To Proclaim the Year of the Lord’s Favor - a podcast by Rev. W. Reid Hankins

Sermon preached on Luke 4:14-30 by Rev. W. Reid Hankins during the Morning Worship Service at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) on 08/15/2021 in Novato, CA.















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Last time in Luke we talked about the start of Jesus’ ministry in terms of his baptism and testing in the wilderness. But that start of his ministry was really in terms of equipping him and then proving him. He was equipped for ministry by the Holy Spirit falling upon him in bodily form like a dove. And then the Spirit immediately brought him to the wilderness to undergo temptation by the devil in order to prove his righteousness as the Lord’s anointed one as the Second Adam. He passed that probation and so now we see his ministry really begin in terms of his teaching the people as the Lord’s Christ. Verse 14 records this. After the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness, he then returned in the power of that same Spirit to Galilee and began to go through the whole region of Galilee. Remember, Galilee was the northern part of Israel, with Judea the southern region and Samaria the region in between. There in the region of Galilee, he was teaching in the synagogues and as we see later in verse 23, he was also doing miracles in various places. Things are going very well in this early Galilean ministry as it says in verse 15 that he is being glorified by all. But then he comes to his hometown of Nazareth, which was also a city in Galilee. There we see a glimpse of the kind of early ministry he was doing. But there we also see that his reception is quite different there. So then, today we will have a chance to consider both of these two main things. First, we’ll get a glimpse about this early ministry of Jesus by looking at what he taught and said here in Nazareth. Then second, we will see how the people of Nazareth did not properly honor and receive him as he was received elsewhere, showing the proverb to be true that no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.







So then we begin first by observing Jesus’ profound teaching ministry there at Nazareth. It is nothing short than a grand pronouncement that Jesus is the Lord’s anointed one to declare the long-awaited restoration of God’s people. We see beginning in verse 16 that it was a Sabbath and Jesus was at the synagogue in Nazareth. He gets up and reads from the book of Isaiah. Specifically, we see that he reads from chapter 61. That is an amazing chapter to read from on any church assembly. There, in Isaiah 61, is a beautiful chapter that prophesies of how one day God would restore the fortunes of his people. Remember, that Israel in the Old Testament had been conquered in the north by Assyria and in the south by Babylon. The people had been led away in exile. The land was in ruins, including the King’s palace and the LORD’s temple, with the walls of Jerusalem destroyed. This was due to their sin that God brought such chastening upon them. The prophets had warned them, but they disregarded those many warnings. The prophets then declare the judgment was coming upon them and even then they ignored them. Finally, the judgment did fall on them. But the prophets also then prophesied that one day God would gather up his fallen and exiled people and bring them back to the land and restore them.







This passage in Isaiah 61 is one of those restoration prophecies. For example, the prophecy goes on to say, “They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.” The prophecy in that chapter goes on to say how all God’s people will then be a nation of priests to the LORD. It goes on to speak of how the people then will know great prosperity. God says there that will at that time make an everlasting covenant with them – in other words,

Further episodes of Reformed Sermons and Sunday Schools at Trinity Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Petaluma, CA

Further podcasts by Rev. W. Reid Hankins

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