The Silent Rejection Luke 14 Vs 1-6

A Conversation About Praising the Lord

Well it's nice to be among friends and it's nice to see you this morning. So we welcome you to Faith Bible Church and we hope you have a blessed day today. And I was thinking this past week as I have been reading the scripture I was reminded of a conversation I have had and I know I'm repeating myself with some of you.

That Barb and I in witnessing to an individual in another town that we lived in a man asked us what is our duty before the Lord to be right before the Lord. And I had just finished going through Ephesians Philippians and all these.

And if you'll notice it says the Lord has saved us. That we might be. That we might praise the Lord. That we might bless the Lord. He said I've made you a believer in Christ. That you might praise me.

And this man said to Barb and I I don't want that. He said I have no desire in praising him. I want a good world. So I ask you are you here this morning to praise the Lord. I'm here to praise the Lord and I look forward a blessing from.

As I praise the Lord. And you praise the Lord with me. So let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father we thank you for your blessings that you give to us. We do thank you Lord for your great salvation.

That you have bestowed on us. That we might be called a child of God. We don't fully comprehend all that that entails Lord but we thank you for it. We pray that you would be with the service today. That as we sing that we might be a blessing to you Lord.

That we might be a blessing to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. We would pray for the pastor and uphold him before you. That you would guide and direct and give him the words to say that would speak to our hearts.

We also pray for Ellie our missionary of the month. We thank you for the ministry that she has in Brazil. We pray for her both physical and spiritual strength. And we thank you Lord for individuals that have desired to go out and send your gospel now we would just pray for this service to follow where we have our business meeting.

May it be a time that even glorifies you and all that you have done here at Faith Bible Church and we'll thank you for that. We pray in Jesus name Amen.

Scripture reading for today is going to come out of the book of Exodus chapter 20 verses 8 through 10. Again that is Exodus chapter 20 verses 8 through 10. Verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work nor your son nor your daughter nor your male servant nor your female servant nor your cattle nor your stranger who is within your gates.

This.

Is the word of the Lord stand together with me if you would as we continue to.

The Sabbath Day and the Reading from Exodus

Praise our Lord please turn with me to Luke chapter 14 verses 1 through 6 Luke.

Chapter 14 verses 1 through 6. Now it happened as he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath that they watched him closely and behold there was a certain man before him who had dropsy and Jesus answering spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees saying is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath.

But they kept silent and he took him and healed him and let him go. And he answered them saying which of you having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day.

And they could not answer him regarding these things. This is the word of the Lord father we're thankful that we can gather here today to worship the Lord. Worship Jesus who has full authority to heal on Sabbath who has the full authority to define what it means to rest and to restore.

And father we come before you this morning to be restored by your son Jesus Christ. We come before you knowing that he can fully restore us because he is our Lord he is our master and he has the compassion and mercy to heal us and restore us.

Luke 14 and the Silent Rejection of Jesus

And we're thankful that we get to worship him today in Jesus name amen. Chapter 14 of Luke starts a new section and this follows chapter 13 which was full of a series of warnings to Israel to respond to Jesus.

There is this urgency and immediacy to respond to Jesus because the kingdom of God has come through Jesus Christ. Chapter 14 is the test case in our minds. The question is will they respond. The first 24 verses of this chapter has a theme of banquets are both literal and figurative banquets.

Through this theme there's an underlying judgment against the religious establishment that choose to reject Jesus and as a result they will be left out of the banquet. They don't want to go to the banquet.

The first banquet of chapter 14 starts on the Sabbath the day of rest. And as many of you who have been here for a while I think most of you have gone through multiple Sabbath controversies. This is not a new Sabbath healing.

In fact we had five previous Sabbath passages with the religious establishment in the gospel according to Luke. And with each passing passage the tension develops between Jesus and the religious establishment and their response of unbelief becomes all too clear that comes into focus.

For example first Luke chapter 4 16 through 30 Jesus announces the fulfillment of the Isaiah's prophecy of God's restoration through him. Right on this day this has been fulfilled in the religious establishment.

