LUKE 4 THE REASON FOR THE SEASON2018 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 4 The Reason For The Season

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 2018. Well, as we look at Luke chapter 4 this morning for our Christmas service, a Christmas message, I've titled the message, The Reason for the Season. The Reason for the Season. Now,

I'm sure you know what the reason for the season is. I mean, we even have a saying about that, right? Jesus is the reason for the season. It rhymes and everything, so you know it's true. And so we have this, we're familiar with it. And yet at the same time, as I was thinking about and preparing for our time together this morning, I was just reflecting on our need

to stop and reflect on some of the things that we know so well. Sometimes we know them so well, we just kind of skip over them and we forget about really the meanings behind it. And we say Jesus is the reason for the season. And what

What does that really mean? And why is that? And why do we say that? We know that's the saying. We know that's what it is. But what does that mean for us? And how does that impact us and our lives? And so I want to take some time with you this morning and just consider the reason for the season. And just stop and allow these things to impact your mind and your heart a little bit. Here in Luke chapter 4, we're jumping into the beginning portion of Jesus's earthly ministry.

He's been on the earth for some time, of course, being born in a manger, you know, but 30 years old is when he begins his ministry time. He is baptized, you might remember, in Luke chapter 3, and the Holy Spirit descends upon him as a dove, and he spent some time after that in the wilderness with those temptations, but he comes back from that to begin his earthly ministry, and he goes back to the region of Galilee, and specifically here in verse 16, we see he goes to his hometown, to Nazareth, and he goes back to his hometown,

And there in the synagogue on that Saturday, on that Sabbath day, he stands up to read, to participate in the service. And he brings forth his first recorded message, his first recorded teaching here in Luke chapter 4. Right at the beginning of his ministry, he brings forth this message quoting from, reading from the prophet Isaiah. We find it in our Bibles in Isaiah chapter 61 verses 1 and 2, the portion that Jesus reads here.

And using this passage, Jesus essentially says, this is why I'm here. This is why I have come. This is the reason why.

For the season. It's the reason why we celebrate Christmas. Not just the fact that Jesus being God became man. Not just the fact that the baby Jesus was born. But we celebrate Christmas because of the purpose and the mission for which Christ came.

And the Lord will help us consider that as he reads from, in quotes from Isaiah chapter 61 this morning, we'll see six reasons that Jesus shares for the season, for his purpose and his ministry. And so we're going to just spend some time here in verse 18 and 19, really just walking through the different aspects of the ministry of the Savior, the ministry of Jesus Christ. The first thing we find here in verse 18 is that God wants you to hear good news.

This is a good reminder for us. Here is the reason for the season. You know why Christmas is special? You know why we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ? We celebrate the fact that God has a desire for you to hear good news. Looking at verse 18 again, it says, "'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me "'because He has anointed me "'to preach the gospel to the poor.'"

Jesus here, first of all, declares, claiming this passage for himself from Isaiah chapter 61, and says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. And of course, in chapter 3 of Luke, we saw that the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus as a dove, right? And as we saw that ministry begin from there, the Holy Spirit is empowering Jesus for the ministry at hand, right?

He's baptized. The Holy Spirit has descended upon him. It's Jesus who is God and yet became man and he is filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is upon him and has anointed him. This idea of anointing, it speaks really to two things. It speaks of being chosen, but then also being enabled.

Chosen, selected, there were kings and priests and prophets anointed by the Lord throughout the scriptures that we see. They're selected, handpicked by the Lord for the work that God has given to them. But then also it's that picture of the Holy Spirit upon them, enabling them to do the work. And the ministry and the life that Jesus lived, he did so as a man empowered by the Holy Spirit, enabled by the Holy Spirit.

And so he fulfilled his mission. Although he is God, he became man, empowered by the Spirit to accomplish these things. And the first of these things he lists here is to preach the gospel to the poor. The word gospel literally means good news or glad tidings. It's a joyful announcement. Jesus says, I'm anointed by the Holy Spirit today.

selected, chosen, enabled to bring forth good news. The good news of God dealing with the issue of sin. Now you and I know the issue of sin is really not a minor issue, but sin has impacted and affected every aspect of our lives from birth to death.

