Jason Robinson - Toward Jerusalem - Class 5 - He Ate Before Them

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Good morning Bible school, fantastic. It’s Thursday, we have already passed halfway point of Bible school. Unbelievable, unbelievable. It’s been a tremendous week that’s we’ve had with you guys. And so thank you very much again for the invite from yesterday’s class. I just want to quickly go over a question I had I got a few times after yesterday’s session on the working together. If we are journeying toward Jerusalem, we do so knowing brothers and sisters that we are heading straight for that city. New Jerusalem is where we set our minds and we set our eyes and we plow a straight line carrier across to get there. The question came up in a few different ways of how do we learn to work together with people or brothers and sisters who we don’t agree with?

2. 0:55

   And it’s, it’s a great question. If brothers and sisters, if people do not align with our first principles, we do not ignore them. We do not simply abandoned them, but we never, ever, ever veer off course towards New Jerusalem. That is the goal. We don’t set our cross aside and wait. We don’t simply show them the fruits of repentance.

3. 1:19

   But if they refuse to eat, we don’t let ourselves become more lost for their sake. We keep our minds focused on New Jerusalem. We are going to the city. We do not veer to the left, would not veer to the right on that path towards New Jerusalem. So hopefully that answers that question for you. But it is an important lesson we do learn to work together, just like those 12 disciples would have many, many, many, many, many times.

4. 1:49

   OK, so today we’re on session #5 He ate before them. Does anybody remember from session numbers one and two the journey’s purpose? So Luke 1831 told us what the journey’s purpose was. A couple seconds to try to jog those Thursday morning brains into gear. What was the journey’s purpose? It was to the 12, he said.

5. 2:15

   See, we’re going up to Jerusalem, and everything that’s been written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. And we looked at the gravity of that statement. We looked at how much was wrapped into that little sentence yesterday about everything that was written. Everything that was written about the profits must be accomplished.

6. 2:41

   And we saw how he chose the 12 that he did. OK, So what we’re going to be looking at today is a topic maybe most of us love. We’re going to be looking at the topic of food in Luke’s gospel. There is a suspiciously major emphasis on this topic, and I’m just going to go through the first few slides here quickly and we’re going to just kind of demonstrate how often food actually comes up in Luke’s gospel. Most importantly, there seems to be what I could count 8 times that Jesus participates in a meal in Luke. There’s 8 meals that Jesus seems to participate in. He participates in chapter 5 with Levi. Further on the 1st Pharisee and a woman who comes in. He feeds the five thousands, pharisee #2 and pharisee #3. He eats with the 12, He eats with the two travelers, and he wraps up in chapter 24 by eating with the 10. So it seems to be 8 meals that Christ’s participates in in Luke’s gospel.

7. 3:48

   But not only that, but he also uses food in his teachings. There are 18 different places that he teaches with food. Garments and wineskins, Trees that produce good or bad fruit, the sower and the seed, the Good Samaritan, the Lord’s Prayer friend asking for help at midnight, The rich fool, faithful servants, faithful manager, the barren fig tree, the mustard seed and 11 places at a wedding banquet table.

8. 4:15

   The great supper, the lost son, unjust steward, rich man and Lazarus servants. Rewards in the wicked tenants. All of these teachings he works food and eating and drinking into. These are a list of everything that he says, hey, I know I can relate and I know you as an audience can relate to. And he uses food, hunger and fasting is another one. Hunger and fasting, which is the lack of food and drink he uses 9 times in the gospel of just Luke. He has filled the hungry command of the stone to become bred at his temptation, the severe famine. John’s disciples, they frequently fast, but your disciples, they eat and drink David and the show bread. Blessed are you who are hungry.

9. 5:00

   Look, a glutton and a drunkard. I perish with hunger and fasts twice a week. Not only that, but he actually uses food as metaphors in Scripture. We recognize most of these. Bare fruits, he says, worthy of repentance. Bare fruit He will not taste of death. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Salt is good faith the size of a mustard seed that he might sift you as wheat and remove this cup from me and a list we will not read but is everything that I couldn’t figure out a category for.

10. 5:36

    There’s 23 other times in Luke’s gospel that he references food. So you place all of these these things together and you read Luke’s gospel, you come up with approximately slightly over 65 different times that Christ is going to talk about food or drink, hungry or fasting, things like of this nature eating in his gospel. That is roughly 20% of the book has to do with food. Why?

11. 6:09

    Why does Luke place such emphasis on Christ the table? One commentator, non Christadelphian states in Luke’s gospel Jesus is either going to a meal at a meal or coming from a meal. It’s a little bit of a stretch, but you read through Luke’s gospel and that’s right. A lot of times there’s a lot to do with food.

