LUKE 4:14-44

WHERE DO YOU LIVE?

 

I did some counting. Dottie and I have lived in eight towns since we have been married.

 

·        Woodbury - Small City - 3 bedroom apartment - After leaving didn't believe we lived there.

 

·        Pitman - Small Town - Our section called the "Grove" - old camp meeting area.

 

·        Willow Grove - Larger town with some busy highways.

 

·        Sweet Valley - Country - a traffic jam was five cars behind a tractor!

 

·        North Plainfield - Probably the only time we had culture shock. The traffic was awful and there seemed to be people everywhere!

 

·        Johnstown - a temporary place. A town of about 12,000

 

·        Fultonville - an exit on the New York through way that was just a village of about 700-800

 

·        West Valley - a smaller village than Fultonville, and the most rural of the places we've lived. We love it here!

 

Now please tell me about some place that you have lived.

 

Sometimes we are born into a family that lives in a certain place.

 

Sometimes we move to a certain place because a job requires it or we are going to school there. Sometimes we move to somewhere because we moving back with family.

Other times we move somewhere out of choice. People often retire to a place like Florida.

 

Two of the places that Jesus lived were two towns mentioned in our text.  One place was his hometown of Nazareth. We can assume that he lived there over 25 years.  The other place was the town of Capernaum. 

 

Matthew 4:13 - And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:

 

Now these two towns were different in a very important way.

NAZARETH WAS RESISTANT TO JESUS

CAPERNAUM WAS RESPONSIVE TO JESUS

 

And I want to suggest to you tonight that, figuratively speaking, you live in one of these two towns.  And I want to warn you that it is very possible to be a Christian, and at this point in your life be resistant to the Lord Jesus.

 

BACKGROUND:

In Luke 3 there is the ministry of John the Baptist as the forerunner to Jesus and there is also the Baptism of the Lord Jesus. Luke tells us in Luke 3:21-22 - Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

 

In Luke 4 we are told about the temptation of Jesus.

 

Luke 4:1 - And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil.

Of course Jesus successfully resisted the temptation by Satan and then began his ministry.

 

Luke 4:13-15 - And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

 

Now we come to our text for the evening.  Jesus will visit two towns, one where he was living and one where he had lived.  One was resistant to Jesus and the other was responsive to Jesus.  My question is, where do you live Spiritually? Do you live in Nazareth, resistant to Jesus or Capernaum, responsive to Jesus?

 

NAZARETH - RESISTANT TO JESUS - Vss. 15-30

 

·        THEY WERE FAMILIAR - Vss. 16-22

 

Vs. 16 - We don't know much about most of Jesus' life. But I can tell you this - In young adulthood he probably worked six days a week as a carpenter and on the seventh day, Saturday, he was in the Synagogue. Today we would call Jesus a regular church attendee. 

And if regular church attendance was a chosen life style by the Son of God, shouldn't it be our custom as well?  Let's face it, we need it more than the perfect Son of God!

 

You can imagine that the synagogue was packed on that day, when it was rumored that the hometown boy would be there. They had heard of his ministry and wanted to see what he did and said first hand.

 

It says in verse 16 that Jesus stood up to read.  There was not a regular pastor and various men and visiting rabbis would take turns reading and preaching.

 

Although we can't be exactly sure what a service was like in the days of Jesus, we do have some ideas from the second century. It's very possible the order of service in Jesus day would have been the same.

 

According to R. Kent Hughes - "There was singing from Psalms 145-150, followed by the recitation of the Shema, which beings, Hear O Israel, the Lord is one God. The Lord is one.  Next the Eighteen Benedictions, known as the Tefillah, were also recited aloud in succession. Then came the reading of Scripture. An officer went to the holy ark, took out the Torah scroll, removed its cloth covering, opened it to the designated place, and placed it on the table where it was read from by various attendees. The Torah was then returned to the ark, and a portion from the prophets, the Haftarah was read. This was followed by a sermon. The service was closed with the Aaronic benediction, with the people pronouncing "Amen" at each of its divisions."

 

Vs. 17 - On this day that Jesus visited the synagogue, it is very possible that he had been asked to read and requested the portion from Isaiah.

 

Vss. 18-19 - The portion of Scripture that Jesus read was from Isaiah 61:1-2.  It is a significant passage of prophecy about himself. This passage tells about the ministry of the Lord Jesus.