Sin has impacted our lives from work to family to everything in between, entertainment, even in our personal devotional life and our walk with God. Sin has impacted us in every aspect of our life in that way. Sin is such a problem that I would suggest this, that there would never be any good news in our lives without God's direct intervention. I would ask you to think about that.

I mean, you can watch the news today. I haven't watched the news for some time. It's not a practice of mine, but last time I watched the news, probably at grandpa and grandma's house, they would watch the news. You know, there's not usually much good news on the news, but

It's usually, you know, the problems and complaints and issues. And there's a reason for that. There's a few reasons for that you could consider, but primarily ratings. You know, people don't watch good news. That's just not, that doesn't get people's attention. It doesn't wrap them in. And so there's a reason for them. And so there's a lot of bad news. But even aside from that, even though there is good news that can be found, I would suggest to you that the only reason there is ever any good news in our lives is

It's because of God's work. If it was not God intervening in our lives and in this world and in people's lives, if God was not intervening, there would never be good news. But listen, God wants you to have good news. God wants you to receive joyful messages, to have things that kind of bring light and life to your heart that, that,

that bring you this joy. And of course, that begins with God dealing with our biggest issue, dealing with the worst news, and that is the issue of sin and destruction. We're all familiar with the verse, right? John chapter 3, verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The bad news is we are destined to perish, right? But the good news is that even though that is where we are headed without God's intervention, even though that's where we belong and that's what we deserve, the good news is God loved you so much. He provided a way for you to not perish, but have everlasting life by believing in Jesus Christ.

And so here we have this incredible work that God has done. But again, notice it's God's doing here. It's God's initiating. It is the Father, your creator, who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son because he wanted you to have good news. Good news. Your sins can be forgiven. Good news. You can have everlasting life instead of perishing.

There's good news for us because God loves us. Many people wrestle with the question, why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? A lot of people wrestle with that question. Maybe you've wrestled with that question, right? It's a good question to wrestle with, but I would suggest there's a better question to ask. Why doesn't God just wipe us out completely and forget us? That's a better question to ask. Why? Do you agree?

You think that's a better question than why do good things or bad things happen to good people? Why does God put up with us at all? Why doesn't he just wipe us out completely and we're gone, we're done. He's done with us. Why does God do anything in our lives?

You may or may not agree that that's a good question or a better question to ask, but I would call your attention to what the Lord says here in verse 18. Again, he has anointed me to preach the gospel, the good news, joyful tidings, right? To the poor. And this really is kind of a key aspect to our understanding what the ministry of Jesus was for. His good news was directed to a specific group of people. It was to the poor, right?

Now, as Jesus is talking about delivering this good news to the poor, he's not directly talking about or only talking about the issues of actual finances or money. The two are not necessarily unrelated, but I don't want to go too far down that side, you know, trail, that rabbit trail. There is a relationship to our financial situation and how much we recognize our need for God in our lives. But

When Jesus is talking about the poor, he's talking primarily about the poor in spirit. Think about what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, verse 3. He says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. He's talking about the poor, those who are in need from God. This idea of being poor, it literally means to be reduced to begging.

You're in such a condition, you're in such a situation that your only option is to beg. That's all you just, you survive off of the generosity of other people. And to be poor financially is difficult, but to be poor in spirit is something that is essential for all of us, for us to be able to receive the good news that God has for us. Maybe think about it this way.

Do you have that person in your life that is difficult to buy presents for? What do you get for the person who has everything? You probably do have that kind of person in your life, right? Maybe they have enough money that they can just get whatever they want. If they want something, they just go buy it. So when it comes time for a birthday or Christmas or, you know, some other occasion and you want to give a gift, oh man, it's hard because they already have everything that they want.

And maybe they have everything that they need. You know, they're not in a situation where it's like, you know, their shoes are falling apart. And so you're like, oh, wow, look, I can go get them shoes. Like, no, their shoes are always in good condition because, well, they've got the resources to meet that need. Maybe that person is hard to purchase for because they don't really like anything. I mean, it's like, do you like this? It's okay. You know, you like that? That's all right.

