Let's sing. At mercy's seat is
Christ Himself. Alright, go back to Luke chapter
4 with me. Luke chapter 4. The Lord Jesus Christ is in his
30th year here, and in verse 16, It says, As his custom was,
he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up
for to read. It was custom that when a young
man reached manhood, thirty years of age, that he was to stand
and read God's Word in his hometown. That's what our Lord did. He
stood to read, and verse 17 says, "...there was delivered unto
him, they gave him the book of the prophet Isaiah." And when
he had opened the book, he turned to chapter 61. He certainly did not need to
read from the book, did he? He wrote it. Nevertheless, that
they might know, he is reading from God's word. He opened the
place where it was written and began to read. Let's read it. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, 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 captive, and recovering
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. I'm sorry, verse 21, And he began
to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your
ear. And they bare witness and wondered
at the gracious words proceeded out of his mouth. It is not this
Joseph's son. We know him. This is Joseph's
boy. Our Lord said, This day, after
he read that, after he read Isaiah 61. That's the way Isaiah begins
chapter 61. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
them. He said, after reading that,
this day, that day, after he read that, is this Scripture
fulfilled. This Scripture, all that was
said, is completely fulfilled today, Christ said. It has come
to pass. Not before. It never had before.
That scripture had not been fulfilled before, nor since. Isaiah did not say that of himself. Isaiah did not say that of himself. As Peter said, holy men spake
as they were moved of the Holy Spirit. He did not say that of
himself any more than he wrote Isaiah 53 of himself. But he
was speaking of the Christ. Isaiah didn't say it of himself,
but when Christ read it, he was speaking of himself. When Christ
read that, he said, today this is fulfilled. This has come true. And no man can say this of himself
since Christ. There's only one who could say
that, that this scripture is fulfilled in me." He said, look
at it again, verse 18, the Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit
of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
and so on. The Spirit of the Lord. Now,
there's much talk today about the Holy Spirit, isn't there? Men and even women like to talk
about the Holy Spirit anointing. This is the most popular and
one of the most widely used sayings today. And men and women use
it kind of like they would to advertise a product that we have
here. We have anointed preaching and
anointed services and so forth. Like you'd say this is USDA approved
or something. So very many claim to have the
Holy Spirit anointing. Based upon this scripture, there's
only one who has this true Holy Spirit anointing. The word, the
name Christ means the anointed one. There's only one. Anyone who takes this claim to
himself is anti-Christ, sharing his glory. It's necessary that
I say that, isn't it? No one else is. All others who say that, turn
with me to John chapter 1. I hope you have your Bible with
me, with you. Turn with me to John chapter
1. Now, our Lord said of John the
Baptist that he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost from his
mother's womb. You've read that, right? Now, although John was a Spirit-filled
man, and the Spirit of God dwells in all of God's people, any man,
Romans 8 says, has not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of it. And though John was a spirit-filled
man, John never, ever stood up before a crowd of people and
said, I have the Holy Spirit. Never. He wouldn't dream of saying
such a thing. He never said, I am anointed.
My preaching is anointed, like you hear these fools say today. Look at what John said. Now,
this is a true preacher sent by God. This is a man who is
filled with the Spirit. Christ said so. Look at what
he said. John 1, verse 19. This is the record of John. When
the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who
art thou? If John had been a modern preacher,
he would have extolled his virtues, wouldn't he? He would have told
them all about himself. He would have said why Jesus
himself said there was no greater than me born of woman. But John is not a modern preacher. John is a true preacher. And
John said, verse 20, he confessed and denied not, but confessed
very clearly, I am not the Christ, the anointed one. Well, they kept asking him, who
are you? Are you Elias, Elijah? He said, I am not. Now, do you
know who the Lord said he was? The Lord Jesus Christ said he
was. Remember that? The Lord said,
if you'll receive it, he said, this is Elias who was to come.
Prophesied in Malachi that Elijah was going to come before that
great day of the Lord. And he said, this is he. But
John, when they asked him, He said, I'm not Elijah. I'm certainly
not the Christ. Well, tell us your credentials.
