Raging against God's Mercy

[0:00] Luke chapter 4. Last week we looked at Jesus' temptation and how he earned a righteousness for us by overcoming temptation.

[0:20] ! We looked at how he became our, or always was, but was exhibited as our second Adam, as he was faced with the same circumstances. Of a test. Would he obey the Father or would he listen to the tempter? Where Adam failed, the second Adam succeeded. And Christ has become our righteousness.

[0:45] We pick up in verse 14 today, and we go on from there in the life of Jesus. As Luke portrays this, and we'll talk more about this in the message, but as Luke portrays this, we're beginning Jesus' public ministry.

[1:05] And I'll give you some qualifications to that in just a few minutes, but we're beginning Jesus' public ministry. And so we'll look at how he starts this. We'll look at, it's not a snag, but a sad incident in the lives of people in his hometown.

[1:25] So we're at Luke chapter 4. We're beginning in verse 14. Follow along, please, as I read. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.

[1:42] And he taught in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and he taught in the Holy Spirit, and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.

[2:00] And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

[2:17] He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind. To set at liberty those who are oppressed. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

[2:31] And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

[2:47] And all spoke well of him, and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, Is this, is not this Joseph's son?

[2:59] And he said to them, Doubtless, you will quote to me this proverb. Physician, heal yourself. What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.

[3:14] And he said, Truly I say unto you, No prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth I tell you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, When the heavens were shut up three years and six months, And a great famine came over all the land.

[3:36] And Elijah was sent to none of them, But only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon. To a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha.

[3:51] And none of them was cleansed, But only Naaman the Syrian. When they heard these things, All in the synagogue were filled with wrath.

[4:02] And they rose up and drove him out of the town, And brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, So that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went away.

[4:15] Let's pray. Father, I thank you that you have, Well, first of all, that our Lord did this.

[4:26] And I thank you for his determination to keep going. Lord, as we look at this, I pray that you would help us to see the sweetness of the gospel, And how often many will turn away from it.

[4:45] Even close people. And pray that your spirit would be with us. Give us understanding in your word. And ask your blessing in Jesus' name. Amen. So we've read Luke chapter 4, Verses 14 to 30.

[5:06] It's an interesting situation. In the first section, we're going to see, And this is verses 14 and 15, That Jesus was glorified by all. And Luke puts this in here, I think, For a couple different reasons.

[5:19] I think it's for the people who, Initially, and especially, For the people to whom this letter is sent. I think it also helps those who later would have all the gospels, To be able to put things together, And understand what was going on.

[5:34] But in this first two verses, 14 and 15, We see that it's just after the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. Remember, He was there 40 days without food, And Satan had been tempting him.

[5:47] And Satan had just taken him, And took him to the pinnacle of the temple, And said, You can throw yourself down. And he has resisted temptation. It says the devil departed, Until an opportune time.

[6:00] And the story is just kind of left hanging. It's like, What happens now? Well, Luke answers that. And that is by sharing with us, That here Jesus was returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee.

[6:15] Now, I'm struggling not to touch the other gospels, Because the other gospels tell a little bit about what goes on.

[6:26] But Luke's got a message here. We do know that angels had to minister to him after those 40 days. But it says then, That in the power of the Spirit, He went to Galilee.

[6:38] Now, Galilee is a region. He was from Galilee. The whole state of Israel is about the size of New Jersey. So, This comparison is going to be a little odd.

[6:54] If you think of all of Israel as Pennsylvania, Okay? We could do this with New Jersey. But you are from Pennsylvania. So, We'll stick to our, Or at least you're now in Pennsylvania.

[7:08] Think of all Israel like the state of Pennsylvania. Think of Galilee like a county. It's really, In comparison, A little bigger than a county. But think of it as a county.

[7:19] And so, Jesus come to the area of Galilee. And that's an area that surrounds the Sea of Galilee. And the town of Nazareth, Where he grew up, It's not where he was born, But where he grew up, Is within that county, In the area of Galilee.

