Answering Pharisees

It is such a great privilege to be able to look into God's Word whenever we have the opportunity to do that. I was thinking as we were praying this evening of the tremendous privilege and blessing it is to be able to look at the life of Christ. I was thinking of, we're really on holy ground when we do that and we're really on holy ground anytime we open this book, aren't we? This is God's Word. This is truth that God has given us to know how to live and to know what we should believe and how we should look at life and how we should live life. And so we're on holy ground whenever we look into this book. But I just sense that whenever we look at the life of Christ there's an extra sense in which we're on holy ground and I think it's the sense in which we're looking at life the way it was intended for man to live. Jesus Christ gives us the perfect pattern of humanity and that's not all. It's not the only reason He came. Obviously He came to die for us to be our Savior but His life is the perfect model of what human life was supposed to be. And so as I look at the life of Christ there's a sense in which I don't want to miss anything. We look at a passage and I hear Him speak and I don't want to miss what He's saying because we are learning what God wants us to be. And when we see Him act and how He responds to different people and just His character, His nature. I don't want to miss any of that. And so it's just a real joy to have this opportunity and I'm an odd and humbled at His life and the opportunity to investigate it, to get up close and to see what it was like. We are now in the last three months of our Lord's life and we've been talking about the fact that He has left Jerusalem and the area around Jerusalem, Judea, in order to move away from the intensity of opposition to which He's now been exposed. The Pharisees are looking for any opportunity to kill Him and so He moves away from the intense fire and gets away from that because it's not time yet for Him to die and He knows that. He knows exactly what the timetable is. We're going to see Him refer to it again tonight. But He moves to Korea about 18 miles away from Jerusalem to the east across the Jordan River into the area where John the Baptist had ministered and it is in that area that He once again draws great crowds, has effective ministry but also takes time to instruct the 12, His men that will take over for Him when He dies and goes back to heaven. First thing that happens as we saw last week is that somebody asks Him a question. First thing that happens in Paris. They ask Him a question. Will there be many people saved? A lot of people say or a few people say, then Jesus takes that opportunity to teach some very clear lessons about what salvation really is and these lessons about salvation, there are four of them. We looked at two last week. We'll look at the other two tonight. The first one is there is only one way. Jesus makes it clear that the way is narrow. It's a narrow door that you go through to heaven. There is only one way and that is through Christ and He challenges the one who asks the question to make sure that He is in dead earnest about that one way in realizing that there is only one way of salvation. Then He made the point that time is limited. That door may close and you may wait too long to show interest and then find that you're on the outside. He was speaking directly to a Jewish audience there that had already denied Him and turned against Him. The majority, at least the leadership of the nation. He is talking about the fact that many people from east and west and north and south will be at the banquet, at the feast, in the kingdom, within the house of salvation. There will be many Jews who will be on the outside looking in. It was a warning. The third thing Jesus says, and this is where we pick up in verse 31, is that God is in control. Notice how He talks about the fact that when it comes to salvation and God doing His work and allowing us to have the opportunity to hear that work and to respond, God is in absolute control. Look at verse 31. At that time, some Pharisees were in Luke 13, by the way, Luke chapter 13, verse 31. Some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to Him, leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you. That may well have been true. Jesus is in Herod's jurisdiction now. The same Herod that put John the Baptist to death, a couple of years earlier. He is in that area now where Herod is ruling, and quite possibly what the Pharisees are saying, maybe true. It may be true that Herod is looking for him, would like to get his hands on him, just like he did John the Baptist. But there may be another reason why they would say this. What do you think it might be? Okay, they want to get rid of him. They wanted to kill him. Remember, he's kind of moved away from their center of power, Hasne. You think it's possible they may be trying to kind of scare him out of that area and saying, you're in a lot of danger here. You need to get back to Jerusalem. You need to get back into Jewish territory. That may be kind of the ulterior motive here to get him back where they would have more opportunity to ensnare him and to maybe arrest him and put him to death. It