Verse 23, once again. And he came and dwelt in a city
called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by the prophets. Notice plural, by the prophets. He shall be called Nazarene. I've entitled this message, He
Shall Be Called a Nazarene. You'll find it interesting that
where it says that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by
the prophets, he should be called a Nazarene. Do you know that
verse of scripture is not in the Old Testament? You can look
for it. It's not there. Well, why did
he say it? Because this represents the message
of scripture. If we can understand this, we'll
understand the whole gospel. Him being called a Nazarene,
an inhabitant of Nazareth, Jesus of Nazareth. Now I've heard people
say, well, this shows that there are contradictions in the scripture.
No, it doesn't. Him being a Nazarene is about his humiliation. It's
about him humbling himself. And all the gospel is seen in
his great humbling of himself. Now, as I said, a Nazarene was
an inhabitant of Nazareth. Every region has a town that's
the butt of jokes. You know that so. The people
that live in those towns are usually viewed as uneducated,
uncultured, ignorant, poverty stricken, and they're looked
down upon. Nazareth was that town in Galilee. Did you know that the town of
Nazareth is not as much as mentioned? in the Old Testament. Turn with
me for a moment to John chapter 1 and you'll see why I'm saying
this about Nazareth. John chapter 1. Verse 43, the day following Jesus
would go forth into Galilee and find Philip and saith unto him,
Follow me. That's the call of the gospel.
Follow me. I love the simplicity of that.
How do you follow somebody? Keep your eyes on them. That's
what faith is. Looking to Christ, looking nowhere
else. I've said this recently, most
people when they think of follow Christ, they think that means
imitating. I want to imitate him. I'm not saying how we desire
to do that. And I love the way, for instance,
Paul said to Timothy, be an example to the believers in faith and
spirit and attitude and conversation and purity. This is not speaking
against imitation, but that's not what the word means. The
word means keep your eyes upon. How do you follow somebody in
a crowd? Keep your eyes on them. And that is the words of the
Lord to you and I follow me, not follow a preacher, not follow
a doctrine, follow me. Now, Philip was of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and
saith unto him, We found him of whom Moses in the law and
the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. And Nathanael said unto him,
Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Now Nazareth
was the town that was the butt of jokes. Nazareth was the town
that everyone looked down upon. And Nathanael Underlined that
when he said, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Surely
the Messiah would never come from Nazareth. That's the worst
place in the region. You know, he could not come from
Nazareth. Well, this is the town Jesus
Christ chose to be identified with. He should be called a Nazarene. And even now, as he's seated
at the right hand of the Father, in glory indescribable, he's
Jesus of Nazareth. Go back to Matthew chapter two,
verse 13. And when they were departed,
these wise men that we considered last week, the Lord warned them
not to go and return to Herod, but to go to their country some
other way. And when they were departed,
behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream
saying, arise and take the young child and his mother and flee
into Egypt and be thou there until I bring thee word for Herod
will seek the young child to destroy him. When he rose, he
took the young child and his mother by night and departed
into Egypt and was there until the death of Herod that it might
be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet."
Notice he doesn't say prophets. This is just in one verse of
scripture. Out of Egypt have I called my
son, which is found in Hosea chapter 11, verse one. Out of Egypt have I called my
son. Now this was the beginning of one of the most horrific events
in the Bible. The angel knew what Herod was
going to do. Herod was going to have every male child in the
vicinity of Bethlehem murdered. He had heard that he that was
born king was going to be born in Bethlehem. We considered that
last week. And he was intimidated by this
because if he's king, that means I'm not. So what I want to do
is get rid of him. And he actually ordered every
child under two years old to be slaughtered. How horrible. But do you know it was written
in Jeremiah that this was gonna take place? Jeremiah 31 verse
15 says that this will take place. Now, the Lord's in control of
all of this. This is all a part of his purpose. And what happens? Verse 13, and
when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared
to Joseph in a dream, saying, and flee into Egypt and be thou
there until I bring thee word for Herod will seek the young
child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young
child, his mother by night and departed into Egypt. And he was
there into the death of Herod." I love that. Herod is going to
have all of his evil schemes that he's going to do. God is
completely sovereign over everything and he's going to kill Herod.
