Let's open our Bibles now to
that scripture that Brother Chuck read, Luke chapter 4. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, made himself of no reputation. and took upon him the form of
a servant, the likeness of sinful flesh, came into this world,
born in Bethlehem. And he was brought up in Nazareth.
You remember one of the disciples, upon hearing that another disciple
believed that he had found the Messiah, he said, Who? And he said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And that particular disciple asked this question, can any
good thing come out of Nazareth? That's where he was brought up,
this town of Nazareth. Can anything good come out of
that place? Well, he said, come and see.
Well, our Lord had left Nazareth, and we think he was about 30
years of age when he left Nazareth and began to go out and preach. And it says here 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. He taught in their synagogues,
being glorified of God. And down in verse 23, These people that were gathered
here in the synagogue on that Sabbath day in Nazareth, he said,
You will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we've heard done in
Capernaum. These people in Nazareth heard
about his pain that had come to him in these other areas. Capernaum, chiefly, they mentioned
Capernaum here. He healed the centurion's servant.
That was where he raised Jairus' daughter from the dead. That
was where he healed the woman with the issue of blood. A well-known
woman in that town, 11 years, stricken, afflicted, he healed
her and made two blind men to see. Is it any wonder that they
wanted to see something? They'd heard a great deal. Like
it says there in verse 14, they went out of fame of him through
all the region round about, of fame. Well, verse 16, he came
to Nashville. He came back to his own town,
came back to Nashville, where he'd been brought up. And what's this statement here?
And as his custom was, as his custom was, he went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ
was born of a woman and made under the law. He was a Jew. He was circumcised when he was
eight days old. He fulfilled the law. He did
this for us. He fulfilled the law. Everything
that was required of Moses and Israel, our Lord fulfilled. He was circumcised. His mother
and father offered certain sacrifices for him. He was brought to Jerusalem
when he was about 12 years of age. He went to the synagogue
every Sabbath day. That's what it says, as his custom
was. He kept the Passover. when he instituted the Lord's
table. That's what the disciples and our Lord were doing in that
upper room. They were observing the Passover, the last one, because
Christ is our Passover. But when he came to John, to
the River Jordan, John knew who he was, who he is. And John said, I have need to
be baptized of thee. He said, John, suffer it to be
so. to fulfill all righteousness.
Our Lord was such a complete man that these people had no
idea that he is God. Born like any other baby, brought
up like any other boy, increased in wisdom and stature and favor
with God and man. I can't explain that. Worked
in the carpenter's shop. That's what they said down here
in verse 21 or verse 22, and all bear him witness and wondered
at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said,
Is not this Joseph's son? On another occasion they said,
Is not this Joseph's son, whose father and mother we know, whose
brothers and sisters we know? How does this man have learning
or knowledge having never learned? He didn't go to high school.
He was such a man, all man, and yet God in human flesh. And he
comes here to the synagogue, and it was a Sabbath day, and
it was his custom, and everybody else was there. But the number
of people were there because he was there, although they had
seen him there for 30 years and learned nothing. 30 years. But now it's fainting. And our Lord was revealing himself. And he comes back. And the synagogue,
I'm sure, is full of people. They were Jews. They were his
people. He came unto his own. His own received him not. But
they were his people. This was his hometown where he
lived and worked and was brought up. And they felt he owed them
something. They felt that whatever he did
in these other cities, he should make his headquarters there,
I imagine. And so they delivered unto him
verse 17. He stood up for to read. And
there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah,
that's Isaiah. And our Lord himself, this is
so, I love this scripture. I've preached from it before
and I'll preach from it again. But there's so much here. I call
this message, The Messiah Speaks. The Messiah Speaks. And they
delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah, and he opened
the book. They just handed him the writings
of Isaiah. And he opened it. And he opened
it deliberately to Isaiah 61. And that's where we're going
to open it. In other words, as I stand here and read this tonight,
I want your minds to go back to that time when he stood before
that congregation of Jews on the Sabbath day, and all the
questions in their mind regarding, who is this man? What is this
man? What's going on? What's happening? We know him. He's just a man, isn't he? Carpenter,
son of Mary and Joseph, grew up here, and yet we've heard
these things about him. Words come back from these other
cities about his miracles. And every eye, as one statement
on it said there, every eye was fastened on him, just glued on
him, to hear what he had to say. I want to hear what he has to
say too. And he read in Isaiah 61, let's
look at it. This is a Messianic prophecy. I believe many of those people,
at least their leaders knew. At least their leaders knew.
