Well, good morning. Here we come on this Tuesday morning back to our study of the Gospel of Luke. And we have been privileged to see last week our Savior and how he responded to the opposition of the devil and the devil's designs to destroy God's work, God's purposes through God's King. take shortcuts to glory, and to eliminate suffering, and to entice Jesus to join in him in rebellion against God. And Jesus regularly responded to that temptation with commitment to do exactly what God wanted done. Obedience to God's Word, drew on Deuteronomy 6, 7, and 8. in response to the devil. Jesus was what Israel never was, and Jesus did what Adam refused to do, and that is to simply take God at his word and do the next step of obedience, even in the midst of testing, 40 days in a wilderness without food or water, and to resist the devil. and we praise God for his obedience, which is written on our account. As we pick up after the temptation, we come to consider what successful ministry might look like then. How does it look when Jesus ministers in obedience to God's will? For CEOs, success is the company growing, bottom line. All the business flourishing. For sports teams, we're in playoff season for NHL, NBA. Winning the games, winning the championships. What does success look like when it comes to God's purposes and God's ways? Well, interestingly enough, Luke, as we've said all along, doesn't go chronologically. He is shaping his presentation of Christ and his ministry with a theological purpose and answering the question, why does the good news feel like bad news as we are opposed by Rome, as we are opposed by God's people, the Jews. Why are people so hostile to this message of hope and forgiveness? Well, Mark records that Jesus has an involved ministry in Capernaum. Matthew records that Jesus has an extended ministry in Galilee and Yet Luke moves before the events of Luke chapter 4 that we read today, but Luke moves them forward he's making a theological point and that is what we read today is typical of the ministry of Jesus and And it's typical of the response to Jesus. And if this is typical to the response of the perfect son of man, the Messiah, then we might anticipate this is how unbelief responds to the call of God through his Messiah to repentance and faith. And so we pick up Jesus' public ministry as Luke records it for us in verse 14 of Luke chapter four. And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. And news about him spread through all the surrounding district. And he began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on Sabbath and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed him and he opened the book and found the place where it was written. 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, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And he closed the scroll, 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 were speaking well of him and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from his lips. They were saying, is this not Joseph's son? And he said to them, no doubt you will quote this proverb to me. Physician, heal yourself. Whatever we have heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well. And he said, truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 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, 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. 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. And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things. And they got up and drove him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built in order to throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went his way. So here is Jesus, and Luke begins with a general statement about Jesus' ministry, but an important statement about Jesus ministering clearly in the power of the Spirit. Based on the response that is given, we might assume Well, Jesus, obviously, he wasn't ready for ministry yet. He needed a little bit more finesse. He needed to know how to win friends and influence people. Dale Carnegie hadn't written his book yet. Jesus returns to Galilee, and he returns there under the direction of and empowered by the Spirit. Here, the Spirit is guiding Jesus. The Spirit is working through the ministry of Jesus. And, in other words, maybe he just chose the wrong place. No, this is a king, a human being, who is empowered by the Spirit in the ministry that he was undertaking. He was equipped, he was anointed, and he was empowered by the Spirit. So, Jesus, we might say, had a really short honeymoon period here in his ministry. He began teaching in synagogues, people responded well, Everything was, good gossip was spreading about his teaching ministry, and Luke isn't even mentioning his healing at this point. The response was excitement. And so now Luke records, he goes to his own hometown to minister there. Jesus isn't interested in human praise and fickle worship. He has come specifically to do his father's will. And as he dies and then resurrects from the grave, Jesus said, was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? Not talking about going up into heaven. This is his glory. That he would die for sinners. So Jesus isn't caught up in hero worship. Jesus is here and he is in the midst