It's hard to buy. I don't know what they like. They won't, you know, share what they like. And if they want it, they already have it. If they need it, they've already taken care of it. Maybe you have that kind of person that exchanges everything you buy them anyway. So it's like, it's hard to buy because it's like, they're just going to return it. They're just going to take it back. What do you get for the person who has everything? And maybe think about it from God's perspective. What does God give to the person who has everything? The answer is nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

This is a theme throughout this passage that Jesus shares here. The good news is for the poor. It's for those who acknowledge and say, I need help from God. Those who come to God and don't need God's help, well, God has nothing for you. You come and say, I'm rich. I have everything I need. I've got all the answers I need. I've got all the, you know, the good news I need. I've got everything I need. I've got it covered. I've got it handled. The Lord has nothing to offer you.

But for those who are willing to come from a position of poverty, with the honesty and the genuineness to come before the Lord and recognize, I don't have anything of myself. I don't have anything good. God, I am desperate for you to work in my life. I'm desperate for you to deliver. Then God is able to bring good tidings, glad tidings.

I like the way that Albert Barnes describes it. He says,

That is that we come to God not on the basis of what we do or who we are or how good we are or what we've done or all of our good points or brownie points or anything like that, but that we come to God on the basis of his rich grace and mercy and our absolute poverty. I like the way he says that we would need to be sensible that we are sinners. It's not sensible to come to the Lord ungrateful.

with this estimation of yourself that you are not utterly sinful. That doesn't make sense. It's not sensible. The only sensible thing is to recognize our need for God, our sinful condition, to recognize our poverty in spirit. And as we do, well, the Lord sent Jesus, the Father sent Jesus to bring forth good news to those who will be poor in spirit.

It's a willingness to be poor, a willingness to acknowledge our need for God. What does God give the person who has everything? You come to God with your righteousness, there's no good news for you. But you come to the Lord acknowledging his righteousness and your lack. There's great news. The work of God is for those who are poor in spirit.

Well, continuing to consider this passage that Jesus shares, we stay here in verse 18 for point number two, and that is God wants to heal your heart. Here's the reason for the season. First of all, God wants you to hear good news, which you will never hear apart from him and him working in your life. But secondly, God sent Jesus to heal your heart.

Because he desires for your heart to be healed. Again, in verse 18, it says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted. God desires. There's a lot of broken hearts. There's a lot of people hurting and in pain. There's a lot of hearts that have been hurt and wounded greatly. And God sees that.

He's not some uncaring, dispassionate, you know, far away, removed. No, no, he's there. He cares intensely about the brokenhearted. And he desires to bring healing. He has the means to bring healing. And he has sent Jesus so that the brokenhearted may become whole once again. The idea and the word here for brokenhearted, it's literally two words, broken and hearted.

But the word for broken is interesting. It can be from a bruise all the way to completely shattered and decimated. And there is that range of broken hearts as well. Sometimes they're just bruises and not to minimize that, they are painful, they hurt. There's things that hurt our hearts in such a way that we are bruised.

And then there's other things that hit our lives and boy, it just shatters our hearts completely. And the Lord, he came for that purpose because of that brokenheartedness. Now, the issues of a broken heart all relate back to the issues of sin. Brokenheartedness, it roots back to, you can trace it back to the issues of sin in our lives and in this world.

Don't think of broken hearts just as the sense of, you know, romance or, you know, that kind of thing, a relationship like that falling through. That is definitely part of it. But there is a brokenheartedness that you experience caused by sin that has taken place against you. Other people have failed you. They've hurt you. They've sinned and fallen short. And it has caused you pain.

And so you experience a broken heart because of their activities or lack of action or attitude or their words, and it's broken your heart. But we also experience brokenheartedness, not necessarily when the sin is done directly to us all the times, but sometimes we experience brokenheartedness watching others who we know and love go through issues of hurt and pain.

