I hope you still got Luke chapter 4. I want to bring a message on Christ in his hometown. In his hometown, it says there in verse 16, and when he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, As his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.

Now, you remember that our Lord Jesus had been 40 days and 40 nights without food or water, tempted of the devil. And he was tempted to sin in all points like us, yet without sin. He was tempted, you know, there's three things that Pride of life, lust of the fresh, pride of life, and pride of eyes, and lust of the eyes. And our Lord was tempted in all of those things. He was tempted, you know, in lust of the flesh. Command that this, if you're hungry, command these stones to be made bread. He was tempted, you know, in the pride of life when he took him up and said, I'll give you all these kingdoms of the world. And then he was tempted in the lust of the eyes. And he says, you know, he said, listen, you fall off this building here and God will save you. God will save you.

But our Lord Jesus Christ went through all those things, and yet he never tempted, he never was even tempted to sin. Tempted in all points like us, yet without sin. He could not even, he could not even consider sin in any way. The only time He ever knew sin was when God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. That's the only time Christ was made to be sin, when God made Him to be sin, when He was wounded for our transgressions, when He was bruised for our iniquities. when God laid on him the iniquity of us all. That's the only time Christ was ever made to be sin. And then he turns around and makes us the righteousness of God in him. All the righteousness that Christ is and all he accomplished and everything he did, God made us that way. What a transaction. What a How do you express? How do you express that? That he became what we were, that we could became what he is. How do you do it?

But our Lord Jesus Christ tempted to the flesh, the world, and the false worship. And now he returns, it says in verse 14, Now he returns in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. And a fame went through him throughout all the region round about. You know, he was led of the Spirit into the wilderness, now he returns in the power of the Spirit. And a fame went around about him. And a fame went around about him.

And a lot of people use the name Jesus, and they use it a lot, but I tell you what, The words, and they said they was, fame went around about him through all the region and the words that he spoke. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ, he ought to have, he had to, you know, we cannot exalt him enough. You know, when he says fame, we could not possibly understand the words that he spoke and the things that he did. and yet his fame went all around, and yet when it was all said and done, his fame led him to a cross. His fame led him to the cross where he was crucified.

How could he go to this time of Babylon, being that fame all over? And how he was, people said, oh, he's so, he's glorified, and yet, here he was, all this fame, and then the next thing you know, a little over three years later, he's dead. Crucified. Crucified. But his fame went all around.

And look what it says, and he taught in verse 15, And he taught in their synagogues, and listen to this, being glorified of all. You know what he taught? He taught things they'd never heard before. They'd never heard, so they'd never heard Genesis like he said it. When he spoke, the one he was speaking, the one who was teaching in their synagogues, was the one who said, let there be light, and there was. The one who said, created the heavens and the earth, and he said it was done. This is who we're talking about here. And our Lord Jesus Christ taught in their synagogues, and they heard words they'd never heard before. And all he did works they'd never seen before.

And I tell you, I look so forward, I look so forward to one day, I've heard his voice and his word, I've heard his voice in the gospel. I've heard his voice through preaching. But one of these days, I'm going to hear his voice for myself with new ears. I'll see him with new eyes, worship him with a new heart. What a day, what a day, what a day that's going to be. And oh, he taught things that they've never heard before.

And then it says he was glorified of all. And I'll tell you this, everybody ought to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. He's worthy of all of our glory. He's worthy for us to honor Him. He's worthy for us to worship Him. He's worthy of us to glorify Him. He's worthy of us exalting Him. He is worthy of all things. Can we glorify Him high enough? Can we glorify Him enough?

Oh my, but this wouldn't last. It wouldn't last. And then, you know, our Lord Jesus Christ, these verses from 16 to 30 are the only in the book of Luke and no place else. And let me, let me read them down here too. You know, he goes on down and it says, He said in verse 24, he said, I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. And we'll deal with this next week. 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 famines throughout all the land. Unto them was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta, city of Sidon. And there were many a widow, and there were many lepers in the time of Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, save in the name of the lepers.

