LUKE 4:22-30 HOMETOWN MINISTRY2011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 4:22-30 Hometown Ministry

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011. We all have in our lives friends and family, people who are not believers.

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And really as we look at Luke chapter 4 verses 22 through 30 today, that's what we're talking about. We're talking about those people in our lives that we know that have known us for a long time in many cases, but they do not yet know the Lord. And how do we minister to those unbelieving friends and family?

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You know, Jesus knew what it was like to have unbelievers as friends and family. And today we'll see that as we continue on here. Really, Luke chapter 4, verses 22 through 30 is kind of the tail end of, you know, what was really taking place. It begins in verse 16, where it says that he came to Nazareth where he'd been brought up.

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And a couple weeks ago we looked at the message that Jesus brought forth at the synagogue there from Isaiah chapter 61 and how he proclaimed himself to be the Messiah.

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But a key part of that message, a key part of the context of this account is the fact that he is in his hometown. And so we're looking at hometown ministry. Ministering in those areas where the people know you. Ministering in those areas where the people are familiar to you and you are familiar to them.

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And so we're looking at the conclusion of that account where he went, he spoke in the synagogue, he shared, he proclaims that he's the Messiah. And then this now, verses 22 through 30, is kind of the aftermath of that message that he brought forth.

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Now there's a couple parallel passages that I'll be referring to throughout the message this morning. And if you want to write them down and check them out later, I encourage you to do so. The first one is Matthew chapter 13 verses 53 through 58. It's Matthew 13 verses 53 through 58. As well as Mark chapter 6 verses 1 through 6.

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And so here in Matthew 13 and Mark chapter 6, we have these parallel accounts. Those two portions are possibly a second visit that happened when Jesus came back to Nazareth later on. But it also could be the same account. And so either way, we're looking at Jesus ministering in his hometown to the area where he grew up.

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And how did he do that so that we can learn that same practice? How did he approach those that he knew and those that knew him to share with them the good news? Well, there's four things I'd like to share with you about hometown ministry this morning, looking at Jesus' example. And the first thing we find in verse 22 is to speak gracious words. In order to minister to those who know you, your friends, your family,

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Look at verse 22.

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It says, so all bore witness to him. Now Jesus has just closed the book. He is reading from Isaiah chapter 61. He just closed the book. He announced to them, this scripture is fulfilled. I am the Messiah. He's proclaiming himself, presenting himself to them. And so they all bear witness, verse 22 says. And then it says, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, is this not Joseph's son?

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And so what we see happening is when the people respond to Jesus' message, they're marveling. Their response to what he had to say and the scripture that he read from Isaiah chapter 61 is marvelous.

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Well, he uses this word marvel, which is the idea of wondering. It's not just kind of a light and casual type of wondering though. It's an intense word. It's the idea of your mind is working so hard. You're trying to figure it out and as hard as you try, you cannot understand it. Maybe you've had those times where you've wondered or marveled. You've been trying to figure out something. It's just you're not able to wrap your mind around it.

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Well, that's what's happening here. They're marveling. They don't understand, but they want to understand. They're trying to figure it out. They're trying to put it all together and figure out how these things could be so. Now, it doesn't necessarily mean that they were marveling or wondering in a good sense. We see in the parallel accounts of Matthew 13 and Mark chapter 6, there the people are described as being offended and astonished.

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and astonished. The idea of being offended is to be like caught in a trap, to be caught in a scandal. Kind of like, you know, maybe a person would react to a con artist, you know, and the, hey, how dare you try to do something or pull something like that on us. The idea of being offended

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That's the idea. As the people are wondering, they're marveling, they can't figure out, they're trying to figure out, what's the deal here, Jesus? Now, they're basing it upon the fact that they know him. They're basing it, they can't figure it out because he's Jesus. He grew up with them. If it was some random visiting, traveling rabbi, they might be open and more receptive to the message. But this is someone they know.

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And so they're offended by this message. They're offended by his proclamation. They're thinking he's trying to pull something over on us. What I think is interesting about this is the people were offended and yet Jesus was not offensive. They were offended but he wasn't being offensive. He wasn't, you know, yelling at them or throwing things or, you know, screaming at them or telling them how stupid they are. It says they're marveling. They're trying to figure out

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The gracious words that are coming forth from him. They're trying to figure out what's going on. Look at these gracious words. We can't understand this. And so it's not that Jesus was, you know, being offensive, but they were offended even though Jesus was being gracious. You see, there's a big difference between a person who is being offended by the message and a person who is being offended by the messenger.

