JRNT 96 10/12/25 The Gospel of Luke: Down the Mountain Luke 6:17-19 Jesse Randolph Well, we are in an interesting in between place in our study of Luke's Gospel. As we made our way through our text last Sunday morning, we were up on the mountain with Jesus as He prayed for the twelve men He would appoint as Apostles, as sent out ones. Those men, you'll recall, were Simon and Andrew and James and John and Matthew and Thomas and Philip and Bartholomew and James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the zealot and Judas the son of James and Judas Iscariot. That was last Sunday. Next time that we're together to study the Gospel of Luke, I guess that would be in two weeks, we're going to start working our way through some of the most familiar and famous words which have ever been preached. Blessed are you. Woe to you. But I say to you. Judge not, heard that one preached before or mentioned before? But in between, sandwiched between the texts I just listed is this transitional text that we're in this morning. Go ahead and turn with me in your Bibles, please, to Luke 6. We're going to be covering three verses this morning, verses 17-19, before we head into the communion portion of our service and reflect and remember the Lord's death. Our text this morning, again, is Luke 6:17-19. God's Word reads, ÒAnd Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place. And there was a large crowd of His Disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. And all the crowd was trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.Ó Now sometimes when you are committed to expository preaching, like we are here at Indian Hills, there can be this risk from time to time of losing sight of the forest for the trees. We can become so focused on the meaning of that word or the tense of that verb or the exact geographic coordinates of that city that we can, if we're not careful, lose sight of the whole sweeping storyline of what the human author, in this case Luke, was trying to communicate. I don't want that to happen for us in our study of the Gospel of Luke. We're in it for a long haul in this series. If you haven't noticed we've been going through this for about a year and a half now and we're only in chapter 6. There are 24 chapters in Luke, so do the math. I don't want us to lose sight of that major storyline that is threading this whole story together as we study Luke's Gospel. I'm saying that not because I want to highlight the greatness of Luke's literary abilities as a storyteller, I instead say that with the hope that we will stay focused on the worthiness of the Savior who is portrayed throughout this entire Gospel. Let's remember that Luke didn't write this Gospel to show off his literary genius. No, he wrote this Gospel which bears his name to communicate to a man named Theophilus, to point a man named Theophilus to Jesus. And to help Theophilus understand that Jesus came into this world not only as the Messiah of Israel, but as the Savior of the world. It's the greatest story ever told, it's the most important story ever told and it's not merely a story, it's a lifeline. The only reason that you and I have any sense of purpose or direction this morning, the only reason that you and I have any reason at all to get up out of bed in the morning is not that the Huskers are 5-1. No, the only reason is the truth that is communicated in this story, which takes us all the way from Bethlehem to Calvary, which ultimately takes us from Jesus's birth to His death to His resurrection in which every believer's hope ultimately rests. In fact, let's do some review, let's go back to the very beginning of Luke's Gospel to Luke 1:1 where we get, and it's always good to go back to this from time to time in such a lengthy book, where we get the purpose statement, Luke's own statement of his purpose in writing this Gospel. Look at Luke 1:1. He says, ÒInasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word handed them down to us, it seemed fitting to me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in orderly sequence, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty about the things you have been taught.Ó So, Luke's Gospel, you can see it there in the language, is investigative. Luke is conducting, Luke has conducted an investigation. But also, as he writes what he writes under the Spirit's direction, Luke is out to prove something to Theophilus. To prove what? Luke is writing to prove to Theophilus that Jesus was the Messiah who had long been promised to Israel, the One who had been promised to the children of Abraham, the One who had come through the line of David, the One who would one day set up His messianic kingdom here on earth. Luke also wrote this Gospel to prove that Jesus is God incarnate, God in the flesh who came into this world, the very world He created, to offer forgiveness of sins for all who would repent and believe upon Him. Luke also wrote this Gospel to prove that Jesus is the Savior of the world, the One who came to purchase sinners like us from the slave market of sin, to buy us back, exagorazo, from the slave market of sin and then to enlist us as our Lord, as our Master, into His service to preach His message to others. Everything in Luke's Gospel ties back to those realities, namely that Luke in writing this Gospel in his very Lukan, careful, systematic, orderly way is establishing for Theophilus that Jesus is the Messiah, that He is God, that He is the Savior and that He is Lord. We see Luke's purpose coming throughout the rest of these first five chapters that we've been studying. These first five chapters, if you haven't noticed, have almost been like Luke is calling to the witness stand these various witnesses of the truth of who Jesus is and what He came to do. There is an angelic witness to Mary. Stay in chapter 1 for a moment where the angel Gabriel, look at Luke 1:32, says to Mary about the Son that she would supernaturally carry in her virgin womb, that He would be, Luke 1:32, Òthe Son of the Most HighÓ and that the ÒLord God would give Him the throne of His father David.