Good News

Q: What does the Bible say about the purpose of Jesus' ministry?

Jesus' ministry focused on preaching the gospel, healing the brokenhearted, and bringing deliverance to the captives. In Luke 4:18, Jesus outlines His purpose, stating, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind.' This encapsulates the core of His mission on earth: to bring good news to those in need, heal those who are spiritually broken, and offer freedom from sin and its consequences. Through His life, Christ fulfills the prophecies that speak to His role as the Messiah, addressing not only physical needs but, importantly, spiritual impoverishment and the bondage of sin.

Q: How do we know that Jesus is the Messiah?

Jesus clearly proclaimed His identity as the Messiah and fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about Him. In Luke 4:21, after reading from the book of Isaiah, Jesus declares, 'This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.' This bold proclamation is a direct claim to His identity as the promised Messiah. The Old Testament contains numerous prophecies about the coming Redeemer, and Jesus' life and ministry fulfilled these in remarkable ways. He performed miracles, preached good news to the poor, and offered healing and hope, aligning with the expectations of the Messiah outlined in the scriptures. His unique blend of divine authority and human experience makes it clear that He is who He claimed to be.

Q: Why is understanding Jesus' anointing important for Christians?

Jesus' anointing signifies His divine empowerment to fulfill His mission of redemption. The anointing of Jesus as explained in Luke 4:18 indicates His divine endorsement and empowerment to carry out the tasks assigned to Him by God. His anointing signifies the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in His ministry, highlighting that He is uniquely equipped to heal, deliver, and restore. For Christians, understanding this helps to underscore that salvation and healing come through Christ alone, as He is the anointed one who came to fulfill God’s redemptive plan. It also emphasizes the importance of relying on the same Spirit that empowered Jesus in our own lives as believers.

Q: Why must Christians recognize their spiritual poverty?

Recognizing spiritual poverty helps Christians understand their need for Christ and His salvation. In the sermon, Jesus addresses the 'poor' as those who are spiritually destitute, echoing Ephesians 2:12, which states that without Christ, one is without hope and without God. Acknowledging our spiritual poverty is essential for realizing our need for Jesus, who is described as 'bread for the hungry' and 'water for the thirsty.' This recognition leads to repentance, a contrite heart, and a dependence on God's grace for salvation. It reflects the teaching that acknowledging one's failures and lack is the first step toward receiving the fullness of life that Christ offers.

Q: What is the significance of the 'acceptable year of the Lord'?

The 'acceptable year of the Lord' refers to the biblical concept of Jubilee, symbolizing restoration and freedom. In Luke 4:19, Jesus mentions preaching 'the acceptable year of the Lord,' which connects to the Jewish Year of Jubilee described in Leviticus 25. This year represented a time when debts were forgiven, slaves were freed, and property was restored. By declaring this, Jesus not only identifies Himself as the Messiah but also emphasizes His mission of bringing spiritual release and restoration to humanity. This concept is profound for believers as it signifies that through Christ, we are freed from the debt of sin and restored in our relationship with God, highlighting the grace and mercy inherent in His salvation.

