and open the pages of the scripture in your hand to Isaiah 61. Tonight we'll be focusing on verses one, two, three, under the title, The Messiah's Mission Statement. Isaiah 61, one, two, three. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me. because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn. to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of faint spirit, that they may be called ox of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, O Lord, as we now open our hearts to hear the preaching of your word, we ask you to bless us with a willingness, a desire to sit under the preaching of your word as Mary did when she sat at the feet of Christ. O Lord, help us now to choose what is best for us. And what is best for us is to sit at your feet by faith, and learn from you through the Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You may be seated. Have you ever wished that you could go back in time and be part of a historical event? Let's say, be there in the garden To see how Adam reacted when he, for the first time, saw Eve. Sometimes you wish that you could be there and witness that event. What about to see the Ark of Noah? Sometimes do you wish that you could be there and witness all the things that took place in the ark? What about to see David killing Goliath? There are times that I wish that I could be there to see that. Or to see Samson slaying a thousand Philistines. You know, there are events, historical events in the Bible that we sometimes wish that we could be there. But how many of you would say, you know, Zaki, if the Lord would give me that opportunity, I really would like to be in that temple where Jesus came and opened up the scroll from the book of Isaiah and told the whole world what his mission in the world will be. I wish I could be there. And I'm sure you would desire to be there to witness that event. Well, what about Jesus in the synagogue? Reading that prophecy from Isaiah, you remember that event was quoted from Isaiah 61. 1, 2, 3, our text tonight. Jesus reading the scroll which contained a prophecy about the mission of Christ in the world. In that event, my friends, we see Jesus beginning his earthly ministry by quoting Isaiah 61. He came back from Nazareth after his baptism, after his temptation in the wilderness. It was Jesus' custom to enter the synagogue and read a portion of God's law. And on that day particular, that particular day, a scroll was given to him. Isaiah scroll. It was not the Bible. It was not the whole scripture. But it was part of the book of Isaiah for him to stand and read to the people. In those times, you would stand to read the law of God in the temple, and after finishing, you sit down and begin discuss what you read with the people. That day was so different, so unique. Jesus didn't discuss what he read to the people, but he told them his mission statement. He told them why he came to the world, what his mission will be, what he's going to accomplish. He told them that his father has appointed him to bring good news to the poor. And as the result of that good news, many things will happen in the lives of those who will hear him bringing the good news to them. The blind, the brokenhearted will be bind, He will proclaim liberty to the captives. He will proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And he will comfort those who mourn. But first, I want us to consider his primary task. His primary task, as you would see in the book of Isaiah, the Spirit of the Lord, God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. In some translation, it might say, to preach the good news. Whatever translation you have, they are the same. His mission was to bring good news. Right at the very beginning, He tells people what His purpose in life will be. A formal declaration of His core purpose in life. Why He existed, why He came to the world. Notice, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. In the Old Testament, when the Spirit comes upon a person, it comes for action. You remember Samson? The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God came upon him. And the Spirit came upon him to communicate to the Philistines that he was going to kill thousands of God's enemies in Philistines. And here, the Spirit was upon Jesus, upon the Messiah, to anoint Him for a special mission in the world. As a King, as a Redeemer, as a preacher, to tell the greatest news of all. That's why Jesus came. To bring good news to the poor. Who are these poor? People who are unable to save themselves. People who are unable to bind their own brokenness. People who are in the prison of sin. People who are in darkness. These are the poor in Isaiah 61. He came to bring good news to them. That was his ultimate mission in the world to bring this good news to the poor and oppressed, those who are oppressed by sin. I remember one time we had a cousin, she's still back home. And our cousin and her husband, they didn't have children for 15 years. They prayed, they prayed, they prayed. It has been 15 years. They were desperate. They were broken. One day, a member of our family came to our house. When he entered our house, he said to us, I'm here with great news. Our cousin just delivered to a baby boy. He came to our house to bring that good news to us. Now, I would tell you that He did many other things. He ate with us, we had coffee together, we talked about the things of the Lord, but the main reason why He came to our house was to bring that good news to us. Jesus was healing the sick, He was feeding the hungry, But the main reason