Good morning, church. How are you today? Good to see you. Good to be with you. If I haven't met you yet, my name is Dave, and I serve as the director of discipleship. We're going to pray, as we do each week, to prepare our hearts to worship God as we study his Word. So, if you would, just bow your head and close your eyes.
I first want to invite you this morning to pray for yourself. Ask the Lord to speak directly to your heart today. Next, I want to invite you to pray for those you know around you. If you know anybody in the room today who doesn't yet know Jesus, would you specifically pray that that person meets Jesus today? Finally, would you pray for me that my words would be true to the Bible and would be helpful to you?
Father, thank you that we're here together today. Thank you that you're a God who makes himself known to us. Father, I pray, as we open up our Bibles, you would open up our eyes to see Jesus for all that he is and that you would, at the same time, open up our hearts that we would see Jesus as someone we want to know, love, trust, and obey. In his good name we pray these things, amen.
My wife Kara and I have four adult daughters, each of them married now, each of them with kids of their own. When they were little, they loved to perform. It was a nightly ritual in our home. I'll give you a taste of exactly what that looked like now.
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They're so shy. If you're here this morning and your kids get a little rowdy, it's okay. I'm used to that. That's what I spent most of my life in. I remember specifically, though, there was one time when they were performing, and one of my daughters was singing a song with a mic that was somewhat like this. It's a lot of pink and a lot of bling. It's a princess mic, if you didn't know that. When she finished singing her song, she did something I'd never seen. She took the mic, she stretched it out, and she dropped it.
I looked at Kara, and I was stunned. It was the rudest thing I'd ever seen in my life. I said, "What just happened here?" Kara said to me, "That's called a mic drop." I said, "Yeah. Right. But what is a mic drop?" The explanation she gave me is when you sing the perfect song or say exactly the right thing at the right time, you drop the mic and walk away because it can't get any more final than that.
Today, we are going to look at a mic-drop moment in the life of Jesus. To get there, we need to first look at Isaiah, chapter 61. So, if you have your Bible, I want you to turn with me to Isaiah, chapter 61. We're going to read the first three verses of this text together.
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified."
If you're here for the first time today, I'm so glad you're here. As a church, we've been reading through the Bible together this year, a year we've called the Year of the Word. We're now at the end of Isaiah. Yesterday, we wrapped up Isaiah. If you haven't been reading with us, jump in tomorrow. We start Jeremiah.
As we looked at Isaiah, Isaiah has two big parts to it. Chapters 1-39 in Isaiah are about punishment, but the second part of Isaiah is about promise. The first part is God disciplining his people, but the second part of the book is about God delivering his people. We see elements of correction in the first 39 chapters, but now we're at the part where God wants to comfort his people. We see from this text that he's going to do it through one specific person, a person who has been alluded to as a servant, a king.
As a matter of fact, If you would, I'd like for you to circle the word anointed in verse 1. "…because the Lord has anointed me…" That's an important word in the Bible. When we think of the Hebrew basis of this word, we use the word Messiah. If we think about the way it plays out in the New Testament, the Greek language, we use the word Christ. Messiah is going to be raised up in order to deliver the people of God into the kingdom of God.
Who is the Messiah? What does he do? According to the Bible, the Messiah is the one who's going to liberate God's people and lead them into the kingdom of God. That then raises another question: What is the kingdom of God? We see this phrase alluded to in the Old Testament, brought up frequently by Jesus in the New Testament.
I love Graeme Goldsworthy's definition of the kingdom of God. I think it's the best one out there. He simply says it's God's people in God's place under the rule and blessing of God. I would like to add to it God's presence. You and I today, as we gather together to worship Jesus, are in the kingdom of God. We are God's people in God's place…that is, we are in Christ. We are in the presence of God, and he is ruling and reigning over us through Jesus.
Here's what I love about this passage. Do you see the life transformation? Do you see the reversal of fortune the Messiah is going to bring? Those who are afflicted, those who are poor, are going to hear good news. Those who are prisoners, those who are held captive, are going to be released. Those who are brokenhearted are going to be healed. Those who are mourning are going to become happy.
I love the last thing. What God is going to do through the Messiah is those who are unrighteous are going to become righteous. Ultimately, why is God doing this? I love the last part of verse 3. Here's why God does this. It's why he does everything he ever does. He does it "…that he may be glorified."
Now, there are two periods of time that are given here I want you to see. I don't want you to miss this. Scripture says there is going to be the "year of the Lord's favor." That means God is going to act benevolently toward his people. He's going to give them mercy, acceptance, forgiveness, and kindness.
