Jesus Sermon in Nazareth Luke 4:16-30

May 10, 2026  NASB

16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the [a]book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the [b]book and found the place where it was written,

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,

19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

20 And He closed the [c]book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your [d]hearing.” 22 And all were [e]speaking well of Him, and wondering at the [f]gracious words which [g]were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” 24 And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 25 But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; 26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to [h]Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 29 and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, He went His way.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:23

It's been good. I'm grateful for the music and for the testimony that she didn't call a testimony. I'm grateful for all that that's happened this morning. And I'd ask you to stand with me, please. We're going to to read Luke chapter 4. If you have your Bibles, encourage you to read along as I read out loud. We're continuing in our our study of Luke, the gospel through the story of Jesus through the Gospel of Luke. And this morning we are in Luke chapter 4, verse 16. Encourage you to have a copy of the scripture with you to read along. If you don't, you're welcome to the Bible and the pew back in front of you. But I'm going to be reading this and as we stand in honor of reading God's word and understanding what we are reading and who wrote it and why we need it. Starting in verse 16 of Luke chapter 4, and I'm reading on my own here. He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, as was his custom. He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and he opened the book and found the place where it was written. He sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And all were speaking well of him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from his lips, and they were saying, Is this not Joseph's son? And he said to them, No doubt you will quote this proverb to me, physician, heal yourself. Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here, in your hometown as well. And he said, Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. And yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Seraph in the land of Siddin, to a woman who was a widow, and there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, but only Damon, the Syrian, and all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things. And they got up and drove him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built in order to throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went his way. Would you pray with me, please? Well, Lord, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the way you you speak, and I pray, Lord, that we would we would listen, that we would worship, that we would honor you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you. Please be seated. Well, I'm I am grateful to see you here this morning, grateful that we get to come and celebrate days like Mother's Day. I have a whole list of corny jokes that I could tell you, but I won't take the time to do that. But but I just want you to know that I'm grateful, grateful for um those of you in this room who who are mothers, who have have sacrificed so much to be able to provide for your home, to help. And but I also want to tell you that in the midst of of celebrating um motherhood and and how God has set up the home, I I want you to know that we're not we're not blind to the fact that we live in a fallen world with with sinners, that we are sinners by nature and by choice, and that it could be that you are here this morning, that you are you are uh coming to church on Mother's Day, maybe with a little bit of a hesitation. Maybe you're not proud of how you were and are a mother. Maybe you never experienced a motherhood, maybe you you regret that, maybe you don't. There are so many different uh categories and so many different ideas here. And it could be, and this these are the two that I just want to mention, and there's so much more, but let me just do it for a moment, if you'll bear with me. And honestly, I'm great, I'm grateful for your grace to allow me to say things like this. But it could be that you're remembering today a mother who has passed. And maybe this is a bittersweet day for you. And I I want you to know that as the body of Christ, that we are we are not um oblivious to that, that this is this is a bittersweet. Uh but also uh I've got uh a very soft spot for those who have lost their children as parents. And uh just want you to know that we're praying and here with you as well. There's like I say, this it it brings up all sorts of of emotions and all sorts of of things uh that come to the surface on days like this. But the reason that I'm going to continue through the gospel of Luke, and I'm not deviating to go to Proverbs or to the Eunice and Lois and the things that I normally do on Mother's Day or or most folks do, is because honestly, when we talk about being the body of Christ, it starts in the home. And I I don't think I don't think I want to deviate from what is happening here in Luke chapter 4, because what's happening in Nazareth, I think, has so much implication and so much application for how you and I can appreciate and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you are a mother here this morning, and and whether you're a parent, you're a parent of children still at home or or they've long gone, the the nest is so empty, you've already remodeled. I I don't know. Wherever you are in the middle of all of that, I just want you to know that Jesus Christ is still, and I'm not saying this tritly, Jesus