And in Luke 4, you'll see why
in looking at Isaiah 61, we have to refer to Luke chapter 4, beginning in verse 16. And he,
the Lord, came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He was
called the Nazarene. That's where he grew up. And as his custom was, he went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for a read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written. He found what we call
chapter 61, the first part of the chapter. The spirit of the
Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel.
It says in glad tidings. 61 that's what the gospel is
to the poor he had 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 again to
the minister and sat down in the eyes of all them that were
in the synagogue were fastened on him And he began to say unto
them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bear him witness and
wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.
And they said, is not this Joseph's son? How can this just be? Joseph's son The gracious words,
can you imagine how the Lord it says he began to say In other
words, that's not all he said the gracious words that proceeded
out of his mouth. We won't Know what they are tonight
all of them But he took that passage of scripture in Isaiah
61 where we read and he began with gracious words to talk about
how God saves sinners and because that's what it's about. It says, the Lord has anointed
me. The Lord has anointed me. That
word is Christ. That's the verb form of it. To
say it in the literal, I guess, way would be, he has Christed
me. It's the verb form. And I thought it was interesting
in the scripture, when it's talking about Christ, it's not a noun.
It's not, like the word preacher, for example, is a noun. But Christ
is an adjective, normally. It describes him, it's a descriptive
word of who he is. I just thought that was interesting. But here, it's the verb form
of it. And so what the Lord is saying in this passage is the
same thing that he said in a different way in John 17. And it's important,
I believe, for us to see that here. And here's what I mean
by that. He's saying the same thing in
different language. Our text is a description of
the father sending his son to this earth. He anointed his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to come
and preach the gospel to the poor. So it's
talking about the Father sending him, how he sent him, and why
he sent him, and what was accomplished by him sending him. And so listen
to John 17, two, where the Lord said, as thou hast given him,
that's me, power over all flesh, You gave me power over all flesh. And remember, this is verse two.
In the first verse, he said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify
thy son, that thy son may also glorify thee, as thou hast given
him power over all flesh. In other words, anointed me.
You gave him authority over everybody and everything. Made him Lord
of all. That he should give eternal life.
In our text, the corresponding language there is preach the
gospel. Isn't that how he does it? How he gives eternal life?
The disciples said, you have the words of eternal life, the
gospel. So you've given him power over
all flesh that he should give eternal life or preach the gospel
to as many as thou hast given him. There's the poor, the brokenhearted,
the captive, the blind. That's who are given to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now this is why the Lord said
to the Pharisees in John chapter nine, if you were blind, you
would have no sin. Now think about that statement. That's what he said to them at
the end of John chapter nine. He said to the Pharisees, now
you say we see and therefore your sin remains. But if you
were blind, you would have no sin. Well, that's what he's saying
here. If you were one of these blind
ones that he was sent to save, then you'd be saved, whether
you knew it yet or not. Because whoever he came to save
is saved. The Lord don't fail. He does
what he wants to do. If he came to seek you and save
you, then you're sought and saved sooner or later. And you are,
whether you know it or not. So these blind ones here are
those that the Father gave him. They have no sin because they're
given to Christ. Of God are you in Christ Jesus,
who has made unto you righteousness. He put away their sin by the
sacrifice of himself. So that's why he said that. If
you were blind, if you were one of these ones I was sent to give
eternal life to, then you'd have it and your sin would be gone. But you say we see, therefore
your sin remaineth. So the Lord makes an amazing
statement there in Luke 4.21. He's saying that this passage
of scripture that I just read is me. It's me. The Lord anointed me. When he read that, he meant me. When I said me, I meant him.
So it's talking about me. And it's him saying it. The Lord has sent me. It's his
word. It's me talking about me. That's
what he's saying and it is And he said what I said about
me then is coming to pass today in your ears It's happening in your ears not
just in this room in your ears that brings it right to you right
home doesn't it What he's doing in the passage
there in Luke 4 is preaching the gospel to the poor. There
were some there that were the ones he was sent to preach to. There's only one
gospel message, and it is for a specific people.
Blessed are the poor in spirit. That distinguishes them from
everybody else. The poor in spirit are blessed
of God. And theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Not theirs is a chance to get into the kingdom of heaven.
