[0:00] In Luke chapter number 13, we're talking about the contrast between the followers of a dead religion and those that have an encounter with a living God. The miracles that are recorded only in Luke, this is one of those that's only recorded in the book of Luke, comes right after the lesson on repentance that we saw two weeks ago.
[0:21] And the miracle, they call these mirror miracles. Because throughout the book of Luke, Jesus will do something, especially on the Sabbath. He really enjoys healing people on the Sabbath six times, four times in the book of Luke.
[0:34] It's interesting. Of all the 89 chapters of the gospel, of all the things that could be recorded, God preserved for us stories that have to do with healing that takes place on the Sabbath.
[0:44] You would expect to see this in the book of Matthew to a Jewish audience. But in the book of Luke, a Gentile writing to Gentile people, they constantly show the conflict that happens on the Sabbath day.
[0:56] And the reason it's called a mirror miracle is because we're getting the chance to see how the Pharisees respond each time. A miracle happens, and we have something to learn about every word of every verse.
[1:09] But many times in the story of the miracle, it's about the response of the people around where we're supposed to take our primary application and point. And so here we're going to see, once again, their wrong reaction in contrast to the reaction that we would have.
[1:25] And I didn't consider this, but it's so fun. I like coming up here early when they're singing. I like to pretend like I'm one of the singers because they never let me be, so I try to be. But I like standing up here when a story is told because to see God's people respond as we should.
[1:40] And that's what happens in this story. Some are going to respond appropriately, and some are not going to respond in the way that they should. So Luke chapter number 13, verse 10. And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
[1:54] And that's the last time Jesus is going to be recorded in Luke here, teaching in the synagogues. We won't see him back here, but it's important that he's teaching in the synagogue on the Sabbath.
[2:05] Verse 11. 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. This behold, there was a woman, this signifies that she wasn't in there when it started.
[2:21] Behold, she comes in a little bit. She had been crippled for 18 years, but she was faithful. Maybe right about now in the service. Because this woman having this ability, being bent over and crippled, she probably didn't always make it to places on time.
[2:36] So there Jesus is saying, behold, as she walks into the back of the room and drawing attention, making her the centerpiece of an incredible story where she had always been in the dark and been ignored.
[2:49] Verse 12. 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.
[3:03] And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, Because 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.
[3:15] The Lord then answered and said, Thou hypocrite, does not each of one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or ass from the stall and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bowed low these 18 years, be loose from his bond on the Sabbath day?
[3:34] 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. Then said he unto, What is the kingdom of God like?
[3:46] And whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and cast into his garden, and it grew, and waxed the great tree, and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.
[4:02] I'm going to step out of the scripture here for a second. It's like a storefront in the Bronx, where one person comes and accepts Christ. And then a family comes in one day, because Ellie always says hello to their dog, and says, Hey, it's my friends.
[4:16] And the family comes into the church and says, Hey, Ellie's friends are here, and they haven't missed a service by them. And then the church grows, and the church sends out other people, and the church provides a place of rest, as a bird would find in a tree.
[4:29] It may start out, it always starts out small, but it will always grow. And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid three measures of meal, till the whole was leaven.
[4:43] Once again, stepping out of scripture, it was like the gospel coming into my life at the age of nine, and then folding itself in every aspect of my life. Not only does it go out through all the world, but it permeates every aspect of our lives.
[4:56] Before I pray, let me just remind you that religion alone will never cause you to lift your head and praise your creator.
[5:10] But when you have an encounter with a living God, you will never be the same. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the beauty of this story.
[5:21] Thank you that I'm here today with brothers and sisters that are responding, that are rejoicing, that are singing about you being our song, being our hope, being our joy, being our faithfulness in the night.
[5:35] Lord, we have so much to thank you for, and I am grateful that I was introduced to your son, and that I can know you today. Lord, a dead religion, a religion that you are not present in, is not going to be one that changes this world.
[5:49] So I'm thankful for brothers and sisters in here, many that grew up in Christian homes and came to know you at a young age, many that walked the streets of big cities and had no idea about the basic Bible stories that got saved later in life.