Now this morning, let's open
our Bibles to Luke, the fourth chapter. Luke, the fourth chapter. It says in verse 14, And Jesus
returned in the power of the Spirit unto
Galilee, and there went out a flame of Him through all the region
round about and he taught in their synagogues being glorified
of all. Now our Lord Jesus Christ had
begun his public ministry. He began to preach and to teach and to heal and
reports of his wonderful miracles and his gracious words, had drifted
back to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and where his
family, Mary his mother, Joseph his foster father, his brothers
and sisters, lived. And so it says in verse 16 that
he returned to Nazareth, where he'd been brought up. That's
where his family probably still resided in Nazareth. That's where
he was brought up. You remember they said of him,
can any good thing come out of Nazareth? And it said, as and
as his custom was, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath
day. Jesus Christ, when he was here
on the earth in the flesh, kept the Sabbath day, Saturday. seventh
day of the week, as the Jews were commanded in the Old Testament
under the law. Just as Christ Jesus was circumcised
when he was eight days old, fulfilled the law. Just as he was taken
to Jerusalem when he was twelve years of age to accomplish certain
things that had to be done for Jewish boys and for their mothers
at that particular time in life. Our Lord didn't come to destroy
the law. The Levitical law, the Mosaic
law, He came to fulfill it. He came to fulfill all the law
of God. He didn't... He came to the synagogue
on the Sabbath day, that was His custom. That was what He
did. And it says here that He stood
up to read. Now, can you imagine the crowd
that was there? I suppose that everybody was
there that day. The Lord Jesus was born of Mary,
went down into Egypt, and then down into Nazareth, and there's
where he was brought up. That's where he lived. He worked
with his father Joseph in a carpenter shop. He was called the carpenter.
And the people knew him. He was a most unusual child,
I'm sure, most unusual young man. And he lived there when
he was 30 years of age. See, Christ became flesh, born
of a woman, made under the law, under every requirement of the
Old Testament law. He kept the Passover. He went
to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. The people saw him. They
knew him. He did no mighty works before 30 years of age. He began
his ministry at 30. He went out to preach, to accomplish
what the Father sent him. to accomplish. And so all this
word out in Capernaum and other places had come back to Nazareth. No man spake like this man. That's
what they heard. He's healing the sick. He's giving
ears to the deaf and sight to the blind. They heard these things,
and so he came back to Nazareth. And on that Sabbath morning,
he went to the synagogue and stood up to read. Now the crowd
was there, the place was packed, everybody was there. Here is
Jesus of Nazareth speaking in his hometown home synagogue where
he spent many, many hours before. And verse 17 says, they delivered
unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah, that is Isaiah. They
handed him a book, the parchment, the scroll, whatever, the book
of Isaiah. Now, Isaiah is quoted more in
the New Testament than any of the Old Testament prophets. Somebody
called Isaiah the gospel of the Old Testament. Isaiah speaks
of the Messiah, of the Christ, of the Redeemer, so very often. And they handed him that particular
book. And he says, now they didn't
select this passage of Scripture, he did. This wasn't the reading
for the day, this was what it says in verse 17, and when he
had opened the book, he found the place where it was written.
Our Lord Jesus Christ deliberately opened this scroll to the chapter
61 of the book of Isaiah. Now these words in chapter 61,
we're going to read them in just a moment as our Lord read them.
But these words in Isaiah 61 apply to the Christ, the Messiah. All the way back to Adam and
Eve, the seed of woman was prophesied. All the way back to Abraham,
the Jews look for Abraham's seed, Isaac's son. All the way back
to Moses. Moses said, God will raise up
a prophet. Him you shall hear." All the way back to David. David said, the Lord will raise
up a seed to sit on the throne forever. And they knew there
were so many prophecies and pictures in the Old Testament of the Christ,
the Messiah, the Redeemer. God will raise up a branch. Now
they looked for one to come literally in power and glory and sit on
a Jewish throne. They didn't look for a Lamb,
they didn't look for a suffering Savior, they didn't look for
a dying Christ or dying Messiah, they looked for a reigning monarch
to restore the great kingdom of David and Solomon to the Jews.
And this, they knew this Isaiah 61 was a Messianic prophecy.
