Welcome to Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davy. Stephen has been teaching the Bible for over four decades, and we bring you these messages to help you know God, think biblically, and live wisely. Just before Stephen's message today, please take a moment to like and subscribe to this podcast. That helps more people find this biblically faithful teaching.
Now, here's Stephen. Had sickness been the issue in Jesus's ministry, he would have healed everybody on the planet, which he didn't do. He wouldn't have healed a few lepers; he would have cleaned out the leper colonies, which he didn't do. This is the credentials of the King. It's a little prelude to heaven, isn't it?
Because what's missing in heaven? Sickness, disability. Pain. When the king is on his throne, all of that is banished from his realm. Let me, Jesus, effectively says, give you a little taste of that right now.
We've been working our way through the Gospel by Luke, and most recently, we completed a study of of the Twelve in Luke chapter six.
So let's go back there and get a running start. Jesus has just finished an all night prayer meeting with his father, and we're told. Here in verse thirteen, the next morning, that is when day came, he called his disciples and chose. And I want you to notice this from them, from among them. Twelve, whom he names apostles.
The Lord, more than likely, at this point in his ministry, which is now about a year old, that is in his ministry, he has several hundred disciples, men and women, following him, according to the gospel accounts. But now, at this juncture, the Lord selects twelve men. From among this rather large crowd of disciples, and names them apostles. That word simply means sent ones. They're going to be uniquely commissioned to establish the church in days ahead.
They're going to be used by the Lord to many of them to write much of the New Testament scriptures that we have today. And at this point here, they're going to become really his closest companions. Traveling along with him, they're going to get extra tutoring by the Lord, and they get the special designation. and And of course, you know, it goes straight to their heads, doesn't it? Because at this point, they're going to begin arguing behind Jesus's back, which one among them is the greatest.
So they have a lot to unlearn. And a lot to learn as they're transitioning now from the classroom to the platform, joining him in his public ministry.
Now, what the Lord does next, we're told, we're now at verse seventeen, as he comes down this mountainous region to a level place. He came down with them and stood on a level place. You could translate that to a plateau. And now he's going to begin ministering to three categories of people. I'll mention briefly, but he's going to preach what is traditionally called the Sermon on the Mount.
More technically, Luke specifies in this parallel account to Matthew chapter five. This is really the Sermon on the Plateau, Sermon on the Level. I like one author who said Jesus is preaching on the level, and he's going to level with them all. In a very brief period of time.
Now, before we get to the sermon, I want you to notice here in verse seventeen. This, these three categories: first, you have the twelve, these newly appointed them, these apostles. Then Luke mentions this great crowd of disciples, these individuals who've been following Jesus for some time. And by the way, all of them aren't true believers. They're curious, many of them.
They're associating. With him, right now, it's just it's it's it's a wave, and they're writing it. Jesus is famous. There are religious leaders who aren't happy with him, but the the population is enamored by him. They're gonna, they're gonna, it's gonna look like rush hour.
They're rushing out here to see him, to touch him, to to hear him. A little later on, Jesus is preaching. Is going to so disturb this large crowd of disciples. It's going to so disappoint them that John chapter six says many of them are going to turn away from him and not come back. I can't help but fear that that's that's the nature of the church in our generation.
Many are curious. They're gathered. They're listening. But at some point in the way, he disappoints them, and they take off, and they don't come back. This is the crowd of disciples that'll be preaching to, primarily.
Then you have this third category: this great crowd, this mass of people that are gathering. Luke specifies from all of Judea and Jerusalem and these coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon. They're they're just massing out here on this plateau to have Jesus do what He will do. Verse eighteen, He's going to teach them, heal them, and deliver them.
Now I want you to get this. We're going to spend some time setting the stage because Jesus is what He's doing here is revealing His credentials of kingly authority, his his right to rule. It's it's one thing for us to sing as we've just sung that he's king. We get that. This is new to them.
He's establishing that he is indeed king. He has the right to rule. The throne of David is his. He has the credentials as the Son of God and and and the true Messiah. They don't get the full picture like we get now with the full account of Scripture.