[7:39] Now, Jesus comes back to the area, But it appears as though he doesn't come back, Necessarily, Immediately to Galilee. If he did, If he did, I just picture him getting some clothes and going, But I don't think that he came back at all.

[7:53] He didn't come back to Nazareth, Rather. He goes to the whole area, And he begins preaching in all the synagogues. And so, It would be his practice to go to Capernaum, As one of the places we find out later, In other gospels, You can see that he spent a lot of time in Capernaum.

[8:13] It was one of his, It was a kind of a central place that he went. But he went to Capernaum, And it was his custom to go into a town, And would go into a synagogue, All these places would have a synagogue, They may not have a building, But they would have a place where the Jews assembled, And he would gather with them, And would minister to them, He would share with them.

[8:36] As he began preaching abroad, People recognized his ability, Remember, The religious leaders in Jerusalem, Were already amazed at the ability of Jesus, As he interacted with the religious leaders, And so as he began, Going to these different cities, And to these different synagogues, He would teach, And he would do wonders.

[8:58] You can get that from verse 23, It's more explicit in the other gospels. But he would do wonders, He would do some healing, We do know from another gospel, That in Capernaum, Jesus raised Peter's mother-in-law, Who was sick with a fever.

[9:15] And so he'd gone places, And he had done things, Wondrous things, Things that made people wonder. And so as he traveled around, To these different cities, And different synagogues, Again he would preach, And he would do these wonders, And the reaction to Jesus' ministry, Around Galilee, Was that he was being glorified by all.

[9:37] People were looking at Jesus, And saying, This is amazing. Now I'm not sure, In this situation, It doesn't say, Whether there were believers, Because of that.

[9:50] They were glorifying him. They were believing him, At least to an extent. But I'm not sure, If it was true belief. But it does seem, That they were believing, I'm saying this, Based on the fact, That they glorified him, And based on the fact, In opposition, Nazareth didn't do this.

[10:12] I think they were beginning, To see him, As the true Messiah. How well founded, And how deep that went, I don't know, At this point.

[10:25] But we come to verse 16, And we see that, In this circuit around Galilee, Eventually Jesus comes back, To Nazareth.

[10:35] Now, This is a scene, That took place, And this is where, I'm coming back, To this idea, Of what's going on, In the first couple verses.

[10:47] This is a scene, That took place, Probably a year, Into Jesus' ministry. But Luke, Shifts it. Okay, He's not being dishonest.

[10:59] In fact, If you're careful, You will read, That Luke is acknowledging, That he, Actually did this, A little bit later, In his ministry. But Luke shifts it up here, Because he has a goal, For his gospel.

[11:14] Among other things, He's trying to get people to see, The Gentiles to see, That the Savior is including them, In their work. We've already talked about that.

[11:26] So, Luke moves this situation, That happens probably a year, Into Jesus' ministry, To the beginning, Or near the beginning, Of his gospel, To the beginning, Of the account, Of Jesus' ministry.

[11:41] And I think, He's done that, For a couple reasons. One, It's going to typify, The Jews' reaction, To his ministry. And also, What I've already mentioned, That it's a Gentile audience, That he's writing to.

[11:54] And the scene, Refers to Gentiles, At one point. And Luke is going to use that, To teach the people, He's writing this gospel to. So, Here he, Here is Jesus, He comes back to Nazareth, And, He begins, By going into the synagogue, On the Sabbath day.

[12:16] That was his custom, Now, It was his custom, To always go to the synagogue, It was his custom, To go to the synagogues, Of the different cities, When he went there, He would go there, On the Sabbath day, And it was his custom, To teach in those synagogues.

[12:31] We know that to be true, All throughout the gospels. That was his custom, To go to the synagogues, And teach. So, Just like Paul, And others in the New Testament, Jesus took every opportunity, To teach, In the synagogues, And reveal that the Old Testament, Is how Jesus, Reveal how the Old Testament, Shows that Jesus is the Messiah.

[12:52] And so, Jesus takes this opportunity. Now, In the synagogue service, There would be a, I probably won't remember, All the parts of it, But there would be, Obviously a prayer, And then there would be a reading, From, Probably most of the, Moses, Or the early part of the law, There may be a separate reading, On the Psalms, But then there was, Always a reading, On the prophets, And that usually came, Towards the end, Of the synagogue service, To my understanding.

