A Man Without Honour

Q: What does the Bible say about honoring Christ?

The Bible teaches that a prophet is without honor in his own country, illustrating how familiarity can breed contempt. In Luke 4:24, Jesus declares, 'Verily, I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.' This principle reflects a profound truth about human nature: those closest to us can fail to recognize our true worth or calling. When Jesus returned to Nazareth, the people who knew Him as Joseph's son struggled to see Him as the Son of God, thus dishonoring His prophetic mission. Their lack of faith and acknowledgment of His authority demonstrates how familiarity can lead to spiritual blindness, preventing them from experiencing the fullness of His grace and truth.

Q: How do we know God's sovereignty in salvation is true?

God's sovereignty in salvation is affirmed through Scripture, highlighting His right to show mercy to whom He wills. The sovereignty of God in salvation emphasizes that He has the authority to choose whom He will save, as seen in the examples of Elijah and Naaman in Luke 4:25-27. Just as God sent Elijah to the widow in Sarepta, a Gentile, rather than to the many widows in Israel, it illustrates His grace and mercy in choosing to save individuals according to His divine purpose. This is further emphasized in the healing of Naaman, a Syrian leper, which confirms the idea that God's selection is not based on merit but on His will. This doctrine reassures believers of God's control over salvation and encourages trust in His divine plan.

Q: Why is the concept of grace important for Christians?

Grace is essential for Christians as it highlights God's unmerited favor in salvation, underscoring His love and mercy. The concept of grace is foundational to Christian theology and belief, as it reveals that salvation is a gift from God, not something earned by human effort. In the sermon, examples from the Old Testament illustrate God's willingness to extend mercy beyond the people of Israel, as shown by His attention to a widow in Sarepta and a leper named Naaman (Luke 4:25-27). These accounts highlight that grace is not based on ethnicity or societal status but is given freely to those God chooses. Understanding grace fosters humility and gratitude among believers, acknowledging that their salvation rests solely on God's unmerited kindness and love.

Q: What is the significance of Jesus reading from Isaiah?

Jesus reading from Isaiah signifies the fulfillment of prophecy and His role as the Messiah. In Luke 4:17-21, Jesus reads from Isaiah 61, declaring, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor...' This reading signifies the fulfillment of prophecy, as Jesus explicitly identifies Himself as the Messiah. The passage outlines His mission: to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty, and to restore sight to the blind. By reading this text, Jesus not only confirms His identity but also reveals the nature of His ministry, which is centered on bringing hope and salvation to the marginalized and oppressed. This moment underscores the authority of Christ and the transformative power of the gospel He preached.

Go ahead and be opening your Bible to Luke chapter four. Luke chapter four. In the first part of this chapter, the record where our Lord, after he was baptized, he was driven of the spirit into the wilderness and was tempted of the devil for 40 days and 40 nights. And it says in verse 13, when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

And Jesus returned. in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and there went out a fame of him throughout all the region round about. People began to hear about this man who's doing all these miracles, who's doing all these wonders, who is raising people from the dead. Can you imagine what a stir this would be? They'd been in religion and darkness for several hundred years, and now Christ, the Son of God, comes upon the scene and begins to preach the gospel to these people. There went out a fame of him throughout all the region round about, and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

Under the law, that's where they met. In the synagogues, they would meet to read the scriptures, and they would meet to worship God, and that's where you find him with these people. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for the read.

He had been here. He had lived here for about 30 years. You imagine, all the neighbors knew him. They maybe would go to Joseph's carpenter shop, maybe need something made out of wood or a boat or something, and he might make it. And that's all they saw was a mere man. That's how the message is. A man is without honor. in his own country, and that's talking about our Lord. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. But he comes back to Nazareth. We had been brought up, and as the custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. Every Sabbath day they would gather.

And somebody would stand up like we did here this evening, and they would read the scriptures, a portion of the scriptures. So I guess they thought out of the kindness of their heart, we'll ask Jesus to read scripture today. If they had a bulletin, they may have put it in the bulletin. Jesus is going to read the scriptures today.

