LUKE 1-5 WHERE JESUS WALKED PART 12014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 1-5 Where Jesus Walked Part 1

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 2014.

And we're here this evening in Luke chapters 1 through 5, walking through the chapters that we read this week, going through the Bible in three years. And so we're starting out this evening looking at the Gospel of Luke. Now the Gospel of Luke is the third gospel.

We studied Matthew, we studied Mark, we studied, well we're now reading through Luke and then we'll be heading into the Gospel of John. And so getting a very complete look at who Jesus is and the various aspects and perspectives of the different authors and the things that they were writing about. And so Luke now is the third time we're looking at the life of Christ and

And the Gospel of Luke was written by Luke probably right around the same time as Mark, around 55 through 60 A.D., sometime in that time period. We don't have an exact date, but we do know that it was finished before Luke wrote the book of Acts. And so there's some indications there that it was completed before 60 A.D.,

Now each gospel has a slightly different focus on who Jesus is and a different emphasis on different aspects of Jesus. And that's why originally as we started in the New Testament, we gave you the gospels handout and kind of walks you through the different things that are focused on or emphasized in each gospel. But the gospel of Luke really focuses on Jesus as a man.

Of course, it presents Jesus as God because he is God, but you also see a lot of the humanity in Jesus throughout Luke's gospel.

So for example, you see a lot of emotions more so in Luke than the other Gospels. You see a lot of the frailties of Jesus when he's tired or weak and such. And so you see that human side of Jesus. You see him in his prayer life. Luke really goes into a lot more detail about the prayer life of Jesus, mentioning the frequency and how often he goes off by himself to pray.

You also see the mention of the Holy Spirit much more in the Gospel of Luke than the other Gospels because as a man, Jesus relied upon the Holy Spirit setting the example for you and I. And so what he accomplished, he did, you know, in the power of God by the Holy Spirit. And so you see that humanity of Jesus kind of highlighted and emphasized throughout the Gospel of Luke.

Now, another thing about Luke, because he, well, he was a physician. We know that about him. It seems that he was probably the servant of Theophilus and that Theophilus is the one who paid for his education. And so he was well-educated. He was...

A very smart man who researched the things in the life of Jesus and put together this book. He wasn't one of the disciples or anything like that. He was, you know, someone who came along afterwards and interviewed people and found out and got the information and the insight and then compiled it all together.

And so what we find in the Gospel of Luke is really a very thorough gospel. He mentions a lot of details that we don't see in some of the other gospels. And so one of the things that he also is kind of good at highlighting and pointing out is the different locations where everything is going on.

And so that's something that we're going to be taking time to focus on as we go through chapter by chapter through the Gospel of Luke, is we'll be taking a moment to consider the geography of what Luke is talking about, where the events occurred, and what, you know, the different details of those places are. And so we'll be taking some time to look at that, and you'll see that in just a moment. Here's a quick look at just the overview of the geography of the Gospel of Luke.

We start out in the life of Christ in the city of Bethlehem where he was born. We move up to Nazareth where Jesus was raised.

As an adult, he moved into Capernaum and that was his base of operations, his home for his time of ministry. And then, of course, Jerusalem is an important city. It's the capital of Israel and it's the place where Jesus spent his final days before his crucifixion. And he was crucified just outside the walls of Jerusalem and then, of course, raised from the dead on the third day.

But I want to take some time to kind of just look at Israel and get some different understandings of the dimensions of it and things like that. And so, first of all, the length of the nation of Israel is about 145 miles as we see it here on this map. So from Beersheba to Caesarea Philippi, again, it's about 150 miles.

Today's borders of Israel actually extend about another 100 miles south down to the Red Sea, but not in Jesus' day. That's not part of that. So it's about 150 miles from top to bottom. It's not a huge place. It's not a huge piece of land. At its widest point, it's about 50 miles across from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. And so it's a narrow strip of land there right on the Mediterranean coast.

The northern and kind of central areas of Israel are really lush and fertile. There's rainfall, and so there's lots of growth, lots of vegetation. They do a ton of farming and produce all kinds of fruit and flowers and such.

And then the southern area, all in that, like Judea, around that area, around the Dead Sea, and then all the way down to the Red Sea, even beyond this map, it's all desert. So there's not much growth there. It's all desert. It's just dry. And I'll show you some pictures of that later on.

But to give you an idea of like where, you know, what it's like over there, the coldest month for the nation of Israel is January. And so the temperatures range anywhere between 42 and 59 degrees on average in the month of January. And then the hottest months are July and August and the temperatures range between 71 and 91 degrees.

Now, as we look at all of these different aspects of the nation of Israel, the geography there, I think you can kind of start to see a lot of similarities between the nation of Israel and what it's like for us here in Southern California.

There is a lot of comparisons and a lot of parallels that we can see. And so if you ever wonder, you know, what it's like to live in Israel or to be there, as far as weather is concerned, as far as the different, you know, regions around, it's a lot like California. You can hit the beach, you can hit a mountain, you can go to the desert here just as well as you can over there in Israel.

If you think about the size of the nation of Israel, again, it's not that huge. It's about 145 miles, 150 miles. That's about the distance. If you were to go here and go from here actually and drive up to Bakersfield, it's about 150 miles. And so that's from here to Bakersfield, that's the length of the nation of Israel in Jesus' day. Again, today it extends further south about 100 miles. So that'd be like going from here to Fresno.

