Luke 4: 14 -22 The Ministry of the Messiah

If you are going to be a true student of the Bible / one thing you are going to have to be into is prophecy because 1/3 of the Bible is prophecy !

  1. Throughout the Old Testament, there were more than 300 predictions concerning the Messiah that were fulfilled in the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ.
  1. Today we are looking at a passage that was the fulfillment of one of those prophecies
  1. Scene is Jesus is in Naz. His home town / it was the Sabbath day & it says that as was His custom - He went to the synagogue
    1. A little side note - I think it is interesting & a good example to us that even Jesus made it His habit to be in fellowship
  1. When the Sabbath day rolled around each week - He was in Church.
    1. There is something to be said about that I think - because there are those who say I don’t need to go to church - worship on golf course
  1. I can worship while I’m catching waves - or out on a hike - or washing my car - ( Some truth to that - you can worship in those places )

1) Truth is many really don’t - most don’t

why do we need to go to church?

I’ll give you two quick reasons - #1 Because Jesus did - He made it His custom His priority to be in the Synagogue on the Sabbath

  1. So if that was the pattern for Jesus that should also be the pattern for my life as well
  1. #2 Because Jesus tells us to Heb. 10: 24,25 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
  2. The approaching day is His 2nd coming - day of Judgement - begins w/ the rapture - ( so because we are living in the last days - even more priority)
    1. Be in fellowship - purpose to stir up each other to love & good works encouraging one another
  1. So 1st because Jesus did it - example / 2nd because He told us to - because we need it
    1. Like coals in a fire - together we burn bright especially when stirred up - but alone - fires goes out !

 

So we see Jesus in the synagogue & they hand Him the scroll to read -

  1. Now this is what is amazing- each day they had a particular passage that they read out of the scrolls.
  1. In fact in the synagogue worship, even to the present day, on every day of the year on this particular day they read these particular scriptures.

C) So as he comes in on this day - the day that He would read - it just happened - ( coincidence right to be this passage that spoke of Him

    1. Description of His ministry !
  1. Jesus read this passage from the book of Isa. & sat down & then - declared today this passage has been fulfilled in your hearing
    1. This was a messianic passage & the people knew it / it was a passage that was saying what the Messiah’s ministry would be about

 

Now I mentioned earlier that there were over 300 prophecies concerning the first coming of Jesus /concerning the birth, life, death & Resurrection.

  1. And He fulfilled everyone of them to the tee ! Now What are the Chances of one person doing that ?
  1. Well for most of you who have been around awhile - you are familiar w/ Peter Stoner’s book Science Speaks
    1. In which he estimates the odds of one person fulfilling just eight of these Messianic prophecies as being one in ten to the 17th power.
  1. Now those are radical & incredible odds./ How incredible ?
    1. Stoner illustrates this by "supposing that we take ten to the seventeenth power silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas.
  1. If we did that - it would be so many silver dollars that it would cover the whole state 2 ft. deep in silver dollars !
    1. . Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly, all over the state.
  1. Then Blindfold a man and tell him that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he must pick up one silver dollar and say this is the right one.
    1. What chance would he have of getting the right one? 1 in ten to the 17th power !
  1. Now that is how hard it would be for one person to fulfill just 8 of those prophecies ! but Jesus fulfilled over 300

1) Now that is incredible

 

Now for the rest of our time this morning I want us to consider the contents of this prophecy that Jesus read/ note 4 things

  1. 1st - That this description of Christ ministry also gives us a good description of the affects sin has on peoples lives
  2. 2nd we want to look at Christ offers to those living under affects of sin!
  1. 3rd What this prophecy says about Christ future work - the unfulfilled part of this prophecy

4th How this relates to our ministry now ! The ministry we have as a church & as individuals

 

So first we want to look at the affects that sin has on peoples lives

  1. First thing that this tells us is that Jesus came to preach the gospel to the poor

B) Sin makes people poor ! The poor being referred to here is the poor - spiritually

1) Those who are spiritually bankrupt because of sin.

