A TALE OF TWO RESPONSES (1): GRACE

(Luke 13:10-13)
October 11, 2015
Read Lu 10:10-13 In our study thru Luke, Jesus has just finished a long
evangelistic sermon that began in 12:1 with the parable of the fig tree
emphasizing that the only life that will find favor with God is a life that is
bearing fruit that is, good deeds in keeping with repentance, resulting
from faith. Not works to earn Gods favor, but works that show repentance is
real.
Now in vv. 11-17, Lu shows us a real life example of each type of person
one who has fruit, and one who does not. One who believes in Christ and one
who does not. One who is repentant and one who is not. One who is saved by
grace and one who is condemned by legalism. This is a critical comparison
because every person alive is in one category or the other. And it is our
response to the message of Jesus, the gospel, that makes all the difference.
Here in CO, we know all about the continental divide -- that imaginary
geographic line that determines the flow of streams to the ocean. All rain
water falling west of the line eventually ends up in the Pacific Ocean. All
water falling on the east ends up in the Atlantic or Gulf. It seems far-fetched,
but two raindrops can land within a fraction of each other in our mountains,
but one will end up in the Pacific, and the other in the Atlantic. So close to
begin with so far apart in the end. And all determined by where they land.
And that is the message of the gospel, Beloved. Here are two people who were
at the same synagogue on the same Sabbath in 1st century Palestine. They met
the same Jesus and heard the same message. But one has been in hell for the
last 2,000 years and the other has been in heaven. The difference? The
decision they make regarding Jesus call to repentance. Decisions made in
this life have eternal consequences. We can decide where we will fall. Will it
be grace or legalism?
People often contrast grace and law. But the real contrast is with legalism. The
law is good. It is a tutor. It helps us understand how far short we fall of Gods
standard to drive us to grace. And after repentance it helps us produce fruit.
But legalism is the wrong use of the law. It is the attempt to reach God on my
own. It is the refusal to accept grace. As we will see, legalism hates grace. But
as we see this tale of two responses, I hope we will be driven again to the
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cross of Christ to find mercy and grace. Looking today at grace. What
characterized this woman that shows grace in her life?
I.

Shes Crooked

This is Jesus last visit to a synagogue in Luke. These places of opportunity

have become places of confrontation as opposition mounts. Some here hope
to catch Jesus violating their Sabbath rules. He will shame them into silence.
Now, as Jesus is teaching, this woman enters. She is late, perhaps due to her
disability. Nevertheless she is there! Lu says 11b: She was bent over
(literally, bent double) and could not fully straighten herself. She shuffles to a
seat eyes always on the ground. One commentator says, She walked about
as if she were searching for a grave. To look up would have taken an
immense effort. She is horribly deformed and has been so for 18 years.
Modern medicine has identified her condition as spondylitis deformans. But it
was not a mere happenstance. Notice that v. 11 says it was the result of a
disabling spirit, and in v. 16 Jesus further clarifies that she has been bound
by Satan. Satan and his demons can never do more than God allows, but we
know that he was allowed to infect Job with a horrible case of boils. And Paul
had some kind of physical disability which he calls a messenger of Satan to
harass me (II Cor 12:7). This womans condition was also the result of
demonic activity. That doesnt mean that she was demon-possessed. Jesus
does not cast out a demon here. But her condition was demonically imposed.
She would also have been an outcast from society. Why? Remember the
Pharisees taught that such disabilities were the result of personal sin. They
were wrong about that, but that is what they taught. Thus this woman would
have been considered a disgrace. Shes a crooked woman.
In this case, her physical crookedness represents the spiritual crookedness
that infects every person who is ever born. Many want to deny that reality, but,
Beloved, grace can only begin its work when there is a recognition of the
dark heart that is part and parcel of our human condition. Why would
someone accept grace if they feel they do not need it? Until we realize that our
guilt before God is real and not imagined, we will not seek a cure. But real it
is and its been that way for a long time.