They respond with unbelief. How could this be. Isn't this Joseph's son. And then following that chapter 4 31 through 37 Jesus frees a demon-possessed man. But there's no negative response from the religious establishment.

Here they just watch. However the next three Sabbath passages accompany accusations. It becomes more intense the opposition becomes more obvious. Chapter 6 verses 1 through 5 Jesus disciples are picking grains on the Sabbath because they're hungry and the Pharisees accused them of breaking the Sabbath.

However Jesus reveals that he has the authority to give meaning to the Sabbath. Chapter 6 verses 6 through 11 God heals the withered man with a withered hand through Jesus Christ. They attempt to trap Jesus here the religious establishment for healing.

However Jesus reveals the true purpose of the Sabbath which is for restoration not regulation. And then just a couple weeks ago chapter 13 verses 10 through 17 Jesus frees a woman who has been enslaved physically and spiritually bought spiritually by Satan for 18 years and Jesus heals her.

Jesus frees her. And the accusation is loud and clear. Healing on the Sabbath is forbidden. In response Jesus charges them with hypocrisy. They care more about animals than this woman who's a daughter of Abraham.

Now what makes this account stand out. This is not the first healing on the Sabbath. Nor is this not the nor is this the first unresponsiveness or unfaithful response from the Pharisees. The new thing about this passage.

What makes this passage different is the context. The context is different here. The Pharisees have heard Jesus warning against Israel to respond in faith immediately lest they be left out of the kingdom.

Now the Pharisees have a chance to respond. They have a chance to respond in faith. Ignorance will not be a valid option anymore. They could have claimed ignorance in the first couple of Sabbath healings but not so here especially after Jesus multiple warnings to respond to the kingdom of God that is here through Jesus.

What that means is agnosticism will not be acceptable after such a clear teaching and warnings that precede this passage. This is all too important for us this morning because oftentimes we live in a culture we come across people who don't want to respond to Jesus.

Not because they don't know about Jesus but because they don't want to despite their knowledge of Christ. Whether it's family members friends co-workers neighbors you may have shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with them many times.

There's no doubt that Jesus came to die for our sin face God's wrath on our behalf and he rose from the dead so that when you believe in him you can be forgiven free of charge. That's the gospel. Two sentences.

Maybe however when you ask them to respond they remain silent. And it's not because they don't understand it that silence is that of unwillingness to respond. And today that's what we will see from the very religious establishment itself the very people you would expect to respond to God's restorative action by sending Jesus to bring his kingdom of God.

We will see that these people the very people you would expect to be the first ones to respond will remain quiet. This passage is divided into two sections. Each section has a piercing question from Jesus and it's each section ends with the deafening silence from the Pharisees.

And through this passage Luke shows that the religious establishment in fact chose not to respond to the urgent message of Jesus Christ. They'd rather remain on the wrong side than to be corrected and restored to the right one.

They'd rather wallow in their sins then be forgiven by Jesus Christ. The main point of today's text is that despite knowing Jesus restorative ministry the opponents of Christ silently refused to believe.

Despite knowing Jesus restorative ministry the opponents of Christ silently refused to believe. Despite the dire warnings to respond in faith the opponents of Christ would rather be wrong than experience restoration.

Despite the dire warnings to respond in faith the opponents of Christ would rather be wrong than experience restoration. After Jesus prophetic warnings to the nation of Israel to respond in faith we actually get to see the first test case scenario.

The question on our mind will be now will they respond. Will they respond to Jesus in faith. Will they urgently and immediately respond to Jesus warnings. And verse one sets the context for this opportunity to respond in faith for the religious establishment.

Now it happened as he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath that they watched him closely. This first concisely lays out who what when and why. First who is involved.

Jesus is dining with the Pharisees at one of their leaders houses. The Pharisees were the religious leaders who took both the Old Testament and traditions of ale the elders traditions of the ancient Jews both of them seriously.

And they were quite popular among the masses because they were not very fan. They're not fans of Rome and and they held the whole Old Testament seriously. Unlike the Sadducees who only took the first five books the Torah the Pentateuch seriously.

