We are in Luke chapter 4, verses 14 to 44.
If you would please find your seats and we will begin with the reading and preaching of God's Word.
Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.
Heavenly Father, we come to worship and we come to sit and submit under the reading and preaching of your Word.
Lord, because we want to be citizens of the Kingdom of God, because we want to be oriented toward you.
Because we don't want to be too comfortable here where we are aliens.
We want to live with the priorities and purposes of the Kingdom of God.
So Lord, help us, shape us, speak to us, O Lord.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Luke chapter 4, verses 14 to 44.
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.
And a report about Him went out through all the surrounding country.
And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up.
And as was His custom, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and He stood up to read.
And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him.
He unrolled the scroll and found a place where it was written,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind.
To set at liberty those who are oppressed.
To proclaim the ear of the Lord's favor.
And He rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.
And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
And He began to say to them,
Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
And all spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from His mouth.
And they said,
Is not this Joseph's son?
And He said to them,
Doubtless, you will quote to me this proverb,
Physician, heal yourself.
What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.
And He said,
Truly I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
But in truth I tell you,
There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah.
When the heavens were shut up three years and six months,
And a great famine came over all the land.
And Elijah was sent to none of them,
But only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon,
To a woman who was a widow.
And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha.
And none of them was cleansed,
But only Naaman the Syrian.
When they heard these things,
All in the synagogue were filled with wrath.
And they rose up and drove him out of the town,
And brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built,
So that they could throw him down a cliff.
But passing through their midst,
He went away.
And he went down to Capernaum,
A city of Galilee.
And he was teaching them on the Sabbath.
And they were astonished at his teaching,
For his word possessed authority.
And in the synagogue,
There was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon.
And he cried out with a loud voice,
Ha!
What have you to do with us,
Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are,
The Holy One of God.
But Jesus rebuked him,
Saying,
Be silent,
And come out of him.
And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst,
He came out of him,
Having done him no harm.
And they were all amazed,
And said to one another,
What is this word?
For with authority and power,
He commands the unclean spirits.
And they come out.
And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
And he arose and left the synagogue,
And entered Simon's house.
Now Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever.
And they appealed to him on her behalf.
And he stood over her,
And rebuked the fever.
And it left her.
And immediately she rose,
And began to serve them.
Now when the sun was setting,
All those who had any who were sick with various diseases,
Jesus brought them to him,
And he laid his hands on every one of them,
And healed them.
And demons also came out of many,
Crying,
You are the Son of God.
But he rebuked them,
And would not allow them to speak,
Because they knew that he was the Christ.
And when it was day,
He departed and went into a desolate place,
And the people sought him and came to him,
And would have kept him from leaving them.
But he said to them,
I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God,
To the other towns as well.
For I was sent for this purpose.
And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
This is the word of the Lord.
With malice toward none,
With charity for all,
With firmness in the right,
As God gives us to see the light,
Let us strive on to finish the work we are in,
To bind up the nation's wounds,
To care for him who shall have borne the battle,
And for his widow and his orphan,
To do all which may achieve and cherish a just,
And lasting peace among ourselves,
And with all nations.
How many of you guys recognize those words?
This is the second inaugural address of Abraham Lincoln,
March 4th, 1865.
Famous words spoken on his inauguration day,
Following the Civil War,
Which remains the bloodiest war in American history to this day.
And inaugural speeches are notable
Because they kind of set the tone for the term of the president.
They lay down their agenda.
And nowadays,
A lot of people talk about the first hundred days of a president's term,
To determine whether or not he's effectively keeping the promises that he had made.
And in last week's passage,
We saw Jesus' baptism,
Which Luke in Acts 10 calls the anointing of Jesus,
With the Holy Spirit and with power.
So this shows that the baptism serves for Luke,
As the inauguration of Jesus as the Messianic King,
Because you anoint kings.
And having begun his reign,
We now see in Luke 14-34,
That Luke positions Jesus' inaugural speech,
His address,
As taking place in the synagogue in Nazareth.
And he gives us a glimpse of Jesus' first days of ministry there.
So this is the king's agenda.
This is the ruler's program.
And we can break down the passage in the following manner.
And that's the king's message,
And the king's ministry,
And the king's mission,
In the last part of chapter 4.
And the main point of this whole passage is that today,
We must choose to come under the rule of Christ the king.
That's the main point of this passage.
Now verses 14-15 introduce us to the newly anointed king,
And the initial reaction of the people.
And it says,
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee,
And a report about him went out through all the surrounding country,
And he taught in their synagogues,
Being glorified by all.
So Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit,
And led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness for a period of testing,
And now he returns from there in the power of the Spirit to Galilee,
Which is the region his parents he grew up in.
And it says that a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.
The word report here is the Greek word from which we get the English word fame.
In our celebrity culture, so many people seek fame.
Sometimes even ministers of the gospel succumb to that temptation,
Trying to build fame,
To build a social media platform,
Or to court book publishers,
Solicit speaking engagements,
And sometimes even resorting to controversial statements,
And headline grabbing gimmicks.
