I want you to open your Bibles
first to the little book of Micah, over in the Old Testament. Micah, chapter 5. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to
this earth as an infant, made of a woman, made under the
born in Bethlehem, the city of David, where Micah the prophet
said he would be born. But when Micah spake this prophecy
years before our Lord came, he said some things that need to
be emphasized. In Micah 5, verse
2, listen, thou be little among the thousands
of Judah," small city, yet out of these shall he come forth
unto me, the father said. He'll be a representative, a
mediator, a redeemer of his people unto me. Yet out of thee shall
he come forth unto me to fulfill my covenant, my redemptive purposes. Unto me, that is, he that is
to be the ruler, the King of kings, Lord of lords in Israel,
head of the church. What's this? Whose goings forth. He's here, he'll soon be there. But his goings forth have been
from of old, from everlasting. He who will come to you will
be sent from me, whose goings forth have been from of old,
from everlasting. He'll come to you, but unto me
he'll represent you. Now turn, if you will, to Matthew
chapter 2. Our Lord was born in Bethlehem.
Turn to Matthew chapter 2. And here the wise men, whom we
call the wise men, the men who came bearing precious gifts,
they're about to leave. In Matthew 2 verse 11, this is
in Bethlehem now. Verse 11, Matthew 2, And when
they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with
Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. And
when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts,
gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and being warned of God in a
dream that they should not return to Herod. You remember they came
to Herod wanting to know where this king was born. They departed unto their own
country another way. And when they were departed,
behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph. Now this
is in Bethlehem, shortly after our Lord was born, just a matter
of days. And the angel of God appeared
to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child
and his mother. The angel didn't say, take your
son. He never was Joseph's son. He
always says, the young child and his mother. Any translation
that indicates Joseph is any kind of father to Christ is wrong.
Now you note that. He always says, take the young
child and his mother and flee unto Egypt. Flee unto Egypt. Go from Bethlehem to Egypt and
there, and be there, be thou there until I bring you word
For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. So when
he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed
unto Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod. Our Lord
lived in Egypt, I don't know how long, but until the death
of Herod, and many say it wasn't too long before God destroyed
this wicked man. Well, why was he in Egypt? that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son." That's in Hosea, out
of Egypt. Now go to verse 20, in Matthew
2 here, and verse 19. Matthew 2,
19. Now when Herod was dead, Behold, an angel appeared in
a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Arise, take the young child and
his mother, and go into the land of Israel, go back to Israel,
get out of Egypt, go back to Israel. For they are dead which
sought the young child's life. And he rose and took the young
child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when Joseph heard that Archelaus
did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod. Joseph was
afraid to go back down where they came from. Notwithstanding
being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts
of Galilee, a good bit, a hundred miles north of Bethlehem, into
Galilee. And he came and dwelt in a city
called Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus of Nazareth. Came and dwelt in a city called
Nazareth. Why? That it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophets. He shall be called a Nazarene. He shall be called. And nothing
ever came out of Nazareth that amounted to anything, most people
thought, In fact, if you turn to John 1, here in John 1, verse
45, when Philip found his brother, Nathanael found Nathanael, when
Philip found Nathanael. In John 1, verse 45, Philip found
Nathanael and said to him, We found him of whom Moses in the
prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth. the son of Joseph. That's what Philip called him. And Nathanael said unto him,
Can there any good come out of Nazareth? Philip said, Well,
come and see. Well, the Lord Jesus is down
in Nazareth. Now let's go back to Matthew
chapter 3 again. Matthew chapter 3. Our Lord spent
his early life in Nazareth. That's where he was brought up.
When he was about 30 years of age, John was baptizing down
in the Jordan River. You have a map in the back of
your Bible, map number 5, that gives all of these places, and
Bethlehem, and Cana, and Nazareth, and Capernaum, and all these.
You can trace it. But John was over here at the River Jordan
baptizing. It says in Matthew 3, verse 13,
How old was the Lord Jesus then? He was 30 years of age. You'll
find that in Luke chapter 3, verse 22 and 23. When Jesus was
about 30 years of age, he was baptized of John in the river
Jordan. All right. Matthew 3, verse 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan, 30 years of age, unto John to be baptized of him. But
John forbade him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee.
