The Cost of Rejection Luke 4 Vs 14 30

Well, good morning everyone and welcome to Faith Bible Church. It's a it's a beautiful day outside The spring is coming, isn't it?

Found me in the yard yesterday and some of you maybe if you have yard to get into you've got to get out there and Have some fun rooms comfortable now, but we turned the boiler off this

It's our boiler. Our gas bill is many times over what it was a year ago and last month. It was $1 ,300 and we just can't afford that as a church.

And so we turned it off We have one unit that's electric that's in the back that heat pump and we've got it going and I think it's comfortable in here

Right now, so we're we're just gonna kind of skate into the summer Spring summer trying to keep that boiler off announcements prayer meeting tonight at 6

The biblical counseling training is in March 11 11 o 'clock That day

Everyone's welcome And if you have other people other friends or family or whomever that you think might benefit from this

I think it would be a great time of getting into the word and specific to counseling there's such a tremendous need in our society today, and I think we know a lot of it is

The lack of being grounded in the word and so that's a really core

Part of this is just going through what the scripture says and then assigning that to Relationships and roles and what people are folks are going through.

So anyway, that's March 11 so spread the word and it'll be on the Website's gonna have a link to that just to announce it as well.

So be looking for that You know when we come to worship the Lord and corporately and whenever we worship the

Lord There has to be an essence of having a whole heart that if It's really a heart worship is what it is because it begins in our heart.

It's not an external thing It's not something that we get ourselves worked up with with things that are around us

But it's in our own heart and our own quiet time That we can approach God and we have to do that With having confessed our sins we have to be right before the

Lord and because If we walk in darkness

We can't walk in darkness before a God of light And so we have to confess that sin so that our relationship with the

Lord is right and we can worship him fully with a whole heart so as we go before the

Lord this morning and as we lift our voices in song and hear God's Word shared with us just Have that mindset of knowing that we are serving a holy

God a God that is worthy of Every ounce of what we can give him in the celebration of our praise to him.

So Would you join with me in prayer Lord God? We thank you that you have brought us here today father

We pray that our offerings of praise would would please you would be a sweet aroma

Lord to you That we might with one another encourage one another that we might edify the

Saints Lord that there might be a an awareness that You are supreme and Lord over all and that we and our own personal lives can grow in faith and understanding

Lord God we pray for those that aren't here today We pray for the Arnett's and others that are that are not feeling well father that you would comfort them that you would have your

Hand of healing on them that they would know you that you are present father and some are

Infirmed and cannot get out father and that it may be a time of when the walls seem to be closing in father

But if they look up and they pray Lord We pray that you would help them to see you that you would encourage them father in their walk and in their

Quiet times with you father So God we come to you today humbly and with grateful hearts that You might lead us through by way of the

Holy Spirit Lord That we would grow in our faith that we would give praises to you and all that we do father

We commit our service to your care in Jesus name. We pray. Amen Well that for this morning's scripture reading we're going to be reading from Isaiah Chapter 61.

So if you'd like to take your Bibles Isaiah Chapter 61 we're going to be reading verses 1 through 7

My Bible has the heading of good news of salvation Much of Isaiah is foretelling of Christ's coming and who

Christ is So Isaiah 61 verses 1 through 7 The Spirit of the

Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to proclaim Liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound to Proclaim the acceptable year of the

Lord in the day of vengeance of our God To comfort all who mourn to console those who mourn in Zion To give them beauty for ashes the oil of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness that they may be called trees of righteousness the planting of the

Lord that he may be glorified and They shall rebuild the old ruins.

