Scripture says great is the mystery
of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. In other words, the Lord God
from heaven, God Almighty, the creator of all things, walked
this earth and his name, his earthly name was Jesus. He is
the Lord Jesus Christ and yet He is God manifest in the flesh. Men did not know Him when He
came nor do many people know Him now. They speak of Him as
Jesus now and they spoke of Him as Jesus then. In Luke chapter
3 it says that Jesus began to be about 30 years of age being
as was supposed the son of Joseph. They suppose that he was the
son of Joseph and they thought he was merely the son of a woman
named Mary. But scripture said he is the
eternal son of the Most High God without beginning of days
or end of days. He is God in whom we live and
move and have our being. He is God that giveth life. Mary
did not give him life. No, God gave Mary life. Jesus Christ actually was the
father of the woman who bore him. What a mystery it is. Nevertheless,
it is true. Well, he came to Nazareth in
chapter 4 of Luke's Gospel. He came to Nazareth where he
had been brought up. And it was his custom, the custom
of the Jews back then, that a young man would stand up in his hometown
when he reached the age of 30 years old, and he would read
the Scripture. In Luke 4, verse 17, it was delivered
unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And he opened the book
and found the place, chapter 61, and he began to read from
it. Now stop right there. They gave
him the book to read. Had they known? Had they really
known who it was that stood before them? This is the author and
finisher of the faith. This is God who wrote the book.
This is His book. And yet they delivered unto Him
the book. He didn't need a copy of the
book. He is the book. Did you know that all scriptures
pertain to the Lord Jesus Christ? This is, as it were, the autobiography
of our God, of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's all about Him. Scripture
says Christ is all and in all. All the Scriptures from Genesis
to Revelation speak of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Genesis chapter
1, He's the Creator. He's the light of the world.
Chapter 3, He's the woman's seed. In Exodus, He's the Passover
lamb. Leviticus, He's the great atonement. Numbers, He's the brazen serpent. And in Deuteronomy, He's the
city of refuge. Joshua, He's the Scarlet Lion
in Rahab's window, Judge's angel of the Lord, Ruth, he's the kinsman
redeemer. Samuel, he's the sweet psalmist
of Israel. He's the covenant head. And Solomon,
that is, Kings, he's a greater than Solomon. A greater than
Solomon. And on and on it goes. It all
speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, he stood up to read in
his hometown of Nazareth, and he opened the place in Isaiah
61, and he read, and I quote, 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. End of quote. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Isaiah wrote
that, but he was speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord
said, they are they which testify of me. Do you know what the name
Christ means? It means the anointed one. When
he read, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed
me. That means He is the Christ.
No mere mortal man can say that, that I have the anointed. Whenever
you hear a man or a woman stand up and say, I have the anointed,
reject them. Run from that place. That person
is anti-Christ. They are taking, stealing the
glory of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Isaiah didn't write that
of himself. He wrote it of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ means anointed. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
Him. The Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit
descended upon the Lord Jesus Christ at His baptism to testify
to all that this is the Christ, the anointed one. And he said,
he sent me to preach the gospel to the poor. Oh, it pleased God
by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And
our Lord Jesus Christ came to preach the gospel to the poor. The first thing he said, the
first public message he brought was the Sermon on the Mount.
And he said, blessed are the poor in spirit. He sent me to
preach the gospel to the poor, Christ said, the poor. Christ
is riches for the poor. Those who have nothing, can do
nothing, know nothing. He's the riches of faith, of
wisdom, of righteousness, of sanctification, of redemption.
Christ is food for the hungry, water for the thirsty, righteousness
for the unrighteous, mercy for the guilty. He's an advocate
for those who can't afford one. He's the remitter of sin, the
redeemer for sinners. He said, He sent me to heal the
brokenhearted. That is, brokenhearted over sin. The second thing our Lord said
on His Sermon on the Mount was, Blessed are they that mourn.
Mourn over sin. They shall be comforted. Oh,
woe is me, I am undone, Isaiah said. Oh, wretched man that I
am, Paul said. But there's good news for the
mourning sinner. Good news, our Lord said after
He read this, this day is the Scripture fulfilled in your ear.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted. to heal the brokenhearted. He says, He sent me to preach
deliverance to the captive. Do you know that all men and
women and young people are held captive by the God of this world?
And unless a stronger than He binds Him and spoils His goods,
they will remain captive. Yes, Christ came to lead captivity
captive. That is, Deliver His people from
the captivity to the God of this world. You can't deliver yourself.