So it's not a huge nation. It's not a huge piece of land. But of course it's very important and significant. Now one of the things that makes Israel interesting is the variety of elevations that you see throughout the nation. And so here's a look at the topography.

And so you start in the very far north with Mount Hermon. That's the tallest peak that is in that region. And so it's about 9,200 feet high. That would compare to maybe around Big Bear Lake. Some of the peaks like Bear Peak up around Big Bear Lake is about 8,800 feet. Mount Baldy, I'm sure you're familiar with. That's about 10,000. So that's a little bit higher. So

But that same ballpark, right? So about that height. But then it drops pretty dramatically throughout the rest of the region. So you have the Jezreel Valley, which is 300 feet above sea level. That's a very lush and fertile valley. It's also a very important valley prophetically that we'll talk about later on in the New Testament.

The Sea of Galilee is an important feature of the nation of Israel. It's a freshwater lake. It's about 700 feet below sea level.

And the water that feeds into the Sea of Galilee comes from the Jordan River. Much of it comes from the Mount Hermon area. There's a couple springs there. And then also up to the left in the Lebanon area. And so they come down and flow into the Sea of Galilee. And then out down the Jordan Rift all the way down to the Dead Sea.

And so that's the flow of the Jordan River. The Dead Sea is the lowest place on earth. It's negative 1,400 feet or 1,400 feet below sea level. And so it flows down into the Dead Sea and then the water just stays there. It has nowhere else to go because it's the lowest point on earth.

On the coast of the Mediterranean, you have the coastal plain, also about 300 feet above sea level. And so, by the way, Corona, we're about 700 feet above sea level. And so you can kind of get an idea. We're not too far off from that coastal plain, that region, which also is very fertile and used to grow much.

And then the Judean mountains are there. Jerusalem is right there in that region. And when we talk about the Judean mountains, you know, don't think like,

Mount Baldy, Big Bear, that kind of thing. The highest peak in that region is about 3,000 feet above sea level. So it's not super high. We would maybe more consider them kind of like hills. But that's what the Judean mountains are. That region is Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Hebron. All of those things are kind of built on those hills and those peaks.

And so you'll see that as we go through. So that's just a quick look in the overview of some of the climate and things like that of the nation of Israel. But let's get started in our chapters this evening. We'll start in Luke chapter 1. And then as Luke mentions different places and locations, we'll take a moment to examine those. But we start out in Luke chapter 1, verse 31 is the key verse.

He says, In verses 1 through 4, we have the introduction to the gospel of Luke.

Luke introduces himself or his writing and he's addressing it to a man by the name of Theophilus. He was probably a Roman official. He was probably someone who was important and wealthy. As I mentioned earlier, it's likely that Luke was his servant.

And as it would happen in those days, the master would pay for his servant to be educated so he could then become a physician. And so as part of his instruction from Theophilus to Luke, then he also said, hey, why don't you look into this man Jesus and what Christianity is all about. He's learned about it, Theophilus has. He's been taught about it.

And now Luke is kind of putting together something. It says in verse 4 that you may know the certainty of those things which you were entrusted.

And so Theophilus knows and has been instructed about Jesus Christ and what he has done. And now Luke is kind of solidifying that, building up the support for it and showing, you know, here is the documentation to show that these things are true. And so Luke took some time to research this.

He says there's many other narratives that have been written. He interviewed eyewitnesses and he compiles all this information to put together this gospel for us. Well, then in verses 5 through 25, you see John's birth announcement. This is the announcement of John the Baptist. It happens when the angel Gabriel appears to Zacharias as he is serving in the temple.

Zacharias and Elizabeth were faithful to God. They were very old though. They had no children. And so now they're going to have a child. God blesses them with this. And their child is going to be the forerunner to the Messiah. The forerunner to Jesus Christ. Then in verses 26 through 38, he records Jesus' birth announcement that was given to Mary. This happens about six months later.

This time the angel Gabriel goes up to Nazareth and appears to Mary and lets her know that she is about to give birth. And she's kind of surprised by it because she says, I've not known a man. And yet Gabriel says, well, the Holy Spirit's going to come upon you. And so therefore he's going to be called the son of God. And they're the beginning of the doctrine that Jesus Christ is God.

Well, after Mary finds out in verses 39 through 56, she travels to visit her cousin or her relative Elizabeth. And they spend some time together rejoicing in God's great work.

It's interesting. You know, Elizabeth is now pregnant. She's about to have a child, but it's well beyond the time when she, you know, would have normally had children. It's kind of like too late, most would consider. And then Mary is now pregnant to have a child, and it's too early. She's not married yet. She was, you know, engaged, but not married, and she's never known a man. And so there's kind of these two extremes, and they're joining together to

Rejoice and celebrate and encourage one another in what God has done. Verses 57 through 66 record the birth of John the Baptist. And so he's given, or he's born and named John. And then in verses 67 through 80, Zacharias prophesies and declares all of the things that God has done and is going to do.

Well, there's a few locations that Luke points out here in chapter 1. So, one of the locations is, of course, Nazareth, which is where the angel Gabriel visits Mary. That's in the northern area of Israel. It's where Joseph and Mary lived. He also mentions Jerusalem, which is where Zacharias was. He was there serving in the temple when Gabriel visits him.

