listed as written about a thousand years before Christ, cited as messianic prophecy fulfilled by Jesus healing the blind, deaf, lame and mute
1 The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.
2 It will blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. Lebanon’s glory will be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They will see Yahweh’s glory, the excellence of our God.
3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Tell those who have a fearful heart, “Be strong. Don’t be afraid. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God’s retribution. He will come and save you.
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
6 Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. Grass with reeds and rushes will be in the habitation of jackals, where they lay.
8 A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called The Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will not go there.
9 No lion will be there, nor will any ravenous animal go up on it. They will not be found there; but the redeemed will walk there.
10 The Yahweh’s ransomed ones will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
quoted as Jesus' first recorded sermon, the Spirit of the Lord anointed him to proclaim good news to the poor and freedom for captives
1 The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified.
4 They will rebuild the old ruins. They will raise up the places long devastated. They will repair the ruined cities, that have been devastated for many generations.
5 Strangers will stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners will work your fields and your vineyards.
6 But you will be called Yahweh’s priests. Men will call you the servants of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations, and you will boast in their glory.
7 Instead of your shame you will have double. Instead of dishonor, they will rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land, they will possess double. Everlasting joy will be to them.
8 “For I, Yahweh, love justice. I hate robbery and iniquity. I will give them their reward in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their offspring will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the offspring which Yahweh has blessed.”
10 I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My soul will be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth produces its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up; so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
Moses prophesying that God would raise up a prophet like him from among the Israelites
1 The priests the Levites, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire and his portion.
2 They shall have no inheritance among their brothers. Yahweh is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them.
3 This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts.
4 The first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.
5 For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in Yahweh’s name, him and his sons for ever.
6 If a Levite comes from any of your gates out of all Israel, where he lives as a foreigner, and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place which Yahweh shall choose;
7 then he shall minister in the name of Yahweh his God, as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before Yahweh.
8 They shall have like portions to eat, in addition to that which comes from the sale of his family possessions.
9 When you have come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations.
10 There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,
11 or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12 For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh. Because of these abominations, Yahweh your God drives them out from before you.
13 You shall be perfect with Yahweh your God.
14 For these nations that you shall dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery and to diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you so to do.
15 Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him.
16 This is according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again Yahweh my God’s voice, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die.”
17 Yahweh said to me, “They have well said that which they have spoken.
18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.
19 It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.”
21 You may say in your heart, “How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?”
22 When a prophet speaks in Yahweh’s name, if the thing doesn’t follow, nor happen, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.
God declaring he will raise up a faithful priest who will minister before his anointed one
35 I will raise me up a faithful priest, that will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house; and he will walk before my anointed forever.
primary sermon text covering the level place sermon, the beatitudes, the woes, love of enemies and be merciful as your Father is merciful
17 He came down with them, and stood on a level place, with a crowd of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
18 as well as those who were troubled by unclean spirits, and they were being healed.
19 All the multitude sought to touch him, for power came out of him and healed them all.
20 He lifted up his eyes to his disciples, and said, “Blessed are you who are poor, God’s Kingdom is yours.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.
23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers did the same thing to the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich! For you have received your consolation.
25 Woe to you, you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe, when men speak well of you, for their fathers did the same thing to the false prophets.
27 “But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.
29 To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other; and from him who takes away your cloak, don’t withhold your coat also.
30 Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask him who takes away your goods to give them back again.
31 “As you would like people to do to you, do exactly so to them.
32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.
34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive back as much.
35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.
36 “Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The sermon worked through the opening of the Sermon on the Mount in Luke, covering the four "blessed are" statements and their four matching "woe" statements, then moving into Jesus' commands to love enemies, do good, lend freely, and be merciful. It was preached with an undercurrent of personal grief, as the preacher had learned that week of the death of a 22-year-old, the son of a close cousin. The message returned again and again to one motivating idea: God himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people, and that is the reason his followers should be too.
What was said
Before getting into the text itself, the setting was established. Jesus had spent the night in prayer, named the twelve disciples, and then came partway down the mountain to a level place. Waiting for him was not only the twelve but a large crowd that had traveled from as far as Judea, Jerusalem, and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon. They came for two reasons: to hear him, and to be healed. The preacher noted that Luke, as a physician, distinguished carefully between healing of diseases and the casting out of unclean spirits, and that all of them were being healed.
The miracles were not incidental. The preacher walked through several Old Testament prophecies, including Isaiah 35 and Isaiah 61, that the rabbis in the four-hundred-year intertestamental period had come to treat as markers of Messiah's arrival. Blind people seeing, lame people leaping, the deaf hearing, good news proclaimed to the poor - these were on that list. Jesus was doing all of them, and when John the Baptist later sent messengers asking whether Jesus was truly the coming one, Jesus pointed right back to the same list. The miracles authenticate the message.