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You see the difference? One is offended at the content of the message. The other is offended at the delivery or the attitude or the words that are used to bring forth the message. And I think this is especially important when it comes to the idea of ministering and sharing with our friends and family who are not saved. Here's why. Our friends and family, we know them. They know us.

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And our relationship with them is, well, it's very different from...

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we have outside of that circle. Out in the public sphere or even at church or in the workplace or, you know, we have those relationships that are close. We've known each other for a long time. But then we also have the other relationships where, you know, we don't really know each other that well. But the ones that we've grown up with, our family, they know us. And we know them. And so there's a very different type of relationship. And that gives opportunity to,

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For us to be more abrasive in our relationship than we would perhaps in other realms. You see, if I offend you, you know, if I get you upset, I'm still your brother. I'm still your son, you know. I can get you really angry at me and yet there's still that relationship, you know. We still grew up together. There's a potential for us to

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Be more abrasive and offend each other more easily when we've been together for a long time or known each other for a long time. There's a tendency for us to be, you know, more rude or, you know, more of our jerky selves than we would show to the rest of the world. But in, you know, our home or in the environment that we're comfortable or we grew up in, you know, we're more able to be ourselves. And so they get to see that aspect of us that maybe others don't.

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My wife always has to remind me whenever I'm hanging out with my sister that I have a tendency, I don't really mean to, but the filters are off. I'm not really thinking about what I'm saying and I just say things off the cuff and then next thing I know, you know, I've offended her. She's upset. She's crying. You know, something has happened and usually I don't even know what took place. I'm not even sure, you know, what the problem was, but...

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But my wife is good to remind me ahead of time, hey, don't forget, be careful. Not that she's really offended easily or anything, but again, it's just a side that, well, I don't really show you. I don't answer you off the cuff like I do my sister. I don't tell you, hey, that's a stupid idea. You're a fool for thinking that. I try not to tell you that. But...

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But those filters come off. And so it's very easy for us to offend our family and friends who are close to us because, you know, we're not hiding behind anything. We're just being ourselves. Well, Jesus here, he's there in the midst of those he grew up with. They know him. He knows them. And they're marveling and they're offended, but not because he's being a jerk, but because of his gracious words and the message that he's bringing forth.

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You and I, although we're usually more polite around strangers, and strangers are usually more polite to us, we have these relationships within our circles of family and friends, perhaps our co-workers that we've been with for a long time, and they're comfortable enough to tell us, hey, you're stupid, or shut up, or stop preaching to me. They're able to just freely say those types of things you might not hear outside, you know, in public.

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And so as a result, persecution and rejection can often be very fierce and very real at home or among friends, among those that you've known for a long time because they don't mind telling you to your face what they're thinking and where their heart's at. And so there's this

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opportunity here because whenever someone is you know kind of coming against you or speaking against you or in your face the tendency is to want to be right there in their face right you want to go toe-to-toe let's you know let's hammer it out and so there's an opportunity here Jesus could have responded you know violently like the people responded but instead he's speaking gracious words consider this idea of grace

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Grace simply means undeserved favor and kindness. Now grace also, you know, the definition could be quite vast, but this is a good, simple, basic definition for us to grasp hold of. Grace is undeserved favor and kindness. And so the idea is to speak words of kindness, words of favor, with kindness.

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They may not deserve your kindness. Maybe they are mean to you. Maybe there is some severe persecution in the home or by those who were once close to you. But that's why it's called grace.

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Jesus spoke gracious words to them. He didn't offend them by, you know, coming against them or yelling at them. He did nothing to deserve their offense or their wrath. But he spoke gracious words to them. Now this is important for us to consider. Because you and I, as believers in Jesus, we need to remember that first and foremost, we are followers of God. And first and foremost, you and I

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are Christians or missionaries in this world. That's first and foremost, that's who we are. That's our most important relationship is our relationship with God. Paul tells us in Colossians chapter 4 verse 5, he says, walk in wisdom toward those who are outside. That's unbelievers. He says, redeeming the time. And then he goes on to say, let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

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Paul says, look, you and I are to walk in wisdom in order to redeem the time. The idea is, hey, pay attention, use your words carefully, let your speech be with grace so that you can reach the unsaved people in your life.

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That first and foremost, when you come in contact with those family members or those friends, that your first and primary concern needs to be, how can I demonstrate grace to them? How can I express grace to them and share with them the love of God? How can I show them more kindness than they deserve? How can I express to them God's love for them? It is much like a mission trip.

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Now when we are heading out to do a mission trip or an outreach like we did yesterday, you know, we don't just show up and then hope it works out. We do preparation in advance. And primarily we prepare spiritually. We spend time in prayer. We spend time seeking the Lord. We seek the Lord. Lord, what do you want me to say? Who do you want me to share with? Lord, set up those divine appointments.

