The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth 01/08/2023

Well I think because of the time we'll bypass reading Hebrews 6 this morning, we'll let

Jason do that next week.

And so let us pray first and ask our God to help us.

Our Father we thank you that we have your written word before us

and yet we realize our God although it certainly is your inerrant

word that you've given to us which has authority our God to instruct us

in the way we should believe and live before you.

We're in need of the of the witness of the Holy Spirit, the illumination of the Holy Spirit our God to

take these words and to help us understand them but also

to help us apply them.

And so we pray your blessing upon us now our God as we turn once again to the Gospel of

Luke.

We pray that your word our God would have a powerful influence upon our

minds and our hearts our God.

Conform our wills to your will.

Glorify yourself now.

Bind the devil our God that he would not hinder our understanding

or stir up our hearts in defiance or rebellion against you and what you have to say for us.

But we pray our God that you'd help us to be responsive, teachable.

We pray we ask these things Father in Jesus name.

Amen.

Well let's turn in our Bibles to Luke chapter 4.

We arrive here the first recorded event in Luke's Gospel

of our Lord Jesus as the onset of his public ministry and we find of

course that he opens his ministry, Luke does, opens our Lord's ministry in the

synagogue in Nazareth his hometown.

And so this initial episode in Luke chapter 4 provides us with our Lord's own words

regarding the nature of his ministry.

Jesus is God's prophet who announces and brings salvation to his enslaved oppressed

people and so here in Luke 4 we read verses 14 through 30.

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee

and news of him went throughout all the surrounding region and he taught in their

synagogues being glorified by all.

So 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 to read and he was handed the book

of the prophet Isaiah and when he had opened the book he 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 heal the brokenhearted to proclaim liberty to the captives and

recovery of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed and

to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

And then he closed the book gave it back to the attendant and sat down

and all the eyes of and the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him and he

began to say to them today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

So all bore witness to him and marveled at the gracious words which proceedeth out of his mouth

and they said is this not Joseph's son.

He said to them you will surely say this proverb to me physician heal yourself

whatever we have heard done in Capernaum do also here in your country.

And then he said assuredly I say to you no prophet is accepted in his own country

but I tell you truly many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heaven was shut up three

years and six months and there was a great famine throughout all the land but to none of them was Elijah

sent except to Zarephath in the region of Sidon to a

woman who was a widow.

And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet and none of them was cleansed except

Naaman the Syrian.

So all those in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath and rose

up and thrust him out of the city.

And they led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built that they might throw him down over the

cliff and then passing through the midst of them he went his way.

Well this passage sets forth the general nature of our Lord's public ministry.

And what would characterize the reactions of the people to whom he would minister.

Like a paradigm of his ministry they would be those who would be quite amazed and

enthralled at his teaching.

His ministry would be directed to the many poor needy and marginalized of society whom he

encountered.

But the passage also intimates that Gentiles also would be recipients of

his gracious dealings.

He mentions the widow of Zidon and Naaman the Syrian.

And finally discloses that Jesus would also encounter much ignorance and opposition from his own people

who would not receive him or respond to his teaching.

And so in this initial episode of Luke's rehearsal of our Lord's ministry Luke provides us with a

synopsis a picture a paradigm that being an initial

favorable response to Jesus followed by a negative reaction characterized by efforts to

destroy him.

And then secondly Luke gives really a picture of God's overall plan and that after

the rejection of the of Jesus by the Jewish nation salvation is brought to the Gentiles.

And so in a sense this story is a picture of what unfolds in the two books of Luke and

Acts.

In Luke we see the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish nation.

And then in Acts we see the turning of God to the Gentiles.

And that's all suggested here in this episode in the synagogue of Nazareth we want to

work through the details of our passage and then we'll consider a few implications.

And by the way don't let 17 pages intimidate you.

There's no way in the world we're getting through that.

But I included from page 11 through 17 a little article by Charles Spurgeon on the defense of

Calvinism.

And as we work through this passage we're going to see how that would be helpful for us.

And so here we have in verses 14 and 15 first an introduction of

Jesus's Galilean ministry.

We considered last time of course how our Lord successfully withstood the devil having endured all

temptation to sin when he was 40 days in the wilderness.

And afterward Jesus traveled northward from Judea to Galilee where the greatest measure of his earthly

ministry took place.