He's giving you the kingdom if you're one of these. They
don't get a shot at it, they get it. It's your father's good
pleasure to give you the kingdom. It's the gospel that he preached
that causes sinners to be poor in spirit. Think about that for
a minute. And then promises them everything. Blessed are the poor in spirit
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And I'll tell you what,
you know this. That preaching is what causes
you, you don't just, that doesn't just happen by nature. You're
not just gonna go through life and one day without ever hearing
from God say, Boy, I'm spiritually bankrupt. I've got no value spiritually. None. My net worth is zilch when
it comes to spiritual things. It's not just gonna happen. You're
gonna have to preach the gospel to you. And then, when you realize
you're one of those, the promise of you inherit everything. The
kingdom of heaven is yours. And you might think this, well,
everybody's poor in spirit, Chris. Not the way our Lord is using
the phrase. They are not. Think about it this way now.
He said in Mark 2, 17, they that are whole have no need of the
physician, but they that are sick. And we don't have to wonder what
he meant by that, because he told us right after that, he
said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Those that aren't sinners, they're
not spiritually sick, then they don't need the doctor. They don't
need the great physician. But those that are sick do. Well,
isn't everybody spiritually sick by nature? In a sense, yes, but
it's a question of owning it. Think with me here and don't
miss this. It's a question of you owning it. Because listen
to what he said to the Pharisees. I'm gonna read that passage I
quoted from a while ago. The Pharisees were blind, but
they said, we see. Everybody is a sinner, but the
Pharisees said, we be not sinners. And I've heard people in religion
say, I used to be a sinner. Well, I was a bad sinner. You
were. The Apostle Paul said, oh, wretched
man that I am. I'm a wretch. That word is too
strong for some people. They had to take it out of the
song Amazing Grace. It saved a soul like me instead
of a wretch like me, because that's pretty strong. That's
not strong enough. Paul said, I'm a wretch. I'm a wretch. Not I used to be. John 941, Jesus said unto them,
if you were blind, you should have no sin. Well, weren't they
blind? They couldn't see the Lord. Here's
what he means by that. But now you say we see. It's a question of owning it. Therefore your sin remaineth.
You see what he's saying by it? It's not complicated. God has
to bring us to the place where we say with Bartimaeus, if the
Lord ever speaks the gospel to us, you know the gospel, the
good news is that the Lord Jesus comes where the sinner is. And
he asked Bartimaeus, what do you want me to do for you? And
you remember what he said, Lord, that I might receive my sight. Oh, I'm blind. I'm blind. But I sure would like to see.
And think of the spiritual truth of that. Remember what David
said, I want to dwell in the house of the Lord forever, that
I might behold his beauty. I want to see him. I want to
see the glory of God in his face. That's what I want. And if you're
ever blind, that's what you'll want. And to those people, those that
the Father gave him, which is By the way, what the Lord taught
in conjunction with this passage, those if you have any doubt,
those blind and poor and broken hearted, that's talking about
his elect. He came to preach the gospel to his people. He
came to tend his garden, not to feed the weeds. Now listen,
if you have any doubt, listen, in the same Luke 4, 25, just
a little bit further down, he said this to those same people.
He said, I tell you of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in
the day of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six
months, when great famine was throughout all the land, but
unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of
Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. He was sent to that one broken-hearted,
poor, hopeless widow. Not to the others. And then he
went on. And many lepers were in Israel
in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed,
saving Naaman the Syrian. He's sent to the broken-hearted,
isn't he? The spiritually bankrupt. And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, they were filled with wrath.
Just a little while before, they were saying, boy, his words are
so gracious. I've had people say to me, boy,
that was a beautiful message. And then one day, they heard
what I was saying, and they didn't like it as much anymore. He saves who he wants to save.
