The Messiah’s Autobiography

provide a word of explanation
and maybe even a caveat to the message, the passage that I’ve
selected this morning. Perhaps some of you were counting
on me delving back into Matthew chapter two. Any of you who know
me know that I have a special affinity for Charles Spurgeon
and one of the things I appreciate the most about him was that almost
every week He would begin the process on Sunday, Sunday afternoon
and evening of meditating and mulling over what he believed
the Lord would have him preach the following week. It was an
arduous undertaking. It is probably the hardest kind
of preaching there is. And, you know, expository preaching,
there’s a misunderstanding that expository preaching is necessarily
verse by verse. When you preach through a book,
In a sense, it’s easy, easier than considering the entirety
of Scripture and wading through various texts. But I can tell
you that in this process, instead of just preaching the next set
of verses, I really was led, I really believed that, led to
this particular passage for this occasion being a celebration
of the birth of our Savior. And so with that, I would have
you turn, if you would, to the gospel of Luke. Instead, Luke,
and specifically chapter four. I would like to suggest to you
this morning that something that may sound a little bit strange
to your ears, may even sound contradictory, it’s this, that
when a person, an individual walks into a crowded room, a
room full of other people, Everyone in the room gives this new arrival
a greeting. I’m not talking about somebody
who is, you know, super special. I’m just talking about anybody
who walks into a room gets a greeting from everyone that’s in the room.
Everyone greets the newcomer. And you say to yourself that
that’s not necessarily so. I’ve walked into many rooms where
people didn’t greet me. Not everyone. Some I would say, approach the
newcomer warmly, perhaps a handshake or a hug. Others maybe give them
a nod or a wave. Others just call out a verbal
greeting, hello. But there are still others in
the room that give a greeting of sorts. It’s a cool welcome. And they perhaps didn’t know
that this guy was coming to the party that this guest was coming
perhaps they don’t even know him and perhaps they don’t want
to know him but in a very real sense they greet him coolly and
harshly in a most rude and unfriendly manner but everyone greets the
newcomer and likewise every person Everyone ever born greets Christ. Everyone interacts with the good
news of Jesus Christ. Everyone comes face to face with
spiritual truth. Everyone gives it a welcome one
way or the other. For some the gospel is immediately
and warmly embraced as the truth which their soul has always longed. Others flirt with the gospel. They toy with the gospel. They
mull it over. They intellectualize over it.
And there is this casual greeting as well. Polite, but shallow,
dismissive. Still others give the gospel
the cold shoulder. They’re so caught up in their
own thinking. They’re so caught up in the world.
They’re so caught up in other things. that a legitimate consideration
of the good news of Christ, a legitimate consideration of the state of
their own soul is never entertained. We have a situation like that
in front of us today in Luke’s gospel. There are those who had
opportunity to greet Christ and they greeted Him But as you will
see, it was nothing like what he deserved. But the most important
question this morning as we approach this passage is how are you prepared
to meet him? How have you greeted him thus
far? How have you responded to his
claims of being the Messiah, the Savior of the world? We’ll
see how others did, but all the while, you should be asking yourself,
what is your response? If you would, I wanna pick up
in verse 14 of Luke’s gospel, chapter four. Luke chapter four,
verse 14, where Luke records, and Jesus returned to Galilee
in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through
all the surrounding district. And he began teaching in their
synagogues and was praised by all. And he came to Nazareth,
where he had been brought up, and as was his custom, he entered
the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. The book
of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and he opened the book
and found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel
to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release
to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set
free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year
of the Lord. And he closed the book and gave
it back to the attendant and sat down. And all the eyes in
the synagogue were fixed on him and he began to say to them,
today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And
all were speaking well of him, and wondering at the gracious
words which were falling from his lips. And they were saying,
is this not Joseph’s son? And he said to them, no doubt
you will quote this proverb to me. Physician, heal yourself. Whatever we heard was done in
Capernaum, do here in your own hometown as well. He said, truly
I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. If you course back to verse 14, Jesus is growing in popularity. The word about Christ is evidently
going forth and he had only recently been baptized so his public ministry
was right out of the chutes. Overwhelmingly popular. Look
at verse 14. He returned to Galilee in the
power of the Spirit and news about him spread through all
the surrounding district. His name was well known. His reputation preceded him. A man’s character, as we know,
is crucial. But the preoccupation sometimes
with personality or with what is new and novel, the latest
rage, that’s what’s in view here. Jesus wasn’t popular because
he was the Messiah. Jesus wasn’t popular because
he was a godly man. Jesus wasn’t popular because
he was calling sinners to repentance. Jesus was popular because he
was popular. We’re told that Jesus returned
to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. The words here point
to the official inauguration of Jesus’ public ministry, the
baptism by John. But Luke tells us that news about
him spread that he was praised by all. Perhaps his character,
perhaps his knowledge of the scriptures, his very evident
righteousness, it was widely known. But it was indeed the
fact that he was a respectable man that was part of that popularity. But now that he was returning
home and ready to begin his public ministry, his preaching, his
teaching, his miracles. This is the pattern that the
unregenerate follow even to this day if they have any religious
life at all. If there’s any activity here,
it’s built around reputation, what they had heard about him,
hearsay, popular opinion. Their priorities are revealed
in their preoccupation with degrees and such. They demand that their
religious leader be a man of high and prominent religious
attire, a man with a collar, a man with an ego-driven title. a man on the top of a well-defined
position of hierarchy. They want a man lavished with
all the accolades of man-made ordination. They clamor for this
word-of-mouth popularity. They want the man of the moment.
