back to indexBerean Community Church - Sunday Worship - 11/9/2025
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There is no shadow, there is no shadow of turning with thee. 00:04:33.300 |
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not. 00:04:43.700 |
As thou hast, thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness. 00:04:52.700 |
Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness. 00:05:14.700 |
I have needed, thy faithfulness, I have needed, thy hand has provided. 00:05:29.700 |
God is thy faithfulness, O God, and thy faithfulness, O God, and thy faithfulness, O God. 00:05:39.700 |
God is thy faithfulness, O God, and thy faithfulness, O God, and thy faithfulness, O God. 00:05:40.700 |
and winter and springtime and harvest. Sun, moon and stars in their courses above. Join with all nature in manifold witness. 00:06:07.700 |
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. 00:06:26.700 |
Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. 00:06:53.700 |
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth. Thine, O dear, presence to cheer and to guide. 00:07:20.700 |
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings, O mine, with 10,000 peace out. Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. 00:07:47.700 |
Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. 00:07:50.700 |
Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. 00:08:15.700 |
Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. Lord, unto me. 00:08:19.700 |
Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. Lord, unto me. 00:08:22.700 |
Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. 00:08:27.700 |
Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. 00:08:27.700 |
Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness. Lord, unto me. 00:08:37.700 |
First of all, Women's Ministry Holiday Outreach Booth. So we've been announcing this for a few times, but there's Living Well, Baby Bottle Drive, OC Rescue Mission, then Brookdale Caroling. 00:08:49.700 |
That's going to be taking place during the Christmas season, which they do every year. 00:08:55.700 |
The sign-up table is outside. So as you are going out, you probably saw the tables out there. 00:09:00.700 |
So please come visit that and let them know that you'll be participating and they'll give you the information that you need. 00:09:05.700 |
This coming Saturday at 9 a.m. at we have All Church Cleaning Maintenance Day. 00:09:11.700 |
So they're asking. We need more people to come and help out with that. 00:09:14.700 |
So if you're able to come this coming Saturday, even if you can't stay the whole time, if you can come, even a portion of it, they'll be able to assign you certain areas of the church that we need help in. 00:09:23.700 |
So please sign up for that as well. Regional Thanksgiving dinner sign-up. So if you haven't signed up for that in your planning, you should be getting your assignment pretty soon. 00:09:35.700 |
But if you haven't signed up for it, please sign up for it as soon as possible so that we can place you where it's more convenient for you. 00:09:42.700 |
So please sign up for that as well. And then, as you guys know, we just came back from Taiwan Mission, but there's another mission trip that's happening in January. 00:09:51.700 |
There's one for Korea and then another one for India. And so some of the members of the team are going to be doing fundraising. 00:09:58.700 |
And one of the things that they're doing is a T-shirt fundraiser. OK, so I guess that's the design there. 00:10:04.700 |
And you can sign up for that. The cost is $30 and it will help some of the team members that are in need of assistance. 00:10:10.700 |
And they'll be if all the proceeds will go to that. So you can sign up for that. 00:10:15.700 |
And though I think they're going to make it based upon how many people purchase it, pre-purchase it so that they can order the right size and they won't have to order more than they need. 00:10:25.700 |
OK, and then one last thing today is Orphan Sunday. 00:10:30.700 |
And as we've been announcing that we're going to be taking a special offering that's going to go to the orphan ministry of Baby Box. 00:10:37.700 |
And that pastor was here several years ago explaining about his ministry. 00:10:41.700 |
And I shared briefly about it. There's plenty of documentaries about his ministry. 00:10:46.700 |
And he's again, he's a man that single handedly again, I know there's a lot of people laboring, but at least from my perspective, 00:10:56.700 |
who's made one of the biggest impact, at least out in South Korea and, you know, even in the United States about the sanctity of life. 00:11:03.700 |
And so and, you know, again, if you want more details of that, you can go online and through our various channels, you can find it or you can go to YouTube and look at it. 00:11:12.700 |
But the offering that you give is going to go to that ministry. 00:11:15.700 |
And when we go out to Korea on in January, we'll be giving it to them. 00:11:19.700 |
So if you're giving electronically on the sheet, on the page, you drop down and make sure that it is the baby box offering is highlighted so it doesn't get confused with the other offering that you're going. 00:11:33.700 |
So if it's not going to that, obviously, to be general offering. 00:11:35.700 |
But if it's specifically going to that, please make sure that you tick the box for the baby walks ministry. 00:11:42.700 |
OK, if you do have a physical offering, again, we have an offering box in the back and then Joanne. 00:11:49.700 |
We have Joanne is going to be coming up and giving her testimony about Taiwan. 00:11:57.700 |
Then after that, we'll have after she gives her testimony or actually during the testimony right now, 00:12:04.700 |
for the sake of time, because we also have baptism. 00:12:07.700 |
I'm going to pray for the offering and then she's going to give her testimony. 00:12:13.700 |
So I know a little bit confusing, but we kind of double schedule. 00:12:19.700 |