He came to seek and to save that which was lost. His name is Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. He's not gonna
come give everybody a chance to be saved. He's gonna save
his people. Well, Chris, am I one of those? I don't know. Do you
believe on him? Do you love him? Do you need him? Are you poor? Are you brokenhearted over your
sin and what you are, not just what you've done, but what you
are? They were filled with wrath because
they weren't poor in spirit. They weren't blind. They weren't
prisoners. You see, when the Lord comes to a prisoner and
he passes by a whole block of prisoners and says, I've come
to set you free, they don't say, well, that's not fair. They say, bless God, I'm free. The gospel which the anointed
one preached, in which he sent his disciples to preach, by the
way, let me say this. When he said to the Pharisees,
if the Son shall make you free, you'll be free indeed. Do you
know that they had a problem with that? That's what I'm talking
about here. They weren't prisoners. They said, well, we're not bound
by any man. Really? Then I guess he's not talking
to you. I've got a free will. I guess
he's not talking to you then. He's talking to those whose will
is under the bondage of sin and who couldn't will something good
if their life depended on it, and it does. Listen the gospel which the anointed
one the one anointed of God to preach preached that gospel that
he preached He's commissioned us to preach it And it's not
a gospel for those who have a decision to make It's not for them. It's good news for the poor Now
you think about that It's not a gospel for those who have a
decision to make. When you're preaching good news
to the poor, you're not saying you just need to decide not to
be poor anymore. Good news to the poor is Everything's yours The kingdom
of heaven is yours. That's good news to a poor man
Not you need to just decide Not to be poor think about that spiritually
speaking tell that woman who pictured our spiritual condition
in Matthew chapter 9 who had an issue of blood and she's dying
and She's been to every doctor. She knows she spent all of her
money the scripture says and only grew worse Go tell her you
just need to decide not to be poor anymore and then you can
afford all the doctors, you know, better doctors maybe. You don't
just decide not to be poor, especially spiritually. His gospel is healing for the
brokenhearted. Why don't you just go tell somebody
that just lost somebody really close to him, a child maybe. Well, you know, you just need
to decide not to be so sad. You see how this gospel comes?
It doesn't come to people who have a decision to make. It just
doesn't. It comes to the broken hearted.
Now he could have said, the Lord anointed me to preach an opportunity
for those who have a decision to make. He could have said that,
if that's what it was, but he didn't say that, did he? It's healing for the broken hearted,
that's what it is. Tell Job on the ash heap, having
just lost everything he had and everybody that he loved. And
I thought about this when I was thinking about old Job. I wrote
down, I typed it out, you know, he lost everybody he loved. You
know, the devil let his wife live. Think about that for a
second. And it's not about her being
a woman or anything about that. It's somebody he let live just
because he knew that it would make Job suffer even more. I
don't want to be that person to you. Think about it. The Lord
said, you can do anything you want to him. Just don't take
his life. And he let his wife live. And
she said, Job, why don't you just curse God and die? That's
why he let her live. But everything is taken away
from him in a day, in a single day. Go tell him, just decide
not to be so sad, Job. You don't need to be so tore
up about that. Just make a decision. That's
not the gospel. No, Job needed to hear from God.
That's what he needed. And by God's grace, he did. And
if you're one of these spiritually brokenhearted ones, that's what
you need to. You don't need a chance. You
need to hear from God. Deliverance to the captives. This is the gospel of free almighty
grace. He opens the door. He preaches
deliverance. The opening of the door to them
who are in prison. You can't just decide you don't
want to be in prison anymore, can you? Guard, go get the warden. I need to talk to the warden.
I've decided I'd like to be free now. What passes for a gospel in most
places that pass for churches these days is just as ridiculous
as that. The Lord Jesus Christ can preach
deliverance to those who are spiritually captive to the law
and justice of God because he's paid the ransom for their souls. That's how he can come and say,
you're free. Because he paid your debt. Not with silver and gold, but
with his own precious blood. That's why he said, if the sun
shall make you free, you plumb free. You shall be free indeed, because
he made full atonement at Calvary for all that he died to save. He didn't make salvation possible.
It says in Galatians 3.13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. That's what he did. That's what he accomplished. I believe it says, liberty to
the captives in the opening of the prison to the bound, not
to be repetitive. You say, well, that's the same
thing. If you open the prison to the bound, you're releasing
the captive. It's not just being repetitive
here, though. It speaks of two different aspects of our salvation. There's the legal aspect of it.
That's the captive. You've been captured and put
away because you deserved it. And the Lord sets you free. But
there's also this aspect to it. It doesn't have anything to do
with the law. I just want to be free. I just want to be free. That's
the bound. You're bound. But you need to
be free. Verse two back in our text, to
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance
of our God to comfort all that mourn. Now this acceptable year
of the Lord is, it refers to the year of jubilee when all
slaves and prisoners were set free and debts were canceled. That's the gospel to a sinner,
you're free. Your debt's been paid, it's canceled,
it's blotted out. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ. That's the year of Jubilee. How
beautifully it pictures the gospel. The day of vengeance of our God
seems to be contrary to the year of Jubilee. Wait a minute, is
it a day of joy or is it a day of vengeance? It's both. The only way for you to have
any joy, to be set free, for your debt to be canceled, is
for the vengeance of God to be satisfied. Is it forgiveness
or is it wrath? It's both. Is it mercy or justice?
