Come with me this morning in
your Bibles to Luke chapter four. Luke chapter four. I want to go back this morning
to the verses which began our last study in Luke. Luke chapter
four, verses 31 and 32. Luke chapter four, verse 31. He's talking about our Lord. You remember
the story. He was in Nazareth where he grew
up. He preached the gospel to them. And they despised him for it. They said, we know him. This
is the same guy. We know his sisters. We know
his mother. We know his father. He worked
in his father's carpenter shop. We recall him crawling around
as a baby on the floor. We know him. We know him. He's no Christ. He's no God come
into the flesh. We know him. We know his mother.
We know his father. We remember when he came to Nazareth.
We remember when they settled here. He grew up with us, we
know him, he's no Christ. And then our Lord gave him a
few examples of God's mercy and grace, not to Israel, but to
the most unexpected, the Gentiles. Many widows in the land of Israel
in the days of Elijah. God didn't send his prophet to
any of them. Sent his prophet to a Gentile
widow. many lepers in the land of Israel in the days of Elijah.
God didn't heal any of them. One old Gentile king came over
and he healed him. And they understood exactly what
he was saying. Exactly what he was saying. And
they got angry and they took him out on a cliff. The town
was built on a high mountain. There was a big cliff there.
They took him out on that precipice and was gonna throw him headlong
off of it. And he turned and passed through the midst. And
then he came. That's where this verse begins.
It says, and came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught
them on the Sabbath days, and they were astonished at his doctrine. This is Luke 4, 31 and 32. They
were astonished at his doctrine for his word was with power. Now, I titled the study this
morning, Astonishing Doctrine. Astonishing Doctrine. God's preachers are made known
by their doctrine. Nobody was upset at Christ, nobody
was angry at Christ for healing the sick, clothing the naked, feeding the
hungry. Nobody was angry. For a good
work we stoned thee not. They weren't angry at him because
he did good works. They were angry at him over his
doctrine. And this church is known for
its generosity. All grace churches are known
for their generosity and their goodness and their caring attitude
toward others. We have a sick man near us or
a sick woman near us, we're gonna take care of them, aren't we?
Nobody else is. We'll take care of them. We'll
feed them. I don't wanna see anybody go hungry. I don't wanna
see anybody have to sleep on the street. We care about people. And people are not angry at that.
They're angry at what we're saying, what we're preaching. They're
angry at your doctrine. God's preachers and his churches
His churches are the pillar and ground of the truth. That's what
they're known for, the truth. That's why they're assembled
together. That's why God left them here
in this world. They're the pillar and ground.
There's no truth anywhere else. There's no truth out here in
the world. And all God's preachers are made
known by their doctrine. Listen to this. Whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. If he doesn't teach and abide
in the doctrine of Christ, Russell, he don't know God. He don't know
God. He hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. And if there come any unto you, talking about preachers,
if there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive
him not into your house, neither bid him God's speed. That is,
don't say, the Lord bless you. Or like they like to do at Walmart,
have a blessed day. If this man is not preaching
the gospel, You don't say, well, I already, I have a church that
I go to, Lord bless you. No, don't do that. Don't do that. This is an enemy of God. This
is a false prophet. We don't ask, we don't say, well,
the Lord bless you. He's a merchandiser of men's
souls. We don't say any such thing.
We shut the door. Shut the door. All right, so
what is the doctrine of Christ? Well, the doctrine of Christ
very simply is four things. Who is this man? Who is he? Who is the Christ?
Everybody's talking about the Christ. Who is he? Jesus this and Jesus that. I
hear it all the time. Who is he? Tell me who he is.
That's what I wanna know. Who is Jesus Christ? Who is he? Well, he's the Son of God. That's
what John sees. He's the Son of God. He's the
eternal Word. In the beginning was the Word.