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And I'm suggesting to you this morning that we need to have that same approach when we are dealing with those in our family who are not saved. Those of our friends who are not saved. That we know when we're going into those situations where they're going to be and we need to be prayed up. We need to be ready so that we can bring forth gracious words.

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So that we can speak to them with kindness that they don't deserve and show them the love of Christ. And so first thing we see here in Jesus' example is to speak gracious words. And I want to encourage you to minister to your unbelieving friends and family by speaking to them with more kindness than they deserve.

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Well, the second thing we find, still in verse 22, is that we're to speak with wisdom from God. Speak with wisdom from God. There at the end of verse 22, it says, they said, this is the people's response, is this not Joseph's son? The people are beginning to ask some questions. They're hearing Jesus preach.

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They're hearing the message. They're hearing him proclaim, I'm the fulfillment of Isaiah chapter 61. I'm the Messiah. And they're asking themselves, wait, isn't this Joseph's son? In the other gospels, they also ask the question, isn't he the carpenter? Isn't he the guy who built my table? Isn't he? He's the, wait a minute. They're beginning to wonder. They're beginning to ask, don't we know you? Where are you getting this from? It wasn't a,

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like, oh yeah, hey, we remember you. This was really them saying, look, hey, you didn't go to school. You don't have a degree or some type of credentials. You don't have, you didn't study under this rabbi or you don't have the authority. Where are you getting this stuff? How are you able to share these things? And how dare you share these things? We know you. You're Joseph's son. You're the carpenter. Now you and I as believers know

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We understand, we know that carpenters can have great wisdom from God. Even more so than pastors many times. It's not about the occupation or the education when it comes to wisdom from God. But from the world's perspective, they look on and they say, hey, what do you know? You don't know nothing. You don't got no degree. You don't got no education. You don't have any credentials to share these things.

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In Mark chapter 6, again this same account as Jesus is ministering in Nazareth, the people ask and say, where did this man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to him that such mighty works are performed by his hands? You see in the other Gospels we find the people are asking, where did he get this wisdom? This doesn't make sense. This is the carpenter. Aren't you Joseph's son? Where did you get this from?

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The people are looking at Jesus and they're basing their conclusions or their determination by their past relationship with him. And we will experience that as well when we seek to minister to our friends and family who are not saved. They may look at you and say, wait, I changed your diaper. You don't tell me how to live my life. They might say, hey, I helped you not fail the religion class in high school. You don't get to tell me

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What religion is all about. They might say, I know you. Come on, we grew up together. What are you trying to do? You can't tell me these things. They're basing it upon their past relationships. Saying, you're the carpenter's son. You don't have an education. How can you share with me the truth of God? But having wisdom from God is not based upon your education. It's not based upon your career. It's not even based upon how long you've been a Christian.

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Having wisdom from God comes from a relationship with God. And wisdom from God comes from him telling you what to do and what to say. And then you responding and doing what he said and saying what he told you to say. That's what wisdom from God is all about. And so there can be a new believer with great wisdom from God because they're hearing from the Lord God speaking to them and then they're being obedient and doing or saying what he has called them to do or say.

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But then there can also be someone who's been in the church for 25 years, but they're not really taking time to spend time with the Lord. They're not hearing from Him. And so they can be a fool, more of a fool than the new believer, because they're not hearing from God. See, it's not just about quoting a verse or having, you know, the answer to the Bible trivia or even the Bible question. But it's about hearing from God the things that need to be spoken and then bringing them forth.

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That's what Jesus did and that is what we need to do with our friends and family who are not believers. We need to speak with wisdom from God, to connect with God on our own, to hear from Him what He wants us to say and then to speak that forth as He gives us opportunity. The people were saying, look, we know this guy. We grew up with him. What right do you have? How could you share with us these things? Now that's interesting to me because remember Jesus is perfect.

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And he lived a perfect life, not just when he started the ministry, but his whole life. He lived without sin, and yet the people of his hometown were unimpressed with him. Think about that for a moment. I always kind of pictured, you know, everybody knew Jesus because he was the one that didn't get in trouble. He didn't get messed, you know, he didn't mess up. He didn't sin. He didn't talk back. You know, he's the one labeled the goody two shoes or whatever. You know, I always kind of pictured that. But here we see the people are unimpressed.

