Jesus Can 2007
Part 5 - Jesus Can Soothe Me.
Luke 4:14-21
Sermon by: Rick Crandall - March 4, 2007
*This sermon was preceded by a testimony from a one of our members. Here is an edited version of the testimony:
The title of Bro. Rick’s current sermon series is “What Can Jesus Do For Me?” Well, on a personal note I could re-title that “What Has Jesus Done For Me?” I could fill a book telling you how Jesus Christ has impacted my life and I’d just be getting started. But since today we’re talking about “How Jesus Can Soothe You,” I’d like to tell you about that.
To look at me you’d think “She never has any problems.” And you’d be pretty close to right. I feel I’ve been the most blessed person on the planet. A year or so after our first child was born I became very ill. After several months of tests they found out I had clinical depression.
This was back when not as much was known about it and it wasn’t talked about. In fact, I had heard that Christians didn’t get depressed and if they did for any period of time there was something spiritually wrong. Why should I be depressed? There was absolutely no reason – everything was great. I had a beautiful baby girl, a wonderful husband, great friends, great church family, and most of all I felt closer to my Savior than I ever had. But I wanted to die.
I was very confused but thankfully God provided modern medicine and I got better, in fact I felt better than I had in years. But because of the stigma at that time it was hard to tell anyone.
Well, fast forward about ten years. We found out we were expecting our second child and for the first time, I had to get off my medication. I wasn’t worried because I was told pregnancy was a natural anti depressant. It wasn’t for me.
To make a long story as short as possible, I was pretty sick by the time I delivered [our little girl]. But, because I wanted to nurse her like I had [her sister], I did not resume my medicine when she was born, against the advice of my doctor and my husband. I have to say that [he] was absolutely wonderful through all this. He would have literally given his life to have made me better – but he couldn’t.
After about three months of struggling and getting progressively worse, of being mad at God for making me like this, of asking Him why I couldn’t just be a normal mother and nurse my child without having to go through this, of asking Him “what did I do to deserve this?” I started saying things to myself like “They’d be better off without me. I was a mistake. God why don’t you just take me now? If I crash the car they’ll have to go through the hassle of getting a new one, so I guess I’ll have to find another way.”
You see, the best way I can describe severe depression is a living death. And you don’t think rationally when you’re in the middle of that. You don’t think: “Just get back on the medicine.” I was still dealing with the idea that Christians don’t take pills to feel better. I was defective.
So one day when [my husband] had the baby, I sneaked away to the bathroom with pen and paper and a bottle of pills. I wrote a letter to him and [my older daughter] telling them how much I loved them and how this wasn’t their fault.
And then I told them to tell [our new baby] how much her mama loved her.
That’s when I stopped – [she] wouldn’t remember me. I dropped everything and I fell on my knees on the floor. I looked up and I cried out “God, help me!” No long fancy prayers – just “God, help me!”
Now I can’t tell you that I heard His voice, and I can’t tell you I felt Him saying OK here’s what you need to do, or that my depression started to go away that day. But what I felt wash over me was something I can’t explain. It was total comfort and peace. It was like I was leaning into the bosom of Jesus and He had His arms around me and He was saying, “I know, I know. Just rest here a while and let me love you.”
Yes, I got back on my medicine, and yes, praise God, I got better quickly. And I do encourage people to read about depression or whatever your problem is from a Christian perspective, and talk to Godly people about it. But that day when I wanted to end my life, my salvation, my soothing, came not from a pill or a book or even a friend, but from Him. Give me Jesus.
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*That testimony reminds us that there are many reasons why people have broken hearts. Sometimes it’s a tragic accident, like the bus crash on I-75 in Atlanta early Friday morning, when the driver, his wife and four players from the Bluffton University Baseball Team were killed.
*But also remember that we have an enemy in this world. We see him tempting the Lord here in Luke 4, and you can be sure that the devil is still at work today. In John 10, Jesus tells us that the devil comes to steal, to kill and to destroy. 1st Peter 5 tells us that our enemy prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for victims to devour.