This Isaiah 61 speaks of the Christ, the Messiah. He knew
it, their leaders knew it, The people knew it. This had been
read before. This had been read before. Many
times, I'm sure. Because it refers to the Messiah.
And he read it carefully and slowly. Look at verse 18. He
found this particular place. It's quiet in that place. Here
he is. Son of God, Son of Man. Lord Jesus Christ stands before
these Jewish people on the Sabbath morning synagogue. He said, the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me. The Spirit and the presence of
God is upon me. Because the Spirit and the presence
of God would be upon the Messiah without measure. the same Spirit and presence
of God that rested above the mercy seat without measure." That's what he's saying. The
Spirit of God is upon me, like the Spirit of God rested between
the cherubim. The glory of God is upon me. That's what he read. Because,
why is the Spirit of God upon me? Why was the Spirit of God
upon the mercy seat? Why was the Spirit of God upon
that tabernacle? Because God had anointed that
mercy seat to be the place where he'd meet sinners. And he said,
the Spirit of God, the presence of God, the glory of God is upon
me because he hath anointed me. Now, anointing by God signifies
three things. Anointing by God. God hath anointed
me. This is about the Messiah and
Christ. He'll know it in a minute. He's
talking about Himself. He said, He hath anointed me. Anointing
by God signifies three things. Number one, the endowment of
a person with the gift, gifts, the ability and the power to
perform a certain task. That's anointing. God anointed
Aaron. He's a high priest. Now, Israel anointed Saul to
be king, but he failed. God anointed David. God sent
Samuel down and said, this is he. Anoint him. David can't fail
now, Bob. God anointed him. See, God gave
him the gifts. God gave Abram the gifts. Christ
said, God hath anointed me. He chose me. and gave me the power and ability.
Secondly, it means God's purpose is now in His hands. That's exactly right. There were
some other fellows who wanted to be priests. They rejected
Aaron. And God said, alright, you fellows,
toss down your shepherd rods. The one that buds is my priest. Aaron's rod budded. You see,
it's in His hands now. Thirdly, when God anoints a person,
God gives him his presence to accomplish what he sent him to
do. He cannot fail. That's what he's saying. The
Spirit, the power of God, the very presence of God is upon
me because no man takes this honor upon himself, but he whom
God has chosen. because he hath anointed me."
All right? To do what? To preach the gospel
to the poor. Good news to the poor. What's
the definition of poor? Some of us think poor means dumb. It doesn't mean dumb. Some people think poor means
to be ignorant. It's not ignorant. Poor means
one thing. It means to be without. That's
all. It means to be without. That's
the reason David, here's David sitting on the throne. Here's
David, captain of God's host. Here's David, chosen of God.
He says, I'm poor and needy. He says it over and over. God
be merciful to me, I'm poor. You're poor? Well, what am I
if you're poor? I'm poor too. Has to be without. And here's the key. He says in
Ephesians chapter 2, they were without Christ, without hope,
and without God in this world. That's poverty. That is poverty. I don't care
what that suit you got on costs and that Rolex watch you're wearing.
And that diamond ring, if you don't have Christ, you're poor. You're poor. If you don't have
a hope in Christ, you're poor. And that's what he said, I've
come to preach good news to the poor. If anybody's poor, I'm
bread for the hungry, water for the thirsty, riches for the poor. I'm the robe of righteousness
for the naked. I'm life for the dead. Good news. All right? And to heal, he says,
I came to preach good news to the poor and to heal the brokenhearted. What is it that breaks the heart?
What breaks the heart? Well, many things break the heart.
Many things break the heart. Many things emotionally and physically
and mentally break the heart, but that's not the kind of broken
heart he's talking about, though it contributes to the spiritually
broken heart. But the broken heart Christ,
the Messiah came to heal is the heart broken over sin. That's right, broken over sin.
I can be the happiest man in this building right now as far
as my health and well-being and children and grandchildren and
happiness and all, and still have a broken heart, a sorrowful
spirit, because my heart's broken over sin, over my sin, over my
failure. My heart's just broken. I get
so sad, don't you, because of what I am by nature and what
I am by thoughts. But God saved as such as be of
a broken heart. The Lord is known to them that
are of a broken heart. The Lord delighted. The sacrifices
of God are broken heart, are broken in a contrite spirit.
