This morning we will look to Luke chapter four. While the focus of my message this morning will be primarily given to verses 18 and 19, to provide you with the surrounding context of the words we read in verses 18 and 19, I want to read verses 14 through 32. Luke chapter 4, beginning in verse 14. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and there went out of fame of Him throughout all the regions round about. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book and he gave it again to the minister and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bear him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also hear in thy country. And he said, verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth. Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land. But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, the city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elias, the prophet. And none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath. And he rose up and thrust him out of the city. and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. But he passing through the midst of them went his way, and came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days. And they were astonished at his doctrine, for his word was with power. Who is Jesus Christ? What was his purpose on earth? And why should we care to take any interest in him? Those who do not claim to be followers of Jesus Christ will tell you that Jesus is nothing more than a fabrication of man's imagination. which means that he never existed like you and I do, and therefore we should not speak of Jesus Christ as a living person, but as a fictional character or a myth. Those who do not believe the Bible do not believe God's word to be inspired and preserved are those who say that Jesus is just a God among other gods that some people choose to revere so that they can feel better about themselves. And still others among the world think that Jesus was a man who lived a long time ago, who was simply a nice moral man with great teaching that provides a positive moral example to the world. But I'm asking this morning, who is Jesus Christ? What was his purpose on earth? And why should you, why should I, why should we care to take any interest in him? The unbelieving world says he is whatever you want him to be. He is what you perceive him to be. And you can choose to acknowledge him or dismiss him in your mind, heart, and life as you please. If you want to call Him a God and your Savior, you can. And if you don't want to acknowledge Him as a God or Savior, you can find someone or something else that will satisfy your desires. Now we can shake our heads. and become disgruntled at the lost world for thinking such things about Jesus Christ, all we want, but we need to recognize that there is a greater ignorance regarding the person and purpose of the biblical Jesus among those who call themselves Christian. Who is Jesus Christ? What was his purpose on earth? And why should we care to take any interest in him? Well, those who flatter themselves to be his followers, and those who gather among the so-called Christian church week by week, treat Jesus as if he's nothing more than a good luck fortune who can make you to become healthy, wealthy, and wise. If you want to be free from your physical illnesses, if you want a better job, if you want a bigger house, if you want a nice car and more money, then just have faith that this man named Jesus will help you to become a better you. Just have faith that this man named Jesus will help you to live a purpose-driven life. Among the greater influence of, quote, Christian spheres, many believe that Jesus is simply the Christian's Buddha figure who can bring them good fortune in life. Who is Jesus? What was his purpose on earth? Why do we need him? Well, some who profess to be Christian act as if he's nothing more than a philosopher who came to bring us a moral philosophy to live by. I recently heard a term which others are calling moralistic therapeutic deism. And the essence of this moralistic therapeutic deism is that it is God's will for our lives to be good and happy. This teaching asserts that to be a good Christian means that we will be nice people who are focused on our personal growth and self-improvement. The central goal of life in this moralistic therapeutic deism is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. God is not particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem. But the essence of this moralistic therapeutic deism is essentially be good and do good. Be good and do good. You see, Jesus is nothing more than a moral idea. He's nothing more than a psychiatrist we can talk to when we have problems. Be good and do good. You need a therapist. So go to church. Sprinkle a little Jesus on your life and you will feel better about yourself. You're feeling depressed, you're feeling discouraged, well then, what you need is an exciting experience. You need to work up your emotions in a euphoric way through Jesus music. You know, with no curse words. Nothing that speaks of perversities. Same style as Jesus, so it's sanitized. This ties in with what most charismatic and Pentecostal churches think of Jesus. To most charismatic and Pentecostal churches, Jesus is nothing more than an experience. Jesus is nothing more than a warm, fuzzy feeling that you feel while the music is playing loudly, people are swaying, people are crying, and the pastor is playing on the people's emotions through sappy stories. Who is Jesus? What is his purpose? While the doctrinal statement of many so-called churches say that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, who has