Book of Luke - Ch. 8, Vs. 1-56 (04/26/2020)

I'm going to go first to Luke chapter 4. And I'm going to read a little bit and then

I'm going to stop and ask questions and take comments. Luke chapter 4 starting with verse 14.

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. And there went out a fame of him throughout all the region round about and he taught in their synagogues being glorified of all.

And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as was his custom he went into the synagogue on the

Sabbath day and stood up to read. Now, so he's been in this synagogue before.

He's probably taught there before. And this day when he came in to teach there was delivered unto him a book of the prophet

Isaiah. And when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the

Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the

Lord. And he ends that right there with a period. Now, when we go to the next point, the place where it was found in the scripture, the place that Jesus was reading from, that will be

Isaiah 61 starting with verse 1. And you're going to see that whereas Luke stops mid -sentence,

Isaiah keeps on going. Here's what it says in Isaiah. Isaiah 61 verse 1.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek.

He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of prisons to them that are bound.

Verse 2. To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And he has a comma.

Luke stopped there. Isaiah kept going. And the day of vengeance of our

Lord, and to comfort all that mourn. So, not all of this scripture is going to be fulfilled in their ears this morning.

Some of it is yet to be done. The day of vengeance of the

Lord hasn't occurred even yet. Now back to Luke.

Luke 4, picking it up at verse 20. And he closed the book mid -sentence and he gave it again to the ministers and he sat down.

Let me pause a minute. Normally, what they did is they stood and they read. And when they got through reading, they sat down and their disciples gathered around them and they talked about what they had read.

That's what Jesus is getting ready to do. He has read the scripture and now he's getting ready to explain what it was that he read.

And he closed the book and gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all of them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

And he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

And they all bear him witness and wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth.

I think one thing that would be gracious is he didn't include the day of vengeance.

Maybe that's what they're talking about. I don't know. But then they say this, is this not

Joseph's son? And he said unto them, you will surely say unto me this proverb, physician, heal thyself.

Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.

And he said, verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his country.

Now I wanted to have this in there for two reasons. Number one, to look at that passage, which is just a very interesting passage all in itself, but also to let you know that Jesus has already been in Capernaum.

They have heard of all the things that Jesus has done and they want him to do the same thing in Nazareth that he has done in Capernaum.

So just to give you kind of a note on where we are with regard to the to the location of Jesus.

And then Jesus is going to say something that will upset them. Verse 25.

But I tell you of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land.

But unto none of them was Elijah sent, saved to Serapithah, a city of Zion, unto a woman that was a widow.

And many lepers were in Israel at the time of Elijah, the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, saving

Naaman the Syrian. Okay. Now what was the response?

And all they were in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath.

I would like for somebody to tell me why you think that they were so angry at what he said.

Anybody have an idea? Now I don't see any messages coming up.

Maybe there is none. I don't. It takes a minute sometimes. There's a little bit of a lag.

Okay. That's fine. I still... Well, I'll just go ahead and tell you, and as we work our way through, we will have other things come up.

They were angry because he was giving things to Gentiles.

Naaman was a Syrian. So was the widow. And Jesus is telling them, not all the blessings of the

Lord go to the Jews. Some are going to go to the Gentiles as well.

Well, there's only... there are two things that were considered very low in the Jewish community. One was women and the other was

Gentiles, and I don't know which was considered the least. But I do know this.

It made them angry. Now, and when all in the synagogue, and all in the synagogue, when they heard these things were filled with wrath, and they rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of a hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

This is in Nazareth, you understand. But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way.

Now we're going to go to the next verse. Luke 4 31.

And came down, and this is Jesus, came down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and taught them on the

Sabbath day. And they were astonished at his doctrine, for his word was with power.

So now he's gone back from Nazareth, back to Capernaum, and he is now again teaching in Capernaum and in the areas round about.

Now I want to go all the way down, past a bunch of stuff that we've covered over the last several weeks, to chapter 7 verse 1.

But before chapter 7 verse 1, of course, is 6. In chapter 6, Jesus met the centurion and healed his servant.

Jesus met the widow and brought his son to life. Jesus healed many people.

