Nathanael, that was it. Philip
found it Nathanael and said to him, we found him of whom Moses
in the law and the prophets did write. He said, we found the
Messiah. That's what he's saying to Nathanael.
We found the Christ. His name is Jesus of Nazareth. He's the son of Joseph. And Nathanael
said unto him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" And Philip
said to him, well, you come and see. Now, that's the opinion
they had of Nazareth. Can any good thing come out of
that place? And that's where our Lord was brought up, in Nazareth. Now, over here in Matthew 4,
when he was about 30 years of age, he left Nazareth and went
out to preach. I'll read it to you, and you
can follow, Matthew 4, this is interesting, verse 12. And now,
when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed
into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, he came
and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the
borders of Zabulon and Nephthalem, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the Isaiah the prophet, the land of Zebulun
and the land of Nephthalun, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles. Now, down here in verse 17 of
that same chapter, from that time Jesus began to preach. Our
Lord went out and preached, and to say, Repent, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. Now I want you to look at this,
Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all manner
of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And
his fame went throughout all Syria. And they brought unto
him all sick people that were taken with different diseases
and torments and those which were possessed with devils. those
which were mad, lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and
he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people
from Galilee and from Decapolis and from Jerusalem and from Judea
and from beyond Jordan. Now back to Luke 4. So that's
where Brother Ronnie started reading a while ago, verse 14
of Luke 4, and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit unto
Galilee, and they went out of pain. of him through all the
regions round about. And he taught in their synagogues,
being glorified of all. Verse 16, and he came to Nazareth. He came back to the hometown
where he was brought up. He came to Nazareth where he
was brought up. Now watch this very carefully.
And as his custom was, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath
day and stood up to read. Why would he go to the synagogue
in Nazareth? Our Lord Jesus Christ, he's already
been out preaching, taking his ministry to other towns, now
he comes back home and on the Sabbath day, as his custom was,
he was brought up there in Nazareth, he went to the synagogue on Saturday,
on the Sabbath day. I tell you why, because he's
a Jew, and he was made under the law. The scripture says,
in the fullness of time, God sent his son into the world,
made of a woman, made under the law. If you turn back to Luke
2, the very first evidence of that is in Luke 2.21. And when 8 days were accomplished
for the circumcision of the child, I told you that recently in a
message, on the 8th day, because of blood clotting and things
like that, I don't understand the particulars, but on the 8th
day the child was circumcised, all Jewish male was circumcised
on the eighth day, and that's when they were named, and he
was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he
was conceived in the womb. Now watch this, and when the
days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, was accomplished,
they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. You
see, there were all kinds of laws and regulations and rituals
and rules, not only for the infant, but for the mother. They had
to bring certain kinds of sacrifices and rituals and so forth because
he was a Jew. Why all of this? The answer is
in Matthew 3. Our Lord gave the answer himself.
Why he submitted to all these things, he did it for us. He did it because he was made
under the law, under the law, to fulfill the law. He said,
I didn't come to destroy the law, I came to fulfill it. And
he fulfilled all that the Lord demanded of us Christ fulfilled.
Matthew 3, verse 13. Then cometh Jesus from Galilee
to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. And John forbade him. I can understand John's point.
Here he stands and his master, his Lord. And John said, I have
need to be baptized of thee. You come to me. And Jesus answered
unto him, said unto him, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it
becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. It becomes us, you and me too,
but we can't do it. It becomes everyone subject to
God's law, and everyone in God's kingdom to fulfill all righteousness.
