The sermon, titled 'The Fulfillment Of Isaiah 61 - Luke 4:14-30' by Jason Dohm, explores Jesus' return to Galilee after his baptism and temptation. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus begins his public ministry, emphasizing the Spirit's role in empowering him to preach and perform miracles. In Nazareth, Jesus reads from Isaiah 61, declaring himself as the fulfillment of the prophecy, which speaks of bringing good news to the poor, healing the brokenhearted, and proclaiming liberty to captives. This moment highlights Jesus' identity as the Messiah and the urgency of responding to the gospel during the time of God's favor. However, Jesus faces skepticism in his hometown, where familiarity breeds contempt, and the people demand proof of his claims. The sermon warns of the coming day of vengeance for those who do not accept the gospel and urges listeners to recognize the significance of the present time as a period of divine favor.

Title of the message this morning is the fulfillment of Isaiah 61. Jesus is going to quote this prophetic utterance of the prophet Isaiah Speak the words that God put into Isaiah's mouth and say to the people, I'm the fulfillment of these things. The baptism of Jesus, the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus in bodily form. Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And he fasted for 40 days.

He steadfastly resisted every temptation and now Jesus is returning in the power of the Spirit to his home region of Galilee and beginning his public ministry. So Luke is explicitly calling out the filling and leading and empowering of the Holy Spirit section by section The fingerprints of the Holy Spirit are all over our tax and they're going to continue to be so. Why is that? Why is Luke emphasizing this? It's because God the Father has anointed His son Jesus to come and save sinners.

So the filling and leading and empowering of the Holy Spirit is all about God the Father anointing His son to come and do the work that he's given him to do. We're coming to a big text, let's pray. God I thank you for this text. You know that as I wrote it It just kept expanding before me. Pray that you would help me to be able to do some semblance of justice to it.

This time would be profitable. Come and help me as I speak. Come and help my brothers and sisters as they hear. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, let's begin by rereading verses 14 and 15, then I'll talk about them.

Let's section off these two verses and start there. Luke chapter four, verses 14 and 15. Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee. And news of him went out through all the surrounding region and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. In these verses we have the beginning of public ministry in the power of the Spirit.

This is Spirit-filled preaching and Spirit-filled work that Jesus is doing. After being tempted in the wilderness, Jesus returns to his home region of Galilee, the region in northwest Israel. So if you look at a map of Israel, You're going to find Galilee in the northwest of that map, to the west of the Sea of Galilee. That's why it's called the Sea of Galilee. Not only does he return, Luke says he returns in the power of the Spirit.

So he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, he was tempted, he conquered the devil, and now he's returning to his home region in the power of the Spirit. So Jesus has power to preach with the power of Spirit-filled preaching. We're gonna see him preaching in our text and next week and the week after that, he's preaching in the power of Spirit-filled preaching. And he has the power to do miracles that prove that his teaching is from heaven. Interesting that Luke starts with preaching and not with miracles.

We think of Jesus as a miracle worker because they're so spectacular and exciting to read about, but the Gospels, all of them actually set forth Jesus as primarily a preacher. He is revealing truth from heaven and the miracles are important and their importance is primarily to prove that the things that he's teaching are truth from heaven, is authenticating the teaching that he's doing. In fact, news of Jesus is already spreading throughout the region. The Gospel of John records a couple of early miracles. My guess is it's not nearly all.

In John 2, at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, so in this region, Jesus turns water to wine. We really should say Jesus turns a lot of water into a lot of wine. John 4, Jesus healed a nobleman's son from Capernaum, a city of Galilee. This son of the nobleman was at the point of death and Jesus heals him. So there might have been more but at least we know of these two and the Word has gotten out, the Word is spreading.

When we get to verse 23 of our text, Jesus will quote the people as thinking this, whatever we have heard done in Capernaum do also here. In other words, we've heard of a lot of these wonderful miraculous things that you've done in Capernaum. So the point is the word's out. So Jesus is coming home, not as the boy who grew up in Nazareth, but as a famous person. The news is already spreading about Jesus.

And Jesus is beginning to teach in the synagogues of Galilee. What's a synagogue? Synagogue is a location, a local location. Synagogue is a local location, meaning all the meaningful cities would have a synagogue for worship and instruction in the Scriptures. The temple was in Jerusalem.

Everybody was going for three times a year for the major feasts and the temple was where the sacrifices prescribed in the law were happening. But day to day and week to week, month to month, you were actually just going to the synagogue because it was in or near your town and that's where you would go to worship and for instruction in the scriptures. And Jesus's teaching in the synagogues of Galilee is very well received. Everyone is praising him for it. They hear what he's saying and they find his preaching to be praise worthy.