God has been warning his people, generation after generation, that they need to turn from the idols they've sought and turn back to him, and they've refused to do so, so hard consequences are coming, but there will be a time when God will pour out his favor, his grace, his goodness upon his people. And there's a day. Do you see that? It's a scary-sounding day. There's a year. The year is of the Lord's favor. The day is simply the "day of vengeance of our God."
How would you feel if you were in the first audience that heard this text? Put yourself in their sandals. What would it be like to be an Israelite at this time, watching, in many ways, the spiritual reality of your people degrade? You get to the point that you know you're going into exile, but after exile, there's this amazing promise.
God says to you, "Ultimately, I'm going to give you my grace, and not only that; I'm going to take it out on your enemies." God is saying, "All of these people I've used to discipline you aren't good people; they're just people I've used, but when it's all said and done, they're going to get what they deserve." You would have a sense of elation. You would have a sense of joy.
I thought about this all week. What would that be like in our day and time? Here's the closest thing I can come to. It's what I would feel like as a Dallas Cowboys fan. It has been a long journey in the desert, 29 years since the last Super Bowl. If they don't make it this year, it'll be 30 years. There are adults in this room who've never known the Cowboys to win a Super Bowl their whole life.
Every year, it's the same turnstile of a cycle. Every year, hope builds about now. The season begins, hope falls apart, then it comes back a little bit, and it always ends in crushing fashion. Imagine the prophet Isaiah coming to us and saying, "I have a word of the Lord. The Cowboys are going to win every Super Bowl from here on out."
I would think of my grandson in this photo. Here he is. I want you to see him. He would never know the Cowboys to lose again in his generation. That would make me so happy. Now, true confession: his dad is not a Cowboys fan, and somehow we took this picture when he wasn't looking. That's the privilege of a grandparent. You can feed kids things their parents don't like them to eat, and you can change their wardrobe as soon as they leave. It's okay. You're a grandparent. I think it's somewhere in the Bible that you can do that.
So, he would live the rest of his life in the joy of victory. If that weren't enough, God says, "And I'm going to take it out on the enemies of the Dallas Cowboys." Now, when I think about a team that has been a thorn in our side over the last 30 years, it's the Eagles. Take a look at this picture. Isn't that awesome? Don't you love that picture? That picture just warms my heart. I don't know what it is. Like, "Start crying now, because this is going to be your future forever." (I know. I'll show up at re:gen tomorrow night and deal with that.)
Now, what does this have to do with Jesus? I want us to pick up a story in the gospel of Luke where Jesus is going to teach on the passage we just looked at, all of the promises God is making to his people, and from that passage, I want to ask you three simple questions today. So, fast-forward in time with me about 800 years, and we're going to land in Luke 4:14-21.
"And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written…" Here we go. Here's our passage.
"'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and 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 rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him."_ Ready for his mic drop? Here we go. "And he began to say to them, 'Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'"_ Wow!
It has been 800 years since this promise had been made. Jesus shows up in his hometown. He's a traveling rabbi. He goes among the people he grew up with. He goes to the synagogue. Every Sabbath in the synagogue, they read sections of the Old Testament. It comes to the scroll of Isaiah. He opens it up to Isaiah 61. He reads this. He sits down, because that's what rabbis did. They sat down to teach. And he says simply, "Today, right here, right now, in your presence, this has been fulfilled."
Could you imagine what that room was like? Could you imagine the way people looked and thought of Jesus? "Wait a minute. This is Joseph and Mary's boy. We've spent our whole life around him. He's impressive in what he knows, but how can he ever dare make this statement?" Make no doubt. Jesus is saying without any hesitation, any explanation, "I am the Christ. I am the Messiah."
Now, if you read ahead from this passage, the people don't receive him as Messiah. They actually reject him. He makes the people in his hometown so angry they take him to the edge of town and want to shove him off a cliff and kill him. It doesn't happen then. Then Jesus, as a pattern, spends the rest of his life proclaiming to be the Messiah. He's rejected by his people. He lives the only perfect life that has ever been lived, keeping all of the commandments of God perfectly.
He goes to the cross. There he dies in your place and my place, taking upon himself our sin. The good news I have for you today is you won't find the bones of Jesus anywhere. Jesus doesn't have a tomb somewhere where you can go and pay homage to his remains. Jesus is resurrected. Jesus is physically, bodily risen from the grave. He's at the right hand of God the Father. One day, he'll come back, and he'll rule and reign forever. That's good news. Absolutely.
Through the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus, God offers us freely, to be received by faith, forgiveness from sin and freedom to walk in newness of life. Why did the people reject Jesus? Why didn't they take him at his word? Why do people today underestimate Jesus? Why do people today misunderstand Jesus? Why do people misinterpret Jesus? Here's what I think happens: Jesus isn't who we expect him to be.