And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Everything that's made was made
by Him, and there's nothing made that was made without Him. He's
God. He's the son of man. He's not
only the son of God, but he's the son of man. He's our hope. Without him, Russell, we don't
have a life. We don't have a hope. We don't have anything. Well,
I just want to do my own thing. You don't have a thing apart
from Christ. Sin, that's all you got. Sin
in here, sin out there, sin everywhere. He's the son of man. He's God
come into the flesh. That man who walked through Galilee,
who rode on the ship with him, ate with him, slept with him,
preached to him, that was God come into the flesh. That's why they despised him.
He said he come down from heaven. He did. He did. And He is the Christ, the promised
Redeemer. And then secondly, the doctrine
of Christ tells of His coming. Why must He come? Why did He
have to come into this world? Couldn't He just sit on the throne
in heaven? He's God. Couldn't He just sit up there
on the throne and save man? Why did He have to come into
this world? You ever ask yourself that? Why
did the son of God have to come down here, be born of a virgin,
live 33 and a half years, and die on a cross? Why? Why? He's God. He has all power. He's omnipotent. Why couldn't
he just sit up there on the throne and save me? Who is this man? Why would God subject his son
to such humility and suffering? Why must he come? Well, he must
come to save his people from their sins. There's only one
way God can save a sinner, and that's through his son, through
a substitute. There is no other way. No other
way. He came to fulfill the will and
purpose of God. What's God's purpose in salvation? It's to manifest his glory. Well, what man's gonna do that? Huh? The God man. He's the only one who can. He's
the only one that can satisfy God's justice. He's the only
one who satisfying that justice can show grace and mercy to sinners. He said, I come not to do my
own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the
Father's will who sent me, that of all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day.
He came to do the will and purpose of God. And he came to manifest
the glory of God in the salvation of sinners through himself. And then thirdly, the doctrine
of Christ is the declaration of what he did. What did he do? Now everybody says he came to
be an example. Was he an example? Well, sure
he is. Is he still an example? Sure he is. But that's not why
he came. And that's not what he did. Well,
what did he do? Well, it says in Hebrews 10 in
the volume of the book it's written of him, I come to do thy will,
O God. By the which will, we're sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
What did he do? He did the will of God. He didn't
talk about the will. He didn't say, well, here's the
standard. No, he did the will of God. He did, you think about what
I'm saying. He did the will of God. How far
can you get doing the will of God? Nowhere. But he did. He did, and that's
my hope. That's my hope. He fulfilled
the will of God. He did all that the Father sent
him to do, and he did it perfectly. He did it completely, and he
did it eternally. There's never gonna be another
sacrifice for sins. You know why? Because that one
did what God demanded to be done. He's never gonna call for another
one. In eternity somewhere, he's not
gonna call for another one. This one was good for eternity. He did it perfectly, he did it
completely, he did it eternally. When he said it was finished,
it was finished. Well, what'd he do? He made peace
through the blood of his cross. He made peace. I'm not trying
to make peace with God. Christ already made that peace.
He's my peace. What are you gonna do to satisfy
God? Nothing, there's nothing you can do, nothing you can do. In fact, Paul said before our
regeneration, before God quickened us, we were by nature children
of wrath even as others. That's all you're gonna do is
incur the wrath of God. But in Christ I have peace. Why?
Because he made peace. That's what he did. He reconciled
all things to himself, things in earth and things in heaven. And he's the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believeth. He's my righteousness.
He put away the sins of all his elect by the sacrifice of himself. And then fourthly, the doctrine
of Christ tells us where he is now. Oh, my soul. I wish I believed
this like I see it in the scriptures. He's seated at the right hand
of God. That scripture I quoted to you
a few minutes ago, by the witch will, we're sanctified through
the offering of Jesus Christ once for all. Once for all. The
high priest, they had to offer this every year, but not this
man. This man, having offered himself one time to God, now
listen, sat down at the right hand of God. Well, what's he
doing? He's expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
They can demand no more from the sinner than what Christ has
done. You think about that. Not even
God can demand from you more than Christ has done. Isn't that what scripture says over
in Colossians? That's exactly what it says. He's seated at the right hand
of God. He said, before he ascended up into glory, he said, all power
is given unto me in heaven and earth. How much power is that? Huh? My dad, he wasn't much on
words. But boy, when he went like that,
you got up and moved. You'd figure out what he wanted
later. But he'd look down over those glasses and that, he meant
business. The Lord of glory never has to stand up. He's expecting. One look. One look, those angels
are gone. Your angels. Did you know you
had angels? Personally, you have angels.
