Capernaum / Sabbath Day / Synagogue

Introduction and Reading of Mark 1:16-28

0:03 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, January 8th, 1984, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now will you turn with me in the Word of God to Mark's Gospel and the first chapter, the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 1, and follow as I read verses 16 through 28. And passing along by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little further, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who also said unto him, I will make you to become fishers of men.

1:14 And they also were in the boat, mending the nets. And straightway he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him. And they go into Capernaum, and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes.

1:44 And straightway there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, What have we to do with you, Jesus, you Nazarene? Are you come to destroy us? I know you who you are, the Holy One of God.

2:03 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold your peace, and come out of him. And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this, a new teaching? With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.

2:34 And the report of him went out straightway everywhere into all the region of Galilee round about. Now let us again seek the face of God in prayer, and ask God, by the Spirit, to open his word to our understanding. Our Father, how we thank you for the record of the life, the ministry, the death, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as we come to this portion of the inspired record, we pray that the same Spirit who moved Mark to write as he wrote, to choose the very words that he chose, to describe this segment of the ministry of our Lord. Oh, may that selfsame Spirit be present with power, working in the mind of every boy and girl, man or woman in this place, that your word will come to us not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Spirit. And as we must of necessity examine some of these things that are set before us, the city of Capernaum, the institutions of Sabbath and synagogue, oh Lord, give us a mind to grasp your word,

4:00 that we, by your grace, may think your thoughts after you. Come, Lord, by the Holy Spirit, and make your word a word that will ultimately result in you receiving glory, and in our hearts receiving strength, and encouragement, and instruction in the way of righteousness. Hear us, we plead, and help us, both preacher and people, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

The Geographical Context: Capernaum as Jesus' Headquarters

4:33 Now, in the segment of our Lord's ministry that we are presently examining,

4:46 it's obvious that it takes place in the upper region of Palestine, in the area of the Sea of Galilee. And if some of you will remember, the little drawing I gave you some months ago, this would be in the northernmost part of Palestine, the Galilean ministry of our Lord took place. Now, when you read in your Bibles about the Sea of Galilee, the Lake of Gennesaret, the Sea of Tiberias in the New Testament, they are all one in the same body of water. And if you read in the Old Testament, the Sea of Chinareth or Kinnereth, you're reading about the same body of water.

5:27 Now, after the summary of what our Lord basically did in this Galilean ministry, given to us in verses 14 and 15, Mark then records the first of these specific incidents with reference to the calling of these four fishermen into a more intimate attachment to Christ in preparation for their distinctive function and office as apostles. And immediately after the calling of these four fishermen, we read in verse 21, and they go into Capernaum, possibly on the very next day, and straightway on the Sabbath day, he entered into the synagogue and taught. Because we are confronted in this verse, verse 21, with a specific place, Capernaum, and with two individuals, institutions, the Sabbath day and the synagogue, and because so much of what follows in this immediate context and throughout the remainder of the Gospel of Mark goes back again and again to these institutions and to this place, it will be necessary this morning to spend a little time seeking to put ourselves in our time capsule

6:54 that we contemplated a few weeks ago and going back and forth, backwards into that situation until we can see and sense and feel something of what the city of Capernaum was, what this institution of the Sabbath was and had become in the day of our Lord, and what this institution of the synagogue was which is so prominent in biblical revelation. So first of all, we'll try to grapple with the facts described in verse 21. And the first of them, quote, says, to the geographical location of the following events. We're going to read about our Lord's teaching and the astonishment it created, His casting out of this demon from the man who entered the synagogue, other events that will center around this specific geographical location called Capernaum. Now this place holds a very vital place in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus. Though we cannot say with precision in all likelihood, it was a city located on the northwest section of the shore of the Sea of Galilee. So if you can picture the Sea of Galilee like my hand, somewhere here in the north part and to the west, you would find the city of Capernaum.

8:25 Now according to Luke 4, 31 and Matthew 4, 12 and 13, our Lord had made this city His basic headquarters after His rejection in His hometown of Nazareth. You will notice in Luke chapter 4, and many of you are familiar with the record, that Jesus came to Nazareth where He had been brought up, Luke 4, 16, and entered as His custom was into the synagogue, on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And after He expounded and applied the passage from the prophets which had been read, such a furor was caused by His remarks that they attempted to kill Him. And subsequent to that, we read verse 30, but He, passing through the midst of them, went His way and came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath day. So our Lord removes Himself from Nazareth, and though the language says coming down, it wasn't going down, but going up. He now makes Capernaum His basic headquarters for this part of His brief earthly ministry.