So Jesus has done the Sermon on the

Mount. He has finished the Sermon on the Mount, and now that he's finished up the Sermon on the Mount, he entered into Capernaum.

And he came to pass afterwards, after he healed the centurion's servant and the widow's son, that he went throughout every city and village preaching and showing glad tidings of the kingdom of God, and the twelve were with him.

And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,

Joanna, the wife of Chesa, Herod Stewart, and Susanne, and many others, probably women, but I'm not sure about that, which ministered unto him of their substance.

Now there's a couple of things to consider. First, the twelve are now with him. In chapter four, they had yet to be chosen.

And the other thing to consider is, why is there such a special note of his women disciples and his

Gentile disciples? Because they are not held in very high esteem in the

Jewish community. And the Lord had told them on the story of the house built on sand, that there were flaws in the foundation, and the flaws needed to be fixed.

And when much people were gathered together and were come to him out of every city, he spake by parable.

And the question is, why? But I'm not going to deal with answers to that right now.

We're just going to hold that in our mind, and we're going to start this parable.

If you remember from last week, it's the same parable that we looked at last week, the parable of the sower and the seeds.

But this is found in Luke. I'm just going to read it, and we're going to get to something in a minute.

A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside.

And it was trodden down. And the fowls of the air devoured it. And some of it fell upon a rock.

And as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture.

And some fell on thorns. And the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. And others fell on good ground and sprang up and bear fruit a hundredfold.

And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Last week, when we looked at the same parable and looked at Matthew's account, we asked the question, who could hear?

The Lord said, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. We asked the question, who could hear?

The reason we asked that is because the disciples asked that. They asked why Jesus spake in parables.

Here in Luke, the concern is not who could hear. The concern is the meaning of the parable.

The parable. That's the math in me. And his disciples saying unto him, what might this parable be?

Now, you notice, as you continue reading, the first thing he did is he told them why other people, he told why he actually spoke in parables.

He said, unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to others in parables, seeing that they might see, that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

So, he is speaking to them in parables so that the ones that he don't want to understand will not understand.

But that's not the question that they ask. They ask the question, what does the parable mean?

And so he explains it. Verse 11. Now, the parable is this.

The seed is the Word of God. I bold -faced typed that on my notes.

If I were you, I would underline that. The parable is about the Word of God. I'm going to say this again later.

It's not about salvation. The parable is about the Word of God. So, here we go.

Those by the wayside are they that hear, then come up the devil, and take away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

They hear the words, but they don't understand them, nor do they believe them.

Verse 13. They on the rock are they, which when they hear, receive the word with joy, and have no root.

For a while, believe, and time of temptation fall away. And that which fell among the thorns are they, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares, and riches, and pleasures of this life, and bring forth no fruit.

Both of these groups here and are moved, but both fall away. Now, I asked myself this question.

Can we lose our salvation? Is this parable telling us that we can lose our salvation?

The first thing to understand is this parable is not dealing with salvation. It's dealing with the

Word of God. But the answer to the question, can we lose our salvation, is no, we can't.

Not from here. That's not where we get that information. We get that from Hebrews verse, chapter 10, verse 35.

I'm going to read a little of that. Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.

For you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.

For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry.

Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

But we are not of them who draw back into perdition, but of them that believe unto the saving of the soul.

So no, if you belong to him, if you're saved, you can't lose your salvation.

But you can lose something. Going back to Luke 8, verse 15, he continues, but that on the good ground are they which are in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth the fruit with patience.

This fruit constitutes evidence of our true salvation. It's not the salvation, it's the evidence that we have it.

James describes this this way. James 2, verse 14. What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and hath not works?

Can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto him, depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give him not those things which are needful to the body.

What doeth it profit? Now go on down to verse 17.

If so faith, if not in works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man might say, thou hast faith, and I have works.

Show me thy faith without works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.

And then finally, thou believest that there's one God, thou doest well, the devils also believe, and tremble.

I just wanted to throw that one in. Now, let's go on, but we must remember that we're not saved by the good works that we do.

We're not saved because we do good works. No, we do good works because we're saved.

The salvation causes the good works. The good works do not cause the salvation.

