1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:06,040 I want to invite you to open your Bible at Luke, and chapter four as we begin our 2 00:00:06,040 –> 00:00:12,740 advent series together, and under the title, Why Jesus Came. 3 00:00:12,740 –> 00:00:18,980 We’re looking at these verses here because in them we have Jesus Christ’s mission 4 00:00:18,980 –> 00:00:23,540 statement stated in his own words. 5 00:00:23,540 –> 00:00:25,480 We begin at verse 16. 6 00:00:25,480 –> 00:00:28,100 I hope you have the Bible open in front of you. 7 00:00:28,160 –> 00:00:34,220 We’re told there that Jesus came up to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. 8 00:00:34,220 –> 00:00:41,700 And as was his custom, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. 9 00:00:41,700 –> 00:00:46,299 And just to think about that Sabbath day together, and we’re going to see how it speaks directly 10 00:00:46,299 –> 00:00:48,599 into our lives today. 11 00:00:48,599 –> 00:00:54,900 What happened here was probably about a year into the ministry of the Lord Jesus. 12 00:00:54,900 –> 00:00:58,619 If you only have Luke’s gospel, you might think that it was right at the beginning, 13 00:00:58,619 –> 00:01:02,939 but the other gospels make it quite clear that this was not the case. 14 00:01:02,939 –> 00:01:08,160 Matthew and Mark both record this incident that comes early in Luke, much later in their 15 00:01:08,160 –> 00:01:09,540 accounts. 16 00:01:09,540 –> 00:01:14,339 Matthew chapter 13 in this story, and Mark’s gospel in chapter six. 17 00:01:14,339 –> 00:01:18,580 And John in his gospel makes it very clear that in the early days of the ministry of 18 00:01:18,580 –> 00:01:22,279 the Lord Jesus, he was involved in ministry in Jerusalem. 19 00:01:22,639 –> 00:01:24,519 That’s where he speaks to Nicodemus. 20 00:01:24,519 –> 00:01:27,959 He then comes back through Samaria, the account of the woman of Samaria. 21 00:01:27,959 –> 00:01:33,199 All of that had in fact happened before the account that Luke puts here at the beginning 22 00:01:33,199 –> 00:01:34,260 of his gospel. 23 00:01:34,260 –> 00:01:38,220 Look at his reason for putting it at the beginning and we’ll come to that later. 24 00:01:38,220 –> 00:01:43,160 But you’ll notice that even in verse 14 and 15, Luke consistent with the other gospels 25 00:01:43,160 –> 00:01:48,300 is making it clear to us that already before this story, Jesus had been ministering in 26 00:01:48,300 –> 00:01:49,300 Galilee. 27 00:01:49,680 –> 00:01:55,360 He had already, he had been teaching in other synagogues and already Luke says news had 28 00:01:55,360 –> 00:02:01,099 been spreading about him throughout the surrounding country. 29 00:02:01,099 –> 00:02:06,459 Now that’s important for this reason that because the public ministry of Jesus had by 30 00:02:06,459 –> 00:02:13,820 this point gained considerable momentum, you can understand the interest, the intrigue, 31 00:02:13,820 –> 00:02:19,279 the anticipation that by this point, a year into the public ministry of Jesus, there would 32 00:02:19,279 –> 00:02:26,300 have been in Nazareth his home town where he had grown up as a boy. 33 00:02:26,300 –> 00:02:28,679 Think of that town. 34 00:02:28,679 –> 00:02:35,839 The kids who had played with Jesus in the streets growing up are now in their thirties. 35 00:02:35,839 –> 00:02:40,460 Many of them married and they have children of their own. 36 00:02:40,460 –> 00:02:45,679 Some folks in this town have in their house a chair that was mended by Jesus. 37 00:02:45,679 –> 00:02:49,800 Not many carpenters in a small town like Nazareth. 38 00:02:49,800 –> 00:02:54,520 Other’s a table that they had ordered from his carpenter’s shop. 39 00:02:54,520 –> 00:02:59,839 Luke says it had been his custom to worship in this particular synagogue growing up. 40 00:02:59,839 –> 00:03:04,860 So what that means is that out of that congregation there were people who had sat right next to 41 00:03:04,860 –> 00:03:05,860 Jesus. 42 00:03:05,860 –> 00:03:07,000 They had knelt right next to Jesus. 43 00:03:07,000 –> 00:03:11,520 They had sung the Psalms right next to Jesus, they had listened to the Rabbis giving the 44 00:03:11,520 –> 00:03:14,580 sermon right next to Jesus. 45 00:03:14,639 –> 00:03:22,020 Now everybody is talking about Jesus, and when someone from a small town becomes famous 46 00:03:22,020 –> 00:03:26,679 it’s a big deal for everybody else. 47 00:03:26,679 –> 00:03:35,759 And Nazareth as you may recall was not exactly on the list of top ten places that are desirable 48 00:03:35,759 –> 00:03:37,779 for raising a family. 49 00:03:37,779 –> 00:03:41,460 You remember that we’re told in the Bible that there was a proverb that was around at 50 00:03:41,460 –> 00:03:42,639 that time. 51 00:03:42,639 –> 00:03:47,380 And it was, can anything good come out of Nazareth? 52 00:03:47,380 –> 00:03:52,580 And that gives you the kind of slighting that these good folks form Nazareth had to put 53 00:03:52,580 –> 00:03:57,880 up with being rather despised by folks from other towns who thought their place was just 54 00:03:57,880 –> 00:04:00,279 about the worst place in the world to live. 55 00:04:00,279 –> 00:04:03,539 Well now, I mean, can anything good come out of Nazareth, now it seemed like they might 56 00:04:03,539 –> 00:04:05,820 have an answer to that question. 57 00:04:05,820 –> 00:04:07,339 Can anything good come out of Nazareth? 58 00:04:07,339 –> 00:04:08,460 Well guess what. 59 00:04:08,460 –> 00:04:09,940 Everybody is talking about Jesus. 