  1. Bankrupt in the sense that all have sinned & fallen short of the glory of

God !

    1. When looking at your righteousness - like looking at a bank account & apart from Christ yours & mine reads insufficient funds !
  1. So sin leaves us spiritually poor - bankrupt - no way of fixing our predicament .

 

2nd thing we see that sin does is it causes people to be broken hearted but Jesus came to heal the broken hearted

  1. People are Broken hearted for several reasons / probably the #1 is because

of guilt - / sin leads to shame !

  1. Head of a mental institution in England - once said that he would be able

to release 75% of his inmates if he could find a way to release them guilt

Spurgeon O believe me, guilt upon the conscience is worse than the body on the rack. Even the flames of the stake may be cheerfully endured, but the burnings of a conscience tormented by God are beyond all measure unendurable.

  1. So people go around living w/ broken hearts in their lives because they are guilty / conscience condemns them
    1. No one else may know what they are into - but God who sees what we do in secret & what are motives are / He knows & they know!

 

Another Reason why people are broken hearted is because of the sorrow that sin causes / Reap what sow - flesh = destruction & Sorrow

A) Prov. 22 8 He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow,

Sin Brings Sorrow - Sin Breaks Hearts - Leaves people broken hearted

 

#3 Proclaim liberty to the captives / Sin puts people in Bondage

  1. I have been to visit people in prison & it is a sad sight - see someone behind bars in a 4x8 cell - or in chains

 

In the Australian bush country grows a little plant called the "sundew." It has a slender stem and tiny round leaves fringed with hairs that glisten with bright drops of liquid as delicate as fine dew. Woe to the insect, however, that dares to dance around it in the sunny air. For while its attractive clusters of red, white, and pink blossoms are harmless, the leaves are deadly. The shiny moisture on each leaf is sticky, and will hold any bug prisoner that touches it. The struggle to get free is often futile, for the movement of the insect causes the leaves to close even more tightly. This innocent- looking plant actually feeds upon its victims if they do not quickly wriggle out of the entanglement.

2 Cor. 8: 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

E) And in 1 Cor. 1: 4,5 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge,

Enriched - word that speaks of Spiritual wealth

  1. Notice Paul says that we have been enriched in everything by Him
  1. Haven’t you found that to be true that your relationship w/ Jesus has enriched your life in every way - in every area
    1. Marriage / friendships / the way you approach your job / view of the bible / coming to Church - all enriched by him
  1. More meaning more purpose - more life when He is at the center !

 

  1. Matt. 5 Blessed are the poor in spirit for there’s is the kingdom of heaven !
  1. To be poor in spirit is to realize just how bankrupt you really are - to realize that there is nothing you can do in your strength
    1. Or in your efforts to fix your condition -
  1. To be poor in spirit is to realize your utter dependency upon God for everything - ( Beginning w/ your salvation - )
  1. Leading to your need to trust & depend upon Him / relying upon His

H.S. to enable you to even walk & serve !

  1. But the message of the gospel is that thru faith in Jesus & what He did at

Calvary - We are made rich .

    1. We go from being paupers / to princes - beggars to eating off the

kings table .

  1. Paul put it this way in Eph.1: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

Jesus comes to those who are broken hearted - those who have been hurt in the deepest part of their being their hearts - offers healing

  1. He is the only one can
  2. The world they offer a quick fix - drug dealer - a drug - take this it will make you feel better - blanket - cover the pain for a moment

1) Therapy - take a vacation- go do something to get your mind off it

  1. But Jesus doesn’t just make you feel good for a moment - but He does a

work of healing the pain & changing in the heart

    1. A work that Only He can do - begins by removing the guilt

 

Jesus says to those who are in bondage to sin - I will set you free

  1. Know the truth & the truth shall make you free - & He who the Son of man - sets free is free indeed .
  1. Those who come to Him no longer have to live in bondage to sin - because He doesn’t just set us free from the penalty of sin
    1. But also from the Power of sin!

 

And Jesus gives to those who are blinded by sin - He lifts the Veil