Ó Or Luke 1:33, ÒHe will reign over the house of Jacob forever and there will be no end of His kingdom.Ó Or verse 31 of chapter 1, He is called Òthe holy child who will be called the Son of God.Ó So that's the angelic witness. Then there is the priestly witness of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, the forerunner to the Messiah who said this when his own son, John, was born, down in Luke 1:69, that God had Òraised up a horn of salvation for us.Ó Then down in verse 78 that Òbecause of the tender mercy of God the Sunrise from on high will visit us to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death to direct our feet into the way of peace.Ó So, there is the priestly witness. Then there is the witness of the heavenly host to some shepherds who were out in the field the one glorious night who testify, this is now in Luke 2, this heavenly host testified to these awestruck men as they tended to their flocks, Luke 2:10. They said, ÒDo not be afraid, for behold I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people. For today in the City of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord.Ó Then there is the witness of those who were in the temple in Jerusalem. Look down at Luke 2:32, there is the temple witness. First, we start with Simeon who took the infant Jesus in his arms and said this, ÒA light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of Your people Israel.Ó Then there is the aged widow, Anna, down in verse 38, who gave thanks to God for bringing the One who would bring about the redemption of Jerusalem. Then there is the witness of the 12-year-old Jesus as He went missing in Jerusalem and then His earthly parents are upset that He has gone missing. Mary says, ÒYour father and I have been anxiously searching for YouÓ as she finds Him in the temple and then in verse 49 of chapter 2, 12-year-old Jesus replied this way. ÒWhy is it that you were searching for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?Ó Which was His way of stating that God was His Father and also indicated His awareness that He is God the Son. Then there is the witness of John the Baptist over in chapter 3, who in preaching this baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in Luke 3:6 says that through the Messiah who was coming, Òall flesh will see the salvation of God.Ó Then there is the witness of God the Father who at Jesus's baptism declared, in Luke 3:22, ÒYou are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.Ó Then there is the witness of Luke himself, the human author of this Gospel, who in the latter part of chapter 3 lays out in comprehensive detail the genealogy of Jesus, establishing Jesus as One who is doubly qualified through both the line of Mary and the line of Joseph to be the Davidic Messiah. Then there is the witness of the demonic realm over in Luke 4 when Jesus cast out the demon from the man in Capernaum. The demon cried out through the man he had possessed in Luke 4:34, ÒI know who You are, the Holy One of God.Ó And then Jesus as He cast out more demons in Luke 4:41, they were saying, ÒYou are the Son of God.Ó Then there is the witness of Simon Peter, the fisherman, who when he, in chapter 5, encountered Jesus, he acknowledged Him in Luke 5:5 as Master. And then down in 5:8 he acknowledges Jesus's holiness and His deity, falling down at Jesus's knees and saying, ÒGo away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.Ó Then there are the witness of the scribes and the Pharisees, the religious leaders in Israel, who, when they witnessed Jesus healing the paralytic after his friends had lowered him down through the roof in verse 21 of chapter 5, said, ÒWho can forgive sins but God alone.Ó Then there is the witness of Levi the tax collector who not only followed Jesus's command to follow Him, but then you recall he immediately threw this reception for Jesus which itself was a witness, a witness to all who were from Levi's past life about this new Savior he now followed. Of course there is the witness of Jesus Himself. In Luke 5:32 He says to the Pharisees, ÒI have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.Ó Then over the page in Luke 6:5 He tells the Pharisees, speaking of Himself, that Òthe Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.Ó A double reference once again to His deity, to the fact that He is God. So, Luke, if you've been tracking throughout the last year and a half of our study has been lining up all of these witnesses and amassing all of this evidence to demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah, that Jesus is God, that Jesus is the Savior of the world, that Jesus is Lord. Now as He prepares to launch into the account that we'll be looking at later in Luke 6:20 and following with these very famous, very familiar words in the sermon that comes in our text for this morning, much like I need to do right now, Luke pauses. Luke catches his breath with this transitionary passage we'll be looking at this morning, transitionary in the sense that it sits between the prayer on the mountain for the twelve and for their ministry and what I am going to call a little bit later, the Sermon on the Plain. We've done a lot of review already this morning in just these first few minutes. To reorient ourselves again let's look at our text once more, Luke 6:17-19. It says, ÒAnd Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place. And there was a large crowd of His Disciples and a great multitude of people for all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. And all the crowd was trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.