Personality and charisma are all important to them. And in
speaking often as we do in the subject of clothing, The motto
is often heard, fashion before function. Who cares if the coat
is warm as long as it looks good? In like manner, for the people
of the world, in the spiritual realm, it’s symbolism over substance. What the man says isn’t as important
as how he appears, how he carries himself, how he’s perceived in
society. And that’s all it was for these
people. To regard Christ, to them, he was growing in popularity
only because he was popular. He was the latest thing. Look
at verse 16, it says that he came into Nazareth where he had
been brought up. These were his people. And as was his custom, he entered
into the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. Now the
synagogue was a place, as you know, of spiritual meeting and
instruction, not unlike our church. Wherever there was a substantial
population of Jews, there would have been a synagogue. And it
was Jesus’ habit, his custom, his regular practice to be in
the synagogue on the Lord’s Day. Luke isn’t indicating that it
was his custom to teach or his custom to read the scriptures,
only that it was his practice to attend synagogue on a regular
basis. This is likely the very first
time that Jesus had taken the opportunity to read the scriptures
in a public forum. That seems to be the whole point
of the passage. Teaching in the synagogue would
become eventually Jesus’ custom. However, his practice In each
of the four gospels, many occasions are recorded where Jesus would
go on to teach, but this is the first. This is the first where
he opened the scriptures and read them in a public forum,
not unlike our own worship services today. The order of service was
a series of readings, recitations, prayers, reading from the law,
reading from the prophets, translating, exhorting, The question remains,
was Jesus asked to read the scriptures or did he just do so spontaneously?
It’s possible that Jesus as a regular attender may have been allowed
or even asked to read. And it’s also possible under
the circumstances of his growing popularity especially that he
was asked, we don’t know. Look at verse 17. and the book of the prophet Isaiah
was handed to him and he opened the book and found the place
where it was written. We don’t know whether that was
by design. We don’t have any more background than what is
provided here. It’s possible that this is the very text that
Jesus selected beforehand. It’s also possible that it was provided for him.
Selecting the passage to read would not likely have been the
prerogative of the reader. It seems far more likely that
in God’s sovereign providence, this very section was provided from the reading
list, the lectionary. This just happened to be the
passage for this morning. It really doesn’t matter who
selected the passage. Either way, Jesus was the fulfillment
of this whether it came by Christ’s divine selection or by divine
providence. Either way, this was the passage
that God wanted read that Sunday. In the original, which comes
from Isaiah 61, the prophet essentially puts in the mouth of this servant
of his, the Messiah, this incredible message. Look, if you would,
at verse 18. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release
to the captives, and he has sent me to proclaim recovery of sight
to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim
the favorable year of the Lord. Now, if you even heard as I course
through there, this is classic Hebrew poetry where not always
is the verb provided, not always is the sentence structure complete
in our modern English understanding. And there are two particular
things that I would point out to you about this verse. In the
first case, There is a verse that’s in Isaiah that Jesus doesn’t
cite, and there’s a verse in Luke that Isaiah doesn’t include. Listen just briefly. In Isaiah,
he includes this statement. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted. And as you heard me read in Luke’s
gospel, he includes a statement that Isaiah doesn’t include.
