Sermon Tone Analysis

2008-12-21 (am) Luke 4:18-21 Spirit

 

          Can you imagine being there when Jesus read that scroll?

Imagine being in a worship service in the synagogue two thousand years ago.

Everything is going on as usual, you’re worshipping, you’ve met your friends, you’ve been talking about the all the different rabbi’s.

You wonder who will be doing the reading this morning.

Then, as you’re worshipping, the scroll goes to Jesus and He reads the very words of Isaiah that I just read.

After He’s done reading he says, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing!”

This is an absolutely mind-blowing statement!

Can you imagine it?

What would your reaction be?  Would you believe it?

Suppose someone came to Edson, claiming to be Christ returning to judge the living and the dead.

Would you believe him?

No?

Then why should we believe that what Jesus said back then was true?

Is it logical to believe that Jesus is who He says He is?  Did He really fulfil the scriptures?

How can we be sure?

John the Baptist had similar doubts, so he sent some of his disciples to Jesus to find out.

Jesus answer to their questions, is a summary of our text this morning.

So clearly, Jesus is using this text as evidence, as proof of who He really is!

As we look at our text, we see that there are six proofs that Jesus is the Messiah, they are: the anointing of the spirit, preaching to the poor, proclaiming freedom, recovery of sight, release of the oppressed, proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favour.

*Anointing of the Holy Spirit*

          Was Jesus anointed by the Holy Spirit?

Well, yes he was.

At His baptism, as he was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.

All four gospels record this event.

This is true and was easily verifiable when the gospels were written.

There were eyewitness testimonies to the physical presence of the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus.

So, the Holy Spirit anointed Christ.

Why is this important?

In the Bible, people were anointed for a purpose.

Priests were anointed to do the work God called them to do, namely, offer sacrifices for the people.

Prophets were anointed to bring God’s Word to the people.

Kings were anointed to rule over God’s people.

Jesus, was anointed by the Holy Spirit as prophet, priest and king.

We see the fulfillment of these three offices in Christ, in the next five criteria which proves Jesus is the Christ.

*Preach to the Poor*

          In the sermon on the mount, Jesus says of the poor, “Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The poor that Jesus is speaking of are not merely those who are lacking the basic necessities of life.

He’s describing those who are spiritually destitute, who are searching for spiritual treasure, but who cannot find it, for their religious leaders are not providing the hope and the depth they need, or they’re following a false religion.

Many false religions promise physical financial reward, but Christ promises something far greater.

He says, “Don’t look at this world, where moth and rust destroy, look to the treasures I’ll give you in heaven, treasures beyond your imagination.”

Okay, that’s nice for the poor, but who are they?

Who is spiritually poor?

Everyone.

Every single person on this planet is spiritually poor.

It says in Romans 3 that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.

But that’s not the whole sentence.

That verse goes on to say, though all have sinned, all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came through Christ Jesus.

So, when Jesus says, “I have good news for the poor.”

He is saying, “I have good news for everyone.”

Don’t you hear in this an echo of what the angels said to the shepherds?

“I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

Jesus ministry was centred around preaching.

He preached everywhere.

Yes, he performed many miracles, but he always preached.

Preaching was His main task, and those who heard His preaching said that he preached unlike the leaders and scholars of the day, he preached with authority!

His preaching had results!

*Proclaim Freedom*

*          *The problem is greater than mere spiritual destitution.

There’s a false prince of the air, he parades as an angel of light, whose lies keeps everyone in bondage.

So, not only are people looking for the truth, they’re constantly being bombarded by lies.

It takes great discipline to wade through the untruth, and seek out and find the truth.

This oppressor keeps working hard against those seeking the true light.

So what Christ does as king is he kicks out the false ruler.

He destroys Satan and his schemes.

He overpowers him and takes over.

Alistair Begg, in a lecture he gave on Romans 3 to a bunch of businessmen, describes it this way.

He said, some of you have just experienced a takeover.

Sohio was taken over by BP.

But suppose nothing changed.

Suppose BP said, “we’ve been taken over, but your CEO stays, your name stays, nothing changes, you keep operating as you always have.

Eventually, you’d go up to them and say, “You’ve not changed.

You’re still the same company.

There’s been no takeover.

The same is true in Christianity.

The proclamation that Jesus is talking about is that He has come to set the captives free.

He not just the one who makes the proclamation, He’s the one through whom freedom comes!

In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells the Jews that they are enslaved.

They indignantly retort, “We are slaves to no one!”

Then Jesus explained to them that they are enslaved to sin.

In fact, because they want to kill Him, he says that they are children of the devil!

But for all who receive Jesus, he performs a takeover.

He removes the old CEO, Satan, and puts himself in the place of lordship over us.

We are now able to produce succulent delicious, God glorifying fruit!

Our lives are changed!

No longer bound by sin and guilt, we’re encased in grace, love, joy and hope!

*Recovery of Sight*

          When a person was incarcerated in those days, they would put them in cells underground.

Very little light made it into the depths.

So, the prisoners were effectively blind.

When a captive was pardoned, ransomed, redeemed and set free, they would come out of prison and, after their eyes adjusted, they would be able to see again.

When Christ came, he made it possible, not only for the captives to be set free, but for them to leave the darkness of the dungeon of death and walk out into freedom, into light.

Those who were spiritually blind are now able to see.

We see an example of this several times when Jesus healed the blind.

But consider the spiritual significance of the man who was healed who had been born blind.

Now, according to scriptures, all humans are born into sin, all people are in essence, born spiritually blind.

But Jesus comes along, and by setting us free from being born into slavery to sin, he gives us our sight!

We, who were born blind, are now able to see!  We can see the world as it really is!  We’re not limited to merely dealing with symptoms; we can get to the heart of the problem.

We were bound by Satan and were captives.

Now, through Christ, we’re set free!