come to save his people from their sins, on their website, when you step into the auditorium of such so-called churches, you can quickly discern that it is all about this experience. The auditorium is dark. The strobe lights are going. The fog machine is blowing fog. The musicians are rocking out. Hands are in the air. People are running around. People are speaking in supposed strange languages that assure them that God is present and that God has met with them. And then people leave with this feel-good feeling that lasts maybe for an hour or two and then fades away. Sin was not talked about. Repentance was not talked about. The name of Jesus was mentioned a little here and a little there, but just enough so as not to offend anyone. But you got your experience. You got your little dose of Jesus for a week. Kind of like a quick shot until next Sunday. I hope you're recognizing the great spiritual darkness that is among those places who claim to be beacons of light. And let me just say, they are shining forth a light, but it's not the true light. It's a false light. It's a deceiving light. It's a devilish light. Do I need to bring things closer to home for us in our conservative Baptist churches? Who is Jesus and what is his purpose? Well, I fear that among those who attend this church from time to time, think Jesus is simply a Sunday morning tradition. Jesus is someone who will just keep our kids off of drugs. And Jesus is a social connection who can link us with other ethical friends. I fear that among many Baptist churches, Jesus is simply regarded as a political activist. He's the Republican of all Republicans. He's the man who's wrapped in the American flag, and he's the one who somehow will help us save America in racism and reform our social troubles. Ah, pastor did this and now he's doing this. Who is Jesus? What is his purpose? Those among this political Jesus movement think Jesus is just somebody who can get us votes in November. Jesus is someone who will stand up for our second amendment rights. Jesus is someone who will destroy the dreaded rainbow people. Swallow it, church. You know that's how many people among our influences treat Jesus. They treat him as a physical king that has come to establish a physical kingdom who will bring us physical peace on earth. And I want to tell you this morning that all these concepts of Jesus Christ that I have previously mentioned are wrong. In fact, they are blasphemous. They cannot be supported by the truths of God's word, and they do not coincide with what Jesus Christ himself has said about his divine purpose and his divine person. So let's go back to the question, shall we? Who is Jesus Christ? What was his purpose on earth? And why should we care to take any interest in him? Well, listen, it's not for us to guess. It's not for us to formulate our own opinion about. Jesus Christ has told us in his word who he is, what his purpose on earth was, and why we desperately need him. We looked at this last week from Luke chapter five. Jesus himself said, I did not come to call the righteous, I came to call sinners to repentance. This answers the question, who is Jesus? Answer, Jesus is the great physician of souls who has come to heal the souls of men. Well, what is his purpose? His purpose is to seek and to save that which is lost. The healthy do not need a physician, but those who are sick. Well, that's us. That's why he's come. He's come to heal sick people, sinners, those who cannot heal themselves. So why should we take any interest in him? Because if we are not healed by him, we will die. We will face the wages of our sin and we will be cast into hell forever. Again, that is not manmade. Jesus himself says, if you do not repent of your sin, you will die in your sin. Fear not him who's able to destroy the body, but fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. That's Jesus. Who is Jesus? What is the purpose of his death and resurrection? Jesus is the promised Messiah, God in the flesh, the perfect sinless Savior who has come to be what we could not be and who's come to do what we could not do. You see, we could not keep the law of God. We cannot love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. We cannot wash away our own sin. We do not have the power or the ability to satisfy the wrath of God and to make ourselves alive spiritually. So Jesus Christ has come to bring sinners to God. He has come to reconcile us to the Father. He has come to bring healing to our souls. Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, for He, God, made Him, Jesus, to become sin for us, who knew no sin, so that we, speaking of God's people, might be made the righteousness of God in Him. We do not have any righteousness to offer God, but Jesus Christ is our righteousness, and when we are clothed by his righteousness, we will be accepted by the beloved. Are you still with me? Who is Jesus? Why has he come? Jesus is the way, the truth, the life, not a way, I'm sorry to burst the bubble of the Pope. The Pope recently said, all religions are sufficient. All religions are equal access to God. He's wrong. Jesus said, I am the only exclusive way. I am the only exclusive truth. I am the only exclusive life. No man can go to the Father except through me. Who is Jesus? Jesus is the great physician of souls who's come to heal the hearts of those who will repent and believe on his name. He did not come to heal those who think themselves to be morally healthy and good. He came to heal those who know themselves to be spiritually sick. This is what we covered last week. There's only one group of people that Jesus will not save. You realize that. Jesus does not save everyone. Jesus