Yes. Justice was served at Calvary
when all of God's wrath against those for whom he died was poured
out upon the Lord Jesus Christ. But mercy was freely bestowed
upon those same sinners. The ones whose place he took. All for whom he suffered. You're
free, your debt is canceled. And so God in all of his glorious
attributes. Both wrath and mercy and all
the others is glorified. in Christ crucified and only
there really. He said this, to comfort all
that mourn, all who mourn over their sin, the broken hearted,
spiritually broken hearted. We mourn our sin nature, our
sin and our sins. Our sin is what we are and our
sins are what we've done and we mourn. We're sorry, we regret
it. cry out, who shall deliver me? And they only find comfort in
him who has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. You know, you might comfort somebody
that's mourning in a physical sense just by being with them.
by them knowing that you love them. And the Lord does that spiritually.
Does it not comfort you to know that he's with you and that he
loves you? But more than that, he comforted
me in my sorrow and grief by taking it, taking it away and burying it
in himself. In verse three, to appoint unto
them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes. Scripture never ceases to amaze. Why does it stutter there? Why
does it say to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion? To give unto
them. He already said to appoint unto them. Why didn't it just
go on? Because he appoints it and he
gives it. That's why. And it's important for us to
see that. It's appointed and given. He purposed it and he
brought it to pass. He not only purposes it, he doesn't
just purpose stuff and then like see what's gonna happen. He said,
I've purposed it, I shall bring it to pass. I've spoken it and
shall I not do it? If he ordained your salvation,
then he comes and saves you. He didn't leave it up to you. I tell you something right now.
You don't ever want to leave anything up to a sinner if you
can help it. And God's smarter than you. Don't leave it up to them. Everything we do is full of sin. He promises it and He provides
it. And it's promised and provided
for them that mourn. Again, we're reminded of what's
called the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5. Blessed are they that
mourn. We've spoken of the poor already. He said there in Matthew
5, blessed are the poor in spirit. It doesn't have to do with how
much money you've got. It's poor in spirit. And blessed
are they that mourn spiritually, for they shall be comforted. You can't see your sin without
seeing Christ. You're just not gonna be able
to do it, are you? You don't know what light is unless you
know what darkness is, unless you've experienced darkness.
And then the light comes and you say, well, I see the light. And you can't mourn your sin
without seeing him crucified for it. And you can't see anything without
him giving you sight. That's the gospel he said he
was sent to preach. Recovering of sight to the blind,
Luke 4, 18. Recovering of sight. You see
this gospel, how this gospel comes? It comes to those who
are utterly destitute, poor, brokenhearted, in prison, none
of which you can just decide not to be. And he makes it all good. He makes it all good. That's
why it's called good news. Your sins are gone, you're free,
you're free indeed. That's the gospel he preaches,
and that's the gospel he sent us to preach. He said, as the
Father has sent me, so send I you. So it was ordained and given,
it was ordained For and given to a peculiar people, but what
is it that was ordained and given? We see that in the text there,
don't we? An exchange. An exchange. A swap. Beauty for ashes. What a gospel. Righteousness
for sin. An exchange. For he hath made
him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. Beauty for ashes. It also says
the oil of joy for mourning, M-O-U-R, sorrow, grief, sadness. So it has to do with how we stand
before God. Beauty for ashes, that's righteousness
for sin. But also it has to do with how
we feel. The oil of joy for mourning. We sing that beautiful song,
one of my very favorites. There is a place where Jesus
sheds the oil of gladness on our heads. That's what it said
there in our tape. The oil of joy for mourning.
A place than all besides more sweet. And we know where that is, don't
we? It's the blood-bought mercy seat. It's Christ. It's the one
place where God said, I will meet with you there and commune
with you. I'll be your friend there, right there. It's Christ and him crucified.
And also it says the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
When the Lord takes from us the spirit of heaviness, and that
word, if you look it up in the original, it means darkness.
I'm not sure why they didn't just translate it darkness, or
it can mean weakness. When the Lord takes that spirit
from us, the dark darkness, out of my darkness and into thy light,
Jesus, I come to thee. When he takes that away, what
do we do? We praise him. That's the garment of praise.
Listen to what happened here in Acts 3, 6. Then Peter said,
silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee.