And then he also mentions the region of Judah because he doesn't name a specific location, but he says that Mary goes to the region of the hills of Judea and visits Elizabeth after she finds out that Elizabeth is pregnant. And so these are the different locations mentioned here in chapter 1. Let's look a little bit more at the city of Jerusalem.

So Jerusalem is located on Mount Zion as well as Mount Moriah and then Acra and Bezethah are also mountains that are located right around Jerusalem.

Its elevation is about 2,500 feet above sea level. So again, we say Mount Moriah, we say Mount Zion. We're not talking about, you know, huge mountains, high peaks. That's about 2,500 feet. It's a respectable hill. And that's where Jerusalem is located.

This is the capital of Israel. It was conquered by King David and established as the capital of the nation. Later on, Solomon built the temple there and extended Jerusalem from Mount Zion to include Mount Moriah. And so the temple is actually built upon Mount Moriah.

And so he builds the temple there. Today, of course, the city still exists and it's a pretty busy city, population of about 780,000 people. And I didn't double check this, but I'm pretty sure that this is the most populated city in the nation of Israel today. So it's still ongoing and it's located there in that same spot, right around the top of the Dead Sea there in the Judean wilderness.

The city of Nazareth, on the other hand, is located in the northern part of Israel. Its elevation is about a thousand feet above sea level. And it's located there in the region called Galilee.

Now, Nazareth was a small city in Jesus' day, and even today it's relatively small. But it would have been maybe populated by about 200 or so people at the time of Christ. It's never mentioned in the Old Testament. It's not, you know, a famous, you know, prophesied about city or anything like that. It's really small, insignificant. But it was the home of Joseph and Mary. And so this is the place where Jesus grows up.

And it continues to exist today, unlike some of the other places we'll see this evening. And so the population today is about 81,000 people living there, which is a good size for the city of Nazareth. It's grown up quite a bit. Well, now let's go on to chapter 2 of Luke. Verse 7 is the key verse. It says, "...and she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."

So here in verses 1 through 7, Mary gives birth to Jesus.

This happens, of course, we know the story well. There was a decree from Caesar Augustus and everybody has to go to their hometown to be registered for the census. And so they pack their bags and go from Nazareth down to Bethlehem where they are going to register and do their part in the census. And so there in Bethlehem comes time and Mary gives birth to Jesus.

and wraps him in swaddling cloths and leaves him in a manger. In verses 8 through 20, we see the account of the shepherds who visit Jesus. The angels appear to the shepherds and say, there's born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And so they tell the shepherds in Bethlehem, the Savior has been born, and the shepherds go that night and visit Jesus right after his birth.

In verses 21 through 24, we see that Jesus is circumcised and then presented. Now, Mary and Joseph were faithful Jews. They were faithful to the law of Moses. And so on the eighth day, they circumcised Jesus just as the law instructed. On the 40th day, they presented Jesus at the temple just as the law instructed. And so that's what's being recorded here is they're being faithful to God's word.

As they go to the temple in verses 25 through 38, you see that Simeon and Anna meet Jesus. These are, they're not a couple, but they're, you know, a couple old people who are hanging out at the temple and God has been speaking to them and they've been looking forward to the day of the Messiah and now it's here. And so they get to meet Jesus as a little baby, just barely over a month old. And they recognize and they prophesy that he is the Messiah.

Well then we see in verses 39 through 40 that Jesus is taken back up to Nazareth and there is where he grows up. And so for the next 30 years he's going to be spending his time there in Nazareth and not going many other places. We don't really know anything else about the life of Jesus as he was growing up except for what's recorded in verses 41 through 52 where we see that Jesus stays behind in Jerusalem.

Again, Joseph and Mary were faithful Jews. And so every year, verse 41 tells us, at the feast of Passover, they would travel to Jerusalem, just like they were supposed to. And so they would travel to Jerusalem every year. And one year, when Jesus was about 12, they packed up and they were heading out from Jerusalem back to Nazareth. And they thought Jesus was amongst the group.

Now the way that they would travel in those days wasn't like you and I travel, like we just get in our car, our own personal family, and we go on. They would travel in big groups. And so everybody in Nazareth, hey, you guys going? Yeah, we're going. And so they would just be this massive group that makes way from Nazareth to Jerusalem for the feast.

And so they just thought, hey, Jesus is hanging out with the neighbor's kids. And so he's with the group and the group set out. And it was a couple days away and they realized, oh no, where's Jesus at? And so they head back to Jerusalem and find him there discussing with the rabbis and the teachers. And everybody was amazed at his understanding.

So that's really the only account that we know of of Jesus during his growing up years. The rest of the Gospels and everything deal with just his time of ministry from when he was about 30 years old until his crucifixion and then resurrection. Well, there's a few locations in chapter 2 of Luke, but I just lost control. So hang on one second. I'm taking it back. Maybe not.

There we go. Alright, so the locations in Luke chapter 2, two of them we've talked about. Nazareth and

It's mentioned there again, Joseph travels from Nazareth to Bethlehem where Jesus is born. That distance is about 68 miles, but that's just kind of straight, you know, as the bird flies or however the saying is. So, you know, they would have wound around a little bit. It's possible they crossed over the Jordan to avoid Samaria and then crossed back. But around 70 miles is the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem that they took.