*And what about those poor people over in Enterprise Alabama? Eight students died when a devastating tornado hit Thursday afternoon. They were all in a wing of the school that took a direct hit as the tornado blew out the walls and roof. Could the devil have had anything to do with that?
*Let’s look back into the Old Testament book of Job to see. Job 1:1 tells us that Job was blameless and upright, that he feared God and shunned evil. In vs. 8, the Lord said that Job was the best man of his day, but in His infinite wisdom, God allowed the devil to test Job. Why did the Lord do that?
*There could be many reasons, but let me give you four:
1-The Lord loved Job and He knew that when it was all over, Job would be twice as blessed as he ever was.
2-Also, Job needed to learn that he could trust the Lord in every situation. We get a hint of this in Job 3:25, when Job said, “The thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.” Job needed to learn to trust in the Lord. (1)
3-But the Lord also let this happen so that we would not think that living for the Lord brings a life without trouble and pain.
4-On top of that, the Lord wanted to teach us to be careful about judging people just because they are having troubles in life.
*God has great reasons for everything He does, but what I really want you to see in Job’s story is that the devil causes the pain in our world. So listen to what happened when Satan first attacked Job. This is in Job 1:13-19 from the New Living Translation:
13. One day when Job’s sons and daughters were dining at the oldest brother’s house,
14. a messenger arrived at Job’s home with this news: "Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them,
15. when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."
16. While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: "The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."
17. While he was still speaking, a third messenger arrived with this news: "Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your camels and killed your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."
18. While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: "Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother’s home.
19. Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the desert and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."
*In these verses we can see that the devil has some control over thieves and murderers, over lightening storms and over tornadoes.
*On some level all of the troubles in our world can be tracked back to our enemy, the devil. And there are broken hearts everywhere around us today, even here in our church. But Jesus Christ can heal your broken heart. How does He do it?
1. First of all, by setting you free from past mistakes.
*Jesus Christ can set you free from past mistakes, and we all need to be set free, because the pain in our lives is not just caused by the devil. It’s not just caused by other people who hurt us or by sickness or accidents. Sometimes our pain is brought on by our own sin and selfishness. We get trapped and oppressed by our own sins.
*As King Duncan once said:
-“We are oppressed by our inability to free ourselves from the burden of sin. Anyone who’s ever struggled with a habit that resisted breaking, anyone who has left good resolutions unkept, anyone who’s been cruel when they would have been kind, lazy when they would have been industrious, short-tempered when they should have been patient, knows the oppressive power of sin.
-And there is only one remedy for such oppression. And it is to accept the free gift of God’s grace. ‘Come, every soul by sin oppressed,’ wrote the hymn writer, ‘there’s mercy with the Lord.’” (2)
*So back in Luke 4, when Jesus went to the synagogue in Nazareth, He read about Himself in the Old Testament and said, “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 preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed . . .”
*Or bruised, shattered, crushed. Barnes tells us it means those who are “pressed down” by great calamity, or whose hearts are “pressed” or “bruised” by the consciousness of sin. (3)
*But Jesus Christ really does have good news for us today! He did come to heal the brokenhearted. He did come to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. Jesus did come to set at liberty all those who are oppressed.
*And King Duncan says, “You see, Christ’s message is for us, for in a very real sense we are the poor, the captive, the blind and the oppressed. We are those for whom Christ gave his life. Deep in our hearts some of us have imagined that ‘he must have died for someone else the scum of the earth, perhaps, but not us. What do we need of a Savior? We’re all in the upper half of the class. We’re all above average.’” (2)
*But God’s truth is that all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. All of us had desperate need for a Savior. All of us needed to be set free from our sins. And Jesus Christ is the only One who can save us, the only One who could die on the Cross for our sins, the only One who could rise again from the dead.
*Jesus is the only One who can save you, and He will!
-If you will turn to Him and trust in Him.
-If you will repent from your sins and receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord.
-If you will believe in Him.
-If by faith you will call on Him to save you, for “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Rom 10:13)
*Sadly, sadly, most of the people in Nazareth rejected the Lord. Down in vs. 29, they even tried to kill Him. But if you will receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, you will get the most wonderful relationship you can ever have in life. God will be your Best Friend and your Heavenly Father. And He will set you free.