You watch others be sinned against. You watch others, you know, be hurt or rejected or cast out or cast down. You watch others and watching them hurts your own heart. And there can be a brokenheartedness that comes from that pain that you see in other people's lives. And sometimes it's not necessarily, you know, a direct sin being committed, but just the general issue of sin. People are going through suffering and they're experiencing hardship.

As a result of the sin that is present in this world. And the fact that we live in a fallen world. And oh you love them. You wish you could do anything to change their circumstances. Sometimes it's heartbreaking to watch people hurt themselves. By their sinful behavior. And you can see they've rebelled against God. They've turned against God. And they're wrecking havoc with their own life.

And you watching from afar because you love them, oh, there's that heartbreak that comes within. Sometimes we experience heartbreak because people sin against us. Sometimes we experience heartbreak because others around us are hurting. Sometimes we experience heartbreak because of our own sin against others. And maybe you experience that heartbreak. Like David, when he kind of came to his senses after his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah,

And he was heartbroken over what he had done against the Lord. Heartbroken by what he had done to Bathsheba, to Uriah. Heartbroken. Oh, it hurts to see our actions hurt others, to see what we have done and the effects that it brings in other people's lives. There are so many reasons that we might be heartbroken, bruised, fractured, wounded, shattered, whatever condition it is.

The reason for the season is because God wants to heal your heart. He sees that hurt condition. He sees that wound. He sees the pain. He sees what's going on there. And he doesn't want you to stay that way. He doesn't want to leave you in that condition. But God has the means to begin to bandage up that broken heart, to restore and to make whole once again that heart that has been wounded to such a great degree.

That's why Jesus came, to heal the brokenhearted. Again, I would ask you to consider, what does God give the person who has everything? Is your heart okay? Would you say, that's okay, God. I don't need no healing within. I don't need, my heart's fine. You can stay away. Nothing, nothing for you. But for the one who will come and say, God, I am heartbroken. I'm heartbroken. My heart hurts over this situation, over that situation. I have these things going on. There's this pain that I feel, but I have this great pain.

I am perhaps in agony over this situation. Jesus came for that very purpose, to minister to your heart, to bring a soothing ointment and begin that healing process for those wounds that have been brought to your heart. It's the reason for the season. God wants you to hear good news. He wants to heal your heart. And continuing on here in verse 18, God wants to set you free.

God wants to set you free. Verse 18 again says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to proclaim liberty to the captives. Jesus says, the Holy Spirit has anointed me to declare, to proclaim freedom to those who are in captivity. Now, what does Jesus mean by this, this liberty to the captives?

Well, you need to remember that Jesus in his first coming, the one we celebrate at Christmas time, he came not primarily to deal with physical things. He came to deal with the spiritual needs that we have. The Jews were often confused about this. And so they had different expectations about the Messiah. And when Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, they were even the disciples. They're like, okay, are you going to set up your kingdom now?

Is it now? Are you going to build your kingdom now? Are you going to overthrow Rome right now? Is it right now? Are you going to sit on the throne? No, it wasn't for right now. Jesus will establish his kingdom. That part of the Messiah's ministry will be fulfilled when Jesus returns. But the first time he came, it was to address our spiritual need, to deal with the issue of sin and to give us

Well, the opportunity to be set free. So when it talks about proclaiming liberty to the captives, he's not talking about going to a literal prison cell and opening the doors and letting the prisoners go free. He's not talking about, you know, prisoners of war. He's not talking about captives from a physical battle. He's talking about those who are in captivity within, spiritually. And that is something that every one of us has experienced with.

This kind of liberty is the kind of liberty that every person, every individual, every human being needs to be set free. We are in captivity, bound, we're tied. We are unable to release ourselves. God saw us in this condition. He saw the bondage that we were under and he desires to set us free. So he sent Jesus Christ to set us free.

The captives free to proclaim liberty to the captives. The commentator Alexander McLaren has some good thoughts on this. I like the way he kind of challenges us to think it through. He says this, is there nothing in the set of your affections, in the mastery that your passion has over you, in the habits of your lives, which you know, as well as God knows it, to be wrong and ruinous, and of which you have tried to get rid?