And then Joanne will come and give her testimony. 00:12:21.700 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your grace and love. 00:12:28.700 |
And we pray, Father, that you would bless this time as we give. 00:12:32.700 |
Help us to give cheerfully, bountifully, as an act of worship. 00:12:37.700 |
And may it be multiplied for the sake of your kingdom. 00:12:53.700 |
My name is Joanne, and I'm really thankful for this opportunity to share a little bit about our recent mission trip to Kaohsiung, Taiwan. 00:13:01.700 |
Last week, I had the joy of serving alongside our team and witnessing how God is moving in a place that on the surface can feel very far from him, but where he is most definitely at work. 00:13:13.700 |
To give a bit of a background, Taiwan's spiritual climate is mostly Buddhist and Mazu following. 00:13:18.700 |
In Kaohsiung, temples are everywhere, and you can find them on almost every corner. 00:13:23.700 |
It's a culture very rooted in tradition and ancestry, but not one that talks much about a personal relationship with God. 00:13:30.700 |
I think that this was something that really stood out to me, how deeply spiritual, yet how spiritually lost many people are. 00:13:36.700 |
I'm really grateful we got the opportunity to partner again with a professor named Sherry at NKUST, who invited us to meet her college students for two days of tour groups, where the students took us around Kaohsiung and practiced their English with us. 00:13:56.700 |
I didn't think I'd get to talk with her much throughout the night, honestly, but on our first tour, she took us to an old sugar factory. 00:14:03.700 |
And as we were walking back to the Metro, she suddenly said that we couldn't take the subway anymore because someone had just passed away at the station. 00:14:14.700 |
When we asked more about it, she said incidents like those happen almost every month or so at the stations. 00:14:20.700 |
It really struck me how numb people have become to tragedy and how little thought was given to what happens after death. 00:14:28.700 |
So I asked her gently, where do you think that person went? 00:14:32.700 |
Sally paused for a long time and said she didn't really know and that she had never really thought about it. 00:14:36.700 |
She told me that her family is Buddhist and she considers herself Buddhist too. 00:14:41.700 |
But as she spoke, there was hesitation in her voice. 00:14:44.700 |
Like even she wasn't sure what that meant for her personally. 00:14:47.700 |
She said sometimes she prays to the Buddhist gods because it feels right and her parents do it. 00:14:53.700 |
But other times she wonders if anyone is really listening. 00:14:56.700 |
I could tell Sally was still searching, wanting to believe in something true, but not knowing really where to begin. 00:15:02.700 |
In that moment, I saw her as God sees her, a precious soul made in his image and who he knows by name, yet far from the life he desires for her and living without the hope of knowing her maker. 00:15:13.700 |
The same God who breathed life into Sally was now calling her heart to repentance and redemption, that she might be reconciled to him and find the life that only he can give, which is a life made new by his spirit alone. 00:15:26.700 |
Over the next few days, I saw how God was slowly softening her heart. 00:15:30.700 |
We grabbed lunch the next day and doors continued to open that week to meet with her almost every day of the trip. 00:15:35.700 |
Through our conversations about the gospel, praying together at the end of each night, and simply spending time with her throughout the week, I began to notice small but real changes. 00:15:44.700 |
She started asking deeper questions about what true faith is, about who Jesus really is, and even reflecting on what it means to have hope that lasts beyond this life. 00:15:54.700 |
She listened more intently each time we talked about God, and I could really sense that the Holy Spirit was stirring something in her heart through her wrestling with truth. 00:16:02.700 |
Not rejecting it, but just quietly taking it in when words fall short. 00:16:07.700 |
I truly believe the Spirit was at work in convicting, comforting, and opening Sally's eyes to know more about God. 00:16:13.700 |
Even though she didn't make any big decisions that week, I knew that God was pursuing her gently by breaking through just years of spiritual confusion and showing her glimpses of his great love for her. 00:16:24.700 |
It reminded me that the same God who began a good work in Sally is the one who is still at work in me also. 00:16:32.700 |
He continues to convict and transform us daily, and I can trust that he will be faithful to complete the work he's begun in me. 00:16:39.700 |
It really comforts me to know that I belong to a Father who never stops working for my good, and that truth helps me to rest in his care and to trust his timing in my own life, even when I don't fully understand what he's doing. 00:16:52.700 |
It also reminded me that missions is not ultimately about what we do for God, but about joining in his redemptive plan, which is the work he's been doing since the beginning of time to seek and save the lost. 00:17:03.700 |
God's heart for Sally is the same heart he showed at the cross, patient in mercy, steadfast in love, and always pursuing the sinner so that none would perish but that all would come to repentance and live in the light of his truth. 00:17:16.700 |
God is so good, and in his kindness he let me catch just a small glimpse of his saving love at work through just my time with her. 00:17:24.700 |
Please pray for Sally that God would continue to stir her heart, and that one day she would come to know Jesus personally. 00:17:30.700 |
And please pray for Hope Church, for Pastor Alex and his family that God would continue to use them to be his hands and his feet in a place that deeply needs his gospel. 00:17:40.700 |