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They don't look back and go, oh yeah, that makes sense. We always knew he was perfect. You know, we always knew something was different about him. They say, wait, no, it's Joseph. This is the carpenter. I mean, he just works with wood. What does he know? And so they're marveling. They can't figure it out because it's wisdom that's from God. It's wisdom that God has given. He's speaking the words of God to the people. And so you and I need to follow the example and make sure that

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That the things we share are from God and that we share in such a way that it's God who gets the glory. Not our brilliant arguments. Not our clever debates or clever answers. It's not about how clever or brilliant or bulletproof our message can be.

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You know, there's this great value in studying apologetics and studying, you know, the different faiths and answering the different questions of the critics. There is value in that. And as God puts it upon your heart, you know, be free and study those things. But never forget, it's really not about the brilliant arguments or the clever strategy or your eloquence in presenting the message.

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It's always about God working through you to bring forth the right message at the right time to the right people. It's about connecting with God, hearing from Him, and then sharing that. And even if you share it while you're stuttering, or even if you mess up, or you say, well, scratch that, let me start over. Even through all of the blunderings that we can do, if we're sharing the message that God has given to us to share with people, it will be effective and powerful.

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It will be wisdom from God. And so it's not just about, you know, are you good at talking or are you an extrovert or an introvert? It's about bringing forth what God has said and spoken to your heart. And so I want to encourage you to make sure that you have a connection with God, that you prepare yourself in advance, that you hear from the Lord saying, Lord, I know I'm going to be at this gathering later on. I need to hear from you. What are the things that you want me to share with the people that will be there?

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How can I minister? How can I reach out to them? Because again, remember, you're a missionary first. Before you're a son, before you're a brother, before you're a cousin, before you're a friend who grew up together. Now, things have changed. And as a Christian, you're a Christian first. You're a missionary first. You're an agent of God first. Ambassador for Him. And that needs to be your priority. That needs to be your focus. So make sure when you go, you have something to say. Make sure when you go, you've heard from the Lord.

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And also remember that their relationship with God is more important than their political views. You can, you know, go all day and night about the political views of them and you and it leaves them in the same condition as which they started without a savior. You could go on and on about where they should live or the relationship that they're in or the advice that they need or the career that they want to go into or the schooling that they're planning to attend or whatever.

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Not that you shouldn't ever talk about those things, but understand that's not the priority. Their relationship with God is more important. So don't just waste all your time talking about those things and never get around to sharing what God has put upon your heart to share. We need to speak with wisdom from God. Ministering to unbelieving friends and family by sharing with them what God has told us to speak.

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Well, the third thing we see as we continue on in verses 23 through 29 is that we need to speak the truth even if it brings wrath. Speak the truth even if it brings wrath. Look at verse 23 and 24. He said to them, You will surely say this proverb to me, Physician, heal yourself.

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Jesus now begins to respond to what's going on in their hearts. They're asking out loud, hey, isn't this Joseph's son? Isn't this the carpenter? Where did he get these things? Where's this coming from? But also in their hearts they're saying the proverb, hey physician, heal yourself.

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Just like, you know, you would look at a doctor and say, hey, why don't you take your own medicine? That's kind of what they're saying, right? Hey, Jesus, you're in your hometown. This is right here. We're your people. Do some of those same works and miracles that you've done elsewhere here at home. That's what they were thinking. That's what they were asking for in their hearts. And so Jesus responds to that. He says, this is what you guys will say, but here's what I say. No prophet is accepted in his own country. I'm not going to do any miracles here, he says.

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Because I will not be accepted here in my hometown. Now Jesus has been doing ministry for a while at this point. Probably about a year. This is his first trip back to Nazareth where he was raised. And they've heard all kinds of things. I mean the rumors have been flying out. People that have...

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been blind are now seeing the lame are walking they're hearing about these incredible miracles that are going on and so they're saying they're thinking lord show us some of those we want to see some of those miracles but they did not understand the purpose and really the reality of miracles and jesus did see the reality is that signs accompany faith signs accompany faith

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They do not change unbelief. Signs accompany faith. Signs do not change unbelief into faith. In fact, in Matthew chapter 13, the parallel passage to this, it tells us there in verse 58 that Jesus did not do mighty works or many mighty works there because of their unbelief. Because there was unbelief, there was not many mighty works. There wasn't many miraculous works.

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Because miracles and signs accompany faith, not unbelief. Now if it was the other way, then because there was so much unbelief, Jesus would have done a bunch more miracles. But that's not what happened. He didn't do many miracles because there was not many who believed. This is important because you and I often think, if God would do a miracle, if God would do something spectacular,

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if he would show himself in some incredible way, then people would believe. That's what we think. That's our tendency. In fact, people will often say, show us. Show us some kind of proof. Show us some kind of miracle. And then we will believe.