But we couldn't, but he could, and he did. And he fulfilled
all righteousness for us. Here he is, go back to Luke 4,
here he is in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And he stood
up to read, verse 17. Luke 4, 17. And there was delivered
unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. Now there was a great
crowd there that day. There was a great crowd there
because it was a Sabbath day, and there was a great crowd there
because Jesus was there. Look at verse 23 of Luke 4. And
he said unto them, You will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician,
heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard, done
in Capernaum. Now, you remember the pain? He
left Nazareth, went to Capernaum. He didn't work any miracles in
Nazareth. When he grew up as a boy, he grew up just like your
boys grow up, except he was perfect and holy. But he never did any
miracles as a child, as a boy, as a young man. He left and went
to Capernaum, and that's when he did those miracles, and they
said, what we hear about you doing there, do here, verse 23,
in your own country. Let's see some miracles. That's
why there was a crowd there that day, that Sabbath day. Because
it was the Sabbath, and because he was there. Alright, so he
took the book of Isaiah. Our Lord found the place where
it was written, Luke 4, verse 17. He found the place where
it was written. You know how Isaiah is quoted more in the
New Testament than any other of the Old Testament books except
Psalm, and how Isaiah is called the gospel of the Old Testament,
how Isaiah spoke of the Lord. Our Lord deliberately on purpose
turned to this scripture in Isaiah 61, and he read it. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me, ordained me to preach the
gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. Now all of these Jews who were
there in that service, who were learned in the scriptures and
taught in the scriptures, and lots of them were, they knew
that this scripture he just read was a Messianic prophecy. That
this scripture he just read, these are the words of the Messiah,
who was prophesied, promised, and whom they expected, and for
whom they looked. Our Lord Jesus stood up in front
of that great crowd and selected this Messianic prophecy. They
knew that that's what it is. And then he closed the book,
gave it again to the minister, and he sat down. Now in that
time they stood up to read and sat down to speak. I can't explain
that, I just know that's what sat down over there. And all
the eyes of them that were in the synagogue were passing on
him. You can imagine, every eye was on him. He'd grown up there. He worked in a carpenter shop.
They said one time, we know who he is, he's the carpenter. We
know his mother and father, his brothers and sisters. And here
he, thirty years old, he left, went over and people were healed.
Demons cast out and the pain spread. Back home here now, sitting
there in the synagogue where he, as his custom was. And he
read many times before. And they were looking at him.
And he began to say to them, this day, Is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears? The Messiah is here. Christ is
here. And all of them bear witness
and wonder at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth,
and they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And he was saying, You will surely
say unto me, Physician, heal yourself. Whatsoever we have
heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your country. And he
said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is excepted in his
own country. But I'm going to tell you a truth.
Now, these were all Jews. And all these Jews felt like
they had a corner on God, that God was obligated to them because
they were Abraham's seed, and that they had a sure trip to
heaven. eternal life because they kept
the law of Moses and all these things, they were Jews. And he's
going to tell them something here, now listen to it. There
were many widows in Israel, many Jewish widows in the days of
Elias, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months,
when great famine was throughout all the land, but unto none of
them was Elias sent. God didn't send his prophet to
a single widow when she was starving. when they were all starving,
three years and six months without rain. But he did send his servant
to Sarepta, a city of Sodom, to a woman who was a widow of
Gentiles. God will be merciful to whom
he will, he'll be gracious to whom he will. He's sovereign
in healing, in feeding, in saving, in whatever he does. But he didn't
go to any Jewish widow, the prophet of God, and help her out of her
distress. But he went over here to Sirech, the city of Sidon,
a Gentile widow, and she fed him, and he blessed her. And he said in verse 27, there
were many lepers in Israel in the days of Eliseas the prophet.
He didn't cleanse one of them. He didn't heal a single leper,
not a one, in Israel. But he did heal a leper, Naaman,
a Gentile. God will be merciful to whom
he will. What's their response? And all they're in the synagogue
when they heard these things were filled with wrath. And they
rose up and thrust him out of the city and led him on to the
bow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might
cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst
of them went his way. The Lord God is sovereign in
salvation, in mercy, in grace. in all things. And our Lord is
establishing that with those people right away. Well, let's
turn to Isaiah 61. That's where I want to go. This
scripture that our Lord himself chose to announce his ministry
and his office and his work there in the town where he was brought
up. Let's look at Isaiah 61. This
is in that great unusual As I'm reading tonight, this
is what he read. It's awesome to me to stand here and read
the same thing that he chose to read, talking about himself. But let's look at it. The Spirit
of the Lord God is upon me. You know, the Spirit of the Lord
God had been on several men before that. The Spirit of God was on
Abraham. The Spirit of God was on Moses.
The Spirit of God was on David. The Spirit of God was on Isaiah
himself. But not like he was on Christ.
He was on Christ without measure. The Spirit of God descended upon
him when he was baptized. But this man. But this man. And then he says, because the
Lord hath anointed me, he hath ordained me, he hath sent me
to preach good tidings to the meek. This is our Lord's first
office. Remember how I told you to remember
he went out to preach? He was a preacher. But he was
more than a preacher. He was that prophet. He was that
preacher. Turn over to Deuteronomy. He's
that preacher. Our Lord had a three-fold office.
Prophet, priest, and king. And here he's God's prophet.