So verses 14 and 15 are an introductory summary of this Galilean ministry.

Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee and news of him went out through

all the surrounding region and he taught in their synagogues being glorified by all

we know from Mark's gospel that Jesus had left Judea went to Galilee after John the Baptist had been cast

into prison.

Luke did not include that in his gospel.

But Mark 1 14 reads.

Now after John was put in prison Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel

of the kingdom of God.

So Jesus came to Galilee with spiritual power in order to accomplish his mission of teaching the people regarding the

onset of the promised kingdom of God as one wrote the power of the

Spirit is linked especially with the apostolic witness.

And hence here the primary reference is presumably to the authority of Jesus as a teaching.

But the thought of power to do mighty works may be present as well.

The popularity of Jesus soon became pronounced for news of him went through all the surrounding region.

The parallel passage in Matthew's gospel gives a little more detail.

And Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues preaching the gospel of the kingdom and

healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

And then his fame went throughout all Syria that whole northern region Galilee included

and they brought to him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments and those

who were demon -possessed epileptics and paralytics and he healed them.

And great multitudes followed him from Galilee and from Decapolis in Jerusalem Judea and

beyond the Jordan.

Well in these two verses of introductory words Luke gave no comment regarding the

content of Jesus's teaching.

The other gospel say preach the gospel of the kingdom.

But Luke doesn't mention that in verses 14 and 15.

For of course the event in Nazareth will make known that his purpose and his preaching very shortly.

But Matthew indicated the principal subject of his teaching in the Jewish synagogues was the kingdom of God.

Jesus was proclaiming that he was bringing into realization the promised kingdom of God which is that is

the promised kingdom of David of which all the people had been desiring

anticipating the promised age of salvation had arrived and Jesus was

the promised king.

Well now we look at verse 16.

And following of Jesus coming to Nazareth his hometown we

read after our Lord had traveled about Galilee that he had taught in many synagogues and he gained much favor

and notoriety among the people.

He came to his own town of Nazareth and there among those who had known him or known of him

from his youth.

Nazareth wasn't a large town.

Jesus attended the Jewish synagogue to worship with the people on the Sabbath day as his

custom was throughout his life.

Verse 16.

So 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 to read.

Technically it's not saying that he read as his custom was but he went to the synagogue as his

custom was.

Jesus had probably been a popular boy about town.

Everybody must have liked him and thought highly of him.

He'd been well respected a well -respected young citizen in his community.

Luke had already indicated that we read of when Jesus was 12 years of

age.

He went down with his parents came to Nazareth was subject to them.

But his mother kept all these things in her heart and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature in favor

with God.

But not just with God but with men too.

The community of Nazareth thought highly of this young man.

We read that our Lord participated in a regular weekly meeting of the people of God in the Jewish synagogue on the

Sabbath day.

It was his custom to do so.

Our Lord was always with God's people whenever they met.

There should be our practice of course.

And here we find him in his hometown congregation.

And on this occasion he was granted the privilege of reading from the scriptures and preaching on the text that he had read.

His fame had preceded him and so the synagogue you can you can

fully understand must have been filled with expectant neighbors and acquaintances and

and probably family members wanting to hear from this fine local young

man.

Jesus who made a name for himself is now home with us.

But here in his hometown Jesus suffered rejection.

Although the people had given him an initial glowing response there was much

excitement and enthusiasm with his arrival.

They had heard of what God had been doing through him in other cities of Galilee.

And now he'd returned to his hometown.

But things had changed for him though much was familiar to him.

Much had changed since he had left there.

Here's a description of Alfred Edersheim of Jesus coming to Nazareth for this Sabbath visit to

the synagogue.

Only a few months since he had left Nazareth.

But how much that was all decisive to him to Israel and to the world had passed.

As the lengthening shadows of Friday Sun closed around the quiet valley he would hear the well -remembered

double blast of the trumpet from the roof of the synagogue minister's house proclaiming the advent

of the holy day Sabbath day.

And once more it sounded through the still summer air to tell all that work must be laid

aside.

And yet a third time it was heard before the minister put it aside close

by where he stood not to profane the Sabbath by carrying it.

For now the Sabbath had really commenced and the festive Sabbath lamp was lit

and Sabbath morn dawn.

And early he repaired to the synagogue where as a child a youth a man he had often had so

often worshipped in the humble retirement of his rank sitting not up there among the elders and the honored but

far back.