So they're praising him for his teaching. So that sets the stage and gets us ready for the account in today's text. He's coming home to his home region, now to his hometown, and the word's already out. He's not the little boy of Nazareth anymore. He's actually coming home as a famous person, and he's already started teaching, and the people are finding his teaching to be praiseworthy.

Now look at verses 16 through 21 our memory text. We've already recited it but I'm gonna read it again. So Jesus came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. When he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written 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, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

Then he closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him and he began to say to them, today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Here in these verses, Jesus is, we have Jesus in his hometown synagogue. Hometown fills in the blank if you're taking notes that way. Hometown synagogue, the synagogue he grew up going to. Jesus has been teaching in his home region, a larger region of Galilee, now he comes to his hometown of Nazareth which is in the region of Galilee. Jesus was brought up in this town and in his hometown Jesus does what he always does.

He goes to worship with the people of God on the Sabbath day. So if you want to know what Jesus does when he goes home, he does what he always does. His pattern is still his pattern. He goes to worship with the people of God on the Sabbath day. The text says, as his custom was.

He stands up to read. No, understand. This is not a hostile takeover of a synagogue worship service Standing if one of you stood up to read right now, we would all be horrified. So please don't Every synagogue had a man or men designated as the ruler or rulers of the synagogue. That's a phrase that we encounter throughout the New Testament, the ruler of the synagogue or the rulers of the synagogue.

They had charge of the things that were happening in this local location for worship and instruction in the scriptures. And on the Sabbath day, there would be a reading from the law, the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the books Moses wrote, and there would be a reading from the prophets. And then someone who had been designated would give an explanation sort of like a sermon explaining the reading from the law, the reading from the prophets. Jesus is handed the scriptures. So he doesn't just stand up and blurt out things.

He's handed the scriptures to do a reading. So clearly this is in the flow of what was planned for this day. Jesus has handed the book of Isaiah, the Greek word translated book can mean a small book or a scroll. It was almost certainly a scroll. The NASB and the ESV and the NIV all translate that word scroll.

Jesus finds the place he wants to read. So he's handed probably the scroll of Isaiah and he finds the place where he wants to read. He wants to read Isaiah chapter 61 verse 1 and the first half of verse 2. I'm coming to that in a minute. Now, before we look at Isaiah 61, I want to zoom out for a second.

What is actually happening? Just Think about the moment. Jesus, you know who He is. The early chapters have said who He is prophetically. Angels have come to say who He is.

And His birth has been miraculous. And He has an aunt whose baby leapt in the womb when he entered the room in his mother's womb and Simeon had been told when they go to the temple for Mary's purification, Simeon had been told, you're not going to die before you see the Lord's Christ. And Anna, the prophetess, comes and prophesies about the identity of this baby. So what's actually happening here? God, God the Son, has taken on flesh to dwell with us, and he is about to read his own word to people.

Men's Bible study, Gary jokingly called it, Meet the Author. It's like a book signing. John begins the Gospel of John by calling Jesus, not Jesus, but the Word. In the beginning was the Word. He's talking about Jesus and The Word was with God and the Word was God.

God is standing up in a synagogue and reading His own Word to people. This has never happened anywhere at any time. Now the people don't understand exactly what's happening, but as we're coming to it, the people have a sense that something jaw-dropping has happened. God is reading his own word in our text. So what a moment.

What a moment. Listen again to what Jesus reads, verses 18 and 19. This is what's from Isaiah 61, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. So now we have not a man reading a section of the book of the Bible, we actually have a man making a declaration. Like this is first person, the spirit of the Lord is upon me.

Not reading the text, the spirit 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, to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. He sent me to do those things. It's almost like he's not reading, he's saying.

Jesus closes the scroll, hands it back to the attendant, sits down. Only everyone there has a compelling sense that something astonishingly unusual has happened. This is not the normal reading of the prophets. Everyone's staring at Jesus. The text says, the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

Every eye on Jesus. This was no normal reading and everybody knows it. How do they know it? We don't know. But if you were there it would have been obvious and your eyes would have been fixed on Jesus because you're part of everyone who was there.

Then before anyone asks, Jesus goes first and initiates and says this, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Matthew Henry says this, this which Isaiah wrote by way of prophecy, I have now read to you by way of history. Everyone's staring at him and he's saying, prophecy just became history. Foretell has become foretold. What has been fulfilled?