of a people who gather together in a synagogue on the Sabbath. So following the tradition of Sabbath worship, Jesus goes as was his regular pattern. He's not trying to stir anybody up by disobeying the law. He's not a rebel to God's commands. No, he goes to synagogue and worships on the Sabbath day. They would recite the Shema, the The Word Pledge of Allegiance of Israel from Deuteronomy 6, verses 4 to 9. They would have prayer. They would have 18 different benedictions included in their public prayer. They would read from God's law, the Pentateuch. Then they would read from the prophets. And usually after that, someone would sit down and share an exposition of what was read. And then the service would be concluded in prayer. So Jesus is in Sabbath, in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and he is a highly esteemed teacher. Luke set us up for that. His teaching in the synagogues was well known. And so now he's in his own hometown. And he's handed the scroll for the reading of the prophets, and he opens the scroll. It's the scroll of Isaiah. And amazingly, he knows where he wants to go without chapter or verse. He knew God's word, had given himself to his father's business from the young age of 11, 12. He finds in the scroll without chapters and verses Isaiah 61 verses 1 and 2. Now, he stops his reading mid-sentence to declare the fulfillment of what was in Isaiah 61, 1 and 2. This prophecy from Isaiah describes a prophetic figure, a suffering servant who becomes the servant of the Lord, who would declare the arrival of God's salvation. In Isaiah and in the times of Jesus, the people were suffering the consequences of God's discipline and chastisement because they had been unfaithful. But God wasn't unfaithful. God had promised that there would be a deliverer who would come and provide for the forgiveness of sins and bring the nation to a place of divine blessing. And so the nation is called to repentance and faith so that they might enjoy those blessings. And so he reads there in the midst of Isaiah's text, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. Luke has already set us up for this is the reality. The power of the Spirit is truly upon this Messiah. He is the anointed King. Because the Spirit has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. The gospel is the announcement of God's King bringing victory over God's enemies. That is God's King announcing God's victory over God's enemies, not only Rome, but especially the devil. Here's the one who passed the test, the first part of this chapter for us. So he announces to the outcasts, the poor, the losers of society, those who would be more inclined possibly to respond. He announces to the captives, those both literally in Isaiah and yet also figuratively, they were captives because they were captive to sin. He announces to the blind, recovery of sight. Again, not only to those who he will heal, of physical blindness, but also those who are spiritually blind, having eyes they don't see. Jesus was sent to proclaim a message of forgiveness, to set free those who are oppressed. The image is further reference to the favorable year of the Lord, the year of Jubilee, the highlighting of the forgiveness of financial debts and they return to freedom for everybody in the nation. Well, what here is the forgiveness of all of the consequences of your sin, your oppression, the proclamation of God's blessing. Well, you're in your own hometown and you read this text and there's a national desire and zeal and there's been a A prophet, John the Baptist, who's come and victory is in the air. This sounds good. And then this teacher, this proclaimer of God's truth says, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. As Jesus finishes the reading and hands the scroll back, He was the one upon whom the Spirit of the Lord had come to announce the victory that He alone as God's King would bring and offers to this people. And the people have a favorable response at the outset. And they were wondering and puzzled and, and contemplating and considering the words filled with such grace that were falling from his lips. They're like, isn't this just Joseph's son? How can all of this be? And so there's a positive response somewhat, but a puzzling response. and there isn't the response that Isaiah and John had called for. Possibly here is the greatest offer that anyone could have from the greatest person who has ever lived. Forgiveness of sins, the restoration of God's blessing, by God's victorious king? How would they respond? The glory of God is to bring healing and restoration. So while the crowd's initial response is positive, or they marveled at the message, they are too proud for such a homegrown boy to be their messenger. And so when Jesus sees their response, he responds to them in verse 23. And he says, you are still the same Israel, unwilling to repent. And he takes them back to the time before the exile, the divided kingdom. didn't ever write anything down prophetically, but Elijah and Elisha. Elijah ministered not in Israel, but in Gentile territory. There were all kinds of widows in a period of drought and famine, but it was not a widow in Israel. It was a Phoenician woman to whom God sent the prophet Elijah. She received provision, constant