In order for them to go and be registered. And then give birth to Jesus. And then of course Jerusalem is mentioned. And that's where Jesus is taken to the temple. And presented. And Simeon and Anna meet him there. And rejoice and prophesy over him.

So the new location in this chapter is the city of Bethlehem. Now Bethlehem is located in those Judean mountains. It's about the same height as Jerusalem, about 2,500 feet.

It was also a small town, maybe 300 to 1,000 people in Jesus' day. Today it's a little bit bigger, it has about 25,000 people, but it was kind of a little bit of a town, but it was known as the city of David because that's where David was born because going back to the story of Ruth and Boaz, you remember that story, I

I don't like the word story that much. You remember that account? Because it was a real thing. That's why I like to spend time, by the way, on the maps and such. Because it's important for us to remember these are real things. They're real events. They really happened in these actual locations. And so Ruth and Boaz met and married there in Bethlehem. And then later on, David was born in Bethlehem. And then Christ was born in Bethlehem. So it's the city of David.

All right, chapter 3 now. Verse 16 is the key verse.

So here we're introduced to John the Baptist. In verses 1 through 20, he comes on the scene and he is now beginning his ministry of preaching. Verse 3 tells us,

preaching a baptism of repentance for sins. He was calling people to repentance. The people of Israel were not in a good state. They weren't in a good condition. Although many of them were faithful to what they were taught, the things that they were taught by the religious leaders weren't exactly, you know, lining up with the word of God. And so some of them were very faithful in the sense of they were religious, but they were not in a good state.

And yet there was a lot of corruption in their hearts. There was a lot of corruption in the society. And so there needed to be this call to repentance. And now John the Baptist is on the scene and people are repenting and they're being baptized and the religious leaders are upset by it. But they're also wondering, who is this guy? Is he the Messiah? Yeah.

And John responds to that in verse 16. He says, no, I'm not. I baptize you with water, but there's one who's coming. I'm not worthy to untie his sandal. He's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. So John was clear in testifying that he is not the Messiah that is to come. He is the forerunner, the one to prepare the people for the Messiah.

And so then in verses 21 through 22, Jesus comes to John the Baptist and is baptized by him. And here you get to see a glimpse of the triune nature of God as you have Jesus there physically in the water. The Father speaks from above and the Holy Spirit descends upon him like a dove. And so the threefold nature of God.

And then in verses 23 through 38, you have the genealogy of Jesus. And Luke traces his lineage all the way back to Adam. Again, we see the emphasis in the Gospel of Luke as Jesus as a man. And so he traces his lineage all the way back to the first man, Adam, saying he's a descendant of Adam. He is a man. Just as you and I are descendants of Adam, and we are human beings as well.

The locations in chapter 3 really center around the ministry of John the Baptist. And so you have the Jordan River, which is there from the Sea of Galilee down through the Dead Sea. And then Bethabara, it's not mentioned here in Luke, but in John chapter 1 verse 28, it tells us that's where John was baptizing. And so that is the place probably where Jesus was baptized.

just a little bit north of the Dead Sea was that place called Bethabara or it's also known as Bethany beyond the Jordan. So not the Bethany on the Mount of Olives where Mary and Martha lived but it's the Bethany that was just on the other side of the Jordan which is probably where John the Baptist was kind of centered in his ministry.

So he's ministering all around the Jordan River. Now the Jordan River is an important part of Israel's geography because it provides the majority of the water for the land. And so the Jordan River starts in the very far north. It starts

from four springs or four rivers that join together up in the north from Mount Hermon, from Mount Lebanon. They join together and they become the Jordan River and they flow into, it flows into the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee.

And so these four rivers combine and now it's the Jordan River and that is the source for the freshwater lake known as the Sea of Galilee. Well then it continues on out the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee and flows about another 65 miles into the Dead Sea. Now it's not a huge river. The

today's measurements probably are different than in Jesus' day, but in today's measurements, its widest point is probably about 100 feet wide. So it's not, you know, a huge river that's like super hard to cross. Today, in earlier times, for example, when Joshua crossed the Jordan River, it was probably a little bit different because, you know, today they're diverting water both to

you know, the nation of Jordan and then also the nation of Israel. They're diverting water and also the drought conditions and such. And so it's a little bit different today. But at its deepest point today, it's about 17 feet deep. And so again, not a huge river today, but probably a little bit different than in the times of the things that we're reading about.

Well, another thing that happens here in Luke chapter 3 is the genealogy of Jesus. And I just wanted to take a moment and comment on that because sometimes it can be a little bit confusing. So we have two different genealogies of Jesus that are mentioned in the Gospels. You have Matthew's genealogy and you have Luke's genealogy. So they don't quite match up and it's sometimes confusing. But here's the way to understand it.

Matthew, in his genealogy in Matthew chapter 1, he records the lineage of David through Solomon all the way down to Joseph. Luke, on the other hand, in chapter 3 here, records the lineage of Jesus through David and then Nathan, another of David's sons, all the way down through Mary, who gives birth to Jesus. And so you have Luke really recording the genealogy of Mary, and then

and then Jesus, and then you have Matthew recording the genealogy of Joseph. Now remember, this is significant because Jesus has to be a descendant of David in order to be the Messiah. If he's not a descendant of David, he's not the Messiah. However, there was also an issue that the line of Solomon went down through a man named Jeconiah

He's one of the dot, dot, dots that are not mentioned there. It would be a long list if I put them all in there. But Jeconiah was cursed and God said, nobody of your bloodline is ever going to sit on the throne again.