Are thou that prophet? He said, no. Well, they said,
well, who are you? Verse 22, that we may give an
answer to them that sent us. Tell us who you are, John. You
draw a bigger crowd. Give us your credentials. He
said, I'm the voice. I'm a voice. He wouldn't even
say his own name. He wouldn't speak his name. And just like the John who the
Lord used to write this, John the beloved disciple, John wouldn't
use his name. In reference to himself throughout
the gospel, he says, the disciple whom the Lord loved. He didn't
think his name was worth mentioning. Now that's a God-sent man. It was George Whitefield. preaching
in this country years ago. And though he had a great hearing,
yet he said, he said, let the name of George Whitefield perish
from the earth. He said, but the name of Jesus
Christ be exalted and extolled. Now, there's a God sent man. A few and far between dead. But the Lord said, when the Lord
himself, as a man, stood upon this earth. Go back to the text. When the Lord was reading this, he said, This
day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. He hath anointed
me. I am the anointed one. The spirit of God is upon me. The scripture says he had the
spirit without measure, without measure. John, you remember,
in John chapter 1, where John was baptizing, and the Lord came
to be baptized of him to fulfill the law, just as when he was
circumcised as a child. Our Lord fulfilled the law as
a man, perfectly. He came to be baptized. He tells
us to do so. Well, he came to be baptized.
And John said, I saw and bear record. The Holy Spirit, the
Lord said to me, upon whom you see the Spirit descending, that's
him. Upon whom you see the Spirit
anointing, that's him. And John said, I saw and bear
record that this is the anointed one. Not me, John said, him. Him. So Christ said, this day is this
scripture fulfilled in your ear. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me." Verse 18, read on, "...because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor." God Almighty had one Son, one only
begotten Son, and He was a preacher, first and foremost. You'll read
it. Scripture says Christ went into
a town to preach, and He said, that's why I'm sent to preach. First and foremost, he was a
preacher, and though the world now calls it foolishness, though
the world would like to do without it, 1 Corinthians 1.21 says it
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching, or that is what
the world calls foolishness. And they pretty much laid it
to one side in favor of whatever, entertainment and so forth. But
it hasn't changed. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. to save them that believe. Preaching. It's not just preaching anything.
It's certainly not preaching foolishness. Paul said, Woe is unto me if
I preach not the gospel. Our Lord said, I am anointed
to preach the gospel. Not any gospel. Not what men
call the gospel. It must be the gospel. Paul said
this over and over again. He said there's another gospel
and another Jesus in Galatians 1. Another gospel, which is not
another, but it's a perversion of the gospel. But Paul said,
the gospel. And in one place he called it
my gospel, our gospel, the gospel. Turn with me to Romans chapter
1. If I'm not careful, I dwell too long here in Romans 1, but
Romans chapter 1 is One of the clearest declarations of the
gospel in all of God's Word, a short, concise, and powerful
definition of the true gospel. I'll never forget when I first
heard a man preach this. Romans 1, I think it was Walter
Gruber, years ago, verses 1 through 4, a declaration of the gospel. Verse 1, Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ, that's what I'd And that's what I do, I serve him, his cause,
his glory, called to be an apostle. No apostle ever applied for the
job. No preacher does either. It's
a calling, called to be an apostle, separated, that is, set apart,
devoted to one thing, the gospel of God. The gospel of God. Paul said there in 1 Corinthians
2, verse 2, I believe it is, he said, I am determined not
to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
That is what I am sent to do, he said. The gospel? What is
the gospel? It is the gospel of God. There
is no gospel unless there is first a declaration of who God
is. Modern gospel starts with man.