why He came to the world is to bring the good news of salvation. That's what Isaiah is saying here. That's why Jesus told the people in the temple, in the New Testament, gospel is good news. You know, the first four books in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we call them Gospels. Why do we call them Gospels? Because they contain this good news of salvation. They declare to us that Jesus' mission statement, Jesus came to bring good news. And what is the significance of this good news? Romans 1 16. I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation. To everyone who believes, first to the Jews and also to the Greek, What is the gospel? What is this good news? The power of God for salvation. It is not my gospel. It is not your gospel. It's the gospel of God. It is the power of God. Jesus came to manifest this power in a form of good news. In a form of good news. The gospel is the power of God. Jesus came to save, even his name means God saves. Matthew 1, 21, she will bear a son and he will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Jesus, God saves. And notice all that follow the good news, all the things that follow the good news are contingent on the good news. They are grounded or they depend on the good news. For the broken heart to be bind up, for the prisoners to set free from prison, for the mourners to be converted, for us to receive the jubilee, the year of God's favor, all these things depend on the gospel. They depend on the good news. First is to heal the brokenhearted. to heal the brokenhearted. When the good news of the gospel is proclaimed, there are varieties of good things that happen. The first one is the brokenhearted will be healed. Who are these brokenhearted? I remember in 1998, when the war broke between Ethiopia and Eritrea at the border, There were people from the southern part of Eritrea who were displaced. And they took them to a refugee camp. Thousands of people from a number of cities were in the military camp. And we were given permission to go to the camp And if we want to bring comfort to them from the Bible, from the Word of God, and we also want to distribute Bibles, and also to distribute relief supplies. that the OPC donated at the time. And Ben Snagdras was a member of the Committee on Foreign Missions who came to visit our work in Eritrea. And I took him to the military camp and he preached to the thousands of people who were displaced from John 3.16. And I remember a Coptic priest coming to Ben and myself and he said to us this, This is exactly what we needed. We are broken. That's what Isaiah is talking about. A Coptic priest told us, who never understood the gospel, who never understood John 3 16. This is what we needed. We are broken. When the good news is proclaimed, It heals the broken heart, Psalm 147, 3. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. You see, those people in that camp, they were wounded. Many of them, their houses were demolished, destroyed. They lost their possessions. They were empty-handed. They had nothing. But they said, we needed the gospel. We needed some kind of good news to heal our hearts, our broken hearts. He takes the brokenness of people's heart and bring them back. You know, God told the people of Israel in Malachi 4.2, but for you who fear my name, The son of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. He shall go out leaping like calves from the stall." The kind of healing that God brings through the gospel. You are broken, but when you hear the gospel, when the good news comes to you, then you will leap. in joy. Jesus came to put the heart of the broken together so that there would be joy. Psalm 107 20. He sent out his word. That is the gospel. He sent out his word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction. Delivered them from their destruction. Beloved, that's what the gospel does. And then to proclaim liberty to the captives. You know, Ben and some other people were witnessing in down Atlanta this morning. And all the people to whom they were witnessing, they are captives. Imprisoned by sin. They love sin. They were celebrating sin. They are captives. And Jesus came to deliver these captives from their captivity. You think about this world and you quickly realize that it is captive to sin and darkness. John 3, 19 tells us, and this is the judgment, this is the conclusion, this is the verdict from God. The light has come into the world and people loved darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. Why were all these people in downtown Atlanta celebrating this wicked sin? They love darkness. They need light. They are prisoners. They are captives. They need to be liberated from this captivity. Jesus came to deliver those in darkness, in prison, from that darkness and bring them to light. Isaiah 9-2, the people who walked in darkness, Isaiah said, have seen a great light. And in John 8-12, Jesus said, I am that light. I am the light of the world. So you see, Jesus came and have this ministry to liberate the captives from the captivity of sin through the good news of the gospel. And then thirdly, this is his mission statement to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, the year of jubilee. This is a reference to what happened every 50 years, the year of jubilee in Israel. It was much more than the normal Sabbath rest. But in the year of Jubilee, there were special provisions to the people. Let me tell you what happens on that day. Debts were canceled. So if someone owes money, that debt would be canceled. If you lease out land