Comest thou to me? And the Lord Jesus, answering,
said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. He's our mediator. He's our representative. He's fulfilling all of this for
us, everything that he's done. The time of his birth, Egypt,
back to Nazareth, circumcision, Passover, all this righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus,
when he was baptized, came up straightway out of the water,
and, lo, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove and lighting upon him, and a voice from heaven
saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. All
right, now the next thing you want to look at is Matthew 4.
Look at Matthew 4, verse 12. Matthew 4 verse 12. Now when
Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, you see John
is the forerunner. Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 40. The forerunner, the messenger
will precede our Lord's coming, prepare you the way of the Lord.
And John was six months older than the Lord Jesus. He was born
to Elizabeth who was Mary's cousin. And he went before Christ. And
he ministered for years. He was a little over 30. Christ was 30, John was plus,
30 plus. Now he's in prison. The work
of the forerunners is over. The forerunners come, did what
God sent them to do, now Christ. Now watch this. And when Jesus
heard that John was cast into prison, he left Galilee. He left Nazareth, left him. And leaving Nazareth, he came
and dwelt north, quite a few miles, in Capernaum, which is
upon the sea coast in the borders of Zebulun and Nephthalun. All right, now go down to chapter
4, verse 23. And this is what happened. And
when our Lord began to preach and to heal all manner of diseases,
performed great miracles. It says in verse 23, Matthew
4, and Jesus went about all Galilee. You remember he went to Canaan,
that was where the first miracle was performed, and now Capernaum. Teaching in their synagogues,
preaching in the gospel of the kingdom, healing all manner of
sicknesses and all manner of diseases among the people. His fame went throughout all
Syria, and they brought unto him all sick people that were
taken with diverse diseases and torments, and those who were
possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those
that had the palsy, and he healed them. And they followed him great
multitudes of people, from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea,
far beyond Jordan. What effect did this have on
his town, Nazareth, where he was brought up? They said, this
is the carpenter. We know his mother and father
and brothers and sisters, and so forth. Whence hath this man
all these powers and wisdom? Well, let's go to Luke 4 and
let's see what happened here in Luke chapter 4. Our Lord is
out preaching, healing all manner of diseases
in Luke chapter 4. This brings me to my text in
Isaiah now. Verse 14. He left these different
places where he had gone and Jesus returned in the power of
the Spirit into Galilee. That's where Nazareth is, Galilee. And there went out a fame of
him throughout all the region round about. He taught in their
synagogues and being glorified of them all. The word of his
message and miracles and ministries everywhere now. Verse 16, and
he came to Nazareth. He came to Nazareth. First time
back there since he left, after John died, back to Nazareth.
where he'd been brought up. And as his custom was, he went
to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. You see, our Lord was born
under the law of Moses. He was subject to the law of
Moses. Our Lord was circumcised when
he was eight days, like any Jewish child named Jesus at that time. And his mother took him to the
temple there to perform certain things that were required of
those who gave birth to children, gave her offering. And that's
when Simeon saw him and said, Now, Lord, let thy servant depart
in peace. I've seen your salvation. And
here, our Lord, when he lived in Nazareth and worked as a carpenter,
every Sabbath day, our Lord kept the Sabbath, kept the Passover,
kept the feast day. He went to the synagogue. That
was his custom because he was a Jew. And he stood up for her
to read. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah, where we were just reading a
moment ago, where God said, You're not going to need a light, I'm
going to be your light. You're not going to need the
glory of the moon, I'm going to be your glory. All your people
will be righteous, that I may be glorified. I'm talking about
during his day, during his day. And when he opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, where I had you open
a little while ago to Isaiah 61. And he read, The Spirit of
the Lord God is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captive, and recovery of sight
to the blind. to set at liberty them that are
bruised, and to preach an acceptable year of the Lord." And he closed
the book. And he gave it to the minister
and sat down. They stood up to read and sat
down to speak back then. And you can imagine the eyes
of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
He's no stranger to them. They watched him the time they
brought him there as a two- or three-year-old child. He evidently had done work for
their daddies and mothers. He's a carpenter. They watched
him grow up. Whatever training or schooling,
that's where he got it in Nashville. Their schoolteacher was there. Next-door neighbors were there.
