Anointed One

Morning. Morning. Well done. Welcome to Jefferson Park. We have been walking through the Gospel of Luke. We're going to continue to do that. It's a timely passage, as God's word always is, to help us in the midst of difficulty. But here we come, most of us probably with heavy hearts. We think about what's happening in the world, The covid variants are thriving. A new fear, new regulations. The war or the now war in Afghanistan is terrifying. This has been a rough week to think about American troops, to think about how the Taliban will have control and what that means for young ladies in Afghanistan. It's painful. We're not done with that yet. This week still has more to come. A hurricane is pressing in our country. We've been looming over us. There's been cultural revolutions that is called evil good and good evil. What are we to do with this? How are we supposed to come and think about these things while that's when we come to hear God's word read? So we come and sing songs, if you recognize it, we were singing to ourselves. Oh my soul, I rest. We come with heavy hearts, we come with lots of confusion, we come with fear, possible desperation. And that's not even to mention the individual difficulties many of you face this week that we don't even know about. We come to hear. the good news that God cares, God knows, and God is the ultimate healing balm. God knows, God cares, He's the ultimate healing balm. That is not your sermon outline. Some of you are already writing that down, one, two, three. This morning we're gonna see Jesus' first public ministry according to Luke. recorded, not his actual first ministry. I don't believe this teaching in the synagogue is the first thing Jesus does publicly, but I believe it's what Luke chose to list first. If you're new with us, we've been walking through Luke, and Luke has this very detailed account of the promises of Jesus coming to have a virgin, Mary having a virgin conception, being born of a virgin. He's fully God, fully man. We've seen him in the temple already declaring to his parents, I was about my father's business. John the Baptist declares this is the Christ, he's coming after me. The father has declared this is my son. Satan has attacked him since he is the son of God. And last week, that's what we looked at. We saw Christ the victor, the champion. Well, this week we see him declare himself the Christ. We're seeing him declare truths about himself from God's Word. If you're taking notes, our first point is Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Christ. And Jesus returned the power of the Spirit to Galilee. The Spirit was hovering over Mary's wound. The Holy Spirit has been very much instrumental in the Gospel of Luke up to this point. He was led by the Spirit, full of the Spirit, to fight Satan. Now he comes back in the power of the Spirit, and he taught in the synagogue, being glorified by all. And there's a big general statement by Luke. And now he's gonna zero in on the specific truths, the specific instance of Jesus' teaching. And he came to Nazareth, that's his hometown, where he'd been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read in the scroll the prophet Isaiah was giving him. Well, we just read from Isaiah. Jesus is doing what a good Jewish boy would do on the Sabbath, which was a Saturday. He would go to the synagogue. And a synagogue is, well, like what we've been doing so far. Reading God's word, praying God's word, singing God's word, having a lesson on God's word. The early church designed a lot of what we do as a church around what was happening in the synagogue. And the goal there was to let the word of God wash over you. Like we need to even now. That's why we read the word of God. It's very important that we focus in on hearing and reading the word of God as part of our worship. Notice here, Jesus is on this particular day, the scroll of the prophet Isaiah is given to him. He enrolled the scroll, verse 17, found the place where it was written. He is choosing where he's reading from. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and the recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And he wrote the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon him. And he began, that is he began to teach, saying to them, today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. He's read from Isaiah 61 with possibly a section of Isaiah 58 thrown in. Isaiah is a significant prophet. They call him the fifth gospel. He makes it so clear who Christ is and what he was going to come and do. There's four servant songs. Many believe this actually should be a fifth one, even though the word servant isn't there. These servant songs talk about the suffering servant, the one who will come to heal through his own suffering. Notice the beginning of this text. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has anointed me. This is speaking of the Christ, which really means the anointed one. God in the Old Testament anointed with the power of the Spirit those who would need to lead Israel in worship, especially kings and priests. The Spirit would come upon them to strengthen them, to let them do the work God has set them apart to do. When Jesus in verse 21 says, Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. It's a significant moment. Today, this is fulfilled, the promised one, the hope of Israel, all the promises of God coming into fulfillment. If we go back to Luke 1, He begins by telling us, he wants to write so that we have certainty concerning the things you've been taught, but look at verse one. In as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of things that have been accomplished, what Christ has done, what Christ has fulfilled, Jesus is saying everything that was promised in the Old Testament is now coming to fruition. I am the Messiah. A lot of folks will say Jesus never claimed this kind of a statement, especially deity. But here, by claiming he is the Messiah, he's acquainting himself with the Son of God. Look down at verse 41. The demons understood this connection. They cried out, you are the Son of God, because they knew he was the Christ. Jesus is saying all of the Old Testament that you've been waiting on, all the promises, they're being fulfilled. This is significant. Luke's wanting to show how orderly God is. In Luke 2, a man named Simeon who had been promised, you will see the anointed one. You will see the Savior of Israel before you die. And you got to see him as a baby and rejoice. If you remember Luke 24, how does Luke end the gospel? On Emmaus Road, the greatest theological instruction ever given. Jesus himself opening the Bible saying, this is how all of these scriptures, all of these prophecies are being fulfilled in me. The book is about God. And all of those promises are pointing to Jesus The Son of God who's become the Christ. Now last week we really focused in on Jesus, the Son of God. When Jesus says he's the Son of God, the Jews knew what he meant because they wanted to stone him because he makes himself equal with God. Something else very clear from John 5 is when he defends himself for being, for declaring the Son of God, he says, what I hear the Father saying, I say. What I see the Father doing, I do. Sonship means he's marrying, marrying the Father. The Father and the Son have always been. But now when he says, I am the Christ, that's an office that he adds to himself. The Son of God isn't the Christ unless he becomes a human. This is not an eternal part of his person, but this is something he adds to himself as a human in the incarnate earthly ministry so that he can undo what we've done, so that he can overcome Satan, death, and sin. What are the ways we should think about this text? First, I want you to see we must appreciate, embrace, and hold dearly the Old Testament. The Old Testament, it feels foreign. It's so far along. So long ago, it's different cultures. Sometimes it's difficult to read. Church, the Old Testament is your book. It belongs more to us than the Jewish people. Christ is saying it's about me, and we know Christ. It's our book. We're the only ones, as we read it according to Christ, that knows really what it's about. Christ has taken the veil off of our eyes so that we can actually see Him as the point of the Old Testament. If you read the Old Testament and you don't see Christ as the point of the Old Testament, you're not reading it right. The mysteries are revealed for the church. One of the ways in which we see the Old Testament and New Testament relate, and I encourage you to come to our weekender with Dr. Wellam, as he's gonna help us see how we put together the old and the new, not as so different, but promise fulfillment. The Old Testament was a promise, people. We live in the fulfillment of all those promises. We live in the fulfillment that Christ has died. We can have assurance of his forgiveness. Christ has died and opened up the access to the heavens. We can now pray to the Father with great assurance in the name of the Son by the Spirit. What they were waiting on, we have. And we still wait for his return. All the promises are being fulfilled. We just need to step back and appreciate the many prophecies all coming together to say Jesus is the Messiah. The second thing I want us to see is Jesus' mission. Jesus the Messiah declares his own mission. Our second point, Jesus' mission. And we're gonna stay here in the same text. Because he's declaring, I am the anointed one, I am the one who was promised, and now he's gonna tell us what he came to do. Pretty clear job description, pretty clear mission. To proclaim the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovering of the sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Those who are in difficulty, those who feel trapped, those who feel like they're in despair, this is good news. He's proclaiming help to the helpless. He's proclaiming liberty to those who are enslaved. He's proclaiming healing to those who are in desperation. I wanna back up and I wanna consider many have used this passage to promote what is called the social gospel. God's primary mission is to bring