60 00:04:10,179 –> 00:04:11,960 Guess where he came from? 61 00:04:11,960 –> 00:04:13,500 He came out of Nazareth. 62 00:04:13,500 –> 00:04:15,899 We got something going for us now. 63 00:04:15,899 –> 00:04:18,899 So you can imagine that there was great anticipation. 64 00:04:18,899 –> 00:04:28,339 The Lord Jesus must have thought very carefully about the timing of his public ministry in 65 00:04:28,339 –> 00:04:29,339 his own hometown. 66 00:04:29,339 –> 00:04:34,200 There are obviously unique dynamics about this occasion, different from any other place. 67 00:04:34,200 –> 00:04:38,260 And this was the moment that he chose, and Luke puts it right at the beginning of the 68 00:04:38,299 –> 00:04:45,739 gospel and tells us that Jesus, on this particular Sabbath, came back to Nazareth where he had 69 00:04:45,739 –> 00:04:47,220 been brought up. 70 00:04:47,220 –> 00:04:52,700 And you can imagine how word would’ve got around this very, very quickly, and folks 71 00:04:52,700 –> 00:04:58,500 would’ve said you’d better get to the synagogue early, because there’s gonna be a big crowd 72 00:04:58,500 –> 00:05:05,980 on Saturday, and if you don’t get there early, you’ll never get a good parking spot, right? 73 00:05:05,980 –> 00:05:07,160 You get the idea. 74 00:05:07,739 –> 00:05:17,160 What this must’ve meant to Mary, how she must’ve anticipated the Sabbath when her son, the 75 00:05:17,160 –> 00:05:23,140 son of God, would bring the Word of Life to her own people. 76 00:05:23,140 –> 00:05:24,600 What must that’ve meant to her? 77 00:05:24,600 –> 00:05:29,820 How much she have anticipated this day? 78 00:05:31,059 –> 00:05:35,779 Now, as we think about what it meant for Jesus to come into the synagogue, you folks don’t 79 00:05:35,779 –> 00:05:45,720 need me to tell you how dreary so much that passes in the name of religion can be, how 80 00:05:45,720 –> 00:05:56,619 dull, how oppressive, how tedious, how deadly boring is so much that passes in the name 81 00:05:56,619 –> 00:06:00,140 of religion in our world today. 82 00:06:00,140 –> 00:06:04,480 Instruction from an ancient book. 83 00:06:04,480 –> 00:06:08,880 The dead weight of endless traditions. 84 00:06:08,880 –> 00:06:15,260 The pious superiority of some clerical gentleman who seems to be talking down to everybody 85 00:06:15,260 –> 00:06:18,279 else. 86 00:06:18,279 –> 00:06:21,859 But this day was different. 87 00:06:21,859 –> 00:06:26,799 Of course, the synagogue service would have followed its familiar pattern, the singing 88 00:06:26,859 –> 00:06:32,660 of the Psalms came first, then the recitation of the Shema, Israel there is one God and 89 00:06:32,660 –> 00:06:34,559 love Him with all your heart. 90 00:06:34,559 –> 00:06:40,500 The pronouncement of blessings followed by a reading from the Law of Moses, and then 91 00:06:40,500 –> 00:06:43,799 following that a reading from one of the prophets. 92 00:06:43,799 –> 00:06:48,339 And when that moment came in the service, Luke tells us, Jesus stood up. 93 00:06:48,339 –> 00:06:54,160 There was freedom to do this in the synagogues, an opportunity to come and contribute. 94 00:06:54,200 –> 00:06:59,100 When Jesus stood up and he comes forward and he’s handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, 95 00:06:59,100 –> 00:07:01,279 verse 17. 96 00:07:01,279 –> 00:07:05,859 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and I want you to notice that Jesus 97 00:07:05,859 –> 00:07:07,619 chose the reading. 98 00:07:07,619 –> 00:07:12,299 He’s given the scroll, and particularly we’re told he unrolled the scroll to the place, 99 00:07:12,299 –> 00:07:17,859 he found the place, Jesus found the place where it was written, and the place in our 100 00:07:17,859 –> 00:07:23,299 Bibles is Isaiah chapter 61, and He read these words. 101 00:07:24,600 –> 00:07:34,920 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to 102 00:07:34,940 –> 00:07:35,940 the poor. 103 00:07:35,940 –> 00:07:41,940 He sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set 104 00:07:41,940 –> 00:07:49,779 at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. 105 00:07:49,779 –> 00:07:58,059 Verse twenty he rolled up the scroll and he gave it back to the attendant and he sat down, 106 00:07:58,079 –> 00:08:01,540 which was of course what all the rabbis did when they were about to teach. 107 00:08:01,540 –> 00:08:07,040 And you can imagine what is said next here in Lukes gospel, verse twenty, the eyes of 108 00:08:07,040 –> 00:08:14,500 all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 109 00:08:14,500 –> 00:08:28,160 And he began to say to them, today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. 110 00:08:28,160 –> 00:08:34,080 They had never heard a sermon like this before. 111 00:08:34,080 –> 00:08:41,140 The book only records the opening line, but it was the most extraordinary sermon they 112 00:08:41,140 –> 00:08:44,200 had ever heard. 113 00:08:44,200 –> 00:08:47,640 Of course, you know the kind of thing that they would have been used to. 114 00:08:47,640 –> 00:08:54,000 I expect that what they normally got on the Sabbath was a scribe or a Pharisee talking 115 00:08:54,000 –> 00:08:56,880 about Isaiah. 116 00:08:56,880 –> 00:08:58,419 You know the kind of thing. 117 00:08:58,419 –> 00:09:01,799 You have the reading, and then the guy goes off. 118 00:09:02,140 –> 00:09:08,940 Isaiah was a prophet who lived 800 years ago. 119 00:09:08,960 –> 00:09:14,359 People kind of settle into their pews and think, I hope this is going to get some place. 