And look what he said in verse 28. Now, if they just got through sin, they all glorified him. And all then the synagogue, when they heard these things, they were filled with wrath. They started talking about the gracious words that he said. Now they're angry. They're mad at him. What was they mad about? Election. What was they mad about? God's will, God's sovereignty, God's grace. That's what they was mad about. And they rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill, where on the city that they might cast him down. What did our Lord do? Walked right out among them. All right, let me go back to what I was saying.

And these verses describe the first visit that our Lord paid to the city of Nazareth after he had left. where He had been brought up. The scripture said He had been brought up in the city of Nazareth. And they show our Lord's preaching and our Lord's persecution. But look at His preaching. Look at His preaching. And it comes down here in verse 16, He came to Nazareth.

We had brought up, and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. Stood up for to read. Our Lord I want you to pay attention to this. Our Lord gave great honor to public worship and the Word. As His custom was, He went to the synagogue. And a synagogue, this is not the temple, this is the local assembly. There, He went among the synagogues, taught in their synagogues. And this is a local assembly, just a group of people meeting together, a bunch of Jews gathering together on Saturday.

And they gathered together there to worship. They gathered there to read the scriptures. They gathered there to pray. And they gathered there to be taught. And our Lord Jesus Christ, he gave great honor to public worship and the Word of God. You know, he stood up to read. He stood to read what?

The scriptures. We do the same thing. And then the Jews in this particular time, they would have seven people read the scriptures in each service. There'd be a priest, there'd be a Levite, and then there'd be five regular Jews, men of the congregation. They'd all stand up to read. And he went to the place of public worship, the local assembly. And here's the thing, and I'm up here preaching today, up here teaching today. But then, you know, the scribes and Pharisees, they were the teachers. They were the preachers. And they were the main teachers of the Jews.

Now, one thing they did not have, they did not have the presence of the Spirit of God. They did not have the Holy Ghost. They did not have the presence of God's power upon them. All they had was the law. All they had was the letter. All they had was rituals and ceremonies and Sabbath keepings and worships and feasts. That's all they had to teach. And they taught the outer man. That's the only person they could teach. There was no heart teaching. No heart learning. They just taught tradition and tradition and tradition. And this was a situation when our Lord visited, the scripture said he stood up for to read. And then he preached. And this is the day that the fathers recognized and the word was read and our Lord Jesus honored it, honored it.

I've been in congregations before, and these are grace churches too that's done this. Whenever they'd read the Bible, everybody'd stand up. I think they do that out in Montana. I think, if I remember right, when a man read the scriptures, everybody stood up. They honored God's Word. This is to be respected. This is to be magnified. The Word of God is the only thing that God said He'd use. Not our thoughts, not our opinions, not our feelings, not our ideas, but His Word. And He stood up for the read. And if our Master, if our Master didn't take lightly a local assembly, a group like us here today, Neither should we.

Were there things wrong? Yes. Yes. But our Lord went. Can things be done better? Yes. Is the Holy Spirit always blessing us to hear and to be involved in the service? No. But here's the thing. Is the truth told? Is Christ honored? Is the Gospel preached? That is what's more important than anything else.

Is the Word given its proper place in the Scriptures? Is the Word given its proper place in when we gather together? Is the Word given its proper place? And you know, our Lord told a group one time, He said, You know, if there's no place, you find no place for the Word. You find no place for the Word.

And I tell you, when we gather in this local assembly, we gather in His name. Our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 18, 20, as wherever two or three are gathered together, in my name, in my name, in my name, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the name of the Lord of glory, if anybody gathers together in my name, To honor me, to glorify me, He said, I'm in the midst.

I'll be right there. I'll be right there. And what is it to gather in His name? First and foremost is to seek His glory. That's the first thing we do when we gather in His name. What are we going to do to glorify Christ today? How are we going to honor Him today? How are we going to magnify Him today? How are we going to exalt Him today? And I'll tell you the second thing reason we gather in his name is to seek his mercy.