Speaking to this lame man, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
rise up and walk. And he took him by the right
hand and lifted him up. And immediately his feet and
ankle bones received strength. And he, leaping up, stood and
walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and
leaping and praising God. Praise happens, now listen, this
is when praise happens, when we fail and he saves us. If it's a cooperative effort,
then there may be congratulations exchanged, but praise happens
when we do nothing and he does everything. Praise happens when
he, when you are the problem, and he's the solution. Praise
happens not in response to opportunity but in response to salvation. God did something for that man
that he could not do for himself and neither could anybody else
and he walked and leaped and praised God. That's how it works. And he does it this way so that
the appropriate thing to call us, he does what he does And
look back at our text in Isaiah 61. There are many things that
the Lord calls us. We're called the Lord our righteousness,
just like his name is the Lord our righteousness, so is our
name, the Lord our righteousness. That's in Jeremiah. But look,
among other things, and this is often mentioned in scripture
in one form or another, he calls us trees of righteousness. Trees of righteousness. Now there's
different kinds of trees and you know it bites fruit. That's
why he said that before, right? Trees of righteousness. So that's
what he's referring to here. Trees that are alive, trees that
live, they produce something. Not all of it's edible, but every
plant produces some kind of seed or some kind of fruit. And listen
to what the Lord said. In John 15, 5, I'm the vine and
you're the branches. And that word vine, we think
of a vine, we think of like a little skinny thing running along a
fence or something, that's not the word there. It can be tree,
it can be anything, it just, the picture is, you're what branches
off from him. Whatever you wanna call that,
a tree. But he said this, he that abideth
in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For
without me, you can do nothing. But in Christ and he in you,
you bear fruit, trees of righteousness. John the Baptist preached in
Matthew 3.10 and he said this, now also the ax is laid unto
the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which bringeth
not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. That's the ones that abide not
in the vine or the tree, abide not in Christ. Whatever the other
word is, it's just a picture of him. If you don't abide in
Christ, there you are. You bear evil fruit, bad fruit,
and you're just cut down. And he mentions that there in John
15. If the vine doesn't bear, if the branches don't bear any
fruit, then they're cut down and cast into the fire. Those
are those who do not abide in Christ. You don't live in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And don't miss this next part
in our text, the planting of the Lord. You didn't just spring
up naturally. You did, but that's not the tree
of righteousness. You were just born into this
world naturally, but it's not talking about you in that regard.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And the flesh profiteth
nothing. You must be born again. That's
the planting of the Lord. The planting of the Lord. We
are what we are by the grace of God. That's what Paul said. I am what I am by the grace of
God. We live because of him, because
he planted us. If I plant a tree, it may or
may not live. But if he does, it lives. And he said, we'll
bear much fruit because of him, because we're in him. And we
are, as we're described in Psalm 1-3, he shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit
in his season. His leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Well, how can that be? I do stuff
all the time. I think, I believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, but I fail all the time. Yeah, but here's what
that's talking about. Everything you do and everything
that's done to you and everything that's done around you is gonna
be for your good. It's gonna further your prospering
spiritually. Because he planted us, and he
planted us in him by the rivers of water. The source of our strength
and life and prosperity is Christ, the river of life. And we shall
not want. And then we'll just close with
this last phrase in this verse, that he might be glorified. How repugnant, even to those
who know the Lord, much less to God himself, is the false
gospel that glorifies man. It has God waiting on man. God's
done everything he can do, but it's all a disaster unless you
do something. Who's getting the glory in that?
Everything God has done, everything he's done, is in vain unless
you come through. and do the right thing. It's not going to be about you.
It's just not. The success of all that God has
done is not up to you. He said, I purposed it and I
gave it. I did it. I accomplished it. The gospel
that God sent his son to preach and the son sent us to preach
is preached so that God might be glorified in the saving of
sinners. He's sovereign to save. He said, I'll have mercy on who
I'll have mercy. And he does. Where's your glory
in that? By grace are you saved through
faith. And that's not of yourself. That's the gift of God. You believing
on Christ is God's gift to you. Not the other way around. Not
of works lest any man should boast. Salvation is of the Lord. God
purposed it. God purchased it. God performed
it. And God perpetuates it. If he
drops you tonight, you're gone. But he won't. He said, I'll never
forsake you. If you're in his hand, you can't
be plucked out. And we sing and we pray and we
preach and we praise him. And this day is this scripture
fulfilled. He said he'd do it, that he might
be glorified, and I believe we're here for that reason tonight. He even has to enable us to do
that. We'll fail to glorify him if
he doesn't give us grace. But before God, that's what we
desire. to glorify him, so that's fulfilled. In our ears, he said he would
get the glory in this gospel, and he does. He is. He will. And may he always be
glorified in this place.