But these verses tell us that it's not a publicity stunt,
But the power of the Spirit that leads Jesus to the fame and glory he initially receives for his teaching.
It's not the eloquence of the preacher,
Or the perceived relevance of the preacher,
But the preaching of the word of God,
In the power of the Spirit of God,
That counts.
And that's what Jesus does.
And after the Babylonian captivity,
And the destruction of the temple,
The worship of the Jews had dispersed out of the temple,
Because it was destroyed,
To the synagogues,
Which became the new focal point of Jewish worship.
And it was customary for the men,
And the leaders of the local Jewish communities,
To read a passage of scripture,
And then to teach in their weekly gatherings.
And so Jesus apparently partook in this regularly,
And he was initially very well received.
It says that he was being glorified by all.
And verses 16 to 20,
Give us an example of one of Jesus' sermons.
Which Luke places here,
As Jesus' first address,
As the anointed king.
And these verses are structured chiastically,
Meaning that they have a mirroring structure,
That funnels kind of the attention to the center,
Center of the narrative,
The passage.
So modern writers put what they think is the most important,
What they want to emphasize in the end.
Ancient writers put what they wanted to emphasize in the middle,
And they had kind of mirroring elements,
That pointed to that middle.
So to show you,
In verse 16,
It mentions the synagogue,
And the synagogue is mentioned again in verse 20.
Verse 16 says that Jesus stood up to read,
And in verse 20,
Jesus sat down.
Verse 17 says that the scroll was given to Jesus,
And that he unrolled the scroll,
And in verse 20 says that Jesus rolled up the scroll,
And gave it back to the attendant.
And so this kind of structure,
Chiastic structure,
Focuses all the attention on the scripture,
That Jesus cites from Isaiah,
In verses 18 to 19.
And these verses are a combination of quotations,
From Isaiah 61,
1 to 2,
And Isaiah 42,
Verse 7,
And Isaiah 58,
Verse 6.
And it's not uncommon,
Throughout scripture,
To find different passages of scripture,
Kind of string together,
Spiced together this way.
One of the best interpretive principles,
When we're reading scripture on our own,
Is to let scripture interpret scripture.
Because scripture is a unified,
Single book,
With the divine inspiration,
And because it's all interconnected,
You can use the less,
You can use the more clear parts in scripture,
To illuminate the less clear parts.
And often there are connections,
That if you use the cross references in your Bibles,
It often leads to very helpful,
And insightful details.
And so,
So that's what's happening here,
Jesus is using these passages together,
And they all point to,
They're all prophetic passages,
Dealing with the coming of the messianic king.
So this is what the messianic king is all about.
This is Jesus' program,
His agenda.
And this citation is also structured chiastically.
So to proclaim good news to the poor,
In verse 18,
Matches to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
In verse 19,
And to proclaim liberty to the captives,
Matches to set at liberty those who are oppressed.
So these are all images of deliverance,
That parallel the description of the Jubilee year.
In Leviticus 25,
8 to 17,
God commanded that His people observe,
What's called the Jubilee year.
It was called the year of the Lord's favor.
On the 50th year,
Which is the year after seven cycles of seven years,
It was that they were supposed to celebrate Jubilee,
By canceling all the debts that were owed,
All financial debts,
And they were supposed to free to all the slaves that they had.
And this was the year when everyone,
Every slave would be redeemed,
And every debtor would be forgiven.
And messianic king is the one who proclaims the good news of Jubilee,
Of liberation of slaves and forgiveness of debtors.
So this message obviously has social implications.
But we must be careful not to reduce the message of King Jesus
To a mere social gospel.
Because Jesus was not,
As some of the revisionist historians like to claim,
A political or socialistic revolutionary.
Jesus never attempted to stage a political revolution,
To topple the Roman Empire,
Nor did He ever seek a socialistic revolution,
In which the proletariat class would overthrow the bourgeoisie.
Instead, He sought to create a counter-cultural community,
A contrast community of transformed disciples,
Who would live under the rule of Christ the King,
And who would embody the kingdom's principles.
And we know this because Luke uses these images as metaphors,
Of spiritual forgiveness and liberation,
Throughout the gospel of Luke,
And in the book of Acts.
The primary debt,
From which we need forgiveness,
In Luke is not financial debt,
But spiritual debt.
So it says,
In Luke 11,
4,
This is the Lord's prayer,
Look,
Forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves forgive everyone,
Who is indebted to us.
The primary loan forgiveness,
In view in the gospel of Luke,
Is the forgiveness of our debt of sin.
And the primary liberation in view,
In the gospel of Luke,
Is also our liberation from slavery to sin.
And let this be a reminder to all of us,
That your biggest problem right now in your life,
Is not that you don't have enough money,
It's not that,
It's that you have a debt of sin,
That you can never hope to repay.