Recovery of sight to the blind. I’ll explain both of those in
a moment. But essentially what you have here in Isaiah 61 is
a presentation by a mystery speaker. Isaiah doesn’t… identify him,
but he is the Messiah. He is the suffering servant of
Isaiah’s great prophecy. And as recorded here in Luke’s
gospel, the Messiah identifies himself as the reader himself,
Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Messiah about whom
Isaiah wrote. Jesus declares himself publicly. to be the very predicted divine
servant of Jehovah. What we have in these few wonderful
verses is nothing less than the autobiography of the Messiah
himself. Look at verse 18 once again.
This is Jesus Christ declaring his ministry. This is the Messiah’s
autobiography. The spirit of the Lord is upon
me. There’s no doubt that these words
reflect the scene that Jesus had just recently experienced
in his baptism, when the Father and the Spirit both affirmed
Jesus’ ministry. In Luke chapter 3, Luke records
it in these terms when all the people were baptized, Jesus was
also baptized. And while he was praying, heaven
was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily
form like a dove and a voice came out of heaven, you are my
beloved son, in you I am well pleased. John, in recording this
scene, says that the spirit remained upon him. Not only in appearance
there as the dove descended, but then as Jesus went into the
desert, Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, Luke records, returned
from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness
there when he confronts Satan. And then here at the start of
this very section of scripture, Luke is fixated upon this truth. Jesus returned to Galilee in
the power of the Spirit. Very obviously intended to apply
to Jesus as having been set apart, anointed. This is the Messiah’s
autobiography. And first and foremost, Jesus
Christ declares his ministry. Jesus Christ declares that the
promised Savior is, first of all, the good news for the spiritually
bankrupt. He is good news for the spiritually
bankrupt. Look at verse 18 once again.
The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to
preach the gospel to the poor. The Greek word there, anoint,
is the very word from which the title Messiah or Christ is derived. Jesus Christ is the anointed
one. He is the Messiah. And here,
the anointing implied that Jesus had been set apart. He had been
anointed for a particular task. In the Old Testament, kings were
anointed, priests were anointed, prophets were anointed, not all
for the same purpose or task, but in the case of Christ, he
was anointed for all three purposes, prophet and priest and king. And even already, Jesus begins
to imply that very distinctly he was the anointed one. He is
the Christ. But Jesus was anointed for a
very particular task. He was set apart for a specific
purpose. To preach, first of all, the
gospel to the poor. Now the poor, always in scripture,
has a less than pleasant meaning. No one wanted to be poor. No
one is eager to be poor, but the Gospels raise it to a completely
different level and use this word with a spiritual reference. You may recall that Jesus testified
of himself. John the Baptist himself had
doubts, wondered about who Jesus was, and sent word to ask about
him. And Jesus replied in Luke 7,
He answered and said, Go report to John what you have seen and
heard. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor
have the gospel preached to them. It was a fulfillment of Isaiah
61. But it isn’t even merely those
who are poor, actually poor, financially poor. The reference
here is to those who are poor in spirit. As Matthew records
in the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are the poor in spirit. It’s
to those who are spiritually poor that the gospel is preached.
The word here for poor literally meant to cringe or to cower.
They are those that spiritually speaking are the nobodies of
the world. They are under a crushing weight
of sin. They are poor in spirit. It’s not merely the financially
poor, but as one commentator put it, it is the gospel poor. That’s who Jesus came to minister
to. That’s what he came to do. That’s
what he was anointed, set apart to do to the destitute, to those
who are spiritually poor and know themselves to be that. They know that they’ve sinned.
They know that they have no answer for their sin. They don’t know
God, and because of that, they have no hope. They are without
hope, without God in this world, as Paul says. If that’s you,
Christ came for you. If that’s you, if that’s the
testimony of your heart, this is exactly what Jesus says is
his mission. He is the good news for the spiritually
bankrupt, but secondly, He says the same thing over and over
again. Not only is Jesus the good news
for the spiritually bankrupt, he is the first responder to
the spiritually distraught. This is the statement that is
in Isaiah that is not recorded in Luke. I’ll explain why in
a moment. Verse 18 says, the spirit of
the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the
gospel to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted. That’s a problem because the
statement, as I said, is clearly in Isaiah, but clearly not in
Luke’s account. Why is it omitted? Many have
suggested a variety of possibilities from the plausible to the absurd.