The people Jesus came and spoke to that day in the synagogue thought their biggest issue was political. Jesus makes it very clear it's a spiritual problem. The Jews in the days of Jesus thought their biggest issue was they were enslaved to the Romans and were subject to Caesar. Jesus makes it very clear, "Your biggest problem is you're enslaved to sin and oppressed by Satan," and Jesus comes and brings the kingdom of God.
I didn't grow up going to church. It's so great to see kids in the room with us who are being taught the whole Bible. What a great presentation Catherine gave earlier. My grandma would take me to church every now and then when my parents would let her. When I'd go to church with her, I didn't go to big church; I went to something called Sunday school. Small room. I went there. This was in the early 70s. That dates me a little bit.
My Sunday school teacher was an interesting dude. Long, flowing hair. He wore denim on denim on denim. I don't think he bathed very often. He wore these wire rim glasses like grannies wear to read. You know what I'm talking about? He was a hippie. He would take out his guitar as soon as we showed up, and he would sing songs about Jesus on his guitar. He'd refer to Jesus as being "groovy" and "right on" and "far out."
So, in my mind, I saw Jesus as king of the hippies. That's who he was. (Kids, if you don't know what a hippie is, ask your parents. Some of them may have to confess to you that is who they are as well.) Here's the TIME magazine cover in the 1970s. That's the Jesus I saw, kind of psychedelic, kind of a hippie. That's who I saw him to be.
As I opened up the Bible and I had people explain who Jesus was according to the Word of God, I began to see a different Jesus emerge. He was more than king of the hippies. He was the King of Kings. He was the Lord of Lords. He was truly God and truly man. He was Savior and Lord. I want to finish today with asking you three questions.
1. Do you see? One of the things Jesus says is going to happen (and it is beginning to be fulfilled in the day of his listeners) is "The blind will receive sight." Although Jesus cares about our physical ailments and Jesus does heal, he more often speaks about blindness as being a spiritual condition. You and I, as human beings, are born spiritually blind. We are blind from birth. Our common parents, Adam and Eve, sinned against God, and our consequence is we are born unable to see Jesus for who he is, and then we live our lives.
As a matter of fact, Scripture tells us that Satan has put a blind over the eyes of unbelievers so they can't understand who Jesus is. But when God reaches out to us in grace, the Holy Spirit takes the blinders off us, and you and I begin to see Jesus for who he is. He's far greater and far more. As we see Jesus, our heart warms toward him. He becomes one we want to know and love and trust and obey in all of our life. Do you see him today?
I want to read this passage of Scripture to you from 2 Corinthians 4:6. Listen to this. "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Make no mistake. When you and I look into the face of Jesus, we see the very face of God, the glory of God, the majesty of God, the magnificence of God.
Years ago, I moved to Seattle from Dallas. As we made the last leg of the drive, we pulled up late at night. It was completely dark. We were staying with a family friend. We stayed there until our moving truck arrived and we could move into our own place. I'll never forget waking up that first morning and seeing this sight for the very first time. Isn't that amazing? That's Mount Rainier. It's totally obscured at night.
I mean, that is a mountain. I grew up in New Mexico. I thought I knew mountains. I'd never seen anything like that. That's majestic and huge and enormous. It boggles the mind to think that something that huge can be obscured by darkness. Are you in spiritual darkness today? Are you blind? Or do you see Jesus as the very glory of God in human form? He's magnificent. He's amazing. He's glorious. He's loving. He's beautiful. He's all that and more.
The glory of God is without measure in Jesus, which means you and I will never get to the place where we get tired of Jesus and say, "Yeah. You know what? I've seen it all here." There's always room to grow. There are always ways in which we can see him in greater clarity. Friend, do you see him? And as you see him, what's going on in your heart? Is he one who's desirable to you? Do you want to know him, love him, trust him, and obey him?
2. Are you free? Are you free today? Jesus said not only will the blind see; he said those who are captive will be free. Prisoners will get out. Captives will be set free. The freedom he's speaking of isn't a physical freedom; it's a spiritual freedom. You and I are not only born spiritually blind; we are born enslaved to sin. Despite our best efforts, there's nothing you and I can do to clean up our lives to the point that we can be pleasing to God. God has done all that for us already in Jesus. For you and me to experience the life transformation we need to be free from sin, we need Jesus.
So, what does freedom look like? I'm glad you asked. The apostle Paul gives us a sense of that in Romans 14:17. Look at this text. I love this. This is what the kingdom of God looks like here and now on earth. "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Friends, here's what you need to know today: God created us with a very specific purpose. God created us to worship him and enjoy him forever, to be with him.
