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Jan. 7, 2023 - Just Informed Talk - Craig James
13:39
The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth - Luke 4:14-30 | God's Grace Is Greater
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Hi, welcome back.
We're going to do our God's Graces Grater segment.
We're going to actually start this segment by going back into the chapter, or back into the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 4, where we left off yesterday.
If you guys were paying attention yesterday, we did the temptation of Jesus in the beginning of Luke, Chapter 4.
Today, we're going into this incredible sequence of events that's documented by Luke, excuse me, the doctor.
We're going to go all the way up to verse 30 where he talks about Jesus returning to his own hometown of Nazareth and how he was rejected by those he grew up with.
We're going to do kind of a deep dive into this scripture and what it really means and looks like.
Just for context, what we're picking up here in Luke chapter 4 verse 14 is where Jesus has just finished going through the temptation in the wilderness where the devil tempted him in three different ways and he rejected the devil's temptations.
And now he is moving on to go and preach and to start his ministry.
And one of the first places he ends up is in his hometown of Nazareth where he has an unusual welcome from those that he grew up around.
And we're going to talk about that, and then we're going to read through the scripture, and then we're going to talk about it.
So let's go ahead and read.
Starting in Luke 4, verse 14, it says, Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity.
He was teaching in their synagogues, being acclaimed by everyone.
He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.
As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.
The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written.
The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed to reclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.
And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him.
He began by saying to them, Today, as you listen, this scripture has been fulfilled.
They were all speaking well of him, and were amazed by the gracious words that came from his mouth.
Yet they said, Isn't this Joseph's son?
Then he said to them, No doubt you will quote this proverb to me.
Doctor, heal yourself, so all we've heard that took place in Capernaum, do here in your hometown also.
He also said, We're
Wow.
Wow.
This is an interesting account of this...
The story of Jesus returning to where he was brought up in Nazareth and actually attending the synagogue with the elders that knew him as a child growing up.
Now what happens here is fascinating.
A few different things are explained here.
First he starts his ministry in Galilee and he goes around spreading the word and the gospel and doing these great miracles and teaching in the synagogues.
But He arrives at his own town where he was raised, in Nazareth.
And he goes in the synagogue.
And we're not really sure if it was by fate, or if Jesus just came there on the day when they were reading this section out of Isaiah, because traditionally what would happen is somebody would be chosen to read a portion of the scripture during their temple meeting, their synagogue congregational day of devotion, and this time together.
And this just so happened to be Isaiah was, I guess, the scroll that they were reading from.
But Jesus, we don't know whether he went directly to this scroll, as in to pronounce it to everyone there, or if it just happened to be on that day.
I'd like to think that they just happened to land on this the day that Jesus arrived and they handed it to him to read.
But he says, the Spirit of the Lord is on him, Jesus says.
He says, the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives and the recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
And everyone hears this and they're happy.
They're glad.
They're like, Jesus has come and he's going to do these great miracles.
He's just told us he is here to do them.
He says to them after that, today, as you listen to this scripture he's reading, he says, the scripture has been fulfilled.
Everybody is happy.
Everybody's glad.
Everybody's like, Jesus is here?
But then they start to doubt.
And this is where things take a turn in a different direction.
Although they were amazed by the gracious words that he said, they said, isn't this Joseph's son?
So there's the doubt.
They started doubting Jesus because they looked at him and said, isn't this the son of the carpenter who we all knew and grew up around?
How is he going to do anything for us?
Essentially is what I believe they're trying to say here.
This doubt that came into them would be the doubt that would show them for who they are.
And Jesus basically does in the very next part here where he says...
No doubt you will quote the proverb to him, doctor, heal yourself, so all we've heard that took place in Capernaum, do here in your hometown also.
Jesus is basically saying to him, you've heard I've done these great miracles, so you're going to ask for me to do them here, I'm assuming.
But he says this, I assure you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown, And then he gives two examples of times, or I think three examples of times in the Bible, or two examples I should say, excuse me, where God sent prophets to heal the Gentiles and not the Israelites.
Now why is that important?
Well, simply put, because the expectation being set upon Jesus by his own brothers and sisters, the people he grew up with that were around him at that time, was for him to do this healing for them.
But he was essentially saying, God is not ordaining this healing for you.
And I believe he's saying it's because of your unbelief.