The gospel begins with God, who God is. It's God's gospel, and
it's for his glory, and it's according to his purpose and
his will. He thought it, he purposed it, he willed it. It's God's
gospel, and it's all about his person, his glory. The gospel
of God, verse 2, which he had promised to thaw by his prophets
in the Holy Scripture. It's the old gospel. God has
always saved men and women one way. That's by grace. That's what Paul wrote in Ephesians
2, verse 8, did he not? By grace are you saved. Who's
saved? Well, anybody that's saved is
saved by God's grace through the gospel of Christ. Oh, yeah. Read Hebrews for yourself. said,
under them was the gospel preached as under us. Speaking of the
people in the wilderness, they beheld the gospel when they saw
that serpent lifted up on a pole. They beheld the gospel when they
saw that smitten rock. They beheld the gospel when they
saw the bread of heaven come down. They beheld the gospel
of Jesus Christ. It's an old gospel. Moses, our
Lord said, wrote of me. The law is not all how to do
this and that and the other. It's speaking of Christ who did
this for his people. Our Lord said, Abraham saw my
day and was glad. Isaiah, and so on and so forth. It's the old gospel. I've got
to go on. Verse 3, it's concerning his son Jesus Christ, our Lord,
the gospel. God's gospel is concerning the
person and the work of Jesus Christ. The gospel of God is
not a cooperative effort between God and man. It's concerning
what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does for some of the sons
of man. That the salvation of God's people
is one hundred percent conditioned upon the person and the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, period. He gets all the glory because
the work is totally his. Now, that's the gospel. Anybody
preaching anything else is not preaching the gospel. It's concerning
God's son. It's not concerning what you
do with God's son. It's not concerning if you let
him be God's son. Look at verse 4, "...declared
to be the Son of God with power." This is the gospel. It declares
who Jesus Christ is. Who is He? He said it in John
17. He said, "...all power is given
unto me in heaven and earth, power over all flesh to give
eternal life to as many as God gives man." This is the gospel. concerning God's Son and declares
him to be the Son of God with all authority in heaven and earth
over all flesh. And no flesh has power over him,
but vice versa. This is the gospel of God, of
Christ, who is the power of God. This is why Paul said there's
another gospel out there, another. And it is most prevalent
today. So Christ, go back to the text
in Luke 4. And as I said, I could just dwell
right there. The gospel of God. Go back to
Luke chapter 4. Our Lord said, I am anointed
to preach. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me. He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. To the poor. Who is the gospel
for? Who did Christ say he came to
preach the gospel to? The poor. Now, he's not talking
about the poor in earthly possessions. One time, Judas, that thief,
said, well, let's sell this. We could have sold that ointment
by that woman and given it to the poor. Well, what a noble
thought. No, he was a thief from the beginning.
But our Lord said, the poor you have with you always. Do what
you will for the poor. This is not talking about the
poor in possessions. But our Lord said in Matthew
5, in his Sermon on the Mount, he said, blessed. The first thing
he said is, blessed are the poor in spirit. The poor in spirit. What is it to be poor? In this
country, we don't know much about true
poverty, although we do see some seemingly poor people. You really
have to go into a third-world country to really understand
something about poverty. In the Scriptures, you'll find
stories of the truly poor, and everyone who was truly poor was
a beggar. There's a story of a blind beggar
named Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, who sat by the highway side begging. He was blind and he was a beggar. He was poor, meaning he had nothing. To be truly poor spiritually
means you have nothing. You are nothing. You can't do
nothing. You can't come up with anything.
to be anything, to do anything. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
Christ said. Blind Bartimaeus. This gospel
is for poor beggars like blind Bartimaeus. Now old Bartimaeus
was sitting on the highway side begging. That means he was totally
dependent upon somebody to have grace upon him. Totally dependent. That's what
it means to be a poor beggar. And those who are poor in spirit,
and those who have this gospel declared to them, are poor in
spirit, are beggars, spiritual beggars, who realize, I have
no goodness to commend me to God Almighty, who is holy. I
have no strength to keep the law, which is perfect and requires
perfection in heart, in thought, in deed, I mean, in motive as
well as deed. And I can't do it, try as I may. I've broken every point. I have
no strength to keep the law. I have no will, but it seems
to sin. I'm poor, a poor beggar. And that poor beggar says, will
somebody help me? If I'm going to get to heaven,
the poor beggar says, somebody's got to get me there. Somebody's
got to do everything for me to ensure that I get there. I can't
do it. Will somebody help me? And Christ
says, bring that poor man to me. I've got good news. No, you can't get there on your
own, but I'll take you. Yes, you're blind, but I'll give
you sight." Christ said, He hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. Any poor sinners in here
this morning? David said it, though he was
a king on a throne of the most glorious kingdom ever known,
the man with all the possessions at his disposal. He said, I'm
poor and needy, but yet the Lord thinketh on me. Man in his best
state is altogether vanity. No matter what he thinks of himself,
no matter what anybody thinks of him, he's a beggar dependent
upon the grace of God Almighty. Unless God has mercy and grace
upon him, he'll not get into his presence, no matter how hard
he tries. Christ said, I've come to preach
the gospel to the poor. Anybody poor in here? It's going
to be good news to you. It's not good news to somebody
who's rich in their own wisdom, to somebody who's rich in their
own strength, somebody who's rich in their own morality, somebody
who's rich in their own wisdom. It's only good news to Gregory. Read on. He has sent me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted."