When you and I place our faith in Jesus, guess who comes to make a home with us? God the Holy Spirit. So, if you're a Christian, you are perpetually in the presence of God the Holy Spirit, and where the Spirit of God is, there is freedom. You get to live out the life God created you to live out. You can live in the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the hallmark characteristic of being in the Spirit is joy. This should be the happiest place on the face of the earth today. Are you joyful?
Now, I know some of you are going to push back a little bit and say, "You don't know what I'm going through right now, Dave. My life is so hard." True. I don't know what you're going through, and I know your life is hard. Everyone in this room experiences difficulty in life in different ways, some of you to extreme measure.
But I want you to understand in the Bible, sorrow and joy aren't mutually exclusive; they can coexist. No matter what you're going through today, if you're a follower of Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit. Enjoy him. Live in his presence. God made you to worship him and enjoy him forever, and forever starts today.
I want to show you a picture of my dogs. Here they are. This picture best reflects their personalities. On my left, that's Stella. She's a Pomeranian. She's now 16 years old. I think her vet said she's going to live to 45, so we shall see. To the right is Duke. He's a Mini Aussie Shepherd. When we brought Duke in, he had been a puppy, and he'd kind of grown up in the shadow of Stella as a lap dog.
So, he was kind of a lap dog in a smaller house, and I began to realize this wasn't who he was created to be. He's a shepherding dog. He needs to roam and run and herd things. I'll never forget the first time I took him to the park. It was a place where he was okay to be off leash, and we just ran. He just ran and smiled. Have you ever seen a dog smile? His smile was so wide, I thought, "Man, he's going to catch something in his mouth. It's going to make him choke. He's going to gag on his tongue."
He was the happiest dog in the world. Why? It's what he was bred to do. The whole purpose of his existence is to run and herd. Friends, you and I were created to worship God and enjoy him forever, and when you and I are in the presence of the Holy Spirit, we're free. The greatest symptom of our freedom is we're joyful no matter what's going on in our lives. Are you free this morning? One last question for you today, and it's a hard question.
3. Are you ready? Now, let me tell you why I ask you that. Did you notice something Jesus left out when he quoted Isaiah 61? He talked about the year of the Lord's favor. What didn't he mention? He didn't talk about the day of vengeance of our God. Why is that? Because Jesus is coming in two phases. When he came the first time, his first advent, he came to bring God's grace to us. He will come again. The Bible refers to his second coming as near. It's near. Every day, we get nearer to it.
When he comes again, he is going to come in the wrath of God. Everyone will be judged. Those who are with God will be forever granted eternal life, and those who are against God will be forever condemned and punished in eternal torment. Who are the enemies of God? This is hard to share, but it's true. The enemies of God are everyone who has not placed their faith in Jesus. You're either with him or against him. There is no middle ground. The day is coming when Jesus will return, and when he does, he will judge everyone. Are you ready? First Thessalonians 5:1-4 says it this way.
"Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief." Are you ready?
Our family was together a few years ago over the holidays. We were playing a board game. We came across a game called Say Anything. I don't know if you've ever played this game. It's one of those games where there's a prompt card, everybody writes out their answers anonymously, and then we judge which answer is the best, and whoever gets the most votes wins.
We had a really unusual card. Here was the prompt: "What is a scary title for a children's book?" Great. Right? My family went really dark. I thought, "Who are these people?" I want to be really kind to the room because I know we have little ears. There were two big categories. One was… Let's just call it the fragility of pets. That was one category that a lot of people wrote titles on. The other was fables about holiday characters. We'll just leave it there.
There was one title that won because it was so true and so scary. One of my daughters (she shall remain nameless) came up with this children's book title: "Everybody Dies; Not Everybody Goes to Heaven." That's true. The day is coming. It's drawing nearer by the moment. Jesus will return, and there will be a day of vengeance where God's wrath will be poured upon everyone who hasn't trusted and doesn't know Jesus. Are you ready?
If you're not a Christian, why not today? Trust him today. Receive from him today his free gift of forgiveness and freedom from sin. Give him your sin. Be honest about that and receive by faith his righteousness. Let him change you and transform you. If you are a Christian, what does this look like? We talk about this every week at Watermark. How do you prepare for that day? Here's what you do. You abide in Jesus. You build that relationship. You live on mission with him. He has called us to a mission to make disciples of all nations. And you enjoy life together. Are you ready? Let's pray.
O Lord Jesus, thank you that you are the fulfillment of all of Scripture. Thank you that you love us. Thank you that you're for us. I pray that we would see you as you are, that we wouldn't attempt to create you in our own image, but we would see you according to your Word. I pray that you would give us freedom. I pray that we would know the joy of living life with the Holy Spirit. Father, prepare us for the day when Jesus returns. For his glory and our good we pray, amen.