Christ is still the answer for you as well as for your children, as well as for your family. And I want to show you what happened when Jesus went back home. When Jesus went back to Nazareth and he came back as a as a celebrity, as the hometown boy that that made good, he came back and he got to to speak and to preach in the synagogue. This was a big deal. He got to preach and speak in the synagogue of his hometown, and everyone had heard the rumors and the excitement about him healing people and all of the murmuring and the and the skelet about all that he had been doing in Capernaum, and now he's here. But what I want to show you is the response of the people who were listening and being a part of that sp specific Sabbath day in the synagogue. So if if you've if you put your Bible away, please get it back out. And if if you don't have one, please look with me. We're gonna walk through this passage, and I want to show you first the good part, um, how they responded to Jesus positively. So first the good. In Luke chapter 4, verse 16. He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up. So this is his hometown, and was his as was his custom, which I love that I've heard so many commentaries and preachers talk about this. This was his pattern, this is what he did. He didn't just go to church to show off, he didn't go to church because that's what was expected of him. He did because this was what he was supposed to do. He he was a part of the body. He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, stood up to read, which was the custom. And then verse 17. The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. And I spoke briefly about this last week, but just to kind of reiterate, he knew what was he was reading. He knew he was the Messiah. He opened the book, found the place where it was written, and then this beautiful, beautiful imagery that Isaiah had written centuries before, and he is the fulfillment of this, says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel, the good news to the poor. Not just talking about financially poor, that's included, but we're talking about the spiritually inept, those who are who are empty, those who do not understand, who do not have. And he says, I'm here for you. He says, He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, not just physical prison, not just not just those who who are in in trouble materially, but he's saying, This is this is something I'm going to give you freedom in a way that you can't even begin to understand. Recovery of sight to the blind, spiritual blindness primarily, to set free those who are oppressed. His yoke is easy, his burden is light. Then he says to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And we talked about the year of Jubilee and the debt release and how he is the fulfillment of all of that. But then, verse 20. He closed the book. If there was such a thing as a mic drop moment, this is it. All right, here we go. He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, sat down, which what means he's about to teach. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. This is it. This is it. He began to say to them, and he's got a lot to say. We only have a summary here, but he has a lot to say. But he says it here in verse 21. Today, the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. He's the Messiah. No hesitation, no margin, no questions. Today, today, I'm reading Isaiah. Jesus reading this passage and saying, All that you've been anticipating, all you've been hoping for, the Messiah, the anointed one, the chosen one, he is here, he is now, I am it. And then look at how they respond. Verse 22. First part. All were speaking well of him and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from his lips. Now, if we just had a period there instead of a semicolon, if it just stopped there, all would be well. It doesn't stop there. He talks about the gracious words, the words that speak about the it's a it's not a definitive, it's a it's an objective. He's talking about the words that are full of grace, that he talks about God's grace and how he has provided, how he is the Messiah, he is the answer. And everyone is speaking well of him. Everyone is talking up and saying he's a good and this is good. But then something turns, and we move from the good to the bad. So continuing in verse 2022. And they were saying, Is this not Joseph's son? They were doing so good. You know how you feel like you you start off right and you had it all figured out, and then they start to kind of scratch their head a little bit. Wait a minute, didn't we see him run around? Didn't we see him as a child? If I've changed his diaper, that means he can't be the messiah. That's the mentality, right? If I've if I've seen him before he knew how to read the Hebrew, how he understands the scripture, then obviously he can't be the Messiah. We he they they started to wait a minute, wait, wait a minute. This this hometown guy, he can't be, he can't be as great as everyone is is claiming he is. But then look as it continues. He said to them, No doubt you will quote this proverb to me. So that's why we know that this is a negative about Joseph's son. No doubt you will quote this proverb to me. Physician, heal yourself. Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well. So he's he it's basically put up or shut up. Uh we want you to prove yourself, we want you to say that you are who you say you are, we want you to do it our way. And then he starts to give, he starts to give these examples, this the this uh reasoning behind why he's not gonna do what they want him to do, verse 24. Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. Then he be gives two good examples from the Old Testament. The first with Elijah, verse 25, I say to you, in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah. He talks about the the the famine, he talks about the lack of rain, and then in verse 26, Elijah didn't go to anyone to help them. He went to the widow in the land of Sidon, uh to a woman who was a widow. And then and then as he's referring to this, if you're familiar with the story, King Ahab, the wicked, evil king, uh, is not following God, the people aren't following God, and Elijah he he pronounces that. This is right before Mount Carmel, and all that happens, choose this to whom you will serve, all the things that happened in Kings in that story, that episode, and now he's saying Elijah didn't go to one of the Israelites, he went outside to the Gentiles. And then he does the same thing with Elisha. I always bother me. I wish I wish this is so silly, it's trite, but Elijah and Elisha always get them confused, so I just have to go by alphabetical order. But Elijah was first, and then Elisha was second. Here we go. Elisha was the second one he refers to in Israel and all the lepers. And once again, Naaman comes, who is healed of leprosy. He's the one who was dipped me seven times in the Jordan. Wait a minute, that water's icky. I don't want to get in there, I got clean water back home, etc., etc. etc. Read the story, it's really cool. But here is Elisha, and he is saying the same thing. Instead of helping someone on the inside, want to help someone on the outside. Basically, what is happening in the midst of Jesus talking to his home crowd is they are saying that we don't like this idea that we have to earn, that we have to, we we don't already earn or we don't already have the favor of God. And they're saying, Jesus, we want you to be our own little corner God, our own little corner truth. We want you to do your thing for us, and don't worry about everybody on the outside. And Jesus comes back and says, You think you you you earned this, you think that you are worthy of this, and you don't want the Gentiles, those outside of the covenant, you don't want them to know the truth and the grace and the love of God, and you think that you you already deserve this when honestly you need it as bad as everyone else. So they're uh they're upset, they're angry, they don't like what Jesus is saying, and so you get from the good, the bad, and then to the ugly. Verse 28. All the people in the synagogue were filled with rage. Don't read over that too quickly. This actually happened. True time, true space, true place. They were just moments before, praising him, clamoring around him, fame-seeking. This is a great guy, we can't believe all we've heard about him. And the very same people, just moments later, are filled with rage. Luke is very intentional, Dr. Luke. He wants to us to understand that the shadow of the cross is never far away when we walk through the life of Jesus here on earth. How can it that a people who hear the truth and understand who Jesus is and understand the Messiah and the covenant and Isaiah, how could they move so quickly from yea, Jesus, to let's kill him? How can they move so rapidly from someone who would say that this is a great guy who's doing great things, let's see the signs and wonders here, and now what in the world happened? Why why did they move from pleasing and happy and excited to rage? Verse 28 again. When all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things, and they got up and drove him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw him down the cliff. It wasn't it was a mob, it was a riot. They were going to they wanted to kill him. That we know from scripture, they weren't going to do anything to him that he didn't allow. And so in verse verse 30 it says, But passing through their midst, he went his way. This radical shift from approval to anger to rage to evil. Now, we we we got the story, right? You with me? And this is this is Luke explaining and describing how Jesus went back home and how his people responded to him. So, well, that's that's fine, preacher. That's that's fine. You you can talk about that, but but we're not in Nazareth, we're not back home where he grew up, and that that doesn't mean anything for us. Be careful about dismissing the truth of God's word. Be careful about reading passages like Luke chapter 4, and and considering that, well, it doesn't really apply, it doesn't really mean anything to me. May I speak to you just for a moment, just for a moment in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And can I give you just two to flesh out, to walk through? And as we answer these two questions, I think it's gonna help me, and I hope it helps you to understand how we respond to the truth of the gospel. Because honestly, the members of the synagogue, they would they wanted to respond to their own expectations. They wanted to respond to how they they thought life should be fitted according to their needs and their egos and their pride and their world. But that wasn't gonna happen. I've found both in experience as well as reading the Bible, that rarely, if ever, I would say absolutely never, does God say, Let me see what I can do to make the whole universe revolve around you. He doesn't do that. He never will. And sometimes, as followers of Christ or those who are interested to know what it means to be a follower of Christ, sometimes we think that God is here just to meet our felt needs, just to get what we want out of it. So if we if we don't have that satisfaction going to that social club, or we don't have that satisfaction having that degree or that occupation or that worldview, then we're gonna try the church. And if it doesn't meet my needs, then we'll go somewhere else. When did we become the center of the gospel? When did we become God's little Gs? Where Jesus, his main priority was to make sure that that we are pleased with him. That does not happen. It's not in the Bible. So there's something happening here. I want I'm gonna ask you just two questions, and let's see how we can can move through this. It won't take but a moment. That's not true, it'll