If you're a believer, you do. Your angels, Christ said, do
always stand before my Father. Well, who's seated at the Father's
right hand? Christ. All power in heaven. He does
that, those angels are gone. They're gone. All power on earth. What's that
talking about? That's talking about providence.
Oh, I hope this don't happen. I hope that, you know, we're
running around. He's in full control. Ain't nothing going
on that he hasn't ordained. Ain't nothing going on that he
hasn't arranged and commanded to be. And I can rest in that. I can rest in his august authority. He's God. And he's seated on
the throne. And my savior, my intercessor,
has all power in heaven and earth. And now, he said, you go preach.
Otherwise, your preaching is banned. But I preach because
he has all power in earth. He can change your mind, Russell,
at the preaching of the gospel. He can turn you around. He can
say, that's enough, sinner. You go no further. Now you're going to come to me.
I don't have that power. He does. And that's why I preach. That's why I preach. My brother,
before he died, he said to me, if I believe what you believe,
I wouldn't preach. And I said, well, if I believe what you believe,
I wouldn't preach, because I don't have any power to do anything.
But believing that all power is in his hands, I'll preach.
I'll preach. And I'll leave it in his hands.
It never was in mine to start with. I'll just leave it where
it is. You say, where's he at? He's
seated. He ain't nervous. He ain't walking
back and forth, wringing his hands. Oh, I hope this one will
believe. Otherwise, my work's all in vain. No. No, that ain't
how it is. He's Lord of the dead and the
living. It's not what you can do for your Lord or what you
might do for your Lord. It's what your Lord's gonna do
with you. See, that's the issue. That's the issue. And I know
what he's gonna do with his elect. He's gonna protect them. He's
gonna preserve them. He's gonna give them the gift
of faith. He's gonna lead them to repentance. He's gonna give them a revelation
that the angels themselves don't have. There's angels looking down on
this Sunday school lesson this morning because they wanna hear
what this is all about. They don't know. They don't know. You read about it over Hebrews. He's the blessed and only potentate,
King of kings and Lord of lords. He reigns, he rules, he arranges
all things according to the counsel of his own will. And his doctrine
and the doctrine of all whom he calls to represent him is
the doctrine of Christ, his person, his work. Let's look at some
things by which all men and women, when they hear this gospel, are
astonished. Why were these people astonished?
They'd heard the Word of God read before. They'd heard the
stories about Moses and the Red Sea and all of these stories. They'd heard about Daniel. Didn't
you? I grew up listening to that stuff. Moses going down into Egypt.
I made a big movie about it. I watched it. Actually, it was pretty good. They heard all these things,
but they didn't hear what he preached. They were astonished. I'll never forget my first time
preaching was in an Armenian church. I got this opportunity
to go preach, and so I did. And the first thing I said was
about the depravity of man. And when I said it, in Adam,
Aldi, everybody in that congregation went, oh, like that. They were
astonished at what I said. They'd never heard that. I never
heard it. I never heard it. You'd think after 2,000 years,
folks would not still be astonished over his teaching, but they were
in Capernaum, and they still are when they hear it. Why? Well, first of all, because of
the content of it, salvation through a person. Are you saying,
Preacher, that God saves men through a man? That's exactly
what I'm saying. Got nothing to do with you, Larry.
Got nothing to do with anything you ever did or anything you
ever will do. Give a lot or give a little.
Give nothing. It's not of your works. Period. End of story. It's all
in Him. It's all in Him. Now wait a minute. Believers
have to walk. As you have received Christ Jesus,
so walk ye in him. Huh? Even your walk's in him. My soul, what are you gonna do?
You can't do anymore now than you did then. You just know a
little more. My salvation's in him. We walk
in Christ. Sanctification is in a person.
Salvation's in a person. Acceptance is, we're accepted
in the beloved, aren't we? I'll tell you something else,
love's in a person. He chose us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. He chose us to bless us that we might be holy without
blame before him in love. Not your love for him, his love
for you. Being loved. Before him, being loved. What's
gonna separate you from that love? Christ said nothing, nothing. Oh, but I can separate myself
and not according to scripture. He's not gonna allow you to do
that. Not gonna allow you to do that. Everything God has for poor sinners
is in the person of Jesus Christ. Well, you're trying to tell me
they preached that back then? Listen to this, Acts 13, 38.
Are you listening? Be it known unto you, therefore,
men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins. When was that? That was just
shortly after Christ died. 2,021 years ago. Who's he preaching to? He was
preaching to Gentiles. Kind of mixed. There were some
Jews in there. And, that wasn't the end of it.
Listen to this, verse 39. And by him, all that believe
are justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Salvation's in a person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. He that hath the Son, verse John
5, 12. He that hath the Son hath life. And he that hath not the Son
of God hath not life. Now he can have religion, he
can have a false hope, he can have a false assurance, he can
walk, he can do things, he can say, he can preach, he can teach,
he can do all kinds of things, but he ain't got life because
he don't have Christ. He that hath the Son hath life. Oh, my son. without respect to you and your
works or your past, but solely on the basis of His
person and His work, He saves us. Listen to this, Romans 3,
24. All have sinned, come short of
the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that's in Christ Jesus. That sound to you like salvation
in person? That's what it sounds like to me. He saves us representatively,
having put us into an inseparable union with him before the foundation
made us one with Christ. Chose us in him, predestinated
us under the adoption of children. He saves us As our representative,
he saves us vicariously. What's that mean? Through a substitute. Through a substitute. One person
submitting for another, dying in their room instead. And even
our faith, even believing and receiving these things, we do
as a gift of God. He shows them to us. He makes
us willing in the day of his power. Preparation of the heart, the
answer to the tongues of the Lord, isn't it? That's how come
he believes. I've been studying, reading,
listening to this gospel since 1976, and I'm still astonished
at its content, ain't you? I'm astonished. And then secondly,
I know also they were astonished at the power of his doctrine. Look back at Luke 4 verse 36. And they were all amazed and
spake among themselves saying, what a word is this? For with
authority and power he commandeth even the unclean spirits and
they command. Now the preaching of the gospel
is an office given to individuals of God. His choice. Paul said he was separated under
the gospel of God. God separated him. Not because
he was worthy or talented or even willing, but Galatians 1.15,
when it pleased the Lord. Now I can look and listen to
men and maybe even give some opportunity to some that Perhaps
the Lord's going to call, but they have to be called to God
to that station. I can't do it. I can't do it. And I don't even
know who they are. God'll make known his preachers. He'll make
it known in a providence that shuts them up to it. He'll make
it known in an inward work that makes him miserable doing anything
else. He can't do anything. I mean,
he could make tents. Paul could, but he couldn't make
tents altogether. He hadn't preached. Ed Breach. And I know it in a power that
attends his preaching, convincing others that he's God's man and
that he preaches Christ. There's a power and authority
that comes with this calling and for us it's the Spirit of
God which makes us able ministers of Christ. And there is a power
sometimes seen and experienced and sometimes unseen and unfelt. What are you talking about? I'm
talking about that man who hears and goes like this and goes out
the door. He didn't feel anything. He didn't understand anything.
