March 25th

Wes walked us through the passage emphasizing the importance of our acceptance of EVERYone!

Chapter 4: Jesus was able to handle temptation successfully because He never faced it alone. Every step he took was under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Every battle He faced was met in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the result of such a Spirit-directed, Spirit-empowered lifestyle was victory over the attacks of Satan. The same kind of victory you can experience today in your walk with God.
Fleeting Fame With the Fickle Public: In the space of these 3 chapters, you will find a remarkable change in public opinion regarding Christ. At first, He “became well known throughout all that region…everyone praised Him” 4:14. But only 2 chapters later, “The enemies of Jesus were wild with rage, and began to plot His murder” 6:11. Can you account for this sudden change of hearts?
At the end of chapter 4, we learn that the Lord left Nazareth and set up His headquarters in Capernaum…home of Peter, Andrew, James and John. He taught regularly in the synagogue and He astonished them by the authority of His message AND the authority He had over demons.
Jesus did not want the demons to bear witness of Him so He cast them out…they knew Who Jesus was and trembled.
At Peter’s house, He healed Peter’s mother in law. And after sundown, many came to ask for help. Yet, he was up early the next morning to pray. It was in prayer that He found His strength and power for service…JUST AS WE MUST!
The Lord spoke to great crowds but He was always concerned for individuals…a transformed life to send out to share His message with others.
Peter, James, Andrew and John had been enlisted earlier and traveled with the Lord in Capernaum and Galilee, but then they went back to their trade of fishing. Now He would call them to a life of full time discipleship.
5:1-5 Always listen to the Lord and answer as Simon did, “Sir, we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, we’ll try again.” This time their nets were full. Simon confessed his unworthiness…Jesus’ reply, “From now on you’ll be fishing for the souls of men.”
The qualities of fishermen: courage, daring, patience, determination to work on the seas, a great deal of faith, willingness to work together (nets rather than hooks), developing skills necessary to get the job done quickly and efficiently. The REAL fishermen don’t quit…Peter kept on working while Jesus sat on his boat – a platform to address the huge crowd on the shore. Vernon McGee said, “Every pulpit is a fishing boat… a place to give out the Word of God and attempt to catch fish.”
If Peter had not followed the simple command to “Launch out into the deep.”…he would never have participated in such a miracle. One the Sea of Galilee, you caught fish at night in the shallow water, not in the daytime in the deep water. BUT Peter obeyed. Peter was willing to submit to the authority of Jesus, even tho he did not understand all that the Lord was doing. AND a great crowd was watching.
A response to success is one indication of the true character of a person. Instead of claiming the valuable catch for themselves…they called for their partners to share it. We are not to be reservoirs but channels of blessing to share with others what God has graciously given to us.
Leprosy like sin is deeper than the skin and cannot be helped by mere surface measures. Like sin, leprosy spreads and it defiles as it goes. It is critical important that lost sinners trust Jesus Christ to rid of their leprosy. The leper not only needed to be changed but he wanted to be changed.
The leper approached Jesus 5:12-13 and Jesus touched him! And healed him! This is a beautiful picture of what Jesus has done for lost sinners: He became sin for us that we might be made clean. The leper was told to be quiet and he instead became an enthusiastic witness. We are told to tell everyone, and we keep quiet!
The Lord often left the crowds and slipped away to a quiet place to pray and seek the Father…that is a great example for all of us to follow!
The Pharisees – to divide, to separate. Theirs and the scribes great desire was to understand and magnify God’s Law and apply it in their daily lives. But the movement became quite legalistic. Many were hypocrites. Jesus exposed the shallowness of their religion and explained that true righteousness is a matter of the heart and not external religious practices alone.
5:17-26 Palsy could be a picture of the paralysis that sin produces in a life. The Lord not only healed the man but He forgave his sins and taught the crowd a lesson about forgiveness. The four men who helped the man with palsy are a great example to us of ministering to one another and helping needy sinners to come to Christ.
The religious leaders that were looking on saw the Lord’s declaration that He had power to heal the body and forgive sins. They had already acknowledged His authority to teach and to cast out demons. They could not deny the miracle of healing, but they considered His claim to forgive sins nothing less than blasphemy.