They don't understand the Messiah is gonna before he wears a crown of gold, wear a crown of thorns. He'll be the suffering servant, Isaiah fifty three. But just know that his his ministry here is going to be shocking to them. His teaching alone. Is stunning, and not just because he's interesting, not just because he's delivering new material, not just because he's creative, but because he's speaking from inerrant authority.
Nobody did this then. The scribes quoted each other, so when they got up to preach, they would say, "Well, scribe so and so says this, and scribe so and so says that," and Jesus says it this way. You remember, if you're older in the faith. Jesus will say, "You have heard it said, but I say unto you, let me let me level with you. You've heard all these quotations, but let me deliver the truth to you." Which he does.
He is the teacher. In fact, this sermon is going to be so incredible that when he finishes, we're told in. Matthew's Gospel that the crowds were so astonished at his teaching. Why he's teaching them as one who had inherent authority, and not like the scribes who just ran around quoting each other.
Now, secondly, I want you to notice in verse 19 that Jesus not only teaches; he heals their diseases again. Don't miss this point. This is this is Jesus's way of fulfilling messianic prophecy, proving his messianic authority. He's not just doing this to show off. He isn't even doing this because they're sick.
If you think of it that way, you miss the point. Jesus is really beginning to pull back the curtain, as it were, on who he really is. And what that coming kingdom is going to look like one day.
So, so what he's doing here on the plateau is fulfilling the text of Scripture. By the way, we looked at in Luke chapter four, where he begins his ministry in the synagogue officially by reading. He reads Isaiah sixty-one verse one. Luke records for us Jesus. He gets up and in the synagogue he says, "I want you to know that the prophet said." And then refers to this messianic prophecy that he will bring good news to the poor.
He will bind up the brokenhearted. He will proclaim liberty to the captives. He will give sight to the blind. He will deliver those who are bound. And Jesus is basically going to say, "Now watch me do it.
I'm fulfilling this prophecy. I'm the Messiah, King." Now, what I want you to notice here—that's easy to miss—is that Jesus doesn't just do miracles of healing. His very presence is healing. Notice verse nineteen: and all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him. One author says it's like a like the mist in the wind from a fountain.
And the text says, "And he healed them. Get this, all.
Now the implication here in the text is that they're all seeking him; they're all attempting to touch him, but they all can't. Thousands of people are here, but Jesus heals them all. He just just sort of pulls back the curtain of." Divine power a little bit to to show them what it's like to be in the presence of the King. By the way, would you notice here that Jesus doesn't ask any of them if they have enough faith? He didn't ask any of them if they gave their seed money.
He's not putting his hand on their head. He's not shouting or shaking. There's no organ music anywhere. How different is this than the demonstration, supposedly of phony healers? Today, who gather people in arenas and heal only a few; those who make it to the platform, those who are singled out, those who have enough faith.
Which is, by the way, the perfect fallback. Because if you didn't get healed, guess what? You didn't have enough faith. You didn't approach God right. You didn't give enough money.
You didn't come in the right way. You didn't say it the right way. You didn't get to the platform in time. God still heals, but not through these charlatans. I remember reading the the testimony of Johnny Erickson Todd as she wrote of one such visit earlier in her teenage years when she was so discouraged, having become a paraplegic through that accident, and she convinced her parents to take her to a healer who was doing these massive rallies in arenas in California, world-renowned healer.
The place she writes was packed. Hours would go by with anticipation. She said when she arrived there at the parking deck. She said she and a long line of other people in their wheelchairs. She said they were like charioteers lined up waiting for the elevator to take them down to the floor of the arena.
And she writes hours later, after only a few were supposedly healed. There was that same long line of people in wheelchairs waiting for the elevators to take them back up to the parking deck. Imagine it this way: imagine if Jesus had been there, all would have been healed simply by getting into the arena, just in the presence. Of his power would have been enough. Again, what's taking place here isn't some kind of theology of sickness.
This isn't really dealing with that as the primary issue. Had sickness been the issue in Jesus' ministry, he would have healed everybody on the planet, which he didn't do. He wouldn't have healed a few lepers. He would have cleaned out the leper colonies, which he didn't do. He wouldn't have healed one man at the pool of Siloam.
