Sermon for 1/23/22 17 Minutes "Scripture Fulfilled"

Luke 4:14-21

This morning I'll be reading Luke chapter 4 verses 14 through 21. And I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Luke 4:14–21 Jesus has returned to His hometown after John the Baptist has been arrested,,, if you follow the timeline,,, and pay attention,,, to the Harmony of the Gospels that have been put together,,, of all of the events,,, that happened during Jesus' life. Luke 4:14–21 (HCSB) — 14 Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread throughout the entire vicinity. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, being acclaimed by everyone. 16 He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As usual, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it was written: 18 The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. 20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.” God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning. Let us pray: Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen. ----------------------------------------------------------- Last Sunday,,, we looked at John 2:1-11 and Jesus’ first miracle,,, where He turned the water into wine.

We seen where the beginning 4 words of those verses of scripture,,, On the third day,,, led us to the importance of the whole Bible relating to the life,,, death,,, resurrection,,, and ascension of Jesus,,, and the way that this information helps our understanding of the “Good News” that God had planned for us.

This morning we will look at these verses in Luke and see how they will help us in our walk with God this week.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verses 14 and 15 say: 14 Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread throughout the entire vicinity. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, being acclaimed by everyone.

According to my Believer's Bible Commentary,,, Between verses 13 and 14 there is a gap of about one year. During this time Jesus ministered in Judea. The only record of this early ministry in Judea,,, is in John,,, chapters 2–5. So,,, Jesus,,, at the beginning of His ministry,,, was a popular Teacher,,, they have heard of the wonderful things that He has done already,,, so when He went back to His hometown,,, it was natural for Him to teach in synagogues. It says that Jesus returned to Galilee "in the power of the Spirit". Jesus didn't have to rely on His human strength,,, He,,, of course,,, being God with us,,, had His own strength to rely own,,, a strength that we have as well! Because of the life,,, death,,, and resurrection of Jesus,,, we have a relationship with God that can help us through anything that this world can throw at us! Through the help of the Holy Spirit,,, if we are being true to our relationship with God,,, anything that God has for us to do will be accomplished! And,,, no matter what we are going through,,, God is always with us,,, through the help of the Holy Spirit,,, trying to guide us,,, each and every day,,, if we listen like we should!

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 16 says: 16 He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As usual, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.

Nazareth is,,, of course the hometown of Jesus,,, the town where He grew up,,, after returning from Egypt after it was safe for them to return after Joseph was warned in a dream to flee there to avoid the fury of Herod.

And,,, As usual it says,,, Jesus entered the synagogue on the Sabbath.

I believe that we should take notice of this,,, that if it was important to Jesus to spend time each Sabbath in the synagogue during His time here on earth,,, we should make sure that we are making time to be in church each Sunday as well.

There are two other things that Jesus did as usual.

First,,, He prayed regularly,,, Luke 22:39 says,,, “He went out and made His way as usual to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed Him.” and,,, second,,, He made it a habit to teach others,,, Mark 10:1 says,,, “He set out from there and went to the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Then crowds converged on Him again and, as He usually did, He began teaching them once more.”

We need to pay attention to Jesus’ example and be praying like we should,,, and teaching others as well.

And as I said earlier,,, Jesus is welcomed into the synagogues wherever He is,,, and the people are anxious to hear the words of wisdom that others have been talking about hearing from Him.

So,,, at this time,,, He has entered the synagogue and He’s prepared to read.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 17 says: 17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him, and unrolling the scroll, He found the place where it was written:

Jesus,,, standing to read,,, unrolls the scroll to what we know today as Isaiah 61 and reads verse 1 and the first half of verse 2,,, which says in the next two verses,,,

----------------------------------------------------------- Verses 18 and 19 say: 18 The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

This scripture has always been acknowledged as a description of the ministry of the Messiah.

So you can imagine the wonder that filled the synagogue that day as Jesus finished reading verse 1 and the first half of verse 2,,, in chapter 61 of Isaiah.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 20 says: 20 He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

Once a teacher has finished reading,,, he usually sits down and begins to teach.