Jesus then looked up toward his disciples specifically, and the four "blessed are" statements were addressed to them. Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. And blessed are you when people hate you, exclude you, insult you, and scorn you on account of the Son of Man. The preacher paused on that last qualifier - "on account of the Son of Man" - because without it the statement would mean something entirely different. Suffering that we bring on ourselves through our own behavior is not the same thing as suffering that comes because of faithfulness to Jesus.
Each of the four blessings is directly mirrored by a woe. Woe to the rich who are already receiving their comfort in full. Woe to those who are well fed now, for they will be hungry. Woe to those who laugh now in derision, for they will mourn. And woe to those whom everyone speaks well of, because that is exactly how their fathers treated the false prophets. The preacher connected this to a broader point about balance: churches today tend to fall into camps of all blessing or all woe, and Jesus held both at once.
From that foundation, Jesus moved into direct commands. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who are abusive to you. Offer the other cheek. Give to everyone who asks, and do not demand back what is taken. The preacher was candid that he had lived through some of this the hard way, including going back years later to a man he had nursed a grudge against and apologizing. These are not instructions for becoming a doormat, he said, but they are genuinely hard, and the call to pray for an abuser does not mean staying in a dangerous situation.
The verse that anchored the whole section came near the end: God himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. That is why the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. That common grace, extended without qualification to people who have done nothing to deserve it, is the model. Love your enemies, do good, lend expecting nothing in return - because that is what the Most High does. The reward is real, the preacher said, but it is future and it requires delayed gratification.
The message closed with the call to be merciful just as the heavenly Father is merciful. The preacher pushed back on any picture of God as a cosmic killjoy waiting to punish the first mistake, calling that an errant view. God is merciful, and when someone comes to him humbly asking to be saved or changed, he responds. That mercy is both the character of God and the standard held out for those who follow him.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
The preacher described how crowds came to Jesus both to hear his message and to be healed, and said the miracles authenticated the message. What does it mean to you that Jesus tied his words so closely to tangible acts of compassion and healing?
Jesus looked up toward his disciples before delivering the Beatitudes, and the preacher emphasized that these words were directed at people who were actually following him. How does it change the way you hear 'blessed are you who are poor' or 'blessed are you who weep now' when you understand Jesus was speaking to people in the middle of real hardship, not just offering a general principle?
Good morning, everybody. How are you? Good to see you this morning. Hey. Should we stand and sing?
And as people come in and join, they'll hear a joyful noise. We've heard this voice... We... We've heard this verse before, but let's be reminded of it again. It...
It's from John fifteen twelve, and Jesus says, my command is this, love each other. Love each other as I've loved you. Let's sing of it. They'll know we're Christians by our love.
Are Christians by God. Oh, we will work with each other. We will work side by side.
Amen. Y'all can have a seat. I've got a few announcements, and I probably have a couple of ones that I am missing, but Blake said he would remind me. Monday night's supposed to be. What's happening?
Yep. We're on tomorrow. Mule music message. We're up to John chapter 12. It's many who don't believe as Jesus going to the cross, but I really do wanna focus on why.
Why do we believe?
Mhmm.
What are the reasons to believe? So that's tomorrow night, 06:00. At the same time is?
Awana is happening, and it starts off in this room. At least starts off here. Kids matter to God. We're trying to fill their heads with the truth of the gospel, the truth of scripture, and so that starts out in this room. They play games, and there's council time, and it's fun.
So Awana Kids Club, registration starts at 05:45, six to 07:30 is the way that goes. There is... Back in the back, there is an offering box. We've come up with lots of different ways, different methods. The motivation's always the same when we come to the offering time.
We'll pass plates here today. But if you ever are thinking, you know what? I just need somebody to pray for me. You can email us, and we'll get that out. No no problem.
We do that all the time. But if you want to just write it down, like, that simple act of writing in that prayer and casting it into that box right there, that is available for that. Operation Christmas Child, do you have somebody making an announcement? You all know what it is? There you are.
Here here we go. Back a back a block. Thank you. Get closer to the mic. This week I heard that they saw you but could not hear you.
Okay. Perfect.
Little closer.
Operation Christmas Child, you guys, most of you probably know what it is, but we're trying to get presents to kids around the world that normally don't receive Christmas presents. And... Thanks, Blake. So these boxes are in the back in the lobby, and there's a little slip in there that kinda gives you all the info that you need to know. But we are doing a packing party this Wednesday, November 17.
I think it's around six. So you can come help. We've assembled these boxes. We have tons of things, so you can bring things to donate to put in the boxes. And it's really fun.
We all come and pack them together. You can pack one on your own. You can take one home with you and fill it up. There are suggestions in the little slip on what to put in, but we usually put in hygiene products, art supplies, and then one kind of wow item that's like, you know, a doll or a ball or something fun for the child. Nothing liquidy, and that includes toothpaste.
So you can do, like, a toothbrush, a bar of soap, a rag, those types of things. They're $9 for shipping. You can pay that online or you can pay a check if you're packing your own box. So I think that's about it.