The Holy Spirit is in the here and now Filling and leading and empowering Jesus to preach the sermons that he has been set apart and sent to preach. And to do the work he has been set apart and sent to do. And Jesus is now preaching those sermons and doing that work in the power of the Spirit. Are you poor? Jesus has been set apart and sent to preach good news to you.

He's been set apart and sent to bring glad tidings to you. Are you brokenhearted? Jesus has been set apart and sent to heal your broken heart. If you come to him, he will heal your broken heart. Are you enslaved?

Are you a captive? Jesus has been set apart and sent to proclaim liberty to you. You can go free! Are you blind? Jesus has been set apart and sent to recover your sight.

Come to him, come to him. He'll give you your sight. Are you oppressed? Jesus has been set apart and sent to set you at liberty. In our text, Jesus is in that synagogue, proclaiming that this is the time of the Lord's favor.

Our translation says to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Most of the other good English translations that we love call it the year of the Lord's favor. It's the time of God's favor. Jesus, though He has taken on flesh, though your eyes are fixed on a man, all eyes fixed on this man, has been filled and led and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do all those things. Bring glad tidings to the poor and a proclaimed liberty for the captive and to give sight to the blind.

Now Jesus stopped right in the middle of Isaiah 61 verse 2. Why? Why did Jesus stop there? Here's that whole verse. I'm gonna give you the whole verse.

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, or to proclaim the time of the Lord's favor, as I put it. Jesus read that. Then Jesus didn't read this. And the day of vengeance of our God. He said it's the time of the Lord's favor but he didn't say and the day of vengeance of our God.

Why didn't Jesus read And the day of vengeance of our God. Why didn't Jesus read and the day of vengeance of our God? Because that's Jesus' second coming, not his first coming. His first coming is the day of God's favor. His second coming is the day of God's vengeance when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes in that day to be glorified in his saints and to be admired among all those who believe. I just read Paul in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, which he speaks of Paul looking ahead to Jesus coming back, revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, inflaming fire, taking vengeance on people who don't know God and who won't obey the gospel of God. Today, he's come to preach the glad tidings, but people who won't obey the glad tidings, he's coming back. Here in the synagogue in his first coming, Jesus stands to announce the time of God's favor and to bring glad tidings, to bring good news, to preach the gospel. Robert Stein says this in his commentary, even though the Lord purposely omitted the reference to the day of God's vengeance from his quotation of Isaiah 61 to emphasize the present time and opportunity for salvation.

There is nevertheless present here the implication that this period of God's favor would not last forever. This is the time of God's favor, what's implied. It won't always be the time of God's favor. He sent the glad tidings to you. Respond while he's near.

He's come to bring you glad tidings. Respond now. Today is the day of salvation. It was not lost on anyone here, on anyone there, that Isaiah 61 was undoubtedly a prophecy about the promised Savior, the Messiah, the Christ. And that Jesus was unmistakably declaring himself to be the promised Savior, the Messiah, the Christ.

No one there missed that. Jesus is clearly saying, I'm the fulfillment of this and everybody knows that means he's saying I'm the promised Savior. The hundred promises in the Old Testament that God would send someone to save his people, that's me. I am the Messiah. I am the Christ.

So, that is Jesus reading and applying and claiming Isaiah 61, verses 22 through 30. So all bore witness to him and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is this not Joseph's son? He said to them, You will surely say this proverb to me, Physician, heal yourself. Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your country.' Then he said, Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country.

But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a great famine throughout all the land. But to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath in the region of Sidon to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. So all those in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath and rose up and thrust him out of the city and they led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built that they might throw him over the cliff. Then passing through the midst of them he went his way.

These verses we have doubt These verses we have doubt and the warning ignored. Everyone is marveling at the words of grace that Jesus is speaking. It says, his gracious words. Other places in the New Testament, you have almost an identical Greek construction, and often it's translated, words of grace. So he's speaking words of grace.

He just did it in the reading of this. It's the gospel going to the poor and the blind receiving their sight and the captives being set at liberty. These are words But then something very sadly predictable happens. Familiarity breeds contempt. Familiarity, having known a long time, gives birth to contempt, resentment.

Because Jesus is known and his family is known and his father, or so it's supposed, he's actually the son of God, the man they think is his father, is just a carpenter. Listen to Matthew 13, this is the parallel text in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 13.55 they say, is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brothers are named, they can name his brothers, and his sisters are here with us. They begin to discredit Jesus simply because he's familiar.