Your biggest problem in this world,
Is not the oppressive,
Unjust world,
World,
That holds you captive,
And keeps you back,
But it's your slavery to sin,
That is the biggest problem.
And Christ the King offers good news,
That he brings forgiveness,
That he brings freedom,
If only you would humble yourself before him,
By repenting of your sins,
And believing in him for salvation.
So when verse 18 says,
That Jesus was anointed,
And sent by the Holy Spirit,
To proclaim good news,
To the poor,
It does not mean,
That God's salvation,
Is only for those,
Who are economically poor,
Because if that's the case,
Half of us would not be saved,
The gospel of Luke,
Does have a special concern,
For the poor,
But the poor here,
Is a generalization,
A category for all those,
Who are of humble estate,
As Luke 1.52 talked about,
And those who have humbled themselves,
Before God,
And therefore are open,
To receiving the grace of God,
And that's why later,
In Luke chapter 6,
20 to 26,
In the Beatitudes,
Jesus says,
Blessed are you,
Who are poor,
For yours is kingdom,
Of God.
The poor,
In this passage,
In Luke chapter 6,
Are compared to the prophets of God,
Who are rejected by the world,
And then the rich,
Are compared to the false prophets,
Who are acclaimed by the world.
And that's why,
The parallel verse,
In Matthew 5.3,
Explains it a little bit further,
It says,
Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom,
Of heaven.
And that's why,
Even the rich tax collector,
Zacchaeus,
In Luke 19,
Can get saved,
Because even though he is rich,
He is poor in spirit.
With all of that said,
Generally speaking,
It's still true,
That most of those,
Who respond,
To Jesus' message,
Are those who are poor.
The economically poor,
Are often,
Though not always,
The spiritually poor.
And that's why,
Jesus says in Luke 18,
24-25,
How difficult,
It is for those,
Who have wealth,
To enter the kingdom of God.
For it is easier,
For a camel to go through,
The eye of a needle,
Than for a rich person,
To enter the kingdom of God.
The rich are often,
Too proud,
And self-sufficient,
To humble themselves,
Before God.
So Paul speaks of this reality,
In 1 Corinthians 1,
26-29,
For consider your calling,
Brothers,
Not many of you were wise,
According to worldly standards,
Not many were powerful,
Not many were of noble birth,
But God chose,
What is foolish in the world,
To shame the wise,
God chose,
What is weak in the world,
To shame the strong,
God chose,
What is low,
And despised in the world,
Even things that are not,
To bring to nothing,
Things that are,
So that no human being,
Might boast,
In the presence of God,
This is God's,
Salvation planned,
That those who claim,
To be wise,
And reject the word of God,
Would not be saved,
That those who profess,
Their ignorance,
And submit to God's wisdom,
That they alone,
Would be saved,
That those who claim,
To be rich,
And noble,
And powerful,
And claim that they don't need God,
Would not be saved,
But only those who humble themselves,
And acknowledge their weakness,
And desperate need for God,
Will be saved,
That's the way,
In which God has chosen to save,
So that only he would receive the glory,
And that's why it's said,
That Jesus proclaims,
Good news to the poor,
It's those who have humbled themselves,
Under the rule of Christ the king,
That who humbly serve others,
So have you,
Humbled yourself before the king,
If as Christians,
We find ourselves,
Gravitating toward,
And associating only,
With the powerful,
And the rich,
Then we should let this,
Inaugural address,
Remind us,
That the gospel of Jesus Christ,
Is good news to the poor,
We still haven't addressed,
The central,
And therefore the most emphasized,
Element of the chiasm,
And that's verse 18,
The recovering of sight,
To the blind,
It's the one element,
In that whole structure,
That doesn't have a matching element,
It's right at the center,
It's what our attention,
Our eyes are directed toward,
And Jesus literally,
Opens the eyes of the blind,
Throughout the gospel of Luke,
A couple occasions,
But there's also an important motif,
Of spiritual blindness,
Speaking of his disciples,
Need for his teaching,
In Luke chapter 6,
Verse 39,
Jesus uses a parable of blindness,
He says,
Can a blind man,
Lead a blind man,
Will they not both,
Fall into a pit,
And then he continues,
In verse 40,
That a disciple,
Is not above his teacher,
But everyone,
When he is fully trained,
Will be like his teacher,
So that's,
Jesus is saying,
That they need him,
