Authorized to Represent Jesus | Luke 9:1-17

Authorized to Represent Jesus | Luke 9:1-17

Nathan Young

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Luke 9: The Kingdom of God

Well, I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9. And we're continuing our way through this gospel where the writer Luke is showing us that we can be confident in Christ.

In this section that we're in so far, which is chapters 7 through 9, we're seeing Luke revealing Jesus' public ministry as he started preaching and performing miracles more widely. He started this preaching ministry with his Sermon on the Mount, where he laid down a declaration of the principles that would guide his kingdom.

Then he went from there, came down from the mountain, and started applying those principles in the lives of people that he encountered. And we've seen Jesus in chapter seven and eight working miracles where he's come alongside people, healing the sick, casting out demons, restoring life to people who have died.

And he's doing all of this to show that the principles of his kingdom are real. They're not simply the ideals of a religious zealot, but that Jesus is preaching the values of his eternal kingdom, the kingdom of God.

As we come to chapter nine, Luke is going to record for us not only that Jesus has done these miracles and preached this message, but he's now going to authorize his disciples to be his representatives.

Authorized Representatives of Jesus

And he's going to send the 12 out on their own, declaring the same message and performing the same miracles in order to demonstrate his power and his authority. As Jesus sends out the disciples, he sends them after he has spent time preparing them. As they had walked with Jesus from the initial call that they received, where they set aside their nets, they left the tax booth, and they left the life that they once knew. They followed Jesus and hung on his every word. But they also marveled as they watched him perform miracles.

And as they saw Jesus do all of this, the reactions were mixed. There were some people who were eager to see Jesus. They pursued him. As Luke showed us last week, where we had Jairus and we had a woman who was sick, both of them came for Jesus looking for his help. But there were also people who rejected Jesus, who were opposed to Jesus and hostile to his presence.

And in all of these things that the disciples saw, what they may not have realized is that while they were caught up in the movement that was forming around Jesus, they would become the leaders of that movement. They would become the messengers that Jesus would send out to multiply his message. And now, beginning in chapter number nine, Jesus is preparing to send these 12 men out as his representatives so that his message will be made known to all who will listen.

As I've thought about what Jesus is doing here, it's much like a political diplomat who is representing his government through an embassy or through some office. And that diplomat doesn't speak on his behalf and say, "Well, if I were in charge, this is what I would do." Instead, the diplomat says, "This is what I've been authorized to say. This is the message that I need to communicate." That's certainly been in the headlines in recent weeks as we've been in diplomatic discussions with Iran, that there are representatives from both countries talking to a third country, Pakistan. And in the middle of those discussions, the diplomats are speaking on behalf of others, not themselves.

And here, the disciples have the opportunity to go out and speak on behalf of Jesus. But the analogy is not quite the same because they're more than just diplomats. The disciples are believers that they have trusted what Jesus has said and they have embraced it for themselves. So they're going speaking on behalf of Jesus, but they're also speaking as those who've been convinced that Jesus is who he says that he is.

So Jesus gathers his men together and prepares to send them out. So let's read beginning in verse number one through 17 of Luke 9. When Jesus had called the 12 together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases. And he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them, "Take nothing for the journey. No staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them."

So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere. Now Herod the Tetrarch heard about all that was going on, and he was perplexed, because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life. But Herod said, "I beheaded John. Who then is this that I hear such things about?" And he tried to see him.

When the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. And when he took them with him, and they withdrew by themselves to a town called Bethsaida, the crowds learned about it, and they followed him. He welcomed them, and he spoke to them about the kingdom of God and healed those who needed healing.

Late in the afternoon, the twelve came to Jesus and said, "Send the crowd away, so they can go to the surrounding village and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here." Jesus replied, "You give them something to eat." They answered, "We only have five loaves of bread and two fish, unless we go and buy food for this crowd." About five thousand men were there. But Jesus said to his disciples, "Have them set down in groups of about fifty each." And the disciples did so, and everyone sat down. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and he broke them. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. They all ate and were satisfied. And the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

Amen. We have in this passage Jesus not only authorizing his disciples to be his representatives, but we also have Jesus assuring his disciples that they have his power.

So Jesus is sending these men to go out and speak on his behalf, and they will do so knowing that he is going to bless their message.

Divine Power and Authority

As Jesus is preparing the disciples, he wants them to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that he has provided his divine power and authority. And that's what I see in the first six verses this morning. My first point is that Jesus provides divine power and authority.

At some point after Jesus' own preaching and miracles, he calls the 12 together, Luke says. We're not given a strict timeline, and Luke's gospel is not a chronology of Jesus' life as much as it is a recounting of Jesus' life so that we can understand his identity and the ministry that he gave his followers. Jesus' identity is clearly that he is the Son of God. He claims that for himself. Even demons have called him that. And now Jesus is saying, based on who I am as the unique Son of God the Father, I am sending you to go with my power and authority.

So at this meeting, when the 12 are together, it says in verse 1, he gave them power and authority. Some have said, and I agree, that power here is the ability to accomplish a God-given task. Jesus is saying, this is your enablement to go out and do the message and ministry that I have provided for you. But there's also a level of authority that Jesus is giving them. And that is, while he's enabling them with power, he's also authorizing them, or giving them the right to do this. They were not free agents or rogues, but they were on the team that Jesus had assembled.

And Jesus sent them out as his representatives to carry forward the message. He was now going to enable them to do the same kinds of things he had done. They would be able to cast out demons and heal the sick. But most importantly, Jesus was authorizing them to preach the gospel. The ministry that Jesus gave these disciples mirrored his own public ministry. He had preached the kingdom of God, healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead. And now he was authorizing the disciples to do the same things, to proclaim, he says, the good news about the kingdom.

Jesus would send these men from village to village in dependence on his power and his authority. Although the analogy is silly, it's not unlike traveling salesmen. Several years ago, Miles and I were on our way to the University of Georgia before he became a student there, which he will be this fall. But we were going across town and we stopped near the Mall of Georgia because we saw the Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile. And it was amazing. We had seen it on TV. We've seen it on YouTube. We were fascinated by it and we spotted it. It was probably 7 o'clock in the morning and we stopped where it was parked, hoping that we would get to meet the people that were responsible for that machine. They were nowhere to be found. It was too early. They must have been asleep. We had hoped maybe they were having breakfast in the hotel parking lot, but we didn't see them there. They were nowhere to be found.

But what we know about the Wiener Mobile is that two college students were assigned to each one of those vehicles and they're sent all around the country representing Oscar Mayer and handing out trinkets and talking about hot dogs. What an exciting life that must be. And I've joked with Miles that he should become one of those representatives. But it is a joke.

All that being said, Miles and I were not authorized to get in the Wiener Mobile. As much as I wish I could have had the tour to go inside and see what it's actually like or to do something related to it, we had no authority and no power to do that. At best, all we were able to do was pull into the parking lot, stop and marvel, and take a few pictures.

When Jesus authorized the disciples to go out, they were more than just traveling people with hot dogs for Oscar Mayer. Jesus was sending these guys out as his authorized representatives of the kingdom of God. They were declaring something far bigger than themselves, something far more important than what was happening in Galilee. They were promising eternal life through Jesus. They didn't have all the details. They didn't understand all the doctrines at that point. But they knew enough to point others to Jesus.

And Jesus said they must go. And as they went, he tells them very clearly some instructions beginning in verse number three. He said, take nothing for the journey, no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. And if people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.

The disciples would go out just like Jesus with no material possessions. In other words, they would go in complete dependence on God. They were trusting God to work for them and through them as they advanced the kingdom of God.

So, without discussion, without debate, or without doubt, it says in verse number six that they set out and they went from village to village. Notice Luke does not focus on where the disciples went as much as he's highlighting how they went and what they did. The disciples went in a way that demonstrated their dependence on God's authority and power. And they preached the good news of Christ, and they healed people everywhere, it says in verse number six.

Many times we want to know where God wants us to go, and we want to define it by a place. But God is more focused on who we are to go to: people that need the good news of Jesus. That's why he tells the disciples how to go—that is, go in dependence—and what to do: declare the glories of Jesus, the good news of the kingdom of God.

As they went, they would encounter people who responded and believed, but they would also encounter people that would reject them. In fact, not everyone who heard the disciples' message would be excited about their message. That's why he warned them, if people do not welcome you, then leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them. Just as the Jews would shake the dust off their feet after they traveled through Gentile territory, Jesus was telling his disciples to dust their feet when they encountered people that rejected the gospel.

Darrell Bach summarizes that this way. He says, everything about this mission says that the disciples are to depend on God. Their authority comes from God. Their needs will be supplied by God. There is no personal gain to be sought by any of the disciples. All Christian ministry, whether in Jesus' time or today, takes place in the context of this delegated authority. Those who minister serve Jesus and are responsible to him.

What Bach is pointing out, and what I agree with, is he's saying that the disciples in going are demonstrating they believe Jesus. They believe him so much that they were willing to forsake the life that they knew for a life they didn't know. They were willing to set aside their questions about where exactly they were going and instead focus on what they were delivering, what message they had to carry. Their authority, as Bach pointed out, did not come from themselves. Their needs would not be met by themselves, and they would not be building their own brand or platform. Instead, they would be promoting Jesus.

Jesus provides divine power and authority for believers to share the gospel. You and I can boldly declare the good news. We can call sinners to repent of their sins. We can invite people to believe Jesus and offer them the kingdom of God. And this mission was what the disciples were called to, and it's the same mission we have today. This is far more than simply harsh preaching or cultural critiques or hellfire and brimstone. The mission of God involves reaching people in their need with the gospel.

There are some well-meaning Christians who rely on methods to advance the message of the gospel. Those methods vary depending on the person you ask. Some would say music makes all the difference. If we would just have a particular kind of music, then we will reach more people. The challenge becomes who gets to pick the music. Some want to have K-Love in church—not saying that it's wrong out of hand, but that's a style. Others want to have purely Southern Gospel style music because that will be more popular. Or some want to go and have hymns as the mode or method of worship.

All of those things, though they may have their place, are not the magic that attracts people to Jesus. Music, as important as it is, and as powerful as it is, and as emotional and as connecting as it can be, is not the thing that draws people to Jesus. It can aid the gospel message, and music is an important part of our worship. But what is most important is the man, the God-man, Jesus Christ.

And as we strive to reach people with Jesus and we declare it by his power and authority, we don't want to reduce his power and authority to some manipulative technique. There are traditionalists who would say, if we could just return to doing what the church did 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 50 years ago, 100 years ago. If we could just get back to what worked in the past, God would bless in the present. And I would say that is reducing the power and the authority to a method of man.

On the other side, there are innovators who say the church should always be looking forward, always doing something new, always on the edge of what is popular. But I would say that is also misguided because we're not riding the cultural wave of what is cool, but we are preaching Christ. A Christian preaches Christ crucified, which is foolishness to those who do not understand. It is something that the world rejects and does not say, "Hmm, tell me more. Interesting."

Now, granted, there are people that God is working in their hearts and lives that do want to know more and become believers. But we don't want to simply reduce our message to a technique or to some method that worked for somebody and let that replace the power of God.

As Jesus is sending out his disciples, he sends them with a mandate, not a method. And the mandate is that they would declare Christ and perform miracles. These miracles, very much a part of their ministry, were there to authenticate the message that they preached. The miracles were not like magic tricks where they gathered a crowd and said, "Hey, do you want to see us give this lame man the ability to walk? Do you want to see us give vision to this blind man?" They were not doing that to gather a crowd and to wow people. They were doing miracles to say that the message we preach is just as powerful as this miracle. The message of good news that you can have the forgiveness of your sins is a true message, just as this miracle is true.

This ministry that God gave the disciples was one of power and authority vested in his power and authority. Several years ago, I had the privilege to go to a naturalization ceremony. You might say, "What is a naturalization ceremony?" That's when someone who is not a citizen of the United States goes through the process of becoming a citizen or becoming naturalized, to use the government word.

I went to this ceremony as a guest of a friend, a church member, who was taking on United States citizenship. And I would say it was a fascinating ceremony. There were several hundred people there that had gone through the process of immigrating to the United States and going through the years and mountains of paperwork that our country requires in order for someone to receive citizenship. And when the time came, it was a somber yet joyous moment all at once; the representative of the government got up and said, "On behalf of the President of the United States of America, I now declare you citizens of our great country." That's a paraphrase. I don't remember the exact words, but the point is, the individual was saying they were speaking on behalf of the president and on behalf of our country to make these people citizens of our country.

I have to tell you, it was probably the most patriotic thing I've ever been a part of. It was incredibly powerful to watch. There were tears from everyone in the room about what was happening. But what was happening was because power was vested in this official who was able to now recognize these individuals as citizens.

Jesus gives us a power and authority that is greater than any president or any government. He gives us the ability to confer the gospel and share it with all who will listen. And as we do that, we offer the hope of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. We can't forgive anyone's sins. There's nothing we can do to make someone better or to help them escape the judgment of hell. But we can offer the man Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God who has come to save sinners.

And as we declare that message, we declare it as Jesus' representatives because he gives us the same divine power and authority that he gave his disciples. As we do that, that message will have a mixed response. And we see in the second section of this passage this morning that when the message is preached and the disciples dispersed declaring Jesus, He received attention. And that leads to my second main point this morning.

Attracting Attention from Enemies

And that is that Jesus attracts attention from his enemies. Jesus attracts attention from his enemies. As the apostles were going out sharing the good news of Jesus, some gladly received them and let them stay in their house and they shared the gospel. Others rejected them and they left those towns, shaking the dust off of their feet.

But even the political authority of the day had observed that these messengers were going around and it was creating quite a stir. Notice beginning in verse number seven, it says, "Now Herod the Tetrarch heard all that was going on. And he was perplexed, because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had come back to life."

But Herod said, "I beheaded John. Who then is this I hear such things about?" And he tried to see him. Apparently, Herod, who was the political leader over Galilee, had noticed that more and more people were talking about Jesus. Since Herod was an astute politician, he kept his finger on the pulse of his region. He listened for political threats and unrest. He also listened for political leverage and opportunities.

But in this case, Luke reports that he was perplexed. He didn't know what to make of the disciples' bold preaching and the miracles. He was curious in the perplexity, but he was also anxious. Was this another threat? Were these more people like John the Baptist that need to be silenced? Herod had already opposed John the Baptist preaching about the kingdom of God. He had had him arrested to silence him.

You may remember after Jesus' sermon, John sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus what was going on. And Jesus sent back assurance that he had done the right thing. But now Herod, who had stopped and silenced John, was in a moment of confusion, wondering, "What is this about? Why are these men stirring the pot again?"

Herod had already killed John violently, having his head served on a platter. And this death probably played in his mind over and over again because he himself had been caught in a political trap that forced his hand to kill John in the way that he did. And there's no doubt that it gnawed at him. So in his perplexity, as people are asking, "Is this John raised from the dead?" He's thinking, "It can't be. I was there. I saw what happened. I saw his head on a platter. There's no way it could be rejoined to his body."

But people around Galilee were hearing the same message that John preached being preached by others. So what could he make of this? They were wondering, was it John? Was it Elijah or another prophet? They recognized that this message carried religious authority and power, but they didn't know what to make of it. The disciples' message was effective because it was impacting people, not just to the point that they were talking about it, but they were believing it and they were following these disciples.

But Herod and his allies didn't know what they should do. That's why Herod said, "Who then is this that I hear such things about?" This is the key question in all of Luke's gospel. Who is Jesus? And once we find out who he is, can we believe him? Peter will ask the same question later in this passage, beginning in verse number 18, and we'll cover that next week.

But the point is, even Herod recognized that he needed to consider the claims of Jesus. But Herod would not become a disciple or a follower. He very much was an enemy opposed to Jesus. When Christians faithfully preach the good news, we will attract people who are opposed to Jesus Christ. Sometimes, Jesus' enemies will try to silence believers. In other cases, they may try to persecute us to the point of death. And there are many believers who have died carrying the gospel.

But most of the time, people who oppose Jesus will simply reject the gospel and ignore us. They will be perplexed by our passion and urgency. They will call us crazy or holy rollers or people who have lost our minds. But then they'll just ignore us and move on.

And yet, if we truly believe that Jesus is who he said that he is, when we talk of Jesus, we're talking of eternal life. We're talking about the person who can forgive our sins, the one who assures us peace with God. This is not simply a political message, not simply a religious message, but it is a message about how to have a relationship with Almighty God.

It has been observed by sociologists that people naturally fall into one of three categories as it relates to ideas. I've heard this same rubric laid out as it relates to the adoption of technology, of politics, of all kinds of things. If you're wonky and a little bit nerdy, it's called a Poisson distribution. So there's an Easter egg for Tommy. So the bell curve or Poisson distribution.

But what that means is that in a normal group of people, if there's a new idea that's introduced, about 10% of people are enthusiastic about it and become early adopters. Technologists obsess over this distribution because they measure their marketing based on how many new iPhones they sell or how many new devices and how quickly those things sell based on this 10% of enthusiastic early adopters.

But then there are also about 80% of the people in the middle of this curve who are the silent majority. Some of them embrace the idea early and quickly, others late, but the majority end up embracing the idea. Politicians are also keen to follow this curve of distribution as they message. And you'll hear them testing out their message. In our political cycle, every two years, you can hear those tests.

Well, they also know that there are a final 10% of people who are late to adopt and will never adopt. In fact, these 10% are the people that noticeably and loudly reject the idea. In fact, it's been said the early adopters are excited and they tell other people. The silent majority are content and they don't talk that much about it. But the 10% that don't like the idea or reject it altogether are the loudest and the most outspoken. They have an outsized influence for their relative size to the distribution of people related to this idea.

When it comes to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, the same thing seems to be true: that there will always be a small group of people who will eagerly accept Christ. They'll be happy that someone told them this news, and they will become passionate evangelists about the gospel. Then there will be a silent majority of people, some gladly receiving the gospel, telling a few of their friends, yes, letting it change their lives, but mostly being quiet and content.

But then there will be others who will not believe the gospel. They will reject the gospel. This small minority, like Herod and his associates, will become hostile enemies, outspoken opponents of Christianity, and they will reject Jesus and oppose all who follow him. We see this dynamic borne out in social media: that those who are deconstructing from Christianity or who have rejected the gospel seem to be all over the socials. And yet, I don't think they're the majority. I think they're the loud, outspoken enemies of the gospel.

As God commissions us to share the good news, authorizing us to be his divine representatives, know that we go in his power and authority, and that that power and authority does attract opposition. So when we share the gospel, we should not be surprised, nor should we be fatalistic when some people reject what we have to share. We shouldn't let that stop us and say, "Well, I just don't know what else to say or do. I give up." We shouldn't give up. We should continue to carry the good news, knowing that God will, in fact, convert some as we're faithful to share.

Delegating Power and Authority

And this leads to the last thing that I want you to see in the passage this morning and my third point. And that is that Jesus delegates his power and authority. So this is repeating, in a sense, point number one, but the idea now is that Jesus is going to show that his power and his authority will work through his disciples.

Beginning in verse number 17, Luke presents the feeding of the 5,000. At first glance, it may seem, how does this relate to Jesus commissioning the disciples? But now Jesus has sent the disciples out for some time. We don't know how long. And it says verse number 10, when the apostles returned, they reported to Jesus what they had done. So after they've had some practical experience preaching Christ and performing these miracles, Jesus brings them back for a debrief and he's asking them, "How's it going out there? How are people responding? What's happening?"

Jesus is not asking the question or having the debrief because he's unaware, but he's continuing to disciple his disciples. He's continuing to shepherd them and help them understand what it is to follow him and exercise his power and his authority. So with the disciples back, Luke is reporting this and setting the context where Jesus will assure them that they will do even greater things through his enabling power.

So they start to withdraw. It says Jesus took them away to a town called Bethsaida, just off the coast of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is taking them to this small, out-of-the-way town where they will have time to rest and reflect. Yet that's not what's going to happen. Instead, immediately, it says, the crowds learned about this plan, verse number 11, and they followed Jesus. They were hanging on Jesus' every word. They were now hanging on the words of the disciples who were also preaching this message. And for them to have an opportunity to come near Jesus was too hard to resist. So they followed him wherever he would go, and they stopped in the countryside.

Jesus was modeling a ministry posture of being accessible and ready for people. He was being accessible and ready for people. Jesus did not withdraw and make some excuse and hide, but instead he was ready to engage. And as he engaged, he spoke to the people, it says, about the kingdom of God and healed those who needed healing. It's not unlike earlier accounts where we see Jesus staying up through the night and over a period of days caring for every person that came to him.

And as this went on, the day dragged on and the sun began to set. Luke says it this way in verse number 12, "Late in the afternoon as... This long day was now moving toward evening. The 12 came to Jesus and said, send the crowd away and let them go to the surrounding villages so that they can find food and lodging." The disciples were being eminently practical. They knew that they didn't have enough food for themselves, let alone a crowd of people that have gathered, and they wanted the people to be able to find food and lodging for themselves.

Yet Jesus' response startled them. He replied very simply, verse 13, "You give them something to eat." What? How could they do that? Well, remember, they'd been authorized with the power of God to go out and preach and perform miracles. Perhaps this could be seen as a prelude to the miracle that Jesus was about to conduct. But the disciples certainly didn't hear it that way. Instead, they looked at one another and said, "How are we, the 12 of us, going to provide for the thousands that are out here following Jesus?"

They didn't know what Jesus meant or what was coming next. They had already taken an inventory of the limited food they had. It says in verse 13, "We only have five loaves of bread and two fish." These were not the large loaves of bread that you might find at Costco and the humongous salmon that you can find there as well. These would have been small loaves of bread, meaning I would consider it like a little ball of bread smaller than your fist. And the fish that they had were probably very small little fish. And they looked at this wondering: how can we feed ourselves, let alone this large crowd of people?

Jesus gave them the task and showed them their inability to complete the task so that they would depend on him. Even if they could, they said, "We could not buy food for this crowd." They thought, what other angle is there? There were none. They were unable to do this themselves. So where would they go? What would they do? Remember, Jesus had just commissioned them by saying, "Take nothing with you. Don't take a staff, a bag, bread, money, or shirt." They literally had nothing except God incarnate Jesus to provide for them.

So sure enough, this is exactly what he did. Because Jesus showed their need so that they would depend on him. He knew they didn't have the resources necessary to do this. And he knew that they were weak and needed to see his power. So rather than send the disciples away...

Jesus told them, "Have everyone set down in groups of about 50 people." Verse 14. Jesus is very specific. This crowd of over 5,000 men, not to mention the women and children, which means the crowd could have swelled way beyond 20,000 people. They were now dividing themselves into at least 400 groups of 50 who were sitting around waiting for Jesus to do something.

So Jesus stood before the crowd with the five loaves and the two fish, and it says he looked toward heaven. Verse number 16. Jesus in his humanity was modeling his dependence on God the Father. He was looking toward heaven in a posture of dependence himself. And it says he gave thanks for the food the disciples had found. He demonstrated a heart of gratitude for what God the Father would provide. Jesus did not worry or panic or give up. He was grateful.

Then to demonstrate his deity, he broke the bread and the fish and he provided for all the people. Luke doesn't give us how it happened or what the mechanics looked like. How big was the table? Where did the baskets come from? How did it work? Instead, Luke simply reports that Jesus handed the bread and the fish to his disciples to distribute to the people. In this way, Jesus was using the crowd's need for daily nourishment to publicly authenticate his disciples' calling and ministry.

Peter, James, and John, and all the other disciples were personally distributing baskets full of bread and fish to hungry people, and they all ate and were satisfied. This is an incredible scene that Jesus has just worked this miracle. And the point of it was not simply to show that God can provide, but it was to show the disciples Jesus' power, the power that they also had access to.

Like when Israel was in the desert and God provided manna and quail from heaven, Jesus was meeting people's basic needs, but he was more than that—showing that he was God. He was providing everyone with their daily bread so that they would understand his power and authority as the eternal Son of God. Jesus did not exercise political power. He did not strive to become a celebrity influencer. He simply met the human need with his deity.

At the conclusion of this miraculous meal, it says everyone ate and was satisfied. They were completely filled from this meal that Jesus miraculously provided. And the disciples went around and they gathered the broken pieces and there were 12 baskets full left over. Jesus had not only fed thousands for this meal, but he provided enough food for his disciples' ongoing ministry. He had turned this small meal of five loaves and two fish into a life-giving resource for his disciples to keep preaching and healing around Galilee.

Interestingly, this miracle is the only one of Jesus' miracles recorded in all four gospels. And in many ways, this miracle highlights Jesus' ministry of miracles. He enabled his disciples to feed the multitudes and to build their faith in him so that they could demonstrate their access to his power and authority.

Providing for the Gospel

Jesus commissioned the disciples as his representatives to declare his kingdom. Jesus provides everything that we need for preaching the gospel. John, in his account of the same event, would go on to describe Jesus as the bread of life for all people. He came to provide eternal life for all who believe in him.

And Jesus continues to authorize new generations of disciples to proclaim the good news as his representatives. My pastor, when I was a teenager, used to say it this way: "God always provides where he guides." Again, notice the passage doesn't say where the disciples had been or where they were going next. It only talks about Bethsaida to describe that they were in a remote location where there was no external means of provision. Yet God, in that isolated place, pivoted to their need and provided all the bread and fish that a crowd of thousands needed for their daily bread.

When God calls us to serve him and to follow him, he may not give us all the details, but he directs us to go. And as we go, the focus I said earlier is not where we're going, but it's how we're going and what we're doing when we go. How do we go? We go in a posture of dependence upon God. And what are we going to do? To declare the power and authority of Jesus Christ.

This not only applies to missions, though missions is the most common application—that we would go out as international missionaries from this place. But I would say it applies to us as messengers; that God sends you into the workplace where you're at to be a messenger of Jesus. It doesn't mean that you're an evangelist first and an employee second. It just means that you speak of the hope of Christ when you are given the opportunity with your own unique mission field. Each of you has access to people that will never hear me preach, but they will hear you declare Christ.

The same is true in our families, that God has placed believers in families of unbelievers so that we can take the gospel to them. And again, we are messengers of the hope of Jesus. Some of you may despair and say, "But my family is sick of hearing it. They've already rejected it. Can't I just dust my feet off and say, forget that?" And I would say, don't give up that easily. They're your family. They're not just a village that you're going to as an itinerant messenger, but they are the people that God has given you as a part of your life that will be with you through this life as you remain faithful to Christ. It doesn't mean you need to be a Bible thumper who simply puts the Christian position on everything and every family meal, but it is to say that they know that you have both the spoken and the quiet hope and the power and authority of Jesus.

Jesus authorized his disciples to be his representatives, and he authorizes you and me to be his representatives. But to be his representative, we must first be believers. We must come to the place where we acknowledge our sin. We trust Jesus Christ to forgive our sin and we hope in him for eternal life. When we believe that message, we immediately become his messenger because we've staked our life on his authority and his power, and we now share that authority and power by the hope that resides within us.

So I want to challenge us, church, to be the kind of people that lean into the authority we've been given, not as authoritarians who simply try to force Christianity on people, but as people who share the power of the gospel unto eternal life, to the people who are powerless to save themselves. If you're here this morning and you've not trusted Christ, I would encourage you, challenge you, and even call you to believe him. And if you have believed Jesus and given him your heart and life, let me call you to represent him, to declare the hope of Jesus for all who will listen, knowing that some will be eager and excited that you've come, most will be quiet and indifferent, and a few will vocally oppose you. And yet all of this is an opportunity to show Christ at work in you and in me.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we consider this message, we're grateful that you have given us this assignment. We're grateful because the assignment comes with your power and authority. And we ask that you would help us to be faithful messengers of the gospel of Christ. Help us to carry this message to whomever you bring into our lives, whether that's the clerk at a grocery store that we have in a passing conversation, whether that's a family member that we've been talking to for the past 60 years, or whether it's a co-worker that we've worked with for the past two years. Whatever the case, Father, help us to be faithful messengers and even guide us this week in Vacation Bible School. That what we do here would declare the power and authority of Jesus Christ who is able to save.

And help boys and girls and their parents to hear this week and help some of them to believe it. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Sickness and Death Submit | Luke 8:40-56

Sickness and Death Submit | Luke 8:40-56

Luke Folsom

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Two Characters: Jairus and the Woman

Our sermon scripture reading this morning comes from Luke chapter 8, verses 40 through 56.

Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him.

And there came a man, Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about 12 years of age, and she was dying.

As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years. And though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased.

And Jesus said, "Who was it that touched me?" When all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you." But Jesus said, "Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me."

And when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling and falling down before him, declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed. And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace."

While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, "Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher anymore." But Jesus on hearing this answered him, "Do not fear, only believe, and she will be well."

And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him except Peter and James and John and the father and mother of the child. And all were weeping and mourning for her. But he said, "Do not weep, for she is not dead, but sleeping." And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead.

But taking her by the hand, he called, saying, "Child, arise." Her spirit returned, and she got up at once and rose, and he directed that something should be given her to eat. And her parents were amazed, but he charged them to tell no one what had happened.

This is the word of the Lord. Join with me in prayer.

Father, we come here this morning not at our own initiative, but at your initiative. You're the God who created all things, who created us. Who placed us where we lived at the time in which we lived by your sovereign hand. So, God, we bring all praise and honor and glory to you.

God, you know each and every one of us. You know the situations of our lives. You know every detail of what is going on. You know every worry. You know every grief. You know every joy. You know every sorrow. God, you know what we're stressed out about. You know what we don't have answers to. You know our prayers and you hear us.

God, you see us. And so help us to pray this morning like we just sung that we will hope in God. That no matter what comes, we will say to ourselves, "Why are you cast down, my soul? Hope in God. I will again praise him."

God, help us to see this morning in the text, in the lives of these two individuals who you radically changed their lives. Let us see your glory and your goodness. Let us see your tenderness and compassion. Let us see your power and your presence. Let us worship you and believe. It's in Christ's name that we pray all these things. Amen. Amen.

Well, this weekend is Memorial Day weekend. It's a day when we pause to remember the men and the women who have given their lives in service to our country. We remember their sacrifice, we remember their courage, we remember them, we honor them, and we remember and pray for their loved ones.

When we lived in France a few years ago, we had the incredible opportunity of visiting Normandy on the 80th anniversary of D-Day. And as I stood there on Omaha Beach, I looked out over the water and I tried to imagine what it was like in the dark hours before dawn that morning, 80 years before, on June 6, 1944.

Take a moment and imagine it with me. Thousands of young American soldiers, many of them just teenagers, packed shoulder to shoulder in Higgins boats, crossing a rough, dark sea toward the coast of France. Nobody is talking much. The engines are loud. Men are getting seasick, and every single one of them knows exactly what is about to happen. In just a few moments, those steel doors at the front of the boat are going to drop open. And when they do, machine gun fire will meet them instantly.

Some of these boys are just 18 years old. Imagine that kind of waiting, wondering if they would survive the morning. When we were there, I found out about one of those men who landed that day. He was a 23-year-old farm boy from Alabama named Arnold Ray Lambert. Ray was not a famous general. Ray wasn't even carrying a rifle. He was an Army medic. But at that point in the war, he had already fought through North Africa and Sicily with the legendary Big Red One. He had already earned multiple Purple Hearts and Silver Stars for running into enemy fire to rescue wounded soldiers.

He had even been offered a promotion to officer and he turned it down. Why? Because he said, "I did not want to leave my men."

So on the morning of D-Day, Ray and also his younger brother Bill, also a medic, were packed into a landing craft with 31 soldiers heading toward Omaha Beach on the very first wave of the invasion. The doors dropped, and the soldiers stepped into chest-deep water under withering machine gun fire. Those men were carrying nearly 90 pounds of gear. Some drowned before they even reached the shore. In the opening minutes, some estimates say that certain frontline companies suffered 90% casualties.

Lambert later would describe the sound of battle as something beyond noise. He would say it pounds your bones. Your skull vibrates. You feel it inside of you. But in the middle of all of that chaos, the medic from Alabama went to work. Again and again, Ray Lambert ran back into the water, dragging drowning men out from the water. He would bandage wounds while bullets snapped past his head.

At one point, he spotted a broken chunk of German concrete on the beach about four feet high. He later called it "my salvation." Here's a picture of that rock. We have it. It's now called Ray's Rock, marking the place where he set up one of the very first medic stations and casualty checkpoints on Omaha Beach.

Lambert helped save as many men as he could that day. He kept going until he couldn't. He was shot through the arm. Shrapnel ripped open his leg. He administered morphine to others and even to himself so he could keep helping others. But then finally, while trying to help a wounded soldier out of the surf, the steel ramp of a landing craft crashed down on him, breaking his back and driving him under the water. He was evacuated to a ship, unconscious and barely alive.

Why don't you just picture yourself on that day 80 years ago? Imagine the desperate waiting of that day. Wounded men waiting to be dragged to safety by a medic. And once they were behind that rock, injured, bleeding, waiting for a medic to tend to their wounds before it was too late. Imagine other men maybe further down the beach, pinned down under gunfire, unable to move forward, unable to go back, waiting for reinforcements that they felt like would never come, waiting for help, for relief.

Then imagine back home across the Atlantic, mothers waiting. Women who had sent their sons over an ocean and have not heard anything since, sitting by the radio, wondering if the son they had raised was still alive. D-Day was a day filled with desperate waiting.

Ray Lambert woke up in a field hospital in England. He looked over in the bed next to him. Surprisingly, it was his brother Bill, also badly wounded. Bill looked at him and asked, "What are you doing here?" Ray said, "Same thing as you." And then Bill asked, "What's mother going to think?" Their mother got to welcome them home. Many other mothers didn't get that privilege. Only seven of the 31 men in his landing craft made it off that beach. In total, 2,501 American soldiers were killed on D-Day.

What Ray Lambert and other medics did that day was an extraordinary display of human courage and human love. But no matter how brave and how skilled those medics were, they could only do so much. Lambert could drag men from the water. He could slow the bleeding. He could ease the pain. But he could not get every wounded soldier behind that rock. He could not heal. He could not raise the dead.

Let me show you another picture. It's next in the slide. Row after row after row of white crosses marking the nearly 9,400 graves of American military personnel buried at the Normandy American Cemetery. Ray Lambert got to live another 77 years after D-Day. He went back and visited Normandy often, but he too would one day die. In 2021, at the age of 100, he passed away.

While we were there in Normandy, they had flown out 41 veterans of the Normandy Campaign, 33 of which served on D-Day, and all of them are either over or approaching 100 years old. Here's a picture of one of them that we met at the cemetery. We flew back to the States shortly after our trip to Normandy, and there were several of these World War II veterans on our flight back. They got a well-deserved hero's welcome on the plane. It was wonderful to see them and to meet them. But in just a few years, even the strongest of survivors from that day on Omaha Beach will soon give way to death.

I tell you this story because we live in a fallen and broken world. It's not a surprise to you. You all know that. We live with the consequences of sickness and death all around us. We live in a world of desperate waiting. What we commemorate this weekend is a good reminder of that.

This is the same world that Luke 8 is set in, a world of sickness and death in which humanity has no cure or remedy, but in this passage, we encounter one to whom even sickness and death submit. Here's the main point I want us to see this morning: All those who desperately wait with faith will receive the power and person of the God-man, Jesus Christ. We should have a slide that says that. I'll say it again one more time: All those who desperately wait with faith will receive the power and person of the God-man, Jesus Christ.

We're going to walk through that sentence phrase by phrase this morning. So first, I want you to see "all those." All those. I want to introduce you to the surrounding and supporting characters of the story, and I want you to notice the contrast and distinction that Luke makes for us between these two individuals.

First, we meet a man named Jairus. Jairus was a ruler of the synagogue. He would have been responsible for the administration of the synagogue, things like organizing services, appointing teachers, readers, those who prayed, and he would just supervise all the activities of the synagogue. This was a high position in that town and in that day. He was a man with social standing. He was a leader in the city. He was a well-respected man, one of the most respected figures in the Jewish community. That's character one.

Then we meet a woman, and we don't even learn her name. We find out that this unnamed woman had had a discharge of blood for 12 years. If you go and read Leviticus chapter 1 or Numbers chapter 5, you will find out that this made her ceremonially unclean continually. As a Jewish woman, for 12 whole years, she not only suffered physically immense pain and distress from her medical condition, but also, she was cut off socially and religiously. She could not physically touch anyone, for if she did, that would make them unclean. She could not attend worship. She could not go to the synagogue or to the temple.

So these are our two characters. Do you see the contrast and the distinction between Jairus and the woman that Luke wants us to see? You cannot meet two more different people. One leads the synagogue, one has been excluded from it. One is publicly honored, and one is publicly avoided. Okay, now that we've seen the contrast, let's see what these two individuals have in common.

The Desperation of Waiting

Second, who desperately wait. As we see in this passage, it doesn't matter where you are in the social order. Sickness and death do not discriminate. We live in a fallen and broken world. Sickness and death come for all.

Jairus' high social position makes his desperation even more apparent. Look at what he does in verse 41. It says he falls at Jesus' feet and implores him to come to his house. Now, that's a surprising thing to read. This is not how respectable men of this day act. A man of his standing was not expected to bow down before anyone, especially such a controversial figure as Jesus. This man is in the same class as Pharisees, and as we've read through this gospel, the Pharisees are no fans of Jesus. So to do something like this threatened his standing within the community.

Why would he do this? We keep reading in verse 41. For he had an only daughter, about 12 years of age, and she was dying. Oh, what desperation. This is the worst scenario any parent can imagine. His child is about to die, and there's nothing he can do about it. This little girl he raised, his only child, 12 years old, at that time and in that culture, considered on the brink of womanhood, about to enter into the prime of her life. She was dying.

He was so desperate, he was willing to do anything. He didn't care about his social status. He didn't care what other people thought about him. He was desperate enough to leave his dying daughter because while she still lived, there was some hope. Maybe, just maybe, Jesus can help. Maybe Jesus can help. He might be mocked and rejected by his peers, but he did not care.

So what does he do? He goes to the lake and he waits. We read in verse 40 that the same crowd from earlier in the chapter is waiting for Jesus to return from the other side of the lake. So they were on the Jewish side. Jesus had visited and gone to the Gentile side. And they don't know when he's coming back, but Jairus is there waiting in the crowd. He seems to be the very first in line. We have no idea how long he was there, but we know that every moment for him was precious. His daughter, his only daughter, was running out of time.

And then as you read the narrative, finally Jesus returns. Jesus meets him. He hears his desperate plea for help, and he's going to go with him. There's hope. But as we keep reading, there's an interruption. Luke introduces our other character and we see her desperate waiting. The same year that Jairus' little girl was born, her life changed forever. The best day of Jairus' life was the worst day of hers. For as long as that precious daughter had been alive, she had been bleeding. She had been unclean for 12 years. Shame, distance, separation, suffering, pain. She couldn't touch anyone, and no one had touched her for 12 years.

Take a moment and just consider what that might have been like. I don't think we can fully imagine it, but you remember those first few weeks, a few years ago during COVID, when we didn't really know what was happening and social distancing was put in full effect? People had to go into the hospital sick and alone. Wives separated from their husbands, mothers from their children. That was just a few weeks for us. Can you imagine 12 years of that? No hugs, no physical touch with another human being. She could not hug her husband, no embrace from her children, no embrace of family and friends, no contact with another human being. She was cut off socially.

She was also cut off religiously from worship. We read in the Old Testament that the rules and regulations about those who are unclean, she could not gather with God's people. She had to be outside of the camp. She could not go to the temple. She could not go to the synagogue. She could not approach God in public worship. 12 years of this. 12 years of waiting. Consider her desperation.

Luke tells us in verse 43 that though she had spent all her living on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone. We read she tried everything. She tried everything. When we think of physicians today, we think of nice modern doctors and nice modern hospitals. That's not the scenario we read here. These were primitive doctors of the first century. Now, Luke, who is writing this narrative, was himself a medical doctor. So there were respectable doctors who practiced basic pre-modern medicine, but there were also quacks who gave ridiculous remedies and treatments that were painful and ended up causing more harm. And it sounded like she tried it all. She was desperate, so she would do anything. But although she had spent all she had to find a cure, Mark's account tells us in Mark 5:26 that she was no better, but rather grew worse. Like Jairus, this woman saw Jesus as her only hope.

She became so desperate that, as an unclean person who was supposed to avoid all the crowds by law, she crawled through a crushing crowd just to try to touch the hem of Jesus' garment. She approached him from behind because she didn't want any attention on her, but she ends up having a life-changing encounter with Jesus. We'll get back to that.

Before we do, let's get back to Jairus. Can you imagine the inner turmoil and anxiety of Jairus during this interaction that Jesus is having with the woman? He had already been waiting for who knows how long by the lake for Jesus to return. He had already humbled himself. He had bowed down. He implored Jesus to come with him. He had been fighting through this crowd to get back home as quickly as possible when suddenly Jesus stops and wants to know who had touched him in the sea of people who were pressing in on him.

And the text doesn't tell us what Jairus is thinking or feeling, but it's not hard to imagine, right? His daughter, his only daughter, is about to die. Every minute is costly. I'm sure he's thinking, "We need to go. We need to hurry. We need to get there before it's too late."

Then, just as Jesus' interaction with a woman seems to be ending, verse 49, the worst possible news comes. Luke 8:49. Look at it with me. While Jesus was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, "Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher anymore."

This interruption had cost Jairus his daughter's life. Why? Commentator Daryl Bach writes this helpfully. He says, "The delay caused by the healing woman's hemorrhage appears to have been costly. As Jesus finishes addressing the woman, a man appears from the synagogue leader's home with bad news. The daughter has died. In stopping to heal a lesser medical condition and forcing a discussion about it, Jesus had allowed a life to be lost."

Where are God's justice and Jesus' judgment in this turn of events? Just sit with that for a moment. Can you feel that sense of injustice? Jairus had done everything right, and yet everything was going all wrong. Have you ever felt like that in your life?

Commentator Daryl Bach goes on to say, "One can imagine how a desperate yet hopeful Jairus becomes disappointed and grief-stricken. Frustration mixed with anger may have resulted at this seemingly lost opportunity." I can imagine that.

Here's what I want you to see. Some of the hardest seasons in the Christian life are not seasons of open rebellion. They're seasons of confused, anguished waiting. When it seems to us as if God is late.

Waiting with Faith

When it seems to us as if God is silent, when you cannot for the life of you figure out what he is doing. We don't know all the emotions Jairus began to feel, but we do know that he started to fear. And that brings us to the next section of our phrase: "With faith."

With faith. Before we address Jesus' fear, let's go back to the beginning of the story and commend his original faith. Jairus had faith to go to Jesus in the first place. He had faith that Jesus could heal his daughter when no one else could. We read the words that Jairus says to Jesus in Mark's account, Mark 5:23. He says, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live."

That's a strong faith. Saying, "Jesus, I believe, please, I believe you can heal my daughter. She's at the point of death. There's nothing anyone else can do except you. You can heal her. All you have to do is touch her and she will be made well and live." That's a commendable faith.

We have the benefit, of course, of reading Luke's historical narrative that Jairus did not have. We know just a chapter earlier that a Roman centurion had faith that Jesus could heal a servant from a distance, that Jesus' power was not limited to what he could touch. We also have the story of the widow and her only son that Jesus raised from the dead. Maybe Jairus hadn't heard these stories. Maybe those options didn't occur to him. What he knew was that his only daughter was dying, and he believed that Jesus could help. That's Jairus' faith.

The woman had a strong faith as well. We read in Mark's account, Mark 5:27-28. It says, "She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, 'If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.'" So her faith is strong too. Her faith begins with hearing. Faith comes by hearing. She believed what she heard about Jesus.

Some have speculated that maybe this was just a superstitious faith. But as we read the narrative, there's no condemnation of her faith in the text. Maybe it was an imperfect faith, but this imperfect faith is honored because at its center, she trusts that Jesus can do what no one else can do. Commentator Walter Leafield notes that the smoldering wick of her faith is fanned into flame by Jesus' action. And then we read that Jesus commends her faith explicitly in the narrative. Luke 8:48, Jesus says, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace."

Back to Jairus for a moment. As soon as Jesus speaks these words of commendation and comfort and blessing to the woman, Jairus is having a total crisis of faith. He had believed that Jesus could heal his daughter if he could get there in time. His daughter had hope while she still lived, but now she was dead, and death has a finality to it. Maybe his faith too was an imperfect faith, but it was an imperfect faith in the right person.

What does Jesus say to Jairus in verse 50? It says, "Do not fear, only believe and she will be well." Expositor D. Ralph Davis puts it this way. He says, "It's as if Jesus in verse 50 is saying to Jairus, You trusted me in what was urgent. Now trust me in what seems hopeless. You trusted me in what was alarming. Now trust me in what seems irreversible. You thought I was adequate for that situation, but what about this one? Can you believe that I am adequate for this very different, much more difficult situation?"

Oh, what a question to all of us who are so prone to fear. There is more to Jesus than Jairus could imagine.

Receiving the Power of Jesus

Hear the words of Jesus today as a comfort to your soul. Do not fear. Only believe. That brings us to the next part of our phrase: "Will receive the power."

Let's walk through the narrative together to see the power of Jesus in these two miracles over sickness and death. And remember, last week, Pastor Nathan covered the two stories before our section where Jesus demonstrated his power over nature and demons. So in this chapter, Luke wants his audience to see that Jesus has comprehensive power over nature, over demons, over sickness, and even death itself.

Let's set the scene again. There's this huge crowd who's been waiting for Jesus to return from the other side of the lake. Jesus meets Jairus, agrees to go with him, and now they have to make their way through this crowd. Luke notes that the people pressed around him in verse 42. And that word there for "press," interestingly, is the same word that Luke uses earlier in the chapter in Luke 8:14 for the thorns choking the word in the parable of the sower. And then in verse 45, in Peter's reply, the verbs used for the crowd pressing in are used elsewhere for holding prisoners in a siege or even pressing grapes.

So that's the image we have here. The crowd was physically crushing Jesus. They were choking him. When we lived in Paris, we didn't have a car, and so we got really used to public transport. We got really good at riding trains and buses. A family of six with small children, so we always had to be extra diligent in crowds. And one time of day that we did not particularly like riding the train was downtown during rush hour. Maybe you can imagine if you've been in a global city like that. On the occasions where we did, I would use that same word to describe it. We felt crushed. There's people everywhere. They're cramming into each car. You're touching everyone around you. There's absolutely no space between you and the next person.

And do you know who thrives in those situations? Pickpockets. Paris is famous for pickpockets. When you're being touched on all sides, you don't notice one extra touch until much later, when you realize your phone or your wallet is gone. That's a little bit like this scenario here, except instead of a phone or wallet, Jesus notices that power had gone out from him.

Look at verse 44 again with me. It says the woman came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. Again, the woman approached from behind. She was trying to avoid any public interaction. She was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. She did not want to draw attention to herself. She was used to hiding for 12 years. But if you think about it, if the crowds were crushing in that much on Jesus, she must have had to fight through that crowd, causing everyone she touched to be unclean. And remember, she's trying to get to the fringe of his garment, which had been on the ground. So she's crawling on the ground through a crushing crowd. Her faith had led her to go against all social standards, risk being ostracized even more, and literally be trampled to reach Jesus.

And what happens next? The moment she touched Jesus, everything changed at once. Physically, the bleeding stopped. More than just physically, every dimension of her suffering was changed. Socially, she could touch and be touched again. Spiritually, she was ceremonially clean. All of it reversed in one moment.

Now, here's a detail I don't want you to miss. This woman was unclean, right? And according to the law, when an unclean person touches someone, the uncleanness transfers to that person who's been touched. So the crowd, if they had known who she was, would have scattered. And yet, when she touches Jesus, instead of the uncleanness transferring to him, what happens? His cleanness transfers to her. Instead of Jesus being defiled, the woman becomes clean. His power and purity were greater than her uncleanness.

Let's jump ahead to Jairus' daughter, verses 51 to 56. It says that Jesus arrived at Jairus' house. We don't know how long that journey was, but the funeral procession had already started. The mourners are there. And I want you to understand this is nothing like our funerals. Our funerals here are very quiet, right? Hushed voices, soft music. A first-century Jewish funeral, sorry, was just the opposite. Households would hire professional mourning women wailing at full voice, tearing their garments. Flute players filling the air with noise, not even music, just noise. Even the poorest family, according to the law, was expected to provide at least two flute players and one wailing woman. But for the household of a synagogue ruler, it would have been considerably more.

Now Jesus would have a word for these fake mourners, but I want you to consider here in this moment the true mourning that comes along with the death of a loved one, especially the death of a child. I remember when I served as an intern here many years ago, we had a call from North Fulton Hospital.

The young woman was dying unexpectedly. Her family was from out of town, so they had no one. So the hospital called around asking for a pastor to come and visit with them. As the intern, I got to tag along with one of the pastors as an educational experience.

I remember walking into that hospital visitation room that day and encountering true, unfiltered grief. The father's cries in particular were uncontrollable. This wasn't a performative grief; it just poured out of him. He kept trying to leave the visitation room and go out into the hallway, and the nurses kept trying to guide him back into the room, but his wails just filled the hospital.

That's what Jairus' house sounded like. But Jesus walks in and says, "Stop weeping. She's not dead. She's sleeping." And what do they do? These are professional mourners. They're not actually grieving. They laughed at him. Their performance turned into mockery. They knew what being dead looked like; they didn't get that wrong. These were professionals.

But as we see, when Jesus said she was sleeping, he was not claiming that she was in a coma. He knows that she's dead. What he's saying is that death is not final. It's temporary. To Jesus, death is just like sleep. For Jesus, it's no harder to wake a sleeping child up from a nap than it is to raise a child from the dead.

He takes Peter and James, his John, his inner three. He takes the girl's parents, who were certainly not laughing, and he goes to the room where she is. He takes her by the hand. Now, just like with the unclean woman, touching a dead body made a person ceremonially unclean for seven days under the law, but Jesus does it anyway. And the same thing that happened with the woman happens here. Instead of Jesus becoming defiled by contact with death, life and power flow the opposite direction.

He speaks to the girl just as if he's waking her up in the morning. He says, "Child, arise" (verse 55), and her spirit returned. And she got up at once.

All right, so we've seen Jesus' power over sickness, and now we've seen his power over death. Who is this man to whom even sickness and death submit? Bach notes this again. He says, "When one considers the four miracles of chapter eight, it is Jesus' comprehensive power that stands out. This power provides the opportunity for people to see God. Such power exposes the impotency of the forces that oppose God and humanity. The forces may be natural, demonic, disease, or death. Yet Jesus is able to reverse them all."

The last miracle of resurrection properly comes at the end. For if Jesus has power over death, then one must eventually deal with him and with God. The call in the three of these miracles relates to faith. Jesus is worthy of one's trust. Be assured that what he promises, he will eventually.

The Person of the God-man

Do. Know that God's power is absolute. Death is not the chief end of humans. Facing and knowing God is. That brings us to the final part of our phrase and the person of the God-man, Jesus Christ. Let's read that phrase together: "All those who desperately wait with faith will receive the power and person of the God-man, Jesus Christ."

The focus of Jesus' ministry was not on all the miraculous signs and wonders that he could do; it's on who he was. The signs and wonders validated that what he said about himself was true. This is the reason why in verse 56, Jesus surprisingly tells the girl's amazed parents to do what? Tell no one what had happened. That doesn't make any sense. Why would he do that?

Well, one reason simply is just crowd control. In this Jewish region, Jesus was concerned that mistaken expectations about a political and revolutionary Messiah could make his ministry more difficult than it needed to be. But there was another reason. Jesus knows that he is headed for a different kind of ministry than people will want from him. Excessive focus on his works of power will undermine the type of commitment he will ask from people. One commentator notes, he does not need to be raising people on a daily basis. The type of commitment that will be required of them, should they follow him, is one of suffering, not comfort.

This large crowd that is following Jesus, they're only interested in miracles. In just a few chapters in Luke chapter 11, verse 29, it says, "When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given except the sign of Jonah." It's easy to follow someone who you think can provide everything that you want. But Jesus did not come to be just a spiritual power vending machine. He did not come to perform for those who seek a sign. He came to seek and to save the lost. He came to die on a cross, to be raised from the dead three days later, and then to call on all who want to follow him to deny themselves, to take up their cross, and to follow him.

The kind of commitment he will call people to is not comfort seeking. It's suffering. It's self-denial. And these miracles show that he is worthy to be followed. The miracles are signs. They are proofs. They are not the destination. They are not the end. Jesus is the destination.

So who is this Jesus? Let's look at the person of Jesus together. Jesus is tender and compassionate. Look at his interactions in this passage, especially how he treats the woman and the child with this woman—unnamed, unclean. After she sneaks up on him and then tries to hide from him, after she comes trembling before him, terrified and tells everyone the whole truth, he's tender and compassionate towards this woman. He heals her of her disease. He calls her daughter, commends her faith, and tells her to go in peace.

A quick note on Jesus' words there. That phrase, "Your faith has made you well." That word for "made you well" is the Greek word *sozo*, which could be translated, "Your faith has saved you." It's the same word. This word can either mean heal or save, but here it seems to mean both. Both physical healing and spiritual salvation have taken place. Her faith has made her well. Her faith has saved her. Physical healing and spiritual salvation in the same word, in the same moment.

And then remember how Jesus treats that little girl. He clears the room. He takes her hand and he says to her—we read the word, the Aramaic that he used is in Mark, which would have been her native language—*Talitha Koumi*, which literally means, "Little lamb, arise." Little lamb. A term of endearment for little children. Jesus was so tender. He was so kind. And he makes sure after she is raised from the dead, what's the first thing he does? He makes sure she gets something to eat. He makes sure she's fed, that she's cared for. This was to show that she had truly been raised from the dead. She wasn't just a ghost that appeared to be raised. She was a living, breathing little girl who needed to be fed and cared for.

Jesus is tender and compassionate. Jesus is also interruptible. We see in this story he gets interrupted multiple times. He gets off that boat and immediately goes with Jairus. He stops everything in the middle of this urgent mission to be interrupted by the unnamed woman. Jesus in his ministry was always being interrupted, and he turned every interruption into something unforgettable.

Jesus is also unbotherable. I don't know if that's a word, but I like it. When the messenger arrives from Jairus' house and says, "Do not trouble the teacher anymore," there's an assumption behind those words. The only reason that you would think approaching Jesus is a trouble or a bother is if you thought he was too busy to care about you.

Honestly, I think sometimes we carry that same assumption and we dress it up in humble language, saying something like, "Well, God has much bigger things to deal with. I don't want to waste his time on something so small." That sounds noble, but it's actually very belittling of God. It implies that God is overworked, that he's overwhelmed, and he's got too many things on his plate. Maybe we think of God like he's our dad at work and we're not allowed to call him because he's got more important things going on than to deal with our little problems. When we think that way, our problem is that we too often think that God is like us.

When I was in seminary, I worked at a customer service call center. Good training for ministry. This was for a moving company. And during summer, which is peak moving season, we would log in and we would see an overwhelming queue of calls. Now, no one in a customer service line is calling because they're happy about something, and they're especially not happy after they've been sitting on hold for hours and hours. Some of those calls were simple because, for example, they would call early enough to schedule their container pickups and deliveries before our calendar was totally booked. But others would call and they would make impossible requests. They thought we could move around everything so we could accommodate their schedule. We really did have limited capacity and limited power. We could not fix much of what people were calling about, even if we genuinely wanted to help them. If something was out of our control, it was out of our control.

Aren't you glad that Jesus is not an overwhelmed customer service agent? When Jairus falls at his feet, Jesus doesn't sigh and hope someone else takes the call. He doesn't say, "Your wait time is approximately four hours." He loves that call. He's never too busy. He's never too tired. He's never too caught up in something so important that he won't stop for you. Jesus has no limits like we do. And this is all true because he is truly God and truly man.

I want to pause for a moment and wonder at the incarnation with you. Let's back up and look at verses 45 and 46 again. And Jesus said, "Who was it that touched me?" When all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you." But Jesus said, "Someone touched me, for I perceive that power has gone out from me." Now, I don't know what it feels like for power to go out from you, but I bet it's more noticeable than getting your phone or wallet stolen. He looks around and asks, "Who touched me?" Now, no one knew what had happened at that point except for the woman. It would be like me turning around on that train in Paris and asking that same question. Everyone looks at me like, "We're all touching you."

Everyone in the crowd denied it. Then good old Peter, good old Peter, he spoke up, always ready to correct Jesus when he needed correcting, right? And he says, what we're all thinking, "Everyone's touching you. What do you mean, 'Who touched me'?" But Jesus says, "No, no, someone touched me. For I perceive that power has gone out from me."

Here in this text, I think we get a fascinating glimpse into what is called the hypostatic union: that Jesus Christ is fully God and he is fully man. Truly God and truly man. He's not 50-50. He's not just God pretending to be a man, just appearing like a man. He's not just a man pretending to be God. He is God in the flesh. So he has both a divine nature and a human nature. Now, I have to warn you, we're going to theology and we're not here for just a second. Some of you will love this. Some might hate it. Most of you will tolerate it, which I appreciate. Thank you for bearing with me.

The question here that we're asking is, did Jesus really not know who touched him? Some would say, of course he knew. He's not looking for information here. He's looking for an encounter with this woman. He's looking for a relationship. He's looking to draw the woman out. He's doing the same thing he did with the woman at the well at John 4 when he asked her, "Where is your husband?" And he already knows the answer to that question. I think that explanation is totally possible and plausible. God is omniscient. God knows all things. God does not need us to give him any information. Just like he wasn't looking for information when he asked Adam and Eve where they were or when he asked Elijah what he was doing. God has never learned anything. If he did, he wouldn't be God. The famous preacher Adrian Rogers used to ask, "Has it ever occurred to you that nothing ever occurs to God?" So, yeah, I think that it's totally possible, totally plausible.