I'm here in need of mercy. I'm here in need of grace. That's why I'm here. I need mercy. I need grace. He said, let us come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy in time of need. Oh, if we can ever find somebody in time of need, Where's the need? Where's the need for mercy? Where's the need for grace? Where's the need for Christ?

And all my eyes to seek his mercy. And I'll tell you what, not justice, but mercy. Not reward, but mercy. Not recognition, but mercy. That publican smote his breast and said, God, be merciful, merciful to me. I don't care what you do for him, but be merciful to me. To me.

And I tell you, not only the third thing is, is that we seek his righteousness. We come to seek the only righteousness there is, the righteousness of Christ. Paul said, I want to be found in him, not having my own righteousness, but the righteousness which is by faith of Jesus Christ. And I'll tell you another reason.

We're here seeking his sheep. Seeking his sheep. They asked him, he said, I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep which are not of this fold." Well, there's some of these Pharisees, and they came to him and asked him. They said this, they said, if you be the Christ, tell us plainly. And he said, I've told you, and you don't believe. Why don't you believe? Because you're not my sheep.

My sheep hear my voice. We're on the trail of God's sheep. And every once in a while, one of them's found. You know how they find out they're found? My sheep hear my voice. What happens when they hear my voice? Well, they follow me. They fall right in behind me. They follow me. Oh, follow me.

Look what he read now. Look what he read. And then verse 17, it says, look what it says. And that was delivered unto him. He stood up to read. And they brought him the book of Isaiah. That's Isaiah 61, 1 and 2 is the verses that he was. And look what it says. And when he had opened the book, he opened it up. And watch what it says. He found the place. He found the place where it was written. Did you notice that?

He stood up to read, and He stood up to preach. This is the only recorded place in the scriptures where He read. No place else is where He read. And they gave Him, He stood up, and all attention, look what it says, all of attention was on Him. And all, look in verse 20, and all the eyes of all them there was synagogue fastened upon Him.

He opened this book, this book of Isaiah, and let me tell you something. The book is closed to us until he opens it. We don't understand what the scripture says until Christ teaches us and makes the scriptures open to us. Everything's closed until Christ opens it to us. And that's why he said in Revelation, he says, worthy is the lamb who is able to take the book It opened the seven seals. Oh, he was the only one able to open the books.

And look what it says there again in verse 17. And he found the place. You reckon he didn't know where it was? He had to look for it? He found the place. What place? The place in the scriptures where it was appointed He was at the appointed place, with the appointed book, and the appointed scriptures, at the appointed time, everything absolutely that day. He was at the right place, and the book appointed, with the words that was to be read that day. He was at the very place he was supposed to be.

Huh? Now, you know, I'll tell you, you'll say, let's look in such and such place, and everybody's got to start looking through the Bible, try to find it. Our Lord opened it up and said, I found the place. Oh my. Then look at his message. Let's look at his message. Let's look at his message.

He said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. You know, everything he says here is a personal pronoun. Everything He talks about is Him, Himself. He said, God, the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Jehovah, is upon Me. Not on, on, not on Me. Not on Isaiah, on Me. God hath anointed Me. And that's what He said. He hath anointed Me. The Spirit is upon Me. He hath anointed Me.

Now, when they was in the priesthood, The first thing they'd done when a man entered the priesthood, when Aaron was entered the priesthood and made the first high priest, the first thing they would do is they'd make them wash their whole body. They had to be clean. They had to be clean from head to toe. And then after that was done, they'd take oil and pour on their head. And then they'd take oil and put some on their ear, on their right ear, on their right thumb, and on their right toe. So they had to be perfectly cleansed, and they had to have an ear that listened for God, they had to have a hand that was clean and anointed to do the work of God, and they had to have their feet anointed so that they could walk in the ways of God.

