[0:00] to the scriptures of the New Testament and the gospel according to Luke in chapter 4 reading from verse 14 to the end of the chapter.
[0:18] Luke chapter 4 at verse 14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.
[0:31] And there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues being glorified of all. And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up.
[0:45] And as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah.
[0:57] And when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
[1:09] He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
[1:25] And he closed the book and he gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
[1:43] And all bare him witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said It's not this Joseph's son. And he said unto them Ye will surely say unto me this proverb Physician heal thyself Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum Do also hear in thy country.
[2:07] And he said Verily I say unto you No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias When the heaven was shut up three years and six months When great famine was throughout all the land But unto none of them was Elias sent Save unto Sarepta A city of Sidon And to a woman that was a widow And many lepers were in Israel In the time of Elisha the prophet And none of them was cleansed Saving Naaman the Syrian And all they in the synagogue When they heard these things were filled with wrath And rose up and thrust him out of the city And led him unto the brow of the hill Whereon their city was built That they might cast him down headlong But he passing through the midst of them Went his way And he came to Capernaum A city of Galilee
[3:08] And taught them on the Sabbath days And they were astonished at his doctrine For his word was with power And in the synagogue there was a man Which had a spirit of an unclean devil And cried out with a loud voice Saying Let us alone What have we to do with thee Thou Jesus of Nazareth Art thou come to destroy us I know thee who thou art The Holy One of God And Jesus rebuked him saying Hold thy peace And come out of him And when the devil had thrown him in the midst He came out of him And hurt him not And they were all amazed And spake among themselves Saying What a word is this For with authority and power He commanded the unclean spirits And they come out And the fame of him went out Into every place Of the country round about And he arose out of the synagogue And entered into Simon's house
[4:10] And Simon's wife's mother Was taken with a great fever And they besought him for her And he stood over her And rebuked the fever And it left her And immediately she arose And ministered unto them Now when the sun was setting All they that had any sick With diverse diseases Brought them unto him And he laid his hands On every one of them And healed them And devils also came out of many Crying out and saying Thou art Christ The Son of God And he rebuking them Suffered them not to speak For they knew That he was Christ And when it was day He departed And went into a desert place And the people sought him And came unto him And stayed him That he would not depart from them And he said unto them I must preach the kingdom of God To other cities also For therefore am I sent And he preached in the synagogues
[5:13] Of Galilee Amen And may God bless to us That reading from his holy word And to his name be all the praise To sing again This time from Psalm 118 Psalm 118 And verse 15 In dwellings of the righteous Is heard the melody Of joy and health The Lord's right hand Doth ever valiantly The right hand of the mighty Lord Exalted is on high The right hand of the mighty Lord Doth ever valiantly I shall not die But live And shall the works of God discover The Lord hath me chastised soul But not to death given over O said he open unto me
[6:13] The gates of righteousness Then will I enter into them And I The Lord will bless These stanzas Verses 15 to 19 Of Psalm 118 In dwellings of the righteous In dwellings of the righteous Of the righteous Is heard the melody Of him The Lord's right hand, that never valiant be.
[7:05] The right hand of the mighty Lord, takes something is on high.
[7:22] The right hand of the mighty Lord, does ever valiant be.
[7:40] I shall not die, but live and stand. The words of God disappear.
[7:56] The Lord hath me just as I say, so Lord.
[8:08] But not to take it over. O send ye open unto me the gifts of righteousness.
[8:31] Then will thy angels lift to them.
[8:43] And I the Lord will bless. Now as the Lord enables us, let us turn again to this portion of scripture we have read.
[9:05] In the gospel according to Luke chapter 4. We may read from verse 14.
[9:16] And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. And there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
[9:29] And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.
[9:47] And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.
[10:00] Because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. To preach deliverance to the captives.
[10:11] And recovering of sight to the blind. To set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
[10:26] The beginning of this chapter gives an account of the way the devil attacked our Lord in the wilderness.
[10:53] Tempting him in various ways. But the Lord as one would expect refused to bow to the devil's advances.
