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CHRIST CALLS THE DEAD TO LIVE

by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan

A sermon preached at the Baptist Tabernacle of Los Angeles
Lord’s Day Evening, February 8, 2015

“And behold, there was a man which has his hand withered … Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole” (Matthew 12:10, 13).


The man had a withered hand. The word translated “withered” means dried up, shrunken, and useless. Luke tells us it was his right hand. Christ’s healing of the man’s hand shows His tremendous power. But its meaning is much deeper than that. His withered hand is a picture of spiritual death. And Christ healing his withered hand is a picture of the dead coming to life.

I. First, the withered hand is a picture of you who are dead in sin.

Our hands are very important. God made them so we can do many things. We can use our hands for heavy lifting or to do fine, delicate tasks. Hands were used to make the Great Pyramids of Egypt and The Great Wall of China. But hands were also used to paint the Mona Lisa, the Sistine Chapel, and to compose the great works of literature. We use our hands to dress ourselves, to write, and to use a keyboard. It’s hard to think of anything we do without using our hands. But this man’s hand was withered and completely useless. It was as good as dead.

That’s a picture of your spiritual life. The Bible says that you are

“Dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1).

You are dead because of your sinful nature. You are dried up, shrunken, and useless in all things spiritual. You may talk about religion, but there is no life in it. You were made in the image of God. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” But you are like a “withered hand” that is dead. You cannot glorify God. You cannot enjoy God. God is not even real to you. The Bible describes you as “having no hope, and without God in this world” (Ephesians 2:12). Oh, how terrible it is that you’re dead in sin!

A spiritually dead man is also called a “natural man.” As a natural man or woman your life is controlled by your physical senses. Only what you can see, hear, taste, touch, or smell is real to you. You can’t reach beyond that. You’re completely dead to spiritual things. That’s because the world of the spirit is in another dimension beyond the physical. You may read the Bible, but the Bible world is not real to you. You may sing the hymns, but they mean nothing to you. They give you no feelings of joy or sorrow. They don’t stir your heart. That’s why you can’t sing out during the song service. And you can’t worship God either. How can you give honor to God who you don’t know? You can mumble a dry prayer. But you have no sense of God while you pray. You don’t really expect an answer from God in your prayers. And you’re a withered soul when it comes to helping us in church. You are dried up, shrunken, and useless in helping us with the new people. You cannot help them. You can only hurt them. You have no sense of your eternal soul. You have no sense of your sin or of God’s anger. So, of course, you sense no need of Christ and His Blood. The Apostle Paul describes you,

“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Corinthians 2:14).

You cannot receive or understand anything spiritual. You are dead in sin. You ought to be miserable over this. But you think nothing of it. You are like a withered hand, dried up, shrunken, and useless in the things of God.

But as a natural man you are alive to the sins and lusts of the world. You are “wise to do evil but to do good [you] have no knowledge” (Jeremiah 4:22). You have no knowledge of anything spiritual. But you have great wisdom to do all sorts of evil and sin. Christ said,

“Ye shall know them by their fruits ... a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit” (Matthew 7:16, 17).

All you can do is produce evil fruit because your heart is evil and full of sin. You spend hours and hours playing video games. But you spend little time reading the sermons or thinking of your eternal soul. You fill your mind with sexual sins looking at pornography. But you never think of Christ bleeding on the Cross for your sins. You spend hours on Facebook and Twitter. But you wouldn’t think of spending a few moments praying for your soul. Your heart is corrupt and full of sin and death. The evil from your heart overflows into your thoughts and actions. And you are under God’s judgment. But merely believing this will not help you. Your heart must be gripped by this awful truth. You must feel that your soul is hopelessly dead in sin.

II. Second, Christ calls the dead to live.

Christ commands the man, “Stretch forth thy hand.” He commands him to stretch forth the hand that is withered. It’s the hand that is dried up, shrunken, and useless. It is the hand that is dead. He commands the dead to live. Christ commands the impossible. He doesn’t tell him to stretch out his arm that is not withered. That would not be a miracle. Instead He commands the lifeless hand to be stretched. In the same way Christ alone must bring you to life. You are dead and helpless. You must trust Christ alone to save you.