[6:03] But Lord, I'm in a room today with people that have their heads held high, that can look up to the heavens, and that can rejoice, because Lord, you have healed us of our infirmity. Lord, you have caused us to be forgiven of our sins.
[6:16] In Jesus' name I pray, amen. In my moments of fear, through every pain, every tear, There's a God who's been faithful to me.
[6:55] When my strength had all gone, when my heart had no song, Still in love, He's proved faithful to me.
[7:13] Every word He's promised is true. What I thought was impossible, I see my God do.
[7:34] He's been faithful, faithful to me. He's been faithful, faithful to me.
[7:48] Looking back, looking back, His love and mercy, I see. I see, though in my heart I have questioned, even failed to believe, Yet He's been faithful, faithful to me.
[8:16] When my heart looked away, the many times I did not pray, Still my God, He was faithful to me.
[8:44] The days I spent so selfishly, reaching out for what pleased me. Even then, He's been faithful to me.
[9:04] Every time I come back to Him, He is waiting with open arms, And I see once again, He's been faithful, faithful to me.
[9:38] Looking back, His love and mercy, I see. Though in my heart I have questioned, even failed to believe, Yet He's been faithful, faithful to me.
[10:05] In my heart I have questioned, even failed to believe, Yet He's been faithful, faithful to me.
[10:23] Yet He's been faithful, faithful to me.
[10:38] Thank you, Brother David. Luke chapter number 13. I'm so glad to see Zach and Wren here today.
[10:51] Haven't met Wren yet, but Zach, your dad always has the biggest smile When he speaks about his new daughter-in-law, And I look forward to meeting her today. They got married two weeks ago. They're in town for a wedding.
[11:02] If you'll turn with me to Luke chapter number 13, And we're going to jump right back in to the story. Where Jesus brings healing to a woman. And I'm going to show you a few pictures quickly from New York, And show you that I am the world's worst photographer.
[11:16] When somebody goes to New York, When people are taking pictures of things that I think you can find on Google, I'm like, why are you doing that? On July the 2nd we're going to have fireworks, Andrew always does a great job with that.
[11:27] And some of you are going to stand out there with your phone, And you're going to record it. And I'm like, why are you doing this? You just go on YouTube, all right? You can see fireworks. So when I go somewhere, I want to take pictures of things that other people aren't paying attention to.
[11:40] So I know these are going to look like these really bad quality pictures, But I want to point out to you, this is from the top of the roof where Canons Church is, At Truth Baptist Church. And so here we're looking out, And Gold City is the grocery store that the church is across from.
[11:54] Everybody knows where it's at. And the very back there, that is a Hindu temple, completely rock temple. It just doesn't, it seems out of place, architectural architecture, But it's one of the biggest temples in North America, I believe.
[12:10] And so you can see that when you're on top of the roof, Because that's where you always go when you visit a church, right? Like, I want to see this roof, all right? And so we went there, and then, show me the next picture, if you will. And then look to the left.
[12:22] This is a, I believe we have a mosque was off to the left. And you can see that, just immediately beside it. You can see that, you can't see the left, can you?
[12:34] All right, let's go back to it. I lost, I lost my place. It's a little scary when you lose your place in front of all of y'all up here, okay? So right there, the golden building. And so another religious building to the one side, And then right connected to it on the other side, Is a Buddhist temple, where you can hear the ceremonies going on, Just surrounded by it.
[12:53] And there's just some other things down the road. Plenty of religious centers around what was going on. There's no shortages of buildings, Where people are meeting for the cause of religion.
[13:05] But that is not living hope. That is not truth. Two great churches, churches have great names there in the city. So religion can be marked by bondage, but Jesus brings freedom.
[13:19] That's what we see in the story. We see this woman and she comes in, And we're foolish to think that spiritual issues are the cause of all physical problems. Jesus addresses this time and time again. In this woman's life, 18 years, for the glory of God was the purpose.
[13:33] Just like the man that had been blind. But just as it would be foolish to believe that all physical problems are spiritual issues, It would also be foolish to think that some spiritual issues, Some physical problems are not from spiritual issues.
