. But he says on Sundays, it is unusually clear and you can get a glimpse of that way off in a distance. Often, what views we have of Christ are specially revealed to us. on the Sabbath day. We get a clear view on the Sabbath day. When our minds are not so caught up with the smoke of business and daily cares and daily problems, personal responsibilities, and so forth, it’s a time when we’re more focused, or at least we should be. The Sabbath day is like a bread. from heaven blows upon it, takes away all that’s in the way and enables us to see Jesus Christ much better. So you find Christ taught the people on the Sabbath day. Thirdly, you find Christ engage in works of mercy on the Sabbath day. In 11 through 13, we read about this woman who is infirm. It was our Lord’s usual way to combine miracles with his teaching. The advantage to this was that the miracles grab people’s attention and they would listen more intently to what he had to say. Nicodemus said, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. By looking at the miracles, he was saying, boy, you must be teacher sent from God. On this occasion, an opportunity presented itself of working a most gracious miracle in the midst of this assembly of people. Now, this poor woman’s body was contorted in such a manner that she was bent over and she could not stand straight. now Jesus calls her to himself, shows mercy to her by healing her longstanding infirmity. Jesus demonstrated that certain types of work were legitimate on the Sabbath day. Work’s done in connection with the worship of God, the offering of sacrifices, the preaching of the word and so forth. Works of mercy, such an act of kindness toward a person who’s in distress or sick, and then there’s works of necessity. You know, pulling the donkey out of the ditch, milking the cows, which, you know, can’t, they can’t hold all the milk in there until the next day. You have to get a release. Feeding of the animals. Feeding of the animals. and so forth. Notice that Jesus is condemned in this passage for healing this woman on the Sabbath day. But he shows, and we’ll see this, that is a good and proper use of the Sabbath day. We’ll see more about this, Lord willing, next week. So you should learn from Christ example how to use the Sabbath. and what we find here is very clear. Secondly, you should learn from the infirm woman’s example regarding the Sabbath. They also. Now, you find that this woman was a believer. If you look through this passage of Scripture, we find here that verse 16, we find that, and ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan hath bound, lo these 18 years, be loose from this bond on the Sabbath day. He calls her a daughter of Abraham. Now, when Jesus uses this kind of language, he does not mean that she is just of an offspring of Abraham, a physical descendant. of Abraham. He uses in a special sense that she was a true daughter of Abraham, in that she walked into steps of his faith and was a believer in Christ. In other words, she was a chosen vessel under salvation. If ye were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham, Jesus said. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same of the children of Abraham. And in Galatians 329, if you be Christ, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. These passages indicate to us that she was a believer. This is similar to what Jesus called Nathaniel when he said that he was an Israelite indeed. a true Israelite, one who had faith in the Lord. Paul’s definition of the seed of Abraham in Romans 9 is similar. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, meaning of Abraham. But in Isaac shall thy seed be called, that is, they which are children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. And so it’s not just anyone who is a descendant of Abraham, that is a true child of Abraham. Now Christ showed his special interest in her, for she was a believer and had faith, the faith of Abraham. He was particularly, I think, expected to have pity upon her according to God’s usual rule. You remember the rule that the Apostle? Paul gave us Galatians 6 and 10, as we therefore have opportunity to us good unto all men, especially them which are of the household of faith. There’s this more important duty we have to those who are also believers in the Lord. So this dear woman was a precious child of God, and Jesus showed great compassion toward her. She was a believer. In verse 11, you find that this woman was a target, a satanic attack. And behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and was bowed together and could not, or could in no wise, lift up herself. She labored under a physical disorder so that she was always banable. and facing the ground. Can you imagine that? How terrible that must be. Her infirmity was so great she couldn’t stand straight. What a terrible affliction. Now her physical disorder is said to be because she had a spirit of infirmity. Now, I take this to mean, not that she was possessed of a demon, because she seems to be a believer from what we’ve read. read before. But she was troubled by a demon that caused her bodily affliction. It aggravated her for a long time. This passage of Scripture shows us that Satan is often permitted to inflict harm upon the bodies of men. And sadly, believers may be the subject of his cruel attacks. You remember that Satan was given permission by God to afflict Job physically. Remember he had the boils from the top of his head, the bottom of his feet? Painful boils. That was Satan attacking him as a believer. Remember Paul describes a certain trial which was sent on him. a thorn in his flesh and he says it was a messenger of Satan sent