Now, back to verse, chapter 8, verse 16 of Luke.

No man, when he hath lighted a candle, cover it with a vessel, or put it under a bed, but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light.

I think I see something I want to click on over here. Maybe I'm seeing some chats.

Oh, I am, I, no, I don't. That's nothing for me,

I don't guess. Okay, never mind. So, take heed therefore, how ye hear, for whosoever hath to him shall be given, and to whomsoever hath not from him shall be taken, even that which he seemeth to have.

Now, that always bothered me. That seems so unfair. Take heed therefore, how ye hear, for whosoever hath to him it shall be given, and whosoever hath not from him shall it be taken away, even that which it seemeth to have.

I thought that it was talking about some possession we had. I thought it might even have been talking about our salvation.

It's not. It's talking about the Word of God. We can't lose sight of the fact that the seed is the

Word of God. And here's what this verse is saying, and I think this is the first time I ever recognized what it was that this verse will say.

The Word of God. The more you have of it, the more you desire it.

The more you understand it, the more you desire further enlightenment. And without that enlightenment, the enlightenment from the

Holy Spirit, you will lose whatever understanding you thought you had. You see, hath what?

What whosoever hath, hath what? Hath the Word of God. If you understand that the seed is the

Word of God, and the more you are in the Word of God, the more you have of it, the more you want to be in it.

The more you understand it, the more you desire further understanding. And the only place you can get proper enlightenment is the

Holy Spirit. And without that, you will lose whatever understanding you thought you had.

Okay, let's go on to verse 19. Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press.

Too crowded. And it was told him by a certain which said, thy mother and my and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee.

And he answered and said unto him, my mother and my brethren are those that hear the

Word of God. Now, a couple of things I want to comment on. Number one, the most natural way to understand brothers is that the term refers to the sons of Mary and Joseph, thus the brothers of Jesus on his mother's side.

Efforts to make brothers mean something else than that are nothing less than far -fetched exogenesis in support of a dogma that originated much later than the

New Testament. That was a quotation from the Achors. Jesus indicated that his closest family was made up of those who hear and obey the

Word of God. We draw close to Jesus by hearing his

Word and by doing it, and in doing so, we gain a closer relationship with him than even a normally understood family relationship.

Something to consider. Jesus did not consider those to whom he had a blood connection to be his closest family, but rather those who heard and believed the

Word of God. Verse 22, Luke 8, verse 22.

Night came to pass on a certain day that he went into a ship with his disciples.

And he said unto them, let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth, and as they sailed, he fell asleep.

And there came down a storm on the lake, and they were filled with water, and they were in jeopardy.

Here's what John MacArthur tells us about this. The Sea of Galilee is more than 690 feet below sea level.

To the north, Mount Hermon rises 9 ,200 feet. That puts the elevation from the top of the mountain to the sea level almost a thousand feet.

And from May to October, strong winds often swept through this narrow surrounding gorges into this valley, causing extreme and sudden violent storms.

And in the midst of all this, Jesus was asleep. Just before the disciples saw one of the most awesome displays of his deity, what's he going to do?

He's going to calm the sea with the Word. They were given a touching picture of his humanity.

He was so weary that even the violent tossing of the boat awakened him, not even the violent tossing of the boat awakened him, even though the disciples feared they would.

So what did the disciples do? They came and woke him. And they came to him and awoke him, saying,

Master, we perish. Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased, and there was calm.

Immediately, the storm ceased. These gentlemen that are following him around, the 12 apostles, the 12 disciples, they have not been with him all that long now.

They're still surprised by some of the things, and they were surprised that the storm stopped.

And he said unto them, where is your faith? And they, being afraid, wondered, saying one to another, what manner of man is this?

We commendeth even the winds and the water, and they obey him. They were surprised.

And they arrived at the country of Gardasius, which is over against Galilee.

And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city. Now, I highlighted out of the city, and made a little note to myself, not in the city.

There met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils a long time, and wore no clothes, neither abode in any house.

