A Simple Command

[0:00] Good afternoon and welcome to our time of worship today.

[0:20] It's a joy to worship in the name of the Lord. A special welcome if you're visiting with us today. We do trust you know the Lord's blessing in this time of worship.

[0:32] Just one announcement before we begin. That's of course just my annual leave. A few more details about annual leave. I'm taking annual leave from Saturday 15th to Wednesday 26th of July.

[0:47] So Saturday 15th to Wednesday 26th. On Sunday the 16th Mr. Cullum Campbell will take both ends of the day.

[0:58] And then on 23rd in the morning it's Alec McCritchie from back. And in the evening it's our own Donald McKinnon. So very thankful to all the men there who offered to help.

[1:10] Of course the elders are the ones in the first instance. If there's any pastoral situations at all. Speak to the elders first. And then there's any emergencies.

[1:22] Ian McCritchie and Graver has been willing to take on the burden of North Tolstaff of that week. So elders of course first and foremost. In any emergencies. Ian and Graver is a man to go to.

[1:35] We're here to worship God. Let's sing to his praise from Sing Psalms and Psalm 46. Sing Psalms, Psalm 46a.

[1:46] That's on page 59 of the Blue Psalm books. Sing Psalms, Psalm 46a on page 59.

[1:59] We can sing verses 1 down to verse 7 of the Psalm. God is our refuge and our strength. Our ever-present aid. And therefore, though the earth gives way, we will not be afraid.

[2:13] Though mountains fall into the sea. Though waters foam and roar. We will not fear. Though mountains quake as waves engulf the shore. Psalm 46a verses 1 to 7 to God's praise.

[2:28] Stanley will sing if you're able. God is our refuge and our strength.

[2:41] For ever-present aid. And therefore, though the earth gives way, we will not be afraid.

[3:03] Though mountains fall into the sea.

[3:14] Though waters foam and roar. We will not fear. We will not fear.

[3:27] Though mountains quake as waves and guard the shore.

[3:41] Our river flows. Our river flows. Whose streams delight. The city of her God.

[3:59] The holy place. If you're Mrs.

[4:16] Hewaku. Dieu. Nor saque what a man is. Your home is.

[4:28] The silky will not heal, for God will not have been from you to be in the dead and shield.

[4:55] The nations are in Israel, the kingdoms disappear, God feeds my heart.

[5:19] His mighty voice, the hope that melts with fear.

[5:33] The Lord your mighty is with us, to send their answers in.

[5:52] For Jacob's love, their strong defence, and fortress will remain.

[6:10] Amen. Let's join together in a word of prayer. Let's pray. Amen. Lord God, we come before you this day and we humble ourselves down as we acknowledge that we come just now to you.

[6:33] As we sung just now, you the God who is in full control of all your creation. You the God that is holy, holy, holy.

[6:45] You are perfect in your full, sovereign power. That you have full control and full ownership over all of creation.

[6:57] To every atom, every molecule, up to the greatest of stars and galaxies. They are all under your complete and full control. There is not a single second of our lives.

[7:11] Not a moment that passes where you are not there in your fullness. Keeping all things. Moving all things. Sovereign over all things.

[7:23] As we come this day to you, the sovereign God, we ask you to help us to do so in a right spirit. Help us to come to this place with a heart and a mind ready to worship you as such.

[7:36] We confess that we often come to this place. We often come to times of worship. And our hearts and our minds are often so distracted. Distracted with our own worries, our own concerns.

[7:49] The concerns of this life. The concerns of this world. And we come today and we take the concerns which are genuine. The burdens of this past week.

[8:00] The anxieties. The worries. The stresses. The things which have taken up so much mental and physical energy. We come today and we bring the responsibilities of this coming week.

[8:15] Whatever might lie before us. Whatever duties that might be heavy on our minds just now. We bring all these things today and we ask for this short time together.

[8:25] This short time of fellowship as brothers and sisters. This short time around your word. You would take these things. Take these burdens and these pains.

[8:36] And we would find ourselves laying them at the throne of grace. That place where we acknowledge that we can do nothing. But all these stresses and strains and burdens and anxieties which weigh us down.

[8:51] But we understand and we confess that we have so little power. So little power to do anything about them. So we take them to you.

[9:03] The God who yes you are sovereign. And yes you are high and lifted up and glorious in all your ways. Yes you are the God who created and numbered and named the stars.