And please pray for the people of Taiwan that many people would come to know the living hope that we have in Christ. 00:17:53.700 |
As with every Sunday, let us all rise and spend a few moments to greet the neighbors around us before we continue. 00:26:49.700 |
I am 15 years old and a sophomore in high school, 00:26:54.700 |
I was raised in the church and always considered myself to be a Christian, 00:26:57.700 |
but sixth grade was when I first began wrestling with doubts about God. 00:27:02.700 |
Scientific theories like evolution and other secular explanations 00:27:05.700 |
seemed more convincing than the teachings that I had grown up with. 00:27:09.700 |
Near the end of seventh grade, my family began attending Berean Community Church, 00:27:13.700 |
and I remember how the teachings of Pastor Mark and Pastor Peter Chung 00:27:18.700 |
and how influential role models like my small group teacher, Teacher Garrett, 00:27:25.700 |
They helped me believe that Jesus really had died on the cross and risen again. 00:27:29.700 |
And since then, I have held firmly to that truth, 00:27:31.700 |
and I thought that believing this was all that I needed to be a Christian. 00:27:37.700 |
I spoke carelessly, heard others of my words, 00:27:39.700 |
and gave into temptations that contradicted everything that I believed, 00:27:44.700 |
I was an entirely different person at school than I was at church. 00:27:48.700 |
The worst of all the sins that tormented me were pride and lust. 00:27:52.700 |
These sins seemed to drag me down to my lowest and brought me from being eager to be a Christian down to a life of sin and depression. 00:28:00.700 |
A life where I studied the word and prayed often, and was proud of my Christian identity, 00:28:05.700 |
but at the same time participated in the small pleasures of this world. 00:28:09.700 |
This all came crashing down when I was discovered committing a sin so shameful and foul that its consequences stripped everything away that I held dear. 00:28:18.700 |
It shattered my sense of identity and left me in despair. 00:28:21.700 |
I found myself in horror at my own actions and what I had committed without ever stopping once to consider how evil it was, 00:28:27.700 |
and how much of an insult it was to the Lord. 00:28:30.700 |
It horrifies me so much to think that I had been going to church to hear the Lord's word and call myself a Christian, 00:28:35.700 |
only to return home the very same day and become engaged in a sin so horrible that it appalls me to look back at. 00:28:41.700 |
I was shocked not only at the sin itself, but the fact that I hadn't seen any wrong in it. 00:28:46.700 |
I hadn't even stopped once to consider how evil it was, and whether or not I was glorifying God. 00:28:52.700 |
That night, I was in such dismay for what I had done and I doubted anyone could love me. 00:28:59.700 |
I thought of how this transgression horrified my parents, and I was ashamed that they would have me for a son. 00:29:05.700 |
I feared my father for what he would say, for it would have been just for him to be wrathful against me, 00:29:10.700 |
but I was surprised to hear that amidst all the anger and disappointment, I was still his son, and he loved me all the same. 00:29:17.700 |
I still vividly remember church the next day, which I was forced to attend remotely after falling ill. 00:29:23.700 |
As I worshiped from home, I remember singing, 00:29:26.700 |
"You were the God of the broken, the friend of the weak. 00:29:29.700 |
You washed the feet of the weary and embraced the ones in need." 00:29:32.700 |
This song reminded me that God was truly the God of the broken, 00:29:35.700 |
and though I had transgressed him to an infinite degree, 00:29:37.700 |
he still loved me, even greater than how my parents loved me. 00:29:41.700 |
This transgression had humbled me before the Lord, 00:29:46.700 |
and that I should desire him above the things of this world. 00:29:49.700 |
It wasn't long before youth retreat came around and I was able to flee from the stresses of life 00:29:56.700 |
I confessed my sins to some of the teachers who prayed for me 00:29:59.700 |
and helped me even more to understand the Lord's love and forgiveness. 00:30:03.700 |
During the retreat, I felt the Lord's word move me to an understanding, 00:30:06.700 |
and I felt the Lord embrace me with a love so incredible that it made me weep and embrace him back with joy. 00:30:11.700 |
Just as Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates his own love toward us, 00:30:16.700 |
and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 00:30:20.700 |
For most of my life, I believed that Jesus had died and risen again, 00:30:23.700 |
but I never truly knew the love of the Lord enough to make him a real part of my life, 00:30:31.700 |
But now I know how amazing the Lord's love really is. 00:30:34.700 |
I never felt happier than the day after retreat when I woke in the middle of the night, 00:30:39.700 |
only to jump for joy, remembering that the Lord had forgiven me, 00:30:42.700 |
and that he loved me as a father loves his child. 00:30:45.700 |
And ever since then, I've decided to love him back, crying out, "Abba, Father." 00:30:52.700 |
Above all else, I want to be a part of his family and to grow closer to him every day. 00:30:56.700 |
I now understand that the Lord is better than anything the world has to offer. 00:30:59.700 |
He is worthy of all my love and devotion, and my prayer life has grown, 00:31:03.700 |
and I'm more motivated than ever to study his words so I might know him more. 00:31:06.700 |
And though I still struggle with sin, I feel that I fight it differently now. 00:31:10.700 |
I feel that the Lord has freed me from the slavery of sin, and I'm forever grateful. 00:31:13.700 |
Colossians 3:1-3 says, "Since then, you have been raised of Christ. 00:31:18.700 |
Set your hearts on things above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 00:31:21.700 |
Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. 00:31:24.700 |