My friend, there's nothing wrong with having confidence in your
ability. If you can do something, you
can do it. You can do it. They always say,
well, I'm no good at that. Yeah, you are. You're good at
it. I'm not saying... Mike can flat sing. Marty can
flat play an organ. Carolee can cheat good. Have some confidence. That's
not it. That's not what I'm talking about. But don't have pride. Have some confidence and have
some dependence on God and thanksgiving to God for His gifts. I said
to a little girl one time, I said, you're beautiful. God made you
beautiful. She said, I'm glad He did. That's just a fact. They want to use her and say,
no, I'm ugly. She's not ugly and she knows it. But pride's the problem, let's
come down. He said, I came to heal the broken
hearted. The contrite hearted. And I'll
tell you, there's nothing sweeter in this world, nothing sweeter
than a talented, humble man. There's nothing in this world,
there's nothing so sweet and precious than a beautiful,
humble woman. Nothing. A talented mother, a
homemaker that does what she does well and serves God well,
but knowing where it came from, there's nothing so sweet as that.
And boy, there's nothing more tasteful than arrogancy. That's right. See, faith and
pride don't go together. God resisted the humble. He gives
grace. He resisted the proud. He gives
grace to the humble. It'd be good for all of us to
hear the words God spoke to Zacchaeus. Our Lord, Zacchaeus, come down.
Come on down. Well, I came to heal the broken
heart. Read on. And I came to preach deliverance
to the captives. You know, these Jews that made
up that congregation that morning, they did not think they were
captives. Take a moment and turn to John
8. They were pretty arrogant people. They felt like they had
a corner on God, that God owed them something. It says here
in John 8, 32. John 8, 32, the Lord said, And
you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
Free, deliverance to the captives. Free, freedom to the slaves. Boy, they answered Him. We are
Abraham's seed, and we're never in bondage to any man. How are you saying you shall
be made free? And he said, Verily I say unto
you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. Whether
you admit it or not, you're in bondage to sin. Sin's got a grip
on you, and me too. This old nature. Let me tell
you something, brothers and sisters. You can't do the things you would. You resolve tomorrow, you're
not going to think an evil thought or say a hasty word or do anything
displeasing to God. You say, preach, that's silly.
That's what I'm saying. You're a servant of sin. Who's
servant you are? Who's your master? You're a servant.
So we're all in captivity. These fellows didn't know it,
but they were. We're captives of the law. The law's got a claim
on me. That man that takes a gun and
shoots another man, the law's got him. The law has a claim
on him. He's a captive. The thing that
made him do it, he's a captive of an old nature, an evil nature
made him do it, and now he's a captive of the law that's going
to punish him for doing it. And you and I are captives of
an old nature that brings us down. And we're hell captive,
we're under the curse of the law, God's law that's got to
punish us. Christ said, He came to set you
free. I came to set you free. Came
to deliverance. Deliverance from this old nature.
Give you a new nature. The deliverance in legally and
spiritually is accomplished. But actually, not yet. It will
be when I lay aside this old nature. Okay? But deliverance. Alright, read on. And recovery
of sight to the blind. Well, what does it mean to be
blind? Well, spiritual blindness is meant here. This isn't fictional. Christ said they have eyes, but
they do not see. They have ears, but they do not
hear. Now listen, He was in the world, and the world knew Him
not. He made the world, and the world
knew Him not. Why didn't they know Him? They
didn't see. He said, whom do men say that
I am? Well, they say a lot of things. You're John the Baptist,
Elias, one of the prophets. Whom do you say? You're the Son
of God. Oh, blessed are you, Peter. Flesh
and blood didn't reveal that to you, but my Father. Blessed
are your eyes, they see. Your ears, they hear. They have
eyes, but they do not see. Let me give you an illustration. I'm looking at... I don't have
any idea in the world who some of you are. I got eyes. And I'm looking. I know out there's a certain
person, but I can't find him. Now wait a minute. I found him. I had a little help. Eyes. And that's the same thing, you
can look at this Bible, you can look at all the prophecies, but
till God gives you eyes to see, it's like the blind man said,
I see men as trees walking. And the Lord touched him again,
hey, I see men now, I see features. And Christ said, I came to give
sight to the blind. To set at liberty them that are