Everybody was there. The whole eyes were fastened
on him as a man. He'd never given them any reason
to believe he was anything but a man. And that's what he was
up to that time, where all this pain everywhere. And he began to say to them,
this day, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears, in your
presence, in your hearing, right before you. They knew this was a Messianic
prophecy from Isaiah. They knew that. He said, it's
all fulfilled. And my friends, how blessed I
am and you are. I have the prophecy of him whose
goings forth have been from of old, because the world was made
by him and all things therein. I have the types and pictures
and shadows and I have the promise that he's coming. And the Lord
God will be your light and your glory and all your people will
be righteous and you'll inherit the land forever. I'll heal your
diseases and I'll satisfy your longing and take away your mourning
in his time, in his time that I may be glorified. And he said
this is all fulfilled right here in your presence. Let's go back
and look at that prophecy again, Isaiah 61. He, our Lord, in Luke's gospel
there, only some of this is quoted, so I want to go back to 61, where
Isaiah spoke it. Now listen to him. He first says,
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Now, the Spirit of the
Lord God had been upon many men. The Spirit of the Lord God was
upon Abraham, Moses. David said, the Spirit of the
Lord spake by me. I believe, as I preached this
message this morning, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. That's
what I prayed, that he'd be upon all of his servants everywhere,
in some measure, at least in some measure. How impossible
what we're doing is without the Spirit of God. But he said, the
Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, and John the Baptist says,
without measure. No limit. Can you imagine that?
No, we can't. Can't even begin to imagine that.
But the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he hath anointed
me. He hath chosen me, appointed
me, and anointed me to do some things. And the first of which
is to preach this gospel, these glad tidings to the meek. His first great office is prophet. Moses said to Israel, God will
raise up from among you a prophet like unto me, but him you shall
hear. He'll speak the words of God.
God who spake to our fathers by the prophets has spoken to
us in these last days by his whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom he made the worlds, whose the brightness
of his glory, the express image of his person, who by himself
purged our sin, who sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. He speaks to us this glorious
gospel of redeeming grace through his Son by the Spirit without
measure. That's what he's anointed me
to do. All right, look at the second thing. Spirit of the Lord, God's upon
me because he has anointed me to preach good tidings, gospel,
glad tidings to the meek. Everybody's not going to hear
it. Lord, who hath believed our report? The meek. Well, Lord,
who hath believed our message? The hungry, the weary. Those who need glad tidings,
they'll hear it. Secondly, he has sent me to heal,
to bind up the broken hearted. Now every person in this auditorium
has at one time or another had a broken heart. One time or another. A broken heart. Some of you many
times. But this type of broken heart
is not what he's talking about here. Because this broken heart
we have in the flesh has a way of healing itself. That's right. Time helps a whole lot. Takes away the edges and the
hurt and the tears and to a certain extent heals a fleshly broken
heart. Not only time but success. person accomplishes several things,
and it has a way of making the past a little less unbearable. And then somebody comes along
and takes the place of the loved ones who's gone, and you don't
think of them again. So that kind of broken heart,
time and success and someone else. But this broken heart here
can only be healed by him. This broken heart, which our
Lord came to heal, he's the only one who can heal it. It's his
work to heal the broken heart. But this broken heart is one
that's been smitten by the Spirit of God, who's grieving over sin,
and will keep on grieving until something's done about the sin.
See what I'm saying? It's a broken heart that is the
result of the Holy Spirit's divine work using the Word of God and
revealing to us what we are and what we'll continue to be unless
he has mercy on us. And that broken heart can't be
healed by time, by prosperity, by anybody that comes into your
life, no matter who it is, only when he comes in. You see, Psalm
51 says the sacrifices of God are a broken heart. A broken and a contrite heart,
O God, thou wilt not despise. I came to heal, to bind up the
broken heart. And when he binds it up, it's
bound. And he heals it. He says in Psalm
34, the Lord is bound to them that are of a broken heart. He
saved us such as be of a contrite spirit. Well, how does he heal
the broken heart? Psalm 147. I found just one verse
in Psalm 147 that satisfied all I wanted to know about this broken
heart. How does he heal the broken heart?