Probably they didn't. But this is a Messianic, this
is talking about the Messiah. And he read, the Spirit of the
Lord God is upon me because he hath anointed me." The Spirit,
without measure, the scripture says. We have the Holy Spirit
with measure, as he divides severally according to his will. He, the
Spirit of the Lord God, is upon me because the Lord God has anointed
me, ordained me. Turn with me to Hebrews 5. Let's
see what he's talking about. Here in Hebrews 5, he's talking
about the priest being anointed and ordained of God for a certain
purpose. Hebrews 5, he says in verse 1,
for every high priest taken from among men, which he was, is ordained
for men, ordained, anointed for men in things pertaining to God. that he may offer both gifts
and sacrifices for sin. And that's what our Messiah is
reading here. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me because I come to do his will. He's ordained me and
anointed me to do his will, to perform his work. I have finished
the work you gave me to do. to speak his word. He said the
words that I speak are not my words, they're his words. And
it is to God that he offers gifts and sacrifices for sin. He offers the better sacrifice. That's God's law and God's justice
that he honors. Every time I Look at this passage
here. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me because the Lord has set me apart, ordained me, appointed
me, anointed me. I think of Abraham and Isaac
walking up that mountain to offer a sacrifice to worship God. And this young man, Isaac, looks
at his father and he said, Father, and he'd seen many sacrifices.
He'd seen many lambs slain. He'd seen the blood shed many
times. His father had worshiped God many times in his lifetime. And he said, My father, here's
the wood, here's the fire, where's the lamb? You can't worship God
without a lamb. You can't worship God without
the blood. Sacrifice. And Abraham said, My son, God
will provide himself a lamb. And that's what our Lord is speaking
right here. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because he
hath anointed me. He anointed me. He chose me. Christ be my first elect, God
said, and then chose us in our head. From among men He was born
among men, grew up, brought up among men, for God, to offer
gifts and sacrifices and do those services pertaining to God, all
of them, on our behalf. He's anointed man. All right,
notice the next line. To preach good tidings unto the
needy. Christ is a preacher. The Lord
hath ordained and appointed me to preach, to preach good tidings,
good news, the gospel to the meek, to the poor." Yes, the
Messiah is a King, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. The Messiah is
a priest who offers a sacrifice, but the Messiah is a prophet. You remember they said that John
the Baptist, are you that prophet? They knew that Moses wrote in
Deuteronomy, the Lord shall raise up from among you a prophet like
unto me, and he will speak the words of God, and him you shall
hear. And our Lord is that prophet. Now let me show you some scripture
here, Malachi 3. I want you to turn to Malachi
3, verse 1. He's anointing me to preach good
tidings, the gospel. Good news to the meek. Malachi 3.1. You got it? Malachi 3.1. Behold, I will send
my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. Now who's
that? John the Baptist. John the Baptist. He'll prepare
the way before me, my messenger. Now look at the next line. And
be, Lord, whom you seek, whom we seek, whom we long to know,
for whom we yearn, the Lord, the Lord, whom you seek, shall
certainly, unexpected, come to his temple." There he stands
in the synagogue. Listen, the messenger of the
covenant. What? The apostle. Consider the
apostle. What's an apostle? A messenger.
And Jesus Christ is an apostle and high priest of our profession.
He's the messenger of God. God spake to our fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by son. He's the messenger of the covenant.