*Author Dale Galloway tells about an experience he had when he was a student at Olivet College in Illinois. At the time he was serving as custodian of a large church. And Dale wrote about it this way:
-“One Saturday as I was cleaning the sanctuary, I had the windows open and a little bird flew in. Once inside, the bird flew around, having a big time looking that huge church over. What an adventure, so exciting and new.
-And then all of a sudden, it dawned on the little bird he was trapped inside the sanctuary. At least it seemed that way to me as I watched him.
-Then he began to fly back through the air looking for some way out of the church building. I found myself wanting to help the trapped panic-stricken bird.
-After a while, he landed upstairs in the balcony. I ran up the stairs. You would have thought I was crazy if you had been watching me. As I reached down to pick up the little bird, he took off again. Back downstairs I went, from one end of the church to the other, following him.
-Up against the top of the window it hit, trying to escape its captivity, but could not find its way out. The struggle went on for a long time. Then in utter exhaustion, giving up, the bird fell to the floor. He was not dead, but he must have felt half-dead.
-I walked over to where he was, knelt down, reached out my hands, and gently picked up the fallen bird. I carried the bird in my hand over to the window and opened my hands, and the little bird flapped his wings and flew away -- with a new life. He was free -- free to fly and climb the heights again.”
*Dale went on to write, “Just a few years ago I was broken, torn apart emotionally, trying this way and that to find a solution. Then one day, completely exhausted, not knowing what to do or how to get out of my situation, I fell into the loving hands of my Heavenly Father. He picked me up. He nursed my wounds with his love. He held me close to his heart. He healed me of all my brokenness and made me whole. God has set me free to fly to the heights again.” (4)
2. Jesus Christ can heal your broken heart by setting you free from past mistakes, and by giving you a new perspective in life.
*In vs. 18, Jesus said, “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 preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed. . .”
*“He has sent Me . . . to preach recovery of sight to the blind.” One of the greatest miracles Jesus ever did was restore sight to blind eyes. In John 9, Jesus even healed a man who was born blind.
*But there is a blindness in our world that is far darker than physical blindness could ever be. Paul talked about it this way in 2 Corin 4:3-4, where he said, “If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
*Most people in our world are as spiritually blind as they can be. But when we see Jesus with our spiritual eyes, then He helps us see all of life in a brand new way. And the more we see Jesus, the more we live in the light of God’s Word, the more we can really see what matters in life.
*Pastor Richard Wing tells about praying for a lady in his church who was slowly going blind. One day desperately demanded that Richard pray for her healing. And he did.
*Richard later wrote,
-“One moment in a private chapel we prayed, and I made it very clear to God that we wanted her to go out with new vision. We left the chapel. I inquired of her several times in the days ahead, wondering if anything was different. She seemed very unconcerned to talk about her sight. It was as if it did not matter. Finally, three months later I asked her if she was seeing any differently. She squinted and said she could not tell.
*Then she said,
-“What I asked for is not what I got, but was what I needed. I needed release from my fear. I needed release from the worry that my husband would not find me attractive, and that my children would be doomed to show me through the dark. After that moment, I could see no better with my eyes, but now can see perfectly with my soul. I wanted sight. In relief from my fear, I got that.” (5)
3. Jesus Christ can heal your broken heart by giving you a new perspective in life, and by His presence in your heart.
*When you trust in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, He will send His Holy Spirit into your heart to comfort and help you in times of need. On the night before He went to the Cross for us, Jesus put it this way in John 14:16-18, “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another [Comforter or] Helper, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
*D.L. Moody said, “You might as well try to hear without ears, or breathe without lungs, as try to live a Christian life without the Spirit of God in your heart.” (6)
*All four Gospels tell us that when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came down upon Him in the form of a dove. So the church began to use a descending dove as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
And James Moore once said,
-“The early Christians in creating this symbol were very wise to show the dove descending because peace does indeed come from above. Inner peace… the poise, the serenity, the courage, the confidence to meet life and its troubles with steady eyes comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
-Three times this past week, I was reminded of this. Three different conversations with three different families revealed vividly the peace that comes from having God in your life…
-A young couple facing a nightmare experience beyond description in the sudden illness of their baby,
-An older couple dealing with the bad news of a medical report and considering their alternatives,
-A heartbroken woman grappling with the abrupt loss of the man who had been her husband for over 50 years,
-And all of them displaying a peace that passes understanding, a peace that comes only from the presence of God in their lives. (7)