take a couple moments, it won't take a lot of moments, but somewhere in the in between, not at all to quite a bit. So here we go. First question Can you receive his truth? They couldn't handle it. I almost put, can you handle the truth? But I thought just too many movie references already, but here we go. Can you can you receive the truth about who God is and who you are and your need for him? Because honestly, pride will get in the way every time. And if you can't acknowledge the fact that you are lost without him, there is no hope. If you think that God just came to give truth in a way that pleases you and satisfies you and scratches itches of your ears, that's not gonna work. As a matter of fact, the gospel is painful. Oh, it's good news. But the bad news to come before the good news is that we need the good news. Often we skip ahead and we say, that's great. Jesus loves us, God so loved the world, and then we're gonna be good, that everything's great. We forget the fact that we are rebellious, that we are proud, that we are arrogant, that we are presumptuous, and we actually expect Jesus to do our bidding. We want him to get along with our agenda, we want him to follow our ideas and our promises and our visions, and we want him to be our genie or our slot machine or whatever illustration you want to use. We want to make him our servant, unless instead of we being his. Can you receive the truth, his truth? When he talks about who he is and about who we are and our need for him. If you can't get past that, you're gonna have a problem. We all are. We have to have the truth. It's by his truth we're set free. It's by his truth we come to acknowledgement of our need for him, it's by his truth that we know life. Augustine wrote this. I had to look this up because obviously I wasn't around when he wrote this, but we're talking about almost 2,000 years ago. But he wrote this years ago, and I wanted to quote it verbatim to you. He said, Thy love, they love truth. Speaking of those seeking God, they love truth when she enlightens, when they when they when it shows them something. They hate her when she reproves. So as long as you hear something, this may sound very culturally appropriate, as long as you hear something that you don't disagree with, you're fine. But as soon as truth tells you something you don't want to hear, then they get angry, filled with rage. Continuing the quote, for since they would not be deceived and would deceive, they love her when she discovers herself unto them, and hate her when she, speaking of truth, discovers them. See, it's fine to have a spotlight on somebody else's issues. But as soon as the light of the gospel comes and starts to shine in your world and into your corners and into your closets, all of a sudden you're not quite as great as you thought you were, and all of a sudden the grace and the love and the truth of God start to permeate your life, and you realize I really need Jesus. But if you can't get to that, if you won't receive that or accept that, I can't help you. You you are beyond. You you've got to come back to him. You've got to let him be the orchestrator, the author, the originator of your faith. You've got to let him. I was in a meeting years ago with a pastor who was speaking to other pastors. We were around a table, and he says, What I do when I know that it's going to be a high, high conflict situation is I bring him in and I just break it to him first. I said, We're about to have a difficult conversation. And sometimes we open the scripture and we say, Jesus, just feed me, make me feel good about myself, make me make me. Happy with me. And I think what happens is we forget, as he's opening the truth, honestly, part of that, and it is there is there is this grace and there is this love and there is this support, but all of it is in the context of we're about to have a difficult conversation. I'm gonna show you some of your sin. I'm gonna ask you to repent of it. I'm gonna show you the kingdom and how you need to seek it first. We're about to have a difficult conversation. But if you if you and I can't respond to that, if we're not willing to submit to that, then we're gonna have a problem. So that's the first question. Can you receive his truth? And then the second, can you receive his grace? Can you receive his grace? He gives grace to the humble, you resist the proud. They did not, the synagogue, they did not want to give to the Gentiles what they thought they earned and they deserved, and they didn't like the idea of having to ask for something they thought was already theirs. They were content, they were complacent, they were proud, just like you and I can be. But we can't be that and recipients of his grace. So what I'm gonna do for the next few moments, and and this won't I won't belabor it, but I need you to hear this. If you've got your Bibles, I'm gonna take you to two passages. I'm gonna go rather quickly, but I'm gonna do it in a way that hopefully will kind of bring all of this together. The first passage is gonna be John chapter 1. You'll scoot back with me or scoot over to John chapter 1. If you're in Luke, you're so close. Uh you're just one book away. John chapter 1, beginning in verse 14. And the word, this is speaking of Jesus, the logos. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Now, before we move on to verse 15, can I show you something in verse 14? A couple things. See, full of grace and truth. Well, that's ironic, weren't you just talking about that? Exactly right. You got it. Full of grace and truth, but dwelt among us. If you hadn't heard this before, I'm about to tell you. That word, original word, is the same as tinted or tabernacled. And as John is writing this, he is writing, I I believe, I sincerely believe, he's writing, knowing that as they're reading this and hearing this, that Jesus is the flip came in the flesh, that he was in the beginning, he was with the word. He was the word, he was was the word was with God, and the word was God in the beginning, was God. I I believe he knows this as he's writing it, and he's saying, I want you to think back to when the tabernacle came into the wilderness, when when they were commanded as the children of Israel leaving Egypt, leaving slavery, leaving slavery, leaving slavery, when they were on their way to the promised land, the land of freedom, the land of milk and honey, as they're leaving there, they have this tabernacle, this place, which is the center of the community. And in this center of community, that's where the law was understood and obeyed. In the center of the camp, that's where the abode of God rested. This is this is where they got the revelation, this is where they had the sacrifices, this is where they worshiped, all of that in this covenant. This is where the tabernacle was. And then John says in John 1:14, and the word, Jesus became flesh and tabernacled, dwelt, tinted among us. That's not by accident. Jesus is the tabernacle, he is the temple. We saw his glory, glories of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Continuing in verse 15, John testified about him and cried out, saying, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for he existed before me. For of his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained him. Now that'll that'll twist your brain up a little bit, but hang on, but look at what he's saying. You can you don't see God, but now you do. God is fully spirit, but God is Jesus. All of that happening simultaneously. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God, only begotten God, Jesus, who is in the bosom of the Father, God the Father, he has explained him. A lot of capital H's, a lot of going on. But when you think about all that is happening, Jesus Christ came not just to tell us good news. Jesus Christ is the good news. He's not just a herald, he's not just a preacher, he's not just a teacher, he doesn't just proclaim. He is full of grace and truth. And he is the truth, he is the life, he is the way, his grace, his truth, is how you and I abide, it's how we live, it's how we thrive, it's how we respond and how we we move forward in our relationship with him. So does this matter? Yes. Because if you and I don't understand that he is the origin and the source and the revealer and the revelation, if we don't see him as who he truly is, this faithful, let me tell you about these words, truth, faithfulness, steadfastness, consistency, grace, talking about loving kindness or gracious mercy. When we understand the covenant, we understand who he is and what he's doing. We get to the point where we're where we realize we always need him. We need his truth and we need his grace. Because we'll be deceived, we'll be misled. And so his truth is what guides us, his truth is what provides for us, his truth is what gives us enlightenment so that we have empowerment. Ephesians 1 and chapter 3. When we have both of these happening, his life, his love working for us, we never stop needing him. We never stop needing his truth, we never stop needing his grace. D.A. Carson, I read his his commentary, I read his his devotion. I love what he does with his book for the love of God. He says, People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, and obedience in Scripture, faith and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance. We drift toward disobedience and call it freedom. We drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation. We slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism. We slide toward godlessness, godliness, godlessness, and convince ourselves we have been liberated. I'm going to project on you something happens to me all the time. I rarely, if ever, get something on the first read. I want to read it again. People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, and obedience to scripture, faith and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance. We drift toward disobedience, call it freedom. We drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation. We slouch toward prayerlessness, prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism. We slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated. What Jesus Christ did as he was speaking to the synagogue, what he did is he walked into the in Luke chapter 4, and he went eyeball to eyeball as their eyes were fixed on him. As he spoke, he didn't lie, he told them the truth. He didn't placate, he didn't compromise. And the truth is, they needed him. Truth is, the prophecy fulfilled, scripture has been fulfilled today in your hearing. The truth is, without him, no hope. With him, hope. Without him, no salvation. With him, salvation. The truth is, he wasn't there to make them feel better about themselves, he was there to show them him themselves so they could respond to him and have what only he could give them truth and grace. You know, it's the same truth today, you know. It's the same gospel today. It's the same one that tells us that even though we think that Jesus is here to be our butler or our helper or our servant, he is here because he is God, he is sovereign, he is holy, he is in control, and he loves us with a love that is demonstrated by giving himself for us. But he never stops being God. He never stops being loving, he never stops being holy, he never stops being worthy of worship. So we have to transition from thinking that he's here for me, I'm here for him. We're here for him. The Lord Jesus didn't come just to redeem us, which he does. He also came to reveal himself to us so we could see the truth, so we could live in this light and this life, so we can understand what the Bible says and why it says it, and we can walk with him in such a way that allows us to have this grace and to have this truth. There's not one human being within the sound of the hearing of my voice this morning that does