God has spoken by his son. He's the apostle of our profession. And he's the revealer of God. He's that prophet. Turn to Matthew,
while you're there Malachi, I'll just turn over to Matthew chapter
11. We're looking at our Lord as
a prophet. Hear Him. This is my beloved Son. Hear
Him. Hear Him. Don't just hear about
Him, hear Him. My sheep will hear my voice. God has spoken to us by His Son. This is my Son. Hear Him. Listen
to Malachi, or Matthew 11, verse 27. All things are delivered
to me of my Father. No man knoweth the Son, but the
Father. No man. Neither knoweth any man
the Father, save the Son. And he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him. He liveth, the prince of preachers.
He died the theme of preachers. He arose the Lord of preachers. He's the prince of preachers.
He's the Lord of preachers. He's the preacher of all preachers.
He's that prophet. We just say what he said. That's
right. Just say what he said. All right,
look back at our text. He hath anointed me to preach
good news. What's good news? Pardon? Forgiveness of all sin, justification, eternal
life. Good news. Good news to whom?
To the poor. I'm going to show you something
in a minute. Arthur Pink said, who are the poor? This is his
definition, the poor in spirit. And to be poor genuinely, poor
in spirit, is to be nothing, to have nothing, know nothing,
and deserve nothing. And our Lord illustrated it two
ways. Matthew chapter 9, turn over
there. He illustrated it two ways, this
spiritual poverty. It is to be sick and it is to
be lost. Sick. Matthew 9, look at Matthew
9. It's to be sick. Isaiah said, the whole head is
sick. The whole head is sick. In Matthew 9, verse 10, it came
to pass that Jesus sat at meat in the house. Behold, many publicans
and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And
when the Pharisees saw it, our Lord eating with these publicans
and sinners, These religious Pharisees said to his disciples,
Why eateth your master with publicans and sinners? And when Jesus heard
it, he said to them, They that behold need not a position, but
they that are sick. Somebody said to one of our ladies who had an
operation recently, I'd never have that She said, if you hurt
bad enough, you will. If you hurt bad enough. And those
are the folks that need Christ are those that hurt bad enough,
are sick enough. Lepers. Lepers that can't be
healed. Sick in mind that can't be made
whole without His power. The well don't need a doctor.
The well don't need surgery. Well, do not need help with those
that are sick. Now read on. You go learn what
that means. I'll have mercy. Mercy, not sacrifice. I'm not come to call the righteous,
the good, the wise, the intellectual, those full of self-conceit. I've
come to call sinners, sick people, weary, hungry, labor, heavy laden. That's what it is to be poor,
it's to be sick, incurably sick, spiritually sick. And it's to
be lost. Look at Luke 15. Here's the Lord
now. He's describing this. Let him
speak. Have the Messiah speak. Luke
15. Here's that same bunch of Pharisees.
These Pharisees saw him eating with publicans and sinners, and
they said, why does your master eat with publicans and sinners?