But also, I think it could be true—I want you to stay with me for a moment—that according to his deity, Jesus, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, knew who touched him. The Chalcedonian Creed, a historic church creed on the incarnation, states this. It says, "He is of the same essence as the Father according to his deity." So, God the Son is always omniscient and omnipresent. He can't just turn it off; he's always everywhere, he always knows everything.

And at the same time, stick with me, it's also possible to say that according to his humanity, we're using creedal language here, according to his humanity, he did not know who touched him. Stay with me. Chalcedonian Creed continues: "he is of the same essence as the Father according to his deity, and the same one is of the same essence with us according to our humanity, according to our humanity like us in all things except sin."

Now we read that this is true already in Luke, right? Luke 2:52 says that Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. What? Jesus grew, right? God cannot grow. God cannot get any bigger. He cannot get any stronger. He certainly can't get any wiser. He is already the fullness of all of his attributes. He cannot learn because he already knows all things.

But Jesus, according to his humanity, Luke says, grew in wisdom and stature. He got bigger. He learned things. He learned to walk. He learned to talk. When he was a baby, he wasn't just pretending he didn't know how to walk and talk. According to his humanity, he actually had to learn. He tripped and he fell as a toddler. He probably said "pisketti" instead of "spaghetti." He had to learn how to become a carpenter. He made mistakes, not sins, but human mistakes. He had to learn to measure twice and to cut once.

As we keep reading in the Gospels, we read that Jesus said there were things he didn't know. Consider Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32. Jesus says, "But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father only." One commentator helps us out. He says, "in his incarnate life, Jesus learned things as other human beings learned them. On the other hand, Jesus was also fully God, and as God, he had infinite knowledge. Here he is apparently speaking in terms of his human nature."

This is similar to other statements about Jesus, which could be true of his human nature only and not of his divine nature. He grew and became strong, Luke 2:40. He increased in stature, Luke 2:52. He was about 30 years old, Luke 3:23. God does not have an age. He was weary, John 4:6. He was thirsty, John 19:28. He was hungry, Matthew 4:2. He was crucified, 1 Corinthians 2:8.

Taking account of these verses, together with many verses that affirm Christ's deity, the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451 affirmed that Christ was perfect in Godhead and also perfect in manhood, truly God and truly man. Okay, that ends our theology excursus. Thank you for bearing with me. If you want to dig more into that, you can go read the Chalcedonian Creed or you can read on the Incarnation by Athanasius. Jonathan will give you a copy.

The reason I bring that up is to emphasize our main point today: that all who desperately wait with faith will receive the power and the person of the God-man, Jesus Christ. Here's what I want you to see: God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, left glory. He condescended and took on flesh. The transcendent became imminent. Eternity stepped into time. God the Son became a man. Not in an abstract figurative sense, in a very real literal sense. He became a man who got hungry, who got tired, who suffered. Why? To be born for you. To live for you. To die for you. To be raised for you. To redeem you.

Philippians 2 says that Jesus Christ, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself. By becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name. So at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Four Points of Application

Amen. Amen. All right, let's conclude with four points of application.

First, contemplate Jesus. Contemplate Jesus. Look at this Jesus. See this Jesus. See his power—his power over the physical realm of nature, his power over the spiritual realm of angels and demons, his power over sickness, his power over death itself. He is Lord. He is King. He is ruler. He is the Almighty One. He is mighty and he is sufficient. See this Jesus. See His person. Look at Him. Consider Him. Contemplate Him. He is tender and compassionate. He is interruptible. He is unbotherable. He wants a relationship with you. He cares for you. He loves you. He feeds you. He calls you His child. He is kind. He is gentle and lowly at heart.

Second, come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. Come, no matter who you are. The high and the lowly, the upright and the downtrodden, the happy and the depressed, the respected and the dishonored, the noble and the outcast, the rich and the poor, the weak and the strong, the old and the young, the religious and the unreligious. Anyone, all. Come, all who are desperate, all who have lost everything, who have spent everything, who have no hope, who are lost, who are lonely, who are grieving, who are hurting, who are humbled. Come, all you who wait. Who wait for all sorts of things, who wait for a spouse, who wait for a child, who wait for a job, who wait for a prodigal to return, who wait for an answer to prayer that they've been praying for years, who wait for someone to care for them, who wait for an illness to end, who wait for something they have absolutely no control over, who wait for a problem to be solved that no one can solve, who wait, along with all of creation, for a new heaven and a new earth. Come, all who are sick. Jesus is the great physician. Come, all who are dying. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Come, all who are heavy laden, and he will give you rest. Come, ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love, and power. Come to Jesus.

Third, have confidence in Jesus. Have confidence in Jesus. Remember Jesus' words to the woman? He says, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace." You are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. You will have a peace that surpasses all understanding. The chaos of your life will turn into peace, not necessarily because all of your circumstances change, but because you now know the Lord over all of your circumstances. Remember Jesus' words to Jairus. "Do not fear, only believe." All throughout scripture, when things are going most wrong, when God seems absent or late, that is precisely when he calls people to trust in him. Psalm 22, verses 4-5: "In you, our fathers trusted. They trusted and you delivered them. To you, they cried and were rescued. In you, they trusted and were not put to shame." Isaiah 26, 3 and 4: "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock." Isaiah 43, verse 2: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you." Isaiah does not say, "if." He says, "when." When. The season of desperate waiting is real. The fire is real. The flood is real. God has not promised to remove the fire. He's promised to be with you in the fire. And if you're in a season like that, know today that it will not be wasted. Maybe, just maybe, God will use your story, your waiting, your holding on, your trembling faith to inspire someone else. God wastes nothing. Someone watching you may someday say, "If Jesus was enough for them, then he is enough for me."

Martin Luther, one of the greatest theologians in the history of the church, watched his beloved daughter Magdalena die of the plague. She was barely 14 years old. He knelt beside her bed and he begged God to spare her. But she died. And when the carpenters were nailing down the lid of her coffin, Luther cried out, "Hammer away. One glorious day, she will rise again." That's the hope of a Christian. Not temporary healing, not temporary resuscitation, not temporary removal from difficult circumstances. That unnamed woman would one day get sick again and die. That little girl would one day grow old and die. But for the Christian, our hope is not in this life. It's in the life to come. It's in a future resurrection. We can say, "You can put me in the ground, but death is not the end. One glorious day, Jesus is going to say to me, 'Child, arise.'" He will cancel our death. We will rise because the one who holds our life in his hands, to him, death is like sleeping.

Call Others to Faith

Fourth and finally, call others to faith in Jesus. Look at verse 56 again. Jesus tells the parents to tell no one what had happened. When we read narrative texts like this, we're going to ask, we're supposed to ask, is this descriptive or prescriptive? Is the author just describing an event as it happened, or is he giving us a prescription, an instruction to follow today?

I can say to you with absolute certainty that this verse was descriptive. This instruction does not apply to us today. How do I know? Because we're reading it here today in public. Luke wrote it down. God intended it to be told throughout all generations. We are to read this passage, believe it, and then tell it to others.

We see that already in the book of Luke, in Luke 8:39, the verse directly before our passage. Jesus sent the healed demoniac home to declare how much God had done for him. In Luke 9:1, the verse directly after our passage, he sends his disciples out to proclaim the kingdom. In Luke 24, at the very end of the book, after the resurrection, Jesus commissions his followers to be witnesses to all nations.

We're not in a season of silence. We're in a season of proclamation. The world is full of people who are desperately waiting, people who don't know that they can receive the power and person of the God-man, Jesus Christ, by faith. It's our job to tell them. Go and declare how much God has done for you. Proclaim the kingdom of God.

It is written that Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and a forgiveness of sin should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Let me close how we began this service with Isaiah verse 40, just the last few verses. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even youth shall faint and weary, and young men shall fall exhausted. Here it is: But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. All those who desperately wait with faith will receive the power in the person of the God-man, Jesus Christ.

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for your word this morning that gives life. Thank you for the story of the woman who was healed, the little girl who was raised to life. Thank you that we can see who Jesus is in this passion. We can see his power. We can see his glory. And we can see who he is. We can see his person. Thank you, Jesus, that you came to seek and to save that which is lost. Thank you that you have healed us of our diseases, cleansed us of our uncleanness, and raised us to life so that we could walk and follow you.

God, thank you that you are with us each and every moment. I pray for every situation in this room, if there are those who are waiting, desperately waiting, God, show them your power. Show them who you are. Let them see Jesus Christ as the God-man who loves them. In His name we pray. Amen.

The Seas and the Spirits Obey | Luke 8:22-39

The Seas and the Spirits Obey | Luke 8:22-39

Nathan Young

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Introduction to Luke 8

This morning, I invite you to turn in your Bible to Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8. And we're going to continue in this chapter as we see Jesus ministering not only his preaching, but also his miracles.

Last week, in the first 21 verses, we saw Jesus teaching through parables where he was challenging the disciples and all who were listening with the authority of his word. And he was saying that his word is like a seed that is cast along the soil and where it finds different reception. There's the hard soil, the rocky soil, the thorny soil, and the fertile soil. And God's word bears an abundant harvest in the lives of those who receive his word like the fertile soil.

But Jesus also said that his word was like a light that could not be hidden, that it exposed everything and brought it out into the open so that it could be worked into our lives in a way that we find the relief of the gospel. And then finally, Jesus said that when we believe the word of God, we are introduced into a new family, that we are genuinely brothers and sisters, that we have new God-given parents where the church is reparenting us to become more like Christ.

Well, Jesus was not content simply preaching. As I said when we covered the Sermon on the Mount, he declared his truth and the principles of the kingdom of God, but then he went and illustrated them through the lives of people that he touched. And we see the same pattern as Luke records the accounts of Jesus' life here in Luke chapter eight.

That first Jesus preached and he taught through parables, confusing people that did not understand and did not believe and giving hope and help to those who accepted him. But now beginning in verse number 22 and really through the end of the chapter, we're going to see Jesus interacting with people that are different kinds of soil. People that are responding to Jesus differently based on their life circumstances, based on what's really in their heart. And Jesus is going to peel back the motives of their heart and his word is going to expose them like he talked about with the light of his word.

Facing Moments of Fear

And he's going to show them that he has come to restore them and to heal their hearts. I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you feared for your life, but those moments, hopefully, are rare. And when they come, they're very sobering. It could have been a moment of panic that perhaps you wondered if you were now at the end, if God was about to take your life. Maybe it was a medical emergency, such as a heart attack, where you were feeling the pain and not knowing if you would survive that moment. Or maybe it was suffering a dangerous car accident that, as the car came to a halt and what seemed like a slow-motion unfolding of horrible events, you wondered if you were going to survive. Maybe it was a harrowing flight on a plane.

Over the years, I've flown a lot. I've been to multiple countries around the world, and I've experienced some surprising, if not unsettling, turbulence from time to time. I'm not like Beau, who is a retired pilot who has probably been through all kinds of things that would scare me to death. But once I was on a transatlantic flight, I was coming from Scotland back to Atlanta, and my plane, as we were in cruising altitude, took a sudden, unexpected dive. The cabin lights were all off. Most people were asleep. And suddenly, without any warning, the plane dove and dropped thousands of feet, and the engines were shrieking.

There was a prim and proper British lady sitting next to me, and she grabbed my arm for dear life. Just a natural reaction. Other passengers screamed, and some may have even feared the worst. After what seemed like a long drop on a roller coaster that was not stopping, the plane finally settled out, and then we slowly resumed our cruising altitude. Even more surprisingly to me, the pilots did not make an announcement. They didn't come over the speaker and explain what had just happened. We were just left having had that experience.

It didn't bother me that much because I've had that happen on multiple flights. But the lady sitting next to me that had clung to my arm, it was her first flight. She had just retired and she was making an international trip to the United States. And she told me she was terrified. She had wondered if we might crash when that was happening.

Well, you've probably been in your own difficult set of circumstances where you've come face to face with the reality that life is short and that we don't get to pick when we die. And we also are not choosing—we don't pick when we're born, but we also don't choose when we die. As we come to the middle section of chapter eight, we see some encounters where the disciples are wondering whether or not they're going to live through a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee. We also see a demonic man who wonders how he's going to survive when the control of his body is something that he doesn't have a grip on. And in both cases, God is going to bring these people face to face with their mortality so that he can calm their hearts with his certain gospel.

Personal Principles of Jesus

As Jesus is ministering here, he cares about individuals. He's not simply throwing out principles, hoping they'll land in somebody's lives, but instead he's teaching principles that are very personal.

So begin reading with me in verse 22, where we pick up the narrative. One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into the boat and they set out. As they sailed, Jesus fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake so that the boat was being swamped and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke Jesus, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown." He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters, and the storm subsided and all was calm. "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement, they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."

They sailed to the region of the Gerasines, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. And for a long time, this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but he lived in the tombs. And when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God? I beg of you, do not torture me." For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of this man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains, and he had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

Jesus asked this man, "What is your name?" "Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the hillside, and the demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this to the town and countryside. And the people went out to see what had happened.

And when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasines asked Jesus to leave because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left. The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, "Return home and tell how much God has done for you." So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

As we see this passage, perhaps it's familiar to you that you've heard sermons from this or you've read it and you've thought and reflected on the scene of Jesus with his disciples in the boat and the storm and Jesus asleep and Jesus standing and speaking, "Be still," and everything calm down. Maybe you've even read through this passage or heard sermons about the demon-possessed man and wondered, "What is demon-possession? How does that overtake someone and what is the remedy? How does that work?"

All of those questions may come to our minds, but what I want us to see this morning from these two vignettes into people's lives as Jesus was ministering is that Jesus commands our circumstances and he calms our hearts. He commands our circumstances and he calms our hearts.

In the first vignette, where we have the disciples with Jesus on the boat, we see Jesus using circumstances to address our worst fears. Jesus uses circumstances to address our worst fears. Just as on the airplane, people were panicked and screaming because they didn't know how far our plane was going to drop. Jesus put his disciples on a boat in the middle of a storm and saw what came out of their hearts.

As Jesus went, they had been ministering and they were busy. There was always a throng around Jesus and the crowds were growing. People wanted to touch Jesus, just to hear his word, to be in his presence, hoping for a miracle that might benefit them or their family. And as Jesus stepped away from the crowd and got onto the boat, all was well. The Sea of Galilee seemed to be calm and nothing was going on more than simply setting sail and passing across the sea. It was a rather small body of water that was about five miles wide and 13 miles long, but it was surrounded by mountains and sheer cliffs.

It was set below sea level so that the cool air coming down from the mountains, when it would meet the warm air on the surface of the water, could sometimes erupt into a dangerous storm. But no one was thinking of that when they first got on the boat.

I mean, Jesus excused himself, and it says in verse number 23 that he went to sleep. All was calm and all was well. It was just another day, and they were transitioning from one group of people to another as Jesus went preaching and teaching and offering miracles and signs to all that he encountered.

Yet, in the midst of this circumstance, it says a squall came down on the lake, so much so that the boat was being swamped and they were in great danger.

The Storm and Faith

Think of this: Andrew, Peter, James, and John were fishermen. They had worked on this lake. They knew the possibilities. Perhaps they had experienced other storms. But in this particular storm, they were terrified. When it says they were in great danger, the idea is that they were in peril. This was not just a matter of the storm will pass. It was very possible that their boat would sink.

So what do they do? They react. They go to Jesus and they say to him, "Master, Master, we're going to drown." Notice that they identify Jesus as their Lord, as the one who is in charge of their lives. And they go to him as one holding authority and asking for help.

Jesus, for his part, is asleep. While the boat is pitching and rolling, it's probably rising and slamming back down. All these things are happening and Jesus is at rest because Jesus had come to fulfill his father's will. And until he had fulfilled it, he was safe and he was at rest. His human body was weary from the work that he had been doing. His conscience was clear from the fact that he had never sinned. And he was now in a position where he was showing his authority as God.

And the disciples came to him in total panic. When it says they were scared that they might drown, what they were really saying is, "Jesus, we're about to die. Our boat is about to go down. Help us."

So Jesus responded to them. He got up, it says, matter-of-factly. He stood up and saw the wind and the raging waters. And Mark's gospel says he spoke, "Be still." And as soon as he spoke, everything settled down. It wasn't a matter of the after effects of a storm. It wasn't like the eye of a hurricane that brought the backside of the hurricane. There was no churn in the water. Everything settled back into

The Question of Faith

Place. And then he asked them a pointed question. Jesus said to the men who had just called him, "Master, where is your faith?"

The disciples' desperate panic revealed their desperate hearts—that their greatest problem was not the stormy sea, but their hearts of unbelief. Even though they had witnessed Jesus perform miracles and they had sensed that he was the promised Messiah, perhaps even rehearsing the Old Testament scriptures that he quoted them, in this moment of sheer panic where they were worried for their very lives, facing the possibility that they might die, the cares of this world undermined their faith.

Jesus' question penetrated their hearts. He asked them why their faith did not match the faith of the Roman centurion who had said, "Jesus, you don't even have to go to my house to heal my child or my son. Just say the word and he'll be healed." Their faith did not match that of the named, unnamed woman in Simon's house who was a sinner who was crying over Jesus' feet, to whom Jesus said, "Your sins have been forgiven you."

No, the power and the chaos of this unexpected storm was choking off the faith that these men possessed. They were like the seed that had been thrown on the thorny ground. The thorns of the care and concern for protecting their lives had made them doubt Jesus. So they asked each other, verse 25, "Who is this? Who are we dealing with? Who is this man on our boat that even the seas and the waves respond to him?"

Now they were realizing that Jesus was more than a persuasive teacher and a miracle worker; he was none other than God in flesh. They remembered the Old Testament passages like we read this morning in Psalms and Isaiah, where we see God as the creator and God as the master of his creation. Now Jesus spoke and demonstrated beyond any doubt that he was God because he could tell creation what to do.

Their question, I take it as being rhetorical when they said, "Who is this?" because they realized they were in the presence of God himself. It is in the difficulties and the trials and the suffering that we experience in this life that God creates the ideal conditions for us to grow in our dependence on him. In fact, God most often uses adversity to develop us in significant spiritual growth. Without any kind of difficulties or trials or suffering, even though we say that's what we want, we would not learn to depend on God. Instead, we would simply rely on our own strength. We would become self-sufficient and even arrogant. We would be like the disciples taking the calm before the storm for granted.

Too often, that's what we do. We presume upon God. We expect our lives to go well according to the script that we imagine for them. But God allows adversity. He brings difficulty and he does it to reveal what's really going on in our hearts. He often uses external adversity to expose our internal turmoil. And he uses our circumstances to bring out our worst fears so that he can address them.

Jesus is not trying to humiliate the disciples and say, "Are you guys not paying attention? What's wrong with you?" Instead, he's drawing out what's in their heart so they can see that they lack faith in him. And then he's giving them the opportunity to trust him even more.

It's easy to trust God when life feels calm and under our control. And we live in a world that is desperate for control. We want to manage our time down to the minute. We want to have control over other people, telling them what to do. We don't like being told what to do, but we know better, we think. We even say as Christians that we trust God as long as everything seems to be going well. But the moment things don't go well, and when something happens to us, we question everything. We wonder, "Why is God allowing this in my life? Why has this person died? I prayed for their healing. Why am I sick? Why did I lose my job? Why does this person not like me any longer?" Why, why, why?

And though those questions are personal, they're deep, and they reveal what's going on in our heart, we really learn the most in that kind of difficulty. We are exposed to see who we're really relying on. And Jesus wants us to rely on him. He wants us to see that our need and the turmoil of our soul can be satisfied with him.

Jesus not only calmed the storm of the seas, but he also calmed the clutter of their minds. He brought everything into crystal clear focus about who was in control. It wasn't the experienced fishermen who were trimming the sails and guiding the ship. It was the Lord of the seas who was controlling the environment in which they operated. The calm that Jesus provided after the storm shows us he's absolutely trustworthy. We can believe what God says. We can hang on every word. We can trust his promises. Because every word is true.

And we can put our confidence, our faith, and belief in Jesus Christ and trust him with our very lives unto eternal life. God takes the tumult and the uncertainty of our external circumstances to reveal the inner turmoil of our souls so he can give us peace that surpasses our understanding.

Think about, I asked the question in my introduction, have you ever been afraid for your life? What did that do? During World War I, which was fought in terrible conditions of foxholes in Europe, there was something called foxhole Christianity. It was in the midst of bullets flinging above their heads as they tramped through the mud and the sewage that collected in the trenches that many a soldier came face to face with their mortality. And some of them confessed Christ because they realized their life was inches from being taken from them.

It's not unlike a friend of mine who was on a ferry boat in Scotland. He was traveling from Lerwick in Shetland down to Aberdeen, which by boat, that's a 12-hour ride, even in a modern boat. And the sea can sometimes be horrible in the wintertime. And my friend, who grew up on Shetland and had been there his whole life and ridden that ferry many times over the years, once showed up at my house in Stonehaven, which is south of Aberdeen, for a surprise visit. He said, "I've just come down to Aberdeen to do some shopping and I've got some extra time and I wanted to spend the afternoon with you." And he said, "But I've got to tell you, I just had the most harrowing boat ride of my life. We were on the sea and I had a private cabin with a full-size bed. And never in my life before have I been so scared." He said the boat was going up and down and dropping. And he said, "I just laid on the bed and grabbed four corners and held on for dear life."

And he shared that he began reflecting on his life, thinking about what had happened so far, grateful for his faith in God, but wondering, "God, is this it? Is this how it's going to end?" God in his mercy brought him through that, but it was a clarifying moment. I'm not suggesting that you should go looking for a life and death experience, but I am saying that when we consider the state of our souls, we must trust Christ because God uses our circumstances to bring out our worst fears so that we can submit them to him.

For some of you, you don't know what those are yet, but when you're faced with a health crisis, or an income crisis, or you're faced with an accident or something that happens, God will bring out what's in the heart. And the question is, are you prepared to give it to him? The disciples learned in that moment that Jesus loved them even when they were unlovable. Jesus preserved them even when they doubted his ability to do so. And Jesus continued with them when he could have abandoned them. And he does all the same things for us.

The question is, do we trust God with what's going on in our hearts? Or are we trying to suppress it and saying, "I just don't want God to know that about me. I don't want him to know this doubt or that fear or that question." God already knows it. Be honest with yourself. Give it over to him and watch him work in your life. Jesus uses the external circumstances to reveal the inner turmoil so he can heal us with his gospel.

Think back to the woman who was probably a prostitute. There she is in Simon's house amid all the people, and she humbles herself going to Jesus, weeping tears over his feet, washing them with her hair, and then being forgiven of her sins. This woman's worst fears had already been realized, and now Jesus had healed her with the balm of the gospel. Jesus wants us to humble ourselves before him so that we can find healing for our sins.

The disciples' hearts at this moment were not exactly like the woman who had exercised fertile faith and demonstrated a fertile soil for the word of God to take root. But the disciples were very much a thorny soil that was allowing other things to crowd them out. And God in that moment used a storm to pull the weeds out of their heart and to make the soil fertile again. Well, if this were not enough, Jesus is going to take these same men from the boat back to the land.

Confronting the Forces of Evil

And as he does that, they're going to have an encounter with absolute evil. So they've not only experienced the forces of nature, now they're going to come face to face with the forces of evil. And Jesus is going to do something more.

First, we see in this passage that he uses circumstances to address our worst fears. But secondly, Jesus rebukes evil to restore our right minds.

After Jesus calmed the violent storm on the Sea of Galilee, he and the disciples continued their journey and crossed the sea to safety. They made it to the Gerasenes. This is a region of Palestine on the east side of the Sea of Galilee, and it provided another setting for Jesus to reveal his identity and his authority. And this time, in the context of mostly Gentiles.

I've been drawing attention to the passages where Jesus is interacting with Jews and Gentiles to try to show us that Jesus is a savior for all people. He was the promised Messiah of Israel, but he came to save men and women from every tribe, every tongue, and every nation.

So as Jesus and the disciples make it ashore here in the Gerasenes, they come out of the boat. And as they start making their way toward the people, they were met by a demon-possessed man, it says in verse number 27. Luke has already documented Jesus' ability to cast out demons, as he's done this repeatedly so far. But this is the first time he gives us a detailed account of a specific individual who's being tormented. But ironically, we only receive the name of the demons that are affecting the man and not the name of the man himself.

This man had been tormented for years. He was an extreme case. He lived alone, separated from his family, separated from his home, and separated from civil society. He was unclothed, without shelter, living in a graveyard. All things that were considered odd and that made him someone who was unapproachable.

Under the demonic influence, this man now confronts Jesus and the disciples. Apparently, in spite of their best efforts, the local authorities were not able to bind this man and control him. It seemed whether they used ropes or whether they used chains, he broke free from them many times. The guards that they placed around him probably quit in fear. But this man finally found a home in the town's cemetery where no one would bother him and where the demons would torment him. His state of undress and his superhuman strength kept him isolated from other people. He was living alone and no one knew what to do with him.

So now, as he approached Jesus, I'm sure people were wondering. This would not have been an isolated event; others had to have seen. And we gather that later in the chapter when it says they ran back to the town to tell people what was happening.

But when Jesus encountered this man who was being given over to demons, it says the man cried out and fell at his feet, verse 28, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?"

The demons have not even identified themselves yet. The man has barely said a word of his own, and they're identifying Jesus for who he really is. The demons were speaking through the man and calling Jesus by his name, "son of the most high God," a title that we saw earlier in chapter number five that demonstrated Jesus was not simply an itinerant teacher and worker, but that he was deity. The disciples had just asked themselves, "Who is this?" And now the demons were declaring exactly who he was: God in flesh.

But notice Jesus does not answer the demons' question. Instead, he asked them a question, "What is your name?" Before I tell you about myself, identify yourself. And the demons simply said, "Legion," because many demons had gone into the man, verse 30. Legion referred to a company of thousands of Roman soldiers. It seems that this one man had been overtaken by a litany of demons.

And Jesus was now confronted by this large cohort of demonic activity through this possessed man who was opposing him, who was not there as a part of the welcome committee, but as one because of the demons was trying to silence Jesus. Jesus was outnumbered in terms of one to thousands, but he was not overmatched because he was the son of God. They rightly identified him. And desperate in his presence, they pleaded with Jesus because they knew as demons that they were destined for destruction. So they asked Jesus not to torment them.

Think of the irony here. This legion of demons are tormenting a man. They've ruined his life, taken it over. And they're saying, "But Jesus, don't do anything like that to us. Don't torture us. Don't throw us into the abyss," they say in verse number 31. The abyss would be the place of final judgment where they would be sent for eternity without recovery. These tormenting demons recognized Jesus' authority over them and his ability to absolutely destroy them.

So they pleaded and said, "Please leave us alone." And Jesus was not going to leave them alone. So they saw that there were a herd of pigs nearby, and they asked if they could be cast into the pigs that were on the hillside. And it says in verse 32 that Jesus gave them permission.

The demons did not operate independently on their own. They still operated under the authority of God. Even the demon-possessed man, as awful as that oppression was, was at the mercy of God. So as he came under the control of the demons, there was still hope for the man that perhaps this great man, this son of the most high, would be the one who could finally deliver him from his captivity.

We see in this passage that the demons believed in God. James says as much in his letter, James the half-brother of Jesus. But the demons, though they believe in God, refused to obey him. They recognize Jesus has authority here to command them. They believe that Jesus has the power to judge them and that Jesus can send them to a place of eternal torment. But they begged Jesus not to do any of this. They asked instead to be sent into the pigs, and Jesus granted their request.

What's ironic is that no sooner than they went into the pigs, it says the whole herd of them rushed down the steep bank into the lake and they were drowned. The demons, who did not want to be tortured, were torturing a man, and now they tortured the pigs, and they went off the cliff into the depths of the water. They went into a physical abyss, representing that they were going to their own destruction.

What's interesting in this is that in the Gentile territory where Jesus was, pigs were valuable livestock. But for the Jews, such as the disciples who were traveling with Jesus, pigs were considered unclean. They were even worthless animals. But desperate to escape God's wrath and judgment, the demons went into the pigs and they went to their destruction.

So what happens in the aftermath of this? Well, beginning in verse number 34, it says that the men who were watching the pigs ran off and told people in the town what was happening in the countryside. And more people came out to observe this, verse 34 and 35. But what's even more significant than the pigs is see what they observed when they came out. They couldn't see the pigs other than that they were gone and that there may have been evidence that they went off the hill and into the water.

But they saw the man. It says, when they came to him, verse number 35, came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. That this man who had once caused fear in the heart of anyone who would see him, a man who is literally unclothed, breaking chains and could not be controlled, is now sitting calmly, clothed and in his right mind, and the people are terrified. They recognized that something supernatural must have happened here.

They had tried everything in their power to heal the man. Perhaps some tried to cast out the demon. Perhaps others tried to help him medically. Others just tried through brute force to restrain him and stop him, and nothing worked. But now the man was sitting with Jesus, the great teacher and healer, and he was in his right mind, and it caused them to be afraid.

Their reaction to this is interesting. Rather than giving thanks and rejoicing and saying, "Who is this man?" like the disciples, they said, "Get him out of here. We don't want this man to be around us anymore." The disciples had been afraid during the storm on the Sea of Galilee, but they found comfort in Jesus once he calmed the seas. Now the Gentiles on the east side of the sea were afraid because Jesus cast out the demons. And this once possessed, out of control man was now in his right mind. The people recognized only someone with divine authority could make this transformation.

And these people were now upset by the transformation. They didn't know what to make of it. Most people who witnessed one of Jesus' miracles wanted him to help them or do a miracle for someone they knew. We see Luke reporting that earlier where it says Jesus stayed all night as people continued to come to him. But after this amazing miracle, the people in the garrisons had the audacity to expel Jesus from their territory.

Perhaps they worried Jesus might destroy more of their valuable livestock. Whatever the case, they cared more about their animals than the dignity of human life. They were willing to let this man suffer alone in the graveyard. But when it intersected with their livelihoods, that became far more important than this man's life. So they sent the son of the most high God away without asking him for further help, healing, or explanation. They feared that Jesus' authority might expose their own weaknesses, and they perhaps feared that people would have rebelled against their authority.

So Jesus got in the boat and left. The people responding to this situation were like the soil on the hard ground. The word of God had been cast their way and they simply trampled on it and ignored it, and it bore no fruit. But the man who had been healed and the demons removed was fertile ground.

The Mission of the Healed

We see this man from whom the demons have gone out, verse number 38. He wants to go with Jesus. He says, "I want to follow you now. I want to leave this tomb and this town to follow the teacher." And yet Jesus gives him another mission, verse 39. He says, "Return home and tell how much God has done for you."

So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. This man who could once not speak for himself was now outspoken for the Messiah. He went and told everyone that would listen what God had done for him. He had been completely transformed by the word of God. It had taken root in his heart, and he wanted to share this with everyone that would listen.

Jesus possesses the authority that is so great he can reverse the effects of evil. Some people transformed by God's power, such as this man, bear witness to it. They turn from the path of evil and sin. They turn from destruction and death to truth and life.

But there are other people, like the Gerasenes in general, who are afraid of God. They want to distance themselves from his presence, and they fear that God's power will change their lives and require too much of them. On a few occasions, I've invited people to church, even before I was a pastor and since I've been a pastor, and said, "I'd love for you to come to our church and be a part of what we're doing. I'd love to introduce you to some of my friends at church."

And on a few occasions, I've had someone say to me, "I don't want to go there. I know what happens there. I don't want anything to do with that." And of course, I probe and I ask, "What are you talking about? What do you think happens there?" Like, "We're not a secret society. We're not doing weird rituals." And I've had at least one person say to me, "God's there. And I don't want anything to do with that."

That's sad, but it's similar to what the Gerasenes were doing. In the very presence of God, they rejected him and cast him out. And there are people who will do the same in our own society, in our own time. Demonic presence and influence is throughout the New Testament, and it's into our own times.

Some people take a passage like this and become demon hunters, looking for demons everywhere. In fact, some teach that demons are simply the influence of certain prevalent sins. Maybe someone has the demon of alcohol, and this is why they're given over to being an alcoholic. Maybe another person has the demon of lust, and this is why they cannot break the chains of pornography. Or maybe someone has a demon of murder, and this is why they're on death row because they've taken other people's lives.

That is not what this passage is saying, though it is indicating that demonic influence is real, and demonic influence leads us away from God because it devalues life. They not only tormented a man, they destroyed animals. This legion of demons had been slowly torturing the man, taking his life from him moment by moment. Then they suddenly killed these pigs, but Jesus had the power. To vanquish them, he was able to heal the man and send the demons away.

In our own life, we don't live in a mystical culture, and I don't want to take us to a mystical culture, but we are impacted by demonic influence. Perhaps some people who reject the gospel are not simply rejecting our message or our ability to communicate, but they're rejecting the authority of Jesus because demons have blinded their eyes. The greatest thing we can offer them is the hope of the gospel, that they would have ears to hear and eyes to see, as Jesus said earlier. And that can only come from the hand of God. We must be faithful to carry the message to all that need to hear it and trust God to break the chains of demonic activity or other things.

Jesus instructed this man not to start a healing ministry casting out demons around Palestine. He told the man, "Tell how much God has done for you." The idea was that he was to testify of Jesus and that this was the Son of the most high God, the promised Messiah who would deliver people from their sins. This man had fertile soil that would cast more seed to others as they would listen.

The presence of Almighty God terrifies sinners. But the Son of God took on human form not to torment us, but to save us. The arrival of God in our presence is good news. With great joy, Luke said in Luke 2:10, not terror, because it is evident that God is for us, not against us. The disciples turned their fear into amazement, verse number 25, that they revered Jesus as God, while the Gerasenes turned their fear into rejection and sent him away.

I started my sermon by asking if you've ever been afraid, if you've ever feared for your life, if you've ever been in a vulnerable set of circumstances where you've had to think, "What's about to happen? What is next?" I shared my story of a transatlantic flight and my friend on the ferry boat in northeast Scotland because in all of those moments, people gasped in fear and yelped in panic.

God brings us face to face with our worst fears and he uses our life circumstances to expose evil, and he wants us to see what's in our hearts so that we can receive the healing balm of the gospel. Jesus came to forgive sinners. The point of his ministry was not to shame people, but to liberate them. Just as he healed the centurion's son, he brought the widow's son back to life. As he assured John, as he worked to comfort the woman who was at Simon's house, and he restored his disciples, Jesus wants to help us.

He wants to find out what you really believe. He wants to know where your faith is really anchored. Is it simply in tradition? Is it merely your family? Or is it in the Son of God himself? This passage is a call to trust Jesus, our Master, with our circumstances and to let him calm our hearts through whatever may be. And as we do that, we will come to see that Jesus is trustworthy, that he is indeed who he claims to be, the Savior of sinners.

Let's pray. God, I ask that you would help us this morning to come to grips with this passage. Father, as there are different things happening in our lives, help us to see that you are using those to draw us closer to you. Help us to have open hearts like the disciples, that though we may genuinely be afraid, we may genuinely have questions and concerns, that in that moment of clarity, we would come to you and say, "Who is this?" This is God working to reveal himself to me.

And Father, help us to be like the disciples, turning our fear into wonder and amazement, trusting you for who you say you are. Father, if there are any here that similarly are going through difficulty or watching you do amazing things, but rejecting you, I pray that you would help open their eyes and their ears that they would see you for who you really are and help them not to push you away.

If you've brought anybody to church this morning that it's taken some effort to get them here, I pray that they would hear this message as a call to repentance and faith. And Father, that they would submit their life to you and say, "God is in this place and He wants to save me." So, Father, demonstrate your power and authority over the seas and the spirits, and may they obey you again today. In Christ's name, Amen.

God's Word Produces a Great Harvest | Luke 8:1-21

God's Word Produces a Great Harvest | Luke 8:1-21

Nathan Young

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The Context of Luke 8

Well, this morning we're in Luke chapter 8. Luke chapter 8, and I'm going to read for us the first 21 verses. So let's read these as we dive in this morning.

After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The 12 were with him, and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had come out; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod's household; Susanna and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told them this parable: A farmer went out to sow his seed, and as he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path. It was trampled on and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among the thorns, which grew up with it and choked out the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop a hundred times more than was sown.

When Jesus said this, he called out, "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."

The Meaning of the Parable

His disciples asked him, "What does this parable mean?" He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to others I speak in parables, so that those seeing, they may not see, and though hearing, they may not understand. This is the meaning of the parable. The seed is the word of God. Those along the path are the ones who hear. And then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved.

Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy, and when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing, they fall away. The seed that fell among the thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way, they are choked by life's worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature.

But the seed on the good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. No one lights a lamp and hides it in a clay jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, they put it on a stand so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.

Therefore, consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more, and whoever does not have, even what they think they have, will be taken from them.

Now Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. And someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, and they want to see you." And Jesus replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice."

Amen. In Luke chapter 8, Luke is recording for us events of Jesus' teaching ministry. We've seen this so far, that Jesus has worked miracles.

Jesus' Traveling Ministry

And he has performed wondrous deeds, and he's also spoken. The last time we see him speaking at length is in the Sermon on the Mount in chapter six. Then in chapter seven, he encounters different people, showing how that sermon works its way out in the lives of people.

Now Jesus is moving on. It says, after this, he traveled about from one town and one village to another. We don't know how much time has elapsed because Luke is being selective in his biography of Jesus. But we do know that Jesus is going from place to place around Galilee, teaching his gospel.

The Concept of Compound Interest

And in this section, he's going to teach in particular how people respond to his gospel in using a parable as we think about this in our context. Consider this illustration as we begin.

Compound interest has made Warren Buffett the ninth wealthiest person in the world. He bought his first stock at the age of 11. Now at 95 years old, he's worth approximately $150 billion. The growth of his net worth is mostly attributed to the power of compound interest and the longevity of his investments, with almost 88% of his wealth being generated after the age of 65.

Compound interest simply means that you earn interest on the money that you have already saved and on the new interest that you earn in the future. You invest an initial sum of money, you earn interest on your investment, and the total value keeps increasing over time. According to Forbes, if you were to invest $100 at the S&P 500 index at the start of 1928, that investment in the year 2023 would be worth $787,000 because of the power of compound interest.

Yet, for all the financial power of compound interest and the wealth that it generates, this same wealth becomes worthless to the investor the moment they die. This is not to say that a wealthy person like Warren Buffett cannot leave money for his family or give money away to charity or designate some for businesses or even give more for government taxes. But it is to say that Warren Buffett himself cannot take any of his earthly wealth into eternity. Death will permanently separate him, or any of us, from our earthly resources.

During Jesus' life on earth, he invested his time and his ministry by spreading the word of God and investing it into the lives of people that he touched all across Palestine. The Gospel of Luke records for us the different ways that Jesus made these investments. He performed miracles and he healed people. He cast demons out of people that were oppressed. He was able to cure sicknesses that were incurable. He raised the dead to life again, and he forgave sins of sinners that were desperate in their guilt and shame.

And Jesus invested further by preaching his gospel and kingdom. Jesus' investment strategy impacted all kinds of people. He called 12 unlikely disciples that are referenced here in the first three verses of chapter 8. He also invested in a Roman centurion that we met in chapter 7 by healing his son. He invested in a widow who goes unnamed but whose son had died, and he raised the son back to life. He also invested in his imprisoned cousin, John the Baptist, offering him assurance that his ministry was not in vain. And he forgave an unknown prostitute of her sins when she came weeping in the presence of Jesus.

Jesus called Pharisees, scribes, and sinners all to repentance, and he preached the gospel both to Jews and Gentiles. Jesus' ministry brought the word of God to a climax where the ultimate compounding interest results in your salvation and mine. Think of the generations of Christians since the time of Christ that have faithfully believed the gospel and shared it with those who came after them down to the present day where we are now. This is an incredible amount of compounding interest. This is an incredible investment that God's word continues to reverberate through human history.

And this is the good news of God that Jesus Christ was declaring town to town and village to village that he was indeed the Messiah who had come to save people from their sins. As Jesus made this investment, he invested in all kinds of people, both Jews and Gentiles, men and women, rich and poor, healthy and ill, as adults and children. And all of them heard God's word and some of them obeyed.

However, not everyone who hears the word of God and hears the gospel believes and obeys it. Jesus, the Son of God, proclaimed this truth everywhere that he went, but only a small number of people actually believed his good news and followed him. Most of the crowds merely listened to Jesus preach, and they completely ignored what he said or they scorned what he said. Ultimately, their hardened hearts were not receptive to his word and it did not yield any interest. As we look at this passage this morning, I want us to see that Christians are those who hear the word of God and obey it.

The Word Gathers Disciples

And I see in this passage four ways in which the word of God elicits a response—four ways that the word of God elicits a response. And the first is this: the word of God gathers disciples.

The word of God gathers disciples here in the first three verses of chapter eight. After Jesus has just had dinner at Simon the Pharisee's house and forgiven an unknown woman, he continues traveling from house to house, from synagogue to synagogue, from open-air meeting to open-air meeting, and he was proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, that those things that had been promised from the prophets of old were now finding fulfillment in his ministry. He was offering sinners the forgiveness of their sins and calling them to follow him.

This was being acknowledged because back in chapter seven, those who were at Simon's house said, "Who is this that even forgives sins?" They understood that what Jesus was saying, that he was God, and he was offering something that no priest or rabbi, that no religious man, could possibly give. He was giving them forgiveness for the wrong things they had done against God, the things that riddled their hearts with guilt, the things that trapped their minds in shame—could be forgiven through the grace of Jesus.

Well, as Jesus is preaching this message, this word of God is starting to gather disciples. Luke reiterates that the 12 were with him at this point. These are the men that we're first introduced in Luke's gospel in chapter 6 before his sermon on the mount, this unlikely band of followers that Jesus called from the different parts of society. And here they are with him, hanging on his words and marveling at his teaching. They're observing his miracles and being wowed by his power.

Yet Luke says that there are more than just men with him. It says that there were also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases. This shows Jesus' humanity and his concern not only for men, which would have been common in the first century, but that he also noticed women. This would have been uncommon in the first century. As there were swelling crowds everywhere Jesus went, there were more people crowding to get close to him, demanding his time and his attention, wanting their needs to be met, wanting their cause to be lifted up. And yet Jesus is careful to have these 12 men and this handful of women that are with him, and he ministers to them in spite of the thronging crowds that surround them.

Luke highlights women more than any of the other gospels as they participated in the ministry of Jesus. The women that he introduces here, Mary Magdalene, is one that he says had seven demons. This means that this lady was completely oppressed and overcome by demonic forces, and yet Jesus liberated her from them. He didn't look past her; he had compassion on her. This Mary Magdalene is not the unnamed prostitute from chapter 7. This is also not Mary of Bethany that's mentioned in a similar account later in John's Gospel. But this is Mary from the city of Magdala in Galilee. And this lady had come to Jesus and Jesus rescued her.

Luke also introduces us to Joanna. Joanna, he says, in this context, was the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod's household. This lady was someone who had access to both Roman and potentially Jewish political power, and she was a person of means because she and the others were using their money to support Jesus and his ministry. We don't know a lot more about her, but we do know that Mary Magdalene and Joanna are some of the first eyewitnesses of the resurrection. They're at the empty tomb and Jesus has resurrected and they run to tell the disciples of what they have witnessed.

A remarkable thing that Jesus drew these women close to his inner circle. He invested in them and they were very much a part of his ministry. He also goes on here to name Susanna and says many others who gave their lives to Jesus. The point is, these ladies, along with the men, called Jesus' 12 disciples, heard the good news of the kingdom and they responded to it. They responded with their obedience, hearing what Jesus said and aligning their lives with what he had for them. They were people who heard the good news and lived according to it.

What's significant in this context is that these believers were loyal to Jesus with every part of their lives. Think about the example that he lays out here of the women, that they were helping support the disciples out of their own means. In the first century, whether Israel or Rome, women were not to support men. Women depended on men. But these women were so transformed by Jesus' good news, and they had some level of means that they gave willingly of their financial resources to spread the gospel. It doesn't mean that Jesus and the disciples depended solely on women, but it is to say that God used their gifts and their resources to provide the needs for his ministry.

When Jesus proclaimed the gospel of good news, declaring his kingdom, this message crossed all natural barriers that people erect. It crossed a gender barrier where men had said women are inferior. And Jesus said women are equal daughters as are the sons before him.

And now it's also going to cut across other barriers where Jesus had called fishermen and tax collectors to leave their boats and booths. He had called poor women and politically connected women. And he continues to gather all kinds of people even to this day. Jesus is attracting people from every tribe, every tongue, and every nation, it says in the book of Revelation, all to his incredible glory.

And when these disciples respond, when we respond to the good news of Jesus, we also willingly and generously give of our resources to spread the gospel. Notice there's not an amount here that Jesus said, and these women gave 10%, or these women gave whatever number. It just says that they gave out of their means. The point is, when we understand the magnitude of what we've been given in the gospel, there is not enough we can give.

Now that is not to say that we need to drain our bank accounts and form some kind of cult, but it is to say that we should not be miserly with our money if we are convinced that the gospel is what it says that it is. These women were certainly of different social strata. I would imagine Mary Magdalene, who we don't know a lot about, because of being demon-possessed, would not have had access to the kind of resources that Joanna did. And yet both are counted as women who gave.

As we respond to the gospel, we want to be people who hear the message and demonstrate that we understand it through our obedience. And that obedience comes by first associating with a group of believers that we would say is the local church, and then that further works its way out and that we fund the ministry of the local church.

This morning, we just finished our intro to MCC class, which is where we lay out the distinctives of our church, what we believe about the gospel and ministry, and where we talk about what church life looks like. And I've told the folks in our intro class that our church depends on the gifts of our members, that we can only spend what our members generously provide. We have no outside source of income that comes to us from a denomination. We don't have a grant from a large trust. We don't have all kinds of extra financial instruments. We have your generosity. And that is what God ordains it to be.

And God does the work through the church. And what an incredible thing that we have the privilege to support missionary families that live overseas. We give over $80,000 a year regularly to international missions and church planting. That is an incredible thing. We've taken special offerings this past year for Lottie Moon Christmas offering for international missions, recently for North American missions through the Annie Armstrong offering. These are both above and beyond our regularly budgeted $80,000. And you as a church have stood to give generously. All of that shows that we hear the gospel, we believe the gospel, and we obey the gospel.

As Jesus is sharing this teaching, he's always sharing what it looks like in the lives of people. Now that he's established that the word of God gathers disciples around the gospel, the second thing that he makes clear in these verses, verses 4 through 15, is that the word of God divides listeners.

The Word Divides Listeners

The word of God divides listeners. While on the one hand, the word of God gathers disciples, on the other hand, it divides people into those who are disciples versus those who are not. In this section of Luke 8, Jesus, or Luke records Jesus' first official parable. A parable is something that teaches a profound truth with a simple story or illustration. From this point forward, Jesus will use many parables to make his teaching both easy to understand yet hard to believe. Many people, including Jesus' own disciples, will struggle with his teaching through parables.

Yet, this particular parable of the sower is recorded in each of the synoptic gospels, that is, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And this parable helps us understand why some people believe while other people reject him. It says, beginning in verse 4, that while there was a large crowd gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town to town, he told them this parable. So in the presence of a large group with everyone listening, both his opponents, the Pharisees, as well as those who were desperate to get near him because they were ill or had some kind of malady, Jesus spoke to them about a farmer, his seed, and some soil.

He says in the parable that a farmer went out to sow his seed. Some fell on the path, some fell on rocky ground, some among thorns, and some on good ground. At this point, most of the general listeners probably had a reasonable understanding and could even imagine a farmer's seed landing on different patches of ground. Whether you're a farmer or not, whether you've had a garden or not, you can picture the same thing. But they may have also realized that what happened when that seed hit different kinds of soils, it would react differently.

The seed on the hard path would be walked on and taken away by birds, producing absolutely no plants. The seed on the rocks would quickly sprout, but soon it would wither and go away. The seed that was growing among the thorns would eventually be overpowered by the rival plants. And the seed that was planted in the good soil would produce a bumper crop, he says a hundredfold. That is an incredible harvest.

But when Jesus abruptly ended this parable, what seemed like a story about a farmer and some seed and some soil became very serious because he stopped short and he said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear." Immediately thinking people would say, "What do you mean? Of course we heard you. We've gathered to hang on every word you say. Your voice is audible and we can listen to what you say." But that's not what Jesus meant at all.

Instead, he was using this parable to help his disciples understand the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God, verse number 10, and to hide this same information from other listeners. And he invokes Isaiah chapter 6, where Isaiah is condemning the people for their idolatrous hearts, where they resisted God. The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God here simply means that Jesus was revealing what had been hidden to previous generations. This was not a riddle to solve. He was not giving them a puzzle to break. Instead, he was making known to them how he fulfilled scripture.

Jesus was now disclosing how his kingdom works. He was saying the good news of the kingdom flourishes in good soil, but it dies in bad soil. And the same good news does not make any sense to people who reject him. That's why he said in verse 11 that this seed is the word of God. The gospel seed was being thrown all about, all around the field, on the good parts of the field as well as the bad parts of the field. And as it was landing, it was not always taking root in the first three types of soil. But the seed was taking root and bearing a great harvest in the fourth kind of soil.

And that's because the word of God divides listeners. So how does it divide them? Well, very simply, if you look in this section beginning in verse number 11 and following, it shows how that happens. Jesus says essentially, the hard heart of the path is a heart that rejects the gospel. Verse 12, those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so that they may not believe and be saved.

Before I explain that, let me back up and say what Luke quoted, or Jesus quoted, Isaiah chapter 6, when he said that some will hear this message and though seeing they will not see, though hearing, they will not hear. In other words, some will be presented the same gospel message, the same evidence for Christ, and they'll reject it out of hand because they will not have been given spiritual eyes to see Jesus and spiritual ears to hear Jesus. That's why in verse 12, when he says that those along the path, there's those who hear, but then the devil comes and takes it away from their hearts so that they cannot believe and be saved.

These are hard-hearted people who reject the gospel. The Pharisees and other religious leaders in Israel rejected Jesus out of hand. They were looking for ways to trap him and accuse him of heresy. Satan had blinded them with their religious traditions, their knowledge of the Old Testament, and their own self-righteousness. To paraphrase what the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy, they had a form of godliness, but they denied the power thereof. Satan was actively preventing them from understanding.

This continues to happen in our own day, that there are people who hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and they immediately react to it with scorn, derision, or even dismissal. And they have all the answers, even all the excuses. And really what they have is the voice of Satan who says, "Did God really say? Does God really mean that? Is he actually capable of doing that?" And just as Adam and Eve were deceived in the garden, people in every generation have been deceived and fooled about the gospel. So be careful lest you have the hard heart that rejects the gospel.

But there's a second kind of heart here, and that's in verse 13. This is a shallow heart on rocky ground that quits the gospel. He says, those on the rocky ground are ones who receive the word with joy, and when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing, they fall away. There were large crowds rallying around Jesus because of his miracles. Maybe even because of the excitement of the crowd, that they just wanted to check it out and see what was going on. Some of them listened enthusiastically at first and said, "This is incredible. We've never heard a teacher like this." Maybe they watched this miracle and thought, "We've never seen power like that."

And yet, over time, even though they responded with delight and even joy at the beginning, most of them eventually walked away. They quit the gospel. They heard it, but when suffering and opposition came, they no longer wanted to be associated with it. Perhaps these are people who wanted political liberation from Rome. Maybe they had some kind of desire for Jesus to be a political messiah or some other kind of personal messiah, but not the Messiah who would forgive their sins. So they left Jesus when he failed to meet their personal expectations.

And people continue to do this today. They hear a gospel presentation and perhaps in the emotion of the moment, something going on in their life, they respond and they're even excited and they're on fire for a season, telling everybody they can about Jesus, inviting people to come to church. But then when the headwinds of suffering come into their life, their enthusiasm wanes. And then when trouble comes or when doubts bother them or when other things assail them, they back away into silence and they quit the gospel.

Jesus is warning all who are listening to this message, but the disciples in particular, since they've asked what it means, that there are people who are hard-hearted who just say no to Jesus. But then there are people who are shallow-hearted who say yes and then no to Jesus.

And then thirdly, there's a distracted heart of thorns that neglects the gospel. Verse 14. The seed that fell among the thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way, they're choked by life's worries, riches, and pleasures, and they do not mature. There were other people such as Simon the Pharisee that we saw in chapter 7 and the rich young ruler who comes in chapter 18 who had expressed some interest in Jesus, but they would not follow Jesus because of the cares of this world. Jesus told the rich young ruler to go sell everything that he had to follow him. And the man who had boasted of all of his righteous accomplishments, "Look what I've done for the poor. Look that I've not committed adultery. Look that I've done this and I've done that." When confronted with his complacency and his comfort, he rejected Christ.

This is common, that they let short-term opportunities in the present keep them away from eternal salvation. They were distracted. They let the cares of this world and all of its entanglements choke out the gospel. This is perhaps one of the greatest temptations that we face in our own era, that we have so many things pulling at us, whether it be family commitments, financial obligations, career ambitions, or you name it, all of those things that can be good in their place can also pull us away from Jesus. Perhaps it's the Christian businessman who starts traveling a few days a year. And then the employer starts upping the stakes and now you're traveling 15 days out of the month instead of five, maybe 20 days out of the month. And before you know it, they'll have you on the road constantly. And meanwhile, that can be an entanglement that takes you away from Jesus. I'm not saying it has to, but it can. The same is true of family.

Family can become a very demanding taskmaster if it becomes our idol. That we have to go to this event and that event, and now something's happening with this kid and that grandkid and that cousin and that third cousin. Before you know it, you're so consumed in family that you don't have time for Christ in the church.

There are other concerns that the world has. Those are positive things that can take us away, but they're also the worries of life. Perhaps it's bad health—that you've been diagnosed with one of those words like cancer, or perhaps some other word like heart failure, or some mystery thing that's happening to you that you wish you had a diagnosis for.

All of those things are real and come with consequences that can limit your ability to participate. I do not diminish that, but they should not choke out the word of God in our lives. A distracted heart is one that neglects the gospel because the cares of the world overtake it. Yet Jesus commends the fourth heart.

The Receptive Heart of Soil

And the fourth heart is the receptive heart of fertile soil that obeys the gospel. It says here, "But the seed of the good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart who hear the word, who retain the word and by persevering produce a crop."

There were a small handful who followed Jesus and obeyed his teachings. In this context, it's just the 12 disciples and the three women and perhaps a few others. That illustrate that the word of God is landed in good soil. No doubt, Jesus by this time had preached to thousands of people who had gathered at different places around Galilee. And yet, these three stand as the examples that he offers of people whose lives were bearing fruit produced by the Holy Spirit and leading to a bountiful harvest. They heard the word of God and they obeyed it.

Everybody in our world lives by faith in something or someone. The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is not whether or not a person has faith. Christians and non-Christians alike have faith, but the difference is the object of our faith. A Christian puts our faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior from our sins, that we can confess to him the wrong things we have done and find forgiveness. And we see all of this in the word of God. So a believer in Jesus Christ puts our confidence, our trust, and our faith in him.

But a non-Christian puts their faith in other things. Perhaps they put their faith in the good works that they do to compensate for the guilt that they feel. Perhaps they put their faith in technology, that there will somehow be a transhumanism that will help us rise above our physical limitations. Perhaps they simply put their faith in their stock portfolio and think, "If I can amass enough money, I'll be able to relax and live a comfortable life out through my retirement." Whatever it is, there's only one faith that saves us, and that is faith in Jesus Christ.

And Jesus is writing here to commend all who are listening to him, but especially the disciples who've asked what his parable meant, that we must hear the word of God and obey the word of God. R.C. Sproll observes this: "If there's no fruit in your life, it's clear that there's no Christian faith in your life. For if there's any true, justifying faith in your heart, there will always be spiritual fruit." While it may be true that not every believer will produce the same amount of fruit, it must be true that the Holy Spirit will bear spiritual fruit in the life of every Christian. That is, every Christian who trusts Jesus Christ for our salvation from our sins must be the good soil of Jesus that yields a bountiful harvest: the harvest of righteousness that we're transformed from the inside out in our character, and a harvest of gospel proclamation that we share the good news with others.

Darrell Bach makes this point on the same passage. He says the picture of the word as seen is important. The picture of the word as a seed is important. Often we think of evangelism and preaching as something that happens in an instant, but the picture of a seed makes us think of a farmer who prepares the ground, sows seed, waters it, and then waits for a crop. Producing a crop takes time, and often the message of the word takes time to bear fruit. Think of it, Jesus preached for three and a half years around Palestine, and what did he have to show for it when he was crucified on the cross? There was a very small number of disciples, and even in those last moments, Peter betrayed him. Jesus did not bear an abundant harvest in his own lifetime, but he invested with compound interest. And that interest started to bear fruit in the lives of his disciples who then told the gospel and made more disciples, working out the great commission that we are the beneficiaries of and the ones that we also bless others by working on ourselves.

The word of God yields compound interest in our lives over a lifetime, and it's innumerable. That's because Christians hear and obey God's word. God's word gathers disciples. It divides listeners. And then Jesus gives a parallel parable in verses 16 to 18 to say the word of God reveals our motives. The word of God reveals our motives. We won't linger long on this, but in this parable, about the light of a lamp that should not be hidden, Jesus is now extending his point from the previous parable. He's expecting his disciples to share what he was teaching them. He was comparing the word of God to a bright lamp that needed to be put on a stick to drive out the darkness in the middle of the night. He says, who would possibly consider hiding this light? Whether they would put it under a basket or under a bed? That's absurd. No, they would share the light because the light helps people to see. Jesus is comparing his followers to bright lamps who shine forth the gospel.

Since we have heard and believed the word of God, we too must see that this light is spread. We must share the light and hope of Jesus amid a dark and dying world. And we must do this so people can see Christ's beautiful righteousness, his holy perfection, and our sinful shortcomings. And in seeing that, we can help them see that they can have the sweetness of forgiveness in Jesus.