12. 6:30

    Look, just eat Jesus’s introduction into scripture. Jesus was born in what city? close Bethlehem he was born in. Bethlehem means House of bread. What was he placed into as soon as he was born is placed in a Manger that’s used for feeding. Mary says when she finds out she’ll have a son. She praises God, saying God have filled the hungry with good things. His baptism and his temptation.

13. 6:53

    As soon as he’s baptized, he goes into the wilderness and he goes 40 days without food and he’s hungry, it says. And then his first temptation, the first temptation ever recorded of Christ, the perfect man was what turned rocks into bread because he was hungry. His answer? Man shall not live by bread alone.

14. 7:15

    He says it’s everywhere in Luke, the calling of the disciples. First four, we’re doing what? Fishing. Matthew gets the call and he does what? He has a great feast and he invites everyone to his house to eat. You see, this idea is everywhere in Luke and we have to say, well, why? Why is it so many places in Luke’s Gospel?

15. 7:42

    Let’s take a look, if we would, at Jesus’s first meal. It happens to be the one with Matthew as soon as he’s called to be his disciple. This is in Luke chapter 5. We’re going to start at verse 27.

16. 7:56

    We’ve read this story a couple times already, but we’re going to see it from maybe a different angle this morning. It says in verse 27 in Matthew, sorry of Luke 5 And after these things he went forth, and he saw a publican named Levi sitting at the receipt of custom. This is Matthew and he said him to him, follow me. And he left all rose up and followed him. So Christ says, follow me.

17. 8:14

    He says, Great, I’ll follow you and come to my house for a great feast. 1st 29 Leave. I made him a great feast in his own house, and there was a great company of publicans and others that sat down with him. So who is at this banquet feast? Well, we’re told that there was the tax collectors and the sinners were at this feast. Now tax collectors and sinners is the term not used necessarily by us, but by the others that were present at this feast, and that’s the Pharisees and the scribes. If you read further it says but their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples saying why do you eat and drink with the publicans and the sinners so present? Not necessarily everybody eating but present watching this are the Christ and his disciples.

18. 8:59

    We have the tax collectors who would have been friends with their Co worker Matthew and also the Pharisees and the scribes are peering in from outside. This was Christ’s first meal in this book. What’s the message of His first meal? He says as we continue to read verse 30. Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? Now who are they asking this question to? Did we read that carefully?

19. 9:39

    They murmured against his disciples. We are going to notice way too often Christ reads the minds of those at his dinner table. How uncomfortable would it have been to sit at a seat at a table with Jesus? Let’s keep reading verse 30. There are scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples saying why do you eat and drink The public and the sinners Jesus answering them said they that are holding not a physician, but they that are sick.

20. 10:10

    I came to call the right not I’m sorry I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. He says the theme my message is I have come to call the right, not the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The sick need doctors, not to the healthy Now as we learned in class number three, session 3, everybody’s a Sinner.

21. 10:31

    Everybody needs a doctor, everyone’s lost. Everyone needs to find repentance. The tax collectors, the sinners, the Pharisees, the scribes. So brothers and sisters, Jesus is going in his gospel. He is going to eat with all. We will see him eating with sinners. We will see him eating with disciples. We will see him eating with Pharisees. He eats with all because all need repentance, all are lost, all need a doctor.

22. 11:12

    And so he sits down with everybody in Luke’s gospel, when he eats with them all, He feeds others. He creates food for thousands. He plays hosts to a meal, he as a guests at other meal. He has come to call everybody to repentance. Is it any different with us, brothers and sisters? When we partake of the bread, when we partake of the fruit of the vine, we do so in remembrance of Him. We do so as a type.

23. 11:47

    We do so looking to the example of the perfect man because we come to that table as sinners and Christ has shared that with us. He gave His life for us according to Scripture and you can see this theme come out meals and particularly where you ate at the meal showed your social status. This was a big deal for the Pharisees. It says in Luke 14, you don’t need to turn it up just a few pages over if you’d like to.

24. 12:25

    But Luke chapter 14, it says in verse 7, and he put forth a parable to those which were bidden when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms. So Christ is sitting at the table. We’re going to we’re going to look at the story in detail in a few minutes. He’s sitting at the table and he’s he’s watching these people, these Pharisees scurry around trying to get the best seat and they’re shoving and they’re pushing and they’re sitting down before somebody else and he’s watching this take place.

25. 12:50

    And then he gives us the principle. He says in verse 10, But when you are bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room. And when he that bade thee cometh, he may go up to thee and say, friend, go up higher. Then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sat at meet with you. So we sang, really sit in the lowest. Then what will happen is if you’re worthy, you’ll be moved up and you’ll be in honor.

