LUKE 13:10-21 JESUS SETS PEOPLE FREE2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 13:10-21 Jesus Sets People Free

00:00
You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013. Where were you in 1995? Do you remember?

00:19
March 24th, 1995. That was 18 years ago. If you need a little bit of, you know, references so that you can think back that far, one of the major things that was happening back then was the O.J. Simpson trial. Remember that? Man, it was like all over the place.

00:36
During this time in that year, that's when Cato was on the stand and he was giving his testimony. And that, of course, lasted for a long time. And so that was big news back then. That was really, you know, what was going on. There's another event that really stands out that I can remember that was going on 18 years ago around this time. And that was the parents here at Calvary Chapel Living Water were in a little bit of an uproar.

01:00
Because one of the pastors here took all of the youth kids to go see Major Payne. And that was a big deal at that time. And so that's one of those things you might be able to remember from that. Some of the things that were going on in your life 18 years ago in 1995.

01:17
At that time, I was 16 years old. I'd had my driver's license for about six months. I was really involved here at church, of course, and the sound ministry. I was just barely beginning to teach a little bit at the youth ministry and kind of learning that I might be gifted or called in that. And a lot of things were going on, just, you know, getting involved in the ministry. But

01:40
I begin to look back at that time and consider when I was 16, back in 1995, because what we see happening in the passage this morning is Jesus is dealing with a woman who is bound in affliction for 18 years. And so think back to 1995.

02:00
And think about and consider what it would be like to be in a physical affliction, a physical infirmity from then until now. And you'll get a little bit of a picture of what that woman was going through when she encounters Jesus on this day.

02:17
And so as we look at the passage this morning, the title of the message is Jesus Sets People Free. And there's three things I'd like to highlight for you as we look at this, at the freedom that Jesus provides. The first thing we find is in verses 10 through 13, and that is that Jesus sets us free from Satan.

02:37
We are set free from Satan in Jesus Christ. Now here we set the stage in these first few verses and we pick it up in verse 10. It says, now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And so as we pick up this account, Jesus is doing what he normally did. On the Sabbath, which was Saturday, that day of rest, he would be at the synagogues. Now the synagogues were, if we were to relate to them, we would

03:06
like call them church. When the Jewish people were unable to be at the temple, they would meet at synagogue and they would have a time of worship, reading from the scriptures. There would be a sharing of an exhortation from the word as well. And so they would get gathered together on the Sabbath for this church service. And it was Jesus's practice to go from synagogue to synagogue on the Sabbath. And he would read and he would share from the scriptures and

03:33
as he went from place to place. And so this is following his pattern. He's at the synagogue. He's teaching there at the synagogue. It's the Sabbath day. And then in verse 11 it says, And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up.

03:56
And so we're introduced to this woman here. As Jesus is teaching there at the synagogue, he sees this woman that is in their midst. And this woman has a spirit of infirmity, Luke says. Now, this spirit of infirmity has caused her to be doubled over or bent over so that she cannot raise herself up.

04:23
And so Jesus sees this woman who is bent over, unable to raise herself up, but it's not really a physical illness. It's not really a physical condition. Even though it looks that way, we find out Jesus reveals in verse 16, he says that Satan has bound this woman.

04:44
That this is the result of the enemy's work. That it's a spiritual attack. It's a spiritual bondage that has manifested itself in her being stuck in this position. She's bent over and could not be raised up. I don't know exactly what that looked like, but just kind of following the picture here, she's bent over and she cannot be raised up. And so she's stuck in a position like this. Can you imagine being...

05:15
Stuck in a position like that for 18 years. Again, go back to 1995. Where were you? And you twist the wrong way. Your back gets stuck. And then for the next 18 years, you're stuck in that position. How difficult must that have been? How hard was her life? How painful would that be? Well, Jesus sees her in this condition and

05:44
And he has compassion upon her. And so in verse 12 it says, In verse 13, It says, Of course, the more we study Jesus, the more incredible he is. Right? Right?

06:18
You see this picture here. Now, just being a little bit honest, okay, if you show up at Target and you're headed towards the entrance and then there's this woman here that's bent over, what's your first reaction? What's your first response? Is it to call her to yourself and, hey, let's have a discussion, let's talk and how are you, who are you, you know, what's going on?

06:41
Or is it, well, let me make sure I kind of step way around, go out of my way so that I don't have to do it. That's going to be awkward if I have to be with her, talk to her. If we make eye contact, that's going to be difficult. Jesus doesn't avoid her. He goes out of her way. He says, hey, come over here. Come to me. I want to talk with you. He invites her to himself because Jesus has great compassion.