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But although we think that, although people declare things like that, the reality is that it's not true. And we see that repeated over and over again throughout the scriptures. We talked a couple weeks ago about John chapter 9, about the guy who was born blind and then healed by Jesus. And there in that account in John chapter 9, you find that the Pharisees, the religious leaders, they couldn't refute Jesus.

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But the miracle had been done. They called in the parents. Is this your son? Was he really born blind? They say, yeah, he was really born blind. This is our son. They couldn't refute. They couldn't, you know, discount that a miracle had been done. So what did they do? Did they change from unbelief into faith? No. What they did was they excommunicated the guy who had been healed from the synagogue. And they said, anybody else talks about Jesus? Anybody else talks about this? You're gone too.

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It didn't convert them. It didn't change their unbelief into faith. It just caused them to get rid of those evidences that were undisputable so they wouldn't have to think about it or deal with it. Miracles don't change unbelief into faith. In John chapter 11, you have the account where Lazarus is raised from the dead. And the same type of thing happened there. The religious leaders are really upset over this. And they can't dispute. He was in the tomb for three days and

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And then he was resurrected. They can't dispute it. And so what do they do? Well, they go back and they begin to plot how to kill Jesus as well as Lazarus. They want to get rid of the evidence because they refuse to believe. One last example in Luke chapter 16. You have the account that Jesus told of the rich man and another man named Lazarus. Not the same Lazarus as John chapter 11.

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But the rich man did not believe in God and he was wealthy. He had lots of comfort and luxuries in life. Lazarus, on the other hand, was a poor man. He was a beggar, but he believed in God. And so they both die, as Jesus tells the story, and then they've entered into eternity. And the rich man is in a place of torment because he did not believe in God. He had rejected God. And he looks across this great chasm and he sees Lazarus with Abraham there being comforted in Abraham's bosom.

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And so they have this exchange. They go back and forth a little bit. But the end result is the rich man says, Abraham, can you send Lazarus back to my family? They're not dead yet. They still have opportunity. I don't want them to come here. Can you send Lazarus back to tell them the truth, the reality about eternity? And Abraham responds. He says, they have the word of God.

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And the rich man says, no, no, that's not enough. Send Lazarus back. And Abraham responds, something we should take to heart. He says, if they don't have or they don't hear the word of God, they will not believe even if someone would rise from the dead. Miracles do not change unbelief into faith. That's not how we get faith. How do we get faith?

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Paul tells us in Romans chapter 10, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And so we need to understand that signs and miracles, that's not how we produce faith in people. We produce faith in people by sharing the word of God. If signs and wonders won't work, what do we do? We speak the truth like Jesus did. Look at verse 25.

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He says, but I tell you truly. You see, Jesus now begins to speak the truth and he gives some examples from the scriptures. He says, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a great famine throughout the land. But to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath in the region of Sidon to a woman who was a widow.

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And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was claimed except for Naaman the Syrian. Here Jesus tells them the truth. He shares with them the word and gives them two examples of what he's saying.

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The first example is in 1 Kings chapter 17, where God miraculously provides for Elijah by sending him to a widow's home. It's a widow and her son. They have basically enough food provisions for one last meal. And God sends him there and he tells him, go ahead, make that last meal.

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And you won't run out. And so for the whole three and a half years of the famine. They didn't run out. And God provided miraculously. With that last portion of food that they had. The second example he gives is from 2 Kings chapter 5. And here we have Naaman who is a Syrian commander. A Syrian soldier. And he has leprosy.

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And he hears about the God of Israel. And he hears about the work that God does and the miracles that he can perform. And so he goes to Israel. He finds Elisha. He follows his instruction. And then he's healed of his leprosy. Now Jesus is pointing out, look, there was lots of other widows. There was lots of other people with leprosy. But it's only these ones that got to experience the work of God. They got to participate in it.

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Jesus is pointing out that God focuses his works on those who believe. Because both Elijah and Elisha were prophets who spoke to Israel at a time when they were an unbelieving nation. They were in rebellion against God. And so they didn't experience the works of God. The people outside of Israel who believed in God, who responded to the message of God, they experienced the works of God. Verse 28 says,

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So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath and rose up and thrust him out of the city and they led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built that they might throw him down over the cliff. So here the people now respond to what Jesus is saying. And this response is likely what we imagine will happen in our family and in our friends when we share with them the gospel and the truth.