26. 13:17

    The presence of all who sit at the table with you, brothers and sisters who sat at the table with him was Lord Jesus Christ. We can have honor with him if we show that humility. Status is also brought to us in Matthew’s Gospel, Matthew’s Gospel in Matthew chapter 23 there’s a few verses to read from that chapter Matthew 23 starting in verse 2 saying the scribes and the Pharisees, they sit in Moses seat all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do but don’t do after their works, for they say and they do not verse 5 but all their works they do to be seen of men.

27. 13:57

    They make broad their phylacteries enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues where you sat at these meals showed the status that you had at the table and these meals that Christ participates in, where was his rightful seat? It would have been the highest.

28. 14:24

    It would always been the highest seat. But they’re all scurrying. They’re all fighting over that most precious seat. We’re going to take a brief pause here and just remind ourselves about these Pharisees. We haven’t really looked at the antagonists yet on this journey to Jerusalem. We’ve seen the the problems, we’ve looked introspectively, but we haven’t actually really paid attention to these guys a whole lot yet.

29. 14:50

    So let’s take a look then. Does anybody remember the chapter that we looked at in Ezekiel’s prophecy that showed us the failure of the shepherds of Israel? Where was that one? Ezekiel 34? Perfect. Ezekiel 34 says that these shepherds of Israel, and when we come on to the scene, John the Baptist calls them out. You brood of Vipers bring forth fruits worthy of repentance. But what we saw from Ezekiel 34 was the weak they didn’t strengthen, the sick they didn’t heal, the injured they didn’t bind up, the strayed they didn’t bring back and the lost they didn’t seek.

30. 15:25

    According to the law of the Pharisees, holiness came from doing less. This was their motto. If I can figure out a way for the law to prove that I could do less and less and less, that brings holiness. You see, good works according to the Pharisees, had limitations. I will do good works unless it involves the Sabbath.

31. 15:48

    Cross that off my list, unless it involves lepers. If there’s any form of lepers in the area, I don’t need to do those things. What about Samaritans? I don’t deal with the unclean sinners. I don’t touch them, I don’t let them get near me, so on and so forth. Good works. According to the Pharisees they had, they had boxed themselves in from from helping so much that they’re actually limiting their involvement with the people.

32. 16:16

    This was Ezekiel 34. This is exactly Ezekiel 34. They had found rules in the law. They had found loopholes, exceptions that said look. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on over for. Oh, that’s the Sabbath. Well, sorry. We’ll catch you next time. Oh, Monday works. Oh, you were around a leper the other day. It’s just not going to work.

33. 16:40

    Sorry. Maybe we’ll we’ll go get it. And they have found their way to appear righteous to everyone to look the part. And Christ says don’t do anything that they do. So these are the Pharisees that we’re dealing with. And I thought it would just be a fun little quick exercise to kind of look at the the evolution, I guess of where we’ve started with the Pharisees and where we get to pre journey. I don’t know if you guys remember, but in class 3, we looked at the Samaritans briefly in class 3. And what we saw is that Christ wanted to come down through Samaria.

34. 17:20

    He wanted to come down this path. He was up here in Nazareth, sorry Galilee area and he wanted to come down South straight into Jerusalem. He tried to go through Samaria. They said not sorry, not today. Your face as though is it was as going to Jerusalem not going to work. He’s forced to cut E come down South of on the Jordan, come back into the land.

35. 17:42

    One of the biggest reasons he didn’t want to go through Samaria is they were trying to kill him in Israel. So if he comes through Samaria, he can avoid that headache. He doesn’t in the end, he’s forced to go. But one of the reasons was this. Now let’s look at the again, evolutions. Not the word I’m looking for, but it is the word we’re going to use of the Pharisees.

36. 18:02

    Come with me to Luke chapter 5. Let’s start at the beginning here. Luke chapter 5. This is pre pre journey. We’re a few chapters away from him steadfastly setting his face to go to Jerusalem. Luke 5 starting in verse 18, it says and behold, men brought in a bed, a man which was taken with a palsy, and they sought means to bring him in and to lay him before them.

37. 18:22

    We know the story. When they could not find in which way they might bring him in, they came in through the roof. Jesus when he saw their faith. Verse 20 said to them, man, your sins are forgiven you. So here’s a man who’s sick and Christ, the first thing he says is your sins are forgiven you. Now who’s listening?

38. 18:42

    Who’s watching? It says and the scribes and the Pharisees verse 21 began to reason saying who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? Now what does Jesus do? Verse 22 we’ve already seen it when Jesus perceives their thoughts, he answering said to them, what reason ye in your hearts I’m reading your mind. He says whether it is easier to say your sins are forgiven you or to say rise up and walk.