We want you to come, because we've heard all that he's done. They seem to get, it seems like, you say, well, it seems like they're giving them honor. Well, let's just hold on, and you'll see. And he came where he'd been brought up, and he went into the synagogue as at other times, 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. I want you to notice what he did. He just didn't drop the Bible. And wherever it opened, he began to read. No, he found the place. Where did he find it? Isaiah chapter 61, a scripture that clearly spoke of him. And it was a text just to fit right where he's at. He preaches basically from this text to these people. But he opened the scriptures. Oh, when Christ opens the scriptures to our understanding that it's not just mere words. Can you imagine hearing our Lord read the scriptures? He stood up for the 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. And here's what it reads.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

What a verse. Sent to preach. What'd he do? He went about preaching. He went about proclaiming to men that God is God and he is the son of God. He proclaimed to these people. And he closed the book, gave it to the minister, walked over and sat down. And the eyes of everybody in the room in the synagogue were fastened on him. Nobody ever read like that man. He read.

The scripture says talking of him, it's speaking of him. And as he closed the book and sat down, they began to say, he began to say unto them, this day, this very day, this very hour that I'm standing before you or sitting is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Wonder how many times they'd read Isaiah 61. And he tells them that these scriptures are fulfilled in him. He's coming to preach the gospel, to give sight to the blind, preach the gospel to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, preach deliverance to the captive, and the recovering of sight to them that are blind, and to set at liberty them that are bruised.

What an amazing, how much amazing grace. All these are things that he did. and it spoke of him. Verse 22, and all bear him witness, don't you see this? And all bear him witness, and worshiped and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.

Oh, we've never heard anything like this before. They heard with their ears, but never heard with their heart. Their affections might have been moved. They said, I've never heard anything like this today. Gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, but what's this?

Is not this Joseph's son? Well, sure it's not. They thought he was. He's not Joseph's son. He's the son of God. Another time they said, well, he's not Joseph's son. He's the son of God. See, here they didn't understand. They thought, well, he's speaking. He's talking about these gracious words. And we're, we stand amazed that we hear these things. And people can hear and never hear. They can hear truths and marvelous grace and never, it never penetrate their heart. They're never profited by it.

That's what we see here. Because I want you to see that. I want you to see the change in these people. They're going to change in just a little bit. They received him. Oh, we received him. He's Jesus. He was raised among us. And we know him. And we know his family. We know his half-brothers and sisters. We know them. Oh, the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth.

And he said, is not this Joseph's son? No, it's not. Who is he then? See, all they knew of him. was that he was Joseph's son. That's what they knew. That's what they thought. We know that God used Joseph to raise him. When Joseph died, we don't know. It really doesn't matter. When he served his purpose, the Lord took him out of this earth. But they said, it's not just Joseph's son. And he said unto them, you will surely say unto me this proverb, physician, heal thyself.

Do us a miracle. We want to see one of the miracles you've been doing over in Capernaum. Show us something. Give us a sign. I spoke this morning there where they come to our Lord and they wanted a sign. He said, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. And there's no sign going to be given unto it. The only sign I'm going to give you is that of the prophet Jonah, who was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. So shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

He said, you surely saying to me, this proper physician heal myself whatsoever we've heard done in Capernaum, do also in our country. You need to do those things around here. We've heard of those things. We want to witness those things. Doesn't that sound familiar? Men, they always want to see signs or something, something to entertain them. They're not interested in hearing the gospel. We're going to find that out in just a minute. They're not interested. They're not interested in Christ. They're not interested in the truth. He said, dude, it was a miracle. We've heard you do these things. I want to see him. I want to see you do something. And here's what he said.

Verily, truly, I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. No prophet. They were just familiar with him. They couldn't see beyond, they couldn't see beyond the human nature. That's all they saw. They didn't see him as Lord. They didn't behold his glory. They didn't fall down at his feet and worship him. A prophet, no prophet is accepted in his own country. They won't receive him.

And he's gonna give an example, two examples here, of examples in the Old Testament scriptures. of God's grace, of his sovereign grace, of God's sovereign election, of God distinguishing a people and showing mercy to a people. How would they respond to that? And it's the same way today men can say, oh, what gracious words, oh, what beautiful words in a song, oh, how great the message was. If you ever hear him talk about a sovereign election, Mercy and grace, you know what that does?

It offends man. They were not offended at him because he was raised with him, but when they found out he was God, they were deeply offended. And that's why prophets without honor in his own country, they won't have him. They won't listen to him. They didn't. They didn't. Now look in verse 25. He said, I'll tell you of a truth.

Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elisha, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout the land. But unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Zion, unto a woman that was a widow. He uses first the example of Elijah. Who was Elijah? He was a prophet. Elijah in his day, they despised him. They hated him.

Elijah prayed, he prayed, and it didn't rain for three and a half years. And you know when it's gonna rain? When God told him to pray. But what did he do? Where did God have Elijah? When all this, you can imagine, everything's drying up. There's no life, there's no rain, there's no dew. God's got him hid over by a brook. He said, go hide yourself. God hid his prophet from these people. Hit him. You know what God did? God took care of him. God provided for him. He called the ravens to take food and feed him. And he took drunk water by the brook. Well, eventually the brook's going to dry up. And Elijah's going to have to leave. When the brook dries up. He knew it was time to go. I can't stay here. Well, where's he going to go?

I could have said, I want you to go down there to Jerusalem, and there's a widow woman down there, and I want to have her to take care of you. You think, well, first of all, why would he use a widow woman? This woman doesn't have a husband. Her husband's dead, and she's got one son. She's trying to take care of him, and there's a famine going on. That's the least likeliest thing we would have chose to preserve his gospel. And Elijah goes down to the house.

This is a Gentile woman. I think it said she was of Sarepta. Most believe that's where the very city that Jezebel was from. Isn't that kind of ironic? You know what God has done here? He sent the gospel to Sarepta. He sent the gospel to these people. He sent them a prophet. And when he comes, I see her walking up the street. And he said, where are you going? She said, I'm going to go fix something for me and my son, our last meal. He said, make mine first. And she said, all I've got's a crucible and a little bit of flour. He said, it'll never go empty.

They knew the story. But they didn't know the truth of this story. There were many widows in Israel. Why didn't he send Elijah to some of them widows? Many of them, many of them in Jerusalem, many of them perished. He'll show mercy to whom he will, he'll show mercy to whom he will, he'll harden us. But he told them there was many widows, many of them. There's many widows.

Why did God choose you? Why did God open up your eyes? Why did he give you ears to hear and to believe? I provided many widows who were in Israel. In the days of Elijah, when heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was out all the land, but none of them was Elisha sent, say to Sarepta, city of Zion, to a woman that was a widow.

You notice, sir, he was sent. He sent him on purpose. How can a man preach except to be sent? This man is coming with a message. This man, if God's gonna speak, he's gonna speak to a prophet. God spoke to Elijah and he spoke to Ahab. He said, Ahab, it's your fault. It ain't gonna rain for three and a half years because of your sin and your wife's sin.

These people, like I said, they'd heard this story. But now they hear it. They know what he's saying. They're saying God passed over somebody and showed mercy to somebody over here. And you know what they were? She was a Gentile dog. They thought they had a leg up on the gospel. They thought they had a leg up on religion. They thought they were something special. You know what they were? They were prejudiced. They didn't love anybody but everybody that was Jews. But they didn't love our Lord. They didn't love him. They rejected him.

But he told them this illustration. And they knew what he said. He just, do you know what he did? He just explained to them how God saves whom he will. I'm glad God sent the gospel to this old widow's house and showed me mercy. But he gives them time, they ponder this. Now come on, did he really mean what he said? that there was many widows, and God passed by every one of them and showed mercy to this old Gentile woman, an old widow. That's what he said. That's exactly what he said. And they knew exactly what he said. He spoke clearly and plainly. But he's not done yet.

Verse 27, and there were many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha, the prophet. The prophet that came after Elijah. And none of them was cleansed save Naaman the Syrian. So he's gonna give another example. There were a lot of lepers in Israel.

You know, our Lord, you read the gospels, there was a lot of people healed from leprosy. Must have been a very common picture. We know it's a picture of sin. And everywhere you look, you see lepers. There's a lot of lepers in Israel in the days of Elijah, Elisha.

But he's not sent to any of them but Naaman the Syrian. Let me just refresh your mind about the story. Naaman, it says he was a general of the Syrian army. He was a man who had medals and all these things upon him because he was a prominent man. He was an influential man. But it said but one thing, he was a leper. He was a sinner. And he didn't get mercy.

It just so happened one day when they're out fighting Israel, this little girl gets taken captive from her parents and he takes her to his house. How heartbreaking that would be if you were the parents of that little child that got taken by the enemy.