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God." 00:31:51.700 |
Sam, do you understand, when you're going to the water, you're being united to Christ's death, 00:31:55.700 |
and when you're coming out, you'll be united to his resurrected life? 00:31:58.700 |
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:32:02.700 |
I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit. 00:32:03.700 |
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit. 00:32:03.700 |
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit. 00:32:04.700 |
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit. 00:32:05.700 |
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit. 00:32:06.700 |
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit. 00:32:07.700 |
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit. 00:32:08.700 |
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit. 00:32:09.700 |
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit. 00:32:10.700 |
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit. 00:32:11.700 |
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit. 00:32:13.700 |
And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit. 00:33:44.700 |
And the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by him. 00:33:57.700 |
We thank you, Father God, for the work that you are doing in our midst. 00:34:02.700 |
How you are calling sinners, Lord, without hope to yourself. 00:34:07.700 |
Knowing, Father, that you are our only mediator toward God. 00:34:24.700 |
The context of this text, I think, I haven't been on the pulpit for a couple of weeks. 00:34:32.700 |
But just as a reminder, Jesus is about three to five months away from going to the cross. 00:34:37.700 |
He's preparing his disciples for what's about to come. 00:34:40.700 |
Not only persecution for him, but the persecution that's going to come from the leaders of Israel. 00:34:46.700 |
And so he tells them to watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees, the hypocrisy. 00:34:51.700 |
That though on the surface they may present themselves as righteous, but behind the scene is full of hypocrisy. 00:34:57.700 |
The righteousness is only for other people to see, but behind the scene they're not who they present themselves to be. 00:35:03.700 |
He tells them in the context in the previous verse, that if they don't repent, the same fate that happened to the Galileans, where their blood was mixed with the animals. 00:35:18.700 |
Or in Siloam, 18 people who died by accident, that they also will experience the same fate. 00:35:26.700 |
And he's telling them that the primary call that you have is to go preach the gospel, to bring sinners to repentance and receive forgiveness. 00:35:33.700 |
And if you don't recognize your primary problem, whatever solution you throw at it is going to be wrong. 00:35:39.700 |
So not only is he telling the people who are listening, but telling his disciples, your primary struggle is to bring sinners to repentance. 00:35:48.700 |
He told them not to worry when you go get dragged into synagogues, the rulers and authorities, because the Holy Spirit is going to teach you what to say. 00:36:00.700 |
And then we're looking at a text here where he is calling out the ruler again, showing them a tangible example of what they're going to face. 00:36:09.700 |
A great miracle takes place, and this synagogue ruler, instead of seeing what God has done, pushes back. 00:36:18.700 |
And it's revealing basically what the disciples and the first Christians were going to face when they try to get the gospel out. 00:36:26.700 |
If you look in the New Testament, there's two primary concerns that the apostles had. 00:36:34.700 |
You had the Gentiles who were converting and coming into the church, and they had a difficult time letting go of their past. 00:36:39.700 |
So whether it was sexual immorality, whether it was the culture, whatever it was, so much of the New Testament is written to help them to discern that you are a new creation now. 00:36:52.700 |
That Christ is Lord, that you must not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed. 00:36:57.700 |
But the first group of people, first opposition that they faced were not the Gentiles, obviously. 00:37:04.700 |
Everywhere they went, whether it was Apostle Paul or the other twelve apostles, it was a habit, along with Jesus, to go to the synagogues and preach the gospel about the kingdom. 00:37:15.700 |
And so the first place where the opposition and hatred toward them is going to come is going to be from the religious leaders of the time. 00:37:23.700 |
And so the title of my message this morning is the making of a legalist. 00:37:30.700 |
Because that's the first place where pushback comes. 00:37:33.700 |
And I think just even from my observation, if you study church history, the first place that pushback comes from when revival breaks out, when you want to passionately pursue Christ, oftentimes is from the church itself. 00:37:50.700 |
certain patterns that we've created, certain patterns that we've created, certain things that we expect, certain disciplines that you expect from everybody else. 00:37:57.700 |
And people who don't want that being broken are where the first pushback comes to place. 00:38:04.700 |
So I want to look at what we see with this synagogue ruler and look at what legalism looks like. 00:38:11.700 |
And so that we may also be careful that we don't fall into that same temptation. 00:38:17.700 |
But I want to start again, this is going to be a two part sermon. 00:38:20.700 |
I'm going to do the rest of it next week, but I'm going to go over three of it today. 00:38:24.700 |
First of all, I want to start by saying what legalism is not. 00:38:28.700 |
Because that term legalism is thrown around to nullify anything that makes us feel bad. 00:38:45.700 |
And when we throw that term legalism around, basically it nullifies any teaching, any accountability. 00:38:53.700 |
Let me tell you what legalism is not before we jump into what legalism looks like. 00:38:57.700 |
