God’s acceptable time of salvation is now:
“So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." (vs16-20)
The Lord is the Savior of sinners, and if you’re a sinner, then you’ll be saved. The problem isn’t unwillingness in God but in men. If you need help, then He’ll help. But, if you deny sinfulness, then He will not help, and you’ll perish. If you don’t believe you need mercy, then you blaspheme and deny the Son, even as these people tried to throw Him over the cliff - “So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way” (vs28-30).
Christ is the sinner’s Savior by bearing their sins in His body on the tree. What we do deserves death, and what He paid enables God to bless us justly, freely giving the riches of grace. The gospel is God doing GOOD STUFF to us eternally by the merit of His Son, and by faith, we’re released from guilt, sin, and the Satanic influence. We are liberated, enabled to see, free of debt, comforted, healed, saved, blessed, and happy. The gospel changes the inner man until peace rules by REVEALING God’s GREAT peace toward you, how rich He is.
Yet, many hear the gospel and won’t believe because they are not sinners. They say, “Pastor, show me more. Tell me something new. Do something different. Impress, entertain, but DON’T think I’ll love that gospel and draw near” - “Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is this not Joseph’s son?" He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’" Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country” (vs20-24).
Unsaved man, it has been said, can see EVERYTHING in the gospel but the glory or the beauty of God. But, when we’re SINFUL and wicked, enslaved and guilty, then we don’t hear the gospel as a nuisance but as the message of how so GREAT a God could be good to me. This is good news from a far country; it is cool water that refreshes the soul (Prov 25:25).
The Lord isn’t stopped by unbelief. He will find a sinner, and He illustrates it by the widow woman and Naaman the leper. These two were Gentiles, despised by the Jews. Yet, they obtained mercy, not because they deserved it or sought God, but because God can’t be stopped in saving sinners, and He saves by revealing that we are evil, unworthy, and helpless. The problem isn’t sin; the problem is unwillingness to be cleansed. The leper and the widow manifest God’s grace to sinners so low they’re disdained, and thereby God is disdained, by the religious crowd. Men refuse mercy at the cost of their souls - “"But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; "but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. "And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." (vs25-27)
Beware. The gospel isn’t a trifle. If you play with it and rebel, then you’ll lose eternal peace and have hell to show for it. If you won’t receive Him as Savior, then you throw Him over the cliff in your heart, hating Him. People say, “I don’t hate the Son”, but do you obey Him? He said, “If you love me, keep my commandments”, and His command is to BELIEVE on the Son, receiving the riches of grace that He has earned, confessing that He chose to save you by His blood unto the GOOD works of the Spirit.
Anything less than faith and love is rebellion, rejection of Christ, and despising the mercy of God. If you want to be saved, be the sinner, and He’ll help you. Don’t be the sinner, and He’ll meet you in hells fury. You will always regret that fact that He was in your midst in mercy, you despised Him, and He passed by you to someone else.
“So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." (vs16-20)
The Lord is the Savior of sinners, and if you’re a sinner, then you’ll be saved. The problem isn’t unwillingness in God but in men. If you need help, then He’ll help. But, if you deny sinfulness, then He will not help, and you’ll perish. If you don’t believe you need mercy, then you blaspheme and deny the Son, even as these people tried to throw Him over the cliff - “So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way” (vs28-30).
Christ is the sinner’s Savior by bearing their sins in His body on the tree. What we do deserves death, and what He paid enables God to bless us justly, freely giving the riches of grace. The gospel is God doing GOOD STUFF to us eternally by the merit of His Son, and by faith, we’re released from guilt, sin, and the Satanic influence. We are liberated, enabled to see, free of debt, comforted, healed, saved, blessed, and happy. The gospel changes the inner man until peace rules by REVEALING God’s GREAT peace toward you, how rich He is.
Yet, many hear the gospel and won’t believe because they are not sinners. They say, “Pastor, show me more. Tell me something new. Do something different. Impress, entertain, but DON’T think I’ll love that gospel and draw near” - “Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is this not Joseph’s son?" He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in Your country.’" Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country” (vs20-24).
Unsaved man, it has been said, can see EVERYTHING in the gospel but the glory or the beauty of God. But, when we’re SINFUL and wicked, enslaved and guilty, then we don’t hear the gospel as a nuisance but as the message of how so GREAT a God could be good to me. This is good news from a far country; it is cool water that refreshes the soul (Prov 25:25).
The Lord isn’t stopped by unbelief. He will find a sinner, and He illustrates it by the widow woman and Naaman the leper. These two were Gentiles, despised by the Jews. Yet, they obtained mercy, not because they deserved it or sought God, but because God can’t be stopped in saving sinners, and He saves by revealing that we are evil, unworthy, and helpless. The problem isn’t sin; the problem is unwillingness to be cleansed. The leper and the widow manifest God’s grace to sinners so low they’re disdained, and thereby God is disdained, by the religious crowd. Men refuse mercy at the cost of their souls - “"But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; "but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. "And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." (vs25-27)
Beware. The gospel isn’t a trifle. If you play with it and rebel, then you’ll lose eternal peace and have hell to show for it. If you won’t receive Him as Savior, then you throw Him over the cliff in your heart, hating Him. People say, “I don’t hate the Son”, but do you obey Him? He said, “If you love me, keep my commandments”, and His command is to BELIEVE on the Son, receiving the riches of grace that He has earned, confessing that He chose to save you by His blood unto the GOOD works of the Spirit.
Anything less than faith and love is rebellion, rejection of Christ, and despising the mercy of God. If you want to be saved, be the sinner, and He’ll help you. Don’t be the sinner, and He’ll meet you in hells fury. You will always regret that fact that He was in your midst in mercy, you despised Him, and He passed by you to someone else.
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