They shall raise up the former desolations and they shall repair the ruined cities the desolations of many generations

Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and the sons of the foreigner shall be your plowman and your vine dressers

But you shall be named the priests of the Lord they shall call you the servants of our

God You shall eat the riches of the Gentiles and in their glory you shall boast

Instead of your shame you shall have double honor and instead of confusion. They shall rejoice in their portion

Therefore in their land they shall possess double Everlasting joy shall be theirs

May God bless the hearing of that of his word And all

God's people said amen Please turn with me to Luke chapter 4

Luke chapter 4 verses 14 through 30 Luke chapter 4 verses 14 through 30

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

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 there where it was written The Spirit of the

Lord is upon me because he was anointed. 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 to proclaim the acceptable year of the

Lord 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

This 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 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 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 Zarin Fath 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 synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath and Rose up to 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 Then passing through the midst of them he went his way this is the word of the

Lord Let us pray father we are thankful that you have

Graciously shown us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the

Old Testament promises Thank you that you have shown us so that we may believe

Father we pray that you would help us to receive Christ Just as he testifies about himself not by what we think

Christ ought to be father we Pray for those who are in Turkey and Syria who are suffering from the after -effects of the earthquake that you would provide for all of their needs and Also that this would be an opportunity for your church to serve and minister that they may give

Not only physically but also spiritually that you would give them the hope of the gospel that Jesus Christ Died for their sin so that they may truly live father

We pray that people who are hurting in Turkey and Syria would hear the gospel and believe in Jesus name

Amen today's text comes after a

Series of testimonies about Jesus and it still connects to Chapter 3 the baptism of Christ when the

Spirit of the Lord landed on Christ like a dove and The father testified about who

Jesus is as the beloved Son whom he is very much pleased and Today after the temptation which

Jesus suffered in place of his people and he actually Succeeded and didn't fall into it like Israel and Adam and Eve We see how

Jesus testifies about himself Jesus testifies

Not by coming up with his own concepts and his own words, but by quoting

Scripture Jesus testifies himself as the fulfillment of Israel's Restoration not just Israel almost a global restoration in the context of Isaiah 61

However, we do see the unfortunate reaction of the people of Nazareth who do not believe what

Jesus has testified about himself and So the main point this morning is that the cost of rejection of Jesus as the fulfillment of God's promised

Restoration is the removal of God's blessing the cost of rejection of Jesus as the fulfillment of God's promised restoration is the removal of God's blessing and This point is all too important for us this morning

Because we live in a country in which there hasn't been this much spiritual resource and Spiritual education in terms of Christian education than in any other history by the click of your computer mouse or a tap on your smartphone you can

Access every translation of the Bible possible in existence

Not only that you have access to commentaries of not only the modern theologians but commentaries

Going all the way back to the early church fathers like John Chrysostom Yet We live in a country

That has rejected who Christ is and I'm not saying an outright

Cursing of who Christ is that's pretty rare to still to this day but rejection of who

Christ is as Christ testifies about himself and to those group of people only the removal of God's blessing remains some of you might know this but Some of the most outstanding most well -known

Universities in this country were first established to train up pastors

Harvard Harvard's main goal was to train up pastors.

That's why their motto is very toss truth but they abandoned the gospel of Jesus Christ abandoned how

Jesus Revealed himself and started studying scripture as if it were fiction

And God's blessing has left that institution and People from Harvard left the faithful ones left they they went and established a new institution,

Yale and The same story repeats then we get to Princeton and In the 1900s

Princeton Separated and Westminster came about a

Presbyterian seminary Now there's a question mark over how that will go about Will they hold on to the true gospel until the end and that's really important because the moment we lose

The true gospel of Jesus Christ who died and rose for our sin

God's blessing leaves and I'm not saying that the seminary closes down.

Sometimes it's the case what's worse is that the seminary or universities stay open and they

Propagate false teaching about Christ and that's the case for the

Ivy Leagues today They have lost the truth by rejecting

Christ and They have made fools of themselves because they can't really define who men and women are anymore and I would not want to stand

Before Christ on the Judgment Day as one of their faculty So the first point of this section is that filled with the

Spirit Jesus reveals himself as the fulfillment of the promised restoration of Israel Filled with the

Spirit Jesus reveals himself as the fulfillment of the promised restoration of Israel similar to the last section

Jesus ministry is spirit -led Then Jesus returned in the power of the

Spirit to Galilee and news of him went out through all the surrounding region The first two verses are served as the summary of Jesus teaching ministry his early ministry

And it is quite successful the Galilean region was the northern region of Jerusalem and Jesus ministry mainly takes place around that region until he heads heads to Jerusalem to be crucified for our sin

Now it is important to note the role of the Holy Spirit in Jesus ministry from the beginning to the end

Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit and is equipped by him to teach

Jesus did not lean on his own understanding He was not following his heart.