He didn't see anything. Was that power? Was that power? Did that power
actually attend the gospel? Oh, yeah. God giving him over
to strong delusion to believe a lie and be damned for believing
it. Anything but salvation by grace
through Christ is a lie. God's ministers preach his gospel. They were astonished at the power
and authority of it. He preached as one who had authority. Somebody told me not too long
ago, said, who made you Lord of interpretation? I said, I'm
not Lord of anything. But I represent my Lord. And
I don't preach by interpretation, I preach by revelation. It pleased
God, Paul said, to reveal his son in me that I might preach
him among the heathen. Well, who gave you this authority?
God did. If I'm a preacher, God did. We tell people what Christ told
us to say. And he said, he that heareth
you, heareth me. Ain't that what he said? That's what he said. I'm told to reprove, rebuke,
correct, and instruct. I can't do any of them without
authority. Well, who are you? Well, if you're one of his, he'll
tell you. He'll tell you. I won't have to sell you on it.
He'll tell you. He'll convince you. God hath revealed these things
to us by his Spirit, yea, the deep things of God, which things
we also preach. That's what Paul said. They were
astonished at the power of his doctrine. Thirdly, they were
astonished at the sufficiency of his doctrine. This world's
gospel's no gospel at all. It doesn't save, it wants to
save. It doesn't justify, it tells
you about justification. Peace, forgiveness, righteousness,
sanctification are all set before men by false prophets as dependent
upon them. If you don't work out a righteousness,
you don't have one. That's what they're preaching.
You listen to them. Everything Christ preached was
dependent on him, not the sinner. They didn't bring that lame man
up to him, or let's just take that man, here he is, he's paralyzed,
he's laid on a bed for how many years, 27, 37 years? Laid there,
they carry him out, lay him out there on that little porch, He
didn't have anybody put him in the water. The Lord come back.
He said, rise up and walk. He couldn't. But he did. You think he got up and said,
well, me and the Lord did this. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. No, that ain't
what he, he knew he couldn't do anything. But he did. He did at the Lord's command. Christ came into this world to
save sinners. He's the Savior. He's the source
of life. He's the way, the truth, and
the life. He's the bread. He's the water of life. In Him,
Paul said, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're
complete in Him. The sufficiency of this doctrine
is all in the Son of God. It's all in Him. He came into this world and the
world was made by him, but the world wouldn't have him. And
he came unto his own. His own received him not, but
to as many as received him. Why did they do that? To them
gave he power to become the sons of God. He gave them the right and the
privilege. He gave them the ability. And they were astonished at the
sufficiency of his doctrine, everything subject to him. And
then I know, fourthly, they were astonished at the objects of
his doctrine. He left Nazareth and came to
Capernaum, a city of Galilee, a coastal city full of sailors. You know, people write about
these men and they've got them all nice and polite and kind
of, you know. My soul, you ever been near sailors?
They ain't polite. They're not moral. You ever heard that, cuss like
a sailor? Yeah. He came to Capernaum. He preached to them. They weren't
nice people, they were sinners. He preached to them. This is
a faithful saying, Paul said, and worthy of all acceptation.
Christ Jesus come into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
chief. And then lastly, I think they
might have been astonished by the simplicity of his doctrine.
The teaching of religion would have to be written in volumes.
I've been reading about it for 40 years. I still don't understand
it. And it's not doctrine, it's doctrines with them. With Christ, it's one thing,
him. That's the doctrine. Well, you
believe. I believe Christ. That's what
I believe. No, I mean, how you gonna be
saved? I believe Christ. What, y'all don't believe in
sanctification? Yeah, I told you, I believe Christ. Simplicity, simplicity. Wasn't complex. You don't have
to be a theologian to understand this doctrine. All you have to
do is read the Word of God. It is exactly how it's stated
in the book, exactly. And once you realize it, you
realize that what made it so complicated was all the things
that you thought you knew that you didn't really know. That's
what complicated the issues. Here it is in black and white.
By grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God.