The old well -known faces were around him.

The old well -remembered words and services fell on his ear.

How different they had always been to him than to them with whom he had thus mingled in common

worship.

And now he was again among them truly a stranger among his own countrymen this time to be

looked at listened to tested tried used or cast aside as the case

may be.

You can imagine you know the whole atmosphere the sense the expectation of the people.

And then Jesus himself in his human nature.

You can imagine the the weight of the moment we read

that Jesus had been given prominent role in the corporate worship on this occasion in the synagogue.

And so verses 17 and following relate to us what occurred.

He was handed the book of the Prophet Isaiah.

And when he opened the book he found the place where it was written.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He sent me to heal the broken hearted to proclaim liberty to the captives recovery sight to the blind to set

at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

And then he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.

And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him.

And he began to say to them.

Today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

So all bore witness to him and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of

his mouth.

And they said is this not Joseph's son.

He began his sermon with the words.

Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

Well let's consider the content and the initial reaction of Jesus's message.

First let's consider the historic context of Isaiah 61 from which Jesus quoted.

Isaiah is a book of judgment and salvation.

It records God's anger and wrath upon Israel a sinful people who had repeatedly rebelled against

God through the centuries.

And Isaiah declared to his generation that God's patience had been exhausted because they had

broken the everlasting covenant.

He would lay waste the land and remove its inhabitants in exile.

And so God's judgment upon their sin would result in their defeat by other nations first Assyria in the 8th century

BC and then by Babylon in the 6th century BC.

And God had declared through Isaiah that these two nations these two empires would conquer the land and

afflict the people terribly.

The people would be enslaved and deported to far -off lands becoming exiles when they would

encounter grievous hardships and there be imprisoned.

The curse of God was upon them because of their sin.

They had become enslaved and imprisoned having failed to escape the consequences of their sin.

But God in his great mercy and grace purpose to do a great work of salvation.

For a remnant of this people God promised to raise up his servant a son of David a

Savior who had come to these needy sinful people and announced their deliverance their

salvation from sins penalty and power from which God had delivered them in his judgment.

And Isaiah 61 records the words of the rejoicing servant

the servant of Jehovah whom God commissioned to save his people.

The year of release the true year of Jubilee had arrived for

Jesus to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord is a reference to the onset of the Jubilee year in the Old

Testament which was to be observed every 50th year.

Matthew Henry wrote of this.

It alludes to the year of release or that of Jubilee which was an acceptable year to servants who were

then set at liberty.

They were set free to debtors against whom all actions and dropped all

your debts are canceled.

And to those who had mortgaged their lands for then they returned to them again

brought back into possession the land that God had promised and given them in the past.

Christ came to sound the Jubilee trumpet and blessed were they that heard the joyful sound.

It was an acceptable time for it was a day of salvation.

And so Jesus makes an emancipation proclamation in which prisoners are set free

and able to return to their former land where they would enjoy the blessings of the Messiah's kingdom the

kingdom in which freedom and it's accompanied joy peace and righteousness before God would be

experienced.

And so our Lord chose this passage and he read it publicly and then rolled up the

scroll and gave it back to the attendant.

He sat down to give his sermon.

They would stand up to read the scriptures and then the preacher would sit down to give his sermon

and all were in expectation.

And then he began his sermon by saying.

Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

This is a marvelous thing to this people.

Jesus declared that he was the servant of the Lord the Prophet who had been commissioned

anointed not only to proclaim salvation but he was the deliverer the

Savior who would bring salvation to his people.

Today these words are fulfilled in your hearing.

He was sent to set free needy enslaved depressed heart sick sinful people who had no means

to deliver themselves.

The time had arrived the era of salvation had arrived.

The messianic age had dawned.

Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

For this is what Jesus was called to do.

This is what he did do.

He went about forgiving people of their sins setting people free of the consequences of sin

breaking sin's dominion and Satan's control of them bringing salvation to all that came to him in faith and

repentance.

Of course our Lord's words recorded here were not just God's message for that day but for

our world today.

Also is that not right.

Jesus comes to sin -bound sinful people who were bowed under their load who fallen due to the

consequences of their sin unable to relieve themselves of their guilt and the alienation from

God that resulted from their sin.

And Jesus says to them today.

Partake of my salvation.