justice, according to the social gospel, for all who are oppressed. And because Jesus is declaring his mission is to help primarily, the mission being to help those who are oppressed, to bring justice, this is what the mission of the church must be. There's a few reasons to consider that's not the case. If you notice back in verse 20, Look what the text says. The eyes of all were fixed on him. Now that may be, he's the teacher and he's got a reputation, but I think it's likely it's because he didn't finish the text. He stopped, short, one verse, because what he's declaring is I've come to bring the year of the favor of the Lord, the next is in the day of the vengeance of our God. So the Jews were confused. They thought there was one coming of the Messiah. We know there's two. Christ has come. He's become like us in every way to bring salvation, to bring mercy. One day he will come again, and perfect, absolute justice will be his mission. He will crush, finally, forever Satan. He will judge every sin. He will get rid of all the chaos. No more sickness, no more tears, no more chaos. Today, he's come for salvation. One day he will come again to bring about perfect restoration. And so we see that aspect of social justice, the social gospel, there's some truth to it. Because God does care about justice. God will have his perfect vengeance. But here, it's a future justice, I believe. We also can look at the mission and look at it. Good news to the poor, those who are in poverty. Those who are captives, we liberate. Heal the blind, liberate the oppressed. There's another aspect of the social aspect of the gospel. When we think about liberating, we oftentimes think about nations, whole peoples. Israel was liberated from Egypt, that's Exodus. America was liberated from Britain, that was 4th of July. Slaves were liberated from America. Afghanistan, we pray one day, will once again be liberated from the Taliban. This is not outside of Jesus' concern, but I don't believe this is the forefront of what he's actually referring to. When he declares the Lord's favor with these different promises, I believe he's referring back to the year of Jubilee. For what that is, go back and look at Leviticus 25. After seven sevenths, after 49 years, the 50th year was meant to be a year of jubilee. All debts erased. All servants set free. Everybody goes back to their land. It was a special rest. And it had the kind of rest that was specifically focused on restoration. And if there's any kind of social aspect to it, God's plan was to stop the disparity between the rich and the poor from growing more and more by having everyone return back to where they started. Sinners would wrestle with this. Jesus is saying, I am the Messiah, but he's also saying, I am the rest. He's also promising, I'm the restoration. I'm the one who is coming to provide restoration. That's why the good news is to the poor. That's why he proclaims liberty to the captive. That's why he proclaims liberty to those who are oppressed and the healing of the blind. Jesus has come to help the needy. He's come to help the needy. There's one thing clear that we'll see as we walk through Luke, and stay with us through Luke. He humbles the proud and exalts the lowly. Over and over again, the rich and powerful are humiliated by Christ. Over and over again, the weak and the poor are exalted by Christ. There is a sense in which he looks at those who come with him with nothing other than their need for him, and he blesses them. This is where we can get confused about the church's primary mission. Is the church supposed to be on a social gospel mission? Let me read from you. He's a Baptist pastor, was a Baptist pastor, he's dead now, a man named Walter Rauschenbusch. He declares, the kingdom of God is not a matter of getting individuals to heaven, but of transforming the life on earth into the harmony of heaven. I'll read that again. The kingdom of God is not a matter of getting individuals to heaven, but of transforming the life on earth into the harmony of heaven. That's a false dichotomy. We're not supposed to be proclaiming Christ to forgive sins so they can actually see God face to face. We're just supposed to be trying to adapt this world to as much of heaven as we can understand. That's a false dichotomy just like if your faith has no works, it's dead. You can't claim to have faith in a God who saved you and then not care at all about the rich or the poor. True and undefiled religion is caring for the orphan and the widow. I want to try to slice through here. The primary mission of the church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ by first proclaiming who He is, the Son of God, who died on the cross for our sins, who rose again, and who will come and judge. In the midst of our proclamation, we cannot lose sight that every human being is made in the image of God. Part of the way we bless our society, part of the way we're supposed to be a blessing and have in the past been a blessing of the church. is by proclaiming every human being has dignity, worth, and value. And by focusing