Luke 13:14-17

Luke chapter 13 reading verses 10 through 17 and our focus this morning is going to be on verses 14 to 17. And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And 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 and said unto her, Woman, thou art loose from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her. And immediately she was made straight and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day and said unto the people, there are six days in which men ought to work, in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered him and said, Thou 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, and ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo these 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day. And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed. And all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him. May God bless through us the reading of this sacred. and holy word this morning. When I was attending seminary, there was a student in the dorm who had a peculiar way of observing the Sabbath day. He would fast all day until evening, and then he would gorge himself with a tremendous amount of food. I went into his room one Sunday night, and he had fast-fast-fassed, food boxes of all kinds of, I mean from different places, all over his room. And I thought to myself, I don’t know if his church practiced this or what, but I thought to myself, I’d be respect him much more if he just ate a normal meal at the end of the day and not gorched himself, because it seemed like it detracted from the whole purpose of fasting during the day. But we find as we go through through this life, even those who adhere to a Sabbath day, that there’s some peculiar views with regard to the Sabbath day. And there are many people who are very narrow-minded as it was this Pharisee here in our text about the Sabbath day. And a lot of things you’ll find on the Sabbath there are based on human tradition, and not actually on scripture reference. our text is a case and point. Our Lord is condemned because he relieved the suffering of this woman who was a child of God who believed in Christ. After 18 years of suffering, it was a bad thing. She should have waited one more day. You know, you shouldn’t come on this Sabbath day to do this. But notice she didn’t initiate this. She didn’t ask for the healing. Jesus just reached out and healed her. Hilled her. So his response to this criticism, I think, deserves our careful attention this morning. He clearly shows that works of necessity, works of mercy are perfectly allowable on the Sabbath day. And it’s a good and right thing to do. So I want to talk. talk about the proper use of the Sabbath. Now let me begin by saying this. You can have wrong views of observing the Sabbath day as we see in verse 14. The ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation. He was angry. Because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day. Said on the people, there are six days in which men ought to work, and on them, therefore, come and be healed and not on the Sabbath. day, evidently healing he considered a work. Therefore, in violation of the Sabbath day. Well, the ruler of the synagogue here was really upset. It was if Christ had committed some heinous crime here on the Lord’s Day, worthy of the death penalty. You would think that this great miracle that Christ had performed would have caused this ruler to withhold his condemnation. He should have realized, you know, this is a great miracle that has taken place. And it wouldn’t have taken place without the Lord’s blessing. No doubt, a spirit of a hostility toward Christ and his gospel filled the breast of this man. And sadly, the Jewish religious leaders often taught the traditions of men. for the commandments of God. minute rules that were very burdensome to the people. They’re the ones that came up with the Sabbath Day’s journey. That was a humanly devised rule that was not you were not to exceed the distance between the Ark of the Covenant and the extreme end of Israel’s camp, which was about 2,000 cubits or we might say less than one mile. Now, Jesus, as you recall in the past, he’s traveling often on the Sabbath day, going from one city to the other, and no doubt violating this particular command, the rule for regulation, but he didn’t have a problem because he was about the Lord’s business. And so he didn’t let that interfere with him. But these are the kinds of things that were on the Jews’ mind. It’s interesting and what constituted work in the minds of the Jews leadership. The hungry disciples, plucking a few heads of grain to eat on the Sabbath as they were traveling from one place to another, was considered the same as if you went out and reaped your field. All they were doing was getting a few things to eat, a few bitefuls of things to eat. The healing of the man with a withered hand on the Sabbath day was also condemned. You remember, healing was a work. And now it’s the healing of this infirm woman, which is condemned. Now, Jesus successfully defends his actions and silences his critics. When you think about it, in Scripture, God only gives us sort of general rules on how to keep the