Come to me in faith acknowledging your guilt and sin confessing your helplessness and hopelessness

to remedy yourself.

Look to me as God's Savior to save you from your sin to needy sinful

people he speaks gracious words of peace and hope.

He promises you and me immediate and complete release from sin if and when we see

ourselves in this needy condition.

And we come to him in faith as the only one who can deliver us.

Charles Spurgeon preached from this passage and I thought I would relate his words to us.

So the proclamation which I have to make tonight concerns immediate liberation.

You've been the slave of sin long enough.

You need not be sin slave any longer.

Christ has not come to work out a deliverance which will take hours days weeks or months to complete.

He has come to knock your fetters off with a single stroke and to set you free at once.

If his gracious power is manifested in this assembly the former slave of sin will

go out of the tabernacle door free not half free with one or two of his fetters

broken.

But there shall be for him immediate liberty.

It does not take any time to work in the human heart the great change which is called regeneration.

There may be a great many things going on going before it and coming after it which take up much time.

But to pass from death to life is the work of an instant.

It must be so if a man is dead and he's made alive there can be no interval between the

state of death and the state of life.

There must be a second in which the transition takes place.

When a blind man's eyes are opened it may be that he does not see for some time very clearly.

But there is an instant in which the first beam of light enters the lot I and falls upon the retina

and in which the eye becomes conscious of the power of light.

And so in a moment while I'm speaking the Lord can save you in an instant.

Ye slaves of sin and Satan he can make you free.

It is the immediate abolition of slavery that I have to proclaim to you.

Well we read of the initial reaction of the people to our Lord's words.

Verse 22.

So all bore witness to him and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.

And they said is this not Joseph's son.

It would seem that these words betray two responses of the people.

An initial response of favor but then quickly following were words of skepticism and

dismissal.

Yes his words were profound and wondrous.

Yet is he not only Joseph's son.

J .C. Ryle sought to draw forth a lesson.

We learn one thing.

How apt men are to despise the highest principles when they are familiar with them.

Isn't he Joseph's son.

We see it in the conduct of the men of Nazareth.

When they heard the Lord Jesus preach they could find no fault in the sermon.

They could point to no inconsistency in his past life and conversation.

But because the preacher had dwelt among them 30 years and his face and voice and appearance were

familiar to them they would not receive his doctrine his teaching.

They said to one another is not this Joseph's son.

Is it possible that one so well known as this man can be the Christ.

And they drew from our Lord's lips the solemn saying no prophet is accepted in his own country.

And so the response of these people to the Word of God was initially favorable.

All were speaking well of him wandering at the gracious words which were falling from his lips.

But then they revealed their unbelief.

Is this not Joseph's son.

Or in other words I hear him.

But is this not Joseph's son.

How can what he say be true.

For is he not merely Joseph's son.

They seem to reveal to Jesus their disinterest and unresponsiveness to him.

They did not embrace his gracious invitation nor rejoice in his offer.

But they did reveal something about themselves.

They did not see themselves as poor people who needed the gospel preached to them.

They did not see themselves as captives in sin which needed deliverance.

They did not regard themselves as spiritually blind people who needed to have their sensible sight restored.

They did not see themselves as needy downtrodden people who needed to be relieved.

They did not see themselves as ones who are under the wrath of God who have no claims no rights to God's

mercy.

Who needed God's forgiveness of their sins and deliverance from sinning something

that could only be performed by a God sent Savior.

They did not see themselves as characterized in Isaiah 61 1.

These were religious people but self -righteous.

Also they wanted to see a miracle or two.

Do what you've been doing all over Galilee.

Here do it.

Here in your hometown we want to see these things.

J .C. Ryle wrote an application for churches of his day.

This was in the 19th century England.

It is vain to conceal from ourselves that there are thousands of persons in Christian churches in little better

state of mind than our Lord's hearers in Nazareth.

There are thousands 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 a good and powerful sermon.

But their religion never goes beyond this point.

Their sermon hearing does not prevent them living a life of thoughtlessness worldliness and sin.

Let us often examine ourselves on this important point.

Let us see what practical effect is produced in our hearts and lives by the preaching which we profess

profess to like.

Does it lead us to true repentance towards God and lively faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.

Does it excite us to weekly efforts to cease from sin and to resist the devil.

These are the fruits which sermons ought to produce.

Without such fruit a mere barren admiration is utterly worthless.