[9:15] But also again as we sung just now from your word. You are the God who is close to your people. You are not distant. You are not far away to all who cry out to you in spirit and in truth.

[9:30] To all this day who cry out asking you would be their God. Asking that you would be with them. Do you hear the cries of those who cry out to you?

[9:41] You do not remain distant and far away. You are not uncaring. You are not aloof. But you are a God who walks beside your people. As we have heard in previous weeks even more than that.

[9:56] You are the God who goes before your people. Behind your people. And you keep us protected. That in your love you have drawn close to us.

[10:06] And we see that love displayed in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who stepped down out of glory.

[10:17] Who all things were made through him and made for him. Yet he stepped down out of that glory. Out of obedience to you. Out of love to his people. He became like us in all ways apart from sin.

[10:32] He suffered as we do. He felt the pain and the reality of life. As he spent every day walking through this world. He became human in all the ways it is to be human.

[10:49] Only so that we can say today. That if we know him. If we love him. That he has taken on to himself. The full wrath of all the sins.

[11:00] Of all his people. That is our hope and our confidence. This afternoon. As we draw before you. We don't come here in our own strength. We don't come here.

[11:11] Pleading our own holiness. Our own goodness. We come today. Pleading only. The finished work of Jesus. Our saviour. Help us to find. Our joy. And our comfort. And our peace.

[11:22] Today. In that glorious good news. We thank you for this gathering. We thank you for the opportunity we have. To worship together. For we pray just now for those here. Of us who are brothers and sisters.

[11:33] Who know and who love Jesus. Thank you Lord for this chance we have. To come around your word. And to learn from it once more. We pray just now for the many here.

[11:45] Who are missing today. Who are on holiday. We thank you Lord for times of rest. And times of relaxation. We ask you bless these times of holiday. Bless these times of rest.

[11:57] Lord that our brothers and sisters. Would come back to this place. And would be refreshed. And ready to serve you once more. In this place. We pray just now Lord again. For the boys and the girls.

[12:09] As they enjoy their summer holiday. We thank you for our Sunday school. We thank you for the good number. Of boys and girls who attend. We pray Lord for the boys and the girls. In particular just now.

[12:20] Lord we ask for safety for them. During their holiday. That they also would enjoy their time off. Lord we thank you for their willingness. To come and to hear the gospel. We also pray just now.

[12:31] For the parents. And grandparents. And great grandparents. For all involved in this community. Who love. And who look after. And who care. For our children.

[12:42] We thank you for them. Lord we ask you bless them. I also ask you now. You bless the Sunday school teachers. In their holiday. In their time off. Lord that they would know.

[12:53] The work they are doing. Is a glorious work. And one that is. There to further the kingdom. We pray just now Lord. For those who are here today. Who have come here.

[13:04] Week after week. Perhaps month after month. Year after year. Decade after decade. Those who we love. And we care for. But who as of yet. Cannot say that they know.

[13:15] And love Jesus. For we ask that even this day. Through your word. You would speak to them. They would come. And they would know. That the Lord Jesus Christ. That he. Is the one who has come.

[13:25] To save all. Who cry out to him. All who come to him. He is able. And mighty to save. As we pray for ourselves. As a congregation.

[13:36] We also pray as always. For our. Our brothers and sisters. Next door. We pray for them. In their time of vacancy. We also remember them just now. As the Lord. Perhaps more than one.

[13:47] Who was associated. With their community. And their congregation. We do pray Lord. For ourselves. As a community in Tolstice. As we mourn the loss. Of one who was known here. Lord we ask you.

[13:59] Would comfort. A grieving family. We pray Lord. For the families that grieve. Just now. And also families. And those here. Who grieve. Recent loss. And loss of.

[14:09] Many months. And many years ago. We know Lord. That grief is. Always there. And that the pain of grief. Emerges. And it never truly goes away.

[14:23] Lord we ask you. Comfort those. Who are mourning just now. As you comfort all. Here today. Who are heavy. In their hearts. Through various circumstances. Lord you alone know. Those here today.

[14:33] With health worries. Both physical and mental. With family worries. With financial worries. With various worries. That only you. And they may know about.

[14:44] Lord we ask you. Draw close to them. Come alongside them. And comfort them. We also give you praise Lord. For good news today. Good news of this past week.