David says in Psa 51:5, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did
my mother conceive me. He didnt develop his sin problem somewhere along
the line. It was his from the moment of conception long before Bathsheba.
He was morally crooked from the very beginning. For grace to enter our
picture, we must own the guilt. John Stott explains: "After God gave the
promise to Abraham, He gave the Law to Moses. Why? He had to make
things worse before He could make them better. The law exposed sin,
provoked sin, condemned sin. The purpose of the law was to lift the lid off
man's respectability, to disclose what he is underneath sinful, rebellious,
guilty, under the judgment of God and helpless to save himself. When we
soft-pedal sin, Beloved, we stifle grace. Grace cannot do its work until we see
how crooked we are. It was easy to see in this woman, but spiritually, we all
have spondylitis deformans. Grace is the only cure a cure we wont accept
unless we see how crooked we really are.
II.

Shes Chronic

That means this poor, bent woman could do nothing to help herself nor
could anyone else. You can bet she had consulted the best help available, but
after 18 years, it is clear. Her condition is permanent. Humanly speaking she
is without hope. In this she represents the human condition without Christ.
This is where most people stumble. They do not consider themselves
spiritually lost. They believe they are retrievable. They are not so bad
compared to others they know certainly not like criminals and reprobates.
But God sees us very differently. Paul says in Eph 2:1-2, And you were dead
in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of
this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at
work in the sons of disobedience. The key word there is dead. Spiritually
dead people walk around physically and are spiritually led by the values of the
world. But they are dead to God. What characterizes death absolutely no
response. Why is death so devastating? There is no connection. Outside of
Christ, we are without hope.
But we dont believe it. We deceive ourselves. God says in Jer 17:9: The
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick. Your own heart will
fool you. Your own heart will lie to you! It will tell you its okay. You can
make it. But all the time it is desperately sick anash terminally ill. The
same word is used in II Sam 12:15 of Davids son by Bathsheba which died.
It was terminal. God says in Jer 30:12, For thus says the LORD: Your hurt is
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incurable, and your wound is grievous. Its no surprise that you dont agree
with God. Paul tells why in II Cor 4:4, In their case the god of this world has
blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ. Outside of Christ we are blind to spiritual
realities. Our case is chronic, terminal, hopeless, apart from the work of God
in our heart.
The result of all this is Isa 53 6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turnedevery oneto his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the
iniquity of us all. Do you see what this verse is saying? It is not that we have
been outrageously evil. Society would find us quite respectable. But God sees
the murder and greed and covetousness and selfishness and lustfulness in our
heart. And He sees more. He sees the essence of sin that we insist on going
our own way instead of Gods way. I did it my way is our theme song, and it
is right in Gods face. I did it my way, and Im going to keep right on doing
it my way! We are just as chronic and hopeless as this woman, and until we
face up to that, there is no possibility of salvation.
Voltaire was the French philosopher who boasted that his logic would sound
the death knell of Christianity within 50 years. He was wrong, of course.
Within 50 years, a Bible society had purchased his home and was printing and
distributing Bibles out of his home. A French nurse was present at his
deathbed and was later asked to attend an Englishman who was critically ill.
Is he a Christian? was her question. She was assured, He is a man who
fears and loves God, but why do you ask? She replied, I was the nurse
who attended Voltaire at his last illness, and for all the wealth in Europe, I
would never see another infidel die! Unbelievers dont die well, Beloved.
Their hopeless, spiritual lostness catches up with them. It may be just before
they die or just after. But reality will hit hard when it comes. We are
crooked, and we cannot straighten ourselves. That is the verdict of Almighty
God.
III.