Sabbath. and I think he expects us, as his people, to ponder it and pray prayerfully decide how we’re going to keep the day. And we have to be convinced about what we should be doing on the day, of course. And we should be careful about using the day, but he doesn’t tell you every little minute detail about the day, and so forth. Beware of those. who wish to strap you with various rules and regulations that are minute regarding the Sabbath day, whether they be true. You know, we don’t know, some of them are just made up out of a whole cloth. We don’t know where they got this idea or where they didn’t. But anything rooted in tradition is not binding on you, nor should you be condemning those who don’t follow your traditions necessarily. So, you may find fault with some who observe the Sabbath based on human tradition. Now, you must not restrict the Sabbath day beyond scriptural intention. The Jews here did not put a just construction on Christ’s actions. Surprisingly, healing a woman with a word or just a touch, just a touch, is considered a word. work worthy of punishment. It’s forbidden according to them. Think about this. Christ healed this woman. It was such a miracle that we read both in verse 13 and in verse 17 that God is glorified. The woman glorifies God and the people who saw the miracle glorify God for this healing that was taken place. How can this be a bad thing? The Jews had played such a broad interpretation on the work that if you read their regulations and rules and sometimes those of you are familiar with John Gill he gives you a lot of the little details about the Jewish beliefs where you spit on the Sabbath day one would constitute work and one would not so just just think about this be careful where you spit because one would be a work and one would not eat eating a handful of plucked grain should not be considered the same as harvesting your fields on the Sabbath. People’s religion is often restricted the bare letter of the law to the point where there’s no room for mercy, showing mercy. Jesus was doing good. He went about doing good, we’re told, but it was looked upon as something horrible. Now friends, since God does not provide minute rules, regarding every aspect of the Sabbath. He expects us, I think, to carefully weigh this for ourselves. And does one’s actions benefit others? That’s a good question. Is it accomplishing something good to where God is honored and glorified by it? Is it praiseworthy? These are the kind of questions we need to ask ourselves. The Sabbath was made. made for a man, God mercifully provided the Sabbath day, not only just for worship, because it’s important that we have a day of worship, but also for man’s good that he would rest from his labor, and you’ll notice that his animals should rest from the labor, and the family should rest, even the servants should rest from their labor. It was a day of rest in regard to these things. This was for a man’s benefit. comfort. Yes, we should realize that it’s a day of worship, but it’s also a day in which we should do good for our neighbor. And that’s what we see here. If you interpret every little thing as work, then you don’t have any room for doing good for your neighbor. And that is the problem with the Pharisees here. So you can you can have wrong views of observing the Sabbath day. you must not be hypocritical in regard to the Sabbath day. Let’s say it’s easy to be hypocritical. Then the Lord answered him and said, thou hypocrite, does not each one of you on the Sabbath lose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead them away to water? You’re not very very consistent in your keeping on the Sabbath. Now Jesus knows every man’s heart. He knows who’s a hypocrite and who is not. Now, we don’t have such knowledge, so we have to be much more careful in our judgments. We have to judge the works of men. We can’t read the minds of men or know the heart of men necessarily. And we should judge charitably based upon the outward actions of others that we can visibly see. But Jesus knew that this ruler of the synagogue had a real hatred for Christ. in the gospel. He wouldn’t have been happy on the other six days that Jesus is healing either. You can bet on that. His purpose is to discredit Christ. The people are glorifying God for this healing. And so is the woman. But he has to throw cold water on it. Because he don’t want Christ to be credited or looked upon as the Messiah. So he cloaked his prejudice by a pretended zeal for the Sabbath day. Jesus is not buying it. He honestly resented, I think, Christ’s healing ministry. Be careful that your heart isn’t hypocritical when you judge others regarding what they allow on the Sabbath day. What you do on the Sabbath is something you need to question yourself. Do you judge your own acts? with the same strictness as you judge others? That’s a good question. So it’s easy for you to be hypocritical. Now notice here that the word of God should be carefully studied regarding the Sabbath day. Verse 15, the Lord answered and said, thou 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. Watering your animals on the Sabbath day, was not evil. It was not a crime. Even it was so universally acknowledged that even