One suggestion is that Luke, his intention wasn’t to copy
down every word that Jesus ever said. His intention wasn’t to
cite the statement exactly as Jesus cited it. Another suggestion
was that the previous statement, the reference to the poor, made
this second statement unnecessary. And so either Luke or Jesus practiced
a little editorialism along the way. The fact is the statement
in the ears of those who are listening to him would have been
implicit in Jesus’ citation of the passage. We do this all the
time. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten. And you know that. and your mind
fills in and completes the passage. And it’s certainly plausible
that Luke didn’t forget or intentionally leave out this statement, that
Jesus didn’t edit the passage saying that this statement was
unimportant. The mere suggestion of Isaiah
61 would have elicited a recollection by the hearers of the passage
in its entirety, including this section. He was sent. The Messiah was sent with a delegated
authority as a person who is sent as an envoy. He was commissioned. God sent him. And he sent him
for a sentence-specific purpose. Not only to preach the gospel
to the poor, but as Isaiah has it, to bind up the brokenhearted. The primary thought here is of
a healing bandage that is applied to the wounds of a human heart. This is a thought that is recurring
in scripture, that that is God’s role. Hosea 6,1, Come, let us
return to the Lord, for He has torn us, but He will heal us. He has wounded us, but He will
bandage us. Psalm 147, Verse three, he heals
the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. This was the work
of God. And Jesus says, that is the work
that I came to do. I came to put a bandage on people’s
hearts. Sin leaves us brokenhearted,
doesn’t it? Sin leaves us just devastated.
just bewildered at how we could have ever fallen so far, bewildered
because of the hurt that we’ve caused, bewildered and heartbroken
over the consequences that we face, heartbroken over having
offended God. And Jesus Christ says here that
that is his mission. He’s the first responder. He’s
the first responder to the spiritually distraught. Thirdly, As Jesus Christ lays
out on his own terms his autobiography, he declares that his ministry
as the promised Savior is not only good news to the spiritually
bankrupt, the first responder to the spiritually distraught,
but thirdly the liberator of the spiritually enslaved. The problem is the same throughout. He calls them different things.
The poor, the broken hearted, the captives, the blind, the
oppressed. But the remedy is the same. It’s
Christ coming. It’s Christ coming to preach.
It’s Christ coming to bind up. It’s Christ coming to proclaim.
And here in verse 18, thirdly, he says, he has sent me to proclaim
release to the captives. God’s purpose was for the Messiah
to come and proclaim release to the captives. This particular
word, captives, points to those who were exiles. Somebody came
into their city, a foreign invader came into their city, arrested
them, captured them, took them into a foreign land, threw them
into a prison, and left them for dead. That’s the nature of
this word. These are prisoners of war. And I want you to notice that
God didn’t send Jesus with a liberating army. God didn’t send Jesus with
a key that happened to turn the lock in the door. Jesus, all
he has to do, his mission is so clear, all he has to do is
proclaim it. You’re free, and they’re free. The doors open, and they walk
free. We know historically the Jews
were brought back from exile on several different occasions.
But this particular exile of which Jesus speaks isn’t a human
captivity. It isn’t a physical jail. The
captivity of which Christ speaks is is a bondage, it’s a very
legitimate bondage. It’s bondage to the devil, it’s
bondage to sin. It’s having been captured by
the devil and held captive to do his will. We’re living as
the devil would like us to live. Paul writing to Timothy uses
the same metaphor. in telling Timothy about the
ministry of the gospel. He tells Timothy, the Lord’s
bondservant must not be quarrelsome, don’t get caught up in all that
nonsense, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,
with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps
God may grant repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth.
You know, there’s a fascinating thing there. We don’t liberate
people. We don’t set them free. Our good
learning, our great text doesn’t help them, doesn’t free them.