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And that's what keeps us sometimes, maybe many times, from really sharing with those around us. Because we're fearful that they're going to rise up in wrath, they're going to be filled with wrath, they're going to have this violent passion and come against us to put us to death or beat us down. When it says that they were taking him to the edge of the cliff to throw him down,

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The word actually means to cast him headlong, to throw him headfirst down the hill. It's not like you think about in the movies or TV shows, they throw him out the door and they kind of roll around in the street to kind of get rid of him. That's not what was happening here. They weren't just saying, get on, get out of here. They were trying to put him to death.

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In fact, this practice of casting him down the cliff was common as the beginning of the stoning of someone. And so they'd cast him down the cliff and they would hurl stones at them and it would be a manner of putting them to death, of executing them. Well, here's Jesus speaking the truth to them even though it's not what they want to hear. Even though this is how they would respond, Jesus spoke the truth to them.

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Even though it brought forth their wrath. Now again, he wasn't being offensive. And obviously, the objective is not to make people mad. If that was the objective, we would be awesome witnesses for Jesus. Because we know how to push people's buttons. That's easy. But the point here is, even if people get angry, even if people are filled with wrath, we need to speak the truth. How many times are we so afraid to rock the boat, to make waves,

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Now again, I'm not saying we should go out and we should try to make them angry. I'm not saying that, you know, that's the goal, that's the objective. Not at all. I'm not saying we should be obnoxious and, you know, shove the gospel down their throat and, you know, keep preaching at them until they are filled with wrath and try to throw us out. I'm not saying that at all either. What I'm saying is God gives you opportunity as questions are asked, as your opinion is sought, as you have opportunity to step up and share. You need to be willing to speak the truth.

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And to not water it down or to soften it because you're afraid of what their response might be. Now in our minds we do that and we justify it by thinking, well if I make them angry and tell them the truth right now, then I'm going to lose opportunity down the road. They're not going to want to hear from me again and so I won't have more opportunity to share. So I'll lessen it right now or I'll water it down. I'll hold back. I won't tell them the truth right now so that later on I'll have the opportunity to share with them more.

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But that's not what Jesus did. He didn't water it down. He didn't hold back. He told them the truth. We need to be willing to speak the truth. I really enjoy the testimony of Pastor David Rosales of Calvary Chapel, Chino Valley. In his testimony, he shares about after he got saved, he was a young man, he got saved, and his parents were not saved. And he had a great burden and a concern for them. And so he's sharing with them

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the gospel message. And he shares in his testimony how he tells his dad there in their kitchen, he says, "Dad, you're a good man. Dad, you're the best man that I will ever know. But you will be the best man in hell if you don't give your heart to Jesus." He spoke the truth. Now in this particular situation, his parents received the message and both of them got saved right then and there in his kitchen. That won't always be the case.

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But regardless of whether they're filled with wrath or they receive the message, are you willing to say, mom, dad, friend, cousin, brother, sister, co-worker, you are a good person, perhaps. But you'll still end up in eternal judgment in hell if you do not receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Are you willing to speak the truth even if it brings forth wrath?

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We need to be ministering to our unbelieving friends and family by speaking the truth to them in love. Again, not seeking to be offensive, not trying to make people mad, but as we have opportunity, bringing forth the truth to those who need to hear it. Well, finally, point number four we find in verse 30, and that's go your way and let God work. Look at verse 30. It says, "...then passing through the midst of them, He went His way."

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This is when I want us to consider and contemplate for just a couple moments here. And understand as we look at this that there is a balance to the things that I'm sharing. And it's not that, you know, we're all to go to the same extreme. But to consider and to see what the Lord is speaking to your heart individually and personally.

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What we see here in verse 30, it says, Jesus passed through the midst of them. And we understand here that there's a miraculous escape that's going on because the people are trying to put him to death and throw him off the cliff. And then suddenly, we don't know what happens. We don't know if he said something, if he spoke something. We don't know what happened. But all of a sudden, the crowd just parts and Jesus just passes right through the midst of them and goes on his way. It says, he went his way.

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As we go on in the Gospel of Luke, you'll see he goes on to Capernaum. He goes on to different parts of Israel and he continues on with his ministry. Maybe one time more he comes back to Nazareth. If Matthew 13 and Mark chapter 6 is that second visit. Maybe once. But the rest of his time, we have no recorded. He doesn't make his headquarters there. He doesn't camp out there. Even though that's where he grew up. He goes on and he doesn't come back. Except maybe once.

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He went his way. This morning I want to suggest to you that sometimes you need to step away from your family in order to fulfill God's will for your life but also to allow God to work in their hearts. I want to suggest that sometimes we need to step away from our unsaved family and friends, allow God to do the work and we need to continue to be faithful with what God has instructed us to do. I know there's already going to be some objections.