07:10
He calls out to people who are bound. And this morning I would ask you to consider, are you bound? Are you bound in some way this morning? Are you bound in sin? Is there just, you've been trying to, you want to, you desire to, but you're just stuck. You just can't get out of this thing that you know it's wrong, but you're trapped, you're stuck. Are you bound in some condition that

07:41
And this morning, you're thinking and you're like, yeah, I could relate. I've been there, yeah, since 1995. I've been in this same condition. It's been a long time. I've been wrestling with this. If you are bound, if there's that, well, those chains in your life, what you need to know this morning is that Jesus calls you to himself. He says, come here. I want to help. I want to talk with you. I want to set you free. He calls bound people to himself.

08:17
As he calls her over to him, she comes and then he says, you are loosed from your infirmity. The word loosed, it means to free fully, to set free completely, to let go free, to release totally. It's a complete loosing or a complete freedom that is given. He says, you are set free from your infirmity.

08:43
I'm setting you free. I'm breaking the chains. I'm breaking the bonds. You're not stuck in that position anymore. And so it says that he laid his hands on her and she was made straight. She was able to stand up once again, to stand upright there in their midst. What a relief that must have been. Again, trying to picture, trying to understand 18 years of that position, that posture, now suddenly...

09:15
being released, being set free. And I love how she responds. There at the end of verse 13, it says, she was made straight and glorified God. The first thing she does is praise God. Thank you, God. God, you're so good. She glorifies God as Jesus sets her free.

09:41
Now as we consider this woman and her condition and what Jesus did, again I would ask you, are you bound? Or maybe I should ask it another way, are you free? Did you walk in here free this morning? Have you been set free? Or are you bound by Satan? Are you bound?

10:02
In sin. Are you bound in some condition? Now, it's not something you really have to, you know, search your memory banks or try to figure out. Well, I don't know. Am I bound? I'm not sure. Listen, like this woman, if you're bound, you're miserable. You know that you're bound. Now, with this woman, her, well, this bondage that she had that Satan had inflicted upon her, it manifested itself in a physical way. So it was visible and everybody could see.

10:33
But that's not always the case. And maybe you walk in here and we look at you and we think, yeah, they're fine. Just like every other Sunday. How are you doing? I'm great. Praise the Lord. Okay, yeah, sure, they're fine. No problem. But that's what we see on the outside. But what's really happening within? Are you bound? Are you miserable? Are you caught up? Are you frustrated? You're stuck. And you know the things that you're involved in are destructive, but you're caught in those chains. Are you free? Are you free?

11:08
If you are not free this morning, listen, Jesus calls you to himself. He says, I want to help you with that situation. I want to help you with that bondage. Now this is so important to get through our heads because when we are bound, we tend to think that God is mad at us.

11:34
I'm sure you've been there, right? You know what that's like. You're like, I'm stuck in this sin. I'm stuck in this bad attitude. I'm stuck in this situation. And God's, he's got to be so disappointed. He's so angry with me. He's like, we begin to think that God is mad at us. That God is like, hey, yeah, you stay away from me with that situation. You know better than that. I can't believe you went there again. Don't you dare come back crawling to me. But that's not the way that God is.

12:08
See here that Jesus has compassion. He calls her to himself in the same way he calls us to him. He says, no, I see that you're bound and that's why I'm calling you. We get so mixed up sometimes, don't we? We think God calls us because we're so good. No, no, no, no. He's calling you because he sees the condition. He knows what's going on. He wants to set you free. In John chapter 8, Jesus says,

12:39
is dealing with this issue of sin, talking about sin. He says, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin in John 8, 34. That there's a bondage that comes. There's a slavery that comes when we are involved in sin. But then he goes on in John 8, 36, one of our favorite verses, right? If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. Jesus came to set you free.

13:07
He came to release you from bondage. And when he sets you free, you will be free indeed. Now I should point out that freedom is not always instantaneous in the sense that sometimes it's a process. Sometimes when Jesus was working miracles, he would lay hands like on this woman and then immediately she's healed. But sometimes he would say, all right, I prayed for you. I laid hands on you. Now go wash in the pool of Siloam and then you will be healed.

13:36
Well, remember in Mark chapter 8, the blind man that Jesus healed there, he spit in his eyes. And he said, okay, open your eyes. What do you see? He's like, well, I kind of think I see people, but they kind of look like trees. I'm not sure. It's all kind of fuzzy. And then Jesus laid hands on him again.

13:56
And then he was able to see. Sometimes it's a process. Sometimes there's steps involved. Jesus wants to set you free. Sometimes he just does it instantly. He just, boom, wipes it out, takes care of the problem, and you're never addicted to that drug again. But sometimes he says, all right, here's the steps to follow. Here's the process. Here's the path I want you to take so that you can be free. So Jesus came to set us free. And if Satan has you bound...