[14:56] We remember Lord. Especially just now. The wider McKeever family Lord. We thank you Lord. For the great news. Of arrival. Of a son and a grandson Lord. We ask you.

[15:07] Bless that family. Bless them in this time of joy. In this time of thanksgiving. Lord we ask you. We ask you to protect. And look after. And keep Lord.

[15:18] This wee boy. That you would be his. And that he would be yours. We give you praise. That even though living in an age.

[15:30] Of such sadness. And such confusion. An age where we see so much pain. And suffering. There are still so many moments of joy. Lord will you bring life into this world. You answer the prayers of parents and grandparents.

[15:43] In your loving way. Help us this day. We ask to have minds. That are willing. And hearts. That are set to hearing your word.

[15:54] We come to this place. Bringing our burdens. Our anxieties. Our worries. Our stresses. Our distractions. Lord we ask you. Take these things away from us. Just now. For this short while.

[16:06] As we hear once more. As to the care. And love. Of our saviour. As we hear once more. As to his honesty. As to his direct speech.

[16:19] Lord we ask you. To open up the hearts. Of even some here today. To hear perhaps. For the first time. That they are in desperate need of a saviour. That without him.

[16:31] They are heading to lost eternity. But that he is there. For all who will come to him. That he is there. To save all who will come. And put their trust in him.

[16:42] That he is there. To come alongside. And to rescue from sin. And destruction. All who want. To have him as lord. And save you. Over their lives.

[16:53] Lord that would be the case. Of even some. Here today. We do pray for. Our community. We thank you. For placing us here. We pray for this wider area. Lord of Tulsa.

[17:04] Of North Tulsa. I pray Lord. For the homes. That are represented here. I pray also especially. Just now. For the homes. That are not represented here. For the many people. In this area.

[17:15] In this district. Who have no care. For their souls. The many here. Who will never pray. For themselves. But we ask Lord. That we would remember them. In prayer. Help us.

[17:25] As neighbours. And as part of this village. Part of this community. To show them. In our actions. In our words. The love. That's been shown to us. Help us to be good witnesses.

[17:37] We ask. In this day. Of small things. In this day. We see Lord. Such. Such a lack. Perhaps. Of gospel blessing. In our land.

[17:48] Lord we ask you. Would help us. To be faithful servants. Of the small things. That we have. Help us to serve you. Faithfully. In Tulsa. To serve you. Faithfully. In our homes. And in this place.

[17:58] As we Lord. Perhaps. Think of our day. Of small things. We give you praise. That your kingdom. Is being built. Across this world. That we perhaps. Are not seeing. Many blessings.

[18:10] As it were. In our community. In our area. We thank you. That we hear. Of a great many. Lives being transformed. Across the world today.

[18:21] We thank you. Especially. For work being done. Lord. In China. Just now. In that. Vast country. Of so many cultures. And people groups. We give you praise. As we hear.

[18:32] The good news. Of some people groups. Hearing the gospel. Even for the first time. In recent months. And recent years. Of many. Coming to know.

[18:43] And coming to love. Jesus. As their saviour. Lord. You alone. Know the details. Of how hard it is. For our brothers and sisters. To serve you. In some of the areas.

[18:54] Of that country. Where the state itself. Is bent. On destroying. Your people. We do pray. Just now. For our brothers and sisters.

[19:05] In that country. Who are in prison. Just now. Brothers and sisters. In prison. Simply for daring. To share the gospel. Lord. We ask you. Would comfort them. Lord.

[19:15] We do pray. Lord. For those. Who at this moment. Are waiting. To hear news. Of their sentences. Those who are facing. Many. Many years. In prison.

[19:26] Simply for daring. To share. The good news. Of Jesus. That he alone. Is Lord. And saviour. That there is no. Human master. There is no. Human state. There is no.

[19:37] Human government. Which has. Presidents. Over him. Lord. We ask you. Would comfort them. We also pray. For their families. Of those who are at home. Waiting news. Of loved ones. In prison.

[19:48] Lord. Help us not. To forget. Our persecuted. Brothers and sisters. We also ask. Lord. You give us. Wisdom. To make the most. Of the freedom. We have in this country. Whilst you still afford it.

[19:59] To us. For we. Whilst we have freedom. To openly share. The good news. Help us to do so. Lord. With a vibrancy. And with a zeal. As we think of loved ones.