39. 19:14

    So what we have in Luke 529 is noticing they go who is this guy who’s saying these blasphemous words your sins are forgiven you sure we saw the healing. Sure we saw you have the the gifts, but come on, you can’t forgive sins God alone. So they notice him further on in the chapter verse 27 a different time it says and after these things.

40. 19:36

    So we’ve progressed after these things. He went forth and saw a publican named Levi sitting at the receipt of custom. And he said to him, follow me. We’ve gone over the story. This is the the meal at Matthew’s house. Verse 30. But the scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples. So we see now the next step.

41. 19:52

    They noticed him further on the chapter they begin to murmur. Chapter 6 put the page to verse one. It came to pass in the second Sabbath after the first, that he went through the cornfields. And his disciples plucked the ears of corn to eat, rubbing them in their hands. Notice this is, by the way, our second Pharisee introduction having to do with food. It’s beside the point, but certain of the Pharisees said to them.

42. 20:17

    Said to who? The disciples, Why do you that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath days. And who answers them? The disciples. No, Jesus. He knows what’s going on in their minds, man, it would have been scary to be around Jesus and to be his enemy. Verse 3 And Jesus answered them, said have you not read so much as this?

43. 20:41

    What David did when he himself was hungry and they which were with him, how he went into the House of God. He did take and eat of the showbread and gave ulcers to them which were with him, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone. So what do they do?

44. 20:52

    They put a challenge to him in chapter 6. Look at verse 7. And the scribes and the Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the Sabbath day, that they might find an accusation against Him. So now not only are they noticing him, they’re murmuring against him, they’re challenging him. But what they’re doing is they’re now lying in wait to trap him. This guy, he’s good, but he’s going to make a mistake. We’ll catch him.

45. 21:21

    Look at verse 10. Nope, let’s go. Verse 8 But he know their thoughts, of course, said to the man which had the withered hand, rise up, stand forth in the midst. And he rose and stood forth, then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing. Is it lawful in the Sabbath days to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it? Verse 11 And they were filled with madness, and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus. So now we’ve the state we’re at is their scheming against him. Matthew as a little bit more to the story. And if you don’t have it written down in in your margin, it’s good to jot this one down.

46. 22:02

    This is the parallel account in Matthew, Matthew chapter 12, verse 14. Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him. How they might destroy him. It says in Matthew 12. This is the the, the the

47. 22:19

    progress, not the word. This is the evolution that we’ve taken. Now for these Pharisees, they noticed, they murmured, they challenged, they trap, they scheme, and now they’re meeting in secret to talk about how to destroy him. This is all pre journey. This is one of the reasons he would have preferred to go through Samaria is because these Pharisees are meeting in secret.

48. 22:44

    How they can bring this man down. Why the Pharisees thrived on doing less on finding their loopholes in the law. That said, you know what, look, I found another one. We actually can do XY and Z because this law here contradicts that one perfect put in the rules and Christ came and preached a new Kingdom, a new law, a better way. And they go, this is this is total. This is more work.

49. 23:15

    Who’s this guy? See, the Pharisees expected a Messiah to come on the scene and to look at them and to say you guys are masters of the law. Well done, well done, scribes and Pharisees. You have worked the law perfectly. And here comes this man claiming to be the Messiah and saying completely the opposite.

50. 23:35

    This guy’s not the Messiah. They said this guy’s fake. And so they noticed, they murmured, they challenged, they trapped, they schemed, and they sought to destroy. So these are the Pharisees that we’re going to look at in our session today. In Luke’s account, we saw already there are three instances of meals that Christ has with the Pharisees. The first we’re going to look at He’s touched by a Sinner. The second we’re going to look at He didn’t wash before eating. How dare he?

51. 24:10

    The next we’re going to look at is he sits down with the chief Pharisee, and the chief Pharisee watches as he does work on the Sabbath. We’re going to look at these three accounts now. It’s important to remember Jesus came to heal the sick, to seek the lost, to bring fruits to repentance to everyone. Everyone was lost.

52. 24:38

    Christ eats with sinners and He eats with Pharisees who forsake a confusion. By the way, we’re also sinners. Hopefully we’re aware of that. He eats with everyone because everyone who comes to the table sins. But remember, the Pharisees were this group that we categorized earlier as super lost. When Christ would speak a parable at the table, they would say, man, I really hope the sinners are listening right now. They could learn a lot from this guy, but we would, we would never do that, would we?

53. 25:11

    Would we come to the table of Christ? So Jesus again has eight specific meals and three of them are with Pharisees. Keep in mind, the mindset of the Pharisees at this time is what they might do to Jesus. This is this is the progress that they’ve made it in their minds what they might do, how they might destroy him.