may be true that Herod might want to kill him, but they do too. And they want to get him back where to be a little easier for them to do that. That may be very well their real motive. Notice how Jesus responds in verse 32. He replied, go tell that fox. I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow and on the third day I will reach my goal. In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem. Now, it's obvious that Jesus is saying Herod's not in control of the timetable. I'm not leaving until God's work for me here is done. And Jesus is that what he meant by goal? No, that's fine. Good question. Yes, till I reach my goal. Until I accomplish what God wants me to do here, it's almost like He's saying, I have demons cast out of people to heal today and tomorrow. Third day I'll reach my quota. There's a sense in which he's saying God has pre-planned a certain amount of activity for me in this area and I'm not going to leave till it's done. So God's in control, not Herod. And Herod can't touch me as long as God has something for me here to do. Now that's true of every believer, isn't it? That's true of every believer. God cannot touch us until or Satan cannot touch us. No one else can touch us until God is through with what He has planned for us to do. And so Jesus is saying God is in control. I'm operating by His timetable, not Herod's. I'm not going to run out of fear of Herod. I'm not afraid of Herod. God has me here for particular reason, take it around time to do a particular work and I'm going to stay here until it's done. Why do you think you referred to Him as a box? That an interesting word that He would use? Jesus is just being mean here. Sly? Sly? There's a thing called a funny thing. Okay, deceitful and cunning. Both of those are typically characteristics of a fox, sly, cunning. Which by the way, Herod was, if you read about the Herod's and that's their whole family of them, there is a whole family of them. They're all very sly and very cunning. They were very manipulative. They were astute politicians. A fox is very sly, very cunning, very clever, but doesn't really have any power. It's not a lion, it's not a bear. It may be sly and cunning, but it's not a brute beast. I think there's a sense in which Jesus is saying, he's a very sly, cunning and clever politician but he does not have any power. It is God who is in control, not Herod. He has no power over me at all. Herod wants to kill you, the Pharisees say. And basically Jesus is saying he can't touch me. He has no power to touch me. Then he makes this statement about no prophet can die outside Jerusalem. Typically that is true, even of Old Testament prophets, but he's speaking primarily of himself as being the one sent by God, he will not die outside Jerusalem. So God is in control of the timetable. That's encouraging, but also a warning to those who are trying to frighten Jesus. Okay, comments or questions about that principle of salvation. By the way, it is a principle of salvation. God is in control of how much opportunity we have. He knows whether or not you have three days left, two days left, twenty years left. How much opportunity you have to respond to His Word, to the gospel, to the fact that Jesus died for you and you can be saved by trusting Him, a Savior. God alone knows how much time you have and He's in control of the timetable. It's very easy for us to think that we're in control. Well, I'm going to wait on this till later. We're not in control of the timetable. It's good to be reminded of that. It seems to be like in this case, well, in the Bible. It is an interesting designation that He refers to Himself as a prophet. Yes. Yes. That's true. It does seem like a low designation for Him. But He was a prophet, wasn't He? In the sense that a prophet is a spokesman for God, one who speaks on behalf of God, who takes God's revelation, gives it to people, and He certainly did fulfill that office. I think we would say yes. He is a prophet, but He's much more than a prophet, too, isn't He? Yes. Okay. The fourth principle that Jesus teaches about salvation is that God longs for people to be saved. This longing comes out, the heart of Jesus displays the longing of God as He makes this next declaration in verses 34 and 35. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you. Now often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you, desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. The first of all expresses God's heart, God's desire in verse 34, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, and you can just sense the grief there, the agony in His voice, the tenderness in His voice. I don't think these words were spoken harshly. I think they were uttered with a degree of sadness in His voice. How often have I longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings? That's the desire of God, the longing of God for people to be saved. It's interesting, isn't it how He refers to people being saved, longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings? What is that picture communicating? Some of you who are farmers? What is that picture communicating? Protection? Love and tenderness? Comfort? No, I don't think all of them are condemned. Obviously, there would be some