[11:10] He knew the power of the devil's temptations. Only someone who is able to stand and refute the temptation of the devil knows knows its real strength.
[11:30] We so often fold under the temptation. And that means that we give up, as it were, in the face of the devil's wiles.
[11:45] But Jesus could not do that. Because he is the almighty God. God he was not able to sin. He was not able to sin.
[11:59] Nevertheless, the devil tried to make him. And the devil threw everything at him, as it were, to try and weaken him and make him sin.
[12:13] But the Lord could not sin because he is the holy God. God. And then it comes here at verse 14, Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.
[12:27] And there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And I'd like to focus for a short while this evening, if I can, on his visit to Nazareth.
[12:45] Verse 16 onwards. He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. And, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read and so on.
[13:01] You remember that Mary and Joseph they set up home in Nazareth and that Joseph made his husband he was a carpenter and that Jesus himself adopted that trade a carpenter.
[13:26] And I've came across this statement that the building trade was reckoned the most respectable and intellectual of all manual occupations.
[13:45] The word used in the original for carpenter what we use as the Lord's work was an artificer or a craftsman a worker in wood possibly also a worker in stone and a person who was able to plan a building and erect it.
[14:13] The Lord was involved in that for his adult life up until he started his public ministry of preaching. and it says here that he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day as his custom was.
[14:33] As a working man in the community before he entered into his public ministry the Lord Jesus would have been well known not only around Nazareth as a builder as a craftsman but also as a person who frequented the synagogue on the Sabbath day and that's a pattern that we ought to adopt for ourselves frequent the house of God on the Sabbath day in particular and more if we can.
[15:11] This is the pattern that the Lord has given us. And then it says here in verse 17 there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor and he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that had bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord it says here that the book was delivered to him that would have been a scroll scroll it wouldn't have been a book just like we have here ordinarily these were scrolls upon which the scriptures had been inscribed by scribes and he found the place having opened it up and the place he opened at was
[16:15] Isaiah chapter 61 where the prophet Isaiah 700 years before had been led to speak about the coming saviour even the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus found this section of the scroll that spoke about himself and about his ministry and I'd like just to say one or two words first of all about Jesus here the preacher and secondly a word on the congregation and thirdly a word on the sermon and fourthly a response that ultimately we read of you know the ultimate response was that they wanted to throw him over the cliff upon which their town was built they were so galled by what he said that they didn't want to hear any more from him and we don't find it anywhere in the scripture that
[17:31] Jesus ever came back to the synagogue at Nazareth after this time he was as it were shown the door don't come here again well just one or two thoughts under these four headings first of all Jesus the preacher and what were the qualifications that Jesus had as a preacher well it says here in verse 18 he found the place where it was written the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor and so on this is the first qualification that's mentioned here that the spirit of the Lord was upon him though when you turn to the prophecy of
[18:36] Isaiah it says the same thing that the spirit of the Lord is upon him and there is in the immediate context here the account we have of the Holy Spirit coming at Jesus' baptism and the voice of the Father from heaven saying this is my beloved son hear ye him that was a public revelation of Christ's being anointed with the Holy Spirit for the work of ministry to which his father called him but if you go back in the Old Testament you'll find in the book of Proverbs a very interesting verse in chapter 8 and verse 23
[19:39] Proverbs 8 23 I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the earth was this is the son of God speaking and saying I was set up from everlasting and that word these words set up there are a translation of a Hebrew word that means to anoint or set apart by anointing people were anointed as prophets as priests as kings in the Old Testament times and this word here I was set up from everlasting means that our Lord as mediator was set apart before the world was created he was set apart as the theologians say in the council of peace when the persons of the trinity in eternal council agreed that the son become a mediator or be a mediator between
[21:02] God and sinful men and the son readily agreed to come into the world in the fullness of times to fulfil the office of mediator prophet priest and king and we see here the spirit of the Lord is upon me Jesus stood in the synagogue at Nazareth and he declares this that he has been anointed from all eternity to this particular office to this particular work as mediator and the fact that he was anointed or baptised by John the Baptist gave public notice that this was actually the case and the voice of God the father saying this is my beloved son hear him he is my minister he is the one that I have sent into the world with words of life and words of grace to a sinful perishing world the
