Message 1: “Why Jesus came to us!”
Luke 4:18-19; Isaiah 61:1-2
Today we are beginning a new sermon series that I will preach each Sunday between now and Easter Sunday in April. What I want you to see in the next few weeks is just how important and valuable your life is to Jesus. The way we say it here at FBC is this:
. What we will do in the ensuing weeks is to look at various episodes from the life and ministry of Jesus to see how Jesus showed people from all walks of life how their lives mattered to Him.
Do you realize that the entire mission of Jesus’ coming into this world was to tell people and show them ? People matter to Jesus. You matter to Jesus.
We see this today in our passages of scripture. When we come to Luke 4:18, the gospel writer Luke records for us the first sermon of Jesus in Nazareth, His hometown. As was His custom, Jesus went to the synagogue which would be much like us coming to church today. The people had heard how Jesus had performed many miracles in and around Capernaum. They had heard about His message of repentance from sin, the Kingdom of God, and the message of love and forgiveness. At first, the people of Nazareth were excited Jesus was in town. He was asked to read from the scroll a passage from the prophet Isaiah which is found in Isaiah 61:1-2. What Jesus reads to the people, He proclaims to be His mission on earth. (READ PASSAGES)
Let’s consider what the Messiah’s mission was, and still is, today. Jesus came to show you that through His mission of doing 3 things. What did Jesus come to do?
I. Jesus came to proclaim the evangelistic message of life
He said He came “To preach good news to the poor (18:a / 61:a).” While Jesus did care about the poor (see Luke 14:13), and was desperately poor Himself (see Matthew 8:20) this verse is not primarily speaking of material deprivation or economic poverty. To understand what Jesus meant listen to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5. Jesus is beginning his “Sermon on the Mount” and the section we know as the “Beatitudes.” Look at verse three with me: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)
The word “poor” here implies humility and hopelessness of spirit. It literally means “having nothing to offer on one’s own accord.” In other words, it is the realization that on our own, we have nothing to offer God. God is not dependant on us, rather, we are dependant on Him! Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the Bible called The Message translates this verse: “You’re blessed when you are at the end of your rope.” (Mt. 5:3)
Author Mike Breaux writes, “You are blessed…when you reach into your spiritual pockets, and you turn them inside out and all you’ve got are little lint balls. You will never be happy in life until you realize you’re spiritually busted and you need God in your life.”
This is the crux of becoming a Christian. Salvation begins the moment you realize that you are a sinner and that you have offended a holy and righteous God. Romans 3:23 teaches us that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” It is then you understand you are deserving of death because of your sins and you are hopeless and helpless to save yourself. Romans 6:23 tells us “the wages of sin is death…” This will lead you to cry out for forgiveness.
The message of Jesus is that because , He came to be that deliverer for you. Jesus and Jesus alone can deliver you from your sin. Paul wrote to the church at Rome: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Jesus died on the cross, for our sins, in our place so that we could spend eternity with him in heaven. Let’s look at the rest of Romans 6:23: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. (Romans 6:23).
ILLUSTRATION: The NT gospels record of an incident where a woman who had been caught in adultery was being dragged into the streets before Jesus to be stoned. She was guilty. She had been caught in the act of adultery. She had no defense. Her accusers were numerous. What did Jesus do? Wrote in the dirt and rock after rock was dropped. She wanted to be forgiven and Jesus forgave her! She became poor in spirit. Her life had nothing to offer the Lord at that point. She was hopeless. But, because Jesus had come to proclaim good news to those poor in spirit like this woman and because His mission was to show her , Jesus said unto her, “Where are your accusers? You now have none and neither do I accuse you. Go, your sins have been forgiven.” This is what Jesus came to do in your life this morning!
Jesus came to proclaim the evangelistic message of life
II. Jesus came to provide extraordinary mending for lives
Isaiah says of the coming Messiah or of Jesus that He came to “Heal (Bind up) the Brokenhearted.” Although Jesus does not quote this verse in Luke, Isaiah says that one of the ministries of the Messiah will be that of healer. The word broken comes from the Hebrew word “SHABAR” meaning “crushed into pieces, shattered, bruised, disconnected.”
Brokenhearted literally means “to shatter one’s strength.” What Isaiah tells us in this prophetic passages is the mission of Jesus was to come and to “bind up” which means “to heal, or to set right, as in a broken bone.”
Broken is a good word to describe people all around us. Even in this room are people who are experiencing a broken heart; maybe a broken marriage or home; perhaps you are experiencing a broken relationship; others are here with broken spirits and a broken will; while others are broken financially. These are people whose hearts have been broken to pieces by pain, who have been deceived, abused, and let down by people in their lives. These are people who are suffering under crushing grief and are bound by bad memories. They are hopeless and see no point in living. Perhaps I just described someone you know. Perhaps I just described you. You fell broken down, beat down, used up, pushed aside, casted out, abused, and forgotten. Listen to this good news about how much your life matters…Jesus came to “bind up and heal the brokenhearted.” He is the great physician who can make you whole again. Listen to God’s voice:
“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)
While the Lord is always near, this verse teaches something hard to understand. When we are crushed, the Lord gets closer. His presence is powerfully present in the lives of shattered saints. Have you given your hurt to the healer? What is that thing that keeps you up at night? Give it to the Lord right now!