[13:23] And visiting people, Who were, Men of some renown, At least people would, Recognize they had some teaching people, Would often have the opportunity, To either read, Or read, And preach, And Jesus, And Jesus, Had been glorified, In all these areas, And so as Jesus came, To his home synagogue, He had the opportunity, To do the, Prophetic, The reading, From the prophets, And so, The one who attended, To the scrolls, Brought him a scroll, And there's all kinds, Of controversy, As to whether, Jesus asked for the Isaiah scroll, Or whether, It was a sovereign work of God, That we got the, He got the Isaiah scroll, There's all kinds of controversy, Did it naturally fall upon, The passage that he reads, Or did Jesus pick the passage, That he reads, And people have all kinds of different, Doesn't matter, In the course of things,

[14:24] However God worked, It came to be, That the scroll of Isaiah, Was given to Jesus, And whether it was, This Sunday's reading, I think it was probably, Jesus turned to this on, Because of the way it says it, I think he turned purposely, To the reading that, He was to read, And so, He gets this scroll, He turns it, And it would lay sideways, We think of scrolls, You know the movies, They take scrolls, And open them up like this, And then what do you do, To go to the next page, These scrolls were sideways, And they would lay on a desk, And they'd be able to scroll, And the words were written this way, For the scroll to go, So he would have to turn, And turn, And turn, And he turns to a passage in Isaiah, Five books from the end of the roll, So he's had to turn a long ways, But he's looking for a particular, Piece, Of Isaiah's prophecy, And so he gets up,

[15:26] And he does this, And he reads these verses, We've read them, But I'll read them again, The spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he has appointed me, To proclaim good news to the poor, He has sent me, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed, To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, And so he read that, He gives the scroll back, And he sits down, Now, I don't know if that was an unusual way, To read that, I tried to read it, As if, You know, I'm saying this about me, For a fact, I don't know if he did that, I kind of think that he did, But he gives the scroll back, And he sits down, Now, That's not a sign of disrespect, In the synagogue setting, The rules were that the one who taught, Was the one who got to sit down, And they had a special seat often,

[16:29] If they had a building, And he sits down to preach, And everybody's looking at him, You kind of get this impression, That he reads the scripture, And it's almost like a mic drop, You know what I mean by a mic drop?

[16:45] All you younger people know what I mean, It's when you say something profound, And you don't say anything else, You just put the mic down, And let what you've said stand, And so I think it creates this interesting situation, Where Jesus has read these prophecies, He's given it back, And he sits down, And almost gives me the impression, That he sits there for a few minutes, Just letting that scripture sink in, And the fact that he read it, And I think that he read it, With this intent, That he sounds like he's saying, This is me, Now we don't hear the whole sermon, We hear a summation, Of all that Jesus taught, In one sentence, He may have taught, A long sermon, He may have taught, A short sermon, And there's a possibility, That it was indeed, Just that sentence, That he says, Until he continues,

[17:46] But he says, At that point, Today the scripture is fulfilled, In your hearing, Today what Isaiah, Says, This, Is coming to pass, It's come to pass, In me, And he says, It's fulfilled in your hearing, I want you to keep your place, You have a bookmark or something, Keep it there in Luke, We're coming back, But turn back to Isaiah, We're going to take you, To that passage, We've mentioned before, That the, The last third, Of the book of Isaiah, Is the comfort section, Of Isaiah, From chapter 40 on, The Lord, The Lord comforts his people, You can be turning, To Isaiah 59, I'm not going to read, I'd love to read, Time's sake, Though I don't think, It would be good to, You can start looking, Letting your eyes,

[18:46] Pass over, Chapter 59, You're going to find there, That, God is talking about, Why Israel is not close to God, Why they're in the situation, That they're in, They're evil, And they can't be close to God, Right now, And so he's going down, Through this, And talks about how, There is just, Judgment, Coming against Israel, For their sin, Now, This is speaking of the captivity, That they will endure, And there's just judgment there, And it gets to the point, Where people are crying out, Lord, When will you deliver us, When will you deliver us, And you can see, Starting in verse 9, And down through, They, He talks about, What they will feel like, In this judgment, And, In verse 14, He's starting to speak about, How, There's no justice, It's, It's all turned back, Righteousness stands far away, But look at,