Will you turn with me to Isaiah 66? Isaiah 66. Our Lord said, this day is this
scripture fulfilled. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Now, you know he's not talking—Isaiah's
not talking about himself, nor can any man say that. You know
there's only one person who can say that. I can't heal a broken
heart. I'm not the great physician.
I can do nothing. Neither can any man upon the
topside of God's earth. There's only one man who walked
this planet who could say, I healed the Lord Jesus Christ. He said,
He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Now, so many people throughout
the land—and I'm not being calloused or horrid when I say So many
people are brokenhearted over various things, sadness in their
lives, someone passes away, and so forth. And it is a heartbreaking
thing, and I'm not being insensitive to that at all, not at all. But
that's not the broken heart our Lord is speaking of. That's not
the broken heart our Lord is speaking of healing, although
his people who do have their hearts broken over loss and so
forth, yet he does by his word by His power. He does heal that wound. But the broken heart He is speaking
of here is a heart broken and contrite over sin. Look at Isaiah 66 verse 2. It says, All those things hath
mine hand made. The Lord said this. All those
things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith
the Lord. But to this man will I look.
He was just speaking of his glory and his majesty, but he said,
But this is the man I will look to in condescension, in mercy
and grace. To this man, to this is the one
I'm going to look to in mercy and salvation, even to him that
is poor and of a contrite That is, broken spirit, and trembleth
at my word. Trembling at my word. You see, the first thing the
great physician does is to break the heart. To break the heart before he
heals it. Break the heart, and He does
it the same way He heals it. He does it with the same thing.
The Word of God is called a two-edged sword. The first thing the Word
of God does is wound you. It pierces, the scripture says,
through the divining asunder of the thoughts and intents of
the heart, the great revealer of your hard, sinful heart, my
hard and sinful heart. And the first thing it does is
break the heart over sin, sin against God, not sins, but sin
against God, unbelief, rebellion, a life spent without giving God
a thought. And the first thing God's word
does is break the heart over that sin, over that rebellion.
And then it's a two-edged sword. It heals. Like the surgeon's
scalpel, who first cuts wide open and exposes the cancer and
so forth. And then that same scalpel is
used to remove it. God's word heals that. How he
does it is not to use the old heart, but take out that stony
heart. which won't hear God's words,
stony, which doesn't love God. No man doesn't love God by nature. God must remove that self-bent
will and give him a heart of flesh, a soft, a tender, a spiritual
heart, a new heart, transplant, and
the gospel. The gospel, our Lord said, back
in our text, He said, the gospel I preach is to the brokenhearted.
I've come to heal the brokenhearted. Salvation is for the poor in
spirit. The gospel is for the poor. Those in here who really feel
helpless in themselves, a beggar, totally dependent upon God Almighty,
for his grace and his mercy for your salvation. This is the gospel
for you. It's not an offer for your salvation.
It's a promise, a certain promise. This gospel is for the brokenhearted,
those whose hearts are broken over their sinful condition.
Here's the promise. Take away that stony heart. Give
you a heart aflame. A new heart, a new heart. Verse 18, he says, The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives. Oh, there's so much
talk about this today and deliverance. Men, people like to put this
word all over their building. Deliverance, deliverance, deliverance,
deliverance. Most people need deliverance
from that place of deliverance. Honestly. Let any old fool come
down the pike, and somebody will follow him. You know, all men and women and
children, by nature, are captives, whether they know it or not.
