You might rather have Brother
Nybert this morning than me, but looks like we're stuck with
each other. And where's the gentleman that
I gave my text and title to, because we're going to have to
make a change. And I don't have the title, I
just have the text. If you'd open your Bibles to
Luke's Gospel, Chapter 4, Sometimes now a fella thinks
he knows what he's doing and it turns out he'd have been better
off if he'd have done what he had planned to start with. So... In the fourth chapter of the
Gospel of Luke, the Lord Jesus is in verse 16,
he's returning from that 40 day temptation by the devil, and
he comes into the region of Galilee, and we read in verse 14, and
Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, And
there went out a fame of him through all the region round
about. Now this takes some time for
this reputation to be heard all over Galilee. So we're talking,
I would think, at least months, don't think years, but months.
And it says in verse 15, and he taught in their synagogues,
being glorified of all. Everywhere he preached, he was
glorified. So some time now has passed. This popularity of Christ is
increasing. And in the next verse, we find
him for the first time since beginning his public life and
ministry. He's come back to the synagogue
at Nazareth. And I don't know how long it's
been since you've read this text, but my goodness is it downright
shocking and surprising. 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 to read. I presume now that the people
in charge ask him to do the reading for this day. And if our translation
is correct, he finds in the scroll of the prophet Isaiah these words
that we're about to hear read that are recorded in our Bibles
in this place. Verse 17, and there was delivered
unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened
the book, literally the scroll, he found the place where it was
written. You know, some people think you
just open your Bible and just have your eyes closed and, you
know, there it is. Well, I don't know about that,
but I know the Lord Jesus didn't do it that way. He found the place. Isaiah chapter
61 is what he found. The place where it was written,
here it is, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God is upon me because
he has anointed me to preach the gospel to somebody. Now who
is it? to whom the gospel is preached.
It is to the poor, to the poor. Now, this is not talking about
the financially poor. Well, if I were home, I could
guess how many people, if I asked them to raise their hand, that
thought they were poor financially, and I think I could get some
hands. And I'd put mine up there too. But this is talking about
poverty of spirit. This is a person who has a deep-seated
need in the soul because he's impoverished. So the Lord Jesus
announces, and can't you imagine this place was full this morning
for these people to know that he was coming to Nazareth and
was going to speak the following day on the Sabbath in the synagogue. anointed me to preach the gospel
to the poor, sent me to heal the brokenhearted. This, dear
friends, is spiritual brokenheartedness. It's not because your girlfriend
broke up with you. This is spiritual language, and
we must see it as such in order to truly understand it. The broken
hearted to preach deliverance to the captives. Same deal now. This is captivity to sin and
to Satan. And the recovering of sight to
the blind. This is spiritual blindness of
which we are all blind until God in Christ opens our eyes
in His grace and in His mercy. To set at liberty them that are
bruised. One more time, that is spiritual,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And I'm sure things
must have been at almost a fever pitch when it says, and he closed
the book, he gave it again to the deacon, the minister, and
sat down, and the eyes of all that were in the synagogue were
fastened on him. People that he knew. people that
he grew up with, relatives of his. This is not any Jewish synagogue. This is the synagogue in Nazareth. And you would think there would
be wonderful reception of the Son of God in this place. Well, if he hadn't said certain
things, there would have been. But that's not to be. Not to
be. All the eyes that were in the
synagogue were fastened on him. And our Lord... Now, I truly
believe we don't have the text of the whole sermon. If you disagree
with that, You know, I'm not sure about it myself, but I just,
I just think there was a little bit more said, but there's plenty
said. We get the gist of what is said. We're not losers because
of that. Verse 21, and he began to say
unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. This prophet that Isaiah is prophesying
yet to come is here and I am this prophet. And all bear him witness and
wondered, were amazed. at the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth, and they said, is not this Joseph's son? Well, as a matter of fact, no,
he ain't. He's Joseph's stepson. They don't think anybody that
is that closely connected to them can be speaking in language
like this. Is not this Joseph's son? And
he said unto them, You will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician,
heal yourself In other words, we've heard all these reports
from all these other places, and we're expecting bigger and
better things. Justify yourself in regard to
what we've heard, that it is indeed the truth. And we expect
to see demonstrations of that in this very place. Whatsoever we've heard done in
Capernaum, do also here in your country. And now our Lord elevates things quite a bit in
what follows. Now if our Savior had left this
rest of this message off, we would not have the violent consequences
that are shown in just a little bit. He said, Verily I say unto you,
No prophet is accepted in his own country. 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. Many people find
that statement in the book of James about, and also in the
Old Testament about three years and six months, and they say,
I don't believe that. I don't believe that could happen.