I know the answer. And every one of us, if we will look into our own hearts, knows it. We are tied and bound by the chains of our sin. He challenges us to think about, is there nothing in your life? You wish you could do it differently, but as hard as you try, you keep doing the same things. And the issue is not information. Sometimes we get confused about this.

We think, well, if I knew it was wrong, then I would stop. But there are things in your life that you know are wrong, but you keep on doing them. There are things in your life that you know are destructive, that you end up regretting later. And you know it, but you continue to do it. He says, you know as well as God knows it to be wrong and ruinous. You're like, man, every time I lose my temper, I blow up and oh my goodness, so much damage.

I need to stop doing that. I'm going to work hard. I'm going to start counting to 10 before I say anything. I'm going to start, you know, doing this meditation or practicing this chant, or I'm going to start, I'm going to work on and try as you might give it your best effort. Later on, you lose your temper. You know it's wrong. You know you're going to regret it, but there it goes. And try as hard, as hard, as hard, as hard as you can. You're bound. You're tied. You're captive. You're

This is the issue of sin. Paul describes it this way in Romans chapter 7. He says, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to will, the desire is present with me, but how to perform what is good, I don't find. He says, the good that I will to do, I desire to do, I don't do. But the evil that I will not to do, that I practice.

And he goes on in a couple of verses to say, who is going to deliver me from this body of death? It's just so frustrating. There is good that I want to do. I really desire to do good. I really desire to do what's right. I desire to do these things, but I can't figure out how to get myself to actually do them.

I can't figure out how to walk in those things. I hear Jerry talk about reading the Bible and spending time with the Lord in devotions. And I want to do that. I desire to do that. I just can't figure out how to do it, Paul says. And so he comes to the conclusion, I know in me, that's my flesh. There's nothing good there because tries and might, I can't get myself to do the good that I want to do. And then the opposite of that is true. There's evil that I don't want to do and I can't figure it out.

And it's so frustrating because I know it's wrong. I know it's hurtful. I know I don't want to do it. I know I'm going to regret it. And yet I find myself doing those things anyways. And you can see Paul's frustration here. It's the frustration of captivity. It's our condition as human beings. Except the Father seeing your condition, seeing your frustration, seeing your captivity, desires to set you free.

And so he sent Jesus Christ. Jesus being God became man to deal with the issue of sin, to die upon the cross for sin, that we might be delivered from sin, that we might be set free from that captivity, that our lives might actually be changed so that Paul could later on write, your life is a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old has gone, behold, all things have become new. There's the opportunity to have a new life.

To do the good that you desire to do and that God desires for you to do and to not walk in the evil that you don't even want to do but you find yourself doing. God enables you through what he's done through his son to have a real and changed life. He wants to set the captives free. What does God give the person who has everything? You come to the Lord and you say, I don't need to be set free. I don't need to be delivered. No, I'm good. There's nothing for you. But if you come to the Lord today

in captivity and you say lord i'm bound i can relate to paul's frustrations i i want to do things that i can't figure out how to do i want to walk with you i want to worship you i want to serve you i want to i want to do the things that i need to do and i want to stop these things that are hurtful and harmful and hurting others and hurting myself and are sinful i want to stop doing evil i

Jesus came for that very purpose. This is the reason for the season. God wants you to have good news. He wants to heal your broken heart. And he wants to set you free from those things that bind you, those habits that are stuck and you can't get out of, those things that corrupt your life continually.

Well, continuing to consider this passage here in verse 18, we get point number four, and that is God wants to enable you to see. God wants to give you sight. Again, verse 18 says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. Jesus came to give recovery of sight to the blind.

Now again, talking about the blind, Jesus did heal many people who were physically blind, but physical blindness is not the primary focus of the ministry of Jesus. It's not primarily what he's talking about here. He's talking about a spiritual blindness. This is another impact and aspect of sin. Sin blinds us. It brings a darkness to our understanding, to our perceptions and our perspective. We

We are unable to see sometimes the issues at hand, the sin that is going on because, well, we're blind to it. And we all have these blind spots in our lives where we just completely miss the real issue of what is going on. Jesus used this illustration to describe that in Luke 6, verse 41. He says, why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but you do not perceive the plank in your own eye?