And so if Joseph had been the biological father of Jesus, then he would have been disqualified to be the king of Israel because God said, no, that line is cursed. That line will not have the throne any longer. And so in this, God works out something pretty interesting where Jesus is a descendant of David.

And he has the legal right to the throne through Joseph. And so he is able to claim the throne of David and to be the king that is promised to the nation of Israel. And so you have Luke recording the line of Jesus, his bloodline through Mary. And Matthew recording the line of Jesus, his legal line because Joseph was his adopted father or his stepfather. And so legally he's a descendant of Joseph.

and able to have his rightful place upon the throne. All right, chapter four now of Luke, starting in verse one is the key verse. It says, then Jesus being filled with the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

Here in verses 1 through 13, Satan tempts Jesus for 40 days. We get three examples of this temptation. But Luke here tells us that the temptation is going on for quite a bit of time. So there might have been a lot more going on that we don't know about. But Satan comes along after Jesus has been fasting for this time. And he says, command this stone to become bread.

Hey, you're hungry and you've got the power. And so why don't you provide for yourself and meet your own needs and make this stone into bread that you can eat. And then he takes him to a high point and he shows them the whole world. And he says, hey, if you worship me, I'll give all of this to you. This is mine. I have authority over the whole world and I'll give it to you if you bow down to me. And then he takes him to the pinnacle of the temple and

And he says, throw yourself down. And, you know, God says he won't let your foot dash against the stone. And so his angels are going to catch you. And it'll be a quite magnificent scene as, you know, all of Israel sees you jump off the temple and be caught by the angels. And they'll recognize that you are the Messiah.

Now in each of those instances, Jesus countered, you know, the temptations of Satan with the word of God. And he had his, you know, his doctrine straight even though he was really hungry, even though he'd been fasting. He kept his senses and relied upon the word of God and was successful in not giving in to temptation even under these great circumstances.

horrendous circumstances. Then in verse 13 it tells us, now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

So I just read that to point out this wasn't the only time that Jesus was tempted. There were other temptations throughout his ministry. Satan was attacking Jesus continually and that's why the author of Hebrews says listen we don't have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with us because he was tested in all points. He was tempted on all sides. Satan did his best and

to cause Jesus to stumble. And so Jesus knows what it's like. And it's important to understand that, that Jesus knows what it's like. He knows what it's like to face things like you face and to be, you know, wrestling with and struggling with and have those temptations from a variety of ways. And so,

The author of Hebrews says, because he knows what it's like, then we can enter boldly into the throne of grace or come boldly to the throne of grace and find grace and mercy to help in time of need. And so don't ever feel like Jesus, you know, is like, well, I don't know what that's like, you know, so why are you coming to me? Jesus knows what it's like. He knows our weaknesses. He knows our frailties. He experienced it. And so he invites us to come to him

Because he has great compassion for us in that. Well then in verses 14 through 15, we see Jesus now begins his ministry in Galilee. So he's baptized. He spent some time being tested in the wilderness. Now he comes back to his home region up in the northern part in Galilee. And he begins his public ministry there. He begins to preach. He begins to work miracles. And begins that ministry at about 30 years old.

In verses 16 through 30, we see here that Nazareth rejects Jesus. So he's up in that area and he, you know, is going from place to place. And now he comes to Nazareth.

And he had already developed a custom for his early part of the ministry that he would go in the synagogue and he would preach, he would read, he would declare. And so here he goes, he goes to the synagogue as he's accustomed to. And he stands up to read and they hand him the scroll of Isaiah and he opens it up and finds Isaiah chapter 61 and reads a portion of that talking about the Messiah and

And he says, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. That's verse 21 here in Luke chapter 4. And so he is declaring himself there in Nazareth to be the fulfillment of what Isaiah prophesied about in Isaiah chapter 61.

Now this upset the people. So much so, in verse 29 it tells us that they thrust him out of the synagogue. And then it's kind of like a crazy mob at this point. They try to push him off of a cliff there in Nazareth. So they're trying to put him to death right then because of his declaration here that he is the fulfillment of what Isaiah prophesied about in Isaiah chapter 61. Jesus declared himself to be the Messiah and

And they said, no way, we're not having that because we know you. You grew up here. Your brothers are here. Your sisters are here. You're not allowed to talk like this. This is blasphemous talk. And so they try to put him to death immediately.

And so Jesus points out, hey, prophets have honor all over the place, but not in their hometown. So if your family isn't real excited about what you have to say about Christ, don't be surprised. You know, if your coworkers are more receptive, if your friends or neighbors are more receptive than your own family, that's not an unusual thing. That's a pretty normal thing and Jesus experienced it.

Well then in verses 31 through 41, you see Jesus healing and doing other works there in Capernaum. It begins as he casts out a demon there in Capernaum. Then he goes to Peter's mother-in-law's house. And there Peter's mother-in-law is sick and he heals her. And then

All the region bring their sick and those who are demon possessed to Jesus in Capernaum. And he is spending time with them and healing them and casting out the demons.

Then in verses 42 through 44, you see Jesus preaching in Galilee. So he continues now his circuit. He's been going around. He hits Nazareth. He goes back to Capernaum. And now he goes around again the region of Galilee, preaching in all of the synagogues and declaring that he is the Messiah.