And Herod is going to pay the wages of sin, death. Nobody's
ever going to get by with the thing. God killed Herod. And he was there until the death
of Herod, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophet, saying, out of Egypt have I called my son. Now out of Egypt, he called his
sons, didn't he? He called Israel my son. Israel
when he told Pharaoh to let my son Israel go. You can read about
that in Exodus chapter 4. Well out of Egypt he called the
Son of God. Out of Egypt have I called my
son. Verse 16. Then Herod When he
saw that he was mocked of the wise men, he did not wait for
them to return and they didn't do it. And he saw that he was
mocked of the wise men. He was exceeding wrath and sent
forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and all
the coasts thereof from two years old and under, according to the
time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then
was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet.
saying, in Ramah was there a voice heard lamentation and weeping
in great mourning Rachel weeping for her children and would not
be comforted because they are not." You see, everything that
takes place takes place according to the sovereign will of God,
including the evil actions of men. And thank God, God overrules
everything for His glory and our good. But there is nothing
that He is not in control of, including this event. He foretold
that it would take place according to His will. And who knows how
many hundreds, maybe thousands of children were slain at that
time. Verse 19, but when Herod was
dead, God killed him. I like saying that. God killed
him. And when I die and when you die,
it's going to be God killing us at his appointed time. We all have an exact time, but
Herod's not going to get by with this. God kills him. But when Herod was dead, behold,
an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. Remember, he was hiding in Egypt
in obedience to the command. But when Herod was dead, behold,
an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.
I don't know how long he was in Egypt. I don't know if it
was a few years, a few months, but he was, they were living
in Egypt in fear of Pharaoh because God had warned them. And this
Pharaoh or this angel said, saying, arise and take the young child
and his mother and go into the land of Israel. for they are
dead which sought the young child's life. And he arose and took the
young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel,
just like the angel told him to, but when he'd heard that
Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod.
This was another Herod. There were six Herods, actually,
in the scripture. This was a ruling family. You
will remember the Herod that had all the young children executed. You remember the Herod. These
are all in the same family, the Herod that He had John the Baptist beheaded
and he was the one that the Lord was sent to in trial. Then we
read of a Herod Acts chapter 12, who didn't give God the glory
and God smote him immediately and he was eaten of worms and
died. There were many Herods, but this Herod was the son of
the Herod who was going to kill the Lord and he sent him into
Egypt. So he was thinking, well, if he's there, maybe I shouldn't
go there. Being warned of a God in a dream, he turned aside into
the parts of Galilee. Then he came and dwelt in a city
called Nazareth. That it might be fulfilled, which
was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene."
Nazareth. Jesus, the son of God, grew up
in this despised town. He lived there for 30 years,
and in this town, he worked out a perfect righteousness. I love to think of his father
observing every second of every moment of his life in Nazareth,
and the scripture tells us he was a carpenter. He was the son
of a carpenter, and he was a carpenter. Did he build houses? I don't
know. Did he build furniture? I don't
know, but there's something very powerful about thinking of the
son of God being a carpenter, measuring out things, cutting
things, building things. And I'm sure he was a good carpenter
too. And he, in this 30 year period, obeyed God's law, perfectly
working out a perfect righteousness. And something else that I think
is glorious, nobody could see it, except his father. Here he's
the only holy man to ever live, living a perfect life. Nobody
understood. And what that lets me know is
a natural man doesn't know what holiness is anyway. He doesn't
know what righteousness is anyway, because when he saw it, he didn't
recognize it. But he worked it out in this 30 year period as
Jesus of Nazareth in obscurity. Nobody could see this, but his
heavenly father. He came and dwelt in a city called
Nazareth. He lived there for, I don't know
how long. I know he was living there when
he was 12. Because you remember his mother and father going back
up into Jerusalem and him speaking with the doctors because they
left there to observe the Passover. And the scripture says even then
he was subject to his mother and father. But when you read
of his public ministry, his father's never mentioned. It seemed like
perhaps he was dead by this time. But here the Lord lived with
this perfect life. As I said, verse 23, that it
might be fulfilled which is spoken by the prophets, plural, is not
found in the Old Testament. You can look for it all you want,
it's not there. And some would say, well, that
means there's a mistake in the scriptures. No, it doesn't mean
that at all. It means this is a summary of the humbling of
the Lord Jesus Christ living in Nazareth. Turn with me for
a moment to Philippians chapter two. And he was humbling himself
to be a Nazarene. Verse five, let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. Philippians chapter two, verse
five, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. He didn't think it a thing to
be grasped for. He didn't think it an unjust
thing for him to consider himself to be equal with God. You know what that means? There's
only one person who's equal with God. God. He knew he was God. God, the Son, the second person
of the blessed Trinity. who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation. and took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of men." That's how
he spent this 30 years working in a carpenter shop, being subject
to his parents, working out a perfect righteousness. And being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to
death, even death of the cross." Now there's two great humiliations
or humbling of himself that the Lord performed. First, William
became a man. William became flesh. He's the
Son of God and he became flesh. What a stoop, what a condescension
that he did this and he humbled himself even more when he agreed
to be made sin for his people and bear their sins and put them
away on Calvary's tree. How he humbled himself as Jesus
of Nazareth. Now after the Lord's temptation
in the wilderness, he returns to Nazareth. Let's read about
that in Luke chapter four. Verse 16, and he came to Nazareth where
he'd been brought up. And as his custom was, he went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for it to read.