will not save everyone. Jesus cannot and will not save good people. They don't need a savior. They don't need salvation. Jesus Christ can and only will save those who know themselves to be lost. That's what it means to be saved. You cannot be saved if you think you already are saved, if you do not think yourself to be lost. So Jesus has come to heal the sick. He's come to save sinners from their sin, to bring them to repentance. Now looking to verses 18 and 19 of Luke chapter four, I want to expand upon the nature of salvation that Jesus Christ brings to the souls of those who he saves. In Luke chapter four verses 18 and 19, Jesus Christ himself gives us five illustrative realities regarding the extent of our spiritual sickness and the extent of the healing he brings to the hearts and lives of his sick patients. five illustrative realities of what the operating room looks like. Jesus is the great physician. He has come to heal the souls of men. So now we're entering into the operating room and we're seeing up close and personal who we are as the sick and what Jesus Christ can do for the sick. Notice them with me beginning in verse number 18. In verse 18, Jesus Christ declares that he has come to preach the gospel to the poor. He's come to preach the gospel to the poor. Now it's important that we understand that everything that Jesus Christ declares about our nature and the nature of salvation ought to be interpreted in a spiritual sense and not in a physical sense. When we read that Jesus has come to preach the gospel to the poor, we must not assume that he means that he only takes a saving interest in those who do not have a lot of money. He only takes a saving interest with those who are walking around Skid Row downtown LA. That's not the meaning of the text. The truth that Jesus Christ is emphasizing here in this first statement is the truth that he has come to bring good news to those who are sensible of their spiritual poverty. Those who know that they are in need and desperate need of God's saving grace. In fact, the real biblical meaning of spiritual poverty involves the idea of being spiritually bankrupt. To be spiritually bankrupt means that we are unable to pay our debts to God. We are spiritually impoverished. We are poor beggars who have nothing to offer God. And this is exactly what the Bible declares about our spiritual condition. The Bible says that we are born into this world destitute of God, destitute of spiritual life, destitute of true joy, peace, and hope. We are born into this world as sinners, building up a debt that we need to pay. The Bible says the wages of our sin is death. You have a job? You receive a paycheck. You work so many hours to get paid labor for your work. Well, the Bible says because of your sinfulness of God, you deserve a check that says eternal death. Though we blindly think that we are rich and have need of nothing, the reality is we are spiritually wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. So what do we need? We need someone. Catch it. Someone who is infinitely spiritually rich, who can pay our spiritual sin debt. And this is exactly what Paul says Jesus Christ does for his people. 2 Corinthians 8, 9. For you know that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that when he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, left the glories of heaven. He came down to the sin-cursed world. He died upon the cross, paying our sin debt and saying, it is finished. The price has been paid. We are spiritually bankrupt. He is eternally rich and all those who believe on his name shall be saved. Jesus says, Matthew 5, three, blessed are the poor in spirit. Not in pocket book, but in spirit. For theirs is what? The kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Who is Jesus? What was his mission on earth? And why should we care to take any interest in him? Jesus says he's come to deliver good news. And that good news involves him providing a full and free salvation to spiritually poor beggars through his death and resurrection. The good news involves Jesus Christ paying the sin debt for those who humbly come to him crying out for his saving mercy. And so we say nothing in our hands we bring, simply to the cross we cling. We have nothing to offer God. We cling to his grace alone. The first truth that the great physician highlights regarding our sin and his salvation is the truth that he has come to bring spiritual riches to those who are poor. He has come to wipe away the sin debt of those who recognize their spiritual bankruptcy. Hallelujah. The second truth that the great physician emphasizes regarding the nature of his salvation and the nature of our sickness is the wonderful truth that he has come to heal the broken hearted. Notice it in our text. Jesus says the spirit of the Lord is upon me. because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. Now, I don't think I need to convince you of the fact that sin brings brokenness to our lives. Sin certainly doesn't bring healing. Sexual immorality, drugs, alcohol, selfishness, covetousness, living for the sinful pleasures of this world do not bring true hope and peace. They bring damage, affliction, frustration, and ruin. Do I really need to convince you of this? Think about your life. In the living of life your way rather than God's way, who can deny that living for self brings depression, fractured relationships with others, financial ruin, great heartache, and deep affliction? You wanna know why people go around looking angry and sad, though we have money, nice cars, and nice homes? I mean, of all people, Americans should be the happiest, right? But they look the most gloomy. Why