[19:48] In the middle of verse 15, I'll start in verse 15, Truth is lacking, And he who departs from evil, Makes himself a prey, The Lord saw it, And it displeased him, That there was no justice, Now wait a minute, This is before it happens, This is Isaiah speaking, To these people, Saying, There's judgment coming, And this is what it's going to be like, And this is what it's going to feel like, And already, Before the judgment actually even comes, God sees it, And is displeased, That there was no justice, And he saw, That there was no man, And wondered, That there was no one, To intercede, Just, A beautiful picture of God, Even as he must, Because of his holiness, Discipline, And punish his people, For their sin, He is already, Pouring out his heart, This steadfast love, That we talked about,

[20:48] It cannot keep him, From loving his people, And his heart, Is already pouring out, There's no one, There's no one to intercede, So what does he do, In verse 17, He put on righteousness, As a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation, On his head, He put on garments, Of vengeance for clothing, And wrapped himself in zeal, As a cloak, And he goes on, He speaks about how, God in his love, Is determined, Determined to show love, And compassion to his people, And so he goes on, To chapter 60, And it speaks about, The future glory, Of Israel, And how God will be, So dear, And kind to them, And how God will establish them, And build them up, Verse 16, Whereas you've been forsaken, And hated, With no one passing through, I will make you, Majestic forever, A joy, From age to age, Goes down, Down, And how God will continue,

[21:49] To bless them, Verse 19, The sun shall be, Shall be no more, Your light by day, For by, For brightness, Shall the moon, Nor for brightness, Shall the moon, Give you light, But the Lord will be, Your everlasting light, And your God, Will be your glory, Sounds like something, We've read in the New Testament, If you go all the way, To the book of Revelation, You'll find that, There won't be a sun, When God comes, And takes us to be with him, There won't be a sun, And there won't be a moon, In the new heavens, In the new earth, Because God's glory, Will be our light, We will not have need, And he just speaks of the wonder, Of what's going on, Verse 22, The least one shall become a clan, And the smallest one a mighty nation, I am the Lord, In its time, I will hasten it, Now as you get into chapter 61, The first few verses, You're going to notice a change, You're going to notice, Something changes here,

[22:50] It says, The spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me, To bring good news to the poor, He has sent me, To bind up the broken hearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And to the opening, And the opening of the prison, To those who are bound, To proclaim the year, Of the Lord's favor, I hope that sounded familiar, Because that's what Jesus quoted, To these people, In this scene, Of Israel needing judgment, And judgment certainly coming, God's heart is already pouring out, Of love for his people, Saying, Oh, I want to deliver them, Where is the one, Who will intercede, And then God speaks about, How he himself, Does it, He will intercede, And he will take up the cause, And here in verse 1, Of chapter 61, Now it says, I, Me, The Lord is, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

[23:51] Because the Lord has anointed me, To bring regulations, That they will need to obey, Somebody needs to be shaking their head, No, No, There's no words of regulations here, Because the Lord has anointed me, To bring good news to the poor, He sent me, To bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, An opening, God speaks of what it will be like, When he delivers his people, And then he begins the speaking, Of what he will do, This one, Is sent, And he's commissioned, To deal with the very suffering, And oppression, Spoken of, In chapter 59, And Jesus has taken this scroll, This big scroll, And unrolled, Or, I shouldn't say unrolled it, Rolled it, 60 some chapters,

[24:56] It's interesting, There are no chapter divisions, There were no chapter divisions then, In fact, There were no verse divisions, In fact, Even, There were no word divisions, Jesus had to be pretty familiar, With that scroll, In order to be able to roll it, Roll it, Roll it, For 60 chapters, Till he sees the column, That says what he wants to share, And he does that, And he says to them plainly, As he reads this, Now, One thing I'll mention to you, I believe, I believe, That those in the synagogue, Were much more familiar, With their Old Testament, Than we are, So, I don't think, Jesus said, Isaiah 61, 1, And 2a, Without, Isaiah 59, And 60, Already ringing in their ears, They knew, They knew,

[25:57] The context of it, And so, Jesus, He reads those, And he gives a scroll back, And he sits down, And he says, That's me, I'm the one to do that, I am the consolation of Israel, I am the Messiah, I am the one, That God has sent, I am the one, Who's taken up the armor, The helmet, And I have come, To provide, Salvation, And I have been sent, To deliver God's people, And what do you think, Their reaction was, Wow, This is amazing, Not quite, He's a great preacher, I mean, I just love the things, He talks about in the Old Testament, It's kind of the reaction, That they gave, I love it,

[26:58] When he reads Isaiah, He just reads it so well, You know, Kind of the kind of compliments, That get around, What's actually being said, But that's not all, And I'm going to preface, What I'm about to say, By saying that, In their next statement, They knew, Jesus was claiming, To be the Messiah, Their next statement was, He's Joseph's son, Now that meant, A couple different things, It meant, He's just a carpenter, It meant, He's a nobody, It meant, This man even, Hasn't even been, To rabbinical school, I mean, How can it be Jesus,

[27:59] I sat in here, With him, In fourth grade, Under, Mrs. Kippitt, Forgot that name, For a long time, My fourth grade teacher, Yeah, No, I played dodgeball, With him, Now, Our thinking, Would be, If it was us, And we were talking, About one another, We'd say, He was a cheat, He'd always, But never with Jesus, He's Joseph's son, He can't be the Messiah, I just can't picture it, I mean, Sure, He's a nice guy, And all, And I like his messages, Until this one, I mean, Usually, It's really stirring, And full of things, That I just love to hear, But, To say that you're the Messiah, We just can't picture it, Before we go on, How often do we fail, To trust God, Because things don't look like, What we thought they would be,

[29:01] We pray for deliverance, And it comes in a way, That we go, That can't be it, We pray for patience, And then we get sick, I mean, That can't be, I didn't pray for sickness, And we could pray for all kinds of things, And how often do we distrust God, Because it just doesn't seem, That it's working out, The way I would have imagined, That it worked out, God is sovereign, He can do things as he pleases, And it's just amazing, That the sovereign God, Sends, His Messiah, To be born of a virgin, He wasn't even, Joseph's real son, And he had him, To grow up, As a dirt poor, Remember, He had to bring, Two turtle doves, Or pigeons, For Mary's purification,

[30:01] Because they were so poor, A poor, Nobody, Nothing, Carpenter, Is the Messiah, It says Jesus knew their hearts, He knew that they did not believe him, He knows, That they want him to prove himself, By doing what he had done, In Capernaum, There in Nazareth, This is the hint, That Luke gives us, That this actually was something, That took place partway through, Jesus's ministry, He knows that they're saying, Yeah, We've heard, That he raised Peter's mother-in-law, From a fever, I'd like to see that, Before I'll believe him, I'd like to see some signs, So often Israel would do that, To the Lord, Show us, Show us, Your Messiah, I mean,

[31:02] Stop and think about it, If you lived, In Nazareth, If you sat, In fourth grade, Beside him, In Mrs. Kippitt's class, And you watched, The whole class, Lie about something, And he didn't, Or you watched, The whole, You know, Whatever go on, And he didn't, Or, You know, You just always looked at him, And he always did the right thing, Maybe that's why, They didn't like him, And so, They weren't very happy, So Jesus addressing their heart, Responds in verse 24, He says, Truly I say to you, No prophet is acceptable, In his own town, And that's a common saying, It's even said today, I remember being saved, And I'm going to say this, And I'm going to be very careful, How I say this, Because God raises up people amongst us, And uses them amongst us,

[32:03] And we should never despise them for that, But I remember, The first few times that I preached, I very much felt like, When I had preached my guts out, I felt like they were going, That was a good boy, You know, Like, I wanted you to see Jesus, And that's the best you could do, Now maybe I did an awful job, And I probably did, But it's hard, You know, To feel accepted, And Jesus saying, Truly I say unto you, No prophet is acceptable, In his own hometown, People often, Despise the strong words, Or the correct preaching, Of those who grew up amongst them, And as I hinted out already, Israel often treated their prophets, The very same way, They treated Jesus that way, Jesus goes on to give them two examples, Back in Luke chapter 4, Two examples,

[33:04] He recites to them, Part of the account of, Elijah and Elisha, In verse 25, We see he recounts this, Account that happened with Israel, And the prophet Elijah, He says, I tell you, There were many widows, In the day, In Israel, In the days of Elijah, When the heavens were shut up, Three years and six months, Now, Back story, This is the situation, Where Ahab is king, Wicked, Wicked kings, Leading Israel, Into all kinds of wickedness, And because of Ahab's wickedness, And Israel following Ahab, In their wickedness, God sends Elijah the prophet, To tell Ahab, There's not going to be any rain, Three years, Except at my word, And remember in the account, Elijah was told to go to the brook Cherith, And God fed him with water from the book,

[34:04] And ravens would bring him meat to eat, And then the brook dried up, And God then says to Elijah, I want you to go outside of Israel, To a town in Zarephath, To a widow woman there, There I will feed you, And so he, He, Alludes to this story, But he's emphasizing something, He's emphasizing that as, Elijah was ministering in Israel, At that time, In a wicked nation, There wasn't a single person, That God said, No, No, I'm going to show grace to that, Person in Israel, They so despised God, And so despised God's prophet, That God sent, The prophet, Outside of Israel, To the unclean heathen, To a woman, To a widow,

[35:07] Now that is low, In society, Aside from being a slave, That you could be, And instead of going to one single person, He could have been taken by, Taken care of by, Was Ahab's servant, Who hid prophets in a cave, No, God says, Go to Zarephath, And I will feed you there, And God blessed the widow, And the widow was provided for, Her son died at one point, And Elijah raised him from the dead, And then he goes on, To talk about Elisha, As Elisha served after him, And Israel, Continued to be evil, Continued to, Not seek the Lord, Elisha's, Continuing to prophesy, In the midst of it, There were all kinds of people, In Israel, Who had leprosy, But somehow, In this, Syrian country, Outside of Israel, Again, Gentiles, A general,

[36:09] In the Syrian army, Naaman by name, Gets, Leprosy, And, In the course of time, Of course, This isn't all, Talked about, But, There's a captive, From Israel, A little girl, Who serves in his house, And he says, Oh, If you only knew about my master, In Israel, And, Naaman comes, And God heals him, And here is God, Having to bypass, His people, Because they won't trust him, Because they don't believe him, Because they won't worship him, God bypasses his people, His chosen people at the time, And goes to the Syrian, And goes to the woman of Zarephath, And Israel missed out, And Jesus is pointing out, To his hometown folks, Nazareth, Is going to miss out, Jesus would not do there, They had said,

[37:10] Will you do, And here, What you did, We heard you did in Capernaum, And Jesus' answer was no, Was it no, Because, He was hard hearted, No, Was it, Wasn't it true, That Jesus showed signs, In other places, He did, But the problem was, Not, Oh, You know, This is amazing, But, We're struggling with this, This is, It can't be him, He's Joseph's son, So the, People in Nazareth, Who would not believe, Missed out, On Jesus being their Messiah, Now, The fact that Jesus alluded to these, Two Gentiles, Infuriated people, These two illustrations, Lumped, The people of Israel, With Nazareth,

[38:12] And with the sinful, Unbelieving people, In Elijah, And Elisha's day, And it's, The kind of situation, Where they've heard Jesus said, I am this one, Who's, Who's going to come, And show, Grace, And peace, And mercy, And set at liberty, I am this one, But, You have, Not believed me, And, And, Therefore, He showed that he was going to pass by all these, Because of that, They were filled with wrath, They said, We don't, You're just Joseph's son, And now you're trying to tell us, As this person we consider as nobody, You're trying to tell us, God's going to pass by us, And so they become infuriated, And they stand up, They had been sitting down to listen to him, But they stood up, And they drove Jesus out, To the edge,

[39:12] Of the cliff, And would have pushed him over, And it's interesting, I think there was, We read, Just in the last section, That the devil left him, Until there was a convenient time, Or an opportune time, This would have been kind of an opportune time, For the devil, Because as Jesus was at that, Cliff, They could have pushed him off, And killed him, And his, Trek to the cross, Would have been ended, At least in their minds, But their wrath didn't stop him, Their attempt to kill him, Didn't succeed, And it says that he just walked out, In their midst, Now, We don't know how that came about, Luke doesn't go into it, But he does, He supernaturally, Goes out, And continues towards the cross, A couple of things, That Luke is showing us, In this, One is that,

[40:13] Jesus knows the hearts of men, He knows, He knew the heart, Of those in his hometown, He knew they didn't believe him, And he knows, Our hearts, Towards him right now, There were people, Who said of Jesus, Oh he's a good man, He preaches great, But they wouldn't trust him, And so, As we think about the fact, That Jesus knows our hearts, Right now, What does he see, About your heart, Do you believe what he says, Do you believe his testimony, Concerning him being the Messiah, Not believing, Is dangerous, It has eternal consequences, Secondly, It's very interesting, If we look at what Jesus read, About himself, I just want to point out,

[41:14] That God did not send a religion, He sent a Savior, And if you, Run your eyes, Over the part, Where Jesus quotes, The Old Testament, You're going to find, That there are no requirements, For us, There is no, Do this, Do this, Do this, It's all stuff, That Jesus has done for us, All that's required, Of those, Who need, What is promised, Is to turn from their sin, And trust in his work, That would have been true, For those in Nazareth, It's true for us today, You may have grown up, Hearing, All your life, I need to do this, In order for God, To be happy with me, God did not send, A Savior, That said, You need to do this, In order for God, To be happy with you,

[42:15] He sent a Savior, That did everything, And simply said, Trust him, Trust in him, Thirdly, We can see, God's willingness, To include the Gentiles, Now this is a theme of the book, So, And we've mentioned it before, But I just want you to see, That here in these two examples, God's showing, As Luke is writing this to Gentiles, He's saying, See, From the beginning, The Old Testament speaks, Of God showing grace to Gentiles, And Luke sees it not only here, But as we go through the book, You'll see that he sees it all over, In the Old Testament, Now, We've mentioned that point before, But let me just back it up, Just a little bit, And address it from the standpoint, Of whether you think, You're good enough, To be a Christian, You know, Have you, Have you,

[43:15] Made yourself, Good enough, That God can start, To consider you now, And what, Luke is pointing out, By means of these things, Is those, That would be considered, Outcasts, Hopeless, Are the ones, For whom Christ died, And that would include you, Can't get your act together, God will never consider me, Until I get rid of that sin, But that's not the case, Christ has died for our sins, He's paid for it all, And he's willing, To forgive all, Not by you having to do any work, But by you just simply trusting in him, Let's pray, Father, I thank you for, The answer to prayer, Even though, Those in Nazareth, Didn't see it, Didn't want it, We praise you for, A savior who came, To finish, And accomplish,

[44:16] What your heart, Had set out to do, Thank you for the work of Christ, That does everything we need, To provide us salvation, Help us to be people, Who rest in that, Through our days, And Lord, Those who don't know you, I pray that today, Would be the day, They would throw off the idea, That I have to be, Of some acceptable position, Or some acceptable group, Before God will accept me, But Lord, Rather realize, That Christ has died for sinners, Of whom I am one, And pray that you would bless, In Jesus name, Amen, Let's turn in our hymn books, To 164, Oh for a thousand tongues to sing, And the idea of singing this, Is because we have a savior, Who's come and done everything, He didn't say, As he came, Do this, He did everything, It says rest in us, Rest in me, Let's stand together, 164, Zim,

[45:18] Amen. Amen.

[46:18] Amen. Amen.

[47:08] Receive this benediction. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

[47:20] Amen. Amen.

[47:49]