[22:12] Holy Spirit was given to him in his humanity from the point of his conception he had the Holy Spirit in his fullness the Holy thing that shall be born of you is the Son of God the angel said to Mary and when he walked this world he was a spirit filled man the God man he had the Spirit of God in all his fullness he was able to speak infallibly he was able to think sinlessly he was able to do things mightily even raise the dead he was able to do all of these things because of who he was and because of the appointment he had been given as mediator
[23:14] God man the people in the synagogue of Nazareth that day they didn't really appreciate who they had in their midst the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel the good news to the poor the preacher it's wonderful if you have a spirit of prayer as a congregation to lead you to the man that the Lord would have settled over you as your minister and be constant in prayer that the Lord would lead you to him and the man of God to you a man full of the Holy Spirit sent by the
[24:15] Lord to open the scriptures for you and to lead you in the things of the Lord well that's the first thing here the preacher the best of all preachers the Lord Jesus Christ and secondly we see the congregation well I suppose they were representative of any gathering of people throughout the country people with problems people with burdens people with unrealized aims and goals people with longings that they weren't satisfied people maybe who felt guilty about their sins in the presence of God people who disappointed themselves and disappointed others people living with fear and frustration generally a picture of a gathered assembly of people coming to this place but the man whom the
[25:33] Lord sent even the Lord Jesus he tells them that he has been sent to deal with such problems as they might have in fact he highlights the kind of problems that he is able to deal with and he has anointed me he says to preach the gospel to the poor send me to heal the broken hearted preach the deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind set at liberty those who are bruised and preach the acceptable year of the Lord and try just to say one or two words on each of these because these mentioned here are those to whom the gospel is being sent he is talking first of all the poor preach the gospel to the poor now by nature man was not poor
[26:40] Adam and Eve were not poor they had access to every good thing in the garden of Eden but when sin came they were completely impoverished they had lost their knowledge of God they had lost their righteousness they had lost their holiness and they had lost their dominion over the creatures that's what sin did sin was as a scythe blade coming across and cutting them away from all of these things man by nature you and I are so impoverished we are ignorant of ourselves in the presence of God we are ignorant of who really God is and what he is like and we are unrighteous in the presence of a holy God and so on sin has so impoverished us to the extent that we cannot improve our condition oh that's
[27:50] Pharisees were trying to improve their condition by working their own way into God's favour but that will never work we need an outside influence we need the hand of a gracious saviour come into our life to enrich our lives and this is what he says he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor the word gospel means good news doesn't it and where does the Bible direct us so that we might know what the good news of the gospel is for those who are poor well if you read in 2nd Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 9 you will read these words you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might be rich to meet our poverty in order to make us rich he who was eternally rich that is the eternal son of
[29:11] God became man became poor to work out a salvation that he would impart to us and so enrich our lives instead of death being dominant in our lives he is able to give us life instead of ignorance dominating our thinking and our outlook he gives us knowledge of himself instead of our self righteousness which is as filthy rags he gives us his own righteousness so enriching and beautifying your lives name the spirit is upon him because he hath anointed him to preach the gospel the good news to the poor do you feel your poverty this evening do you feel your lack of knowledge lack of holiness lack of heavenliness, lack of the good things that the Bible talks about by way of righteousness and righteous living. Well the Lord Jesus says that he comes to declare that he can get you the riches beyond this world's dreams. He is able to make you rich by his blessing.
[30:51] And the next thing that he says is this, he has sent me to heal the broken hearted. To heal the broken hearted. Well in the Bible you find that heart is used to describe the very essence of man. Man's thoughts, man's affections, man's conscience, man's will. That's our heart as the Bible describes it. And because sin has come into our experience, our will is at variance with God. Our affections are not heavenly, they're earthly, they're sinful.