the Pharisees allowed for that. The cattle kept in the stall, needed to be loosed, led to the watering hole, and allowed to drink. Now, it would be cruel, not to do so. Proverbs 1210 comes. into play. A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast. A righteous man regards the life of his beast. Letting the cattle rest on the Sabbath was according to the law’s commandment. But it didn’t mean you didn’t feed them. You didn’t water them, you know, you didn’t give them food or drink. Don’t you have food or drink on the Sabbath day? Don’t you provide for your little ones who can’t do it themselves, don’t you provide for them? How can you withhold it from your animals? You do it for your animals. You do it for your animals. They need it. So how can you be considered a righteous person if you don’t regard the life of your beast? God would consider this neglect and evil thing and worthy of condemnation. Think about this. Those who delight in the sufferings and destruction of inferior creatures like animals will not be inclined to be very compassionate or kind the human beings. So Proverbs 10, 12, test your profession of faith, faith by your treatment of your animals. That kind of reveals the character that you have. Do you remember when Jacob was returning back to his homely end after being with Laban all those years? And his brother Esau came out to meet him. He says, my Lord, know that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me. And if men should overdrive them, one day, all the flock will die. I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children were able to endure. I can’t rush it. I got to go slow, because we got children, we got pregnant animals and so forth. And so he says, let’s be careful. I got to be careful with this. He’s thinking about them. the law of God makes provision for animals. You remember the scripture says, and remember 1 Corinthians 9-9, for it is written in the law of Moses, thou shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. And the principle is this, whoever does the work is entitled to some compensation, whether it be man or beast. And Paul asked the question, does God care? Does he take care for ox? And the answer is, yes, he does. God requires that even the ox, which spends his strength in our service, should not be defrauded of his reward. Now, he broadens that. It’s not just for the ox that God’s concerned. And he uses it with regard to man. You remember how even ministers who work on the ox, the Sabbath are to be compensated by the church because that would only be right that they be compensated for their labor. So the scope of that verse of scripture really encompasses man as well as beast. So Paul argues from this that the minister who labors in the Word of God should be compensated. Now think about this. So if the righteous man regards the life of the beast, let’s broaden that. He also would regard the life as a neighbor. Right? So in general, God allows for the care of animals on the Sabbath. That’s right and proper. It’s true. If that’s the case, then surely caring for another human being is also right and proper. It’s love towards your neighbor. So the word of God should be carefully studied regarding the Sabbath, because you can see what the scripture talks about with regard to how we treat one another and so forth. Notice this also. You should consider the good done for others compatible with the Sabbath day. Notice verse 16. And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day. Christ now applies the care, the law permits for animals, to the present case of this infirm woman in regard to the Sabbath day. There’s much time and toil given to the taking care of animals on the Sabbath day. No one condemns this. Animals must be loose. They have to be left. to the place of water, maybe a distance away, and then brought back again. Now surely, this suffering woman, only with a spoken word and a touch of the hand here, the most minimal amount of effort, is healed and lose from her miserable state. I mean, you mean to tell me that this has to be condemned? What this woman was in? enduring was more grievous than the hardship of going out water for a day, for an animal. This daughter of Abraham, a true Israelite, who walked in the steps of Abraham, was a believer in Christ, a person chosen for salvation by the Lord. Should she be denied, be denied a favor? A work of grace to her. A work of mercy to her on the Sabbath day? You would show more mercy to a beast than you would to her. How can you be like that? You hypocrite, do you really think this would be pleasing to God if you would without help that you could give this woman? Besides, she is one whom Satan hath bound. Satan has attacked her, and shouldn’t we be restraining Satan? Isn’t this a good thing to restrain Satan’s efforts on the Sabbath day? curtailing his power, breaking his ability to inflict harm to this woman, wouldn’t that be honoring to God? And if you honor God, it’s a good use of this habit. Now, she’s been in this condition for 18 years. 