He was following the Holy Spirit and just as Jesus was led into the wilderness to tempted to be tempted by Satan and conquer to win

To live the life of righteousness that all failed to live So to this week

Jesus is led and filled by the Spirit to teach to reveal

Scripture and the promises of the Old Testament to the people of God and As verse 15 confirms

Jesus ministry was widely Accepted initially and he taught in their synagogues being glorified by all

Jesus teaching was so powerful that he was glorified by all and this is an odd choice of word in this text

Because usually only God is glorified Luke is here hinting something

That word is reserved for God. But here it's shown in the object of glorification is

Christ Now this is not to say that the crowd immediately knew

Jesus divinity But rather that Jesus spirit -filled ministry was so impactful that he was praised at that magnitude wherever he went

There was something unique about Jesus that no other teachers and scribes could even come close to He was not just another teacher even in his early ministry

Now briefly, we need to go over the significance of Synagogues because nowhere in the

Old Testament. Will we see a single synagogue? So the locus of worship in the

Old Testament was the temple, of course after it was built after the tabernacle

Now, however during the Babylonian exile It became impossible to worship the

Lord in the temple First the temple was destroyed Second people were exiled.

They were nowhere close to Jerusalem and because of that Then in order to fill fulfill the need of God's people learning of God They created something called synagogues the rather small group of people at least ten men

Would gather and they would read God's Word together and some of them qualified men would teach

Exposit what Scripture is trying to say and how that needs to be applied in their lives

Now Traditionally They would read the Shema.

That's that's the portion from Deuteronomy 6 4 through 9 The Lord Oh Israel, the

Lord is one it starts with that right here. Oh Israel And that's the part where it says that they need to obey

God and also to love him with their all their heart mind Soul and strength. That's the

Shema. They would read that they would memorize it They would say it out loud as a reminder for their loyalty then they would read from a portion of the law the first five books of the

Old Testament and then they would read from the prophets and we

Carol and I we had a conversation earlier No at no time would they be read from Apocrypha.

They did not consider that as Scripture And they still don't

Then the teachings on these passages would follow so someone would be there and explain to them what they just read and how that applies and Finally, it would end with the benediction presumably

Aaron's benediction and We will see a glimpse of this teaching in Christ in the following verses now after introducing

The popular beginning of Jesus ministry Luke zooms into an intense instance in Jesus early teaching ministry verses 16 through 17 give us the setting verse 16 tells us that it was in a synagogue in Nazareth where Jesus grew up and Nazareth is on the west side of the region of Galilee and verse 17 tells us

Jesus started teaching from the book of Isaiah 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 now the fact that Jesus was handed a scroll to teach from shows us that Jesus was a

Qualified man to teach from Scripture. There was no doubt in anyone's mind all

That he was he had the right qualifications to teach Scripture So in even in Nazareth people viewed

Jesus pretty highly not everyone could teach from Scripture Not only that The fact that Jesus opened up and he had to find the place shows that Jesus chose where he was going to teach from Right, there was not a teaching rotation that he was following But he intentionally chose to teach from the portion of Isaiah text that we read today

He didn't he wasn't forced to teach from it he chose to teach from it so it was a

Jesus revealed something about himself by choice It's not that oh

I just happened to read this guess what this is fulfilled today But he chose to reveal it that day and verses 18 through 19 is a quotation from both

Isaiah 61 and 58 now Luke combines them together because Jesus probably thought through the whole section

And of course Luke Luke just gives us a brief summary of that Right Luke wants to make a theological emphasis on what

Jesus taught because he's showing how Jesus fulfills that and It would have been quite expensive to write out

Cup a couple of chapters of Isaiah in Luke's scroll. So he just gives us a brief summary of what?