And Jesus says with this, therefore, verse 18, consider carefully how you listen. In other words, God is going to hold everyone accountable for their sin and response to the word of God. He's telling us through this word to his disciples that we must receive his word and obey it.

James says something similar in his letter when he said we should be doers of the word and not hearers only. For those who believe, more will be given, he says. But for those who do not believe, what they think they have, that will be taken from them. In other words, on the day of judgment, all will be revealed. The word of God will pierce to the very core of our being and show what we really believed and what we've really done.

The author of Hebrews in chapter 4 says it the same way. He says, "For the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to the dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.

It has been said that while we read the Bible, the Bible reads us. The Bible exposes our innermost thoughts, our secret motives, and it reveals our desperate need for salvation. The Bible reveals us and knows what kind of soil our heart is, and it gives us the hope that we can have in Christ for his righteousness, that our sin can be given or is dealt with at his cross, and we can be given his sinless perfection.

The Word Requires Obedience

Ultimately, the word of God reveals who we truly are so we can embrace who we really need, and that is Christ. So Christians hear and obey the word, and we share the word because it reveals us and it helps us understand what other people need.

And the last thing I see in this passage is the word of God requires our obedience. The word of God requires our obedience. I've been saying it throughout. But in the middle of Jesus' teaching and his miracle ministry, his mother and his brothers come to see him, but they're not able to get close, even though they can pull the family card and say, "We want to get close to Jesus. We're related to him." They cannot make their way through. The crowd is so thick. There are so many people thronging around Jesus. Someone spoke up for them. They saw that they were trying to break through and relayed to Jesus that his mother and brothers were wanting to come and speak to him.

But Jesus replied in verse number 21, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice." Jesus was not dismissing Mary and his half-brothers or sisters. Instead, he was not trying to put a point on it that they were no longer connected or associated to him. But he was saying his relationship with anyone who hears the word of God and puts it into practice is like a family relationship. And it adds extra mothers and extra brothers into an extended family. That is, when we hear God's word and we obey it, then we become God's children, a part of his family. If we hear God's word and do not obey it, then he will exclude us from his family. But if we hear it, and we follow what it says, it will produce a great harvest in our lives. And God will use us to produce more disciples. It's in this way that we share the good news of the kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God keeps growing from person to person.

In the introduction, I referenced compound interest and Warren Buffett's incredible wealth, over $150 billion. I also said that Buffett may leave an inheritance for his family. He can designate money for charity. He can fund future business ventures. He can even give additional government taxes. But I also said Buffett can't take any of his wealth with him into eternity. The only wealth that you and I can carry into eternity is the word of God and Christ's righteousness. When Christians receive God's word and we obey it, it produces a great harvest beyond measure. It transforms us from the inside out.

So what do you believe about the word of God? Are you a hard-hearted listener who ignores it like the path where nothing will grow and simply dismisses it out of hand as if it's not even worthy of your consideration? If so, let me beg of you to consider it. Read the Bible. I've had several people over the years that I've challenged and said, "Just read the Bible with me." And they've said, "I don't want to do it because I know what it's going to require of me." I think that's interesting for people who've not read it, but they're intimidated by it. Don't be intimidated. Read it.

Or are you a person who is stony-hearted? Who hears the gospel and gets excited about it but quits when it gets hard? Let me beg of you not to be a quitter, not to be someone who only follows Jesus when it's comfortable and easy, but let the root of the gospel go deeply into your heart and transform your life. Or are you a thorny-hearted listener who neglects the word of God? Someone who says, "Life is just too busy. My career is too hard. My health is poor. My money is tight. I just don't have time for it right now." Don't be that person. Instead, be the person who is a good-hearted listener, who obeys Christ, who retains it, he says here, and who proclaims it with all your being.

Christians are those who receive God's word and it produces a great harvest. Each of us are here this morning because a Christian shared God's word with us and it has produced a harvest. My prayer is that harvest would bear much fruit through your life and through our life together. That God would do incredible things to use us to reach people that we can't reach by ourselves, but we can reach as a family of God. Because God wants to use His Word to gather His people, to divide listeners, and to help us all understand that we must receive the gospel and we must obey the gospel.

Let's pray. Father, as we consider this passage, we pray that we would be the good soil. Help our hearts to be responsive to your word. Help us to be open to what it says, that we would confess our sins and forsake them, trusting Christ for forgiveness and accepting his perfect righteousness.

God, I pray that you would help us to not only believe this, but that we would persevere in it, that we would continue in this no matter what may happen in our lives. And then help us to proclaim it with all of our might with all the people that you've assigned to us to share it with.

I pray that we would be the kind of church that is sending out the gospel in one-on-one conversations as well as through missionaries on the other side of the world. Whatever form it takes, I pray that we would be found faithful as Christians who have received the Word of God and Christians who obey the Word of God.

And we pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.

Forgiven Sinners Display Great Love | Luke 7:36-50

Forgiven Sinners Display Great Love | Luke 7:36-50

Nathan Young

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The Power of the Bible

I just want to underscore what Nick was saying, that the most powerful tool we have in our witnessing arsenal is the Bible itself. So many times we look for a tract that will speak to this topic or that issue, and those can be helpful. Sometimes we want a book. Can you give me a book to recommend to my lost family member or to my unsaved co-worker? And those books can be helpful.

But the most important thing that we can share is the Bible itself and ask people to read it with us. So I would encourage you to take some of the Gideon literature today. And if you want a next step on the church end, we have some books downstairs near the information desk called Reading the Bible One to One by David Helm.

I have lots of copies of that book, and it's just a book to equip you on how to read the Bible with someone else, whether they're a believer or a non-believer. And out of that have come many evangelistic conversations and even people professing faith in Jesus. So I want to encourage you to be involved in that.

This morning, as we consider the scripture, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 7. Luke chapter 7, beginning.

Context of Luke Chapter 7

In verse 36 through the end of this chapter, so far as we've been looking in this section of Luke's gospel, we see Jesus encountering different people. He started by coming into contact with two Gentiles, non-Jewish people that were in desperate need. One was a Roman soldier, a centurion in fact, whose son was ill. The other was a widow whose son had died. And Jesus came into both of their lives and attended to their need by healing the son that was sick, restoring life to the son that had died, and more importantly, curing the souls of all. And that is offering the hope of forgiveness through his work as the Messiah.

Well, Jesus not only encountered Gentiles, he also last week when we saw was in a discussion with John the Baptist's disciples who had sent and come to Jesus asking a question on behalf of John. And Jesus offered him the assurance of his identity and his work. Now we see Luke telling us about a sinful woman and a Pharisee named Simon. Those are the people that we'll meet today in Luke chapter 7, verses 36 and following, where Jesus is returning to some Jewish people that need a divine encounter, that need to understand that Jesus came to save sinners.

Let me read this passage for us as we consider it this morning. When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisees' house and he reclined at his table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisees' house. So she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisees who had invited her saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is and that she is a sinner."

Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. "Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him 500 denarii and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman from the time I entered has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little."

Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this? Who even forgives sins?" And Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."

As we hear this account of the woman and the man, and we see Jesus interacting with them, we come face to face with the fact that Jesus had come to save sinners. Jesus was not simply coming to confirm religious people in their self-righteousness and say, "Good job." No, he was coming to show that even religious people were doing a bad job and that they needed forgiveness of sins.

Often, when a notorious sinner becomes a Christian, even earnest believers doubt their conversion. Perhaps someone in jail makes a profession of faith and well-meaning Christians say, "Well, he only found Jesus because he wants to get early parole." Or maybe someone who's caught in a white-collar fraud case makes a profession of faith and believers say, "Well, he's now saying he's a Christian because he hopes the judge will be lenient." The point is, we can be skeptical when we hear the gospel converting sinners even in a point of crisis and desperation. But sinners are precisely the people Jesus came to save.

As we encounter this story this morning of a sinful woman, a self-righteous man, and a glorious savior, we're going to see that Jesus came to meet people where they were, to take them where they needed to go. After Jesus had preached his sermon, he was showing how his sermon worked its way out in real lives. This is why Jesus came down from the mountain, not to applause of people saying, "Give us more," or we wish there were some way to have recorded that so we can hear it over and over again. But people were genuinely confused. They wondered why Jesus had said the things that he did, why he challenged them with the beatitudes, why he confronted them with love for neighbor, and why he even challenged them to love their enemies.

Jesus not only preached an amazing sermon, and one that was misunderstood, but he walked with real people to show how his sermon informed his life. And as Jesus comes to this situation, Simon is a man we don't know a lot about. Yet this man has been observing Jesus and has been around him enough that he feels comfortable inviting him over to dinner, and Jesus accepts the invitation.

So as Jesus comes into Simon's home, that's when events begin to unfold. In the way that Luke tells this story, there are parallels to other encounters that Jesus had with scandalous women. But these are not those stories that are recorded in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. This is not Mary Magdalene that has come into Simon's house. This is a woman who's not even named by Luke.

Because the point is not to draw attention to her, but to contrast her with Simon, the one who thought he had it all together. The one who was important enough that he could host this incredible teacher who was gathering so much attention, and yet the one who needed Jesus more than he realized. He desperately needed Jesus.

So as Luke tells this account, he first introduces us to the Pharisee; he says in verse number 36, "And Jesus coming into his home," but the focal point in the first section of this passage is an uninvited,

An Uninvited Sinful Woman

Sinful woman who honors Jesus. And that's my first point this morning, that there is an uninvited, sinful woman who honors Jesus.

Jesus. This Simon is not the same impulsive disciple that followed Jesus. This is not Simon Peter. This is another Simon. We don't know about him. We only know that he's a Pharisee. He's one of the most religious people in Israel, one of the leaders of the faith. And this man has invited Jesus into his home, but Luke does not give Simon's motive. In Luke's telling, he simply says that he invited him over to dinner, verse 36, and Jesus went to his house and reclined at the table.

In the first century, people walked from place to place. And as they did this, they would inevitably get dirty. They didn't have paved roads in the way that we do. They had stone chips and dusty soil on the paths and the roads that they followed from place to place and house to house. And when they went anywhere, their feet would get dusty or muddy, depending on the weather. And a good host would offer water for their guests to either clean their feet themselves or they would have the guests' feet cleaned for them.

However, Simon, in inviting Jesus, does not do that. He does not offer Jesus this common courtesy of water to cleanse his feet, but nonetheless, Jesus is found reclining at his table. This table would have been a low table lower to the ground in the center of the room, really in the center of the house where people could have been observing that weren't a part of the table meal, but were there to listen to what was being discussed by those who were there. Usually, this would have been only men at this kind of table. And the way they sat at the table was not like we do in tables with chairs that have us upright, but they would have been reclining with their feet stretched out away from the table.

And here with this scene of men eating and talking about the issues of the day, perhaps even inquiring about Jesus, about his teaching and his miracles, it says in verse number 37 that a woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisees' house. So she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume.

The irony here of Jesus' unclean feet only becomes apparent when an uninvited sinful woman appears at the dinner table. This woman's name does not appear anywhere in the story because she is in contrast to Simon, whose name is all over the story. The woman was known for her sins, and she felt great guilt and shame. Simon, however, was recognized for being religious, even self-righteous, a Pharisee of Pharisees. He felt enormous pride for his purity.

The people in the town, including Simon, knew this woman. They said, it says in verse 37 that she lived a sinful life. This is a gloss or a summary statement to mean that she lived contrary to God's law and in open immorality. It's most likely that this woman was a prostitute. People knew that she had violated God's seventh commandment and others, and they viewed her with scorn and disgust. Yet, sadly, the men who abused this woman avoided the same level of contempt. That seems to be the way it always works: that the women get the blame and the men get off.

But the point here is that the scene has been set. Simon has received Jesus into his home and seated him as a guest of honor. And now, this uninvited woman, known for scandalous sin, has learned about Jesus being there. So she came with her jar of perfume. Somehow, she snuck into Simon's house to see Jesus, and she brought a highly valuable gift with her. Again, this should strike you as strange because a Pharisee would not be inviting a prostitute into his home. If a Pharisee were hypocritical enough that he was going to a prostitute, he would have gone to her, not invited her.

And here she comes uninvited, sneaks her way into the presence of Jesus. She got so close that it says in verse number 38 that she was standing behind him and weeping over his feet. She was crying uncontrollably. Imagine the scene. Not only has she snuck in, now she's announced her presence. And she's crying so much that his feet are getting wet enough that they were becoming—the soil was turning to mud. And she wiped the slurry of tears and mud with her hair.

Another scandal. In this culture, a woman would not have let her hair down in the presence of other men. But now she's letting her hair down in the presence of everyone and using that hair to mop the feet of Jesus. This uninvited woman now had everyone's rapt attention. All eyes were on her. She wasn't talking to Jesus. She was crying uncontrollably. Everyone in the room probably felt the tension around the table as they looked at the woman and they looked at Jesus and they watched Simon to see what was going to happen.

This scandalous sinner was bringing her guilt and her shame directly to the guest of honor and insulting this host. What would Simon the Pharisee do? Would he stop her? Would he dismiss her? What was going to happen next?

Well, at this point, this woman made everyone even more uncomfortable because she was not only crying profusely and wiping Jesus' feet with her hair, but it also says she was kissing his feet and anointing them with perfume. This was no sexual connotation or advance against Jesus. This was an advance of humility, even desperation, that she was honored to be in the presence of the promised Messiah.

We don't know this woman or her reputation or her beliefs, but we will come to see that she believes that Jesus is who he said that he is. At this point, all we know is that she is showing that she reveres him, that she honors him, and she respects him. Simon, for his part, didn't stop her. She continued. She did what she had come to do, casting herself at the feet of Jesus, essentially begging for mercy. And with the weight of guilt and shame that she must have felt for her sins, she believed in her heart that Jesus was there to help her.

When we see a passage like this, it can make us uncomfortable because we're like, "What is going on? This is odd. I've not seen that happen before, and I'm not sure I want to see that happen." But what Luke has recorded for us is a glimpse into someone's brokenness over their sin. He's showing us that we must admit our sin against a holy God and come to him for forgiveness. It's only when we recognize our sin for what it actually is, an offense against a holy God, that God can offer us the balm of forgiveness.

God offers us forgiveness when we come to him with our guilt and our shame, even our scandal. And Jesus saves sinners from every kind of sin. This woman's sin was not an obstacle to Jesus' forgiveness. He didn't say, "Well, I save some people, but not prostitutes. I save self-righteous men. I save Pharisees, or I save other moral people, but this, no." That's not what happens at all. This woman has literally bowed herself prostrate before the Son of God, asking for mercy. And that is exactly what he gives her. At the end of this passage, he tells her, "Your sins have been forgiven. Your faith has been blessed. Go in peace." The idea being Jesus welcomed this woman and he forgave her of her sins.

When we think about the gospel, we think about all kinds of different ways that we came to Christ and God saved us from all different backgrounds. Some of us were blessed to be children when we understood the gospel. That's my own testimony that when I was young, six years old, that I felt the weight of sin. And though my sin was small by comparison as a child, I still sensed that something was desperately wrong between me and God. And it was in that weight of sin that my dad was able to clarify my need of the gospel and the relief that came through Christ's forgiveness.

And that's exactly right. But others of you may have been saved when you were older. Perhaps you were a teenager. Perhaps you were in college. Maybe you were a young adult or a middle-aged adult and possibly a senior adult. All of us bring different sins and different issues. All of us have guilt and shame for our sin. And it must be brought under the authority of Jesus. We need to bow before Jesus with the hope of forgiveness, knowing that he gives us his righteousness. That's exactly what this woman has done in this context and what he does for us.

But there's a contrast in this account. First, we see the uninvited, sinful woman who's honoring Jesus. But second, we see a religious, self-righteous man who judges Jesus. A religious, self-righteous man who judges Jesus. Up until this point, all we've

The Judgment of a Pharisee

Heard from Simon is the invitation, the scene of him reclining with Jesus, but nothing about his reaction to the woman. So Jesus is now going to confront Simon. Notice that when the Pharisee saw this, he had a reaction in his mind. He didn't speak it out loud, but in verse number 39, it says, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who's touching him and what kind of woman she is, and that she is a sinner."

In other words, if this man was truly holy, representing God, if he were the Messiah that people are saying that he is, like crazy John who's in jail, then surely he would disassociate himself from this prostitute. He would not be inconvenienced, let alone made unclean by interacting with her. Simon was silently judging Jesus. He was observing her and he was condemning Jesus just as he had already condemned this woman. In his mind, without saying a word out loud, he was confronting Jesus, rejecting Jesus.

And yet Jesus surprised him. He didn't surprise him by merely addressing Simon. Jesus surprised him because he answered what he was thinking. Notice it says in verse number 40 that Jesus answered him. Simon had not asked a question or spoken a word out loud, yet Jesus knew what he was thinking. And he said, "I have something to tell you."

Jesus didn't ask the woman to stop what she was doing or be quiet or go to another room or even be removed from the house. Instead, now he directs his comments to Simon. To this point, we don't see Jesus saying anything to the woman. She's continuing to cry. Maybe her uncontrollable tears have turned into a more quiet sob. But whatever the case, Jesus used this interruption of an uninvited woman to confront Simon's sinful heart. And he used a parable to teach about forgiveness. In this very simple parable,

The Parable of Two Debtors

There were two people who owed money to a moneylender, and neither one of them had the resources to pay him back in verses 41 and 42. One man owed a debt that was 10 times greater than the other man. Denarii, without getting into the whole thing, was simply a day's wages. So one man owed about a year's worth of wages, and the other owed 10 years' worth of wages. These were crushing debts in the ancient Near East. There was no leverage that he could shop from bank to bank or find some venture capital. Instead, these men had to own it and they were stuck. And with these debts, they were completely dependent on the moneylender.

Yet Jesus says in his parable that the moneylender forgave the debts of both men. He had every right to demand repayment. Both men owed him a debt, and he would stand to lose a lot of money. Perhaps even his fortune would be at risk by these guys defaulting on their loans. So this man made an incredible gesture of kindness and generosity. The moneylender released these debtors from their obligations and he forgave them both and canceled the debt. He doesn't defer it or delay it. He canceled it.

So Jesus finishes this parable as simple as it is, and he asks Simon a question: "Which one of these debtors will love the moneylender more?" Verse 42. Simon cautiously replied as if he were a politician, a religious, upright man who is trying to read the room and say the right thing. So he says, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt." Now think about the irony dripping in the words "suppose." It should be obvious that the man with the greater debt had the greater response. And yet Simon is hedging his bet, saying, "I suppose" that is the right answer. Maybe he sensed that Jesus was making a point and that that point was coming his way. After all, Jesus has just read his mind and is answering questions that he's not asked out loud.

But whatever the case, even Simon would recognize that both men in the parable needed forgiveness, but one man appreciated it far more than the other. So Jesus told Simon very simply, "You've judged correctly." Notice that Simon did discern the difference. But what the contrast here is that the Pharisee had judged Jesus and the woman incorrectly. He had read the parable, or not read the parable, heard the parable, and understood it correctly, but he had completely misjudged Jesus. He had looked down on the sinful woman and formed the wrong opinion about Jesus. In Simon's way of thinking, Jesus was not a holy man and he certainly could not be the promised Messiah.

What we see happening here is that God is condemning self-righteous, religious hypocrites. Too many times, religious people do not recognize the magnitude of their sins. They don't see that their critical and judgmental attitudes are an obstacle to their forgiveness because they can't themselves forgive others because they're constantly accounting for, "This person did this, this person did that." These guys look like the bad guys, we're the good guys, and they have it all wrong. Too many times religious people simply compare themselves to others as if God is judging sin on a sliding scale from least to worst. But all sin, the Bible says, is an offense against God. All sin will be punished by the wages of death. And all sin that is not dealt with through the forgiveness of Jesus will cause the damnation for those who sin.

Self-righteousness is insidious because it blinds us to complacency and it causes us not to see ourselves as we really are. Think of this: Jesus knew Simon's thoughts before he ever said them out loud. And Jesus spoke to what Simon was thinking in order to point him to his need for forgiveness. Have you ever been in a church service or a Christian meeting where someone was teaching the Bible or a sermon was being preached and you feel like, "That pastor is talking to me"? It's as if he knows what I'm thinking. It's as if that message has been written for my particular conscience and what I'm struggling with. Well, it's not because the pastor has read your email and has your phone and looked at your text messages, nor is it because he can read your mind. It's because the Spirit of God, by the word of God, convicts sinners and brings us face to face with our need for Jesus.

What Jesus was trying to show Simon is that even religious people that think they're morally upright desperately need forgiveness for their sins. Because even the most religious person, the most moral person, has nothing to offer God but filthy rags, soiled like Jesus' feet, messed up like the woman's hair, ruined like the woman's life in terms of the struggles that she had gone through and would probably continue to face. And yet all can be dealt with by the cross. Several years ago, whenever... had finished with a church plant over in Suwannee. Crystal and I were in a liminal season, and that's for Luke, the word liminal.

So, a liminal season is an in-between season where you just don't know where things are going, what's happening, and it's a season of waiting and confusion and sometimes frustration. The Bible is filled with these seasons of the people of Israel waiting for God to act, waiting for God to bring them out of Egypt and into the promised land.

And there were liminal seasons, even in the life of Jesus, that it took 30 years before he announced his public ministry. And Crystal and I found ourselves in one of those seasons of in-between, of waiting.

And it was in that season that we were confronted face to face with this idea of our ongoing and desperate need for the Savior. Because so many times what happens, especially the longer you walk with Christ as a Christian, is you flatten the gospel.

The Danger of Flattening Gospel

And you think, "Well, that was something that I made that decision when I was a child. That's something that I'm okay." I've been walking with Jesus now for many years. I've even pastored churches. And yet, during that liminal season of our lives, God brought a mentor into our lives that helped us see that our need for the gospel is never-ending because our own understanding of sin should grow in time.

And he pointed us, and I've now pointed many other Christians, to the fact that the Apostle Paul, at the end of his life, didn't say, "I'm so glad that I'm better than all the other Christians." No, the Apostle Paul said, "I'm the worst Christian I know." He struggled at times whether or not he was a Christian at all. And yet, in those same passages where Paul is working that out, and in that case, 2 Timothy, he's also saying, "But I have such an incredible Savior, a Christ who's given me his righteousness and a Christ who has forgiven me all my sins."

During Crystal and I's liminal season, we came to realize that we had flattened the gospel. Not that we knew all the right words to say and we appreciated Jesus, we had made him small, sort of like those mini Jesuses that are going around right now. But what we came to see is that Jesus is incredible, that our sins go far deeper than we ever realized, and yet God forgives them all.

It was no longer surface sins that we were either avoiding or ignoring. It was those sins of the heart, like Simon thinking in his head, those judgmental thoughts, those critical attitudes, and those condemning thoughts or statements that also needed to be dealt with at the gospel. So I say that to say, I've been Simon. I have been a man who has known it all. I'll put that in air quotes. I don't know it all. A man who thought that he had things figured out and was living a good life, only to be reminded that the life I live is always because of the mercy of Jesus.

And that sometimes the most self-righteous, religious people are the people that need Jesus the most. That's what Jesus wanted Simon and all in that room to understand, is that he was not here simply to save prostitutes, but he was also here to save a Pharisee. And he could do this because he's the great high priest.

And that leads to my last point. So an uninvited, sinful woman is honoring Jesus. And a religious, self-righteous man was judging Jesus. But point number three is that all repentant sinners receive forgiveness. All repentant sinners receive forgiveness. Beginning in verse 45 to the end of the chapter, in what must seem like an incredibly long pause, Jesus turned toward the woman and said, "Simon, do you see this woman?" Up until this point, he had not addressed the woman, not given her eye contact.

The Contrast of Two Responses

Now he's looking into her teary eyes and he's saying, "Simon, do you see what's going on here?" This woman that God was using was there not only for the forgiveness of her sins, but to underscore Simon's need for his forgiveness.

Simon saw the woman and wanted her to leave. Jesus saw the woman and wanted her to come, wanted her to experience the gospel of forgiveness. So Jesus leveraged the woman's incredible kindness. Simon, who had invited Jesus to his house for a meal, had not offered him the kind of hospitality that would be reserved for most guests, not to mention a guest of honor. He had come into his house, Jesus said, and he did not give him any water for his feet. He didn't greet him with a kiss. He didn't put oil on his head. Simon did not treat Jesus well.

Yet this uninvited woman honored Jesus. She wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, kissing his feet non-stop and poured her perfume on his feet. The uninvited woman admitted her sinfulness. She came to Jesus for forgiveness, and Jesus forgave her and displayed great love toward her.

Jesus knew that Simon needed the forgiveness of his sins, but Simon only saw himself as pure and righteous, the exact opposite of this woman. He didn't honor Jesus because he didn't need what Jesus was offering. After all, in Simon's mind, Jesus was not a prophet and there was no way he would have considered him the promised Messiah. Simon probably thought Jesus was a charlatan and himself a sinner, but Simon misunderstood Jesus entirely. He was coming to compare himself to the uninvited woman.

Simon compared himself to this woman thinking, "I'm a Pharisee, she's a prostitute, I'm pure, she's impure, I'm moral, she's immoral." But Simon was comparing himself to the wrong standard. He was comparing himself to the sinfulness of a woman, but the right standard was the holiness and righteousness of God. Simon was a sinner who had fallen short of the glory of God, who had broken God's moral law and needed forgiveness.

Too many times we compare ourselves to other sinners to justify our own sin and excuse our own transgressions. We'll say things like this: "Well, at least I didn't do that." Or, "Do you know about what so-and-so did? Let me tell you a story. I would never do anything like that. That's unbelievable. You would never catch me in that situation." Or, "I'm not that bad of a person. I mean, again, look at so-and-so." Or I hear this one all the time: "I try to do good things and be a good person." Or finally, you might say, "Compared to everyone else, [fill in the blank]."

But the point is, God doesn't compare us to each other. He doesn't say the prostitute is the epitome of awful and the Pharisee is the pinnacle of good. Jesus is flattening and saying sin is sin and all sinners need to come before Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. It was easy for Simon to tell Jesus, "This woman is a sinner," but it was impossible for him to admit, "I am a sinner."

Jesus proved that he was a prophet and the Messiah because he knew Simon's thoughts. He knew the woman's thoughts. And he revealed that Simon had a judgmental heart and he revealed that the woman was trusting him for forgiveness. Simon needed the same thing as the woman. He just didn't see it yet. He owed an unpayable debt for his sins, and Jesus was prepared to cancel it.

When we repent of our sin and receive the forgiveness of God, we can love and thank our Savior. The woman in this story did not receive forgiveness because she loved Jesus or showed him honor. She displayed great love and honor because Jesus had forgiven her sins. Her faith in Christ assured her of salvation and caused her to respond to Jesus with great love and deep respect.

This is why Jesus says in verse 47, "Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, as her great love has shown." In other words, this woman brought Jesus' parable to life. She had been forgiven an incalculable debt, and she responded to Jesus with her great love and affection. She risked public embarrassment in front of a household of religious people, and she honored Jesus no matter what they thought.

But Jesus describes Simon's response with these words in verse 47, "But whoever has been forgiven little loves little." Simon lacked any kind of self-awareness about the sins of his heart and mind. He and the woman had both sinned against God. But Simon harbored self-righteousness and pride about being a Pharisee. He had a critical spirit against Jesus and against the woman. He desperately needed the same mercy.

The woman's sins were more obvious and known in the community, but Jesus knew both of them had sinned. Both the woman and Simon were morally corrupt and could not pay back the sins that they had committed against God. Simon was just as morally bankrupt as the woman, and Jesus wanted him to realize it. So now Jesus finally speaks to the woman.

This woman, who so far we've only heard crying uncontrollably, sobbing quietly, and standing in the presence of Jesus, is now going to be directed not in the third person like verse 47, but in the first person. Jesus looked intently into her tear-drenched eyes, and he noticed her disheveled hair, and he tenderly said, "Your sins are forgiven."

Jesus Christ is the moneylender. He paid the woman's debt for sin in full. The woman had searched for Jesus with the hope of Israel for her forgiveness. Now she gladly and lovingly believed Jesus forgave her. And Jesus said to her, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."

Jesus saw Simon's judgmental attitude against him and confronted it. And he also saw the woman's heartfelt faith in him, and he blessed it. But yet Simon's friends were just like Simon. They were religious, self-righteous, and skeptical about all that was happening. And they asked the question, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"

By declaring the woman's sins forgiven, they recognized that Jesus was making a claim to be God. Only God could forgive sins. We saw that in Luke chapter 5, and we'll see it again later in Luke. The Son of God, Jesus, would later give his life as a sacrifice for the sins that this woman and others committed. And this forgiveness would cost Jesus his life on a sinner's cross so that we could have atonement for our sin.

That's why we'll celebrate communion in just a few minutes when we receive the bread and the wine to remind us of the sacrifice that Jesus made. Once we realize the magnitude of our sins, then we can appreciate the greatness of the forgiveness we've been given. Those of us who have been forgiven the most can respond to Jesus with the greatest love. That doesn't mean that we have to be the greatest sinner, that everybody knows of the notoriousness of our sin, but we need to be broken and gripped. Did you know that most revivals over the centuries happened

The True Meaning of Revival

When church people realized how much they had sinned against God? We have confused revival with evangelism to say that revival comes when lots of people get saved. But I would say revival comes when Christians come face to face with what Simon was being confronted with, that they are broken over their sinfulness, that they are grateful for God's forgiveness, and that they desperately want to tell others.

When Crystal and I went through that difficult season of waiting and we were challenged with this truth that as we grow in Christ, we grow in awareness of our sin. Guess what that did? That made us better evangelists. It made me bolder in talking to people about Jesus because I could relate to other sinners and say, "I'm just one sinner sharing with another sinner the desperate need we both have for Jesus."

Charles Spurgeon in his day said this about this passage. He said, "I'm afraid that there are many professed Christians who must have had very little forgiven them. For they love Christ very little. As you diminish the guilt of sin, the punishment of sin, you also diminish the sense of obligation in being saved from sin. Consequently, you diminish your love to Christ."

Those words ring true, that so many Christians have so little love for Jesus because they don't realize how much Jesus has saved them from. And yet I'm here to tell you, Jesus can save a scandalous woman. Just as he can save a self-righteous Pharisee, he can save you because we are one or the other. We are either someone who knows that we have sinned and we have sinned greatly against God, or we're someone who's deceiving ourselves into thinking, "I'm okay. I'm all right. I don't need this gospel stuff."

What we believe about Jesus and what he has done for our sin will determine our eternity. Jesus told the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace." This woman who had only known the discomfort of guilt and shame, had only known the embarrassment of our sin, was now relieved at the gospel.

Jesus wants you, whether you're a child, a teenager, or an adult, to come face to face with your sin, confessing it to him and receiving his righteousness. And when we do that, it says we will be saved. My question for you is, are you the scandalous woman who knows your sin and feels the weight of it and wants this forgiveness? Or are you the self-righteous Pharisee saying, "I'm okay. Look at what I've done. Compare me to those other people"?

Whichever the case, I would beg of you to believe in Jesus, to confess your sins to him and trust him. And as we receive the elements of communion this morning, these elements are for believers. And I would encourage you to think again of the magnitude of your sin and the incredible measure of God's grace poured out on you.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we consider this passage, we do see ourselves in this. We see ourselves as either those who are riddled with guilt for our sin or those who are trying to minimize it and simply compensate for it with our own righteousness. Father, I pray that you would bring both kinds of people face to face with their desperate need for Jesus and help us to respond to the grace that we've been given by living lives for you. God, help us to realize that we are the worst sinners and help us to become your greatest champions. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Slogans of the Human Heart | Luke 6:37-49

The Slogans of the Human Heart | Luke 6:37-49

Dan Webb

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Introduction to Luke 6

Well, good morning, church family. I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Luke, chapter 6. We've had a nice stop in the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, for Good Friday and Easter. But this morning we find ourselves back in our primary study in the Gospel of Luke, and we're going to finish out chapter 6 this morning as we look through verses 37 through 49.

We've seen thus far in the chapter Jesus' authority over the Sabbath, his willingness to do good and to heal even on the Sabbath when the Pharisees thought he should do no such thing. We've seen him call his final disciples to himself, and we've seen the beginning of a lengthy sermon here in the presence of his disciples and a great crowd.

But we've seen particularly that this sermon, this message of Christ, was for his disciples. He looked at them with intent as he said these words, and by extension, it is directed to us as well, his future followers. When we consider our current society, it displays many particular attitudes towards God and towards his people. Sometimes these attitudes, these opinions are felt by what we see society do in their response to God, in their response and engagement with his people. Sometimes unbelievers use words to express how they really feel about God and his people, and it shows what they are thinking deep down inside.

In my opinion, one of the most striking pieces of evidence for the deity of Jesus Christ is his unrivaled knowledge and intimacy of the human heart and the human condition. Others have noted that it is not typically just us who read the Bible, but upon deep study and reflection, we find oftentimes that our Bible is actually reading us. That's no accident. That is because the God of the universe and Jesus Christ in particular in this passage knows our hearts, and he knows how to sweep away all of the fluff of our lives and get straight to the most important thing.

And this morning, in Luke chapter 6, Jesus is shining a broad light on the attitudes of the human heart while focusing particularly, again, on his people. Why? To focus particularly on his followers because they will be the ones who will be able to see this light and respond appropriately as they are changed by it.

So here's the main idea we're going to look at this morning. It's simply that true discipleship flows from a transformed heart. True discipleship flows from a transformed heart.

True Discipleship and Transformation

And I technically have two titles for this sermon just to keep it interesting for us today. The first is in the negative and the other is in the positive. So, the one you see on the screen behind me is in the negative. Jesus is addressing some of the negative attitudes of the human heart, and that title is simply "The Slogans of the Human Heart."

The positive contrast that Jesus is getting at for his people is "The Marks of a True Disciple." The marks of a true disciple in contrast to the slogans of the human heart.

So, on the one hand, we'll see some of the foundational attitudes that people so easily gravitate towards, which is focused primarily on themselves. And on the other, we'll see Jesus' instructions for a different path, which is only made possible through his work on our behalf.

So let's get right into the text in our first of four slogans of the human heart that many of you are probably familiar with. Number one, in verses 37 and 38, we see...

The Slogans of the Heart

Don't judge me. Don't judge me. Looking down at the text, Jesus says, "Judge not, and you will not be judged. Condemn not, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."

It's interesting. Many scholars have noted that these might be the most famous verses in the entire Bible to non-Christians. Right? To non-Christians. Some of you probably heard this, maybe even to your face: "Don't judge me."

Unfortunately, the English language puts us at a bit of a disadvantage and typically leaves Christians often trying to play defense when trying to deal with the claim of, "Don't judge me." The words here that Jesus is using in the Greek language are tied directly to a haughty and a judgmental spirit. It's an attitude of superiority, of pride and arrogance, and looking down on someone else. They don't refer to being discerning and to acknowledging particular sin in our lives.

And we see this in verse 37, the second part, where Jesus really gives us the sense he's getting at. On the one hand, do not condemn. On the other, do forgive. He says, do forgive. And this is a foundational principle in the Bible, but we often easily move past it. So we could just simply ask ourselves this morning, what is your reputation with your various circles of influence?

Jesus in this text in many ways was flipping the understanding of society and the false religion of the Pharisees on its head. And not only is he addressing the flaws of the Pharisaical Christianity, he is also going right past all of our own religious niceties and going straight to our hearts and saying at your heart level, what are the most deepest characteristics?

So for us, do we have the same reputation with each sphere, with each circle of relationships that we have? Is it consistent throughout from family to friends to co-workers to classmates to strangers? Or might there be different reputations found throughout each sphere? Perhaps one group, such as our friends or colleagues, might know us to be gracious, while our family members might feel judgment and condemnation. Or might those we see face to face find compassion and encouragement and excitement, while those we disagree with online might feel our wrath and our disdain.

The question is, do we look down on the world even as it pursues self-serving and even self-destructive passions? Or do we grieve for a world that is dead in its sin with little hope of redemption and salvation? We like to let our own hearts off the hook, but Jesus is saying it is all or nothing.

As I said, we can certainly be forgiving while still offering discernment. We can point out sin. Of course, we can highlight what God's word says, but we must always remember this is not our word. This is not our opinion. This is God's word. And that takes pride out of the equation completely when you are arguing not on your own behalf, not on your own merit, but on behalf of another.

And God wants us to know that when we do forgive, when we live lives that are marked by grace and mercy, there will also be a return. On the one hand, we will actually, in many ways, find grace and mercy from others as we extend those things out through our relationships. But most importantly, we will find it from the one who judges justly, Jesus Christ.

And this idea here that Jesus is talking about was common in antiquity. When someone received a payment, particularly of grain, they had a container with them and they wouldn't just let someone pour out their grain haphazardly. It had to be very specific. Just like for those of us who used to use real physical dollar bills or even coins back in the day, if you went to the bank and you were taking out a withdrawal and the teller just randomly grabbed some bills and some coins and put it all together and handed it to you, you'd probably walk out and change banks immediately, right?

The same thing here. This idea is that what we will receive from God is both precise and it's abundant. When these jars were filled with grain, they were filled up and they were pressed down hard to create more space, and then they were shaken in order that all of the grain on the bottom would fill all of the space down in the bottom and then fill up the jar completely all the way.

And then get this: God says, not only will your container be filled thoroughly, he says it will overflow. It will overflow in abundance. Your gracious attitude to those who may or may not deserve it will be, in a sense, rewarded by God's grace to you, who most certainly does not deserve it. We do not deserve the grace of Christ.

But here's another refrain. Our second warning, verses 39 through 42. Don't tell me how to live my life. Don't tell me how to live my life. Picking up at verse 39.

He also told them a parable.

The Danger of Spiritual Blindness

"Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher. But everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take out the speck that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother's eye."

Another familiar passage with those who are outside of God's people. Many have concluded that this is a direct assault on the Pharisees on the failed leadership of the Jewish faith, which is quite possible. At the very least, the disciples were to be markedly different from the Pharisees who were the Jewish leaders of Israel.

But just like the first section, this second section is also about our attitude. It's about our posture. And this time, Jesus is not only calling out those who are being led, who are following, but also the leaders themselves. No doubt, many arrogant young pupils, often young men, have thought they knew better than those above them. But Jesus ties them to blind men to show that arrogance and pride are deadly attributes, no matter what status or role of authority one might have.

He's saying it's not just the disciple who can be blind, but teachers as well. And what an awful situation that would be to have a blind follower behind a blind leader. The solution, Jesus says, is the same regardless of the status. It applies to both people. Blind guides are not fit to lead, and it is our pride which ultimately blinds every one of us. It's our pride which looks past the log in our own eye to the speck of our brothers.

Therefore, in order to both follow and to lead, we have to be able to see. How can we see? He says, first, we follow the teacher, Christ, who is standing right in front of the disciples before them. And second, we humble ourselves. We take our pride out of the equation and we acknowledge the sin in our own heart. Jesus himself said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." So the only way for anyone to see is through Christ.

If we were to go to another Christian, a brother or a sister, and attempt to address the speck in their eye while overlooking the log in our own, what have we done? Essentially, we've done the same problem as the first section. We have elevated ourselves at the lowering expense of our brother in Christ, forsaking the humble introspection that Jesus is calling his people to pursue.

And notice he's not saying, "Don't help your brother deal with the speck." That's not what Jesus is saying. He's saying, first, deal with yourself. Deal with yourself first before you help others. Essentially, Christians are to be those who exhibit both realities, continually combing our own hearts for sin while also reaching out and encouragement to our brothers and sisters in their own sanctification.

Are we known as a people of gracious spirits or critical spirits? Maybe it's pointed. Maybe you just like to call it like it is. Or maybe it's broad and you prefer to sweep your criticisms broadly over groups of Christians. If we would take our own sin as seriously as we often take the sins of others, the result would be quite radical. And yet, as we see in our third section, it might not be as radical as we think.

Number three, in verses 43 through 45, the attitude of people are mostly good.

The Source of Good Fruit

People are mostly good. And here Jesus talks about trees and fruit. In verse 43, he says, "For no good tree bears bad fruit. Nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person, out of the good treasure of his heart, produces good. And the evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil. For out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks."

Sometimes it is the simplest realities that we move on from, we neglect, and we forget. I mean, most kids in the room can look at any tree outside on the lawn and tell you what fruit is either there or is not. It's really simple. It either bears fruit or it doesn't. The bear fruit, it's good fruit or it's bad fruit.

When we think of this idea that Jesus is trying to instruct us, we need to consider two sides to this coin. Going back to the narrative of the Pharisees, what was the good fruit of the Pharisees? Anyone? What would the good fruit of the Pharisees have been? Works. It was their works. If our works could be a fruit, what kind of fruit would they be? We'd say that they are a manufactured fruit. Something man-made.

It'd be like if every Pharisee had a 3D printer. I've never seen a 3D printer in person, but I've seen a lot of the gadgets and things that 3D printers can make, and it's pretty impressive. And honestly, the whole idea of 3D printing still blows my mind. I don't even know how it's possible, other than someone has given me something and said, "This is what it made." And I'd imagine that 3D printers can make some pretty compelling fruit, some pretty lifelike-looking fruit.

And potentially, someone could make a fruit from a 3D printer that they could hang up on a real tree so that people, as they drive by or maybe even walk by, would say, "Oh, nice, what a nice apple tree. That's really great. I've never noticed that before." But if you get up close and if you could see clearly, you'd start to have some questions. You'd wonder, "Is that really the fruit I thought it was?" And if you decided to even take a bite, well then at that point, the cat is officially out of the bag. This is a false fruit.

And Jesus' point, on the one hand, is that we cannot manufacture our own fruit. We need good fruit, but we can't do it. There are only two types of trees here: those with the good fruit and those with the bad. And Jesus is saying that a person's godly works are not the equivalent of godly fruit.

The other side of this coin is that good fruit, by definition, is not only authentic, it's not manufactured, but it also grows continually. It happens consistently over time. And what I'm trying to get at here is that sometimes when we think about people and their potential good fruit, we like to focus on a few pieces—the first fruit, the second fruit, maybe the third—instead of a consistent display of fruit growing over time.

I've seen this in many ways in the concerned voice for a loved one who isn't going to church, who has no desire to be with God's people, is not pursuing the Lord in his word, is not really walking with the Lord, but who was baptized when they were young or who expressed regret over their sin a number of years ago. But that is not bearing good fruit in the sense that Jesus is talking about.

R.C. Sproll referred to this idea that we often think in our own heads as statistical morality. Statistical morality. He says, we like to look at people we know and we add all of their morality together. If you knew a hundred people that you were in relationship with, generally you would say they are good. I see most of their good trending things. And so we would say in general, they are good. If you saw someone living a generally good life who made some good decisions for God, even if they did not continue in those decisions for years, you would remember those first glimpses of fruit and you would judge them by that standard rather than the current one.

But this, again, does not reflect the standard of the righteous judge who says there is good fruit and there is bad fruit. Can a living fruit tree produce just a few pieces of fruit and then cease producing fruit to still be a healthy tree? Absolutely not. One of the evidences of the signs of life in a tree is the resupply of its own fruit, year after year after year. And a tree that ceases to bear fruit is a tree in which death has already begun.

So we see that the good fruit, on the one hand, is not something that we can manufacture. It's not something that we can pursue of our own ability. And it's also not a flash in the pan. Jesus goes on to say, this fruit comes from the heart.

And if in Christ we have been given new hearts, this is what he's getting at. New hearts. That means good fruit can come, and it will continue to come over time.

I'm not saying that the Christian heart will produce perfection consistently, but Jesus is saying a new heart will produce good fruit over time. Think years, not days, not even weeks.

Obedience and Allegiance to God

Which brings us to our final point in 46 through 49: God loves me as I am. From judgmentalism to blindness to fruit and now our obedience, this last section is really about our attitude of surrender and allegiance to God.

Looking at verses 46 and 47: "Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like." Hopefully, when you think of your brothers and sisters, particularly in this church—because this is the church where we are members and we know each other—you see a connection between what we say we believe and how we live our lives. There shouldn't be too many big discrepancies there. It should be largely consistent in that we are trying, although stumbling at times, to follow the Lord with our whole heart, our whole mind, and our whole strength.

But what comes to mind when you think about Christians outside of our church? That you might not see as closely, but still you see. I'd imagine many of us would say we know Christians who don't go to church, or if they do, it's sporadic at best, who don't read their Bibles, or again, if they do, it's sporadic at best. We probably even know Christians who actually live just like the world, and you wouldn't actually know they were a Christian unless they had said something to you. It's not to say all of those things—going to church, reading your Bible, being consistent—is what makes you a Christian, but there is something there that Jesus wants us to see. He gives us the genuine expectation of God for his followers. He makes it crystal clear. This is the expectation that is upon every Christian: someone who hears God's word and does it. Someone who hears God's word and does them.

And didn't I just say that the works we do are not our fruit? Yes. So how do we reconcile this? God wants us to hear his word and do it, but our works are also not our fruit. Well, a week or two ago at Good Friday, I used an equation. And so I'll do the same thing this morning to help us try to understand what Jesus is getting at. Essentially, you have our works, and you have a bad heart, which equals bad fruit. Right? Works plus a bad heart equals bad fruit. The equation of a good heart equals both good fruit and good works. A good heart equals good fruit and good works. Both of these have works, but only one has the new heart. The new heart is what makes all of the difference, which in Christ produces the good works of our obedience.

Consider Jesus' words in the Gospel of John, chapter 14. He says in verse 23, "If anyone loves me, if anyone loves Jesus, he says, he will keep my word. And my Father will love him and will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words." Can you imagine someone who thought that they loved God with all of their heart, everything they did for him, while neglecting their own humility, their own discipline, the love of their neighbor, and ultimately failing to obey the actual words of the God they claim to love so much? What does Jesus say their response might be when Christ says, "Depart from me, I never knew you"? They would say, "Lord, Lord."

In the Greek, he's getting at a title of intimacy. It's like using the first name and saying, "Come on, I know you, Lord, Lord." But as one theologian notes, this actually gets to those who want the benefits of God, whom they call "Lord, Lord," as if they knew him well and he owed them something, all the while failing simply to acknowledge him as their Lord. Full stop. The one to whom they must fully surrender instead is the one they simply want a few benefits from.

In the parallel passage of our text in the book of Matthew, these people, like the Pharisees, what do they say? "Lord, Lord, did we not do many great things for you?" Did we not do many great things for you? Friends, Christ does not want you to do great things for him. He wants you to rest in the great thing that Christ has done for you. That is the focus of what Jesus is getting at. It's exactly what we talked about even on Good Friday as we compared the Old Testament sacrificial system to the fulfillment of that covenant in Christ.

Every religious person, whatever the title is—Christian, Hebrew, anything else, fill in the blank—will tend to do some form of good works, and the question is not what will you do, but how will you do it? In whose strength will you do these works? Are they fueled by your own strength or fueled by your new heart and the work of Christ? This one who does good works from this new heart—this is what he will be like in verse 48.

Jesus says, he is like a man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. When a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.

What do we see in common here? There's a storm. There's a flood. Everyone, good and bad, experiences the storm and the flood, and no one likes it. We all despair when the flood actually hits us. But the point here is not the storm. There's a house in both situations. The storm is a given. The unique difference is the placement of the house. It's the foundation or the lack thereof.

And this foundation, we don't build it. It pre-exists us. Was before us and exists outside of us because Jesus says he is the foundation that we build on. And when we build upon his foundation, we are made strong, not because we have made a strong house, but instead because the foundation has made our house strong. There is an order to it. The foundation is first and foremost. And because of the secure foundation, our houses are made strong through every trial and every storm.

And as strong as we are made through the work of Christ, likewise he says, how great is the ruin, the destruction of those whose houses are destroyed by the flood. Jesus came to usher his kingdom into the world and to make it crystal clear. He didn't want us to be curious and wonder, what do we have to do? If we're his people, how are we supposed to live? He wanted to make it clear for us to know how to follow him because if it were left to us, we would start making up our own rules, our own ways, and then we'd start looking around and saying, "Hey, you're not living up to my expectations. I don't think you're a Christian."

And Jesus says, the kingdom will have none of that. There is one expectation for every single person, and that is to find your rest, your joy, your security in the person of Jesus Christ.

So as we conclude this morning, again, I just ask for our own reflection in our own hearts because the Lord knows them and we know them. Do we struggle with judgmentalism or a critical spirit? Are there ways in your life where you can rely more fully on the forgiveness that you have in Christ? Do any of us like the idea of God more than the idea of submitting to him and following what he has commanded? Are there any particular commands that we need to humble ourselves before and obey?

Perhaps you're wondering if these negative attitudes reflect worldly hearts, what is the contrast that Jesus is painting for us? Well, on these four points, I think first, instead of judgmentalism, Jesus shows us graciousness. He shows us graciousness. Instead of pride, he shows us humility. Instead of focusing on our own works, he gives us his full and perfect work. And instead of empty words, Jesus himself is our faithful servant. Our faithful servant in every way.

So if you're still wondering, what must I do? You need not look any further. The solution for each ailment, each warning given against... the worldly hearts is the same. Simply to look to Christ, who is able to give you a new and a good heart. And to look what you have received in Christ, because there is nothing that we cannot give to those around us, which we have not already received in abundance from Christ, who loves us and gave himself up for us.

So we praise the one who is righteous and who also makes us righteous as trees which are now able because of his work to produce good fruit. May it be so.

Let's pray. God, as we come before you this morning, we confess that it is our inclination, that we are so often tripped up by trying to evaluate our spiritual status with what we have done this week for you, with how connected we are feeling or are not feeling to you and to your spirit. And we rejoice that our status in the kingdom as heirs, as children, as sons and daughters, praise the Lord, is not dependent on any of those things but it is dependent on the work which you did and completed on our behalf and the fact that you have drawn us in, that you have welcomed us into your family.

And so we ask, would you strengthen our hearts and our spirits to obey, to follow you with gratitude, and to rejoice in the law that you have given as a means to honor our heavenly Father as a means of loving the one who first loved us in Christ. Grow our love for you. Grow our love for your law and for your word. And therefore would you grow our love for one another and grow the fruit that we bear. For his sake, we pray in his name. Amen.

Love Our Enemies | Luke 6:27-36

Love Our Enemies | Luke 6:27-36

Nathan Young

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Introduction to Holy Week

Well, as we think about Easter, it's an exciting week, and we have several things going on this week as we lead up to that. So we have an Easter program for our weekday preschool that will be happening on Thursday, as well as our Good Friday services here, and then our Easter service.

But today is Palm Sunday, which marks the beginning of Holy Week. And on this particular Sunday in the story of Jesus' life, it was a Sunday that he came into Jerusalem at the triumphal entry when his followers were excited, even ecstatic, that he was going to come and finally conquer Rome. And yet they completely misunderstood what Jesus was doing.

As we're working our way through the Gospel of Luke, we're not at that point in the narrative where Luke describes Palm Sunday and the rest of Holy Week. But we are in a section of his gospel this morning in chapter 6, beginning in verse number 27, where we see Jesus previewing the purpose of his life, that he will in fact show love for his enemies in a way that will astound them because he came to save them.

And as Jesus teaches in his Sermon on the Mount what this love entails, he will come to illustrate it with his own life and death towards the end of his ministry. So this morning, I'm not going to rush ahead and preach from the end of the gospel. I want to continue where we're at just in God's providence here in chapter number six, because I think it shows us powerfully how his word connects to our real life situation and circumstances.

The Command to Love Enemies

Let me read Luke chapter six, beginning in verse 27 through 36. "But to you who are listening, I say, Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on the cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you. And if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies. Do good to them and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful just as your Father is merciful."

In Luke's gospel, he has established Jesus' identity as both the Son of Man and the Son of God. He has been convincing his audience that Jesus is who he claimed to be. In Luke's telling of Jesus' life and ministry, he presents Jesus first in terms of his miracles and his work. As Jesus is traveling around Capernaum in particular, he's going to different places, including temples and people's homes, where he is healing the sick, casting demons out of those who are possessed, and forgiving the sins of sinners. In all of these ways, Luke is establishing that Jesus has authority over diseases, over demons, over his disciples, and over worship.

Up until this point, however, Luke had not revealed what Jesus had been teaching. We saw Jesus in the temple as a young boy left behind by his parents where he's holding court, teaching in the temple, and people were astounded. Then Luke gives us other glimpses into Jesus' teaching ministry when it says he taught with words of authority that people were drawn to him and listened intently to what he had to say.

But it's not until Luke chapter 6 where Luke introduces the Sermon on the Mount and he reveals what Jesus has been teaching. And it's in this revelation of Jesus' teaching that Luke is going to demonstrate that Jesus is teaching something that would completely upend the religious teachers of his day. Because Jesus was not simply teaching them new religious content; Jesus was instead showing them how believing in him and becoming one of his followers would transform their character. It would show them not just information to be acquired, but Jesus was teaching them a way to live that would radically change everything.

Last week, Pastor Jared Rumbley from Shadowbrook Church did a great job introducing the Sermon on the Mount from Luke's account. He laid out for us how Jesus called his 12 disciples specifically by name, men that were unlikely candidates to become leaders of the church of Christ. And yet these men that Jesus called were the very men that became the cornerstones of the church. And then he went on to show that in Jesus' kingdom, the values that Jesus taught are upside down from those of the world. Because Jesus blessed people that the world considers unblessable, and Jesus offered curses to those who the world considers the most valuable.

Now, beginning in verse number 27, Jesus is going to show something even more radical. His values are so upside down that Jesus says that we, as his followers, ought to love our enemies. In verse number 27, it's as if Jesus is saying, both Luke's retelling, if you're still listening to me, if I haven't lost you yet with what I've said, then hear this. And the this is that you are to love your enemies. This would have gone completely contrary to their normal sensibilities because this was a love that would call them to be sacrificial.

In a world that is full of selfishness, it would be difficult for his disciples, including us, to love in this kind of way because it simply does not come naturally. In the normal order of our sin-cursed world, we tend to love people based on the ideas of equality, people that are equal to us or like us. Or we love when there's an advantage to be had and we want to take advantage. We might call that an opportunity, but really it's simply self-serving. The idea of self-sacrificing love that Jesus is teaching in his sermon goes against these natural instincts. It might be normal to selflessly love the people we like in a way that serves us and our agenda, but Jesus wants us to love in a way that's not normal, to show his love and his mercy toward his people. Little kids instinctively know self-serving love.

On the playground, little kids pick the kids that they like, the kids that are popular, the kids that they think are best at kickball or basketball or whatever they may be playing. The unpopular or the non-athletic kids always get chosen last.

It carries out in the classroom as well, where the outspoken kids, those who are eager to share something, want to impress their teacher or convince everyone else in the class that they're somehow smarter than everyone else. It's the quiet kids that often get overlooked, bypassed, or ignored.

It's also true that little kids can detect bullies and they avoid bullies. No little kid consciously gets up in the morning and says, "I want to go to school and face the kids that keep teasing me and taunting me." No, little kids naturally protect themselves and defend against those bullies by avoiding them.

Even though little kids naturally understand what it is to love selfishly, we as adults do the same kinds of things. We also look for opportunities that are the most favorable for us, that would advance our career or our agendas. We look for situations that make us look good as opposed to making others look good. We also are quick to avoid hardship by canceling those who might oppose us and even speaking forcefully or even angrily about their opposition.

And yet Jesus' teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is going to challenge us. Whether we're a child, a teenager, or an adult, he's going to challenge us to love in a way that is self-sacrificing, not self-serving.

Supernatural Self-Sacrificing Love

And that brings us to the first point I want you to see in our passage this morning, and that is that Jesus teaches supernatural, self-sacrificing love.

When Jesus says, "Love your enemies," he's inverting the world's values. What may come naturally to our self-interests must be replaced by Christ's self-denial. In fact, Jesus taught that living for his father's heavenly values would run contrary to the world's values. He's stressing that living for his father will even put us at odds with the world and provoke opposition.

John says in his gospel, as he reflects on Jesus, that if they hated Jesus, then the world will also hate us. Luke, in this section of the Sermon on the Mount, is underscoring our need as Christians to love sacrificially. While the world naturally loves people who reciprocate their love, Jesus is emphasizing that his disciples must love people who reject our love, including our enemies.

This kind of self-giving love does not depend on the person who's being loved, but it depends on the lover's decision to love them anyway. When Jesus said, "Love your enemies," he was addressing loyal followers as well as hostile opponents who were listening. He wasn't selective about who he loved, and he exhorted his disciples to love their enemies the same way.

Christians just can't ignore our enemies, and we can't resist them or reject them. Instead, Jesus is saying we should love them in a way that absolutely challenges them. And how do we do that? Well, he gives us at least three ways to do that in the next section of his

Three Ways to Show Love

He says first, that we should do good to those who hate us. Do good to those who hate us. You see, in this original first-century context, the Romans and the other Gentiles did not like the Jewish people that Jesus was preaching to. They opposed the idea of a Jewish nation. This is why they had the people subjugated under Roman rule. To the Romans, the Jews were simply people to be conquered, and as conquered people, they could be reviled. They were inferior. They were weak. This was why they were subjugated.

Yet Jesus was telling his Jewish audience to do good to the Roman oppressors. This would have been a hard pill to swallow. Do good to people that punish us, people that spit at us, people who hit us, people who take our belongings, people who despise us. And Jesus is saying, "Yes, those are the people." Are you still listening? Do you hear what I'm saying? I'm sure they heard it, and they were now struggling with it.

So Jesus only ups the ante with his second way to do this. And he says, "Now to bless those who curse you" in verse number 28. Jesus was exhorting his disciples to use their words to honor their enemies rather than condemn them. Instead of complaining or being critical or attacking their enemies, Jesus said, "Bless them." And these blessings would include words of gratitude, thanksgiving, and praise.