Yep. Sounds good. So there are some things listed in there not to include in the liquids you mentioned, but candy is another one. Candy feels like, oh, that's a good filler and you just fill it up with candy. Well, we have to take all the candy out because they're going to the uttermost parts.
You might think, well, it's going to last till December. But they ask us not to put them in there. So please, if you would, pay attention to what they ask to put not put in as much as you do what to put in. I think that one is that. There's a snowmobile retreat coming up January 28 through the thirtieth.
Richard Largie is the guy. This one says men's snowmobile retreat. But hey, ladies, if you all want to plan a snowmobile retreat, you're absolutely welcome to. I got a little bit of heat last week because I emphasized that it was a men's trip. It's just the way that it was.
All right, if you want to plan one, plan one. This one's already happened, 100 per person. Old Faithful Christian Ranch, Richard is the contact. And there's his phone number. Holy, holy, holy.
Oh, next week, next Sunday, we're going to do a hymn singing. I know you come to the first service probably, I would guess, because you like the music in this service. I don't know that. You might like the time. I'm not sure.
But we're doing an old fashioned hymn singing next week at 01:30. So after the second service, go eat, come back, and we're gonna sing for an hour or two. We'll see how it goes. So, old fashioned hymn singing and we'll have, piano and maybe, a few instruments. I don't think we're going to do any special music, mostly request.
Know, let's just keep singing hymns until we get tired of it. Connect hours happen in between services, and today there's a hot breakfast down there. So the Sandrettos have made a hot breakfast. If you want that immediately after the service, that should be ready. We are swapping over.
So for you all who are here in the building, you might not care as much about this, but we are swapping over from doing our services live on Facebook Live to YouTube. We're swapping platforms. I got an amen for that really. I heard an amen. Facebook to YouTube and it should make the archive a little bit easier.
The process is a little bit easier for us too to get it on both our website, which is always should be available and on YouTube rather than Facebook. Anybody have another announcement that I'm forgetting? On YouTube, you can find us by just searching First B. Jackson and subscribe to us on YouTube. Perfect.
Thank you very much. That swap over is happening. Anything else? Omissions, deletions, corrections, anybody, suggestions? Would you stand with us and we'll sing Psalm 92.
I'm glad to be here. It's good to be here this morning.
Let's to sing that again. Your It is good.
It is good to praise you, Lord, and make news to your name almost high. I sing for joy at the sound of your name and the words of your hands. Oh, you make me
And it is good. Let's sing. Now, this is something that we get to do, that we get to worship you. We get to meet with you. Thank you, God, for this privilege, truly.
Would you tune our hearts to sing your praise this morning, to meet with you, to learn from you? Holy Spirit, would you fill us? Would you fill this place? Would you teach us? Would you remind us?
Would you do all that you can do? All that you... Only you can do. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Worthy of every song we could ever say. Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring, worthy of every breath we could ever bring, we live for you. Jesus, the name above every other name. Jesus, the only one who could ever say. Worthy of every breath we could ever bring.
We live for you. Love to those around me. And I will build my
God, I can't think of a a more solid foundation truly to build our lives on than your love, your self giving, others focused love. And, God, with your Holy Spirit, we're empowered to do the same. God, we make mistakes every single day, every single one of us, but that's why you came. That's why you're here, to empower us, to fill us. God, again, I'm I'm praying it, and and I mean it.
God, would you do what only you can do today? In Jesus' name. Amen.
All your promises are listening to me. All your promises are listening. Your faithfulness. I will rest in your long sales. My confidence is your faithfulness.
And now we rest in your promises. My confidence Here's your faithfulness.
You're have a seat here just for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service, and I'll invite the the ushers to to come on forward. And here's just an encouraging word from Proverbs eleven twenty five. This church is so generous. It truly is.
And a lot of the things that happen are just they're behind the scenes and nobody knows about them, but people are so generous here. And I just... I I want to I want to I just wanna say it out loud and thank God for it. Thank you for for your generosity. Thank God that he is working through this church to be such a generous church.
And and here's here's an encouraging word from Proverbs eleven twenty five. The generous will prosper prosper. Those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed. Isn't that good news? That as you are refreshing others, God is refreshing you.
Ray, would you pray?
God almighty, we thank you this morning. We gather in your name and that acknowledgment that you are you are a generous God. It's pointed out a couple of times in the in the text today of scripture that your common grace, lord, you you cause the rain to fall on the just and the unjust, and that's a good thing, and you just do it. In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that we would be commonly gracious, that we wouldn't just be gracious to the ones who are gracious to us, but that we'd be walking around reflecting your goodness and your glory, that we'd live transformed lives. Lord, may we live life with an open hand.
This this church and each of us as individuals. In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask your blessing on this offering time. We ask for you to bless the gift and the giver, Lord. Would you do with these resources exactly what you want done? We, Lord, bow before you, and we listen for your direction.
Show us your way, Lord, and allow us the strength to walk in it. In Jesus name, amen.