He wants to show us as to how Jesus fulfilled the Isaiah text

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 to proclaim the the acceptable year of the

Lord now first it is Important to not read the modern

Sociological and political agenda into scripture that is never okay with any scripture

We cannot read with the modern eyes and lens We don't get to import our baggage into an ancient text

We wouldn't do that with any other text. In fact, we wouldn't do that with emails

Right if you email me and I misunderstand because I brought my own baggage into it That is not the email senders fault and that's my fault for reading it incorrectly

Yet people feel justified doing so with God's Word today So let's go over this when

Luke first wrote this the context of this text is not about a change in the governmental system or a social structure

But Jesus work in restoration of God's people Completely The poor hear the gospel the captives are set free not from the endeavors of political regimes but through Christ redemptive work

Second this text is more than just the physical restoration Socialists and liberation theologians believe that the powerful must be brought down and their power slash wealth have to be redistributed to the poor

Via political economic and even social means It's purely a physical phenomenon

However, Isaiah's text is more than just physical but spiritual as well Christ's restoration here is the picture of a comprehensive restoration extending both physical and the spiritual realm

Third as we will unpack this the freedom liberty in this case at the core is freedom from sin and We'll get there

So the fact that the context is it is Christ's job to restore not our job

It's Christ's job to make it right not any governmental reforms

Show us that we have no business Importing any social agenda into the

Isaiah's text or also Luke's text That's not how the ancient audience would have perceived that It would have gone right over their heads and Anything that the original audience would not grasp

Would be the wrong interpretation of the text Because the author did not mean it to be read that way

Now Isaiah 61 starts with the work of the Spirit of the Lord He has chosen

Jesus. He has anointed Jesus. That is a messianic term, right? The Messiah means the

Anointed One the Chosen One And this is affirmed from our previous verses the

Spirit at Jesus baptism and the Spirit who guided

Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted and The Spirit the same Spirit who is teaching who has empowered

Jesus to teach Scripture and in the context of Isaiah chapter 61

Unfolds God's eschatological restoration through the Messiah God's final restoration

God's restoration in the last days through the Messiah and It's the

Messiah who bears the Spirit not a political system Now the first role of the

Messiah is to preach the good news to the poor Now this is not to say the gospel is only to the poor because Luke shows in Luke 19

I believe that rich man Zacchaeus a tax collector. Oh He enters the kingdom of God upon encountering

Jesus. He truly repents and Jesus confirms that Yet he's a rich man.

And this is not to say that an economic restructuring is required either

Jesus teaches in Luke 6 23 about rewards in heaven due to the suffering and persecution

That his people will face It's not about rewards now

So what it's saying here is how the poor people are portrayed is that the physical poverty illustrates the spiritual hunger of those who call upon Christ and This is a great illustration because the poor are those who cry out to God because they have nothing else to Depend on they have nothing they own nothing else to fall back on it is the poor that they appreciate the good news preached to them

Because that's something That's good that they didn't have before their impoverished

Situation helped them to be aware of their immediate need for spiritual redemption in Christ And again not to say that there are no unbelieving poor people there are but their physical situation

Prompts them almost prepares them to know that they need help that they need

Someone to rescue them Now next for some of our translations the sentence he has sent me to heal the broken -hearted is missing

That is from Isaiah 61 Isaiah 61 has that however Some translations of Luke 4 has that missing and that's because the oldest manuscripts that we have do not have that sentence

And King James the King James Version Which also is followed by new

King James Version. They didn't have access to These older manuscripts therefore some translations have opted to take that out.

So that's the explanation for that However, whether it's there or not.