You're like pointing out everybody else's problems and saying, look at these issues that you have and totally blind to the fact that you have a two by four in your own eye. You've got a huge issue here, but you don't see it because there's blindness. Again, this is a condition that is common to all of us. We have these issues of blindness, sin issues in our lives that we don't see, but God, he desires to enable you to see.

It's like watching G.I. Joe when I was a kid. At the end of every episode, something would happen, something would be taught, and then G.I. Joe would say, now you know. Knowing is half the battle, right? God wants to open your eyes so that you can see the issue. That's the first part of the battle. The other half of the battle is then allowing him to deal with the issue. But

But we don't even invite him in. We can't even allow him to help us when we're blind to our own sin and to our own issues. This idea of spiritual blindness, though, I would suggest it's not just blindness to our sin or blindness to issues, but I would also consider a blindness to the work of God. You know, sometimes we are severely lacking in hope because we just can't see the fact that God is at work.

Sometimes we're just blind to the reality of what God is doing. We can't see his fingerprints on the things that we're going through. We can't see that he is at work behind the scenes. We're lacking joy because we're totally missing the fact that God is in the midst and God is right there with us. Sometimes we're completely freaked out, overwhelmed, anxious, depressed because we're blind to

to the realities of what God is doing in our lives. As we were reading through 2 Kings, I think it was last week as part of our reading in 2 Kings chapter 6, we saw the situation with Elisha and his servant. And Elisha was, well, he was giving the king of Israel insight into what the enemy's plans were. He was receiving that insight from the Lord, he would tell. And then, so they would avoid where the enemy was going to be and they, you know, kept escaping. And

The enemy gathered his inner circle together and says, okay, we've got some traitor in our midst because they know our plans and they keep avoiding us. They keep going around and it's clear someone is tipping them off. And they say, no, it's not one of us. It's the prophet Elisha. God's speaking to him and he's telling the king what you say in your inner chambers, your most private things. And so this enemy sends his troops to go get Elisha now.

And it describes a situation in 2 Kings chapter 6 where the servant of Elisha walks out of the house, you know, he looks up and there is an army there against them. He looks around, the army is all around them. They're surrounded by this enemy. And he runs to Elisha and says, oh no, we're doomed. And Elisha says, calm down. There are more who are with us than who are with them. And Elisha's servant looks around and says, it's just me and you here. There's

There's hundreds of them, thousands of them. They're a whole army. There's just two of us. What do you mean? And it tells us that Elisha prays. He says, God, I pray that you would open his eyes. He was blind. You know what he saw when God gave him sight? He saw God's army surrounding Elisha. He couldn't see it. So he was freaked out, stressed out. He couldn't see that God was protecting them, that God was at work. Sometimes we're in that same position.

We're just blind. It's not that God's not working. It's just we can't see it. We can't perceive it. The Lord came specifically for that purpose. He wants to enable you to see. He wants to show you what he's doing in your life. He wants to show you how he's working all things together for good. He wants to show you the issues that need to be dealt with, but also the things that he is doing that you could experience joy and rest and trust in him.

God wants to enable you to see. Point number five, still in verse 18, God wants to forgive you. Verse 18 again says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind and to set at liberty those who are oppressed.

Here we see this idea of liberty again. To set at liberty those who are oppressed. I titled this or phrased it, God wants to forgive you because that word liberty, if you kind of follow that word used throughout the rest of the New Testament, pretty much every other time it's translated as forgiveness or as the remission of sins. It's this idea of being released from a debt of

And so when he's talking about liberty from those who are oppressed, you can understand this debt, this oppression that comes from the great debt that is owed. And Jesus came to release us from that debt. There's a debt that is owed. It's not just that our forward behavior, you know, we're captive and we're not able to do, but we also have this history of

You know, if you think about it financially, it's not just about changing your future spending habits, right? And not going into extra debt. But usually there's the issue of, well, there's all this past debt that I've incurred and it's oppressive, right? And the same thing is true for us spiritually. We're captives and need to be set free so that we don't continue to rebel against God in that way and do what is good and stay away from what is wrong.