He, he would have he would have healed them all. He would have just. By the way, if death is the issue, he would have just raised Lazarus from the dead. He would have emptied the cemetery. We miss the point.
This is the credentials of the king. He's proving who he is and what this. Future kingdom is like, in fact, it's a it's a little prelude to heaven, isn't it? Because what's missing in heaven? Sickness, disability, sorrow, pain.
When the king is on his throne, all of that is banished from his realm. Let me, Jesus, effectively says, give you a little taste of that right now. And this is all not just because we're going to be perfected in heaven. Think about it this way: on a deeper level, we're going to be in His presence. We're going to be in the arena, and in His presence, none of that can coexist.
So, you are not going to get a sore knee one day in heaven, and have to stand in line at the clinic to have Him touch you. You are in His presence forever, which means you are forever healed. Jesus is demonstrating inherent divine power. It's going to be delegated in the early days of the church to the apostolic community to authenticate that they are indeed his true sent ones, his true messengers.
Now, thirdly, Jesus isn't just teaching and healing; he's delivering. Back in verse eighteen, we read, "And those who were troubled with unclean spirits, demons." It is. They were cured. The Greek word for cured is "therapeuto," which gives us our word therapy. Jesus is delivering them from demons, doing what Isaiah said he would do, releasing those who are bound spiritually, and then he's healing them.
There is this divine therapy. Healing them emotionally and mentally. Again, on a deeper level, what Jesus is doing is showing this crowd: He is able to exercise authority over the demonic world. Satan and and his demons cannot resist Jesus. He doesn't need holy water and candles and and smoke.
In his presence, he's demonstrating they're gone. And again, the implication here isn't that Jesus has a one-on-one encounter with every demonized person. The implication is he just shows up. From here now, he will move into his sermon.
Now, if you're familiar with Matthew's account of this sermon, You'll you'll soon see that you know Luke's sermon notes are much shorter. I don't know if he runs out of ink or brief, or certainly he's inspired him. Kidding. Matthew records ninety attitudes. Luke records four.
Matthew records a lot of interaction with the audience. Luke records none of that. Matthew gives us three chapters, and Luke gives us twenty nine verses. You can think of it this way: Matthew gives us the entire sermon series on a thumb drive, and Luke puts up a video clip on Instagram. He gives us he gives us the Cliff Notes.
That one's for you older people to to get.
Okay, he's cutting to the chase. He's he wants Theophilus. Remember, he's writing this to a man. He wants Theophilus to have an account of the gospel and. And and he just sort of abridges the content.
Now, before we dive into this sermon, and you're looking at the clock right now, we're only going to deal with one verse.
So relax. But before we get to that one verse, your Bible may have outlined for you in this passage with that that categorical heading, the Beatitudes. Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are. That's a Latin word that simply means a blessing or blessings.
Jesus is going to deliver a sermon that essentially describes the profound blessing of being a citizen in his kingdom. He's going to show the profound difference between his kingdom and the kingdoms of the world. He's going to describe what it means to live a life that is blessed compared to a life that is unfulfilled and unfulfilling.
Now, again, this sermon on a deeper level is what theologians call eschatological. You don't have to remember that for the quiz, but this is dealing with future eschatology, future events.
So.
So there are immediate applications, but there's this context, this end time that Jesus is referring to that relates to his coming kingdom when he one day returns to set up this thousand year millennial reign where you and I reign with him, which is a staggering thought described for us in Revelation chapter twenty.
So Jesus is describing the core values of what it's like. To live as a citizen of his kingdom. What's it like to belong to him? Not just be a curious disciple, but a citizen of the kingdom.
However, and follow me here. Even though the Lord is describing the ultimate fulfillment of of what we call eschatology, this fulfillment of the coming kingdom, He is right here and now inviting them. To become citizens, just like today, the invitation still stands. Would you like to become a citizen of the Kingdom of God? You can.
He's going to tell you how.