And what they have in common is they. They highly regarded the traditions of the Jewish elders the past rabbis the past teachers. And the problem became when these traditions became the very lens to interpret Scripture rather than Scripture interpreting Scripture they were using these traditions to interpret Scripture.

They were setting the traditions on the equal footing as Scripture. Now not all of the Pharisees were against Jesus but in Luke many of them have challenged him. And this invitation to respond is significant because it is in the context of a meal.

In the Middle Eastern culture a meal is highly regarded. You only do so if you're very close when it's intentional it's not just grabbing a cup of coffee with a stranger. They knew Jesus and they had a purpose for this meal.

And we will see the purpose of this meal. Second Jesus is eating bread on the Sabbath. So the bread here presumably was baked the night before that I mean not the night before the day before. Because they can't work baking cooking would have been work.

Considering this it would have been about a midday meal. And the key word in this passage will be on the Sabbath. When did this happen. The Sabbath. After all the Sabbath the word will be mentioned three times in this short passage of six verses.

Now a brief reminder of the Sabbath is necessary and I think that's because first we live in a culture where the concept of the Sabbath is just far too gone. The only notion is maybe Chick-fil-a is closed today.

And second in the Christian setting people assume the Sabbath to be a legalistic regulation as if it was originally a bad thing as if God is trying to control what you do on one of the days of the week.

The first time Sabbath rest is mentioned is actually in Genesis 2 this is after God creating all things in six days and he rested on the seventh and of course on the seventh day it's not like God stopped working because then the whole world would be falling apart.

The Sabbath rest for God is a sustaining rest. What does God do when he enters the Sabbath rest. On the seventh day he stops creating and on the seventh day he rests from the creative work. Yet he continues to sustain all living things.

The next time the Sabbath rest is mentioned is when the Lord institutes the Sabbath to Israel from Mount Sinai. And this happened right after the Israelites were freed from Egypt. Remember what they were doing.

They were slaves of Egypt for centuries. And the Sabbath rest comes in a form of the fourth commandment. So it is quite important. It is one of the Ten Commandments stop working and rest. Not just humans but animals.

To not just the free people but slaves as well because God rested on the seventh day you are to do as God's people what God does on the seventh day you are to rest in a way the Sabbath is a way for the Jews the Israelites the people of God to imitate God to be like God.

And in another sense this stop working and rest is not so that you stop making money. It wasn't supposed to be legalistic but it was to be life-giving. After all consider the context of Israel when this commandment was first given they have been enslaved for over 400 years.

They knew of no rest. In fact Pharaoh made their lives much much much harder right before they were freed. He tried his best to tighten the shackles. Rest was frankly just not in the DNA of the Israelites.

Now after the Lord the new master liberates these Israelites what does he do. He orders his people to rest as he did. He invites his people to rest as he has done. The God of life invites his people to enjoy and enter into his life giving rest life sustaining rest life restoring rest.

That's the Sabbath. Now what's the purpose of this Sabbath meal with Jesus then that they watched him closely. The word for watch here is an intentional lurking to trap this whole feast is a trap. Now how will they trap him.

After sharing the context of this meal. Luke points us to the main event. And behold there was a certain man before him who had dropsy. Jesus is eating and his in attendance. And in among those who are there remember a meal could be with a lot of people not just a private event.

In attendance there's a man with dropsy. Dropsy is a condition in which the body's fluid is not properly draining. Hence his limbs and tissues may have been swollen. So it's an obvious condition. You can see it.

It's not a hidden disease and it's not really a specific disease that's caused by some sort of pathogen but but but a condition that signifies that his body as a whole just is not working properly. It's not functioning properly.

There's something wrong about the body. There's something off about what God has created to work well to be healthy. And here's the trap. If Jesus healed this heals this man on the Sabbath as he's prone to his working according to their traditional regulations.

He broke the Sabbath. However if Jesus does not heal this man now his characters in question what happened to your compassion Jesus. Disturbingly they have no regard for God's mercy on this man. This man with dropsy is just a bait to trap Jesus to catch him in the act of breaking their regulation.