Legalism is not striving to live a holy and set apart lives. 00:39:01.700 |
Scripture tells us that we ought to be holy because our heavenly father is holy. 00:39:07.700 |
The Bible is constantly filled with imperatives. 00:39:11.700 |
Every once in a while, I'll hear somebody saying, it's not about what we do. 00:39:19.700 |
It's about what God did, which leads to what we do. 00:39:32.700 |
Legalism is not discipling others to observe what Jesus taught them. 00:39:37.700 |
The Great Commission is to go make disciples. 00:39:42.700 |
Baptizing them in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 00:39:44.700 |
Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you. 00:39:47.700 |
So when somebody is uncomfortable with discipling. 00:39:50.700 |
Discipling means that we're challenging them to live a certain way that honors, glorifies God. 00:39:56.700 |
Live up to the gospel that you proclaim to believe. 00:40:01.700 |
So sometimes people will throw around legalism to nullify any challenge of maybe the way we speak. 00:40:17.700 |
Legalism is not provoking one another on toward love and good deeds. 00:40:24.700 |
Whenever we challenge somebody and say, hey, you know, I haven't seen you at church in a while. 00:40:28.700 |
And you're not participating in this and that. 00:40:42.700 |
But to consider carefully how to provoke one another on toward love and good deeds. 00:40:48.700 |
And so provoking one another on toward love and good deeds is not legalism. 00:40:54.700 |
Legalism is not trying to turn people from their sin. 00:40:57.700 |
James 5:19-20 tells us that this is one of the characteristics of the church. 00:41:03.700 |
People who are straying from sin to turn them to God. 00:41:09.700 |
So legalism is not a diligent pursuit of accurate doctrines. 00:41:16.700 |
That we ought to study the word of God carefully. 00:41:22.700 |
Not to turn from it to the left or to the right. 00:41:28.700 |
So we ought to be careful how we embrace doctrine. 00:41:38.700 |
Legalism is not anything and everything that makes you feel bad. 00:41:43.700 |
Now I say all of this because again I believe in our culture. 00:41:48.700 |
That the term legalism is thrown around to nullify any passionate pursuit of Christ individually or collectively. 00:41:55.700 |
And that is not the right understanding of legalism. 00:42:05.700 |
The first thing I want to mention is that a legalist is someone who is blind to the glory of God. 00:42:11.700 |
Something spectacular happens in the presence of the ruler of the synagogue. 00:42:17.700 |
And instead of celebrating, he is irate and angry. 00:42:25.700 |
So this was not something that was an accident or something that newly happened. 00:42:30.700 |
This was a common site in the synagogue probably. 00:42:37.700 |
If you attend first service or second service or third service. 00:42:41.700 |
You probably have a lot of people that you walk around a courtyard you've never met. 00:42:44.700 |
You know, part of the benefit of having all church retreat is you get to interact with people that you're not even sure are there. 00:42:52.700 |
But that was not the case with the synagogue. 00:42:54.700 |
An average size of a synagogue was probably around 20 to 50. 00:43:06.700 |
But most average synagogues probably only had about 30 to 50 people. 00:43:10.700 |
Which means, if this lady was there for 18 years. 00:43:20.700 |
So this was not a sight of somebody who just came into town looking for Jesus. 00:43:26.700 |
In fact, the text tells us that she's not the one who cried out to Jesus. 00:43:38.700 |
Okay, some of you may or may not agree with this. 00:43:41.700 |
But I don't think this text is even about her miracle. 00:43:45.700 |
I don't even think it's about, we can celebrate what Jesus says is compassion for this lady. 00:43:51.700 |
But I think the main point that Luke is trying to reveal to us is the hypocrisy of the religious leaders. 00:44:03.700 |
And the text tells us that she immediately straightens up and she is erect. 00:44:12.700 |
This is a lady that everybody may have accepted already. 00:44:18.700 |
Not just slightly bent over, but she was bent over double. 00:44:22.700 |
Meaning that she had to walk around like this for 18 years. 00:44:25.700 |
And all of a sudden, by a simple command, laying hands on her, she stands there up and a spectacular miracle takes place. 00:44:33.700 |
If you look at all the miracles that Jesus performs, they call them sign miracles. 00:44:39.700 |
Sign meaning that you don't create a sign and put it in the woods. 00:44:44.700 |
You create a sign where everybody can see it. 00:44:50.700 |
So the scripture tells us when Jesus performed miracles, it was for a sign to clearly point to who he is. 00:44:58.700 |
So every miracle that Jesus performed was made public. 00:45:05.700 |
You know, sometimes when we talk about miracles today, it's like, 00:45:08.700 |
maybe you didn't see it because you didn't have real faith. 00:45:10.700 |
You know, you almost have to like, despite what I saw, it actually happened. 00:45:14.700 |
If you squint your eyes and walk 30 feet away, maybe you could see it. 00:45:19.700 |
That's not how the miracles are described in the Bible. 00:45:22.700 |
Even the people who wanted to crucify Christ could not deny the miracles that were taken. 00:45:27.700 |
Even the ones who were crucifying him said, we can't deny that Lazarus was raised from the dead. 00:45:34.700 |
So it's not because this ruler of the synagogue, there was some confusion as to exactly what happened. 00:45:45.700 |
But the response that he gives, that's where the confusion is. 00:46:15.700 |
And instead of celebrating and glorifying God, he said, hey, hey, hey. 00:46:21.700 |
Can you imagine in our service if we knew somebody who was bent over like that? 00:46:27.700 |
Or, you know, everybody knew and this was just a regular, regular, you know, scene at church. 00:46:33.700 |