in and looking for the weak and the vulnerable and saying, how can we help those who are in most need? A way that the church has blessed society in years past and should continue is to exalt marriage as good between a husband and a wife, a male and a female. It's a sacred union. We should proclaim and declare laws. Thou shalt not steal. Commit adultery, why? We should desire justice. If we're gonna have this effect, this blessing on society, we have to first embrace all these things as good and true for us. Those things are good to remember. Those things are good for us to reclaim, but it can never distract us from our primary mission, making disciples, united with Christ in his death, in his resurrection, and obeying all that he says. I want you to notice what Jesus comes to give. It isn't financial blessings. That's not the good news to the poor. He doesn't promise more money. He says the poor will you'll always have with you. He doesn't come and say we're gonna have perfect nations and perfect kings. No, he's going to be punished and suffer under a wicked king. What does God promise? What is the real good news? This is what God gives you, himself. God gives you himself. Jesus came to receive those who had nothing to give back. And what he gave them was everything, the best thing, himself. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the good news of the kingdom. The king, the true king. The anointed king, almighty God himself, has come to restore you in all the ways were broken by giving us himself. Church, if we're going to be like Christ, as we ought to want to be like Christ, we cannot be consumers. That is antithetical to the gospel. We must desire to be so full of Christ who gives us himself that we pour out to others. The whole Christian life is receiving what God gives us and then desire to pour out to others. Does that mark our lives? Jesus is a Messiah. Jesus's mission as Messiah is to help those who have nothing. Our third point, Jesus is rejected. Jesus is rejected. He's declared, this all is fulfilled today. This is my mission. I'm coming to give you full restoration. It's by him dying on the cross, rising again, commissioning his church with the Holy Spirit. And now notice he's rejected, and this is weird. This turn here is weird, and Jesus is the one causing it to be weird. They're marveling at his words, that he's declaring he is the Messiah. And as they're speaking well of him and marveling at his gracious words, look there at verse 22. They start to say, is not this Joseph's son? And it's not clear how much doubt there is here. There is something funny about growing up with somebody and kind of, no matter how great they become, you kind of know them as just good old Bill. Here, they're questioning, is this not Joseph's son? Is this not the guy we grew up with? And he's saying he is the Messiah? And Jesus ratchets up difficulty. And he said to them, doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, physician heal yourself. What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in our hometown as well. Now we don't know where these words physician heal yourself come from, but I do believe he's looking ahead to the cross. Do you remember what Jesus is told on the cross by the crowds he came to save? He saved others, let him save himself. He, let's just leave him on the cross. If he's really who he says he is, he'll save himself. And then there's a selfishness holding onto, stay here. The things you did elsewhere, come here, stay here. We want you to be our Messiah, our healer. What Jesus does next is give two examples. And he said, truly, he's catching their attention, amen, listen, truly, I say to you, the principle, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up in three years and six months. and a great famine came in over the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed but only Naaman the Syrian." Now, by using these two examples, he's making some points. These are two great prophets of Israel. These are two great prophets that were hated by Israel. They were not accepted by their own nation, in the time in which they're declaring the truth of God. The other part of this is notice both of them are sent outside of Israel to be a blessing. A widow in the land of Sidon, Naaman the Syrian. As these two prophets were rejected, they were sent out to be a blessing to others. I believe Israel, his hometown, the Jews in his hometown, the Nazarenes, the Nazarites, They get what he's saying. They get that he is describing them as one of the worst periods in Israel's history, where they punished the prophets. They were despicable towards the prophets. When they heard these things on the synagogue, they were filled with wrath. How dare you talk about us like this, Jesus? And they rose up. and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brother hill which their town was built so that they could throw him down the cliff. What a change. Right, they're marveling at his words. These are the folks in his hometown that get to hear these great words. I am the Messiah. And