The message is still clear. The Messiah has come to restore Comprehensively completely his people who are hurting

The message is still not lost with whichever manuscript you look into now

The next role of the Messiah is to proclaim liberty to the captives Again, the temptation here is for the modern reader to read our current context whenever we think about captives

So some of us might be thinking oh, yes prison reform Right Yes, free the captives free the prisoners

However, it's important for us to consider how ancient Jewish listeners would have understood the term captives well in the

Old Testament context the captives were none other than the exiled Jews to the

Babylonian captivity or elsewhere Remember in the

Old Testament the land the promised land was significant because it was the physical representation of God's blessing and their covenantal relationship with Israel if Israel obeyed they would stay in the abundant land overflowing with milk and honey

No need to worry about any scarcity Because God has blessed them because they have remained faithful to God now

However, if they sinned They rebelled against God they committed idolatry against God which did happen

God actually tells them the land will vomit you out right this figurative language is that you will be kicked out

That would be the ultimate form of judgment which means

Those who have been judged by God for their sin are those who are taking captive by the

Babylonians or Assyrians Their captivity was the judgment for their sin

It's not captivity for running this speed Speed limit it's not captivity for drunk driving

It's not that captivity in this context of Isaiah and Luke is the exiled

Jews for their sin Now this part is what

I mean that it shows the spiritual context of Isaiah 61 God's people are in dire need of a redemption from their sin

They need to be rescued from the judgment of their sin. The fact that Israel is dispersed is a sign of their spiritual depravity now

Christ precisely Takes on the role to proclaim the freedom

To those people to announce that their judgments are over God has not forgotten about his people.

He will bring them back even at such a high cost That's what it means to proclaim liberty to the captives

It's not just a physical sense it's deeply rooted in the spiritual redemptive sense

Next the recovery of sight to the blind. This one is also both physical and spiritual as well.

Jesus does recover heal blind people But there's also this theme of light and darkness running through Luke, right

Luke 1 77 through 80. There's this light that's coming and In the spiritual sense

Jesus is the light bearer the one who gives spiritual sight the to those who have been trapped in darkness to those who have not been able to see

God's truth and Lastly Jesus proclaims liberty to the oppressed and this is from Isaiah 58 6 and What's really important when we read the

Old Testament quotation from in the New Testament is that the Old New Testament authors did not just cherry -pick whatever verse that they thought was appropriate out of context that would be

Spiritual abuse they considered the context of the

Old Testament passage and Pick the verse that summarizes it really well.

So in the context of Isaiah 58 It's first a rebuke for Israel's sin verse 1 cry aloud spare not lift up your voice like a trumpet tell my people their transgression their rebellion and the house of Jacob their sins

Right again. This is a spiritual context Liberty here is not mainly physical but spiritual

What God is disgusted by is the external expression of worship at the failure to do the internal pure worship

What God is disgusted by is their failure to show justice to the oppressed

The type of worship that God desires is not all the fasting and voluntary inflictions of Hardship.

Oh, look, this is so hard. I'm so spiritually Mature. Oh, look.

I haven't eaten in many days. I'm so close to God That's not what

God was looking for But the type of fast that God desired from Israel was righteous treatment of the lowest among them

The righteous treatment of those who are often forgotten in society and It is in this context to let the oppressed go free

Do what is right? Oh God's people and For Jesus to proclaim that he's saying at the start of Jesus ministry.

This will be true Justice will come to those who are forgotten and oppressed and Then it ends with a note of the

Jubilee to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord Acceptable here means favorable.

It is God's grace It's given freely the coming of Christ signifies the release of the enslaved

The coming of Christ signifies the release of those who are in debt like in Jubilee in Leviticus 25

God has started this new age of salvation and forgiveness from sin and God has started the process of total restoration of his people

If you can imagine a giant set of dominoes all set up around the room filling the room that first domino has been pressed when

Jesus had entered and It's unstoppable now after reading such a magnificent text from Isaiah Jesus closes the scroll and sits down to expound

Verse 21 today. This scripture is fulfilled in your hearing This does not mean everything that was said is happened now.

