.2011 ADVENT SERIES

THE PURPOSE OF HIS COMING

“JESUS, THE DELIVERING SAVIOUR”

LUKE 4.14-22

3 MINUTE VIDEO TODAY ALONG WITH 3 SONGS…

Lu 4:14 ¶ And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame (rumor) of him through all the region round about.

• We see in verse 1 of chapter 4 that following His baptism, Jesus was full of The Spirit and then led by the Spirit into the wilderness where He was tested by the devil for 40 days. In this verse, He comes out of the wilderness testing in the power of The Spirit.
• So we see that work of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus, leading Him, filling Him, empowering Him. Paul said:" Be not drunk with wine, wherein excess, but be ye being filled with the Spirit." Paul said in Romans 8, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the son’s of God. In Act’s 1:8 Jesus said:" And you will receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you."
• To follow Christ in a way that reflects a transformed life that brings Him glory, we as believers must rely upon the same leading, filling and empowerment by the Spirit of God that Jesus did.
• 8 times we read in he NT that the fame of Jesus is beginning to spread in the region of Galilee. May the fame of Jesus increase in our church family as His Word and Spirit go forth from this place and from our lives.

Lu 4:15 And he taught in their synagogues (plural) being glorified of all.

• Jesus’ ministry both began and was sustained by the preaching and teaching of the Bible. As Son of Man, Jesus devoted Himself to study the Scriptures, as we must devote ourselves to study the Scriptures. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
• It is my desire as one of the teaching pastors here to teach the Scriptures as simply and clearly as possible for 2 main reasons. (1) That Jesus Christ may be gloried in this place and in your lives. (2) that our faith would grow, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
• The 4- fold vision of KF is that we might Know Christ, Grow in Christ, Proclaim Christ and bring Him glory in all that we do.
• We read here that when Jesus taught, He was glorified. When The Word of God is being taught today, it should never be the instrument, but The Lord Jesus that is glorified. Any time any man and his teaching becomes more of a subject of conversation than The Lord of Glory Himself, that is pure and simple idolatry.

16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

• Jesus now returns to Nazareth, where He was born, and where He grew up. He spent 30 years in Nazareth. This should lay to rest the New Age lies that Jesus went to Tibet or some other country in the Middle East. He was brought up in Nazareth, period.
• Nazareth was then and is today a small town, a very simple town. Remember that is was said, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Important people didn’t come to Nazareth.
• And Jesus shows up, we read, “as was His custom,” on the Sabbath day. For the Jews it was on Saturday, based on the Ten Commandments and God’s order in creation in Genesis.
• So we need to think of Him going essentially to the equivalent of the old covenant church. This means that Jesus regularly attended corporate worship with God’s people, in the synagogue, the old covenant equivalent of the church. Jesus went to church all the time as a little boy and a young man, teens, and twenties. You would find him on Sabbath, being obedient to the Scriptures, showing up with God’s people.
• Heb 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
• This passage says a lot about Joseph and Mary as parents. They made sure that Jesus and the rest His siblings went to the synagogue for service every week. Fathers, it is your responsibility to lead your family in the things of The Lord….in family prayer, devotions, and in establishing a custom of coming to church.
• You say that one reason why I don’t go to church is because there are hypocrites in the church. There were hypocrites in the synagogue. All of the human imperfections that exist in the church today existed in the synagogue, but Jesus went in obedience to The Scriptures!

Lu 4:17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book (Gr. biblion, roll or scroll), he found the place where it was written,

• The book- The scriptures were on scrolls, and they would keep these in a depository in the synagogue. When it was time for the Scriptures to be read, they would carry it out, unroll it, and hand it to whoever would be reading the passage of the day. And each day they had a particular passage that they read out of the scrolls. And in the synagogue worship, even to the present day, on every day of the year on this particular day they read these particular scriptures. We see here that by divine providence, they hand to Jesus the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah.
• This indicates to us that Jesus knew then Scriptures well, because He would be handed this scroll and He would need to roll it out to find this section of Isaiah. There may have been 1 or 2 copies of the Scriptures in this synagogue, so this means that Jesus would have had to take the time and make the time to go there regularly to study, read and pray. Learning the Scriptures requires the heart, the sacrifice of time and the effort.

