We'll be looking at the Gospel
of Luke chapter 4 this morning. The Gospel of Luke chapter 4. Now scripture says that it pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. The
preaching of God's word is not foolishness, but it is what the
world calls foolishness. The world says, don't preach
to me. But God has chosen this means
to deliver the gospel, to deliver the truth, to save souls. Please
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. God
had one Son, one begotten, only begotten, well-beloved Son, and
He was a preacher. The Lord Jesus Christ came preaching
and teaching throughout all the land, in all the synagogues. He came to his hometown of Nazareth
as a 30-year-old man. He came where he was brought
up in verse 16. And it says, As his custom was,
he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up
for to read. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me. because he hath anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he
gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of
all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he
began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears. And all bare him witness, and
wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's
son? And he said unto them, You will
surely say unto me this proverb. position, heal thyself. Whatsoever
we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country.
And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in
his own country. Now the Lord came to his hometown
of Nazareth, and he preached, he read, And all eyes were on
Him. And it says they bear witness
to gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth. They were impressed
with His ability to read and to speak. But yet, when this
was all over, they wanted to throw Him off the cliff because
of what He said about God's sovereign election of a people. But at
this time, they bore witness of His gracious Word. And truly,
Grace poured from His lips. He is the gracious Lord and all
that He said is wonderful grace to sinners. And it says in verse
16, He came there and His custom was, as the custom was, He came
into the synagogue on the Sabbath time. I believe this means two
things. Number one, it was always His
habit, His manner to worship, to gather with the saints. as
it is all of God's people. They're addicted to, they must
be about the business of worshipping their God and their Father. And
so it was with the Lord Jesus Christ, always worshipping in
the synagogue and the temple on the Sabbath day. And it was
custom in that day for a man to come to his hometown when
he reached the age of 30, And he would stand up to read. And
so they did. They gave him the book, verse
17, the book of Isaiah, to read. They delivered him his book. How ironic this is that he's
the one that wrote the book. He's the author and the finisher.
And he's the subject of that book. Well, they delivered unto
him the book, and he turned to a place in Isaiah chapter 61. Isaiah 61. Now, he could have
chosen any place to read, and he did not need the book to read
it. He wrote it. He knew it. He is, he was the
Word personified, the Word made flesh and dwelt among us. He
could have chosen Isaiah 6 where Isaiah saw the Lord high and
lifted up. His train filled the temple and
the cherubs cried, Holy, Holy, Holy. That speaks of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He could have read from Isaiah
7 where it says, A virgin shall conceive and bear a son. Call
His name Immanuel. That being interpreted, God with
us. Yes, God was manifest in the
flesh and His name was Jesus Christ. He could have read from
Isaiah 9 where it says, A child is born, but the Son is given.
Call His name Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace, the Government shall be on His
shoulders. That's Jesus Christ. He could
have read from Isaiah 9. He could have read from Isaiah
11, which says, A rod of Jesse. The rod of Jesse shall come forth,
a branch shall grow out of his root, and the Spirit of the Lord
shall rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a spirit of counsel and might, a spirit of knowledge and the
fear of the Lord. Yes, that is Jesus Christ. He
could have read Isaiah 11. He could have read Isaiah 25
which said, He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord
God shall wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke
of His people shall He take away from off all the earth. For the
Lord has spoken it, and it shall be said in that day, Lo, this
is our God, We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This
is the Lord. We have waited for Him. We will
be glad and rejoice in His salvation." That's speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Yes, he could have read from
Isaiah 25. He could have read from Isaiah
32, which says, A king shall reign in righteousness. A man
shall be a hiding place. That's Jesus' cry. Yes, he could
have read from Isaiah 32. He could have read from Isaiah
42 which says, servants, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. He shall not fail, nor be discouraged. Yes, that speaks of the Lord
Jesus Christ, for all the prophets bear witness of Him." They were
written concerning Christ, and it could have read from Isaiah
49. It says that the Lord will send
a light to the Gentiles and a covenant to the people. That's Jesus Christ. The light of the world. The covenant
head. He could have read from Isaiah
49. He could have read from Isaiah
53. Despised and rejected. A man
of sorrows. Acquainted with grief. But He
bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. Wounded. Bruised. With His stripes we are healed.
led as a sheep to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shearers
is done. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He made his soul an offering
for sin. He saw the travail of his soul was satisfied. He made
intercession for the transgressors. He bore their sins away." Yes,
he could have read from Isaiah 53, but he chose Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61 he chose. And here's
what it says in Isaiah 61, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.