[13:45] And that's what Jesus is going to address in this woman. She had been limited in her pain for 18 years. I was telling Tinsley, I said, I want to figure out how I can make it look like, Have somebody act out an old lady who's moving slow, walking around.
[14:01] She can't move her head. It's always down. She said, Dad, you'll do a great job at that. Because you move like an old lady who can't move her head. And so some of you can imagine, that's what Kristen Mincer thought, Until she challenged me in horse yesterday.
[14:16] I'm not a little old lady, people. All right? And so you can picture this. You can picture a person, and you've seen it before. Maybe you can remember seeing a person in that condition, With the bones degenerating.
[14:28] 18 years of walking around. Not looking up at the sun. Not looking at the stars in the heavens. Just walking around. As Spurgeon says, it's as if she was walking around, looking for her grave.
[14:40] 18 years of walking around this world, with her head down, looking there. She had received no comfort from the religious crowd, Who saw suffering as a result of sin.
[14:53] Remember previous stories? Hey, why did that tower fall on them? Why did these people die? They were not loving and compassionate. I would hope that if this woman was to walk in here, Several men would stand up.
[15:05] They would give her seats. You would make room for her. Because that's what the gospel has done in your life. Religion alone would not have done that. A dead religion would not have done that. But here this woman, she comes in.
[15:18] But not only does Satan bow people down, But sin, suffering, and sorrow does as well. And our Psalms speak about this often, With the same kind of imagery.
[15:30] Psalm 38 6 says, I am troubled. I am bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long. I am troubled. I am bowed down greatly.
[15:42] I have walked like that. I have lived like that. I have allowed the guilt and the shame of my sin, That caused me to walk into a place, Not with my head up. Not able to look at people.
[15:54] Not enjoy my life, But just to walk through it. Sorrow. Psalm 42 5. While there cast thou my soul, And while art thou disquainted in me, Hope thou in God, For I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
[16:08] Downcast. The countenance was bad. The soul was heavy. That sorrow. This morning we heard a prayer request in a life group, And of that family. A family saying they can't sleep, Until they're just so emotionally drained, That they cry themselves asleep, Over the loss of a child.
[16:27] That sorrow will bring your head down, That will weigh you down. And then suffering. Psalm 44 25. For our soul is bowed down to the dust, Our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
[16:39] Just as low as you can get. We know that we have the ability to pray to God. You don't have to close your eyes. You don't have to kneel. I'm not very coordinated. Sometimes I go through a drive-through, And I immediately close my eyes to pray.
[16:52] Not a good idea. It actually doesn't make my driving any worse, Or any better. Alright? And so you do that. But we've got to a place before, Where you pray. And you find yourself on your knees.
[17:03] Not because you believe, That God has better reception. But you just find yourself there. And then other times, You find yourself lower than your knees. And you're just laid out before God. As low as you can be. Because of the suffering of the weight.
[17:15] That's on your life. I want to read this to you. So I can say it as clear as I can. The picture of who this woman will represent for us. But in spite of all of her years of going to the synagogue, This woman was in bondage to the debilitating illness That Jesus ascribes to Satan.
[17:31] As such, she is a picture of the millions Who attend religious services every week for years. But they live in spiritual bondage to sin, And to the prince of darkness.
[17:42] They are often sincere people, But they are bent over under the load of sin and guilt. The religious system tolerates their bondage. And perhaps even shrugs it off as accepted.
[17:54] But it can't deliver them from it. What they need is what this woman experienced. A personal encounter with the living Jesus Christ. Millions of people are represented in this same situation today.
[18:07] In our city, and in New York, and other places. And one of the effective tools that Satan has used in the life of people Is a dead religion. The CC religion makes no difference.
[18:19] We've all shared the gospel. We've all invited people to church. And they said, I tried that, and it didn't work. There's nothing to it. Because they did not have an encounter with a living God.
[18:30] So what do I mean when I say dead religion? The word religion, there's no problem with it. James speaks about it in pure religion. If a person was asking me, am I a religious man? I'd want to know what they mean by that.