[31:45] And so on. It's as if things had been reversed completely. Our heart is out of rhythm. And what does he say? He has sent me to heal the broken hearted. They have a procedure nowadays I believe if a person's heart is out of rhythm. Electrically they stop it and restart it in rhythm so that it works better. And that's what the Lord here is talking about. He is able to give us not just a new rhythm, but a new heart. A new heart. I mentioned in the morning what the Lord says, my son give me your heart. Give me your heart. Give me your affections.
[32:40] Give me your will. Give me your conscience. Give me your whole self. It's as if he is saying, hand over to me all that's broken about you. And I am able to heal. Give you a new heart upon which mine own law will be written. And what's the voice of the new heart? What does it say? It says this, to do thy will I take delight. O thou my God at heart. The people in Nazareth synagogue that day, they heard such good news that there was one among them who was able to give them new hearts instead of their broken hearts. New lives instead of their bankrupt lives.
[33:33] And then also he goes on to say in verse 18, he has sent me to preach deliverance to the captives. Captives. Captives. What does it mean that he is delivering or setting the captives free? Who are the captives?
[33:57] Well, you know, when sin dominates our lives, we are slaves to sin. We are captured by sin.
[34:08] Sin is our master. Sin is our prison warder. And sin doesn't let us go free.
[34:20] We are captive to evil thoughts, to worldliness, to sensuality. Sins of the flesh, captive to all kinds of sin.
[34:34] And these sins will not let us go. And these sins will not let us go. Unless a strong man armed comes and break the locks on that prison house in which we find ourselves.
[34:50] And that's what the Lord Jesus says. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. I have come to preach deliverance to the captives.
[35:03] Open, he commands, and the door must yield. What an amazing thing it is to be free from the tyranny of sin.
[35:19] What an amazing thing it is to know the Lord as our Saviour. We spoke in the morning from Psalm 130. And that the Lord himself is a God who delights in mercy.
[35:35] Who is a God like unto him, forgiving iniquity and casting away all that would seek to destroy our lives.
[35:46] He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Those who have new hearts, they have a new lifestyle.
[36:03] They have new desires. They have a life that is now led and directed by the Spirit of God.
[36:14] They look unto Jesus. Who is the author and finisher of their faith. And it says here, He can heal even your broken heart.
[36:31] And then also, he says, Recovering of sight to the blind. Recovering of sight to the blind.
[36:44] Well, when going back again to Adam and Eve, They didn't realise the extent of their sin.
[36:58] They thought they could hide themselves from God among the trees of the garden. Sin had so blinded them regarding the character of God.
[37:12] That they thought they were able to hide from him. But we cannot do that. We are blind in spiritual terms.
[37:24] We cannot see our sin. We cannot see our sin. We cannot see our need. We cannot see how far we are from God as we are by nature.
[37:37] But then, when the Lord Jesus comes and opens our eyes to see ourselves for what we are.
[37:48] To see ourselves where we are. And the extent of our need as sinners before him. We realise then how far we have drifted away from him.
[38:01] Recovering of the sight of the blind. The Lord is able to give us that sight.
[38:12] And that wonderful view of himself. That so life giving. And then at last it says, To set at liberty them that are bruised.
[38:27] Them that are broken. You know, this is what Satan does. He breaks us. He breaks us and bruises us.
[38:43] In the prophecy of Isaiah. And chapter 1. It says this. Wash you.
[39:06] Make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek judgment. Receive. Relieve the oppressed.
[39:17] Judge the fatherless. And plead for the widow. And then he says, Come now. Let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.
[39:29] Though they be red like crimson. They shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword.
[39:43] For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. And he goes on to say, that from the sole of the feet, to the crown of the head, they are full of wounds and bruises, and putrefying souls.
[40:03] Bruising is a result of their sin. But there is a saviour present in the synagogue of Nazareth that day.
[40:18] And he says that he is fully qualified to deal with their brokenness, to deal with their bruising, with their blindness, with their captivity, with their broken hearts.
[40:33] And then he says that he has come to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. The time had come.