14:29
Come to Jesus. He sets us free from Satan. Well, as this situation unfolds, we see now in verses 14 through 17 that not everybody is in agreement with Jesus or his methods. Point number two this morning is that we are set free from religion. Jesus doesn't just set us free from Satan and his work, but he also sets us free from religion. It's hard to imagine that

15:05
People not liking how Jesus works. But we see that unfold here. Now, as I talk about religion this morning and use that word, I'm speaking specifically about

15:17
system of rules. The idea is really man trying to reach God and putting that together as religion. There's other ways to use the word religion. It doesn't always have to be in a negative context. But in what we see here, this legalism that is involved from this religious leader, we see that Jesus sets us free from that type of bondage.

15:40
Now we who have been set free by Jesus, we'll see here as we look at these verses, we have to fight to stay free and not become bound in religion and tradition. Check out verse 14. It says,

16:09
So here's the situation is going on. Jesus is teaching at the synagogue. He sees this woman. He heals her. She stands up straight. She's glorifying God. Thank you God. Praise you God. And the ruler of the synagogue comes on the scene. Now the synagogues were governed by a group of elders but they would often select priests

16:32
one person who would be a ruler of the synagogue. And that person would basically be like the administrator or maybe we would relate to it today kind of like a pastor. And so the pastor of the church at this synagogue where these church services are going on, he comes on the scene. Let's call him Pastor George. He says, all right, that's enough miracles today. What are you guys doing? What are you thinking about? This can't go on. This is not right.

16:59
He's very angry. He's answering, it says, with indignation. Why is he so upset? Why is he so angry? Well, it says, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. The Sabbath day was meant to be a day of rest. It's Saturday, the seventh day. And this day of rest, God had given the people of Israel specific instruction regarding it. You can check it out in Exodus chapter 23, verse 12.

17:33
There God says, So God's instruction regarding the Sabbath was that it was to be a day of rest. That you were to let your servants rest, let your animals rest, that you were not to do your normal work on that day.

18:03
Now there's other verses that talk about the Sabbath as well, but they all say essentially this type of thing, that it's to be a day of rest. Now what the religious leaders had done throughout the years is they had begun to add on to this verse and make the Sabbath day and the regulation regarding the Sabbath day this long list of do's and don'ts.

18:33
I just want to give them the benefit of the doubt. And I would say that, you know, it probably began pretty innocently. That it wasn't, you know, intentional that they decided, well, let's add on to God's law. You know, let's make things harder than they are. No, I think probably it started out where someone went to a rabbi, someone went to the teacher and said, you know, I have this situation. And I know it's a Sabbath, but I've got this thing going on, or I've got this emergency, or this calamity, or this situation is going on. And

19:03
I'm just not sure, you know, what God wants me to do and how I should handle this situation. And so the rabbi says, okay, well, here's what I think. Here's some instruction. Here's how to deal with the Sabbath day and resolve this issue that you're having as well. Again, I'm just giving them the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps that's how it started. But what it had developed into in Jesus' day in this situation was

19:30
is this long list of rules and regulations, this long list of heavy burdens about what was allowed or not allowed on the Sabbath day. So they added on, they built up some traditions that were over and above beyond what God had actually instructed. Now Jesus, throughout his ministry, often broke the traditions of the religious leaders.

19:58
The traditions of the teachings that they gave and the rabbis that had gone before. He often broke those traditions, but he never once broke God's law. Because what they had done was added on to above and beyond those things that God had specifically spoken. Now regarding healing, this guy's upset because Jesus healed on the Sabbath. And essentially what they would teach is that you can only do enough to save a life on the Sabbath. If you're a doctor, you're not supposed to work.

20:29
But, you know, we'll give you a little bit of grace. You know, if it's a life or death situation, then just do the bare minimum so that they survive till tomorrow till you can work on them. If it's a minor injury or not life-threatening, well, just hang on, put up with it, deal with it, and then the doctor can see you tomorrow. So no healing on the Sabbath because you're not supposed to work. But Jesus...

21:00
did not follow this because again it's not what God said he just said you shall rest but they had added on all of these specifics that God had not actually declared and so there's many times that Jesus healed on the Sabbath in Matthew chapter 12 Jesus was in the synagogue and there was a man with the withered hand remember that and he

21:20
And he calls him to stretch it out. He heals that man. And the Jewish people of course get upset. Or the religious leaders rather. In Luke chapter 14. We'll get there in a little bit. But the man with dropsy is healed. In John chapter 5. On the Sabbath day. A lame man is healed at the pool of Bethesda. And that one's interesting. Because Jesus heals this guy. And he says take up your mat and walk.