He's that prophet. He's telling these people in
Nazareth, I'm that prophet, the Lord, the Spirit of God is upon
me, he's ordained me to preach good tidings to the meek. Listen
to Deuteronomy 18, 18. Moses said, he's writing here
what the Lord spoke to him, I will raise them up a prophet among
their brethren like unto thee, Moses, and I'll put my words
in his mouth and he'll speak unto them all that I shall command
him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken
to my words, which he shall speak in my name, I have required of
him." Christ is that prophet. God spoke to our fathers by the
prophets he has spoken to us in these last days by his son.
You know he is called not only that prophet, he is called the
messenger of the covenant. He is a preacher, he is that
prophet, he is that messenger of the covenant. When our Lord
was transfigured on the mountain, the voice of the Father said,
this is my son, hear him, hear him, hear him. That prophet,
messenger of the covenant, my son, hear him. All right, to
whom is he sent? Back to my text, Isaiah 61. The
Lord God hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor,
to the meek. They came one day, our Lord was
eating with some publicans and sinners, and the Pharisees came
and said to the disciples, why does your master eat with people
like that? Why does your master eat with
publicans and sinners? And our Lord knew what they were
saying and what they were thinking, and he turned to them and he
said, the well, the well do not need a physician. But they would
have said, I've not come to call the righteous to repentance.
I've come to call sinners to repentance." Now go learn what
that means. He came to seek and to save the lost. And he says,
I've come, the Lord God hath anointed me to preach glad tidings,
good news, to the meek, to the poor in spirit. And they are
hearing. But they must hear him. They
must hear him. You and I must hear him. Now
we'll hear a preacher. We'll hear a preacher. But that
preacher better preach Christ. He better preach what Christ
says, because they've got to hear him. Turn to Matthew 11, let
me show you that. We've got to hear him. My sheep
hear my voice. I wish I could make this as plain
and clear as it should be made. God who spoke to our fathers
with the prophets has spoken to us by Christ. My sheep hear
my voice. They'll hear my voice. But we
don't hear his voice from heaven, we hear his voice through the
preacher's voice. But the preacher's voice must
say the same thing that he said. You see what I'm trying to say?
It's Christ you hear. We hear him who speaks from heaven,
but he speaks through a man. In Matthew 11, chapter 11, verse
27, all things are delivered unto me of my Father, and no
man knows the Son, but the Father. Neither knoweth any man the Father,
save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal." You've
got to hear him. You've got to hear him. Hear Christ. You've got to preach Christ.
That's the reason Paul said, I'm determined to know nothing
among you save Jesus Christ, him crucified. Listen to our
Lord in John 17. You don't need to turn over there.
concerning the disciples, I have manifested thy name to these
men that you gave me. I have manifested your name to
them, which thou gavest me. Thine they were, thou gavest
me, and they kept thy word." Listen, I've given them thy words,
which you gave me, and they have received them. And they know
surely I came from thee, and they believe that you sent me."
We've got to hear him, believe him, believe his word, and know
that God sent him. That's the key. God sent him. I'll just read on my text. Our Lord said, The Spirit of
the Lord God is upon me. He's anointed me. He's ordained
me to preach good news to the meek. He has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted. Who are the broken-hearted? John
Gill gives the best word I've found on that. He says, the broken-hearted
are those whose hearts are smitten by the Spirit of God, are made
contrite by the Spirit of God and the Word of God. The broken-hearted
are those who are humbled and broken and stripped under a sense
of sin. The brokenhearted are those who
can cry with a publican in the temple, O God, be merciful to
me, the sinner. I am able to bind up the wounds
and the broken heart of one who speaks in that fashion. And he'll
do it, Gil said, by speaking words of comfort and forgiveness
and love. He'll do it by revealing his
full grace. He'll do it by applying his precious
blood to cleanse. And he'll do it by giving them
a spirit of consolation and assurance. Here are the scriptures. Come
unto me, all ye that labour heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.
Psalm 34, the Lord's nine to them that are of a broken heart.