That’s what Jesus does here,,, as He finishes reading and everyone is waiting expectantly for Him to begin to teach them,,, as it says,,, the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on Him. .

Remember the meanings of the words that Jesus has chosen to read from Isaiah as we go to the next verse.

Also,,, Notice the revolutionary implications of the Messiah’s mission.

He came to deal with the enormous problems that have bothered mankind throughout history:

Poverty - To preach the gospel to the poor.

Sorrow - To heal the brokenhearted. (even though this is left out of the HCSB,,, and other newer translations,,, because it was not found in most of the earliest Greek manuscripts,,, even though it’s found in Isaiah 61 and the Wesleyan Commentary makes the argument that they were possibly left out by a copying mistake rather than not supposed to be there)

Bondage - To proclaim liberty to the captives.

Suffering - Recovery of sight to the blind.

Oppression - To set at liberty those who are oppressed.

In short,,, He came,,, as it says in the King James Version,,, to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD—the dawning of a new era for this world’s crying,,, and hurting,,, people.

Jesus presented Himself as the answer to all the ills that torment us.

And it is true,,, whether you think of these ills in a physical sense,,, or in a spiritual sense.

Jesus Christ,,, is the answer.

It is significant that he stopped reading with the words “… to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

He did not add the rest of the words from Isaiah “… and the day of vengeance of our God.”

The purpose of His First Coming was to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

This present age of grace is the accepted time and the day of salvation.

When He returns to earth the second time,,, it will be to proclaim the day of vengeance of our God.

Note that the acceptable time is spoken of as a year,,, the vengeance time as a day.(1)

The time of God’s grace is always much greater,,, than His vengeance.

So Jesus read these words to them in the synagogue that day,,, the ones that were there knew what,,, and who,,, these words were written about,,, and they all knew that they were looking to the day when these words would be fulfilled,,,

Then,,, in verse 21,,, they hear these words from Jesus,,,

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 21 says: 21 He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”

The people were amazed,,, that Jesus has spoken the words that they had longed to hear for so long!

This was such a wonderful blessing for them to hear,,, but they don’t believe it,,, and if you read further,,, you see that they are just drawn by the wonderful words that He says,,, and His miracles,,, and they aren’t sincere in their belief of Him.

----------------------------------------------------------- Of course,,, as Paul Harvey would say,,, we know the rest of the story,,, and we know that Jesus’ words are true,,, we know that the words of Isaiah were true,,, that Jesus did fulfill that prophesy just like He told them that day in the synagogue!

We also know that because of all that Jesus Christ has done for us,,, we have the wonderful opportunity to have a personal relationship with the Lord that was never available to the Israelites at that time.

And we have so many that don’t take advantage of this opportunity today!

And if you’re one of them,,, I beg you to make that decision today.

God is just waiting for you to give Him a chance,,, a chance to live forever with Him in heaven.

And you do that by accepting Jesus as your personal Savior,,, allowing Him to lead and guide you with the help of the Holy Spirit,,, and you need to make that decision today,,, because tomorrow isn’t promised,,, nor do we know the day or time when Jesus will come again.

We are just told to be ready,,, and to be ready,,, you must have made this decision before that time!

And if you have made the decision for Jesus to be your Lord and Savior but you’ve grown farther from Him than you want to be,,, God is right there beside you,,, still with you,,, you might not be able to feel His presence,,, but He’s there,,, just waiting for you to acknowledge Him,,, to cry out to Him,,, and He will give you the comfort and peace that you used to know,,, just like the days you experienced after you accepted Him to be your Lord and Savior in the past!

Just as it was in the days when Jesus was teaching in the synagogue,,, God wanted the best for them that day,,, and God still wants the best for us today,,, and we still have that opportunity to accept it,,, if we just listen to His words,,, and have faith,,, in Jesus Christ,,, our Lord,,, and Savior!

----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Hymn: 337 - Oakdale Hymn: 337 - Seminary Benediction ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- 1 - MacDonald, William. Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments. Ed. Arthur Farstad. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995. Print. -----------------------------------------------------------