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But consider it with me. Jesus went his way. Jesus loved the people of Nazareth. He grew up with them. He knew them. He loved them. But he didn't stay until they all believed. He didn't stay until they were all convinced that he was the Messiah. He went his way. Why? Because unbelief is a matter of choice. It's not a matter of just not having all the information.

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It's not a matter of, you know, not having heard the ultimate argument or, you know, the ultimate convincing truth about Jesus. Unbelief is a matter of choice. And you cannot force choice. You can't argue enough. You can't fight enough. You can't do enough miracles to cause someone to choose to believe in Jesus. It can't be done.

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You see, there comes a point where we've spoken gracious words. We've spoken wisdom from God. And we've spoken the truth, even if it brought forth wrath. We've delivered. We've done our part. We've done what God has called us to do. And now God has other things in store for us. And He's going to continue to work on their hearts. And remember, your friends, your family, your co-workers, God loves them more than you do. As hard as that is to imagine, He loves them more than you do.

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He's going to continue to water those seeds that you planted as you were obedient to speak graciously and speak wisdom and speak the truth. He's going to continue to work in that. But He's got to work for you to continue on. You need to be faithful to that. You have to let God work in their hearts. We can't be obnoxious and just cram it down people's throats. We can't force it.

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What we can do is share graciously, share the truth, share wisdom from God, and then let them watch us live it out. And you know what? You may have to do that for several years and then be crucified at the end before you see the fruit. That's what happened to Jesus. His mother, his brothers, they didn't believe until after he had been resurrected and ascended to the Father. Now as you wrestle with these things that I'm sharing with you, let me quote to you from Luke chapter 12.

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Jesus there says, do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? Is that what you suppose? Is that what you think? You say, yeah, of course. I mean, we sing it in the Christmas songs. Peace on earth and mercy mild. You know, peace on earth. That's what, that's what. Listen, Jesus will bring peace on earth, but that wasn't through his first coming. That's coming in the future, his second coming.

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He says, I didn't come to bring peace on earth. He says, I tell you, not at all, but rather division. He says, from now on, five in one house will be divided. Three against two and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father. Mother against daughter and daughter against mother. Mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Jesus said, look,

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Those who follow me will experience division. And houses will be divided because of me. Houses will be against each other because of me. He says, I didn't come to bring peace. Not this time. I came to make disciples. And as disciples of Jesus, there's going to have to be separation.

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There's going to have to be the parting of ways. There's going to be the time where for certain people, for certain situations, we have to go our way. We've done what we can do. We've done what God has called us to do. And we can't continue to stay there because God has other things for us to be involved in. Just like Jesus, he could have stayed in Nazareth the whole three and a half years of his ministry. But that's not what God had called him to. I'm sure he would have loved to because he loved the people. But God had called him to reach the rest of the nation as well.

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He did what he could do there. He did what God had called him to do there. And so now he goes his way. Now again, as I'm sharing these things, I know there's some conflict within you. And understand, the balance is important. I am in no way saying that everybody should be bad relatives. And, you know, it doesn't matter if anybody likes you or if you've got friends or, you know, if your family's happy with you. I'm not saying that. Here's what I'm saying. Give God room to work.

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And don't be a bad Christian so that you can be a good relative. Don't neglect God's will. Don't disobey God so that you don't rock the boat at home or in the family gatherings or with your friends or with your co-workers. Don't throw away what God is speaking to you and calling you to do so that you can, you know, be the son that your mom always wanted. God has to come first. Again, remember, first of all, you're a missionary.

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First and foremost, you are to have a relationship with God. And here on this earth, your primary objective is to help others to enter into that same type of relationship with God. And that comes before being a good son, being a good daughter, being a good spouse, being a good whatever. It comes first. We need to be willing to go our way and to obey God first. We need to put God first.

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And you know what? That might mean that you cannot participate in certain birthday parties. I know it seems trivial, but seriously, there's some family feuds over, you don't come to the parties anymore. You don't come celebrate with us. There's guilt trips that are laid. There's head trips that are made. I mean, there's all of these things that are brought against us. But first and foremost, your job, your role is to be a missionary. And when you've spoken gracious words and spoken the wisdom from God and you've spoken the truth,

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You've done all that you can do. And now you need to let God work. And if He's called you elsewhere, and if that means that they don't like you, who are you going to please? Them or the Lord? Who's first in your life? Yeah, it's probably going to mean that you're not going to be hanging out with them while they're drinking and partying anymore. Yeah, it might mean that you're going to go on the mission field and they may never see you again. But God has to be first.