120 00:09:14,359 –> 00:09:21,580 He ministered during the reigns of Uzziah and Ahaz and Jotham and Hezekiah who reigned 121 00:09:21,580 –> 00:09:29,099 in the southern kingdom. 122 00:09:29,260 –> 00:09:35,780 Here in these words the prophet speaks of a day to come when the Lord will surely visit 123 00:09:35,780 –> 00:09:39,599 His people. 124 00:09:39,599 –> 00:09:52,880 So much preaching is about prophecies from the past, promises for the future, and ordinary 125 00:09:53,159 –> 00:10:02,640 people sit in the pews and wonder, what in all the world has this got to do with me today? 126 00:10:02,640 –> 00:10:07,080 But look what is happening here. 127 00:10:07,080 –> 00:10:16,479 Prophecies from the past and promises for the future become gifts for today in the hands 128 00:10:16,479 –> 00:10:19,520 of Jesus. 129 00:10:19,520 –> 00:10:23,859 Jesus says, I’m here to speak to you. 130 00:10:23,859 –> 00:10:29,599 I’m here to tell you that there is hope for you today. 131 00:10:29,599 –> 00:10:34,880 It’s the hope that comes right out of the Scripture, but it’s not about yesterday 132 00:10:34,880 –> 00:10:40,859 and it’s not about tomorrow, it’s about the reality of your life today. 133 00:10:40,859 –> 00:10:43,520 He speaks to them. 134 00:10:43,520 –> 00:10:48,200 He speaks about today, and what He speaks is good news. 135 00:10:48,200 –> 00:10:54,440 No wonder the eyes of every single person in the synagogue are fixed upon Him! 136 00:10:54,440 –> 00:11:03,460 Now, this preaching ministry of Jesus gives us a model for everyone who ever has the privilege 137 00:11:03,460 –> 00:11:08,219 of standing in a pulpit and speaking in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 138 00:11:08,219 –> 00:11:10,219 What does Jesus do in His preaching? 139 00:11:10,219 –> 00:11:17,559 He take what was there and then and He makes it here and now. 140 00:11:17,559 –> 00:11:23,580 The message is not that God has been able to do wonderful things for other people. 141 00:11:23,580 –> 00:11:30,239 The message is that God is able to do wonderful things in your life here today. 142 00:11:30,239 –> 00:11:36,700 So that the purpose of Christian preaching is not the impartation of information so that 143 00:11:36,700 –> 00:11:41,679 everyone goes away with their head stuffed with some kind of a Biblical education. 144 00:11:41,679 –> 00:11:46,500 The purpose of Christian preaching is transformation, that is its purpose. 145 00:11:46,500 –> 00:11:49,219 Dr. Jim Packer says this very, very beautifully. 146 00:11:49,219 –> 00:11:54,500 He says, the purpose of preaching is to mediate encounters with God. 147 00:11:54,500 –> 00:11:56,659 That’s what it’s for. 148 00:11:56,659 –> 00:11:58,479 We spend this time here on Sunday morning. 149 00:11:58,479 –> 00:11:59,479 What’s its purpose? 150 00:11:59,479 –> 00:12:03,580 For me to learn another 25 things about the story of Jesus from the New Testament? 151 00:12:03,580 –> 00:12:07,780 No, the purpose of our time here together today is that through the Word of God and 152 00:12:07,780 –> 00:12:12,880 through the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ may be mediated in encounter between you and 153 00:12:12,880 –> 00:12:15,059 God. 154 00:12:15,119 –> 00:12:19,500 What do you know of that in your life? 155 00:12:19,520 –> 00:12:28,320 Many of you have been raised with the traditions and the trappings of religion. 156 00:12:28,320 –> 00:12:32,059 Church has been part of your life perhaps all of your years. 157 00:12:32,059 –> 00:12:41,919 There were many priests and pastors and prayers and songs and rituals but somehow it did not 158 00:12:41,919 –> 00:12:45,440 connect with the realities of your life. 159 00:12:47,000 –> 00:12:50,520 There are thousands of people like you. 160 00:12:50,539 –> 00:12:54,500 And what I’m saying to you from the Bible here today is that Jesus Christ changes all 161 00:12:54,500 –> 00:12:55,679 of that. 162 00:12:55,679 –> 00:13:00,599 He placed the word of truth in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, the word of God in 163 00:13:00,599 –> 00:13:05,960 the hands of the son of God and through it it becomes the word of hope for all people 164 00:13:05,960 –> 00:13:08,159 today. 165 00:13:08,159 –> 00:13:12,960 An encounter with God for you through Jesus Christ. 166 00:13:12,960 –> 00:13:15,320 That’s what all of this is about. 167 00:13:15,320 –> 00:13:25,719 If you could know this Christ, if His ministry could touch your life, how different your 168 00:13:25,719 –> 00:13:29,440 experience would be. 169 00:13:29,440 –> 00:13:35,320 Now that is what is happening on this extraordinary day as Jesus has this as it were homecoming. 170 00:13:35,799 –> 00:13:43,280 He comes back to his hometown and lays out there of all places this wonderful announcement 171 00:13:43,280 –> 00:13:49,299 as to why it was that He came into the world. 172 00:13:49,299 –> 00:13:53,520 I want to make just two observations here today. 173 00:13:53,520 –> 00:13:57,960 The first is what the good news is, and the second is how it can be ours. 174 00:13:57,960 –> 00:14:04,059 Will you look with me at verse 18 and 19 here, because this is one of the crystal clear statements 175 00:14:04,200 –> 00:14:07,640 in the new testament of why Jesus Christ came into the world. 176 00:14:07,640 –> 00:14:13,239 These are His own words, chosen from Isaiah to describe why he came. 177 00:14:13,239 –> 00:14:18,880 And he says it here, do you see it, at to proclaim liberty to the captives, the recovering 178 00:14:18,880 –> 00:14:26,059 of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and then the bottom line 179 00:14:26,059 –> 00:14:32,559 here to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. 