21:44
And so he's healed. He's like, wow, this is great. He takes up his mat. He's like, Jesus told me to. I'm going to do it. So he takes up his mat. He begins to walk. The religious leaders are like, hey, what are you doing? You can't carry your mat on the Sabbath. That's against the rules. He said, well, the guy who healed me told me to pick up my mat. So, I mean, I was healed. What am I going to do? I picked up my mat and I began to carry it. Again, Jesus broke their traditions, but he never broke God's law.

22:11
And so he would heal on the Sabbath and it was very frustrating to them as we can see demonstrated by Pastor George here, this ruler of the synagogue. And so he's angry, he's upset. You're violating my traditions. You're violating what we've set out as the rules for the Sabbath. And so he says, there are six days on which men ought to work. Now notice, he's really angry, right? He's worked up, he's upset. But he doesn't address Jesus. He yells at the people.

22:42
Hey, you crowd, all of you, why are you coming to be healed on the Sabbath? There's six days which men ought to work. Come therefore and be healed on those days. Don't come on the Sabbath day. He's upset. He's angry. This picture always cracks me up, even though it's incredibly tragic. The frustration, I just, it's like a cartoon character in my head, man. He's like so frustrated and angry and just no miracles today. Almost shaking his fist at God, like why are you doing this, God? You're

23:14
You're doing what you're not supposed to do. No healings today. No miracles today. It's tragic. They were bound by their religion. They could not allow this. They could not see God doing this. They were blinded by their religion. Their traditions that they had built up. And so he's incredibly frustrated with the work that God is doing in setting people free. Because it's not happening today.

23:54
The way that they wanted it to happen. Or expected it to happen. Didn't line up with their traditions. Now this is important for us to consider. Because we can look at this guy. And we can think. Oh yeah man. That guy is missing it. How could he be so blind? And yet if we would stop and consider. We would recognize that it's easy for us. To get caught up in our own religious traditions. We can follow this example. A lot easier probably than we would like to admit. We believe.

24:30
We like what's comfortable for us. And so as we walk with God, well, we kind of develop a system, a pattern. We have certain expectations about what's supposed to happen on a Sunday morning. We have certain expectations about what a devotional life is supposed to be like, what events that the church holds are supposed to be like. We have specific ideas about the way that God is supposed to work in our lives and

25:03
using us or blessing us or ministering to us we have these ideas in our heads but what i would ask you to consider is what if god wants to work in a different way than you are used to what if he wants to do something that you've never experienced before what if he wants to do something that you've never seen before what if he wants to do something that you've never heard of before if you're like the ruler of the synagogue it's like nope that's not going to happen that's not how we do it that's not how god works

25:46
That's what we think. But God's so much bigger than the systems that we try to confine him to, than the boxes that we build for him. Now you might think, hey, you know, that's, I understand, you know, there's real traditional churches and I can see how they could struggle with this, but not, you know, not really us. I mean, we're Calvary Chapel. Hey, Calvary Chapel, you know, we pride ourselves in not having to dress up. You know, you can come here just as you are and be relaxed and casual. And, you know, that really doesn't mean that we haven't developed our own dress code.

26:27
It doesn't mean that we haven't developed our own traditions and that then we're upset when there's something different than our traditions. And so someone walks in here wearing something that's different from our traditions and it's like, well, what's going on? I thought about just throwing you off today because we went and saw The Sound of Music last night and so I had to get dressed up. I wore my suit and tie. I thought maybe I should just do it on Sunday morning. Just freak everybody out.

27:04
We develop our own traditions as well. Listen, what if God wants to bring different people than you are used to to this fellowship? Right? We like to be comfortable. We're here. It's like, hey, I expect, you know, I'm going to be in contact with George and Hector and, you know, Jesse and Eli and we're going to hang out. We're going to connect and say hi and that's great. But then one Sunday, you know, all these bikers show up and you're like, hey, like what's going on here? I mean, I...

27:37
I'm scared of these people. I'm not comfortable here. I think I'm going to go to Calvary Corona now because this is just not very comfortable. But what if God wants to reach out to the bikers or whoever? The point is, you know, we get kind of caught up in ourselves and our traditions and our comfort zones and then we don't very often think that God might be working beyond what we've established or what we've expected. What if God wants to rearrange our services?

28:14
Do something completely different for a Sunday morning. What if he wants us to have a completely different style of worship? And so next Sunday you come and it's like, what on earth is going on? We don't do that here. So next Sunday you come and I say, all right, open up your Koran to... No, no, no, I'm just kidding, right? I'm not saying there's not boundaries. There are boundaries. We stick to the Word of God. We're going to be faithful to the Word of God. We're not to go beyond what God has set.