You can't make a decision and do that. No, Christ must bind
a strong man and take what is His. And He did, and He does.
He said, He has sent me to recover sight to the blind. Recover sight
to the blind. Our Lord healed a blind man by
taking something from his mouth, the saliva, the spittle from
his mouth. He took it and made clay and
anointed that man's eyes. And he saw after that. Well,
that's exactly how the Lord gives us sight. We're all born blind,
blind to who God is, blind to what we are, blind to the truth,
blind to this world, blind to the God of this world, blind
to the traps, the pits, the snares, all the temptations of the God
of this world, but God through His Word. He takes from the words
of His mouth and opens blind eyes. Christ went on to say,
He has sent me to set at liberty them that are bruised. There
is an old song we sing, Come ye sinners, poor and wretched,
weak and wounded, sick and sore, wounded, bruised by the fall,
Jesus Christ came to sit at liberty them that are bruised and beaten
and mangled by the fall. He sent me, Christ said, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. Today is the day of salvation.
The gospel is being preached. This is a time when God is accepting
sinners. No, He doesn't ask us to accept
Him. He's not up for acceptance or
rejection. We are. We're the ones that need
accepting. And Ephesians 1, 6 says we're
only accepted in the Beloved. Well, this is the time. This
is the year. This is the day when God is accepting
all applications for mercy. Ask. Call. Seek. Knock. You will be accepted. And he
closed the book, and he gave it to the minister, and he sat
down, the Scripture said. And everyone looked at him, and
they began to say, what gracious words these are. Is not this
Joseph's son? Is not this Joseph's son? Our
Lord said, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears, as every
other scripture is fulfilled in the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it went on to say to them,
you will surely say, position healed thyself. You'll say, what
we've heard done in Capernaum do here? They wanted to see some
signs, some miracles, some wonders. Oh, they heard His gracious words,
but apparently they weren't sinners in need of mercy. They weren't poor in need of
the gospel. How about you? Our Lord went
on to say something to them that caused them anger and wrath.
They at first wondered at the gracious words that proceeded
out of his mouth. They said, these are gracious
words. Doesn't he speak wonderfully? Doesn't he speak beautifully?
What gracious words. He's a good speaker. What a pleasant
man. And then he began to say something
that turned this synagogue of pretended worshipers into an
angry mob wanting to kill the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's
what he said. He said, I'll 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, great famine
throughout the land. But under none of them was Elijah
sent, save under Sarepta, a city of Sidon, under a woman that
was a widow. In other words, our Lord said,
when Elijah was prophet on this earth, God sent him to one woman,
not a Jew, but a Gentile, one woman. And he lived with her
for over a year. And God fed her and sustained
her. One widow woman, a Gentile. No Jews. God chose this one woman. And then our Lord went on to
say this in verse 27. I read. He said, Many lepers
were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. Lepers. None of them was cleansed, saving
Naaman the Syrian. In other words, our Lord said
when Elisha, the prophet that succeeded Elijah, when he was
preaching, God had him speak to and reveal the Lord God, and
God saved one man named Nahum, a leper, not a Jew, but a Gentile. And it says in verse 28, All
in the synagogue heard this, and they were filled with wrath. They were angry. They rose up,
thrust Him out of the city. They led Him to the brow of the
hill whereupon their city was built, that they might cast Him
down headlong. And He, passing through the midst
of them, went His way. They were trying to kill the
Lord Jesus Christ for what He said. Why? What did He say? What
He said was, Salvation is of the Lord. that salvation is by
the sovereign electing grace of God. It's God's will, not
man. God's choice, not man. That God
will save whom He will. This is the truth that angered
this mom. God, in His sovereign electing
grace and mercy, He has a right to save whom He will. And that's
exactly what He does. This is the truth. And they hated
it. What about you? What about you? He chose His disciples. In Mark's
Gospel it says, He went up into a high mountain and called unto
Him whom He would, and they came to Him. Same today. He saves
whom He will. Salvation is not your choice,
it's His. Salvation is not you electing Him, it's Him electing
you. Salvation is by the will of God, not the will of man.
Salvation is for the glory of God, not man. He won't share
His glory with another. His choice, His will, His power,
His work, His Son, His blood, His righteousness, not yours.
What do you think about that? It's the truth. Well, this crowd
wanted to kill him for saying that. They went from saying what
gracious words to hated words. Oh, if you don't love the truth,
God will pass you by too. I pray He will reveal Himself
to you. Amen.