You know, three and a half years without water? Well, the Lord
Jesus said it. And one of his names is Truth.
We take exception with what he says. We elevate the condemnation
against us. It's enough that it's in this
book. But when our Lord Himself speaks those very words, then
it is indeed a much more damning disagreement with what we read
in the Scriptures. But I tell you of a truth, verse
25. Many widows were in Israel in
the days of Elijah when the heaven was shut up three years and six
months, when great famine was throughout all the land. But
unto none of them, unto none of those widows in
Israel, Unto none of them was Elijah sent, save or except,
unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, a Gentile city, unto a woman
that was a widow, and a Gentile at that. And then he adds a second charge. It's like lighting a stick of
dynamite. This just swept over these people
and turned them into absolute monsters. Verse 27, and many lepers were
in Israel in the time of Elijah, Elisha the prophet, and none
of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. Plenty of lepers
in Israel. And this guy only learned about
Elisha through a girl that had been captured in the last battle
between Syria and Israel. And so he became Naaman's wife's,
she became Naaman's wife's servant. And that little servant girl,
when she discovered that her master had leprosy, she told
him about this prophet of God in Israel. And that's how he
knows about him. That's why he came. Many lepers were in Israel in
the time of Elisha the prophet. And none of them, not one of
them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. Do you realize what
our Lord is saying? He is saying that the mercy and
grace of God to poor sinful men and women like ourselves is sovereign
mercy and sovereign grace. God saves whom He pleases. He always does. And if you're one of His, if
I am one of His, we ought to be amazed and humbled for such an infinite, eternal,
everlasting blessing. You know this, but I want to
remind you of it. And I know this from experience,
I ain't guessing. If I had read in 99% of the other churches
in Lexington, Kentucky this morning what I've just read to you and
what I've said up until this point. I don't know that I would
have gotten this far. I think they would have dragged
me out by the nap of my neck. But I'm telling you this is an
unusual place because what we have read drives
people mad. Well, it did me that before I
had any sense. I was still lost. I was a Baptist
preacher. And I hated what I did not even
understand. And these people's hatred toward
one that they had watched grow up from a small child to a man
of 30 years old whose family is here, his sisters, his brothers. Of all the places in Palestine,
you would think Nazareth would welcome him with open arms. But
no, that's not how it is. It's not our human, physical
relationships. In order to know the Son of God,
It is only by grace, and that grace is sovereign grace. All right, verse 28. I want you
to see this in your own Bible. And all they in the synagogue, when they had heard these things,
were filled with wrath, and rose up and threw him, thrust him
out of the city. And they led him to the brow
of the hill whereon their city was built that they might cast
him down head first, head first. They're doing their dead level
best to kill him. And every man and woman by nature
is of this same persuasion. I don't know if they're Democrats
or Republicans or independent, but I know one thing. We're all
members of this club until God in sovereign grace and mercy
stops our mad pursuit. But he, passing through the middle
of them, went his way. and came down to Capernaum and
taught them on the Sabbath day. And yet, I think it was in Bible class
you were reading, was that you Todd or was that somebody else
reading from Matthew 11 I think? Yeah, yeah. Earlier in that passage, Capernaum
doesn't fare quite so well. What they heard and tolerated
without violence, turned out they did not truly receive. And
our Lord pronounces on them a judgment far greater than the judgment
of Sodom and Gomorrah. Hell will be less punishment
for Sodom than for Capernaum. because of whom they've heard
and what they've heard in the many times that he was in that
place. Capernaum was like his base. He'd go out and come back and
go out another way and come back and another way and come back.
So they were, oh, they were favored many, many, many times with his
presence and with his teaching and his preaching and his miracles. But came down to Capernaum, a
city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath day." The Sabbath
day. Now, since I don't have any notes,
I'm going to have to say some things when it comes to this
noggin of mine because it don't work twice, you know. It just,
you're really blessed if it does it one time. So you better say
it while you got it. You want to see a miracle? The Gospels tell us and record
for us that Christ came back to Nazareth again. A second time after having left
to begin his public life. I just find that incredible.
Amazing. Truly amazing. Now if you'll
back up in this passage that is in front of us, I'd like to review in the light
of what we have now been reminded of in the violent attempt to
take the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to return
to the statements that he read out of the scroll of the prophet
Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 61. which would be verse 18 as it's
recorded in our Bibles in Luke chapter 4. And with this question
in mind, what was it about this reading
from Isaiah? And the Lord Jesus... You know, some people read better
than others. But you can't read better than the Lord Jesus. It wasn't a misunderstanding.
It was probably plainer than they would have liked. Let's
look at these five, I can't remember now how many there are, four,
five, or six, in verse 18. He's anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor. Now if Christ Himself and if
His preaching is offensive, then the gospel itself must offend. If it doesn't, it's not a genuine
article. And one of the first places is
that we are poverty stricken because of our sin. We might have the best job in
Kentucky. You know, you might look the
best, you might drive the best car and all the other things
that we measure life with. But if we don't love Christ and
His gospel, we aren't anything. We truly aren't anything. But the problem in Nazareth,
and the problem wherever the gospel goes for that matter,
is that people do not see themselves as needing that much help. It's too much. This Jesus is
too big for them and for us. And it takes a true miracle of
God for us to discover what we really are. And that if we don't
have this Christ, there isn't another one. And we certainly
cannot help ourselves. One of the damning heresies of
our day is a little word spelled D-O, do. What must I do to be saved? James Proctor wrote a hymn in
1858, I think, What Must I Do to Be Saved, and he begins the
first verse with, Nothing sinner know. Jesus did it all, all long
ago. I've left out some words, but
that's the gist of it. If I had my notes, I'd read it
right, but I just don't. These people did not consider
themselves poor because they think of poor as
being physically poor. They have enough to eat, they're
satisfied with their lives, but that's not where it is. It's
poverty of spirit. Like our Lord said in the Beatitudes,
blessed are the poor in spirit. But they're not blessed because
they're already poor in spirit. It is the blessing of grace to
make us poor. Self-confessed and self-professed,
poverty-stricken sinners. Alright, the second thing in
this list is, He sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Now this is
a spiritual condition that requires the intervention of God Almighty
to perform. For us to say, we can't go any
further like this. We have to have help. And it's
not something someone can do for me, it's something God must
do for me. Sent me to heal the broken hearted. The gospel is that salve that
heals the broken heart. The next group is to preach deliverance
to the captives. Now you can understand, I'm sure,
being called a spiritual captive is offensive to most anybody,
to all of us. But surely, given who it is that
is speaking these words, and telling them that the answer
to all of these conditions is found in Himself. Oh my goodness. We ought to be praying, Lord, when You're calling others, please
call me. Do not pass me by. and the recovering of sight to
the blind. Now, at home I ask people to turn
all the time, but I won't be bashful here this morning. I
got to do this at least once. If you just look for a second,
wow, if you just look for a second at John chapter 9, I want to
illustrate this blindness business in a I think one of the most powerful
statements in all of Scripture. Chapter 9 is taken up in the
gospel. Did I tell you John, right? Gospel
of John, chapter 9, is taken up with our Lord running into
this man who was born blind. Now some commentators tell us
that this means that he did not even have anything in the socket. It's empty. But whether that
be the case or not has nothing to do with what we're about.
But our Lord gives this man physical sight. And the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees,
they interview this guy about two or three different times.
They interview his parents and they're trying to get him you
know, to renounce this person who has opened his eyes and the
man grows bolder every time he has to appear before these people.
And so, along about verse 30, let's see, verse 30 will do fine. He's still answering now to the
to the religious police of his day, the man answered and said
unto them, Why, herein is a marvelous thing, that you know not from
where he is, the one that did this to me and gave me this sight,
and yet he has opened my eyes. Now we know that God hears not
sinners. Well, If you're born again, you
know that he hears a lot of sinners. But this is a different matter.
God hears not sinners, but if any man be a worshiper of God
and does his will, him he hears. Since the world began, was it
not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born
blind? There are several other examples
in the Gospels where Christ healed people that were blind, but they
weren't born blind. So this is a very apt look at
ourselves in regard to our ability to see. We're born spiritually
blind. If this man were not of God,
he could do nothing. Verse 34, They answered and said
unto him, You were altogether born in sin. They believed that
it was his parents that passed this curse upon this child. And do you teach us? And they
cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast
him out, and when he had found him. Oh, I love that statement,
when Christ had found him. Let's see, I think the song is
in the great hymns. It's, oh yeah, Satisfied. The chorus says, what did you say? Oh, Hallelujah,
I have found Him. We change that and say, Hallelujah,
we have found Him. I mean, He has found us. Everybody
believes they find Christ and find God, but not many people
believe that God must find us first. And indeed he does. And he did this man. Our Lord said to him in verse
37, now this is not just a 25 cent miracle. This giving this
man who's never had sight, giving him sight is quite a feat. The Lord said, This is the last
part of verse 35. Do you believe on the Son of
God? Now the Son of God has just opened this man's eyes. And this doubly applies to Luke
chapter 4. A physical miracle is not sufficient
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Your heart
can be filled with all the gratitude that it can hold and still not
do the trick. Watch this. Do you believe on
the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is
he, Lord, that I might believe on him? Now he's defended this
Lord Jesus Christ before this Sanhedrin two or three different
times. And he doesn't know him. You can know a lot about the
Bible. You can know a lot of doctrine. You can know a lot
about Christ and not truly know Him. But watch how this plays
out. He said in 36, Who is He, Lord,
that I might believe on Him? And the Lord Jesus said, You
have both seen Him And it is He that talks with you. Now watch
what this old boy does. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped Him. But we're not through now. There's
a little bit more to go. Verse 39. The Lord Jesus said,
For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not
might see, and that they which see might be made blind. Now
we ain't talking about physical blindness. I'll prove it to you. We have to understand this book
spiritually. For judgment, now there are places
where the Lord Jesus plainly says He didn't come down here
to judge. But there are some judgments
that are inevitable and you may not intend them, but you cannot
keep them from happening. And one of them is right here. For judgment, I am come into
this world. But here's the judgment, that
they which see not might see, and they which profess to see
are made blind. And some of the Pharisees which
were with him heard these words and said unto him, Are we blind
also? Now listen carefully. Verse 41,
Jesus said unto them, If you were blind, you would have no sin. You hear that? If you were blind,
you wouldn't have any sin. But you say, we see. Therefore, your sin remains. I can't look at my book, I gotta
look at you guys and try to see if I'm making any headway. I'm
telling you, that's just, that describes to us what was
missing in Nazareth. These people were, when our Lord
went there on that Sabbath, they were blind spiritually and when
he left, they are blinder than they were when he came, spiritually
speaking. All right, I'm going back to
Luke chapter 4. Where were we? Verse 18, but
which, did we finish it up? Where did I stop, Todd? I can't
remember. Yes, it had to be blind, didn't it? All right, to set
at liberty them that are bruised. This is the bruising of sin.
This is another aspect of what sin does to our minds and our
hearts and everybody knows to the body. To preach the acceptable
year of the Lord. But my question to you now is, why did these people not find themselves described
somewhere in that statement that our Lord read from Isaiah? Because they are not sick, spiritually. They are not blind. They are
not deaf. The worst of it is they're not
sinners. And Christ came to save sinners. But He doesn't expect to find
us already sinners. He expects to make us confess
that we're sinners. And you can't do it on your own
and I can't either. If given The opportunity, we're
more inclined by far to tell people how good we are, what
good deeds we've done, how nice a people we are, and all this
kind of stuff. But it takes grace for a man
to say, oh Lord, I'm the sinner of all sinners. I'm the chief
of sinners. We live in a world of religious
arrogance and self-righteousness. It's found everywhere you go
and it's found in me and in you. And it's only by the grace of
God that we don't perish from such a case, such a case. Todd, I don't know what time
I started, what time I'm supposed to stop, but I'm going to just
let that do it.