This meal is a political theater not a table fellowship. And knowing this in their heart Jesus initiates the conversation. And Jesus answering spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees saying is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath.

Of course this is not a question that Jesus didn't know the answer to. He's putting the ball on their court. You give me the answer. Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Ironically Jesus asked the question that the Pharisees would have asked the moment he'll he he heals the man.

This would have been the question that they would have charged Jesus with. Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus. Now the burden is on the Pharisees to answer the true purpose of the Sabbath. Their trap backfired.

This was the uno reverse card. If the Pharisees say no then Jesus could rebuke them for missing the true purpose of the Sabbath to give life. Remember the Sabbath encounter with the Pharisees again in Luke 6 9.

Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or evil to save a life or just to destroy it. Jesus asked a similar question before and the Pharisees back then were also unable to counter argue that they couldn't answer that question back in chapter 6.

Now they have trapped themselves in their attempt to trap Jesus. Now if they say unlawful then they have ultimately accused God of breaking the Sabbath because Jesus does heal the man in chapter 6 which they have to attribute to the divine intervention after all who can ultimately heal God.

So all of a sudden depending on how you answer this question you might end up accusing God of sinning. And that's serious now. Of course if they say lawful then the trap they said for Jesus is just useless.

What's the point. Now. What is their response. The first part of verse 4. But they kept silent. They kept silent. Their response is no response. This is not silence out of humility or ignorance. As in they don't know the answer to this question.

It's just way too hard. They keep quiet even though they know the answer because they have lost the battle they keep their mouth zipped up despite the wrong theology. What did their response need to be.

Or confessing their sin and asking God for mercy acknowledging that it was a trap to ask Jesus to heal the man with drop see that would have been the righteous response. That would have been the response of faith.

And that response would have restored not only the man with drop see but the Pharisees themselves spiritually who have been far away from God's heart. However here their silence is deafening. Their silence is not a faith or ignorance but of the stubborn refusal to acknowledge that their sin and their other sin and their lack of desire to trust Jesus the Messiah.

This morning if you have realized that Jesus is right and you're not do not harden your hearts like the Pharisees. This may not be about you placing your faith in Christ. You may have done so already but at any point God makes clear to you that what have you have done whatever you have said whatever you have thought is against God's will.

Don't just stay silent. Don't continue on that path. Or if I just stay silent no one's gonna correct me. You may be right but if the Holy Spirit is correcting your heart you better respond. Or you may find out that you were never part of Jesus kingdom in the first place.

Don't choose to be silent in your stubbornness stubbornness but respond in faith to Christ. And for those of you who may not have responded to Jesus in Christ the key is to trust that only his substitutionary death on the cross him dying for your place for your sin facing the punishment that you deserve is the only way that you could be forgiven.

Not because you're better than the person next to you. Not because you're not a serial killer but because Jesus took your place and he suffered on your behalf and he rose from the dead. And that actually takes the stubbornness away.

In order to respond that way you can't respond in pride. You have to humbly see your sorry state and look at the Savior who's hanging on the cross. Don't remain silent wherever you are this morning. Don't remain silent.

Whether the Holy Spirit is pricking you to respond to Christ or the Holy Spirit is convicting you of the sin that is unconfessed unrepentant of. Don't remain silent. Actively respond. Respond in faith.

Don't put it off to a later date. Now what is Jesus response. Despite witnessing Jesus restoration of life on the Sabbath the opponents of Jesus refused to respond. Rather than wasting time and effort arguing with the Pharisees Jesus actually prioritizes the man who needs to be healed.

There's no cross-examination here from Jesus. He goes directly to the man who needs help and he took him and healed him and let him go. Jesus physically touches this man who has dropsy. He reverses this condition.

He reverses the condition that probably made this man unclean. But he doesn't care. He touches him anyway. Because whenever something unclean shows up in front of Jesus his heart is to reverse it. When we come across something unclean even though we don't find the follow the rituals of the Leviticus right.

We don't find the ritualistic laws of the Leviticus. We kind of draw our hands away. Maybe look for the closest hand sanitizer just in case just in case the air also you know is polluted. Not so Jesus.