Shes Called

But, theres hope! Mid v. 11, She was bent over and could not fully straighten
herself. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over. What brings hope to
hopelessness? The call of Jesus. Here is the glory of the gospel. Here it is.
What we cannot do ourselves, God comes to do. When we run from Him, God
calls. When Adam and Eve ran in fear and hid themselves, what happened?
God called. God called, Where are you? The Bible says in Rom 3:10, no
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one seeks for God. But thank God, He seeks for us. Jesus came to seek and
to save that which was lost. God has made a house call that cost Him His
life, Beloved. And now He calls us to repent and be forgiven based on Jesus
death. Gods call is mentioned often in Scripture perhaps no more clearly
than in II Thess 2:14, To this he called you through our gospel, so that you
may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual healing and release from guilt is not found in our own merit, nor is it
found in meditation or spiritualism or psychiatry or religious ritual. It is
found in responding to the call of God. It is found when we stop running
from Him and begin to run toward Him. Jesus says in Rev 3:20, Behold, I
stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I
will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. Hope is knocking at
the front door, but it is not found anywhere else. Only in the call of God.
Now, Jesus said one other thing in Mt 22:14 For many are called, but few are
chosen. What does that mean? It means that not everyone who is called will
respond. Only those who are chosen by God before the foundation of the
world will respond. You say, Well, what if Im not chosen? How do I know
if Im both called and chosen? Those are great questions, Beloved, and the
answer is, you will know by whether you accept or reject. But accountable
you will be. This is where Gods grace and sovereignty work with mans will
in a way that is a mystery to us in this life. But what we know is that we are
responsible. II Pet 1:10 says, Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to
confirm your calling. How do you confirm your calling? By saying, YES!
Paul issued the same invitation. Be reconciled to God. Your decision. Have
you answered His call? A lady took her 4-year-old to church for the first time,
and pretty soon he got a little impatient. He asked, What time does Jesus get
here? The moment you say, Yes! dear friend. Thats when Jesus gets here.
Are you chosen? Thats up to you! Have you answered the call?
IV.

Shes Cured

This woman answered Jesus call and look at the result! V. 12, When Jesus
saw her, he called her over and said to her, Woman, you are freed from your
disability. 13 And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made
straight, and she glorified God. This is a wonderful picture. The theologians
of the time insisted that she was crooked because of some horrendous personal
sin. She would have had to do some good works to make up for it in their
theology. But with Jesus there is no such thing. He simply speaks the word,
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and lays His hands on her to identify with her broken condition as we have
seen Him do elsewhere. But instead of Him being defiled, she is made whole.
He saw her; He called her; and now He has cured her. Eighteen years of
misery are forgotten in an instant. Helplessness has met hope and hope won.
What a picture of salvation. What a picture of grace.
Let me illustrate further with an apocryphal story. An Englishman had made it
rich and bought a new Rolls-Royce advertised as the car that would never,
ever break down. He paid a hefty price and so was surprised when one day not
long after he bought it, it broke down in the middle of nowhere. He called the
dealer: "Hey, you know the car that will never break down? Well, it's broken
down." The dealership reacted quickly -- had a mechanic flown in by
helicopter and soon the man was on his way again. Naturally he was
concerned how much this was going to cost, and he wanted to get the ordeal
behind him, so he called to ask for his bill. There was some discussion on the
other end before the owner came on the line and said, "Sir, we are deeply
sorry, but we have absolutely no record of anything ever having gone wrong
with your car." Thats grace, Beloved. That woman was cured without any
sign shed ever had a problem; and you can be forgiven, cleansed, slate wiped
clean no guilt on your record at all. Thats what Jesus does when we respond
to his call.
V.

Shes Captivated

Notice her response to all this. V. 13, she glorified God. This was the first
evidence of a lifetime of fruitfulness to follow because that is what happens
when we come to Christ. Fruit follows evidencing that we have been
captivated by this King of kings and Lord of lords. A dead tree cant produce
fruit. Thats why a spiritually dead person cant produce anything acceptable
to God. Fruit comes when we are finally tied in to the vine as a new creation
in Christ. The fruit doesnt save us, but it shows we are saved. It shows that
grace has arrived. It demonstrates that by grace, through faith the guilt of sin
has been washed away. Let me tell you producing fruit is great, but its
nothing compared to being captivated by Jesus Christ. Are you captivated by
Him? Dont you want to be? Its your decision.
Conc -- The OT illustrates this in II Sam 9. Saul had forfeit his throne by
disobedience, and been killed in battle. David has become king. To honor
Jonathan who was also killed in battle, David asked if there was anyone from
Jonathans family still living. There was. A son named Mephibosheth who had
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been crippled in a fall years before and was dependent on others for his living.
David sent for him. Mephib supposed he would be killed as a grandson of
Saul. Instead, he was invited to the palace, interviewed by the king and
offered a permanent place at Davids table. Imagine that! His reaction? II Sam
9:8, 8 And he paid homage and said, What is your servant, that you should
show regard for a dead dog such as I? He saw himself for what he was
crooked by family connection, crippled and helpless in his own right but
saved by his connection with another, Jonathan. Grace! Taking those crooked
by birth and personal sin being made straight by the greater Jonathan -- Jesus.
What a picture. Lets pray.