As Jesus was pointing this out to his followers, they must have again wondered, "Is he crazy? Why would we say kind things to people who say horrible things about us? Why would he publicly commend people that are publicly opposed to us, that even want to silence us?"

So Jesus takes it to another level. It was one thing to do good. It was another thing to speak good. And now he says at the end of verse number 28, "Pray for those who mistreat you." Rather than suffer in silence or endure hardship for an eternal reward, Jesus is instructing his disciples to actively intercede for their abusers. This is more than praying for God to deliver them from evil. It involved praying for enemies when they acted evil against his people. It also includes praying for them not only to stop their mistreatment, but praying for God to bless them.

Again, their hair must have been on fire. They must have been thinking, "This man is crazy. How can he say that we should love enemies who oppose us, love enemies who speak harshly against us, and love enemies who want only evil for us? And you're saying we should pray for them in a way that they would be blessed?"

Jesus' Jewish audience, including his newly called disciples at the beginning of this chapter, would have immediately questioned this teaching. How could Jewish people love and do good to the Roman oppressors? Shouldn't nationalistic Jews oppose Roman occupation? Shouldn't devout religious Jews resist Roman idolatry and reject their immorality? Was Jesus just telling his disciples to give in to evil and to bless it?

Not at all. Jesus was teaching his followers to turn the tables on their enemies and do the opposite of what their enemies expected. Rather than repay their hate with more hatred, Jesus says repay their hate with love. Instead of cursing those who were cursing Jesus' followers, bless them with goodness. And rather than reviling those who were abusing believers, we should pray for them to be delivered from their own evil.

To illustrate this upside-down principle that Jesus is teaching about loving enemies, he gave his disciples two specific illustrations in this passage of how Christians can show love to their enemies. First, in verse number 29, he says, "If someone slaps you on the cheek, turn to them the other also." This idea of slap on the cheek may be described as a violent punch to the jaw. It could be more than simply being slapped. It could be someone who is coldcocking another person. Your natural reaction to such treatment would be to either strike back harder than you were struck against or to withdraw and remove yourself from the situation.

But Jesus said that his disciples should accept a second injury instead of taking revenge or finding an escape. Jesus' teaching is pointing to a Christian's proper attitude toward their enemies. We must not stand up to an enemy's hostility with more hostility, but we respond to it with self-sacrificing love. I don't believe that this means we must always take a beating for the name of Christ, but it does mean that we should respond to hostility and opposition with peace.

If that were not enough, Jesus illustrated this with a second principle, or second idea, of his upside-down values. He said, "If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks of you. And if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back." If someone forcibly takes a Christian's outer garment, then Jesus told his disciples to offer the thief their undergarment. Jesus did not expect his disciples to give away all of their clothes or all of their possessions.

But what he means here is that his followers must be willing to give their material resources instead of hoarding them. That we should be generous instead of selfish. That means Christians cannot refuse to give because we love our possessions more than we love reaching people. Let me say that again: we cannot refuse to give because we love our possessions more than people. A self-sacrificing love enables us to deprive ourselves for someone else's benefit.

I'm going to cheat and get my secret bottle of water here. That is no longer a secret. Andy and I were commenting before church that as dry as it is, only 20% relative humidity, and with all the pollen in the air, it's very difficult to sing up here today. And it's also difficult to speak. I'm feeling the dryness. Forgive me if I cough a few extra times and need to drink my water a little bit extra today.

As I was saying in my flow of thought here, Jesus was exhorting his followers through this example of giving their shirt to give away their resources. The idea was that rather than being selfish and keeping things just to themselves or to their families or to people like them, they would be self-sacrificing, even willing to deprive themselves for the benefit of someone else.

Then Jesus brings all of these exhortations in the first section of this teaching to a single point in verse number 31. And he says, "Do to others as you would have them do to you." This is often called the Golden Rule, and Jesus here is challenging his disciples to develop an awareness about other people's needs. Specifically, he told his disciples to put the needs and interests of other people first ahead of their own needs.

This verse is not saying, "Do to others so that they will do back to you," or "Do to others so that they will pat you on the back or commend you." He's simply saying, "Do unto others what you would have them do to you." In other words, do what is in their best interest because it's also in your best interest. That means we must lovingly pursue the well-being of others, including our enemies.

Jesus' illustration here about a slap in the face or a stolen coat indicates that unbelievers will reject the good news of Jesus Christ and they will even consider his message a message of hate. But we must respond to this kind of rejection, even opposition, with self-sacrificing love. We must keep offering the gospel to both friends and foes, even when we are rejected or opposed for doing so.

We live in a culture that rejects the claims of Christianity and says that preaching the gospel is bigoted, that it's racist, that it's somehow a part of the hierarchy that is keeping people down, and that the way forward is to liberate people from the oppression of Christianity. All kinds of things are being said about Christians that are simply not true, but they illustrate this point: they illustrate that apart from Christ, they're enemies of Christ and they want to stop Christians from sharing the good news. Because, after all, "How can you share an exclusive message in such a complicated world?" people may say.

And yet, rather than respond to them with more heat than light, we should respond to them with loving patience and continue to show them the offer of the gospel. This means that we will sometimes be misunderstood, that we will be misaligned and mistreated. And yet we have to decide in advance that we will respond by continuing to offer Christ and to answer our enemies not with what they expect, but with what they don't expect, which is a self-sacrificing kind of love.

As we study Jesus' sermon here, it's tempting to reduce these principles to simply a series of commands to obey. But that would miss the point because none of us are capable of obeying these commands. Only Christ himself can obey these completely. But Jesus is describing here a set of heart attitudes that come from the Spirit of God when he is at work in our lives. In fact, evidence of our conversion comes out when we're opposed and when we demonstrate this kind of love. God gives us the supernatural ability to love our enemies when we would ordinarily or otherwise hate them.

Throughout church history, Christians have resisted evil by doing good for their enemies. This year marks the 500th anniversary of William Tyndale's English Bible. In the early 1500s, Thomas More, who was a Catholic in England, violently opposed William Tyndale. He called Tyndale a serpent, a son of iniquity, and a hellhound in the kennel of the devil. Yet Tyndale was no child of the devil. He was a Protestant Christian. He had an Oxford education, and he was living as an exile in Germany. In England, it was illegal to translate the Bible. Yet Tyndale had made it his life's work to translate the Bible into common English for ordinary people. Meanwhile, the Catholic authorities in England, such as More, were threatening to imprison and even kill William Tyndale.

But in March of 1526, 500 years ago, Tyndale's loyal supporters smuggled his New Testament into England and they planted the seeds of a revolution. Tyndale's linguistic skill and poetic mastery of English has shaped every other English translation of the Bible since. He produced a translation that a simple farm boy could understand and one that kings would later quote. No wonder his enemies opposed him.

Yet sadly, Thomas More did eventually catch up with his most despised fugitive. And on April the 6th of 1536, Moore caught Tyndale and had him strangled to death, and then he burned his dead body. As gory and disgusting as that is, Thomas Moore may have silenced William Tyndale's voice on that infamous day.

But Tyndale's translation survived his murderous crime and even has ripple effects in our English translations today. Tyndale's self-sacrificing love toward his enemies literally changed the world. I don't share that illustration to say, "Go be a William Tyndale," but I share it to say we have the opportunity to share the gospel, even when people reject it and when people ridicule us for believing it.

We never know how it might land in their hearts and lives, and God may use our witness to convert them. So be faithful in your witness, even when people oppose you, because Jesus teaches supernatural self-sacrificing love.

And secondly, this morning from this passage, I want you to see that Jesus expects more than normal self-serving.

Beyond Normal Self-Serving Love

Love. Jesus expects more than normal self-serving love. And I see this beginning in verse number 32. After stating his teaching, Jesus offers three tests to determine whether his disciples have self-sacrificing love versus normal self-serving love.

First, he says, and I'm gonna paraphrase his question, he asks, do you only love people who love you back? This rhetorical question very simply means if we only love people who love us back, then that is self-love and we're no different than our enemies. That's why Jesus says, what credit is that to you? In other words, you're not doing the hard thing, you're doing the easy thing. Loving your enemies is hard, not easy. And you are called to love people who will not love you.

The second test he also puts in the form of a question. And again, I'm paraphrasing, but he says, do you only do good to people who do good back to you? The modern cliché, I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine, means the exact same thing. If we only do good to people who can do good back, then that's also self-love and we're no different than our enemies.

The kind of love that Jesus is teaching his disciples is self-sacrificing, not self-serving. It's not what's in it for me but what's in it for the one I'm loving. It's like a parent's love for their child. Parents will do all kinds of things for their child, from wiping their diapers to paying their bills to rescuing them from harm. They do all of that because they love their child more than themselves. Jesus is challenging his disciples to love in a way that shows sacrifice, not just selfishness.

And to drive his point home, he asks a third question, which I paraphrase this way. Do you only loan money to people who can pay you back? Apart from Christ, we normally do good if we're likely to receive good in return. However, in Christ, Jesus commands his disciples to freely and sacrificially give of ourselves, expecting nothing in return. The Christian ethic, then, according to Jesus, is one of self-sacrificing love rather than selfish love.

In the hit sitcom Seinfeld, which I watched in the 90s, George Costanza had a you give and you get mentality when it came to gift giving. There's an episode where one Christmas he is extremely angry with one of his friends because he gave a friend a set of Yankees tickets and he expected something comparable in return. But instead, his friend sent him a Christmas card. And inside the card, it said this, and I'm quoting, "this holiday season, a donation has been made in your name to the Children's Alliance."

George hit the ceiling when he read the Christmas card to his friend Jerry. He was livid. How could his friend give his gift to charity? He asks. George had given his friend Yankee tickets because he expected his friend to give him something equal or comparable in return. That is exactly how we think in ways of the world. We sometimes ask, what should I give my relative for Christmas? Because I wonder what they're going to give me. What am I going to give this child? Is it comparable to what I'm going to give that child? And we're always trying to balance the scales.

But Jesus' disciples, including us, are not to live like this. We're not to live like unforgiven sinners. Instead, Christian love operates differently than non-Christian love. As Jesus' disciples, we live in contrast to our former selfishness as sinners. We love when we are unloved. We serve when we are not served. And we give when we are not repaid in kind.

Jesus completes his radical teaching here on self-sacrificial love with simple repetition in verse 35. He says, love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything in return. Jesus teaches Christians not to base our love on how we might be treated. But we are to love based on how God has treated us. This is completely different. And when we're able to do this, we will see that it's the fruit of God's work in our lives, not just moral determination or us trying to be good people.

When we understand what Jesus has done for us, then we can't help but love our enemies with self-sacrificing love because it's God the Father who calls us children of the most high God. Verse 35. We who were once ungrateful and wicked sinners ourselves, people who were enemies of God, become his beloved children. And to be his child means we will become more and more like our heavenly father.

In fact, when Luke writes here from Jesus' sermon that we are children of the most high God, he's saying that we become more like Christ in our character. When we do good to our enemies, we're like Jesus. When we bless our enemies, we are like him. When we pray for them, we are like him. Consider Stephen in Acts chapter 7. Stephen preached one of the most convicting, compelling sermons on the gospel of Jesus Christ recorded in the New Testament. And yet at the conclusion of his sermon, people did not applaud and say, wow, what a powerful speaker. What an incredible TED talk.

What a standing ovation. No, the religious leaders who were there in front of the whole crowd were furious. Luke records in Acts chapter 7, they were so angry that they were gnashing their teeth and they were raging, almost foaming at the mouth, ready to kill him. In fact, it says they covered their ears and they started shouting with their voices in order to silence his piercing words.

It's not unlike the disobedient child who sometimes yells and screams to try to avoid their parents' instructions. And here the religious leaders are doing this in front of the whole assembly of people. And then, almost spontaneously, a violent mob dragged Stephen outside of the city and they started stoning him to death.

Again, there was no fanfare and applause and say, "Boy, your hermeneutical skill was incredible. The way you crafted your points, the way you drove home your application." No, the message was so impactful that the people decided to kill him.

But before Stephen drew his final breath, while his enemies were throwing the stones that would kill him, he prayed for them. He prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell on his knees and he cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." His words were filled with compassion because he cared for the people he preached to. He preached not for their applause, not for their recognition, but he preached for their conversion. He wanted them to come to see their sin and their need of Christ as their savior, though that did not happen in his lifetime.

Although, after he died, one of the people in the crowd named Saul, who would later become the apostle Paul, had heard it all, had witnessed the whole scene, and he would eventually become a Christian. No doubt, that day of hearing Stephen preach and watching Stephen die must have echoed through Paul's life and his own ministry as he also faced difficulty and persecution for following Jesus.

But if you're honest for a moment, and if I'm honest, if I were put in Stephen's shoes, I don't know if I would have been able to pray that prayer. I probably would have prayed something like this. Perhaps you would have too. I would have said, "Lord Jesus, is this what I deserve for preaching the gospel? Stop these stones in midair and show people your power. Stop my enemies. Don't let them kill me. Punish them for their sins. Don't punish me. They're rejecting the gospel. They hate me. They can't be forgiven. God, vindicate me. Please save me."

That would be the kind of message that we would probably pray in desperation and our selfishness if we didn't have the kind of love that Christ showed us by giving his life for our sins. But when we receive the sacrifice Jesus made for us, we can't help but have the kind of compassion that Stephen had.

I don't think this is something that you can rehearse and say, "Well, if the murderers come to get me and I become a martyr, this is what I'm going to say." No, I think God gives you that grace in that moment to show his supernatural love in a way that will impact our enemies.

Supernatural, self-sacrificing love goes against our instinct for normal, self-serving love. If you're like me, I struggle with this teaching. It's hard. I don't like having enemies. I want people to like me. I don't know what to do when people oppose me. I sometimes give up too easily when sharing the gospel. And I don't want people to oppose my faith in Christ. Instead, more often than not, I simply want to go along to get along.

Jesus' Selfless Act of Love

And yet this passage challenges me. It challenges us to love our enemies even when they are unlovable. And this leads to the concluding point this morning, and that is that Jesus gave his life as a selfless act of love.

Jesus concludes his teaching with a simple exhortation in verse 36. He says, "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." Only when we have received God's mercy for the forgiveness of our sins can we then become merciful people.

Noticeably, God expects us to become more like him in our character more than he wants us to become vindicated before our enemies.

The Example of Jesus' Life

You see, consider the life of Jesus himself. Jesus gave his life as a selfless act of love. He showed sinners like us his father's mercy. Paul says it this way in Romans 5: "But God demonstrates his love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." We who were once God's enemies, we who sinned against God and opposed him, are people that God forgives in Jesus. We earned the death penalty for our sins, but Jesus gave us eternal life.

None of us are capable of loving our enemies like Jesus. But when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, he changes the way we love. He transforms our normal self-serving love into a supernatural self-sacrificing love. And he teaches his former enemies to love our enemies the same way that we are loved.

And he shows us what this looks like in his own life. Consider quickly that Jesus did good even when people hated him. He spent his life serving his enemies. He didn't come to silence unbelievers or crush them. Instead, he said, "I am among you as one who serves." Jesus loved people who did not love him back, and he showed compassion to his enemies. With self-sacrificing love, Jesus also blessed when people cursed him.

Jesus' own disciples argued about who would be the greatest among them. Peter bragged that he would never abandon Jesus. And Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. But Jesus blessed his disciples when they did not bless him in return. He even blessed a criminal on the cross with eternal life while the other criminal cursed him. Jesus blessed when it was unimaginable to do so.

And finally, Jesus prayed when we mistreated him. The religious leaders who should have eagerly accepted Jesus despised him. They slandered his good name. They opposed his teaching and his miracles. And they plotted to kill him. Yet what does Jesus pray at the moment of his death? He says, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."

Jesus teaches us to love our enemies more than we love ourselves. Paul summarizes Jesus' teaching like this in Romans chapter 5: "For if we were God's enemies, or if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life?" And having been saved through Christ's death, we can give our lives away in love.

This is not easy. It's extremely difficult for us to do. And yet God calls us to do it. As I mentioned from church history, William Tyndale boldly translated the Bible when he was told not to do so. He had his translation smuggled into England so that people could have the word of God. Tyndale was not doing this as a political flex to show that he was stronger than the king. He was not doing it to somehow make a statement that Christians would overcome Catholics. But instead, Tyndale did it because he had a passion for the word. He had had an encounter with Christ when he read the gospels, and he wanted even ordinary plowboys, as he called them, to understand the word of God.

The Medal of Our Faith

As we have the opportunity to love our enemies, we can't predict what that will look like. There's not a class that we'll be offering that says, "here are the ways to love when you are opposed and when you're rejected." But I will say this: all of us will face opposition. All of us will face rejection and even ridicule for our faith.

And in that moment, we will see the medal of our faith. Is our faith about the self-sacrificing love that Jesus gave us? Or is it simply a faith of convenience? That it's fire insurance from hell, that it's simply making us feel good about ourselves, or is it our utter dependence on Jesus Christ who saves us from our sins?

I want to encourage you this morning, if you've not followed Jesus and accepted him to forgive your sins, to trust him today. And if you are a follower of Jesus, my prayer is that you will come to demonstrate his character more and more in the way that you love people who don't love you, in the way that you serve people who cannot or do not serve you back the way you bless them, and the way you pray for them, even when they curse you and hate you. May God give us this ability supernaturally to show his love in the world.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we consider this passage, it's very convicting. It's overwhelming, if we're honest, because none of us are capable of loving this way. All of us have a bent towards selfishness and self-preservation. And yet, God, you have demonstrated for us in Jesus the way to love selflessly. Jesus gave his life as a sacrifice for people who hated him. He died for people who opposed him and even killed him. And yet Jesus rose again from the dead so that he could forgive his enemies.

God, help us to be people who are forgiven and people who have mercy because we've been shown mercy. And make our church the kind of church that welcomes people, even people that oppose us or do not like us or appreciate us. But help us to show them Jesus. And may they see Jesus in our lives, in our words, and in our deeds. Even when we're not consciously thinking about it, it just comes out of us because of the transformation you've done in us. And Father, we beg of this this morning. In Christ's name, amen.

The Unlikely in the Upside Down Kingdom | Luke 6:12-26

The Unlikely in the Upside Down Kingdom | Luke 6:12-26

Jerrod Rumley

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Introduction and Context

Morning, church. Thank you for letting me come to Nathan. I appreciate it. To Dan and Luke, I've been around these guys for some years and have got to know them and see the work here, hear about the work here, all the ups and downs over the last several years.

But the good news is we are here today. The gospel is amongst us. The Holy Spirit is inside his believers. And we can grow and we can learn and we can hear from God today.

It was three weeks ago I stood on the Mount of Beatitudes. And the teacher I was with, a guy named Brian Wright, who used to pastor at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, took about 30 pastors and their wives to a study trip to Israel. One of the stops was the Mount of Beatitudes. And all he did to teach there was to read Matthew 5 through 7. And then when Nathan told me I have Luke 6, I was like, "Oh yeah," because I'm inspired there.

Now, little did I know that following weekend, I would be in Jerusalem when the current conflict or war, whatever you want to call it, started, which is probably another story for another day. One of the craziest 72 hours of my life. Maybe we can go to Peace, Love, and Pizza sometime, and I'll tell you more.

But at the Mount of Beatitudes and hearing Pastor Bryant read the Sermon on the Mount, I was just struck how extraordinary that message is.

The Structure of Luke 6

Every civilization apart from Christ throughout history has rejected the message of the Sermon on the Mount. This passage today, Luke 6:12–26, gets there. It begins the Sermon on the Mount. We see its parallel passage in Matthew 5–7.

The structure of this passage is pretty simple. It's going to introduce the apostles to us, 12–16. 17–19, we're going to see remarkable work that Jesus does, extraordinary supernatural power. And then 20–26, we're going to see the beginning of his Sermon on the Mount.

There's something that you went to lunch today with your family and you said, "Dad, call you out." I was like, "Hey, what was the message about?" I hope that you can say after our time together, God uses unlikely people and God has supernatural power. And boy, we live in an upside-down kingdom. That's what this text teaches. That's what this text shows us.

Now we have to know context. You guys preach faithfully through books, which I commend and ask you to continue. You'll know the context before this. Jesus has been teaching on the Sabbath. There's healing of a man with a withered hand. You're seeing the authority of Jesus through supernatural healings.

After this, he's going to start teaching about loving your enemies. Boy, that's hard in today's age, isn't it? That's not something easy to do: to love those who are opposed to us, to serve those who hate us. Right in the middle of that, we see.

The Foundation of Prayer

How Jesus started his public ministry with people. Look in verse 12. In these days, he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. In these days, these are the beginning of Jesus' ministry. What does he do first? Before a single unlikely person is called, before the next miracle is performed, he's praying.

And what does it say? He prays all night. I am not going to have you raise hands and ask you the question, "When's the last time you prayed all night for something?" Because the reality is it's probably never or it's been a really long time. But he prays all night and continues in prayer to God.

This is the third time we've seen this: chapter 4, verse 32; chapter 5, verse 16. Jesus modeled prayer as a way to fellowship with God, a way to communicate with Him as a model for us, too. And the first ordination service comes after much prayer.

The apostles that are about to be named are the outworking of God's providence. God's providence was revealed through prayer by the Son of God. Never underestimate time together in prayer when making important decisions, especially when it comes to choosing leadership for Milton Community Church or for any church for that matter.

We go to the Lord. We want him to work first. We want him to keep us in unity, to be right together about people we entrust for the exercising of oversight, for the instruction that they have in teaching over us and shepherding our souls.

He starts with prayer, and we can't miss that. In our devotional reading, we may just read verse 12 and go, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's nice, Jesus' way to go." But I think it's there. Luke put it there for a reason to say, here's the groundwork for the apostles being called. And when day came, he called the disciples and chose from them 12 whom he named.

The Calling of the Apostles

Apostles. Apostles are messengers. Apostles are sent ones. They are authoritative figures who go on Christ's behalf to carry his name and his message. That's what it means to be apostles. They are the big letter A apostles of the Bible. And I would encourage you, they are the last big A apostles of the Bible. There are no more men like this called who serve as the foundation, Revelation 21:14, whose names are written on the foundation, the start. They had a unique role in the ministry of Jesus. They had a unique role to play. And now he is entrusted upon those different buildings, pastors and elders in their authoritative position.

Who are these men? He lists them. Simon, who's named Peter, mentioned first, probably because he was the leader among the 12. We certainly see that in Acts. Andrew, his brother. James and John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, another James, son of Alphaeus, Simon, who was a zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Simon Peter, a fisherman, the most prominent apostle, bold and outspoken, he became a foundational leader for the early church. Peter's mantra: speak first, think later. Then you see God sanctify him over time, and then he's delivering one of the greatest sermons at Pentecost we've ever heard. Andrew, Peter's brother, also a fisherman. He was the one who first brought Peter to Jesus. Maybe God might use you in the next couple weeks to be an Andrew for somebody to come to this Easter service and to hear the gospel and maybe believe. Who do you know that needs to hear about Jesus? Who do you know that needs to come and meet him face to face? Andrew was that guy. He brought his brother Peter.

James, this is the son of Zebedee and brother of John. So there's James and John, sons of Zebedee. Sons, like kind of son of the last name. Zebedee means thunder, so they're often known in commentaries and articles as the sons of thunder. I think that would be really cool to be an apostle and be like, "Yeah, we're the sons of thunder." Yeah, it seems like a wrestling tag team right there. James and John are on the inner circle. James, son of Zebedee, was the first apostle martyred in Acts 12. James' brother was known as the beloved disciple, or James' brother was also known as the beloved disciple. He wrote the gospel of John in Revelation.

Then there's Philip from Bethsaida, practical, straightforward. He brought Nathanael, likely Bartholomew, to Jesus. Bartholomew, often identified as Nathaniel. John 1:45 shows us that. Jesus called him a man in whom there is no deceit. Matthew, a tax collector. He worked for the IRS. In today's terms, he's the one that's going to be calling here April 15th and me like, "Time to pay up." How do you feel about those guys? How do you think Jewish people felt about tax collectors? That's what he did before Jesus called him. He wrote the gospel of Matthew.

Thomas, famous for doubting after the resurrection until he saw Jesus personally. He was courageous and loyal, even beneath his doubt. James, another James, they all start running together, son of Alpheus, sometimes called James the Less. How would you like to be known that way in history? James the Less. Really just distinguished him from the other James because little is recorded about him.

And then Simon the Zealot. If you've never thought about that, he's likely a former member of the Zealots, a radical Jewish political movement. Could you imagine Simon the Zealot amongst the crowd, and Jesus is giving roll call? Matthew, tax collector, was there. People in the crowd? Boo! You know, I don't think so. Matthew, come on. Matthew's standing with the soon-to-be-12. And then he says, Simon the Zealot. And Matthew goes, "Excuse me?" These are the guys that, this is the gang against us. They hate Rome. They'd be like the two most politically charged different people you could imagine. And Jesus says, "Come on. I'm going to change the way you live. I'm going to change what you stand for. I'm going to use you."

Then you have Judas, son of James, also called Thaddeus. Asked Jesus why he revealed himself only to disciples and not to the world in John 14. And then you have Judas Iscariot, the treasurer of the group, who ultimately betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, leading to Jesus' arrest and his crucifixion.

It's a bunch of unexpected people, isn't it? That's not who you think he would choose. Would that be who, if Jerusalem, Israel was America and Jesus came to America and chose the 12 that he was going to build his church on, would we think that's who he would go after? Fishermen, radical zealots, tax collectors? I mean, a lot of these guys had jobs because they didn't make it in the spiritual school. Everybody had spirituality to do in the Jewish tradition until a certain age. And if you had what it takes, you could.

Uneducated and Untrained Men

Move on. You could become elite. You could study under rabbis. You could become a Pharisee, a Sadducee. These were fishermen, tax collectors, zealots. These were uneducated and untrained men.

Acts 4:13 tells us that, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived the crowds that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. No Pharisees, no scribes, no priests, rulers, elders amongst the people.

Did you have to ask this question, too? Here's a question I asked in this, seeing the list of the 12: Why did you pick Judas? We believe God to be all-knowing.

The Purpose of Judas

We believe His providence always wins. That in His sovereignty, everything happens the way it should. Why? Have you ever thought why did He appoint Judas Iscariot? Well, I think it's for this. I think it was to teach the others humility. Ordinations do not bestow grace, and no leader is beyond failing. They didn't need to make an idol about the position they were being invited into. It was tempting, wasn't it? There was even a time, you remember that time they were walking? They were like, "Who's going to be the best amongst us all?" It's always in us, men. It's always in us, women.

So, we need to have a little bit of humility seeing His name in here. He was used for a purpose; he was an insider that was always an outsider. And a practical application here: I would just encourage you, it's vain to look for perfection in church leadership. One pastor once told me, to be a pastor means that you disappoint people at a rate they can handle. I thought that was actually really good. We are called to be examples. We are called to shepherd the flock. We are called to be qualified, 1 Timothy. Deacons as well. Our qualification is our character, not our business savvy, not our knowledge, not our leadership skills, not our wallet and how much we give to the church. Qualification for the church office of elder, deacon is your character.

As we follow Christ, we encourage the body to follow Christ as well. But our hope is never in church leadership. Our hope is in the Chief Shepherd. Elders are undershepherds of Him. Nathan and I, we would do you a disservice if we take you to us. We take you to Jesus. He is always better, always more comforting, always more truthful, always more insightful, and will always be there for you. And I'm not trying to disappoint you. For the rest of your eternity, you're going to look to Him anyway. We're going to get out of the way at some point.

Unexpected people. If you've ever found yourself thinking, "I'm a nobody, a no-one, how could God use me?" I say, welcome to the club. God saved a 13-year-old Oklahoma boy reading his Bible, the Gospel of John, on his shag carpet of his 1972-built home. He was reading about the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ. Played soccer and basketball. I went to public school. Just an ordinary kid in Oklahoma. God saved me and changed me and used me for ministry and set me apart. And I've gotten to be a part of an amazing journey at amazing churches. Don't you ever think you don't have anything to offer by being in here? That you're somehow JV in this room? There's no JV in Christianity. It's all varsity ball when He saves you. There's one head coach, and His name is Jesus.

This Jesus appoints 12 and then He comes down to them. Look, 17. He came down to them. Stood on a level place with a great crowd of His disciples, a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem. Judea is the region to the south. Jerusalem is the city. That means there's a lot of people from the south who are around Jesus now, moving and traveling to see Him. There are multitudes, there are disciples, and now within the disciples, there's 12. We're going to have influence in all those kinds of crowds. Jesus had His 12, He even had His three. There were a group of disciples, and then there were crowds that want to see. It's been the same then, it's the same now for us.

But why were they coming? What kind of power? What kind of authority did this guy have? Verse 18 tells us, they came to hear Him, to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowds sought to just touch Him. For power came out of Him and He healed them all. What a remarkable first day of work. They're a part of the crowd. They're here and they're seeing these things. He's like, "Roll call, 12 of you forward. I'm going to talk to you about what it means. You're going to be my apostles, my messengers, my ambassadors to take my message out."

And yet when we hear this, look back, you might miss it. Verse 18. There's something really important in 18, and then there's something secondarily important in 18. If we're reading this in our devotional life in verse 18, we go, "Who came to hear Him?" And we think that's secondary. And we think that's unimportant. But boy, when we hear "healed of their diseases and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured," we're like, "Oh, that's the show. That's what I want." There are entire denominations of churches built on the misplaced emphasis of verse 18. Did you know if you took the Bible on a timeline? And you took every major, significant miracle. We're talking creation, Red Sea parting, those kind of things. Pentecost. And you took the times when there seemed to be an extraordinary pouring out of the Holy Spirit in a sign, in a miracle.

Do you know they would average out through the history of the Bible to be about one of those every 600 years? It is not the ordinary means of ministry for Jesus. In fact, I would argue, and I hope Nathan does too, and if not, listen to him, not me, that these are signs. That I have a message to share with you, but if somebody could get healed, what's

Signs Pointing to the Message

More important? The message I'm saying or the person being healed? Those signs always point to something. Miracles or signs to say, look to the messenger, look to the message. They heard his teaching and they were healed. Why? Because he was showing them with supernatural power that his message of who he was was true.

So let's get our priorities right in Christianity. They're not to be ignored or dismissed. They're powerful things. They're God-glorifying things. They're good things, but they're not the most important things. What a sad thing to have your unclean spirit come out, but your soul be tormented in hell forever.

He comes down and he's doing these things, and they're on the first day of work, and you see this remarkable supernatural power on display. All these people are becoming convinced of Christ. The apostles, the disciples, the crowds who may become disciples, they're so desperate in this, they just want to touch him.

A lot like that woman in Magdala. She said, "If I can just touch the hem of his robe." She does. 12 years of bleeding, healed. The power is not the point. The power comes from a person. He's the point. He's the reason. What a first day of work for these guys, these unexpected people seeing supernatural.

The Upside-Down Kingdom

Power. What's the message behind the miracle worker? Verse 20 starts to do it. It's the Beatitudes and the woes. I'm going to begin, which you will carry on in the next several weeks to unpack more.

These Beatitudes and woes, we're going to start with the bad news and then finish with the good news, are like the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. They deal with things like poverty, hunger, sorrow, persecution. And these things, by the way, are things nobody wants. If I came here today and told you, "Hey, sell everything you have. Mama, all the stuff your kids, give it away. Just give it all away. Hey, and I want you to be hungry. Don't eat. Just be really hungry because that's what Christians do. Hey, and I want you to be sad all the time. Sorrow. Just Eeyores everywhere in Milton. Let's do it. And persecution, go suffer. Just let them come at you with everything." None of you are like, "Sign me up." These are things nobody wants.

But then there's this other side: money, food, entertainment, popularity. These are things, if we're really honest, we all like to run after. None of them by themselves are sinful. Abraham was rich. David was rich. Paul learned to be content with a lot and a little at times.

But his Beatitudes start to make polar contrasting ideas, or what I will call for the rest of the time, upside-down kingdom. Jesus is going to appoint 12, call them, disciple them, spend three years with them, show them amazing things, bring them on his inner circle. He's going to continue in his supernatural ministry that validates his personal preaching, teaching ministry. And it's like a mini-sermon.

You may be a great Bible student and have looked through Matthew 5 through 7 or Luke 6 and said, "Some of these things are different. Matthew's in the first person. Luke's in the second person. Some of these have these words and there's no woes in Matthew 5 through 7, but they're here." So they're different things, maybe. But I tell you what: us pastors, we have shticks. And when we get to different environments, be it a cabin meeting, be it a pillar meeting, be it a sermon at another church, a sermon at our own church, or a sermon in the hallway, our shticks come out and we say the same thing in different ways over and over.

That's what Jesus is doing. It's how Luke's recording this. This message of the kingdom, this upside-down kingdom, is on Jesus' heart. It's actually, his platform says, "This is what life in me will look like." So we shouldn't be concerned if it comes in slightly different ways as the author of the gospel, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reveals it.

Verses 27 through 49 are going to expand this Sermon on the Mount again in the weeks to come. There is a tension between ethical present positions and spiritual realities. I've read people who think about both. I think what you'll be encouraged and instructed to hear is these are the realities that Jesus says, "My kingdom will look like this. You who come, few who are called, this is what life is going to be like and a reality for you." You're going to be happy for it. It's going to be consistent and it goes against what the entire world wants. I don't think these are ethical positions, but spiritual realities.

First, the bad news. 24, 25, and 26. We'll come back to the good news at the end.

The Warning of the Woes

Woes. These are strong, emotional. We hear "woe" and people don't say any more. "Whoa." Maybe like in a car. If somebody cuts you off on 85, you're like, "Whoa." That starts to get some of the emotion. But the strength, the language behind the language, is of utmost concern, danger to you who are in this category.

Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. That means if you have a good salary, you're in trouble. No, if this is a spiritual reality about a kingdom in Christ, woe to you who have hung on to earthly possessions as your most treasured thing. You're in the category of the rich young ruler who had done all the spiritual realities. What did Jesus say to him? "Sell everything. And then you can come after me." He's like, "Ooh, I'm troubled." That's a big ask. If you're rich, use your riches for God's glory, but never stake your eternal security in that.

Verse 25: "Woe to you who are full now, you shall be hungry." You think you're eating good now and you've never missed a meal in 30 years. There's going to come a time when you have the worst appetite and hunger for what you missed in Jesus Christ. Full, fat, and fed in this life to be miserable and longing for eternity apart from him. That's what he's starting to separate.

Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Young people, you need to take this one to heart. The current Western culture of America is putting so much entertainment in front of you that you are just consumers passively of things coming at you. And we laugh a lot and we jump from one adrenaline rush to the next. They build games around feeding that in your brain to just keep going and going and put money on it. Right now, there's an epidemic between 18 and 25-year-old men on online betting. And they're trying hard. I just read a Wall Street Journal article a few weeks ago talking about they're trying hard to equivocate and get the equal amount of women in that pool, 18 to 25. Because it does something when you're like, "What color is so-and-so going to wear to the Oscars?" I can put that my player is going to score 20 points or score a touchdown here, and it feeds instantaneously. And all it does is under-deliver. We may laugh at the movies, the things we watch now, we may be overwhelmed being so entertained, but we're going to mourn and weep when it really matters if our hope is not in Jesus.

Verse 26: "Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets." You need to hang on to that part. If the world speaks well of you for worldly things, that's really, really dangerous. We have to watch this in the church. I am 47, so I'm in what's called midlife. I'm not a young buck even more, though the Southern Baptist Convention might still invite me to the Young Pastors Association meeting. I'm not a senior yet. I see some wisdom in the room. You've seen some life. This world has changed faster than you'd like over the last 30 years. I'm right in the middle between both of those now. So I can have empathy to our wisdom, folks, and understanding what they're dealing with and watching a world virtually change overnight. But I'm not a young buck and naive that doesn't know what I doesn't know. I've had some life, I've had some kids, I've taken some knocks.

What I've watched, even between those two worlds in the church, as a caution to you, I'm saying this: what the world praises, you need to be very careful about bringing into here: pragmatism, business principles, seeker-sensitive movements to win people and fill these seats. Lots of churches that the world speaks well of. And I'm going to be honest with you, I think the Christian church is becoming a place that the world shouldn't speak well of. Well in our character, well in our service, well in the extraordinary upside-down things we do to them. You're going to hear that next week when we're called to love our enemies. But when it comes to what we do and how we do and the message we proclaim, I'm just here to tell you, it might turn up even more the volume that they don't like the message we say. That you're a wretched damned sinner and need help outside of yourself, not in your good works, not in your money, not in your efforts, not in your skill. You need grace to come to you.

Woe to you when all people speak well of you, so did their fathers to the false prophets. That's bad news. All these woes because of sin, all these sidetrack things we can run after and fill our life up in this life only to be without in the next life. It's the bad news. All those things are rooted in sin. Sin is your worst problem. Students, we talked about this, didn't we, on Friday night? It's the worst problem you and I have.

It's our core disposition apart from God that, without his help and without his grace, we do the things we don't want to do. And there are consequences for sin, namely the judgment of God.

But there's good news. His name is Jesus. And look at these realities.

The Promise of the Beatitudes

This guy who just brought in unexpected people and who is proving the message he speaks with supernatural power. Look at the good news here. Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Are you guys blessed your heart people? Does that come out a lot? Probably comes out with the wisdom, people, doesn't it? To be blessed here is not as simple and cavalier as "bless your heart." To be blessed is the idea in the Sermon on the Mount. Happy, joyful reality for you is this. Prosperity gospel will use it as health and wealth. It's not how Jesus used it.

When he says, "Blessed are you who are poor," all the people with less than $40,000 a year said, "Woohoo, somebody's talking about me." Matthew 5 through 7 helps us see this, this spiritual reality. Matthew clarifies even more: "Blessed are the poor in spirit." What does that mean? It means to be spiritually bankrupt. Blessed is the person who goes, "I am worse than I thought. And I don't have anything spiritually to bring. I can't bring enough money, enough works, enough sacrifices for God to love me. I am completely bankrupt in my spirituality." Blessed are you who are that way, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Salvation has always been by grace alone, through faith alone. The religious people made the mistake of thinking when the method was introduced in the tabernacle and the temple, "Oh, that's it." In fact, in the years that God was silent, Jews incorporated more laws, more things to just beef it up. And they thought, "My religious duty and my pigeons and goats and bulls, this does it. God is good. So I'm going to do the religious work. I'm going to put on the religious face." These people show up in churches now as brother, brother, sister, sister people. Got their Bible in hand. Don't read it through the week at all, but it's in hand on Sunday. Brother, brother, sister, sister, offering comes. Oh, yes. Brother. They show up to things. They engage. But you go watch their life. Monday doesn't match Sunday.

See, that's what happened to the golden generation's kids, didn't it? Well, history lesson. Men came back from seeing the atrocities of war and World War II, literally seeing death everywhere, the worst of man. They came back to America and what they do, they say, "This place needs Jesus. Everybody needs Jesus." And there was this golden age. But what happened? The 60s and 70s came. Those golden era people had kids who said, "You're not the same person on Monday that you are on Sunday." And they rebelled. And they did what sinners do. And those eras in the 60s and 70s were some of the worst for human culture, human civilization, especially for the West. They didn't recognize their bankruptcy and they didn't recognize, "I need grace to do what my performance and professionalization can't do." To be poor in spirit, you say, "I don't have anything, God. I need you to do a work for me that I cannot do for myself." And we need the grace of God to do what only it can do in our heart.

The next one, verse 21, "Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied." Matthew calls this hungering and thirsting for righteousness. There needs to be something in you that says, "I want more than this life has to offer. I know I'm spiritually bankrupt, but I want to have a relationship with God." Corinthians, Paul calls it the great exchange. A lot of times we live the first half of the great exchange. If I just came in here and said, "Hey, do you all want forgiveness of sins? That you're going to burn in hell forever if you don't have the forgiveness of sins. I'm telling you today, you can have the forgiveness of sins. Anybody want that?" We treated most of Christianity for the last 70 years that way. "Make a decision, make a decision, make a decision, make a decision." Did it at vacation Bible school? You're good. Now just live life in your own strength. Don't hunger and thirst for anything. You've made your decision. You've got your hell insurance. You're great.

That's just half the gospel. It's a good part. We need forgiveness of sins because we are spiritually bankrupt and there are consequences we have if God doesn't intervene. But when we hunger and thirst for righteousness in particular, the great exchange Paul says is not only does he give you the forgiveness of sins, he gives you his very righteousness. So that means when you and I stand before Jesus, whether we die or he comes back to get us, and we're looking. And we hear, "Why are you here?" The only reason we're there in heaven is that God sees Christ in us. Our sin gone. His righteousness, his perfect obedience, his sinless life accredited to us. And we stand there because of Christ. See, that's the kind of righteousness we need to long for. I want Jesus. I want this guy. I want more of him. Paul says in other letters that, "Hey, listen, my job as an elder is to grow you into conformity of Christ."

Not in conformity of Milton Community Church or whatever, Shadowbrook Church, Christ. Make more like Christ. That's our job. So that when you get to heaven, you're not surprised. You're like, "This is how it's always." I see now face to face what I've seen dimly through a fog or now in a steamy mirror. I see clearly. That's what we're trying to get you ready for.

Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness? Because in Christ you will be satisfied. Happy will you be in that. The reality will be. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. You weep when life is hard now and people persecute you and cancer comes and the job fails and things turn upside down. We weep. Suffering's real. Suffering isn't always because of the decisions you make. Sometimes suffering is because of what comes at you. We have an enemy who hates Jesus and hates his followers. And if you're suffering, I pray for the peace of Christ on your life, on your marriage, on your home. Today, weep now. We're with you. One day you won't be weeping anymore. It's going to be a good day for all of them.

Here's something that's becoming even more of a reality. Verse 22, blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you and spurn your name as evil. Listen to that. Hate, exclude, revile, and spurn your name as evil. Why? On the account of the Son of Man. Do you think they're going to look at your name? And Luke's thinking here, is this because my name's Luke? No, your name is Christian here. When you're a Christian, you say, "I stand for Christ in his truth and his word and humility, but I am a wretched sinner and I am saved by grace alone." People are going to hate us for that because this message is against what the world wants. It's been rejected for generation after generation after generation.

Be joyful in that, Jesus says. Every one of the apostles is going to be a martyr. Rejoice in that. Be happy about it. Be blessed. Not arrogant. There's no reason to go and be a jerk on Facebook thinking that you're filling verse 22 out. In fact, I think terrible social media should become a church discipline movement for most churches. Such a terrible witness to Christ because you think it has no implications and you can be somebody you're not. Throw out a comment or a jab or a repost. You're not suffering there. You're just stirring the pot. But when they hate you because you have a message of love and hope and forgiveness and reconciliation, a call to repentance, the world will hate you for that on the account of the Son of Man. Not on the account of you, but because of Jesus. It's Jesus whom they're rejecting.

Then finally, Luke teaches us to rejoice in that day. Leap for joy. And behold, your reward is great in heaven. For so their fathers did to the prophets. Do you see the difference there? He said, in one, here's all the things that you think you want, and there are false prophets who promote that and that are attached in history who want different things. Then there's a whole set of people who are poor, who are hungry, who are weeping, and who are hated. It says, your reward will be great. Your reward will be great. There is no amount of suffering in this life that you'll go, "Oh, that was much bigger than the reality of heaven." Like, we're not going to be in heaven because of grace alone and be like, "I mean, my life was just so bad." That life. And we just kind of live in eternal regret.

We're going to get to heaven. Everything's going to make sense. I heard a pastor say this at a conference this last week, and I thought it was good. I'm telling you, he said it, so you don't give me credit for it. Do you know what one of the things that's going to happen that Jesus himself will do when we get to heaven? He's going to wipe something away. What's he going to wipe? Tears. Pastor said this: How close does Jesus have to be to you to wipe away a tear? I can't wipe any of your tears right now. I'd have to get within arm's length. That's how personal your relationship with Jesus is going to be forever and eternity.

Everything we think is pain and sorrowful and hurt, suffering, poor, and hungry. Oh, he just comes up and he says, "Do you have that kind of kingdom hope?" Are you convinced of that Christ? You should be. You need to be. Maybe today the decision for you is this. You've heard the good news of Jesus himself, who has chosen his unexpected people, who has shown his supernatural power, who has started to tell you the realities of his kingdom in him. And maybe this is the day of your salvation where you go, "It's never made sense in my whole life until the Holy Spirit wrecked me in Luke 6. I'm convinced of Christ. How do I come to him?" Bump the person next to you. Pray during response.

Come see Nathan after. Come see me. We'd love to talk to you about putting your faith in Christ. For the rest of us, I hope you're just encouraged. I hope you're encouraged today that God uses unexpected people to do remarkable things. I can say this with 1,000% confidence: the best days of Milton Community Church are ahead of us. The best days.

It's a good thing. Where do you need to reposture this message? Rethink these realities? Repent of where you've mistaken and misstepped pursuing the things of the world, but you need to pursue the things of God. Does your conviction need strengthening? Does your life need to look a little different? Do you need to have a perspective changed today on the realities that are yours? And to make less of your suffering and more of Christ, and let that emotion weigh itself out in you.

Pray, and we're going to sing. Thank you for letting me come and stand and open this book on this day with you. Father, we love you. We need you. There are sheep who need the shepherd's voice deep in their hearts today. God, I pray that we are more convinced of who Jesus is because of what your word says today. And we know that there is work only the Holy Spirit can do now in this moment to call sinners to repentance, to respond in faith, to make much the name of Jesus.

And that's what we want to do. We want to sing in response what we believe in our heart. Not just repeat because it's what we do, but really, truly, deeply believe these words from our heart. May we talk with one another in our homes, in our small groups, with our friends about how God is shaping us through this text this week.

God, I pray that the Holy Spirit will haunt the people in this room this week with Luke 6. Something will be brought to mind. A text will be recalled and read again to change them, sanctify them until we gather on the next Lord's Day. So, God, I'm confident I can pray these prayers because of Jesus. I can stand here with this word that is not my own. God willing, it's faithfully preached from your inerrant, supernatural word that has been given to us in special revelation.

For the other churches around this community, I pray the gospel is clear and sure and true, and people would believe. You can make us different. You can make us stronger. God, may the realities of these blessings be our realities, and may the cautions and concerns of those woes be ours as well. We give you our day. We give you our time now as we close. In Jesus' name, amen.

Jesus Heals Sinners | Luke 5:17-32

Jesus Heals Sinners | Luke 5:17-32

Nathan Young

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Luke's Selective Narrative of Christ

This morning, we're in Luke chapter 5 as we continue our series through the Gospel of Luke, where we're considering how the author Luke is showing us to be convinced of Christ. Throughout this series, we're seeing Luke unfold the story of the events surrounding Jesus and his life.

And we've said that Luke's narrative is selective. He's not recording every possible thing that happened in Jesus' life, but he is recording for us the things that stood out that are most important to help us understand Jesus' deity, but also his humanity. And as Luke tells us these things, he wants us to become so sure of Christ that we would become Christ followers.

Some criticize the gospels as being too selective, perhaps even one-sided, biased, or working together some conspiracy to present a false Jesus. But I would push back against that narrative and say that even that has an agenda to try to undermine the scripture and to bring into doubt the Son of God.

This was something that happened right from the beginning in the first century. And we'll see some of it this morning in our passage with the Pharisees. But we also see it at the death and resurrection of Jesus, where the religious leaders said, "This is the narrative that we're going to say." Not that Jesus was risen from the dead, but that Jesus' body was stolen, that the tomb had been disrupted.

Demonstrating Jesus' Divine Authority

And right down into the present, such stories persist and others have come up that would suggest that Jesus is not who he claims to be. Luke asserts the authority of Jesus.

And in this section we've been looking at since chapter three, we've seen Luke demonstrate Jesus' authority in multiple ways. That Jesus, the son of Mary and Joseph, who was actually God's son, simply being raised by Joseph and Mary, this man was more than simply a villager from Galilee. He was more than simply a carpenter's son, but he was none other than the Son of God.

So Luke is going to great pains to demonstrate Jesus' divine authority in several spheres of this world. One of them that we looked at a few weeks ago was his divine authority over the demons, that Jesus could speak and silence the demons who were resisting him.

Then we've also seen that Jesus has the power and authority over diseases, that he was healing the sick, and people were flocking to him in order to find healing. And we also see earlier in this passage, that Pastor Dan preached well last week, that Jesus has authority over his disciples, that he calls whomever he wishes to be his follower, and the only right response is to simply obey. And that's what the early disciples did.

And we see that in the section we're going to look at this morning as well with Levi. In all of these ways, Luke is showing the Gentile audience that received his gospel that Jesus Christ was not simply a Jewish man, but Jesus Christ was the Son of God, the promised Messiah who would take away our sins.

The Paralyzed Man and Sins

Well, as we look through our passage this morning, we're going to be in verses 17 through 32. And I want to read these verses to us as we consider what God has for us this morning.

So beginning in verse 17 of chapter 5: One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd right in front of Jesus.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven." The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God?" When Jesus knew what they were thinking, he asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your heart? Which is easier to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins."

So Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on, and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."

After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him. And Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and with sinners?" Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Amen. As we consider this passage this morning, we will see clearly that Jesus is using his divine authority to heal sinners.

Two Types of Sinners

We see a sinner who is first paralyzed, unable to move under his own power, and he is healed by first Jesus announcing that his sins were forgiven.

But we also see in this passage a man who was a tax collector named Levi, whose sins were forgiven in spite of his class and society. He had all the power over his body, and yet he had no power to atone for his own sins.

Both the paralyzed man and Levi illustrate the point that Jesus came to save sinners, and these sinners followed Jesus.

Authority to Forgive Sins

As we look at this passage this morning, I think we see Jesus' authority to heal sinners in at least three overlapping ways. The first point in my outline is that Jesus reveals his authority to forgive sins. So far, he's demonstrated his authority over demons, his authority over diseases, and his authority over the disciples, but now he's going to do something even more outrageous. He's going to reveal that he can forgive sins.

As Luke introduces this section, he starts here by saying, "One day." If you read through the narrative of this gospel, multiple times Luke uses this formula, "One day," to mark a different event in the life of Jesus. He's not presenting Jesus' life strictly in a chronological order, but he's presenting different events that happened to illustrate Jesus' authority and to convince us and his first-century audience that Jesus is worthy of our worship.

As Luke begins this section, he introduces a different healing. Pastor Dan preached on the man who was healed from leprosy last week. Well, now Jesus on another day turns to another man who has another set of problems. But this time, the man is brought to Jesus by his friends.

But before we get to the healing, it's noteworthy that Jesus started by teaching, verse number 17. And he was teaching a growing crowd of people. And this was his primary ministry. You see, Jesus was teaching from the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings from the Jewish scriptures to show that he was the promised Messiah. He would come and he would read the scriptures like other rabbis did. But unlike the other teachers of his day, Jesus taught with authority. And he taught because the scriptures spoke about him, and those who were listening carefully realized that Jesus was pointing to himself—not because he was prideful and trying to elevate himself in a way to put others down, but he was pointing to himself as the hope of Israel, the one who had been promised to redeem them from their sins.

But Jesus not only had teaching authority; it says also in verse number 17 that he had the power of the Lord to heal the sick. Again, Luke is making the point that Jesus healed the sick to demonstrate his divine authority. He did not heal the sick to gather a crowd or to simply amass some huge following. Instead, he restored health to people with physical illnesses to prove his identity as the Son of God.

As Jesus walked and ministered among people, he had ample opportunities to heal. He could not heal everyone, or I should say he was capable of healing everyone, but he chose not to heal them all. Because those whom he healed, he healed with purpose. He healed to show his power and his authority.

On this particular day that Luke records for us, he was not teaching in a synagogue, but in someone's home. It's not unlike when he went to Simon's mother-in-law and healed her at her home. And there were now people following Jesus everywhere he went. They were eager to hear what he would teach, but they were also curious to see who was going to be healed. Perhaps they hoped for themselves to find healing by Jesus' touch. Whatever their motives, people were cramming inside every room of this house recorded in this section. And the people were so crowded that Matthew's gospel and Mark's gospel points out that there were thronging outside and it was hard to get through the crowd. With people in every corner of the house and elbow to elbow outside of the house, there were some men who were eager to help their paralyzed

The Courage of Faithful Friends

Friend. A man who was unable to walk and come to the house himself, but a man who depended on his friend, friends, and his family to care for him, to provide for him, and to take him anywhere he needed to go. And these friends, it says, beginning in verse number 18, took the paralyzed man to this crowded house because they wanted to introduce him to Jesus. They were undeterred by the crush of the swelling crowd. And it says they went on the roof and they lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd right in front of Jesus.

I remember this lesson from when I was a child in Sunday school and when I was shown it on a flannel graph. And while those lessons were true, I want you to think beyond the flannel graph and think about what's happening here. You have able-bodied men bringing their disabled friend into the presence of Jesus. They were disruptive in their efforts. They didn't take no for an answer and they didn't look at the crowd and turn away. Instead, they made their way to the roof where they tore the roof apart to bring their friend into the presence of Jesus.

These men removed roof tiles and they temporarily damaged someone's house for the chance to permanently restore their friend. Jesus recognized their courage. He didn't call them out for vandalism and for trespassing, but instead he commends their faith. When he saw them, verse number 20, it says he saw their faith, their belief in him. Jesus knew that these men believed in him as the savior. They may not have had all of the theological answers. They may not have understood with precision all the ways that Jesus had come to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies, but they took enough to bring their friend into the presence of Jesus.

And when Jesus saw their faith, it says he forgave the man's sins and healed his limp body. These men believed in Jesus and they acted boldly on behalf of their friend. It should stand out to us that they didn't come for their own benefit or for their own healing, but they brought someone else that needed intervention from God. And that's exactly what happened.

I mean, imagine the scene as they're making a huge noise, and I'm sure dirt and debris are falling into the house as they're removing the ceiling tiles and the roof tiles. And then suddenly they start lowering a man on a mat into the middle of Jesus' teaching area. It could have gone terribly wrong for them. Not only did they risk offending Jesus and the homeowner, but the crowds could have turned against them and said, "Who do you think you are? Why are you stopping this meeting?" And yet Jesus paused his teaching to recognize their faith.

And this faith became a blessing for their friend because Jesus was able to forgive the paralyzed man's sins before he healed their body. With these simple words, Jesus said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven." And Jesus healed the man's soul by speaking words of life to him. This is central to Luke's point throughout this section of the gospel. Luke has recorded examples of Jesus' divine authority, but this is an example of his deity. He was the holy one of God, Luke said in chapter 4. And now Luke is demonstrating that he is in fact the Son of God.

I would say here by implication that our belief in Jesus Christ ought to compel us to tell others about him. Our faith, like the men who took their friend to Jesus, ought to motivate our witness. Too many times, if you're like me, you stop yourself from sharing the gospel before you even open your mouth. It's easy to make excuses and stay quiet and think of all the reasons not to be bold and not to introduce our friends to Christ.

But someone recently reminded me at lunch about a story from Dwight Moody. If you don't know Dwight Moody's name, sometimes D.L. Moody, as people call him, he was an evangelist in the 19th century. And he preached the gospel in the United States and overseas. And he often spent hours after he preached with inquirers after his sermons. In fact, in his church in Chicago, he set up an inquiry room where he would meet with people at the end of church and talk with them as long as necessary to answer their questions about his sermon and about Christ.

Well, on one such occasion, a woman came up to him after his service and she wanted to air a grievance with D.L. Moody. And she said to him, "Mr. Moody, I don't like the way you do evangelism." He responded to her with care. He said, "Well, ma'am, let me ask you a question. How do you do evangelism?" And the woman curtly replied, "I don't." So Moody responded without missing a beat and said to her, "Well, I like my way of doing evangelism better than your way of not doing it." His point was he may not have been doing it perfectly. Maybe he could have done it better, but at least he was doing it.

As we see these men bringing their lame friend to Jesus for healing, there's no doubt that these men were not expert theologians. They probably were not stroking their beards and saying, "Aha, Jesus. Yes, I remember how the prophets..." and they connected all the dots and now we need to get this man to Jesus.

But no, instead, they gathered up their robes and they ran at the chance to introduce their friend to the Messiah. Though they didn't have all the answers, they took what they knew and they shared what they knew for the benefit of their friend.

And really, when we think of doing the work of an evangelist, as Paul calls it in Timothy, our job is simply to share what we know. You don't have to go to seminary and earn a master's degree to be an evangelist, but you simply have to know Jesus and invite other people to know him with you.

That's what these men were doing, and God honored it by forgiving this man's sins. This is incredible because this man was healed not only in his soul, but Jesus also healed his body. But before we get to that point, it's worth commenting on the fact that Jesus' teaching also attracted detractors.

The Religious Critics of Jesus

That says in verse 17 that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. Word of Jesus was traveling quickly and the religious establishment moved to find out more about this popular teacher. This is the first time in Luke's gospel that he mentions the Pharisees and these teachers of the law. These religious men taught in the Jewish synagogues and they considered themselves the guardians of the Mosaic law, and there were thousands of them across Israel.

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law had come this day to observe Jesus and to perhaps even oppose him if he said the wrong thing or did the wrong thing. They were listening intently to every word that Jesus uttered and they were watching everything that he did. They weren't coming as humble students who were eager to learn from the scriptures or as humble students who desired the Son of God. No, they recognized simply that Jesus was not one of them. Yet he was drawing larger crowds than any of them. He was teaching with words of authority that people were responding to. So they wanted to find out what was going on.

But rather than coming with open hearts and teachable minds, they had come to question Jesus' teaching, to doubt his miracles, and to undermine his authority. These religious leaders considered Jesus' words, "Friend, your sins are forgiven," to be blasphemy because they understood from the scriptures that only God was capable of forgiving someone's sins. And ironically enough for them, Jesus agreed with their assessment that he was making the claim to be God. But Jesus was not blaspheming because Jesus was who he said that he was: he was God.