It's done now. That was the full restoration But rather today marks the time in history in which

God's complete restoration has started It's a time it's a

Marker in history in which you can't go back anymore. It's irreversible

It's unchangeable Jesus is saying upon the coming of Christ God has already started his redemptive plan

And Jesus marks the new era in human history Because he brings about God's salvation and restoration to the world

In one sense even the secular world has to believe that the coming of Christ is a marker in human history

By every calendar they buy and they follow It is not arbitrary that we live in 2023

It's the coming of Christ that marks that The change from BC to AD is because of Christ There's no other more important marker in human history than the coming of Christ Now While the

Prophet Isaiah Proclaimed the same message, right? It's a quotation from Isaiah 61 a brief summary

He had no power to accomplish any of this the the Prophet Isaiah had no power to Restore everything.

He was just a messenger. He was just a mouthpiece yet We see here the fact that Jesus is proclaiming today this scripture has been fulfilled means that he's more than a prophet and According to John the

Baptist Baptist. He is the mightier one who's to come Jesus not only proclaims

God's message which he has because he's read that in the synagogue But he fulfills it he accomplishes it he takes it to God's intended end and how does

Jesus manage to carry God's promise of to fulfillment of This physical and spiritual restoration now all the prophets who came before Christ pointed to Jesus Who will restore

God's people from their rebellion at the core of All the pain all the suffering all the rebellion all the judgments.

The core problem is sin It is because of Adam and Eve sin

That we wake up with pain in our body It Was not meant to be and it is because of sinfulness of human hearts

That there's war that there's a gossip that there's broken relationships and for Christ to restore completely both the physical and spiritual

His restoration comes at his destruction

In order for the sinners to be reconciled and restored back to God Jesus had to take their place and Face the punishment that we deserved and that's really important because God can't buy fiat

Just say I don't worry about it The moment he does that then he goes against his character of justice

We wouldn't want a human judge to just say yeah, you're a murderer, but just don't worry about that We would not stand it how much more so is

God's standard of justice higher and For God for God to restore this fallen sinful rebellious world he himself had to enter the world and take on the place of the sinners and Face the punishment that they deserved so that they could be restored completely and For those of you who trust in Christ that he died for your sin and he rose on the third day

You do have the hope of not just spiritual restoration not just forgiveness of sin, but eventual physical restoration

The world wants to deny the reality of the physical restoration to come at most they can slow it down with billion -dollar industries of makeup and surgeries

But for Christians Your back pain

Has an expiration date your diseases Will end

You Have a day of restoration in which your body will feel better than it has ever felt before even in your 20s

Your body your body will have physical restoration and this comes because you're at first spiritually restored through Christ's death on the

Christ on the cross the hope of our restoration and reconciliation with God rests upon Christ's death and resurrection and That's what

Christ proclaimed about himself through Isaiah's text Now, how does the audience respond?

It is a great news to hear that Finally, we've been waiting for you

Finally, we've been under Roman oppression Finally I don't have to worry about this desire to sin anymore

No when the audience rejects Jesus They will miss out on God's redemptive blessing the audience rejects

Jesus When the audience rejects Jesus they will miss out on God's redemptive blessing in Verse 22 we see ought the audience's first reaction and it's a mixed review

So all bore witness to him and marveled at the gracious words that came that which proceeded out of his mouth now first They are in all because of Jesus extraordinary teaching

After all Jesus taught with the divine authority unlike every other scribes and teachers

Yet They remain skeptical and They said is this not

Joseph's son? What does this mean?

Now the crowd was thoroughly impressed by Jesus teaching ability Yet They could not understand how

Jesus could bring about this reality revealed in Isaiah 61

Their Amazement is not Jesus messianic claim that he's the

Messiah who came to restore the world But rather the delivery of the messianic claim.

It's how he said it Not what he said that they're amazed by That was a good speech

But can you actually do anything about that? Yet They enjoyed the

TED talk it was entertaining, but they don't quite buy it This happens all the time you you listen to a lecture and it's really good

But you know, I don't really believe that so I'm not gonna change my life around that.