[18:42] But very likely I might say yes to that question. But what do we mean when we say a dead religion? Matthew 15, 8 through 10, just gives us a picture of what it looks like. What it would have looked like in the synagogue that day.
[18:54] What it looks in so many places. This people draw nigh unto me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips. But their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
[19:07] And he called the multitude and said unto them, hear and understand. Their hearts that day in the synagogue were far from him. They were a group of people that honored him with their lips.
[19:19] And what did they teach that was vain? They were teaching them the doctrines and the commandments of men. And not the true of God's word. They were not introducing people to a living God.
[19:33] Two weeks ago we looked at the story of a fig tree. Jesus walks by it and he says that fig tree should be producing fruit. But I'm going to give it another year. The farmer says give it another year is what the story there was giving us.
[19:46] That fruit that was a tree, it had the form of godliness, but it had no power about it. It had no fruit about it. The repentance would bring a fruit in your life and it would change the way that you would view everything.
[19:57] Repentance in our life and putting our faith in Jesus, it produces a fruit in our lives. It changes the way that we respond to things in this world. And I can tell you, it doesn't matter the architecture.
[20:10] Those three buildings I showed you in the picture, they were places of a dead religion. And they have bad, different architecture, not bad architecture, just different architecture. More expensive architecture than the way we build our churches.
[20:23] But there's buildings that look just like the one that we're in today. That are filled with the commandments of men. That are filled with dead religion. That would allow a woman to come in and never experience the love of Christ.
[20:34] And she would walk out in the same condition in which she came in. And New York City doesn't need one of those. And Georgia most certainly doesn't need a place. Another place that would have a religion that would not introduce people to a living God.
[20:49] And every one of us ought to pause and say, God, help us. And this generation, hand the truth off to the next generation. So that these facilities and the name of this church and this congregation would never be part of a place that would continue to teach bondage and not freedom.
[21:07] True Christianity has something that's proprietary about it. One more time. True Christianity has something that's proprietary about it. You say, that's an awful big word for you, Trent.
[21:19] Yes, it is. Thank you very much. Thank you for noticing, all right? And so I've told you before I like shows like The Shark Tank or Somebody's Investing. And one of the questions they have is when they invent something, they say, what's proprietary about it?
[21:32] Why can't I just do what you're doing? I can do that just as well as you're doing. Proprietary means that something is used, produced, or marketed under exclusive legal right of the inventor or the maker.
[21:45] Christianity has something that has a key difference that separates it from the other belief systems of this world. The difference is a relationship with an all-powerful and a loving God.
[21:57] And that's what makes this so wonderful. Some people would say that there's many paths to the top of the mountain, but all religions are going the same way. Others would tell you that there's many mountains.
[22:08] Other people would tell you there's no paths and there's no mountains. If there was a mountain and there was a path to get to Jesus Christ, he came off the mountain and he came and found us.
[22:19] And that makes Christianity unique and wonderful and life-changing and hope-giving. Because religion tells this woman, I don't know what you did wrong in the past life and now you're dealing with it.
[22:30] Religion tells this woman, if you would just try better, your life would be better. But Jesus walks up to this woman and says, I will take your sin. I will carry it to a cross. I will die for you.
[22:41] I will give you freedom. I will see you. John Wesley, he was on a boat traveling with the Moravians and he sensed in them this true experience of worship.
[22:52] A storm had come and John Wesley was hidden in his room fearing for God. He knew religion. He knew things of the Bible. But these Moravians in this midst of the storm, they were praising God and they were not fearing.
[23:06] So when he comes back, he goes to service. He hears that it's preached and he comes to know God. He has a salvation experience. He comes to know Jesus Christ. And Wesley says, one point of view from declared from here on in his life is to promote so far as I'm able vital practical religion and by the grace of God to beget, preserve, and increase the life of God and the souls of men.
[23:31] That expression, the life of God and the souls of men, is the difference between dead religion and the power and reality of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[23:42] The Holy Spirit is alive in us today. You ask me why I know he lives and I know he lives because why? He lives within my heart.
[23:54] He is living. He is real. And it's contrary to anything else that this world can offer in the area of religion. We also see in this story is that religion can lack compassion, but Jesus never overlooks the hurting.