Luke refers to the Lord as the Son of man in v. 24. In all of Luke is it found 23 times, 82 times in the Gospel record.
The Lord’s miracles not only demonstrated His deity and His compassion for needy people, but they also revealed important spiritual lessons about salvation. They were “object lessons” to teach spiritually blind people what God could do for them if only they would believe in His Son.
5: 27-39 Levi is called and this accomplished 3 things: a lost soul is saved, a new disciple was added the His band, and He created an opportunity to explain His ministry to Levi’s friend and the scribes and Pharisees.
Levi, the tax collector was a despised man…many were unscrupulous and the Jews despised him additionally because he was working for the Gentiles. Jesus became suspect for having anything to do with Levi. Levi who became Matthew obeyed the Lord’s call immediately – left everything and followed Jesus.
Jesus did not fit the scribes and Pharisees traditional religious life. Many leaders today refuse to try to understand the new things that God is doing. To help them understand Jesus used four illustrations:
The physician 31-32 … they could readily diagnose the needs of others but were blind to their own needs. The first step to healing sin sickness is admitting that we have a need and that we must do something about it. The true servant of God tells the truth about sin, death, and hell and offers the only remedy: faith in Jesus Christ. What a wonderful Physician Jesus is…He comes in love, calls us; saves us when we trust Him and He “pays the bill.” His diagnosis is always accurate and His cure is perfect and complete.
The Bridegroom 33-35 the Pharisees were not joyful and were upset to see others joyful.
The garment v.36 Jesus did not come to patch up the old; He came to give the new. Many have a patchwork religion of their own making, instead of trusting Christ for the robe of salvation that He gives by grace.
The wineskins: v.37-39 New wine into brittle old wineskins…The new life of the Spirit could not be forced into the old wineskins of Judaism. A replacement was taking place Heb. 8:13. The things in the ceremonial Law were fulfilled by Jesus so there is no need today for sacrifices, priests, temples, and ceremonies. All of God’s people are priests who bring spiritual sacrifices to the Lord I Peter 2:5,9. The tables of Law have been replaced by the tables of the human heart, where God’s Spirit is writing the Word and making us like Him. II Cor. 3:1-3, 18
As the Physician, He offers sinners new life and spiritual health. As the Bridegroom, He brings new love and joy. He gives us the robe of righteousness and the wine of the Spirit. Life is a feast, not a famine or a funeral; and Jesus Christ is the only One who can make that kind of a difference in our lives.
By their strict and oppressive rules, the Pharisees and scribes had turned the Sabbath Day into a burden instead of the blessing God meant it to be and Jesus challenged both their doctrine and their authority. They had changed God’s gift into a heavy yoke that nobody could bear.
The Sabbath is a reminder of the completion of ‘the old Creation’ while the Lord’s Day is a reminder of our Lord’ finished work in the new Creation. The Sabbath speaks of rest AFTER work and related to the Law, while the Lord’s Day speaks of rest BEFORE work and related to grace. The Lord’s Day commemorates the resurrection of Jesus from the deal as well as the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birthday of the church. Acts. The early church met on the first day of the week.
Eating in the field – hunger satisfied rather than religious demands. V. 5 declared Himself Jehovah – and we can be sure that did not miss the meaning of what He stated.
Healing on the Sabbath…The miracle illustrates the power of faith in God’s Word. Jesus commanded the man to do the very thing he could not do, and yet he did it! “For no word from God shall be void of power 1:37. God’s commandments are always God’s enablements. God gave the Sabbath law to help people, not to hurt them…Mark 2:27.
The scribes and the Pharisees became furious. Their anger led them to join forces with the Herodians in a plot to kill Jesus Mark 3:6 He knew their thoughts and withdrew.
Jesus gives a spiritual “Sabbath rest that is in the heart all the time. Unlike the galling yoke of the Law, the yoke that Jesus gives is “well fitting and His burden is light. Peace with God. As we yield we enjoy the peace of God. Have you ever sought the rest that is promised in Heb. 3:9-11?