Jesus had forgiven this man's sins to demonstrate his power and identity as God. The physical healing that he was providing would be undeniable evidence that he had divine authority to forgive sins. And therefore, the Pharisees, the teachers, the man, his friends, and the whole crowd should accept Jesus as God. Anyone, Jesus says, could have said the words, "Your sins are forgiven," because it was easier to say that. Who would be able to measure whether or not that was true or just a religious trope?

Yet Jesus told the man to get up and walk. If Jesus did not have the power to heal this paralyzed man, then everyone would have known it. If he had said, "Get up and walk," and the man just lay there limp, Jesus would have looked like a fool. But when Jesus said, "Get up and walk," the paralyzed man stood up, gathered his belongings, and walked home. Jesus revealed that he had healed the man physically as proof that he had forgiven the man spiritually.

Jesus' healing here is instant and total. It says he immediately stood up in front of them and took what he had been lying on, went home praising God. Verse 25. Jesus did not start a healing process and say, "Well, your muscles are going to be atrophied and they've just not been used. So it's going to take a while to build up your strength." He didn't ask this man or his friends for money and say, "If you plant a seed of faith, then I will bless the seed by giving you prosperity." And he did not demand more faith and say, "Well, if the man has faith like his friends, then I will heal him." No, God did not do any of these things and he also did not manipulate the crowds. Instead, Jesus simply spoke. And the man stood up and he went home.

Jesus demonstrated his authority to heal a sinner by first dealing with his sin and then secondly healing his sickness. The Pharisees, however, questioned Jesus' divine authority and they began thinking and they said out loud, verse 21, "Who is this guy? Who is this fellow who speaks such blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" The Pharisees rightly understood that Jesus' words meant that he was declaring his deity. He was not merely announcing that God forgives sinners like we do when we share the gospel. But Jesus was asserting that he alone could forgive someone's sins.

But Jesus, being God, further demonstrated his deity because he knew what they were thinking, verse number 22. And he asked them out loud, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?" Unlike the Pharisees who judged outward appearances in conformity to the Mosaic law, Jesus knew these teachers' inmost thoughts and private motivations. He wanted the teachers and the crowd to know that he was the Son of Man with the authority to forgive their sins.

Luke calls Jesus the Son of Man. He's fully man and fully God. He's not simply a religious guru or some mesmerizing teacher, but he is none other than the incarnate God who had come to deal with our sins. While it may have been easier to merely say, "Your sins are forgiven," as some religious trope, Jesus said, "Get up and walk," to show the truth of his power. Jesus said both of these statements, not one against the other, but both of them together. He forgave the man's sins and he restored the man's body.

Everyone could see Jesus' authority on full display when this man suddenly got up and gathered his things and went home. But Jesus' authority here accomplished something much harder than healing: He forgave the man's sins. He made this man right with his father God.

Luke does not teach here or anywhere in his gospel, nor is it taught in the New Testament, that a man like this paraplegic had been given this illness because he had sinned or because God was punishing him for his sin. In fact, God was not punishing his parents or his siblings or someone in his sphere of influence for something that they had done wrong. This man's problems, as severe as they were, were simply a physical reminder that we live in a world under the curse of sin. This curse includes sickness, suffering, and diseases.

And Jesus healed this man's body to show his supernatural ability to break sin's curse. But Jesus could have forgiven his sins without restoring his body. But in this case, Luke is saying he restored his body to prove that his sins had been forgiven.

The man responded with obedience and praise. It says he went home praising God. And everyone else who was there, verse 26, was amazed and they gave praise to God. The crowd who witnessed this divine miracle responded with worship. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today." They recognized the presence and the power of God and they worshiped. Notice that they did not beg for more miracles. They were not saying, "Me, me, me." Instead, they were just simply in awe of what Jesus had done.

The forgiveness of our sins is far more important than physical healing. As our great high priest and the one who gave his life as a sacrifice for our sins, Jesus has divine authority to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If you find yourself wracked with guilt because of sin, confess your sin to Jesus and he can forgive you. If you're suffering with physical pain or illness, remember the curse of sin has been broken. It doesn't mean that God will restore everyone's body, but he will instead heal our souls.

The Pharisees and the religious teachers opposed Jesus. They knew the most about the scriptures. They understood theology and they mastered redemptive history. But these individuals also soundly rejected Jesus' divine authority to forgive sins. They rejected Jesus because of their self-righteousness. It's ironic, but sometimes the most religious people do not believe God. They place their faith in superior knowledge of the Bible, a mastery of theology, or knowledge of church history, and they find their assurance in obedience to some moral code. And yet they live their lives wrapped with guilt and shame for their sin. So their answer is to simply work harder, to look better, and to do more. They don't find their healing in the gospel. Instead, they depend on their own self-righteousness.

And that's what Jesus wants to expose by connecting this account of the healing of a paralyzed man with his calling of Levi. Because Jesus first reveals his authority to forgive sins, but secondly, Jesus calls all sinners to repentance. Jesus calls all sinners to repentance. Whether it is someone far away from God or someone who is more religious than most, Jesus calls sinners to receive the forgiving balm of the gospel.

The Calling of Levi

After this incident, when Jesus healed the paralyzed man, it says beginning in verse number 27 that he left the house where he had been and he saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his booth. Levi was also known as Matthew. And this man was sitting in his tax booth and he was collecting taxes and fees from his fellow countrymen for the benefit of the Roman Empire when Jesus came to him.

And Jesus' words were very direct. He simply said to Levi, "Follow me." Levi's response could not be more dramatic. As he left what he was doing, it says he left everything and he followed him. Levi's position as a tax collector would have put him at odds with the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Not only were the Pharisees and the teachers of the law upset about Jesus' indiscriminate works of healing and his claim to be God, but now they were upset that Jesus was courting tax collectors.

These religious leaders considered Levi an unrighteous sinner beyond the reach of God. Tax collectors were considered traitors because they betrayed the people of Israel. Not only did they collect taxes from Israel for the Roman oppressors, but they also grifted what they took for their own monetary gain. Levi's response, however, paralleled the fisherman's response earlier in this chapter. The fishermen had pulled their boats on shore and left everything to follow Jesus, verse 11. Now, similarly, Levi got up from his booth, left everything, and followed Jesus.

What's noteworthy is that the fishermen left their boats overloaded with the largest catch of their lives. And now a tax collector left his access to lavish material prosperity, perhaps leaving in the middle of his shift and simply going to follow Jesus. As soon as Levi left, it says he held a great banquet for Jesus at his house. Levi went all in with Jesus. He not only left his prosperous workstation, but he also used his great wealth to throw a grand party for Jesus and his friends. Levi invited his coworkers to meet his new master, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others ate with them.

Once Levi decided to follow Jesus, he wanted to introduce his family and friends to Christ as well. He wasted no time. Now, it's not to say that these things happened within minutes of one another. There could have been time involved here. But the point is that Levi wasted no time. He went immediately. He didn't say, "Wait, let me finish putting my cash register away. Let me balance the books. Let me get my ledger. Let me say goodbye to all my coworkers. Let me resign and give a two-week notice." No, he went immediately.

And then he decided to spare no expense. He threw a great banquet to introduce his family and friends to Jesus. He didn't throw a religious party with a subdued mood, and he wasn't a cheapskate. He hosted a rocking party with joyous vibes, and he celebrated Jesus.

But apparently there were some uninvited guests there. These Pharisees and teachers of the law that had now been shadowing Jesus were there on the edges of this party. They were not in the party, but they were around to recognize that Levi and Jesus were associating with unrighteous people. These men complained to Jesus' disciples in verse 30 and said, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" It's bad enough we have to have them in our society. It's another thing that you would choose to have fellowship with them.

These religious leaders who had earlier questioned Jesus about his authority to forgive sins now questioned his association with obvious sinners. They could have perhaps excused a man being suddenly lowered through a roof and interrupting the meeting, but now Jesus voluntarily went into a hostile environment. Although the religious leaders complained to his disciples, Jesus responded directly to them about their objections, and he told them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."

Jesus pursued close fellowship with tax collectors like Levi and other sinners because they understood that they sinned. They were sick and they knew they needed a doctor. They were sinners who knew they needed forgiveness. However, Jesus condemned the Pharisees for their self-righteousness. They did not admit their sinfulness. Instead, they asserted their rectitude and they considered themselves healthy. They did not sense their need for repentance of sin or forgiveness from Jesus.

Thus, Jesus said to them, "I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Jesus came to heal the unrighteous and forgive their sins. Jesus was not saying the Pharisees were healthy or righteous. He was being ironic to show that the Pharisees were deceived. They did not understand their own sickness and unrighteousness. They were rejecting Jesus for the same reason that notorious sinners were believing him. The Pharisees loathed Jesus and his righteousness and his divinity. And the sinners loved Jesus because of his righteousness and his divinity. The Pharisees depended on their own righteousness and they rejected Jesus' sacrifice that would come later. They trusted their own knowledge of the Mosaic law, their religious works, and their positions of power and privilege.

But Levi and the other tax collectors believed what Jesus said. They confessed their sins and accepted Jesus' forgiveness. The sinners who followed Jesus repented of their sins and experienced God's forgiving grace. Jesus was healing their souls with the balm of the gospel—the good news of his atoning death for their sins and his resurrection power for their eternal life. All of that would become more clear later, but at least for now, they understood that this incredible teacher was claiming to be God and capable of forgiving their sins. They simply had to believe that he would do it.

Oftentimes, the biggest sinners make the best Christians. They know they've sinned against God and they feel the weight of their sin. They want the healing balm of the gospel. So they confess their sins and they experience the relief of Christ's forgiveness. We ought to be Christians who share the gospel with anybody and everybody, but perhaps we should share it especially with people who appear to be reprobate sinners. Reprobate is an old-fashioned word, but the idea is people who are beyond hope, people who are condemned in their sin.

Too many times we are quick to share the gospel or think we should share it with people just like us—people who are more savable, who are nice, people who would be a nice addition to our church. And yet Jesus seeks and saves the lost, the people who are the farthest away from him. I have found in my own personal witness that sometimes the people that are the easiest to talk to about the gospel are the people who look the scariest to talk to. The people who are signaling with their hair or their clothes that they have a different perspective on life and that they don't want to talk about Christianity can actually be some of the most fruitful gospel conversations. We simply have to have the courage to talk to them.

Sadly, I think too many times I and most of us censor ourselves and say, "Well, they wouldn't want to talk about that. They look like they represent a different part of our culture, a different agenda, a different emphasis, or a different set of ethics." But yet those are exactly the kinds of people that Jesus was associating here with Levi, the tax collectors, and other sinners. So let's boldly share the gospel with anybody and everybody and watch what God does to bring them into his kingdom.

As we do all of this, be reminded that Jesus expressed his authority to heal sinners. And he does this first, I said, by revealing his authority to forgive sins. Secondly, he calls sinners to repentance. And third, which is a summation of the first two points, Jesus forgives repentant sinners. The Apostle Paul picked up on Jesus' teaching and invited ungodly sinners to repent. He says in Romans chapter 5, beginning in verse 6, "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his love for us in this. While we were sinners, Christ died for us."

Paul's point is the same as Jesus and the same as what Luke is trying to emphasize about Jesus, and that is that Christ forgives sins. But that means we have to confess our sins and forsake them. We don't repent as a work unto salvation. We repent as a recognition that we've been saved. We confess our sins as those who know we need forgiveness, and then we live lives that are transformed by the grace of the gospel.

This past Thursday, Miles and I visited the University of Georgia as he's considering where he ought to attend. So I know we have lots of Georgia Tech people, and we love Georgia Tech, but we were in Athens, so forgive us. So in addition to doing the campus tour, which I like to say I've done twice now—once when Miles was in eighth grade getting ready and now as he's a senior—but in addition to seeing the campus and hearing the pitch, we also met with some local church pastors around Athens because we wanted to learn not just about campus life and what UGA wanted us to hear, but we also wanted to find out about local church ministries from the people who were leading them.

The brothers that we met with spoke well of multiple healthy churches and they commended them to Miles if he chooses to go to college there. What we were really blessed by is that each pastor said, "You should go to this other church," not because they were trying to steer us away from their own, but because they truly understand partnership in the gospel. Then, as we met with one of the pastors, we heard a story about another one of the churches. This is what was fascinating to us. One church in particular in Athens had an unusual testimony of God's grace. A few years ago, the church had declined to about 40 or 50 people who were gathering for worship on Sundays. Then they decided to solve this decline, they would call a new pastor.

And the new pastor got to work as pastors do. He started meeting with one of the young men that he knew who was a student at UGA, and they started having a Bible study, just the two of them. Then this young believer started getting excited about what he was learning and he was growing in his faith, so he started inviting his friends. And they started inviting their friends. In less than a semester, they had 50 young men gathering for this Bible study and they were turning people away. Then they decided, "Well, we can't keep turning people away. We've got to do something about this."

And by the end of the academic year, they had over 100 people gathering for their Bible study that started with the pastor and one young man. They obviously invited these college students to start coming to the church. And before they knew it, this church of 40 to 50 now had 140 to 150, both believers and unbelievers. These newcomers, mostly college students, wanted to learn about God. They were hungry.

Though we hear in our culture that people have turned away from God and that Christianity is declining, there is a move among Gen Z and Alpha to return to the gospel. The pastor who shared this story with Miles and I does not lead the church where this was happening. He was simply sharing it with Miles and I to challenge Miles in particular to be faithful to the gospel and to share his faith when he goes to college. The pastor and the young believer at this other church had no idea that God was going to turn their one-on-one Bible study into a 100-person group. God may use one person, 10 people, 20 people, or 100 people to share his message.

The point is not about college ministry. Athens is a different context. I could tell you another story of a church in Scotland, in the northern reaches of the country where the population is sparse. A church had declined to literally three elderly women, and they didn't know what they were going to do. So they started to pray and they asked for help from some other churches, and they started reaching out to families in their village. And over a period of a couple years, those three elderly women gathered 40 people to worship on Sunday.

So you don't have to be in a college town with rambunctious and energetic young people. You can be anywhere. The point is, Jesus uses his divine authority to heal sinners, but sinners like us have to introduce them to the healing balm of the gospel. The Apostle Paul put it this way: "How then can they call on the one in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the one in whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"

When I look at our large worship center and the vast seating that we have available in 2026, I have a sense of anticipation and excitement. God's given us an incredible asset for gospel ministry in Milton and North Atlanta. We have a beautiful campus in the heart of our community that we could not afford to buy today. Faithful believers before us, and some of them that are still here today, sacrificed to build this building and to make sure that our debts were paid off. We have cash in the bank and members are continuing to give faithfully for the gospel.

But now God has called us and given us an opportunity to fill this place with his glory and to boldly declare God heals sinners with Christ's forgiving grace. All it takes is for one person or a small group of people to catch a glimpse of Jesus and introduce their family, their friends, their neighbors, their classmates, their co-workers, and acquaintances to Jesus. We cannot control the results and the goal is not church growth. But we can control our witness, and the point is to multiply grace for the glory of God.

Jesus uses his divine authority to heal sinners. The question is, do we believe it? Do we believe that Jesus' words can forgive? Have we been forgiven? And are we asking others to consider that Jesus would forgive them? As we're faithful to do this, God will be faithful to grow our church as he sees fit. We don't have to set numerical goals and say, "Well, we've got seats for 600, so we need 600 people in this place." We want to set the goal of simply being faithful to share the gospel of Jesus and let God bring whomever he wishes.

Whether we're the pastor and the college student who simply decide to meet together to study the word of God and then other people want to get in on it, or whether we're the three elderly ladies in Scotland who were desperate to see God preserve their church and the gospel witness in their community—would we be faithful? Would we share Jesus? Would we be like these men who took their paralyzed friends into the presence of Jesus? As powerless as they may have seemed, they watched the power of God flow that day as Jesus said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, help us to boldly declare the gospel of Jesus. Help us to believe that it is the healing balm that you say that it is, that you have dealt with our sins through your death. You have satisfied the Father's wrath with your sacrifice, and you have claimed victory by resurrecting from the dead.

God, help us to never give up on this message. Help us not to become like the Pharisees who simply sat back and judge, or like the woman who confronted D.L. Moody and said, "I don't like the way you evangelize."

Instead, Father, help us to be busy about the gospel, sharing the good news of Jesus with whomever we can, and trusting that you'll bring whomever you want. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

The God Who Draws Near To Sinners | Luke 5:1-16

The God Who Draws Near To Sinners | Luke 5:1-16

Dan Webb

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Introduction to Luke 5

I want to invite you to turn to Luke chapter 5 this morning. And I forgot to mention earlier, for our young families, if your kids are making noise, it's not going to distract me too much. It's not going to throw off our people. I think I speak for most everyone when I say we're encouraged to hear the sounds of young life in a church like this.

But if they are leading towards, like my children have been at some point, starting a sideshow on their own, we do have a parent room available for you downstairs, just out those back doors with a feed to the service. So if you need to use that, you can, but don't feel any pressure. The noise is an encouragement that the Lord has blessed our church and we are even more excited for the future life that is still yet to come.

So let's look at the book of Luke chapter five this morning. We're going to be in verses one through 16, and today I want to begin by asking you to think about: what is your salvation story? How did the Lord draw you to himself? Maybe like me, you were saved at a relatively early and young age. Or maybe you were saved later in life, which meant there was probably a more dramatic change of going from an unbeliever to a Christian.

Today, we are going to look at one of the more dramatic encounters of Jesus drawing someone to himself in the life of Simon Peter, the head of the apostles. But we'll refer to him this morning primarily as Simon because his name hasn't been changed to Peter yet, but they are the same man. And as we look at his calling this morning, I want to invite you again to keep your own calling in mind, your own salvation story, because regardless of when or how exactly you were drawn to the Lord, I think we're going to find out that we have much more in common with Simon than we typically realize.

And we pick up here on the heels of chapter four, where Jesus established the resounding note of essentially the gospels. He said in 4:43, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose." His mission was to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, saying, God has come to earth to reconcile sinners to himself. This was the good news that he proclaimed.

And as we're going to see this morning in greater detail with this calling, came sinners following him and the healing of sinners who would believe in his name. Everything Jesus did was intentional. Nothing was haphazard. And like Jesus, the author here, Luke, also had a unique objective in writing this gospel. He wanted us to see clearly on display the absolute power and unrivaled authority of Christ. He wanted to make that crystal clear. Yes, these are true historic events and they have been arranged in such a way by the author Luke with the Holy Spirit so as to show us something specific about Jesus. As we've seen in the earlier chapters, he is the God-man.

God draws near with purpose

He is God-incarnate. And this morning, we'll look at four simple ways that God draws near to sinners in Jesus.

Number one, we'll look at verses one through three. He draws near with purpose. I'll read from verses one through three: "On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret. And he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them. And they were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to be put out a little from the land, and he sat down and taught the people from the boat."

It's no surprise at this point that there are a huge crowd of people following and pressing in on Jesus. He's been preaching in the synagogues. He has healed a man from a demon. He has healed Simon's own mother from her illness, as well as other miracles that he had did thus far.

And Luke wants us to catch a subtle contrast here right off the bat. There's a big crowd following Jesus, wanting to hear his words, the word of God. But Jesus is primarily focused on the boat and on Simon. Although there are many who will hear, many who will even want to hear, those who are truly called are few.

And Lake Gennesaret this morning is just another name for the more commonly known Sea of Galilee. So that's where they were, in the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus, when he comes up on the boats, it's actually clear from the text here that they have recently completed their work from the day. How do we know that? Well, they're cleaning their nets. They are closing up shop. They're getting everything done, cleaned off from a long night's work, as we'll see here in a few verses.

So the work is done, time to clean up and rest and recover for the next time. So right as they are finishing a big, significant, hard work, he asks Simon, "Take me out onto the lake." And this would have made it much easier to speak to the large crowd, as just the acoustics of Jesus' voice carrying over the water would have gone much more smoothly to the ears of his audience.

And we don't know in particular if Simon said anything to Jesus other than he did it. He took him out on the boat. But we do know he was tired. And we're also going to see he was discouraged from their lack of catch. But nonetheless, at Jesus' request, Simon obliges to go out into the lake.

The boat is then drawn out onto the lake with Jesus, Simon, and likely a few others, some of his crew still on the boat, where Jesus can continue his proclamation of the arrival of the kingdom of God. The other gospel writers, Mark and Matthew, tell us in particular this was his message. Luke doesn't give us the details of that proclamation, but they tell us it was "repent and believe" because the kingdom is here.

But Luke withholds that information in particular because he's not as concerned that we know what Jesus said to the crowds. He's much more concerned with what Jesus is about to say to Simon. That's the important part of this narrative. And many of us know that Simon Peter was one of the more dramatic apostles. When you think of the things he did for God, there's a long list of things that he really didn't do well and he kind of actually did against God.

God draws near in weakness

So it shouldn't surprise us that his calling was also pretty dramatic. But not only did Jesus draw near to Peter, to Simon, on purpose, but he also drew near to him in a moment of weakness.

The first one was, he draws near with purpose. And the second is he draws near in our weakness. I'll pick up in verse four. And when he, Jesus, had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing. But at your word, I will let down the nets."

So let's put ourselves in Simon's shoes this morning. He is a professional fisherman. This is his livelihood. It is what he does. It's his identity. He's also tired and discouraged from working all night and all morning and having absolutely nothing to show for it. Nothing. Cleaning up their boats empty-handed.

And along comes the teacher, the rabbi, Jesus, with the crowds. He probably already felt slightly embarrassed that he's cleaning up the boats with nothing to show for it in front of all of these people. But he's also seen up close what Jesus can do, when he healed Simon's mother. And he's also been listening to the words of Jesus as he taught out on the boat.

And surely, when Jesus concluded his message, Simon must have expected, "We're going back to shore, finished cleaning the nets, and we're gonna go home, we're gonna get some rest finally." But instead, Jesus gives Simon another job: go out deep into the lake and cast out the nets.

The language that Jesus used for "go out" or "put out" was a captain's command. This was a singular command for Simon: "You go and do this." But the words for "let down your nets" were actually in the plural, referring to the group of people he would have needed to do that. Simon actually couldn't do it on his own. So there were some crew there to help him.

And we see here that while the calling was particularly for Simon in this instance, the work was not to be done in isolation. Jesus was not calling him to a solo task, and he was foreshadowing the authority that Simon would one day have and the dependency that Simon would have on God's people.

And the same is true for us today. Everyone who is called to God is also called to his people. There are no lone wolves in Christianity or in his church. Again, Jesus knew that Simon and his crew were tired, that they'd worked all night, and there was a reason that he intentionally came right as they are on the verge of exhaustion. They're tired. And the Lord says, "Come and do this for me."

What about us today? Have you found that God typically asks something of you when you are rested and ready to go? All the parents in here are like, "Nope." Now, usually we're weary and we're worn out. Or maybe that neighbor or that co-worker, for whatever reason today, seems open to a conversation, maybe even about the gospel, but you've got that appointment. You're in a hurry on that fateful day and the Lord says, "Here's an instance." And you have to weigh the balance of, "How do I honor the Lord in my weakness when I have somewhere else to be?"

We rarely get to pour into others when our cup is full. The Christian life just does not work like that. And I think it's because we see here with Simon that Jesus doesn't wait for us to rest before he calls us to a task. He calls us to come and then find our rest in him as we go. The one who calls us is also the one who will give us his rest as we follow.

Well, just like Luke wants us to see clearly that Simon is tired, he also wants us to see, in contrast to Simon's weakness, Jesus is God and that clearly he knows everything. The word for this instance is that he is omniscient. He knows where the fish are. He knows the toil they've had and he knows exactly where to go and what to do to find the fish. As one theologian noted, they may be master fishermen, but Jesus is the master of every situation.

So when Jesus calls us in our weakness, two opportunities are presented. First, there is the opportunity, like Simon, for us to simply obey. Just to obey and to do it. And second, there is an opportunity, not for us, but actually for Jesus. And that is for Jesus to work, for Jesus to do something. Yes, Simon and his crew are the ones casting out the nets, but it will be quite clear in a moment that they did not catch any of these fish.

Let's look at verses 6 through 10 with our third point.

God draws near to transform

He draws near to transform. He draws near to transform, and I'll read verses just six through seven here. And when they had done this, casted out the nets, gone deep into the lake, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats so that they began to sink.

This is not a catch. This is not even just a job well done. This is the motherload. This is a haul. So many fish that the nets were breaking but never broke. And the boats together were sinking but never sank. We need to let this sink in as well. Simon and his crew have been fishing most of their lives with decades of experience between them all. And along comes Jesus, who casually tells them to go out to a particular spot, drop the nets, and in comes the largest catch they've ever seen.

And there are so many fish, so many fish. But Simon looks right past that and right past what could be great for business. And instead, he goes straight for Jesus in verse 8. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at his knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken. And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

Now there is the Simon Peter that we've all come to know and love on his knees in desperation. His disposition has completely changed. Whereas he formerly referred to Jesus as master, now he switched to Lord. Now why would Simon send Jesus away at this point? Jesus sees it. Simon is genuinely afraid. It's so much... This is such a radical moment that he is terrified. He's seen Jesus' power over illness and now marine life.

And he's not literally saying, "Jesus, get out of here," but he's actually acknowledging what Ezekiel and Isaiah likewise acknowledged when they recognized a holy God before them. Ezekiel falls on his face. Isaiah declares, "Woe to me, I am ruined, for I am a man of unclean lips." Even John the Baptist, a few chapters earlier, referred to Jesus as the one whose sandals I am unworthy to untie. Like them, Simon recognizes that Jesus is divine. Something is different. And seeing Jesus rightly means he sees himself and his sin also rightly.

Let's not miss another contrast going in the background. Whereas Simon is saying Jesus should leave because he's a sinner, the crowd just at the end of chapter four has been pleading with Jesus to stay. "Stay here. Keep speaking. Keep doing miracles." The crowd also saw something unique about Jesus, but they were seeing the powerful benefit of what Jesus could do. And they wanted more.

Whereas Simon, even after this tremendous haul of fish, would have nothing to do with using Jesus' power for his own gain. You'd think he might be seeing dollar signs and potential mouths fed. He could be thinking, "How many more boats? How many more nets? How many more people can I get to work just for a little while while Jesus is in town? I could retire way earlier than I was planning on it, right?"

But who in their right mind would try to contain or use the power of God? Actually, it's only those who are, by real definition, truly unworthy of it. And this is the first time that Luke uses the word sinner in his gospel. And it's interesting that it comes from Simon, who sees the greatness of Jesus and says, "I am a sinner. I am unworthy." Or as soon as Jesus will encounter the Pharisees, and they define sinners as being far off from God and unworthy. The sinners are unworthy. But in heavenly terms, it was the self-righteous who were actually unworthy. Sinners were worthy in that they were sinful, and Jesus came particularly for us.

And the point to recognize this morning is that like Simon did, he recognized that Jesus is not one to be trifled with. He is one to be surrendered to in obedience. And in Simon, we also see the aim of our work, taking the boat out, casting the nets, is not to accomplish. It wasn't to bring in the haul of fish for themselves. The work was Jesus. Similarly, God has called us to work while he brings the work that we are doing to completion. He completes. He fulfills the work.

As one author also put it, he said, "Those who know themselves to be sinners are the most responsive to Jesus, while those who regard themselves as virtuous look down their noses on sinners and thus regard Jesus with antagonism." Because that's who he's here for. He came for sinners. He draws near to them and in their weakness calls them to obedience. And every time there is an encounter with a holy God between a sinner, there is no middle ground. Hearts either soften in repentance to the Lord or they harden in resistance to it. And Simon's heart was softening, but he was also genuinely scared.

So in verses 10 and 11, we see the gentle Savior give a comfort to him as only he can. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid," actually contrasts or parallels the response of the angel to Zachariah in Luke chapter 1:13. "Do not be afraid," he says, "from now on, you will be catching men."

And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. And this gracious response of Jesus to Simon in his moment of weakness and fear shows us that that is the only proper response to a holy God because we recognize that we are sinners. But that was exactly the message that Jesus had just been proclaiming to the crowds on the hillside and in the last chapter: God has not come to punish sinners. He came to save them.

If Jesus is drawing you near today, you do not need to fear. As one author put it so well, "There is more grace in Christ than sin in you." So friends, don't let your sin lead you away from God, but instead let it bring you directly to the God who abundantly and completely pardons.

Well, Jesus moves quickly from the comfort to the command or the commission for Simon. He literally says, "From now on, you will be catching alive people." "Alive people." And to catch alive was typically used in the context of hunting or war, and neither of these were a good context for the person who was caught alive. It was always a bad thing. They almost always ended up dead at a later time. The fish in particular, fishing, they're going to end up dead as well.

But Jesus wants to actually contrast the rhythms and the wisdom of the world with the wisdom of the kingdom. When it comes to God, those who are catching men alive actually lead them to mercy, grace, and genuine life. They lead them to freedom. And this is, in another way, it's a demotion of sorts for Simon. Whereas in the world of fishing for men, Jesus was now the master and Simon would become the amateur, the novice who must learn from Jesus. He might have been proficient before, but we could actually argue he wasn't proficient before because he had worked all night and caught nothing.

And the other gospel writers tell us that along with Simon, we had James and John who were brothers, and then also Andrew, who was Simon's brother, and they were all there, and they all end up following Jesus as well. In fact, James and John leave their own father, Zebedee, in the boat with the rest of their crew. And here's another contrast for us from Luke: They left family, they left co-workers, they left jobs, and they left the fish. They had no regard for the significant amount of fish that was in front of them that they easily could have taken advantage of and used for their own betterment. Surely this was enough fish to change their lives. Why would anyone walk away from something so valuable? Only when there is something even more valuable to be gained in losing that thing. They weighed the value of the fish, their work, their relationships, their livelihood, and they said, "Jesus is more valuable." They didn't even know the half of it. They just said, "Okay, we'll come with you. Let's see how this plays out." Even in that moment, they were weighing the value of those things and they followed the Lord.

And the proclamation of Jesus is the same as it is today, as it was then: that the kingdom is here. And it's the same calling as well: "Repent and follow me." And Jesus meant that order intentionally. He meant it to be that way. Because sometimes when we think of our witness, regardless of whether God calls you to stay and witness or go and witness, Jesus wants us to know our motivation is not the place we are or the thing we're called to do. Our motivation is actually the God who calls us. He is the only compelling factor in our witness. We were not compelled by the needs of the world or even the own impulse of our hearts. We are compelled by the God of the kingdom who says "Repent and follow" and "Obey."

Simon responded to Jesus essentially with how he felt. He felt like he was unworthy. He felt the weight of his sin in the presence of such a powerful person. But Jesus is reorienting Simon's understanding away from his feelings and his emotions, and he's redirecting him to the words of God. Because what God says about you is much more important than how you feel about God. In any given moment, he defines our reality and not our feelings. I mean, each one of us at some point has felt more or less close or distant from God. We've all wrestled with varying degrees with doubt of the claim of God over our lives. And yes, our feelings are real, but they are not always true. And they are not always the reality of our soul.

And this reminds us that truth comes from God, and not even our worst feelings can separate us from his love if we are in him.

God draws near to restore

And that is because the God who calls is also the God who heals and restores, as we'll see in our final point. Number four in verses 12 through 16, he draws near to restore.

I'll read in verse 12: "While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, 'Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.'"

Jesus did not come to earth simply to work wondrous miracles, although he did. And it was incredible, graciously doing so many miracles as he went. But every miracle was actually meant to show something greater than the action itself. We have so much about, again, the magnificence of the amount of fish gathered. And then literally Luke just moves on, right? There's no interaction with that, actually what happened itself. Actually, the point is on God who works these amazing things. And Jesus did these miracles so that sinners would hear and see his greatness and it would lead them to repent and believe.

This man who comes to Jesus likely did not have leprosy as we understand it in our modern context, but Luke makes it clear that it was very severe and that he was full of this disease. In the Old Testament, there was a very common and consistent understanding of leprosy and these skin diseases. It was almost always the result of God's particular punishment and judgment. To see this on someone was to see the punishment of God on a person. And the only way to be healed from it was to follow a very particular set of instructions.

So here comes this leper, sees Jesus, runs up straight to him. And like Simon, he recognizes the significance of Jesus. Like Simon, he falls to his knees and acknowledges him as Lord. And Luke tells us this man begged for help. But he wasn't simply asking Jesus for help. He said, "You can make me clean." He acknowledges that Jesus can do it. What he's really asking for is not the ability of Jesus; he's asking for his compassion and his mercy. "Will you please, Lord?"

Whereas with Simon, we saw the omniscience of Jesus, that he knows everything. Now with the leper, we'll see his omnipotence, that Jesus is all-powerful. And what does he say in verse 13? "And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, 'I will be clean.' And immediately the leprosy left him."

This is actually, probably, could definitely argue for it, more miraculous than the haul of fish that was just brought in by Peter and his friends. In the Old Testament, if a leper was cleansed, if they were cleansed, it took time. And again, a very particular and rigorous set of instructions. If you had access to a prophet like Elisha or Elijah, there was a lot involved. For example, Elisha told Naaman, who had leprosy, to go and dip himself in the Jordan River seven times. After that, he was cured. But all Elisha did was intercede with God to heal Naaman. He prayed, "Lord, would you heal him?" And God said, "This is how it's going to happen: go through this process, then you'll be healed." They could only intercede; these prophets had no power over the disease themselves.

But here, a striking contrast that is so easy for us to look over is that Jesus is God. Only God can instantly, on the spot, no instructions, no follow-up, make this man clean, heal him from his disease right then and there.

And once again, like Simon, Jesus has instructions for this former leper. In verse 14, he says, "he charged him to tell no one, but to go and show yourself to the priests and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them." But now, even more, "the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities."

The other gospel writers let us know that this man did not heed the warning of Jesus to not tell anyone. But can you blame him? I mean, he was the first leper in human history with this skin disease to find the Son of God and be healed instantly. Immediately, it's incredible. Of course, he's going to go and tell everyone.

But Luke wants us to see that Jesus was not actively seeking a crowd. The crowd was always there by nature of the miraculous things that Jesus did, but Jesus was never seeking them out. He was never actively pursuing the crowd. He was in the business of building a following of disciples. He was in the business of restoration.

So Jesus tells this man to go and see the priest. Why? Again, because of Old Testament tradition, even though Jesus has made him clean according to the Torah, the only one who could declare an Israelite clean once the disease was gone completely was a priest. Go to the temple, see the priests. They will confirm what has been done here and you will be restored to your life, to your family, to your home, to your town, to your worship. His new reality. And of course, it was confirmed.

And the Gospel of Mark tells us, of course, this man told everyone about what happened. And certainly everyone in the temple saw it as well. They would have said, "Okay, by what authority and what process did you go about?" And he could say, "Jesus did it." Period. Jesus did it. That would have been amazing.

And now, it's almost like a scene out of a movie where there's a large crowd and someone yells out, "There's that celebrity!" And everyone turns and runs and they flock after and pursue. But in verse 16, we see Jesus withdraw. It says he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. The pressure of the crowd, his upcoming interaction with the Pharisees, as we'll see soon, actually led Jesus to retreat and to pray and to prepare.

And this was his regular practice. You'd think someone in such close communion with God the Father would need to pray less, not more. But that's what he did. He prayed more, not less. And he used prayer often to prepare for significant moments in his ministry, thinking in particular about the Garden of Gethsemane.

But finally, in both Simon and the leper, we see God's grace and his command. He draws near to restore, to call, and to commission. Simon was called to come and to follow, but the leper was called to go. I think that shows us that the place of our calling is minor when compared to the person who calls us. What they had in common was not their context; it was their Christ. And Christians today are similarly; we're not called primarily to a place. We are called to a person.

The focus of our work

And indeed, in Jesus, we are called to the most wonderful person. So does it really matter all that much if we serve this wonderful God here or if we do it there? Which brings us lastly to the focus of our work. What is the work that we are called to do?

Well, Jesus has said already, it's primarily to repent of your sin and to believe in Jesus, that he is God. We will certainly receive various instructions, but they all fall under that broad umbrella of repent and believe, which is great news because the point of your life and ministry is not on what you're going to do, but what God has already accomplished through you. It's the work that he is doing and will do.

Jesus has not given us a to-do list; he has given us a to-done list. In Christ, everything that we are called to go and do in obedience has been and will be completely accomplished through the work of Christ. We see that in verse 10, where Jesus says to Simon earlier, "Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men." Jesus is not giving him something that he can do of his own accord. Again, we already saw he struggled to catch fish just that night, right? He was terribly inconsistent at best.

In Christ, God has equipped us to be effective for the kingdom, which means our work—we might not see earthly success. We might not see that big haul of fish. Sometimes the nets might be empty, but in every spiritual sense, the work that God calls us to will succeed in Jesus Christ. And so we'll end this morning, not with a focus on our call or the task before us, but instead with the focus on the God who has called us to walk with him in faith and obedience.

One of my best friends is a church planter in Cleveland, Ohio. And when I mentioned that I was preaching from this text, he told me about his late uncle who had faithfully for years and years and years shared the gospel with my friend and his family. And finally, after years and years and years of faithful witness, God saved my friend and his family out of Roman Catholicism. And his uncle, who was so dear to them because of how God had used him, ended up preaching one Sunday. It would end up being his final sermon ever before passing away from complications of COVID-19. My friend told me he preached on this very text.

Letting Jesus into your boat

And this was how he summarized it at the end of his sermon. When Jesus asks to use the boat of your life, you let him on board. You let him on board. And indeed, as Christians, that is what God has asked of us. Give him your boat, your livelihood. We have surrendered them to the Lord and we sail solely at his command until he brings us through many storms and tempests safely to the port of the heavenly kingdom, which is coming through Christ.

Let's pray this morning. God, we praise you for the work that you did in Jesus Christ, for drawing Simon, Andrew, James, and John in such a radical fashion and commissioning them to be your disciples. And we recognize that you have likewise called us as Christians to lives of service to the king and to his kingdom.

And we recognize that you will call us to different places, to different tasks. But the calling on each of us is the same under Christ: to repent of our sin and to believe in his name. Would you remind us of this calling? Would you strengthen us for the task that is ahead for us? And would you encourage us and equip us through Christ's work to be successful, not for our own sake, but for the sake of the kingdom? We ask all in your name for the praise of your glory and your kingdom. Amen.

Words of Authority | Luke 4:31-44

Words of Authority | Luke 4:31-44

Nathan Young

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Luke Chapter 4 Introduction

Well, this morning, turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. It's been some time since we were in Luke's gospel, as we had a few things happening in between with our guest speaker, Chap Bettis, and with the baptism last week. And what an incredible time it was last week, especially as we celebrated with Matt and Cody as they illustrated to all of us what it means to die to their old way of life and to be risen again with Christ to live the Christian life. It was so encouraging to see so many family and friends that were here to support our brothers.

Well, this morning we're back in Luke's gospel as we're working our way through this gospel systematically. And it's in Luke's account of the life of Jesus that he's writing to Gentiles to convince them of Christ and both his humanity, but especially his deity. And Luke is pointing out over and over again who Jesus is so that people would believe Jesus and accept him as their Lord and Savior.

So far, Luke has introduced Jesus as one born to Joseph and Mary, but born of supernatural origin, not coming through the ordinary means of husband and wife but coming through the impregnation of the Holy Spirit acting upon Mary. And then we've seen Jesus growing in wisdom and stature and favor with all people. And then at the beginning of this chapter, we saw Jesus being tested by Satan and even being opposed by people who followed Satan rather than him.

Jesus Exercises Divine Authority

Now in the second half of chapter four, beginning in verse number 31, we're going to see Jesus exercising his divine authority, speaking words of authority and all for our good. So listen as I read beginning in verse number 31.

Then Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath he taught the people. They were amazed at his teaching because his words had authority. In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an impure spirit. And he cried at the top of his voice, "Go away! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God."

"Be quiet," Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him." Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed, and they said to each other, "What words are these? With authority and power, he gives orders to impure spirits, and they come out."

And the news about Jesus spread throughout the surrounding area. Then Jesus left the synagogue and he went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up, and at once she began to wait on them.

At sunset, the people brought Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of the people, shouting, "You are the Son of God." But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Messiah.

At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place and the people were looking for him. And when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving and they said, "Stay," but he said, "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also because this is why I was sent." And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

In this passage we see very clearly Jesus exercising authority that set him apart from other teachers of the day. Jesus was no ordinary man. He was, in fact, the Son of God.

As we see in this passage, authority, it made me think of an experience that I had when I was in college related to authority. College is a period of time when young men especially are sort of flexing themselves, testing the limits of authority and finding out where they are in the pecking order of life.

And while I was a student at Pensacola Christian College in Pensacola, sometimes my friends and I would visit the Naval Air Station to go to the museum there for the naval museum or to go see the Pensacola Lighthouse. I didn't do it a lot, but when I went, it was always interesting because being a young college-age guy and going with my friends, we looked like we could have been in the Navy, but none of us were in the Navy.

And when we would drive up to the entrance gate, the military police would of course stop us and say, "What's the purpose of your visit?" And we knew from experience and our friends, we would simply say, "We're here to go to the Air Museum" or "We're here to see the Blue Angels" because Pensacola is where the Blue Angels are headquartered. And after checking our IDs and asking us a few questions, they would let us through the gate and they would direct us to the tourist areas. Because we were simply civilians. We had no authority and no power on the Navy base. There were restricted areas that we were not allowed to go to. And they made it clear that our activities were being surveilled. So we only did what tourists were allowed to do. And that is we went to the museum or the lighthouse and then we left.

Well, one year, I think it was my junior year in college, my younger brother was also in college at Pensacola. And one of his roommates, Father, was a Navy Admiral. And this roommate was a great guy. And my brother got to know him well, and I got to know him. And we had a lot of fun together.

And once in the middle of the school year, the admiral came to town and he decided to stay on the Navy base since he was an admiral. He could get accommodations there. He also liked to play golf at the golf course and do all the things that an officer could do on a Navy base. Well, on this one particular visit, the admiral told his son and his daughter, "Invite your friends to come over to the base and we're going to have a cookout. We're going to play some volleyball and we're going to have a good time together."

Well, my brother and I were available. We were invited and we went. And that time when we went to the base and we stopped at the gate and the MPs asked us, "What's the reason for your visit?"

We said, kind of casually, not knowing what was going to happen, "Well, we're coming to visit Admiral so-and-so," and we named his name. The demeanor of the MPs completely changed. We were no longer civilian tourists; we were now honored guests because we knew an admiral and we were going to his party.

They knew about this party because they were told that people would be coming on base to have this barbecue and volleyball game. They treated us very special. They made sure that we knew exactly where to go because we were now going to be going into parts of the base that civilian tourists normally did not go into. They wanted to make sure we knew how to get there and that the admiral knew that the MPs were taking good care of us.

Well, this extended so far that at the end of the night, as we had had a great time together that day and we were coming back off the air station, I was with my brother and one of our friends and we were in a jeep and we looked like troublemakers. We had the top off on the jeep and we were speeding on the naval air station. Now, granted, the speed limit was something like 25 miles an hour and we were probably going 30.

An MP pulled us over. And when he pulled us over, he said, "What are you doing?" And we said, "We've just come from the party that the Admiral was hosting, and we're going back to our college." And we explained this.

The MP, again, his demeanor suddenly changed. When he pulled us over, he probably assumed that we were seamen who were heading into town to do something wild or crazy. But when he found out that we were just college students that had been with the Admiral, they let us go. And they said, "Have a great night. Thank you for coming and being on the base with us today."

What I learned through that experience was that the Admiral was not just a title, but the Admiral carried authority. Just the mention of the Admiral's name changed the way people responded and reacted to us. The MPs who were there to protect the base welcomed us on their air station. And those MPs gave us incredibly kind treatment as we were there, guests of the Admiral. The Admiral, through his rank and his authority, opened doors and changed.

Jesus as the Holy One

People certainly had to respond to his orders when he gave them. And those were things that, as a civilian, they could completely ignore me. They could even deny me access to the air station because I had no right to be there unless I was an invited guest.

Well, as Jesus is going to minister here in Luke chapter 4, he's going to demonstrate his authority. He was no mere civilian. He was not simply a guest teacher or an intellectual person that showed up in the synagogue at Capernaum.

But Jesus appeared as the Holy One of God, the demons say. The one that God had sent to demonstrate his authority over life and death. The one God would send to deal with demonic forces and to heal the sick and ultimately to cure us of our sin.

Jesus was more than an admiral. Jesus was the Son of God. And as he came and he spoke, his words carried tremendous authority, as did his actions.

Authority to Stop Demons

So as we look in Luke chapter 4, the latter half this morning, I want us to see how Jesus exercises his authority for our good. And we see it at least three different ways.

First, in our section this morning, we see that Jesus exercises divine authority to stop demons. As Jesus was ministering in Galilee around his home region, he was speaking both in Nazareth, where he grew up, but also in Capernaum. It seems that this section, beginning in verse number 31, may have happened before what happened in the first section of this chapter. I gather that because of verse number 23, where he said the people in Nazareth are accusing Jesus and saying, "You're doing here in your hometown what we've heard that you have done in Capernaum," why Luke and verses the order is not completely clear, except to say that in the context, we see Luke presenting Jesus as one who has authority over Satan.

Luke first presents the confrontation that Jesus had with Satan and people rejecting Jesus. And now he's going to show that Jesus has authority over Satan and his demons. So as Jesus came to the synagogue, he began teaching on the Sabbath. And it says people were absolutely amazed at his teaching because his words, it says verse 32, had authority.

Jesus was speaking in a way that they were not accustomed to hearing. It wasn't simply because his rhetorical skill was superior to other teachers. It wasn't simply a matter of mastery that Jesus knew more than other teachers. No, Jesus taught with authority because he had the very authority of God. Jesus was speaking the words of God.

In fact, in Matthew's gospel, Jesus' style could be summarized this way: Jesus would say, "You have heard that it was said, but I tell you." And Jesus would expand upon what the Old Testament said and give them more instructions because of his authority as the Son of God. Jesus was preaching God's word. He was not simply talking about God's word. He wasn't there to inform them. He was there to challenge them and to confront them so that they would come to recognize him as the Messiah.

Jesus' words bore authority because he was speaking the very words of God. He was not simply sharing a human opinion, not simply critiquing one rabbi over another, but he was speaking with authority. The demonstration of his authority was not just a rapt audience that was listening to him with great intention, but it was also the response of demonic forces that were present in that synagogue.

Jesus was teaching the people, but his authority extended beyond his teaching. It also attracted the attention of evil spirits and earthly adversaries. It says, beginning in verse 43, that while Jesus was teaching on the Sabbath, a man possessed with an evil spirit cried out in a loud voice. This man who was crying out, it says, was possessed by a demon. This man was doing the bidding of the evil spirit that was in him. He was violating the sacred space of the synagogue on the Sabbath, and he was instead coming in, mingling with devout worshipers to distract them from Jesus and to try to stop Jesus.

So this demon-possessed man abruptly interrupted Jesus and he challenged Jesus' authority. So a demonstration of the authority of his words was the reaction of the demonic spirit. This demonic-influenced man was heckling Jesus from the audience, telling him to leave, to get out of there. "What business do you have here, Jesus?"

You see, the demon knew Jesus' true identity as the Holy One of God, verse 34. And he was commanding Jesus with all his might, "Go away, leave us alone." The demon knew Jesus. And he knew that Jesus was more than a humble man from Nazareth. He knew that Jesus was none other than the Son of God. That's why he said, "Jesus of Nazareth," he identified him in his human identity. But he also said, "I know that you are the Holy One of God." You're more than just the son of Joseph and Mary, but you are none other than the eternal God.

Demons, if you don't know, are fallen angels who rebelled against God with Satan. And these demons, who wander the earth doing the bidding of Satan, are destined for destruction. They serve Satan until the final judgment when they will be destroyed once for all. In the meantime, it says that they roam the earth looking for people that they can disturb. They're trying to oppose the work of God. And here, when the Son of God himself appears, the demon had the audacity to try to stop him. But they could not stop him. The demon was responding not as one with authority, but he was responding as one with fear. He feared what Jesus would do to him.

And notice Jesus' response, beginning in verse number 35. As the demon-possessed man shouted with a loud voice, Jesus simply said, "Be quiet." "Shut that down. We don't need to hear from you right now." And he said sternly to the man, but really to the demon who was in the man, "Come out of him." And immediately the demon reacted.

He heard Jesus' authoritative words and he threw the man to the ground and he came out. And yet it says the man was not injured. The demon, though he had possessed the man for a season, did not ruin the man. The demon instead responded to Jesus' words and he left him. He came out and the man was restored.

Jesus possessed divine authority over this demon. The demon could not stop him. This is why Jesus did not respond to the demon's command and say, "Okay, I guess I'll leave. I guess there's opposition here. Maybe this isn't the place for me to speak." No, instead, he just simply commanded the demon, "Be quiet. You have no right to speak here." And he told the demon to leave the man alone.

The people in the synagogue observed all of this, and as they observed it, their response was again amazement. Verse number 36: "What words these are, they said. With authority and power, he gives orders to the impure spirits, and they come out." The people had witnessed something incredible. Jesus, who was a relative stranger in Capernaum, had now come into their synagogue, had taught them with authority, and demonstrated his power over evil spirits.

Luke was contrasting in this section Jesus' identity as the Holy One of God with the impure spirit that had possessed the man. The Holy One of God was not an ordinary man. He was not merely from Nazareth. No, this Holy One of God was the eternal Son of God who by the Spirit of God would fulfill the scriptures. And he was proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. Pastor Dan covered that in the first section of this passage, that Jesus was channeling Isaiah's words and declaring the kingdom of God that he had come to fulfill.

This is Jesus' first miracle recorded in the Gospel of Luke. And with this miracle, the physician wants us to understand Jesus' divine authority. Evil had great angst in the presence of Jesus' righteousness. Yet even the evil of a demon could not stand up to Jesus' words. Any victory that the demon may have appeared to have short term over influencing this man and directing him and even speaking through him was short-lived at best, because Satan did not ultimately have control. Jesus was powerfully in control. He was exercising his authority and he was doing it for the good of his audience.

What you should think about in this passage by implication is that Satan does not spare God's people when they gather for worship and teaching. That here you have a group of people that have come together at the synagogue to worship and to be taught. And among their midst is a demon-possessed man who interrupts the service and he comes to stop what is happening. In fact, I would make the point that Satan purposefully finds his way among God's people in order to oppose God. He aims to lead the church into darkness while he pretends to be an angel of light.

The work of demons has much less to do with spectacles and much more to do with subtle deceptions. Paul in his charge to Timothy warned him of this in 1 Timothy 4:1. He said, "Some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons." The idea is that Satan wants people, even in a church, to doubt Jesus' full humanity and doubt his full deity.

And yet Jesus exercises authority through his word. Jesus is not here this morning to stand behind the pulpit and speak to us in physical form, but we have Jesus' words in the pages of the Bible. And they're recorded for us to remind us that Jesus is who he said that he is and that he has come to save us from our sin. Jesus, in speaking his words of authority, demonstrated his authority because he had authority over even the demons. He could stop the demons in their tracks.

Some have taken Jesus' interaction with demons to think that the church ought to be in the business of exercising demons and that our work really should involve supernatural acts and miracles that we should look for. I don't believe that that is the aim of the church at all. I would say it the other way around, that when we declare the word of God and we point people to the Son of God, there is demonic opposition and demonic influence. It may not be as spectacular as what is illustrated in our popular culture and in our entertainment, but it is certainly present.

Satan wants to do anything that he can, even through a respectable person, to try to oppose the authority of God. And so many times in our culture, the demonic teachings of Satan are, "Did God really say? Is that really what the Bible says about Jesus? Can Jesus really forgive your sins? Is that really all there is to it?" And there are so many twists and turns that people add, and Satan delights in the confusion because the confusion draws people away. And yet Jesus' response to the demons then and his response to demons now is to be quiet, shut their mouths, and to stop their influence.

Because the church depends on the authority of Jesus, and where the authority of Jesus is declared, there will be demonic resistance. So as we have the opportunity to minister to the gospel, know that there will be resistance to our efforts. There will be efforts that we don't fully understand and yet that are probably demonic influenced.

Now that doesn't mean that people are going to grow horns on their heads and have red eyes and breathe flames of fire. But it does mean that people will oppose God and his work, sometimes of their own sinful volition, but other times because of the influence of demonic activity. Whichever the case, our obligation and our comfort really is to stand on the authority of Jesus and to know that it is his authority through his word that drives out and stops the influence of devils.

And as we do that, we know that he's working for our good because he wants more and more people to know. This is why it says in verse number 37 that the good news, or the news about him, spread throughout the surrounding area because Jesus had authority.

We want the authority of our church to be none other than the person of Jesus, not some hocus-pocus ritual or some exorcism tradition, but we want it to be that we declare Jesus and that we invite people to follow Jesus. And when we do that, we know some will respond in repentance and faith and some will respond by opposing every effort to declare this message. Yet Jesus exercises his divine authority to advance his message. And that involves stopping demons, but we see secondly in this passage that Jesus possesses divine authority to heal diseases.

Authority to Heal Diseases

He possesses divine authority to heal diseases. After all that happened in the synagogue in the view of everyone who was there, Jesus left and went to the home of Simon. We learn later that this Simon is Peter, one of Jesus' closest disciples that has not yet been called.

But here in the afterglow of the synagogue and the teaching, Jesus retires to the home of Simon and they discover that Simon's mother-in-law is there sick. Luke does not say that her sickness was the result of her sin or of a demon. She had simply had a high fever, it says, that she was suffering and that she was laid up at home. So Jesus came in and privately and tenderly rebuked the fever and it left her, it says in verse number 39.

Sickness like this is a result of the fall and it is a consequence of the curse that sin places over our creation. It's not to say that because Simon's mother-in-law had done something that he punished her and made her sick. It's to simply say that we all experience illness and disease and maladies because we're under the curse of sin. But Jesus exercised his authority and showed that he was the Son of God by rebuking the illness. And it immediately left her.

And when it left her, it says that she got up at once and began to wait on them. There was no recovery period. She didn't say, you know, I've been sick for the past few weeks or days and it's going to take a little bit of time to get my strength back. No, her strength came immediately back because Jesus healed her completely.

What we see in this is that Jesus' ministry not only affected crowds, but it touched the lives of individuals. First, the individual who was possessed by a demon, and now Simon's mother-in-law, who had been affected by illness. When Jesus came into their home, he expressed and demonstrated his tender affection toward her. He knew Simon and his mother-in-law, and he cared for them in a deeply personal way. Just as powerful as casting out the demon in the synagogue, Jesus cured her illness probably in her bedroom.

The result of this is that at the end of the day, people flocked to Jesus. From all around Capernaum, they brought people of various kinds of sicknesses, verse 40, expecting Jesus to heal them. These sicknesses probably involved more than just a runny nose or a seasonal allergy. They came with all kinds of problems, perhaps birth defects and chronic illnesses, things that were beyond any physician's ability to cure. And without fanfare, without bureaucracy, Jesus simply laid his hands on each and every one and he healed them. He had already spoken words of authority. And now he offered the tender touch of his compassion. He welcomed each unwell person, and he welcomed the people that cared for them. And he touched the ill, and he tenderly healed them.

As Jesus did this, he brought restoration to their broken bodies. He cared for their bodies and he pointed their souls to himself. Jesus' approach to the sick went completely against Jewish custom. He made himself ceremonially unclean by touching people that had maladies and diseases. Priests would have been far removed from this kind of thing. They would not have even come into the physical presence of people who were sick. But Jesus didn't screen the candidates and say, well, what illness do they have? What exactly are they asking for? Instead, he touched them all and he restored their health. The holy one of God, as the demon declared, touched the unholy ones and he made them whole.

Jesus was doing this as a demonstration of his power, of his divinity. At the same time that Jesus was healing people with incurable diseases, verse 41 reports that demons were coming out of many people and they were shouting, "You are the Son of God." But he rebuked them too and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Messiah.

Think about that. We get all the attention on the first demon-possessed man because he interrupted the church service, so to speak. He stood up and shouted, "Stop, go away," and created a ruckus. And yet here in the presence of Jesus, as he's healing many, it says, moreover, verse 41, demons came out of many people. Who was declaring the divinity of Jesus? It wasn't the people that were being healed. It was the demons who hated Jesus. But Jesus rebuked them and did not allow them to speak. He silenced them.

And why? Well, he silenced them because Jesus—or he knew—that the demons wanted to stop his ministry. They understood that if they revealed Jesus to be the Son of God, then the Jewish leaders would arrest him and kill him. And eventually, that is exactly what happened. But it wasn't time for Jesus to be arrested and to go to the cross. Furthermore, the demons wanted to make people fear Jesus so they would not follow him. They wanted to make Jesus untouchable and unapproachable, that there would be more questions about him than answers.

And ironically, the demons were trying to use the truth about Jesus' divine nature and his divine power in order to stop him. But Jesus responded by silencing the demons and driving them out of their human hosts, knowing that it was not the right time to reveal himself as the Son of God.

The demons were correct that indeed he was the Son of God, and it was worth sharing. But they were sharing it in a way to try to undermine him. And Jesus would exercise his authority for people's good. Diseases and demons operate under the curse of sin.

And there was no telling how many people that came into the wee hours of the morning to see Jesus and to be touched by Jesus. But what ought to be surprising in this section is how many people were suffering and how many people came for help. The people heard that there was a cure and they heard that Jesus was the one providing the cure, and they came, not asking a lot of questions, but simply wanting the answer: Can you heal me? Can you solve my problem?

All of these things ultimately point to our need for power and authority beyond ourselves. In our current culture, we put tremendous hope in medicine, as if medicine and doctors can solve all problems. While we ought to be thankful for medicine and doctors and seek their professional help when appropriate, they cannot ultimately cure us because our sicknesses and our diseases remind us that we're under a curse, and that curse is sin.