[24:09] Jesus sees people differently than the religious do. Jesus sees people and he says, these are a sheep without a shepherd. But what does the religious leaders see at best? At best, they don't see her at all.
[24:21] But if they do see her, she is a nuisance. She isn't a person of value. Verse 14, 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.
[24:36] Therefore, come and be healed and not on the Sabbath day. If I'm not woman, I would have looked up, praised the Lord, and turned around and said, are you kidding me? Right? She had been coming 18 years to the synagogue there.
[24:49] And the man, when she's healed, says, I can't believe you. He wouldn't have spoke to Jesus. He speaks to the crowd. He doesn't speak directly to Jesus. He looks to the crowd and says, come on, people.
[25:00] We're open seven days a week. You could have come in here in the six days. You had to come on the Sabbath day to be healed. What an, I would say an unnatural response.
[25:11] But what a very natural, deprived response to what Jesus had just done. No embracing his sister. No love. He didn't have to be enlightened about what was going on.
[25:22] But just looked at her. Because religion looks at people differently. Religion looks to use people. Religion wants to take from people. But not Jesus. He saw this woman.
[25:33] Jesus saw some compelling reasons that it was appropriate to show mercy. He said, behold, a woman. That wasn't a derogative term. It was respectful. It was a term of endearment to her.
[25:44] But she was a woman. Made in the image of God. Because she was a woman, she was worthy of care and concern. In a society that should have been looking out for women, they ignored her.
[25:55] Behold, a woman. A daughter of Abraham. A Jewish woman. In connection here to Abraham, it might indicate that she was a woman of faith. Faithfully coming to a synagogue for 18 years.
[26:08] Being treated the way that she was obviously being treated. Would speak something about that. She was bound by Satan. Every day is a good day to oppose the work of Satan and to set people free.
[26:20] And she said, she was bound by Satan. And then afflicted for 18 long years. And Jesus is going to tell them that they ought to do something about it. Jesus has no interest in their religious games or their rank and status.
[26:35] As I've said, all of a sudden she becomes the centerpiece of the story. Of that day. Jesus reveals how indifferent he is to their perception of privilege.
[26:47] Their sense of achievement. Their honor system. And he elevates this woman which the rest of them would have just swept away and ignored. How incredible. I would be just so tired of religion.
[27:00] You know, most of the world is. Most of your friends that you talk to. Most of your family. Most of your family. They're not tired of Jesus. They're tired of religion. They're tired of just saying that didn't make any difference in my life. That wasn't.
[27:11] That had no compassion for me. That had nothing. I'm tired of your religious system. I'm just tired of all your games. What is the saying? This is saying. Nobody dislikes a. No police officer hates.
[27:23] No. No one hates a bad cop more than a good cop. No one would dislike a bad teacher more than a good teacher. Nobody likes. Dislikes false teaching and bad religion.
[27:35] The Bible teachers and people have met Jesus. We should have a very much a dislike for those that are leading people astray. This was not a place for this woman to enter the day.
[27:46] But she entered and she met Jesus and it changed everything. Religion can be hypocritical. But Jesus is truthful and always sincere. Verse 15.
[27:57] Then 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? He knew the answer.
[28:08] Probably even on that day. There was no argument about it. But they had said that on the Sabbath day because they wanted, they needed the care for their animals that they could take it by the leash and take it over and give it water and they would unloose it.
[28:24] That the animal is either like maybe in a pin or maybe it was tied up. But he would take it and unbind it and lead it to water because that was the caring thing that should be done.
[28:35] And he looked and says, you would care for the animals like that but this woman. And so we have an emphasis here on this loosening. The woman was loosened from infirmity and animals were loosened to get water.
[28:46] And that's what Jesus is doing that day and that's woman's life. But not only was he unloosening this woman who was bent over as if there was weight on her and he was unloosening her in a physical sense to look up and be able to behold him.
[29:01] But he was loosening all those that were listening. He came on the Sabbath day. Why did you come? There were six days to come. But you have healed her on the Sabbath day. They was mad about that.