not need his truth and his grace. And by his grace and by his truth, we're set free. There's a pastor years ago, name of Boyce. He had a gentleman in his office and he was trying to explain to him the gospel. He was trying to explain to him what it was about. And he said, Imagine with me for just a moment that you're walking down the street at night, and a car drives by and it splashes you with mud, and you get filthy, but it's dark, so you can't see. You don't see how dirty you are. And then you get under a straw a street light, and the the light starts to show the filth, and you realize you can't keep going like this. You gotta get home, you gotta change clothes. And the man in the office of the pastor, he leans forward and with tears in his eyes, he says, Pastor, I understand that. I just don't have any clean clothes to get into. That's the gospel. You and I, we we don't have the clean clothes. We're dirty, yes. We're polluted, distorted, depraved. Scripture talks about the sinfulness of man. But you and I, we can't get clean on our own. So let's finish with this. Let's look at this. Go back with me. Last passage, last thing, Psalm 36, what Pastor Adam read earlier, what we read together. And let me tell you about the grace and the truth of Jesus. Psalm 36. It's on page 505 of my Bible. I don't know if that helps you at all. You go in the middle, split down half. There you go. Psalm 36. I love the way David writes this and how he separates those who are going to be fools, which means that there is no fear of God, and those who are going to be wise, which means those who actually understand their need for God and God's provision for their need. So here it is. The first four verses speak to those who are going to be a fool. And I I realize what I'm about to say. It's going to come off possibly arrogant or condescending or just plain rude, but there are a number of fools among us today. And the foolishness is not understanding who Jesus is and what he provides, his truth and his grace. So here we go. Verse one. Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart. So you've got this sin, this breaking of the rules, this folly in the heart of the of the ungodly. There is no fear of God before his eyes, so he doesn't care. He even gets proud of it. He even thinks to himself, hey, I'm getting away with it. No lightning from the sky, the ground hasn't opened up. God's not going to punish me. Everything's going to be great. I'm going to eat, drink, be merry. Life is good. Let's keep going. I'm just going to satisfy my natural desires. I can keep going, but we're going to stop there. But we do all of that, verse 2. For it flatters him in his own eyes. Isn't that something that builds him up, puffs him up, flatters him in his own eyes, concerning the discovery of his iniquity and the hatred of it. So he didn't care. Matter of fact, he's proud of it. The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good. He plans wickedness upon his bed. He sets himself on a path that is not good. He does not despise evil. Now just for a moment, before I read the great part of this song, can I tell you the bad part? And can I ask you this morning? Are you proud of your sin? Do you blush? Are you okay with adultery and lust? With anger and murder? Does it bother you? Are you convicted? And I'm not saying this as someone who's got it all figured out. I'm someone who is reading Psalm 36. And what scares me about passages like Psalm 36 is that if you and I are so content and so complacent in our sin, there is something to be afraid of. And it's not the fear of other people's approval or disapproval, it's about the fear of God. And if there's no fear of God in your life this morning, you have issues that you don't even begin to dream how wide and how deep they really are. Because the fact of the matter is, oh, you and I can't do this without his grace and his truth. You and I cannot be saved without him. There's this idea, the month of May, uh mental health. Oh, I wasn't going to go here, but I'll go here real quick. Mental health month. There's so much wrong with that phrase. When you go to the Bible, let me let me let me put it this way. You go to the Bible and you see what is healthy versus unhealthy, what is right versus what is wrong. I want you to think about this. You have two people. You have a 25-year-old who is physically fit, healthy, has their whole life in front of them, and they do not know Jesus. And you've got a 70-year-old who is on his deathbed because of cancer or disease or illness, but he has a passionate relationship with his Savior. Our world would tell you that the 27-year-old is healthy and the 70-year-old is unhealthy. The Bible says the 70-year-old has eternal life and will live forever and ever and ever in his relationship with Jesus to live as Christ and to die as game. That there is so much more than just what you have physically or financially or even mentally in terms of this present day. But the world would say, no, the 27-year-old, he's the one who's got it together. The 27-year-old without Jesus will die and go to eternal hell. The 27-year-old without Jesus will live in futility, will be wasted because he doesn't know God. How is that healthy? So when we see what he's doing here in Psalm 36, I'm not asking you, I'm not asking you if you're popular or prestigious. I'm not asking you if you got your act together. I'm asking you, are you a fool or are you wise? Are you do you see this? Then let's tell you tell you about the good news. Verse verse 5. Your loving kindness. That's the route for grace, by the way. Your loving kindness, O Lord, extends to the heavens. Your faithfulness, that's the route for truth, reaches to the skies. Your righteousness, truth, is like the mountains of God. Your judgments, truth, are like a great deep deep. O Lord, you preserve man and beast. How precious is your loving kindness, your grace, your Hasid, O God. And the