Is no proof of grace.

It will save no soul.

Amen.

JC Ryle.

Well then we read of the response of Jesus to the Jewish gathering in the synagogue.

And so after our Lord's gracious pronouncement that the time of fulfillment had arrived he intimated a

hesitancy if not a resistance to receive it and

embrace it.

We read in verses 23 and 24.

He said to them you'll surely say to this this this proverb to me physician heal yourself.

Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum do also here in your country.

And then he said assured I say to you no prophet is accepted in his own country.

It may be our Lord perceived the thoughts of these hometown people that they were not embracing his

calling and message since they had only known him as the local boy the son of Joseph one they knew quite

well.

There is nothing of his family or upbringing that caused him to stand out above what they had always knew of him.

Their attitude and response was revealed openly by Jesus.

So prove yourself Jesus physician heal yourself.

Practice what you preach.

If you're really somebody demonstrate it before us.

Or else we'll continue to consider you and regard you as the one we've always known the son of Joseph.

But the Lord would not seek to prove himself to anybody.

On behalf of the needy he shows himself powerful.

But as for sign seekers they reveal themselves to be unbelieving.

Jesus always left people in their unbelief.

And after Jesus had rehearsed the commonly known proverb assuredly I say to you no prophet is accepted in

his own country.

He then gave forth a lesson to them in the manner of God's dealings with people.

Essentially he was telling this people that God would deal with them just as he had dealt with many Jews in the Old

Testament he would pass by them and go to others just as

God refused to show favor to many Jews in Israel chose rather to be merciful to Gentiles.

So God would bypass these people in his hometown who would refuse to respond in faith

who had dismissed his words as untrue and irrelevant.

And so we read verses 25 to 27.

But I tell you truly many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heaven was

shut up three years and six months and there was a great famine throughout all the land.

But to none of them none of those Jewish women was Elijah sent except to

Zarephath in the region of Sidon outside of Israel to a woman who was a widow

and many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elijah the prophet.

None of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.

And so our Lord cited two episodes from the Old Testament scriptures in which God revealed himself

in bringing deliverance and blessing upon two different individuals each of them was a Gentile

not Jewish and each of them lived outside of Israel in Gentile lands.

To each of them God purposed to bestow great grace and he did so.

But while having passed over Jewish people in Israel who had the same maladies and difficulties

Jesus was declaring by these two scriptural individuals that God is sovereign in the dispensing of his

grace and that he was under no obligation to show his favor because they were Jewish people.

God was free to give forth graciously his saving power to whomever he purposed to favor

God was.

And as he had disclosed himself to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.

I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

And so Jesus revealed God to be wholly sovereign in the bestowing dispensing of grace to

deliver people of his choosing.

The first person that Jesus identified as the object and recipient of God's sovereign grace was

a Gentile woman in the days of Elijah.

The account is in first Kings 17.

I suspect most of us are familiar with it.

But let's consider it.

Then the word of the Lord came to him that would be Elijah saying arise go

to Zarephath which belongs to Sidon and dwell there and see I have commanded a widow

there to provide for you a Gentile woman.

So he rose went to Zarephath and when he came to the gate of the city indeed a widow was there gathering sticks

and he called to her and said please bring me a little water in a cup that I may drink.

And as she was going to get it he called to her and said please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.

So she said as the Lord your God lives I do not have bread only a handful of flour in a bin and a little

oil in a jar and see I'm gathering a couple sticks that I may go in prepare it for myself and my son

that we may eat it and die.

And Elijah said to her do not fear go do as you've said but make me a small cake

from it first and bring it to me and afterward make some of yourself for yourself and your son.

For thus says the Lord God of Israel the bin of flour shall not be used up nor shall the jar of

oil run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.

And so she went away and did according to the word of Elijah and she and he and her

household ate for many days and the bin of flour was not used up nor did the jar of

oil run dry according to the word of the Lord which he spoke to Elijah.

There were many Jewish widows in a similar condition but the Lord sent Elijah

outside of Israel to a Gentile woman a Gentile widow and blessed her.

She was a widow was needy alone helpless.

She was a Gentile living outside Israel but God purposed to send his prophet

Elijah to have mercy on her rather than on Jewish widows who were also in need.

God chose to show favor to a Gentile woman rather than to a Jewish woman

and this is what Jesus told his Jewish crowd ones who knew him and he knew them

in that synagogue.