28:49
But there's a lot more freedom and variety in the parameters that God has set than we often allow. God is a lot bigger than the systems that we try to confine him to. And the ruler of the synagogue here is experiencing that. And it's very frustrating for him. Don't come on this day. Come tomorrow and be healed. Come tomorrow and let God do an amazing work in your life and set you free. But don't do that today. By all means. I mean, that's terrible.

29:23
How terrible it is that our traditions will bind us to such things and keep, well, we would help keep people bound even one more day. Who would want to inflict that poor woman with one more day of infirmity? Come tomorrow. You want to come Monday and be healed? No problem. You want to come Thursday and be healed? No problem. You want to come Friday? Ah, that's kind of close to Saturday. Can you wait until Monday? How terrible that is.

30:02
Jesus sets us free from religion. He's a lot bigger than these systems that we place for ourselves, than the traditions that we develop, than the customs that we have. Again, there are parameters. You got to stay faithful to the word of God and you can't deviate from that. However, there's so much that God can do different than we would expect. Well, the Lord rebukes this ruler of the synagogue in verse 15. It says, the Lord then answered him and said, hypocrite,

30:34
Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, think of it for 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath. Jesus now responds to this religious leader, this ruler of the synagogue, and he says, hypocrite.

31:02
It means someone who's acting. It's someone who's on stage playing a part. You remember Brad? He was here a while back, right? Hi, my name's Brad, right? I had the mask on as I was teaching the message about hypocrisy because that's what the word means. It means to pretend you're playing a part. You put on the mask and you pretend to be somebody else. Jesus says to the ruler of the synagogue, you're pretending to

31:32
To care about the things of God. You're pretending to care about what God wants. But you don't actually care. You're all worked up thinking that you are defending God and God's laws. But you're only pretending. It's not real. And Jesus will illustrate that now. He says, look, doesn't each one of you

32:02
Now, remember in Exodus chapter 23, verse 12, he says, Jesus is making a direct reference to the very command about the Sabbath that God had given.

32:31
By referencing these two animals. He says, look, you have this specific command about your ox and your donkey. You're supposed to let it rest. But on the Sabbath, you loose your ox and your donkey. You untie it from the post. So the trough's over here. The animal's over here. You untie it. You leave it over here to the trough. You give it the water. You bring it back. You tie it. You untie it so that you can take it to the water. God's command to rest on the Sabbath...

33:06
Had become this huge list of things that they could not do. But they had added that on top of the word of God. It's kind of like though. If you've ever played like a board game with a kid. And you know the kids kind of making up the rules as they go. And then he's making up the loopholes to the rules. So that he could win the game as he makes up the rules. That's kind of what they were doing. They were making up the rules. But then they would also make loopholes.

33:36
Well, you can't carry a certain amount of weight on the Sabbath unless you carry it with the top of your hand. As long as you're not grabbing it, then that's okay. You can carry it on the top of your hand. You can't travel this certain distance unless you go the day before and put your lunch there. Then you can travel that distance on the Sabbath and so on. So, you know what I mean? There was this, it was just all of these rules and regulations, right?

34:02
But it was not consistent with the word of God. He says, look, you loose your ox and your donkey so that you can lead it to water. So then he goes on. So not this woman. Being a daughter of Abraham, Satan has bound her. Think about it, he says. For 18 years, shouldn't she be loosed even if it's the Sabbath? Jesus says, you're a hypocrite. You're pretending to care about God, but you really care about your own traditions and

34:33
More than you care about God or his children. Again, you see the compassion of Jesus here. He says, she's been bound. Think of it, he says. Imagine that. Picture that. Try to put yourself in her shoes. Jesus is saying, look, I've put myself in her shoes. I've thought about it. I've thought about what would that be like to be in that condition for 18 years.

35:02
And he calls the people, think about it. Can you imagine being in that condition for so long? 1995 to 2013, you're afflicted in this way. So if you can untie an animal to bring it to water, how does it make sense that I'm not allowed to untie this woman who's been bound for such a long time? The animal might be a little bit thirsty, but this woman who is a child of God and precious to God,

35:36
She's been afflicted for a long time. Jesus is pointing out their hypocrisy. It doesn't make sense that you can untie your animal, but this woman cannot be set free. Now this illustration that Jesus gives also gives us a little bit of perspective about, well, how difficult is it for him to set us free from Satan? How hard is it for Jesus to release someone from the bonds of Satan?

36:13
He basically says here, it's as easy as untying an animal. Now, you maybe don't untie animals very often. So, maybe you could relate to it this way. Jesus says, look, I can release people from the bondage of Satan as easy as you untie your shoes. It's, it's, well, it's interesting because we, when we're in the midst of bondage, it's like these iron chains, you know, that are this massive. And I can never get out of this. Even with God's help, I don't think it's possible.

36:47
I could never escape this addiction. I could never get out of this sin. I could never get out of this relationship. It's just, it's going to be too hard. The chains are too strong. And sometimes we look at other people in bondage and we see the same thing. It's like, it just could never happen. I mean, those, it's like, you know, the chain holding the anchor on the Titanic. I mean, it's just massive that these people are bound with. And it's just not going to happen. But the perspective Jesus gives us here is like, no, no, no, you're,

37:20
You're exaggerating the bondage. Oh, for this woman, it was severe. It was difficult. It was painful for 18 years. But for Jesus to release her, it's as easy as untying a shoe. He's not concerned about how strong Satan is or how strong the bondage is. He can set you free. He can bring complete deliverance. He can cause people who are bent over to be straightened once again. And so he gives this illustration again

37:59
To point out the hypocrisy. And they have nothing to say. Look at verse 17. And when he said these things. All his adversaries were put to shame. And all the multitude rejoiced. For all the glorious things that were done by him. His adversaries are shamed it says. This word shame. It means to make to blush.

38:22
To be disgraced. I kind of picture, you know, their face is flushed. It's a red face because they're embarrassed. But they're also angry because this point made sense. And they had no response. You ever been like that? You know, it's like you're just angry because you can't think of something better to say. You know, one up the, it's like, oh yeah, you're right. So they're embarrassed. They're shamed. But the multitudes rejoice for the glorious things that were done by him.

38:54
Listen, God's bigger than the religious system that you can make. He's bigger than the box that we build for him. He's bigger than our traditions that we develop. And you can tell that you are bound in religion when that's frustrating to you, when that's irritating, when that shames you or angers you. But when it causes you to rejoice, well, then you know you've experienced a setting free from religion that Jesus provides.

39:30
Because you allow God to work how he wants to. And so this morning again I would ask, are you free? Are you free from Satan's grip? But then also, are you free from religion? If you're not free in either case, Jesus would call you to himself. Because he can set you free. And if you've been set free, you're free indeed. And I would say, you have to fight to stay free.

40:04
Because we will tend to develop these traditions and religions that we will then bind ourselves by. The Apostle Paul writing to the Galatians in Galatians 5.1 says, He says, He says,

40:27
Christ has set you free. Now why does he write that to them? Because they are tempted to, they're dealing with, they're being persuaded to go back into legalism. Back into religious laws and traditions and this system of relating to God. And Paul says, no, stand fast. You're going to have to fight this. Christ sets you free. So stay free. And don't get caught up and bound in that yoke of bondage.

41:01
That religion, tradition brings. If you're set free, stay free. But I would also say, if you're set free, show compassion. Show compassion on those who aren't free. That's what Jesus did. He saw this woman who was bound. He had compassion and he reached out to her. We would much rather hang out with a lot of other people who are just like us. That's a lot more comfortable. But we need to have compassion.

41:43
And that person that you're not used to, that person that scares you, that person that you're uncomfortable around, that's bound by Satan, you need to have compassion on them. Don't think the chains are too thick. Jesus can set them free. And perhaps he wants you to be a part of that. Jesus came to set people free from Satan, from religion. And then finally, as we finish up in verses 18 through 21, the point is we are set free to grope.

42:16
set free to grow. Now, as we look at this portion, let me just say these two parables are fairly challenging parables. And the main reason why they're challenging is because Jesus doesn't directly explain them. We see they're connected in the context. We see, you know, he's attaching these parables to this situation, but he doesn't directly define, you know, like the parable of the sower. He says, all right, this represents that, this represents this, this represents that, and here's what it means. And

42:46
In these parables, Jesus doesn't go through all of those details. And the result is, well, we have to look and try to understand what Jesus is intending to say.

42:58
Without having that index to interpret all of the details by. And that has resulted in quite a variety of interpretations and ways to understand these parables. And it can be quite consuming and confusing if you start to dig into these things. But here's what I want to remind you of as we begin to look at these parables. And that is something that Pastor Chuck says all the time.

43:24
He says, don't sacrifice what you know for what you don't know. There's things that we know. We know Jesus sets people free. And we know that he sets people free from Satan. He sets people free from religion. And don't lose that in the wondering about what these parables might mean. But let's take a look at them. In verse 18, Jesus says, what is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?

43:57
So Jesus begins saying, what is the kingdom of God like? He gives us this parable or this illustration to help us understand a little bit more about the kingdom of God.