because he's given them a warning about how they're gonna treat him. They are filled with wrath and want to throw him down the cliff. Verse 30, as often times happens, Jesus gets out. But passing through a mist, he went away. I believe this is a helpful text for us to really think about. Jesus has declared, I am the Messiah. Jesus declared, I've come to help those who need help. His own people have said, no, stay here, do these things our way, and they don't heed the warning. I think there's a helpful warning about how we expect to receive Jesus. If you're a believer, we're glad you're here. We're thankful you're here to hear about the good news of God for all people. But I ask, what did you come expecting? What did you hope to hear today? What is it you expect of God? There's a concern, and we as Christians are guilty of this over and over again as well, but there's a concern for those who want to come and say, God, this is what I expect of you. If you'll do these things, I believe in you. I want to ask you, who's really God in that relationship? Who's really God if we're declaring what the expectations should be? See, those who reject Jesus reject Him on their terms. I will only believe in a Jesus who approves of my things. I can only believe in a Jesus who does the things that I like Him to do. No, those who believe in Jesus receive Him on His terms. There's no negotiating. There's no haggling. We either receive Jesus as He is or we reject Him and are left in our sin. If you're not a Christian, What do you think Jesus must do for you to believe in Him? What is it that He must approve of that you must believe in Him? I challenge you, I encourage you. Read through a gospel. Hear Him as He says He is. Understand Him and submit to Him as He declares His good news. Believe in Him, the only Savior. Christian, we need to recognize this as well. Jesus does not accommodate to others' desires. He is rejected by his own hometown because he is on his mission from the Father. We need to be aware we can have the same attitude of Jesus. We can add to the gospel, we can take away from the gospel by saying Jesus still needs to fit and accommodate my own desires. This is why we read and submit to his word. Jesus declared he's the Messiah, he's the Christ, Jesus declared his mission, he's been rejected, and then notice there's a change. Our last point, Jesus' authority. Jesus' authority. and he went down to Capernaum, he leaves his hometown, a city of Galilee, and he was teaching them of the Sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching for his word-possessed authority. And we see Luke transitioning Jesus away from this meeting, the synagogue. We see Jesus continue, he's gonna go from city to city and town to town, and he's gonna be preaching the synagogues. It was already set up for him. A place for him to open the word and declare this is the right meaning of the word and I am that word. But I want us to go back, he's the Messiah, and if his purpose is to restore, I want us to see there's three ways in which Jesus has authority here to restore. First, in his teaching. That's verse 32. Second, it's in his power over demons. That's specifically there, verse 33 through 37. Notice in 36, for with authority and power, he commands the unclean spirits. And then finally, he heals the sick. Finally, he heals the sick, and that's 38 through 39. Jesus has authority to fulfill his mission that is to restore us, and it has his teaching, his rebuking demons, and his healing sickness. That's not all that Jesus does to restore us, but here's three examples of how Jesus restores it, and they're very important and very helpful. He teaches us what we must believe. He teaches us who we actually are. He teaches us who he is. He teaches us what he has come to do. The truth will set us free. If we're not liberating the captive, what is the means by that? It's the proclamation of the gospel. He destroys the power of Satan. Satan is more powerful than us apart from Christ. There's a spiritual battle that he wins for us, and then he restores us in our physical bodies. Let's look at these in part. He has authority to teach. And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbath, as was his custom, and they were astonished. He had such authority. What's so different about Jesus' teaching? Why was it he had more authority? It may be he doesn't quote other rabbis when he wants to tell you what a text says. He doesn't consult commentaries. He wrote it. He knows what it means. He speaks very plainly and simply, this is what the text says. There's a beauty here of not only Jesus himself saying this word is fulfilled, I am what the Old Testament was always promising, but now he's opening up the word rightly and helping people see this is what it really means. Matthew records that people were saying he teaches with authority, not like the scribes and the Pharisees. What do you make of this? Deuteronomy 18, there's a promise to Moses, there'll be a prophet like you, who I will bless to teach you. Then Hebrews tells us, God has spoken in various