Because the sick need a doctor. That's why I'm the doctor. Now
listen to what he says here in Luke 15. Then drew near unto
him all the publicans and sinners to hear him again. And the Pharisees
and scribes murmured, saying, This man receives sinners and
eats with them. And then he spoke a parable,
a parable in three parts. A parable about a lost sheep,
and the shepherd going to find him. A parable about a lost coin,
lost in the dirt, in the darkness, helpless to find itself, and
a lost son. And he said, that's why I eat
Republicans and Senators. They're lost sheep, they're lost
jewels, and they're lost sons. Sick and lost. And if you're
sick and there's a healer nearby who can make you whole, that's
good news. That's good news. Good news to
the poor. Good news to the sick. Good news
to the helpless who cannot improve their life. Shut up to his mercy. That's what a man will call on
Christ when he's plumb shut up to his mercy. Without strength, without hope,
without help, Psalm 107 said, at his wit's end. Then they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of
their distress. For the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, he
hath anointed me, ordained me to preach good news to the sick
and to the lost. and to folks that are really
poor. David had enough wealth to buy
kingdoms, but he said, I'm poor and needy, poor and needy, spiritually. Look at the next line. He sent
me to bind up the brokenhearted. Who are they, brethren? They
are the people that have lost loved ones. Well, that's
a broken heart. People who have financial disaster,
well, that'd break your heart. People whose children have gone
astray, well, that'd break your heart. But that's not what he's
talking about here. Just like that other line, the
spiritually poor, these are people who are spiritually broken-hearted. They're people who, because of
sin, their sin, because of sin around them, because of sin upon
them, the broken hearted. Turn to Psalm. Let's read that
in Psalm, I believe Psalm 34. Psalm 34 talks about saving the
broken hearted. Saving the broken hearted. Here
it is in Psalm 34 verse 18. The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart." Broken heart over sin, by unbelief. The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart, and saith it such as be of a contrite spirit. A contrite spirit and a broken
heart. Turn to Psalm 51. This is David's great prayer
of repentance. seeking the mercy of God, the
loving kindness of God, in Psalm 51, verse 18. And he says this
in Psalm 51, verse 17. The sacrifices of God are broken
spirit, broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. No one ever has come to our Lord
like David did here, with a broken heart and a contrite spirit,
as Brother Scott has said so often, making his headquarters
into dust, and cried for mercy. Nobody's ever come that way that
didn't receive mercy. Our Lord said, come unto me all
ye that labor, and a heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. When
we were without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. When we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And here it's described
in Ephesians 2. If you want to turn over there
to Ephesians chapter 2, listen to verse 12. It describes us
Gentiles. Now this is to be poor and broken
hearted. Listen to this. In Ephesians
2 verse 12. Ephesians 2 verse 12. This is poverty. This is a broken
heart. At that time you were without
Christ. Aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenant of promise, having no
hope, and without God in this world. Can we come that way? Well, he says, I've come to bind
up those with a broken heart. Broken heart over sin. And then
the next statement. And the Spirit of the Lord God
is upon me because he's anointed me to preach good news to the
meek, to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, and to proclaim
liberty to the captives and the opening of prison to them that
are bound. Have you ever seen yourself as
a sinner, sick, sick, old head is sick, old heart is pain, brokenhearted,
heavy laden, weary of sin, bowed down. But this word says bound,
bound with fetters. He sent me to proclaim liberty
to captives, captives and opening a prison to people who are bound.
And I'll tell you how the Jews reacted to that. Turn to John
8. The Jews reacted to that in this way, and you listen to this,
this is interesting. These religious fellows, and
I would imagine most religious people today would react the
same way, or will, do. In John chapter 8, verse 33,
John 8, 33. Look back at verse 31, John 8, 31. said Jesus to these Jews, which
believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples
indeed." Evidently some of these folks believed on him. And you
know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Now that
indicates that somebody is a captive. He set captives free. You know
the truth, it will make you free. Set the captive free. It indicates
that you're bound. You're bound and can't get loose. You're wrapped up in some kind
of cords and you're chains and fetters. Bound. And you know the truth that will
make you free. And they answered him, these Jews answered him,
they said, we're Abraham's seed. We were never in bondage. Never
in bondage to any man. That's their objection. So what
does he say? We were never in bondage to any
man. What are you talking about, you should be made free? Scepter
captive free. Opening a prison to the band.
And our Lord said in verse 34, I say to you, whosoever committed
sin is the servant of sin, the slave of sin. Oh, yes! We were captives, captives of
sin, enslaved to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye,
and the pride of life. Totally enslaved. Couldn't get loose or free. Bound
by sin. Whosoever committed sin is the
serpent of sin. And the serpent of sin abideth
not in the house, the Son abideth in the house, the capital S,
Son. That's the Lord Jesus. That's
us, sinners, captives of sin. I'll tell you further than that. In Galatians, I can't quote it. Because I can't remember it.