is this? Because their hearts are broken. You want to know why? Even the most rich in our world are miserable. and they're in and out of marriages, in and out of drug rehabs, considering taking their own lives, some of them even taking their own lives, it seems like they have everything. They have the mansions, they have the private jets, they have the private islands, they have all the money their hearts could desire, but they seem so miserable and they are miserable. Why? It's because sin cannot and will not satisfy. Sin cannot satisfy sin. Physical things cannot and will not satisfy. And yet that's where our hope is. So let's answer the question. Who is Jesus Christ and why did he come to lay down his life? Here it is. Jesus Christ is the great physician of souls who's come to heal those who are broken by their sin and their sin against him. You see, Jesus Christ has come not to cure our bodies, but to cure our hearts. And that's what all these prosperity teachers and preachers on the television are missing. Just turn it off. What are their focus on? Oh, look at how many healings we have. Look at how many people we've healed. Well, let me tell you this, great healer. Why don't you go down to the hospital and just walk the hallways? Why don't you go to the children's hospital if you have such powerful healings and go heal the children? Huh? Don't fall for the nonsense. Interesting how they only do it in their little group. because they have their little actors playing out a little play to convince you that they have the power of God when they don't. And they're emphasizing physical healing after physical healing after physical healing when Jesus himself tells us he's come to heal our hearts. Now can God by his grace heal our bodies if he so chooses? Yes, but that's not where the emphasis of the church should be. The emphasis of the church is the healing of the hearts. So any church that focuses on the physical and focuses on an external healing and bypasses the gospel, I mean truly bypasses it, that's their main focus, run, hide. You and I stand in need of a new heart because our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. We have hearts of stone. We have hearts naturally that do not want to please God, that resist the truth of God. Here, God, I mean, is broadcasting His infinite power through the universe, and man says, you know what? Nah, there's no God. I think this just accidentally became. What hardness? Oh, you'll look at a painting and say, oh, there must be a painter behind this beautiful painting. You'll look at a building and say, oh, there must be a builder behind this building. But you look at the universe and you'll say, oh, this is probably just chance. beauty and order and seasons and the sun, the moon, the stars, everything working together. How hard is the heart of man? What do we need? We need a heart change. Jesus Christ has come to heal the brokenhearted. The third divine mission that Jesus Christ came to accomplish in his teaching ministry involves the proclamation of liberty to those who are prisoners. The proclamation of liberty to those who are prisoners. Verse 18, notice the text again. Jesus' words, not my opinion. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted and he has sent me to preach deliverance to the captives. So the question is, what does he mean by captives? He means those who are in bondage, those who are slaves. Jesus has come to set prisoners free. But we need to tap into that a little bit. What kind of prisoners is Jesus referring to? Just those who are in the local jail? Those who are in the local prisons, is that it? I guess we have nothing to do with this. He's speaking of us. He's speaking of the world at large. You need to recognize that everyone who is born into this world is in bondage to sin. You are chained. Do I need to prove it? If I had the ability to show just your thoughts on this screen above me to everyone here this morning, just your thoughts in the last week, what would it show? That's just your thoughts in one week. Let me ask you this, who taught you to lie? Did your mom, did your dad sit you down on their lap and say, here's how you lie? Here's how you steal. Here's how you get mad at your brothers and sisters. Did they? Did they teach you how to commit adultery? Did they teach you how to look on a woman with lust? Who taught you that? Where did it come from? It's our sin nature. It came from Adam. And because of Adam, we are born into this world in bondage. All we know is sin because we're sinners. All of us are born into this world enslaved to Satan himself. You say, that sounds scary. It is scary. Jesus says, John 8, 44, that those who do not belong to him are of their father, the devil, and the lusts of their father they will do. You see? Just as the people of Israel were slaves in Egypt, in bondage to Pharaoh, while Pharaoh made them serve with rigor, making their lives bitter with what? Hard bondage. So Satan, the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, is ruling and reigning over the lives of those who have not yet been freed from Christ. That's why the world acts the way it does. The world is in bondage to sin and Satan. The world drinks down iniquity like water. They love it. The world is delighting itself in so many perverse, dark, and satanic practices because they are confined to the prison of unbelief. They're confined to think that they are free when the reality is they are under the devil's influence. They're blind to that reality. They think the devil's just some mythical character to scare people into Christianity when the reality is they are under his influence. So this leads us to the next truth