And all of a sudden a miracle takes place and they jump up and they start walking up and down. 00:46:41.700 |
If you want to walk, wait until in-between service. 00:47:02.700 |
And your response instead of celebrating and glorifying God is that you broke our rules. 00:47:08.700 |
A legalist is somebody who's blind to the glory of God. 00:47:17.700 |
And so his whole spiritual life is based upon right and wrong. 00:47:23.700 |
Not realizing the Bible says it's God of this age has blinded the mind of the unbelievers 00:47:28.700 |
that he does not see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:47:32.700 |
That everything that we do is as a result of seeing his glory. 00:47:37.700 |
And the reason why he is the way he is is because he doesn't see. 00:47:46.700 |
And he doesn't recognize him because he doesn't see his glory. 00:47:55.700 |
And this ruler sees a lady that was bent over for 18 years and a miracle happens. 00:48:00.700 |
And the first thing that comes out of his mouth is indignation. 00:48:12.700 |
He's so blinded to the glory of God because he doesn't see. 00:48:19.700 |
And Jesus says, "You don't recognize me because you've never been a worshiper of my Father. 00:48:28.700 |
You did this and you did that, but you don't know my Father. 00:48:33.700 |
That's why even when clear signs are given, you don't see. 00:48:38.700 |
So first and foremost, a legalist is somebody who doesn't see the glory of God. 00:48:42.700 |
And that's why when we preach the word of God, when somebody comes to Christ, kind of like what Sam was saying and many other testimonies and all of your testimonies, our eyes become open. 00:48:55.700 |
What seemed boring all of a sudden comes alive. 00:48:59.700 |
We sing the same songs and all of a sudden it's convicting. 00:49:02.700 |
We look at the church as an obligation and all of a sudden it becomes fellowship. 00:49:07.700 |
Our eyes have to be open to see the glory of Christ. 00:49:10.700 |
You can read the Bible and it's homework until your eyes become open to the glory of Christ. 00:49:16.700 |
Everything that we do at church becomes a burden when we don't see his glory. 00:49:23.700 |
See, the seagullist hasn't seen Christ, hasn't seen the glory of Christ. 00:49:32.700 |
I mean something spectacular happens and that's his response. 00:49:39.700 |
Why was he in the face of a spectacular miracle? 00:49:47.700 |
Well, secondly, the legalist is somebody who lives constantly critical of others, but blind to his own sins. 00:49:57.700 |
In Luke 13:14 it says, "But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, 00:50:07.700 |
There are six days in which work should be done. 00:50:10.700 |
So come during them and get healed and not on the Sabbath day." 00:50:14.700 |
I mean, that's where the confusion is, right? 00:50:19.700 |
What's spectacular about this is Jesus has performed many miracles. 00:50:22.700 |
How can he be in the presence of this miracle and then say, "Hey, it was the Sabbath." 00:50:28.700 |
Everybody else is, can you imagine that lady being healed, standing up straight, praising God, 00:50:39.700 |
And then the first thing that she hears from the ruler of the synagogue is, "You broke the law." 00:50:45.700 |
The reason why the legalists are blind is because they live all their lives with self-righteousness. 00:50:54.700 |
And that's the lens that they see through everything. 00:50:57.700 |
They spend most of the time being frustrated with what other people are not doing. 00:51:06.700 |
It's kind of like the example that Jesus gave. 00:51:12.700 |
You have the Pharisees who come, "Thank God I'm not like these tax collectors. 00:51:21.700 |
And because of his self-righteousness, he was blind. 00:51:40.700 |
And if Pharisees were so concerned about other people living up to the standard that they 00:51:45.700 |
have created, that they have become blind to the problem in them. 00:52:00.700 |
Just in case you're sitting here thinking, "Yeah, those people. 00:52:11.700 |
You know, I remember when I was doing homeless ministry that I, you know, after about two 00:52:16.700 |
years, the rest of that, I was part of it, you know, heavily involved for about seven years. 00:52:21.700 |
But I would say after about two years, I lived the rest of the five years frustrated. 00:52:27.700 |
When somebody says, "Oh, yeah, you know, we should do homeless ministry." 00:52:32.700 |
But then after a while, nobody is helping me. 00:52:45.700 |
And then as soon as we become self-righteous, all our energy is focused on what they're not 00:52:53.700 |
And you diligently study, "I love the Word of God." 00:52:55.700 |
And after a while, I say, "How come they're not studying the Bible? 00:53:01.700 |
You can start a prayer meeting and get together in prayer. 00:53:07.700 |
But after a while, no one else is coming out. 00:53:15.700 |
And then the next thing that comes out of your mouth is, "How come nobody else is doing that?" 00:53:19.700 |
And so self-righteous person is constantly concerned and frustrated with what other people are doing 00:53:27.700 |
So if you sit with a self-righteous person, you will constantly hear the grumbling of other people. 00:53:45.700 |
That's somebody who is constantly focused and is not aware of the stink that is in him. 00:53:51.700 |
You know what's interesting is we do that even with grace. 00:53:55.700 |
After a while, it's like, "How come we're not practicing grace? 00:54:06.700 |
Then after a while, you spend the rest of your time talking about how nobody else is practicing grace but me. 00:54:11.700 |
Everything that we do turns sour when it becomes self-righteousness. 00:54:22.700 |
I remember years ago, the Gospel Center movement comes in and it's like, "Yeah, gospel. 00:54:28.700 |
Yeah, I mean, who's going to disagree with gospel centers?" 00:54:31.700 |
And all of a sudden, gospel centers turned into, "How come you didn't say this? 00:54:39.700 |
It spends the rest of the time, instead of adoring Christ. 00:54:45.700 |
Instead of worshiping Christ and telling other people about Christ. 00:54:48.700 |