III. Jesus came to produce an Emancipation ministry of love
Look with me at what we read in Luke 4:18 b and 19...Notice 3 words here in the NIV… “Freedom, Recovery, and Release.” All 3 of these words talk about the deliverance and emancipation Jesus gives our lives in this world when we place our trust and faith in Him! Today I want you to understand that because Jesus offers you emancipation from the things of this world which can hold you captive, bind you, and rob you of all God has for you!
Today in Jesus you can discover freedom and emancipation from 3 things:
A) Freedom from Self
Many of you today are in “bondage.” You are captive to your own desires and your own will. Whether it is alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, or eating addictions, fear of the future or of failure, or bitterness and anger, some of you here are so bound by the desires of your own life that for you there is no freedom. You life your life in “quiet desperation,” even within the walls of the church church. You want to be freed from that hurt, habit, or hang up. You want to turn your back on temptation and failure.
This is exactly why Jesus came. Jesus came to bring you out of that captivity. Deliverance and recovery begins with a personal decision to let Jesus led you out of the prison you are in this morning.
“Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:34-36)
Many of us her today have been set free by the love of Jesus Christ. But there are more that are still held in bondage. No matter what prison Satan has tried to lock you, remember, Jesus has the key. What sin is holding you hostage? Ask Jesus to set you free this morning. You can be free from yourself!
B) Freedom from Satan (“Recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed”)
1. FREE OF SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS
One passage from Luke 7 is an important episode in Jesus’ ministry that shows you that . There was a time when John the Baptist…yes the great John the Baptist even got depressed and began to doubt. He wondered if Jesus was really who He claimed to be. Who could blame him? He was languishing in prison and knew he was headed for death. He sent some of his disciples to Jesus to ask him if he really was the Messiah or should they expect someone else. Jesus replies with tenderness for his cooped-up cousin: "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. (Luke 7:22-23)
Before being called the Apostle Paul, Saul was a zealous persecutor of the church, until he met Jesus face to face on the road to Damascus. After this encounter, Saul was blind for three days. God directed a fearful follower to lay hands on him. When he did “something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again.” (Acts 9:18).
Do you know someone who seems to have spiritual scales on their eyes? They just can not seem to see what you see and it frustrates you greatly. Don’t give up hope. Satan blinds us to the fact that our lives matter to the Lord. Satan blinds us from see what Jesus is trying to do in our lives. However, we must not give up hope!
ILLUSTRATION: John Newton would have fit this category. He was a godless man who was a part of the slave trade in the early 1800s. He was given to fits of anger and drunkenness. But then, Jesus Christ opened his eyes. He became an abolitionist and wrote many of the hymns we sing today. In his most famous stanza he describes the process of receiving his spiritual sight:
“Amazing grace/how sweet the sound/that saved a wretch like me/I once was lost/but now I’m found/was blind but now I see.”
We can be FREE OF SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS…
2. FREE OF SPIRITUAL BRUISES “to release the oppressed”
The King James Version translates this verse “to set at liberty those who are bruised.” I love that translation. This world is a difficult place sometimes. This is true even for the Christian. We are going to “battered and bruised” from time to time. Maybe it is Satan trying to shoot down your self-esteem, or relational ruptures that hurt your heart. Remember Satan is a “thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy.” (John 10:10) How do we stand in the midst of these storms that batter us? Listen to the encouraging voice of the Lord: “The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. (Psalm 9:9)
Do you have some spiritual bruises this morning? Remember that to Jesus and He wants to be your stronghold. Have you found your shelter in Him? What is that one thing you have battling? Let’s ask the Lord to shelter us from it today!
FREEDOM FROM SELF / FREEDOM FROM SATAN
3. FREEDOM FROM SIN To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
This is a reference to the OT year of Jubilee. You can read about the Year of Jubilee in Leviticus 25. This was an event that took place very 15 years. A trumpet would be sounded throughout the land. All slaves would be set free, all debts would be forgiven, the land was allowed to rest, and this was a time of fresh new beginnings and starting over!
When Jesus came to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, He is not reinstituting the year of Jubilee. He says that He is the fulfillment of the promise spoken by Isaiah. Jesus is the Jubilee! He came to be the deliverer, the healer, the King of our hearts.
In a verse that every Christian should memorize, Paul proclaims our freedom in Christ: “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1) .” Our debts sin were paid in full the moment Jesus died on the cross. In Him we are set free to have an abundant, meaningful, purposeful life. Jesus set us free from the fivefold damage of sin: poverty of spirit, broken hearts, imprisonment, blindness, and oppression.
Jesus is the Jubilee! Jesus’ death delivered us from hell the moment we accept Him as our Lord! He experienced the ultimate poverty of spirit by taking every sin that you and I have ever committed on himself on the cross. His body was broken to bring healing to our broken hearts. His eyes were swollen shut to bring sight to our blind eyes. He was bound so we don’t have to be. He was oppressed but did not utter a sound. He was bruised and battered and by his stripes we were healed (Isaiah 53: 5).
(c) Dr. Clay Hallmark, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Marion, AR
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