Captives to this world, totally captives to this world.
Pursuing it, loving it, born that way. They're captives to sin. It's
their nature. Can't do anything but that. It's
their nature. Captive to a sinful nature and
will. Captive to the God of this world.
Paul said that. He said they're held captive
by him at his will. Willing captives serving him. He's called the God of this world. Men, women, and young people
are Only by his power, by his truth,
and he is the only one who sits free. And as I said, there is
no captivity worse than religious. Religious bondage, bound by ignorance,
ignorance of God's Word, although a man claims to preach ignorance,
superstition handed down, tradition, Peter said, vain tradition received
by the elders. But when God Almighty, when God
Almighty sends the word, he must give the command. That's what
he said, didn't he, John? He said, Thou hast given commandment
to save me. Then and then only when God Almighty
gives the command, send the word, send the word, the Holy Spirit,
go to that man for whom my son died. When God Almighty tells
the Spirit of Christ to loose that man, and let him go. Deliver
him from going down in the pit. Deliver him from going to Broadway
religion. I've got a ransom for him. He's
one of my own. Deliver him. Deliver that man
from condemnation, from the curse of the law. Deliver that man,
that woman, from captivity of sin. Sin shall not have dominion
over him or her. Uh-uh. They're under grace, my
grace. Deliver that man, that woman,
or that young person from men from religion. Bring him to me,
the Lord said. Bring him to my son who leads
captivity captive. Those who were captive, he leads
captive. But it's a good kind of captivity.
Old Brother Barnard once said, A man is never so free as when
he bows a knee when he serves the Lord Jesus Christ. He leads captivity captive. They
then are made willing in the day of his power. They are willing
captives. They are bond slaves to the Lord Jesus Christ. Willing
captive. So this gospel is for the poor.
This gospel is for the broken hearted. This gospel is for captives.
You say, I've never been captive. Verse 18, the Lord goes on to
say, He sent me to recover sight, a recovering of sight to the
blind. Would you turn to John chapter
9 with me? John chapter 9. John chapter
9. Have you ever been blind, spiritually
blind? You know that every miracle our
Lord performed was not just, not primarily for the physical
healing of that person, but it was to show forth his salvation. The healing of lepers is a picture
of how the Lord heals those who are leprous with sin. The corruption
that's in our flesh called sin, whom the Lord only can and must
heal. The recovering of sight to the
blind. Those who are spiritually blind.
Have you ever been blind to the truth? Most people are. People
are born that way. We're not born, and we're not
talked into it. We're not convinced of it. The
Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who is the truth, everything He said
was truth, true. God who cannot lie, yet most
did not believe Him. Why? They're blind. born blind
to the truth. Have you ever tried to convince
someone of the truth? Sit down with God's Word, just
read God's Word, not even comment upon it. Just read it and say,
I don't like that. Yeah, that's the problem. The
problem is not that it doesn't say that. The problem is you
don't like it. You don't want it to say that.
Peter said they're willingly in Christ. There's nothing so blind, our
Lord said, as those who will not see. The plainest truth.
You ever been blind to yourself? Now, there's nothing that men
and women, young people, are more blind to than themselves.
We read that in 2 Timothy 3, where it said, men shall be lovers
of themselves. That's because they're blind
to their own evil selves. This Word of God, James said,
is like a looking glass when you look into it, like a mirror.
And the closer you look in it, the more you see of your own
blemishes and imperfections. I challenge the most beautiful
woman or man in here, look in the mirror real closely and tell
us just how pretty you are. You'll say, especially before
you put the makeup on, you'll say, In my flesh, as Paul said,
in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. You say, like Isaiah said
in chapter 1, from the sole of my feet to the top of my head,
there's no soundness in me, nothing but wounds and bruises and fructifying
sores. The Word of God exposes all that
in us. The Word of God does not tell
us what good people we are. The Word of God does not say
anything good about mankind. The Word of God reveals us for
what we are. It's a mirror to looking at.
