Luke 4:14-44
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Last week we saw the temptation of Jesus by Satan in the wilderness.
We saw that while Jesus was hungry, isolated, and weak in the flesh he still overcame Satan.
He knew what the Word of God said, and how to apply it.
We too can have victory over temptation by knowing and correctly applying the Word of God if we are indwelt by the Spirit of God...
…well, sometimes at least.
We aren’t perfect like Jesus, so sometimes we will fail the test.
That is why ultimately if we are to have victory over sin and Satan we must find Victory in Jesus.
Only from that place of secure and certain victory in Jesus, can we hope to have daily victory over temptation.
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Today we will look at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.
We will see today that Jesus has authority in his teaching.
He has authority over demons.
and...
He has authority over sickness.
When Jesus was about to depart this world he said...
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
There is no question about the authority of Jesus.
The question for each of us to consider this morning is...
How well and how fully do you submit to his authority?
I want you to think about why you are here this morning.
Are you here because you think it is your duty as a Christian?
It is your duty as a Christian, but there is a better reason for you to be here.
Are you here to fellowship with your friends?
The church is a wonderful opportunity for fellowship, but there is a better reason for you to be here.
I hope the main reason you are here is to worship God and be transformed more into the image of Christ by the Word of God.
If that is why you are here, then listen as we talk about the authority of Jesus and commit yourself to becoming more submissive to him.
As we read our passage today please notice with me the authority of our Lord.
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country.
15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.
17 And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
18 “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,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
20 And 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.
21 And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”
23 And he said to them, “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.’ ”
24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land,
26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
27 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.”
28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.
29 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.
30 But passing through their midst, he went away.
31 And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath,
32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.
33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,
34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.
36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”
37 And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
38 And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf.
39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.
40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.
41 And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them,
43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.”
44 And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
Let’s go back and look at the authority of his teaching.
(Don’t read the next slide aloud.)
Jesus has authority in his teaching.
Jesus has authority in his teaching.
There are a lot of things in the teaching of Jesus that people find acceptable.
(Golden Rule)
(Love your neighbor)
(Give to the poor)
Jesus was growing a fan base...
15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”
But then...
There are also a lot of things that people find to be downright offensive.
Jesus was warning them that most of the Jews were going to reject God’s message and God’s Messiah.
Read with me...
24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land,
26 and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
27 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.”
Did they repent and say, “We know that no prophet is acceptable in his hometown, but we repent and accept you! What must we do to be saved?”
Nope.
Let’s see what they did.
28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath.
29 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.
We do not get to pick which things we like and only obey those!
God’s Word is not a buffet where you get to take the things you like and leave the things you find distasteful.
Why?
Because Jesus’ authority does not come from us and cannot be nullified by us.
Look with me in v. 18-19
18 “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,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
The Holy Spirit is empowering the Son to carry out the direction of the Father.
That’s a lot of authority.
Also, look with me in v. 31-32
31 And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath,
32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.
What is our authority in the church?
Pastor?
Deacons?
Ministry Advisory Team?
NO
The Word of God is our authority!
The Word of God is the thing that we cannot say “no” to.
We don’t get to...
ignore it
pick and choose what we want to obey and what we don’t
Our society hates authority, be we cannot fall into that trap.
Let me illustrate the difference...
If I say, “this year has been stressful with this COVID thing, I think you guys should buy me a Cadillac as a bonus this year.”
- that’s dumb, you should ignore that - or better yet, reprimand me for it.
On the other hand...
If I say, “the Word of God says we are to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them the Word of God.”
Then you need to listen and obey… not me but Scripture.
Jesus’ teaching has authority… ultimate authority.
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Before we move to our next point, let me add this observation.
Jesus went to the synagogue.
The synagogues in Jesus day were even worse off than churches are in our day.
Jesus did not come up with some lame excuse not to be at the synagogue.
He didn’t say...
There are just too many hypocrites.
or
I can worship God without organized religion.
or
Sunday is my only day off.
Commit yourself to the assembly!
Now let’s see that...
Jesus has authority over demons.
Jesus has authority over demons.
33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,
I just have to point out after what I just said about being committed to the assembly, this demon possessed guy was in the synagogue...
Churches aren’t perfect.
Satan loves to infiltrate the enemy camp.
That is no reason for you to abandon the camp though.
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I want you to notice the orthodox understanding this demon had of who Jesus is.
34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
Believing some things correctly about God is different from believing God.
Intellectual assent is different from saving faith.
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Now look with me again at Jesus authority.
35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.
36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”
37 And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
Be encouraged, brothers and sisters!
Regarding evil spirits John wrote...
4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Earlier we sang those wonderful words Martin Luther wrote...
Verse 3
And tho' this world
with devils filled
Should threaten to
undo us
We will not fear
for God hath willed
His truth to triumph
thru us
The prince of
darkness grim
We tremble not
for him
His rage we
can endure
For lo his
doom is sure
One little word
shall fell him
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You may not really be concerned about demons, but I say they are having a field day in America right now!
Hatred, riots, violence, racism, covetousness - are all demonically inspired and in the news every single day.
But we are all pretty concerned about sickness right now with COVID 19.
So be encouraged to know that...
Jesus has authority over sickness.
Jesus has authority over sickness.
38 And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf.
39 And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.
40 Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.
Notice we said, Jesus has authority over sickness, not Jesus had authority over sickness.
God can heal both through the common grace of scientific advancement in medicine and directly.
I believe that he not only can heal both ways, but that he does.
He does not heal miraculously very often, but I do believe I have been privileged to see him do so once.
The healing that is promised to all believers is in the resurrection.
Man’s worst and most destructive disease is sin.
He can cleanse you from that today if you will repent of your sins and place your faith in Christ.
What do we do?
What do we do?
Obey His teaching.
Obey His teaching.
not some of it
not later
not when you have time
not when you can afford it
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Now and joyfully.
That’s hard sometimes… I know - Let’s encourage one another.
Don’t settle for demonic faith and obedience.
Don’t settle for demonic faith and obedience.
Demons have a perfect understanding of who Jesus is.
Their theology on the subject is far better than liberal, so-called Christians.
These demons obeyed out of compulsion.
We need to obey out of love and gratitude.
Come to Jesus for healing.
Come to Jesus for healing.
Physical - yes (maybe now, maybe later) (unless the Lord heals miraculously some of us will have to live with chronic conditions until we get new, glorified bodies)
Emotional - yes (certainly some now, may have to wait for it to be full, complete, and perfect)
Mental - yes (there are mental problems that God may not heal in this life, but Christians get the one and only real solution to real guilt, which is real forgiveness… that goes a long way toward mental and emotional health)
Spiritual - yes and you may have it in full today