Jesus heart is to make the unclean pure again. Jesus heart is to free the one who's been trapped in uncleanness he is completely other centered. This this phrase let him go is more than just a physical act.

It's not just like okay you're I'll let you go. But it has a theological background to it. It means to release someone to release someone from debt or bondage. And it is the same verb that's used on the previous Sabbath encounter in chapter 13 verse 12 when the woman who suffered for 18 years was healed she was released.

This man is also released on the Sabbath day. This man is allowed to have life again as it was meant to designed by the Creator himself and upon Jesus compassionate touch this man is restored to life.

What's astounding is that God heals on the Sabbath again. This group of the Pharisees will not have any excuse when rejecting Christ. Ignorance will not be a valid option. They cannot say that they have never witnessed the previous healings.

Jesus gives the Pharisees another chance to respond. Then he answered them saying which of you having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit will not immediately pull him out of this on the Sabbath day.

The question here is of course rhetorical. This is not a show of hands. If you will actually take out your livestock show of hand how many of you really care about your animals here. That's not it. The answer to this rhetorical question is of course we would.

The purpose of this question is to reveal the wicked heart their wicked heart. If you would rescue your livestock on the Sabbath day by pulling it up which would technically be considered work according to their regulation.

Right. If they're gonna trap Jesus that way. Let's not have a double standard here. How much more was it necessary for Jesus to release this man with trophy. The question is how much more valuable and worthy is this man compared to mere livestock.

The question not only rebukes the Pharisees but actually it gives them a chance to respond. And it's not either or I when Jesus rebukes. When God rebukes when the Holy Spirit rebukes corrects us. It's not just for the sake of putting you down.

It's chance to respond in faith. It's an opportunity to turn back to Christ. Sure it stings at the moment. But the freedom that you experience when you do respond to Christ is extraordinary. The burden is lifted the weight is gone.

Now what is the response of the religious establishment. Verse 6. And they could not answer him regarding these things. It is not that they did not know the answer to this question. They did not want to say the answer.

They refused to respond. Now what did their response need to be after witnessing the divine healing on the Sabbath. Not silence but a loud praise. Not inactivity but worship. The irony is that the Pharisees did not keep Jesus from restoring the men with dropsy.

They thought the trap would work but they actually kept themselves from being restored by Jesus themselves. They were not imprisoned by any physical ailment but a spiritual prison of their hearts. The only one released that day was the one who did not refuse Jesus to restore on that Sabbath day only one was given life because the rest chose death by rejecting Christ.

What this means is after hearing about Jesus. Silence is not an appropriate response. You cannot plead the fifth before Jesus. And now. This is not about the people who are not fully convinced about the gospel.

It's not about I'm not talking about people who don't really understand the gospel. These people have heard the gospel they know the implications of the gospel. They know about the judgment day. Yet they don't want to respond.

Or worse they claim to be Christians. And then when they are corrected according to the Bible they remain silent. They claim to be followers of Christ. But their silence is way too deafening. There's nothing from their lives that shows that they follow Christ.

Silence is not a faithful response. The Pharisee stayed silent not out of ignorance but rather their desire to remain in control. After all if you remain silent then there's no further conversation to be had.

When people who claim to be Christians but when they're corrected them that moment they just stop talking to you. It's not because they don't know the theological answer or what the appropriate response would be of faith.

It's because they don't want to continue on the conversation. They don't want to feel convicted. They don't want to be seen as wrong. So they will just shun you or shut you up. That's the trend. That's what the Pharisees did.

They just stopped. Regarding Christianity after all some people claim there's there's no really proof for Christianity. Actually Christianity is the most defensible and dependable religion in the whole world.

Not. No other holy books have over 40 authors and has no contradictions. Not only that you would argue that the holy books so-called holy books Koran Book of Mormon has one author and has massive contradictions within itself and with historical data.

In addition to that there are ten times the number of early manuscripts of the New Testament found from the first and second century AD compared to the copies that exist of what we know of as Homer's Iliad one of the most famous Greek document in the world we have over 6 ,000 manuscripts of the New Testament from the first and second century.