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And you must put God's will first. Even if that means not being with your friends and family when they want you to be there or when you want to be there. God's will must come first. Let them see your commitment to the Lord as you live in obedience to Him. On the mission field, in the choices that you make in life, in the things that you participate in, let them see that relationship with God lived out. And sure, mom wants you there for Christmas, but God may want you somewhere else.

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And who are you going to please? You've got to put God first. I know we love them, but God must come first. And we want to reach them, but God must come first. And so this is not, you know, everybody blanket, you know, across the board, everybody, you know, never talk to your family again. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying some of you, God is speaking to you and saying, look, you've done what I've called you to do. And you can't stay there anymore. You need to move on. You need to let those relationships go.

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You need to move on from those types of gatherings and situations. And you need to be faithful in the things that I've called you to. You need to go your way and follow God's will for your life. In the big things as well as the little things. Later on after Jesus was resurrected it tells us in Acts chapter 1 verse 14. That Jesus' brothers and his mother was there with the disciples.

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Now, at one point in Jesus's ministry, they go to try to get him. They think he's gone crazy. We got to bring him back home. This guy, he doesn't, he's lost his mind. That's what they thought. It wasn't until after, until later on, that the truth really penetrated their hearts. And the same will be true for many of our friends and family. We want to see it now. And we want to stick around until it happens. And we don't want to offend. We don't want to cut those ties.

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But for some of you, God is saying, go your way. Let it go. It's more important that you be faithful to what I've called you to do than to make them happy or please them and not rock the boat. We need to minister to unbelieving friends and family by putting God first, even if it means you're not the relative that they want you to be. And so we see here in Jesus the example of ministering to unbelieving friends and family.

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How do we minister to those in our hometown, those that we have known and loved, those that we have grown up with, those that we've been so familiar with? We speak gracious words to them. We speak with wisdom from God. We speak the truth even if it brings wrath. And then we go our way and let God do the work in their hearts. As we wrap it up this morning, I would end by asking if there are those who've had loved ones

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Share with them the good news of Jesus. That you grew up with them. You helped them not fail in school. For whatever reason, you've decided, they can't speak into my life. I'm not going to receive it from them. If you've heard this message, if you've heard about Jesus from family, but you've not received it, allow me to be the outsider, to be that traveling rabbi, to be the expert that you don't know so well. Behind the scenes, I'm just like them.

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But maybe God would use me to share with you the reality that without Jesus, every single one of us are completely lost and we're hopeless because of our sinful condition. Because we're not perfect, we do not measure up to God's standard. We deserve eternal judgment. That's the reality and none of us can escape it. And since that's the reality, we need a Savior.

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We can't work our way out of our sinful condition. And we can't make up for all of the sins that we've committed. So we need a Savior. And that Savior was provided in the person of Jesus, who being God became man. He was born of the Virgin Mary and he lived a sinless life. At the end, he was crucified. Although he committed no sin and no crimes, he was put to death.

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The Bible tells us that our sin was placed upon Him so that He died there upon the cross in our place, receiving the punishment and the penalty that's due to us for our sin. And so now by believing in Jesus and receiving His gift, receiving that He died in our place, we can be forgiven.

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Our sins are washed away. We can have a new start, a new life in Jesus Christ. And not only that, but the promise of eternity with God. That's the gospel. And maybe you've heard it many times. Maybe you've heard it many times from people who are close to you, that you know, that you've grown up with, your family, whatever. But you've not yet received it. Listen, that's the message. It's the truth. Maybe it stirs up some wrath within you, but it's the reality.

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that unless we turn to Jesus, you might be a good person, like Pastor David Rizal has said, but you'll be a good person in hell if you do not receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord, if you don't repent from your sin and turn to follow Him. Let's pray. God, I pray for all of our hearts here today. I pray, God, that you would help us to put you first. Lord, that we would follow you with all of our hearts. And Lord, even if that means separating from

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or friends or missing gatherings or functions so that we can be obedient to you. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to do so. Lord, as we seek to reach out, teach us to speak gracious words and to speak wisdom from God and to speak the truth no matter what the consequences are. And Lord, I pray for those who do not know you, who've heard the message but have not yet received it. Lord, I pray that they would turn their hearts to you, that they would surrender to you

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And receive the forgiveness that you offer. Receive the gift of life that you extend to us. And if that's you, if you want to receive that gift, you can just pray this prayer in your heart after me. Lord Jesus, please forgive me of my sin. I believe you died on the cross for me. And I receive you as my Savior and Lord. Lord, I turn from my sin and I commit to follow you for the rest of my life.

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In Jesus' name. And we all said, Amen. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.