bruised. Heavy burdens bruise people,
don't they? Guilt oppresses. Like a heavy yoke. Our Lord said,
all you that labor in a heavy laden, bruised, mangled by the
fall, come to Me. I'll give you rest. Take My yoke
upon you. My yoke won't bruise you, will
it? It's easy. I tell you, life without God,
life without Christ, is heavy. It bruises. There's no answers,
there's no hope, there's no purpose. Life without God is a chore,
it's a heavy labor, heavy labor. But yet, when I come to know
Him, when I lay aside this yoke of the world, and I take His
yoke, I've got a yoke, it's the same life, it's the same work,
it's the same difficulties, but it's light, it's easy now, I've
got a direction, I've got a hope, I've got a purpose, I've got
a future, I've got an objective, I've got a reason, I've got a
rest, I've got a peace. That's what he said. I came to
set at liberty them that are bruised, heavy laden, bearing
the weight, the weight of life. Listen, somebody said it's tough
to die. It's tough to live. I think it'd be very easy to
die. Leave it. Just leave it. Leave
it. But I tell you it's a joy to
live when He lives in us and He gives us Comfort and rest
and peace and direction. And you'll be doing the same
thing. I'm not asking you to quit your
job, give up your home and family. That's not it. It's to come to
Him and take His yoke and learn of Him, and then you find rest.
And then he says, he came to preach the acceptable year of
the Lord, verse 19. The acceptable year of the Lord.
Let me tell you something. That's talking about the year
of Jubilee. I want you to take just a moment and turn to Leviticus
25. Now this is so good here. This is Leviticus 25. The Lord gave some laws to Israel. And here was one that's very
interesting. Leviticus 25 verse 8. This is it, don't you look at
this, Leviticus 25 verse 8. And the Lord says here, And thou
shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times
seven years, that's 49 years. And the space of the seven sabbaths
of years shall be unto thee 49 years. And then shalt thou cause
the trumpet, of the jubilee, loud to sound
on the tenth day of the seventh month and the day of atonement,
shall you make the trumpet sound throughout all the land, and
you shall holler the fiftieth year." That's the year of jubilee.
Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof. It shall be a jubilee unto you,
and you shall return, listen, every man to his possession Every
man to his family, in other words, everything that was sold or stolen
or bought or hoodwinked out of people or conned out of was restored
back to the owner. Everything he lost is his again.
Start over. Every man that's in jail, in
slavery, wherever, back to his family. back to his family. And a jubilee
shall that fiftieth year be unto you. You shall not sow, neither
reap that which groweth of itself in it, neither shall you gather
the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. It's the jubilee that
will be holy unto you. You shall eat the increase thereof
out of the field." In other words, release all prisoners, release
all slaves, restore all property, and pay off all debts. Woo! Isn't that something? I expect
some folks to jump up this morning, if I could do that, and say,
Pritchard, you just made my day. Well, let me tell you, my Lord
said I came to do just that. To set all the prisoners free. To restore what was lost in the
fall. return everybody to his family and pay all debts. He did it all. All right, let's move on. Verse
20, and he closed the book. And he closed the book and gave
it to the minister and sat down. Let the words sink in. And the
eyes of all them in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them,
this day, this moment, right now, is this scripture, the Messianic
promises, prophecies, patterns, pictures, and all others, fulfilled
in your ears. I am He. I'm He. I'm the Messiah. I'm
the one who does all of this. I'm the one who fulfills all
this. I'm the one whom the Spirit of God's upon. I'm the one whom
He hath anointed. I'm the one. Everything's in
me. The whole of Scripture regarding
and related to the promises of God, the purpose of redemption,
the covenant of grace, the gift of life, the eternal globe is
fulfilled in me. Every blessing which God has
for the sons of Adam described in the Scripture is fulfilled
in me. My name is Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and the Government's
on my shoulders, to give to whomsoever I will. Verse 22, "...and all bear him
witness, and wonder at the gracious words that proceeded out of his
mouth. And they said one to another,
Hey, wait a minute, isn't this Joseph's son?" See, this is what so many people
cannot comprehend and grasp, is that this Son of Man is the
Son of God. That the mystery of godliness
is God was manifest in the flesh. To redeem sinners, he had to