Even if we could change, all right, from now going forward, I'm not going to do anything else. Well, there's still the history of the sin that we have committed against the Lord. There's still the oppression of that debt that is owed and the wages of sin is death. And it's a great burden upon all of us. But the Father seeing our condition and our complete inability to pay that debt, to satisfy that payment that must be paid, provided Jesus Christ.

to receive the penalty that you and I deserve. And there upon the cross, he received our sin. As Paul says in Corinthians, he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. We're set at liberty, forgiven, so that our sins are washed and cleansed, cast as far as the east is from the west because of the work of Jesus Christ. And by faith in him,

We have access to God as those who have never sinned, not even once. I mean, that is really an incredible thought to consider. You've probably sinned like 25 times already just in this service. And yet you have access to God as if you had never sinned by faith in Jesus Christ. And you can talk to God. You can cry out to God. You can ask of God.

You can walk with God as one who stands before him in righteousness because of Jesus Christ. God wants you to have that position. He wants you to have that kind of access. That is why he sent his son, because he loved you so much that you might believe in Jesus, that you might have everlasting life. What does God give the person who has everything? Nothing. In order to receive these incredible things that God wants for us,

We have to allow him. He wants to give you good news. Will you be willing to be poor? To come to him in acknowledgement of your need for him? He wants to heal your heart. Will you be willing to come with that broken heart, with those hurts, with those pains, and present them before the Lord? Present them to the Lord and invite him to work on those issues and those hurts and to bring healing.

He wants to set you free. Are you willing to bring those things that you're captive to? And to come with that acknowledgement and admission, I've tried everything. I can't deliver myself. I can't get out of this. Are you willing to come to God in blindness, saying, Lord, I recognize I don't even see all the issues of my life. I can't see what you're doing. I don't know how bad I am. I'm a mess. Come to God with this great debt.

acknowledging this is more than I can pay. I cannot be righteous enough. I can't do enough good things. I can't make up for this. Jesus came for the very purpose of those who are in that condition that God could work tremendously in their lives. And it's not just in eternity. It gives us point number six as we look at verse 19, and that is God wants to do all of this today. All of this today.

Of course, there is an eternal component to all of these things, but it's not just, hey, life's going to be miserable. Just, you know, live with it in eternity. Then everything is going to be dealt with. Nothing is going to happen here. No, no, no. God's going to work all of these things starting now. In verse 19, finishing off this quotation that Jesus is reading from, he says, "'To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.'"

To proclaim, to announce, to declare the acceptable year of the Lord. Now, this is very similar in language and parallels to this, what Israel knew as the year of Jubilee. In, for the nation of Israel, God had established every 50th year is to be a year of Jubilee. And for them, it was going to be this incredible year where all debts would be forgiven. Financial debts would

So, you know, I don't know about you, but maybe you've incurred some debt. Maybe you've purchased a house or a car. Maybe you've got, you know, piles of credit card debt. Well, every 50 years, whatever debt you incurred in the land of Israel, that was going to be wiped out, just forgiven. The creditor, the people you owe, they just had to let it go and say, you don't owe me anymore. Not only that, but the property that you had sold was

Probably because you were gambling away all your money and then you had to sell your property to cover the debts or whatever. But so you sold property. You lost property throughout those 50 years. But on the year of Jubilee, it returned to its original owner. And so you can imagine for many people in Israel, this would be like the most incredible year of your whole life. It's like you get a full reset on life. Wash out all the debt. Give the original property back. You get a do-over. Let's try that again.