Lu 4:18 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, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

• Jesus here is reading out of Isaiah 61, the prophesy concerning the Messiah. By comparing Isa 61.2 with verse 19 here, we see that Jesus stopped reading Isaiah’s prophecy in the middle of the verse, for He was to fulfill only the first half in His first coming.
• Note more of the purpose of Christ coming in these verses. The Spirit of God anointed Him and sent Him to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal (Gr. cure, make whole) the brokenhearted (crushed, broken in pieces), to preach deliverance (freedom, pardon, liberty, remission) to the captives (prisoner of war), recovering (restoration) of sight to the blind (physically, mentally, spiritually) and to set at liberty those that are bruised (crushed).
• Preach the gospel (good news) to the poor. We live in a world where you are what you drive, you are what you make, you are what you wear, and Jesus says, “I have good news for the poor. I’m here to atone for your sins. I’m here to love you and be your God.
• Heal the broken hearted (not found in newer translations). People’s hearts are crushed for many reasons. The loss of a loved one; the end of a marriage; a tragic physical condition that leaves one paralyzed or unable to live a “normal” life. If that is you this morning my friend, know Jesus. Jesus knows your pain, feels your pain and is there to heal you and help you get well again.
• Liberty to the captives- People today are captives to gambling, excessive spending, clothing, music, drugs, alcohol, pornography and immorality. Thus mankind is a captive by nature and by choice. These things control our lives, our thoughts, our finances. Because of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, captives can be set free.
• Recovery of sight to the blind- Jesus heals both the physical and spiritual blind. Jesus does all the healing. There is no such thing as a faith healer. There are gifts of healing that are manifested through men, but the Healer of all types of blindness is The Lord Jesus Christ. The bible says that fallen mankind is blinded by the god of this world, the devil to the truth about Jesus Christ, the truth about The Scriptures, the truth about the grace and goodness of God. But then they come to the truth and are able to see the truth and believe it. What has happened? God opens their blind eyes. He uses people to share the gospel, plant seeds of Scripture until one day, He supernaturally opens their eyes to the truth about Him and they get saved.
• Liberty to those who are bruised- Bruised minds, bruised emotions, bruised relationships. Christ came to set all captives free.
• To preach the acceptable year of The Lord- This is referring to the year of Jubilee. Remember that the year of Jubilee was the 50^th year, the trumpets were blown and all debts were forgiven. It was a year of rejoicing. In other words beloved, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of great rejoicing. All of our debt of sin has been paid for in full by Jesus Christ. Today we gather to celebrate Jesus Christ for He is The Good News. Jesus Christ is The Delivering Savior.

Lu 4:20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

• In the Jewish culture, when a man sat down, that was when he began to teach. Thus, all eyes are fastened on Him. They are waiting for the exposition of the texts.
• As I said a moment ago, Jesus did not read the complete passage from Isaiah. He stopped at the acceptable year of the LORD, and He left out and the day of vengeance of our God. He did not read the part about the day of vengeance of God because that is referring to a future time period. You and I are living right now in Isaiah’s comma, if you will.  

21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

• The portion of scripture which Jesus had just read, and which He said was that day fulfilled, was written more than seven hundred years before He came on the scene. This section of Scripture strikingly described the character and ministry of the Messiah. Let me add that the things that we read that Jesus did while on earth in verse 18, are not only the things that Jesus did on earth back then, they are the very same things that He is doing today. Jesus is The Delivering Savior beloved.
• By saying that this Scripture is fulfilled, Jesus was declaring that He was the prophesied Messiah. He was saying not only to the people there is Nazareth but to KF today, in Me you find liberty, healing, redemption comfort…..it is all about Jesus beloved. Nothing more nothing less and nothing else.  

22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son?

• Jesus speaks gracious words. The crowd in the synagogue know that what Jesus has said is extremely profound, but they cannot process what He is saying because they are so familiar with Him. Is not this Joseph’s son?
• As you read the gospels beloved, please remember that even His most blistering words of reproof and rebuke are seasoned with grace.
• In His divine providence and grace, Jesus is speaking to each and every one of us that are here this morning. Today is the day to place those areas of bondage and hopelessness to The Lord. Indeed, today is the day of salvation. The Psalmist says over and over that The Lord is my deliverer. You see my friend, you can come here this morning and agree with everything that I said and leave here untouched, unsaved because you have only agreed with the fact that Jesus is The Deliverer. It is not until you call out to Jesus personally that you experience Jesus as my deliverer.
• Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.