I'm not saying that you're being punished because of a particular sickness or a particular illness. But what I am saying is that all of our maladies, all of our illnesses, all of our problems should point us to our need for divine authority, that we need intervention from God himself.

And though Jesus will not be coming to someone's house this afternoon and receiving guests that he can touch and simply heal, Jesus has left us with his word and his Holy Spirit that give us tremendous hope and healing. Some would take this to mean that the church should have a ministry of healing, that we should have healing services where we welcome people to throw away their canes and walkers to be healed of their cancers and all the rest.

And I would say that misses the point of what Jesus was doing and what the New Testament calls us to do. Our ministry is not one of healing the sick, but of healing souls. God has called us to declare Jesus with authority, to tell people that he is the Son of God and that all of their problems, all of their sins have been dealt with by Jesus.

Authority to Declare Good News

That Jesus came to heal our souls, and he will one day transform our bodies as we enter into his eternal presence. You see, in this passage, Jesus is using his divine authority for our good. He's stopping demons. He's healing diseases. And third, he's using his divine authority to declare good news.

The reason I say that our ministry is not one of exorcisms or healings, but one of declaring, is because this passage begins with Jesus declaring and teaching words with authority, and it ends the same way, as if Luke has put bookends on this section of the narrative. It says in verse number 42 that at daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place, and the people were looking for him. And when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving. But he said to them, "I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Although Jesus' authority over demons and diseases garnered a lot of attention, he focused first and foremost on proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. He already said that in verse number 18 when he was quoting Isaiah. He says it again here to put the focus on what his mission actually was. As Luke introduces this, this is the first time he uses the phrase "the kingdom of God," and it will appear 30 more times in this gospel.

Simply put, the kingdom of God that he was declaring is the rule of God that is both a present reality, but it's also a future hope. That the Jews were looking for Messiah, they were looking for the rule of God to drive out the Roman oppressors. And yet Jesus is saying, "I've come to declare the kingdom of God," which is more than simply liberation from political oppression. I've come to declare my rule and my reign over this creation.

As Jesus cast out the demons and he healed the sick, he did this proclaiming the good news. In fact, we could say he was exercising his authority in word and deed. And casting out demons and healing diseases was a demonstration and a validation of the authority of his words. But Jesus' main ministry was to proclaim the kingdom of God, that it had come, that he was the fulfillment, he was the Messiah, and that he had come to save his people.

The people in Nazareth had violently opposed Jesus and tried to throw him off a cliff at verse number 30. But now the people in Capernaum wanted Jesus to stay and heal everyone. They wanted the benefits that this Messiah brought, although they may not have understood his message. Jesus understood his message, and he was on mission to tell as many people as he could. That's why he said he had to leave Capernaum and he went on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

The Authority of God's Word

By implication, the only authority that the church has and the only authority that we've ever had is the authority of God's word and the message of the gospel. We must prioritize as the people of God proclaiming the kingdom of God to as many other people as we can. The power source for our ministry comes from God's word, not from strategies. The power source of our ministry is not that we can cast out demons and heal the sick. No, we preach the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus, all according to the scriptures, and watch the Spirit of God draw people to himself.

The Apostle Paul clarified this authority that we've been given from Christ when Jesus defeated Satan once for all on the cross. Hear what he says in Colossians 2, beginning in verse 13: "When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all of our sins, having canceled the written code and its regulations that was against us and that stood opposed to us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by the cross."

Simply put, Paul is saying that Jesus' authority extends to conquering our sin. And Jesus put the demons and all of his opponents to shame by dying on the cross. You see, they thought that in killing him, they would end his influence. And yet it was in his dying that he bought our victory over death and sin. Paul says in 1 Corinthians, "Death, where is your sting? Sin, where is your victory?" They're gone because of the work of Jesus. He has triumphed over them in the cross.

Jesus exercises his authority not just to rebuke and resist Satan, which he did earlier in this passage, and not simply to call out sinners, which he certainly does. But Jesus uses his teaching and his authority for our good. He wants to heal our souls so that we can have fellowship with him forever.

So let me ask, what is your relationship with Jesus? It's possible that even in a church like ours, that we could have the influence of demons that are opposing the work of God. Now, I'm not saying that there's someone here who's demon-possessed and let's have an exorcism. But I am saying that where Jesus is declared, demons oppose him. So be wary of that.

It's also possible that there are those here who are sick, not because God is punishing you, but because he wants to use your illness to make his authority more sweet to you, so that you would trust him, that you would give your life over to him, recognizing how vulnerable your life is, and knowing that we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from his mouth.

Application and Final Prayer

The point being that we follow Jesus and he uses his authority for our good. So let me challenge you: if you've not accepted Jesus to be your savior, follow him. Trust him to be your savior. And if he is your savior, know that you will be opposed when you declare him. But declare him you must, because there are many people that don't yet know the good news of the kingdom of God, and it's our opportunity and our obligation to tell them.

So let's be about our Father's business. Let's extend the ministry of the Son and depend on the Spirit to empower us. And as we do that, let's watch God extend his divine authority through us as we declare his word for the good of others.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we come to you this morning, we are deeply aware that we live in a world where there are principalities and powers that oppose you. We see it in so many ways. Sometimes it's not as overt as a man interrupting the service as much as it's the distractions of our culture—it's all the other things that we could be doing on a Sunday that would keep us from you.

And God, I pray that you would help us to resist those things. Help us instead to see the incredible power that you exercise in holding this world together. And God, help us to give our lives over to you, that we've trusted you for our salvation. So help us to trust you with the way we live our lives.

And God, help us to proclaim the goodness of the kingdom and help us to show people your loving authority so that they can respond to you. And God, we pray that as we take this message of the good news of the kingdom forward, that you would be gracious to help people respond and add them to our church, add them to other churches, and continue to grow your kingdom one person at a time. And Father, we pray this, dependent on your power, in Jesus' name. Amen.

The Better Adam and Rejected Messiah | Luke 4:1-30

The Better Adam and Rejected Messiah | Luke 4:1-30

Dan Webb

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Luke Chapter 4

We're going to be in Luke chapter 4 this morning, resuming our study in this gospel. And I'm going to invite you all to stand with me, and we will read the first 13 verses. We'll be talking about verses 1 through 30, but for now we're going to read verses 1 through 13 to start us.

And this is God's word: And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days, and when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command the stone to become bread." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone." And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If then you will worship me, it will all be yours." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve." He took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it is written, He will command his angels concerning you to guard you. And on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone." And Jesus answered him, "It is said, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Let's be seated together. Well, what would you be willing to give or to sacrifice in order to achieve your greatest ambitions, your greatest desires, the greatest accomplishments while avoiding the setbacks, the pain, the hardship that brought you there? Without all the closed doors, without the broken relationships, without the pain that brought you to where you were meant to be.

As painful as it can often be, our sanctification, which is just our spiritual growth in the Lord, is much more valuable than we often acknowledge. If God's plan was to take you immediately from being saved to fully reflecting Christ in your salvation, we would all live much shorter lives. It'd be a very quick transition. But God is not as much concerned about what we do for him as he is in what we are in him. He's concerned about what we are in him. Are we faithful? Are we repentant? Are we dependent? Those are hard marks for us to hit every time, but the Holy Spirit is a near and present help to us.

And in our text this morning, in Luke chapter 4, we will see our Savior come face to face with some of those same questions. So far in the book of Luke, we could easily summarize the message of the first three chapters as simply, Jesus is the prophesied Messiah. He is the one that was foretold. In chapter one, we saw the angel proclaim it. Elizabeth, Zechariah, and Mary affirmed it. In chapter two, the host of angels proclaimed it, and it was the shepherds and Simeon who likewise affirmed it. Then in chapter three, the prophesied forerunner, John the Baptist, proclaims it. And then God the Father himself affirms it through the visible anointing of the Holy Spirit as a dove upon his Son, Jesus Christ.

Which wasn't to say that the Spirit had been absent from Jesus up until that point. Actually, it was to show publicly that from here on out, the ministry of Jesus would be marked by the work of the Holy Spirit. Everything he did from that point on would be something that he did in tandem with the Spirit. He would be full of the Spirit, like many of the great Israelites of the past. And his ministry in the fullness of the Spirit would set the standard for every future Christian ministry still to come.

And our gospel writer, Luke, he wants his readers to know explicitly that Jesus is the triune God and that God is working actively and completely to usher in his kingdom. He is bringing the kingdom of God to earth. So let's look at our text this morning for the sake of growing in our own faithfulness, repentance, and even our own dependence on the Lord.

Our first of two points this morning in verses 1 through 15 is that the better Adam had a mission of submission. The better Adam had a mission of submission. And we'll see with each temptation. We'll have three sub-points under that. In the baptism narrative of Jesus in chapter 3, we saw that Jesus was ceremoniously anointed by the Holy Spirit. And now he goes forth full of the Spirit. And he is going in the power of the Spirit. And the idea here is not that Satan drew Jesus into the wilderness or even that the Spirit dragged Jesus along.

It's actually that Jesus went in the fullness of the Spirit to go to the wilderness in order to engage with the deceiver. The ministry of Christ was to pave the way for the redemption of his people, and that includes his own personal example of holiness. And first on the list was to show Satan just who he was up against.

Luke doesn't just want us to see that Jesus has been tempted in every way like us, although he certainly has, but in this particular narrative, we see that Jesus has actually been tempted above and beyond how we will be tempted. This is a unique temptation to Christ because it is not directed primarily at his humanity or even at his desires; it's directed at his deity. Saying, "Okay, if you are Jesus, the Son of God, then enter the temptations."

While Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, in contrast, Adam was tempted in a beautiful and luscious garden. Adam had his own God-given companion, Eve. Christ was alone. The devil snuck up on Adam, through Eve, and caught him vulnerable and unprepared for that moment. Whereas Jesus marched straight towards his nemesis.

And these three temptations that we will look at are most likely a summary of the ongoing temptation that Jesus faced for that whole time that he was in the wilderness. After the glory of his public baptism, Jesus finds himself in the quiet wilderness with Satan. There was no crowd. It was Jesus and Satan alone. And this interaction has been written down for our benefit, but the event itself was to prove to the powers of darkness just who had the genuine and true authority in this moment.

And here we see the first temptation and also our first sub-point in verses 3 through 4. The better Adam had a mission of submission to God's provision. Picking up in verse 3, the devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." And Jesus answered him, "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone."

Perhaps you remember the last audible words spoken about Jesus was that the baptism narrative. The very last thing we have recorded, verse 22, "You are my Son, and in you I am well pleased." Jesus knew that he was God's Son. So what was the big deal here in having to prove that to Satan? Well, this temptation was about much more than a quick meal. It was about much more than simple bread. It was an opportunity to use his divine power and attributes and position for his own ends, thereby actually rejecting the provision that was already in place from God the Father.

For us, cutting corners often can come so easily. Just take some of those seemingly inconsequential things into your own capable hands, right? Get things done. Circumvent to the end. But we know that when we try to solve our own problems through our own strength, it usually doesn't turn out very well because we don't have the genuine ability or the genuine authority to fix our problems.

But here, Jesus actually has both of those things. He has the ability and the authority as the Son of God to improve his current circumstances. Why go hungry? Wouldn't it be more advantageous to face Satan's temptations on a full stomach? Jesus knew exactly what he was doing. He here echoes and reinforces the truth of Deuteronomy chapter 8, that man would not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

To provide for himself in this sense would be to forsake God's loving provision and to separate himself from the very people that he came to save. He didn't need God's provision in the same way that we need God's provision, but he was here to submit himself to that provision for our sake. He came willingly to submit to the Father's will and therefore to show and pave the way of salvation. Because there can be no walking with God without the grateful dependence on God's loving provision.

Second, we see in verses 5 through 8 that the better Adam had a mission of submission to God's plan. The devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me and I give it to whom I will. If you then will worship me, it will all be yours."

What an incredible statement for Satan to make. Because we also know, as it says in Proverbs, that the hearts of kings are like a stream of water in the hand of God, directing and correcting them however he wills. But it is also true, this is not an empty offer. Satan has been given temporary and subservient authority over the kingdoms of the world, which is exactly why Satan says it has been delivered to him for a time. It's not a real power. It's not a real authority.

But this temptation is no less than an opportunity for Jesus to gain his future glory—all of the accolades, the titles, the power, king of kings, lord of lords—without the cross. Without the path of suffering. It would be a crossless majesty. This would exchange his loyalty from God the Father to Satan and enable him to avoid the path of the cross entirely and still achieve a glorious outcome. Real authority and real glory, but not real redemption. There would be no winning a people to yourself.

And the devil here is so clever. We know from Jesus' prayer in the garden that just the magnitude, the weight of the suffering and death that awaited Jesus was enough to lead him to sweating drops of blood. It was enough to lead him to ask the Father, "If possible, let this cup pass from me. But not my will, but your be done." Satan knew the crippling weight of the path that Jesus was starting. He knew where he was headed, and he knew he had an opportunity to say something here.

But we see in Jesus' response in verse 8 that his mission was never his own glory. It was not his power. It is not ownership over the kingdoms of the world. He says, "It is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve." In contrast, in the wilderness, for the people of Israel, they were frequently stumbling, frequently overcome by their own idolatry, their own desires for their own power, for their own provision, for their own plan.

But this was not the case with Jesus, who would be our eternal example. He was on a mission for the Father and for his people, and he knew there could be no salvation without suffering, no power without the power of his shed blood. And that was all the motivation that he needed to completely submit himself to the Father's plan, which would climax in the crucifixion.

But he also saw through the devil's offer to something even greater. What Satan was offering was good, but it was not the best. It was not the most glorious. Because God is not looking for the simple glory of earthly kingdoms who just owe their allegiance to him out of a simple ownership. Well, he's the man. We have to honor him, right? No, he is looking for the glory of worshipers in his own kingdom who have desired to be with him and who rejoice and glorify in him even more. We are not God's subjects in his kingdom. We are his children. And therefore, we are his glory. It increases in our own rejoicing.

And Jesus submitted perfectly to the Father's plan, not circumventing the cross, not avoiding the suffering, not trying to execute his own will, which led him to completely depend on God's power. Number three, the better Adam had a mission of submission. I've already tripped myself up. A mission of submission to God's power.

Verses 9 through 13. And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it is written, he will command his angels concerning you to guard you, and on their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone." And again, Luke wants us to know that the cross is in view here. This quotation from Psalm 91 was a reminder to David, the anointed David, that God's angels would not let harm befall him until his time came. If David merited divine protection from the Lord, how much more Jesus, the Son of God?

But the twist here is subtle. We see in the temple, which was a symbol of God's presence, his provision, his protection, the temptation here was a call to force the hand of the Father in his supernatural protection. "He's not going to let anything happen to you before the cross. Just embrace, engage his protection. Enjoy it. Relish in it. Let the people around you see that you are supernaturally protected." In a sense, the devil is getting at the idea that Jesus shouldn't have to embrace suffering and pain in order to accomplish his purpose. There has to be a way to get there without all of the hard stuff in the middle.

As we saw with the temptation of the kingdoms in the second one, surely there was a way to get things done without the cross. Jesus knew some of the trials that awaited him in the very people that he came to save: mockery, rage, betrayal, suffering, torture, and death. How many of us would give anything to have a supernatural manifestation of God's comfort in our darkest, most painful, most grief-stirred nights? And yet that's exactly what we have in the Holy Spirit. We have God's comfort. We have God's peace. And Jesus acknowledged that God's power really does shine the brightest in our weakness, in our dependence and total reliance on him. And that same power was going to work mightily through every hardship and not in their avoidance. The mission of God was never to keep his only son safe.

As Paul said in Corinthians, Jesus did not count his equality with God as something to be grasped. He submitted himself to God's power and his protection without accomplishing any of it on his own timeline. This was the mindset of Christ. There would be no glory and no redemption, no lasting victory over sin and death without the path of pain and suffering.

He says in verse 12, "It is said, You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." And we often read those words and think, "Okay, mic drop. He's just said, Satan, get out of here. Stop testing me. I am the Lord your God." But this isn't about Satan testing Jesus; it's about Jesus refusing to test the Father. He's saying, "No, no, no, I'm not going to play your games and I'm not going to put my loving Father to the test. I will submit intentionally to his will in every respect." He refused to exploit his status and his authority, instead willingly looking forward to bear the humble reality and the path of a servant.

And so we see in verse 13 that when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. And then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit in verse 14 to Galilee. And the report went about him out throughout all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

So Satan leaves and he gets to work, crafting and scheming and knowing that that crucifixion date is coming and that his time is limited. And likewise, Jesus sees the same thing and he also gets to work. The contrast is quite stark. Jesus will say essentially, "Thy will be done," whereas Satan says, "My will be done."

And just as Jesus had a message for Satan, he also had a message for his people in his hometown, Nazareth. Which is interesting because in Matthew and Mark, they say that he went to Capernaum after his time in the wilderness. So Nazareth wasn't necessarily the first stop after the wilderness, which means that Luke has rearranged the order here chronologically to show us something. And I think that point is to show us that Jesus was willing to embrace the path of suffering and rejection in the face of Satan.

The Rejected Messiah

And he is also willing to embrace the path of suffering and rejects with his own people, starting in his hometown, Nazareth. So let's look at our final point this morning. From verses 16 through 30, the rejected Messiah came for the lost.

In verse 16, he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, as was his custom. He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read to engage the most powerful supernatural force in the world. He also didn't back down from his own people who knew him the best. And it's interesting here that Luke also seems to be inserting the Nazareth narrative in order to bookend the public ministry of Jesus Christ for us. As John 1 says, he came to his own and his own people did not receive him.

The scene in Nazareth was not striking on its face. It would have been a normal day. It was customary for Jesus and his family to participate in the worship at their synagogue. But he wasn't there to give a testimony about his experience in the wilderness. He was there to proclaim a fulfilled promise of God that had been foretold at least 500 years prior.

Verse 17: And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

And just the fact that he's handed a scroll, it's given to him, indicates some familiarity. They were not strangers to Jesus. He probably even taught in their midst previously, although his sermon today would be quite different from the rest. The book of Isaiah, which has often been referred to as the fifth gospel because it has so many Christological prophecies and passages, has 66 chapters. And Jesus, thoughtfully and intentionally, goes all the way down to chapter 61, without chapter and verse markings. He was clearly familiar with God's word.

In verse 20, after reading, it says, He rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, Is this not Joseph's son?

It's hard to overestimate just how surprising that would have been. They would have been floored. It was the custom in the synagogue to read the scripture while standing, but then the rabbi would sit down in order to preach. So Jesus didn't just go back to his seat and offer a commentary, "Oh, yeah, by the way, today this prophecy has been fulfilled." He sat down in the seat of authority, in the teacher's seat, to teach them and say authoritatively, "I am the one that this was written about."

And this particular prophecy points back to the year of Jubilee in Israel's history. It was a mega Sabbath of sorts. Every 50 years, all the land in Israel was restored to its original owner. Everything reset. Every slave and servant in Israel was liberated. Every debt was erased. There was no planting, no harvesting in the land. There was to be a genuine rest for the people and a genuine rest for the land.

And Jesus... has been anointed by the Spirit to do what? To proclaim, to say, "This has been fulfilled and the kingdom is here." We all know that Jesus did so many miracles and wonderful things, but his power is made known clearly through his proclamation, through the message that he says. They assign meaning to his actions and they enable us to respond appropriately. We know what the cross means because of what God has told us about it.

And just as not long ago, John the Baptist pointed out Jesus as the one who is coming, now he himself, for the first time publicly, says, "I am here." I am here to proclaim the gospel, the good news, that the kingdom of God has come to the poor, the captive, the blind, and the oppressed. God has come to redeem sinners.

And it's no surprise. The congregation at first responds with expected excitement. Okay, this is something. If this is real, this might actually turn out to be a really wonderful spiritual moment, a true revival. Surely the Spirit is going to move powerfully in this moment, and he will. But it's not the way that they expect. The fact that they notice here that Jesus is Joseph's son could be a negative, but the language here from Luke seems to indicate that it was probably positive.

Here is Joseph's boy proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor to us, to his home village of Nazareth, likely just a few hundred people, which means we are going to have front-row seats to this party. We are going to be the favored ones. The year of the Lord's favor is going to start and shine the most brightest right here. Because if Israel were the people of God, then the Nazarethites were the people of Jesus. Oh, this is our guy. This is meaning big things for us.

But Jesus' proclamation was actually going beyond his audience. It was for those who were far off. Those who were closest just wanted it for themselves. And this has been the eternal stumbling block for Israel: this idolatrous attitude of "us first." We deserve this. We've earned it. We've done all of these things to attribute it to us. The same attitude of Satan who said, "Me first." They had their eyes on the physical blessings to them in this life from God. But Jesus was focused on something much more meaningful, something much more glorious, something spiritual.

We noted at Easter last year in the book of John that while Jesus was the prophesied Messiah, he was also the unexpected savior of the world. He was not the one that Israel expected. They wanted their own redemption. And Jesus came to say, "No, I'm bringing redemption to the world, to all who would put their faith in me." So he calls out the lack of faith in their hearts. In verse 23, he says, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb: Physician, heal yourself. What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well." And he said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown."

But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up for three years and six months, and a great famine came down over all the land. And Elijah was sent to none of them, but only Zarephath in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian. Again, Capernaum came first, and he knows these people, what they're really after here is signs and wonders. Show us some benefits. But that was not his mission.

Instead, he brings up Old Testament history through Elijah and Elisha to show that the mission of God is going beyond and even around the people of Israel so that it can reach and penetrate the hearts of the Gentiles. In the time of Elijah, there was a severe famine. Doubtless, many starving Israelites. And among them many starving widows. And yet God's mercy reached singularly and purposefully into the life of this Gentile widow and her son. And not long after, similarly with Elisha, God chose to heal Naaman, the Gentile from Syria, of his leprosy rather than the myriads of other lepers who were in Israel.

Here's his point: No longer would God's people be defined by ethnicity. From now on, they would be defined by faith and repentance in Jesus Christ. And this could have been a beautiful, a wonderful moment of faith and repentance. But Jesus knew their hearts, and he knew that he would take many more opportunities to expose the idolatry of man. So in verse 28 we see, when they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away.

Not only would Jesus endure the wrath of God, he would endure the wrath of men. Their intention was likely to stone him after throwing him out of the city to be rid of the son of Joseph forever to end his mission prematurely. But again, here Luke is bookending the public ministry of Jesus with brief celebration followed by raging rejection as he faced in Nazareth with his own people, and he would later face in Jerusalem with cries of "Hosanna" and palm branches, quickly followed by "Crucify him."

But there can't be any mistake here. The mission of Jesus was to proclaim the coming kingdom and in doing so, to convict people of their sin. It came with a cost, and that was repentance from your sin. There was no freedom without faith and no restoration without true repentance. The better Adam and rejected Messiah has always been on this mission. And even now, there is for us also a warning to check our own hearts before we rush to excitement and celebration. Today, what is our response to the proclamation of the kingdom of God, to Christ's fulfillment of being the one to proclaim good news to the blind, to the poor, and to the captives?

Response to the Kingdom

Is it a better life now, or is it life in the kingdom of God? Which includes a life of suffering on earth, just like our Savior. Will we resent him for the hardships of our lives when it seems to us everyone around us is prospering? Will we presume on the mercy of God that we deserve or have even earned his good favor? That we have attended church every week for as long as we can remember, that we prayed a prayer, walked an aisle, or even been baptized?

And those are all good things, but nothing that we have done or could ever do can achieve our citizenship in heaven. That's not the point. Instead, salvation, citizenship in the kingdom, comes by humbly embracing the path of Jesus, his path of suffering and submission to God, and saying, "Not my will, but yours be done."

This is God's mercy to us who are also Gentiles, who were also far off. It's amazing that the gospel has reached us here in North Georgia, and the year of the Lord's favor continues to this day so that anyone who comes to Christ in faith and repentance may be set free from the captivity of their sin, of their despair, of their grief, and of their sorrow.

Like the people of Nazareth, salvation stands before us, the fulfillment of prophecy in Jesus Christ. Would he soften our hearts to daily receive it, to embrace it, to willingly submit ourselves to the provision, the plan, and the power of God, not boasting in our own strength, but boasting in our wonderful weakness in order that the kingdom would exceed and go far beyond us?

Let's pray. God, there could be nothing better for us than to rest in the power of your kingdom, to know that our hope in the age to come is secure. It is not freedom from hardships and difficulty in this life. It is the grace and mercy of a Holy Spirit who comforts us in our troubles and our weakness, and a crucified Savior who is acquainted with our griefs and sorrow that will make the glories of heaven that much more sweet.

Would we not too quickly look past the trials of this life? Instead, point us to your Son, who endured every temptation, every tribulation, every difficulty, that he might glorify you and bring many into the kingdom. His blood, his life, is our only banner. We offer every hope, every aspiration, every prayer in His name alone. And so we pray that this morning. Amen.

Behold, the Son of God | Luke 3:1-38

Behold, the Son of God | Luke 3:1-38

NathanYoung

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Luke Chapter 3 Introduction

This morning, we're in Luke chapter 3 as we're continuing our way through this gospel account of the life of Jesus. I've said that in Luke's gospel, Luke is writing to convince Gentiles that Jesus is the Son of God. As we're working our way through this book, we're going systematically, section by section, in order to understand what God would have us know about Jesus. But it's not just about knowledge; it's also so that we might respond to Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

Well, as we come to chapter 3 in this gospel, we see Jesus presented publicly for the first time. That is, not that he had been hidden in private, but he's now going to be declared for all to hear and all to see his true identity as the Son of God. So join me as I read, beginning in verse number 1.

In the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontus Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod, Tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip, Tetrarch of Ichoria, and Therchonitis and Lysanius, Tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, son of Zachariah, in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, a voice of one calling in the wilderness, prepare the way for the Lord. Make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in. Every mountain and hill made low. The crooked road shall become straight, the rough ways smooth, and all people will see God's salvation.

John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. For I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up children for Abraham. The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not bear fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."

"What should we do then?" the crowd asked. John answered, "Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same." Even the tax collectors came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?" "Don't collect any more than you're required to," he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely. Be content with your pay."

The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Messiah. John answered them all, "I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I'm not worthy to untie. And he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork will be in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." And with many other words, John exhorted the people and he proclaimed the good news to them.

But when John rebuked Herod the Tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his brother's wife, and all the other evil things that he had done, Herod added this to them all. He locked John up in prison. When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was being baptized too. And he was praying, heaven was, as he was praying, heaven was open. And the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, "You are my son, whom I am well pleased and whom I love."

Now Jesus himself was about 30 years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph. And I'll spare you reading the whole genealogy and conclude with the final verse in 38, that he was the son of Adam, the son of God.

May God bless his word as we consider it this morning. We have here in Luke chapter 3 an announcement of the coming of Messiah. I don't know if you've ever had good news that you wanted to share with someone, but perhaps you had to wait. And the anticipation probably drove you crazy. You wondered if you would slip and make a mistake and say it too soon, or if you might say it to the wrong person.

Perhaps when you were pregnant with your first child, if God has given you marriage and children, maybe with that first child, you waited to make sure that the baby was coming before you told anyone. Now there are big baby reveals on social media and all the rest and all kinds of clever things that people do to reveal their child and even to reveal the gender of their child, but they usually wait at least a few days or possibly a few weeks or until the first three months before they tell anyone. But waiting can be challenging.

It's hard because we know something that we desperately want other people to know, but we have to wait until the right time.

Well, after the birth narratives of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ in Luke chapters one and two, the narrative goes silent. There's an 18-year gap between the end of chapter two and the beginning of chapter three. And it's in this time of silence that John the Baptist was working in the wilderness.

In fact, he was described in the other gospels as a kind of wilderness man. He was rough around the edges, not someone who was cultured and someone who would be refined. He wandered the wilderness, waiting until God would tell him to share the good news about Jesus.

And as he waited and as he worked, he would come to break the silence that had been over Israel for over 400 years. It had been that long since God had spoken through the prophet Malachi and pointed to Messiah yet again, but for 400 years there had been nothing. It's not that God was not working in the lives of faithful believers, but it's that God had delayed the coming of the Messiah, or at least delayed it from the perspective of those who were waiting for him.

Yet now, after those hundreds of years, and after 30 years since the birth of Christ, John is finally commissioned by God to go out and to declare that the Messiah has come. The deliverer of Israel is here. And John is going to call people to repentance.

Call to Confess Sins

As we look at John's announcement and really what's happening in chapter 3, I believe that John is showing that Jesus offers sinners his perfect righteousness. Jesus offers sinners his perfect righteousness. And the first part of John's message, and it's the first point in my outline, is that the Son of God calls us to confess our sins. If Jesus is going to offer sinners his perfect righteousness, it stands to reason that the first thing we must do is confess that we are sinners.

Luke introduces this account of John announcing Jesus at a specific point in time. He says, in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar, Jesus had been born under Caesar Augustus, who was Caesar up until about 14 AD. Now Tiberius Caesar was ruling over Rome and he ruled with a rough hand. He was more menacing and more punishing than even Augustus had been. Luke documents the names of these Roman leaders and of the Jewish high priests to put Jesus in human history. Luke said at the beginning in chapter one that he had written a careful account to his friend Theophilus. Luke was making sure that his record of Jesus and his life on earth was accurate and trustworthy so that it would convince his readers.

Well, as he starts this narrative and locates the announcement of Jesus around 30 AD, John the Baptist starts preparing the way for Jesus. And he starts preparing the way because the word of God has come to him, it says in verse number two. The word of God came to John, the son of Zachariah, in the wilderness. And he went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John did not act on his own initiative or craft his own message. He wasn't manipulating or trying to get ahead of God. Instead, he waited and spoke when God directed him.

And what did he speak? It says clearly there in verse number three that he preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The message God gave John confronted the Jewish people who needed to confess their sins. You see, many of the Jewish people considered themselves all right with God because they depended on their ancestry and their religion. Yet John comes along to announce Jesus to say, ancestry and religion save no one, but a Messiah comes to save us from our sins.

So the crowds of people began to hear that John the Baptist was preaching. He was going around up and down the Jordan River where he was declaring Christ. This God-given message that John had been given was confronting hollow and hypocritical religion. The religious leaders in Israel had reduced their religion to simply a list of traditions, but they had ignored their desperate need for forgiveness. Now this doesn't mean that there were not believers among the Jews, but it means that their leaders were leading them away from God.

And John was calling all who would listen to receive a baptism, not for their salvation, but a baptism as a sign of their genuine repentance, that they had recognized their sin and they were turning from their sin to trust the promises of God. John was baptizing anyone who would respond to his message of repentance. But this baptism, especially as he would baptize Jews, went against their culture. You see, the Jews did baptize, but they baptized Gentiles who were being converted to Judaism. So when John started baptizing Jews who were repenting of their sins, it went against the grain. It was startling. It was surprising.

Why is John doing this? Well, he did this because those who were confessing their sins were looking forward to the Messiah that John was declaring. And this now Christian baptism that we practice looks back to the finished work of Jesus. So John's baptism was looking forward, anticipating what Jesus' ministry would be. And our baptism today looks back at what Jesus has accomplished.

John in his message was drawing a straight line from the prophet Isaiah to Jesus so that all people could recognize and receive the promised Messiah. We see that in verse number 6. John quotes Isaiah recognizing the magnitude of his words and recognizing that God had prepared John to follow in the prophet's footsteps as a messenger of the Messiah. God chose John to introduce Jesus instead of politicians or instead of high priests or instead of well-connected people in the society. John was a complete outsider. He was a wilderness man. He looked wild. He was not someone that would be mainstream. He had no political connections in Rome. He had no religious clout in Jerusalem. But God used this wilderness man to prepare the way for the Messiah. This outsider would make the path straight so that people could see Jesus and confess their sin.

The world always values people who are powerful, wealthy, beautiful, intelligent, athletic, and successful. God, however, almost always works through normal people, people that the world considers weak and foolish. To the world, God's servants and messengers are powerless. They're poor. They're plain looking. They're simple. They're ordinary. They may even be backward.

Yet God uses humble, ordinary people to declare the gospel of Jesus Christ so that everyone can believe and the glory goes to him. The gospel is not a message of prosperity so that we can have our best life now. The gospel is actually a message that we are dying to our sin and we are being made alive by our Savior.

That message resonates when it comes through ordinary people. It's not to say that those who are powerful, wealthy, beautiful, intelligent, athletic, or successful cannot become Christians. They absolutely can. But the hope of the gospel is not dependent on human success. The hope of the gospel is depending on what Christ has accomplished.

So John boldly declared Jesus. He boldly preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and he confronted self-righteous religion. Genuine repentance involved turning away from sin and turning to Jesus Christ. This would be God's salvation, the thing that he had promised all the way back in Isaiah chapter 7, that he repeated throughout Isaiah's prophecy and really throughout the whole Old Testament.

Repentance Beyond Moral Reform

But the repentance that John preached was not a moral reform; it was not a works righteousness or meaningless religious words. John was calling everyone who had listened to him to confess their sins and be transformed by the Savior. Christians do not confess our sins and continue living unchanged lives.

The people listening to John sensed that his message of repentance would upend them. They understood that in confessing their sins to God, they would have lives transformed. We cannot believe the gospel and go on sinning as if nothing has changed in our life. Belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ and genuine repentance transforms us from the inside out. When we ask Jesus Christ to forgive our sins, he takes control of our lives and he changes the way we live.

The religious leaders who were listening to John took offense at this message and they dismissed him. Yet John comes and challenges their dismissal. He challenges their genuine connection to Abraham because they're not living according to the promises God gave to Abraham. Their lives were not producing fruit, he says verse 8, in keeping with repentance. Their lives were producing the exact opposite. They were not producing repentant, contrite followers of God, but they were producing arrogant, self-righteous people who lorded it over others with their religiosity.

The religious leaders were offended because John confronted their hypocrisy. And Jesus would come to save sinners, including hypocrites like these leaders. So our relationship with God starts with repentance, that we must acknowledge our sin, confess it, and forsake it before God. As we do that, that is what makes us a true heir of Abraham.

John says that they may have boasted that Abraham was their father, verse number 8. But he says, "But out of these stones, God can raise up new children for Abraham." It's not exactly clear what the stones are there, whether he meant literally the inanimate matter of rock that he would turn into his children, or was it an allusion to Gentiles that the Jews sometimes called stones? In either case, John's point to the Jewish leaders who were listening and everyone in the crowd was that God will draw his children to himself, but those children come through repentance. They do not come through their own self-worth or works. They come through confession of their sin.

And some of the listeners responded to Jesus or to John's message with this kind of repentance, and they asked him a sincere question. They said in verse number 11, "What should we do then?" They understood that John's call to repentance would change the way they were living. What exactly did John expect them to do in light of this message? Well, he gave the crowd three specific examples of fruit that was in keeping with repentance. And this was meant for his listeners. John knew his audience, so he spoke specifically to their lives. He gave them these three ways they could demonstrate their repentance.

First, he said repentance would prompt them to share their material resources. John answered them in verse number 11, "Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none." John was directing his listeners to share their clothes with poorer people. If they had two shirts, they should give one to someone who needed it more than they did. Their lives should be marked by generosity and not greed.

John further exhorted them to share their food. He said, if anyone has food, they should do the same. James, Jesus' half-brother, echoes the exact same idea in his letter bearing his name in James chapter 2, verse 15 through 17. He said, "Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warm and well-fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead."

Both John in his message of repentance and James in his echoing of the gospel both say that our faith and repentance will be accompanied by our works. The distinction is we don't work our way into heaven. We don't earn salvation by giving of our resources such as clothes and food.

Generosity as a Response

But we give our resources in response to what has been given to us, in recognition that we have been forgiven our sins. So as people who are forgiven, we can't help but be generous.

Well, Jesus, or excuse me, John said that repentance would cause believers to be generous, but he also said that it would cause believers not to take advantage of other people. Apparently, some Jewish tax collectors were among them, and they were well known for cheating people. They had heard John's message of repentance, recognized their sin, and they were confessing their sin, receiving his baptism.

But they still had a job, and their job was to collect taxes for the Roman government, a government that their Jewish people despised. And sadly, many of the tax collectors were also extorting extra money from their own people to enrich themselves at others' expense.

So John told this group of greedy tax collectors, he says in verse number 13, don't collect any more than you're required to. Simply put, John was instructing the tax collectors to stop taking advantage of their position and to quit exploiting other people. Instead, he told the tax collectors to only collect what was necessary. They should demonstrate a willingness to not take advantage of anyone, and that would prove their repentance.

In other words, the tax collectors would stop being greedy because they've received grace. And that grace that they would experience would make them care for other people more than their own self-interests. But John continued, because another group of people came and asked them...

Contentment in Circumstances

A group of soldiers asked what they ought to do in terms of repentance. So John gives a third way that believers should demonstrate their repentance. And he says, repentance would help believers be content in their circumstances.

Like the tax collectors, the soldiers also heard John's message of repentance and they were gripped with conviction. They confessed their sins and they received John's baptism. But they remained soldiers, and soldiers for the Roman Empire were known to use their position of authority to threaten people and to enrich themselves, to defraud people, to make false accusations against people, and really to blackmail them.

But John is saying soldiers could no longer make false accusations. Instead, he told them to be content with their pay. Verse number 14. The idea is that evidence of their repentance would be their satisfaction with what God had provided for them. They would no longer have to cheat people or bully people or take advantage of people in order to garnish their wages, but instead they would be content with what they received from their employer.

What we do with our material resources shows what we really believe about the gospel. And John, like Jesus after him, put his finger on the nerve center of people's real values. As they asked him, "What should we do?" They said, "You should demonstrate your faith by putting your resources out for the benefit of other people." If we only multiply resources for ourselves, and if we take advantage of others to multiply our resources, then we are contradicting the gospel with our greed.

There were Jewish religious leaders who were doing that. And there were also tax collectors and there were soldiers who were doing that. And John says, "That's not right." Instead, he says that believers ought to be generous. Believers should not take advantage of others. And believers ought to be content. When we keep our material resources only for ourselves and we ignore the needs of other people, then our repentance and faith are meaningless. They're just words without actual fruit.

We should ask ourselves a similar set of questions that the crowds asked John. The questions from the tax collectors and the soldiers. What must we do to show our repentance? Perhaps we should ask and answer honestly before God and one another a couple questions like this.

The first question: What can I give to reflect all that Christ has given me? Too many people give God a tip out of their abundance, but they don't give systematically or sacrificially. John was calling the believers, even in that early time, to be faithful in giving their resources to support the work of God and care for other people.

A second question that we might ask ourselves, and this could be more convicting, more embarrassing, or even make you upset, but consider this: How would it impact other people in my church if they knew how much I gave? Now in our church, we don't publish that information. Only our church treasurer knows who gives what. And we don't keep score. We don't come after people and say, "You need to give more. You've not given enough," or "You've given nothing at all."

But the gospel compels us to give. It's good that we don't know what other people give, but God does know. You may be able to hide from the pastors and hide from one another your actual contribution to the life of the church, but you cannot hide it from God. And John's point in declaring the message of repentance is that the people of Israel could not hide from God. Though he had been silent for 400 years, he was breaking the silence. And now he was calling them to live in light of their confession, to live as sinners who have been gloriously saved by grace and to become generous in their graciousness.

Sadly, in every generation, there are people who claim to be Christians who exploit other people. For example, if we're involved in the local church, but we do not give to support the ministry of the local church, then we're taking advantage of those who are serving and are giving. Evidence of our repentance and our faith in the gospel includes giving our material resources and not taking advantage of others.

Notice John told no one how much to give; he simply said to be content with what you have. The idea is not that you give a certain number, but that you give according to what Christ has given you. Christ has given you his very life through death on the cross so that you can have his sinless perfection and righteousness. So what can we give God in response to what we've been given? And the answer is everything. Not that we need to drain our bank accounts and sell our houses and become collectivists. That's not the point. The point is we give God our lives, the reason we live, and our purpose for living. And as we do that, we too become messengers of God declaring his salvation.

But John called the crowds who were coming to him a brood of vipers, verse number seven. Why did he call them this? I skipped over it at first because I wanted to come back to it after establishing that the gospel of repentance makes us generous.

But the crowds who were coming to him were greedy. They took comfort in their heritage as Abraham's descendants, and they lacked Abraham's faith and obedience. So in other words, they wanted to be identified with someone who was religious, but they didn't want themselves to submit to God. They prided themselves in keeping some of the Jewish traditions, but they were not transformed by the confession of their sin.

And John warned them sternly about God's pending judgment. He warned them that God was ready, verse 9, to cut down every tree that does not produce good fruit and throw them into the fire. God was ready to judge Abraham's faithless descendants and transform stones into his children. And the axe of his divine judgment was already over the root, ready to swing. Their only escape could be genuine repentance for the forgiveness of their sins. The escape was not in good works. The escape was not in proving their lineage, but the escape was to confess that they needed the forgiveness of others.

The Son of God calls us to confess our sin. And John preached repentance and he pointed others to Jesus, his cousin. Some of the people in the crowds responded to John's message with a sense of anticipation and even awe. They were looking at what he said and they heard it as good news. They wondered even if John himself was the Messiah. Verse number 15, asking him this question: "Are you possibly the one?"

But John said, "No, no, no, I am not the Messiah. I am simply the one who is pointing others to the Messiah." And he told his listeners that he wasn't even worthy to untie the Messiah's sandals. This would have been reserved for the lowest person in their society. Not even a student would untie the sandal of his teacher because it was too menial, too lowly. And John says, I am that level of servant who is so low that all I can do is point others to Jesus. He pointed people past himself and onto the Savior.

It was only the Messiah who would display God's power. John, it says, baptized people with water, and he did this as an outward sign of their inner repentance. But the Messiah, he says in verse number 16, would baptize them with the Holy Spirit and fire as a seal of their salvation. And the Messiah would separate the true believers from the religious hypocrites. Jesus would keep the believers and he would punish everyone else. So that meant those who claimed that their identity as sons of Abraham, or that their religious practices and traditions would save them, John is saying they would actually be punished for them. Jesus later says to those who die in their religion, "Depart from me, for I never knew you." And these are the same people who will say, "But look at all the good things that I have done for you."

John is preaching the same message before Christ preached it by pointing people to their need for the Messiah. The good news that John proclaimed, verse number 18, meant that he was declaring the coming Messiah. He was speaking to anyone who would listen, and he would exhort them with many words, it says, many other words, number verse 18. That meant John spent months, over a year, preaching the Messiah and his coming and baptizing people who were confessing their sin. He even confronted Herod the Tetrarch, who ruled over Judea, and his evil deeds, including his immoral marriage to his brother's wife. And it was that willingness to confront people in their sin that cost John the Baptist his life. Because Herod would have John arrested, thrown in jail, and imprisoned, and then Herodias would have him executed with his plate or his head delivered on a platter.

John the Baptist foretold the good news about Jesus. But not everyone heard this good news and believed it. Most of the crowds, in fact, rejected the good news. They considered it bad news. They took offense when John called them to repentance for the forgiveness of sins. They didn't consider themselves sinners. They considered themselves good. They were better than the Gentiles, certainly in their own minds. Yet John said that they need the forgiveness of their sins. He preached this repentance for the forgiveness of sins through the Messiah, but it would cost him his life.

When faithful Christians share the gospel of Jesus, some people will respond in repentance and faith. And they will be filled with the Holy Spirit. And their lives will be transformed by the gospel. Sadly, though, most people, when they hear the good news about Jesus, will either be indifferent or they will scorn him. They either won't see their need for Christ or admit their sinfulness, or they will reject Jesus and say he was just a religious person from long ago, if he existed at all. And they'll have all kinds of excuses for why the message doesn't relate to them.

In our post-Christian American culture, people are openly opposing Christians for their beliefs and questioning whether or not Christians should share the gospel. Last year's shocking assassination of Charlie Kirk struck a nerve among many Christians because he died sharing his beliefs on a college campus. His tragic death helped many believers realize the real cost of declaring Jesus.

You see, we're not a multi-marketing campaign. We're not offering "your best life now." We're inviting people to admit their need for a savior, to confess their sin, and to take up Jesus' cross and follow him.

The call to be a Christian is not a call to a life of comfort and ease, but the call of a Christian is a life of pleasing their Father God. As we do that, it starts by confessing our sins, and the Son of God calls us to confess our sins.

Sinless Righteousness of Jesus

But the second main thing, and I'll be quicker on the second point, is that the Son of God comes in sinless righteousness for sinners. The Son of God comes in sinless righteousness for sinners. John not only announced Jesus, but he also had the privilege to baptize him.

Beginning in verse number 21, we have John interacting with Jesus in public. Throughout his gospel account, Luke is going to highlight the human nature of Jesus. He had normal parents and he lived in an out-of-the-way part of Israel in Nazareth. He was not born to the high priest's wife, nor did he live in Jerusalem around the temple and religious people. Up until now, only a few lowly shepherds, three wise men, and two elderly believers had recognized Jesus as Israel's promised Messiah.

It was against this backdrop that Jesus emerged from his family in Galilee and went to the Jordan River where John was preaching. He listened to his cousin declare repentance for the forgiveness of sins and proclaim his own coming as the Messiah. And as Jesus watched the people respond to John's message of repentance and receive baptism, he himself would enter the waters to receive baptism.

It says in verse 21, when all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. John was surprised by this. In the other gospel accounts, we see him saying, "Why? What are you doing?" But Jesus received John's baptism as an indication of his humanity. He was not admitting sin or saying that he had sins to confess. He was instead identifying as a human being.

The Apostle Paul said it this way in Philippians chapter 2: Jesus made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Jesus received John's baptism to reveal his true identity as the Son of God. We gather that because when he went down to the edge of the Jordan River, he prayed, and it says in verse 21 and 22, the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.

All the other people who were being baptized that day went into the water and came out of the water with John's words to bless them. But Jesus entered the water, and the triune God revealed himself as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All of the gospel writers describe the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus like a dove. And in the Old Testament, this dove symbolized peace with God. The Holy Spirit was appearing like a dove to emphasize Jesus' identity as the Prince of Peace, the one who would bring genuine and lasting peace to sinful men. The Holy Spirit brought this peace over Jesus as he began his earthly ministry to indicate that he would bring peace to sinners who needed God's forgiveness.

This voice that came from heaven pierced through the atmosphere and caught everyone's attention. Because this voice was none other than the voice of God saying, "You are my son whom I love and with you I am well pleased." John had been talking about the coming Messiah, and now Father God interrupted time and space to say, "Here he is."

This is the first of three recorded occasions when the Father spoke from heaven about Jesus. He did it again at the Transfiguration and again in his last week before the cross. God the Father was publicly declaring Jesus Christ to be the Son of God. Prior to this baptism, people who knew Jesus recognized him mostly as Joseph's son. No doubt he stood out from others and he was different because of his sinless righteousness. But it was at this occasion that God used John's baptism to declare Jesus was his beloved son.

And Jesus was fully God and fully man. He was one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. And God the Father took pleasure in his son and commissioned him to save sinners. The Son of God came in sinless righteousness to save sinners. And he did this with incredible miracles because of his righteousness.

After growing up in Joseph and Mary's home, Jesus began his public ministry. He was now, it says in verse number 23, about 30 years old, following the example of the Old Testament priests. And by this point in his life, Jesus had established his identity with his human family. But now Luke was establishing his identity as God's only son.

Luke does this with a genealogy that goes all the way back to Adam. He was proving that Jesus could relate to all human beings who came from God. This fit with Luke's description and quotation from Isaiah, where he said Jesus would be the savior of all people, both Jews and Gentiles. Matthew's genealogy only went back to Abraham, and that was for the benefit of Jewish believers. But Luke's genealogy started with Joseph and went all the way back to Adam for the benefit of Gentile believers. By putting Jesus' genealogy after his baptism, Luke reminded his readers that the Son of God was also the Son of Man, born into a broken world under God's law, and he identified with the needs and the problems of human beings.

And since Joseph and Mary were both descended from David, Luke's genealogy proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus of Nazareth had the legal right to be the heir of David's throne. Luke recorded the arrival of God's son, Jesus, as the fulfillment of God's covenant promises.

God created a people for himself, a group of sons and daughters who would confess their sins, receive Christ's righteousness, and delight in his love. Jesus did what both Adam and the people of Israel could never do. He lived a sinless life and gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins.

And that leads to my last point, and that is: if the Son of God calls us to confess our sins and he came in perfect righteousness to save sinners, then point number three is that the Son of God demands a response.

The Required Response

The Son of God demands a response. Some people came to hear John out of curiosity and thought, "That's interesting. No, thank you." Other people would come to hear Jesus because they heard that he worked miracles, and they would see that and say, "Hmm, that's interesting, but no, thank you."

But when we hear the good news about Jesus Christ, that he came to save sinners and offer us forgiveness, we must respond to him. We must confess our sin with genuine repentance and put our trust in Jesus Christ for his righteousness alone.

The Son of God demands a response. We cannot be neutral about Jesus. The Apostle Paul put it like this to the Galatian believers in Galatians chapter 3: "So in Christ Jesus, you are all children of God through faith. For all of you were baptized into Christ who have clothed yourselves with him. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise."

Three Closing Questions

Paul said exactly what John was pointing to and what Jesus would preach through his own ministry, that it is through him that we become the children of God.

So as I close, I have three questions for you. The first is, have you confessed your sins and asked God for forgiveness? Because none of us are righteous apart from God. Second, have you put your faith in the perfect righteousness of Jesus? Or are you still depending on your own self-righteousness? There is nothing we can do because all of our works are like filthy rags, Isaiah says. My third question and last is, do you belong to Jesus? Are you an heir according to his promise? Have you accepted Jesus as your savior and your Messiah?

I would invite all of you here, whether you're a child, a teenager, an adult, or a senior adult, to hear what Jesus said and hear what John said about Jesus, that you would confess your sins, that you would put your confidence in Christ for his righteousness, and that you would become one of his sons and daughters. Nothing would please him more.

In conclusion, I wanted to highlight a book that I would encourage you guys to read. We have downstairs, if you make your way down there from time to time, a book area. And we put books there that we want you to read. And one of them is this little yellow book called Conversion. In this book, the author lays out what it means to be a follower of Jesus. It's sort of like the question that John was asked when he preached: "What should we do then?" And this book helps put more specific details on what we should do then if we follow Jesus.

So I would encourage you to go grab a copy of this. They're free. And this is written at a level that... I'd say probably from the sixth grade onward, you can read this and understand it and talk about it as a family. And I would encourage you to confess your sin, to follow Jesus, and then to live in light of your repentance and to demonstrate that you get grace by being generous because Christ, who gave his life for you, is worth giving your life to.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we come to you this morning, we commit this to you. We ask that you would help us to see ourselves as sinners so that we can confess our sin and we can claim the blood of Jesus to forgive our sins and to wash us white as snow, so that we can be named among the sons and daughters of God. And Father, for those who are here this morning that are not Christians, I pray that they would repent. And for those who have repented, I pray that we would live out our repentance and faith. God, help us as individuals and as a church to be generous because of grace. And help us to lavish the grace of God on others by declaring the name of Jesus to all who would listen. And we pray this in His name. Amen.

Full of Wisdom and Grace | Luke 2:22-52

Full of Wisdom and Grace | Luke 2:22-52

Nathan Young

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Introduction and Announcements

Well, I want to thank you, church, for giving me the opportunity to take some time off after the Christmas holidays. We had a great time traveling to Kentucky where we saw my family and were able to spend time with my parents and my brother and his family. And it was just a really enjoyable time.

And then it was a blessing to be here last Sunday worshiping alongside you and not leading you in worship. So I was blessed by all the participants in worship and grateful for Mark and Dan preaching in my absence and continuing us in the Gospel of Luke where we'll find ourselves this morning.

So you could go ahead and turn to the Gospel of Luke chapter 2. Before I do that, I did forget to mention in my announcements, I said it's a season of babies and weddings in our church. Well, yesterday the Gravitz welcomed their second—not second granddaughter, second through Nathan and Cece, but five total. Is that right? Or how many grandkids? Yeah, five. It takes an engineering degree from a certain trade school on North Avenue to figure this out, right? No, but we're super excited that Amelia Claire arrived yesterday healthy and happy, and she joins her parents, Nathan and Cece, and her big sister, baby Paige, who is here with Tommy and Amy this morning. So that is so precious.

And then I also failed to mention that in the month of February, early February, Michael and Victoria Coulter, who are over here, are expecting their third child, which will be a baby boy. So that's super duper exciting. And we're hoping, or not hoping, we will have a baby sprinkle for them on January the 25th, which is the last Sunday of this month. So be thinking about that. Come prepared with lots of diapers and wipes, which are a huge blessing to families that are adding more kids to their number.

Well, as we turn to Luke chapter 2, I want us to read here, beginning in verse number 22 through the end of the chapter. So this is a longer section, but I want to read it so that we get the ebb and the flow of what God has recorded for us in his inspired word. So listen as I read.

When the time came for the purification rites required by the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the law of the Lord. A pair of doves or two young pigeons. Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Moved by this Spirit, he went into the temple courts. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the law required, Simeon took him in his arms and he praised God, saying, "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations, in light for the revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people, Israel." The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your own soul too."

There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old. She had lived with her husband seven years after marrying and then was a widow until she was 84. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Every year, Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up to the festival according to the custom. And after the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and their friends. And when they did not find him, excuse me, when they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.

After three days, they found Jesus in the temple court sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."

"Why were you searching for me?" Jesus asked. "Didn't you know that I had to be in my father's house?" But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.

Here Luke is recording in his gospel an account of Jesus' consecration in the temple. After the birth narratives of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, Luke takes us back to the temple where he began his gospel. The first temple scene that Luke recorded was when the angel Gabriel appeared to Zachariah, John's father, and he told Zachariah that he and Elizabeth, who had been barren, would give birth to a son. Then Gabriel would appear to Mary and tell her of their coming son, the promised one, Jesus, that she would give birth to.

And now, Luke takes us back to the temple to describe Jesus' parents, his earthly mother and father, consecrating him for obedience. The idea in all of this is that God had sent his son, Jesus, into the world to live under the curse of sin and under the requirements of the law so that he could fulfill them and live in sinless perfection. Jesus would live in sinless perfection so that he could die as a sacrifice for our sins and give us forgiveness.

As Luke wrote his gospel, he was writing primarily to Gentiles. And he established from the outset and throughout Jesus' Jewish identity, but he also made it clear that Gentiles would be included in Jesus' salvation. His emphasis here, that we'll see this morning, involved establishing Jesus' humanity and his obedience under the requirements of God's law. Ultimately, Luke makes the point that anyone can receive Christ's obedience through faith. Anyone, including you and me, can receive Christ's obedience through faith. There is no other way to please God.

No matter how hard people may try to clean up their lives, and at a time like the beginning of the year, people make resolutions to do all kinds of things. Some people resolve that they will be nicer, that they'll stop being angry, or they'll quit being mean. Now, maybe they don't say it that way, but they strive, at least privately, in their own heart and their own mind, to be more pleasant around other people. Others make other kinds of goals that are more physical. They'll say, "I want to lose weight this year. So I'm going to stop eating this. I'm going to start exercising. Perhaps I'm going to take medication, whatever it is, but I am going to lose X number of pounds."

And for others, you might resolve in a new year to make a bigger change in your life. Perhaps this is the year that you change careers, or this is the year that you at least find a different job because you've reached the end of the job you're at. Whatever your resolution, most resolutions fall flat because we don't have enough willpower to follow through. We can make it part of the distance that we are eager to get excited, and we think about all the changes that are going to happen. But then most of us, especially on resolutions like diet, say, "The diet starts tomorrow, after this one more visit to Chick-fil-A, after this one more Diet Coke, then I'll start my resolution."

The point is, none of us are able to live up to what we hope. We have a saying in our culture that says "practice makes perfect." And for some reason, whether we do it intentionally or not, we almost act as though if we just practice resolutions enough, we will eventually master resolutions. But the reality is we cannot do that. Practice does not actually make us perfect. It may make us better. It may help us improve, but it can never eliminate mistakes and it can never overcome our sin nature. Even a virtuoso on the violin plays wrong notes from time to time. And even an all-star quarterback can throw the football to the wrong person. Practice may make us better, but it can never make us perfect.

God requires moral perfection to enter his kingdom, not mere improvement. God is not looking for people that will resolve to be nicer this year or lose weight or change careers or be a different kind of person so that they qualify to enter into his kingdom. God is looking for sinless perfection. This is why God sent Jesus into time and space to become a human being, so that Jesus could take on our flesh under the curse of sin, under the rule of law, and fulfill all the righteous requirements that God laid out. And Jesus did this incredibly because he was the Son of God.

Jesus did not have to resolve to be better. Jesus did not have to practice to become perfect. He was perfect from his birth until his death and even now at the right hand of the Father. And Jesus, in his moral perfection, lived a righteous life that none of us can live so that we can be forgiven.

As Luke presents Jesus in the temple at his tender age of eight days old, he's demonstrating that Jesus came into this world under a system that established God's righteousness. And from the moment Luke introduces Jesus, he describes him as the fulfillment of God's law.

And he would fulfill God's law by obeying it in every jot and every tittle. He said through the angel Gabriel in chapter 1, verse 37, that no word from God will ever fail. The idea being that Jesus would succeed at keeping God's covenant promises for Israel and for all people that would believe him.

God Requires Perfect Obedience

Luke wants us to understand, along with his readers, that we can receive Christ's obedience through faith. But first we must recognize, and this is my first point this morning, that God requires perfect obedience to his law.

Up until this time, no one had been able to obey the law in its perfection, and no one would ever be able to do that apart from the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

And Jesus was born in such a way that God saw to it that he would obey the law. In fact, Luke starts this narrative by bringing Jesus into the temple courts.

The Presentation of Jesus

One week after his miraculous birth in Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary made their way to Jerusalem. They traveled about five or six miles on foot. Maybe they had the aid of an animal for Mary. But in any case, they made their way from Bethlehem to Jerusalem so that they could present Jesus in the temple.

