The passage before us reveals the heart of the Savior and His power over every attempt of the adversary

to hold on to people with desperate circumstances.

Stretch Forth Thy Hand

Mark 3:1-6
1. And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.
2. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
3. And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.
4. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
5. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
6. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

In the busy day to day activity of the Savior, Mark records this account of a miracle in a synagogue, on a Sabbath day. The Pharisees had plotted and schemed to trap Jesus, find fault and accuse him of some unlawful deed worthy of death.

These enforcers of the law had no concern for the man who needed a miracle. Their only focus was to kill Jesus and end the life and ministry of this problem Messiah who posed such a threat to their religious system. From the cradle to the grave, Satan repeatedly attempted to kill Jesus, but the plan and purpose of GOD was greater than the evil contrived against it. Not just His birth, and not just His death, but the entirety of His life constitutes our redemption.

The passage before us reveals the heart of the Savior, and His power over every attempt of the adversary to hold on to people with desperate circumstances. In this message, we will see that power to heal, restore, and deliver a man who was willing to stretch forth a withered hand.

1. And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.

In the first verse of this chapter we are told who was at church for this particular day of worship. Notice the word “again” in the text. Jesus, as was His custom, was in Synagogue on the day of worship. Jesus of course, was the main person there; but then there was the needy man with a situation; and then there were the Pharisees.

It’s important to note that the name of the man with a withered hand is not mentioned. Often people are identified with their situation and known for their particular affliction, such as the woman with the issue of blood, or the man at the pool who was lame, or the man who was let down through the roof who was palsied. From prior knowledge, the Pharisees knew that Jesus would be drawn to the man with the situation. They knew that there would be some kind of contact with the natural and the supernatural. Isn’t it strange to discover that even the devil went to church expecting the LORD to do something for desperate people who needed a miracle.

2. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.

The Pharisees were so focused upon the actions of Jesus, not for faith building, but to catch the Savior in an unlawful deed. They were of the opinion that healing a desperate person, or restoring life for someone who had lost it was illegal on this day of worship.

You see, there will always be watchers in a house of worship. In fact, we are told that we should:

1.Watch and pray

2.Watch lest ye enter into temptation.

3. Watch for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.

Good pastors are those who Watch for your souls. So, then watching is commendable if the motive is pure.

3. And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.

Knowing the attitude of the Pharisees, Jesus preceded to deal with the affliction of the unnamed man. I’m glad to know that the love of God is not impeded or negated by the Pharisees attitude; that GOD does not withhold healing and deliverance simply because an evil heart of unbelief is present. Nothing can separate us from God’s love for us. It is impossible for my situation to separate me from the Love of God.

Romans 8:33-39
33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
34. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36. As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

No doubt the man approached Jesus with his hand behind him. Ordinarily, he would not have been permitted to be in worship because of a Pharisaical ruling that no imperfection could attend synagogue. So he was actually present hiding a situation. Jesus is so good at knowing our hearts and the things that are contained in our spirit. Not only did Jesus know about the withered hand, but the Pharisees knew about the man’s circumstance also, and could have planted him in the crowd to see what Jesus would do. Instead of dodging the issue, or postponing until an opportune time, Jesus called the man out of the crowd and said, “Stand Up!”

While standing there with all eyes on him, Jesus turns to his adversary and posed a question:

4. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.

The omniscience of the Savior is put on display when He addresses the issue of good and evil and if there is a day in which it is permissible to do good or forbidden. The detectors had no answer for Jesus’ question. There is never a time when God forbids doing good.

A similar situation is found in the narrative of Luke 13:11-17.

11. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.
12. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.
13. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
14. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed and not on the sabbath day.
15. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?
16. And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?
17. And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

The wisdom of our Savior made the adversaries ashamed.

Just as he called the man with the withered hand out of the crowd, so did He call this woman out from the multitude to be healed of her situation. She wasn’t looking for Jesus, but Jesus was looking for her. If you are here this morning, and you came not particularly looking for Jesus, let me tell you, Jesus is looking for you. Don’t let alcohol define you. Don’t let addiction define you. Don’t let divorce define you. Don’t let an infirmity define you. Put on Christ, find your identity in HIM!

For both of these people, life just wasn’t working. Because of their circumstance, neither of these two individuals could make the things in their life come together to give them real joy, peace, and real contentment. But Jesus called them out! Jesus will reveal His Glory and His power through your weakness!

5. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

The real situation here is not the man’s hand. It really is the hardness of hearts. Jesus will prove that He can speak and the hand will be healed, but a hardened heart is much more difficult to deal with. A bad hand is one thing, but a hard heart is another.

Two things needed to be fixed; a bad hand, and a bad system! Many of us go from situation to situation to situation, but never dealing with the system that is causing all the situations. When we pray, we pray for our situations. Then we start praying for other people’s situations, and then for situations of people we don’t even know. We can’t fix our own situations, and then get on Facebook and try to tell people how to fix their situations!

If you go to a John Maxwell meeting, you will hear him talk about leaders in business, in management, etc. who go about every day trying to fix situations. It’s one thing to realize something isn’t working and another to discover WHY it isn’t working!

Why am I angry? It may not be the situation, it may be a flawed system. Why do I feel so lonely! It may not be everyone else’s fault, it may the system, the way you think, the way you plan, the way you think in your heart! And if there is some hardness in your heart, it may be wreaking havoc in relationships, your health, your home and family.

We keep pointing our finger at situations, when God is trying to alert you through those situations that there is a far greater need to deal with. The system may be causing you all kind of heartache and disappointment and fear!

GOD wants to get to the root of the problem with Israel, so He went to the Synagogue! He put the man on display! Made him the center of attention, and used him and his situation to draw attention to the greater need, the religious system of the Pharisees.

To fix the system, you must deal with some attitudes of the heart:

1. Prejudice = Not just racial, not just social, but exclusion

2. Pessimism = to look at people and situations negatively. To be judge, jury, and executioner. A wrong state of mind that can’t be changed.

3. Perversion=To corrupt, to use for an unintended purpose. Their system used measurements to determine how far you could walk, how much and what you can eat.

Jesus could have easily dealt with the man by taking him aside, but He didn’t. He dealt with Him before everybody.

His hand was impotent, it could not cooperate with the other hand, and work in harmony. The thing about hands is that one is dominant. God and His Word is the dominant hand in our relationship. But if your heart is cold and hard its because the dominant hand has become withered. So everything that you use to do with two hands, you now do with one hand and you are proceeding to do things your own way, a slave to a system that seems to continually produce situations that produce all of those ugly situations.

John 7:23
If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?

Mark 2:27
And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

The Sabbath was a gift from God. Why do we allow a gift from God, like money, our home, sex, our family, to gain power over us, and become a slave to it?

John 5:9
And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

John 9:14
And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

4. Pride = Self Gratification. Self-centered. Jesus simply said to the man, “STRETCH FORTH THY HAND! At the risk of getting in the middle of a theological debate and becoming an object of ridicule, this man stretched his impotent hand forth, and received a miracle.

FEELINGS FOLLOW FAITH!

To all who are in this room, and to all of those who will read or hear these words, I declare unto you, STRETCH FORTH YOUR HAND! Let Jesus deal with the flawed systems that have caused all the situations that are almost unbearable for you. He will cleanse you and make you whole!