54. 25:33

    Let’s take a look at the first meal. Luke Chapter 7 we enter the first Pharisees house. Keep in mind the context. Luke 7 verse 31 and the Lord said whereunto shall I like in the men of this generation? What do they like? He says they’re like the children sitting in the marketplace and calling 1 to another verse 33 John the Baptist came.

55. 25:54

    He didn’t eat, he didn’t even drink. Now what do you call him? You say he has a devil. Interesting. He doesn’t eat or drink and you say he’s got a devil. I come, son of man comes verse 34, eating and drinking, and you say, look, he’s a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of publicans and sinners.

56. 26:12

    What wisdom is justified of all her children? Food is everywhere in Luke. It’s all over the place. We keep talking about the food, the eating, the drinking. So we come then to the House of the first Pharisee, verse 36 and one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. Keep in mind the mindset where are we at as as the Pharisees?

57. 26:35

    Well, we’re we’re in a scheming phase. How are we going to trap this guy? He desired Him that He would eat them and he went into the Pharisees house and he sat down to meet to behold a woman of the city, which was a Sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at me at the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster box of ointment.

58. 26:54

    She stood at his feet behind him weeping and began to wash his feet with tears. She wiped them with the hairs of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. This is the story of an amazing sign of repentance, this woman here she entered the house. Do you think she knew how the Pharisees viewed her? Of course she did.

59. 27:18

    Do you think it took tremendous courage and brought tremendous shame for her to do that act? Of course it did. It didn’t matter. That man could bring forgiveness, and she knew she needed to repent. So she comes in, she anoints him, she washes his feet with her hair and her tears. And the Pharisee looks at this and says, this man, if he were actually a prophet, who would have known who in what manner of woman this is that touches him, for she is a Sinner. And he thinks this in his mind.

60. 28:08

    Now we’ve already seen instances. What can Jesus do? He can read the minds and he is thinking if this man were actually who he says he was, he would know that this woman is disgusting. He would not allow this to happen. And Jesus answering his thoughts says Simon, I have something to say to you. And he says, Master say on Jesus introduces the conversation. Jesus starts it and he says there was a certain creditor which had two debtors.

61. 28:48

    There we have a creditor and two debtors. You guess who’s who In this parable, the one owed 500 pence and the other 50. When they had nothing to pay, they both couldn’t pay. He frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, Simon, which of them will love him the most? Simon answered and said, Well, I suppose that he to whom he forgave the most, he said, you’re rightly judged.

62. 29:11

    And he turns to the woman, and what does he say? He says, Simon, you see this woman, I entered your house. You gave me no water from my feet. But she’s washed them with her tears, she’s wiped them with the hairs of her head. You gave me no kiss, this woman, since the time I came, and hath not ceased to kiss my feet, my head. He didn’t anoint you with oil, but this woman anointed my feet with ointment.

63. 29:45

    Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven. When you eat with Christ. He comes to call all to repentance. He comes to heal the sick, for she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. He said to her, your sins are forgiven. And they that sat with him at the table said, who is this that forgive sins? Also, We had two debtors, one who owed 500 pence, the other who owed 50.

64. 30:22

    Does he forgive the one who owes 500? And say to the one with 50, it’s only 50, You can make it up. I know you could pay that back, just work a little harder. Is that what he does in the parable? He says both of them are forgiven. Who is this parable directed to? Mostly it’s to Simon, the one who owed 50. He says, Simon, it’s your chance now to repent. Both were forgiven.

65. 30:47

    The debt, This woman here who owed 500, she’s forgiven. Do you want to be the man who owes 50? And what does the Pharisee do? I’m not a Sinner. I don’t need repentance. He had the opportunity there to fall down and repent and be forgiven, but he loved little. The principle is that if if you have 1000 sins or 10 sins, everyone needs forgiveness. That’s why Christ came.

66. 31:22

    Forgiveness comes down to the attitude that you have. Is your attitude one of man? I really hope that that person there knows forgiveness is an option. Or is it? I’d be lost without forgiveness. Let’s look at our second meal. Our second meal is in Luke Chapter 11. Again, we’re going to eat with a Pharisee. Luke Chapter 11.

67. 31:46

    It says in Luke 11 verse 37 it says and as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him and he went in and sat down to meet and when the Pharisees sought he marvelled that he had not first washed before dinner. So this Pharisee says come on in and he watches Jesus.

68. 32:08

    Remember what the Pharisees mindset was. He watches Jesus and says, this man didn’t wash before dinner, and when the Pharisees sought, he marvelled verse 39, the Lord said unto him again, maybe there’s some mind reading going on here. Now do you Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter?

69. 32:34

    But your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also. Now the principle we’re going to just dash through this one. The principle of this Pharisee is that the good on that shows on the outside must match the inside. Christ taught that the Pharisees, you, you, you don’t ever do as they do, even though you listen to what they say. That was His principle at the beginning of Luke. But what they do, do not, for they do their works to be seen of men.