Christ calls the dead to live and no one else. In the Gospels I only read of Christ calling those convinced of sin. From the woman taken in adultery, to the woman at the well, to blind Bartimaeus, to the thankful leper, to the humbled publican, to the awakened thief on the cross. All were convinced that they were dead in sin. Christ called them, and they came to Him. But I don’t read of Christ calling any unconvinced sinners. I don’t read of Him calling any unawakened Pharisee or that proud rich young ruler. No, Christ calls the dead to live and no one else. They felt the wickedness of their hearts. They knew they were dead in trespasses and sins. They knew they couldn’t change. They knew they were hopelessly lost and under God’s judgment. God’s Spirit convinced them that they were dead in sin. The Prophet Isaiah said,

“The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.” (Isaiah 40:6-7).

God’s Spirit blew upon them. He withered all their high thoughts of themselves. He dried up, shrank, and made useless all their hopes and plans in life. God humbled and convinced them that they were dead in sin. That is the withering work of the Spirit of God. All who are converted have had this experience. But you are not withered. You are not convinced of your sin. That’s because you resist the work of the Holy Spirit.

You resist the Spirit of God by loving the world. God’s Spirit blows upon you through the preaching. But it doesn’t wither you. Why? Because your dead heart loves sin, and you want to remain in sin. And so you are never withered. That’s why you never feel disgusted about being dead in sin. One young lady even confessed, “The world is calling.” Yes, the sins of the world are calling you. And as you listen to the world’s call, you grieve the Spirit of God. He leaves you alone. He doesn’t convict you. He doesn’t wither you. That’s why no sermon can touch you. Preaching on Hell doesn’t affect you. You love your sins more than you love your eternal soul. You pay close attention to your worldly business, yet you neglect your soul. You love temporary thrills more than your most valued, precious, and eternal possession. How smart is that? Your sinful heart has blinded you, and the Devil has deceived you. Think again of Christ’s question to you,

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36).

No, it won’t profit you at all if you gained the whole world but lost your soul. You would be the great loser. Will you continue to march boldly on in sin and onward to Hell? Will you remain determined not to “waste time” thinking of eternity and judgment? Only God’s Spirit can wither you. Only He can convince you that you are dead in sin. But when you grieve God’s Spirit, you sin away your only hope of escaping Hell.

You resist the Spirit of God by listening to your own thoughts. You have not heard the still, small voice of God convicting you of sin. How could you hear Him through all your confusing thoughts? How can the Spirit of God speak to you if your own thoughts speak louder than His? How can the Holy Spirit convince you of sin when you resist thinking of your sin? How can the Holy Spirit make you hopeless if you hope to “get it right” in the inquiry room? How can the Holy Spirit show you your need of Christ if instead you’re looking for a feeling? Your many thoughts show you’re not convinced of sin. You haven’t given up on yourself. You are not hopeless. You are not dead in your own eyes. So Christ will not call you.

Christ calls the dead to live, because only the dead will hear Him. Christ only calls awakened sinners who feel that they are dead in sin. He will only call those who feel their need of Him. When Christ calls the dead, they will hear and come to Him.

“Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth” (Matthew 12:13).

At the call of Christ the man’s dead hand lived. Christ called someone else that was dead who came to life. The Apostle John wrote,

“[Christ] cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth” (John 11:43-44).

The man’s hand was dead. It was just as dead as Lazarus’ body. Yet he was able to stretch forth his withered hand just as dead Lazarus was able to come forth. How was he able to do this? How was the dead raised? The dead can either stay dead or obey Christ and stretch forth. He could do nothing else. The man did not say, “How do I stretch forth my hand?” No, he just stretched forth his hand. He did not say, “I will trust that Christ is able to heal my hand.” No, he trusted Christ and stretched forth his hand. He did not look for a feeling that his hand would be healed. No, he stretched forth his hand, and it was healed. The man’s hand was dead. He had no strength in himself to obey. He had no strength to do anything except what Christ told him. Christ was telling him to do the impossible. Yet the man did the impossible. Not by his own power. But by Christ’s power who commanded him. If Christ commanded him to stretch forth his hand, Christ would give him the power to do so. But you have not come to Christ. And Christ gives you the reason for it,

“They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick” (Mark 2:17a).

Christ said only the sick will seek a physician. And only those who feel their sin will sense their need of Him. Christ then says,

“I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance”
      (Mark 2:17b).

Only convinced sinners will sense their need for Christ. And Christ will only call those sinners to change their course and come to Him.