But hold on now. The story's not finished. While she's in the house, she happens to hear him talk. I can hear him talking in the house. I could hear Naaman's wife say, boy, I wish you could be healed from that leprosy. Boy, it's just painful every day. That sin's just so painful. And you know, he probably tried to keep it covered up. Keep it covered up, no, I don't want anybody to see it. I want anybody to know it.

And that girl said, little girl, don't even give her a name. Told the maid of the house, or the woman of the house, you know, there's a prophet in Israel. And if Naaman could get to that prophet, it might be God show him mercy. That girl had never been captured dead and never heard the truth.

You know what he did? He did like most men do. He said, well, I'm gonna get me, I'm gonna go to the king and I'm gonna get me some letters. And these are credential things. And I'll go to the king of Israel and he'll show me mercy because of something I've done or who I am. I'm an important man here. So he goes to the king. And the king says, what in the world are you doing? You've come to the wrong place. I can't help you. I cannot help you. And Elisha heard. And Elisha said, send him to me.

I'm going to show you how he's going to humble this man. I can see old Naaman, he rides up in his chariot. He's got all this fineries on. He's brought gifts with him too. He's going, I'll purchase my halen. That's what he thinks. And he goes out and gets off this horse or whatever out of the chariot and he walks up there on the porch and knocks on the door. And he thinks it's going to be a certain way. He thinks God's going to deal with him a certain way. He thinks Elisha's going to come out and speak to him. Because don't he know who I am? I'm a prominent man. Elisha don't go talk to him. Elisha sends his servant out. Boy, that humbled him.

You know what? It made him mad. You know what? Men hate grace. Men love merit, something they can do. And he said, who is this guy? Does he not know who I am? He said, I thought. I supposed. This is what I thought he'd do. He'd come out and wave his hand over me, and he would slap his hands together and say abracadabra or something. And you can be healed. But no, you know what he told him? He said, you go up there to the Jordan River and dip seven times. That's what he told him. And he goes in and shuts the door. Boy, you made him so mad he could have spit. It ain't how men think. It's like these in Nazareth. It's not what they think. But they had heard this story and never fully comprehended. And then one servant had some sense about him.

He said, you know, if he'd have told you to do anything else, you'd have done it. And all he did was tell you to go wash in that muddy river. He said, there's other rivers in Syria. Why can't I wash in them? His point of rebellion was this right here. If he don't wash in that river, he'll die without mercy. His point of rebellion was this right here. And God will put his finger on the point of rebellion and won't let it off. Unless he goes to the river and dips seven times, he'll die a leper. And God finally broke him. I can see him go up there to the river He starts taking his jacket off, all of his medals, and he's got that leopard lip.

He kept pretty covered up. We want to hide it. We don't want to expose it. And the more he pulled off, I heard Don say one time, I could see some of them probably laughing, sniggering. Probably some of them were crying, oh, how bad he is. I'd have never thought he was that bad. And he went down and dipped. And when he come back up after the seventh time, God healed him. Many lepers were in Israel, and why did God just show mercy to this man, this old Assyrian? Because he's pleased to do so. He don't give an account of his matters.

But see, men, they say, oh, how we, the wonderful words, the marvelous words that proceed out of his mouth. He said, okay, there was many lepers, and there were many widows, and none of them were converted. And what's going to be their response? They said, oh, what marvelous words. Never heard anything like it. They never heard anything what they just heard. And many of them were in Israel. And they in the synagogue, look at verse 28. And they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with what? Wrath. What made them so angry? You want to see men get angry? You tell them God's sovereign. You tell them God sits on the throne and God is not required to save anybody. He saves those that he chose and set his love upon. He can do what he will with his own. They would say, that's not fair. He should have showed us mercy. No, he didn't. No, he didn't.

I tried to look at something this morning. I was trying to deal with Jonah. After I got done with the message, I met somebody come up and we got to talking about something I'd never thought about. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh. He commanded him to go. Well, you know the story. Jonah went down and he bought him a ticket and got on the ship and he goes down and goes to sleep and he goes, well, I'm glad I don't have to go to Nineveh. God's not changing his word. just because Providence may seem to be going Jonah's way. God's not changed his word. He's got to go to Nineveh.