[20:11] Just now. Those who are. Heavy in our hearts. Those who we love. So dearly. Friends. And family members. Members of this community. Who. As of yet.

[20:21] Show no gospel concern. Who as of yet. Show no care of their souls. Those who we spend. Perhaps hours. Each week in tears for. Pleading before the throne.

[20:32] Lord. Give us. We ask patience. Help us to keep. Pleading for them. For the day would come. We ask. We would see. Those who are close to us. Our family. And our friends.

[20:43] Come to you. Come to love you. And come to know you. And come to worship. The Lord Jesus. For themselves. Until these days. Of blessing come. Help us to serve you.

[20:54] Well in this place. Help us to be good witnesses. In our homes. Our places of work. Our places of study. In this village. Have all what we say. And do. Reflect. What it is.

[21:05] We claim to be. Help us. To be witnesses. Of our risen saviour. That we come today. And we confess sin. We confess.

[21:15] We have sinned before you. In our thoughts. In our words. In our actions. We ask the Lord. Who would remove. From us. The guilt of that sin. We know that the Lord. Jesus Christ.

[21:26] In his finished work. On the cross. He took all that sin. Of all his people. The full punishment of it. And he declared. It is finished. Lord. We ask that.

[21:37] It would be our hope this day. Ask all these things. In and through. And for his precious name. And his sake. Amen. Well let's turn to read it.

[21:48] In God's word. Turning back to the. Long running. Series. We've. Been a few weeks.

[22:00] A few months now. Almost away from it. We're turning back. To Mark. Mark chapter 3. The gospel of Mark. And chapter 3. That's on page 787.

[22:12] Of the blue. Of the church. Bibles. Mark chapter 3. Page 787. We just finished chapter 2.

[22:23] A few months ago. So we're carrying on now. With chapter 3. Mark chapter 3. Let's hear. The word. Of God. Speaking of Jesus here.

[22:34] Again. Again. He entered the synagogue. And a man was there. With a withered hand. And they watched Jesus. To see whether he would heal him. On the Sabbath.

[22:45] So that they might accuse him. And he said to the man. With a withered hand. Come here. And he said to them. Is it lawful. On the Sabbath. To do good.

[22:56] Or to do harm. To save life. Or to kill. But they were silent. And he looked around at them.

[23:07] With anger. Grieved at their hardness of heart. And said to the man. Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out. And his hand was restored.

[23:18] The Pharisees went out. And immediately held counsel. With the Herodians against him. How to destroy him. Jesus withdrew. With his disciples.

[23:29] To the sea. And a great crowd. Followed. From Galilee. And Judea. And Jerusalem. And Edemia. And from beyond the Jordan. And from around Tyre. And Sidon.

[23:40] When a great crowd. Heard all that he was doing. They came to him. And he told his disciples. To have a boat ready for him. Because of the crowd. Lest they crush him. For he had healed many.

[23:52] So that all who had diseases. Pressed around him. To touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits. Saw him. They fell down before him. And cried out. You are the son of God.

[24:04] And he strictly ordered them. Not to make him known. And he went up. On the mountain. And called to him. Those whom he desired. And they came to him.

[24:16] And he appointed. Twelve. Whom he also named apostles. So that they might be with him. And he might send them out. To preach. And have authority. To cast out demons. He appointed the twelve.

[24:28] Simon. To whom he gave the name Peter. James. The son of Zebedee. And John. The brother of James. To whom he gave the name. Bonanjeres.

[24:39] That is. Sons of thunder. Andrew. And Philip. And Bartholomew. And Matthew. And Thomas. And James. The son of Alphaeus. And Thaddeus.

[24:50] And Simon. The zealot. And Judas Iscariot. Who betrayed him. Then he went home. And the crowd gathered again. So that they could not even eat. When his family heard.

[25:02] They went out to seize him. They were saying. He is out of his mind. And the scribes. Who came down from Jerusalem. Were saying. He is possessed by.

[25:13] Beelzebul. And by the prince of demons. He casts out demons. And he called them to him. And said to them in parables. How can Satan cast out Satan?

[25:25] If a kingdom is divided against itself. That kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself. That house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself.

[25:38] And is divided. He cannot stand. But it is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man's house. And plunder his goods. Unless he first binds a strong man.

[25:49] Then indeed he may plunder his house. Truly I say to you. All sins will be forgiven. The children of man. And whatever blasphemies they utter.