9:46 Now when we read the parallel passage in Matthew, we see that this arrangement was not an afterthought in the mind and heart of God, but was indeed a fulfillment of an ancient prophecy. Matthew 4 and verse 12. Now when He heard that John was delivered up, He withdrew into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum. That's why we say there is reason to believe Capernaum became His home away from home.

10:19 He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the borders of Zebulun, in Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken through the prophet, saying, and then we have the prophecy from the book of Isaiah quoted for us. Now we can offer some plausible explanations as to why the Lord Jesus chose Capernaum. No doubt, from the human side, one of the reasons was that it would put Him far away from Jerusalem, and the tremendous pressure that He continually experienced when in Jerusalem. There, with the temple worship, and with the largest concentration of unbelieving priests, and scribes, and Pharisees, the earlier chapters of John's Gospel reveals that He was in constant conflict with these apostate, these unbelieving Jewish leaders. And so that He might have free arraignment to validate His claim, His claims as Messiah in a less hostile environment, no doubt the Lord Jesus went to that northern part of Palestine. There are, from the Matthew passage, some indications that in fulfillment of that prophecy it would put Him in closer proximity

11:46 to the Gentile nations to the north. And you'll remember it was at Capernaum that certain Roman soldiers had marvelous miracles accomplished in great faith, where great faith was manifested. But when all is said and done, the question as to why Jesus chose Capernaum among the other cities that He could have chosen, the answer must be found in the pure, sovereign, good pleasure of God. Whatever plausible reasons we may bring forward, we can only say it is most likely that, and perhaps He did this, for that reason, but this much we know, that everything our Lord did, according to His own testimony, He did in conscious obedience to the revelation of His Father's will. He said, I do not speak My own words, I do not perform My own deeds, I speak the words the Father gives Me, I do the works the Father gives Me, and ultimately it was in obedience to the will of His Father that He removes to the sky, the city of Capernaum. And then it was in this city that our Lord did some of His most astounding miracles. It was here in this city that He called Matthew the publican to Himself.

13:09 It was here, near Capernaum, that He fed the multitude, preached some of His most memorable discourses, and so Capernaum should immediately bring to our minds a city of unusual privilege, a city of unknown privilege. God incarnate makes it the headquarters for the manifestation of His own mighty works, for the proclamation of His own saving work. So much, then, for the geographical location of the events. Now you will notice in the second place that the text directs us to the day on which the specific incidents recorded in verses 21 to 28 took place.

The Institutional Context: The Sabbath Day

13:55 The text tells us that straightway on the Sabbath day He entered into the synagogue and taught. It was on the Sabbath day, that day marked out by God from creation as the day of special rest to celebrate the rest of God from His creative activity, Genesis 2, 1 to 3. It was that day reinstituted after the end of the Sabbath day. The Exodus and marked out in the fourth commandment of the Decalogue with the words, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

14:35 But it was that day, which in the time of our Lord had become so buried beneath the rubble of Pharisaic rules and regulations and legalistic trappings that it had become for the most part a day that could only be described as an insufferable burden even to the most spiritually minded of the Jews. The Lord had indicated that even the Jewish Sabbath with all of the things connected with it that were distinctively Jewish was still to be a day that any believing, pious Jew could call in the language of Isaiah 58, the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord. the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord. the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord. Honorable, a day holy of the Lord, a day of delight.

15:32 That's the language used by the prophet Isaiah. But the day had become something much less than that in the time of our Lord. It had become a tragic showcase of decadent formalism and of a crippling legalism. Now let me give you a little sampling of what had happened.

15:52 I read now from the Zondervan Press, I read now from the Zondervan Press, the Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, and I'll only read a couple of paragraphs to give you a feel for what it was like for the Lord Jesus to come on a Sabbath day into a synagogue in Capernaum. During the period between Ezra and the Christian era, the scribes formulated innumerable legal restrictions for the conduct of life under the law. for the conduct of life under the law. For the conduct of life under the law.