180 00:14:32,619 –> 00:14:36,280 You say what’s that? 181 00:14:36,280 –> 00:14:43,679 Well, the year of the Lord’s favor was the pinnacle, the pinnacle of some wonderfully 182 00:14:43,679 –> 00:14:48,359 compassionate laws that God had given for the protection of His people. 183 00:14:48,359 –> 00:14:51,479 Let me tell you about a couple of them. 184 00:14:51,479 –> 00:14:58,719 One was, and you can check this out in Deuteronomy chapter 15, that every seven years all debts 185 00:14:58,719 –> 00:14:59,919 were to be cancelled. 186 00:15:00,919 –> 00:15:04,760 Now, don’t you think it would be a great idea for someone to have a word with whoever 187 00:15:04,760 –> 00:15:11,280 runs Visa and Mastercard and see if they would be interested in implementing this policy? 188 00:15:11,280 –> 00:15:15,059 Every seven years whatever your debt was? 189 00:15:15,059 –> 00:15:16,599 Gone. 190 00:15:16,599 –> 00:15:20,320 Hey, that would be a happy Christmas. 191 00:15:20,320 –> 00:15:27,239 But that was a law that was given for the protection of people in the Old Testament. 192 00:15:27,359 –> 00:15:28,840 Here’s a second one. 193 00:15:29,080 –> 00:15:32,760 These have often been referred to as the kindly laws of the Old Testament. 194 00:15:32,760 –> 00:15:35,940 They’re wonderful expressions of how compassionate God is. 195 00:15:35,940 –> 00:15:38,080 Much more than we are. 196 00:15:38,080 –> 00:15:41,460 Every seven years all slaves were to be released. 197 00:15:41,460 –> 00:15:43,159 You say, well how are people slaves? 198 00:15:43,159 –> 00:15:48,799 Well, simply for this way in Israel if someone became indebted, one of the ways in which 199 00:15:48,799 –> 00:15:54,119 they could honourably pay off that debt was to give their labor to someone to whom they 200 00:15:54,119 –> 00:15:58,359 were in debt, and that was allowed within the scope of the Old Testament law, but it 201 00:15:58,359 –> 00:15:59,979 was only allowed for a limited period of time. 202 00:15:59,979 –> 00:16:04,200 It could not become endemic, it could not be institutionalized. 203 00:16:04,200 –> 00:16:09,520 Every seven years everyone who was, as it were, working off debt in this way was to 204 00:16:09,520 –> 00:16:12,460 be released as the debt also was released. 205 00:16:12,460 –> 00:16:19,359 There’s a whole raft of these laws, but the crown, the pinnacle of these kindly compassionate 206 00:16:19,359 –> 00:16:23,820 laws of God in the Old Testament was this year of the Lord’s favour. 207 00:16:24,380 –> 00:16:29,919 You can read about it in Leviticus in chapter 25, and what it was was simply this. 208 00:16:29,919 –> 00:16:36,559 In every fiftieth year, in other words after seven cycles of the sevens, in the fiftieth 209 00:16:36,559 –> 00:16:44,840 year after the seven sevens, all land that had been sold, purchased was to be returned 210 00:16:44,840 –> 00:16:49,320 to the original family of ownership. 211 00:16:49,320 –> 00:16:54,580 You can read that in Leviticus 25, 10, you shall consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim 212 00:16:54,580 –> 00:16:56,799 liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. 213 00:16:56,799 –> 00:16:59,780 It’s a great celebration that God had ordained. 214 00:16:59,780 –> 00:17:06,060 It shall be a jubilee for you when each of you shall return to his property, and each 215 00:17:06,060 –> 00:17:09,699 of you shall return to his clan. 216 00:17:09,699 –> 00:17:12,500 Now, you will understand the significance of this. 217 00:17:12,500 –> 00:17:18,160 When God’s people came into the Promised Land, God gave a portion of the land to each tribe, 218 00:17:18,160 –> 00:17:21,319 to each clan, and therefore to each family. 219 00:17:21,319 –> 00:17:27,800 And the jubilee law was very simply a way of seeking to ensure that it stayed that way. 220 00:17:27,800 –> 00:17:32,959 Over time, with the realities of different circumstances of life, some people may have 221 00:17:32,959 –> 00:17:38,640 found it necessary to sell land and so forth and so on, but once in every lifetime, every 222 00:17:38,640 –> 00:17:43,920 fiftieth year, the land was to be returned to the original owners. 223 00:17:43,920 –> 00:17:47,839 And what that meant of course, as those of you who are thoughtful about these things 224 00:17:47,839 –> 00:17:54,520 will quickly work out, is that all of the land was held on a leasehold basis. 225 00:17:54,520 –> 00:18:01,260 This meant that the price of land would have varied depending on where you were in the 226 00:18:01,260 –> 00:18:03,760 fifty year cycle. 227 00:18:03,760 –> 00:18:08,400 If you were say forty eight years into the fifty year cycle, the price that you would 228 00:18:08,400 –> 00:18:12,359 pay for purchasing land would be relatively low because you’d only have it for two years 229 00:18:12,359 –> 00:18:15,680 before it would have to revert to the original owners. 230 00:18:15,680 –> 00:18:20,140 But if you bought a piece of land two years after the Jubilee the price would be relatively 231 00:18:20,140 –> 00:18:25,619 high because you would have the value of using it for 48 years before it returned to the 232 00:18:25,619 –> 00:18:27,800 original owners and so forth and so on. 233 00:18:27,800 –> 00:18:31,380 This is all in the Old Testament law that God gave through Moses. 234 00:18:31,380 –> 00:18:35,800 Now you will see that these are marvelously compassionate laws. 235 00:18:36,079 –> 00:18:42,400 They placed a check on the growing power of those who accumulated wealth. 