70. 33:07

    They do things to be seen of men. They look great on the outside, but inside is disgusting. And so Christ comes in unwashing Unwashen, but his inside was perfect. He demonstrates this principle. The good that shows on the outside has to match what’s on the inside. And that’s the point of the second Pharisee. Let’s go to into our third, our final meal with a Pharisee. We’re in Luke chapter 14, midway through the journey, according to the text first one, and it came to pass as he went into the House of one of the chief Pharisees. We’ve now elevated ourselves to chief Pharisees inviting us over for a meal.

71. 33:54

    It’s the Sabbath day, verse one, and they’re watching him, verse 2. And behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.

72. 34:08

    How do you suppose a man with the disease was planted there? How do you suppose a man like that found his way to a banquet with not just any Pharisee, but the chief Pharisee? And what are they doing? Watching. What are they watching him for? Look at where the Pharisees have gotten now. They’ve put this man and they’re watching him carefully build. This was a great idea.

73. 34:37

    We’re going to get him today. It’s the Sabbath, He’s going to heal and this is just who Jesus is. Man. They missed who Jesus was. Here’s a man who could heal on the Sabbath and they’re trying to catch him for it. Man, brothers and sisters, we really need to look inside sometimes. There was a certain man before then which had the dropsy and Jesus, he breaks the ice. He introduces the topic before they can say a word and says it’s unlawful to heal on the Sabbath day. What do they say?

74. 35:05

    You’re right, nothing. They say absolutely nothing because if they say yes, he would say perfect. If they say no, he would say prove it. And what would they say? Right Again, nothing. The law says nothing about this. So he says, verse four. They held their peace and by their silence they knew and they showed there was no law. And he took him, healed him, let him go. Verse four.

75. 35:38

    And then he says, which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a pit? Well, not straightway. Pull him out of the Sabbath day again and guess what they say now, right again, nothing. This was a pretty one sided conversation this evening. It would have been the most humbling thing to have a meal with Christ.

76. 35:59

    The most humbling thing, but He brings to them a law. Which of you shall have an astronauts fall into a pit, will not straightway pull them out on the Sabbath day. Now did anybody here see in verse three who He directs the question to? Who comes first?

77. 36:28

    It’s the lawyers and the Pharisees. It’s those people who claim to be experts in the law who also join him for this dinner tonight. Of course, you need experts in the law if you’re going to try to catch him on the Sabbath, a thing of the law. So they bring the experts, the law, the lawyers, and they bring the Pharisees. And he says to the lawyers and the Pharisees these questions. What he’s doing is he’s quoting a verse from Deuteronomy. Come with me, if you would, to Deuteronomy chapter 22. We probably have this in our margin. If you don’t, it’s worth jotting it down. Deuteronomy 22 He’s going to fight the law with the law. Deuteronomy 22 first 4 verses You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep go astray and hide thyself from them. Thou shalt in any case bring them again to your brother. If you see brother Pete, his ox going astray and you go, that’s Pete’s ox again.

78. 37:23

    What you don’t do is you don’t say, I didn’t see it. I’m not going to do anything about it. The law says you get it and you bring it back to Brother Pete. Verse 2. And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if you don’t know him, then thou shalt bring it unto your own house, and it shall be with you until your brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again.

79. 37:47

    So if you’re walking and you see and you go, I actually have no idea whose ox this is. What you don’t do is hope they find it. You bring it home and you pay for the food. You take care of it until Uncle Pete comes and says, hey, you’ve seen an extra cow roaming around. Yeah, I, I, I have it.

80. 38:10

    Here it is. That’s the law. Verse 3. In like manner shalt thou do with his donkey, and so shall you do with his clothes and with every lost thing of your brothers which he hath lost. Interesting, isn’t it? Anything that your brother’s lost and which you have found shalt you do likewise. Thou mayest not hide yourself. So what is he doing with genomic 22 one through three? Well, is this the exact way that he phrases it in Luke 14? No, no, he says.

81. 38:46

    If you find your own, of course you’re going to pick it up. What does the law say? You find your brothers, you pick it up. Of course you’d pick up your own, but the law says you actually also get your brothers. Verse 4. Thou shalt not see your brother’s ass or his ox fall down, by the way, and hide yourself from them. Thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again. So as he poses this question to the experts in the law, of course they couldn’t answer him anything. The law said, not only do you of course going to pick up your own.

82. 39:29

    That’s common sense. But if you see your brothers, you pick him up. So as this man with the dropsy comes in, who’s actually failing that evening, it was the Pharisees and the and the lawyers, They were the ones who were supposed to help this man. The law says care for your brother. Don’t pretend like you don’t notice it. He’s lost, you help him, says the law. It would have been very humbling to have a meal with Jesus, wouldn’t it?