And then of course the second illustration that Jesus gave was the account of Elisha and a

Gentile soldier Naaman.

The story is found in second Kings 5.

Now Naaman commander of the army of the king of Syria was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master

because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria.

Notice the Lord given victory to a Gentile nation Syria.

He was also a mighty man of valor but a leper and the Syrians had gone out on

raids and brought back captive a young girl from the land of Israel that was in God's purpose.

She waited on Naaman's wife and then she said to her mistress if only my master

were with the prophet who's in Samaria for he would heal him of his leprosy.

And Naaman went in and told his master say thus.

And thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel.

And so the king of Syria said go now and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.

So he departed and took with him ten talents of silver six thousand shekels of gold ten changes of

clothing.

And then he brought the letter to the king of Israel which said now be advised when this letter comes to you I have sent

Naaman my servant to you that you may heal him of his leprosy.

And it happened when the king of Israel read the letter he tore his clothes and said am I God to kill and

make a lie that this man sends sends a man to me to heal him of leprosy and therefore

please consider see how he seeks a quarrel with me.

He set me up.

And so it was when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes that he sent to the king

saying why have you torn your clothes.

Please let him come to me and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

And then Naaman went with his horses and chariot he stood at the door of Elisha's house and Elisha sent a messenger to

him saying go and wash in the Jordan seven times and your flesh shall be restored to you and you shall be

clean.

But Naaman became furious and went away and said indeed I said to myself he'll surely come out to me and

stand and call on the name of the Lord as God wave his hand over the place and heal the leprosy

are not the Abana and the far far rivers the rivers of Damascus

better than all the waters of Israel could I not wash in them and be clean.

And so he turned and went away in rage.

And his servants came near and spoke to him and said my father if the prophet had told you to do something great would you not have done

it.

How much more then when he says to you wash and be clean.

And so he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan according to the saying of the man of God and his

flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.

And he returned to the man of God he and all his aides and came and stood before him.

And he said indeed now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.

And now therefore please take a gift from your servant.

But Elisha said as the Lord lives before whom I stand I'll receive nothing.

And he urged him to take it but he refused.

So again here's Naaman a Gentile a soldier an enemy of Israel.

And although there were many lepers in Israel God had mercy on Naaman having passed over Jewish

lepers in the land.

Both this widow and this soldier saw their need and to each of them God gave a deliverer.

And Jesus cited these two individuals before the synagogue in Nazareth to show that God was about to pass

them by just as he had passed all those Jewish lepers and Jewish

widows in Israel and show himself gracious and merciful to others.

And Luke by the way does give emphasis to Jesus showing mercy to Gentiles even

in his Galilean ministry.

And we'll see that as the Gospel of Luke unfolds.

And so Jesus was declaring to this synagogue God was going to pass by them and direct his saving

activity toward people who truly saw their need.

Well this of course stirred up anger.

The reaction of the Jewish crowd to Jesus for what he had taught them.

We see the reaction of these self -righteous religious people to Jesus of whom

moments before they expressed wonder and praise.

So all those in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath and rose up and thrust

him out of the city and they led him to the brow of the hill in which their city was built that they might

throw him down over the cliff.

You go to Nazareth today and walk up to the brow of that hill apparently where they wanted to

kill Jesus but apparently by the power of God he went past them and

no harm was brought to him.

Jesus had come to them as an anointed prophet with the most glorious news the Jews

could ever hear.

And yet a prophet does not receive honor among his own countrymen.

And even worse here in Nazareth they treated Jesus as a false prophet

rather than the true prophet of God.

And so it was his response to these self -righteous religious people and passing through the midst of

them he went his way.

Jesus made it clear he had nothing for them.

He went his way a few lessons for us.

And then we'll close.

It's fascinating the way our Lord dealt with his crowd and it would do us well to learn this principle.

He identified the central attitude and outlook of this people and he drew their attention to it.

He brought it home to them in a way they understood exactly where they stood before God.

And it didn't bode well for them.

And we will see throughout Luke's gospel that this was characteristic of his dealing with people.

He did not focus on what was popular thinking among the people.

He did not speak of things that promoted peace to the ones who were unbelieving and resistant to him.

But rather he identified areas of thought and behavior which were counter to God's will.

And he drew attention of the people to those matters telling them of their need for repentance.