He saith us such as be of a contrite spirit. Romans 5, Christ died
for the ungodly. God committed his love toward
us, and why will we yet? Sinners. Christ died for us. Good news to the meek. Healing
to the brokenhearted. Now look at the next line. And
he sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives. How can he illustrate
that? Captives. The opening of prison
to them that abound. Captives and bondage Well, let
me see if I can show you that. Turn to John chapter 8. He sent
me to preach, proclaim liberty, freedom to the captives, opening
a prison to the bound. You and I have never been in
prison, have we? We live in America, we live
in a free country, we believe we are free men. Now listen to
this dialogue here in John 8, verse 32. John 8, verse 32. And you shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If you know
the truth, it will set you free. Liberty, that's liberty. If you
set somebody free, that means he's a captive before you set
him free. He's a captive and he's liberty, set him free. And
these fellows spoke up and said, listen, verse 33, we be Abraham's
seed, we were never in bondage, we were never bound, we were
never captive to any man. What are you talking about? You
shall be made free. Never in bondage? Never in bondage
to a sinful nature? Never in bondage to a fallen
will? Never in bondage to this perfect law of God? Never in
bondage to the curse, no curse? Never in bondage to death, you're
not dying? Never in bondage to Satan, led
captive by his will? Never in bondage? Christ answered
them, listen, verse 34. So Jesus answered these men who
were not captives and not in bondage and not in prison, I
say unto you, whosoever commits sin is a servant of sin. Let me ask you a question. Since
you walked into this building, have you thought anything you
shouldn't have thought? Has anything ever gone through your mind,
imagination, any kind of sin? Has it been perfect love and
truth? No. Did you mean to? No. We're in
bondage to this old nature. We are absolutely in bondage
to an old nature. We cannot conquer it. Captives. That's right. That's captives. And we can't say we've been in
bondage to that old nature, that old fallen will and bondage to
God's law. He said to those fathers, he
said, we've never been in bondage. He said, anybody who commits
a sin is a servant of sin. And he said, I'll tell you this,
and the servant abides not in God's house. Servants of sin cannot abide
in the Father's house, only sons. The servant abides not in the
house forever, but the son does. The son does. That's the son's
house. He sat over his house. He abides
there forever. So, look at the next verse. So
this is what I've got to tell you. If the son makes you free,
you'll be free indeed. You'll be set free. And you're
going to drag around that old nature, but you're set free.
You're free. You're free from the law. You're
free from the curse because he was made a curse for you. You're
free from the law because he kept it. You're free from the
curse of sin and the judgment of God because he bore it. If the Son sets you free, you're
really free, you're not just popping out, you're not just
talking about it, you're free! That's what I'm talking about.
Isn't there some dialogue? Oh, for the wisdom of the Master.
You knew the truth that set you free. Well, you're not in bondage. You commit sin, you're the servant
of sin. I'll tell you this, the servant
of sin is not going to be in God's house. But it's the Son. This one, he says here, the Spirit
of the Lord is on me. He's anointed me to preach good
news to the poor. He's anointed me to heal the
brokenhearted. He's anointed me to set those
captives free. And the opening of prison once
fell to the bound. Set him free, I found a ransom.
But let me tell you something, the Church can't do that. You
can walk up and down this aisle 41 times and go into that pool
like Brother Griswold used to say, to be baptized so many times,
the frogs know your first name. That's a lot of baptism. Only
the Son can set you free. God ordained him to do it. Glorify the Son, that the Son
may glorify thee. I finished the work he gave me
to do. I set them free. They're free. And he said, he
sent me to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Turn to Leviticus
25. Do you know what that year is?
That's the jubilee. The jubilee year. All of these
things in the New Testament are typified in the Old Testament,
all of them. In Leviticus 25, verse 8, and
Leviticus 25, verse 8, And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of
years to thee, seven times seven years. That's forty-nine years.
The space of seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty-nine
years. Then, on the fiftieth That shall
cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of
the seventh month in the day of atonement, shall ye make the
trumpet sound throughout the land. And ye shall holler the
fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty, liberty throughout all the land
unto all the inhabitants thereof. It will be a jubilee unto you,
and ye shall return every man to his possession, and every
man to his family." You know what he is saying here? Set all
the slaves free. set all the slaves free, redeem,
give back all the property that has been sold. Men gone bankrupt
and had to sell their farms, give it back to them. They are
heavily in debt, all debts are cancelled. The year of Jubilee,
all slaves are set free, all debts are cancelled, all property
returned to its original owner, and then he says in verse 11, The jubilee shall
be the fiftieth year, the jubilee shall that fiftieth year be you,
and you shall not sow nor reap that which groweth of itself
in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy bind undressed."