83. 40:06

    And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden when he saw how they chose the chief rooms, the chief seats. He’s saying to them when you’re bidden of any man to a wedding. Sit not down in the highest room, lest a more honorable man than thou be bidden of thee of bidden of him.

84. 40:24

    And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, give this man place, and you know you have shame, have to take a lower seat. And when you are bidden, you sit in the lower, so that you may be honored and elevated for. Verse 11. For whosoever exalted themselves should be a based, neither humbleth himself shall be exalted. This was the principle of yesterday learning to work together.

85. 40:45

    And the principle is salvation’s offered to everyone. That’s what the law claims. It’s for your brother. It’s for everybody at the table who comes with Christ. Now, we don’t have time to go over them, but there are two parables right after this. The parable of the wedding feast, about eating. The parable of the great banquet, Guess what? That’s about eating.

86. 41:10

    Jesus watched all these most important people at the meal scurrying around trying to get the best seat nearest to this chief rabbi who’s hosting the meal. And he gives him the parable, the wedding feast. And then he, he sees this continue and he gives the parable, the great banquet. He says, don’t invite people to your meal who will invite you back.

87. 41:33

    That’s not why you do these things. The whole theme of the Sabbath, this was a Sabbath feast. This is the day of giving back to Yahweh. That’s the Sabbath’s about. And he then invites. He then goes over the parable of the great banquet and further, and just like the chief Pharisee holds a banquet and invites many guests, He says, what if nobody showed up for your banquet?

88. 42:00

    He says, just like the parable of the great banquet, he goes out and he finds anybody who would come in. Again, we don’t have time to go over those in too much detail. So we look at these three. The first, Christ is touched by a Sinner. The second he didn’t wash, and then the third, he did work on the Sabbath.

89. 42:20

    He was really showing that he was breaking all these terrible laws. No came to heal everybody. He called the poor, He called the sick, He called the sinners, He called the lost. The invitation is accepted to everybody. It’s comforting to know, isn’t it? The invitation is open to everybody. It was in a love for all.

90. 42:49

    He didn’t ignore certain groups of people. He didn’t even ignore the Pharisees. He does dine with them now. Jesus could dine with anybody He needed to for one purpose because he brought with him salvation. That’s why Jesus could dine. He brought with him salvation. He says if you want to come to this table, come looking for forgiveness, come with fruits of repentance. When Jesus sat down with dine to dine with people, he would never degrade.

91. 43:23

    He would never belittle the commandments of God in this book. He would never compromise on divine principles. When he sat down to eat. He would uphold them perfectly, and he would use the principles in this law to challenge others. That was why he sat down. Brother Thomas, In his letters Back and forth with Alexander Campbell, 1835, he writes something interesting.

92. 43:44

    He says, Did he Christ bear arms for the destruction of men? Did he mingle as a political agitator in the paltry questions of human policy, although he ate with sinners? Did he make the swearer, the fornicator, the debauchee, the companions of his solitude? Did he make these people the companions of his solitude? Did he degrade the image of God by such conduct as this, by corrupt communications, by unholy deeds? The answer?

93. 44:20

    Of course, no, neither must the Christian if he would be an acceptable imitator of the good one. But the Thomas points out that we have the same responsibility in our lives. What we’re not saying is that we’ll be corrupted if we participate in these things. We’re not saying we need to degrade the commandments of God to do so. We’re not saying that we compromise the biblical principles.

94. 44:43

    Neither did Christ when he sat down and we ate with all these people. The principle for us is we show love knowing everyone is sinners. The only one perfect is the Lord Jesus Christ who brought forgiveness. Would it be neat if you hadn’t spoken with a brother or sister in years? You haven’t communicated with somebody because of an issue that we had since such and such an event happened, or since such and such a person said this or that?

95. 45:15

    What if we were forced just to have them over for dinner? What would happen if every time we had a spat or disagreement with someone, we were forced to cook a meal for them? We were forced to sit down across and talk?

96. 45:36

    What would happen? Forget about committees. Forget about perfectly worded emails and red tape. What if you cooked dinner and talked? It’d be an interesting world, wouldn’t it? And so Christ dined with all. Did he take the word and say, you know, I’m going to pause on 1st principles for a while? No, he upheld everything in this book.

97. 45:58

    And he ate with sinners, He ate with his disciples, He ate with Pharisees, He ate with anybody who was willing, and he sat down with them. So we have a few meals. And Luke, again, we’ve gone over a few of these.