44:25
Now what does he mean when he talks about the kingdom of God? Well, as you look throughout the gospels, Jesus uses the kingdom of God in a variety of ways. It can refer to different things. The kingdom of God can be talking about eternity, that time where we're with God forever, new heavens, new earth. The kingdom of God also sometimes is used in reference to the millennium, the thousand year reign of Christ.

44:48
But also the kingdom of God is sometimes used to just the very presence of Jesus who is the king of the kingdom of God. We saw it back in Luke chapter 11 verse 20. The religious leaders were challenging Jesus and his ability to cast out demons and they accused him of casting out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. And he says in Luke 11 20, if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

45:18
Jesus casting out demons by the hand of God says, the kingdom of God has come upon you. It's here. I'm here. The king of the kingdom of God. So there's a variety of ways then to understand what Jesus is talking about depending on

45:35
Which way you think he's talking about the kingdom of God. The illustration he gives to try to describe this a little bit more is that of a mustard seed. He says it's like a mustard seed which a man took he put it in his garden and it grew. And as it grew it became a large tree and the birds of the air nested in its branches.

45:58
Now, a mustard seed is a very small seed. Of the seeds that they knew about as Jesus was addressing them, it was the smallest seed that they knew about. So it's a very tiny seed. The idea is you plant it in the garden and then it grows. And it becomes a large tree. Now, mustard seeds can grow into, you know,

46:19
or shrubs that are high, maybe 10 or 12 feet high. And so this is the picture that he's painting here. It's a very small seed and it grows up to 10 or 12 feet high. Well, then he gives another example in verse 20. He says, again, he said, to what shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.

46:45
So again he says I'm talking about the kingdom of God. How can I compare it? What can I compare it to? How can I help you understand it better? You need to kind of consider am I talking about eternity, the millennium, the presence of Jesus? Again in Luke 17 the Pharisees asked Jesus hey when is the kingdom of God going to come? And Jesus says the kingdom of God does not come with observation nor will they say see here or see there for indeed the kingdom of God is within you or more literally among you.

47:23
Again, the idea of the presence of Jesus being the king is possibly the kingdom of God that he is referring to. So the illustration he gives, the picture he gives to help us understand that is now leaven in a batch of dough. Now leaven, of course, is that fermenting agent that is put into the dough and then it, well, it affects the whole batch of dough. It's not like chocolate chips, right? When you make chocolate chip cookies...

47:57
You don't just put one chocolate chip in the dough and then bake it. Because if you did that, you would have a lot of just boring cookies and one with one chocolate chip. If you wanted chocolate chips in all the cookies, you would have to put a lot of chocolate chips and mix it all in so that, well, all of the cookies then would have chocolate chips. Leaven is not the same way. Leaven, you put a little bit of leaven in the batch and it spreads to the whole batch.

48:31
And so Jesus says here, it's like leaven. A woman took it and hid it in three measures of meal, big batch of dough, and then it was all leavened. That leaven spread and affected the whole batch of dough.

48:51
So what does this mean? Well, let me just give you a couple possible interpretations. There's various ways, again, if you begin to look into this, and I encourage you to. It's a good exercise to do so. You begin to look at the commentaries, listen to the different Bible teachers, and pretty much as many as you listen to and read about or read from,

49:11
you'll have that many variations and interpretations of these parables. So there's a lot of variety out there. But I kind of narrow it down to two main viewpoints on this. The first thought is that these two parables are speaking about the church. That the mustard tree that grows up is the church. That the bread that rises from the leaven, that's the church. And so then it's speaking about corruption within the church.

49:39
Because the birds come and nest in the branches. And since the birds of the parable of the sowers were not good because they took away the seed, then the birds in the parable of the mustard tree is probably not good as well. So it's corruption, you know, nesting within the church even though it grows really big.

49:58
Or corruption going throughout the batch of dough, you know, throughout the church as it rises or grows. And so that's kind of the main look or viewpoint in looking at these parables. That evil corrupts and it spreads within the church as it grows. There's another group of thought or group of those who would think that this is speaking about the world.

50:21
And how the church is going to grow and basically overtake the world. And there's going to be problems and difficulties, but you know, the church is going to expand and fill the world and basically rule the world. And so you can kind of wrestle with those two main interpretations or understandings of the parable. But for our purposes this morning, I want to say, let's forget about

50:44
figuring out the symbols for each component of the parables. Jesus didn't define them for us. Maybe that's not important for us to evaluate right now. Let's just look at the main point or the picture that Jesus is illustrating here. Now, I know this is deviating from expositional constancy. And so just, you know, stating that up front. But let's step away from the symbolism and just look at the simple basic point. A mustard seed is small.