Ó I have a simple three-point outline to help us follow along here. First in the very first part of verse 17 we're going to see The Descent. Then in the rest of verse 17 through verse 18 we'll see The Draw. Then in verse 19 we'll see The Demonstration. The Descent, The Draw, The Demonstration. Let's start with The Descent in the beginning part of verse 17, which says, ÒAnd Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place.Ó Let's stop right there just to point out this clear link between what Luke is describing here and the scene which comes right before it. Go back up the page to Luke 6:12 where it says, ÒNow it happened that at this time He went off to the mountain to pray, and He was spending the whole night in prayer to God.Ó As we saw last week, Jesus, after an extended ministry around Capernaum and that surrounding region, He eventually went up onto this mountain, likely the Mount of Eremos, now it's known as the Mount of Beatitudes, on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee. And He did so to pray, He went up there to pray in response to the increasing and intensifying opposition He was facing from the scribes and the Pharisees. He went up to pray to make this decision about who it would be He would appoint ultimately as the twelve. And He went up to pray for the twelve as they would eventually go out and proclaim His message. After praying, we saw last week, moving down to verse 13, ÒWhen day came,Ó so when day broke, ÒHe called His Disciples to Him and chose twelve of them whom He also named as Apostles.Ó As we went through last week, we went over these tests of what constituted and what constitutes genuine Apostleship. To be a genuine Apostle one had to be appointed directly by Jesus Christ, to be a genuine Apostle one had to have witnessed the resurrected Christ, and to be a genuine Apostle one had to have the ability to confirm who Jesus is and His message through miraculous signs, which rules out just about every person who calls themselves an Apostle today. But we also went through, you'll recall, in the latter part of the text last week, the life and the character and the profiles of the different men that were called to be the twelve. But now in our text, verse 17, Jesus and those twelve He called, the Apostles, they came down. Jesus, says Luke, Òcame down with them,Ó with the Apostles. They came down that same mountain which He had ascended to pray. And reading on ÒHe and the Apostles,Ó we're told, Òstood on a level place.Ó Now we're going to camp out here for a moment because with those words that Jesus and His Apostles Òstood on a level place,Ó we are stepping right into a spirited debate which has raged for centuries. The debate is over whether the words of Jesus, which Luke has recorded here in verses 20 and following, all the way to the end of the chapter, represent the same sermon better known as the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 or instead whether this sermon that's recorded in Luke's Gospel is a different sermon, one with similarities to the Sermon on the Mount, but otherwise a separate sermon preached on a separate occasion as Jesus came down from the mountain and stood, as it says here, Òon that level place.Ó I'm actually of that latter view, I'm actually of the view that what we have here in Luke 6 is a separate sermon, a distinct sermon distinct from the Sermon on the Mount. And the sermon described in Luke's Gospel I think can rightly be called the Sermon on the Plain. Now no doubt it has many different carryover concepts from the Sermon on the Mount, but I do believe it is a separate sermon, and I get there based on a few different reasons. One is that, here's my real basic logic, words have meaning, words mean things. And the word ÒlevelÓ there as it says, ÒHe stood on a level place,Ó it means what it saysÑa level place, a flat land. This is the only time this word appears in the New Testament, in the Greek New Testament, that word Òlevel.Ó But when we go over to the Septuagint, and the Septuagint is just the Greek translation of the Old Testament Scriptures, you'll see this same word used in contrast to, over and over again, what we read as the hill country. So, you go to the Old Testament and there is this distinction between the hill country and level lands, flat lands, plains. It comes through in the Old Testament. So, this term, in other words, that we see here for Òlevel,Ó is being used by Luke to describe the opposite of hilly terrain, the opposite of mountainous terrain. It's describing flat lands or plains. We would call Colorado mountainous; we would call Nebraska flat. That's what is being drawn out here with this word Òlevel.