 

Notice that the passage begins the spirit of the Lord is upon me

That was of course true.  At His Baptism the Spirit came upon him, and in the Holy Spirit guided Him to and probably through His temptation. We saw in Vs. 14 that Jesus returned in the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Jesus certainly came and preached the Good News to the poor. 

Matthew 11:5 - The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

 

Jesus was available for those who were physically poor and to those who were Spiritually poor.

 

Matthew 5:3 - Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 

A person has to admit their own Spiritual poverty in order to come to faith in Christ and become a member of the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

Jesus also came to heal the broken hearted. Yes he healed the broken heart of Mary and Martha by raising Lazarus from the dead and also the broken heart of the widow of Nain by raising her son from the dead.

 

But think of all the people Jesus has healed who were broken hearted by sin.

In the Bible I think of the Woman at the well and the demoniac that had a legion of demons living inside of him.

There also the millions of broken hearted sinners like you and I who have been touched by His healing hand of salvation.

 

Jesus also came to preach to the captives, people in prison.

Again countless millions have been in the prison house of sin and Christ has set them free!

 

Jesus also made the blind see. There was blind Bartimaeus and many others. 

 

And again Jesus is the light of the world and has caused countless millions who were Spiritually blind to see Him as the light of life!

 

And our Lord came to set at liberty them that are bruised, or crushed. How many people have been crushed by life's circumstances who have found restoration in Jesus?

 

Vs. 19 - Jesus also came to "preach the acceptable year of the Lord". This is referring to the year of Jubilee in the Old Testament.  It is the year when "liberty throughout the land" was proclaimed!  And indeed it is the Lord Jesus who gives true liberty.

 

John 8:36 - If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

 

What a wonderful ministry is predicted here, and what a wonderful life giving ministry Jesus has had.

 

I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus

Since I found in him a friend so strong and true;

I would tell you how He changed my life completely,

He did something that no other friend could do.

 

All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me,

All my heart was full of misery and woe;

Jesus placed his strong and loving arms about me,

And He led me in the way I ought to go.

 

Every day He comes to me with new assurance,

More and more I understand His words of love;

But I'll never know just why He came to save me,

Till some day I see His blessed face above,

 

No one ever cared for me like Jesus,

There's no other friend as kind as He;

No one else could take the sin and darkness from me,

O how much He cares for me.

 

So after Jesus reads the Scripture, He sits down and says in Vs. 21 …This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

 

He's saying to his hometown, I'm here! I am you Messiah!

 

Vs. 22 - But look at their response!  Oh they marveled at His wonderful speaking ability. But they then said, "Isn't this Joseph's son?

"His father used to be my carpenter. Jesus would run around the shop as a kid."

"Why I went to school with His mother."

 

They were familiar with Jesus and thought they knew Him oh so well!

They thought they knew Jesus, but in reality, they didn't have a clue!  It had not dawned on them that He was God's Son or their Messiah!

 

Today many have a similar problem.

They have heard about Jesus all their lives.

They have gone to church all their lives.

And yet they really don't know Him. Mention Jesus, and they'll say, "Oh, I know who He is."

But they don't act like they know Him and teaching about Him is just shut off. "Oh, I've heard that before!"

 

Christian we are in great danger when we get so familiar with Jesus that we take Him for granted or ignore Him. Don't let Jesus become so familiar to you that you ignore Him or take Him for granted.

 

In Nazareth they were familiar.

 

·        THEY WERE FAITHLESS - Vss. 23-24

Jesus knew what these people were thinking.

They were using a saying of that day, "Physician heal thyself."

They wanted to see Him perform some miracles as He had done in Capernaum. 

Jesus used another saying of the day on them. "No prophet is accepted in his own country."

They had had the very Son of God living among them for years, and they gave Him no honor. Other places, including Capernaum, did!

Why did Jesus not work miracles in Nazareth?

 

Matthew 13:58 - And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

 

Have you ever wondered why God doesn't do more around here?

Have you ever wondered why God doesn't do more in your life?

Could it be that we are just as unbelieving in some ways as the people of Nazareth.

 

Oswald Chambers - "Beware of worshipping Jesus as the Son of God, and professing your faith in Him as the Savior of the world, while you blaspheme Him by the complete evidence in your daily life that He is powerless to do anything in and through you."