This is Jesus's home synagogue. Most of the people there that day have seen Jesus and his family a hundred times, literally. Actually, if he goes there on the Sabbath day, they've seen him a hundred times in the last two years. Most people there that day. Jesus knows what they're thinking.

Jesus knows what they're saying. He addresses them. There's a cultural proverb that fits what they're thinking. So not a scripture proverb, not in the book of proverbs, but a saying, a cultural saying, physician, heal thyself. Heal yourself.

In other words, who goes to a chronically sick doctor? Talk about bold claims with no proof. I am a doctor. Yeah, but you're always sick. The man who calls himself a doctor but who's always sick, who goes to him?

Approve it! You can cure? We know where you could start. In Texas, they call that all hat, no cattle. Dresses like a cowboy.

Howdy, y'all. Howdy, y'all. No ranch, no cattle. Pretender. Listen pal, you just laid claim to being the greatest human being in history.

That is not overstatement. Look at the messianic prophecies. They're not looking for an equal to Abraham, an equal to Moses, an equal to David. They're looking for someone based on the prophecies who's miles ahead of Abraham, ahead of Moses, ahead of David. They're looking for the greatest human being in history and Jesus has just said, I'm Him, I'm here.

We're gonna need proof for that. Whatever we've heard you've done elsewhere, do right here in your hometown. It's not enough that you've done those things elsewhere and we've heard the reports here. Do them here. Jesus knows that's what they're thinking and saying, So he addresses them with another cultural proverb.

Again, not the book of proverbs, but a common saying they would have recognized. No prophet is accepted in his own country. Or as Matthew 13, 57, this parallel, Matthew 13, 57 says, a prophet is not without honor, no honor, except in his own country and in his own house. A prophet gets honor everywhere else except when he goes home. Everyone else has esteem for the prophet except for when he goes home.

You see the problem with prophets is they have moms and dads. They grow up in towns where their dad fixed your roof. You can't be a prophet. Your dad fixed my roof. You can't be a prophet.

I've seen you in this synagogue a hundred times in the last two years. We don't want prophets like that. We want prophets who descend from heaven on a flying carpet. Matthew Henry says this, familiarity breeds contempt. And we are apt to think meanly, meaning we are apt to think with low thoughts of those whose conversation we have been accustomed to.

And they will scarcely be duly honored as prophets who were well known when they were in the rank of private men." Meaning you weren't always a prophet, you used to be just a regular guy, now you're a prophet? He ends, Matthew Henry closes by saying this, that is most esteemed, that is far-fetched and dear bought. Comes from far away, so his dad never fixed your roof, You don't even know that he has a dad. And Deerbot, you begged him to come. You paid for him to come.

That is most esteemed that is far-fetched and dear bought above what is home-bred, though really more excellent." Meaning, maybe the guy whose dad fixed your roof is better than the man you begged to come from afar and paid a lot for him to come. The people thinking, the people are thinking, you're not an out of towner and we didn't pay a penny for you to be here. Jesus knows. If I was from Jerusalem and you paid me to come to your little town, you'd believe every word. If I came from Jerusalem and you paid me to come to this little town, this is remember from the early sermons in Luke, this is Nowheresville.

You would have to pay someone from Jerusalem to come to Nowheresville. If that had happened, if there had been a big speaker's fee attached to it, you believe every word. Then Jesus speaks of two prophets, Elijah and Elisha. In 1 Kings 17, God has the prophet Elijah to proclaim a drought in judgment for pagan idolatry, meaning the people have fallen into gross idolatry. There's not an idol that they won't worship.

So God responds in judgment and he sends Elijah to say, it's not raining here for three years to judge you for your pagan idolatry. This is in the time of Ahab and Jezebel and Baal worship is everywhere. And for the time of the drought, God sends Elijah to hide among the Gentiles in Zarephath. It's a little community right outside of Sidon, Tyron Sidon on the coast of the Mediterranean. This widow, she didn't have food either.

She's got a bin of flour, she's got a jar of oil, she's making the last cakes now. God makes it last for three years. The bin of flour never goes empty. The jar of oil never goes empty. It feeds her, her son, and Elijah for three years.

Literally hundreds and thousands Literally, hundreds and thousands of widows are starving in Israel. In 2 Kings 5, Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Syria, has a leprosy. He's taken some captives. One of the captives is a little Jewish girl. She tells her mistress, the lady of the house, You know, there's a prophet in Israel.