And our Lord Jesus Christ, He was anointed But he had a special anointing that nobody else. He was born clean. He was born righteous. He was born perfect. They didn't have to anoint his ear. They didn't have to anoint his toe. He didn't have to be washed. He was born holy. He was born righteous. He was born perfect.

We have to be anointed by him. Oh, bless his holy name. And I tell you what, he hath anointed me. Oh, and look what it says. And then it also said, he hath sent. Not only did he anoint me, but he sent me. He commissioned me, sent me. Sent me. I'm so glad God sent him. I'm so glad, I'm so thankful God sent Christ. I'm so grateful. You know, God never did anything apart from his son. He hath anointed me, and he sent me. Has Christ ever been sent to your heart? Has the Holy Ghost ever sent Christ to your mind, your understanding?

He's the one that got anointed. If you want to do business with God, if you want to do business with God, you got to start with His Son. You got to start with His Son. And then look what it says, he hath anointed me, now listen to what it says here now, to preach the gospel. To preach the gospel.

You know, one time the Pharisees and them, they hated Christ. And what they did, they sent some fellas to apprehend him, to get him, bring him. Well, they gathered around him, and our Lord was standing preaching. He was standing preaching. And they got so enthralled with what he was saying, they forgot what they were sent there to do. And they didn't do it. And they went back and said, listen. They said, why have you not brought him? He said, well, we started listening to what he was saying.

Never! Of all the people I've heard speak in all my life, I said, I've never heard anybody Like him. Never heard anybody like him. Nobody's ever talked like he did. Nobody had the power that he did. Nobody had the graciousness that he did. Nobody had the compassion. Nobody had the preciousness that he had.

And oh my, he had power and authority. And then look at the message when he said he'd come to preach the gospel. Look at his message. He has sent me to preach the gospel to the poor. Now when it says here to the poor, he really actually means back in those days people were really, really poor. But it also means poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. When you get poor in spirit, see that's the problem with most people, they're too wealthy. They have too much.

They're never poor in spirit. Their heart never feels poor. They don't feel poor before God. They don't feel poor before His holiness. They don't feel poor before His righteousness. They don't feel poor before God because they're full. Their heart's full of themselves. Their heart's full of pride. Their heart's full of self-righteousness. They don't know what it is to have poverty of spirit.

What have we got that we can bring to God? We're so poor, what could we give him? What could we give the Lord? What could we give him? Say, give him your heart. No, he don't want it. He's got to give you a heart. Give him your works. He don't want them. You got to have his work. I got to do the best I can. It's not the best you can do. It's the best he did. Oh, my. Oh, that's what.

Where is anybody that's poor in spirit? David was a king of Israel. He laid out before God and looked up at the stars and the sun and the moon one night and he laid down and said, oh, God will not consider the heavens thy hands has made. What is man that you're mindful of him? But you have visited him. You have visited him. Oh, my. Poor, poor in spirit. Oh, this is the gospel. That's where it starts.

He'll make you so poor. He'll make you so poor that you realize that you haven't absolutely got anything that you, He don't want nothing you got. He'll make you so poor that you understand that you ain't got nothing you can give Him. The only thing you can give Him is praise, honor, and glory. That's all you can give Him. The fruit of your lips. You can praise Him and you can glorify Him, but you can't give Him anything else other than that.

Huh? Oh my. That's the gospel. That's where it starts. Then look what he says. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Everybody in this building has had their heart broken at one time or another. Everybody's heart has been broken. When you're a child, your heart gets broken very easily. Then you know you have your first love and it don't work out and your heart's broken. Then you lose somebody you love and your heart's broken. And we have our heart broken time and time again while we live in this world.

But he said, I come to heal the broken heart. And I tell you something he's got to do for us. Bless his holy name. He's got to break it himself. When he breaks your heart, it's broken. When He breaks your heart, it's broken. And I'll tell you one thing. I'll tell you this.