Everything coming out of the mouth is, "How come they're not doing it? 00:54:57.700 |
And all you have to do is put a little pride in it. 00:55:01.700 |
And every endeavor, every endeavor, turns into self-righteousness and legalism. 00:55:11.700 |
This ruler was so fixated on the Sabbath that he couldn't see anything else outside. 00:55:21.700 |
Even a miracle takes place and that's all he could see. 00:55:23.700 |
You have to understand why the synagogue was so important. 00:55:27.700 |
The synagogue was not simply a place where they came and learned the Bible. 00:55:31.700 |
The synagogue was where they had civil court. 00:55:36.700 |
This is where they sent their children to get education. 00:55:39.700 |
So a synagogue ruler basically was like the president. 00:55:43.700 |
So if you got on the bad side with the synagogue ruler, your life is over. 00:55:55.700 |
And in the synagogue, of all the things that he was watching over, one of the top priorities was to make sure that the Sabbath was obeyed carefully. 00:56:10.700 |
The reason why the Sabbath is singled out above all the other laws, there's a good reason for that because of their history. 00:56:19.700 |
See, in Leviticus 25:2-5, God made it very clear that we know all about the Sabbath, that every seventh day that God rested. 00:56:29.700 |
But God also commanded Sabbath for the land, that every seventh year the land is supposed to rest. 00:56:36.700 |
In Leviticus 25:2-5, it says, "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 00:56:40.700 |
when you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a Sabbath to the Lord. 00:56:47.700 |
Six years you shall sow your field and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop. 00:56:52.700 |
But during the seventh year, the land shall have a Sabbath rest and the Sabbath to the Lord. 00:56:57.700 |
You shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard." 00:57:00.700 |
So he told them to make sure that you don't harvest. 00:57:05.700 |
You don't plant or harvest on the seventh year. 00:57:09.700 |
Now why do you think that they would not obey this? 00:57:29.700 |
If they don't plant in their seventh year, if they don't harvest, there's no money. 00:57:36.700 |
Even though God set the pattern, not only Sabbath for the man, he created Sabbath for the land. 00:57:43.700 |
Because remember the man's fall and the creation's fall was linked. 00:57:48.700 |
So thorns and thistles also happened because of the fall. 00:57:52.700 |
And so God tells them not only to rest for the man, but the creation also needs to rest. 00:58:01.700 |
And because they disobeyed, in Jeremiah 25:11 it says this, this whole land will be a desolation and a horror. 00:58:08.700 |
And these nations served the king of Babylon for 70 years. 00:58:12.700 |
He said he's going to send them out for 70 years. 00:58:15.700 |
And the reason why he sends them out for 70 years is because for 490 years they didn't obey the Sabbath of the land. 00:58:23.700 |
So every seventh year, for 490 years they didn't obey. 00:58:27.700 |
They just went out and they wanted to collect and they wanted to plant. 00:58:37.700 |
So as a result of that, 2 Chronicles 36:21, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed its Sabbath. 00:58:45.700 |
In other words, for the 70 times that they didn't obey, that they're going to go into captivity for 70 years. 00:58:54.700 |
All the days of desolation kept up Sabbath until 70 years were complete. 00:58:59.700 |
That what you didn't do, God was going to force them to do for 70 years. 00:59:07.700 |
Because that was the reason why they lost their land. 00:59:11.700 |
So the Pharisees and the religious leaders thought that if that's the reason why Babylon came and conquered them, 00:59:20.700 |
maybe if we keep the Sabbath holy, that we're going to be able to trade positions with the Romans. 00:59:26.700 |
Because they were so fixated that all their problems are going to be solved. 00:59:31.700 |
If they become the superpower and they sit in power where the Romans are. 00:59:35.700 |
And they knew that they didn't have the power. 00:59:41.700 |
So they know that the only power that can do that is God. 00:59:45.700 |
And the only way to get God to turn the clock, turn the tide is by obeying the law. 00:59:53.700 |
So they thought since that's the reason why they went to captivity, that we're going to reverse this by obeying the Sabbath perfectly. 01:00:00.700 |
And if we obey it perfectly, we will force God to restore our kingdom to us. 01:00:08.700 |
Is it now? Are you going to restore the kingdom now? 01:00:14.700 |
And the whole reason why they rejected Jesus was because he didn't fulfill what they thought was going to happen. 01:00:20.700 |
And that's the reason why this man couldn't see the glory of God, because he was so fixated on what he thought was the answer that even after a miracle, you say, hey, you broke the Sabbath. 01:00:37.700 |
And then the rules that they created was suffocating people. 01:00:41.700 |
So they needed to practice, you know, we're going to go above and beyond. 01:00:45.700 |
So when the Bible says that you need to keep, you need to not work on the Sabbath. 01:00:50.700 |
So they created 39 different categories in order to be careful, sowing, plowing, reaping, gathering, grinding, baking, shearing, washing, dyeing, spinning, weaving. 01:01:01.700 |
There's 39 different categories, but it wasn't just 39 because under each other category, they had to describe what is sowing, what is plowing, what is reaping, what is grinding, what is baking. 01:01:12.700 |
So they had hundreds of laws that they needed to keep just to keep the Sabbath. 01:01:21.700 |
Sabbath was created for man, not man for Sabbath. 01:01:24.700 |
You've twisted the law thinking that somehow that this is your way of climbing the ladder. 01:01:30.700 |
And if you climb this ladder, that God is going to be forced to overthrow the Roman government. 01:01:39.700 |