[26:00] But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit. Never has forgiveness. But is guilty of an eternal sin. For they were saying. He has an unclean spirit.

[26:11] And his mother and his brothers came. And standing outside. They sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him. And they said to him. Your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you.

[26:24] And he answered them. Who are my mother and my brothers? And looking about at those who sat around him. He said. Here are my mother and my brothers.

[26:35] For whoever does the will of God. He is my brother and sister and mother. Amen. We give praise to God for his holy and his perfect word.

[26:47] Let's once more sing to God's praise. This time from a Scottish Psalter. Scottish Psalter Psalm 106.

[27:00] Scottish Psalter Psalm 106. That's on page 378 of the Psalm books. Scottish Psalter Psalm 106 on page 378.

[27:13] We can sing verses 1 down to verse 6. Give praise and thanks unto the Lord. For bountiful is he. His tender mercy doth endure unto eternity.

[27:26] Psalm 106 verses 1 to 6. To God's praise. Give praise and thanks unto the Lord.

[27:43] For the need for his name. Good gentle mercy doth endure unto eternity.

[28:01] God's mighty word to count as first.

[28:13] Lord. Pemptil for his name. For the truth. And God's very listed. Thank you. We are now Lord.

[28:27] Oh Lord.

[28:37] Remember me, Lord, with the love which thou to lightest with.

[28:54] With thy salvation, O my God, to preserve me drawn near.

[29:11] That guide thy chosen to be seen, and in their joy rejoice.

[29:28] And me with thy inheritance, triumphed cheerful voice.

[29:46] We with thy Father, Sinead, and of liberty.

[30:03] Too long we have the workers been.

[30:14] We have done wickedly. Let's, for a short time, turn back to the chapter we had, Mark chapter 3.

[30:32] Mark chapter 3, looking back verses 1 down to verse 6. Again, it's been a short while since we were last looking at our series.

[30:42] We're taking a slow walk through Mark. But just to remind ourselves, it is important at times we do take time through God's word.

[30:56] We get so used, perhaps, especially in the Gospels, to knowing the stories so well. We don't slow down enough to see what Jesus said and what Jesus did.

[31:11] Just as a reminder, of course, we left at the end of chapter 2 with Jesus lecturing and reminding the Pharisees, Pharisees, this religious leaders of the day, their biggest problem with Jesus at that point, at this point, is that, according to themselves, he was breaking the Sabbath.

[31:35] They had included, as we said before, 400 plus subsets of rules that God never included in his word. And they were accusing Jesus of breaking their Sabbath rules.

[31:52] Here we find at the start of chapter 3, Jesus is off to worship in the synagogue. And we see the same theme is there.

[32:04] The same theme we meet as we left at the end of chapter 2. See, Jesus isn't on his own. Of course, he's here with the disciples.

[32:15] But we see there's another group with Jesus in the synagogue. And we see them in verse 2, and they watched Jesus.

[32:26] As we come to chapter 3, it's the same theme we left off at the end of chapter 2. As we follow our Saviour, as he heals more people, as he brings more people in to following him, as he calls more people to serve him, as he saves more people from death and from destruction and from hell.

[32:50] All the time, behind the scenes, the Pharisees are there, watching him, waiting for his next move. They're seeing the miracles.

[33:01] They're hearing the sermons. And their whole time, they're obsessing about Jesus himself. We'll see that more in a second.

[33:12] Just three very broad headings for us this afternoon, looking at verses 1 down to verse 6. First of all, we can see the watchers. The watchers in verses 2 and verse 6.

[33:27] Then we can see the man with the withered hand. And then we can see our willing Saviour. First of all, the watchers.

[33:42] We meet them in verse 2. Verse 2. The Pharisees are still watching.

[34:00] They've seen Jesus heal a paralyzed man. They've seen Jesus heal the leper. They have seen Jesus do many miracles. And here, they're watching Jesus on this holy day.

[34:17] The synagogue is there. Jesus is here, we presume, on the Sabbath once more. He is here to worship. There is a Sabbath, of course. It's the day of worship. And the Pharisees are also here to worship, at least outwardly.

[34:33] But they're not there to worship, are they? The Pharisees are there to watch Jesus. They are so obsessed with Jesus. These religious leaders, who were the pinnacle, the whole community was supposed to look up to them.

[34:50] And look to them as examples of how to live the lives of good Jewish belief and good Jewish living. And they're too busy watching Jesus to actually worship in the synagogue.