It’s God ultimately that has to bring them to repentance. But he says, with gentleness
correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them
repentance. leading to the knowledge of the
truth, get this, and they may have come to their senses and
escaped from the snare of the devil, having been held captive
to do his will. Jesus Christ says that he is
the liberator to the spiritually enslaved. He is the one that
came to set them free. He’s the only one that can set
them free. And if He does not set them free,
they remain forever bound. Jesus said in John 8, verse 36,
if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. The chains
fall off and you’re set free. Now, whereas earlier, We had
a statement that was not in Luke’s gospel, that was in Isaiah. Now, in this passage, we have
a statement that is in Luke’s account that wasn’t even in Isaiah’s. It’s just this statement. Recovery
of sight to the blind. Where the verb and the infinitive
are implied, it would read like this. And he has sent me to proclaim
recovery of sight to the blind. Given our high view of Scripture,
that this passage, as with all the Bible, is God-breathed, the
very word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit himself, we can’t
suggest for a moment that Luke lost his place and accidentally
added in this line to the sacred text. The only way that this
can possibly be explained is that Jesus Christ himself interpreted
this text and added this thought. Why would Jesus insert this thought
into this text? Because it was likely intended
as a divine commentary on the immediately preceding statement.
When I speak of liberating captives, what I really mean here is It’s
as providing sight to the blind. Like that which a prisoner receives
when he’s liberated from that pitch black dungeon. This too
is such a common theme in the scriptures, but especially in
Isaiah. Isaiah 29, 18. On that day the
deaf will hear the words of a book. Out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind will see. Isaiah 35, then the eyes of the
blind will be open. Isaiah 42, to open blind eyes
to bring out prisoners from the dungeon and those who dwell in
darkness from the prison. So Jesus recorded here in Luke’s
gospel effectively adds divine commentary on Luke’s statement. That this isn’t just a release
from prison. But this is a restoration of
sight to the blind. One of the very purposes for
which the Messiah was sent into the world was to open the eyes
of men and women’s eyes. This is a right that Jesus Christ
claims for Himself here. This was His mission. No wonder. In one of my favorite
passages in all of scripture, when Jesus Christ goes to find
the blind man, not once but twice, to heal his physical blindness
first, and then to heal him of spiritual blindness. Jesus was
just fulfilling his mission there. And in John 9 39, John records
that Jesus said, for judgment I came into this world so that
those who do not see may see. And those who see may become
blind. Jesus Christ came to be the liberator
of the spiritually enslaved. And if you’re caught up in sin,
if you can’t escape that vortex in which you’re caught in sin,
if you don’t even know that it’s wrong, then you are spiritually
blind. That’s exactly why Christ came.
Jesus Christ came to proclaim your release. Jesus Christ has
already paid for your sin. There’s a fourth, a fourth part
of his mission in this autobiography. Good news for the spiritually
bankrupt, first responder to the spiritually distraught, the
liberator of the spiritually enslaved, and number four, he
is the benefactor to the spiritually downtrodden. Look again at Luke’s
gospel. The spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted. He has sent me
to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the
blind to set free those who are oppressed. This line could very
accurately speak of the condition of those taken into physical
captivity, incarcerated, held against their will. But it’s
an echo from an earlier verse in Isaiah, Isaiah 58.6, a reference
to those who have just been devastated by the effects of sin. Shattered,
broken, oppressed. They can’t help themselves. They
can’t escape the clutches of the evil one. Isaiah 58, 6 says, is this not
the fast which I choose to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo
the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and
to break every yoke? That’s God’s work. And that’s
a work that only God can do. And so for Jesus to identify
himself as the benefactor to those who are spiritually downtrodden,
to come to them and to free those who are oppressed. As one described them, these
are the poor sinners who are crushed and shattered by their
sin. Sin wrecks and makes wretched by its crushing, shattering consequences
in this life. And the Savior grants payment
of sin and faith and frees from this wretchedness and restores
joy and peace. We sing about this. all the time
at Christmas. And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
whose forms are bending low, who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow, look now, for glad and golden
hours come swiftly on the wing. I’ll rest beside the weary road
and hear the angels sing. Jesus Christ came to be the benefactor
to the spiritually downtrodden. And there’s a fifth and final. Not only to the spiritually bankrupt,
the spiritually distraught, the spiritually enslaved, the spiritually
downtrodden. But Jesus Christ came to those
who are spiritually dead. Jesus Christ came to be the deliverer
of those who are condemned to die. Look at verse 19. He, if I may supply the verb,
has sent me to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And here again,
Jesus cites only a portion of the verse, allowing the hearer
to recite the reminder of the verse in his own mind. The rest
of the verse reads like this. Isaiah 61.2 says, to proclaim
the favorable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our
God to comfort all who mourn. What a contrast here. It’s judgment and salvation.