Ó So I am not with the crowd that says that the level place here is just slightly lower level from the hill on which the Sermon on the Mount was preached and we're really talking about the same sermon. I don't think the language of the text directly supports that conclusion. Rather this word ÒlevelÓ place suggests that this sermon in Luke 6 took place on a plain, on some flat land, on some lower ground, some terrain like we have here in Nebraska. But not in Nebraska, rather adjacent to the Sea of Galilee. So that's one reason. There are other reasons as well, but I take this to be a separate sermon, a Sermon on the Plain. One would be the matter of sermon length. These are quite different sermons in terms of the length of each. The one in Matthew is significantly longer, it's about three times as big as the sermon in Luke. Luke's sermon recording has 30 verses, Matthew's has 107. Another issue is that of structure, the two sermons are structured differently. Matthew's sermon seems to have a center to it; it's more tightly arranged. One of the major themes of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 is that of righteousness. The beatitudes are aiming at true righteousness. Then Jesus's words all over the Sermon on the Mount explain the central importance of righteousness. Jesus lays out these contrasts between outward righteousness and true inward righteousness, as He contrasts the false righteousness of the Pharisees to those who are truly righteous. Luke's sermon by contrast is a bit more loosely composed, and we'll get into this as we work our way through it in coming weeks. You have beatitudes and woes at the beginning, and by the way you don't have woes in Matthew's Gospel, which is another reason I would say these are different. Then Luke moves on to the importance of the call to have love for one's enemies. Luke, as he records Jesus, has this summary of the good deeds of the righteous. But the point is there really doesn't seem to be the singular overarching theme to Luke's recording of Jesus's sermon the way that you have in Matthew's recording of that sermon. And then there's this last matter, and you've certainly heard it before, having heard Matthew preached before, but Matthew's Gospel was targeting a Jewish audience, plainly, whereas Luke's Gospel is targeting a Gentile named Theophilus. Their differences in approach and style come out all throughout both Gospels, and I think you also see it as we work through what I am calling the Sermon on the Plain. And again, we'll get into that more in successive weeks. But those are some of the reasons, I have some others, why I would say the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 and the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6 are different sermons. Similar sermons, to be sure, but distinct sermons which were given at different times and different locations. But think about this, the greatest preacher who ever lived, Jesus, had an important message to preach. So, it stands to reason that He would preach that message of the content of these sermons in different places. But many lesser preachers, myself included, have preached the same message in different places because of the significance of the message that needs to be preached. Jesus, the greatest who ever lived, had that same intention. He preached the sermon up on a mountain, Colorado, and He preached the sermon down on the plain, Nebraska. Metaphorically. You know what I mean. That was a little side trail on this issue of whether we have the same sermon in Luke 6 as we have in Matthew 5-7. LetÕs get back into the next part of the text here in verse 17, we'll read all the way through verse 18. After saying that Jesus Òcame down with them and stood on a level place,Ó it says, Òand there was a large crowd of His Disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured.Ó Here's our second point if you're a note taker, this would be The Draw. We've seen The Descent, now we see The Draw. We know by now that Jesus was drawing major attention. Certainly, as we have looked at in Luke 4 and 5 in recent weeks, by this point He is drawing attention from the Pharisees and that attention is intensifying. But He was also drawing crowds from broader sources. Recall how back in Luke 4, after healing Peter's mother-in-law, Luke reports in Luke 4:42 that Òwhen day came Jesus left and went to a secluded place and the crowds were eagerly seeking for Him and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them.Ó Then in Luke 5:15, after Jesus healed the leper, we're told that Òthe news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.Ó In our passage here in verses 17-18 we see again that Jesus's fame was broadening, His popularity was surging, the crowds around Him were expanding. Luke here describes three different categories of people who were now following Jesus in this scene. First you have these newly appointed Apostles. When Luke says at the beginning of verse 17 that Jesus Òcame down with them,Ó again He is speaking of the Apostles, the twelveÑSimon and Andrew, James and John, and so on and so on. These were the ones who were nearest to Jesus, these were His sent ones, these were His messengers, these were the Apostles, and this was the first time that these men, this group of twelve had been called to stand with Jesus publicly in their official capacity as Apostles as they came down that mountain together. Reading on we see that this group was immediately facing a large crowd. Look at the middle of verse 17 where Luke notes that Òthere was a large crowd of His Disciples.