Rest, perfect rest. And that's what Christ proclaims,
the acceptable year of the Lord, the jubilee. He has accepted
us in the beloved, our debts are paid. All the slaves are
set free. What we lost in Adam has been
restored in Christ. And he not only set the prisoners
free and restored what we lost and all debts are paid, but he
accepted us. The year of acceptance. The acceptable
year of the Lord. He has accepted us in the beloved.
He accepted us. Those folks didn't know what
he was talking about. And you know the only reason we do is because
God has revealed it to us. And then he said, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our
God, to comfort all that mourn. The day of vengeance. I turned
over to Romans 3 and got a little help on that vengeance. Vengeance
of our God. The vengeance of our God. And
Paul asks this question over here in Romans 3, verse 5. If our unrighteousness commend
the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous
who taketh vengeance? Is God unrighteous to take vengeance? God's going to get vengeance
on Satan, on everything that worketh and
maketh alive outside of Christ. God's going to have vengeance.
But Paul answers his own question. Is God unrighteous to take his
vengeance? He said in verse 6, God forbid. When he said, I speak
as a man, anybody that accuses God of being unrighteous better
be careful. He does say, I speak as a man.
That's a foolish talk, isn't it? Is God unrighteous? But he
says in verse 6, God forbid, how then shall God govern the
world? How shall God govern the world?
If he does not take vengeance, if he does not punish sin, can
he govern the world and not be righteous? The scepter of his
kingdom is righteousness and truth. How can God be God, holy
and reverent if he does not put out all things that worketh and
maketh alive? He's got to, God has to. How
can he govern in righteousness? How can the scepter of his kingdom
be truth and holiness and God not take vengeance on evil? He's got to stamp it out. He's
got to put it away. He's got to do away with it.
He's got to destroy evil. Vengeance upon all those that
are his enemies. He has to. To govern the world,
he has to. That's the reason his name is
Holy and Reverend. Holy God. And all who are not holy cannot
live in his presence. We are holy in Christ. Thank
God for our redeemment. Let's close with these comments
he gave here, verse 3. To a point unto them that mourn
in Zion. Who is this? They mourn in Zion. Well, Zion is a church. Why would
the body of Christ still mourn and grieve? Why should they mourn? Well,
someone suggested this. We mourn because of sin in us. We mourn because of our unbelief.
Oh God, help my unbelief. We mourn because of the rebellion
in our families and our friends. unbelief on the part of our loved
ones. Paul said, I could wish myself
a curse from Christ for my brethren. I'm constantly, he said, in sorrow
over my brethren. I mourn for my brethren. We mourn
because of apostasy and professed religion. I mourn over what's
going on, don't you? It grieves me. We mourn over
our friends who depart from the gospel. Doesn't that grieve you?
Balsademus hath forsaken thee. We mourn because most people
don't believe our gospel. Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed
my report? To whom is the arm of the Lord
will be him mourned. Well, he said, I'm going to comfort
my people. I'm going to point unto them
that mourn in Zion. I'm going to give them beauty
for ashes. Beauty for ashes. Ashes were a sign of sorrow. They put sackcloth in ashes.
But God's going to give us a robe of beautiful righteousness. His
beauty. His beauty. Beauty for our ashes. The oil of joy for mourning. Garment of praise for heaviness.
Thou knowest my head with oil, my cup runs over. Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I'll
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I'm more comfortable
giving beauty for ashes and oil of joy for mourning and the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Praise God, from whom all blessings
flow. It will work together for our
good. Here's the last statement of our great Messiah, that these
who mourn in Zion, to whom I give beauty for ashes and oil of joy
for mourning and garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called. trees of righteousness, trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Here are four facts about trees.
We're called trees of righteousness. First of all, a tree is planted
by somebody. And here he says, we, these trees
are the planting of the And Christ said, every tree which
my Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. The second thing
about trees is, if they live, they're going to have to have
their roots in water. And he says in Psalm 1, we're going
to be like trees planted by the rivers of water. I'll tell you
another thing about tree, it'll bring forth its fruit. And he
added in Psalm 1, 3, it'll bring forth its fruit. And another thing about a tree
that God planted that is a tree of righteousness, it will never
die. It will be like a tree planted by God by the rivers of living
water that will bring forth his fruit and his leaf will never
wither. That's a promise. And all of
this in closing, that God may be glorified. That's what our Lord told him
in Nashville. Spirit of God is on me. He anointed
me to do all these things that he might be glorified.