Mighty, so holy, so wonderful. Such an awesome God, so
Amen. It's time for Sunday school children's church downstairs. There they go. How are you all this morning? It seems a little somber in here for some reason this morning to me.
I'm not sure exactly why. But probably, you bring into a situation whatever you're carrying with you. Right? And so I'm a little somber this morning. Yeah.
I'll get to it. I can't help it. Sorry. Pray with me, would you? God almighty, whatever we bring before you, whatever we bring to you, whatever we bring with us with...
That we're dragging around, Lord, may we be able to just cast it over onto you. God, I pray that you would carry our burdens. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, you say, through it. First Peter five. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God so that you may exalt us in due time.
We're to be casting our cares on you because you care for us. Thank you, Lord, that you care for us. In Jesus' name, amen. So we're up, the sermon on the mount. And I I wrestle all the time with don't add anything to scripture there.
You know, all the way through Revelation, I talked about how it says, don't add anything to this book. Don't take anything away from this book. Pay attention to what it says. We're gonna go up to an intermission. I'll call it an intermission because we're gonna stop there for a week.
But halfway through the Sermon on the Mount in Luke. So it's told, and I've been doing this Harmony of the Gospel style where I do Matthew, Mark, and Luke all at the same time. And so for a little pericope, you can do that. Just a little thing that you can cut around, you can do that. And this though, it's the sermon on the mount.
This is Jesus' sermon. I want for him to speak today exactly what he was saying to them. And our attention spans have certainly shrunk since this sermon was delivered, I'm sure. So we're gonna do it over two weeks from Luke, and I don't know how many from Matthew. It's almost three chapters of Matthew.
So it's gonna take some time. Did y'all read before you got here this morning? Did you read the email that said what the scripture was gonna be? Okay. It's it's a it's a full dose.
It's a heavy dose for for those of us living today, but I think there's so much goodness in here. So here we go. Now last week, remember that naming of the 12 disciples is where we were. So it gives the names of the 12 disciples, and I did that from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Mainly Mark and Luke.
But it says that after he had named the 12, so he stayed up. Luke tells us he stayed up all night praying, keeping vigil, and then he called together his disciples whom he had chosen, whom he appointed as the 12. And then right after it says the names of these people, this is the next verse. It says, and then Jesus came down with them, with these 12. Jesus came down with the 12, and he stood on a level place.
So he had been up on a mountain, and he comes back down partially down the mountain till there... Where there's a flat spot. Good place for... I I kinda see it probably a little more elevated than this, but when you go up Snow King, you know, you're up on the mountain there. It's Snow King Mountain.
It's not the same as the village, but it's right there. And then you come down, and there gets to be this long flat spot, the good place to preach. And so he was coming down with them, and he stood on this level place, and there was a large crowd of his disciples. So the 12 were with him, and there was a large crowd of other people who had been following him, some of them the whole time. We know Justice and Matthias were there because they've been following him the whole time since John's baptism.
And there was a large crowd of his disciples. This is a more general term. The 12 are a specific special kind of called out group. And then the main makeup of this crowd, it sounds like, is his followers. But then it says this, and there was also a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.
I didn't put a slide in there, but in Psalm 87, there's a reference that all of the world is gonna know him, and it mentions Tyre in specific. Like... So I think Luke probably mentions this because it's one of those things. It's a fulfillment of messianic prophecy for him to be speaking to groups that are other than just our peeps, you know, just our people, the ones that we know. And if you're looking at a map, there's a map of Judea as the southern portion of what we call Israel and what they called Israel way back in the day.
Judea is down here, and then Jerusalem obviously is right there. And honestly, if you're gonna circle Judea, I just circled the name Judea, it's really more like this. It's the whole southern portion there surrounding Jerusalem, which is its epicenter. And then there's Tyre inside, which you're in modern day Lebanon. If you were to go to Lebanon today, that's where Tyre is.
And there are archaeological ruins there. It's been... Since the Old Testament days, it's been a port city and very important commercial center. But if you see down here in Judea and all the way up to... It's covering the gamut.
There are wide range of people who are present for this sermon on the mount. A great multitude people from all of Judea, Jerusalem, coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him. It lists two reasons. They came to hear him, so that's the message. They wanted to hear what he had to say.
That's good. It's it's awesome when somebody is doing a talk and people show up to hear him. But that's not the only reason they came. They had come to hear him to be healed of their diseases too. The word had gotten out about the miracles.
Now I have said over and over and over over and over that the miracles authenticate the message. And whenever Jesus said what he was here to do, it was to proclaim. It was to preach. It was to give the message that God loves you, cares about you, and is drawing you in to his kingdom, if you'll have it. He's not forceful about it, but the message is to proclaim liberty to the captives, to proclaim freedom, to be healed of their diseases.
So there's both message and miracles. That's why they came. It goes further and says, and those who were troubled by unclean spirits were being cured. You know, I mentioned last week that everywhere Jesus went, it seems like the spiritual activity was very, very palpable. It was...