because you needed it to make money, the land comes back to you. If you are a slave, you will go free. That's what happens on that day. And now Jesus is saying, I will proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. What is this favor? for our debt of sin to be canceled by the death of Christ on the cross, by the sacrifice and the merit of Christ on the cross. So Jesus was saying, I came to bring a jubilee to my people to have your debt canceled. And for how long will this jubilee last? From the time that Jesus opened the scroll, the book of Isaiah in the temple, to his second coming in glory. We are on that day of God's favor, the Lord's favor. And Jesus said, I came to proclaim that. But notice carefully, for the wicked are repentant sinners. This day of favor from God will not last forever. Because listen to Isaiah here. to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Now listen to this, and the day of vengeance of our God. So there will be a day where God will hold accountable to all sinners. It will be a day of vengeance for them. For us, it is the day of favor, the day of jubilee. But for them, it would be the day of destruction, the day of judgment. That's why we need to take the gospel to them. That's why we need to take the good news to our family members, so that they will not face that day. They will not stand before Jesus as a judge, not as a redeemer, not as a mediator like what we heard this morning, but as a judge. And lastly, to comfort all who mourn. Now definitely, God, through Christ, through the Word of God, through the saints, the ministry that the saints fulfill among one another, God, of course, comforts those who mourn over the loss of their beloved ones. So this proclamation, this ministry to those who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, it doesn't exclude those who mourn over the loss of their beloved ones. God is the God of comfort. But the comfort here is the comfort of the gospel for sinners. The comfort of the gospel to those who mourn over their sin. The ministry of comfort from Christ, through Christ, from Christ, through the church, from Christ, through you among one another. This ministry is to those who are grieving over their sin. They come to you and they say to you, I'm fed up with my sin. I don't know what to do. Help me. Then you read the gospel to them. And you tell them to repent. You tell them to come to Christ. You see, Jesus is saying to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful hair dress instead of ashes. Ashes in Israel were a sign of grieving and mourning. But through the Gospel, God is saying in Isaiah 61, through the Gospel, I will take the sackcloth, the ashes, away from those who mourn over their sin, and instead I will give them what? Gladness in a state of mourning, the garment of praise in a state of faint spirit, that they may be called ox, trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified." Do we understand the weight of What Jesus is saying here, this is my mission, to comfort those who mourn. Matthew 5, 4, blessed are those who mourn. Mourn over what? Could be over the loss of someone whom they love, they will be comforted. But more than that, those mourn over their sin, blessed are them who mourn, for they shall be comforted." The gospel is comfort to all people, Jews, Gentiles, anyone who mourn over his sin. The gospel, Evangelion, the good news of the gospel brings comfort to people, and all people, all people. There is this heresy going on in many places today that when Jesus came and the Jews people rejected him, and he replaced Israel with the Church of the New Testament. There is no hope for Israel. Don't believe that message. You will not find that in the scripture. There is hope for Israel. There is hope for every nation, people in every nation. There is hope, the hope of the gospel. You remember Simeon was a Jew in Luke 2.30 after he took Jesus into his arms at the temple. He said, my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. He was a Jew. He didn't exclude the Gentiles. He understood the gospel. He understood the content of the good news of the gospel to all people, Jews and Gentiles. A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel. Mourning will go away because of the gospel. So everything that you heard tonight from Isaiah 61, 1, 2, 3, are the Messiah's mission statement. That's why Jesus came. Jesus came to the world to fulfill all these things in your life, in my life, and in the life of those who are even in darkness. Those in Israel who are suffering today, if they come to this Messiah, they will be comforted. They will be healed. Their broken heart, He will heal them. But we need to pray that they would do that, that they would come to the Messiah. They rejected Him. They would receive Him now and be saved and be part of His salvation. May the Lord grant us His Holy Spirit to understand and cherish Jesus' mission statement as we heard it from Isaiah 61. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father and our God, thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, the only mediator between God and man. Thank you for his mission, what he has accomplished in this world, in our own lives. It's because of Jesus' mission in the world that we are now calling the children of God, the Church of Jesus Christ. Now we ask you to help us to take this good news to many people, relying on your grace, on the help of the Holy Spirit. Help us to be now sharers of this good news with many people. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.