So here's the different locations that are mentioned here in Luke chapter 4. You have the region of Galilee is mentioned. This is where Jesus began his ministry and he's going around in the different areas ministering in the synagogues. And then you have Capernaum in verse 31. That's where Jesus was teaching on the Sabbaths. That's where he healed Peter's mother-in-law. Then you have Nazareth, which of course we've seen a couple times already. There they thrust him out of the synagogue and try to throw him off the cliff.

And then you also have the Judean wilderness mentioned in verse 1. That's where Jesus was led by the Spirit to be, you know, spending time in fasting and being tempted by the devil for those 40 days. And so these are the different locations.

Just to give you a sense of what they're like, this is a couple pictures from the region of the Galilee. This is the northern area of Israel. And again, this is like farmland. It's lush. It's fertile. It's hilly. And so it's lots of greens, especially if you go like around this time of year, you'll see lots of greens, lots of flowers and things like that. It's very, very beautiful in the Galilee region.

But Jesus also spent some time in the Judean wilderness. And here's what that looks like. So dirt and rock. That's what the Judean wilderness looks like. So there's this contrast. In the northern area, it's nice and green. In the southern area, it's dirt and rocks. And that's about it. What we see here also, the city of Capernaum. Now Capernaum was right on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was a little bit more...

important of a city than some of the others we've looked at already. About 1,500 people lived there. It was a city that began around 200 BC and then carried on well after Jesus' life, about 640 AD. Then it's destroyed. There's a lot of attacks going on during that time. And so the city of Capernaum is destroyed. There's a little bit of the remnants left though. And so if you go today, you can see this. This is the Capernaum Synagogue.

Now this isn't the synagogue that Jesus would have taught at. That one had been destroyed previously. But this is one that was built in the same location where Jesus was ministering at. And later on it was destroyed. But you can see some pretty good remnants of the pillars and such remain for the synagogue that was there in Capernaum. So it was an important city where Jesus made his home and ministered for much of his time of ministry.

All right, chapter 5 now. Verse 11 is the key verse. It says, Here in verses 1 through 11, we see that four fishermen begin to follow Jesus. This is Peter and Andrew, James and John. And now they are really beginning the trek of being his disciples. It started in verse 3 as Jesus began teaching the multitude from Peter's boat.

And so as a way to be able to address the crowd without them pushing against him, he pushes out a little bit from the land and is teaching the multitude. And after teaching, he tells Peter, hey, let's go catch some fish.

And so they push out into deeper waters and they cast out their net. Peter does it a little bit reluctantly. He's like, you know, this isn't the right time. I've been fishing all night and didn't catch anything. And Jesus says, cast down the net anyways. And so they cast down the net and they catch a huge catch of fish. They have a hard time bringing it back into the boat because it's such a great catch of fish.

And so they understood at that point. These guys were fishermen. They knew this is a miracle. This is a work of God. And so it says in verse 11 that they forsook all and followed him. That was sufficient for them. They knew this is, he's the real deal. And so they began to follow Jesus at that point. Then in verses 12 through 16, you see Jesus cleanse a leper. He comes to Jesus and says, if you are willing, you can make me clean.

And so Jesus says, I am willing and makes him clean. Now, it also tells us here that now his popularity is beginning to spread even more and it's harder and harder for him to go places because huge crowds are following him. And I think it's interesting, again, seeing that human side of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. In verse 16 it says, So he himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.

And so as things got busier, as ministry became more demanding, he had to spend more time with the Father. He got alone to the wilderness and prayed and spent time with his Father because he needed that in order then to be able to minister and work in the way that God had called him to.

Well then in verses 17 through 26, Jesus heals a paralytic. Now again, you see the crowds are there, the multitude is there, and these guys bring their friend who's paralyzed, and there's no room for them to get in. So they try the door, there's no entrance there, no opening there. They try the window, can't get in there. And so they tear apart a piece of the roof and lower the guy down in front of Jesus as he's teaching the people. And so Jesus looks at him and says, your sins are forgiven.

And that causes some grumbling amongst the crowd because they're like, hey, only God could forgive sins. And Jesus is saying exactly. In verse 24, he says, but that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. He said to the man who is paralyzed, I say to you, arise, take up your bed and go to your house.

And so Jesus here uses this opportunity to declare that he is God, that he has the power to forgive sins and to heal the paralyzed. And so that was the evidence and the proof that the guy's sins were forgiven and that Jesus had that authority.

Well then in verses 27 through 32 we see that Levi now begins to follow Jesus. We also know him as Matthew. He was a tax collector and so he joins up with the disciples at that time.

Then in verses 33 through 39, Jesus is asked about fasting. They ask him, hey, John the Baptist disciples fast and the Pharisees disciples fast. How come your disciples don't fast? And Jesus says, look, the bridegroom is with them. I'm sorry, the groom is with them. So the groomsmen don't

fast and mourn when the groom is with them but the groom is going to be taken away and so then there'll be opportunity for them to fast in other words now is not the time for the disciples to fast because Jesus is with them once he's ascended into heaven then the disciples will have opportunity to fast but then he goes on to give a couple examples and

about not putting a new piece of cloth as a patch on an old pair of pants or not putting new wine into old wineskins because then it will burst and the wineskins will be ruined. And through that, Jesus is teaching them. He's saying, look, don't try to fit this new work

That I am bringing forth. This new covenant that I am bringing forth. Don't try to fit that into your old religious system. This is a new work. There's going to be new things that God does through that. And so don't just compare it to the Pharisees disciples. Or John the Baptist disciples. Or other things that happened in the past. This is a new work that God is doing. And so there's going to be new things that go along with it.