In Psalm 147, it says here in verse 3, He heals, he healeth the broken
in heart, bindeth up their wounds. That's how he binds up. He knows
where the wounds are. He was wounded for our transgression.
He bore our sicknesses and our diseases. He bore our sorrows
and he binds up the broken heart. He said in Isaiah 40, he said,
you go comfort my people now and tell them that the warfare
is over. Their iniquities pardoned. They
have received of the Lord's hand through Christ double for all
their sins. The cause of the broken heart
had been put away. By his stripes were healed. What's the next thing he said?
He sent me to preach glad tidings to the meek, he sent me to bind
up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, opening
of the prison to them that are bound. Are we prisoners? Are we slaves? How are we slaves? Well, I'll
just quote some verses for you. One over here in Ephesians, it
says this, you have to quicken who were dead, and trespassers
of sin. In times past you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that worketh in all children
of this world, with servants of Satan. Servants of Satan. And the next verse says, and
with servants of the flesh. among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind. We were by nature
children of wrath, just like everybody else, servants of Satan,
servants of flesh, servants of sin. What the law says, it says
to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world become guilty. But this bunch of religious people
said to our Lord in John 8, they said, we're not servants of sin,
we're not born of fornication, we be free, we're not in bondage
to anybody. He said, he that committed sin
is a servant of sin. Servant, slave of sin. Satan,
the law of sin and death, flesh, bondage. But if the Son makes
you free, you're free indeed. Free indeed. Turn to the book
of Job. If the Son shall make you free.
That's what I came to do. I came to set the captive free.
I came to open the prison house and set them free. Job 33. Turn
over here a minute. Job 33. Begin reading with verse 22. Job 33 verse 22, listen to this,
Job 33 verse 22, Yea, his soul draweth near to the grave, his
light to the destroyers. Oh, if there be a messenger with
him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man
God's uprightness and his own unrighteousness. that he is gracious
unto him. And he saith, Deliver him from
going down to the pit. I found a ransom. For his flesh
shall be fresher than a child's. He shall return to the days of
his youth. He shall pray unto God, and he will be favorable
to him. And he will see his faith rejoined, and he will render
unto man his righteousness. He looks upon men, and if anybody
says, I've sinned, I've perverted that which was right, it profiteth
me nothing, I'm a slave of sin and Satan and flesh, just say
it, God will deliver his soul from going down to the pit, and
his life shall see the light. So he came to set the prisoner
free. 1862, President Lincoln issued an Emancipation
Proclamation, effective June 1863. All slaves are free. Now, this wasn't an invitation. This was a proclamation. And
this is no invitation. He said, I came to set them free. This is no invitation that the
President issued. This is not a request. This is
not a suggestion. It's a proclamation. They're
free indeed. Lawfully, and this is what our
Lord came to do, set us free. from the power of sin, from the
penalty of sin, from the law of sin and death, from Satan's
power, fear of death, was free. But
you know, I was reading Booker T. Washington's life story. He wrote it himself. He was just
a young boy when the slaves were set free. He lived down in About
20 miles from Rocky Mount, Virginia. I've been over there several
times where he lived. Little plantation there. He was about
eight, nine years old. He said, I remember that like
yesterday. When the word came to us, we're free. We're free. And he said everybody was so
happy. They were dancing around. They were so happy. They were
free, free, we're free, we're free. And that night, he said,
it was all in the house. And it suddenly dawned on everybody. We don't have a place to live. We don't own any property. Who's
going to feed us? The Master's been feeding us
all our lives. We've worked for him. We've got no property, no
home, no place to go, and he said, suddenly, the joy ended. And a lot of them didn't want
to leave. But that's not our problem. The
Lord who set me free. is my shepherd. He leads me beside
the still waters, paths of righteousness, restores my soul. He prepares a table for four
men. He's my new master. See, I got
rid of that old master. They got rid of their old master,
but they didn't have my turn to. But the master who set me
free is my shepherd. He knows my head with oil, my
cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy will
follow me, the most glorious mercy you can even imagine, all
the days of my life. I've really been set free. Free. Then he said to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord. Let me give you this, verse 2.