In other words the Lord went to the the chief point

of rejection and rebellion.

And he zeroed in on that.

He didn't go to the lowest common denominator to which everybody agreed to get to persuade them to follow him.

He went to the juggler and he did in every case to the rich young man he dealt with his

riches and every person he came to.

This was his method of dealing with souls.

And this is what the Word of God does to us when taught and proclaimed rightly.

The Word of God confronts us it exposes us it lays bare our

actions and attitudes and innermost motivations.

It's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart and it lays it open.

This is how God brings us to conversion.

Sin is made known to us and God's just condemnation is upon us because of our sin.

And there as a result in response we turn in faith to the only one who can deliver us

Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

The Word of God points to the condition of man is one of dire need.

Man apart from Christ is in spiritual poverty held captive by sin blind as to the nature of

God and his ways.

Sin makes him inwardly poor and helpless.

So in destruction and misery leaving him helpless and unable to remedy his condition.

And so if you squirm under this description and see it better apply to someone else

and be assured that to someone else Christ will bring his salvation.

He's got nothing for you.

Well how do we respond to this message.

For a time when we hear this message we perhaps make resolutions and efforts to reform but the word

continues to lay open the heart and we see ourselves as being deeply corrupted with sin.

When we read the word hear the word the worse it gets.

We see a need for a Savior who himself must come and bring us deliverance or we will forever suffer his wrath.

But then the Word of God shows us Jesus the all -sufficient Savior who due to the merits of

his life and the value of his sacrificial death can and will cleanse of all

sin.

My sin break its dominion in my life if he but speak the word

like on another occasion the leper if you if you're willing Lord you can make me clean.

And we ought to have that kind of faith in our Savior.

And so we come humbly believing.

And then he sets us free.

We sense full pardon full release full forgiveness and we go forth rejoicing following him.

But we'll close with one more lesson from our passage before us.

We not only see narrow -minded bigoted people who look down on others while wrongly thinking they were the objects of God's favor.

But we also see the common and the natural hatred and rejection of the teaching of

God's sovereignty in the bestowal of his mercy and grace upon people.

God chooses on whom he will have mercy.

Salvation is of the Lord.

And when unsanctified people hear that they rise up in anger and defiance.

The Bible everywhere sets forth God is absolutely sovereign in his choice to whom he's going to show mercy

and bestow his grace and bringing them to saving faith in Christ.

God is sovereign.

Fallen people since Adam and Eve have insisted they will be the determiners of their own destiny.

But God makes it clear that he alone is the cause of bringing new life in Christ to sinners.

And it can be shown throughout the scriptures.

John 1 Jesus was in the world.

The world was made through him.

The world did not know him.

However those that did know him those who received him to them gave he the right the

authority become children of God.

Those who believe on his name.

And then John describes them.

They were born who were born.

They weren't born of their own because they were Jewish not of blood nor the will of the flesh.

They were not saved by their free will.

They weren't born again by their free will or the will of man.

It's not because somebody else wanted them saved but they were born of God.

That that is always the way of salvation.

God opens souls and hearts.

But the doctrine of God's grace is hated by people until God opens their understanding to perceive it and embrace

it.

The Lord Jesus himself rejoiced in his father's sovereignty and dispensing salvation.

In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said I thank you father Lord of heaven and

earth that you've hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little

children.

Yes father for such was your gracious will.

God is sovereign and sinners don't like to hear that.

They want to be sovereign.

They want to be the ones who determine whether or not they have salvation.

Charles Spurgeon wrote about the hatred that people particularly religious people have for the biblical teaching of God's

sovereignty in salvation of sinners.

Here are his words.

If anything is hated bitterly it is the out -and -out gospel of the grace of God.

Especially if that hateful word is sovereignty mentioned with it dare

to say he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy.

He'll have compassion on whom he will have compassion.

And furious critics will revile you without stint.

The modern religionist not only hates the doctrine of sovereign grace but he raves and rages at the mention of

it.

He would sooner hear you blaspheme than preach election by the Father atonement by the Son or regeneration

by the Spirit.

If you want to see a man worked up till the Satanic is clearly uppermost let some of the new divines or

ministers hear you preach a free grace sermon.

A gospel which is after men will be welcomed by men.

But it needs a divine operation upon the heart and mind to make a man willing to receive into his outermost soul this

distasteful gospel of the grace of God.

