Luke chapter 4 this morning and
we'll bring our message from verse 16 down through verse 22. But let's go back and begin reading
at verse 14 and then I'll give you the title of the message
when we get to verse 16. And the Lord Jesus Christ returned,
returned from the wilderness and returned in the power of
the Holy Spirit and he came back to this region, this state named
Galilee. And there went out of fame of
him throughout all the region round about. Galilee was the
north country, Judea or Judea the south country, Jerusalem
to the south and fame. went out about him from all around
the country. Look at verse 37 in Luke chapter
four. And the fame of him went out
into every place of the country round about. He became very well
known because of his teaching and because of his miracles.
Verse 15, and he taught in their synagogues in the assembly of
the Jews. He taught them as we know from
this example, he taught them from the scriptures. Being glorified
of all, that is all who heard him and believed him. And then it says in verse 16,
he came to his hometown. He came to Nazareth where he
had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the synagogue
that is the assembly of the Jews and he went there on the seventh
day the Sabbath day according to the law of God and at this
particular time he stood up to read the word of God the word
of truth now I'm entitling the message from verse 16 Christ preaching in his hometown or
Christ the preacher. The Lord Jesus Christ was a preacher
of the gospel. Yes, he is God our savior. Yes,
he is the redeemer. But look at the last verse in
this same chapter, Luke chapter four, verse 43 and verse 44. He said to them, I must preach
the kingdom of God to other cities also. For therefore am I sent,
and he preached in the synagogues of Galilee." The Lord Jesus Christ,
God our Savior, God our Redeemer, was a preacher of the gospel
of the grace of God. Nazareth, we know, was his hometown
where he was raised from a young boy. He had been in this synagogue,
I'm confident, many times before. Joseph and Mary honoring the
law of God that was commanded to keep the Sabbath day holy.
The Lord Jesus Christ with his family went to this hometown
synagogue often, very often, from a young boy up. They recognized
his family where they said, verse 22, is not this Joseph's son?
No doubt Joseph and Mary were in this very synagogue hearing
the Lord Jesus Christ preaching the gospel. This was his hometown
synagogue, his hometown church, and here's a hometown boy coming
back as a famous son where it says their fame went out fame
of him, went out to all the region round about. This is that famous
son come back home. Having spent 40 days in the wilderness
of temptation, having defeated Satan's vicious assaults against
him, the Lord Jesus Christ came back victorious. the Lord returned
back home victorious. He was led by the Spirit into
the wilderness. Notice verse one of Luke chapter
four. And Jesus being full of the Holy
Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness. And now it says over here in
verse 14, he returned in the power of the Spirit back to Galilee,
back to his hometown. He returns back home to continue
his public ministry, going about to do the father's will, going
about to do the father's business, going about to do the father's
work. You remember he said, my meat
is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Now, he came to Nazareth. You look at your map sometime,
Nazareth, there in the state of Galilee, Someone said, you
remember in John chapter one, someone asked this question.
Nathanael said, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Evidently this town here was
a town that didn't have much of a reputation. It's like someone
saying, well, can any good come out of Pikeville, Kentucky? Yeah,
come and see. Can anything good come out of
Nazareth? You remember what Philip said
to Nathanael? Well, come and see. We found
the Messiah. Come and see. Now, why was the
Lord Jesus Christ raised up at Nazareth? Why was he raised up
at Nazareth? Why not Capernaum? That was another
city there in Galilee. that he might be called a Nazarene
or fulfill that Nazarite vow. Now hold your place there and
turn back to Matthew chapter two, Matthew chapter two, and
that the scripture might be fulfilled. He shall be called a Nazarene.
Matthew chapter two, verse 23. He came and dwelt in a city called
Nazareth. that it might be fulfilled, which
was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called the Nazarene. Now you wanna pencil this reference
in Isaiah 11 verse one, and there's other references given there,
that the Lord Jesus Christ might fulfill that Nazarite vow. as
our Messiah as our Mediator so that's why he came to Nazareth
that the scripture might be fulfilled you see everything he did in
his coming where he went what he said what he did in all his
ministry everything he did was the fulfilling of scripture in
accomplishing our salvation he was brought up from a young Child,
now he's a young man, 30 years old, now watch this. And his
custom was, he was taught according to the word of the Lord. And
the custom was in his family and according to the law of God
that they went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Why did they
go there? To hear the word of God. to worship
God in spirit and in truth. And here's the point I would
make here on this Sabbath day. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
the Sabbath law for us. Exodus 20 verse 8 says, remember
the Sabbath day to keep it holy. He honored the Sabbath law for
us and in doing so he honored the law of God for us in every
precept and every penalty. Our Lord said in Matthew 5, I
didn't come to destroy the law but I came to honor it. Now,
listen to me carefully. We as believers today do not
honor any particular day. We don't have what is called
a Christian Sabbath. We meet on the first day of the
week to worship God and to preach his gospel, but we don't keep
any particular day. This is a day the Lord has made.
Every day is a day that the Lord has made, and every day is a
day for a believer to worship God. But we don't keep any Sabbath
day because believers are no longer under the law, not as
a rule of life, Not as a motivator. Don't put me under a Sabbath
law. Sunday is not our Sabbath. Sunday
is the first day of the week that we've set aside to worship
and to preach the gospel, but we're not under a Sabbath law.
A couple of scriptures here to help us on that point. Romans
10 says, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believeth. In Romans 6 verse 14 says, we're
not under the law, but we're under grace. The Lord Jesus Christ
himself is our Sabbath rest. That seventh day was given as
a day of rest. Remember what the Lord Jesus
Christ said? Come unto me all you who are laboring and heavy
laden, I will give you rest. There remaineth a rest therefore
to the people of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is
our Sabbath. He is our rest. Look to Him and
rest and worship God every day, all the time, look unto Him. Now, the third thing I would
have us know on this verse right here, the Lord attended public
worship, didn't He? Their family, Joseph and Mary,
Joseph and Mary had other children as well. Joseph and Mary did. They had other children as well,
and the family came on the Sabbath day to worship God. That is,
there was a public assembly, a public worship assembly in
their hometown. And Mary and Joseph brought their
family, and the Lord Jesus Christ came to this synagogue on the
Sabbath day to publicly worship the Lord. Now, why is this important? Can't we just stay home and privately
worship? Well, we can privately worship,
but we're commanded on the first day of the week to gather together
to worship publicly. We should never find any flimsy,
weak reason to excuse ourselves from public worship. I know sometimes
we're hindered by sickness and work and other things. I'm not
saying that Well, this statement, we should never find any flimsy,
weak reason to stay home and not come to worship, to excuse
ourselves from public worship, but always seeking opportunity
to assemble with the saints of God and not to forsake public
assembly. It says that in Hebrews 10, not
forsaking the assembly of yourselves together as a manner of some
is. This was his custom. It was a custom according to
the law of God. And it should be not that we
come to service, well, you know, it's a tradition, it's a family
thing. No, that's not the right attitude
about it. The believer's attitude about
it is it's a privilege to come and worship together, to assemble
with the saints of God. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ
did and that's what believers Enjoy doing David said I was
glad when they said to me. Oh boy. Let's go to the house
of the Lord I was glad worship is not a burden Assembling together
as a as a as the people of the Lord to read his word and to
preach the gospel and to sing Praises unto God and to praise
it. It's not a burden is it? It's a delight It's a delight
Something else we see in verse 16 He stood up to read He stood
up to read, you see that? Now, reading of the Scripture
publicly and privately is important. We should always read the Scripture
privately, but we should also read the Scripture publicly.
When we come together as the assembly of God's people to worship
Him in spirit and in truth, forefront and the foremost should always
be the reading of the Word of God. We make much, don't we Freddie? We make much, don't we Lionel? Don't we David? We make much
of the reading of the Word of God. I have never conducted a
public worship here when I did not make much of the written
Word of God. The first thing we do when the
service begins, how do we begin? Turn to Isaiah 61. We always
read the Word of God. And then we come back to the
portion of Scripture which we're going to study that day. We'll
read that portion of Scripture as we did this morning in Luke
chapter 4. We should always make much of
the written Word of God. We have always conducted the
service here by reading publicly the Word of God. And we have
read over the last 20, almost 23 years, we have read how much
of this Bible? Pretty much all of it. Pretty
much all of it. We've studied all through the
books, beginning at Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, all the way
through to the Revelation. You see, When the Scriptures
are read, we receive direct, inspired instruction from thus
saith the Lord. You see, all Scripture is given
of God. Well, we ought to pay particular
attention when the Word of God is read. All Scripture is given
of God and it is profitable for us to read it. And we read it
as the Lord did right here. He stood up and read the Word
publicly just as I did this morning. It's a good thing to do. It is
far more important what the Lord says in His Word than what I
say about the Word of the Lord. It's much more important that
you hear what He says. And that's why I try to read
and study the Word as I preach. So then let us make much of the
Word. He has promised to bless His
Word to His people. The Word is a lamp and a light
unto our feet. He said, I will send my word,
and it will not return to me void, and wherever I send the
word, God said it will prosper. You see, the word of God is quick
and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. We make much
of the word of God. Sadly, in most places today,
it's gone to entertainment. and fleshly things, rather than
a study of thus saith the Lord. Now, look at verse 17 in our
text. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah. Now all the circumstances around
this, how it came about, and everything that was involved
here, it had to be ordered of God. It had to be brought to
pass by the providence of God. The day he was there, the scripture
that he read, no doubt they were reading through the book of Isaiah
and evidently it was his turn to read. All this was in the
providence of God and they gave him the book and he unrolled
it and said, here it is. Isaiah 61. And he opened the
book and he found the place where it was written. When they delivered the book
of Isaiah, they delivered the book to the author of the book,
didn't they? And they delivered the book to
the author of the book and to the one who was the subject of
the book. And he found where Isaiah, his
prophet, had recorded his word about him. Now isn't this amazing? The Lord said to those Jews on
another occasion, you are they which Search the Scriptures,
and in them you think you have eternal life, but there they
would testify of me. Now, look at verse 18. Luke 4
verse 18. And the Spirit of the Lord God,
the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. He was led by the Spirit
in the wilderness, It says there that he returned to the power
of the Spirit into Galilee. And then it says in verse 18,
the Spirit of the Lord was upon him. Because he has anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor. Now the Lord Jesus Christ is
Almighty God manifest in the flesh. That's what the Word teaches. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. As God Almighty, God
the Son, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, as God the Son, He has all power
and glory and all fullness. All the fullness of God dwells
in Him. It pleased God that in Him should all fullness dwell.
Eternal, Holy, Almighty God, as God the Son. But as the man
Christ Jesus, as the Son of Man, He had the complete filling,
enabling of God the Holy Spirit upon Him without any measure
to accomplish the work the Father gave Him to do. Now remember,
turn over here to John chapter 3. Remember what John says of
him? He must increase, I must decrease. Verse 34 of John 3, for he whom
God hath sent We talked about that in our Bible
study this morning, didn't we? The sin of God. He whom God hath
sent speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto him. Now we have the Holy Spirit by
measure. He had the Holy Spirit without
measure. The Father loved that the Son
had given all things into His hand. The Lord Jesus Christ was
anointed by God the Holy Spirit fully and totally to accomplish
all of His work as the Messiah. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
anointed prophet. The anointed prophet. From Deuteronomy
18, God promised to Moses, I'll raise up a prophet from among
the brethren, and he'll speak my word. He will not deviate
from it. And those who will not hear that
prophet, God said, I'm going to hold you accountable. The
Lord Jesus Christ is that prophet, isn't he? That reveals unto us
the way of salvation in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
only the anointed prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ is the anointed
priest we have. Do you have a great high priest?
Yes, every believer has a great high priest. Who is it? The Lord
Jesus Christ. We have a high priest who by
himself purged our sin. He didn't bring the typical animal
blood sacrifice. He brought his own blood. And
as our high priest, he obtained eternal redemption for us. He
is the priest that represents us before God. He is the anointed
one. He's the anointed priest that
cannot fail. And we know that He is the King,
the anointed King. God said, I've set my King upon
my holy hill Zion. Remember Psalm 2. He's called
King of kings and Lord of lords. He's King of all. He's God of
all the earth. Prophet, priest, and King. And
here we see Him conducting His ministry as the preacher, as
the prophet of good news, of the gospel. Turn to Matthew chapter four. The Lord Jesus Christ was the
preacher of good news, good news. The spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel. He was
a preacher, the prophet of God. Look back at Matthew chapter
four, verse 23. Jesus went about all Galilee
teaching in their synagogue preaching the gospel of the kingdom healing
all manner of sickness all manner of disease among the people and
Fame went out fame went throughout all Syria and they brought unto
him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases Torments
and those which were possessed with devils and those which were
lunatic and those that had palsy and he healed them and there
followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee and Decapolis
from Jerusalem and from Judea and from beyond Jordan the Lord
Jesus Christ was a preacher of good news good news turn back
to Isaiah again and find Isaiah 52 Isaiah 52 The Lord Jesus Christ was a preacher
of good news, good tidings, glad tidings. Isaiah 52, look at verse
7. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publish peace,
that bringeth good tidings of good, that publish salvation,
that saith unto Zion, what's the word? Thy God reigneth. Good tidings. He publishes peace. Good tidings of good. He publishes
salvation. What is the good news? God is
God. He reigns and rules over all
things. Now, what is this good news? Salvation to sinners. Now you
take a good look at Luke chapter 4 verse 18. What is this good
news? And look at these words here. He has sent me to heal. You see that? He sent me to heal. And then
what is the good news? Look at the second word. To preach
deliverance. To heal, to deliver, and then
recovering of sight. To heal, to deliver, to recover,
And then it says, to set at liberty, to set free them that are bruised,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And then it says
in Isaiah 61, the good news of the gospel is to comfort, to
give beauty, to give the oil of joy, to give the garment of
praise, to this one end that Christ might be glorified. You see the good news of the
gospel there in verse 18? To heal, And then as it says
in Isaiah 61, to deliver, to recover, to set free, to comfort,
to give beauty, to give oil, the oil of joy, the garment of
praise, to this one end that he might be glorified. That's
a whole lot there, isn't there? And we could go back as we have
in the past and look at each one of those verses, but we know
this, the Lord Jesus Christ He is our Deliverer. He is our Redeemer. He is our Savior. He is our Righteousness. He is our Joy. He is our Glory. He is our Redeemer. He is everything,
Christ is all and in all. Now, the second thing is this,
to whom is it good news? To whom is it good news? What
is it good news? Well, glad tidings. He came to
heal, deliver, recover, to set free, to comfort. To whom is
it good news? Well, we have it here in the
text. It's good news to the meek. It's good news to those who were
poor in spirit. Those who were bankrupt beggars. It's good news to those who were
broken hearted. Broken hearted over what? Broken
hearted over sin. Sin against God. It's good news
to those who are captives. What are we captive to? Sin. Law. You see, it's good news
to those who are poor in spirit. It's good news to those who are
broken hearted. It's good news to those who are
held captive by their sin. It's good news to those who are
blind. blinded to the holiness of God,
blindness to the mercy of God, blind to the grace of God. It's
good news to those who are bruised. Bruised. Bruised by what? Bruised
by sin. We sang that song, bruised and
mangled by the fall. And Adam all died and Adam all
were bruised. And it's good news to those who
mourn in Zion. What are they mourning over?
Sin? Sin. You see, the only remedy
for our sin is Christ. What is the good news? There
is salvation in Christ. To whom is it good news? To sinners. To sinners. You see, the Lord
didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. For
I can never find a genuine bona fide sinner. One who is broken
hearted, blind, bankrupt, I've got good news. You see, there
is grace for the guilty. God saves sinners by His grace.
God saves guilty sinners by His grace. There is mercy for who? Those who are miserable because
of their sin, not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to his mercy. There is salvation for who? Sinners. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that the Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. There is forgiveness of all sins
for who? Transgressors. The blood of Jesus
Christ cleanses us from all our sins. There is righteousness
for the ungodly. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
the ungodly. There is acceptance before God
in Christ for who? Those who are wicked, those who
are guilty. You see the Lord Jesus Christ,
He is our year of jubilee. See that in verse 19? He came
to preach the Year of Jubilee, the acceptable year. Under the
law, on that 50th year, everybody who was in debt, their debt was
forgiven. Everybody that had sold themselves
into bondage was set free. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
Jubilee. We are set free in Him. We are
accepted in the Beloved. Now look at verse 20. so he reads the scripture and
then he rolls the book back up he gave it to the minister the
Pharisee there in the synagogue and he sat down and the eyes
of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him
and he began to say to them this day is this scripture fulfilled
in your hearing in your ears the Lord had preached his message
from the word of God he sat down and they all started staring
at him looking at him and verse 21 and the Lord says
Right now, this day, right now at this time, this scripture
that was written 700 years ago, right now at this time, this
scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. the Lord Jesus Christ is the
message of all scripture isn't he? his person and his redemptive
work it's all about him you remember from Acts chapter 10 to him give
all the prophets witness Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, David they
all talked about and wrote about the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ is fulfillment of every promise, picture, pattern,
and type of the Old Testament Scripture. It says He died for
our sins according to the Scriptures, right? He's a fulfillment of
every type, picture, pattern, and promise. Remember I told
you there's three types. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
fulfillment of every personal type. A king like David, a prophet
like Moses, a priest like Aaron. He's the fulfillment of every
instituted type. The day of atonement. Christ
is our atonement. He's the fulfillment of every
providential type. The Passover lamb, God said,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. The Lord Jesus Christ
is fulfillment of that Passover lamb. The brazen serpent lifted
up. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
must be lifted up. Whoever believes in me shall
never perish. You see, he's a fulfillment of
every personal type, instituted and providential type. Now look
back at verse 21. and all bear witness and wondered
at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth." Now, do you
notice the reference there on the gracious words? Psalm 45. Let's turn there and read that
Psalm one more time. Psalm 45. Turn over there. Psalm
45. He spake with power, but his
words were with grace. Gracious words. Psalm 45, let's
read the first two verses. Verse 1, My heart is indicting
a good matter. There's that good news. I speak
of things which I have made concerning or touching the king. My tongue
is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children
of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. Therefore God hath blessed thee
forever. He's the anointed Look down at
verse seven, verse six and seven of this same psalm. Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of righteousness, the
scepter of thy kingdom is a right scepter. Thou lovest righteousness
and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, thy God hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. He
is the anointed Messiah, the King. Now, back to the text. I'll bear him witness. and wondered
at the gracious word which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said..."
Now, notice what they said. They said, well, this is Joseph's
son. Is not this Joseph's son? They
didn't say, well, you are the Messiah. We're glad you're here. Glory to your name. They did
not recognize him as the one sent of God. He was right in
applying the words that he just read from Isaiah 61 to himself. And they were impressed with
the manner of his preaching, the way of his preaching, but
not with what he preached. They were not taken up with the
message he delivered. You cannot be the Christ, we
know you as Joseph's son. They did not bow to his lordship,
did they? They heard him, they acknowledged
him, and then they said, well, you're a man. You're Joseph's
son. You're the carpenter's kid. They
nodded and acknowledged, but they did not bow in their heart.
That's dangerous ground, isn't it? To be taken up with the preacher
and not be taken up with the message of the gospel. It dangerous
in following the preacher and not following the Savior. John
pointed sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, we're not taking
up with the messengers, we're taking up with the message of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to be taken
up with Christ, the gospel of Christ. Not the messenger. Now, let me give you this scripture. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. It's always the preacher's business
to point you to Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what the Lord was doing Himself. He said, I am the Messiah. I
am the one Son of God. I am the anointed of God. But
here's the problem that we're taking up with, 1 Corinthians
chapter 3, look at verse 4. For while one saith, I am of
Paul, another saith, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal?
Who then is Paul? Who is Apollos, but ministers
by whom you believe? Even as the Lord gave to every
man, I have planted, Apollos watered, But it's God that gives
the increase. So then, neither is he that planteth
anything, neither he that watereth, he's not anything, not anything,
but God that gives the increase. I want all who hear our sermons,
whether here or on sermon audio to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. I point you to Him. He is the
one that's anointed. He is the one that can deliver
the brokenhearted. He is the only one that can set
sinners free. He is the only Savior of sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ says this
in Isaiah 45. There is no God else beside me,
a just God and Savior. There is none beside me. Look
unto me, all the ends of the earth. Look unto me and be ye
saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, there is no other. Would you look somewhere else?
Absolutely not. Would you go back to the law?
Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do him." We're not going to look
to Mount Sinai. We're going to look to the Lord
Jesus Christ, crucified and exalted. Now let me close with this. Do
you need deliverance? Yes! Well, He's the Deliverer. Do you need salvation? Yes! Well, He's the only Savior. Do
you need righteousness? Yes! He is the Lord our righteousness. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ is all and in all. Look to Him. Rest in Him. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily and in Christ we stand complete. By His grace,
we'll not say, this is Joseph's son. By His grace, we will say,
He is God our Savior. That's my testimony. I trust
it's yours. The Lord Jesus Christ is all
our salvation alone. He is my deliverance. He is my
comfort. He is my hope. He is my righteousness
before God, and I trust that He's yours as well. May God bless
His Word.