Galatians 3, listen. It says in Galatians 3, verse
10, "...as many as are of the works of the law are under the
curse. It is written, Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things written in the book of
the law to do them." Have we? No, we're cursed. We're in bondage
to a curse. People used to believe that folks
put curse on somebody. Well, they can't. They can stick
pins in all the dolls they want to look like me, and that doesn't
scare me a bit. But I'll tell you what does scare
me. Log cursing. The curse of the law. The curse
of God's law. And that's what we were under.
We were servants of sin, bound by sin, under the curse of the
law, and I'll tell you something, We were captives of Satan. Hell-captive. Isn't that what it said? By his
will. Captives of Satan. That's what they are out in this
world. If you're not in Christ, you're
captive of Satan. And another thing, we're captives
of justice. Mr. McVeigh that blew up that
building in Oklahoma City is a captive of justice. Will he ever be free? When he
dies, under the curse. But the Messiah, he has sent
me to proclaim. See, the gospel is not an invitation,
it's a proclamation. He never sent me to invite the
prisoner to come out of the prison. He sent me to set him free, to
open the doors, and to tell him, like I told Lazarus, come forth. I've come to proclaim. Mr. Lincoln didn't, when he, it was
an emancipation proclamation. It's the law. It's enforced. It's in effect. The slaves are
free. And when our great Emancipator
came to this earth, and was wounded for our transgression, and bruised
for our iniquity, and the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and
he made his soul an offering for sin, and by his knowledge
justified many, the prison doors were opened. My chains fell off,
and I was free." Isn't that right? That's the Messiah speaking.
The Spirit of God's on me. The Lord's anointed me, the prophet,
to preach good news to poor people, sick people, lost people, to
heal the brokenhearted. They're tired of sin, weary of
sin, tired of this old road, tired of this world. Proclaim
liberty to captives of sin and Satan and the curse and justice
and judgment. And have a sentence of death
upon them. I've come to pay the price. And throw open the doors
and tell them to come out. Proclaim. Proclaim the gospel. Don't go whining around here
asking folks to let Jesus do something. He's done it. Just
tell them what he's done. And those for whom he did it
will know it. That's right. Sick people say,
hey, that's for me. Lost people say, hey, that's
for me. Weary, heavy laden people say, that's my message. Proclamation. It's not a whining, feel sorry
for Jesus, okay, let go and let God have his wonderful way. That's
a bunch of junk. Proclaiming liberty to the captives. They're free! The chains are
broken. He bore them. And verse 2, listen,
to proclaim, he said, the acceptable year of the Lord. What's that
acceptable year? That's the Jubilee. Jubilee. Boy, those Jews loved the Jubilee.
back in the Old Testament, back in the time of Moses and the
prophets. They loved the jubilee. You know
what that jubilee year was? Every 50 years, you can read
this in Leviticus 25 sometime, just write that down and go back
and read it, Leviticus 25, 8 through 10. Every 50 years, the horn
was blown, they blew the horn and declared jubilee. And every
debt was marked off the book. Every debt was discharged. No
matter what you owed, you owed it no more. Every slave who had
sold himself into slavery, who had got himself in a mess, whose
life was wrapped up, belonging to somebody else, he went home.
He was free. Here the daddy died and left
the boy's property and the boy wasted it and lost it and it
wasn't in the family no more, the guy down the road owned it,
no sir, not anymore, jubilee, property, all property went back
to the owner. All debts discharged, all slaves
set free, all property redeemed, and a year of rest, nobody worked. Well the Messiah said, this is
a year of jubilee. The Lord God has anointed me
and sent me to tell every slave, my slaves, they're free. Everyone
in bondage, they're free. All debts are paid. You don't
owe any debt. Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe. Sin left
a crimson stain. What I lost in Adam's restored
fourfold, fortyfold, hundredfold, thousandfold, manyfold, manifold. This is our year of jubilee.
Now is accepted time. Today is the day of salvation.
Now is accepted, acceptable year of the Lord. And unfortunately for some, the
day of vengeance of our God. I just hate to read that because
it's so fearful. The day of vengeance of our God.