His discipleship,
As one who sees,
To show the blind,
And to see,
As he does,
And in chapter 8,
Verse 10,
Jesus mentions,
Those who are seeing,
Yet do not see,
So it's in front of spiritual blindness,
They have eyes to see,
But they don't see,
The spiritual realities,
And this theme of Jesus,
Leading his blind disciples,
To see as he does,
Is fulfilled in Luke 24,
Where two of Jesus' disciples,
Are on the road to Emmaus,
And the resurrected Jesus,
Joins them on their journey,
And but it says,
In chapter 24,
Verse 16,
That,
But their eyes were kept,
From recognizing him,
And it's only after,
Jesus interprets to them,
All the scriptures,
That spoke about him,
And pointed to him,
And it's only after,
He blesses and breaks bread,
With them,
This is essentially,
The first worship service,
Presided over by,
The very resurrected Lord,
It's only afterward,
It says that,
Their eyes were opened,
And they recognized him,
That's the goal,
Of discipleship,
In the gospel of Luke,
The end of discipleship,
Is that the people's eyes,
May be opened,
To see Jesus,
As he truly is,
To recognize who he is,
It was a typical,
In Jewish synagogues,
For someone to come,
Speaker to come,
And to read,
The scripture,
Standing up,
And then after reading,
The scripture,
He would sit back down,
To give the instruction,
The exposition,
Of the sermon,
The sermon,
Really,
Of the passage,
And then it's because of that,
After Jesus,
Bees and then,
Gives the scroll back,
And sits down,
He says in verse 20,
The eyes of all,
In the synagogue,
Were fixed on him,
They were waiting,
For him to speak,
With rapt attention,
And Luke,
Summarizes,
Jesus' sermon,
From that day,
Into a single sentence,
In verse 21,
Jesus,
Jesus began,
To say to them,
Today,
The scripture,
Has been fulfilled,
In your hearing,
The word today,
Is a significant,
Theological word,
In Luke's gospel,
Because he uses it,
Repeatedly,
To highlight the fact,
That the window,
Of opportunity,
The hour of salvation,
Is now,
This very moment,
James 4,
14,
Tells us,
Yet you do not know,
What tomorrow will bring,
What is your life,
For you are a mist,
That appears,
For a little time,
And then vanishes,
The day of scripture's,
Fulfillment,
To the day of salvation,
Is today,
Not tomorrow,
Which you may,
Or may not have,
If you are not yet,
A follower of Jesus Christ,
I urge you to consider,
His invitation,
To respond today,
That hour of salvation,
That window opportunity,
Is not to be postponed,
It's today,
The Lord saves,
And verse 22,
Tells us that,
All spoke well of him,
And marveled,
At the gracious words,
That were coming from his mouth,
Seems,
At this point,
They didn't quite grasp,
The grasp of everything,
That he was saying,
But they're starting,
To get a little clue,
Because their amazement,
Turns into skepticism,
Which,
As it often does,
And the murmur,
Among themselves,
Is this not,
Joseph's son,
Familiarity,
Breeds content,
Right,
Jesus,
Has just made,
A grand,
Audacious claim,
For himself,
And people begin,
To question,
His parentage,
Now,
Notice that,
Over the last,
Couple of chapters,
The identity of Jesus,
As the son of God,
The messianic king,
Has been,
The central issue,
The main issue at hand,
And as baptism,
God the father,
Declared,
That Jesus is,
His beloved son,
And Jesus,
Genealogy,
Following that,
Declared,
That he is the son of God,
And the devil,
Tempted Jesus,
By saying,
If you are the son of God,
Do such and such,
So the question,
Of his identity,
Comes to the fore again,
And the people are asking,
Is not this,
Joseph's son,
Whose son is he?
We know,
Who that is,
Joseph,
He's a nice guy,
Sure,
But he followed the Messiah,
The son of God,
He followed the king,
Legally,
Yes,
It's true that Joseph is,
Jesus' adoptive father,
But the deeper reality,
That the people do not yet grasp,
Is that Jesus is the son of God,
And so seeing the skepticism of the people,
Jesus anticipates their objection,
And he says in verse 23,
Doubtless,
You will quote to me,
The saying,
The proverb,
Physician,
Heal yourself,
What we have heard you did at Capernaum,
Do here in your hometown as well,
Jesus is anticipating that the people will ask him to perform signs,
To prove himself,
Prior to this,
Jesus was ministering in Capernaum,
And he performed miraculous signs there,
And the people of his hometown are basically saying to him,
Hey,
Show us the stuff,
I mean,
Prove to us,
That you are who you say,
You are,
A person selling a cure for baldness,
Cannot himself have a receding hairline,
Right?
So it says,
That's essentially what's going,
What the proverb is,
Hey,
Physician,
Heal yourself,
If you're so good at healing other people's sicknesses,
You should not be sick yourself,
Show me that you can do this,
If you are who you say you are,
And verses 24 to 27,
It says,
Jesus issues a stinging rebuke to them,
Truly I say to you,
No prophet is acceptable in his hometown,
But in truth I tell you,
There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah,
When the heavens were shut up,
Three years and six months,
And a great famine came over all the land,
And Elijah was sent to none of them,
But only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon,
To a woman was a widow,
And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha,
And none of them was cleansed,
But only Naaman the Syrian,
In verse 19,
Jesus declared that he proclaimed the ear of the Lord's favor,
Another way to translate that is to say,
It's the ear,
The acceptable ear of the Lord,
And that same word acceptable is used in verse 27,
When Jesus says,
No prophet is acceptable in his hometown,
So ironically,
Even though Jesus has come as the Messiah,
And as the king who declares the acceptable ear of the Lord,
His people,
The very ones he came to save,
Find him unacceptable,
And so Jesus,
Alludes to 1 Kings 17 and 18,
In the time of the prophet Elijah,
And Elijah,
When God worked miracles,
On behalf of humble and believing foreigners,
Instead of for the proud and unbelieving Jews,
So this is a stern warning,
Warning that Jesus is issuing,
He's saying,
Salvation has come from the Jews,
Jesus is Jewish,
But if you stubbornly refuse to believe,
It will not come to the Jews,
But only to the Gentiles,
This is an early hint of the fact,
That Jesus comes to save,
Not only the Jews,
But all peoples,
All nations,
Good news to the poor,
And the people in the synagogue,
Understand this point,
Exceptionally well,
And they say in verse 28,
That they were filled with wrath,
And look at how fickle these people are,
They go from glorifying Jesus,
To speaking well,
And speaking well of him,
And to wanting to kill him on the same day,
I don't know why,
Knowing that this is the nature of humanity,
That we ever hang on people's words of approval,
Like it defines us,
Right?
This is what man is,
They try to lynch Jesus,
By throwing him off the cliff,
But Jesus escapes through their midst,
And went away,
The king's message,
This is the king's message,
And it confronts us with the choice,
You can either reject him as your king,
Or submit to him as your king,
There is no neutral middle ground,
The people of Jesus' hometown,
Make the wrong choice,
So verse 31 tells us,
Jesus went down to Capernaum,
A city of Galilee,
A different city,
In the same region of Galilee,
And we saw in Nazareth,
An example of the king's message,
And here in Capernaum,
We see an example of the king's ministry,
As Jesus did in Nazareth,
He teaches people on a weekly basis,
On a Sabbath,
And verse 32 tells us,
That the people here too,
Were astonished at his teaching,
For his word,
Possessed authority,
Throughout the Gospel of Luke,
Jesus is seen as the one,
Who declares the word of God,
So in his sequel,
The book of Acts,
Luke traces the growth,
And spread of the word of God,
He talks about the word of God,
As if it had its own agency,
He says the word of God,
Continued to increase,
He says the word of God,
Multiplied,
So the mention of Jesus' word,
Here tells us that,
Jesus is one who is speaking,
From God,
And for God,
His word is not empty,
But it comes with authority,
And that's what the people,
Found impressive about Jesus' teaching,
But how did the people know,
That his word,
Possessed authority,
It's not referring to the fact,
That he just speaks forcefully,
Or eloquently,
It's referring to spiritual authority,
And power,
So verses 33 to 37,
Give us an example,
Of that authority,
It says in verse 33,
And in the synagogue,
There was a man,
Who had the spirit,
Of an unclean demon,
The fact that this demon,
Is unclean,
Suggests that something about it,
Is spiritually defiling,
Right,
In the Old Testament,
Especially the book of Leviticus,
There are meticulously detailed instructions,
Of distinguishing things that are clean,
And things that are unclean,
So the general principle,
Seems to be,
In the book,
That what is clean,
Reflects the wholeness,
And order of God's creation,
And what is unclean,
Reflects some kind of deficiency,
Or deviation,
From God's wholeness,
And order in creation,
So to give you an example,
Animals that conform,
To their own kinds,
Are considered clean,
And fit for human consumption,
But animals that confuse,
Their kinds,
For example,
Fish that don't have scales,
And fins,
Or flying insects,
That have many legs,
And are considered unclean,
A person who has clean skin,
As well as a person,
Whose entire skin,
Has been affected,
By some kind of color,
Discoloration,
Are considered clean,
But a person,
Who is partially covered,
With skin disease,
Is deemed unclean,
Because that person,
Represents a deviation,
From the wholeness,
And order of God's creation,
That whole system,
Is intended to point to the fact,
That there is such a thing,
As a creative order,
That there is such a thing,
As wholeness,
And that something,
Is amiss in the world,
And that eventually,
God's sending his son,
To make everything right again,
To restore that order,
Now,
That's,
The fact that this spirit,
Is unclean,
Shows that this demon,
This spirit,
Is not in sync,
With the natural order,
That God instituted,
In creation,
It's a spirit,
That is not in proper relationship,
Of servitude,
Before God,
It's a rebellious spirit,
It's an evil spirit,
Now,
Even though,
The Nazarene Jews,
Did not recognize,
Jesus' true identity,
The demon,
Knows immediately,
Who Jesus is,
And sounds his alarm,
In verse 34,
Ha,
What have you,
To do with us,
Jesus of Nazareth,
Have you come,
To destroy us,
I know,
Who you are,
The holy one of God,
He's saying,
We have nothing,
To do with each other,
Jesus,
We're unclean,
You're the holy one,
Why interfere,
Let me be,
And this demon,
Is nervous,
And defensive,
Here,
And it's interesting,
That the demon,
Even though it's one demon,
Uses the plural pronoun,
Us,
Twice,
He's like,
A golem,
In the Lord of the Rings,
Right?