It's intangible in that it's spiritual, but it has physical effects. And I've spoken to people this week. I spoke to one person this week that was dramatically affected by an unclean spirit. Still today, it does happen. And Jesus is still the one who has the power to cure that and turn in people towards him, like Andrew, bringing people to him is a good thing.
Those who are troubled by unclean spirits were being cured and all the people were trying to touch him. They were thronging him, it says. They're getting closer and closer and trying to get just as close as they can because power was coming from him and it was healing them all. Now Luke's a physician and he makes a distinction between the healing of the diseases and those who are troubled by unclean spirits. Now, certainly, there's a relationship between the two, but he covers it again when he says all of them that were coming because he was healing all of them.
He was healing all of them and he was presenting this message. So miracles authenticating the message. I mention that all the time, and I want you to see that there were Old Testament prophecies along with... Now, in between the Old Testament and the New Testament, we have what theologians and scholars call the intertestamental silence. So between the Old Testament and New Testament, it's about four hundred years.
And during that four hundred years, the rabbis had studied and studied and studied the Old Testament, and they had come up with a, their own interpretations of it. Now, since the New Testament, we've had nearly two thousand years to come up with interpretations and you see how divergent our views have become. Do you not? Can you see that? So there were people that argued over all the time and there are lots of things that have been written about it.
And in between the times, they had taken some of these verses and they had gone even beyond that and said, we will know that messiah has come when these things happen. And I'm gonna list a few of them here. Isaiah 35 was written about a thousand years before Christ. Then in those days, will the eyes of the blind be opened? Did Jesus open blind people's eyes?
He did. And the ears of the deaf unstopped. Did he do that? He did. Then will the lame leap like a deer.
Did they do that? They did. And the mute tongue shall shout for joy. Did they do that? They did.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness. I am the water of life. Anybody who believes in me will have it flowing through them too. Yeah. And streams in the desert.
Basically, all this place that we're talking about is all desert, you know. That's Isaiah 35. So that is saying that when Messiah comes, these things will be happening. Jesus himself quoted this in Isaiah 61 in the first recorded sermon that we have. The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me.
Anointed one means Messiah. I mean, Messiah means anointing one. To proclaim what? Good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted.
Oh, a bruised reed he would not break. Yeah. A smoldering wick he would not extinguish. And to proclaim freedom for the captives, the oppressed, and release from darkness for the prisoners. Here's another one.
The Lord your God. This is all the way back to Moses in Deuteronomy. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me. From among you, he'll be one of your countrymen. He'll be Jewish.
From your fellow Israelites and you must listen to him. That's Moses. First Samuel, I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in my heart and in my mind, God says. I will firmly establish his priestly house and they they, those, will minister before my anointed one always. And he's just chosen the 12.
Right? And he comes down and they will be ministering in his name. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant. Jeremiah thirty one thirty one. We've mentioned that new covenant every time we do communion.
The new covenant with my people of Israel and the people of Judah. Getting back to that Isaiah one. This is the main one that I wanted to mention today. Now there were along the Targum's Midrash, all of that sort of stuff in the intertestamental silence. There were things that people were supposed to know Messiah is here when these things start happening, and they were happening all over the place.
One more thing. This is in the next chapter loop, but I wanna get to it. Remember when John the Baptist began to doubt? The guy who pointed and said, this is the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. Every one of us gets down at times.
We all get down at times. Our identity gets confused, and we get to thinking, it's what I believe really real. We all hit that place at some point. When the men came to him, they said, John the Baptist sent us to ask you, are you the coming one that anointed the Messiah, or are we to look for another? And at that very time, while they were coming, Jesus was curing many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and he gave sight to many who were blind.
And he answered them and said, go and report to John what you have seen and heard. The miracles authenticate the message. People who were blind receive sight, people who limped, walked, people with leprosy are cleansed, people who were deaf hear, dead people are raised up, and people who are poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is anyone that does not take offense at me. That's pretty good.
It's the next chapter of Luke, but little precursor there. And all the people were trying to touch him because power was coming out from him, and he was healing them all. And it says, and he raised his eyes towards his disciples. Jesus knew the ones who were following him. Carl came in, and I was reading this to Carl early in the week.
We often preach back and forth to one another. He came into the office, and I said, and Christ raised his eyebrows towards his disciples. And he said, does this say eyebrows? No. It doesn't say eyebrows, but it just...
It's a funny image. I wanted to share it with y'all. Christ raised his eyebrows. I think he would raise his eyebrows actually. What in the world is going on?
He raised his eyebrows. Golly, it's hard to shake. He raised his eyes towards his disciple. He was looking at the ones who were following him. He paid specific attention, not just the 12.
The 12 had been with him all that morning and then when they gathered up, he looked and he raised his eyes towards his disciples and he empathized with them. He had compassion with them. There's a parallelism that starts right here. It's stronger. The parallelism is stronger, I think, in Luke than it is in Matthew, but it's real in both places.