[29:13] Jesus knew what day it was. Have you noticed your kids during the summer they have no idea what day it is, right? Carson's always asking me, what day is it? I'm like, I tell Stephanie and say, I would love to live a life where it didn't even matter what day it was, right?
[29:25] He doesn't know what time it is or what day it is. Jesus, he knew what he was doing and he took himself and he went into that synagogue and he did that because he was loosening them.
[29:37] This false teaching that has been hanging over their head which is seen from this misunderstanding that they were applying to the Sabbath. Religion loves the distort God's gift.
[29:48] The Sabbath was a gift from God to us because he cared for us. They had taken a gift and now turned it into a bondage. And that's true so many ways but it's especially very clear on the Sabbath teaching.
[30:01] We don't fully understand this battle of the Sabbath. Remember, they're protecting something that is one of the Ten Commandments. It would be as if you came here every Sunday and as the service was going on, I saw you go into the sound booth and Andrew allowed you, he was handing you something.
[30:16] You were just stealing in church every Sunday. You were just stealing right in front of everybody. That's how these people felt about it. And so not only did they feel that this was breaking one of God's command, but during the time of captivity where they didn't have a lot of the trappings that would keep them together as a culture, one of the things that they could continue to do, you didn't need resources to do this, is that they could keep the Sabbath.
[30:41] Keeping the Sabbath protected them as a culture. It preserved them. And that's what religion does so much of. That is what so much we fight against, is people do not want to let go of false teaching because false teaching holds us all together.
[30:59] It binds us together. False teaching will say, hey, I will create a community. Everybody is looking for a community. Everybody is looking for a community. Come and meet with us. We will have meals together. We will look out for each other.
[31:10] And instead of being rooted in the gospel and God's word, false teaching holds all of them together. And when you come and you speak to somebody who is living according to this, that is believing this false teaching in God's word, when you are speaking to them, you are not just unloosening them from false teaching, but you are attacking them on a cultural level, on a societal level, the things that hold us all together.
[31:32] Your mind might gravitate and think about immediately about different false religions represented in the buildings that I would show you. But that happens also here in the south. We have cultures.
[31:43] We have units. We have things that we believe that are false teaching. And when discipleship happens and when gospel is teaching, we fight against anything that might go contrary to this thing that holds us together.
[31:57] And that's why, why would you be so mad? Why would you be so mad? What did it have to do? Why did the man, the ruler of the synagogue, what did you lose when this woman got healed?
[32:09] I didn't take anything from you, but what did he lose? It was an attack upon the structure that held them together that was surrounded by false teaching. And Jesus points out the hypocrisy, the double standard.
[32:22] The double standard. And he says, you take care of animals, you don't take care of her. In verse 16, he says, ought not this woman, a matter of obligation, you ought to have done something to help her.
[32:33] It is the right thing to do to heal this woman. And so here's the Lord's lesson. It is possible that in the midst of religion, in an effort to safeguard scriptural matters, it is possible for us to go far beyond what the Bible teaches and to bind people in our application.
[32:52] They would fear that the pastor, the priest, that he might say something that would be out of line.
[33:28] And to hold him to doctrinal truth, they're going to have him read a prayer. Does that not seem like a good idea? Do you not see how they got to that point? But do you see how restrictive and how binding that is?
[33:42] How they would have stepped over what they had, trying to safeguard something? And in trying to safeguard something, they created a bondage that was there. Charles Wesley, he started preaching in fields.
[33:55] And people would come out and tell him that it couldn't be done. And he went out there one day with Whitfield and he said this in his journal. In Saturday, the 31st of 1739.
[34:07] I don't know what month. He said, I could scarcely reconcile myself at first to this strange way of preaching in the fields. Of which he sent me an example on Sunday. I have been all my life till very lately, so tenacious of every point relating to decency and order, that I should have thought that the saving of souls almost a sin if it had not been done in a church.
[34:32] And it sounds silly, doesn't it? He was out preaching in a field and he's like, I'm not sure we can do this. We're supposed to be preaching in churches. And that his conscience had brought him to a point that he said, I'm not even sure that it would be proper for people to be getting saved out in a field and not a church.