provision of food and oil. She received the raising of her dead son back because she was willing to respond to the prophet, to trust God. Not only she, but then Naaman, again, a Syrian, Gentile, a leper. He received cleansing from his leprosy. Why? Because though initially he was angry, then he subsequently responded by returning in faith, just taking the prophet as a prophet of God. And so I'll try it. Jesus says you're repeating the same history. Prophet is not accepted in his own hometown. You're going to say one day physician heal yourself. And now the heart of the people is really on display. They got up, a hostile response, you know, like you're talking and somebody stands up because they're angry. And their purpose was to execute Jesus as a false prophet, to slay him, throw him off the cliff. He is to be rejected. The opportunity for blessing is lost by unbelief. So, Jesus dies being thrown off a cliff? No. Jesus is under the divine direction. We're not sure. I know you Star Wars fans probably have some hand motion swiping, how he walked through the crowd. That is hostile, going to throw him off. He didn't say anything about droids though, so. He makes it through the crowd by God's direction. He's not going to die falling off a cliff and being stoned. He's going to die a substitutionary sacrificial death in Jerusalem as the Lamb of God. But the event Luke holds up before us as Gentile readers and he holds it up to show us. Every person through whom the gospel comes faces a choice to listen to Jesus and submit to his will, to accept his gospel, to surrender to his kingship, to repent of living for self and to live for him who died for them. or to want to kill Jesus. Jesus willingly offers himself up so that their sins might be forgiven. Why won't they enter into the year of the Lord's favor and blessing? because their unbelief is hardened and stubborn. It's the way sin works in the human heart. There is a resistance to submission to God's will. So what is success for Jesus in ministry? Remember, he was motivated by the power of the Holy Spirit, driven, directed, strengthened, equipped, here is a successful ministry. Now, this is not the only response, but in our context, right? When Jesus says to his disciples, look, if they've responded to me this way, what do you think they're gonna respond to you? Why is there hostility? Theophilus, readers? Because the teacher who can marvel calls for repentance and human hearts don't want to repent. They want to rule over their own lives. And when we take a message apart from the efficacious call of God to make a person alive through that gospel, the response is and always will be rejection, hatred, disdain, hostility that has been throughout the ages from the time of the gospel of Jesus Christ being preached. It's the sinful response of sinners to the truth of God. So was Jesus a failure, maybe should have taken a different tack, tried to, no, here is successful ministry. Reading God's word for Jesus, saying this is fulfilled, calling people to repent and to be under his righteous rule and authority to accept what he would offer by submitting their lives to his good rule. That's purpose is always been to dwell with us as he is our God. He rules over us and we are his people. We serve him and he shares his life with us. And Jesus calls his very own nation with all of their blessings and all of their privilege in his own hometown where they've seen the shining example of holy living. And when he says, you need to repent, they drive him to the edge of the town and the hill to throw him off. So don't lose faith. in calling people to repent because people are hostile. May God give us boldness. Sure, we should minister grace in our words. Jesus did. They were amazed at the gracious word. So it wasn't some sort of demeanor and how he presented himself. He ministered grace through the words. And in ministering grace through those words, it was met with hostility. So we should anticipate not changing the message, not watering it down, not trying to find ways to sneak Jesus in people's lives, the back door, and maybe they won't notice that they truly want Jesus. No, we like Jesus have a message that is offensive to a lost world. So you want to know why there's so much hostility? It's because it cuts to the core of who people are. They're rebels. That's me when I was in an unsafe state and only by God's grace was I made alive. And so we pray and ask God to continue to make people alive. And yet he doesn't make people alive by The gospel not being preached. Faith comes through hearing. So we take the message and it's not well received. So we're not well received. Let's make sure that it's for the message's sake. And as we face that rejection and we know that we are succeeding, we're following Jesus' pattern. holding forth his gospel, calling people to repent. That's true success. Not the number of responses, though we pray that there would be abundant because God is a God of mercy and grace. Well, we pick it up then with Jesus heading down to Capernaum, Lord willing, tomorrow and seeing there where Jesus engages in powerful work to destroy the works of the devil. But that's for tomorrow, Lord willing. We'll pick it up there. Alright, have a great Tuesday. Bye-bye.