16:24 The treatises in the Talmud, that's the record of Jewish law beyond what God had given through Moses, are devoted to the details of Sabbath observance. One of these, the Shabbat, enumerates the following 39 principal classes of prohibited actions. Sowing, plowing, reaping, gathering into sheaves, threshing, winnowing, cleansing, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, washing, cleaning, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, washing it, beating it, dyeing it, spinning it, making a warp of it, making two cords, weaving two threads, separating two threads, making a knot, untying a knot, sewing two stitches, tearing to sew two stitches, catching a deer, killing, skinning, salting it, and on and on and on. Thirty-nine categories of regulations. But as though that were not enough, they felt those regulations wouldn't be explicit enough, so they broke those down. So they take one of those minute regulations and break it down under subheadings.

17:30 Each of these chief enactments was further discussed and elaborated so that actually there were several hundred things a conscientious law-abiding Jew could not do on the Sabbath. For example, the prohibition...

17:45 The prohibition about tying a knot was much too general, so it became necessary to state what kinds of knots were prohibited and what kind were not. It was accordingly laid down that allowable knots were those that could be untied with one hand. A woman could tie up her undergarment and the strings of her cap, those of her sash, the straps of her shoes and sandals, and skins of wine and oil of a pot with meat. She could tie...

18:15 She could tie a pail over the well with a sash, but not with a rope. The prohibition regarding writing on the Sabbath was further defined as follows. He who writes two letters with his right or left hand, whether of one kind or of two kinds, as also as if they were written with different ink or of different languages, is guilty. He even who should from forgetfulness write two letters is guilty.

18:44 Whether he has written them with ink, with paint, red chalk, India rubber, vitriol, or anything which makes permanent marks, and on and on and on and on. Now, it's when you begin to understand that this was the situation that obtained in Palestine at the time of our Lord that you'll begin to understand why it was that there were two particular places where Jesus constantly irritated the Jews. Remember what they were? First of all, his claims to be God, and his blatant Sabbath-breaking according to their standards of what constituted Sabbath-breaking.

19:24 Again and again, he irritated them, even to the point where they sought to take his life because, according to their standards, he was guilty of blasphemy, claiming to be God, and because he broke the Sabbath according to their standards. Now, you won't understand the Gospel records unless you understand. At least...

19:45 So, it was on such a day in which the Jewish community in any given area would come together in a synagogue in order, as we shall see subsequently, to hear the reading and exposition of the Word of God that Jesus, with these four fishermen, enters into the synagogue at Capernaum. All right? So much. So much for the geographical area, Capernaum, set before us in the text.

20:20 And may I say, I know there's nothing exhilarating and thrilling and warmly devotional, but my task is to be a responsible expounder of the Word, and frankly, it's grievous to look out and see some people falling asleep on me. But, nonetheless, I'm going to preach and be true to my conscience. All right? Secondly, the day on which these incidents took place, we've seen the Sabbath day and what it was.

20:44 It was not like... It was not like our Lord's Day.

20:46 We must not read back into that what our Lord's Day is to us. It's a butchering of the Word of God to do that. The day had become a day, for the most part, of insufferable, legalistic, burdensome ritual, a day of don'ts. But then, we are told something about the specific institution or place to which Jesus went.

The Institutional Context: The Synagogue

21:12 We have the geographical location. Then, we have the specific day, and now, the specific place. It is said in the text that He, with the four, entered into the synagogue. Now, the word synagogue, like our word church, is used with a breadth of meaning.

21:34 Technically, synagogue refers to the gathering of the people. But, as our word church...

21:45 It can also refer to the place in which they are gathered. So, it speaks of people going out of the synagogue, going into the synagogue. But, Scripture also speaks of the synagogue breaking up. Now, it doesn't mean that the building which they met broke up, but the gathered people dispersed.

22:05 And, this word synagogue confronts us again and again in the New Testament. In fact, you will find it some 34 times in the Gospels. Twenty times in the book of Acts, once in the epistle to James, and twice in the book of the Revelation. Now, again, we've got to get in our time capsule and go back and try to reconstruct what was the situation into which Jesus entered on that particular Jewish Sabbath day in Capernaum.