[34:48] And if we're not careful, we will take the place of this religious leader and we can add heaviness around the necks of people that would create a bondage. But where there's Jesus, there is liberty.
[35:01] Where there's Christ, there is liberty. The teaching of Christ is the focus of this passage in verse 10. And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day. Creating a way of life on anything outside of the scripture creates bondage.
[35:15] They were creating a whole religious system that was not based upon the truth of the Messiah and the truth of God's word. Building a community around anything besides God's word would leave us protecting it as angry rulers.
[35:32] And that's what happened in that day. He was mad because his way of life was being questioned. There's a song that we sing together. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
[35:44] I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All those lines you understand, but that one line that we sang that I didn't have a full understanding, but I wanted to for this day.
[36:02] I dare not trust the sweetest frame. A frame is a structure that gives shelter and security. I will not trust in the sweetest and most secure shelter on earth, but instead trust wholly in Jesus' name.
[36:17] It's on Christ the solid rock we stand. It's the first song that we sung today. I will not trust in anything to put my faith in outside of Jesus. A frame is a body.
[36:28] I will not trust in myself or any other person, but wholly trust in Jesus' name. There's some wonderful Christians in here that teach me God's word, and I am so grateful for them.
[36:40] But I will not put my faith in any one of them. I will only put it in Jesus Christ. A frame, a frame of mind. I will not trust in any idea or truth, but wholly trust in Jesus' name.
[36:53] A frame is an advantage or a benefit, and I will not trust in any advantage or benefit I receive, except in trusting in Jesus' name. And then lastly here we see that religion can be joyless and angry, but Jesus brings a fullness of life.
[37:12] This man was angry. Jesus messed up the life of the religious, but to us he is our life. That Jesus came in and ruined the story for one man, didn't he? And he brought life to that woman that was there.
[37:25] He found her disruptive. That woman found him life-giving. We see the example of that barren fig tree before. He did not just have the courage to express his anger towards Jesus, but he scolded the congregation, that religious leader.
[37:39] It said that he was mad, a strong word that was given, but a new life in Christ transforms us from the inside out. It says that one group was angry, and the others, it said all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that had been done by him.
[37:56] And so you had a contrast that day between a group that was mad because he attacked the religious establishment, and another group of people that said, It's Jesus. It's the Messiah.
[38:07] It's the one that brings life to us. Galatians tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.
[38:18] Meeting a living God, having that God live inside of you, the Holy Spirit, that will produce a joy and a love and a peace. A religion alone that only provides you rules and a path to try to earn your religion is going to produce anger and jealousy, and it will create discontent, and it will give you something that you have to protect the rest of your life.
[38:44] And then right when you believe that you're getting good at it, there's going to be new rules added to it. Luke 13, 18 through 22. It's the kingdom of God. It's likened to two things.
[38:55] A mustard seed which a man took and cast into a garden, and it grew into a great tree. And then a woman who takes three measures of meal. If you like that story today, and I believe that you do, you like the story where Jesus kills the woman, sets her straight.
[39:10] She praises God. We praise God with her. If you like that story, I want you to know there's more stories like that. There continues to be more stories. While I pause here in this moment, stories like that are being created all around the world.
[39:26] People are walking in with the bondage of sin and shame, and they're encountering a living God. And the mustard seed, it had a small beginning, but it continues to grow, and we see it today.
[39:38] The branches have grown, and we find shelter in them. And not only does it grow, and nothing can stop it, and that mustard seed will grow, but it takes over everything. That little bit of yeast that was put in there, that little bit of living that was put in there, just a small amount.
[39:54] But as it's folded in, it begins to permeate and change everything. My story starts out, I accepted Jesus Christ as a nine-year-old boy. That was one day that has affected every other day since then, that has affected every aspect of my life.
[40:10] And it's so wonderful, this measure of this meal that is seen representing how it will permeate. So, I want to encourage you today to lift your head today and the worship.
[40:22] Jesus has loosened us from the bondage of false teaching, and He is the reason in which we rejoice.