Now, Isaiah wrote that, but he was not speaking of himself.
The name Christ means the anointed one. And there is only one. One Christ who was anointed by
God to be the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of His people, the
covenant head, the Redeemer. There's only one. Do not listen
to any man or woman who says, I am anointed. Don't listen to
them. Jesus Christ is the Anointed One. The Spirit of the Lord is
upon me. At His baptism, the Spirit of
God ascended upon Him, descended upon Him in the shape of a dove
at His baptism. Scripture says that He's declared
to be the Son of God with power by the Spirit of holiness and
the resurrection from the dead. Scripture says without controversy,
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit. Luke
3, verse 21 says He has the Spirit, the Holy Ghost descended upon
Him. Chapter 4 says He was full of the Spirit. Yes, Jesus Christ
is the Anointed One. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
Me, He said, because He hath anointed Me to do this, to preach
the Gospel to the poor. The Gospel, the good news of
pardon for sin, of mercy, for the guilty, to the poor, that
is, the poor in spirit. In his Sermon on the Mouth, that's
the first thing he said, blessed are the poor. Poor. Poor in spirit,
that is. Wretched, miserable, poor, blind
and naked, poor who have nothing, who have no righteousness, no
goodness, no merits, no faith. They need salvation as a gift,
a complete gift. They are beggars in need of mercy. Blessed are the poor. He sent
me to preach the gospel to the poor. Are you poor? Christ said,
He sent me to heal the brokenhearted. That is, the brokenhearted over
sin. Many people are brokenhearted
over many things, and I do not make light of that. But he is
speaking of being brokenhearted over sin. A broken and a contrite
heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise. Those that know the plague of
their heart. Solomon wrote, this temple was
erected and Jesus Christ came to heal the broken hearted over
sin. Hearts broken over trials and
afflictions and troubles in this world, this sinful world. Christ
said, I have come to heal the broken hearted. Yes, the gospel
is healing. The balm of Gilead for broken
hearted sinners. To preach deliverance to the
captive. Christ came to preach deliverance to the captive. The
Pharisees said to Him, ìWeíve never been in bondage to anyone.î
But thatís not true. All human beings are in bondage
to sin, Satan, and this world until Christ comes to deliver
them. He is called the Deliverer. And He came to preach deliverance
to the captive. He came to lead captivity captive. To take His people from being
captive to Satan, sin, and this world. And now they are willing
captives to Him, to the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, He sent
Me to recover sight to the blind. All men and women are born blind.
Blind to who God is. They can't see God in creation.
They can't see God. They can't see themselves for
what they are, sinners. Sinners in the hands of an angry
God. They can't see Christ, their need of Christ. They can't see
this world as the perishing place that it is, the evil place that
it is. Christ said, I have come to give
sight to the blind. He said, I'm come to set at liberty
them that are bruised, bruised and mangled by the fall, the
song says. Christ came to set at liberty,
to free those tormented by the God of this world and bruised
by this sin that's in the world. And he said, he sent me to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. When the gospels preach, God
is accepting sinners. Oh, God is not accepted by us. He's not up for acceptance or
rejection. But we are. We are up for acceptance
or rejection by God. And Christ said, He sent me to
preach the gospel of acceptance. Accepted in the beloved Ephesians
1, 6 says. Acceptance for guilty sinners. in Christ and Christ alone. Yes,
this, when the Gospel is preached, it is the acceptable year of
the Lord. And Christ closed the book. He closed the book. And He said, this day is the
Scripture fulfilled in your ears. And this day you've heard what
Christ preached, and you've heard His Word from His mouth. Oh,
may the Lord open your blind eyes, recover you from being
captive, and set you in Christ. Amen.