 

THEY WERE FAMILIAR

THEY WERE FAITHLESS

·        THEY WERE FRUSTRATED - Vss. 25-30

 

Vss. 25-27 - In these verses Jesus mentions two Gentiles who received miracles.  There were plenty of Jewish widows and leprous men, but God chose to heal these two.

 

Perhaps there are two things to consider here.  One would be the general state of unbelief of Israel in the days of Elijah and Elisha.

The people of Nazareth were showing the same unbelief. Therefore, there were no miracles.

 

The other thing to consider is that God is not obligated to act just because some one thinks that He should!

 

Vss. 28-30These People now took their unbelief to the outer limits. They got angry, frustrated with Jesus. Why?

Because He told them the truth and they didn't want to hear it.

 

We can get that way sometimes.

We can angry or frustrated with people who tell us the truth about God or about our behavior, or lack of faith, and we don't want to hear it.

We can get angry or frustrated with God because He is confronting us with His truth and we don't want to hear it!

 

NAZARETH - RESISTANT TO JESUS - Vss. 15-30

 

THEY WERE FAMILIAR

THEY WERE FAITHLESS

THEY WERE FRUSTRATED

 

CAPERNAUM - RESPONSIVE TO JESUS - Vss. 31-44

 

·        DOCTRINE WAS RESPECTED - Vss. 31-32

 

R. Kent Hughes - "Capernaum was a small town on the upper northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, about 2 miles from where the Jordan flows into the lake. Jesus literally did go 'down to Capernaum' because Nazareth was 1,200 feet above sea level and Capernaum some 686 feet below sea level. It was a prosperous fishing town…"

 

Jesus did the same thing in Capernaum that he did in Nazareth.

He taught them. He taught them with authority, something rabbis of that day didn't do. They just quoted other rabbis! Jesus also taught them with power! There was conviction and strength in His words. 

 

Why was that? Yes, He was the Son of God, but also remember that the Spirit of God had descended on Him at His baptism and that according to vs.14, he returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.

 

Now, what was the difference between Nazareth and Capernaum?

Luke tells us about one Sabbath Day in Nazareth and several Sabbath Days in Capernaum.  What was the difference?  On one Sabbath Day in Nazareth the people rejected Him and His word.  Capernaum was evidently receptive to His teaching. That's why He stayed longer!

 

How receptive are you to the Word of God?

Do you listen with interest?

Do you listen with enthusiasm?

Do you pay attention?

Do you care?

 

Sometimes people get nothing out of God's Word because they are not receptive to God's Word. I take you back to the attitude of reception of God's Word in Jeremiah 15:16, Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

 

May we be receptive to the Word of God!

 

·        THE DEVIL WAS RELEASED - Vss. 33-37

 

The people were receptive and the devil was released.

In this situation the devil, through one of his demons, had a man bound.

 

It is interesting the demon knew who Jesus was, and even said who He was.  It is also interesting that a demon who was troubling someone, didn't want trouble from the Son of God!

 

Of course, the devil is no match for the Son of God!

Oh that we would realize this! The Lord Jesus came to give us victory over sin and to release the power of Satan from our lives!

 

Romans 6:10-14 - For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

 

And remember this. Our Lord Jesus gave us armor to help us have victory over Satan! As we clothe ourselves with this armor, Satan will not have a chance!

 

Ephesians 6:10-11 - Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

 

DOCTRINE WAS RESPECTED

THE DEVIL WAS RELEASED

 

·        DISEASE WAS REMOVED - Vss. 38-39 

 

Jesus healed Peter's Mother-in-law.

There was a great victory! Notice out of gratitude she got up and served.

Does Jesus heal disease today? He does, according to His perfect will.

But more importantly He heals the diseases of the heart.

 

Isaiah 53:5 - But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

 

Only the one who is receptive to Jesus will experience His healing touch of the heart.

 

Capernaum was a responsive town for a while.

 

DOCTRINE WAS RESPECTED

SATAN WAS RELEASED

SICKNESS WAS REMOVED

 

Unfortunately Capernaum eventually showed its unbelief.

 

Matthew 11:23 - And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

 

But where do you live?

 

DO YOU LIVE IN NAZARETH?

 

THEY WERE FAMILIAR

THEY WERE FAITHLESS

THEY WERE FRUSTRATED

 

OR DO YOU LIVE IN CAPERNAUM?

DOCTRINE WAS RESPECTED

SATAN WAS RELEASED

SICKNESS WAS REMOVED