But men and women are blind by nature, and only when God gives
the eyesight of his Word to see themselves will they see themselves
for what they are in God's sight. They comparing themselves with
themselves are not wise. I look as good as one other worm,
but I'm still a worm. And God Almighty from heaven
said about one human being that walked this planet, this man
I'm well pleased with. Not Abraham, not Moses, not Peter,
not Paul, and certainly not us. But said it about Jesus Christ. I'm well pleased with him. And
then he said, you'd better hear him. You're not going to get
to heaven. Sit through him. You've been blind to yourself.
You've been blind to the world. You know, only a blind man will
fall into a pit, into a net and the trap that's laid for
him. Only a blind man. The bird, the
Scripture says, the Proverbs says, the net is cast, laid in
vain to a bird. The bird's not going to join
in that net. Possibly. Walking around, rooting
around the earth, never looking up. The creature of the night. Oh, he will. He'll fall into
that trap. The gospel is for the healing of the blind. The
healing of the blind. Look at John 9. I meant to read
this. John 9. Look at this. This is
so profound. Verses 39 through 41. Jesus said,
for judgment I am coming to this world. Oh, man, I've never heard
anybody say that today. I've never even heard anybody
quote that today. For judgment I am coming to this
world. Read on. That they which see
not might see, and that they which see might be made blind. Well, the Pharisees, these doctors
of religion, these intellects, these scriptural authorities, These seminary professors, cemetery
professors, they said, Are we blind? Jesus
said unto them, now look at these words, verse 41. He said unto
them, If you were blind, you should have no sin. And now you say, We see. Therefore,
your sin remaineth. You understand what he's saying.
Anyone who thinks for one moment that they in themselves, that
there's any good in themselves to commend them to God, that
there's anything they have done, even their faith that they produce,
are blind as a bat. And therefore their sin remaineth.
This gospel of Full, free, complete, eternal, one hundred percent
pardon and remission of sins is for those who are blind. It's
for the helpless, it's for the poor, it's for the brokenhearted
over sin. Oh, I'm a sinner, but I'm not
as bad as others. Blind. This gospel is for the
blind. Those who say they're blind,
hear the words that Bartimaeus heard, receive thy son. Everyone, your sins be forgiven
them. Those who are lame, like that
man who was let down through the roof of the house, you know,
the first thing the Lord said to him, the most important, the
eternal matter was his sin, and the Lord said, Son, thy sins
be forgiven them. And then he healed his lame. Read with me, I've got to hurry.
Our Lord said in verse 18 of our text, Luke 4, verse 18, He
said, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 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 captive, and
recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised. bruised. We sing the song, wounded
and bruised by the fall. Bruised by the fall. Bruised. You ever been bruised?
I know you have. Everyone in here has been bruised.
If there's anyone in here who ever did any boxing, male horse,
female, women do it now. But if you've ever been in boxing
or wrestling, or just in wrestling, you've been bruised. I mean to
really be bruised means to be sore all over. I mean to be beat
up. You've been beat up, Lee? I have. Bruised all over. Slapped around. That's what you're bruised. It doesn't openly show, but yet
you've been beat on and you hurt. The Lord said, I've come to set
at liberty those that have been beat up and slapped around. Satan, sin, everything beats
up on God's people. It still does. It still does. It beats up on God's people. Now, the Lord said, I've come
to set at liberty those that have been beat up. slapped around. He brings his people out of bondage
from being tossed to and fro, being wounded and bruised. And
the prey of every crook comes along who doesn't heal their wound,
but does it only slightly, promising peace when there is no peace.
But they remain wounded and bruised, like that person in the ditch
and a good Samaritan comes by. Christ is that good Samaritan. You've been bruised. For lack of a better illustration,
our Lord said, I'm going to set at liberty them that are beat
up. I had a friend back when I was
19 or 20 years old. I grew up with
him. And he got married early. And he had a wife, and I liked her
very much. But he was pretty rough on her.
And one day I went over to his house, and he'd been beating
on that girl. She had black eyes, and it was
obvious. I asked her, what's wrong? She
wouldn't tell me. I knew, and he was there. Now he was a lot bigger than
I was. Full head taller, 50 pounds more
than me. But he never did it again. I was just angry enough that he never did it again. I
said, you want to beat up on somebody, try me. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ says. to her cap door and to every
charlatan that comes along. You got me to tangle with. You're
not going to beat up on my people. I'm going to set them at liberty.