And with those 6 ,000 manuscripts many of them were still trying to. We're even finding more of. There's 99 .5 percent accuracy rate which means you can compare them. And then they agree 99 .5 percent of the time.

That's astounding compared to that Homer's Iliad copies which only about 600 copies exist. And not in the same century that Homer lived but thousands of years later the accuracy rate is 95 percent. Within scripture the resurrection of Jesus Christ has been witnessed by thousands of people 1st Corinthians 15.

Paul wouldn't say that unless it were true after all Christianity was a persecuted religion. Why claim a lie that could easily be proven false. Not only that those who have witnessed Christ resurrected right.

Those who have seen the resurrected Christ willingly martyred were willingly chose martyrdom instead of recanting to live. People often claim. What about the suicide bombers of radical Islam. Well they've never talked to Muhammad.

But the very people of the first century who chose death instead of recanting such as many of the Apostles many of the early disciples they actually saw the resurrected Jesus. They're not doing this out of blind faith.

They're doing this because they've seen the resurrected Christ. So how much more of a testimony do they have when they chose to die then to live. Those two facts are just scratching the surface of the evidence for Christ.

After all books have been written on apologetics to defend Christianity for millennia. What this means is people who have heard the gospel who have heard this sort of argument cannot just remain silent.

They have to respond. They have to respond because Jesus is true. They have to respond because what Jesus has done is historical. Yet there are people who have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ checked out these arguments but ultimately they refuse to respond in faith.

They cannot argue against the scriptural and historical evidence for Jesus. Yet they will hold on to their false belief at the cost of their souls in this rejection of Christ. It is not the lack of evidence but the hardness of hearts.

It's pride. They don't want Jesus. Not because they remain unconvinced but because they don't want to submit to him. Because if Jesus truly is who he says he is and has shown himself to be then then lack of response is utter rebellion.

They don't want to follow Jesus because that means they lose control. They have to give up their pet sins. They have to forfeit their current lifestyle. Because if Jesus is true then all of those don't belong in your life.

And if this is your life right now today inaction is the wrong option. It is foolishness to knowingly hold fast to the wrong answer. No one appreciates that one student who keeps on claiming this answer is right even after the teacher corrects him.

That's what foolishness is knowing that you're wrong but still holding on to it. It's not. It's not stupidity. It's it's not lack of information. It's not ignorance. It's a moral perversion to hold on to the wrong belief after being shown that you're wrong.

It's a heart issue not a mind issue. The only right answer for this morning is to surrender to Jesus in faith. Your reputation your pleasures your life are not worth keeping. If you are gonna stand against Jesus on Judgment Day your current inactivity your current silence will cost you your life for all eternity.

Because anyone who refuses to be restored by Christ will not be restored by Christ. And this morning it is not too late to respond in faith. It is not too late to ask for mercy from Jesus. As you have seen Jesus he is not disgusted by your sin the cleanest the purest the holiest being that's who has ever walked this planet is not disgusted by what you've done is not disgusted by your crooked heart.

It's not. He's not disgusted by your filthy minds but at the core of his heart is the uttered compassion to see that you are restored. That's his priority. That's his business. He will receive you no matter what you've done.

It is not too late to trust in his atoning sacrifice on the cross for your sin. You may have lived for yourself for decades. He will still receive you. He will still restore your soul. That's because that's how loving he is.

He will not turn back anyone who comes to him despite their past despite their wickedness. You may have chosen to not trust Jesus until now. And the continual silence is still the wrong choice this morning if you have not already responded to Jesus in faith believe in him to be the only way out of the mess that you've made yours made for yourself.

He's the only one who can fully restore. Because he is the God who rested on the seventh day. Let us pray father. We're thankful that we don't have to remain in our stubborn silence. But we can always go to Christ and know that he will restore.

Because that's who he is. That's his heart. His desire is to restore those who are broken and wicked and evil work in our hearts to respond to Jesus appropriately in faith in Jesus. Name stand together with me if you would as.

We close in praising the Lord for all that he has given to us.