Well, there's a couple locations here in Luke chapter 5. The first one is Capernaum, verse 18, where the men brought the paralyzed man to Jesus. Again, Capernaum was kind of the home base for Jesus, the place he moved as an adult and was the base of his ministry. So a lot of things happened in Capernaum and around Capernaum. But then also we have mentioned here in verse 3, the Lake Gennesaret.

Also known as the Sea of Galilee or Lake Tiberias or a few other names. And so it was here that Jesus taught the multitudes from the boat. It was on this Sea of Galilee that Peter and Andrew and James and John were fishermen. That was their livelihood was they would fish and, you know, that would be their income source.

Here on the Sea of Galilee. Now the Sea of Galilee is located about 700 feet below sea level. Again this is fed from the Jordan River. So the waters flow from the north. Mount Hermon, Mount Lebanon. These four different rivers join together to become the Jordan. And they flow into the Sea of Galilee. And so it's a fresh water lake. It's got water.

you know, a good amount of life in it. There's a lot of fish that, obviously, you know, fishermen were there. Fishermen are still there today and still live off of that. It's not a huge body of water though. So, again, you know, sometimes when we read the Bible, um,

We imagine things not quite accurate to what they are. Like the Sea of Galilee sounds like it's an ocean, but it's a lake. It's really just a lake. At its longest point, it's about 12 and a half miles long. So it's not super huge. Its maximum width is seven and a half miles wide. Its maximum depth is 180 feet deep. So Lake Matthews is bigger than the Sea of Galilee, if I remember right.

Someone can correct me afterwards if I'm wrong, but that's okay. But, you know, we're talking about kind of a normal size body of water. So you could think about Lake Matthews, Lake Paris, Mono Lake. I remember looking back a while back, Mono Lake in kind of central California. That's about the same volume of water as is in the Sea of Galilee. So we have a few examples around us, and that's kind of the type of environment you should think about when you think about the Sea of Galilee.

So here's a quick close-up of the Sea of Galilee. Now again, at its widest point, it's seven and a half miles wide, which means when you're on the shore of one side, you can see the shore of the other side, unless, you know, it's real foggy and so you can't see that far. But on a normal day, you can see across both sides of it.

And so many times, in fact, you remember when Jesus would cross the river or cross the Sea of Galilee on boat and then the crowds would see him and they'd say, oh, there he is. And then they would run around the outside to go meet him on the other side. So when he got out on the other side, then the people were there because they could see, you know, across the Sea of Galilee. Again, it's not a huge ocean, but it's a kind of a normal sized lake that we would be accustomed to.

Here's a couple pictures of the Sea of Galilee. It's a really, really beautiful area. The Sea of Galilee is beautiful. It's lush and green all around it. Again, very fertile. And it's full of life. There's fish and all of that in and around the Sea of Galilee. Well, that's the chapters that we read this week, Luke 1 through 5. I wanted to finish up this evening with a simple illustration of

that I'm sure you've heard before, but it's always an important reminder for me and I hope for you as well. And that is the geography of the water here in the nation of Israel provides a really good illustration and reminder for how important it is for us to spend time with God, but then also to minister to other people. And we get this illustration by following the path of the Jordan River.

So again, the Jordan River starts in the north at those mountain peaks where those four rivers combine to become the Jordan River and they flow into the Sea of Galilee. And the Sea of Galilee is full of life. It's got fish. It's got birds. It's got, you know, all of those normal signs associated with a healthy lake.

And then the Jordan River continues on out the southern part of the Sea of Galilee. It goes down 65 miles all the while. You know, it's fresh, it's got life, it's got fish and such. And then it goes down to the south and it hits the Dead Sea. Now the Dead Sea is the lowest point on the planet as far as land is concerned. And so it's the lowest point on earth. And so the water at that point has nowhere to go.

So you get the picture, right? The Sea of Galilee has water flowing in it, into it, and then it also has water flowing out of it. So the water is always changing. It's always fresh. The Jordan River is always fresh. It's got water going through it, water going through it. But then you get down to the Dead Sea. And the Dead Sea doesn't have water flowing through it. It has water flowing into it. Now,

It's not very subtle, right? The name of the body of water is the Dead Sea. Why do you think they call it the Dead Sea? Because it's dead. There's not life in the water here in the southern part of Israel. It's dead. Now the reason why it's dead is as the water flows in, because it's so low, it has nowhere else to go.

it doesn't flow out. And so what it does instead is it evaporates. Now, I always pictured the Dead Sea like a swamp. I remember back when we lived at Tom's house in Corona, right on the back of a golf course, but it wasn't maintained very well. And so there would be this water that was like right outside in the golf course and it would just sit there and it'd be all stale and you'd be worried about mosquitoes and things like that.

Don't picture that when you think about the Dead Sea. It's actually quite beautiful. I mean, the water is clear. It's like super brilliant because, well, what happens is the water there in the Dead Sea evaporates like crazy. And so it just flows into the Dead Sea and then gets evaporated. Now, what happens when it gets evaporated is all the minerals and, you know, the good stuff, the nutritious stuff in the water is left behind as the water evaporates.