Now, I don't know whether you're getting my screen or not. If you're getting my screen right now, you'll see a photograph of a picture of a map of Capernaum, and the

Sea of Galilee, and Gardasius. And you will see that what happened is, the disciples left somewhere up here near Capernaum, sailed across the lake, and landed on the other side.

They didn't land in the city. That's quite inland. They landed on the shore, and it's on the shore where Jesus met with this man that was driven out of the city.

Now, when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said,

What have I to do with thee, Jesus, the Son of God, Most High?

I beseech thee, torment me not. Who's speaking?

It's not the man speaking. It is the devil that is in him.

And I said devil that is in him. I should have said the devils that are in him.

For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man, for oftentimes it caught him, and he was kept bound in chains and fetters, and he break the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.

So he's no longer in the city. He's now in the wilderness, and he's in the wilderness on the edge of the lake.

Evidently, the demons not only recognized the deity of Jesus, but they also knew that there was a divinely appointed time for their judgment, and that he,

Jesus, would be the judge. Their eschatology is factually correct, but it's one thing to know the truth and quite another to love it.

That's why the phrase I did, thou believest there is one God, thou doest dwell, the devil also believe and tremble.

And Jesus asked him, not the man, the demon, what is thy name?

And he said legion. Legion is 6 ,000 men. He said legion.

Not only the 6 ,000 men, there's 6 ,000 organized men, 6 ,000 orderly men, quite an undertaking for anybody to cast out.

They're throwing a challenge out to the Lord. They're saying, watch your step.

There's a bunch of us. They said unto him, legion, because many devils were entered him.

And they, the demons besought him, they really knew who was in command, that he would not command them to go out into the deep.

They pled not to be sent into the deep, that means the pit, the underworld, the prison of bound demons who disobeyed.

They know that Jesus has the ability and the authority to send them there if he wishes.

You don't need to go here, but I'm going to read it. 2 Peter 2 .4 For God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment.

That's what we're talking about. They don't want to be there. And then Jude chapter 6 says,

And the angels, which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of that great day.

They knew that Jesus had the power and the authority to send them there if he so desired.

So they begged him not to send them there. And there was a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain.

And they besought him that he would suffer them to enter unto them.

And he suffered them. And then went the devils out of the man and entered into the swine.

And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake and were choked.

Now, again, I don't know if you are getting my feed, but I have posted a picture of a lake.

Anybody recognize where that lake is? If you don't see it. We can't see your screen.

Okay. Okay. That's fine. It's just a picture that I took. It happens to be

Crater Lake. A really steep mountain going down into the lake. And just to have something to look at.

I thought that might be on the feed. But going on, Luke does not say how many swine, but Mark does.

Mark says this. And forthwith, Mark 5, 13. Mark 5, 13.

And forthwith, Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out and entered unto the swine.

And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea. And there were 2 ,000.

And they choked in the sea. So if you had one demon in each pig, it would take 2 ,000 demons.

If you had three demons in each pig, it would amount to 6 ,000 demons.

And that would be a legion of demons. And when they that fed them saw what was done, they fled and went and told it in the city and in the country.

And they went out to see what was done. And they came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.

I would have been happy. But they were afraid. And they also saw it, told them by what means he that was possessed of the devil was healed.

And the whole multitude of the country of Gardenius round about besought him to leave from them, for they are taken with great fear.

And he went up into the ship and returned back again. Now, why did they want him to leave?

Maybe they wanted him to leave because they suffered a great financial loss when these 2 ,000 pigs ran into the ocean and drowned.

Maybe it was just the fear of being in the presence of such a strong spiritual being.

But whatever the reason, they asked him to leave. And he left. He go.

Now when the man out of whom the devil what were cast departed, besought him that he might go be with him.

But Jesus sent him away saying, return to thine own house and show how great things God hath done unto thee.

And he went his way and published throughout the whole city how great things

Jesus had done unto him. This is unusual. Normally, Jesus says in the situation, go thy way and tell no one.

What's the difference now? The difference now is Jesus is ready to start his ministry among the

Gentiles as well as the Jews. And it came to pass that when

Jesus was returned, returned to where? The people gladly received him for they were all waiting.

They were waiting for him in Capernaum, the city he left before he went across the lake.