I Like the idea of eating healthy more vegetables, but you know They remain skeptical if I don't change anything about that that's the response and Knowing their heart

Jesus replies with the proverb you will surely say this proverb to me physician heal yourself

Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum do also here in your country This proverb basically means prove your words with your action.

Yeah, if you are this great Messiah that you claim to be Do it

Prove what you have professed And Jesus knows that the crowd doesn't really believe that They're just fascinated by the talk

They really don't think he will walk Now instead of rebuking them for their unbelief

Jesus uses historical analogies to show them what would lead from their unbelief

What consequences would naturally occur by rejecting Jesus claim and You know, sometimes the illustrations are more effective than straightforward words.

Oh Well, yeah, you will be judged if you reject me Here showing the logical

Consequences of rejecting Christ is more effective than just telling he's showing it.

He's painting a picture From verses 24 to 27 Jesus brings up two

Old Testament prophets Elijah and Elisha his successor to make his main point

First verse 24 states the main point assuredly I say to you no prophet is accepted in his own country

There's a word play here Although Jesus proclaimed the acceptable year of the

Lord just a couple verses before at his coming the crowd did not accept him the crowd did not find

Jesus as acceptable and verses 25 to 27 illustrate that point as Jesus is rejected in his hometown

Elijah and Elisha To were rejected by their own people Israel Not only that the prophets ministries and their blessings occurred to those people who are not even

Israelites and this occurred during the time of Israel's faithlessness the lowest point of Israel's history and This was a huge testament against the audience

So first verses 24 through 26 cover Elijah's ministry now

Elijah was sent by God to testify against Ahab Israel's wicked king 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 none of them was Elijah Sent to except to Zarephath in the region of Sidon to a woman who was a widow

Because of Israel's wickedness God judged them for three and a half years by sending a famine furthermore

The judgments focus is not the physical famine, but a spiritual one

It is not that rain from heaven was absent But words from heaven were absent because the

Prophet was sent outside of Israel He was not found in Israel for three and a half months and Because Israel rejected the

Lord Instead he blessed a foreign widow. It's not that Israel was prosperous and there was no widow to be found

It's that Israel rejected the Lord so the Lord sent his blessing elsewhere to a foreign woman a

Sidonian widow someone you would least expect to be blessed by the

God of Israel and This is a warning to the current crowd if you reject

Christ and who he says he is Then Christ's blessing that full restoration in Isaiah 61 will pass by you and will go to an unexpected group of people instead

Watch out This will happen to you, too Don't be like the wicked

Israel The ones who grew up with Jesus because it's

Nazareth here This is Jesus hometown will miss out on the eschatological blessing through him because they refuse to believe him and Verse 27 gives another example with the same thrust of the message and Many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet and none of them was cleansed except name in the

Syrian Elisha was Elijah's successor as mentioned before they're not the same prophet now during this time also because of Israel's sinfulness an

Enemy military officer came all the way to Israel from Syria to be miraculously healed by God No lepers in Israel were cleansed

Again, because they rejected God a Syrian commander received God's blessing when he visited

Israel himself Translation if you reject

Jesus, you're about to see his messianic place blessing be poured out onto the most unexpected group of people

The ones that you look down upon The ones who are your enemies?

Salvation will open up to the outsiders if you take the coming of Christ for granted Oh Israel in Another sense if you reject

Christ you are Just like Israel at the lowest point in history and your faith reflects their faith

Which is absent and upon these colorful pictures the crowd responds in verses 28 to 29 and It is not a favorable one

So all those in the synagogues 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 and that they might throw him down over the cliff

Because of Jesus Testament against their unbelief. They were filled with anger wrath

So much so that they seek to kill Jesus by throwing Throwing him over the cliff

Anger here comes from this fear that this might be true Maybe what

Jesus says about our faith is actually true Maybe we are the

Israel of the old days and Anger also comes here from their rejection of Christ.