As devout Jewish believers who understood the law and its requirements, they were compelled to take Jesus for consecration. Jesus had been born under the law of Moses so that he could obey the law perfectly. And Joseph and Mary had accepted everything that Gabriel the angel had revealed to Mary about their son. After his birth, they gave him the name Jesus. We see that in verse number 21. His name meant Jehovah saves, pointing others to the salvation that is promised through God.

And then they brought Jesus not only with his name, but they brought him for the purification rites and circumcision that was required of the law. Jesus' parents here are giving two small birds as a sacrifice offering, and this was to indicate their poverty. They didn't have the money to afford a lamb. So the law provided a much more modest sacrifice of two doves or two pigeons. Joseph and Mary brought this modest sacrifice to consecrate Jesus.

But what they had no idea is that Jesus was actually the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the whole world. He would take their sins away. He would take everyone's sins away who trusted in him. Jesus would make all of us perfect because of his obedience that he gives freely to us.

As Joseph and Mary brought Jesus into the temple, they brought him there so that Mary in particular could be cleansed ceremonially. It seems that through her birth, as a birth process of any Jewish mom, she was considered unclean for seven days, and she had to come to the temple to offer a burnt offering. And this offering would help highlight her need for forgiveness and her need for purification from God.

This is further evidence that Mary was not sinless and perfect, as some claim. Mary was not a deity. She was not a co-redemptrix. Mary was a woman who sinned like other women, and Mary needed the forgiveness of God just as her husband Joseph, and just as each of us do. Mary made provision so that she could be consecrated, and she and Joseph also set apart Jesus.

Because these rites also involved the infant, Jewish boys would receive circumcision on the eighth day according to the law, which was recorded in Leviticus chapter 12. This circumcision would serve as a sign of God's covenant, distinguishing the Jews from the Gentiles. And for a firstborn son like Jesus, his parents would also honor him or consecrate him and honor the Passover. A son's circumcision and his consecration revealed his dependence on God for salvation.

And in this case, having Jesus circumcised and setting him aside for Passover was an indication that Jesus was under the law and he was fulfilling the law. His parents didn't skip or take shortcuts or make excuses. They didn't say, "It's too far to travel. We don't have enough money, and they won't recognize us anyway." No, Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple because it was an act of faith-filled obedience.

Though Joseph and Mary were not perfect, they themselves were not without sin. They ordered their lives in such a way as to obey God. They brought themselves, when the law required, to present Jesus and to consecrate him unto the Lord. As they did this, they demonstrated that their faith and their confidence was in God and that they trusted God to do what Israel needed and what they needed, which was to deliver them from their sins.

The Impact of Parental Obedience

Parents and grandparents, our obedience to God impacts our children, and it impacts our grandchildren far more than we think. They catch what we do more than what we say. We've all heard it said, "Do as I say, not as I do." And yet, we call that hypocrisy, right? But when we do what we're supposed to do, what we say matters more.

And here, we see Joseph and Mary giving an example of faith and faithfulness. They demonstrated obedience by bringing Jesus to the temple so that he could be consecrated. If we give our children and grandchildren an example of faith-filled obedience with our lives, then we will give them the only thing that matters for eternity, which is a relationship with God.

And yet, think about how much effort and energy parents and even grandparents spend on giving our children everything but a relationship with God. In fact, we devote thousands of dollars to sports and to music and to other extracurricular activities. Not to say that those things are wrong, but why would we prioritize those things that are temporary to that which is eternal?

Joseph and Mary were presenting Jesus from the beginning of his life to God to say that this child would be set apart for his service in obedience to the law. We also have the opportunity to set our children apart. In our context as Baptists, we don't baptize infants. We don't even dedicate infants, but we do consecrate parents.

And we bring up and we encourage parents of new children to come and declare before the church that they want to strive to raise that child in a way that would honor God and follow him in faithful obedience. It's not to say that parents that choose to be consecrated are saying, "We're going to be perfect and we're not going to make any mistakes and we're going to do this all right." But no, they're saying in front of the church, "We actually want the church to help us do this; that it's a community project that we'll work on together."

So as we're in a season of young couples getting married and couples having babies, I think this is a great season to be reminded that we should be consecrating ourselves to raise our children to follow after God, knowing that our children will not be perfect either. That our children, just as we do, need a savior, and that savior is in Christ. So as we see in this passage, we can have the forgiveness of sins through the obedience of another. But we still must be obedient as we strive to follow after God. Well, as Joseph and Mary do this, they take this step of faithful obedience to go to the temple.

Simeon and the Recognition of Christ

God honors their obedience by sending them two unlikely people to affirm their faith. Their names are Simeon and Joseph.

We're first introduced to Simeon in verse number 25. And this is a man from Jerusalem who was righteous and devout, the text says. This man was sensitive to the Spirit's guidance as well. It says he was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. God was revealing his long-awaited Messiah, and Simeon would get to see him with his own eyes. What an incredible gift and opportunity.

For hundreds of years, the people of Israel had been waiting for the fulfillment of the covenant as it would come to fruition in the Messiah. And now Simeon was told privately by the Spirit of God that he would see it. That it wasn't just a hopeful wish, that it wasn't just his intent or desire, but that it was God's plan for Israel. So when Simeon was told by God to go to the temple courts, he must have hurried and made his way there full of anticipation. He must have went knowing, "I've been to this temple hundreds of times throughout my life, but this time it's going to be different. This time I'm going to see none other than the promised Messiah of Israel."

So when Simeon arrived in the temple courts and saw Joseph and Mary with their baby boy, he must have been overjoyed. He was drawn to them. It's possible there were other parents that were there with their babies that day. But Simeon took special notice of Jesus because the Spirit of God was directing him to the Son of God. And Simeon, without even introducing himself, picks up the baby Jesus and holds him in his arms and looks intently into his eyes, speaking words of grace and truth. He welcomed baby Jesus as the fulfillment of Almighty God's promise to Israel for salvation. The consolation, or another way of saying it, the comfort of Israel had now appeared in the form of a baby.

Simeon praised God for the Messiah and he blessed him for everyone in the temple courts to hear. He was unashamed and unafraid. He took this baby, which in itself would have been unusual for an older man to take a baby from the arms of his young mother. But here he took him so that he could declare his true identity. He wasn't a baby snatcher, and he wasn't a creep. Instead, Simeon was a follower of God who wanted others to see the glory of God and that God was a covenant-keeping God who honored his promises.

Now in the physical presence of Messiah, Simeon held the Lord Jesus and proclaimed a prophetic word for others to hear about his ministry. Simeon recognized that Jesus was from the God of heaven, from God the Father. He says in verse number 29, "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel."

This baby who had been born in Bethlehem, who was now being presented in Jerusalem, would bless Israel and all nations, Simeon says. He would be a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel, verse 32. Jesus would deliver Israel as he promised, and he would include Gentiles. This had been clear from the early days of the covenant. But the people of Israel downplayed it. And now God was saying through Simeon that this baby, this Jewish boy being presented in the Jewish temple, would be the savior of all people. It was an incredible message. It wasn't exactly on brand for him to be saying that in that context in the temple. And yet it was on brand for the promises that God had given Israel for the hope that they would have in Jesus.

Simeon told these young parents that Jesus was not only a gift to all nations, but that Jesus would divide people. He says that he would cause leaders to fall and the lowly to rise and that their son would be a dividing rod. People would speak against Jesus. They would even violently oppose him. But yet Jesus would expose their innermost thoughts and cause his own mother great sorrow.

Joseph and Mary marveled at what Simeon was saying about Jesus. Now, nine months after Gabriel had first appeared to Mary and three months after the birth of Elizabeth's son John the Baptist, God was powerfully confirming his promises in their lives and his will for their son Jesus. They didn't know Simeon before this, and God sent Simeon on after this, perhaps to die in short order. We don't know. I don't think he died immediately. But he said God had told him he could die after he saw the Messiah. So Simeon didn't have more interaction with Joseph and Mary, but what interaction he did have must have built their faith and encouraged them at the boy they held in their own arms.

When we walk with God in faith-filled obedience, God uses our faith to bless other people. That's what Simeon's faith was doing for Joseph and Mary; he was blessing them.

Over the years, God has graciously sent people into my life, including some of you, to remind me of His promises and to encourage my faith. Perhaps the Holy Spirit wants you to go and speak the hope of Christ to someone that He's put on your heart and on your mind, that He's given you a burden for.

And I would challenge you: it's not that you're going to recognize the Messiah, but you are going to proclaim the Messiah and to assure them of God's work in their lives.

Anna and the Persistence of Faith

So do not resist the Holy Spirit when he prompts you. Go, speak, and watch God work, just as Simeon did. Along the same lines, immediately after Simeon blessed Jesus, Joseph and Mary are directed to Anna.

Verse number 36 says, "There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Peniel of the tribe of Asher. She was very old, and she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was 84. She never left the temple, but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying. And coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem."

So here we have Anna, who was also living according to God's word, who wanted to faithfully obey and follow what God had revealed through his covenant. Luke describes Anna as a prophet. This woman would have been in the tradition of other female Old Testament prophets who spoke God's message of hope and judgment to God's people. Anna came from a northern tribe in Israel, the tribe of Asher, and she bore witness to God's Messiah for all the people of God, for all of Israel.

Imagine her life. For over 60 years, she lived as a widow. She probably became a widow in her very early 20s, as many young women married in this ancient Near Eastern context when they were 13, 14, or 15 years old. She would have been very young as a wife and very young as a widow. She had every right under the Old Testament law to remarry, and we saw that in Ruth and Naomi, whenever Ruth remarried Boaz. And yet, Anna chose not to remarry. She chose instead to devote herself to worship at the temple. So she chose a life of faith and obedience and faithfully served in the temple for over 60 years.

We don't know much else about Anna. But what we do know is when the Son of God appeared and Simeon recognized him, declaring what God was doing through him, Anna took note. She heard what Simeon was pronouncing and she went over to affirm the same. She also looked at Jesus, perhaps taking her in her arms, and says that she gave thanks to God. She received the message that Simeon had declared, and she rejoiced in what God had done, that here was the promised one, that they were no longer waiting, they were instead holding the Christ in their arms.

Anna affirmed Jesus' identity as the Messiah with thanksgiving and with her own testimony because she immediately turns, it says, to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem and she spoke about Jesus.

Simeon and Anna persevered in faith unto their old age. They did not become complacent about their relationship with God or withdraw from other believers. They didn't stop going to the temple and saying, "Hmm, temple worship is just for young people and people raising children." No, these two elderly saints stayed active and obedient in the faith. They engaged in God's work and they followed God's covenant-keeping promises with joy, anticipation, and gratitude. The faith of Simeon and Anna honored God and blessed other believers.

I just want to say, in a church like ours, I'm very, very grateful for the senior adults that God has in our congregation. I have been blessed and continue to be blessed by your faith and your faithfulness over many years. We have a great time when we get together for our senior luncheons, and we have one of those coming up later this month. But I think what is most encouraging is to see your faith continuing, that you haven't checked out as you've gotten older. Even though our society promotes retirement, and I don't think retirement is wrong, the Bible does not promote the idea of retiring from our relationship with God or the local church.

Here we have two steadfast believers into their 80s continuing to faithfully come to the temple in anticipation of what God would do. And I'm grateful that we have people in our church in their 70s and 80s and some in their 90s who continue to pursue worship and obedience and challenge those of us who are younger.

I want to encourage middle-aged adults, people like me who are half-century old and older, that we would persevere in Christ and persevere with the local church. It's sad, but in church demographics and studies, the people most likely to check out a church are people in middle age. It's because we're being pulled between raising kids who are becoming teenagers and college students and parents who have faltering health and require demands on that end. And in our care for our families, we can sometimes neglect the church. And I just want to challenge you, don't neglect the church. Your presence is needed and your faith is needed. Because those things will build you up, but they will also bless other people.

And for the young adults that are here, I want to challenge you. Don't just sequester yourselves to be only among young adults but learn from our senior adults. Pursue them. My generation often complained that the senior saints never pursued us.

And some of us turn that around and say, "Well, then we will pursue them." So I want to challenge you, young adults, let senior adults pursue you and you pursue them and form sweet relationships as you grow in your faith and faithfulness to God. As we do that, God will bless and strengthen our church with multiple generations.

We don't want to be a church of simply gray-haired or white-haired adults, and we don't want to be a church of just young people. We want to be a church of all God's family. And it truly is a family where we help one another and we bless one another. Here, Simeon and Anna blessed Joseph and Mary. These older adults blessed this young couple who were now going to be raising a child, but a very unique child, the Son of God himself.

After consecrating Jesus in the temple according to God's law, Joseph and Mary returned to Nazareth, about 70 miles north of Jerusalem. This would have been a long walk as they traveled, perhaps with others for safety. And as they traveled, they had time to reflect on all that had happened in the temple. I'm sure there were other people and other conversations beyond Simeon and Anna's that built their faith, that buoyed their hope in Christ, and gave them confidence that this boy Jesus would turn into the savior of all people.

Well, as they went away, Luke simply summarizes what happened over the next 12 years in verses 39 through 40. He says, Jesus, like other boys, grew and became strong. He was a normal, healthy human being. But unlike other boys, Jesus was uniquely filled with wisdom and the grace of God was on him. In other words, Jesus was not only a human being; Jesus was the God-man, the Son of God, the eternal Son of God.

And here as Jesus was growing up in Nazareth, living with his family, he was growing in obedience to the law. There was no part of the law that Jesus disobeyed. Instead, he did everything that the law required. He fulfilled even the fifth commandment, that he honored his parents and obeyed them. He was never cross with his siblings who would come later through Joseph and Mary's relationship. And Jesus never offended other people or did what was wrong for the sake of riling them, for some cruel joke, or from some sarcastic comment, or from some boyish or childish practical joke.

Jesus instead grew up in a way that honored God in every way without sin. And Jesus was none other than God himself. Early in his life, Jesus demonstrated his deity through his obedience. He did not have a sin nature like his parents, Joseph or Mary, or like you and me. Jesus was fully man and fully God, and he lived in perfect obedience to the heavenly Father so that he could fulfill all the righteous requirements of the law.

None of us are sinless. None of us can earn God's righteousness, but God gives us his favor through Jesus. God requires perfect obedience to his law, and only one person can be perfectly obedient, and that's Jesus. And that leads to my second point, and that is Jesus fulfills the law with grace and truth.

Jesus Fulfills the Law

Jesus fulfills the law with grace and truth. Beginning in verse number 41, Luke skips ahead 12 years after Jesus' birth, when Joseph and Mary were taking him to Jerusalem in the year that would precede what we commonly call now bar mitzvah. Apparently, Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem for every Passover each year. And whether or not they took Jesus every year, it's not clear, but they clearly brought him in his 12th year, and they brought him so that he could be prepared to be recognized as an adult in his 13th year. That's what the custom would have been that's referred to in verse number 42.

Well, when the festival was over, that is, there was not only the Passover, which was one day, but there was a celebration, the feast or the celebration of unleavened bread that lasted for a week. And Joseph and Mary and Jesus stayed and participated in all the activities in Jerusalem. But then Joseph and Mary started traveling home at the end of that week. And when they did, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, verse 43, but unknown to his parents.

So at the end of their first day of travel, they could not find Jesus among their relatives and friends. This would have been a large group of people making their way from Jerusalem back north to Nazareth. This wasn't just a handful of people. It was probably a hundred or more people that were traveling together. I would say more, most likely. So Jesus had been unaccounted for because Joseph assumed he was with somebody. Mary assumed he was with somebody. And then they finally realized he wasn't with them at all.

So they turned around. They spent a second day going back to Jerusalem to find Jesus. And on the third day, they found him in the temple. Imagine the anxiety that Mary must have been feeling in particular. That, Joseph, how could you lose track of your son? And I'm sure Joseph was thinking, Mary, why are you blaming me? What about you? And I'm sure there were some tense conversations and moments as they were searching not only along the road back to Jerusalem, but searching throughout Jerusalem, wondering where their son was.

And when they found him, they were astounded and amazed because Jesus was in the temple listening to the teachers of the law and asking them questions, it says, verse number 46. Everyone who heard Jesus was amazed at his understanding and his answers. No doubt they were marveling at his wisdom, especially considering his young age of 12 years old. But they were also probably astounded because of his modest parents. And after all, where were the parents? They were absent until they realized he had stayed behind and then they came back to find him.

But no doubt, the people in the temple also admired Jesus' ability to listen. It says that he listened to them, he understood their teaching, he received what they were saying. But then it also says they marveled at his questions. Jesus had incredible insight and wisdom. He was asking questions that made well-trained and experienced rabbis question themselves. And here, Jesus is doing this before Joseph and Mary could find him.

Once they found him, they were stunned. It says in verse number 48. And Mary quickly, as any mother would, said, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." Perhaps she said more, but her anxiety was palpable. She must have been incredibly relieved. Not only had she lost her son, but she knew the weight of the situation. This was no ordinary son. This was the son of God that she had lost track of.

So like any mother, Mary was worried about Jesus. But Jesus was not left alone. Jesus was in fact in his father's house, and he turned Mary's question into a declaration of his deity. "Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know that I had to be in my father's house?"

For the first time in public, Jesus made a sharp distinction between his human parents and his heavenly father. He declared for all who were there listening that he was none other than the Son of God. He indicated that he had to be in his father's house. Well, the father's house did not refer to the high priest. This was not the priest's house. This was none other than God's house.

And Jesus is saying, "He is my father." Joseph may have been his earthly caretaker, but God Almighty was his heavenly father. Jesus didn't undermine his earthly parents' authority or ignore Mary's question. Instead, he was pointing to something more significant. And what was more significant than the fact that he was the eternal Son of God? He revealed his divine sonship to everyone in the temple, from people, ordinary worshipers to the rabbis and the priests.

But he did this to people that should have been expecting the Messiah. People that should have been looking like Anna and Simeon were 1 years ago for the coming one. They should have seen it in Jesus. Yet for 12 years, they ignored the words of Simeon and Anna.

And now they would be confronted with Jesus' own words and they would ignore them too. But Jesus would continue to live a life of obedience full of wisdom and grace. Wisdom for his knowledge of the law and its application to his life, and grace for his willingness to live a life of sinless perfection as a sacrifice for sinners.

Jesus did all of this so that we could have the forgiveness of sins, so that the people in the temple that day could have had the forgiveness of their sins. So throughout Jesus' life, he continued to submit to the law of God and obey it with grace and truth.

Jesus was not self-righteous. He did not come to judge, John says in John chapter 3, but he came to give forgiveness. Luke says Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. He developed like all human beings. He matured mentally in the wisdom of God, he grew physically in stature as a young boy, and he related spiritually with God the Father, and he connected socially with other people.

In everything that Jesus did, he obeyed God. There was no imperfection. He didn't have to practice to make himself perfect. He didn't have to make a resolution to stop doing something so that he could do what was right. Instead, he met all the righteous requirements of God's law in every thought and motive, in every word and deed.

He obeyed God's law perfectly, and he did not sin against his parents here. He did everything that was required of him, and he obeyed the fifth commandment to honor his father and mother. God requires perfect obedience to his law, and Jesus is the only one who fulfills the law, and he does this with grace and truth.

Receiving Obedience Through Faith

And that leads to my conclusion, which is the third point: We receive Christ's obedience through faith.

None of us are perfect. We're all sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God. We've rebelled against God. We're incapable of saving ourselves or of earning any kind of righteousness before God. Even our best works, Isaiah says, are none other than filthy, disgusting rags. We're born slaves to our sin, and we despise the Son of God.

We ignore him like those in the temple that day who liked to expound upon what they knew, who liked to dialogue about questions concerning the law, but when presented with the Son of God who was in his father's house, they ignored him. Some people ignore God by openly opposing him. They oppose Jesus and say he couldn't possibly be who he says that he is. But most people simply ignore Jesus and privately reject their need for him. They say, "Well, that's okay for you, for the religious types, but I don't need him. I'm okay. My life is going fine."

But Jesus came to bring us out of darkness. And the darkness is our sin and the curse that we live under in this world. We all know that something is broken and not right. We look at current events right now and we think that the world is spinning out of control with wars and rumors of wars. And yet all of this is just a demonstration that the darkness breeds trouble and it multiplies suffering.

But that darkness has been dealt with through Jesus, because God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to expose our sins and bring us into the light of his truth. The light of the gospel of Jesus Christ drives out the darkness of our sin and it brings us close to God.

The Apostle Paul asserted what Luke taught about Jesus: Jesus fulfilled God's law full of grace and truth so we can have his righteousness through faith in him. In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul emphatically wrote bookends to his letter. In chapter 1, he established the obedience that comes through faith in Jesus. And in chapter 16, he concluded with obedience through faith.

Hear what Paul says in Romans 1:5: "Through Jesus, we have received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for Christ, his namesake." And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. Paul starts his letter by saying our ministry is to call all people to obedience, but that obedience can only come through faith in Jesus. He concludes in chapter 16, verse 26 of Romans saying this: "So that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith. To the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ. Amen."

Paul's point is that the only way we can experience righteousness, the only way we can have forgiveness, is through the obedience that comes through faith. God gives us faith as a gift, Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2. And that faith is a gift of God by his grace and his glory.

God isn't asking you to reform yourself or make yourself a better person. Boys and girls, God doesn't expect you to come up and be perfect. He knows that you sin. He knows you don't listen to your parents. He knows that you pick on your brothers and sisters. And he died for sins like those. Parents, God is not expecting you to be absolutely perfect and righteous. He knows that you'll make mistakes as you raise your children. He knows that you'll sin against your children, and yet he died for those sins. And grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends, carers, others, God also knows that you're a sinner, and God wants you to trust him unto salvation. He wants you to experience the obedience that comes through faith.

So we can receive Christ's obedience through faith when we believe that Jesus Christ is who he says that he is: the promised Son of God, the hope of Israel, the deliverer, the one who saves people from their sins, the Lamb of God who takes the sins of the world away.

My final question is: Are you trusting Jesus Christ for the obedience that only comes through faith? Or are you trying to improve yourself? Are you trying to practice so that you'll become more perfect? Are you trying to resolve to be a better person so that you can not only make other people happy, but maybe privately you want to ease your conscience and make God happy too?

Well, there's only one way for God to be pleased with you, and that is when He sees Jesus, He sees you. So place your trust in Jesus because the only obedience you have comes through faith in Him.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we commit this to you, we ask that you would help us to see Jesus. Help us to be like Simeon and Anna, who saw the Christ and recognized him for who he was.

God, help us this morning as we have seen the necessity of Christ's work, because only Christ can keep the righteous requirements of the law. Help us to receive the grace and the truth that he has given to us freely.

And God, I pray that you would help us to have the obedience that only comes through faith. Forgive us for efforts of moral reform or making ourselves better. But instead, help us to be gladly self-forgetful.

Help us instead to focus on the promises of God and Jesus, and give us the hope of eternal life that was promised for people just like us if we trust you for the forgiveness of our sins. And we pray all this in the glorious name of Jesus our Savior. Amen.

The One And Only God-Man | Luke 2:1-21

The One And Only God-Man | Luke 2:1-21

Dan Webb

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Introduction

Well, we are continuing today in our series in the Gospel of Luke. And as we've noted, the Gospel begins with two significant births. We had the birth of the forerunner, John the Baptist, who was preparing the way for the Messiah, for Jesus Christ to be born in Bethlehem. And last week, Mark finished up the story of baby John.

And this morning we will look at the birth of Jesus specifically. And I think it's fitting that we are talking about the birth, this account of the angels coming to the shepherds right after Christmas and in the new year. I think some of the warm fuzzies, some of the energy that comes with the holiday season is beginning to fade away as the reality of school and work resuming tomorrow and this week is setting in.

Not to mention just the myriad of cultural additives which have infiltrated the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and have essentially turned the holiday into something altogether different. As the comedian Nate Bergatzi joked when asked how much of the Christmas holiday would revolve around Jesus and how much would revolve around Santa, he paused before quipping, "90-10 Santa." That's pretty accurate.

And sure, secular Christmas can be a comfort in life, even to unbelievers, but it cannot be a comfort in death. Only the birth of Jesus is a comfort in life and in death. And we will see in our text that is because Jesus was the one and only God-man. He was the one and only God-man. He stands altogether unique above every other false God. He stands distinct from every other false religion as the only way to God. And he stands supreme over every kingdom and every ruler of this world.

The God-man Rules Over All

So let's get into our text beginning in Luke chapter 2, verse 1, to see how this Son of God became the God-man and what that means for us. We'll see in these first seven verses in Luke chapter 2, the first point simply that the God-man rules over all power. The God-man rules over all power.

Picking up in verse 1: "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinus was governor of Syria and all went to be registered, each to his town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn."

It's interesting that the beginning verses of our chapter here don't reference the forerunner, John the Baptist, and they don't specifically reference the Savior either. Instead, they begin with two Roman rulers. Luke begins here for two important reasons. The first is to state that the birth of Jesus was a historical reality. It was a fact in time and space history that literally took place. And second, not only was this event historical, not only did it happen, but also it was historic. This is in the way that we distinguish particular events in all of history as historic, those specific instances which have grand and significant impacts on the rest of history.

And one of the evidences that Luke provides to help us know that this is an historic moment is the contrast that he is painting between the lowly Jesus and the lofty emperor and rulers of Rome. Powerful Roman Empire against the lowly baby Jesus in the manger. The influence and the reach of Rome were far and wide. And although the Israelites were fortunate to be in their homeland, they weren't in exile, this registration for taxes was a bitter and painful reminder of who was in charge. They were not over themselves; they were at home with foreign leaders, even in their beloved promised land.

And not only was the Roman Empire the most powerful empire in the world at the time, but Caesar Augustus in particular was perhaps the most powerful man who ever lived up until Jesus was born. It was around this time that the title Dominus et Deus, which means Lord and God, was ascribed to the Roman Empire. So here we have the Messiah, the coming king, the Lord, born in a lowly manger in contrast to the Roman Emperor, who many proclaimed as God himself.

So this contrast sets the stage for the king of heaven's arrival, and it provided the fuel for the future persecution of Christ's church. For centuries, because they didn't bow to the Lord of Rome, they bowed to the Lord of heaven. And God used this man, Caesar Augustus, who viewed himself as the man God, literally to pave the way for the birth of Christ, who was the true and only God-man.

Again, why had Joseph and Mary even come to Bethlehem in the first place? They wouldn't have come of their own accord with her being as pregnant as she was. It was mighty Rome who summoned them. God used pagan rulers to fulfill prophecy and bring Jesus into the world. As Benjamin noted earlier, this from Proverbs chapter 21: "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he will."

And the timing of the birth, of this birth, was providentially perfect. The word that most New Testament writers use to indicate this extra historic event is pleruma, which means the fullness of time. And we can understand what that means by imagining a glass of water. When the water is filled up to the brim, when it comes right to the cusp of the edge of the glass, it is not yet the fullness of time but close. The fullness of time comes when that last drop rises the water up and out of the cup and causes it to overflow. And the birth of the Savior of the world was literally in the fullness of time that would spill out God's grace and his blessing onto the whole world.

And the expedition of Joseph and Mary was definitely arduous, but it may not have been quite as stressful as we often imagine. It was common practice for Rome to allow a lengthy period of time for people to return to their hometowns to register and go through all the proper channels for this tax, thus avoiding some of the chaos of overfilled towns and congested streets. And yes, while Mary was certainly getting close to her due date, possibly even in the last month of her pregnancy, we don't necessarily have any indication that Jesus was born on the exact night that they arrived in Bethlehem. There's also the nature of the inn and the rooms in Bethlehem.

There's not necessarily any explicit evidence that they went from inn to inn to inn, being rejected by every rude innkeeper in the city who would have the audacity to see Mary in her pregnancy and say, "Nope, sorry, move along, keep going." We just don't know if that was the case. And the word Luke uses here is often translated simply as "guest room."

There's a chance, a good chance, that Joseph and Mary were staying, possibly with a relative of Joseph's. It was his hometown, after all. And it's also possible that they were in a literal stable outside of the house. But early traditions also indicate it may have actually been a cave that they were in. Either way, your nativity set is probably not 100% accurate.

But the important thing for us to understand is not exactly what did the scene look like. What was the picture? What was the environment? Actually, we need to understand what Luke is trying to show us, which is the contrast taking place between Rome and the kingdom of God and the foreshadowing of future events. The powerful rulers of Rome slept in luxury. The king of heaven was born into a lowly feeding trough.

The royalty of Jesus was not based on the majestic nature of his arrival. It was actually incredibly simple. But it was based instead on the divine lineage of his birth: the line of kings, son of David, the tribe of Judah, chief of Israel, and the son of God himself, born in human flesh. The circumstances surrounding his birth did not give him significance. Rather, God gave his birth every significance.

And the word here that Luke uses for "guest room" is the same word he will later use in reference to the place where Jesus came with his disciples for the Last Supper. He was born into a guest room, and he would leave another guest room in order to be crucified at the end of his life.

And what about Rome? It's interesting that Luke bookends his gospel with two of the worst features of Roman oppression. First, we have taxation and the birth of Christ. At the end of this book, we will have crucifixion in the death of Christ. Jesus was certainly born into a world of pain, but it would never compare to the pain that he would bear at the end of his life on the cross for the sake of his people.

There is so much more to the birth than the world can see. But the fact of the matter is that he was born. Almighty God, a helpless baby. The Word of God from John 1, by whom everything was made, was unable to speak, unable to form a sentence, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in that manger. Yet even in his birth, the only God-man, Jesus, has always stood above every earthly power.

The God-man Brings True Peace

And not only does he stand above every earthly power, he also is the only one who can bring true peace. We see that in these next verses with our second point, that the God-man brings true peace.

Again, in verse 8, as we look at the shepherds now: "And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, Fear not. For behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased."

We are so familiar with the birth narrative, so over-familiar that we forget just how shocking these verses were. Joseph and Mary each received a personal visit from an angel about the divine birth. And then Mary goes to see Elizabeth, who, along with baby John, miraculously confirms the divine baby in Mary's womb. These are shocking events. It's probably pretty likely that Joseph and Mary expected something else surrounding the birth of their son, right? An angel to show up, maybe the glory of God, some light radiating the room, but it was a simple, quiet, uneventful birth in a manger.

Instead, the amazing thing came to the shepherds. The hosts of the angels appeared to the shepherds. And none of this is supposed to make sense. Why didn't the angels come to the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the religious leaders who could affirm and believe and acknowledge that Messiah is here? This is our king, even to the Roman rulers who would certainly bow the knee to one of such significant power and authority. These are people who had genuine credibility and genuine influence, but instead, they came to shepherds.

We're all pretty familiar with the fact that sheep are incredibly dumb. They need constant care, attention, and protection to make it even just a few hours in the day. And we also know that shepherds in those days were outcasts. They were ruffians. They were on the fringes, the edges, the lowest rungs of society. Shepherds couldn't even give a testimony in a court of law. What they had to say was not substantial or worth listening to.

And God came to these—to the lowly, to the outcasts, those whom the world rejected and would not take seriously. Those who would mock and laugh and say, "Seriously? The Lord, the Messiah, the King of Israel came to you? No way." But God came to people with no influence, no credibility, and no social standing, because as Paul would say in 1 Corinthians, we have no right to boast in ourselves. The gospel shines most clearly in our weakness, in our insignificance.

And yet the shepherds did find themselves in good company on that night. You think about it, they were the recipients of the greatest news in human history, but they were also going to be counted among previous shepherds whom God had shown his favor to. You think of the prophet Amos, who was called into ministry as a shepherd. The great Moses, called by God in the burning bush as a shepherd to go and lead his people out of slavery. And of course, the most famous shepherd boy, King David. These men were in good company.

And it was the good news, this gospel, that was proclaimed to the shepherds that night. And again, Luke is painting another contrast with Rome because good news was proclaimed in the Roman Empire upon the birth of a future emperor, upon their coming of age, and finally upon their ascension to the throne. Good news, a new ruler to you. Good news, a new king to sit on the throne as Caesar.

But the Roman emperor was not born unto the people. They were born over the people. The Pax Romana, the peace of Rome, was not a true peace. It was a false peace. As one theologian commented, Roman peace was simply forced pacification that brought the cessation of war through war. Violence for the sake of a false peace. And the peace of Rome was thus rewarded to those who obeyed, who got in line, who willfully submitted and showed loyalty and goodwill towards Caesar. "You play nice, we'll give you peace."

But think about this: in God's kingdom, peace is not given as a reward to those who have shown goodwill to God. He's not asking you to get in line, to obey, to say the right prayers, to do the right things. Instead, the peace of God is given freely as a gift to those whom God has shown his own goodwill towards. He has shown us goodwill by giving us his free peace. And it is this faithful proclamation of peace that came with the heavenly host.

Literally, the heavenly army, the multitudes of heaven. The army of Rome existed to keep the peace, to enforce the peace when necessary. Here we see the army of heaven coming to proclaim God's peace and thus the hope and the joy for all mankind. They were not there to declare conflict, to declare vengeance. They were there to declare peace. And this stands in direct contrast to the peace of Rome and it fulfills Hebrew peace in the word shalom.

Furthermore, as if the angelic encounter was not enough as proof, the angel says, "We'll give you a sign." As if all the angels in the skies is not sign enough. "We'll give you one more thing that will prove what we are saying is true." They say, "You will find a baby." Okay, yes, unsurprising. There are babies in the world. "Wrapped in swaddling clothes." Yes, also unsurprising. "And lying in a manger." What? That would have stopped them. They would have said, "Okay. Bethlehem is not a huge town. It probably won't be too difficult to find the baby who is lying in a manger. That's how you'll know. That's how you know that verse 14 is true."

Glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. And that verse alone should affect us. Peace with God. It's amazing that our society can take such a peaceful time of year and turn it into something so incredibly anxiety-inducing. That is not the peace of God. That is the peace of the world. The angels say, "No, no, no. There is peace for those with whom God is pleased."

We can have that peace with the God of the Old Testament, the God of animal sacrifice and righteous judgment. And not only that, we as God's people are given a new identity, something that had never been spoken of us before. We are now identified as those with whom God is well pleased, as some translations say. When has God ever been well pleased with man? And how could he ever be well pleased with me? We could argue maybe he was well pleased with David, the man after God's own heart. But that doesn't do this verse justice. We could even say that God was likely well pleased in Adam and Eve, his very good creation, before sin, before the fall, at the beginning of human time. Which is better, but still not the picture Luke wants us to see.

Hear these words from Luke chapter 3, beginning in verse 21: "Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened. And the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And the voice came from heaven, 'You are my beloved Son. With you I am well pleased.'"

The sinful people of God are as pleasing to God as his own son, faithful in obedience. The Father, well pleased to send the God-man, Jesus, and who is well pleased with those whom Jesus welcomes and ushers in to the kingdom of heaven. Just let that sink in for a moment. Most of us struggle to have a pleasing relationship with anyone on the planet. Spouses, children, friends. They're all marred with difficulty. But if you are in Christ today, he is well pleased with you. You don't even have to be well pleased with yourself. You're probably not, but God is.

What glory to worship a God of true peace who is well pleased with his people. We couldn't do anything to please him. We could never earn his favor. We don't deserve it. And that is the whole point. We never deserved it. And none of us ever have except for the only God-man born in a manger announced to lowly shepherds. The favor of God has been applied fully to those who were undeserving.

The God-man Keeps Every Promise

It came to the shepherds like it came to Mary. And like Mary, the shepherds did not waste any time.

Finally, in our third point, number three, the God-man keeps every promise. The God-man keeps every promise. Looking at verse 15: When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us." And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the sayings that had been told them concerning the child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told to them.

There was no stated, no obvious or clear glory surrounding the birth of Jesus that Mary and Joseph might behold. But they were certainly in for quite the surprise when the shepherds showed up, right? "What are you doing here?" The baby in the manger was the confirmation to the shepherds that the angels were true. And the testimony of the shepherds was a further confirmation to Mary and Joseph that their own angelic visits had been true. God has done this. Truly, this night was the fullness of time.

And all of this, everything particularly in verses 18 through 20, is the stuff of genuine, sincere, honest worship, honest response to what God has done. Wonder, treasuring up, pondering, glorifying, and praising God for everything they had seen, that which they had heard and was shown to them. God said, "Go and see." So they went. They didn't go to investigate and let's find out for ourselves if what we just saw might actually be accurate. No, they actually believed the angels. And so as a response, they went immediately to go and find the child. They took God at his word.

And those are the real warm fuzzies of Christmas, trusting and resting in the reality of the promise of God that on that night he split open the heavens and sent his son to take on human flesh and to be born in a lowly manger, not so that he could overturn mighty Rome, but that he could flip the world on its head and redeem sinful people to himself. Their problem was not their oppressor, their problem was their hearts, and God came straight for it. What other response is there than to glorify God and treasure all of these things in your heart that he has done such a great and significant work for you?

It sounds a lot like the parable of the good soil, which Jesus spoke in Luke chapter 8. He talks about God's word being dispersed among humanity as the seed, and some do not receive the word. Others hear it and receive, but it doesn't take root and they fall away. And still others hear it, but are choked out by the cares of the world. But in verse 15, Jesus says this: "As for that, in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast with a good and honest heart and bear fruit with patience." Holding fast the word of God in an honest and good heart and bearing patience. That is the proper response to the God-man in the manger.

And lastly, it's so easy to skip over this last verse. I didn't read it intentionally. Verse 21: "At the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb." Sounds a lot like another historical fact that Luke might be giving us to establish the reality and the credibility of this testimony, but it is so much more than that. This is the fulfillment of the promise made thousands of years earlier to Abraham. Not only did Jesus belong to the line of David, the tribe of Judah, but just as importantly, he belonged to the people of Israel, traced all the way back to father Abraham himself, that faithful man who left his own home country upon the word and promise of God that he would give Abraham a great nation, a huge family and people, and bring them one day to a promised land. The man who believed in faith that God was a God faithful to himself and faithful to his people.

It was this circumcision, the first shedding of blood by Jesus, that marked him as one with the people of God. And it would be the future shedding of blood on the cross, which would from now on redefine the mark of the people of God. No longer would they be known by the circumcision of their flesh. They would from now on be known by the circumcision of their hearts.

Every Promise Fulfilled

In the God-man, every promise fulfilled. And we are set free from the bondage of slavery to sin. This is our Redeemer. The only question that remains is: how will we, how will you, respond to him?

Certainly we should respond like Mary and Joseph and the shepherds, thinking, reflecting, pondering, and treasuring and glorifying God because of this good news which they had seen with their eyes.

Secular society can sometimes stomach the idea of a God who came down to be a man, to be something different, but they can never stomach the man who has always been their God.

Jesus didn't come just to be one of us for its own sake. He came to take on our flesh that he might, in similar fashion, take on our experience, our pain, our sinfulness, our shame, and our guilt, and he might deal with every ounce of that on the cross.

The Purpose of the God-man

He did it to deal with our sins. And we know that when he came in his humanity, as he put on flesh, he was always the second person of the Trinity, Jesus the Christ, Son of God. But he became the God-man.

The Roman Empire was heralded by many throughout history as a nation of peace, and it was the very nation that God used to literally pave the way and propel the ministry of Jesus and his disciples into the next few centuries all over the world, largely without opposition, because of the peaceful Roman rule. But as we saw, the peace of Rome was stained with blood, soaked by the deaths of foreign rulers and subjects, enforced through deadly Roman persecution, and used to elevate the Roman Caesar to the position of the man God.

And the peace of God required no less. It required death. So why is it that the angels came proclaiming good news of peace and not the wages of sin is death? Jesus came because it was the death of our sin that he came to accomplish. He was not born unto us in order to deal with us; he was born unto us in order to deal with our sins, that he might bring us to himself.

The angels declared this peace because they knew God didn't come as punishment for his people. He came as redemption. He came as their promised Lord and Messiah. So yes, we have peace with God without reservation because Jesus made it so.

Verse 14: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Christ came to make you fully, completely pleasing to God. So give him your heart, give him your mind, and rejoice that Jesus has brought us peace and that the work of the only God-man was sufficient so that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit would be eternally pleased with His pleasing children.

Let's pray. God, what more can we say to you other than a million thank yous? We who are not worthy, who even still take your peace, your love, your care, your promises so often for granted. God, that you would send Jesus to draw those to yourself who were far off, who were running in the opposite direction.

And we know that you have many sheep today who have not yet been part of this fold. And we ask that you would pierce our hearts with the reality of our redeeming God, that the one who drew us to himself is likewise drawing the nations to himself. And would we, like Mary and Joseph and the shepherds, believe and rejoice and proclaim and glorify you, that you would fill your kingdom.

And would you give us lasting gratitude and sincere joy that we have been brought from death to life and that you sent your Son to come and to deal with our sins completely, to do the job himself, to die the death that we deserve so that we would be counted sons and daughters of the kingdom. We rejoice in that baby in the manger that you proved yourself to be faithful to your promise. And we trust that you will still be faithful to every promise which still remains now and forever to the praise and glory of Jesus Christ, the God-man and our Savior. We pray in His name, amen.

Light In The Darkness | Luke 1:57-80

Light In The Darkness | Luke 1:57-80

Mark Grigg

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Introduction to the Gospel of Luke

Well, over the past two weeks, you've heard three messages from Pastor Nathan and also Pastor Dan from the Gospel of Luke. We'll continue that today and in the weeks ahead.

As a reminder, in the first few verses, Dr. Luke wastes no time writing to Theophilus, and he gives the purpose of his gospel letter. He says in a very short sentence, "I decided to write an orderly account for you so that you may know the certainty of the things that you have been taught."

And of course, that's why it's so important that each of us continue to dive into God's word individually and together collectively here at the church.

The Purpose of the Gospel

And also ask God and the Holy Spirit to reveal things to us in His word that would convict us of sin and convince us of the truth of the gospel, and help us to live that gospel out as we go about our daily activities.

Luke's purpose in the gospel is to show fulfillment of God's plan to bring His light to the world through Israel.

The Light of the World

This light to the world is, of course, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messianic King who brings light to the Jews and then to the Gentiles, representing the Ponta Ethne, which is a Greek phrase for all the nations or all the peoples of the world.

And just parenthetically, this is really what the Lighty Moon Christmas offering is all about. It's about supporting and sending missionaries to share the gospel, to make disciples, to plant healthy, reproducing churches where Jesus is not known.

I just want to thank the congregation for those of you who have given to the Lighty Moon Christmas offering for being generous with the resources that God has entrusted to you. And if you have not had a chance to give, I would encourage you to do that between now and next Sunday.

The official number as of last night was $12,103.12. And you might be thinking, "Well, why didn't you just round that up or down?" Because every cent matters. Every gift matters.

And I was told, I think on Christmas Eve, that our Iwanas took an offering and they gave. And so that's probably why we have the 12 cents. They gave more than that, but that's probably why we have an odd number.

And that was toward our goal of $12,000. And as Tommy mentioned, we've exceeded that goal. And we have a generous giver who anonymously is giving $12,000 to match what we've given. And so we will double our goal as a result of that additional gift.

And so we praise God for that. And I would just encourage us to join all the nations in praising God and singing a hallelujah chorus to our King because of the work being done by our missionaries.

The Purpose of Missions

As John Piper writes in his book, *Let the Nations Be Glad*, he says, "Missions exist because worship doesn't." You see, the purpose of missions is to go out and take the gospel in a way that people can understand it and embrace it as their own so that they may become worshipers of God just as we are. We should be passionate about taking the gospel to those in our own community, in our own family, and even to the nations.

Because John writes in Revelation chapter 7, verse 9, a multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language will gather around the throne and worship the Lamb. So we will do that together.

As I mentioned earlier, we have followed Luke's gospel over the past few weeks. And just to give you a brief overview, we saw or we read about the foretelling of the birth of John the Baptist in Luke 1:5 through 25. Then Pastor Nathan taught about the foretelling of the birth of Jesus in Luke 1, verses 26 through 38. And then last week, he taught about the Virgin Mary's visit to her older cousin Elizabeth, who is also pregnant, in Luke 1:39 through 45. And then, if you were here with us on Christmas Eve, Pastor Dan covered Mary's song of praise, or you may know it as the Magnificat, in verses 46 through 56.

The Birth of John the Baptist

And so today, in verses 57 through 80, we're going to dig deeper into the birth of John the Baptist. We're going to look at Zachariah's song of praise, Zachariah's prophecy about his son, and finally, John the Baptist's preparation for ministry.

Luke continues to report and remind Theophilus, and by extension or application, the contemporary church, which is us, that God was faithful to fulfill his promises over 2,000 years ago. Furthermore, he can be trusted to fulfill all of his promises today and for all of eternity. Why? Because he is a covenant-keeping God who is to be exalted, praised, and treasured by his people.

Which brings me to the title of our message today, which is "Surprised by Prayer." Now, before you fall asleep, I'm going to give you a quick synopsis of the sermon.

God Fulfills All His Promises

So if you do fall asleep and you're taking notes, you can at least write them down. And when you wake up, you'll have something to refer to. Here's the big idea. God fulfills all of his promises and we can experience genuine hope and joy through faith and obedience. God fulfills all of his promises and we can experience genuine hope and joy through faith and obedience. Now here are the four main points. So before you fall asleep, here are the four points. I'm going to give you a word that was new to me, but in order to make this four P's, I came up with this word through Webster's dictionary.

Four Points of the Sermon

Elizabeth's parturition. What is that? It's simply a medical term that describes the act of childbirth. Zachariah's praise. Zachariah's prophecy. And then finally, John's preparation.

So my question for you today is, have you ever been surprised by prayer? Have you ever been surprised by the prayers and the petitions that you've raised up to God? In other words, have you ever fervently asked God for something again and again and again, and finally, after so many petitions, you stopped believing that He would answer your prayer?

Let me give you one small example, and it actually happened to me this morning. I was sitting in our kitchen, Wanda was getting ready for church, I was going over this sermon, and I see this text from our son, Austin, who's 40 years old. And Austin says to me—and I just knocked off that little thing on my mic—Austin texts me and says, "Dad, I heard that you're preaching today, and I just wanted to let you know I just prayed for you. And I prayed that God would give you a clear mind and fill you with His Spirit, and that God's message would have an impact on the people that are there today."

Now, I'll tell you, I was surprised by that prayer, and I was very thankful. So have you ever been surprised by prayer? And then, even though you may have prayed and not thought that that prayer was going to be answered, were you completely and totally surprised when your prayer was answered? I have to confess that I've experienced that myself. I really doubted whether God was hearing my prayer, whether my prayer was going to be answered, and then at some point in the future, God in fact did answer that prayer.

Well, just to remind you that Zachariah and Elizabeth are childless and they desperately want to have a child. According to Luke, they were beyond their childbearing years and likely they were in their 60s or 70s, or maybe even in their 80s. Now, I'm 69. I'll be 70 in July. And I couldn't imagine Wanda getting pregnant and us having a child at that age. I would certainly be surprised if I made that prayer. She'd probably be even more surprised.

You see, in Jewish culture, to have children was a blessing and to be barren they considered to be a curse. On top of that, Zechariah was a priest, so he carried the additional weight of being a godly, religious man who was unblessed by God because he had no children. Imagine, year after year, the people may have asked both Zechariah and Elizabeth, "Do you think God will bless you with a child this year?" But alas, the year passed and no child, no blessing, no one to take care of them in their old age, no child to continue the family name, and no son to follow in his father's footsteps as a priest and a rabbi to the Jews in Judea.

The Answered Prayer of Zachariah

Then Luke records in chapter 1, verse 11, "But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you shall call his name John."

Did you get that? Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth will bear a son. Your prayer has been answered. His name is an answer. Will be called John, which means God is gracious.

Not only has Zachariah's and Elizabeth's prayer been answered by the Lord, but their son will have a unique assignment in God's eternal plan since he will be the promised forerunner of the Messiah. And if you were here on Christmas Eve, Dan referenced Malachi chapter 3, verse 1. This is also recorded in Luke chapter 1, verse 17.

So Zachariah makes a big prayer, he gets a big surprise, and he gets a big answer. Remember, God has been silent for over 400 years, and now God has spoken again with an amazing announcement.

Let's read Luke chapter 1, verses 57 through 66. And this is the account of the birth of John. And when it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father, Zachariah. But his mother spoke up and said, "No, his name is to be John." They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name."

Then they made signs to his father to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment, he wrote, "His name is John." Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.

All the neighbors were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea, people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, "What then is this child going to be? For the Lord's hand was with him."

So let's look at just a few points as we cover these verses in verses 57 through 66.

The Fulfillment of God's Promise

First of all, we learned that a son is born. It says, when it was time or fulfilled for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Verse 57. This verse confirms the fulfillment of God's promise to answer Zachariah's prayer when an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the temple while he was burning incense. This prophecy was foreshadowed in Malachi chapter 3 verse 1 and also in chapter 4 verses 4 through 6. And Jesus identified John the Baptist as Elijah because he came in the spirit and power of Elijah. If you want to refer back to that, that's Matthew 11 verse 10 and also Matthew 17 verses 11 through 13. Mark also records this in chapter 1 verse 2, chapter 9 verses 2 through 13, and Luke again in 1 verse 17.

If you're unsure about God's faithfulness and you doubt whether or not God answers prayer, I want you to remember this one key truth: God hears and answers prayer. He always keeps his promises, and he is always faithful to fulfill his word.

And then we see in verse 58 that the people rejoice. Can you imagine Zachariah and Elizabeth's excitement and joy when their son was born? A husband and wife beyond childbearing years, as I said earlier, perhaps in their 60s or 70s, or maybe even in their 80s, who was childless and now has a son to carry on the family name. Family and friends were gathered in anticipation of this most unlikely birth. In fact, this was a miraculous birth. It wasn't just a normal celebration, but I believe it was a raucous celebration of praise. Zachariah has not been able to speak for at least nine months, and he can't even express his excitement and praise verbally.

Do you remember when your first or second or third—you fill in the blank—child was born? I can remember when our oldest son, Austin, was born and the emotions and the excitement of holding this tiny baby in our arms. Wanda and I apprehended but did not comprehend the full weight of parenthood. Like many of you, I immediately—this is before the days of cell phones, so in the hospital I had to run down the hall, find a payphone, and start making phone calls—like many of you, I immediately called our relatives and close friends so that they could share in our joy and our excitement.

Let's look at verse 59. He says, "His name is John." Eight days later, after Zachariah and Elizabeth go to the temple in Jerusalem and present their son to be circumcised according to the law of Moses in Genesis chapter 17, verses 9 through 14, the priest and close family members who are present get another big surprise. Everyone expects his name to be Zachariah after his father, but Elizabeth replied, and I can just imagine Elizabeth probably a little timid in her personality, maybe not domineering, and yet she says, "No, he must be named John."

I wonder how the people responded to that. Well, I said, the people said, "What? Where did you get the name John?" But Zachariah asked for a writing tablet, probably a carved wooden tablet with wax filled in and then a wooden stylus, and he quickly writes the words, "His name is John." And Scripture says they were all amazed.

I had a conversation with Andy and Karina last week about the announcement of their new child, and I found out this morning that they're having a little girl. Congratulations. And I think I said to Karina's parents after church last Sunday, I said, "Now remember, they get to choose the name." When you had a child, did other people offer names to you, expecting you to say, "Well, that's a great name. We'll use that name"? So I said to them, I said, "Let them name the child." And I can imagine that's probably what the people were thinking. You know, "He's got to be Zachariah. He can't be John."

But both Elizabeth and Zachariah confirmed that his name was John because they had both been told that was his name by the angel of the Lord, who in fact was and is Gabriel. God's promise was fulfilled in spite of Zachariah's unbelief nine months earlier. He has seen God's covenant-keeping promise being fulfilled. In that time, Zachariah submits to God's discipline, and now he obeys God by faith.

Zachariah's next words after confirming his son's name as John were words of blessing and praise for Yahweh. You know, I had to ask myself a question this morning. What are the first words or thoughts that came to my mind when I woke up this morning and got out of bed? Was it, "Thank you, God, for a good night's rest and a new day. I praise you and worship you"? Or did I think of other things that occupied my mind even before I acknowledged God's blessing on my life this morning?

You see, even if we disobey God, he will restore us when we submit to his gracious discipline and obey him by faith. Even in your doubts, do you obey God according to his word? Do you praise God regardless of your circumstances? Finally, the people ask, "What will this child be?"

When you have children, when you've had children, one of the things that we think about is, what is this child going to be when he or she grows up? And we probably have expectations in our mind about what we think this child is going to be. And most of the time, we're surprised that that's not what they end up being.

But they said, what will this child be? And this section concludes with all the neighbors being filled with awe and asking that question, what then is this child going to be?

Dr. Thomas Constable writes, Luke stressed the widespread effect this incident had in the whole area. Everyone concluded that John would be an unusual child because God's hand was with him. When John began his public ministry, there must have been some Jews who submitted to his baptism, speaking of later on, because they had noted God's hand on him from this event forward. In other words, there may have been people present who remembered this event in time past.

So to summarize, God has broken his silence after 400 years. God has spoken again. God's promise is made. God's promise is fulfilled. God's blessing is for his people, Israel. God allows Zachariah and Elizabeth to have a son, John, which means God is gracious who is the forerunner of the Messiah. God's salvation for Israel and for the nations is certain.

Zachariah's Song of Praise

His redemption will be administered through the Son of God, the promised Messiah. Let's look now at the second section, Zachariah's praise in verses 67 through 75. This is also known as the Benedictus, which in Latin means blessed or blessed be. It's not only a song of praise, it's also a song of salvation steeped in Old Testament scripture. So let's read these verses, verses 67 through 75.

His father Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he said through his holy prophets of long ago, salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show mercy to our ancestors, the oath he swore to our father Abraham, to rescue us from the hand of our enemies and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all of our days."

The text says in verse 67 that Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and he prophesied. Zachariah's words of praise and prophecy were inspired by God because he was filled up with God's presence. Second, in verses 68 through 75, just a reminder, God had not spoken to Israel in over 400 years. God has been silent, and Israel is expectantly awaiting God's words once again.

Zachariah breaks out into a song of praise to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. Notice the tense of the verb redeemed. It is past tense, indicating that God has already accomplished it within his eternal plan of redemption. It will happen because it has already happened. It is certain. You see, God does not exist within time and space. God lives outside of time and space. Zachariah's praise is magnified because he is filled with the Holy Spirit and he prophesies because his mind has been saturated in the Old Testament scriptures.

Notice that Zachariah's praise comes out in three waves. He points to three of God's covenants to Israel. The first part of what he says comes from the Davidic covenant in Luke verses 69 through 71. Dwight Pentecost writes in his fine work, The Words and Works of Jesus Christ, "Just as God heard the cry of the Israelites when they were slaves in Egypt and sent a deliverer, Moses, who brought them out of bondage into liberty, so God heard the cry of this people and was providing one who would deliver them from their enemies." Zachariah noted that this deliverer would come from the house of David, verse 69. This was in keeping with God's covenant promise to David that a son of David would sit on David's throne and rule over David's house forever. You can read about this in 2 Samuel chapter 7, verse 16. The nation did not deserve a redeemer or redemption, and yet God is merciful. He is faithful to fulfill his covenant. You see, I don't deserve God's redemption. I don't deserve God's salvation. But God has been gracious to me, and he's been gracious to many of you. And so we ought to praise God by remembering that each and every day.

The second part of what he says comes from the Abrahamic covenant in Luke chapter 1, verses 72 through 75. Zechariah says, "the oath he swore to our father Abraham." Here, Zechariah referred to the foundational covenant recorded in Genesis 12 through 13, chapter 15, and chapter 17. And it was the foundation of Israel's hope for the coming of the Messiah.

The third part of what he says comes from the prophecies of the new covenant in Luke chapter 1, verses 76 through 79. This was a reference to what was promised and coveted in Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34, where God promised Israel that he would forgive their sins, cleanse them, give them a new heart, and enable them to serve him in righteousness.

The first part of the song praises God for messianic deliverance. John MacArthur writes, "Zacharias is singing a song of salvation because he sees it in fulfillment of the unilateral, unconditional promise of the Messiah's coming that God gave to the Old Testament prophets." Thomas Constable writes, "it emphasizes the words covenant and oath and God's covenant faithfulness." Again, I quote John MacArthur, "and now God has come. God has spoken in the form of an angel and the promise of a forerunner and in the declaration of the Messiah to follow." And Zacharias knows exactly what this means. What it means is the covenants are about to be fulfilled. This is the connection between the old and new from a Jewish perspective. And this fuels Zacharias' song of praise. Israel's redemption is near. It's redemption both from political power and also from spiritual sin, or sin and the conquering of that spiritual sin, or that sin.

Do you have any doubts about the veracity of the Bible? If so, what is the basis of your unbelief? Perhaps today you should ask God to give you faith to believe. I know this is a prayer that God will answer if you ask him with humility and sincerity.

The Apostle Peter wrote, and we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:19 through 21.

So, to summarize, so far, we've seen Elizabeth's parturition, which is the birth of John, Zachariah's praise, and now let's explore Zachariah's prophecy.

The Prophetic Role of John

"And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven, to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."

Zachariah's prophecy contains five prophetic utterances that link John to Elijah. John will be a prophet of the Most High. John will prepare the way of the Lord. John will give the Jews knowledge of their salvation. John will point to God's steadfast love, his covenant-keeping love. And finally, the Messiah will visit the Jews and give them true peace.

What is the source of true peace for you? Do you have true, everlasting peace? True peace is peace with God. It's peace with oneself, and it's peace with others. And of course, the source of this peace is Jesus Christ.

Of course, these prophecies have been fulfilled by the incarnation of Jesus Christ, his earthly life and ministry, his voluntary substitutionary atonement, his death, his burial, and his resurrection, and his ascension to heaven where he is seated at God's right hand.