4. Jesus Christ can heal your broken heart by His presence in your heart, and by providing help from a loving church.
*All Christians go through times of sorrow, but we never have to suffer alone. God will always be with us. And He wants to surround us with loving care from His church. God wants us to share His comfort with each other. Paul described it this way in 2 Corin 1:2-4:
2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4. who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
*God truly is the God of all real comfort, and Christian, He will comfort you, but not just so that you will be comforted. No. God comforts you so that you can comfort those who are in trouble, with the comfort you have received from above.
*Melvin Newland saw a great example of this in a letter that was sent to Ann Landers a few years ago. A lady wrote:
“Dear Ann Landers, I am a 46-year-old woman, divorced, with 3 grown children. After several months of chemotherapy following a mastectomy for breast cancer, I was starting to put my life back together when my doctor called with the results of my last checkup. They had found more cancer, and I was devastated.
My relatives had not been supportive. I was the first person in the family to have cancer & they didn’t know how to behave toward me. They tried to be kind, but I had the feeling they were afraid it was contagious. They called on the phone to see how I was doing, but they kept their distance. That really hurt.
Last Saturday I headed for the laundromat. You see the same people there almost every week. We exchange greetings, and make small talk. So I pulled into the parking lot, determined not to look depressed, but my spirits were really low.
While taking my laundry out of the car, I looked up and saw a man, one of the regulars, leaving with his bundle. He smiled and said, ‘Good morning. How are you today?’ Suddenly I lost control of myself & blurted out, ‘This is the worst day of my life! I have more cancer!’ Then I began to cry.
He put his arms around me and just let me sob. Then he said, ‘I understand. My wife has been through it, too.’ After a few minutes I felt better, stammered out my thanks, and proceeded on with my laundry.
About 15 minutes later, here he came back with his wife. Without saying a word, she walked over and hugged me. Then she said, ‘I’ve been there, too. Feel free to talk to me. I know what you’re going through.’ Ann, I can’t tell you how much that meant to me. Here was this total stranger, taking her time to give me emotional support and courage to face the future at a time when I was ready to give up.”
*I wonder where they went to church?
*The lady ended her letter by saying, “Oh, I hope God gives me a chance to do for someone else what that wonderful woman and her husband did for me. Meanwhile, Ann, please let your readers know that even though there are a lot of hard-hearted people in this world, there are some incredibly generous and loving ones, too.” (8)
*I believe He did. And He will give us a chance to comfort other people too, because Jesus Christ wants to heal broken hearts!
Conclusion:
*Let Him start in your heart right now. Put your trust in Jesus. Receive Him as Savior and Lord. In just a moment we will pray and you can call on the Lord to save you. Then we will have a time of invitation.
*The invitation is for new believers to take a public stand for Jesus Christ. The invitation is for you to join this church, if God is leading you. But first, let’s go to the Lord in prayer.
1. This insight came from (and was explained much better in) SermonCentral sermon “Without a Net” by Steve Lucas - Hebrews 11:1-3
2. Found in christianglobe.com sermon “Jesus and the Lake Wobegon Effect” by King Duncan - Luke 4:14-30)
3. Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
4. Adapted from Dale E. Galloway, REBUILD YOUR LIFE (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 1982) Found in christianglobe.com sermon “LIKE A BIG HAPPY FAMILY” - 1 Peter 3:8-22
5. Adapted from christianglobe.com sermon “Deep Joy for a Shallow World” by Richard Wing - Luke 4:14-21
6. SermonCentral.com sermon “The Helper” by Johnny Carver - John 14:15-21
7. christianglobe.com sermon “God Works Inside Out” James Moore & Brett Blair - Acts 2:1-21 - May 30, 2004
8. SermonCentral sermon “Forgive One Another” by Melvin Newland Eph 4:29-32