22:35 Well, if you'll turn to Acts chapter 15, you'll see a text that, perhaps more than any other, gives us some of the leading lines of... of factual information with respect to the institution of the synagogue.

22:52 Now, we're utterly indifferent to the context in which this verse is given, because it's not our purpose to enter into the argument being developed in the book of Acts, in what is called the Council of Jerusalem. But, just this reference made to the synagogue, Acts 15 and verse 21. For Moses, from generations of old, has in every city them that preach him being read in the synagogues every Sabbath. Now, what do we learn about the synagogue institution from this statement made by James?

23:36 Well, the first thing we learn is that it was an old and venerable institution. Notice the language. Moses, from generations of old, has in every city them that preach him being read in the synagogues. Now, in all likelihood, the origin of the synagogue goes back as far as the time of the restoration of the people of God out of the land of their captivity and back into the land of Palestine.

24:09 Under the days of Nehemiah, some suggest that perhaps even during the time of the Babylonian exile. But the Bible itself does not give us any authoritative revelation as to the origins of the synagogue. But secular history clearly indicates that by the second century before the appearance of our Lord, the synagogue system was well established wherever the Jews were dispersed throughout the earth. So it was an old and venerable institution.

24:47 The text says, from generation of old, Moses has those who preach him being read in the synagogues. Secondly, it was a widespread institution. This verse tells us, in every city. Now, that does not mean that in every single city in the Roman Empire there was a synagogue.

25:12 But it does mean that in the majority of the cities where there was any deposit of Jews who had been dispersed amongst the nations, there you would find a synagogue. And when you turn to the book of Acts, you will notice that again and again, almost every city into which Paul goes, the first thing he does is he goes immediately to the synagogue. Now, at Philippi, there was no synagogue. There was a group of women meeting by Riverside, for prayer.

25:44 But in almost every city, he would find a synagogue. And according to Acts 17, verses 1 and 2, it was part of his standard evangelistic practice whenever he came into a new city of the Roman Empire immediately to seek out the synagogue. So we learn from this text, it was an old and venerable institution. Secondly, it was a widespread institution.

26:09 But thirdly, and this is vital, we learn that, it was an institution whose activity focused on the reading and exposition of the Old Testament Scriptures. It was an institution whose activity focused on the reading and exposition of the Old Testament Scriptures. Notice, Moses has from generations of old in every city them that preach him being read in the synagogues. Synagogues every Sabbath.

26:45 Now, you must never, never think that the synagogue was sort of a little mini-temple. The temple still existed at Jerusalem. And there in the temple, the priest would go through the Levitical ritual of offering up offerings. And all of these sacrifices that God had prescribed would be offered at the temple by the appointed in proper priesthood in the appointed in proper way.

27:13 Furthermore, God had said that all your males shall appear before me three times annually. And those three great annual feasts, the Jews would come as many as were able from all over as they were gathered on the day of Pentecost, you remember, in Acts chapter 2. But in the synagogue, there was no priesthood, there was no sacrifice, there was no ritual. The focal point of synagogue life was the reading and the exposition of the Old Testament Scriptures.

27:43 And we learn from other passages in the Word of God that there was always a reading from the five books of Moses. And then that there was also a reading from the prophets. This text says Moses is read in the synagogues every Sabbath. Now we learn from secular sources that many of the synagogues actually had a program of reading through the first five books of the Old Testament, reading through Moses once every three years.

28:19 And it works out roughly to 1.2 chapters of the books of Moses per Sabbath. Somewhat akin to what we do reading a chapter a week. So Moses was read.

28:32 But we learn from Luke chapter 4 verses 16 and 17 that the prophets were also read. For you remember the scroll of the prophet was handed to our Lord and he read from it and handed it back to the ruler of the synagogue and then he began to expound it. And if you'll turn to Acts chapter 13 you'll get a further insight as to the actual activities within the synagogue on the Sabbath.