times in many ways through the prophets, but now he's spoken through his own son. This is Jesus opening up God's own word. And with authority, because he knows what it means, speaks with authority that's recognized. If we go back to his mission, notice how much of it has to do with him proclaiming. He proclaims the good news. He declares and proclaims liberty. He proclaims the year of the Lord. Look at the end here, verse 43. I must preach the good news. The way we receive Christ is through words. You can't preach the gospel without words. The doctrines, the beliefs, the truths that God has declared. Think about how gracious and kind this is. God speaks to us in our own language in a way that we can understand so that we will know him. It's not a mystery, God, where we're shaking a magic eight ball trying to figure out what kind of mysterious thing might happen today or tomorrow. No, it's written down for us. We write down important things, covenants, contracts, declarations, so that we can see them in words. God has provided words for us to know, for us to live by. Why would we go anywhere else to know who God is? Are we fully submitting to these words, trusting this is the proclamation of the kingdom of God in its entirety? Our mission, church, is to receive the proclamation of Christ. This is Christ's word. Yes, penned by Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit. But these are Christ's words. If you want to know what he preached, it's these words. This is what he has left for the church for 2,000 years, and it's been sufficient. Here, we first receive these words, and these are the words we instruct each other with. This reading of God's word, and singing God's word, and teaching God's word, this isn't merely intellectual. There's a spiritual battle going on in the soul. Will we believe God and his power? Will we believe God in his goodness and his authority? Will we submit to him and know that he is right and good? Above our best thought, will we reverberate the very words of God with and to one another? Jesus has come to teach where sin has affected us, and that's our mind, to set us free from the darkness and the lies. The second way we see authority, the first is his teaching, separating, giving us the truth for our minds. Second is the authority over demons. Look at verse 33 through 37. And in the synagogue, there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ha, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked him saying, be silent and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. And they were all amazed and said to one another, what is this word? For with authority and power, he commands the unclean spirits and they come out. and reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region. We just left Jesus battling Satan himself. Satan approached him in the wilderness. Jesus stood defensive, holding the word of God, standing firm, resisting the temptation of the devil. Now he is on the offensive. In the synagogue, he sees a man with an unclean spirit and declares him, get out. He rebukes him. Back to Walter Rauschenbusch. Oh man, such a fun name to say. Another quote. The belief in a satanic kingdom exists today only where religious and theological traditions keep this belief alive. The man who says the kingdom of God is not about individuals getting to heaven also says there's no devil. He's fond of saying, the church, we gotta do the whole gospel, we can't deny any part. Is he not denying the very heart of the gospel by pointing out that our battle is with Satan and demons? It's a false gospel. The merely social gospel is a false gospel that sees no sin, sees no Satan. We're all good, we just need better instruction. No. We're all sinful. We're all prone to the same temptations. We're all prone to the same lies. We need powerful, authoritative help. Notice the demons have good theology. 34, we or I know who you are, the Holy One of God. They recognize him. They're not submitting to him. Maybe there's even a reverence there because they know who he is and what he can do, but here they know who Jesus is. But there's no submission. We can know who God is without actually ever submitting. They recognize him. What we see down below in verse 41, the demons came out and said, you are the son of God because they knew he was the Christ. We can trust here Christ If he is able to overcome this kind of evil, he is able to overcome every kind of evil. The goal for us is to stand firm in his victory. Now the third way he exercises authority. Notice verse 38. And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house. Now Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she rose up again to serve them. It sounds like a typical day on a Saturday. On the Sabbath, he goes and he teaches. He casts out demons. And then he goes for a meal at Peter's house. And Peter's mom is sick. So he heals her. Notice he rebukes it. There's a way in which we can see the consequence of the fall is also physical problems, illnesses, viruses, cancer. This is not the way it was supposed to