And so, for example, the salt content of the Dead Sea is extremely intense, much more than, you know, like the ocean. So much so that when you go inside the Dead Sea, if you were to walk inside of it, you don't sink, you can't sink. It's impossible to sink because it's too concentrated and so it causes people to float when they go inside the Dead Sea. Because there's all this mineral content, all this salt content,

nothing can survive. Nothing, there's no fish, you know, they don't, they don't live in there. And that's why they call it the Dead Sea, because the water is too concentrated. And so there's no life in it. Well, this provides for us a good illustration. When we think about our spiritual lives, here's the illustration. If you have input, but no output,

you will be dead. There will not be life within. If you have input and also you have output, then you will have life. That is, if you're receiving from the Lord. So, for example, this evening, the Lord's ministering to your heart. You're spending time in His Word. He's ministering to you. You have sources that are flowing into you.

Well, we also as believers need to have outlets where we then flow into and minister to other people. And as we have flowing in to us things from the Lord and flowing out of us things from the Lord to others, that's when we get to experience the life that God promises to us. But if we have the Lord pouring into us,

And there's no outpouring. There's no ministry to others. There's no reaching out to others. No serving of others. Well, we will not survive very long. We will become dead. And so this is an illustration for us to remember the importance of two things. First of all, you need to make sure that you're receiving from the Lord. This is why going through the Bible in three years is so important. Because if you're ministering to others...

But you don't have anything coming in. You're going to dry up pretty quick. And you'll be just a dry lake bed. There'll be nothing there because you gave it all out, but you didn't receive from the Lord. And so first of all, we learn and we remember, we need to work our way back to the source. You know, go back to the north. Get as close as you can to the Lord where the waters are flowing in. The waters flow strongly in the north and then weaker and weaker and weaker all the way down to the south.

And so if you just have a little trickle, you know, of the things of God just kind of trickling into your life, you need to work your way north. Get closer to the Lord. Get closer to the source. Draw near to God and let him fill you.

Remember what Jesus said? If anybody's thirsty, let him come to me and drink, right? And then out of his heart will flow torrents of living water. Before those torrents can flow out from you, you've got to come to Jesus and drink. You've got to go back to the source and receive and let Jesus speak to you. Let Jesus minister to you. Let Jesus meet your needs. Let Jesus give you direction. Go back to the source and let him feed you.

But you also need to make sure as Jesus feeds you, this is the second part, that you are then feeding others. That you're allowing Jesus to flow through you. That you're allowing the Holy Spirit to work through you to minister to other people. And so you have an inlet

That Jesus is filling you. He's feeding you. He's satisfying you. He's meeting your needs. But then you also have an outlet. And you're allowing Jesus to work through you to meet the needs of others. And that is a great visual for the life that we need to have as believers today. That we need to be close to the source, receiving from the Lord. But don't just sit there and receive and receive and receive and receive.

make sure that you give out. You need to have that kind of built into your life where you have opportunities to minister to other people. And it requires us to kind of step out, you know, and reach out and minister to people. Now there's lots of opportunities to do that. There's opportunities to serve in different capacities here at the church. There's opportunities to minister to one another before and after service or as we spend time together throughout the week.

On Sunday evenings, we have the time set apart for ministering to one another. And that's another outlet where we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us to minister to others and meet other people's needs. We have the flashlight fellowships, you know, where we reach out to others in the community and on and on and on we could go. There's a lot of variety and a lot of ways that God, you know, can set before you to flow out and have opportunities to minister to other people. But both are necessary.

And there's a danger, there's a tendency of eliminating one. Sometimes Christians eliminate receiving from the Lord and they're just giving out, giving out, giving out. And then all of a sudden it's like, I'm dry. I'm in the desert. I have nothing to give. I'm burned out because I haven't been receiving.

Or we receive and receive and receive, but we don't give out. And then we become dead because we've received, but there's been no life flowing through us. And so it also brings death in our lives. And so we need to have both. And I would encourage you to just go before the Lord and invite him to share with you if there's an area where he wants you to address. If there's an area where he's saying, you need to move closer to the source.

Get the fresh intake of the Lord, of the Holy Spirit in your life. Or maybe he's going to say, you need to kind of step out, maybe step out of your comfort zone or step out in faith and start ministering in these areas so that you can have the abundant life that I've promised to you. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your word and the great illustrations and examples and the reality that you really did become a man. And you actually walked in these different locations and to these different places. Lord, it's amazing that you humbled yourself to become like us. Although you are without sin, you know what it's like with the different things that we face. And through that, you encourage us, you call us.

to yourself. And Lord, we desperately need you. I pray that you would pour into us, that you would fill us with your Spirit, fill us with your Word, fill us with more of you.

To make us more like you. And God I pray that you would give us abundant opportunities. To then pass on what we've learned. What you've taught us. Lord even as Paul said in 2 Corinthians. That we comfort others with the comfort that we have received from you. And so Lord help us to minister to others. To reach out to others. And to demonstrate you to others in our lives. As you are feeding us Lord. Allow us to be part of your work. In ministering to others. That we might have the life.

that you want us to have the abundant life that you promised to us. In Jesus' name we pray. 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.