You're not going to bruise them anymore. What do you find when
you come where the true gospel is preached? Huh? What do you
find? Liberty. I know much of us talk
today about liberty and freedom and so forth. There's only freedom,
true freedom, and the truth, you'll know the truth, it'll
set you free. And you'll find rest. Rest. Christ said, when you come to
me, I'll give you rest. And look at this last thing.
Now, this gospel is for the poor, this gospel. for the brokenhearted. This gospel is for the captive.
This gospel is for the blind. This gospel is for the bruised.
And the Lord said in verse 19, I've come to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. I love that. To preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. He is not saying Will you accept
me as your personal Savior?" Nowhere in this book does it
say that, when that's all modern religion seems to be able to
say. That's blasphemy to the highest. Jesus Christ is not
up for the acceptation or rejection of the human race, but mankind
is up for acceptance or rejection. The subjects of the king are
not asked to do something with the king. The creatures are not asked to
accept the Creator. Nothing could be more blasphemous,
and it doesn't say that in this book anywhere. Christ said, I've
come to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, the day, the
time when God is accepting some unacceptable human beings. They're all unacceptable. All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God, no matter what
they may appear to man. Unacceptable to God Almighty. From the first man, Adam, who
was the best man to ever live, to the last son of Adam, totally
unacceptable in themselves. But God, who is rich in mercy,
says to the gospel, I've got good news for some unacceptable
creatures. Today is the day of salvation. I'm accepting some. Want to make
application? Apply for this mercy. I may accept
you. The Scripture says it may be
that we'll be spared in the day. He doesn't have to. He's not
required to. It's not depending on man letting
him do something. Ephesians 1, 6 says of those
whom he predestinated in verse 1, or chapter 6 says, we are
accepted in the Beloved. Preach the gospel to these poor,
broken-hearted, blind, captives. Tell them, I accept them in the
beloved. Tell them, I will accept all
blind beggars who come to me." The acceptable year of the Lord,
the day, the time when the Lord Himself is accepting, not rejecting,
accepting. What do you think about this
gospel? What do you think about everything that's been said?
How does it sound to you? The gospel
is called a joyful sound. I don't confess to be a very
good preacher of it. Who is sufficient for these things?
Who could declare this like the Lord did? No one. No one. And I preach it. To me,
totally unacceptable. I'm never happy with it. Never. I grieve over my shortcoming
every time. Yet, God, we have this treasure
in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God, not
of man. What do you think about this
gospel? In spite of the poor preacher, in spite of his poor
attempts, in spite of his shortcomings, in spite of the fact that he
yells too loud, in spite of the fact that he looks like he's
mad at everybody, in spite of all that, what do you think about
what's been said? What do you think? Are you poor,
huh? Are you brokenhearted over sin? Do you feel blind, a beggar,
captive, wounded, bruised, huh? Then it's good news to you. Then
Christ sent it to you. It's not for anybody else. This
gospel is not for anybody else. It's not for the self-righteous.
Christ said, I didn't come to call the righteous to repent.
I didn't come to call those who know everything to learn something.
You can't teach them anything. I didn't come to call Pharisees
and doctors of the law. I didn't come to call publicans
and harlots and sinners, no-goods, down-and-out, good or snot. We saw that last Sunday. You
see your calling, brethren. It's a calling. It's a sovereign
call. Not many wise men after the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen
the things that are nothing, the nobodies of this earth, the
can-do-nothings of this earth, the poor. Aren't you glad? That's a good—this
is good news to me. This is real good news to me. Salvation, completely, by somebody
else. That's good news to me. I hope
it is to you. Only God can make it so. All
right, John, you got a hint at that? What number? Let's sing the first,
third, and last verses, okay? First, third, and fifth. I've got to get on the road. Man of sorrows, what a day for
the Son of God who came. Ruins littered to reclaim, hallelujah,
for our Savior. Guilty, vile, and helpless we,
heartless Lamb of God was He. Full of atonement, can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior! When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring, Then again this song we'll sing,
Alleluia! What a Savior!