Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Thursday
August 20, 2020
Pastor Rick Kabrick
The Gospel of Luke. Part 2. CH 3-5. Pastor Rick Kabrick.
Remember John was living in the wilderness. LUK 1:80, And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
Although leaders of the Jewish religion, many of them were not sincere. They would go through the motions to look good, but they could not escape the anger of GOD by Baptism.
Many Jews thought hey we are GOD’s chosen HE won’t punish us. Sadly, they were wrong. And today still many Jews have that same belief. And they too are sincere, but they are sincerely wrong.
John made such an impact that people logically wondered if he was the Messiah. And for many people this would have been a great temptation to grab some fame.
DEU 8:3, So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.
Too much Word and not enough Spirit and you puff up, in the sense of pride. You know a lot but don’t apply a lot.
Too much Spirit and not enough Word and you blow up. With the Word and the Spirit together, you grow up.
It is true. In the Navy, and I’m sure in many areas an expert is someone from far away…
These fisherman would fish all night and when sunrise came they headed into port. Once there the work began. The fish would be taken to be sold. But the boat had to cleaned and most importantly the nets were washed with fresh water and the laid out to dry.
Jesus touched them. Something clean becomes unclean if it contacts something unclean.
Normally something clean does not make something unclean clean. But not so with Jesus of course. HE touched the unclean and the unclean became clean.
Something that comes out of this is it makes us admire friends who are this close and this caring. And it makes us wonder perhaps if we are that kind of friend.
Really HE was pointing directly at the Pharisees and Scribes when HE said those who are sick. In a way HE was using Divine sarcasm.
Basically, it seems they thought Jesus was too happy. When was the last time you were accused of being too cheerful or too happy? Or been angry at someone who was.
First, it would disfigure the new garment, Secondly, it would cause the old garment to become torn. The new piece has to shrink and as it does it would pull the old garment apart.
Jesus came to introduce something new, not to patch up something old. In doing this, Jesus doesn’t destroy the old (the law), but HE fulfills it, just as an acorn is fulfilled when it grows into an oak tree. There is a sense in which the acorn is gone, but its purpose is fulfilled in greatness.