I Can't receive you that way because I grew up with you. I I Can't receive how

God has chosen himself to deliver me I Just can't accept that That's the type of anger.

I Can't receive it. I can't believe it because it's not my way It is not according to my standard

It's not according to my plan However verse 30 tells us what happened then passing through the midst of them he went his way

Now we're not told how he survived this However, one thing is for sure.

This was not Jesus time nor location to die Jesus moves on in the end.

The crowd does not have any authority to decide how and when Jesus dies only

Jesus does He is the one who chooses to give his life as a ransom for many

It will not be taken by sinful men not in Luke 4 and After this rejection his ministry will stay far away from Nazareth It will mainly be around Galilee until he goes to Jerusalem now

This is important for us this morning because we stand in a similar position of as these

Nazareth ins We lived in during a time and a place in which

Christianity and Christian resources as I've mentioned are more abundant than ever There are books written that are thicker than the

Bible itself about one doctrine in the Bible however we're in a similar spiritual state as These Nazareth ins

Will the question for us this morning is will we be mesmerized by the teaching of Jesus?

But reject the person Jesus tells us the standard is not just appreciation admiration of his speech but acceptance of the person many in our city

Do not flat -out despise Jesus They see him as a good teacher. They see him as a great philanthropist

He's a man of peace Now all of those things are true but Do they receive

Jesus as how he has revealed himself? in Scripture They're fine with receiving

Jesus of their own Creation and of their own limitations Yes, I'm fine with Jesus who hangs out with the prostitutes heals them

But I can't stand Jesus who would be judgmental I Can receive

Jesus who speaks about peace? But I can't receive

Jesus who sends people anyone sends anyone to hell That's the same situation we find ourselves this morning

Your speech is great. Jesus. Your teaching is wonderful But man, aren't you just a carpenter son aren't you son of Joseph?

Isn't he just a teacher isn't he just an ancient famous guy

That's the same juncture here and What this text tells us is that we stand to miss out on his blessing of salvation if we refuse to believe how

Jesus has fulfilled God's restoration of the world through the cross and resurrection if We are ashamed of the cross then we stand to miss out on the blessing of his restoration

Anyone who is embarrassed by the cross Anyone who can't believe in our modern mind that someone could rise from the dead will miss out on both the spiritual and physical restoration

The divine redemption does not depend on how we choose to receive and view

Christ The divine redemption depends on how we receive Christ just as he revealed himself in Scripture We don't create

Christ in our image we worship Christ as the revealed Son of God who came to bear our sin and face the wrath that we deserved and rose from the dead and one of the biggest judgments of This Religious hubris

Despite all the resources we have of Christianity all the books every translation of the Bible you could think of at our fingertips

One big sign is if you talk to a Christian from a third world nation

Who barely has a copy of the Bible who barely can afford another book?

Their faith in Scripture is stronger. I have a brother in Christ from seminary from Uzbekistan former

Soviet Union country and he and his family are some of the first Christians in that country because Christianity was banned and I Told him when

I Accepted the job here to minister here. I told him yeah.

I have people here are really solid They really believe in Scripture All the elders they believe in six -day creation

In a pauses he says what do you mean? And I thought oh, he doesn't believe in six -day creation

So I said, you know how in Genesis 1 right day 1 day 2 day 3 day 4 day 5 day 6

That's how God created right like oh, yeah, of course And he said is there another way?

Rarely nowadays in American churches will you find even a conservative

Evangelical pastor preach that Genesis 1 is meant to be read literally

But my brother from Uzbekistan doesn't need a Genesis commentary to know what God's Word says and we

Stand to miss out on that blessing if we cannot Receive Christ the way he has revealed himself in Scripture Let us pray

Father we're thankful for who you are and we're thankful for Christ who is the final authority and the very fulfillment of the restoration of Not only our spirit but our bodies

Father we pray that you would help us to grasp on to this hope and not to paint