Every time it's broken, the Lord's the only one that can heal it. And He can heal that broken heart like nobody else can. Whenever your heart's broken and you're a believer, you know where you always go? You go to the Lord. Go to the Lord. Oh, my heart's so broken. Oh, so broken. And I tell you, he's the great physician. He can heal your heart. He can comfort your heart. He can heal your heart. He can cure your conscience. He can give peace where there was trouble.

Mary and Martha, when their brother Lazarus died, they just sat and wept and wept and wept and wept. They were so brokenhearted. Their hearts was broken. Their brother died. And, oh, they said if the Lord had been here, he wouldn't have died. They was wept and wept, and Mary and them, they were sitting, and Martha met him, and Mary run out to see him. She is so grieved they was brokenhearted. You know how our Lord healed their brokenhearted? He healed their brokenheart. He comforted their brokenheart.

And oh my, and then look what else it says here. To preach deliverance, and that word deliverance is the same word as salvation. He preached salvation to the captives. Captive. You know what a captive is? That's somebody that can't set themselves free. Somebody's got them captive. They're holding them. You know, kidnap them, take them, and they're yours. They belong to you. You got them, they're captive.

You know what holds us captive more than anything else in this world? Sin. Sin holds us lock, stock, and barrel. Sin of pride, sin of race, sin of place, sin of everything. We are born with it. We're born with this horrible disease. Sin holds us in bondage, holds us in its captive. Self-righteousness holds us captive. The justice of God holds us captive.

God said, I will not let them go. Nobody will. If a man's a sinner, he cannot be set free until I set him free. He can't do it. Oh, the gospel. The gospel comes along and proclaims freedom, liberty. Israel was in bondage, held captive down in Egypt. And God said, let my people go. I ain't going to do it. Let them go. I ain't going to do it. Let them go.

You know what God had to do to bring them out of Egypt? He had to send He had to send an angel of death through Egypt and kill the firstborn of everything that ever was. But the only people that didn't die that night was the people who had blood over their doors. And then they were left out of there.

And I'm telling you, I heard a preacher say one time, and I was talking to him, He run a bookstore. I was talking to him and, you know, and I was talking to him about grace and talking to him about salvation. He said, you know, he said, he said, this is how it works. He said, a man's in jail and he's the only one got the key and let himself out. And that's what I believe.

You think anybody that's in one of these prisons or in one of these jailhouses around here, if he had a key, you don't think he'd unlock it and let himself out? They're all trying to get out. They're all trying to escape. There's not a fool, if he had the key to himself to set himself free, he'd use it. But we ain't got a key. We ain't got a free will. We ain't got any power. We ain't got any authority.

All we've got is sin and the holiness and justice of God. And we got the sin of self-righteousness and self-confidence. And oh, my soul, may God make us understand. Our Lord Jesus said, know the truth. Know the truth. Not think you know the truth. Not hope you know the truth. I'd like to know the truth. But the truth will set you free. The truth will set you free.

Oh, my. I tell you what. Oh, bondage, bondage, bondage, sinners from the law, power of sin, guilt, guilt, guilt, guilt. And then look what it says here now. Next thing it says, recovering a sight to the blind. Oh my goodness. You know how many people our Lord gave sight to that was blind? The gospel brings light to them that are sitting in darkness. Brings light. Oh my. I'm going to show you something. You look with me over in John chapter 9. We've done, I've looked at this so many times over the years, but look at it with me. John chapter nine and verse 39.

You know, gospel brings light to them that are sitting in darkness. And you know, one way you can know if the gospel's doing anything for you is, is that do you get any understanding sometimes when the gospel's preached? Does the word have any effect on you? Does the word have any Move your heart in any way. Move your thoughts in any way. Move your soul in any way. And you want to understand what the scriptures say. But look what it says here in John 9.

Now this is where our Lord, a man was born blind. He was born blind. And our Lord walked by one day and gave him his sight. He'd never had seen in his whole life. Never seen his father, never seen his mother, never seen a sky, never seen a star, never seen the sun, never seen anything. Christ opened his eyes and everything was brand spanking new to him. All the things that he saw was the first time he ever saw.

