If you'll turn back to Luke chapter
4 with me. The Lord Jesus Christ, after
beginning His public ministry for some length of time now,
while going through all Galilee, now returns to His hometown of
Nazareth. And He had obtained a great reputation
by both His ministry and all the miracles that He had performed. This is where he'd been brought
up. This is where he had received his education. This is where
he had learned his trade as a carpenter, and he was well known by all
that lived there. And I'm sure that this day there
was great anticipation from all those that were in the synagogue,
and they had all heard of the things that Christ had done in
Capernaum. I'm sure the excitement in the
air was absolutely electrifying, somewhat like a hero returning
home from war. But that wouldn't last long.
Verse 16 tells us that it was his custom on the Sabbath day
to stand up and read from the Old Testament scriptures, maybe
It had been his custom from his youth, or maybe just his custom
since he started his public ministry. But this day, when he stood to
read, just like every other day had been determined, predetermined,
and ordered and ordained by God before the foundation, of the
world. In verse 17, we're told that
he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah from which he
read. And he stood there and read. And I can assure you this much,
there was none there this day that thought that Isaiah's prophecy
was written concerning he who stood and read. You know why?
He was Joseph's son. Was this not Joseph's son? Friends,
Christ is what this book is about. I remember reading or hearing
of someone saying to a pastor one time that the Bible was about
more than just Jesus Christ. Is it? This book is only about
the One who came into the world to save sinners. The God-Man,
the Lord Jesus Christ. I wish that all men and women
understood that. There's nothing else in this
book, dear friends. that will ever benefit your soul,
but Christ and Him crucified. And that's why the Apostle Paul
said, I'm determined not to know anything, tell you anything,
other than Him and Him crucified for lost, wretched, good-for-nothing
sinners. That is the message. God became
a man and died in the place of those who deserve nothing but
death. One might say, but yeah, this
book is full of history. Sure, it's full of history, but
it's all about His story. His story. This is a book of
His story. Now a book of history. From Genesis
to Revelation, this book is about him. And you know what I say
all the time, it's a him book. Brother Darwin Pruitt and I were
talking at their most recent conference and we were talking
about him books. And both of us had used a different
hymn book from what we use here and what he uses there. And we
were talking about how we like that hymn book. It has a lot
of good hymns in it. Some of ours doesn't have. Some
of his doesn't have. But the one that we like doesn't
compare to this hymn book. This hymn book is about him. H-I-M. You see, friends, the
forgiveness of sin is in him. It's not in something you do
to appease God Almighty. The saving of your soul is in
Him. It's in no way, shape, or form
dependent upon you and any so-called works of righteousness that you
must do. The righteousness and holiness
of God is in Him and Him alone. What do you think of Him is the
question. Your being reconciled to God
is in Him. The message that we must preach
is concerning Him. Our Lord said in Luke 24, He
said, O fools, slow of heart to believe, to believe all that
the prophets have spoken. What have the prophets spoken?
What is that Old Testament about? It's about Him. Of not Christ,
He said, to have suffered these things and to enter into His
glory. And it says, And beginning at
Moses, Genesis and all the prophets and all the Psalms. He expounded
unto them in all the Scriptures..." All means all, doesn't it? "...the
things concerning Himself." That seems pretty plain to me. It's
not a book of do's and don'ts. It's a book about Him. The only
salvation for sinners. Verse 17 goes on to tell us that
on this day when He took the book of Isaiah that was handed
to Him to read, He found the place. He wasn't just randomly
looking, dear friends, for a place to start reading. He knew right
where He was going. And He found the place where
it clearly spoke of the Messiah. Christ asked the apostles, the
disciples one day, He says, who do you, who do men say that I
am? And they rattled off several names, some of the prophets,
even John the Baptist. And He said, who do you say that
I am? That's a question that each of you should ask yourself
this morning. Who do you say that He is? And Peter. Peter
stood up and he said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. One day, the Lord said, I am
that bread that came down from heaven. And many of His disciples
that followed turned around and went home. And the Scripture
says, and followed Him no more. He goes down the road of peace,
and there's twelve. He said, will you lead me also?
Peter said, where else will we go? Thou hast the words to life
eternal. Friends, what do you think of
this Savior? Now the portion of Scripture
that our Lord read is found in Isaiah 61 verses 1-2. You don't have to turn there
because he reads them right here in verses 18 and 19. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He has sent who? Me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Now listen, what
Isaiah had written in prophecy, this day the Lord Jesus Christ
fulfilled in reality. That's right. The Old Testament
prophesied of Him that was to come. And this day, He that was
to come stood before them. When he first reads the words,
those in attendance didn't understand that that word, me, that he read
in that passage was really speaking of Him. Oh, it's one thing for
me to read this, but for the Son of God to read it. The day
this is fulfilled in your ears, our Lord and Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is qualified for the work of redemption. He is
declaring the word that Isaiah wrote, what concerning Him. Isn't that what he said? Concerning
me, begin at Moses. And all the prophets, all the
Psalms, they're concerning me. He's qualified to be our Redeemer. You know why? He says the Spirit
of the Lord is upon me. That's right. Our Lord was commissioned
by God to be God's only salvation. And Isaiah's prophecy declared,
because He hath anointed me. Not me and others. Maybe. God's anointing was on him and
him alone. Now I hear men say this all the
time. I know you do too. They say things
like, that preacher really has the anointing. What do you say
about that? I say he don't. He don't have
the anointing. Only Christ has God's true anointing. The anointing is on the Word
of God that's preached. And the Word of God was made
flesh and dwelt among us. Men need to be careful who they
attribute God's anointing to. You don't have no anointing.
What is the work to which Christ is qualified and commissioned
to do? Well, according to these verses,
it was the work of a great prophet, a great preacher. Christ was
anointed to preach. He certainly was that. Now, I
want you to try to fathom this. Oh, I got lost in this thought
as I was studying for this. This day, as I said, predetermined,
ordained by God Almighty, listen, God Himself stood in the pulpit. and preach to the people of Nazareth. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? God reading and preaching His
own word. To whom would this great prophet
preach? Well, he would preach to the
poor in spirit. Do you see yourself as poor in
spirit? We have no righteousness to call
our own dear friends. We're poor, helpless, sinful,
wretched, good-for-nothing sinners. We need the preaching of Christ.
We need God's Gospel. I've got good news for you this
morning if you're a sinner. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. Is that good news? It is if you're
a sinner. I guarantee it is if you're a
sinner. What is the great prophet to preach to the poor in spirit? Our great Lord and Savior is
qualified and he's commissioned to preach first the recovering
of sight to the blind. Now let me ask you, do you see
that you cannot see? Do you see that you cannot see?
unless God gives you the recovering of your sight. By nature we're
blind. We're spiritually blind. We cannot
see unless God in Christ gives us the recovering of sight. What else does he preach? He
preaches the acceptable year of the Lord. Now what does that
mean? What does that mean, the acceptable
year of the Lord? What it means, friends, is that
God came to let the world know that he whom they had offended
was willing to be reconciled to them and to accept them upon
new terms. Now what do you mean by new terms?
No more doing, No more keeping was required. No more, as we
talked about in the Sunday School, the washing of hands and all
the tedious things that the Levitical law demanded. Now, what are these
new terms? Believe on Christ. Bow to Him. Trust in Him and Him alone. He
who kept and did everything that God required of you. Can I make
that any simpler? And even our faith, even our
believing, dear friends, is God's gift. Don't ever forget that.
People say things like, well, he's a believer, but he's awful
puffed up. If he is, he's not a believer.
A believer ain't going to be puffed up because he knows from
whom his salvation comes. And he knows he doesn't deserve
it. He knows what he deserves. Death and condemnation. Eternal
damnation and an ever-burning hell. That's what he deserves.
And he ain't gonna toot his own horn. He's gonna tell you about
the one who lived and died and rose again for him. That's the
gospel. Not what men do. Men do the sinning,
God does the saving. The acceptable year of the Lord
here speaks of a year of release. It was called a year of jubilee,
which was an acceptable year to servants. You see, they were
set free from their debtors. If a man had mortgaged his land
to a man, he went to work for that man as a servant for so
many years. I don't remember if it was seven
or how many it was, but for seven years. And then came the day
of Jubilee, the year of Jubilee. Christ came to sound that jubilee
trumpet, and blessed were they that heard that joyful sound. All that they had lost was returned
to them. What we lost in Adam, dear friends,
we gain much, much more in Christ. Psalm 89, 15 says, Blessed is
the people that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord,
in the light of Thy countenance. It was an acceptable time. It
was a day of salvation to the poor who had lost all. You and
I lost everything in the fall of our father Adam. We lost everything. So we lost our life. Born dead. Born condemned. Christ came to
preach the acceptable year of the Lord. There's a change. Oh my, He didn't only make salvation
available. No sir, He is salvation. And those that look to Him, high
and lifted up, will be saved. Notice also that we, from these
verses of Christ, became the great physician. He came to heal
the broken hearted. Verse 18, broken hearted. Only
God can perform that kind of heart work. This doesn't only
mean that their hearts were sad. We use that very often. Oh, just broken hearted. Heart
broke. But it also means broke broke. What do you mean broke broke?
I mean deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. So wicked
and so deceitful that God had to yank it out and put in another.
And that's what he did. He's a great physician. You tell
me a physician that can do that. Oh, they can transplant and do
marvelous things today, but can they put in a heart that beats
and pants after God? No. That's God's doing. Christ came to comfort and to
cure, to clear consciences, to give peace to those who were
troubled and humbled because of their sin. their sin that
had put them under God's wrath against them. He came to bring
his people to rest who were weary and heavy laden under the burden
of guilt and sin. He said, come unto me, all you
that labor and heavy laden, and I will what? Give you rest. Do you need rest? He's where
it's bound. Nowhere else. Not the kind of
rest I'm talking about. Not the kind of peace that passes
all understanding. Only Christ can give that. He
came to be the great Redeemer for He came to preach liberty
to the captives. There's redemption now to those
who were captives of sin and whose wages were death. He came
in God's name to discharge poor sinners that were debtors and
prisoners to divine justice. He alone is just and justifier. Now listen, the prophets of old
could proclaim Liberty? That's what they did. They proclaimed
liberty. This morning, I am endeavoring
by God's grace to proclaim liberty in Christ. But listen, only the
Lord Jesus Christ, having authority as the One that had power on
earth to forgive sins, came to set at liberty. There's a difference
in proclaiming and setting. Yes sir, really, there's a big
difference. And in verse 20 it says, he closed
the book and he gave it again to the minister and he sat down. And all the eyes of them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him. Now this is the message
that's worthy of the attention of all. This is the message you
must hear to be saved. Do you have your eyes fastened
on him? Friends, work's finished. Salvation's accomplished. This
book has been closed in a sense that Christ has sat down at the
right hand of God on high in all power and majesty. The work's done. It's accomplished. Salvation is accomplished for
all who put their trust in Him. He closed the book and He sat
down. On the cross, before He gave
up the ghost, He said, it's finished. Now verse 22, And all bear him
witness, and wonder at the gracious words which proceeded out of
his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's
son? And they bear him witness and
say it. They were astonished at his gracious words. But let
me tell you something, they didn't believe me. They didn't believe
me. They said, Is not this Joseph's
son? You know what they should have
said? This is the Son of God in whom we've heard, in whom
we've waited for. He's here. But they said, and
this Joseph's son? This is Joseph's son. Do you
see him this morning as the Son of the living God? Do you see
him as God who took on flesh and blood, born of a woman? born under the law to redeem
rotten, no-good sinners from the curse of the law? Oh, if
you see him that way, you've seen him the right way. Or, do
you simply see him as a great prophet, a great teacher, a great
preacher? Do you see him as someone who
saves sinners in cooperation with that sinner? A collaboration
between Him and the sinner. Do you see Him that way? If you
do, then you still see Him as Joseph's son. Like these folks,
you only see Him as the son of Joseph the carpenter. Our Lord
stood one day in front of the Pharisees, all the religious
and pious, holier than thou Pharisees. And He spoke the truth to them
and they said, Are you greater than our father Abraham? And
Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. Now that doesn't just mean before
Abraham was, I was. No, He's declaring there who
He is. Before Abraham was, I am that
I am. You think about those words for
a second. I am that I am. Moses said, Pharaoh's going to
ask me who sent me. He said, you tell him that I
am that I am sent you. He was declaring who he was.
What he was saying is I'm God. And Abraham rejoiced and he was
glad to see my day. Oh may God give us eyes to see
that this man is God and he's our only hope of redemption.
Verse 23, And he said unto them, Ye were surely saying unto me
this proverb, Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard
done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. Now what did
the Lord mean when He said that? They didn't say this. He said,
you will surely say. He anticipated their thoughts.
He knew their thoughts before they thought. God does, you know
that? He knows what you think before
you even think it. And He said, you're surely saying
to me this proverb, physician, heal thyself. What he's saying
here is that within themselves they were thinking, who is this
man saying that he is? Would you do miracles and cures
to us like you did in Capernaum to your neighbors, to your relations
and to your acquaintances? They thought to themselves that
He should heal the sick and the lame and the blind and the leprous
and the deaf and the dumb that were there in Nazareth. Buddy,
this is your hometown. And we see that from what He
said next. Whatsoever we have heard done
in Capernaum, do also hear in thy country. Now listen. The
natural heart of man hasn't changed since the beginning, since Adam
fell in the garden. What these people wanted was
a sign. They wanted proof. And their pride was their motivation. They'd heard all about the miraculous
things that the Lord had done. And they hadn't come to hear
His precious words. They hadn't come to hear Him
preach. No, they had come to see some kind of a religious
circus and sideshow. It's the same today. People,
by nature, are not interested in the Word of God. They're not
interested in the things of God. They want to be entertained.
They want to see supernatural, miraculous things. So much so
that men will go to great extremes to give them what they want.
They want to see miraculous things. And yet, is there anything more
miraculous than the new birth? God breathing life into a dead
sinner? Is there anything more miraculous
than that? You see, our Lord knew what they
desired and therefore He told them, you're going to say to
Me, you do the things here that you did in Capernaum and maybe
we'll believe you. But the people He had healed
in Capernaum were needful. They came with a desperate need. They were in desperation. He
healed that fellow who was lame on his feet and remember his
friends brought him and they couldn't get in because of the
crowd and they climbed up on the roof and they took the roof
off him and dropped him down in front of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's a man in need. In Capernaum, he had healed that
woman with the issue of blood while she had crawled through
that crowd and made her way to the Lord Jesus Christ. And she
said, if I can just touch the hem of his garb and fall at his
feet, I'll be healed. He raised Jairus, his daughter,
from the dead. Jairus came to him and he said,
Lord, my little girl, The apple of my eye, the one I love, she's
near death." And they came to Him as Christ walked with Him
home and said, don't bother the Master, she's dead. Oh, can you
imagine what that man felt in his heart? Christ said, she's
not dead. She sleeps. That's right. He raised her from the dead.
He healed two blind men. And I'm sure He did many, many
more miraculous things. The Scriptures say that if all
the things that our Lord did when He walked on earth were
contained in a book, there wouldn't be room in the whole world to
hold all the volumes. Man, I'm telling you, we just
see some of the things that he did. But miraculous they were. Now listen, men and women either
come to Christ out of a desperate need that God has revealed to
them that they have, or they're going to come to religion for
self-absorbed, selfish reasons. That's right. These hometown
folks thought the Lord was no more than Joseph's son. And they
needed some proof that He was something more. His words were
not enough. They needed to see some proof.
But friends, faith is believing the unseen, is it not? Isn't
that what true faith is? We walk by faith, not by sight. What did our Lord say to Thomas?
You know the story. The Lord appeared unto him after
his resurrection. Thomas wasn't there. And they
said, Thomas, the Lord appeared unto us. He said, Ha! I won't
believe it until I see it. Then the Lord appeared unto him
when Thomas was there. And he said, Thomas, because
thou hast seen me, thou hast believed. He said, Blessed are
they that have seen, not seen, and yet have believed. Friends,
that's the way we come to Christ by faith. Look at verse 24. "'Barely
I say unto you that no prophet is accepted in his own country.'"
That's another old Jewish proverb, which means that a prophet or
any teacher or preacher, generally speaking, is more esteemed among
strangers. He's more likely to be honored
by those who have no personal knowledge of him. That old saying
is true. Familiarity breeds contempt. They were saying things like,
well, I remember when he worked down there at Joseph's carpenter
shop. Well, he fixed a table for me one time, and he was always
a little strange, a little different. You see what I'm saying? Prophets
without honor in his own country. This was the attitude of these
hometown people. Is this not Joseph's son? Is
this not that fellow that worked in the carpenter shop that fixed
my table, that fixed my chair? But in these next few verses,
we see the sovereign will and the particular redemption of
the God of the Bible. Let me ask you, does the God
you serve, does He do what He wills, when He wills? How He wills to whom He wills. If that's not your God, then
you're serving a false God. This Bible proclaims from every
page, but Psalm 115.3, you write it down, you read it, you look
at it. Our God is in the heavens and He hath done whatsoever He
hath pleased. Verse 25 and 26, but I tell you, of a truth. Many widows were
in Israel in the days of Elijah. The heaven was shut up three
years and six months. Three and a half years it didn't
rain. And great famine was throughout all the land. I imagine, look
at the drought we had this year. Can you imagine no rain for three
and a half years? There was a famine throughout
the land. And there were many widows in
Israel. But unto none of them was Elijah's sin. Not one, except
unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. Now this is the truth that Christ
told these hometown haters. He said, I tell you of a truth.
It would benefit them if they would have listened. There were
many widows in Israel in the days of this great famine. But
God passed by every one of them and saved a poor widow, Agenda. There weren't only many widows
in Israel, there were a bunch of poor widows in the land of
Israel. And Elijah was the prophet to
Israel. No rain had fallen. There was
a great famine throughout all the land. Now did God tell Elijah
to start in Israel and go door to door and provide for all the
widows? No, no, no, no. He didn't send
Elijah to not one of them. God sent Elijah to a poor widow
way outside of Israel. Look at verse 26. But unto none
of them was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta, city of Sidon,
unto a woman that was a widow. But God bestows His favor, friends,
on whom He will in a sovereign way. And sometimes, most of the
time, it's on the most unlikely. I bet those of you here this
morning that trust in Christ, you'll say that you were one
of the most unlikely that He would say. I know I was. Oh, He speaks of a time of famine.
He overlooked all the poor widows in Israel, His peculiar people,
and sent His prophet to a Gentile woman in one of the cities of
Sinai. Do you know why? It pleased Him
to do so. He has mercy on whom He has mercy. He has compassion on whom He
has compassion, and He hardens whom He wills. And you say, some
will say, that ain't fair. That ain't fair. He's God. It
doesn't matter if you think it's fair or not. Read on verse 27,
And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elijah the prophet.
And none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. Leprosy was a disease very common
among the Jews in the land of Israel. Many, many, many lepers. Leper colonies. By the law of
God dealt with them. So much of how lepers were to
be dealt with. But God didn't send one of them
to the prophet Elijah. Not a one. Who was the leper
that God sent to Elijah? It was Naaman, an old Syrian,
a ruthless man of war, a captain who had been an enemy to God's
people, Israel. And our Lord is saying God's
going to have mercy on him. He'll have mercy on him. He'll
have compassion on him. He'll have compassion on him.
He will harden him. And they understood what he said.
Do you know how I know? Look down at verse 28. And all
they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled
with wrath. and they rose up, and they thrust
him out of the city, and they led him into the brow of the
hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down
headlong." Now listen to me, men and women by nature hate
the message of God's sovereign grace. They hate the God who
rules and reigns and does according to His own will and purpose.
They hate it by nature. And I did too, and you did too,
until God divinely intervened. How much do they hate it? They
hated it so much that they would have killed God if they could
have got their hands on Him. Isn't that what this says? They
would have killed God, but you know what? They can't. They can't. Oh, let me tell you, you and
I would have done the same thing if God hadn't saved us by that
same divine, sovereign mercy that we once hated by nature.
Look at verse 30. But he passing through the midst
of them went his way. Friends, throw down your hatred
and enmity to Christ. God's got to grant you to do
so, but get rid of it. Bow to Him. Bow at His feet. If you don't do it now, this
book says that you will one day. And I'm going to tell you, it
won't be pleasant then. Every knee shall bow. Every knee. Every knee. Every tongue. Every tongue. will confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord. And there are going to be some
folks that are going to pray that the mountains and the rocks
fall on them because they didn't do it. Today is the day of salvation. Don't wait another day. Come
to Christ. May God bid you to come. And
I'll say this, let those that have ears to hear, let them hear. That's God's doing. I can't make
you here. I can only proclaim to you what
this book says. God's got to make you come. God's
got to show you your need. I just pray that today He might.
Today He might.