I think the demon here,
Is speaking,
For himself,
But,
But also for the man,
That he has possessed,
He's speaking like,
He owns the man,
He's saying,
If you want to get to him,
You will have to get through me,
If you want to destroy me,
You'll have to destroy him,
So here's an instance,
Of conflict,
Between the rightful king,
The coming king,
Who has the holy spirit,
And this rebellious,
Unclean spirit,
And Jesus responds,
Decisively,
In verse 35,
But Jesus rebuked him,
Saying,
Be silent,
And come out of him,
And when the demon,
Had thrown him down,
In their midst,
He came out of him,
Having done him no harm,
And they were all amazed,
And said to one another,
What is this word?
For with authority and power,
He commands the unclean spirits,
And they come out,
And reports about him,
Went out into every place,
In the surrounding region,
The word rebuke,
It could be used more generally,
Just to refer to anyone,
Rebuking another person,
But especially,
In this kind of text,
In Jewish context,
The word rebuke,
Is the technical term,
That you use,
To refer to the subjugation,
Of evil spirits,
To subdue an evil spirit,
And by his word,
Here Jesus subdues,
The evil spirit,
He silences him,
And expels him,
And Jesus silences him,
Most likely,
Because he doesn't want,
The demon to reveal,
Jesus' true identity,
This is confirmed,
By verses 41 to 42,
We just skip ahead,
For a second,
And read 41 and 42,
With me verses,
It says,
And demons also came out,
Of many,
Crying,
You are the son of God,
But he rebuked them,
And would not allow them,
To speak,
Because they knew,
That he was the Christ,
So people,
Need to believe in Jesus,
On his terms,
On the testimony,
Of his word,
And it's not time yet,
For Jesus,
To go to the cross,
To die for the sins,
Of his people,
So the demon's testimony,
Regarding him,
Is premature,
And inappropriate,
In this way,
Jesus,
Separates the unholy union,
Between the man,
And the unclean demon,
And he accomplishes,
The feat of not only,
Exercising the demon,
But also protecting the man,
So that he is left,
With no harm,
This amazes the people,
And they talk about,
Once again,
Not just the miracle,
But they focus on,
The word,
What is this word,
His teaching,
That is accompanied,
By such authority,
And power,
I don't know,
If this is new,
For a lot of you,
Some people,
Obviously in our culture,
Are skeptical,
About these kinds of stories,
Because our culture,
Is very materialistic,
And naturalistic,
And if there's no,
Naturalistic explanations,
Or material positive,
We assume that,
It cannot exist,
Right?
But I think,
That's a logical fallacy,
Right?
It's almost like,
A drunk person,
Someone,
Used this illustration,
I think it was,
Planting,
Alvin Planting,
A boss,
Right over there,
And he says,
It's like a drunk person,
That goes,
That's looking for,
A tea that he dropped,
On the street,
And then he only,
Looks under the lamp,
And he said,
Why are you looking,
Only under the lamp,
It could be anywhere,
He said,
Well,
Because that's where,
The light is,
It's gotta be here,
Right?
I mean,
That's kind of what,
The drunk person,
That's kind of what we do,
When we assume that,
Just because there are no,
Naturalistic explanations,
For things,
That no real explanations,
No such phenomenon,
Must exist,
C.S. Lewis,
Warns us,
In his preface,
To the screw tape letters,
There are two equal,
And opposite errors,
Into which our race,
Can fall about the devils,
One is to disbelieve,
In their existence,
The other is to believe,
And to feel,
An excessive,
An unhealthy interest in them,
The eight of souls,
Are equally pleased,
By both errors,
And hail a materialist,
Or a magician,
With the same delight,
Demonic power,
May be less apparent here,
But it's as real,
In the atheistic west,
As it is in the animistic east,
A materialistic dismissal,
Of the demonic,
Is not a sign of maturity,
And nor is,
A superstitious fascination,
With the demonic,
A sign of spiritual maturity,
Because whether we know it,
Or not,
All of humanity,
Ephesians 2,
Tells us,
That all of humanity,
Apart from Christ,
Are under the authority,
In living under the prince,
Of the power of the air,
As reference to the devil,
The devil is real,
And demons are real,
And we will see more,
And more of,
Their manifestations,
In our society,
As well,
As we become,
Increasingly pluralistic,
And people,
Experiment more and more,
With false religions,
And the occult,
Even among,
Our church members,
We have people,
Who have personally experienced,
Demonic oppression,
And,
And we have people,
Who have witnessed,
Themselves,
Exorcisms,
In fact,
Surveys among,
Christian missionaries,
Serving in areas,
Where there's not,
A big gospel presence,
Still,
Reveal that,
One of the primary ways,
In which people,