236 00:18:42,400 –> 00:18:45,560 It couldn’t be exponential. 237 00:18:45,560 –> 00:18:50,800 They also made sure, of course, that the children of people who had become wealthy 238 00:18:50,800 –> 00:18:52,160 would have to find their own way. 239 00:18:52,160 –> 00:18:57,520 They couldn’t simply float through life on massive inheritances. 240 00:18:57,520 –> 00:19:03,640 It also, of course, gave very wonderfully a new start, a break, an opportunity to people 241 00:19:03,699 –> 00:19:05,739 who had become poor and depressed. 242 00:19:05,739 –> 00:19:09,060 And this happened once in every lifetime. 243 00:19:09,060 –> 00:19:12,520 Now, it is simply a fact of history. 244 00:19:12,520 –> 00:19:16,119 No other country has ever had laws like this. 245 00:19:16,119 –> 00:19:18,280 No other legislature has ever passed them. 246 00:19:18,280 –> 00:19:24,140 No culture has ever protected the poor in the way that God’s laws protected the poor. 247 00:19:24,140 –> 00:19:27,199 God says, you’re my people. 248 00:19:27,199 –> 00:19:33,439 And in the Old Testament to Israel, he says, this is what you are to do. 249 00:19:33,979 –> 00:19:41,579 Now let me ask you this question, how would you have liked to live under these laws? 250 00:19:41,579 –> 00:19:47,160 Everyone looks blank and for very good reason. 251 00:19:47,160 –> 00:19:50,359 Because I guess the answer is, well, it all depends. 252 00:19:50,359 –> 00:19:54,880 It all depends on the position that you would find yourself in when the Jubilee came. 253 00:19:54,880 –> 00:20:01,359 A lot would depend on whether you were a borrower or whether you were a lender. 254 00:20:01,359 –> 00:20:13,079 These laws are great for debtors, but they are very, very costly for creditors. 255 00:20:13,079 –> 00:20:16,719 But God gave these laws to Moses when the people were in the wilderness. 256 00:20:16,719 –> 00:20:19,520 He said, Well, I’m going to bring you into the Promised Land, I’m going to give a portion 257 00:20:19,520 –> 00:20:24,239 of land to each family, and here’s what you’re to do every 50 years, you’re to sound the 258 00:20:24,239 –> 00:20:29,680 trumpet, and you are to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. 259 00:20:30,560 –> 00:20:33,280 Leviticus chapter 25. 260 00:20:33,280 –> 00:20:37,180 So that’s the law of God, and how many times do you think it happened in the entire history 261 00:20:37,180 –> 00:20:40,800 of Israel? 262 00:20:40,800 –> 00:20:45,359 Not one single time. 263 00:20:45,359 –> 00:20:56,079 And you know why, because the folks with the power were the folks with the money. 264 00:20:56,079 –> 00:20:59,880 And when they looked at what it was going to cost them to sound the trumpet and announce 265 00:20:59,880 –> 00:21:05,000 the jubilee, they said, we better do it another year. 266 00:21:05,000 –> 00:21:06,880 So the trumpet never sounded. 267 00:21:06,880 –> 00:21:11,959 By the time of Isaiah the prophet, people had been in the land 700 years. 268 00:21:11,959 –> 00:21:13,959 There should have been 14 jubilees by then. 269 00:21:13,959 –> 00:21:17,060 There hadn’t been a single one. 270 00:21:17,060 –> 00:21:19,640 Not surprising. 271 00:21:19,640 –> 00:21:25,760 These laws could only operate among people who loved God with all their heart and who 272 00:21:25,760 –> 00:21:31,640 really loved their neighbor as much as they loved themselves. 273 00:21:31,640 –> 00:21:36,000 And there is not a single culture that is true. 274 00:21:36,000 –> 00:21:40,739 There is not a single person can claim that that is true. 275 00:21:40,739 –> 00:21:49,819 There is not one of us who loves God with all our heart and loves our neighbor as ourselves. 276 00:21:49,819 –> 00:21:53,459 And so the law of God as it always does just shows us how selfish we really are. 277 00:21:53,540 –> 00:21:57,680 God just proves how much we need to be redeemed. 278 00:21:57,680 –> 00:22:02,920 So after 700 years of the trumpet never blowing a single time, God spoke to Isaiah the prophet 279 00:22:02,920 –> 00:22:08,079 about one who would come and blow the trumpet, one who would preach good news to the poor, 280 00:22:08,079 –> 00:22:11,839 one who would bring freedom for the oppressed, one who would proclaim the year of jubilee, 281 00:22:11,839 –> 00:22:13,099 the year of the Lord’s favor. 282 00:22:13,099 –> 00:22:17,119 You can read it there in Isaiah and Chapter 61 and that’s the word that Jesus chose 283 00:22:17,119 –> 00:22:20,119 to read in the synagogue on that Sabbath morning. 284 00:22:20,119 –> 00:22:23,119 Who would do this? 285 00:22:23,359 –> 00:22:25,380 Who would have the power to do it? 286 00:22:25,380 –> 00:22:29,640 Who would be willing to pay the price to do it? 287 00:22:29,640 –> 00:22:35,599 And then Jesus came into the synagogue at Nazareth and he stood up and the scroll of 288 00:22:35,599 –> 00:22:39,880 the prophet Isaiah was given to him and he found the place where it is written, the spirit 289 00:22:39,880 –> 00:22:44,060 of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. 290 00:22:44,060 –> 00:22:49,920 He has sent me to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. 291 00:22:49,920 –> 00:22:57,520 He says, today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. 292 00:22:57,520 –> 00:23:05,660 I am the promised one of whom Isaiah spoke, I am the one who has come because God is going 293 00:23:05,660 –> 00:23:10,280 to do for you what you would never do for each other. 