Worship call 0655 straight to the hearts of Unbelief
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Worship Call 0655
Thursday May 19, 2022
Straight to the hearts of disbelief.
What makes a good preacher by world standards?
Dynamics?
The ability to gather a crowd?
One that will make the audience free good leaving the auditorium.
News Flash! Man’s standards of what makes a good preacher is inconsequential when it comes to God’s standards.
The preacher is to preach the word, uncompromising, unfiltered, and with every word should be with the spirit of “thus says the Lord!”
the Popular teacher, who was gladly received in the Synagogue quickly wore out his welcome when His message sliced into the people's unbelief
This is another fine Day in the Lord!
Isaiah 58:6–12 (NASB95) — 6 “Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke? 7 “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 “Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. 9 “Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, 10 And if you give yourself to the hungry And satisfy the desire of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness And your gloom will become like midday. 11 “And the Lordwill continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. 12 “Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell.
Yes, we were all under the yolk of Slavery.
Slavery to the Cosmic system of Satan.
Slavery to the world way of thinking and living
Slavery to Self, the sin nature that dwells within.
Slavery to my blindness to see my creator to understand his way.
Slavery to the wrongs of the past either of others against each of us or our own against others where we are weighed down with guilt
Captive and under a death penalty that what awaits us, an unquenchable fire and suffering with no end.
And Jesus announces through the message that day in Nazareth
Luke 4:18 (NASB95) — 18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed,
The Gospel is personal to those with ears to hear. It is as if the Lord is talking to no one else as if I am the only poor in the world, who woke up this morning with no life and no hope to meet my Savior who announces that I am the recipient of His life.
It is the Gospel when received and made the very fabric of my heart and though I have not seen this savior or experienced yet the glory of the eternal reward, my life is never the less changed and my countenance speaks of the message of the Gospel which applies to me.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
These things which once kept me in chains are now torn apart, and I am a free man.
And recovery of sight to the blind,[1]
I have received come to know the truth and it has truly set me free.
Jesus says to John when John asks him if Jesus was the awaited one or is there another and Jesus sent the reply back to John
Luke 7:22–23 (NASB95) — 22 And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them. 23 “Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”
This would take John back to another passage in Isaiah
Isaiah 35:3–10 (NASB95) — 3 Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. 4 Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” 5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah. 7 The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes. 8 A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for him who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. 9 No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, 10 And the ransomed of the Lord will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Luke 14:18 To set free those who are oppressed,[2]
Luke 4:19 (NASB95) — 19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”
And Jesus stops right there, without reading the next sentence which was not part of the message of the first advent of Christ.
John 12:47 (NASB95) — 47 “If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
John 3:17 (NASB95) — 17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
The good news message is a comprehensive message which speaks of redemption of the body and the restoration of the Kingdom which was at hand.
The window of opportunity to take advantage of that opened window was and is now. The opportunity to receive and to walk through the door of Salvation having heard the words of the preacher of righteousness. The words of Grace were spoken and the grace opportunity of time to respond is now upon us. Here’s the offer says the preacher of righteousness and here is the open door. What say you?
Luke 4:20 (NASB95) — 20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.
Jesus was done reading, handed the scroll off and assumed the position of the teacher which was setting down. His listeners sat and waited for the point to be driven home.
Luke 4:21 (NASB95) — 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Jesus just made the declaration.
“I am He, whom Isaiah wrote.”
There is a popular idiom that I often here in place of thank you this day. It is, “YOU DA MAN!”
Jesus is saying, “I AM THE MAN!”
John 1:45 (NASB95) — 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
Yes, Jesus is that Man who fulfills what they had just heard in the reading
Luke 4:22 (NASB95) — 22 And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
Up until this point Jesus was the Carpenters son. He was the hometown Lad. I’m sure he had intimate conversation with others concerning what they all were learning about Scriptures. There is little offense. Conversations might have been left in agreement or even friendly disagreement, but now under the empowerment of God the Holy Spirit which Luke points out in the beginning of our passage the spirit drives the word right into the very heart of the listeners. And those words demand and response.
The power is in the words that Jesus read and spoke.
He laid it out to them.
They accepted the word but were they going to accept Jesus as being the one whom Isaiah spoke?
Jesus knew the answer
Luke 4:23–27 (NASB95) — 23 And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ ”
Jesus knew their hearts. The popular teacher of today if they could know the people’s hearts or sense the audience negative reaction to the message might lighten the mood by telling a joke or coddle with some words of comfort.
Not this preacher.
He drives the point home and to the heart.
‘Physician, heal yourself!
We are ok. We do not need what you are offering. And by the way we want to see some credentials, Carpenters son!”
Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’ ”
“Shut up and do some miracles!”
Nothing makes a person matter when the truth of what is hidden in the heart is revealed. And Jesus here was laying their hearts out right in the open for all to see.
24 And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.
Matthew 13:57–58 (NASB95) — 57 And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
Mark 6:4–6 (NASB95) — 4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.” 5 And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He wondered at their unbelief. And He was going around the villages teaching.
Is it today that there remain the unbelievers who are hungry for signs and wonders so that they might believe?
Jesus sites two instances when Israel was in Unbelief and it was that the prophet turned from the people and ministered to the Gentiles.
Luke 4 25 “But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; 26 and yet 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 Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
Here it is unmistakable that Jesus is rebuking by example his audience.
No there was no win friends and influence people here. One could imagine the vile hatred that was bubbling up from deep in their hearts with every word that Jesus spoke. Their faces were hot with anger, but Jesus was not deterred. His was to give the message, how his audience received and responded or reacted to the message was on them.
[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update (Lk 4:18). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.
[2] New American Standard Bible: 1995 update (Lk 4:18). (1995). The Lockman Foundation.