Come to believe,
In the word of Christ,
Is through,
This kind of powerful encounter,
When demons are exercised,
So if you,
If you are a believer,
This passage teaches,
That you should never fear,
Because the point of this example,
Is not the power of demons,
But it's the power of Christ,
Because with a word,
Christ rebukes,
And silences,
And expels the demon,
And as Christians,
Who have been united,
With Christ by faith,
As Christians,
Who have been possessed,
By the Holy Spirit,
We have the same authority,
That Jesus here,
Wields,
Against the forces of evil,
You can,
Rebuke,
Evil spirits,
And you can,
Silence them,
And cast them out,
With the word of Christ,
This is a liberating message,
For those who live,
Under demonic oppression,
If you visit,
A lot of the,
Animistic countries,
Where the gospel of Jesus,
Is not widely known,
The vast majority,
Of the people,
In those countries,
Live in fear,
In every store,
You go to,
Every,
Nearly every house,
There's an altar,
To a spirit,
Or an idol of some kind,
Because people believe,
That they must,
Appease them,
These false gods,
And demons,
In order to,
Get blessing,
Or find success,
Many people,
Are extremely devoted,
To these false gods,
Because,
Not because they want,
To serve them,
Not because they love them,
But because they fear,
The consequence,
Of missing a visit,
Missing a prayer,
Missing a sacrifice,
And even in atheistic cultures,
Like ours,
Secular cultures,
That disbelief spirits,
The devil and his demons,
Stretch out their tyrannical rule,
Leading people into sin,
And idolatry,
But Christ,
The king,
Has come,
To establish his kingdom,
That's the good news,
Of this passage,
And if you come under his rule,
You are no longer subject,
To the powers,
Of these evil spirits,
Because Christians,
Are under a new regime,
We have a new government,
We have a new king,
And this king,
Is full of grace,
And truth,
That's the good news,
That's proclaimed here,
And this king reigns,
With justice,
And righteousness,
And we love to serve him,
And worship him,
That's the good news,
That we get to share,
With the people around us,
Not only does Jesus,
Have authority over demons,
He also has authority,
Over diseases,
Verses 38 to 40,
Tell us afterward,
Read with me,
Jesus arose,
And left the synagogue,
And entered Simon's house,
The Simon Peter,
Now Simon's mother-in-law,
Was ill with a high fever,
And they appealed to him,
On our behalf,
And he stood over her,
And rebuked the fever,
And it left her,
And immediately she rose,
And began to serve them,
Now when the sun was setting,
All those who had,
Any who were sick,
With various diseases,
Brought them to him,
And he laid his hands,
On every one of them,
And healed them,
This is before the discovery,
Of antibiotics,
So a high fever,
Which could indicate,
An infection of some kind,
Would have often been fatal,
And the people,
Appealed to Jesus for help,
And Jesus interestingly,
Rebukes the fever,
It could suggest,
Some kind of demonic origin,
For this,
And an attempt,
To disrupt Jesus' ministry,
But I think here,
At the very least,
It's a personification,
Of the fever,
To showcase Jesus' power,
The extent of his power,
Because,
It's kind of like,
It's a disease,
Right?
It's an inanimate thing,
But it doesn't have,
It can't listen to you,
It can't hear you,
It doesn't respond,
To your calls,
But Jesus commands,
He rebukes the disease,
Like,
Like a well-trained,
Police dog,
Right?
That says,
You sit,
It sits,
And it goes,
Roll around,
It rolls around,
Bark,
It barks,
He commands diseases,
That's the extent,
Of his power,
Whatever disease,
You can think of,
The most,
The incurable diseases,
The terminal diseases,
Before the Lord of creation,
Before Christ,
The King,
Messiah,
He,
All he needs to do,
Speak,
And he will heal,
And be sure to notice,
The graciousness of our King,
How tenderly,
He ministers to,
The people,
Look at verse 40,
One more time with me,
Now when the sun was setting,
All those who had any,
Who were sick,
With various diseases,
Brought them to him,
And he laid his hands,
On every one of them,
And healed them,
A lot has happened already,
In one day,
In Capernaum,
Right?
The exorcism,
The healing of the mother-in-law,
Peter's mother-in-law,
And now the sun was setting,
It's the end of the day,
Everybody's tired,
Yet Jesus continues,
His ministry into the night,
Healing every one,
Of the sick people,
That were brought to him,
Every one,
And Jesus,
Attends individually,
To each person,
And lays his hands,
On them,
Jesus didn't need to do that,
We know from Luke chapter 7,
That he can heal,
Simply by saying a word,
But instead,
Intentionally,
He takes every single one,
That comes through those doors,
And lays his hands,
On them personally,
And heals them,
Why?