Ó Now that word Òlarge,Ó it's a bit understated in our English translation. It's suggesting a massive crowd, likely thousands of people in this crowd. And these people in this group in the crowd, this second ring of people who are around Jesus, these were His students, His pupils, the learners, the Disciples who had gathered around Him. His followers. And this would have been a mixed group, this second group, the large crowd of His Disciples. Some surely had only recently started to follow Jesus, some may have been following Him for a bit longer, some might have had not the foggiest understanding yet of what it meant to follow Jesus while some may have had a clearer grasp on it. It would have been this wide-ranging group in this second group, the Òlarge crowd of His Disciples,Ó with all sorts of levels of understanding and varying degrees of strength of faith. I would say in all likelihood that in a group of this size, this large crowd of His Disciples, not everyone in that group was actually a genuine follower of Jesus. This would have been a mixed group. Some fully committed, some uncommitted, some falsely committed, all mixed in together. There would have been tares mixed in with the wheat. There would have been some fakes mixed in with those who were true believers. There would have been some who later would be proven to be so-called Disciples, like those described in John 6:66 who Òwent away and were not walking with Him anymore.Ó So that was the reality, there was this makeup of this large crowd of Disciples, some mature, some immature, some true, some false. That's that second ring outside of the Apostles. This third group mentioned who are described here, you see it there, as Òa great multitude of people.Ó That word for people there is the Greek word laos, the word we get our English word ÒlaityÓ from, the laity. It's a generic word and it's generically describing people who otherwise have no label, meaning this next group mentioned in verse 17, this Ògreat multitude of people,Ó these weren't Apostles, these weren't the sent-out ones, these weren't the messengers. These weren't Disciples, these weren't Jesus's followers. No, these were just people. The curious, the inquisitive, the Òlookie loos.Ó People. And note where they came from, they were from everywhere. Look at the end of verse 17 for starters you had in this group. People Òfrom all Judea and Jerusalem,Ó meaning those who came from the south in this territory. But also note what Luke records at the end of verse 17 which is that there were those in this multitude who came from Òthe coastal region of Tyre and Sidon,Ó which was in the north. So that's an interesting addition because Tyre and Sidon, modern-day Lebanon, this was this hotbed of paganism in these times. This was a pagan land and a pagan people. This was a seafaring people, a wealthy people, but this was a godless people known for their idolatry and their immorality. In fact, the writings of the Old Testament prophets are filled with decrees and prophecies against Tyre and Sidon. Isaiah 23 is an entire divine oracle against Tyre. Ezekiel 26 is a prophecy directed against Tyre; Ezekiel 27 is a lament over Tyre. The prophet Joel in Joel 3:4, we have God saying this to Tyre and Sidon, ÒMoreover what are you to Me, oh Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me swiftly and speedily, I will turn your recompense on your head.Ó So, Tyre and Sidon did not exactly have the best reputation at this time in history. But notwithstanding its pagan past and its pagan reputation, there were people there in Tyre and Sidon, and there were people there who apparently had heard of this ministry that Jesus was performing in Capernaum, and they made this pilgrimage some 40-45 miles on foot to see Him. In other words, Jesus was drawing a crowd from everywhereÑfrom Judea and Jerusalem in the south to Tyre and Sidon in the north. He drew them all. But why? And for what purpose? Why were they coming? Luke tells us in verse 18 that this crowd, these people, the multitudes had come to Òhear Him and to be healed of their diseases, and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured.Ó Now note there is that threefold statement of intent there in verse 18Ñthe crowds, these multitudes which in this scene are made up of Jew and Gentile alike from north and south, they came to be taught, they came to be healed, and they came to be delivered. Taught, healed and delivered. First this multitude came to be taught. It says, Òthey had come to hear Him.Ó They came to hear Jesus teach. You've heard me say repeatedly now that Jesus came to this earth, and as He came to this earth His primary ministry as He came was to teach. He was primarily a teacher. We've seen that throughout our account of Luke's Gospel so far. He taught first to Nazareth, His hometown, as ÒOne having authority.Ó He's been teaching all over Capernaum in plain view for all, including the Pharisees, to see. Now He stands here on this plain, on this level place in front of these crowds, these multitudes who had gathered around Him and He is about to teach. He's about to teach some of the most profound truths that have ever been taught in this Sermon on the Plain. So, this crowd came to hear Him teach, the multitude came to hear Him teach. Not only that, though, they came for healing. They came, we're told, verse 18, Òto be healed of their diseases.Ó Now back in chapter 4 of this Gospel we encountered some of what this Gospel teaches about Jesus's healing ministry. There was His healing of Peter's mother-in-law who had that high fever. There was that statement in Luke 4:40 that Òall those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him, and laying His hands on each one of them He was healing them.Ó As we're going to get to later in Luke 7:18-22, we're going to witness that account where the Disciples of John the Baptist, the followers of John the Baptist, they come to Jesus, and they ask Him if He is the One who is to come. And you recall what Jesus said there, He says, ÒGo and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear.Ó So, Jesus was not only a teacher, but He was also a healer. The reality is as you read throughout the Gospel accounts you see story after story of the variety of healings that Jesus performed, and not only that, the comprehensive nature of the healing He performed. You read the Gospels, all four of them, and you see that Jesus restored once deaf ears, and He restored once mute mouths, and He brought to healing once paralyzed limbs and He restored once atrophied muscles and He restored a once withered hand and He restored once inoperative internal organs, and He restored once leprous skin. So yes, He was primarily a teacher but no doubt He was also a healer. His healing power, the demonstration of His power through His healing, to make once broken-down bodies whole, it proved that He was God. That same divine power which He tapped into to create the world and everything in it, the same divine power by which right now on October 12, 2025, He is upholding everything in this universe, that's Hebrews 1:3. It is the same power that He tapped into during His earthly ministry to heal the sick and the diseased. All of it shows, all of it demonstrates and proves that He is God. Moving on, the multitudes not only came to hear Jesus teach, they not only came to be healed of their diseases, they also, here's the third one, came to be delivered. Look at the end of verse 18 where Luke says that those in this same crowd, this same great multitude of people, Òthose who were troubled with unclean spirits,Ó you see it there, they Òwere being cured.Ó So not only was Jesus curing the sick, healing the sick and healing the diseased, He was exorcising demons. That's what unclean spirits means there. Jesus not only had total power and authority over the bodies of those whom He healed, He had, and He has total power and authority over the demonic realm. Satan and his minions, his demons, have never been able to resist Jesus ultimately. Their powers are nothing to Him. He has complete and irresistible power over the domain of darkness. We already saw that back in Luke 4:33, turn there with me to Luke 4:33 where Jesus had this encounter with this demon possessed man in the synagogue at Capernaum. And it reads this way, Luke 4:33, ÒAnd in the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon and he cried out with a loud voice, Let us alone. What do we have to do with You, Jesus the Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked it saying, ÔBe quietÕ and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm.Ó As in that scene, here in our scene in Luke 6:18, those who came to Jesus being troubled with unclean spirits were immediately in His presence delivered. In other words, whatever demonic influence which had previously possessed them, whatever unclean spirits had invaded them, they now left them. The crowds and the multitudes pushed forward to see Jesus on this plain, He not only taught them, He not only healed them, but He delivered them. He taught, He healed, He delivered. That brings us to our third point this morning, for you note takers this is The Demonstration. The Descent, The Draw, and here is The Demonstration. Look at verse 19, it says, ÒAnd all the crowd was trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.Ó Now you might read that initially and think that Luke is describing here some sort of sanctified magic show where people are touching Jesus and in doing so, they are healed as though this is about His garments being inherently sacred or having some sort of special healing power in the fabric or the thread. But that's not what is happening. Note first the language here, it says that all the crowd was Òtrying to touch Him.Ó The implication there is that not all of them were able to do so, not everybody made hand to garment contact with Jesus. Given that there were likely thousands of people on this plain at this time, that actually makes sense. It would have been impossible for all to physically reach Him and touch Him, and so not all did. Even then, though, in attempting to do so these crowds in coming to Him and drawing near to Him and crowding in on Him, they were demonstrating faith. Now this scene is reminiscent of one we'll get to later in Luke 8, it's one many of you are familiar with. It's the scene involving the woman with the hemorrhage of blood for 12 years, and she comes to Him for healing, she's experienced this hemorrhage. And Luke 8:44 records that Òshe came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His garment.Ó And then it says, ÒImmediately her hemorrhage stopped.Ó Now on first read you would take that in and think that there must, again, have been some sort of special healing properties in the fringe of Jesus's garment itselfÑin the fabric, in the thread, what have you. But that's not the import of what is being said there. It wasn't Jesus's garment which cured that woman, no, He tells her what did later on in Luke 8:48. He says, ÒDaughter, your faith has saved you. Now go in peace.Ó Similarly, here in our text in verse 19 of chapter 6, the members of this crowd by trying to touch Him, trying to touch Jesus were demonstrating faith in Jesus's power to heal them and He rewarded their faith. Look at the next part of verse 19, it says, ÒFor power was coming from Him.Ó That's referring to His inherent, divine power. He didn't even need to lay hands on anybody to heal them. He didn't even need to have physical contact with anybody to heal them. He had inherent and does have, as God, inherent divine power through the sheer exercise of His powerful will to heal right there on the spot, to heal thoroughly, to heal completely and to heal comprehensively. And that's what He did. ÒFor power was coming from Him and healing them all.Ó So though not everybody could actually touch Him, Jesus still healed everyone there. It says, ÒHe healed them all.Ó Note that Jesus didn't get up on a platform to heal, He didn't wear a white suit, He didn't fly in on a private jet, He didn't pack out an arena to heal them. He didn't ask them if they had enough faith, He didn't ask them to sow a seed, a financial seed into His ministry. There was no shouting or shaking or rolling in the aisles or an organ playing in the background. There was no charismatic chaos happening. He simply healed them. No matter their condition, whether they were from Jerusalem and Judea or from Tyre and Sidon, He healed them. It says, ÒHe healed them all.Ó He was once again, in doing so, pulling back that curtain on His divinity for those who witnessed His healing and those who were beneficiaries of His healing, proving again that He is God. He healed, it says, Òthem all.Ó That means that as He opened His mouth in verses 20 and following to deliver the sermon that He was going to deliver on this day, this Sermon on the Plain, that there wasn't a sufferer remaining in this audience. If we take it for what it means, that He healed Òthem all,Ó then it means He healed them all and that those listening to this sermon were relieved now of whatever it was that afflicted them. Well, speaking of His sermon, the Sermon on the Plain, I'm actually going to, in order to set us up for what we're going to be studying as we break it down in weeks to come. I'm going to take some time to actually read from the Sermon on the Plain. To read the entire thing to get our hearts oriented to this wonderful exposition. This wonderful declaration. These wonderful statements from Jesus Himself as we wait for Him to come one day. Let's consider these words, starting in verse 20. It says, ÒAnd turning His gaze toward His Disciples, He began to say, Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are those who hunger now for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are those who cry now for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when men hate you and exclude you and insult you and scorn your name as evil for the sake of the Son of man. Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven. For their fathers were doing the same things to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich for you are receiving your comfort in full. Woe to you who are well fed now for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now for you shall mourn and cry. Woe to you when all men speak well of you for their fathers were doing the same things to the false prophets. But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you, pray for those who disparage you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also. And whoever takes away your garment, do not withhold your tunic from him either. Give to everyone who asks of you and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. And treat others the same way you want them to treat you. And if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies and do good and lend, expecting nothing in return and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the Most High for He Himself is kind to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful just as your Father is merciful. And do not judge and you will not be judged. And do not condemn and you will not be condemned. Pardon and you will be pardoned. Give and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return. And He also spoke a parable to them. Can a blind man guide a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A student is not above his teacher, but everyone after he has been fully trained will be like his teacher. And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, brother let me take out the speck that is in your eye, when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye. For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor on the other hand a bad tree which produces good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns nor do they pick grapes from a bramble bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil. For his mouth speaks from the abundance of his heart. Now why do you call Me Lord, Lord and not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and does them, I will show you whom he is like. He is like a man building a house who dug and went deep and lay a foundation on the rock, and when a flood occurred the river burst against that house and could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who heard and did not do accordingly is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation and the river burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.Ó God, this morning we again come to You with humble, grateful hearts. In the text that we have been working through this morning we have seen how in the Gospel of Luke You have testified through various witnesses to the fact that Jesus Christ is Messiah, He is God, He is Savior, He is Lord. May we never lose sight of the fact that it is through His shed blood that our sins have been atoned for, paid for, forgiven. Oh, precious is the flow that makes us white as snow, nothing but the blood of Jesus. God, I pray that we would not ever take the sacrifice of our Savior on our behalf lightly, cavalierly, that we would really consider, not just today, but day by day the price of our redemption. God, that it would fuel us and motivate us to worship in spirit and truth, to love one another from compassionate, dear hearts. And to share with this lost and darkening world mankind's one and only hope, which is Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, ascended and coming again. We praise You, oh God. In Jesus name, Amen.