I suppose he had done that every Sabbath day while he was living
in Nazareth. And can you imagine him picking
up the scriptures and reading them and they would listen to
this? This was his custom, but they knew He had been becoming
famous. They'd heard about the miracles
that he did and he comes back and now this is a small town
boy become famous, coming home. And they're very anxious to hear
what he has to say. Verse 17, and there was delivered
unto him the book of the prophet of Isaiah. And when he had opened
the book, he found the place where it was written. And this
is what he read. And I would have loved to heard
the way he read it. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me. And I have no doubt he read that
in such a way as to everybody knew exactly what he meant. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has 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.
And he closed the book and gave it to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him. They knew exactly what
he meant. When he said that, and he began to say unto them,
this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. I am the fulfillment
of this scripture. And all bear him witness and
wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.
Literally the grace words which proceeded out of his mouth. Every
word he said was a grace word. And what is their response? And
they said, is this not Joseph's son? And he said to them, you will
say, surely say unto me, this proverb physician heal thyself.
Whatsoever we've heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy
country. We've heard of your miracles
in Capernaum, do them here so we can see. 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 Elijah, 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 Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta in the
city of Sidon, a Gentile, unto a woman that was a widow. God
passed by all these Jewish widows and made himself known and provided
for a Gentile widow. And many lepers were in Israel
in the time of Elisha, the prophet, and none of them was cleansed.
How many lepers? Who knows? Maybe thousands. None of them were cleansed. saving
Naaman the Syrian. Now what the Lord is speaking
of is the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation. He passed those people by and
healed whom he would and he's looking at those people and saying,
if you don't believe I'm he, he's passing you by because I
am he. Verse 28, and all they that in
the synagogue, these are the people that watched him grow
up. When they heard these things were filled with wrath and they
rose up and thrust him out of the city and led him into the
brow of the hill where on their city was built that they might
cast him down headlong. They were going to murder him.
But he passing through the midst of them. I love to try to picture
that, how that happened. I don't know. They had him up.
We're going to throw him off the cliff, but he, passing through
the midst of him, went his way. You see, his hour was not yet
come. Now, even the inhabitants of
his own hometown, Nazareth, wanted to kill him when they heard the
claims he made with regard to himself. Throughout his public
ministry, he was known as Jesus of Nazareth. Do you remember
when Bartimaeus was sitting by the highway side begging and
he heard a commotion? He said, what's this all about?
They said, Jesus of Nazareth, pass it by. And he began to cry,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. He knew that Jesus
of Nazareth was the son of David. You know, when they came to arrest
the Lord, In John chapter 18, I love this passage of scripture.
They came to arrest him. And I've read that as many as
500 people with staves and clubs, and he said, whom seek ye? He said to them, whom seek ye?
They said, Jesus of Nazareth. I am. And do you remember they
fell backwards, driven backwards by an irresistible force that
they didn't understand? and they're laying there on the
ground and the Lord is letting them know at this time, I'm not
a victim. I'm not in your hands. You are
in my hands. I'm in control of everything
that's taking place. I couldn't help but think also
along those lines of Pilate when he said, speakest thou not to
me? He was remaining silent. He wouldn't
defend himself. He was the sinner's substitute. Speaking is guilty. He wouldn't
defend himself. and Pilate said, speakest thou
not to me? Don't you know that I have power
to crucify you and I have power to release you? The Lord didn't stay silent with
that. He said, thou couldst have no power at all over me except
it be given thee from above. Jesus of I want you to turn to Acts chapter
two for just a moment. This is Peter's great sermon
on the day of Pentecost. Acts chapter two, look where
he begins. Verse 22. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth. That's the one I'm talking about.
Jesus of Nazareth. a man approved of God among you
by miracles and signs, and wonders what God did by him in the midst
of you. As you yourselves also know, him being delivered by
the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain whom God hath raised up,
having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that
he should be holding of it." Now that's the way he introduced
this message, Jesus. of Nazareth. Look in Acts chapter
three, this is when Peter heals that man that was lame. Verse
six, then Peter said, silver and gold I have none, but such
as I have, I give thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Rise up and walk. Look in Acts chapter four, verse
six. And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander,
and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest were gathered
together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in
the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have you
done this?" Speaking of the healing of that lame man in the previous
chapter. Then Peter filled with the Holy
Ghost said unto them, you rulers of the people and elders of Israel,
if we this day be examined to the good deed done to the impotent
man by what means he's made whole, be it known unto you all and
to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth. He's the one who did this. The
one you crucified. whom God hath raised from the
dead. Even by him did this man stand here before you whole.
This is the stone which was set at Nod of you builders, which
has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among
men, whereby we must be saved." Now, don't you love this? Whose
name did you do this in? Well, he could have said Jehovah,
and it would have been true, wouldn't it? But he would have
compromised the gospel. He could have said, in the name
of God, and it would have been true, but he would have compromised
the gospel. But how I love the way he said,
in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that one you crucified,
that one God raised from the dead, even by him, by his name,
do you stand whole. When the Lord appeared to Paul
in Acts chapter 9 as a light shining above the glory of the
sun. How did the Lord appear to him? Who art thou Lord? Jesus of Nazareth. Here he comes in all of his deity. How does he answer? Jesus of
Nazareth. I'm Jesus of Nazareth. This is
the resurrected Christ identifying himself in this way. Now you'll remember when he was
crucified. Pilate. had his accusation written
over his head. Do you remember what it said?
Written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin, a language that every
language was covered so everybody could see what he wrote down. And this was his accusation.
Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Now, they got upset
with that. You know, they knew Pilate was
doing this in spitefulness to them. Here's your king, Jesus
of Nazareth. This is the king of the Jews.
But he didn't know he was making this glorious statement with
regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the king of the Jews. And the Jews understand this.
The Jews aren't those people who live in Israel. They're physical
Jews. The Jews would represent every
single believer. If you're a believer, you're
a Jew. And He's the King of the Jews. I love that scripture in Philippians
chapter 3, verse 3. Paul says, we're the circumcision.
We're the true Jews. And you can see if you're a true
Jew from this verse of scripture. Do you want to know if you're
a true Jew? Paul says, we are the circumcision which worship
God in the spirit. If you're a Jew, you know you
can't worship God in flesh because you know something of his character,
his holiness, his otherness, his altogether glory, and your
own sinfulness. And you know you can only worship
God in the spirit, in that spiritual nature given to you in the new
birth. You know that. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit. What's it mean to worship God
in the spirit? I love what he says next. It
explains it to us. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. We glory, we
boast, we rest, we trust Christ Jesus. Paul said, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That same thing. We have confidence only in Christ
Jesus that everything God requires of us, he looks to his son for.
We rest only in him. Well, what happens when you do
that? Well, he gives the third mark. We have no confidence in
the flesh, none. None, nothing with no confidence
in the flesh. All we have confidence in is
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is called spiritual
worship. That is the true Jew. Look back to Luke chapter 24
for just a moment. Verse 13, And behold, two of
them went the same day to a village called Lemaes, which was from
Jerusalem, about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all
these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while
they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went
with them. Now this is the resurrected Christ.
But their eyes were holding that they should not know him. There
he was, and they didn't know who he was. And the only reason
we have for that is their eyes were holding. God did something
to where they couldn't perceive who he really was. And he said
unto them, what manner of communications are these that you have one to
another as you walk and are sad? And one of them, whose name was
Cleophas, answered him and said, art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem,
and you've not known the things which are come to pass there
in these days? And he said unto them, what things?
And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth. which was
a prophet, mighty indeed, and word before God and all the people.
Now the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned
to death, and they've crucified him. But we trusted that it had
been he which would have redeemed Israel. And beside all this,
today is the third day since the thing was done. Yea, and
certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were
early at the scepter. And when they found not his body,
they came and sang that they had also seen a vision of angels,
which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were
with us went to the sepulcher and found it even so as the women
and said, but him they saw not. And he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses
and in all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself. Now, they didn't yet know that
this was the Lord, but he was preaching the gospel to them.
Christ should have suffered. It was God's purpose. It was
God's will for him to suffer. I'm sure he explained to them
how he, as a substitute, became guilty, and that's why he had
to suffer. He preached the gospel to them
from the Old Testament scriptures. And they drew nigh into the village,
where they went, and he made it as though he would have gone
further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for
it's toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went
in to tarry with them, and it came to pass, as he said of me
with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and break it, and
gave it to them, and their eyes were opened, and they knew him. And he vanished out of their
sight, and they said one to another, Did not our hearts burn within
us? while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to
us the scriptures. How was he identified to them
as Jesus of Nazareth? Turn to Acts chapter 24 for a
moment. This is after Paul has been arrested
and he's going to be tried. And after five days, Ananias,
the high priest, descended with the elders and with a certain
order named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul. And
when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying,
seeing that, now look at the way he butters him up, seeing
that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are
done to this nation by thy providence, as if he had anything to do with
providence, we accept it always, and in all places, most noble
Felix, with all thankfulness, notwithstanding that I be not
further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldst hear of
thy clemency a few words, for we have found this man, The Apostle
Paul, a pest, a disease, and a mover of sedition among
all the Jews throughout the world. He doesn't bring people together.
All he does is divide. A ringleader of the sect of the,
what? Nazarenes. The Nazarenes. You see, he shall
be called a Nazarene, and so will all his people, his followers. A ringleader of the sect of the
Nazarenes. Jesus of Nazareth. That's his name of humiliation,
but it's also his name of exaltation. Like when he appeared to Paul
as a light shining above the brightness of the sun. Who art
thou Lord? He first said, Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me? Who art thou Lord? I'm Jesus
of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. Jesus of Nazareth, the prophet. You've heard it said by them
of old, they didn't quote a scripture. Then say, but I say to you, I'm
the only one who gives the meaning. Nobody else can. It means what
I say it means. Jesus Christ, the prophet, mighty
in word, mighty in deed, Jesus of Nazareth, his name of humiliation,
the great prophet. Jesus of Nazareth. the priest
after the order of Melchizedek. He's the priest that doesn't
bring the blood of an animal that couldn't save anybody, but
he brings his own blood into the very presence of the Father.
And the Father accepts what he did. And the reason you'll be
accepted is because Jesus of Nazareth brought his blood to
the Father on your behalf, wiping away your sins and making you
acceptable before God. Jesus of Nazareth did that. Jesus
of Nazareth, the mighty King. Don't you love that hymn? I stand
amazed in the presence of Jesus, the Nazarene, and wonder how
he could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean, when with the ransomed
in glory, his face I at last shall see, to be my joy through
the ages, to sing of his love for me. How beautiful he shall be called a Nazarene,
his name of humiliation. And he still is Jesus of Nazareth
as he's seated at the right hand of the Father ruling and reigning,
and he's Jesus of Nazareth, meek and lowly in heart. And this
glorious God-man, Jesus of Nazareth, says, come unto me, all ye that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you'll find rest
for your souls. You see, my yoke is easy and
my burden is light. Jesus of Nazareth, the whole
gospel is found in his name. This is the message of the prophets. Let's pray. Lord, truly we bow down to thy
son, Jesus of Nazareth, your prophet, your priest, and your
king. Lord, we're amazed that you would
have your son grow up in that place. Of which it said, can
anything good thing come out of Nazareth? We know the only
good thing came out of Nazareth, thy glorious son. And it was
in Nazareth. He worked out our personal righteousness
and it was as Jesus of Nazareth. He was the savior of all your
people. Lord, give us the grace to rest
in him and how thankful we are for thy son, Jesus of Nazareth. In his blessed name we pray,
amen.