29:03 Acts 13 and verse 14. But they passing through from Perga came to Antioch of Pisidia and they went, went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, you see it, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them saying, Brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. And Paul stood up and apparently something that was characteristic of Paul, we find it several times in Acts, and beckoning with the hand, apparently whenever he would stand to preach, stretching forth his hand, he began to expound and exhort and apply. So we learn from these passages and others could be brought to bear, but I've studied brevity along with accuracy. We are accurate in stating that the synagogue was an institution whose activity focused on the reading and exposition of the Old Testament Scriptures. Yes, there was a corporate confession made, prayers were, offered, but these were all subsidiary.

30:20 The central activity was the reading, the exposition, the application of the Old Testament. And then in the fourth place, we learn from this text in Acts 15, it was an institution whose activity was unusually heightened on the Jewish Sabbath day. An institution whose activity was unusually heightened on the Jewish Sabbath day. On the Jewish Sabbath day, Moses from generations of old has them that preach him being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.

31:00 Now we learn from secular history that the synagogue was not open only on the Sabbath, and no doubt the scribes and Pharisees carried on much of their activity and some of their instruction throughout the ordinary days of the week, but on the Sabbath, the day of rest, that was the day for the corporate gathering of the remnant of God's people scattered throughout the Roman Empire, and they would there hear the reading of the law and the prophets and the exposition and application of that word. And it's interesting that there's nothing in Scripture to indicate that only professional, well, scribes and Pharisees could read and comment upon the Scripture. And it was that very structure, you see, that left the door wide open for this evangelistic activity to be carried on in the synagogue on the Sabbath as we find it recorded in the book of Acts again and again. It was an institution whose activity was unusually heightened on the Sabbath day. Now from this key passage, and others in the New Testament, do you see how significant is this institution of the synagogue?

32:25 You could count on several things were you to go into a synagogue. Here were Jews who had not been paganized. Though they had mingled amongst the nations, they were maintaining their identity as Jews, and amongst them were no doubt many truly pious, believing Jews who had their messianic hopes burning within their breasts and who delighted every Sabbath day to hear the law of their God read and expounded and applied. To hear the ancient prophecies read and have that hope burning in their hearts fanned to a white hot heat under the reading of more of those prophetic Scriptures reminding them that God's day of salvation in Messiah was yet to dawn upon His people. And so though the scribes and the Pharisees had greatly profaned, as it were, their solemn obligations and responsibilities, nonetheless the institution of synagogue and Sabbath were there to become a tool for the ministry of our Lord and later of His apostles. Now Matthew 23, 2 and 3 and verse 6 indicate that any given synagogue might be what we would call a mixed bag.

The Mixed Nature of the Synagogue and Transition to Application

33:51 For when our Lord indicts the scribes and Pharisees, notice the language He uses. Verse 2 of Matthew 23, the scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. All things whatsoever, therefore, they bid you, these do and observe. But do not after their works, for they say and do not.

34:14 Yea, they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne. Now do you understand that a little more? All of those rules and regulations. Do you want to keep the Sabbath holy?

34:25 Then they would read out all of these rules, all of these regulations. They would bind burdens grievous to be borne. But they themselves will not move them with their finger. All their works they do to be seen of men.

34:40 Verse 6, And they love the chief place at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues. So when you would go into the synagogues, if scribes and Pharisees were around, you would find them pushing themselves forward. So it is not surprising that our Lord would come into conflict with these, but at the same time, the institution was still there to be used by our Lord and by the apostles. Well, so much for that brief, but I hope helpful and I trust accurate exposition of these things that confront us.

35:22 In the text, Capernaum, where it was, the significance of that particular city, the institutions of Sabbath day and synagogue. Now, what in the world does all of that say to us? Obviously, we don't have time to go on and expound the two major incidents recorded on this Sabbath day. Jesus teaching, verse 22, and the response to it.

35:48 They were blown out of their minds with the illiteral rendering. Then his captains, casting out of the demon that caused amazement, verse 27, God willing, will address the matters of the passage next week. But is there anything that God says to us just from these facts that I've laid out about the city and about the institutions of Sabbath and of synagogue? Well, let me suggest three lines of application this morning.

Application 1: The Danger of Squandered Privileges (Capernaum)

36:17 From this matter of Capernaum, this unbelievable, unusually privileged city, we learn a very vital lesson, and it's this. Great privileges given by sovereign kindness, but squandered through unbelief and impenitence, lead to great judgments from God. Great privileges given by sovereign kindness, but squandered through unbelief and impenitence, lead to great judgments from God. Turn, please, to Matthew's Gospel, chapter 11,

37:02 and follow as I read these very sobering words. Verse 20, Then began Jesus to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not. Mark told us in verses 14 and 15 that Jesus came into the city to the region of Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent ye, and believe in the gospel.