Furthermore, we, meaning the church, are awaiting his imminent second coming. We've just celebrated his first coming, his first advent. But he will come again. He will have a second advent. And at that second advent, those in Christ will rise from the dead, those dead first, and then those who are still living will rise to meet him in the air.

John's Preparation for Ministry

And then judgment will come upon those who do not believe in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. As we complete this passage from Luke chapter 1, we conclude with the last verse, verse 80. And I call this John's preparation.

And the child, John, grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel. You know, the Bible doesn't give us a lot of details about John's infancy, early childhood, teen years, and early adulthood. However, we can make some observations and ask some pertinent questions. Listen to some of these questions: Since Zachariah and Elizabeth were elderly, how long did they live after John was born? If they died while John was still young, who raised John until he was able to be on his own? Did Zachariah have an opportunity to instruct and train John in the priesthood? Did John accompany his father and mother to Jerusalem to celebrate the annual feasts and festivals? Did John spend time with his Aunt Mary, his uncle Joseph, and his cousin Jesus in Nazareth? Did Jesus and John have an opportunity to do chores together, play together, memorize the Torah together, and attend synagogue together? What prompted John to leave his village in Judea and go into the desert? Was he lonely while he was in the desert? Did anyone come to visit him?

Scripture is silent on these matters, but Luke does tell us at least seven things about John from Luke chapter 1, verses 15 through 17, and also in verse 80. Here are the things that I observed: John will be great in the sight of the Lord, verse 15A. He will be alcohol-free, verse 15B. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother's womb, verse 15C. He will turn many Israelites back to the Lord, verse 16. He will be the forerunner of the Messiah, verse 17. He will prepare a people ready for the Lord, verse 18. He grew, when we can assume he grew physically, mentally, and emotionally. He became spiritually strong, verse 80. He lived in the wilderness or the desert, and he appeared publicly to Israel where his ministry was inaugurated, verse 80.

Dwight Pentecost concludes, though theoretically eligible to become a priest, John had not prepared himself to function as a priest. Instead, he had been set apart from birth to another ministry, the one to which God had called him and for which the Spirit had endued him from birth.

Okay, you've been very patient with me. So now, as Beau would say, make sure your seatbelts are fastened because we're on final descent and we're going to land the plane.

Conclusion and Call to Action

We're almost done. Just a reminder, what was the big idea that I wanted you to know today? God fulfills all of His promises, and we can experience genuine hope and joy through faith and obedience. And secondly, that God hears and answers prayer.

The four main points that we exposited from the Gospel of Luke today were John's birth, Zachariah's praise, Zachariah's prophecy, and John's preparation. Finally, Zachariah and Elizabeth were righteous and walked blameless in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. They prayed fervently for a child, but their prayers were seemingly ignored by God. But God answered their prayer according to His eternal wisdom to provide salvation to Israel and to the nations through the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies, which pointed to a forerunner, John, their son, and the promised Messiah, Jesus.

Zachariah and Elizabeth truly were surprised by prayer, and oftentimes so are we. I have two questions as I conclude. One, if you are in Christ, are you willing to be surprised by prayer by faithfully and obediently asking and waiting on God to answer your prayer according to His eternal plan and purpose? And I have a question for those who are not in Christ: Are you willing to offer a prayer to God whereby you repent of your sins and believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation?

I was surprised by prayer, and so was Wanda when we lived in Southern California. More than once, but this particular time was a surprise. Like many of you, we'd been taking our two young children to church there in Mission Viejo, California. They were asking a lot of questions. We were trying to answer their questions as best we could. And we got home from church one Sunday, and we sat down at the kitchen table to have lunch. As we were finishing up lunch, both of our children asked, "We would like to be Christians. We would like to be saved."

And frankly, it kind of took us by surprise. And so Wanda, like a good mother would be, she offered to clear the table while I tried to answer their questions. And I did the very best that I could. But I say I was surprised by prayer, and I know she was too, because we have been praying for their salvation since they were in their mother's womb. And graciously, God answered that prayer when they were young children, and they're still walking with the Lord.

So God will answer your prayer according to His eternal plan and purpose. But our job is to ask and to pray and to wait by faith.

Let's pray. Loving and gracious God, thank you for the salvation you offer to Jews and Gentiles through the Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer. We ask you to give us faith to believe your word regardless of the circumstances in our lives. We ask you to fill us with the Holy Spirit and produce the fruit of the Spirit in us so that we may be in Christ, that we may be Christ's ambassadors and bring glory to your holy name. I ask boldly in Jesus' name, Amen.

Promises Fulfilled | Luke 1:26-45

Promises Fulfilled | Luke 1:26-45

Nathan Young

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The Secular Shift of Christmas

Well, it is hard to believe that Christmas is upon us, that here we are on Christmas Sunday, just days before this annual event that we mark in our culture to honor the birth of Christ. And yet, so many people in our culture are getting farther and farther away from Christ and anything having to do with him in Christmas.

Think of it just in the past 15 or so years. I've not done a deep study of this, but the Christmas songs that are played on the radio are less Christian and more secular. In fact, even as you look at Christmas and the movies and the things that we mark in our culture, they're getting farther and farther away from the meaning of Christmas and more wrapped up in stories like the Grinch.

So, no hate on the Grinch, but it's interesting that even Santa Claus is falling in disfavor, and I'm no champion of Santa Claus. But the point in all of this is to say that the farther our culture gets away from Jesus Christ and belief in his gospel, the farther Christmas drifts away from him as well.

Holding High the Standard of Christ

So we as Christians, those who believe in Jesus Christ, ought to hold high the standard of Christmas, reminding our families and encouraging our friends with the hope that we have in Christ.

I'm not suggesting that you need to show up at a Christmas event with your family with the largest Bible you can summon and thump it down on the table so that you can tell everyone you're going to be reading from Luke's gospel. But I am encouraging you to speak the hope of Christ. I am encouraging you to remind people of the origin story of Christmas and that it is really about our Savior appearing in this world.

Birth stories are interesting. They say something of the person who was born. In our American culture of success, we often tell birth stories of people from single moms or people with silver spoons in their mouths. And that story seems to say something about the person they were and the person that they have become. And those stories get repeated, sometimes even exaggerated, in order to make someone into a hero.

The True Birth Story of Jesus

Well, as we look this morning in Luke's Gospel, we're going to see what is foretold of the birth story of Jesus. It's how Jesus came to be God incarnate. And this story is not a legend. It's not a myth, and it is the truth. It is told to us so that we can understand the significance of Christ and we can believe him to be our savior.

As Luke begins his gospel account, he starts with two very unusual pregnancies. Last week, in the first verses, we saw Elizabeth, a woman who was well past her childbearing years, and she was able to conceive a child with her husband Zachariah after the angel Gabriel appeared to Zachariah. She carried in her womb John the Baptist, and John would be the anticipated forerunner of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. After this news, Elizabeth becomes pregnant and she secluded herself, Luke says, living apart from others, and her husband Zachariah was not able to speak. He had to hold his tongue till the birth of their son.

But now, beginning in verse 26, Luke tells a second birth story. And this will be a birth story about Mary, a young virgin who had not had sexual relations, and she would conceive a child after the angel Gabriel appeared to her. Mary would carry in her womb Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. And she would become pregnant not through sexual intimacy with Joseph or any other man, but through the supernatural power of the most high God.

Jesus was the promised Messiah of Israel. He was born in the line of David and he would be the king over Israel. God chose both Elizabeth and Mary to receive his sovereign grace and to reveal his divine glory. God overcame Elizabeth's barrenness and he overshadowed Mary's virginity after the angel Gabriel announced each woman's pregnancy.

Zachariah responded with unbelief, saying, "Give me proof that this is going to happen." Whereas Mary will express some confusion, but she'll simply say, "How is this going to happen?" And to Gabriel, he responded to them both, "God's words will never fail." In other words, what God says will always come true.

As we look this morning in verses 26 through 45, we're going to see that we can receive the grace of God based on his promises. So join me as I read beginning in verse 26.

The Angelic Announcement of Grace

In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And the angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you."

Mary was greatly troubled at his words, and she wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid. Mary, you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high God. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end."

"How will this be?" Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" And the angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so that the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age. And she, who said was unable to conceive, is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail."

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." Then the angel left her. At that time, Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zachariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leapt in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice, she exclaimed, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear. But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leapt for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her. Amen."

Well, as we look into this passage, we see very clearly the sovereign hand of God the Father as he brings about the birth of his son, Jesus Christ. And in this passage, we see very clearly that God extends his grace to his people based on his promises. His word never fails. Elizabeth received God's incredible grace when she and Zachariah had conceived the baby John in their old age. We don't think about the significance of this because we can't imagine how old they actually were and how important childbirth was in their culture. Yet this couple was desperate to have a child. And Gabriel came and said, "God has heard your prayers." And now they would have John in the spirit of Elijah who would come to proclaim the arrival of Israel's long-anticipated Messiah.

John would fulfill God's promises, but he would point to an even greater fulfillment. God was going to bestow his incredible grace on a young virgin named Mary. This virgin would be visited by the Holy Spirit of God, who would conceive in her Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. Without the aid of Joseph or any other man, the Spirit of God would fill Mary's womb with a baby who is destined to save the world from the curse of sin. Jesus' birth fulfilled over 350 promises foretold in the Old Testament, and he gave us God's grace in human form so that we could see and hear and understand the grace of God.

Now, nearly 2,000 years after the advent of our Savior Jesus, people continue to debate the significance of the virgin birth. Some say, as they did then, that it is impossible for a virgin to conceive a child. And on the face of it, they're not wrong. But Jesus was given a virgin birth because he had a heavenly father. If God was able to create all things external to himself, then certainly he had the supernatural power to impregnate a virgin.

Others push back and say, "Well, the virgin birth is complicated. And it really doesn't matter. I mean, let's just let it rest. It's hard for people to wrap their minds around. And after all, it's only the life of Jesus that makes a difference." Yet even that kind of approach makes Jesus less than the Son of God. Because if Jesus was not born of a virgin, he would not have been God's son. He would have been Joseph's son and just another human.

But the virgin birth of Jesus Christ was foretold in the Old Testament. There are multiple places from Genesis chapter 3 to Isaiah 7, Isaiah 9, and others. And all of these and more are documented in the Bible to prove that Jesus is fully God. For Jesus to be the Son of God, he had to be born of God. Joseph and Mary could not produce him. The virgin conception that's recorded in Gabriel's visit to Mary assures us of Jesus' deity and his perfect sinless life. In fact, we can say Jesus fulfills all the promises God made in the Old Testament.

And we can receive God's grace because he keeps his promises. God is not like us, who forgets our promises or who breaks our promises, but God keeps his promises.

And that brings us to the first major theme I want you to see this morning from this passage.

Grace Fulfills God's Promises

And that is that the grace of God fulfills his promises. The grace of God fulfills his promises. According to Luke, the angel Gabriel revealed God's grace to Mary. It says in verse number 26 that in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent Gabriel to Nazareth, a small town in Galilee in Israel's northern kingdom. And he spoke to young Mary. Mary was a virgin who was pledged to marry Joseph, who was a descendant of David. And Mary and Joseph had not yet had their wedding ceremony, nor had they consummated their marriage. They were simply betrothed or pledged to marry one another.

Luke, who we noted last week was a medical physician, points out three times in our passage this morning Mary's sexual purity and her status as a virgin in verse 27 and verse 34. Mary was a young woman who had not experienced sexual intercourse, and she was pledged to be married, meaning she was promised to wed Joseph, and she had an exclusive relationship with Joseph, but they had not exchanged their vows or entered into a physical union.

Now, six months after Gabriel appeared to Zachariah, God sent this same angelic messenger to Mary. And his words were just as startling to Mary as they had been to Zachariah. He said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you." Mary was confused. She was obviously startled to see an angel, as anyone would be, but she also didn't understand. Was this a messenger of God's wrath and judgment? Or was this a messenger of God's grace and mercy? She responded just like Zachariah in verse 29. It says, she was greatly troubled at his words, and she wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

So Gabriel continued his greeting and he emphasized the grace of God rather than divine judgment. He said, "You are highly favored," affirming that Mary has received God's grace. This idea of favor is that God has been generous to Mary. It's the same favor that God showed Noah when he delivered him from the flood. It's the same favor that he showed Abraham and counted it unto him as righteousness. This favor was God's grace that showed Mary's position as one of God's children.

God did not appear to Mary because of an inherent sinlessness. In other words, he didn't come to her because she was a perfect woman. There was no moral state of righteousness in her. Gabriel spoke to Mary and God sent him to Mary because God graced her with his righteousness and his presence. Thus he said, "The Lord is with you." God did not come to confirm a righteous woman. God came because of his righteousness to deliver this woman.

According to Luke's authoritative record of events, Mary received God's unexpected, undeserved, and irresistible grace. Therefore, we should not conclude that Mary was sinless, immaculate, or divine. The text indicates Mary was not the mother of grace, as one scholar has said, but she is the daughter of grace. That is, God chose Mary to give birth to the Son of God as a display of his glorious grace, not an immaculate conception.

This is why as Protestants, we do not worship Mary. We should give honor to Mary and we should recognize Mary as the mother of Jesus. But we do not worship Mary as a co-redemptrix or someone who has provided salvation through herself because of some sinless state. No, Mary was a woman of flesh, just as we are people of flesh, and she was a sinner as we are. And yet, God and His grace chose to work in her in a miraculous way to impregnate her with the Son of God so that he could save Mary and save all of us.

God's plan of salvation reveals his sovereign electing grace. From the first people in the Bible, Adam and Eve, until the last believer confesses Jesus as Lord, God takes the divine initiative to move towards sinners and offer salvation. God chose an unknown teenager in Nazareth to reveal his glorious saving grace. And God chose Mary to reveal his favor. God reveals his grace to us so that we might be saved.

And why is this? Because we need God's grace to understand that we are sinners who have broken God's law. The Bible says in Romans, "For all have sinned. None is righteous." No, not one. That's a message that's not well received. People cringe at the word sin in our culture. And how dare you say that someone specifically is a sinner? They feel the guilt of their sin. They experience the shame of their sin. And for you to call them out as a sinner makes their backs bow up in self-righteousness. Who do you think you are?

It is only by a work of grace that anyone can admit their sinfulness. Because apart from God's grace, we resist that sinfulness and we only continue to sin more. But God's grace also enables us to believe the gospel. It's not enough to recognize that we're sinners, but we must also repent and turn to the Lord so that we can be saved. John says it this way: "Not that we loved God, but that he loved us."

And he sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. God understood that in our sins we were separated from him, we were alienated from him, and we hated him. So he sent Jesus through the Virgin Mary so that he could demonstrate his love to us in a way that we would understand and believe.

The angel Gabriel revealed God's grace to Mary through the child that would be born to her named Jesus. But he also went on to explain how God's grace would fulfill all of God's promises. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, because you have found favor with God." He's repeating this idea that Mary was a recipient of grace. She was highly favored because she had been given God's grace, but now God was going to give her grace upon grace. He was assuring her that there was no reason for panic or fear, that the angel was not there to deliver a death sentence, but the angel was there to deliver God's grace and promise of eternal life.

The Virgin Mary would soon conceive and give birth to a son, Gabriel said. Six months prior to this, Gabriel had told Zachariah that his wife Elizabeth would bear him a son, and he was to name this son John. Now, the same angel was telling Mary that she would conceive and give birth to a son, but there's no mention of a human father. Gabriel is not here appearing to Joseph and encouraging him to go and have relations with Mary. Instead, he's flipping the script. He's appearing to Mary and saying that she will conceive a son.

This message perplexed her. She didn't understand how this would happen. But Gabriel went on before addressing her inevitable question. He told Mary that this son would be called Jesus in verse 31. Contrary to Jewish custom, whereby the father would name his children, the angel said Mary would give Jesus his name. His name came from the Hebrew word Yeshua, which means Jehovah saves. After hundreds of years of silence since the prophet Malachi, God was sending his son Jesus to fulfill God's promises and remind God's people that his grace was still at work.

And Gabriel continued saying Jesus would be great in verse 32. This means that he would display the glory of God in human flesh. He would not simply be an incredible man or a man above other men because he distinguished himself humanly, but he would be exceptional. He would be extraordinary, powerful, and one of a kind because he would be God himself in the flesh. Furthermore, the angels said that Jesus would be the son of the most high. This is why I said that he was the son of God in the flesh. There was none higher than God the Father. And Jesus would be his son rather than Joseph's son.

But Gabriel also declared Jesus' authority. He says the Lord will give him the throne of his father David, verse 32. Mary's child, the son of God, Jesus, would rule from the throne of David forever and ever. God was sending this savior to rule his people. And it says he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever and his kingdom will never end. As the Hallelujah Chorus captures it, Jesus would be the king of kings and the lord of lords forever and ever. Amen.

That what God had told him would be difficult. So he asked Gabriel a question. He said, "How can I be sure of what you are telling me is true?" Zachariah wanted proof of Gabriel's promise. He didn't wonder how this might happen, but he wondered if it was going to happen. Mary, for her part, hearing all these incredible appellations dedicated to God who was in her womb, marveled at this. And she wondered not so much if it would happen, but how it would happen.

While Zachariah expressed unbelief in the presence of this angelic messenger, Mary demonstrated childlike faith. She heard Gabriel's incredible promises and she wondered how she would conceive this extraordinary human being without having had sexual relations. So Gabriel answered her question. The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you so that the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. The Spirit of God and the power of God the Father Most High moved upon Mary. And his presence was with this young virgin and his supernatural power enabled her to conceive a child, all without a human father.

So when we think of the incarnate Son of God, we realize that without this human father, He was not given the sin nature of other human beings. He would be the Holy One, Gabriel says in verse 35, without sin or even the capacity to sin. Though he would be born through a sinful woman, He himself would be sinless. That is, Jesus would be fully God and fully human. He had these two natures completely undivided in one person. This is called the hypostatic union. Jesus' two natures, his human and his divine, are inseparable. He's fully God and fully man through all of eternity. During his incarnation, Jesus sometimes operated with human limitations.

And at other times, he demonstrated his deity. But Jesus is both God and man. And he is completely without sin. He does not have a sin nature. He cannot sin. His name means Jehovah saves. He came from a human being because God the Father made him a human being, made him incarnate. He was able to identify with our suffering, though remain without sin. He faced temptation just as we do, and yet did not sin. And ultimately, Jesus would come and live his life completely free of sin. And he would give his life as a sacrifice to pay the penalty that we deserve for our sins, because our sins are many, but his mercy is more. Joseph did not hear about any of this until Gabriel appeared to him after the third month of Mary's pregnancy. Again, it's noteworthy that Gabriel appeared to Zachariah and not Elizabeth, and now he appears to Mary and not Joseph. But God did not leave Mary alone with Gabriel's declaration. The angel directed Mary to her elderly relative Elizabeth, who was already six months pregnant with John. It says in verse number 36. If God had given Baron Elizabeth a child, then Mary could definitely expect Jesus to arrive just as Gabriel foretold. So Gabriel concluded his visit with a simple promise, for no word of God will ever fail. While it may have seemed absolutely humanly impossible for an elderly woman to be six months pregnant, and while it certainly seemed impossible for a young virgin to conceive a child, Gabriel declares with God everything is possible. Gabriel assured Mary that God would fulfill every word of his promises according to his divine grace, that there was nothing that would be left undone, nothing that he was incapable of because he is the sovereign God of Israel and the sovereign God over his creation. Mary responded to Gabriel with simple faith. She said, verse 38, I am the Lord's servant. And this word translated servant actually means slave. Mary was submitting herself to her master's will. May your word to me be fulfilled. May these promises that never fail come to be. And Mary desired for God's will to be done in her life. And her response illustrates her faith in the absolute sovereignty of God. Mary wanted God's word to direct her life, and she trusted his promises. Gabriel's announcement of Mary's divine conception and Jesus' virgin birth, sometimes called the Annunciation, ultimately point us to the grace of God. God the Father, in his amazing grace for human beings, kept every promise that he made to his people, and he fulfilled his covenant in the person and work of his son, Jesus. Jesus is our promised savior and Lord. And the Apostle Paul captures it like this in Ephesians chapter 4. But because of his, it's actually Ephesians chapter 2, but because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. The grace of God reminds us that God fulfills all of his promises. We can believe Jesus Christ and we can share the good news of Jesus Christ. As we gather with family and friends at Christmas, there will be some who have rejected Jesus. Perhaps they were raised alongside you and they were raised in a Christian home. But in their adult years, they've drifted and walked away from Christ and his church. Perhaps others have not only drifted, but they've denied and rejected Jesus and the faith of their youth. And that no doubt brings heartache and pain to us as we think about our loved ones. But I want to encourage you again that as you go into the Christmas season, you can speak the hope of Christ without a huge Bible and without having to go through a 10-point outline of the gospel. But you can speak it by your countenance and the words you say about Christ. You can speak it in the way you live your life and base your life on God's promises and the way that you trust Jesus with all the difficulties and all the hardships. And ultimately, you can bear witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ because you can show that you are forgiven of your sin, that you no longer live in guilt or shame or fear, but you now live in the freedom found in forgiveness. I want to encourage you to offer that same forgiveness to loved ones who've heard it a million times or people who are hearing it for the first time. And in either case, God will work according to his sovereign grace to open the eyes and the ears of some so that they will see and hear the gospel and believe Jesus to be their savior. We can receive the grace of God based on his promises because God fulfills all of his promises.

Promises Fill Us With Grace

And the second theme that I want you to see in this passage this morning is that God's promises fill us with his grace. God's promises fill us with his grace. So, in other words, God acts graciously on us and then he makes us gracious.

In the aftermath of Gabriel's sudden and abrupt visit to Mary, she immediately picked up and got ready to go visit her cousin Elizabeth. It says in verse number 39, she got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea. Mary wanted to see Elizabeth and share what Gabriel had told her. She had to tell someone. This was incredible news. Who could she trust with this message? Who would listen and not question? Who would understand and not think she was crazy?

So Mary went to Elizabeth because Gabriel had told her about Elizabeth. And this was no small undertaking in that time. Mary lived well north of Jerusalem in the remnants of the northern kingdom of Israel. And Elizabeth lived south of Jerusalem in the hill country of Judea. And Mary would have to travel several days in order to cover the ground necessary to connect with Elizabeth. And apparently, she traveled without Joseph. But she probably went with some relatives or others rather than traveling alone as a female in this culture.

But when she finally reached the destination, it says in verse 56, she stayed with Elizabeth for three months. Before she would return home, it's likely that she was there at the birth of John the Baptist and then she went back to Joseph. Mary's itinerary and her intentions here show her faith in God. She allowed God's promises to fill her with grace and to shape her decisions. Rather than go to Joseph and initiate sexual relations, like Zachariah must have done with Elizabeth, Mary traveled over 80 miles away from home and spent nearly three months away from her close relatives, including her future husband. It would have been physically impossible for Mary to become pregnant by Joseph on this timeline.

When we believe God's promises like Mary, God enables us to live contrary to our natural tendency to manipulate circumstances and manipulate people. God gives us supernatural grace to trust him, even when our circumstances may not make sense to us and when people around us question us or doubt us. But unlike Abraham, who took God's promises into his own hands and impregnated his wife's handmaid, Mary waited for God to intervene. Mary trusted that God would somehow impregnate her in a way that fulfilled Gabriel's promises.

And as Mary traveled, I'm sure she pondered the words that had been spoken to her. And she anticipated how she would share this with Elizabeth and Zachariah and what she might learn from them, not yet knowing all that they had experienced with Gabriel. And as Mary walked across the threshold of Elizabeth and Zachariah's house, she must have been not only excited to see them and relieved that the journey was over, but then she was amazed at something incredible that happened. The baby boy that was inside Elizabeth's womb leapt for joy. And Elizabeth herself was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Apparently, John's in Utoro movement coincided with Mary's arrival in their household. And she served as the first, or John served as the first witness of Christ's coming, the first announcer that the Messiah was here. John's physical reaction inside the womb fulfilled what Gabriel had told his father, Zachariah. Remember verse 15, he said, he, John, will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he's born. The Spirit of God prompted John to recognize the presence of Jesus and affirm Mary's supernatural pregnancy. In other words, John was announcing Mary is currently pregnant, that she has arrived with the Messiah in her womb.

And God would fill Elizabeth with his Spirit so that she could affirm Jesus' work in Mary. Elizabeth, whose husband was unable to speak until the birth of their son, was now speaking for the whole family. And she spoke in a loud voice, it says. She was excited, exuberant, talking fast and talking with passion so that everyone would hear what she had to say. And again, this was unusual because this would have been something that the man of the house was supposed to do. But here under the Spirit's leading, Elizabeth was doing it. And she was announcing that the Messiah of Israel, the Son of God and her Lord, was here.

As she declared these things, she at least highlighted four things. She first blessed Mary, saying, blessed are you among women. She was telling Mary that she was blessed because she would give birth to the Son of God. And then she blessed Jesus. She said, blessed is the child that you will bear. The Spirit of God had revealed to Elizabeth that Mary's baby was the promised Messiah. Jesus was going to be a blessing to all other people. And third, Elizabeth blessed herself or recognized her own blessing by saying, why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should visit me? Elizabeth recognized the significance of Mary's visit. She was in the presence of the promised Son of God, even though he was still in the womb of his mother.

And fourth, Elizabeth blessed Mary's faith. She said, blessed is the one who believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her. Elizabeth blessed Mary for believing God's promises. This is why she acted in the way that she did. And by implication, Elizabeth is blessing everyone thereafter who believes in Jesus.

Mary's belief in the promises of God filled her with his grace. She believed Gabriel's divine message to her would be fulfilled, even when she didn't understand exactly how it was going to happen. And she put her faith into immediate action, going to Elizabeth to spend time with her. She left Joseph in Galilee, demonstrated that she trusted God's incredible promises. And that comes out crystal clear in the song that she sings next. And we'll be covering that in the Christmas Eve service.

But for the next three months, Mary stayed with Elizabeth in Judea. And both women watched their bodies change through the different stages of pregnancy. They probably discussed Gabriel's promises and they repeated them to one another and discerned them and dissected them. And they anticipated what their boys would be like, what John would do, and how Jesus would be. And they rejoiced in the coming Savior. They praised God for his mighty deeds and they let God's promises fill them with his grace.

The promises of God always produce grace in our lives. Elizabeth could have found multiple reasons to be jealous against Mary. Why would this teenager show up at her house with exciting news about her mysterious pregnancy when Elizabeth was the one who had suffered for years unable to have children? Why would God give this teenager the son of God, the promised Messiah, instead of an elderly woman with more experience serving God? There were so many angles that Elizabeth could have doubted, questioned, or even just been petty.

But that was not her response. Instead of jealousy or resentment, Elizabeth expressed genuine joy for Mary and her baby Jesus. How do you respond when God sends his blessing on someone else? When God fills us with his grace and we grasp all that he has done for us, we can rejoice with other people when they receive God's blessings. If your life is consistently marked by envy, jealousy, or a critical spirit, then you probably have not received the grace of God for salvation. Because the promises of God give us joy, give us contentment, and give us the ability to celebrate God's work in the life of others.

Have you ever been in a situation where you thought, "Boy, that person is crazy. I don't know if God could possibly save them"? All of us know somebody, whether they're in our family or whether there's somebody that we've worked with or somebody that's just an acquaintance or someone we have passed by, that we've said, "That person seems past the point of being possible for God to save." And yet God can save them. And that is the point of the gospel, is that we were the people that were beyond saving. And yet God chose to save us.

When we receive the gospel and believe the promises that Gabriel said about Jesus, then we become filled with the grace of God and we become imminently gracious. Paul says it this way in Philippians 2: "Therefore, if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interest, but each of you to the interest of others."

The stories of Elizabeth and Mary illustrate what Paul wrote here. Their grace-given selflessness demonstrated their firm belief in God and their hope in God's promises. God chose both of these women and he filled them with his glorious grace. And the promises of God made Elizabeth and Mary gracious toward one another, gracious toward their husbands, and grace-giving to the world.

The promises of God fill us with his grace and make us gracious. I pray that we are a church that is increasingly marked by this kind of graciousness, that we would believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. That we would cling to the grace of the gospel and that we would become a gracious people that warmly and urgently invite other people to believe Jesus. What we would never want to be is a church that is critical, self-righteous, or condescending. That is not a church that honors God. I don't believe we are that, but I want us to be a church that shows forth the grace of God more and more because that is what attracts people to the gospel.

It's not our presentation or our winning personalities, it's the power of God revealed through broken sinners like us, people that are not worthy of being saved. That God, for the mystery of his providence, has chosen to save people who were condemned in their sin who have now been rescued so that we can have eternity in heaven.

Receiving Grace Through Promises

If we believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, then we ought to be the most gracious people of all and passionately invite others to believe him with us. As we conclude this passage this morning, I want us to be reminded that we can receive the grace of God because God keeps his promises, and you can stake your life on it.

Let's pray. God, we come to you this morning mindful of your incredible grace. Thank you for being a covenant-keeping God who fulfilled all your promises in Jesus.

And Father, we're grateful that the virgin birth assures us of Jesus' deity and his sinlessness so that we can have hope in the Son of God who is our deliverer. And Father, if there are any here this morning that have not believed this gospel, I pray that by your grace you would grant them the eyes to see their sin and help them to be given the grace of repentance and faith so they can turn from their sin and trust you.

And God, for those of us here who have been saved, help us to never lose sight of the wonder of the gospel. Help us to become more and more full, filled by your grace, and more and more gracious in the way we live our lives so that we can be a compelling witness to the transforming power of the gospel. And we pray all this in Jesus' mighty name. Amen.

Belief Beyond Doubt | Luke 1:1-25

Belief Beyond Doubt | Luke 1:1-25

Nathan Young

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Convinced of Christ

Well, this morning I would like you to turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke. As we're beginning a new sermon series this morning, I want to draw attention to the fact that over the next year or so—and I'm saying "or so" because it depends on some variables—we're going to study through the Gospel of Luke verse by verse, paragraph by paragraph.

It's been my prayer and my hope that as we embark on this study of the gospel, that we will become more and more convinced of Christ. In fact, I'm titling my sermon series through the Gospel of Luke, "Convinced of Christ."

I'm praying that we'll learn more than the mere facts of the gospel, though we must know the facts of the gospel. But I'm trusting that God will also help us understand the implications of the gospel for how it lands in our hearts and shapes our lives.

It's also noteworthy that while I'm starting a sermon series through the Gospel of Luke on Sunday mornings, we have two of our adult groups who are also studying other gospels. If you were with us in the discipleship hour this morning at 9 o'clock, our adult discipleship class is currently studying the Gospel of Matthew and will be in the Gospel of Matthew for the next two quarters. And not only that class, but our senior ladies Bible study, that will resume meetings again in January, is going to be studying the Gospel of John together.

So with this much focus on the gospels, I believe God wants us to listen carefully to his word. It is not an accident or a coincidence that God has put these books of the Bible in clear focus at this season and for this time.

Study the Gospels

We should never tire of hearing the gospels and understanding the message of Jesus Christ. These are things that our faith depends on and things that are often brought into question by our culture and by people who reject Christianity.

It's absolutely imperative that we study the gospels so that we know Christ and we become convinced of the claims of Jesus. And as we work our way through the Gospel of Luke in particular, I believe this Gospel will show us with clarity that we can be convinced with confidence that Jesus is who he says that he is, did what he said he has done, and wants us to have a relationship with him for all of eternity.

The Gospel of Luke follows Matthew and Mark as the third synoptic gospel. That is, these three gospels in particular tell the events of the life of Jesus from slightly different perspectives and backgrounds, but all with an emphasis on the work of Christ in God's world.

Luke's Focus on Christ

The Gospel of Luke in particular focuses on how Jesus' deity and humanity, as well as his death and resurrection, affect our hearts, our minds, and our actions. In fact, Luke presents Jesus in such a way that Jesus often reveals people's innermost thoughts and motivations. And Luke points us to Christ for not only our salvation, but for our transformation, so that our lives will be radically changed.

Luke was a Jewish doctor who traveled with the Apostle Paul on his missionary journeys, and he had access to other disciples of Jesus. It's with his experience as a physician that he may have even cared for the Apostle Paul and some of the disciples and early Christians. But as he wrote his gospel, he was writing primarily to a Gentile audience, that is, people who were non-Jewish. And he dedicated his writings both here in the Gospel of Luke and in the book of Acts, which follows it, to a Gentile believer named Theophilus.

Luke's gospel ranks as one of the longest books in the New Testament. And I know some of you will be like, "Uh-oh, the longest book in the New Testament might be for some really long sermon series." But I do want to keep the sermon series moving at a good clip so that we understand the context of what he is saying. And we want to see it so that our lives are affected by it and not just our intellects stirred or tickled.

From the opening paragraph of his gospel, Luke established the primary reason that he wrote to Theophilus. He says in verse 4, "so you can know for certain what you have been taught." Luke has thoroughly investigated Jesus' life and teachings, and he has become so convinced of the good news of Jesus Christ that he wants everyone, from Theophilus to us, to believe the gospel beyond any shadow of a doubt.

Sadly, there are people in every generation who question whether or not the gospels are accurate and whether or not Jesus' life was true. You see this on the shelves in the grocery store. There are still magazines that are sold, not only tabloids, but other magazines that around Christmas and Easter have a picture of Jesus on the cover and normally say, "Was he real? Did it really happen?" And when you open those magazines, you can read articles from scholars who teach in Ivy League universities and other institutions who say all kinds of things, but the bottom line is they deny that Jesus is Christ. Jesus was the Son of God. They deny what the Bible has said about Jesus. They have all kinds of other explanations and theories, but none of them would affirm what the Bible says as being true.

In fact, I would argue every generation has this repeated over and over again, starting with the first generation, that those who were around at the time of Jesus' life and death even questioned Jesus to the point of crucifying him and saying, "This man is blasphemous. He is not God." So the Jews killed him. Yet this pattern of skepticism, doubt, and unbelief has repeated through every generation. Because the gospel of Christ is true, it reverberates in every generation, and it repeats in every generation. So thus it is logical that the doubters and the skeptics will also repeat in every generation.

Over 20 years ago, Dan Brown wrote a fiction thriller called the Da Vinci Code. With the skill of a novelist and the skepticism of an atheist, Brown used disproven conspiracy theories and dubious history to undermine the gospels, and he told an incredible tale. But Brown's claims were fundamentally false, though they sounded persuasive. It's not ironic that he used fiction to portray his ideas because his ideas were indeed fictional.

In our own era, deconstructionists and ex-vangelicals, as they're called, question everything about Christianity, from the authority of the Bible to the moral ethics of Christianity. They debate Christians online and sometimes in person, but they debate with scorn and mockery, and they passionately try to evangelize Christians to join them in their unbelief. While these deconstructionists seemingly question everything, they seem incapable of questioning themselves. The only motive and the only thing that they have absolute certainty about is their own ability to discern and research what is right and what is wrong.

Yet in the Gospel of Luke, we find the assurance for believers and doubters to find answers about Christ and the gospel. We simply have to be willing to humble ourselves and listen to what the word of God says. Luke wants us to believe the gospel of Jesus for certain, and he wants us to deal with our doubts and our fears. Luke does not want us to become arrogant about what we believe. He wants us to become more assured about who we believe in. This is why Luke points us to Jesus Christ.

So this morning, I want to tackle the first 25 verses of chapter 1 and see in this section how we can believe the gospel of Jesus beyond any doubt. So let's read the first 25 verses of Luke chapter 1.

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those from the first eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

In the time of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zachariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. His wife Elizabeth was a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly. But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.

Once when Zachariah's division was on duty, he was serving as a priest before God. He was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.

And when Zachariah saw him, he was startled and gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and a delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He's never to take wine or fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

Zachariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I'm an old man and my wife is well along in years." The angel said to him, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time."

Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zachariah and wondering why he had stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs, but he remained unable to speak. When his time of service was completed, he returned home.

And after this, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. "The Lord has done this for me," she said. "In these days, he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people. Amen."

Luke begins his gospel with an account of birth narratives. First, he gives us the account of the birth of John the Baptist, who is the cousin of Jesus. And then he gives the account of the birth of Jesus. In both of these, Luke is establishing the historicity of Christ by establishing his origin and where he came from.

As we look into this first section of Luke's gospel, we're only going to cover his introduction and the birth narrative for John. But in this, we see Luke making the case that we can believe the gospel of Jesus Christ beyond any doubt. And we see this at least along three different lines.

Word of God Reveals Christ

The first, and it will be my first point this morning, is that the Word of God reveals the Son of God beyond a doubt.

Luke wrote with an attention to detail that included multiple eyewitness accounts and a careful comparison of corroborating evidence. Luke acknowledged right at the start in verse number one, many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us. Luke was not claiming to be first, but he was saying that there are other accounts out there. Perhaps he was aware of the other gospel writers, but he was certainly aware of conversations and of stories that were being passed on from first-hand eyewitnesses to others.

So Luke worked to prepare an accurate and a reliable account of Jesus so that others could become convinced of Christ. In his gospel, Luke records how Jesus fulfilled Old Testament promises. He also interviewed the first-hand eyewitnesses, such as Jesus' closest disciples, in order to verify and organize their testimonies. Luke investigated these different stories so we could rule out any misinformation and he could write an orderly account, it says in verse number three.

In modern parlance, we might say Luke wrote the authorized history of Jesus. He took the eyewitness accounts, which could be random and out of order, and he put them in a chronological order that aligned with the life and ministry of Jesus. He did this to make sense out of all the different stories so that there was a clear account of what had happened. Luke was not working as a conspirator with others to try to create a false Jesus or a false narrative that presented Jesus a certain way. Luke was simply harmonizing and analyzing the information that was available to everyone at that time.

Luke's gospel was and is the word of God that reveals the Son of God who Luke calls the Son of Man, emphasizing Jesus' humanity. Ultimately, Luke wrote an authoritative account about Jesus' life and teaching, and what he wrote is trustworthy. It's consistent with the other Gospels of Matthew and Mark. It's consistent with the Gospel of John, and it is consistent with the Old Testament promises that Jesus fulfilled. Luke's history for Theophilus remains an accurate record for us today so that we, like Theophilus, may know the certainty of the things that we have been taught.

The biblical authors welcome skeptics and doubters. Some say that Christianity is scared of skeptics and doubters, but I would say it's skeptics and doubters who are scared of Christianity. Already in the first century, there were people questioning Jesus' teaching and miracles. There were doubters who were denying the eyewitness accounts of evidence for his resurrection. So Luke interviewed the first eyewitnesses, it says, and he gathered all the evidence that he could. And his research only served to strengthen his confidence in Jesus Christ.

The gospel that Luke wrote provided Theophilus certainty of the things that he had been taught. In other words, Luke investigated the stories that he had heard about Jesus and he compared them to the other eyewitnesses and the other evidence. And he concluded beyond any doubt that the gospel of Jesus Christ held up to scrutiny. It was absolutely true and trustworthy. Luke did not conspire with other writers to improve the story or to change the story. They simply reported what happened.

The Bible stands up to critical investigation and careful analysis. Scholars who deny the inspiration and authority of Scripture always cast doubt on what the Bible says. Like Satan in the Garden of Eden, they ask, "Did God really say? Is that really what he meant?" Yet even these skeptics and critics will admit that the people, the places, and the events described in scripture are accurate historical facts. They just choose to reinterpret them.

What's interesting is the field of archaeology only serves to confirm the record of the Bible. Archaeologists who have been skeptical and even atheist have gone searching in Palestine to try to disprove the Bible, and they've actually disproved themselves. And some of them have even become believers because they have realized that what the Bible recorded is right.

If you're a skeptic or a believer yourself and you wonder, "I don't know, can I trust any of this?" I mean, you're just saying that. I would challenge you to question your own skepticism. Where does your skepticism come from? And what makes your skepticism trump all other evidence? Instead, we ought to be willing to read the scripture, give it a fair shake, and hear what it says for itself.

In fact, I want to challenge each and every one of you to read the Gospel of Luke between now and the end of this calendar year. If you were to read two chapters a day for the 12 weekdays between now and New Year, you'll read all of Luke's gospel. Some of you may choose to read it faster. You can read it slower, but I want to invite you to read it and hear what it says. Then keep going and read the whole Bible in 2026.

In fact, this is a great time of year to evaluate your devotion life and what you want to read and be studying for this next year in your private time with the Lord. There are many Bible reading plans that are available out there, and I want to commend to you Ligonier Ministries. They have an incredibly helpful website, they have an app, and they have multiple Bible reading plans that will match your level and your engagement.

It is through the simple reading of the Word of God that God convinces us of Himself. I have heard more than one testimony of people who became believers because someone challenged them to read the Bible. And I would encourage you, if you're a believer, to invite someone else to read the Bible with you.

You can do that in a multitude of ways. It could be as simple as saying, "Let's read a chapter a day" or "a chapter a week." You can do that with others as you have access to their lives and just let the Word of God speak. Let the questions arise from the Word of God and draw confidence in that. We can believe the gospel of Jesus Christ beyond any doubt because the Word of God is trustworthy.

And Luke wants to make it clear right from the beginning that what he has written is not his own opinion or his own interpretation, but he has written what he has studied and what he has investigated, and it is accurate. Well, as Luke makes that clear, he shows us that the Word of God reveals the Son of God beyond any doubt.

And we're going to be learning more about Christ, especially toward the middle of chapter one and into chapter two. But the second thing I think that Luke shows us about the Word of God in Luke chapter one is that the Spirit of God fills His servants for service.

Spirit of God Fills Servants

So the Spirit of God fills his servants for service. While we can believe the gospel because we trust the Bible, we can also believe the gospel because the Spirit of God equips his servants to serve him.

Now that Luke has established his reason for writing, he starts his account with three servants of God: a Jewish priest named Zachariah, his wife Elizabeth, and their son John. Each member of this small family points us to Jesus Christ and his work in their lives, and as that affects other people.

Luke sets the scene, beginning in verse number five, by saying, "in the time of Herod, king of Judea," referring to Herod the Great, who ruled over Judea for the Roman government between 37 BC and 4 AD. This Roman governor over the Jews ruled during the time of Christ's birth. He himself was half Jewish, but he governed not for the benefit of the Jews, but he governed for the interests of Rome and for his own self-preservation. This same Herod would later order an execution against male Jewish babies to try to destroy Jesus, who was the promised king of the Jews, a threat to his own authority. Yet in spite of Herod's attempts to eliminate Jesus, Herod himself would be taken off the scene.

It's in this first-century context that Luke introduces a priest named Zachariah and his wife Elizabeth, verse 5. Both the husband and wife were descendants of Jewish priests, and they faithfully served God over many years. They were a childless couple, Luke tells us, well past the prime of their lives. And despite their earnest desire to have children of their own, they suffered the pain and the anguish of infertility. Yet Zachariah ministered as a temple priest, and he served God with honor and integrity. It says in verse 6, both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly.

Zachariah and Elizabeth lived according to God's covenant with Israel, and God considered them righteous and blameless. This did not mean that Zachariah and Elizabeth were sinless before God, but it means that God knew their hearts and their motivations, and they genuinely loved God and served him with their lives. Ultimately, Zachariah and Elizabeth's public testimonies and ministry matched their private character, is what Luke is saying.

Luke is highlighting their character because this couple had been unable to have children. Luke described them in verse 7 as childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive and they were both very old. He doesn't give us the exact age, but he's making the point that they were old enough that they were beyond childbearing years. There was no way they could now have children on their own, but they had not become bitter against God. They had not held back and said, "God, since you didn't give us children and life didn't work out the way we had hoped, we're going to pull back from you." No, they continued to lean into their relationship with God. They continued to serve him both privately and publicly in a way that honored God. And God, in his kindness, chose to bless them.

For her part, Elizabeth had godly character. She was like her husband in that she observed all the Lord's commands, it says in verse 6. And after multiple attempts throughout their marriage, she had been unable to conceive a child and she had suffered in her infertility. No doubt, she probably experienced miscarriages, and there were people who misunderstood. Some may have even surmised that perhaps they were under a curse for something that they had done. And yet, Elizabeth remained faithful and she was said to be righteous before God. She didn't turn against God because of her own infertility and turn against God because he didn't do what she wanted. She continued to pursue him and obey him no matter her circumstances.

Everyone experiences different degrees of suffering and disappointment in their lives, all of us. For some, the suffering of infertility not only disappoints a couple who desires children of their own, but it can also lead one or both of the spouses into bitterness and, in some cases, unbelief. For others, the disappointment of a wayward child can prompt doubts about God and questions about his goodness.

Yet the Spirit of God comforts believers through our suffering and disappointment. He does not give us an escape from our suffering. We live in a culture that wants escape from any kind of difficulty. We have built a world of convenience and ease for our comfort. And as soon as there's any hint of adversity, pushback, or difficulty, we hit the eject button. We quit jobs because people hurt our feelings. We get upset with teachers because they ask too much of us. We cancel our parents because we think they were unkind when we were children. We do all kinds of crazy things in our cultural movement to escape from suffering. And yet the Spirit of God wants to comfort us through our suffering and disappointment. And here we have Zachariah and Elizabeth being introduced to us in difficult circumstances, that they have a public ministry, and yet they have private hurt.

Yet they've not allowed their private hurt to get in the way of the work that God had called them to do. It's not unlike what Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6 when he said, "Godliness with contentment is great gain." For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of the world. We can trust and obey God with honor and integrity, even when we're struggling and when we're suffering.

After countless years of faithfully serving Yahweh, God sent a special word to Zachariah. So he saw this man in his service and in his suffering, and God chose to intervene. Zachariah's division of the priests, it says, was on duty serving in the temple where God dwelt with his people. This division of priests would have been probably around a thousand men from a tribe of Israel. And there were up to 12 to 18,000 priests that would have rotated with their tribe twice a year to minister in the temple.

And among the thousand or so men who would have been ministering each week, they chose who would go into the innermost part of the temple by casting a lot, or what we would say, rolling a dice. And as they did this, it just so happens that the account Luke shares is of Zachariah being on temple duty when the lot fell to him. He would be the one chosen to go into the temple where the most sacred space of the presence of God and burn incense. And this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. No doubt, Zachariah had been to the temple grounds and would return to the temple grounds. But it's only once in a lifetime that he would be given this opportunity to go before God in this unique way.

And once Zachariah entered into this most sacred part of God's temple, the Holy of Holies, it says in verse 11: an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. And this angel of the Lord, Gabriel, who had stood in the presence of God, verse 19, was sent to speak to Zachariah and tell him good news. This angel appeared not with divine judgment, but with divine hope that would be a blessing not only to Zechariah, but a blessing to all of Israel.

What we don't always fully appreciate is that angelic appearances were not always welcomed, especially from the Old Testament context. They often involved God sending divine judgment against Israel or his enemies. Angels were not playful children plucking cords on harps like we picture today. They were usually warriors who were armed for battle or messengers with a word from God. Angels invoked the fear of God for good reason.

So when Zachariah saw Gabriel, it says in verse number 12, he was startled and he was gripped with fear. But Gabriel was not coming to bring God's wrath or judgment against this priest or against the people of God. No, this time the angel was sharing an incredible message of hope that was filled with joy that would be a blessing to them all. And Gabriel's message came directly from God, and it would overwhelm the elderly priest with good news.

When Gabriel appeared to Zachariah, he was there to inform him that his prayers had been answered. Imagine the countless times that Zachariah had privately prayed, that Elizabeth had privately prayed, that they had prayed together, begging the Lord to give them the child. You can't help but think of Hannah in the Old Testament, who was so stricken with grief and so consumed in prayer that the priests thought she was drunk in her pleading before the Lord. And now God appears with an angel and tells Zachariah, "I've heard your cries. And I have an answer."

Elizabeth in her old age was going to have a baby and they were going to name him John. Zachariah's son, John, would have a God-given name rather than his father's name or a family name. What's interesting is the name Zachariah appears over 28 times in the Bible, but it's not going to be there a 29th time for this child. Instead, they're going to take a turn and name him John. There's even going to be a question about that in chapter 2 where people are like, "Are you sure you want to name him John?" And he will confirm that that is the name.

The name John means "the Lord is gracious." And this son, given by God, would bring joy and the grace of Jesus Christ to all of Israel. In fact, Gabriel said to him, verse 15, "He will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born." The Spirit of God would fill John for his divine service, and the Spirit of God would keep John pure in heart like a Nazarite and make him powerful for Yahweh like Elijah. According to the angel Gabriel, Zachariah's son would prepare his people for the Lord. Early in this gospel account, Luke notes the role of the Holy Spirit, and he references the Holy Spirit more than any other gospel writer.

Luke also describes the role of the Holy Spirit in the early church when he wrote the book of Acts. And Luke recognized the significance of the Spirit's role in the lives of believers. All of us, from Zachariah to Elizabeth to John to us today, depend on the Holy Spirit's work.

Yet despite this incredible message from God through the angel Gabriel, and despite the Spirit's work in his life, Zachariah responded with a question. He said in verse 18, "How can I be sure of this? I'm an old man, and my wife is well along in years."

In other words, Zachariah's response paralleled what Abraham and Sarah had said when God appeared to Abram and said, "You will have a son and you will name him Isaac." They also were in disbelief because of their age. And now Zachariah is reacting and thinking, "I'm an old man. My wife is an old woman. There's no way we could have children." And they wondered how this would work.

So Gabriel answered Zachariah's question with an assurance from God. He had been in the presence of God just before coming to appear to Zachariah in the temple. And now he spoke to Zachariah to tell him this good news, verse 19. And he answered Zachariah's question.

But the answer was not how would God give Elizabeth a son? The answer was who was the one giving them a son? In other words, the angel Gabriel wanted Zachariah to focus on the covenant-keeping God rather than the mechanics of how an older lady would become pregnant. By implication, we should understand through this that the Spirit of God equips his people with everything they need for his service, even when it seems impossible to do.

To prove the power of God's message through Gabriel, the angel silenced Zachariah and made him unable to speak. We might wonder, "Well, isn't this harsh? Isn't this punitive? Why did he react this way?" Yet we should understand that Zachariah's temporary silence would put more focus on God and what he said through Gabriel. So that when the words of the angel came true at the birth of John, Zachariah, it says, gave praise to the Lord. All of this would point to God's super ability to work through his spirit to accomplish his purposes.

Luke's point in this whole section of Zachariah's encounter with Gabriel can be summarized like

Spirit Fills Servants for Service

The Spirit of God fills his servants for service because of our human limitations. Zachariah and Elizabeth could not have produced children on their own. They had tried throughout their marriage and had finally given up in their old age. Yet God, through the power of the Spirit, would produce a son for them named John, who would turn their sorrow into joy.

We are also dependent on the Spirit of God to empower us for service. Sharing the good news of the gospel involves turning people's hearts from their sins and revealing God's righteousness. We cannot convince hearts and minds without the power of the Spirit of God.

Sharing the gospel is more than simply repeating a pattern or offering a presentation. It requires the power of God. So as we have the opportunity to share Jesus this Christmas, we should share it not simply to tick a box, but we should share it with anticipation and with hope that God's power attends the gospel and his Spirit convinces people of its truthfulness.

In fact, the reason people reject the gospel is because they do not have the Spirit of God illumining their hearts and minds. The Spirit of God will fill his servants, including us, for service so we can believe the gospel of Jesus Christ beyond a doubt and share this good news with other people.

People Believe the Testimony of God

As Luke is writing his gospel, he's showing how the word of God reveals the Son of God. He's helping us understand that the Spirit of God prepares his servants for service. And the final thing I want you to see in this section this morning is that the people of God believe the testimony of God for certain.

While Zachariah ministered out of sight in the inner court of the temple where the presence of God dwelt, other worshipers were outside and they were assembled praying, it says in verse number 10. Apparently, Zachariah's encounter with Gabriel took longer than the normal time allotted, sort of like my sermons, Craig. And the people were waiting for Zachariah, and they were wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. The people must have been restless and curious, even speculating what was happening.

It was customary for the priest then to exit the temple and to pronounce a blessing on the people. Yet this time, when Zachariah finally appeared after a delay, it says in verse number 22, he could not speak to them. Suddenly, the worshipers realized Zachariah had been delayed because he had encountered the living God, and he struggled to communicate because he could not speak. The priest made signs. He found other ways to communicate. It says later that he asked for something to write on so he could express his thoughts to them.

But what was significant is that while he was unable to speak words from his mouth, he was still pointing people to the glory of God and his promises. The people of God responded to Zachariah's mute silence with rapt attention and a sense of anticipation: What is God doing? How is this going to go? They realized that he had seen a vision in the temple and they wanted to know more.

And then Luke moves on and says that Zachariah and Elizabeth continued to minister for the rest of the week while Zachariah completed his temple service. I'm sure he was overwhelmed with requests to repeat what Gabriel had said to him. And thus Luke was able to talk to other eyewitnesses and get this account down as accurately as he could.

But at the end of their service, Zachariah and Elizabeth returned home to the Judean hill country. And then, just as Gabriel had predicted, Elizabeth became pregnant in her old age, but she lived in seclusion for the first five months. And even in her seclusion, she told everyone, "The Lord has done this for me," verse number 25.

She realizes she didn't get pregnant because she sought fertility treatments, or they found an aphrodisiac, or they found some kind of herbal remedy. No, they realized that she has become pregnant because God has intervened. Infertility had not made Elizabeth bitter or doubtful. She had suffered disgrace among her people, it says verse 25, but she did not turn against God or question his goodness.

Elizabeth continued to believe in God and trust in his covenant faithfulness, both to Israel and to her husband Zachariah. Elizabeth demonstrated incredible faith because she believed the word of God, and she saw evidence of the word of God at work by the Spirit of God in her life. And now, through her life, the people of God can believe the testimony of God for certain because God assures us of his goodness and faithfulness.

Believe the Gospel Beyond Doubt

As we think about this passage, there are many things to take away, but the main one I want you to see is that we can believe the gospel of Jesus Christ beyond any doubt. Luke has written this gospel so that we might believe what Jesus has said, so that we might believe that Jesus is our savior, and we might be transformed by the message of the gospel.

We live in an era of skepticism and cynicism. Ironically, everybody considers themselves an expert, but we don't trust anyone else's expertise. Think about that for a moment. We consider ourselves experts because we can search the internet, but we don't trust anyone else's expertise. But I would argue that the best way to test someone's expertise involves watching their lives. It's not enough to simply have a great social media presence. It's much more important to be present with your family, with your church, and in your community.

There are many people online who are charlatans, but there are many people in person who are incredibly sincere and devout. They'll never get headlines. They'll never be celebrities, but they live their faith in a way like Zachariah and Elizabeth that brings honor to God and they worship with integrity. Elizabeth gave her family and friends reason to believe the testimony of God because of the way she lived her life.

And I want to challenge us to live in a way that honors the gospel of Jesus. That if we profess faith in Christ, that we would persevere in the gospel of Christ. And if we're wondering, "Is this true? Could it be real?" then we would at least give it an honest assessment by reading the scriptures, by studying the scriptures, and by testing whether or not the Spirit of God is there. And I want you to believe that he is.

This weekend on Friday night, Crystal and I went and did some Christmas shopping. And as we were doing that, we went up to the counter to check out, as you always do. And at this time of year, you're waiting and you're waiting and you're waiting. And then you finally get to go to the checkout. And when we went to the checkout, we had an incredible conversation with a fellow believer. And it was interesting. I had been praying earlier that day, "God, introduce us to somebody to remind us of your grace and your work."

Well, this lady within 30 seconds said to me and Crystal, she said, "It's just nice to be able to check out some other believers, some other Christians." We had said nothing about Christianity. I was incognito. I was wearing my Braves hat. I was not dressed in my pastor uniform. I didn't look like a pastor that day. But she called us out as Christians. And then she said, she looked right at me and she said, "And you're a pastor." I was like, "Wow, that's incredible." And I said, "Yes, I am." And that took the conversation a little bit deeper in a different direction.

Well, long story short, she had been praying for the past week or so for God to introduce her to some Christians that would encourage her faith because she had been going through some difficult times and was losing hope in some people in her life. And here in the mystery of God's providence, I had been praying something similar, not because I was going through difficulty and losing hope, but just wanted to be encouraged. And she wanted to be encouraged as well. And God used that conversation to bless all of us.

I wanted to end with that story to remind you that you can believe the gospel beyond any doubt because God is working in all kinds of people's lives doing the same thing through the gospel of Christ. He's filling Christians everywhere with his power so that the gospel would advance. And I want to challenge you today to believe this gospel, to trust Jesus, to follow him, to listen to promptings of the Spirit, and to do his work and watch him do incredible things.

And as we do that, God will bless us not only individually, but he'll grow our church because he'll bring people to our church that he wants to be a part of this assembly. But we have to have the confidence that he is still at work and do the work that he has called us to do. So with that, I would challenge you, if you don't believe the gospel, consider it, investigate it, study it, and ask God to show you whether or not it is true. And if you do believe the gospel, let me challenge you to share it and to be bold about sharing it and to know that the Spirit will convince sinners of their sin and their need for a Savior. And as we do that, God will give us these divine encounters and he will encourage us along the way as he grows his church.

Let's pray. Father, as we submit this to you, we pray that you would guide us and help us to believe the gospel beyond any doubt. Father, all of us go through seasons of questions, seasons of doubts. We have moments of skepticism and even fear.

And yet, Father, your spirit attends to us. Your spirit confirms your word in our hearts and lives. Thank you for the gospel of Luke that gives attention to this so that we can believe Jesus Christ without a doubt, that you can help us to be confident in Christ.

God, I pray that you would help us this season to trust you all the more and to declare you even more boldly, and that you would see fit to bless your word as we speak it. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Glory To God In The Highest | Luke 2:8-14

Glory To God In The Highest | Luke 2:8-14

Jerry Dockery

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Announcing The Son Of God | Luke 1:26-38

Announcing The Son Of God | Luke 1:26-38

Nathan Young

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