become sin. To redeem men, he had to become
a man. To move the rock, he had to come
down and become one of us and move it for us. It was our rock
to move, and he came and moved it. Joseph's son, this is the
carpenter. We know his mother. I know it's
shocking, and I'll tell you, actually, if you had been, and
I had been on this earth, we read about it now and think about
it, but if we'd have been here and seen Him in the flesh, we
would have had a whale of a problem too. Because His hands bled just like
mine. I'm the only person who can plant
flowers and get hurt. They bleed just like you do. He bled. He thirsted. He wept. He asked people, would you give
me a drink of water? That's God. And then they saw him die. And
that complicated matters a whole lot more. In fact, one of the
disciples said, we thought he was the one who came to redeem. And he said, verse 23, they said,
isn't this Joseph's son? He said to me, you shall surely
say unto me this proverb. I know what you're thinking.
Physician, heal yourself. Don't tell other people what
to do and then get sick yourself. Heal yourself first. Prove you
can do it. What you did in Capernaum, do
here in your country. This is what they're saying.
They're saying, you owe us. We're your neighbors. We're your
kinfolks. We're your townsmen. We're Jews.
If you can do these great works and miracles, you ought to help
us first. We heard you did all these things in Capernaum. Show
us. Show us. Watch this now. And he said,
verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. Now listen to me carefully. Generally
speaking, no prophet is accepted in his own country. A prophet,
a teacher, a teacher, a preacher, is more esteemed among strangers
than among those who have known him all his life. Because strangers
judge him by not what he has been, what he is. Not by what he has done, but
what he does. Not by what they think he knows,
but what he does know. Strangers judge him by what,
not what he was, and what he did do, what he is. His familiar
friends are not only familiar with his infirmities and weaknesses,
but often they're envious of his success. And really nothing he says impresses
them. But strangers judge him by his
present ability and knowledge and gifts. They are the ones
that are blessed. That's right. That's right. And so that's the
reason these people were not blessed. He could do no mighty
works because of their unbelief. Now, we can take that home. We can take that on. No prophet
is accepted in his own country. But God's will shall be done.
Watch verse 25, and I'll let you, I'll close. But God won't
fail. His prophets, this prophet, the
great prophet, will succeed. I'm going to tell you a truth,
he said, and he's talking to his beloved townspeople, the
Jews. How oft would I have gathered
you as a hen doth gather her brood. They're obstinate. What they can't understand, they
won't believe. I want to tell you something, he said. There
were many widows in Israel in the days of Elias, the prophet,
when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and
great famine was throughout all the land. But unto none of them
was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman
that was a widower, incidentally a Gentile. The prophet of God was in Israel,
and they were starving, and none of them were fed, but God fed
a Gentile. When Elias went to her, she received
him. And he said, and there were many
lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseas the prophet, and none
of them were cleansed, except Nahum and the Syrians. Gentile. Well, how'd they respond? All
that were in the synagogue when they heard these things were
filled with wrath. They rose up and thrust him out
of their city. Isn't that amazing? I tell you, it's good news for
us Gentiles, bad news for these folks, but good news. And they led him unto the brow
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, and went down to Capernaum, the city of
Galilee, and he taught them. And they were astonished at his
doctrine, because his word came to them with power." Oh, may God give us ears to hear.
Let's sing a song, number 225.

Good News

What does the Bible say about the purpose of Jesus' ministry?

How do we know that Jesus is the Messiah?

Why is understanding Jesus' anointing important for Christians?

Why must Christians recognize their spiritual poverty?

What is the significance of the 'acceptable year of the Lord'?

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Good News

What does the Bible say about the purpose of Jesus' ministry?

How do we know that Jesus is the Messiah?

Why is understanding Jesus' anointing important for Christians?

Why must Christians recognize their spiritual poverty?

What is the significance of the 'acceptable year of the Lord'?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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