So now he's back in Capernaum. And behold, there came a man named

Jairus. And he was a ruler of the synagogue, and therefore he was a

Jew. And he fell down at Jesus' feet and besought him that he would come into his house.

For he had only one daughter, about 12 years of age, and she lay down. But as he went, the people thronged him.

Now, you need to understand, Jesus had once cast a demon out of this man's synagogue.

Back in Luke 4, 31, that's where we dropped off the first time we were in Luke 4.

It goes on to say, and came down, it's Jesus came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the

Sabbath day. And they were astonished as it is doctrine. And in that synagogue was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil.

And he cried out saying, Let us along. What have we to do with thee, thou

Jesus of Nazareth? Thou art come, art thou come to destroy us. I know who thou art, the

Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him saying, Hold thy peace and come out of him.

And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out and heard him not. And they were all amazed and spake among themselves saying,

What a word is this! For with authority and power he commanded the unclean spirits, and they come out.

And the fame of him went into every place in the country round about. Now, I'm going to drop it off there and tell you that Jairus knew of all of this.

He knew that Jesus had been casting out demons, raising people from the dead, healing the sick, and he wanted his daughter healed.

So he asked Jesus to come to his house, enter his house, save his daughter.

But Jesus is interrupted. Verse 43,

And a woman having an issue of blood twelve years, which had spent all of her living upon physicians, and neither could be healed of any.

She had spent everything she had, and she got no relief. She couldn't be healed. Came up behind him and touched the border of his garment, and immediately her issue of blood staunched.

And Jesus said, Who because of her affliction, she normally would render anyone that she touched unclean.

The effect here is entirely opposite, precisely the opposite. She's going to touch

Jesus, and instead of making Jesus unclean, he is going to heal her.

And when all denied, Peter and they that were with him said, Master, the multitude thronged thee, and pressed thee, and thou saidst,

Who touched me? And Jesus said, Someone touched me, for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.

And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling, falling down before him, she declared unto him before all the people, for what cause she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.

Now two questions. How much virtue left

Jesus? And the answer to that is just as much as it took to totally heal her.

And the next question is, did that diminish his supply of virtue?

Did Jesus have any less virtue as a result of the woman being healed than he had before that?

Now, he had exactly the same amount. You can take all the virtue you need to do all the things that the

Lord needs to do, and look back at the Lord and see how much virtue is in him, and it'll be the same amount.

You will not ever diminish the virtue of the Lord. And he says to her,

Daughter, be of good comfort. Thy faith has made thee whole. Go in peace.

And while he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying, Thy daughter is dead, trouble not the master.

But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying,

Fear not, believe only, and she shall be made whole. And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in save Peter and James and John and the father and the mother of the maiden.

Now, what were they told to do? They were told to believe. My question would be, did they believe?

The answer is, no, they didn't. You'll see in a minute. But he healed her anyway. And they all wept and bewailed her.

And he said, Weep not, she is not dead, but sleepeth.

And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. And he put them all out and took her by the hand and called, saying,

Maid, arise. And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway, and he commanded to give her meat.

And her parents were astonished, but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done.

So why the difference now? He hasn't given up on saving the

Jews, but he is adding on to that the saving of the

Gentiles. The word is to go out to all people, Jews and Gentiles alike.

Okay, I'm going to again apologize. This is a difficult way of doing things, and I'm not able to see what you see, and you're not able to see what

I see. But the Lord at least lets us see what he needs us to see and lets us hear what he needs us to hear.

And I take faith and comfort in the fact that however poorly or however well

I do my presentation, the Lord will be the one that determines what you hear and what you understand.

And whether you hear it and whether you understand it. You see, the word of God belongs to him.

The word of God belongs to God. It doesn't belong to us. We are allowed to study it.

We are allowed to read it. We're allowed to understand it if he wants us to understand it.

And if he wants us not to understand it, he can keep that from happening. But I'm convinced that he will make known to us all the things that he needs to make known.

Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day and thank you for all the many blessings that you have given us.

Thank you for giving us this technology to reach out into all of the surrounding and make your message known to many.

Bless us and keep us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And now,