It’s a day of chastening and a day of judgment as over against
a year of salvation. And the year here is spoken of
poetically, not literally. Your suffering was for a season,
for a day. Your salvation is forever. Messiah
and the good news of the gospel has come. None. None need suffer under the weight
of their own sin any longer. Salvation has come, is what Jesus
said. What an incredible moment this
was. punctuated by what happened next,
the reception. Look at verse 20. And he closed the book, gave
it back to the attendant, and sat down, and the eyes of all
in the synagogue were fixed upon him. And that series of short
sentences captures the intensity of the moment. You could have
heard a pin drop. It was built up over years of
seeing Jesus grow up as a boy, as a young man, coupled with
the reports that were now circulating about him. This was really somebody. And now the day that he has opportunity
to stand and read the scriptures in their presence, he read with
authority, he read with power, he read with clarity and articulation. And to now have him back home,
In our midst, reading the scriptures, the way that the crowd, the crowd
was stunned and their stunned silence begs him to speak. And he does in verse 21. And
he began to say to them, today, this scripture has been fulfilled
in your hearing. Well, that will clear out the
synagogue quickly. Jesus knew they were looking
for a king. He knew they were looking for
the wrong kind of a king. They were looking for an earthly
conqueror. They were looking for a physical benefactor. He was coming
as a spiritual liberator. And he gives them this declaration
that he is the very one spoken of in the prophet Isaiah. He
is the Anointed One. He has been appointed to this
task by Almighty God Himself. He has come, having been sent
by His Heavenly Father, to accomplish all of those things set forth
in Isaiah 61. Good news for the spiritually
bankrupt, first responder to the spiritually distraught, liberator
of the spiritually enslaved, benefactor of the spiritually
downtrodden, deliverer of those spiritually dead. So what was the result? I mean,
we’re just sitting on the edge of our seats, aren’t we? How
did they respond to Jesus’ message? They were left shaking their
heads. That Jesus’ message, the real meaning of his message,
the significance of it, that he was the promised Messiah. All they knew was that what he
had said, he had said well. They were impressed with his
oratory. Look at verse 22, all were speaking, well, wasn’t that
a great sermon? That’s what Howard Hendricks
used to call, you know, the greeting at the door, the glorification
of the worm. Well, in this case, they’re just
speaking about Christ. Oh, wasn’t that a wonderful message? They didn’t really mean it. All
were speaking well of him, wondering at the gracious words which are
falling from his lips. And they were saying, is this
not Joseph’s son? Oh, what he has become. He’s
really done something with himself. Luke doesn’t say that they were
struck with the significance of his announcement. They were
impressed not with the content, with the style. They were struck
by his graciousness. They were ready to acknowledge
that this was really a great passage of Scripture. They noted
how articulate he was, perhaps. They remarked about his oratory.
And all the while the crowd of worshipers stalled with a curiosity. But where was the awe? Where
was the brokenness for sin? Where was the gratitude that
God had responded and provided to them a Messiah? Where was
the repentance? As one said, their hearts were
utterly unmoved and unaffected. There was no effect produced
on them except a temporary feeling of admiration. They were awed by his performance
and completely dull to the word. See now his personality was in
full view. Now they had first-hand experience
with this Jesus. They no longer were dependent
on word of mouth testimony. Now they too can get on the bandwagon. They too in their own minds and
in their own terms want to be followers. of this popular religious
figure. J.C. Ryle nailed it when he said
that there are thousands, even in our own day, who listen regularly
to the preaching of the gospel and admire it while they listen. They do not dispute the truth
of what they hear. They even feel a kind of intellectual
pleasure in hearing good and powerful sermons. But the religion
never goes beyond that point. Their sermon hearing does not
prevent them from living a life of thoughtless worldliness and
sin. That was these people. And Jesus saw right through it.
Jesus saw right to the evil core of their hearts. Outwardly, they
were lavishing with this adulation. Inwardly, they were already beginning
to formulate their own criticisms and foment their hatred for him.