be. Satan ruling the world, disease killing us, viruses terrifying us. Here Jesus is showing that part of his mission is to proclaim and to make clear he is sovereign over every problem and he is able to restore us. Disease is not part of the good creation. It's a consequence of our sin. Now there's also something important here, verse 14, 41. When the sun was setting, all those who were sick with various diseases were brought to him, and he laid his hands on them, every one of them, and healed them. And demons also came out of many and rebuked them and would not allow them to speak. The sick were seen as unclean, the demon-possessed seen as unclean, and if you were to touch one, you would be considered unclean. Notice Jesus is not afraid of touching them. His hand has the healing power. He is not turned unclean by touching sin. He cleanses with his touch. He is not defiled by our sin. He washes us and purifies us. This is the power of the Son of God who is the Messiah. He receives us in our sin to purify us. Notice the end. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him and would have kept him from leaving them. But he said to them, I must preach the good news of the kingdom to other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose. And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. They want to hold on to him, and wouldn't you? If we could just simply have Jesus teaching in the synagogue and healing everybody, we wouldn't hold on to him. Again, there's an expectation, there's a want to control. But Jesus says, no, my mission is to preach the good news to all. He must go out. I ask, as we think about these things, whether there's a truth that we're gonna say is truth for all time, whether we recognize it or not. His truth has authority no matter what, and we want to hold on to that truth. There's a victory whenever Satan, that's always true that we must embrace and believe and follow in. But what about these healings? What's the gospel picture here? Are these people still alive today because Jesus healed them? No, they died. This was a moment. And we can see over and over again, these healings are meant to point to Jesus' greater authority to actually giving us forgiveness, for actually giving us new life. There's a way in which we can get wrapped up in the healings of Jesus and think, well, this is what we should be doing today. No, the healing's reporting to the forgiveness. The healing's reporting to the greater picture that he's able to restore us in our whole person, body, soul, spirit, in the resurrection. Where's our mission? It's proclaiming the gospel, the only gospel that truly heals. The gospel, the only gospel that truly brings peace. The gospel, the only gospel that truly helps us make sense of this world, that all of these things can be crashing down upon us in the news and in fear. They're all under the authoritative control of Christ. None of them are greater. We revere Him, and that dissipates our fear of these other things. The other way when you think about this, it's so easy to fall victim or to follow that self-pity. Woe is me. Oh, the problems. Oh, the troubles. There's a way that we easily fall into the trap of talking to ourselves in such a way that it's, oh, the problems I face. Oh, the things that are pressing in on me. I'm going to tell you something that every self-help book at Barnes & Noble tells you. Quit listening to yourself and talk to yourself. So here's the Christian advice. You've got to tell yourself the words of the gospel. You have to tell yourself the words of the gospel. Go back to the hymns. That's what we were doing earlier. We were talking to our own soul in desperation. Endure refuge of my weary soul. Oh, my soul, bless God the Father. Oh, we must sing these songs. with one another. Oh, we must sing these songs to one another. Oh, we must sing these songs sometimes for one another. That's the truth of Christ. The gospel is the balm for our disease, for our sin, for our feeling oppressed. We do not turn into victims, we turn to the victor. And we seek to sing his songs, read his word, and proclaim it to one another. The good news this morning, we're waiting on a Messiah, but that's Him finishing His mission with absolute justice and judgment. Today we can trust Him because He is seated at the right hand of the Father, having completed all His work so that He can truly help us. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you have not left us alone to be in despair, to fall victim. Lord, I pray for those who have had trials this week, trials this year, those who are gripped with anxiety and fear. Lord, these things are real and these things are paralyzing. And Lord, I pray that as we meditate upon your word, as we talk about it afterwards, and even now as we sing it. Lord, may your spirit use your word as a healing balm for our souls. Thank you for not leaving us alone, but giving us your own son. Jesus, we thank you for giving us your own life. We thank you, Lord, for giving us your spirit. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.