294 00:23:10,280 –> 00:23:15,079 God is going to show how different he is from us. 295 00:23:15,079 –> 00:23:19,680 He’s going to cancel all your debts to him. 296 00:23:19,739 –> 00:23:22,979 He’s going to set you free from Satan’s power. 297 00:23:22,979 –> 00:23:28,500 He’s going to give you back the inheritance that Adam lost, forfeited. 298 00:23:28,500 –> 00:23:33,900 It’s going to come back to you, and that’s why I’ve come into the world. 299 00:23:33,900 –> 00:23:37,920 And this is good news for the poor, and it is good news for the oppressed, and it is 300 00:23:37,920 –> 00:23:43,900 good news for the blind, and it is good news for those who have been crushed. 301 00:23:43,900 –> 00:23:49,160 That’s the promise of the gospel. 302 00:23:49,160 –> 00:23:53,400 But you will see that if God is to fulfill everything that is there in the Jubilee, if 303 00:23:53,400 –> 00:23:57,459 He’s to do what we would never do, if He’s to do for us in His love and in His kindness 304 00:23:57,459 –> 00:24:03,979 what we have not done for each other, then it’s going to mean Him incurring an awful 305 00:24:03,979 –> 00:24:07,859 debt Himself. 306 00:24:07,859 –> 00:24:11,939 Some of you have, as Christian men and women, chosen in kindness to write off a debt, give 307 00:24:11,939 –> 00:24:17,180 a generous gift, to reflect the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. 308 00:24:17,239 –> 00:24:22,160 And you know every time you do it you write off a debt, what happens? 309 00:24:22,160 –> 00:24:29,560 You incur as a loss to yourself precisely the amount of the debt you just wrote off. 310 00:24:31,800 –> 00:24:41,099 And you have done that as an act of kindness, unmerited favor, but you see, for God to do 311 00:24:41,099 –> 00:24:44,199 that for you and for me meant precisely the same thing. 312 00:24:44,199 –> 00:24:46,880 This is why Jesus Christ went to the cross. 313 00:24:46,880 –> 00:24:55,000 He had to bear the loss involved in canceling our debt and in restoring our inheritance. 314 00:24:55,000 –> 00:24:56,319 And how did He do that? 315 00:24:56,319 –> 00:25:00,400 He does it by absorbing it in Himself. 316 00:25:00,400 –> 00:25:06,640 He bears it in His body on the tree. 317 00:25:06,640 –> 00:25:09,900 And Jesus says, this is why I’ve come. 318 00:25:09,900 –> 00:25:13,339 And this is the greatest good news, if you can hear it, if you can see it, that anyone 319 00:25:13,420 –> 00:25:16,780 in this world has ever or ever will hear. 320 00:25:16,780 –> 00:25:20,579 That’s what the good news is. 321 00:25:20,579 –> 00:25:24,199 And the last thing I just want to touch on here is the very important question, well, 322 00:25:24,199 –> 00:25:27,780 how can it be yours? 323 00:25:27,780 –> 00:25:34,439 Jesus Christ has come to do for us what we have not done for each other, God doing for 324 00:25:34,439 –> 00:25:35,439 us. 325 00:25:35,439 –> 00:25:41,939 God showing His kindness, God showing His love, which is of another kind. 326 00:25:42,020 –> 00:25:43,180 How can this be yours? 327 00:25:43,180 –> 00:25:48,359 I want to suggest two answers to that question very simply and they’re right here in this 328 00:25:48,359 –> 00:25:49,959 passage of Scripture. 329 00:25:49,959 –> 00:25:57,260 If all that Jesus Christ has come to give as gifts into our lives today, if that is 330 00:25:57,260 –> 00:26:01,140 to become yours, here’s what needs to happen. 331 00:26:01,140 –> 00:26:05,739 Number one, you need to recognize your own need. 332 00:26:05,739 –> 00:26:09,300 Gotta recognize your own need. 333 00:26:09,300 –> 00:26:13,819 And do you see there that Jesus identifies the people to whom he brings the good news 334 00:26:13,819 –> 00:26:17,819 in four ways and they all point to one thing. 335 00:26:17,819 –> 00:26:18,819 Need. 336 00:26:18,819 –> 00:26:23,140 It’s the poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed. 337 00:26:23,140 –> 00:26:27,420 Literally that word means the ones having been crushed. 338 00:26:27,420 –> 00:26:32,540 Good news for the ones having been crushed today, Jesus says, and those oppressed, and 339 00:26:32,540 –> 00:26:38,780 those who are blind and those who are poor and those who are captives. 340 00:26:38,780 –> 00:26:40,040 What does he mean? 341 00:26:40,040 –> 00:26:46,739 Now, you will know especially today that some people want to limit the ministry of Jesus 342 00:26:46,739 –> 00:26:54,140 to people who live without money or live without power or live without freedom. 343 00:26:54,140 –> 00:26:59,280 But if that was the case, it would of course be that Jesus would have then nothing to offer 344 00:26:59,280 –> 00:27:02,760 to many of the people who were sitting right in front of him there in the synagogue of 345 00:27:02,760 –> 00:27:07,439 Nazareth including… and also nothing to offer to many of us today. 346 00:27:07,439 –> 00:27:11,979 Remember that some in the synagogue at Nazareth would have been running a small business like 347 00:27:11,979 –> 00:27:14,660 a carpenter’s shop or whatever. 348 00:27:14,660 –> 00:27:17,880 Most of them would have had good eyesight, some of them 20-20 eyesight. 349 00:27:17,880 –> 00:27:19,699 None of them were in prison. 350 00:27:19,699 –> 00:27:22,579 They were all free to come to the synagogue service. 351 00:27:22,579 –> 00:27:27,819 So, we are not to understand by this statement that Jesus is saying that the good news is 352 00:27:27,819 –> 00:27:32,119 only for a particular group of disadvantaged people. 353 00:27:32,119 –> 00:27:33,780 What is he saying? 