Because, essentially, think about it this way.
Look at a lot of what Jesus does in his time.
The people he heals, I believe in the majority of all cases, I may be missing one that I'm not remembering correctly, but they were healed because of their faith.
You remember the mother who said, if I could just touch your robe, I know you can heal.
And the father who just said, please heal me of my unbelief, just to help heal his son.
These people were healed by the faith that they had in Jesus.
And Jesus wasn't performing the miracle to prove who he was.
As a matter of fact, every time the scribes and the Pharisees tried to get Jesus to do it, to prove who he was, he said no.
And in the same way here, once they started doubting Jesus, he basically explains to them that, well, you're not going to be healed today.
And he wasn't telling them these stories of times where prophets healed Gentiles over the Hebrews because he was saying that the Gentiles were more deserving of God's grace and God's glory and God's healing and miracles.
But he was saying it to show that only by God's mercy can miracles be performed, can healing be done.
And that they have to accept that and trust that.
I believe that's what we're reading here in these verses.
And then we see something incredible happen.
We see a miracle performed that we don't get a lot of detail on in Jesus miraculously escaping this crowd that set out to kill him.
So what happens?
They are enraged.
They're angry.
They see that Jesus has done these miracles for others, but he refuses to do it for them?
They think they deserve the miracles.
They deserve God's favor.
They grew up with Jesus.
Therefore, they should be vindicated.
They should be healed.
They should be given all these things.
They had this air of entitlement, right?
What is that, essentially?
That's the opposite of...
Humility.
Humbling yourself before God.
They had hubris.
They believed they deserved the Son of God to do what they demand.
But that's not how any of this works.
What do we do when we go to Jesus humbly?
We submit to Him.
We submit to Him and say, God, we give ourselves to You freely.
Let Your will be done, not ours.
But they did the opposite.
They went to God and said, If you are the Son of God, then heal us.
We deserve it.
And Jesus says, Well, that's not going to happen today.
So they get together, enraged, a mob.
They drive him to a cliff to throw him off to kill him.
But because it's not his time, what happens?
Well, we don't know really the details, but we do know that what Luke tells us is that he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.
Now, isn't that amazing?
Because it was not his time, Jesus was delivered from this crowd of angry individuals who were seeking his destruction.
So, that's just the amazing story of Jesus being rejected at his own hometown.
And there is a lot of lessons there, and I think the main lesson we can take away is humbling ourselves before God and not having the hubris or expectation that we deserve anything, but it's by the grace of God that we are saved.
It's God's grace that saves us, not our will, not our desire, not anything that we can do.
It's by God's grace.
He chooses to save us.
Because He's merciful and He's loving and He's kind.
But He's also a God of wrath.
And that's why in our humility toward God, we are taught to fear Him.
Because He is all-powerful.
He is almighty.
What He can do is worse than anything that any man can do to us here on this earth.
Never forget that.
A lot of people want to tell themselves that it doesn't matter and they can do what they want.
It's all good.
You can't.
Because it's only by the mercy of God that we are saved.
And if God decides, well, let's just say bad things can happen.
So I humbly ask all of you out there watching, To put yourselves before God humbly and seek Him in all things.
And don't go to Him with an attitude that you deserve it, but go to Him, in my opinion, with an attitude of thankfulness, gratefulness, that He can do these things and that He will.
If you submit and He wills it, it will be done.
So that's my message for all of you out there.
We're going to say a prayer and then we'll wrap it up.
Lord and Heavenly Father, we give thanks for everything You've done in showing us the way forward.
Lord, we pray we humble ourselves before You, and we do not act in a way that is unrighteous or against Your will.
Lord, we pray that not our will, but Your will be done.
And as tough and sometimes as scary and as difficult as that may seem, knowing that we're going to face affliction, persecution, and hardship, Lord, help us overcome it with strength and courage and wisdom and give us, Lord, that it be your will, the discernment and wisdom to know what to do in those moments and how to turn our lives around and give everything to you.
I call on you to speak to the hearts of all those listening, including my own, in showing us the way forward, Lord, and understanding more of the gospel of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Alright, guys.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this.
Hope you enjoyed this episode.
We're going to go ahead and leave it there.
But I want to say thank you all for watching.
We're going to go ahead and wrap it up.
But we'll see you on the next one.
Until then, my name is Craig.
Godspeed.
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