children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They drink their fill of the abundance of your house, and you give them to drink of the river of your delights. We have God the Creator, who has provided for us in such a way, the Messiah, the anointed one, coming to us and saying, I'm going to overwhelm you. I'm going to open the floodgates with what it means to truly be loved, what it truly truly be accepted, to be a part of the kingdom of God. I'm going to give you my delights. I'm going to show you what it really means when we talk about love and joy and peace. I'm going to show you what it means to be abiding with me and know what purpose really is all about. All the things that we thought we really needed. He says, no, no, let's turn that upside down. And let me show you what it means to live in Christ, to have abundant life, life abundantly. Let me show you what it means to have the delights overwhelming like a river, giving them to drink of the river of your delights. Let me show you what it means to know love, true love, agape, unconditional love. Let me show you what it means to have forgiveness, true forgiveness, sincere forgiveness, where the debt is washed away. Let me show you what it means to have his grace work in your life in such a way that you can't even you can't begin to talk about how amazing his grace is to you. That's what he's talking about. Overwhelming. Verse 10, oh, continue your loving kindness to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright in heart. Let not the foot of the pride of pride come upon me. Let not the hand of the wicked drive me away. Because he he sees it, he knows it. The the wickedness, the proud, that's gonna trip me up. It's gonna get me out of out of out of off course. It's gonna, it's gonna it's gonna get me away from the path, the the narrow way. See, there where they want me to go, I don't want to go. There, the doers of iniquity have fallen. They have been thrust down and cannot rise. But no, not us, not me, not you, no, no. What we're gonna do, by your grace, Lord, according to your truth, what we're gonna do is we're gonna see him for who he is. And we're gonna worship, we're gonna adore him. That's that's what happens in the home, in the church, in his kingdom. I'm gonna ask you this morning, if you need to have a relationship with God, begin today. We will have pastors and deacons who will be here at the front to tell you about his grace and about his truth. It could be that you're here this morning as a follower of Christ, and maybe Mother's Day hits you in a way that you're not real happy with, and you need to submit your heart and let the truth come in. See, when Paul is talking about conflict and angst and grief, in Philippians, he talks about, well, you need to set your heart on what is true, what is pure, what is praiseworthy. He goes through a whole list. And our source of truth is Jesus Christ Himself. So it's part of understanding how we seek Him and let His truth define our reality rather than trying to define it ourselves. Could be that you're here this morning and you're just you just need to pray. As a matter of fact, you're ready for me to be quiet so you can just spend time with the Lord, and I'm okay with that. The altar will be open, pastors and deacons will be here in just a moment. But I'm gonna lead us, I'm gonna lead us in a time of prayer. Then after the prayer, Pastor Adam's gonna come up and he's gonna close us. But I'm gonna give you a few moments to be able to speak with your Lord. Would you pray with me, please? It's because of who you are we can understand, we can receive, we can know. And where we are deceived, where we are misguided, where we are confused, we ask that your truth, your truth be known in our life right now. I pray for the individual that your spirit has convicted with your truth, what it means to fear God versus fear people, what it means to fear God versus be happy or content or even complacent with our sin. I pray for your truth, Lord, to to permeate our heart, that we see you for who you truly are, and that your light, your tabernacle, your tenting, comes into us, please, Lord, please. And I thank you that you don't stop at Revelation, you don't just show us, but your grace is more than enough. Your loving kindness, it provides for us in ways that overwhelm us. Thank you for that. I pray for the individual who with bowed head is here this morning and needs to get some things right with you. And whether it be come to the forward front to talk with someone, pray with someone, come to the altar, or right where they're sitting. May the next few moments be all about you. For your glory. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Would you stand with me, please? Once again, let me remind you that the pastors' deacons will be here at the front after Adam, Pastor Adam closes us in prayer.

SPEAKER_00 44:11

So thankful for that sermon. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for all that you do and for your kindness and your grace. Thank you for the word that's been opened and preached this morning. And how we heard from your word about your son. But you've given us your word to plunge into the depths of our hearts, to mine our hearts, to seek out the hidden things, the things that we've tucked away, the things that we cover, the things that we hide, the things that we ignore. And your word, like a shovel, digs them up, exposes them to the light. So now, Lord, things may have been exposed in our hearts, Lord, that we need to deal with. And so, Lord, we also recognize how not only this pastor reminded us this morning, not only is your word truth, not only is your son truth, but he's also grace. So now as these things have been turned up and exposed, Lord, we turn to your Son Jesus Christ in his grace. To rest in his grace for every need that we have for life and godliness. Be with us now, Lord, as we go our separate ways.