My dear brethren do not try to make it tasteful.

The carnal minds hide not the offense of the cross.

Let you make it of none effect.

The angles and corners of the gospel are its strength and to pair them off is to deprive it of power.

Toning down is not the increase of strength but the death of it.

Why even among the sects or the cults you must have noticed that their distinguishing points are the horns of their power.

And when these are practically omitted the sect is defeated.

Learn then that if you take Christ out of Christianity Christianity is dead.

If you remove grace out of the gospel the gospel is gone.

If the people do not like the doctrine of grace give them all the more of it.

Whenever its enemies rail at a certain kind of gun a wise military power will provide more of such artillery.

A great general going in before his King stumbled over his own sword.

I see said the king your sword is is in your in the way.

And the warrior said your magistrate enemies have often felt the same.

That our gospel offends the King's enemies is no regret to us.

I preach the doctrines of grace because I believe them to be true.

Because I see them in the scriptures because my experience endears them to me and because I see the holy result of them

in believers I confess they are nonetheless dear to me because the advanced school

the sophisticated ones despises them.

I should never think at a recommendation of a doctrine that was new.

Those truths which have enlightened to many ages appear to me to be ordained to remain throughout the eternity.

The doctrine which I preach to you is that of the Puritans.

It is the doctrine of Calvin the doctrine of Augustine the doctrine of Paul the doctrine of the Holy Ghost.

The author and finisher of our faith himself taught us this most blessed truth which well agrees with our

text.

The doctrine of grace is the substance of the testimony of Jesus.

There's a book entitled the forgotten Spurgeon and it's about Spurgeon's

Calvinism and how everybody loves Spurgeon but they don't like his Calvinism.

And so a lot of the stories and biographies of him delete that.

And the forgotten Spurgeon is how he this is a major teaching you know

doctrinal teaching of his life.

This hatred for God's sovereignty in his election and predestination of some sinners unto salvation is

reacted against and rejected today.

And it was in God's providence that he gave me an illustration of this.

For this morning.

First of all I would acknowledge I'm hated by many radio listeners and I hear it

when we come across this subject in the scriptures we proclaim it.

And I received a call on Friday.

I got it from already actually emailed some guy called the church wanted to talk to me and so I called him

and he asked a few questions regarding the biblical teaching about election.

He knew the Bible taught the doctrine but he didn't have a very full understanding of the subject because his church

doesn't teach it.

He told me that this week I think it was Wednesday night.

One of the men of the church were teaching the Bible study when another man got up and angrily accused him of teaching

election.

You're teaching Calvinism.

And there was such a fight at this Bible study that the pastor cancelled prayer meeting

Bible study.

And and one of the men of the church told this this guy election is only for Jewish people.

And another said election is only true after people come to salvation in Christ then

they are elect.

I mean nonsense.

And this guy knew that that can't be right.

He listened to MacArthur all the time and apparently listened to us on WVNE.

And he wanted some clarification.

And there was a big battle waging in the last few days and apparently it was coming to a head today in their

church.

They're gonna have a big fight over it.

Sinners hate sovereign grace.

They want to be the determiners of their own destiny the deciders of their own salvation.

If I were to stand before that church this morning I think I would have chosen this passage from Luke chapter 4.

This is how the Lord Jesus dealt with the hometown crowd.

Wasn't it.

God's gonna pass by you too and go to those who need me.

Basically what he was saying.

May the Lord enable us to be humble before him and teachable.

May he enable us to put aside pride and acknowledge our ignorance.

He could have left us in our sin and justly damned us forever.

That's what each of us deserves.

And yet graciously and lovingly he offers us full salvation eternal life

freely.

If we come to Christ he's my Lord he's my Savior.

And not one of us need to go out that door this morning.

An unbeliever.

If you confess yeah I'm a sinner.

Yes Jesus Christ is the only Savior.

And yes Lord I'm believing on you as my Lord and Savior.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Thank you father for your kindness and mercy to us.

Thank you father for the clarity of your word.

And we thank you our God that we're able to read it hear it apply it.

Help us our God to be true to you and help us to bring full glory to you alone for

our salvation and take no credit whatsoever for ourselves our God.

Thank you father for sending Jesus our Savior our Lord our King.

And having made us citizens of the kingdom of God.

For we pray in Jesus name.

Amen.