37:36 His works were the validation of his identity as God's Messiah. And he validates his identity and heralds his message, calling men to turn from their self-righteousness and their sins and to believe that in him God's promised salvation has come. Now we read he has to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done because they did not repent. The mighty works were done unlike some cities.

38:08 It is said in the 13th chapter of Matthew he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. In some places our Lord was, as it were, restrained from doing many mighty works. In other places he did a profusion of mighty works, but it never, never led to repentance. And one of those cities is listed here, verse 23, And thou, Capernaum, thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven?

38:39 Thou shalt go down unto Hades. For if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in you, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. All of the mighty works done in Capernaum, why were they done?

39:04 To validate the claims of Christ. That having those claims validated, men might listen to his message, obey his summons to repent and to believe. But our Lord himself pronounces frightening judgments upon this city and says that it were better that they, they could switch places with the men of Sodom because if Sodom had experienced what Capernaum experienced of the incarnate God manifesting his glory and power in mighty works, it would have remained to that very day. But they did not repent.

39:47 Oh yes, they were willing for God incarnate to be in their midst healing their sick, feeding their hungry bellies, manifesting his power and liberating them. Delivering loved ones and relatives from demonic forces. They were perfectly willing to enjoy the benefits of the incarnate God being in their borders.

40:14 Great privileges extended. Great privileges received. But great privileges squandered through unbelief and impenitence and Jesus said they would lead to great judgments. Do you see the application?

40:30 Why? Why in the world of all the multitudes of the world in the 20th century and there are millions upon millions who in this day with the printing press and all the other mediums of media of communication have never once heard a simple, plain, straightforward exposition of the gospel out of the scriptures. They've never heard their sinfulness declared to them from the Bible. They've never heard that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

41:12 They've never heard anyone in the name of the God of heaven summon them to repentance and faith and urge them to embrace the gospel and all of its privileges. Why in the world should you and I be part of a nation that has been as it were baptized with gospel life right from its very inception?

41:34 Why in the midst of this nation where multitudes are being fed a false gospel though a true gospel is available in the scriptures and by many other means why should you be sitting in a place where people are not concerned to fleece you not concerned to draw out of you your praise and your fawning adulation but are concerned for your soul who set before you Christ as he was he is given to us and held before us in the scriptures who urge you with every fiber of their being to repent and believe the gospel. My friend, why? Why? Why?

42:16 When we ask the question why should mighty works be done in a city such as Capernaum had they been done Jesus said in solemn there would have been a great response. That's what our Lord says. I didn't say it. He said it.

42:32 The frightening thing is when those great privileges sovereignly conferred are squandered they bring great judgments from God. My friend, don't squander your privileges.

42:50 You dear children don't squander the privilege of a Christian mom and dad who are concerned to nurture you and tell you what's right and what's wrong who are concerned to put barriers around you so that before your heart is renewed you cannot with unreasonableness and restrained abandonment follow the course of your own depraved nature and forge chains that will bite into your flesh and scar you for life. Don't despise all that God has sovereignly deposited. There are kids who can go out and carouse and run the streets and tumble into beds stoned or drunk at three in the morning and have parents who could care less. Don't squander the privilege of parents who are concerned for the molding of your character for the discipline and training of your mind and above all concern for your soul.

Application 2: Admiring God's Wisdom in Providence (Sabbath & Synagogue)

43:54 The great lesson of Capernaum is the lesson that privilege is conferred by sovereign kindness but squandered through unbelief and impenitence bring great judgment. But then from the existence of these two institutions of Sabbath and synagogue let us learn two vital lessons. Number one let us admire the wisdom of God in his sovereign administration of the affairs of men and of nations. Let us admire the wisdom of God in his sovereign administration of the affairs of men and nations.

44:33 In Galatians 4 4 we read when the fullness of the time was come God sent forth his Son and part of that fullness of the time was God's gracious working in the establishment on the one hand through his general providence no special revelation instituted the synagogue so you have God's general providence bringing about the institution of synagogue and you have his special revelation giving and preserving the sanctity of the Jewish Sabbath and Sabbath and synagogue one given by divine revelation the other one brought to birth by divine providence those two things in existence at the time of our Lord provide this marvelous framework for the proclamation of the gospel throughout the gospel age and on into the book of Acts. You and I ought to stand back and admire the wisdom of God who in his sovereign administration of the affairs of men and of nations so overshadowed overruled the unbelief of the Jews resulting in their dispersion amongst the nations and only their partial return so that throughout the Roman Empire there would be found Sabbath and synagogue and you move into the book of Acts and again and again these gospel preachers what are they doing? They are found

46:02 in the synagogue on the Sabbath preaching Christ. God was preparing the world for the message about his son and we ought to admire and worship him for the same wisdom that so ordered the affairs of men and nations that there were Roman roads and the Greek language the same God was not only concerned to prepare a body for his son in Mary's womb but to prepare the world for the message of his beloved son and in the institution of Sabbath and synagogue we must admire the wisdom of God but then finally as we think of those two institutions let us be shocked and warned by the carnal abuse of these institutions at the hands of religious formalism and religious legalism.

Application 3: Warning Against Formalism and Legalism (Sabbath & Synagogue)

47:01 You see these two institutions of Sabbath and synagogue intended to be such a blessing had come under the tragic influence of religious formalism and religious legalism. And again and again our Lord runs into the face as we saw earlier of the religious leaders. Why? Because he would not conform to their legalistic trappings about God's day of rest.

47:35 And our Lord as it were almost seemed anxious to rub it under their noses to let him know that pleasing his Father had nothing whatsoever to do with keeping all their man-made rules and regulations. In fact he said to them you make void the word of God by your traditions. And if ever they had made it void they had made it void with regard to God's day of sacred rest. That day that should have been day of all the weeks the best had become for so many of them the day of great burdens because of the legalistic trappings of their religious leaders.

48:15 And likewise even with the situation of the synagogue institution there in that institution that should have been and was intended in the providence of God to be the place where his word would be read in its purity and expounded in its purity in its place so much of Pharisaic and rabbinic teaching had replaced the pure teaching and proclamation of the word of God. Well you see the application don't you? It is God who has instituted his church. It is Christ who has instituted his church as we now understand it and experience its existence. It is Christ who has given us his own day of rest the Lord's day and yet those two divinely given institutions can so quickly come under the withering blasting chilling influence of legalism traditionalism and those other intrusions of religious decadence that can turn our blessings into a curse. And oh dear people of God how we need to pray and cry to God that we shall ever be kept from that twin influence of formalism and legalism

49:42 that would take God given institutions held forth for our blessing and turn them into our curse. This is the great responsibility that rests upon us to cry to God that his Holy Spirit would ever be present with us on our day of gathering in his name and in our coming together for worship and ministry that God by the Spirit would be present so that what was said in this passage they were astounded. They heard something that day they had never heard before an ordinary person an ordinary looking Palestinian stands up and preaches but no sooner does he open his mouth when they know this is not just another young rabbi this is not just another scribe like the rest he speaks as one having authority and God willing we'll seek to open up what that meant and how and in precisely what way was it contrasted with the teaching of the scribes but oh how desperately we need that element present and let us ever cry to God that it will mark our gathering that this the Lord's day will never become to us a day of legalistic burden weighed down with all kinds of trappings of men but be that day a great joyful celebration of our risen Lord

51:09 and of our union to him and our being raised with him the day when we feed our souls upon his own precious word read and expounded and applied to our hearts and to our minds let us pray our father we thank you for the riches that are in your word we thank you that your word comes to us as light to our feet and lamp to our path and we pray that this portion that we've considered this morning would indeed become that to each one of us we think especially of those who may be squandering their great privileges oh God may the warnings of your word find them this morning may they see that the great privileges that are theirs are part of that goodness intended to lead them to repentance we ask for us your people that we will ever be on our guard against the crippling influence of formalism and legalism and that we may ever be a people full of the spirit a people who enjoy your life-giving presence in the midst of all

52:37 of your ordained institutions write your word upon our hearts then we pray and help us to live in its light we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ Amen