Look at verse 23. And he said to them, no doubt
you will quote this proverb to me. And they did. Physician,
heal yourself. Whatever we heard was done at
Capernaum, do here in your own hometown as well. Jesus says
that someday you’re gonna tell me to heal myself. Jesus says
you’re gonna begin to clamor for miracles because you don’t
believe in what other people are testifying to. Christ snatches
the words as it were right out of their hearts. and He lays them out as betraying
their true feelings. The bottom line is they hate
Him. They don’t trust Him. They don’t believe in Him. What
they came for that day to church, to the synagogue, was for oratory,
not a sermon. It would have been fine to see
someone else convicted of sin, just not them. And soon they
will wonder whether or not his ministry is legitimate. They
will hear about his supposed miracles. They will demand that
he do some in their midst so that they too can believe. Jesus
knew their evil hearts. And he continues, this was the
source of their unbelief, familiarity. After all, he’s just, he grew
up here. Look at verse 24. Truly I say to you, no prophet
is welcome in his own hometown. It’s just Jesus. It’s the carpenter’s
son. It’s the kid that lives down
the street. He grew up here. I know him. In verses 25 through 27,
Jesus reaches into God’s word, the Old Testament, to illustrate
his point. And Jesus there douses their
phony enthusiasm and he exposes their fickle hearts. He proclaims
God’s purposes in his plan of redemption that it doesn’t include
hypocrites like themselves. And look at their response in
verse 28. And all the people in the synagogue were filled
with rage as they heard these things. One sermon. One rebuke. They were filled
with rage when they heard these things. They got up and drove
him out of the city. They led him to the brow of the
hill on which their city had been built in order to throw
him down the cliff. passing through their midst,
He went their way. Note how quickly they turn. You dare criticize
us, we utterly reject you. One Puritan said, how bitterly
human nature dislikes the sovereignty of God. Our Lord reminded them
that God was under no obligation to work miracles among them.
Such doctrine like this was intolerable to the men of Nazareth. It wounded
their pride and their self-conceit. It taught them that God was no
man’s debtor and that if they themselves were passed over in
the distribution of mercies, they had no right to find fault. They could not bear it. Of all
the doctrines of the Bible, none is so offensive to human nature
as the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. To be told that God is great
and just and holy and pure, man can bear. But to be told that
he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, these are truths
that the natural man cannot stand. Christ’s mission was not yet
complete. At the moment, it’s just starting. But he would eventually
be killed by sinful men. Not yet. Not on this hill. In some unknown manner, he escapes
their evil intentions and lives to conduct his ministry
to another day. Jesus Christ was greeted. Jesus
Christ is greeted by every person ever born on the face of the
earth. Jesus Christ is given a greeting of sorts by anybody
and everybody, including you this morning. Scripture says
that a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God.
They are foolishness to him. If that’s the automatic response
of the natural man to spiritual truth, how are any saved? The answer is in the regenerating
work of God. God opened our eyes. How can
we as believers be proud? How great is the grace, the regenerating
grace that saved people like you and I. One of my favorite
hymns has a line that says this. Why was I made to hear thy voice
and enter while there’s room when thousands make a wretched
choice and rather starve than come? “‘Twas the same love that
spread the feast “‘that sweetly drew us in, “‘else we had still
refused to taste “‘and perished in our sin.'” Isaac Watts. If you’re here this morning,
I absolutely believe it’s by divine appointment. This was
the passage that In God’s providence, Jesus read that morning to inaugurate
his ministry, and in God’s providence, it was the passage that was preached
this morning before you. Would you humble yourself before
him as we go before Almighty God in prayer? Our merciful King,
we humble ourselves at so glorious a ministry, and we think of that
land having lain for so long a time, longing for a Savior. And what an incredible moment
that would have been for any who were sitting in that synagogue
that morning, that place of worship. To hear the Scriptures read would
have and should have been encouraging to all. But to hear it fulfilled in their
very midst by the Lord Jesus Christ at that moment, He came
for the poor. He came for the broken hearted,
the captives, the blind, the oppressed. For those who are
dead, He came. It’s the very purpose that Jesus
Christ came. Lord, we just pray that you would
cultivate in each of us as believers a humble gratitude for the work
that you have done in our hearts and lives. And we pray for all
of those in our midst who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ,
these incredible truths for the bankrupt and the blind and the
downtrodden. May this be the day of salvation
for them as well. We thank you and we praise you
in Jesus’ name, amen.