He somehow through his righteousness that he's going to demand, he's going to force God to act. 01:01:45.700 |
And even in the face of the Son of God performing miracles, he was blind. 01:01:55.700 |
He created for himself the pecking order of what was righteous and what was not righteous. 01:02:06.700 |
They kept on accusing, you keep breaking the law. 01:02:12.700 |
In fact, in Mark 7:6-7, he quotes the prophet Isaiah 29:13, where God says that this is their pattern. 01:02:23.700 |
He said to them, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, hypocrites, as it is written, this 01:02:30.700 |
people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. 01:02:34.700 |
But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. 01:02:44.700 |
And the reason why you created is somehow you've created in your own mind what righteousness 01:02:49.700 |
looks like, and you're forcing that on everybody else. 01:02:54.700 |
Because their standard of righteousness was through them. 01:03:03.700 |
Jesus exposes their hypocrisy in verse 15 and 18. 01:03:07.700 |
But the Lord answered him and said, you hypocrites. 01:03:10.700 |
And it was the common rebuke of the religiously. 01:03:21.700 |
You present yourself to be the experts of the law. 01:03:41.700 |
Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead 01:03:52.700 |
They made provision because they can have their donkey die. 01:03:55.700 |
So they say, we made all these rules, but that they made a provision so that their donkey 01:04:02.700 |
They said, how come you're more worried about your donkey dying than is this woman, a daughter 01:04:07.700 |
of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for 18 long years? 01:04:12.700 |
Should she not have been released from the bond on the Sabbath day? 01:04:15.700 |
In other words, not only was he blind to the glory of God, he was blind to satanic work. 01:04:32.700 |
Not only did he not recognize the glory of God, they didn't realize that they were being 01:04:35.700 |
used by Satan to suppress and divide the church. 01:04:40.700 |
And they are so blind to the glory of God, that in the name of God, they were doing satanic 01:04:53.700 |
How can you care more about the donkeys than this daughter of Abraham? 01:04:58.700 |
Now, I'm going to get to more detail next week. 01:05:05.700 |
But I want to wrap up by reading 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. 01:05:13.700 |
And I want you to understand the context of this verse, because this is a verse that we 01:05:20.700 |
Some of you may have this printed and hanging on your wall, right? 01:05:30.700 |
The reason why Paul emphasizes love here is because this was what was happening in the 01:05:37.700 |
In a passionate pursuit of right and wrong, the church was being divided. 01:05:47.700 |
If I speak with tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong 01:05:55.700 |
He said, "The gift of God has come," and they're speaking in tongues. 01:05:59.700 |
But it was instead of helping the church, it was creating chaos. 01:06:04.700 |
So they were pursuing spiritual gifts without love. 01:06:10.700 |
And as a result of this passionate pursuit, he said, "Oh, I speak in tongues. 01:06:14.700 |
And he said, "But all it's creating was division and chaos in the church." 01:06:19.700 |
He says, "If you do not have love, all of it is just noise." 01:06:29.700 |
He didn't just create this and just gives an arbitrary example. 01:06:34.700 |
He's saying this because this is what was happening in the church. 01:06:37.700 |
"If I have gift of prophecy, if I know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all 01:06:44.700 |
faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am nothing." 01:06:50.700 |
If you prophesy, if you preach the word of God well, you know all the doctrines. 01:06:57.700 |
And you have great faith that you could even move mountains. 01:07:02.700 |
But if it's not motivated, moved by love, he said, "It is nothing." 01:07:15.700 |
To anybody in the church who sold everything and gave to the poor. 01:07:22.700 |
People were so enamored with Christ that they sold everything. 01:07:26.700 |
And he says, "Even if you sell everything to give to the poor. 01:07:41.700 |
Because this is what was happening in the church. 01:07:43.700 |
That they were using their view of righteousness to measure everybody else. 01:07:54.700 |
A church that passionately pursues righteousness without love. 01:08:03.700 |
It creates a place where everybody is being measured by another person's standard. 01:08:09.700 |
And it becomes a place where we can't be honest with one another. 01:08:15.700 |
You're not allowed to fail in that environment. 01:08:21.700 |
So the reason why Paul says this is because their pursuit of righteousness. 01:08:29.700 |
And then it created a division in the church. 01:08:31.700 |
And this division, because they were divided. 01:08:33.700 |
They were allowing all kinds of sins to come in. 01:08:52.700 |
Even if I speak tongues of men and of angels. 01:08:57.700 |
Even if I have great faith to move mountains. 01:09:00.700 |
Even if I sell everything to give to the poor. 01:09:02.700 |
Even if I give myself to be martyred for the faith. 01:09:08.700 |
And that's what caused this legalist to be blind. 01:09:21.700 |
Every answer you throw at it is also going to be wrong. 01:09:28.700 |
The greatest problem of mankind is the rot in me. 01:10:17.700 |
We need to provoke one another on toward love and good deeds. 01:10:22.700 |
But if it is not rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. 01:10:33.700 |
We'll dive a little bit deeper into that next week. 01:10:35.700 |
But I pray that as we continue to passionately pursue. 01:10:40.700 |
That the first place of opposition that's going to come. 01:10:58.700 |
Would judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart. 01:11:01.700 |
That all things may be seen through the lens of Christ. 01:11:12.700 |
That Christ and Christ alone would be the head of this church.