The parallelism here is four blessed are statements followed by four statements of woe, and here they go. And he raised his eyes toward his disciples. Toward his disciples. It's important. And he began saying, blessed are you poor.
You who are poor is a good translation, but blessed are you who are poor. You, towards his disciples. He knows that there's something that comes with a spiritual surrender to God that is not worldly. It's not like everybody else all of the time forever. Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
You've turned away from what this life has to offer and you've latched on to God. Blessed are you poor, though you may be, for yours is the kingdom of God. So there are four of these, blessed are statements. The next one says, blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. I'm trying not to add anything, just let Jesus preach, you know.
I think we do a whole lot of trying to take away from some of this, the heaviness of it. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. One of my greatest blessings in this church is be able to help people who are hungry or broken down or they don't have a place to stay. And when Carl mentioned your generosity, think that's what he was talking about because y'all allow for that to happen. Blessed are you who are hungry now for you'll be satisfied.
Have you been hungry? Now, blessed are you who hunger and thirst after righteousness, that's the way we're used to hearing this in Matthew, but blessed are you who are actually hungry now, for you will be satisfied. You are delaying gratification. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. I mentioned being somber.
And the Bible tells us to mourn with those who mourn. I lost a dear. I I have a dear cousin that we played together all the time when we were little, and we're close, close friends. He and his brother and me and my brother always played together around my hometown, and he... Reggie had two sons, and we lost one this week.
He's 22 years old. He's in college. And I have been crying all week long since I heard. It was just Thursday morning that I heard, but so has Tanya. Blessed are you who weep and mourn now, for you will laugh.
Now I have something that Seth is the son. I have something right here that he wrote that was of his deep and abiding faith in Christ, I'm thankful for that. But I'm so broken for Reggie and for his mom Elise. Blessed. It doesn't feel like a blessing right now.
Blessed are you who weep now for you will laugh. Blessed are you when the people hate you. That doesn't sound like a blessing, does it? How many people pleasers we have here? Don't raise your hand just because I asked you to.
Okay. I saw a few hands. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, and when they insult you, and when they scorn your name as evil, on account of the son of man. Now if it didn't have on account of the son of the man at the end of that, it'd be a completely different message because we can do things that drive people away from us. Can I get an amen?
We can do things that just... It's not blessed either when we do things that drive people away from us, and it's because of us. When we want self and we repel people, don't put that on Jesus. Right? But if it's on account of the son of man, if it's on account of Jesus that people hate us and exclude us and insult us and scorn us as evil, then we're blessed.
That's hard stuff right there. Rejoice in that day. This is the following verse. So blessed are you when they hate you, exclude you, insult you, scorn you. On account of the son of man, rejoice on that day and jump for joy.
For behold, your reward is great in heaven. It's a delayed satisfaction in a way. There's plenty of joy to abound in an abundant life. There's plenty of joy in that. But you also will be ridiculed for it.
For their fathers used to treat the prophets the same way. The true prophets, the ones who are prophesying from God often were mistreated. Do you remember that from the Old Testament? Yeah. Happens all the time.
People didn't want to believe him. I talk about Jeremiah a lot. He had forty years of delivering a faithful message from God, exactly what he said, and people just threw him in the pit, ran him down, listened to everybody but him. Yeah. Their fathers, the ones who are insulting you, excluding you, and treating you with scorn used to treat the prophets the same way.
And then go into a series of woe, but woe to you who are rich. For you are receiving your comfort in fullness. As riches go in this world, we... I think most all of us, not all, but most of us are pretty rich by geography, location, birth, whatnot. But do you depend on that?
Is that where you put your faith, is in your riches? But woe to you who are rich for you are receiving your comfort in full. So these four statements, they mirror those other four pretty exactly. Woe to you who are well fed now. The first one said, woe to you who...
I mean, blessed are you who are poor. The... Blessed are you that are hungry. This one says, woe to you who are well fed now for you will be hungry. Proverbs 30.
I love this. Proverbs seven, eight, and nine of Proverbs 30. It says, two things I have asked of you and do not refuse me before I die, says the wise one. Keep deception and lies far from me. I want to be truthful and honest.
Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is my portion, not too much, not too little, so that I will not be full and deny you and say, who is the Lord? You get so rich and wealthy that you just forget about and that you don't even need him. And so that I will not become so impoverished that I'm tempted to steal and profane the name of my God. Keep me right there, where I have what I need, but don't make it so much that I forget about you.
Jesus says it's difficult for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God because he knows how tempting it can be to put your faith in what you can see and what you can count rather than what you cannot on this side see and what you cannot easily count. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. There is plenty of joy, and I see Jesus in my mind with a smile on his face, and I would imagine a turn of a phrase that would keep people laughing, but this is a deeper thing than that. Woe to you who laugh, derision is your norm, where you're just making fun of people all the time. Woe to you who laugh now for you will mourn and weep.