Can you imagine how wonderful that announcement would be for those who had lost so much? It would be incredible, right? For the rich and the wealthy, well, they may not be excited about it because they're like, all that property that I got, you know, from those people who are hurting and I got it and I've been using it and I have to give that back. Yeah, maybe not that exciting for that person, but for the person who had lost so much,

Oh, the year of Jubilee was a great year. Waiting for that proclamation. Oh, hear the trumpet sound. It's the year of Jubilee. Yes, everything has been reset. I've been released and set free. This is a great parallel to what Jesus is saying here. I'm here to proclaim the year of Jubilee, the year of release, and not a year in the limit of these 365 days, but in essence, now is the time. Now is the opportunity to,

to have this kind of spiritual experience. Hey, the reality is most of God's plan and work in your life will see its ultimate fulfillment in eternity. But you don't have to wait until eternity for God to begin that work.

After Jesus read this portion of scripture from Isaiah, verse 20 tells us he closed the book and he sat down. That wasn't the finishing. That was the beginning. In those days, the teacher would sit down and then teach on the passage they just read. And here's what Jesus taught in verse 21 of Luke 4. He began to say to them, today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. You know that accepted or acceptable time of the, sorry, the acceptable year of the Lord?

that Isaiah speaks about, Jesus says that starts today, right now. Right now, God is healing broken hearts and setting captives free and forgiving people of sin. He's right now doing this work. The work will not be complete until eternity, but right now, he has already begun doing the work. The apostle Paul describes it this way in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 2.

Quoting from another portion of scripture, but also in Isaiah, he says, in an acceptable time, I have heard you. And in the day of salvation, I have helped you. And here's what Paul says. Behold, now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation. It's right now. Right now, we have the opportunity. Right now. This is the reason for the season. It's the reason we celebrate Christmas. It's the reason why we stop and remember Christmas.

The fact that Jesus was born. Because we remember that right now we have the opportunity for God to work in our lives in this incredible way. We have the opportunity to hear good news. To have our hearts healed. To be set free from those things that bind us and hold us captive.

to be given sight, to see those issues in our lives that God wants to address and to see the work that is happening in our lives as God does incredible things. Right now, we can be forgiven. We don't have to wait. God's not saying, okay, in the year 2020. And so, you know, you just got to survive until then. No, right now. It's not, we'll put it off until 2020. Then you'll start receiving this either because, well, you don't know that you'll make it to 2019, much less 2020. Right?

That's not guaranteed. That's not promised. God wants to do all of this today. But again, what does he give to the person who has everything? This gift, the gift of Jesus, is not for the person who has everything. It's for the person who will come to the Lord and recognize, I don't have anything. God, I need you to work in my life. I need you to do these things. One final quotation, this time from Adam Clark.

He says,

He is the reason for the season. But it's not just the fact that he was born, but it's the fact that God wants to work in your life. He loves you so much and he desires to do these incredible things in your life right now, today, through the person of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we this morning want to take this opportunity to thank you.

for your goodness towards us and your grace towards us, for your love towards us, Lord, that we don't deserve and could never earn. And although we stand in that place, Lord, of great poverty and issues of sin and great indebtedness to you, Lord, you loved us so much and gave yourself to take care of the issue of sin. Lord, that you might do that releasing work and that healing work in our lives. God, I pray that you would help us.

Show us a fresh and a new, Lord, your incredible gift towards us that we might appreciate it and joy in the reason for the season. It's all because you love us greatly and you want to do a full restoration work in our lives. Thank you, God, for your goodness. I pray as we prepare for the next couple of days to celebrate your birth, that you would help us, Lord, to be renewed in our sense of awe and joy today.

and gratitude over who you are and what you've done. I pray that you administer to our hearts, Lord, that we would allow you more and more, that we would come to you not in our strengths, our boasting, our pride, but Lord, in humility and recognition of how much we need you, Lord, because it's then that you're able to work greatly in our lives. So we come to you now, Lord. You know our hearts. You know the broken parts. You know the captivities, the weights of sin upon us.

Lord, you know the blind spots much more about us than we even know of ourselves. And so we come to you as sinful people, trusting not in our resources or our strengths, but Lord, we look to you and your grace and we invite you, God. You love us and you want to work in our lives. Here we are. Would you do that work? We need you. We know you want to do it because we believe in Jesus that you loved us so much to send him on our behalf. Thank you, God.

We pray that you would do this work in Jesus' name. We all agree by saying, Amen.