First Baptist Church Delray

Sermon Application Questions

February 15, 2026

Pastor Steve’s Message: “Bent”

Scripture: Luke 13:10-21 (ESV)

Review the Exegesis of the Scripture

1.     Did God design the law to be the means of salvation or to show the necessity of it?

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20

For further study:

a.     For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. Leviticus 11:44

b.     The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. Psalm 19:7-9

c.     Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. Romans 12:14-15

d.     Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also for the sake of conscience. Romans 13:5

e.     For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. Romans 8:3

f.      He (Jesus) bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. 1 Peter 2:24-25

Read Luke 13:10–11

Now he (Jesus) was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.

2.     How long had this woman been struggling and yet still coming to the place of worship?

3.     Disease and injury are most often the result of living in dying bodies in a fallen world, but what caused this woman to be permanently bent over?

4.     Satan does have the power to cause people to be unable to stand up straight to make it hard for them to get to Jesus, but how is he usually more subtle than this?

Read Luke 13:12–13

When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God.

5.     When Jesus demonstrated His authority over a person’s physical condition, what else did it indicate that He is Lord over?

6.     Why doesn’t Jesus heal everyone all the time?

7.     Everyone Jesus heals physically on earth still eventually die, but what kind of healing can we all access because of what He did on the cross?

Read Luke 12:14

But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, “There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”

8.     Which of The Ten Commandments was the synagogue ruler referring to?

9.     How was this ruler, in effect, actually using the law to keep people from Jesus?

Read Luke 12:15-16

Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”

10.  Why did Luke refer to Jesus as “the Lord.”

11.  What did the Lord call these leaders who pretended to value the things of God while only interested in maintaining their own power and prestige?

12.  How did the Lord point out that they seemed to care more for animals than human beings?

13.  Compare this with laws in the U.S. concerning eggs in a sea turtle nest and unborn children.

14.  How was the Lord correcting these hypocrites about the use of the law?

Read Luke 12:17

As he (Jesus) said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

15.  How does the following quote from Tim Keller, former pastor of New York’s Redeemer Church, help you better understand Jesus’ point?

“The law puts burdens on people while the Gospel removes burdens from people.”

(Tim Keller’s book, “The Gospel Shaped Life”)

16.  How did this help the people see Jesus as a true savior?

Read Luke 13:18–21

He (Jesus) said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

17.  If a mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds in nature, how is Jesus indicating that the kingdom of God will grow?

18.  Similarly, how does the kingdom of God compare with the way dough is affected by leaven, like yeast, baking soda, baking powder, or a sourdough starter?

Make Personal Applications of the Lessons

19.  In what way has a hypocrite, someone pretending to value the things of God while only interested in maintaining their own power and prestige, harmfully been more like an officer of the law to you than an ambassador of the gospel?

a.     They added burdens to my life.

b.     They used my brokenness to condemn me.

c.     They used the law to make me feel guilty and try harder.

d.     They built my dependence on themselves or on myself.

e.     They are far from Jesus Himself.

f.      Their bent is to expect me to remain bent.

g.     They make me want to justify myself, delaying repentance until I do some good things.

20.  In which of the above ways have you been more like an officer of the law than an ambassador of the gospel to someone?

21.  In what way has someone represented the grace of Jesus well for you as an ambassador of the gospel?

a.     They helped remove burdens from my life.

b.     They acknowledged my brokenness and helped me find healing and grace.

c.     They used the law to help me know my need for God, that is, that we can never meet God’s high standards and that we need to place our faith in Christ for justification, not our own righteousness.

d.     They taught me to build dependence on Jesus.

e.     They regularly developed redemptive relationships with people far from Jesus, which was where they found me at the time.

f.      They long for and pray for the bent to be made straight.

g.     They gave me a great example of quickly repenting when they sin, showing me that’s a normal and necessary part of the Christian life.

22.  In which of the above ways have you represented the grace of Jesus well as an ambassador of the gospel for other people?

23.  Which of the attitudes and behaviors in both lists above do you need to either turn from or grow into and become a more effective ambassador for the gospel?

24.  Does someone you care for come to mind that you need to correct how you’ve been treating?

25.  Does someone you care for come to mind that you could be a better ambassador of the gospel for?

26.  If you find that you would like help coming to terms with some of these things, the church staff, as always, would love to talk further with you.