There is a day coming. There's a famous old sermon called payday someday. Payday someday. Woe to you when all people speak well of you. Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets the same way.
If you read Jeremiah and you read about the other prophets that were just saying whatever was profitable, with an f not a p h, when they were just saying what was popular. I think of Amos, and I think of the false prophets surrounding Amos and Jose and all the other ones that had hard row to hoe. The true prophets would go deliver the message to the king and just be chased out of there by all of the security, you know. And then a false prophet would come in and they'd say, yeah, we want to believe this guy. We go so far as to even have Balaam where he's getting paid to bless.
Right? Even when that's not what the word of the Lord says, that's a different story for a different day. Woe to you when all the people speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets the same way. It's a negative reiteration of that six twenty three. These parallel each other.
It's a mirror. It's like two sides of the same coin. Rejoice on that day for their fathers used to treat the prophets the same way. As it turns out, the true prophets were true and the false prophets were false. Woe to you when old people speak well, for their fathers used to speak...
Treat the false prophets the same way. So there's a parallelism there, and he sets that up before. I think that it's important to... Everything's extreme these days. Right?
We have extreme right, extreme left, and we have churches that are extreme one way or extreme the other. I think balance is super important that if we are to be blessing, we also ought to be making the proclamation of woe at the same time. Does... Jesus did, and I think that we should. I don't think we should concentrate too much on the blessing or too much on the woe.
And I... When I see... Especially in national media, I see churches that fall into two camps and one of them is all blessing and one of them is all woe. Isaiah three ten says this, say to the righteous that it will go well for them. How do you get to be righteous?
Trust in God. Humbly bow before him and he will transform you and make you righteous. Say to the righteous that it will go well for them, for they will eat the fruit of their actions. God's got works in mind for you to do, and it'll go well for you if and when you do them. But it also says this, woe to the wicked because it will go badly for them.
So that's great balance For what he deserves will be done to him. Christ has taken on the sin of everyone who will ever put their faith in him. And he, God, imputes his righteousness to us. And so say to the righteous, if you've accepted that, it'll go well for you. But if you've rejected that, it's not gonna go well for you.
That's balanced. But I say... Now Jesus sets up right here. I say, but I say this to you who are hear... Hearing, to those of you who are listening.
And he recognizes he's looking up towards his disciples, but he knows he's got other people there. I'm saying to anybody who's willing to listen this, love your enemies. Love your enemies. Just let Christ speak there. Did he love his enemies?
When he's being nailed to the cross, he's saying, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. I say to you, love your enemies. This one is so against everything that we've been programmed to think. You have enemies. Right?
If you have enemies, loving them is is not what you do to enemies. But Jesus said, yes, it is. Yes, it is. Love your enemies. Love them.
Grace is unmerited favor. You can have grace towards anyone. Love your enemies. I'm saying to you who are hearing, love your enemies. And do good to those who hate you.
Does that sound just so wrong? Does it sound so backwards? Do good to those who hate you. There will be those who hate you. Do good to them.
And Jesus is saying, I say to you who are listening, do good to the ones that hate you. You know, he's the same guy that said if a Roman soldier compels you to go with him one mile, he says, go with him too. Bless those who curse you. I say to you who hear, bless those who curse you. It's hard to be cursed.
It's hard for people to to not understand and speak openly and with derision about you. Jesus saying to whoever will hear, bless those who curse you. Pray for those who are abusive to you. Oh, I can hear it right now. This is just teaching us to be a doormat.
I don't like this at all. He's saying, they're being abusive to you. That's on them, But you pray for them. You pray that I would transform them. You can't do anything to change them, but you can pray for them.
And please get out of an abusive situation if you can, but still continue to pray for that abuser because Christ says so and because you want for them to be transformed. I say to you who hear, bless those who curse you and pray for those who are abusive to you. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also. Boy, that's real word hard right there. I was telling a story last Monday night about a fight in which two licks were passed.
A guy hit me and I hit the floor. He hit me so hard that it knocked me out, broke my nose, and blacked both of my eyes at one time. And I vowed to get back at that guy. I didn't have the chance to hit him back at the time, but the way that I justified it in my mind is he hit me on one cheek and I just offered him the other. He flopped me over and I...
No. I'm just kidding. It was bad though. But I... When I came to the place of actually trying and getting to the place of internalizing this, though I slip out of it, when I got to the place of internalizing, I went back to that guy and said, man, I've been holding something against you for years.
And I'm sorry. Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also. If he hits you on the cheek, that's on him. That's not on you. If you hit him back, that's on you.
I say to you who here, whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also. Whoever takes away your cloak steals from you. Don't withhold from him your tunic either. Blessed are you who are poor for my name's sake. I say to you who here, whoever takes away your cloak, don't withhold your tunic from him either.
Give to everyone who asks of you. He doesn't put any qualifying statement on that. It's just that. Give to whoever, everyone who asks of you. And whoever takes what is yours, do not demand it back.