51:14
But when it's planted, it grows big. Even bigger than other plants around it that have bigger seeds. It's small to begin with, but it grows large. A little bit of leaven grows and spreads through the whole batch of dough. And maybe you could think about this kind of, there's an external thing going on with the mustard seed. There's an internal thing going on with the leaven. And remember that leaven

51:43
The Jewish people, we see it in the disciples. They were expecting the kingdom of God to come on the scene with a bang. It's like, bam, here's the kingdom. And the disciples were always asking, is it now you're going to establish the kingdom? Can I be on your right? Can I be on your left? Is it now? Are you going to set it up now? Are you going to overthrow Rome right now? Is that happening right now? Are you going to do it right now? They're expecting this big explosion of, boom, here's the kingdom of God established right now, overnight.

52:13
I think Jesus is trying to redirect them and help them understand this isn't going to be like that. That's not how the kingdom of God is. It starts out small. I'm here. I'm working. It's going to grow from there. There is going to be a kingdom. I am going to establish it, but it's not going to come in the way that you think it's going to come. And I would expand that to include us personally as well because again, the kingdom of God, sometimes Jesus just used that as a reference to himself that I'm here. I'm the king.

52:47
And when you have experienced a life with Jesus, he sets you free from Satan, he sets you free from religion, but he also sets you free to grow. And when you are experiencing the presence of Jesus, when you're spending time in the presence of Jesus, he does an amazing work in causing you to grow, in developing you, in stretching you, in strengthening you. And that only happens in the presence of Jesus.

53:20
And so this morning I would ask, are you free in that? Are you growing? Are you experiencing that presence of Jesus and the cause of growth in your life? Listen, you are not free to grow if you're bound by Satan. You're not going to be growing if you're in his clutches. If you're caught up in those things and you're unable to break free and you're not able to grow. And you're not free to grow if you're bound in sin.

53:52
And if you're continuing to practice and you're continuing on in that, you're not free to grow. You're not free to grow if you're bound by religion. That your whole relationship with God is bound by these rules and system that you've set. You can't go beyond that. It can't go outside of that. It can't be different. This is what I'm comfortable with. This is what I'm used to. This is the only way that God works. You're not going to experience growth like that because you're bound by religion. But if you come to Jesus...

54:25
He will work in you. In setting you free. And you may not see it right away. Just like when you plant the mustard seed and it begins to grow. You don't see the work right away. And when you begin to see it, it's just a little bit. It's not very encouraging. You're like, where's the big tree I was promised? When you come to Jesus, he begins to work. You might not see it all right away. But the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. He's working in you.

54:59
And it's going to grow. And it's going to grow. And it's going to grow. And he will bring you to maturity. Just as Paul promised in Philippians chapter 1 verse 6. Being confident of this very thing. That he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. He will set you free to grow. So that he can bring you to completion. To maturity. To fullness. When you stand before the Lord. Are you free?

55:37
If you're bound by Satan, if you're bound in sin, if you're bound in some condition, Jesus looks at you. He's not angry. He's not sick of you and disgusted by you. The enemy does that. He traps us. He sets the traps. We fall into it. Then he says, look at you, you miserable person. God doesn't love you. He doesn't care. He's tired. He forgave you already once. You did it again. That's it. Don't even bother going to him. But that's all the lies of the enemy to keep you trapped and bound.

56:08
Jesus says, no, come to me. Oh, but I fell again. Come to me. What if I fall tomorrow? Come to me. Jesus says, come. He invites us to come. He calls us to himself because he can set us free from Satan. He will set us free from religion and he sets us free to grow. Let's pray. Lord, as we consider the freedom that you provide, the freedom that you offer, I pray that, Lord, you would help us. Lord, that you would remove the blinders that

56:48
Might be in our lives. Or that we don't see the bondage that we are in. And Lord as you reveal that to us. As you show us. Maybe even it's not a big mystery. You already know. God wants to remind you. He can set you free. Lord set us free this morning. Release us from the bonds of Satan as we look to you. Because you died upon the cross. You were crucified in our place. You received the punishment that we deserved.

57:32
That we might be set free. And so Jesus. We look to you. And your work upon the cross. And we receive it. Saying yes. I believe you died on the cross for me. I receive your forgiveness. I receive the freedom that you offer. Lord I pray that you would set us free from religion. Show us God. Those areas where we've been caught up in our own traditions. And you want to do something. You want to work and stretch us and grow us. But.

58:02
We're bound by our own ideas and our own thoughts and our own rules. But Lord, you want to do something much greater than that. Help us to see those things. Lord, that we might come to you and be set free and allow you to do the work that you want to do. And I pray, Lord, that you would help us to spend time in your presence, that we might grow, that you might bring us to completion as you promised you would. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

58:40
We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.