Because that's his way,
Of caring for them,
Isaiah 43,
This applies to all of God's people,
If you belong to Jesus Christ,
You have been chosen,
From before the foundation of the world,
And you are not,
An anonymous blob,
Among the masses,
Jesus knows you,
Christ,
Our king,
Knows you personally,
He knows your ins and outs,
It says in Luke 12,
7,
That even the hairs of your head,
Are numbered,
God cares for you,
And in your weakness,
In your sufferings,
In your failures,
He is with you,
To lay his hands on you,
To comfort you,
And guide you,
And that's the kind of king,
We serve,
Not at aloof,
High handed king,
But a gracious,
Compassionate king,
A king,
Who has all authority,
And power,
So you never need to fear,
Coming under,
The dominion of anyone else,
That's,
The king,
That's the king's ministry,
And finally,
And briefly,
Verse 42 to 44,
To see the king's mission,
It says,
And when it was day,
He departed,
And went into a desolate place,
And the people sought him,
And came to him,
And would have kept him,
From leaving them,
But he said to them,
I must preach the good news,
Of the kingdom of God,
To the other towns as well,
For I was sent,
For this purpose,
And he was preaching,
In the synagogues of Judea,
In the next chapter,
In Luke 5,
16,
We're told that it was,
Jesus' habit to withdraw,
To desolate places,
To pray,
So it's,
I don't think,
A stretch to assume,
That here he withdraws,
To a desolate place,
To pray,
The kind of,
This kind of regular withdrawal,
And alignment,
With God the father,
Is what helps Jesus,
To stay focused,
On his mission,
And Jesus recognizes,
That he's not,
A king of Galilee,
He is the king,
Of the cosmos,
The king of all nations,
And so he must not,
Be detained in Capernaum,
He must go to other towns,
To preach the gospel as well,
The good news,
That's his purpose,
So we've come back,
Full circle from the way,
This passage began,
Because it began,
With the preaching,
Of the good news,
The proclaiming of the good news,
Of forgiveness,
And redemption,
That Jesus is all about,
But there's something,
Important that had been,
Left out in the earlier,
Quotation from Isaiah,
61,
1 to 2,
Jesus concluded,
His citation with the clause,
To proclaim the ear,
Of the Lord's favor,
But in the original text,
In Isaiah,
The rest of the verse,
Continues like this,
And the day,
Of vengeance,
Of our God,
The Messiah,
Is not only supposed,
To proclaim the ear,
Of the Lord's favor,
He's also supposed,
To bring the day,
Of vengeance,
Judgment for the wicked,
But Luke,
Intentionally,
I think,
Leaves that out,
To serve a theological purpose,
Because we see,
Throughout the gospel of Luke,
That the judgment,
That God brings,
Is not yet,
Fulfilled,
The time,
The time of judgment,
And the vengeance of God,
In the first coming,
Of Jesus,
Jesus proclaimed,
The year of jubilee,
But the day of vengeance,
Will be fulfilled,
In Jesus' second coming,
Today,
The good news,
Of liberation,
Is fulfilled,
But the good news,
Of divine vengeance,
On the wicked,
Is not yet,
Consummated,
It's begun,
It has not been fulfilled,
Romans 5,
10,
Says that we were all,
Once enemies of God,
And by sinning against Him,
We have committed,
Acts of treason,
And this king,
Jesus,
Has come to establish,
His kingdom,
And bring the rebels,
Into subjection,
And to use it,
An analogy,
In his first coming,
This king comes,
With the terms of surrender,
This is a costly offer,
Of surrender,
Because in order to reconcile,
The enemies of God,
To him,
So Jesus must pay,
The penalty for their treason,
Himself,
And that's exactly,
What Jesus does,
We're treacherous people,
Who have no business,
Even approaching the gates,
Of the kingdom of God,
Lest we be killed,
On sight,
That's who we are,
And yet the king comes,
And offers,
Terms of,
Terms of surrender,
And he says to us,
If you surrender,
If you renounce,
Your own lordship,
If you renounce,
If you stop,
Living for yourself,
And if you pledge allegiance,
To me as your king,
I will pay the price,
I will die,
That's what Jesus does,
He dies on the cross,
For the sins of his people,
He's raised from the dead,
Victoriously,
And he promised,
After he ascended to heaven,
He will return,
A second time,
And when he returns,
There will be no terms of truth,
There is no terms of surrender,
In the second time,
He will come in vengeance,
To bring all,
Those who refuse him,
Into subjection,
And we are a people,
Who live between those two times,
Between those two worlds,
Which is why,
There are seemingly contradictions,
In our lives,
God's kingdom is here,
Yet we experience,
Illness and sickness,
God still heals today,
Yet,
He doesn't heal everyone,
Christ has authority,
And we have his authority,
In our lives,
Yet we still experience,
Suffering and persecution,
Because we live between,
Those two times,
And because this world,
Is still occupied,
And under the influence,
Of evil,
But our king is coming,
And when he comes,
Those who have aligned themselves to him,
And have pledged their allegiance to him,
And have remained faithful to him,
Through all,
The sufferings of life,
Will be vindicated,
And they will experience victory,
And all those who have refused,
To yield,
To this gracious king,
Will be defeated,
Subjected,
So that's the choice,
Today,
We must choose to come,
Under the rule of Christ,
The king,
Please,
Close your eyes,