in the crowd that have truly believed on Him. I think Jesus is speaking of the nation as a whole. Yes. Yes. He's just made it clear there's only one way of salvation. Whether it's Jewish, Gentile, regardless, there's only one way of salvation. Jews must, in New Testament times in the gospels, they needed to come to Him as their Messiah and understand that He was sent to be their Messiah, their Savior. And today, the gospel is indiscriminate. It goes out to everybody, the same message, Jewish, Gentile, no matter what your ethnic, racial background is, no matter. It's all the same. For some reason, I think it was a woman who said, when Jesus went back and she, they yelled, free from it. So the woman who said, here's a blood, be upon that, and I'll kill it. I think that statement was made on His way to the cross. I think that was statement made by some of the women who were weeping along the way. Yeah. And that is a, in a sense, a prophetic statement, what she meant by it, I don't know, but it was a prophetic statement. They were guilty of rejecting Christ and putting Him to death. But in God's mercy and grace, He has opened the door to salvation to all who will believe, including Jews. And though as a nation, they turned against Him. Individual Jews can be saved. But this is a beautiful picture, isn't it? To gather your children together as a hand gathers her chicks under her wings. And that is a symbol of tenderness, of love and protection for sure. The protection from the elements, the protection from danger, to be under the hen's wings, the little chicks to be under her wings is a symbol of protection. And probably what Jesus is saying, because of what he's going to say later about Jerusalem, it will come under God's judgment, is how often what I have spared you from that. I would have spared you God's wrath, God's judgment. I would have protected you from God's judgment if you'd only turned to me. And so that picture is, I think, one of protection from the judgment of God, from the wrath of God. And Jesus will utter the same thing later in the last week of his life in Luke 19. And he will then say that they will be judged because they have rejected him, speaking of the later destruction of the city and the dispersion of Jews throughout the world by the Roman empire in AD 70. But here he just expresses the longing of God. And then notice, he says, it's really your decision, though you've made the decision. He says, I long to gather you. I have long to save you. Look at the end of verse 34, and you were not willing. When God's plan, he gives us the opportunity to either accept or reject. And the reason for people not being in the kingdom or not being saved is quite clearly because they have rejected. That's always the way Jesus presents it in the realm of human responsibility. You were not willing. And we'll see that again before long in what Jesus says. Because of that in verse 35, your house is left to you desolate. That's a statement of judgment because they have not received him. They will be judged. Their house is left desolate. Their nation, the Jewish nation will fall under the condemnation and wrath of God. And he says, you will not see me again until you say, bless this, he comes in the name of the Lord. What does he referring to there? Anybody know what that's a reference to? Second coming, sure is, he refers back to one of the Messianic Psalms, Psalm 118, where there is a prophecy of the declaration of the crowds when the king arrives. And the king arrives, those great halloween Psalms, Psalm 113, 118, were Psalms that were sung in processions of Jews up to the temple. And when the king arrives, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, welcoming the king to the throne is the idea. And so basically, yes, Jim, he is saying, you will not see me again. Obviously, they will see him with their eyes. What he's saying is basically, you will not have the opportunity to receive me as your king again. Remember, they've already turned their backs on him. As a nation, their religious leaders have rejected him. And even though he's still holding out his arms saying, I would long to gather you, he's basically saying, you've already made your decision. And you will not have another opportunity for the kingdom till I come back. Till the second coming, Steve. They do. They do. They do welcome him into Jerusalem with those very words, singing the Psalm. And those were crowds of people who were expecting him to be the king. And he had already made it clear, you rejected the kingdom. And that popular swell of uprising was misdirected. Yeah. Actually, that was a fulfillment of a process of the kingdom. And that was a process of the kingdom. And that was a process of the kingdom. Actually, that was a fulfillment of a prophecy in Zachariah. And the writing of a donkey was common ancient near Eastern custom for a king to present himself as a humble ruler, rather than writing in on a horse, a king in order to present himself as a beneficent, a kind ruler would write on a donkey. And so that was a prophecy of Zachariah that Jesus did fulfill. But he is not offering himself as the king. There's a sense in which he is saying to them, remember, I did come as your king. You have rejected me. I'm