But why did he not want to go to Nineveh? It says there in chapter 4 when he went and preached to them, then he goes there and sits down and said, yeah, they repented, but maybe God will still kill them. Some say, well, maybe it was that the Assyrians had attacked his home, and they were so vicious, and they were so mean that he just wished they'd go to hell. But it could have been he just hated them because they were Assyrians. Because they were not like us. That's what Israel thinks. What makes the difference? What makes the difference? Grace does.

There's three men hanging on a cross, one dying in sin, two sin, and four sin. What made the difference between the two men on the outside, the man in the middle? But you read that and you go, does it just mean that when you read that you go, why would he not be glad that God was going to show these people mercy? It's almost like these Jews here, they didn't want anybody else. They thought they had it sewed up on the gospel.

It's just for us. Now you say, well, give me another example. Well, Peter, I ain't going to them Gentile dogs. Read Acts chapter 10. It tells him to go to Cornelius' house and God showed him in the vision, these animals come down, some were clean and some were unclean. He said, I've never touched anything that was unclean. What do you want me to do, Lord? And he said, these men are gonna come ask you, they're gonna come seeking you and you do whatever they say and I want you to go up there to them people and I want you to preach the gospel to them Gentile dogs. You think they had trouble with that? They sure didn't. And you think, why would we do that? Why would we not be happy? Why would they not happy?

But God will show mercy to anybody. But God taught Jonah, and God teaches us, and he teaches Peter, and he teaches us. A prophet is without honor in his own country. But those that he loves, he rebukes and chastens, and he opens their eyes. And you know what? We want to honor him. He can do what he will, and he does.

But when they heard this, they were filled with wrath. With wrath. It was like you set off a stick of dynamite. It's like they were, now these were such good past people. You know, they're such good people in their own eyes. And when he said that, they were just so mad.

They want to kill him. What's happened? Why would men change? They're the same people. They're the same ones that said what wonderful words that proceeded out of his mouth, and now they want to kill him. Everywhere they went preaching, they wanted to kill him. Where Elijah was at, Elisha was at, any prophet, they all wanted to kill him.

We will not have this. We're gonna stir up trouble. We're gonna stir up confusion. Verse 29, and rose up and thrust him out of the city. and led him into the brow of the hill where the city was built that they would cast him down headlong. Just grab ahold of him. We're going to take him out there to the brow of the city and we're going to throw him off head first.

No you're not. That's what you think because you're so mad. You know God has to make you mad. He kills and he makes alive. He made him angry. Why does God do it that way? Because he's pleased to do so. What is our point of rebelling? Like I said, Jonah says, I'm not going to Nineveh. And God prepared a fish. It swallowed up Jonah. And you know where it took him? Right to Nineveh. God's Word had not changed one bit. He may have not been happy about it.

He goes up there and he sits down and he said, God prepared a gourd to come up and protect his head from the sun. And then God prepared a worm the next day that devoured the gourd. Then he prepared an east wind to come to blow on him. God prepared all that stuff.

But they said, we want to take him out, back to the text, and cast him off head first. But passing through the midst of them, he went his way. They never touched him. You know why? His hour's not yet come. Now when his hour is come, he will lay down his life.

And when they come to take him in the garden, he says, and if you come to get me, you've got to let these go. And they did. You come to get the shepherds, mock the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. But this is our Lord, and he went right through the midst of them. You know why? He had other places to preach the gospel.

Many heard, many didn't. Do we hear? Do we understand? Or do we just understand in our head and not in our hearts? Oh, that we would glorify our Lord and exalt him And what beautiful pictures that he's given us of his grace and mercy to save widowed, dead, wretched, miserable widowed women and men and to save lepers and set them free. Does that bring joy to your heart? It'll do one of two things. You never hear with indifference. Either bring joy or you'll get so angry. You can't stand him. He kills and he makes a lot of, he wounds and then he heals and then he sets free. I hope that's been a help.

A Man Without Honour

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about honoring Christ?

How do we know God's sovereignty in salvation is true?

Why is the concept of grace important for Christians?

What is the significance of Jesus reading from Isaiah?

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A Man Without Honour

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about honoring Christ?

How do we know God's sovereignty in salvation is true?

Why is the concept of grace important for Christians?

What is the significance of Jesus reading from Isaiah?

Sermon Transcript

About Mike Walker

Comments

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