Is God unrighteous to take vengeance? Paul asked that question. Is
God unrighteous to take vengeance? Well, he said this. Vengeance
is mine. He said, don't you try to get
even. Don't you do it. A fellow slaps you, let him slap
the other cheek. Takes away your coat, give him
your cloak. I'll take care of him later. And that's what he
said when he said year of acceptance, it's also the day of vengeance,
when God will bring vengeance upon his enemies. To comfort,
listen, all that mourn, don't you look at this with me, I think
I found something here. To comfort all that mourn, his
people, we're talking about believers now, how do they mourn? They mourn under affliction.
Affliction. They mourn because of sin. They
mourn because of their doubts and unbelief. They mourn because
they can't trust God more than they do. They mourn because of not only
their sins, but the sins of others. They mourn over the condition
of their country, and of their people, and of the plight of
their children, and of the day in which they live. It's just
a mourning. I have great sovereign, continual
sovereign in my heart," Paul said, "...for my brethren according
to the flesh." They mourn. Well, he's going to comfort them.
Then he says in verse 3, "...to anoint unto them that mourn in
Zion." They mourn in the Church. They mourn in the Church because
of the apostasy of the Church in this day. It's a constant source of grief
to people who know the gospel and know God and know Christ. The apostasy and heresy that's
rampant in churches today. They mourn because of the weakness
of the pulpit. Most pulpits are weak as branch
water. There's nothing coming from the
pulpit. They don't say anything. We mourn
because of friends who fall away, who depart from the gospel, friends
and family and loved ones that show some interest and then lose
it. We mourn because there are not
more conversions. We mourn because God is not pleased
to demonstrate his power in our day like he has in some other
days. Revival, oh, to be blessed with revival. We mourn in Zion. We mourn in here. They were mourning
the church. But he's going to comfort them.
He says here, "...to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,
to give them beauty for ashes, the beautiful robe of his righteousness,
the beautiful garment of salvation, and the graces of his Spirit."
You know, you can mourn and rejoice at the same time. Your heart
can be so heavy that you just don't think you can look up,
but you can. And lift up your voice. Thank
God. Praise God. You can. We do. We do. If we're going to praise
Him at all, it'll have to be in trouble, because we're always
in trouble, aren't we? If we're going to praise God
at all, it'll have to be in time of mourning, because we've always
got something to mourn over. But it is. He gives them beauty
for ashes. He gives them the oil of joy
for morning. Thou knowest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy will
follow me all the days of my life. And I'll dwell with the
Lord in his house forever. I go a-mourning all the day,
one of the men said. But at the same time, I rejoice.
I'm glad. My God doeth all things well,
and I praise him as long as he lends me breath. He'll give me the garment of
praise for the Spirit of heaviness. I tell you, a preacher can't
preach unless he's got a broken heart. No man is fit to preach who doesn't
carry the burden of the Word. Isn't that right, Cecil? The
burden of the Word, the burden of the Word. And believers can't pray unless
they're burdened. They can't plead and intercede
unless they're brokenhearted. But yet he gives us the spirit
of praise, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness And
then that they might be called the trees of righteousness. I'll tell you about a tree. The first
thing about a tree is it's planted. Somebody planted that tree. And we're trees of righteousness
planted by the Lord. That's right. It says here, the
planting of the Lord. We're trees of righteousness.
Our Lord Jesus said, The disciples came to him one day and said,
What you just said made the Pharisees mad. They were offended by what
you said. He said, Leave them alone. Every
plant which my father hath not planted will be rooted up. So
these trees of righteousness are the planting of the Lord.
And secondly, they have roots. The book of Psalms says, by the
living water, by the streams, by Christ, their roots reach
into his blood and his righteousness. And then thirdly, they have their fruit. Their
fruit shall not wither. Their leaf shall not wither.
And whatsoever they do in his name will prosper. They're the planning of the Lord, that he might be glorified.