18 long years. Here’s an opportunity of delivering her from this suffering. Must she wait one more day? Does she have to wait till, you know, Sunday, in this case, not Saturday? Hasn’t she suffered enough already? So there’s no need to delay her relief. So you should consider the good done for others compatible with the Sabbath Day. Notice something else here. The truth of Scripture silences the criticism of your attackers. Verse 17. And when he had said these things, all his adversaries, all his adversaries were ashamed and all the people rejoice for all the glorious things that were done by him. You know, Christ’s defense here was so triumphant that he saw, they could, they had nothing that he could say. He shut their mouths. Neither the ruler of the synagogue nor any other person dared to question what Jesus had done. His critics were completely ashamed and silenced. The people, general, however, rejoice when they heard all this and saw the work of the miracle being done. You know, often I saw the biblical argument and an exemplary behavior on our part will silence our critics. You know, Paul increased the more in strength and confounded the Jews at Damascus, proving from the scriptures, this is very Christ. He confounded them. I like what it says regarding Steve. his critics and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake it couldn’t resist it and that’s the way if we based on biblical principles that’s the way it should be what can they say and I think this is exposed exposed them badly and you may rest assured that whoever misrepresents or opposed the word of God shall in the end be confounded in him. Sooner or later, all the adversaries of Christ and His gospel are going to have to be put to shame. Those who are fair-minded, those who are not motivated by hatred, can judge more impartially the arguments you present from the scripture. The people were listening to all this, and they saw that Jesus was a very impartially. right. He had sufficiently and argued the case. Not only was it lawful to heal this woman, but it was right and it was proper to do so on the Sabbath day. Finally, you should pray for a right understanding of the Sabbath. Christ teaches you here that the command to do no work on the Sabbath was not intended to forbid works of necessity. and mercy. Clearly, people get confused about the Sabbath regulation, and they condemn others for what they allow or do themselves. But the Sabbath was made for man’s benefit, as well as the worship of God, as I’ve said. Nothing is forbidden that is necessary for your well-being. You can get food and drink. You can get relief of bodily suffering on the Lord’s Day. God is not a part of. to these things. Yes, we probably should be careful what we do on the Sabbath Day, that we don’t overwork ourselves and things like this, but preparing a little meal or something for the Sabbath Day, there’s nothing evil about that. This commandment is very frequently misrepresented, abused, or, in some cases, disregard altogether. There are two extremes here. God teaches you in Scripture as a New Testament believer that you’re going to be treated as an adult. You’re not a little child and he needs all the do’s and don’ts. So he says, think this thing through, pray about it, wait in your own minds, and do, you know, as your conscience direction. Not that we won’t change, there’s things I’ve changed about the Sabbath as I grew in the Lord. I think there were things that I thought, well, maybe I shouldn’t be doing that or I shouldn’t be doing this. But weigh that for yourself and be careful about these things. If we’re doing it with a heart to please God, he’ll help us and he’ll guide us in these matters. But we need to seek the guidance of the Lord. We shouldn’t just think, well, I know what I’m doing. Seek the Lord’s guidance on the Lord’s Day. Try to do no work which is not absolutely necessary on the Lord’s Day. Call the Sabbath a delight and treat it as a special day set apart for God. Keep in mind that keeping the Sabbath day holy is essential for your spiritual health. And God will bless you if you keep his day. He notices is what we’re doing on the Lord’s Day. Now, there was one Sunday. I called my chiropractor up because I was in a lot of pain. And I said, can I, can you come in and try to treat me on the day? Which he did. And he didn’t even, you know, he didn’t charge me. We just, he just said, you know, I’ll come in and see if I can help relieve some of your pain. Now, I didn’t have a problem with that. I didn’t think that was an evil thing. I thought, well, I need relief. And he can help me. He’s been very kind to me in this regard. And so I didn’t feel like I’d done anything evil or wrong trying to get some relief on the Lord’s Day. Sometimes you just, you need some kind of help on the Lord’s Day. We can’t always know when we’re going to get sick or when we might have to go to the hospital and so forth. People often have strange views regarding the Sabbath like that seminary student I mentioned or are very narrow-minded in their regulations regarding the Sabbath based on human tradition. But for yourself, carefully study the scriptures. See what the Lord says. Try to do the things that are honoring to God. on the Sabbath day. Way it for yourself. And hopefully, we will have a proper use of the Sabbath that brings honor to the Lord. Well, let’s close.