354 00:27:34,260 –> 00:27:41,260 Well, poor, captive, blind, and oppressed are precisely the words that the Bible uses 355 00:27:41,260 –> 00:27:48,500 to describe the condition not of some people but of all people before God. 356 00:27:48,500 –> 00:27:55,079 To the wealthiest person Christ would say, 357 00:27:55,900 –> 00:28:02,140 what will it profit you if you gain the world 358 00:28:02,140 –> 00:28:07,680 and lose your soul? 359 00:28:07,680 –> 00:28:11,800 If you gain everything and you lose your soul, what have you got? 360 00:28:11,800 –> 00:28:12,880 Nothing. 361 00:28:12,880 –> 00:28:16,859 You’re poor. 362 00:28:16,900 –> 00:28:25,839 To all of us who rejoice in the political freedom that we have, the liberties that come 363 00:28:25,839 –> 00:28:29,479 with the blessing of living in the country, we say, we’re free. 364 00:28:29,479 –> 00:28:33,300 We’re free, thank God for our freedom, thank God for our freedom indeed. 365 00:28:33,300 –> 00:28:42,459 And Jesus would say to us this, whoever sins is a slave to sin. 366 00:28:42,459 –> 00:28:45,339 Call yourself free? 367 00:28:45,339 –> 00:28:49,780 Live a sinless life, then you’ll show how free you are. 368 00:28:49,780 –> 00:28:52,619 Whoever sins is a slave to sin. 369 00:28:52,619 –> 00:29:00,140 I’m just making this point that when the Bible talks about poor, captive, blind, oppressed, 370 00:29:00,140 –> 00:29:03,260 it is not speaking about a few disadvantaged people. 371 00:29:03,260 –> 00:29:10,780 This is the spiritual condition of all people when it comes to the presence of God. 372 00:29:10,780 –> 00:29:15,180 Norval Geldinghughes who has a wonderful commentary on Luke’s gospel, he says this, he’s very 373 00:29:15,459 –> 00:29:22,140 characteristic, he says, of Jesus preaching that he referred in the clearest manner to 374 00:29:22,140 –> 00:29:27,380 the unfathomable spiritual need of mankind. 375 00:29:27,380 –> 00:29:33,280 And he says this, sin makes man inwardly poor, it makes him a captive to its stranglehold, 376 00:29:33,280 –> 00:29:37,859 it makes him spiritually blind so that he loses all vision and power of clear judgment, 377 00:29:37,859 –> 00:29:40,819 and it crushes his personality. 378 00:29:40,819 –> 00:29:43,500 That’s what sin does. 379 00:29:43,500 –> 00:29:50,260 Now you could say today, well, speak for yourself, I’m not poor, I’m not blind, I’m nobody’s 380 00:29:50,260 –> 00:29:54,500 prisoner, I’ve got what it takes to live this life, I think I can see my way here and 381 00:29:54,500 –> 00:29:57,040 beyond, I’m gonna be the captain of my own soul. 382 00:29:57,040 –> 00:29:59,079 I don’t think that describes me. 383 00:29:59,079 –> 00:30:03,420 And if you say that, Jesus Christ has nothing for you. 384 00:30:03,420 –> 00:30:07,780 You never receive anything from Him. 385 00:30:07,780 –> 00:30:10,140 You’re just on your own. 386 00:30:10,140 –> 00:30:11,699 You’re apart from him. 387 00:30:12,500 –> 00:30:19,619 In time, and in eternity. 388 00:30:19,619 –> 00:30:28,479 But today, you could say, and perhaps for the first time, today you could say when he 389 00:30:28,479 –> 00:30:38,060 speaks to the poor and the bound and the blind and the crushed he is talking to me. 390 00:30:38,119 –> 00:30:42,619 Today you could humble yourself before God, and you could confess that that’s the reality 391 00:30:42,619 –> 00:30:49,699 of your own position before God, and if you were to do that today that would put you in 392 00:30:49,699 –> 00:30:55,880 a position of wonderful, wonderful hope because Jesus says He has good news for you. 393 00:30:55,880 –> 00:31:02,500 For the poor, for the freedom, for the captives, restoration, for lost inheritances, for you. 394 00:31:02,500 –> 00:31:06,819 You got to recognize your need. 395 00:31:06,819 –> 00:31:12,839 And some of you are precisely in that position today, and there is wonderful, wonderful good 396 00:31:12,839 –> 00:31:16,680 news that now you must receive. 397 00:31:16,680 –> 00:31:21,400 Some of you will have come here today, and you’re saying, you know, I am painfully aware 398 00:31:21,400 –> 00:31:23,520 of the shortcomings of my life. 399 00:31:23,520 –> 00:31:26,020 I feel it very deeply. 400 00:31:26,020 –> 00:31:30,000 I have not lived the life that God calls me to. 401 00:31:30,000 –> 00:31:32,920 I’m way short. 402 00:31:33,239 –> 00:31:41,719 And to you, Jesus Christ is saying today, I have come to give you what you do not have. 403 00:31:41,719 –> 00:31:49,140 I have lived a life of perfect righteousness and I’m ready as I embrace you today to clothe 404 00:31:49,140 –> 00:31:56,020 you in my righteousness to cover all of your sin. 405 00:31:56,020 –> 00:32:01,619 And some of you have come here today, and you are painfully aware of your own defeat. 406 00:32:01,680 –> 00:32:06,439 There’s a particular sin that seems to bind you, and it gets you again, and again, and 407 00:32:06,439 –> 00:32:13,680 again, and—and Jesus Christ would come to you today and he would say this, I have come 408 00:32:13,680 –> 00:32:17,099 to set you free. 409 00:32:17,099 –> 00:32:23,839 I have come so that the power of the holy Spirit may enter into your life and put you 410 00:32:23,839 –> 00:32:31,520 in a position where you’re able to fight this thing and gain ascendancy over this thing, 411 00:32:31,540 –> 00:32:36,880 become a different man, a different woman. 412 00:32:36,880 –> 00:32:42,439 I’ve come into the world for this reason—that’s what Christmas is for. 413 00:32:42,439 –> 00:32:55,400 And some of you are dealing with loss—huge disappointment, a black hole in your life—and 414 00:32:55,400 –> 00:32:57,500 here you are in church today. 