98. 46:16

    Seriously, only three minutes left. All right, we’ve made it to Luke 19. Guess what happens in Luke 19? We get to Jerusalem. We’ve made it, brothers and sisters, we have made it to Jerusalem. We have 3 minutes to get into Jerusalem. Let’s, let’s talk about it. Luke 19. We haven’t lost the Pharisees yet. They’re still interested.

99. 46:43

    They will end up causing quite a stir in a few chapters, but Jerusalem is on the horizon. Verse 28 to 35 we have the two disciples. They collect the cult. Verses 36 Luke 1936 And as they went to spread their clothes in the way and when he was come nigh, even now at the desert of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, Blessed be the king that cometh in the name of the Lord, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. The Pharisees, guess what they say to the disciples, They say to Christ, Master, tell your disciples to be quiet. They’re still here.

100. 47:25

     They’re following us all the way to Jerusalem. And he says something fascinating. He says verse 40, I tell you that if they held their peace, quoting Habakkuk 2 as your margin says, the stones of this wall would cry out in their place. He says this is a joyous day, even though nobody here recognizes why I’m entering Jerusalem, even though everybody here assumes I come with a sword to deliver you from the Romans.

101. 47:54

     This is a joyous day. And he in verse 41 beheld the city and cries. That’s his entry into Jerusalem. He sees it and he knows what awaits it. This city isn’t why he came. He came to bring a new Jerusalem. This city would be the cause of his death and as many people as had come and assumed that they had put him to death, Christ came and did it willingly.

102. 48:28

     So we’ll quickly end. He has the meal with his disciples. Luke, interestingly, is the one that mentions 2 cups instead of 1. But you see, brothers and sisters eating, it’s been the theme since the very, very, very, very beginning.

103. 48:53

     It’s been the theme since the very, very beginning. Well, the first things the Elohim instructed Adam was you can eat of everything. You can eat of everything, but don’t eat of one tree. What is it? The one thing that mankind does? They eat of that tree. It’s always been about that. And so when Christ comes after the fall, when Christ comes into Jerusalem, he sets a meal before them. He sets a meal before his disciples and he says, eat with me and live.

104. 49:20

     And once he was done with that meal, once he was done giving the meal to his disciples, what he does is he puts himself on a tree for the life of the whole world, to eat of his flesh, to drink of His blood in remembrance of Him. This is why He goes to Jerusalem.

105. 49:43

     This is what awaited him there. The entire religious organization of Jerusalem tried to take his life since chapter 5, but Jesus willingly gave it. He was on that tree hung for the world to witness, and he says, partake of my body and my blood and live. I’m coming to Jerusalem to undo the results of eating that tree in that garden by putting myself on a tree willingly. For all this do in remembrance of me. And so we eat every week at the table, and we do these things in remembrance of Him.

106. 50:23

     Blessed are they that do His commandments that they may have rights to the tree of life and may enter into the gates of the city. I’m going to ask for two minutes, I promise, just to. There’s one time that Jesus specifically eats in Luke. He has had eight meals. Which one do you think he actually puts food into his mouth in? With Levi?

107. 50:50

     No, with Levi it says they were reclining at the table with the Pharisee. No, he taught them reclined at the table the 5000. No, he fed 5000 other people, not himself, reclined to the table with the Pharisee. He reclined to the table with the third Pharisee. With the 12 he fed them with the two travellers, He fed them.

108. 51:08

     When is the first time that scripture says specifically that he actually ate? It’s when he didn’t need to. It’s an as an immortal man, he had been dining with people since chapter 3 and four. He had been had his first meal in chapter 5 and it says in chapter 24 verse 41, he took it and he ate. Why does he wait until the very end? Why does he wait until an immortal being who doesn’t even need to eat anymore to specifically eat before them? He has shared meals with people the whole book and now not only does he eat, but he eats before them. He eats by himself.

109. 52:06

     Why? It’s to prove a point. What point is Christ trying to prove? Come with me to verse 42. 41 And while they yet believe not for joy and wonder, he said to them, do you have anything to eat?

110. 52:26

     They said we’ve broiled fish, a piece of honeycomb. And he took it, and He did eat before them. Why does He eat? He has to prove that what they see isn’t a ghost, it’s actually Jesus. But what is it He says? What’s the reason He says He actually eats? Verse 44 It’s going to blow your brains. And he said into them, These are the words which I spake unto you while I was at with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were spoken of in the law of Moses, which were spoken of in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. Do you remember, disciples, when I told you that I’m going to eat now to prove that all of that’s done? I’m not some ghost like you think I am. Give me some food.

111. 53:22

     And he eats it, and says, This is proof that all the things the prophet spoke about me have been accomplished, And so we ate before them, brothers and sisters, we conclude verse 45.

112. 53:40

     Then opened he their understanding what an event that would have been, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus is written. And thus it was needful for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning where beginning Jerusalem.