I have been a physician, a medical doctor for over 30 years. Much of my work involves convincing patients the dangers of their sickness. But many of my patients remain unconvinced. Most chronic diseases are called “Silent Killers.” This means a person is very sick even though they don’t feel sick. And death may come to them very suddenly without warning. I tell them that they must be very serious and follow my instructions. But they feel well so they don’t take their medications. They don’t follow their diet. They don’t exercise. I warm them of the danger of dying. But they say they feel fine. They don’t listen to me. They miss their appointments. They feel that they don’t really need to see me. Many of my patients have died because they have not believed my warnings. Only those patients who were convinced they were sick needed me. These were the only ones I could help.

And only convinced sinners feel that they need Christ. Just as only convinced sick people feel that they need a doctor. You feel fine. You have no fear of judgment. You fear Hell even less than my patients fear dying from their silent disease. But watch out! You are hopelessly dead in sin. Don’t be fooled that you won’t go to Hell. Wake up! I can warn you and I will. But the Spirit of God must wither you. He must make you feel that your heart is wicked. God’s Spirit must convince you that you are dead in sin. Oh, may you be convinced of this soon. Then and only then will you sense your need for Christ and His Blood.

You say, “But Dr. Chan, you came to Christ the first time you heard the Gospel. It was easy for you but it’s so hard for me.” Yes, but that was after years of agonizing inner pain over the emptiness of my soul. God had begun to wither my soul as a child during those years in the hospital. I felt a great big emptiness in my soul that was made by sin. I felt like a hollow man. I believed in God, but I had no life in God. I had no life in Christ. I found no joy in this world. But somehow I knew there was another life that was more important and more real. Like Abraham, God helped me to desire “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). God was preparing me, convincing me that I needed Christ. When our pastor Dr. Hymers preached, I felt dead in sin. I felt hopeless. I felt I must have Christ. When Christ called me through the preaching, my heart heard Him. I felt powerfully drawn to Christ. My dead spirit rose and came to Him. He washed my sins away in His own Blood. Amen and Hallelujah!

And God can convince you, too. Stop the video games and focus your mind upon the sermons. Read the sermons daily, again, and again. Think about how hopeless you are in sin. Think about your terrible sinful heart that cannot change. Stop watching pornography and think of Christ’s suffering and dying on the Cross for you. Oh, may God convict you of sin so that you can say with David,

“My heart is smitten, and withered like grass” (Psalm 102:4).

May God’s Spirit strike your heart and wither your soul. May He convince you that you are dead in sin. Then hear Christ’s call, “Stretch forth, come forth. You who are dead come to me and live.” There is no power within you to obey. So don’t look at your dead self. Think of Christ who loves you so. Don’t think of your past failures in coming to Christ. Hear Christ calling you now and listen to Him. Christ is omniscient. That means He knows everything. He knows that you are dead in sin. He knows that you of yourself cannot come to Him. But would He call you if He knew that you couldn’t come to Him? Christ is omnipotent. That means He is all-powerful. Would He call you to come to Him and not give you the power to do so? Christ is all-merciful. Would He call you to Himself and not give you the mercy and faith to trust Him? Don’t look at yourself. Look to Christ. Hear Him calling you. He died on the Cross for your sins. He rose flesh and bones from the grave. He is in Heaven at the right hand of the throne of God.

Do you feel withered by sin? Has the Spirit of God made you feel dried up, shrunken, and useless toward God. I know you have tried to come to Christ and have failed. I know you feel no power to come to Christ. Christ knows that. That’s why,

“When we were yet without strength … Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).

Christ died for sinners without strength. Christ died for those who are dead and could not come to Him. But hear again Christ calling you, “Stretch forth, come forth. You who are dead come to me and live.” Do not look at yourself. Look to Christ. He who calls you will help you to come to Him. And when you come to Him, He will wash your sins away in His Blood. May you come to Him and never look back. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

(END OF SERMON)
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Scripture Read Before the Sermon by Mr. Abel Prudhomme: Matthew 12:9-13.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Mr. Benjamin Kincaid Griffith:
“In Jesus” (by James Procter, 1913).


THE OUTLINE OF

CHRIST CALLS THE DEAD TO LIVE

by Dr. Kreighton L. Chan

“And behold, there was a man which has his hand withered … Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole” (Matthew 12:10, 13).

I.   First, the withered hand is a picture of you who are dead in sin,
Ephesians 2:1; 2:12; I Corinthians 2:14; Jeremiah 4:22;
Matthew 7:16-17.

II.  Second, Christ calls the dead to live, Isaiah 40:7-8; Mark 8:36;
Matthew 12:13; John 11:43-44; Mark 2:17; Hebrews 11:10;
Psalm 102:4; Romans 5:6.