to buffet me. Think about that a minute. He’s suffering because of an agent of Satan harming him. This poor woman is afflicted for 18 years. It’s striking. It is a striking illustration of the malice and power of the wickedly. And so you find this woman was a target of satanic attack. Now, you find this woman did not let her dis-disability or disabling infirmity here to keep her from Sabbath worship. Isn’t that interesting? The conduct of this afflicted woman puts the shame, I think, many professing Christians. She didn’t use her infirmity as an excuse to be absent from the worship services. if she was physically capable of being there, she was going to be there. She regularly went to the place where the Word of God was honored despite her affliction, despite being bent over. Many, if they had suffered so much, would have been angry with God, and I’m not going to go to worship. Many stay at home with a much lighter affliction than this, and find even a trivial excuse for missing public services. People will spend all their energies on Monday through Saturday and think cheating God out of his day is just a small matter. How few know anything of David’s spirit who declared, I was glad when they said to me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Psalm 122.1. Is that how you are? Is there a joy in being with the people of God? Sadly, many, unlike this poor woman, do not have any heart for the worship of God. No delight in God’s day. We shouldn’t forget that our feelings about the Sabbath day actually reflect our spiritual state. If you find no pleasure in giving God one day in the week, Clearly, you’re unfit for heaven. Because what is heaven? It’s an eternal Sabbath, isn’t it? We worship the Lord all the time. There’s another story that I read that Spurgeon related. In his church, the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, England, he had a woman who came for many years who was completely deaf. But she would come every Sunday to church. She was so deaf, she’d never heard her words, but was spoken while she attended the services. The region she gave for her faithful attending worship was interesting. She said if she stayed at home, it was like she was disassociating with the people of God. She also felt that her example would be beneficial to the other people of God. And so she faithfully attended. She said, the least I can do is join in the singing while I’m there, and offer praise to God. And finally, she said, though I do not hear a word, I love to be there. There’s a joy in communing with God’s people. Think about that. So you should learn from the infirm woman’s example regarding the Sabbath. Thirdly, you should learn how Christ’s almighty power was manifest. on the Sabbath thing. You find that the sight of this woman’s misery touched Christ’s heart. A woman, this woman, was not healed until she met the Savior. Do you come to worship service saying, oh, that I might meet with Christ today? Imagine if she had been absent from the worship on this Sabbath, she would not be able to worship. She would not. have been healed. If you want the Lord’s help, be where you know he meets with his people. The sight of this woman’s misery touched Christ’s heart. Now, there’s nothing here about her prayers moving him to compassion. Prayers are good. We shouldn’t neglect prayer. But Christ was moved to compassion without her prayers. Jesus looked at her, and that was all that was required. He knew everything about her. That’s all he needed. Jesus knows about your suffering. He knows how long you’ve been suffering. He knows that Satan is buffeting you at times. And he has compassion on you. He is touched with the feelings of your infirmity. Jesus doesn’t let you suffer needlessly, he will give you relief when you learn the lesson that these sufferings are meant to teach you. You know, Satan’s busy trying to harm us. God permits suffering for the purpose of growing graces in the life of his people. So the sight of this woman’s misery touched Christ’s heart. Christ’s heart. Christ decided this woman’s had suffered enough, and he relieved her misery here. He called to her, and she drew near, and he wished to show her special sympathy for such a sad case. Now, it’s true. Jesus can heal at a distance, but he desired to speak directly and personally to her to touch her and to heal her. And His almighty power was called forth to do this. Sometimes you must discover how hopeless things are. And it’s for you to rely, you know, we try to rely on man’s help, but we have to learn man cannot help us before Christ reaches out and shows us mercy. You need to learn to look at Christ’s almighty power here in. in healing. Now we can use earthly means. God does not forbid us to see doctors. But if we only see the doctor, that’s all we’re doing when trusting in the doctor, that’s a mistake and that’s a sin. We must be trusting ultimately in the Lord to know that Christ has the power to heal us. Whether he uses the doctor’s means or not, he has the power to do it. He alone can end the misery and free you from satanic’s assault. Don’t forget that. Well, let me close this morning by saying this. The gentleman with seven sovereigns was robbed of the last one he had, despite giving six to the beggar. Man is prone to rob God of the Sabbath day, despite being given six days. ready to conduct himself in how he wishes. Let us learn from Christ here how to use the Sabbath day. Let us learn from the woman to be faithful to keep the Sabbath day. And let us learn from Christ’s from Christ’s almighty power that it’s often revealed and manifested on the Sabbath day. So let’s keep these things in mind. Let’s close with a word of prayer.