actually coming into the city to die now. But there is still the symbolism there. I would have been your king if you had received me. In fact, he will weep over Jerusalem as he rides in on that donkey. He will weep over the city of Jerusalem in the very same words, predict their judgment. So he has issued some very clear teaching about salvation. I want to go on and get into chapter 14 because this is an amazing scene at the home of a Pharisee. Jesus exposes the Pharisees in chapter 14 verses 1 through 24. Each one says one Sabbath when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. Now just imagine the scene here. Let's get the scene in mind. This is a meal. He's going to dinner. It is a Sabbath dinner. It is a special meal prepared the day before because no work could be done on the Sabbath. This would be invited in a prominent home. There may be numerous guests that would be invited to a Sabbath meal. This is a prominent home. Obviously, very prominent Pharisee. The Bible says here, and Jesus goes to eat at this meal. This man no doubt a leading figure in the community. Is Jesus still in Korea? Hard to tell. He may have moved back into Judea, maybe not all the way to Jerusalem. He is moving around. Remember, he had said, I'm going to stay in Herod's territory today and tomorrow. The third day I'll be done. Maybe it's that third day or later. He's finished up in that area and he's moved back into Judea. Wherever he is, we're not sure where it is. He is in the house of a prominent Pharisee. He has come for dinner. He's going to take the opportunity to dish out the meal, to dish out some stinging rebukes and warnings to the Pharisees. In fact, this is not just going to be light table conversation. Jesus is going to make every one at that dinner extremely uncomfortable, including the host. So let's see what he does. And when he exposes their hearts, which was desperately needed, and is needed by us as well from time to time. He exposes, first of all, their legalism in verses one through six. We saw that he was in the house of prominent Pharisees being carefully watched, verse one, there in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. I don't miss anything here. There's a very interesting scene being played out. Verse five, then he asked them, if one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well in the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out and they had nothing to say? Now what Jesus does is he peels back the layers of their legalism. Now there are a couple of different kinds of legalism in the Bible. I want to make sure that we understand what I'm talking about when I use that word. One kind of legalism says that you have to do works to be saved. That's the kind that Paul deals with in the first half of the book of Galatians, well actually most of the book of Galatians, the kind that says you have to become a Jew, you have to put yourself back onto the mosaic law in order to be saved. That's one kind of legalism. The second kind of legalism is to say that certain rules that govern us externally make us spiritual. That's a kind of legalism that Paul deals with in Galatians five, for instance, when he says, now that you've been delivered, don't be put back under a yoke of slavery of legalism. Don't let anyone do that to you. Now that you've started by the spirit, don't try to finish this thing out by the flesh, she says. It's not rules and standards that are wrong, but the attitude that I am worldly or unspiritual, if I don't keep the same rules you keep, and this is what the Pharisees were guilty of. It was not applying the word of God to issues that they were guilty of. That was not the issue. The issue was they had a lot of interpretations, a lot of traditions and rules, which they thought helped them explain the word of God, but which to them became the rules that determined whether or not you were really godly, whether or not you were really spiritual, whether or not you were really holy. So you had to fulfill all those externals, all those rules, and if you did, you were spiritual. If you didn't, you were not spiritual. That is a form of legalism, and we obviously still fight that today. But what happens when you look at the, you look at what Jesus confronts, you find really in this Pharisees home, and what's happening here, you find four results of their legalism. Let me just point them out to you quickly. First of all, legalism will make you judgmental. Because you have certain rules and codes of conduct that everybody has to abide by, or they're not very spiritual, it makes you very judgmental. And you see that in verse one. Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee. He was being carefully watched. Literally, the Greek term is watch on the side. The idea is they were, they had a careful, they were watching him, even though they may be doing something else. They were looking at him out of the corner of their eye. They had their eye on him constantly. They had gotten him there under the pretense of a meal. But the meal was not the real issue. The real reason why Jesus was there is so that they could carefully watch every move. They were scrutinizing him through narrow eyes. They were looking to see, will we be able to catch him in any move, any word? We're going to analyze everything he does and everything he says to try to catch him. And if we can possibly catch him, if in some way he trips over a Sabbath law, why do you think he was invited to a Sabbath meal of all times? If we can catch him in some tripping up of a Sabbath law, then we've got him. We've got him. In fact, they were trying to set him up. And that's what legalism does. Legalism makes judgmentalism, the favorite sport of believers, monitoring everyone to try to catch them in a violation of one of your rules. That's what legalism will do to you. And so you're always watching to make sure and trying to, you're going to catch somebody. You're going to catch somebody in a rule, violation, and make sure you can get them tripped up, make sure that everybody understands they're not as spiritual as what they thought they were. They're carefully scrutinizing him. That's what legalism will do to you. Anything it will do to you is it will make you cold-hearted. Legalism will make you cold-hearted. You lose all sense of grace, of tenderness toward the hearts of people. You lose the sensitivity to people in certain situations. No, no, everything's got to go by the rules, by you lose the sensitivity to what people's needs are. And you find that in verse two. There in front of him, notice how this is stated. There in front of him. Now this is before they go in to sit down. This is when the or derbs are being enjoyed, I guess, because they haven't gotten to the table yet. They haven't found their seats yet. When Jesus gets there, there in front of him, you get the idea that this is staged. This man is placed here. In front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of the body. The old King James words says, dropsy. And the idea is a medical condition that either because of kidney trouble or a heart ailment or maybe some other disease, maybe a deliver or something. The tissues are filling with water. We might call it adema today or something like that. But he is retaining fluids and he is a very sick man. It will become clear later on that this banquet was intended for the friends of the Pharisee. This guy is a puppet. This guy has been staged. He's been brought here under false pretenses because they know that Jesus will have compassion on him. You really get the sense, at least I do, that they have strategically placed him where Jesus will be right in front of Jesus when Jesus arrives. It will be unmistakable. It will be impossible for Jesus to avoid him. This man is simply bait. That's all he is to the Pharisees. He is bait. He is bait in the trap. They have no concern for him. They have no love for him. They are not concerned about his physical condition. Maybe he has been brought there under false pretenses that something is going to be offered to him or maybe a position in the town is going to be offered to you. I don't know. I am guessing. He has been brought there under false pretenses, but he is just the bait for the trap. They want to trap Jesus and disguise the bait because they believe Jesus will perform another healing on the Sabbath day which they have already tried to catch him before and remember tried to stone him for it and were not successful. They care nothing about this man, no heart for him and his needs. Mentalism will make you cold, cold-hearted. You will use people for your own ends. That's what legalism does. I have seen it happen over and over again. People who, to them, the rules become more important than anything else are more important about, are more concerned about applying the rules and everybody is sticking by my rules than they are about the needs of people and reaching out in love and mercy to reach somebody's need. It makes you cold-hearted. The third evidence of legalism that Jesus just strips off. By the way, let me say this before the thought leaves me. I think that's the reason why Jesus, when he healed the man, sent him away. Did you notice that when we read the story? After Jesus healed him, he sent him away. Why? Because he was never intended to be a guest at the meal anyway and Jesus knew that. Jesus knew this was all staged. Jesus knew that there was no intent to have him at the meal, so Jesus is going to get him out of a very awkward, uncomfortable situation. He knows the man who is brought there into false pretenses. When he heals him, he is sending him away. I'm not going to allow you to be subjected to this any longer. I will heal you. I will show grace to you, but I'm not going to allow you to be humiliated like this. Go on your way. Beautiful touch of the grace of Christ. But the third thing is that legalism will make you an externalist. It will make you an externalist in the sense that all you're concerned about is the rule book, the externalist, the code of conduct that everybody is doing exactly what the rulebook says. Every, Jesus asks the Pharisees and experts in the law, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? I love the way he does this. Jesus snips out the ambush. He knows what's happening. And so he takes the initiative. He does not wait to be set up. He takes the initiative. And he asks them the question. And he asks the question in a way that will put them on the defensive. And in fact, in a way that they will be stymied and will not even be able to answer. Here's the way he asks the question. Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not? What law do you think Jesus is referring to? Work or word? Work? Okay. All right. Okay. All right. Okay. I think that may be what Jesus is getting at. I think Jesus is referring to God's law. Is it lawful to, the word lawful would take them back to the law, to the mosaic law, to take them back to the Bible. And I think what Jesus is asking them is, does Moses have anything to say in the law about healing on the Sabbath? And they're racking their brains, trying to weed back through all of their traditions and rules that they've stacked on top of the mosaic law. Just wait a second. Did Moses actually say anything about this? So they remain silent. And I think the wheels are turning, they're trying to think, and Moses did, Moses. And I know this midrash said that, and that rabbi says this, and this interpretation says this, and did Moses actually say anything? They're silent. They can't answer. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. Moses does not say anything about healing or not healing on the Sabbath. It is not a part of God's law. It's not a part of God's word. And what Jesus is basically doing them is he's stripping away in their hearts. He's showing them the distinction between God's law and their rules. And they are not the same. They are not the same. What he's saying is, I'm going to go back through all the mass of traditions that you've layered on top of the Bible. And I'm going to go straight back to the Bible. There's the Bible saying anything about this. And when they couldn't answer that, I think Jesus is saying, uh-huh, see? I'm going to heal this guy because that is not in violation of Moses' law. Maybe in violation of your definition of work on the Sabbath, but it is not in violation of God's law. So basically what he's doing is he's stripping away the fact that their legalism has led to an externalism that all they're concerned about is the rules, the code book, conformity to their standards, not what the Bible teaches. And folks, we have got to constantly, constantly guard ourselves against adding to the Bible. Cultural standards, what we've always thought was right and wrong because somebody told us, is that really what the Bible says? We've got to constantly be making that distinction. Jesus did. And we need to do the same. It's a constant fight, it's fighting my own heart and life. We always have to make sure we're okay. Is this Bible or is this something else? I always have to make that distinction. One more real quick so that we can finish this thought. One other thing that legalism will do to you, remember Jesus is attacking their legalism. I mean, he's going straight to the heart of it. Their legalism and our legalism will make us inconsistent. That's the fourth thing legalism will do. It makes us inconsistent. Verse 5, then he asked them, if one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out? And they had nothing to say. Because they knew what the answer was. The answer was yes, yeah, we would do that. If one of our children falls into a well, we're not going to say, well, you know that violates the work laws on the Sabbath. And so, too bad it happened today. Of course not. You get the child out. If your donkey falls into the well, you do whatever work is needed to get the donkey out. And do you see what Jesus is pointing out? You have more concern for your donkey than this man. God is concerned more about this man. He's like a child to God. So you have a child falls into a well. What does your father's heart tell you to do? God has someone who needs help on the Sabbath. God's going to help him. God's going to heal him. So he shows how inconsistent legalism is. And when you start living by the rule book, it's impossible to be consistent. When you start living by man-made rules, I should say I'm not talking about the Bible. But when you start trying to live by man-made rules that just become more and more complex all the time, it's impossible to stay consistent. You will be inconsistent at some point in trying to do all of that. And that's what Jesus points out to them. So Jesus exposes their legalism in a brilliant way that causes them not to even be able to answer. And I'm amazed at how he takes the initiative. He's on the attack before they have a chance to put him up to what they had him therefore. He's on the attack showing them their legalism. But he's not done. When we come back a couple of weeks before I get back to this. But when we come back, we will see that Jesus is not done yet. They're just starting to squirm. He is really going to get under their skin when he starts talking more about exposing them for who they are. Okay, let's close our time is up. Father, thank you for our Lord and Master. And he certainly is the Lord of all and the Master. The one who knows all the things. The one who knows each heart, the need of a man who is sick, but also the sick heart of a Pharisee. He knows everything. Father, help us to sit in his school and realize what he wants to teach us about salvation and about legalism. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.