Boy, Boy, when you're learning this in elementary school and you go to school, it's really hard. This is really, really, really hard stuff, but the truth is it is really hard. But Christ is transforming us into people who are just gracious. We'll keep going. We've got about six more verses.
Give to everyone who asks you and whoever takes away from you what is yours, do not demand it back. I say to you who hear, give to everyone who asks of you. That's pretty open. That's pretty benevolent. Treat people the same way you want them to treat you.
That's the golden rule, the way Luke says it. Treat them the same way you want them to treat you. If you want to be received with grace instead of condemnation, then treat people with grace instead of condemnation. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
Everybody loves people that love them. Right? That's not countercultural. That's not otherworldly. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you?
For even sinners do the same. Everybody does that. I'm asking you, Jesus says, to be different. Don't just love the ones who love you, and don't just do good to the ones who do good to you. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you?
It's just a loan. You're getting it right back. What credit is that to you? This doesn't even mention interest by the way, or usury. If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back that same amount or more. But, he says, love your enemies. Second time he said it, but love your enemies. Love them. Love them.
I know you got classifications for who is your enemy. I know you got big time classifications, and you've put people into groups. We all do that. There are lots of different groups in the Bible. But love your enemies.
Enemies. How will we know who our enemies are if we love them? I think that's half the point. Right? We should have a diminishing pool of enemies.
And do good. Love your enemies and do good. Thank you, Jesus. And lend. This is an interesting one.
He says, now you read Old Testament. I've quoted Proverbs a couple times since I've been up here, and you'll read in the Old Testament. It says, if you lend to someone who is in need, you will have to do it again. But even the proverb doesn't say don't do it. So just expect it.
If you're gracious and generous, people will come to you and they will not be afraid to ask. Love your enemies, do good, and lend expecting nothing in return. And your reward will be great. It's delayed gratification for Christ. And your reward will be great.
It's future. And you will be sons of the most high. You will be. This is showing that you are children of God when you live by his spirit. Love your enemies, do good and lend, expect nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the most high.
And this is the verse that caught me this week. For he himself, that is Most High, Father God, he himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. That's our motivation right there. He himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. Okay.
As far as classifications of people go, we all start out ungrateful. We all start out evil, theologically and practically. He himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. This is what I mentioned during the operatory prayer today about God's common grace. He allows and he causes, it says, the rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
And rain is a good thing. Rain is what makes crops grow, and rain is what gives us water to drink, and rain is a good thing. And he he just graciously gives that no matter who we are or what we do. He himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. Because God is kind to ungrateful and evil people, we should be too.
This is hard stuff. And then we'll close with this. Be merciful just as your father is merciful. And I... Actually, when I read this in the modern day, and I know that earthly fathers can be pretty rough and pretty un Christ like and not like God our father.
I'm gonna stick heavenly in there. Be merciful just as your heavenly father is merciful. He is merciful. And if you have another idea of God, that he's a cosmic killjoy that's just waiting to smack you down as soon as you make the first little error, you've got an errant view of God. God is merciful.
You come to God humbly and say, God, save me. He will. He does. You come to God and say, God, change me. He will.
He does. That's what he does because he is merciful. He's looking out for you. And Jesus is saying for us to also be merciful. Now, I'm gonna count that as the intermission.
That's the place. There's been plenty to chew on. Right? Are you with me? Blessings, woe, golden rule, be merciful just as your heavenly father is merciful.
I think that's the last slide. Lord God, would y'all y'all stand? We're gonna sing another song. Lord God Almighty, I pray that for those of us who are mourning right now, you would give us joy in the journey. I pray that our our hearts, Lord, would be entwined with those who are hurting, that we would be compassionate, that we would raise our eyes up to look at the people, and that we would be able to proclaim things that are loving, kind, merciful, gracious, and true to the...
To those people. Lord, I pray that we would not look up and raise our eyebrows at those people and proclaim a message of destruction and calamity. Lord God Almighty, may we be merciful just as you are merciful. In Jesus' name, amen. The altar is always open for prayer.
If you wanna speak to me, you're welcome to come forward. If you wanna speak to any of the elders, would y'all... Elders, would y'all come up to the front? And so as not to be threatening and just staring like prison guards, would you not look towards them? Would you just kinda bow your heads?
If they want you, they'll come after you. Alright? God help us. Amen. Amen.
And for benediction this morning, we have this, seek good and not evil that you may live. This is from Amos. Amos is so great. Seek good not evil that you may live. Then lord our God almighty will be with you just as he says, as you say that he is.
Just as you say that he is. Do you want God to be with you? Then, seek after good and not evil that you may live. God almighty, would you help us? I I don't feel like I've helped the somber tone in this room one bit.
God, would you help us to find the joy in the journey? Would you help us, lord, to recognize that we are not good without you, and we can only be transformed by submission to your spirit. May we be that way in Jesus' name. Amen.