Now again, for them, this will be new. They're expecting him. This is this is you know the time to sweep in and overthrow the Roman Empire and set up the kingdom. And they're going to be slow in learning this. In fact, after he rises from the dead, would the disciples ask him, "Is it now you're going to set up the kingdom?" So they're learning.
We have the benefit of a full accounting of of the completed canon of Scripture. But this this invitation here and now. To to have a citizenship locked into the coming kingdom as our future home, where we'll we'll reign with him. That that that's a that's a that's a staggering invitation. The Bible describes you, beloved, who belong to him, as future kings and queens.
It sounds more like a fairy tale than reality. But according to God's word, it it is reality. And in fact, in his letter, James writes this to the early church. Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Did God not choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and get this heirs, heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?
Well, what's it like now to live as a citizen of a kingdom that's coming? What is it like to allow Jesus as King to rule right now in your heart and mind? What does it look like to have this blessing, this beatitude, pronounced on our lives?
Well, get ready because Jesus is going to turn everything upside down as He begins to preach. Verse twenty. And he lifted up his eyes. That's a reference to he's now seated. The rabbis would sit when they taught.
They'd sit in the chair. We use that terminology to this day. A professor has a chair. The leader of the board is the chairman.
So he's taking his chair. He focuses on the disciples, several hundred of them. The rest of the crowd's invited to listen as well. Blessed are you who are poor. For yours is the kingdom of God.
Now, does this mean that in order to get into the kingdom, I got to quit my job and live under a bridge?
Well, it is true that the word "poor" here refers to someone financially needy. In fact, in the first century, two different kinds of poor people would be described: the poor day laborers; those were By far, the majority of of the empire, they worked day by day. They got paid at the end of each day, so that they could buy their daily bread. Jesus is teaching his disciples to pray, assuming most of them will be poor, so he teaches them to pray for daily bread. Secondly, there are poor people who don't even have a job and money to buy daily bread.
They're they're destitute. That's the word Luke uses here. Tocoy. He uses that word for people who are entirely. Get this.
This is the point. Who are entirely dependent on someone else to survive.
Now in Matthew's parallel account, he has the words poor in spirit, and that's helpful. Blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
So this is more than economic destitution. This is this is spiritual. This is a reference to spiritual desperation, spiritual destitution. See, Jesus is preaching here to people who thought they were spiritually well off. They they thought they were good enough to get into heaven.
You've got in that crowd scribes and and Pharisees and religious leaders, and and they're carefully keeping you know the the very minutia of the law because they are convinced they are holy enough for heaven. They aren't spiritually desperate. Lord, I thank you that I'm not like that other guy over there. Poor him! I'm getting in.
See, my my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds. I don't know how many people I've talked to over the years that think they're getting into heaven that way, and Jesus drops this bombshell here and says, "No, no, no! Only the spiritually bankrupt get in." Only those who have arrived at this point of destitution and desperation, where you realize you have nothing to offer God in order to cross over the threshold into this coming kingdom, Jesus is effectively announcing: only those who depend entirely on another, Him, get in. The Apostle Paul made it clear when he wrote. The English Standard Version translates this wonderful text: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
And if you missed it, let me repeat it a different way: Not as a result of works, lest any man should boast." My beloved Jesus was surrounded here on this plateau by two kinds of people in this massive audience, and you know what? The same two kinds of people are in this audience today: those who are depending on themselves, those who are depending on their own work, and those who are depending entirely upon the work of Jesus. Christ, Thomas Watson, a Puritan pastor, wrote on this text in the 1600s. This text signifies those who are brought to the sense of their sins, and seeing no goodness in themselves, despair in themselves, and appeal wholly to the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. That's how you get saved.
That's how you become a citizen now in the kingdom of heaven. This is how you make your reservation. You come to Christ, and by faith in Him alone. I have nothing to offer you. I'm bankrupt.
Would you give me this gift because of Christ? This is how you make your way across that threshold one day into this glorious kingdom and beyond. Blessed are the poor, the spiritually destitute who depend upon Christ alone for yours. Is now that kingdom, the kingdom of God. That was Stephen Davy, and this is Wisdom for the Heart, a production of Wisdom International.
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