that Jesus declares, verse 18, which is the wonderful truth that Jesus Christ has come to bring sight to the blind. That's number four, to bring sight to the blind. Why has Jesus come? What is his purpose? He's come to bring sight to the blind. The great physician has come to help us to see. Look at it. Jesus says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captive and recovering of sight to the blind. Again, we need to ask ourself, well, who are the blind? We see, ha, that's what Jesus said to the Pharisees in John chapter nine. The blind are those who do not see. Do not see what? They do not see who Jesus truly is according to the scripture. They do not see the depth of their depravity before God. They think they're a good person. They do not see that they're under the influence of the devil. They do not see that they are enslaved to sin. They do not see their need to repent and believe the gospel. They do not see that they are blind. Do you see? We are born into this world blind by our own blindness. We think we have life figured out. We think we know the way to heaven. We think we are good enough to go to heaven. We think we know better than God. We think God owes us salvation. We think we are so smart when the reality is we are as blind as blind can be. And the proof of our blindness is in our stumbling. What does a blind man do if you just let him go with no guiding dog, no walking stick? Just drop them off in the middle of the 10 freeway. Blind men stumble into their sinful activities. We fall on our face in this area of life, in that area of life. We think we know the way, only to find ourselves more confused. We think we can free ourselves from our sin, and in our trying, we only become more entangled with the sin. We think because we profess Jesus with our mouth, and we go to church, and we say our prayers, that we have done enough to secure our salvation, when the reality is, we are as blind as blind can be. Go back to the questions. Why has Jesus come? What is his purpose? What can he do for us this morning? He says he has come to give sight to the blind. Through the power of his word, through the accomplishments of the cross, he has come to bring light to those who sit in darkness. Jesus has come to teach us. who God is in truth. The Bible says we are spiritually ignorant of our fallen nature. We are insensible to our fallen condition, and there's no fear of God before our eyes. We are in darkness. But when Jesus heals one of his patients, he actually brings sight to our eyes. Don't we sing that amazing grace? How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was what? Was blind, but now I see. Have you experienced that? Oh, well, I don't perceive salvation to be some big moment in your life. I just treat it as, you know, just pray this little prayer and you'll be good to go. Give me a break, that's not what Jesus is talking about. Those who were healed of their blindness in scripture, what did they do? They went walking and leaping and praising God and telling everybody of the great transformation that's happened. I thought I was saved as a young child. I thought just belief in God's existence was enough. I thought if I went forward and did what the counselor told me to do that that was sufficient. But it wasn't until a month before my 17th birthday. that the Lord illuminated my understanding, caused me to see the depth of my sin and my desperate need for Jesus Christ, then I could see, I could see, I could see who Jesus Christ truly is. I could see the truths of God's word. I could see the reality of the world that we are living in. And that sight led me to Christ. It was nothing that I did. It was God's regenerating, illuminating power in my heart through the light of the gospel that caused me to see who he is, he is light. Jesus says he has come to preach the gospel to the poor. He has come to heal the brokenhearted. He has come to preach deliverance to the captives. He has come to bring sight to the blind and he has come to bring freedom to the oppressed. Don't take it out of context. We're oppressed by the Democrats, so we need Jesus to win this election. That's not what it's talking about. 18, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. This is somewhat of a reiteration of what Jesus says about the brokenhearted. The word bruised means to be pressed down. It means to be crushed by our guilt before God. Those who are bruised are like the publican who cannot lift so much as his eyes towards heaven because he knows the depth of his sin before God, his unworthiness before God. So all he can do is cry out and say, Lord, have mercy towards me, the sinner. God, please be propitious to me. Those who are bruised are those who know something of their utter inability to save themselves. They are those who are burdened by their sin. They feel so hopeless that they will ever find true healing, true joy, true peace. That's the meaning of what it is to be bruised. Imagine somebody just beat up so bad by a group of thugs that he's left bloodied and scarred and black and blue. He's so beat up that he can't even get down. That's what sin does. That's what the devil does to us. That's what this world does to us. It beats us up. It bruises us. Yes? And they're in captivity to that. They don't have the power to get up. Unless some medical team comes and picks them up and takes them to the hospital, they're done for. Jesus says he has come to set such people free. Don't miss the beautiful gospel picture here. The promised Messiah spoken of in Isaiah 53 is the one who will come to bear our griefs, carry our sorrows, be wounded for our transgressions, and be bruised for our iniquities. Jesus