[40:44] Jesus had come. Long promised. And now present. And we see that the people were impressed with what they heard.
[41:01] He gave again the book to the minister and sat down. And all the eyes of them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say to them, this day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears.
[41:13] And all bear them witness and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, is not this Joseph's son? It's as if they were saying, well, he really impresses us with his ability.
[41:30] He's one of ourselves. And he impresses us with his ability. But they just cut him down as it were to size. Is this not Joseph's son?
[41:43] That's what they thought of him. But he's going to correct them. And then he goes on in verse 23. He said to them, You will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself, whatsoever we have, whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also hear in thy country.
[42:05] And he said, Verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. And then he goes on to say that there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elias.
[42:16] And also many lepers in the days of Elyseus the prophet. But none of them were healed in Israel.
[42:28] The Lord went outside of Israel, Sarepta and Sidon, and Naaman the Syrian. It's as if he was saying to them, You people, you really are too proud in your own estimation.
[42:51] You're sitting in judgment upon me, saying I am merely Joseph's son. In the days of Elias and Elisha, the Lord saw fit to heal people who didn't even belong to Israel.
[43:15] And he wasn't healing people in Israel itself. And then verse 28, All they in the synagogue when they had heard these things were filled with wrath and rose up and thrust him out of the city and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon the city was built that they might cast him down headlong.
[43:42] Having heard from him that he was the one who was sent by the Lord fully equipped to deal with their broken hearts and their poverty and their captivity and their blindness and their bruising and everything else.
[44:04] They said we don't want him because he's relegating us below the nations around us because in the days of Elijah and Elisha nobody in Israel were healed but these women from Sarepta and Naaman the Syrian.
[44:28] You see the whole thing touched their pride and their pride said we are the people we don't want to be classified with the poor and the broken hearted and the captives and the blind and the bruised that's not us that's not us we are the people we are better we don't need a saviour we don't need this man who claims to be the anointed of God we don't need him and it's not exactly what happens nowadays when people hear the gospel maybe sometimes they're impressed with the kind of sermon they hear but then at the end of the day they say well I really don't need that kind of gospel I'm alright the way I am until something better than that gospel comes along no no don't be like that ask the Lord to show you the brokenness of your life ask him to show you the captivity in which you are by nature in the grip of sin ask him to show you the brokenness of your heart of your will of your affections of your conscience ask him to show you the poverty that is huge as a result of your sin ask him to show you the wretchedness of your plight as a sinner before him and only then will you truly appreciate who this anointed of God is anointed to preach the gospel to the poor what an amazing reception that will receive by those who are truly poor who have nothing of themselves but their sin and their poverty those who are broken hearted because of the failings and failures of their life he alone is able to heal those who feel captivated and captured and imprisoned by various sins and lusts and worldliness surely they need the mighty arm of the loving saviour in a day of his power and when he comes to release them what a song of joy they will have in this land we have had the acceptable year of the
[47:16] Lord for so long haven't we as long as we can remember churches have been open freedom to come and go bible in a language that we know Christians around us and so on and so on well we still have that acceptable year of the Lord and ask that the Lord give you grace to accept him who is able to heal your broken heart and to bind up all the wounds of your life pouring in the oil and the wine of his comfort and his own joy the preacher the congregation the sermon and the response what response are you going to have to this message from the saviour the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor sent me to heal the broken hearted preach the deliverance to the captives recovery of sight to the blind and to set at liberty them that are bruised and to preach the acceptable year of the
[48:56] Lord ask the Lord to give you a spirit whereby you will receive and rest upon this saviour as he is freely offered to you in the gospel let us pray Lord have mercy upon our souls grant us this evening to know your hand upon us for good we pray that you would lead us more and more into your word and give us more and more to feed our souls upon the good things that you commend to us the children of Israel fed upon the manna in the wilderness and we ask for grace to feed upon that hidden manna of which your word speaks bless us now Lord and bless this congregation we pray and take us safely to our various homes and forgive our sins in Jesus name
[50:09] Amen