415 00:32:57,500 –> 00:33:07,819 And in your sense of loss, the Lord Jesus Christ would say to you today, I have come 416 00:33:07,819 –> 00:33:11,859 to restore your lost inheritance. 47 00:33:11,859 –> 00:33:21,439 I’ve come to give you back everything that Adam lost, which is going to mean for you 418 00:33:21,439 –> 00:33:25,660 an eternity of undiluted joy. 419 00:33:25,660 –> 00:33:30,739 I’ve come into the world so that that will be yours, and walking from now until that 420 00:33:30,739 –> 00:33:36,420 day, I will walk with you and I will guard you and I will keep you. 421 00:33:36,420 –> 00:33:42,420 Some of you have been crushed and what others have done to you has piled on top of your 422 00:33:42,420 –> 00:33:48,520 own sins and it has left you just feeling completely defeated. 423 00:33:48,520 –> 00:33:52,319 And the Lord Jesus Christ would say to you, here’s what Christmas is for you. 424 00:33:52,319 –> 00:34:00,319 I have come into this world to heal your wounds. 425 00:34:00,319 –> 00:34:07,760 You see your need today, you are in a wonderful position of hope, because you recognize your 426 00:34:07,760 –> 00:34:11,719 need, and so here is what you must now do in the light of that, and it’s very simply 427 00:34:12,080 –> 00:34:20,379 You must draw near to this Jesus Christ who is drawing near even now to you. 428 00:34:20,379 –> 00:34:27,739 He is the one who holds all these gifts we’ve just spoken about in his hands, and you don’t 429 00:34:27,739 –> 00:34:32,239 get them by coming to church, you don’t get them by being in the company of other Christians, 430 00:34:32,239 –> 00:34:35,000 you get them from Him, you come to Him. 431 00:34:35,000 –> 00:34:40,520 That’s what Faith does you see, Faith comes near to Jesus Christ, and asks of Him, and 432 00:34:40,520 –> 00:34:45,419 asks Him for what He’s promising here and therefore receives from Him. 433 00:34:45,419 –> 00:34:50,820 Do you notice how personal this statement is and how the whole of the Trinity is included 434 00:34:50,820 –> 00:34:58,780 in this marvelous gift of love, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, Jesus says, because 435 00:34:58,780 –> 00:35:03,939 he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. 436 00:35:03,939 –> 00:35:08,780 He’s sent me, me, me, me three times. 437 00:35:08,780 –> 00:35:19,820 You see here the totality of God energised together for you, acting together for you. 438 00:35:19,820 –> 00:35:24,020 The Father sends because of His love for you. 439 00:35:24,020 –> 00:35:28,179 The Son comes because of His love for you. 440 00:35:28,179 –> 00:35:33,739 The Spirit anoints because of His love for you. 441 00:35:33,879 –> 00:35:40,860 The gifts of God become yours when Jesus Christ is yours, and Jesus Christ becomes yours when 442 00:35:40,860 –> 00:35:47,199 you become His, and when Christ is yours all of the blessed Godhead is yours. 443 00:35:47,199 –> 00:35:50,520 For you, with you, and by the Holy Spirit in you. 444 00:35:50,520 –> 00:35:57,419 You know we’ll sing over the Christmas season many songs about Jesus being God and Jesus 445 00:35:57,419 –> 00:35:58,479 being man. 446 00:35:58,479 –> 00:36:00,520 Glorious glorious truths. 447 00:36:00,659 –> 00:36:07,739 I was struck by a simple comment from Bishop Ryle that I read this week and he says celebrating 448 00:36:07,739 –> 00:36:13,179 these truths as we will be doing over the Christmas season he says we must not rest 449 00:36:13,179 –> 00:36:18,459 there, we musn’t stop there, if we hope to be saved. 450 00:36:18,459 –> 00:36:23,419 We must know Jesus as the friend of the poor in spirit. 451 00:36:23,419 –> 00:36:29,280 The physician of the diseased heart and the deliverer of the soul that is in bondage. 452 00:36:29,280 –> 00:36:34,560 Now you say I believe in Jesus, he’s God and I believe that Jesus is man? 453 00:36:34,560 –> 00:36:36,399 Yes, and that’s what Christmas is all about. 454 00:36:36,399 –> 00:36:38,120 What do you know of this my friend? 455 00:36:38,120 –> 00:36:41,360 Jesus as the friend of the poor in spirit. 456 00:36:41,360 –> 00:36:44,360 Jesus as the physician of the diseased heart. 457 00:36:44,360 –> 00:36:53,479 Jesus as the deliverer of the soul in bondage in this way He offers Himself to you today. 458 00:36:53,479 –> 00:37:05,020 And I say to you, what circumstance of life can you not face if this Christ is yours? 459 00:37:05,100 –> 00:37:14,459 What sin can you not overcome if this Christ is with you and for you? 460 00:37:14,459 –> 00:37:22,080 What need in your life do you think will not be supplied if this Christ stands next to 461 00:37:22,080 –> 00:37:25,739 you and with you and is for you? 462 00:37:25,739 –> 00:37:31,060 And what wound do you really think in your life cannot be healed if this Christ should 463 00:37:31,179 –> 00:37:37,620 draw near and He should touch you? 464 00:37:37,620 –> 00:37:42,340 The saviour is reaching out to you today as He was reaching out on that day at Nazareth 465 00:37:42,340 –> 00:37:48,060 and I say to you, come to Him and trust Him, and look to Him and ask of Him and follow 466 00:37:48,060 –> 00:37:53,060 Him and believe in Him and feed on Him. 467 00:37:53,060 –> 00:37:56,860 For in Christ all things are yours. 468 00:37:57,060 –> 00:38:05,320 Father we bless you for the saviour who has come into the world, and seeing our own need, 469 00:38:05,320 –> 00:38:13,479 we embrace Him with joy, through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen.