Jesus Shows Believers His Glory

JESUS SHOWS BELIEVERS HIS GLORY

LUKE 6:17-26 FEBRUARY 16, 2003

LUKE 6:17-26

17He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, 18who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, 19and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

20Looking at his disciples, he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

21Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

23"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

24"But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. 25Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. 26Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

+ + + + + + +

Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

When we look at the life of Jesus, we see He was always intent on a few things. First and foremost, Jesus went out to preach the kingdom of God and repentance so that mankind would be saved. That was His foremost mission. In that foremost mission, we see many other things that took place because of that. In our text we see His healing, His words of blessing (we’re going to look at that). We also see the fact that He gave glory to His heavenly Father. It is during these weeks of Epiphany that we look at the glory of Jesus and the power that He has—the power as He shows us this morning through words and through actions. We understand that too, that was part of His mission, that God would be glorified. "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world"(JOHN 17:24). Jesus speaks these words towards the end of His earthly life. Jesus says this because His Father still would be glorified—even in Jesus’ death--and He says it so that His disciples would see His glory. The Lord wants us to see His glory every day, even today no less than others. We look at what the Lord has placed before us this morning with that theme

JESUS SHOWS BELIEVERS HIS GLORY

I. With powers of healing

II. With words of blessing

I. With powers of healing

Just before these verses, the Lord picks out twelve apostles from the many disciples. By this time in the life of Jesus, many people were following Him and wanted to be known as His followers. Jesus chose twelve men whom we know as His apostles. They had been on a mountainside alone, that they might meditate together and pray together. Our text begins: 17He went down with them and stood on a level place. They came down from the mountain. We find again, that they are not alone. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon. In other words, they came from all directions—from the east, from the south--in order to hear Jesus. Today in our text, we find that they come not only to hear but also to see and benefit from His power. They came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. The word about Jesus had spread. He not only preached a good message but He also could perform miracles. Some had come to hear; some had come to be cured.

We notice once again how Satan, during these days when Jesus was walking upon the earth, certainly was trying to make it more difficult for Jesus to just preach the gospel. We are given the example…Luke writes: Those troubled by evil spirits were cured. During Jesus’ lifetime there were many evil spirits in the world—Satan was using this as his last chance to stop Jesus, to detract Him from proclaiming the message of salvation. Satan, by sending out many evil spirits into many people, was hoping that Jesus would never make it to the cross to pay for the sins of the world.