What's this acceptable year of the Lord? You can read about
it, Leviticus 25. In Israel, every seventh year,
the crops, they didn't plow, they didn't plant, they let the
earth rest. At the end of the 49th year,
seven yearly Sabbaths, seven times seven, 50th year is called
the year of Jubilee, and that's the year of rest, total all year. And that's when the release of
every prisoner, all property was restored to its rightful
owner, whether it's been sold, lost, or stolen, all debts discharged, and they're free. And that's
what the Lord's talking about here, the acceptable year of
the Lord. He has made us accepted in the middle, and your debts
are all paid. And what you lost in Adam has been restored. What
was lost, stolen, or somehow got, you lost it. But it's restored. And you're forgiven. You're accepted
in the beloved. That's the acceptable year of
the Lord. And then he says, he has appointed me, verse 3, to
comfort them that mourn in Zion. Why would, I've jotted this down,
why would the people of God mourn? Paul said, I have great heaviness
of heart. Why would Paul mourn? Why would
he have great heaviness of heart? There are several reasons. We
mourn over the unbelief and sin we find in ourselves when I would
do good evils present with me. We mourn over the unbelief and
lack of spiritual interest in our loved ones, children, friends,
don't you? Of course you do. We mourn over
the apostasy in religion all around us. So few are preaching
the word of God. So few believe it. I mourn over
my country. It seems like to me the 40s and
the 50s were probably the best days we've ever seen. I don't
know whether we'll ever see them again like that. I mourn over
my country. We mourn over the death of our
loved ones. We mourn that we preach the truth and so few believe
it. But he said, I'm going to comfort them. How, Lord? Well,
here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to give them beauty
for their ashes. My beauty. My beauty. I'm going to give
them the oil of joy for their mourning. I'm going to give them
the garment of praise for the spirit of happiness. You know
what praise does? Somebody said this. When we learn to praise God for
who he is and what he is and what he's done for us and what
he does for us in Christ, when we learn to praise God, it enlarges
the heart. But sorrow contracts the heart. That's right. Turn to Proverbs, let me show
you, Proverbs chapter 15. Turn to Proverbs 15. This is what the author is saying
here. Proverbs 15, verse 13. Look at this. He says in Proverbs 15, 13, A
merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of
the heart the spirit is broken. If we have a merry heart, we
draw people to us. If we have a fretting, complaining heart,
we drive people away from us. That's right. Look at verse 15. All the days of the afflicted
are evil, but he that is of a merry heart He has to continue a feast. He has to continue a fellowship
if he's got a happy heart, a married heart. But when the heart is
contracted with sorrow and fretting and complaining, we send people
away from us. We're left alone. No wonder we're
left alone. They don't want to be with us. Turn to Proverbs
17 and listen to this. Every one of us, especially if
we get older, we need to read this. We need to learn from it. In Proverbs 17, it's verse 22,
listen. A merry heart doeth good like
a medicine, but a broken spirit drives the bones. And you know
that's so, and I know that's so. We get into the sickness of some
kind of problem and get down, down, down, and it's down, down,
down, down. But if we can find something
We can find something to rejoice in, him, his mercy, his grace. If you take people with you,
take them with you. But you're not going to take
them down there because they don't want any part of that. They're going to
keep going. Find somebody that is of a happy
heart. So he said, I came to do that
for them. I came to give them a joy, all a joy, the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness that they might be called trees
of righteousness. I want to give you this and I'll
quit. What is a tree of righteousness?
Well, all trees are planted by somebody. This is God's planting.
He said, that which my heavenly Father hath not planted will
be rooted up. This is his planting. Number two, trees have their
roots in water. And I was, he leadeth me beside
still waters. And he talked about he'd be planted
by rivers of living water. Fourthly, trees bring forth fruit. He'll bring forth his fruit in
his season. Fourthly, trees of righteousness
will never die. Their leaf will never wither. Why is all this? I'm going to
read you one thing and I'll quit. The last line of verse 3. Trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be
glorified. That's the reason I'm here and
you're there. That's the reason we're where we are. That's the
reason we're who we are. He might be glorified. Let's glorify him.
Whatever time he gives us here, whatever he calls us to do, let's
glorify him. Because he's going to be glorified. I hope that's a blessing to you.