Christ says in fulfillment to these words that he has come to become bruised for those who are bruised. He has come to be crushed under the weight of God's wrath like an olive press crushes olives so that we do not have to be crushed. This is the power of the gospel that is the power of salvation to everyone who believes. And let me just say, this is the success of the great physician, the healer of souls. He is an actual savior who brings actual inward healing to his people. He actually makes spiritually impoverished people rich in grace. He actually heals those who've been broken by the world and their sin. He actually delivers the hearts of those who are enslaved to their unbelief. He actually brings spiritual sight to those who are blinded by the wicked one. And he actually frees those who are oppressed. Enough with this cheap unbiblical gospel that says you can be a Christian and not know healing. You can be a Christian but remain in darkness. You can be a Christian and live like a miserable wretch your whole life. You can be a Christian and not know true hope, joy, and peace that Jesus gives. Enough with this. Enough with this carnal Christianity that says Jesus sets you free from your sin all while you remain enslaved to your sin for a lifetime. What kind of physician is that? What kind of healing is that? According to Jesus's words, look at it. There's no such thing as a Christian who remains in bondage. There's no such thing as a Christian who remains in their blindness. There's no such thing as a Christian who remains brokenhearted all the time. Now, were the psalmist brokenhearted? Yes, at the beginning of most of the Psalms, they were beat up by the world, but by the end of the psalm, they were rejoicing in God. They didn't live forever in darkness. They were men of like passions as we are, battling the flesh, battling the world, battling the devil, dealing with depressing circumstances, but they didn't go around hanging down their head, oh, Jesus is such a victorious savior. We're more than conquerors through him who loved us. Anyone who says that a Christian can remain in bondage and blindness, brokenheartedness, does not know the true Jesus. They know another Jesus, but not the true biblical Jesus. And look, this is not my opinion. This is the truth that Jesus is preaching here. If you won't listen to this preacher, listen to this preacher. When Jesus the good physician saves a soul, he brings radical transformation to a life. He's not a weak Savior, he's a powerful Savior. He brings a new relationship with God, a new relationship toward the world, a new relationship toward sin, a new understanding of who Jesus is and what he's accomplished in his death and resurrection. You see, the salvation that Jesus provides is not some escape out of hell and some cheap ticket to heaven. The salvation that Jesus provides is a spiritual healing, a spiritual deliverance, a spiritual sight, a spiritual victory, and a spiritual hope. So my final question to you this morning is, has God, through the work of Jesus Christ, accomplished such a radical transformation in your life? Is there evidence in your life that you have been spiritually healed, spiritually delivered, spiritually transformed? God in his grace picked you up in your sinful condition. He placed you on his operating table and he took out that heart of stone and replaced it with a heart of flesh. He gave you life. If you say no, if you're here this morning, you say, I've never had that. I've never experienced that. That sounds strange to me. But you are curious. how one can be spiritually set free from sin's penalty, sin's power, and one day from sin's presence. Let me make sure that you understand that such a salvation is provided by Jesus Christ, the great physician of souls, solely through faith in his name. Salvation is not about what we do for God. Salvation is about what God has done for us in Christ. Salvation is not a reward for the righteous. Salvation is a gift for the guilty. All you have to do is receive the gift in your heart. Receive it by faith, saying, God, I need that. I'm broken. I'm enslaved, I'm lost, I do not see. God, do for me what I cannot do for myself. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. You see, salvation is about coming to God broken over our sinful condition, begging God to atone for the sin that we could not atone for, to atone for our sin through the blood of Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? What was His purpose on earth? And why should we care to take any interest in Him? That is a question that you must answer. So my question to you is, how do you answer it? Who do you say that Jesus is? That was a question pitched towards the disciples. There are many opinions in this world about what people think of Christ. But Jesus asked his disciples, but who do you personally say that I am? And we love Peter's response, don't we? Peter says, thou art the Christ. the Son of the Living God. You are the Messiah. You are the Holy One. You are the only sufficient Savior. You are the Great Physician of souls. And Jesus responded to Peter, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood, other people did not reveal this to you, but my Father which is in heaven. The Holy Spirit enlightened you to know who I am. Who is Jesus to you? How you answer will determine whether you spend forever in heaven or in hell. Who is the Jesus you claim to know? Is he just a Sunday morning tradition? Is he just a crutch to lean on during hard times? Is he nothing more than an ecstasy pill that makes you feel good for a time? Who is Jesus to you? Jesus must be our Savior, our Lord, our life, our greatest love.