[35:07] We covered this before, but just to bring back to our minds the sadness of what's taking place here. These were men who were well trained.

[35:20] Who knew their stuff. These were men who trained for years before they could begin to even call themselves true Pharisees.

[35:31] There was a training program that they followed that was intense. Some ministers, myself included, think we had a hard time in our training.

[35:42] Nothing compared to the Pharisees. Nothing. Years long. Often under a single rabbi who would teach his people the way that he was taught by the one who taught him.

[35:58] There was exams to be passed, the equivalent of exams for their day. These were men who had the whole of Scripture, near enough, memorized.

[36:09] But not just that, they also had memorized all the additional rules and regulations they had added to Scripture. These were smart men. Educated men.

[36:20] Practically, they were at times the lawyers of the day. Although religious, they also acted in the law courts of the time.

[36:34] They knew their stuff. And yet, and yet for all their knowledge. And all their understanding of course, the Old Testament of this time.

[36:48] For all the understanding they had of all the prophecies of the coming Messiah. Who would do what? Open the eyes of the blind. Heal those of incurable diseases.

[37:02] Restore those who had awful conditions. they are seeing Jesus open the eyes of the blind they are seeing him heal seeing him restore and yet they are doing nothing but growing in their hatred towards him they are watching him for one reason not to marvel at him not to worship him they are watching him, why?

[37:32] they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him we said this before but we'll say it again friends, you know your scriptures friends, you perhaps have come to church over many years you have seen a few ministers stand up here you know your Bible off by heart you know your Bible perhaps far better than I do your catechism is memorised your confession of faith you can handle it pretty well you can quote back sermons you have heard upon sermons you have heard and yet when you come face to face with Jesus every single Sunday as you do like the Pharisees here the hard question has to be asked are you responding in the same way?

[38:34] they come face to face with Jesus and they are too busy in their own self-righteousness to even begin to understand what they are seeing they are about to see a miracle another miracle take place and they are so self-righteous that it blinds their eyes from seeing the miracle and instead the miracle itself makes them hate Jesus even more perhaps you're saying to yourself I want to believe but if only Jesus would somehow show himself to me you know if he would come and if I could see a miracle myself if I could see so and so be healed if I could see something miraculous take place then I would definitely believe that's all it takes I would believe then dear friends look at the Pharisees they've seen at this point at least we know of three if not more miracles

[39:42] Jesus is doing lots of healing and we know that John tells us that much of Jesus' work isn't recorded he was healing all the time all the time they're seeing multiple healings multiple miracles and yet they're not believing why?

[40:03] is it lack of understanding? no is it lack of seeing the miracles? no I think we often misunderstand just how strong our blinding self-righteousness is dear friends I say this carefully and I say this genuinely don't think a voice from heaven would awaken your heart more than hearing the voice of Jesus from scripture just now in front of you if you won't listen to him in his word you won't listen to him supposing the miracle appeared in front of you the Pharisees didn't don't think you would be any different were not don't waste time dear friends don't waste time don't be like these men who knew the stuff who understood the stuff who knew all about what it was to be right with God apart from the one thing they were missing was to actually believe in Jesus actually trust in the one they were watching so here they are they're watching Jesus and they have no care for the man as they see Jesus begin to heal the man or call out to the man they're not watching with care for this man who's about to have his life transformed they're watching only to accuse we see that in verse 6 verse 6 the miracle's taken place the man's been cured we'll see that in a second and look what takes place verse 6 the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him against Jesus how to destroy him they see the miracle and their first reaction is they storm out they storm out because they can't bear to see the truth that yet again this man who they know is evil this man who they know is a blasphemer this man who they know is not who he says he is he can't be because if he was it meant they were wrong they storm out but note what scripture the Holy Spirit includes here this small fact they held counsel with the Herodians now the Herodians weren't a religious group they were a loosely a political group we could say a cultural thing it was those who were the fanatics who strongly supported of course the reign and rule of Herod by consorting with them the Pharisees were breaking so many of their own rules the Pharisees were to have nothing to do with the political rulers of the day of course the political rulers here the Herodians were involved in supporting the oppression of Rome so essentially the Pharisees here because they hate Jesus so much they are willing to go against their own rules several of their own rules to work alongside their own political oppressors to destroy

[43:24] Jesus they are happy to throw everything out the window basically to get to Jesus to get to kill Jesus such is the level of evil all they are focused on is that final phrase of how they can destroy him this man who is saving lives this man who is performing great miracles this man who the crowd is saying is from God who is showing all the signs of the promised Messiah and all they can think to do is plan how to destroy him such as the depth of our own self righteousness our own evil we would rather kill Jesus than have to face the reality of who he truly is because if we face that reality that then shows us we're not as we think we are if Jesus is truly Jesus if all this is actually true it means that for us it meant for the

[44:28] Pharisees that we're not as good as we think we are that we actually need him and if we need him it means we have to come and humble ourselves and say to him I have nothing and you have everything I can't save myself you can it means we have to admit to ourselves we're heading to a lost eternity and only with his saving power can we be saved dear friends don't let your own self-righteousness blind you from the truth of who Jesus is and the joy don't be deprived of the joy of following him and the joy of being known by him and loved by him and kept by him so we see the watchers always watching and they watch the miracle it brings us to our second point briefly the man of course with the withered hand this poor man we meet in verse 1 he's there he's not named often these people aren't named it's not because they aren't important but it's because

[45:41] Mark often just rattles through Mark is going to fit in as much as possible in his account and the man is here he's here to worship perhaps he's also here perhaps because he's been looking for healing we don't know but either way he's here and we know from Luke's account Luke chapter 6 it's the man's right hand that's withered it gives a bit more information about this poor man if his right hand when we see withered the commentators are split it's either a nerve thing where his hand is kind of bent up or it's a situation where it's a birth deformity of some sorts either way his hand is useless it's not usable his right hand can't be used that tells us perhaps this is a man who is if not unable to work then reduced in how he could work and the work he could be doing this is a man who we know culturally would have had a hard time why we covered this before this is not biblical it's not from scripture but sadly the culture of the day taught that if you had a deformity if you had some physical illness that was a punishment from God it was either because you were going to do some awful sin in life so God allowed you to be born with some deformity or if it wasn't that it was because your parents did some awful sin and because your parents did awful sin you were born deformed now of course that's not scriptural that's not biblical but that was the cultural thinking of the day which is why so often those who had physical deformities were so uncared for because the culture assumed they somehow deserved it and here this man is probably the crowd around him assumed he did something wrong or his parents did for him to deserve to be physically disabled as he was but Jesus saw the man in the crowd and quite simply and quite beautifully in verse three we see Jesus begin to deal with this man cover that in a second stretch out your hand at the end of verse five the simple command that Jesus gives to this man stretch out your hand and what takes place he's healed in a second this man his lifetime of deformity his lifetime of pain he's healed he's cured he's now able to work he's now able to live a more normal life and note the danger that

[49:01] Jesus places himself in here we'll see in a second by doing this healing Jesus is placing himself in even greater danger and the Pharisees see this and they're angered by it this is a man who found no love and no care from the religious leaders of the day to them he was just an object that they were watching to see if they could use this man to catch out Jesus but to Jesus despite the presence of the enemy despite the presence of the Pharisees to Jesus this man is a man who is worthy of time worthy of help worthy of his healing and Jesus heals the man that brings us briefly on to the final point we have the willing saviour in this account we see a saviour who is a willing saviour

[50:07] Jesus goes to worship as we said in the synagogue but also we know that Jesus went to the synagogue to confront the Pharisees but also to heal this man Jesus of course knew this man would be here Jesus knew that on this day at this time he would heal this man of his disease he would heal this man of his lifelong perhaps disability but Jesus but Jesus also knows that he goes to heal this man in the face of the Pharisees who wanted to destroy him who were looking for an excuse to attack him an excuse to further hold against him and in the face of this knowing fine well this would add to the accusations against him Jesus nonetheless goes to heal to help to show love and care to this man in the crowd of the synagogue in verse 3

[51:11] Jesus calls out to this man it perhaps sounds quite rude to us doesn't it verse 3 and Jesus said to the man of overhand come here that's a bit short that's a bit curt but actually it's not for us it's English come here it's just one word in the Greek and that one word literally means get up and come over here it's not rude at all it's just a direct command get up and come over here it implies an upward motion followed by an action it implies this man was somehow perhaps sitting down on the ground or on a chair of some sorts this man was quietly sitting there in a synagogue worshiping the Lord quietly sitting there and Jesus asks him tells him commands him in love get up and come here get up and come here imagine imagine you cut yourself unless you thought that cut was somehow going to bleed out and you would die from it you couldn't bandage up that wound you have to leave it you sustained some other injury unless you could somehow be certain that would be a life and death injury you couldn't attend to that injury until the sabbuk was over the cruelty of man made rules the evil of man made rules and in direct facing to these man made rules

[53:10] Jesus heals this man verse 4 speaking to the Pharisees he's called the man over he then turns to the Pharisees and he asks the Pharisees a direct question verse 4 is it lawful on the sabbath to do good or to do harm to save life or to kill Jesus wants them to defend their own man made rules and in the defence of their man made rules they say nothing it's all good in practice all good in theory saying what they should and shouldn't do given the people's commands and orders but when the son of God himself when the second person of the God head God eternal directly asks him a question they've got nothing to say all their legalism goes to nothing all their man made rules they go to nothing the

[54:12] Pharisees would not touch this man supposing the Pharisees could heal him they wouldn't do it it wasn't life threatening it doesn't matter Jesus cast aside the man made rules Jesus who is the lord of the Sabbath he heals this man there's no fan feathers no great hullabaloo he just heals him he commands the man stretch out your hand all of a sudden this man's hand who perhaps couldn't be moved at all is now stretched out instantly and perfectly healed and here we see the grief and the anger of our saviour verse five he's challenged the Pharisees he sees that this man is of no importance to them their whole mission is now to destroy him to attack the son of God himself verse five and he looked around at them with anger grieved at their hardness of heart anger and grief what a terrifying thought to think that for these

[55:33] Pharisees that for these men these men who thought they were doing well these men who assumed they were doing what God wanted them to do these men who worked hard to do their job well to serve well when they came face to face with the Messiah himself with the God they thought they were serving he looked on them with anger with grief anger and grief what a terrifying thought it is for these men but because they rejected the Savior who had come to save them come to save those who needed saving which is all of us as they reject him and as they go against him as they show their hatred towards him and their fellow man the

[56:34] Savior looks on them in anger and grief those who have been called to serve and look after God's people they had added rules and regulations they had added burdens to God's people and in doing so they had heaped up anger and grief upon themselves dear friends don't let your hearts be as hardened as we see these men were their hearts were so hardened that in the face of a miracle they still had no time for Jesus in the very face of Jesus doing a miracle restoring a man's life they have no time for Jesus don't let your hearts be hardened instead what come to him come to him who restores those whose lives need restoration come to him who gives healing to those who cry out for it come to him who is the saviour of his people say although

[57:51] Jesus is grieved here and although he is angry with their hardness of heart who who does

[58:58] Jesus save all who come to him and cry out for that saving for that forgiveness the gospel call is open the gospel proclamation is open if you don't come you don't come because of your own sin your own hardness of heart your own rebellion the way is ready come and have your soul and your life restored by the one who restores all who come to him let's bow our heads now a word of prayer Lord God we thank you once more for the gift of your word or the promises we find in it but also the warnings we find help us this day to leave this place having grown not just in our knowledge but also in our understanding and our love of our saviour we ask once yet cannot save that

[59:58] Jesus is theirs we ask that you bring them to a saving knowledge of yourself even this day give you praise Lord that you are able to save any and all who come to you help us as we come to sing our final item of praise to do so with hearts and minds set on worshipping you giving you praise that we know as we sing your words to you Lord that you hear the praise of your people let's call these things in and through and for Jesus in his name sake Amen let's sing once more in the Scottish Psalter this time Psalm 111 Scottish Psalter Psalm 111 111 Psalm 111 on page 391 we can sing verses 1 down to verse 5 praise ye the

[61:06] Lord with my whole heart I will God's praise declare where the assemblies of the just and congregations are Psalm 111 verses 1 to 5 to God's praise praise praise the Lord with my whole arms I will be blessed he did where the assemblies of the just Troy made and days the

[62:06] The measure so good The art of every one That doubt that in the measure Each word so strong Honor, Rappelist Most glorious and pure And his unchained righteousness Forever and all and due His words most wonderful The Lord is precious

[63:23] To Master's Son V as the Lord is Gentilist 4.6 Sucunterland Amen.

[64:07] May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, both of you now and forevermore. Amen.

[64:37] Thank you.

[65:07] Thank you.

[65:37] Thank you.