He could heal people like your husband, like the leper. So, he sends to the king, and the king thinks it's a trick and name it ends up going to Elisha, this leper, but a commander of the Syrian army goes to Elisha And Elisha heals him. There are literally hundreds of lepers living as outcasts in Israel. What's the point? When the people of Israel will not hear the prophets God sends them, God will have those prophets wipe the dust off their feet in testimony against them and send them to others, even to uncircumcised Gentiles.

You won't listen, I'll send you to people who aren't even looking for me. People who you despise as being worse than you. The people cannot bear to hear this. One, you, Jesus, have made yourself Elijah and Elisha in these analogies. Check out this guy.

He's given us some analogies and in the analogy he's Elijah and Elisha. Two, you, Jesus, have made us idolaters under the judgment of God in these analogies. So not only are you the good guy, you're the prophet of God, and we're the pagan idolaters. Three, you, Jesus, have implied that you'd be better off among uncircumcised gentiles than you are among us." So they're filled with wrath and they thrust Jesus out of the city and they take him to the edge of the cliff intending to throw him off and then with no explanation, there's no explanation. Luke says that Jesus simply passed through the midst of them and went his way.

This actually happens more times than you'd think in the Gospels, as I was getting all the cross references from my few sources that I have for cross references. This, I couldn't believe the number of times where people want to kill Jesus, and then really without explanation it just doesn't, for whatever reason it just doesn't happen. This happens frequently. I haven't compiled them here for you, but I happily give you my sermon notes later. Here's the summary.

Jesus says this in John chapter 10, verses 17 and 18. I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me. But I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Jesus cannot be killed until the work that God set him apart and sent him to do, the sermons that he set him apart and sent him to preach, the miracles that he set him apart and sent him to perform.

All that work's been done and he's ready to voluntarily lay down his Okay. Applications. Give you three. One. We are in the time of God's favor.

This is the time of the new covenant. This is the gospel dispensation. The offer of pardon has never been more freely and fully offered, more widespread than it is today. If you are poor, God has set apart and sent Jesus to preach glad tidings to you. If you are broken hearted, God has set apart and sent Jesus to heal your broken heart.

If you're a captive, if you're a slave to sin, God has set apart and sent Jesus to tell you you can go free for no price. If you're blind, God has set apart and sent Jesus to give you eyes to see things you've never been able to see. This is the time of God's favor. Two, we've been in the time of God's favor for a long time. They actually had a sense, So clear, they had a sense at the time of Jesus and in the time of the apostles after Jesus ascended into heaven that it wouldn't be long before the second coming.

But no man knows the day, no man knows the hour, and it has been a long time. And we've been in the time of God's favor all that time. Next is the day of his vengeance against those who will not obey the gospel. That's what Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter one. I quoted that to you.

The Bible has been calling this era the end times for a long time. That should make us so sober minded about the days that we live in. We're so much closer to the end of the end time than they were when they thought it wouldn't be long. There will be a day of vengeance against those who will not obey the gospel. Every generation thinks it's happening in our lifetime.

All I can say is this, it won't surprise me if it happens in our lifetime based on the words of Scripture. Will it surprise you if it happens in our lifetime? Do you have warrants to be surprised Based on what you read in the Scriptures? Watch and pray. The day of God's favor is coming to a close and the day of his vengeance is at hand.

Number three. What are the things that believers you know well have said? Review history, your history. You know some believers well who have said some things to you. So what are the things that believers you know well have said that if we invited Paul Washer and we paid him handsomely to come, you would heed.

We make ourselves the hero in every story. Let's turn this one around for once and say, Maybe we're the people who, with whom familiarity has bred contempt, and God has believers in your life who have said things to you, but you thought, oh, that's just so-and-so. But we invited Paul Washer and we paid him handsomely to come and he said the exact same words you would turn your life upside down. That's worth a review through your memory banks. Review through your memory banks.

Let's pray. God thank you for the Lord Jesus in whom all the promises of God are yes and amen. God, our Father, I thank you that you set him apart and sent him to bring glad tidings to the poor and to give sight to the blind and it proclaimed and it proclaimed liberty for the captives. God, we can look around the world and understand based on your word what is deserved. It's humbling to think that we're in a time of your favor when the offer of the gospel is so full and free.

And I pray that it wouldn't be found a single soul among us who has let these truths come and go and never responded. God, I thank you for sending us people and though they're familiar people, we should hear them. Pray if our memory banks bring back things said by people who have been discredited because we know their family. We've seen them a hundred times in the last two years, but they've spoken truth to us. I pray that from whatever source, truth from you would be heeded.

Pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.