And these guys got upset with him and said, tell us who gave you sight? And he said, I told you and yet you don't believe. Now look what our Lord said here. He said, all I know is I was blind and now I see. In verse 39, in Jesus talking with this man, this man worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 38 he said, I believe and he worshipped him and he worshipped Christ.

And our Lord said, for judgment I am come into this world. Now what that means is I make, I'm the one that decides who's going to see and who's not. Who's going to get their eyes opened and who's not? Who's going to be blinded and who's going to get sight? He said, this is what I'm doing. And then look what he says. I am come into this world that they which see not might see. A fellow that's blind, he said, if you can't see, he said, I'm going to give you sight. I'm going to give you sight. If you're blind, I can give you sight. If you're blind, I can open your eyes. If you're blind, I can make you see. If you're blind, I can make you understand certain things. I can make you understand.

And then, oh my. And then, watch this now. And they which see might be made blind. They that see themselves. They that see their free will. Those that see their own power. Those that see their rights. Those that see Self, you know, pride. Those that see, listen, I've got this thing figured out. Oh my.

And some of the Pharisees which were with him when they heard these words said, are we blind also? Are we blind? Are we blind? Is that what you're saying? And our Lord said, if you were blind, if you really were, you'd have no sin. But now you say, we see. We see doing the best we can. We see working. We see merit. We see worth. We see all the things about ourselves, but we don't see Christ. We don't see sin. We don't see Christ. We don't see our native Christ. And oh my, then look what he says. I got to hurry on. And set at liberty them that are bruised. Set at liberty. Oh my, them that are bruised. Bruised by sin. Bruised by this old world. Bruised by the power of sin. And he said, set at liberty.

Not only proclaims liberty, but actually sets men free by a blessed Redeemer. He said, whom the Son sets free is free indeed. And then look what he said to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Now this acceptable year of the Lord is what's called the Jubilee, the year of Jubilee. And the every seventh year that have at rest, the land have to rest, the rest rest. And then on the 49th and 50th year that have a year of Jubilee.

And you know what that meant? That meant everybody that was a slave got to go free. Every man that was in debt, his debt was forgiven. Everybody that sold their property got all their property back. I mean, everybody got, if there's any debt, your debt was gone. If you had your land in bondage to somebody and they bought it off of you, you get it back. Everything was, everything was done, everything was brand new.

Started a new year. Well, Lord said, I'm preaching to you the jubilee. You got any debt? You don't have any more. You're in bondage? We're gonna set you free. You're a slave? I'm gonna set you free. Somebody owed you land? You gotta give it back to you. Oh my. And then look what I, Verse 20, and I'm going to wind this thing up.

And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, handed it back to the fellow that run the synagogue, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. Oh my goodness, I'd love to see that happen. Everybody's eyes fastened on Christ.

And our Lord began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Today, today, everything I've said to you, today, this scripture is fulfilled in your ears. I'm the one who the Spirit of the Lord has anointed. This is history now. Now we see the Lord Jesus Christ, he's gonna come again. And look what he says. Verse 22, all bear him witness. And wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And all they, you know what all they said was? It's Joseph's son, he ain't nobody. He's just Joseph's son. That's all, that's all he is. He's just Joseph's son. Nothing special about him. They just heard everything he said.

Our Father, in the blessed, blessed name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We come into your presence again, and again we come with thanksgiving and praise, blessing you for allowing us to meet here today. Thank you for allowing us to come into your holy presence. Thank you for the gospel. Thank you for your word. Lord, may we honor you in the local assembly by attending, and may we give honor and a special place to your word in this world and in this congregation. Bring glory to yourself through us.

May the gospel bring forth fruit to your glory. In Christ's holy name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Jesus Christ is made to me. All I need, all I need. He alone is all my plea. He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, and power. Holiness forevermore. My redemption sure and pure. He is all I need. Bruce Crabtree here to preach for you Wednesday night. Lord bless you. We'll see you Wednesday, God willing.