Luke 4:13

Luke 4:13

The Bible says in Luke 4:13-15, "And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee; and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all." In this part of Luke Chapter 4 we are being told what happened immediately after Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness.

There was a time of temptation and trial, but it was followed by a time when the devil departed from Him for a season. There is a time for everything. There is a time of trial, but the trials do not last forever. There are also times of peace and tranquility. One of the reasons that some people fall is because they think that the storm of temptation will always be there, and they might as well go ahead and give in because they know that they will not be able to hold out forever. But no one has to fight against temptation every moment of every day. First Corinthians 10:13 says, "There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it."

Jesus was tempted by the devil, but He did not sin. Throughout His entire life Jesus succeeded in avoiding sin. Jesus won the victory for the human race over the sin problem. Every other human being has failed somewhere along the line. If the salvation of the human race had depended upon you or me the human race would have been doomed forever. One of the reasons that Jesus was qualified to die for the sins of the world was because He was without sin. It was important that Jesus die for the sins of the world, but it was just as important that He defeat the devil in the great spiritual warfare of good against evil, sin against righteousness, and the desire to do what is right against the temptation to do what is wrong.

Because Christ won the victory over sin, we are allowed by the grace of God to enter into His victory even though we ourselves have failed many times. It is never what we have done nor what we can do that is our hope. It always has been and always will Jesus Christ our Master, our Savior, our Righteousness.

After the victory over temptations in the wilderness the Bible says that Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit. Jesus walked with the Father perfectly, and therefore He had the power of the Spirit. We’re not perfect, but we are dependent upon our walk with God in order to have the power of the Spirit. In our case we still fail from time to time, therefore to walk in the power of the Spirit we must confess our sins. First John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Jesus walked in the power of the Spirit because He fought off temptation and avoided sin. Having the power of the Spirit was associated with righteousness and goodness. God is our righteousness and goodness. We can have the power of the Spirit by walking in fellowship with Him, and we can walk in fellowship with Him because of daily confession and cleansing from sin through Christ.

We are told in Luke 4:14 that the fame of Jesus spread to all the people in the region. There was no advertising campaign other than word of mouth or reputation. There was no money collected or spent in order to publish the fact that Jesus was now beginning His ministry. How did the ministry of Jesus get built? How is it that so many people were touched with the desire to seek Him and to hear Him speak? It was all done by the Spirit of God. There need be no other explanation. Many years ago my wife and I were members of a very large church. The pastor of the church was a very gifted speaker. He said once that he was sometimes asked by people what it took to build a large church, and he said that he always answered that he did not know, but that God knew and that God was the one who built his church. If someone built a big church with human organization skills and human effort, they would have a big church but they would not have one that God built.

The work that Jesus did was done by the power of the Spirit, not by human organizational efforts. Jesus was born into the world. He lived for thirty years in the household of Mary and Joseph, during which time He grew in wisdom and strength and in favor with God and man. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. After winning the victory over the devil, the first thing that He did was He went into the town of Nazareth and He taught. Jesus was the great teacher. He had the wisdom of God, and He had the power of the Spirit: so He taught. "How can they believe except they hear, and how can they hear except they have a preacher?"

The work of God is the teaching of the truth. More important than the miracles that He did was the fact that Jesus was a teacher. He died to save us from our sins, but while He was on the earth, He was a teacher and not just any teacher. No man ever spoke as this man, and one of the reasons was because He had the power of the Spirit. The ministry of teaching the Word is vitally important. It is the work of God in the world. It is the work that Jesus Himself did when He was here. The will of God is that some people are given the gift of teaching and others are given gifts to help support and administer the work of a teacher. Jesus chose Peter to be a teacher, and Jesus said to him, "If you love me, feed my sheep."

Concerning the message that Jesus taught when He first started His ministry the Bible says in Luke 4:16-19, "And 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 for to read. And there was delivered unto him 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 set me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."

Among other things these verses tell us somewhat of the method that Jesus used when He preached a sermon. His sermon started with and was based upon the scriptures. The first thing that Jesus did when He preached this sermon was to start by reading the Word of God. If Jesus, who was the Word of God, used the written Word of God, how much more we need to do the same thing. The power to touch the hearts of people is not in your ideas or your words, but is in the Word of God. The more that you present the Word of God, the more that you will give a sermon that will honor God.

Jesus read from Isaiah Chapter 61. Jesus quoted Isaiah and said that he had been anointed by God. The Greek word that is translated "anointed" is the same Greek word from which we get the word "Christ." In effect Jesus was saying, "I am the Christ. I am the Anointed One." When we think of the Christ, we think of the One who came to die on the cross to save the world, and so He did. But before He died on the cross, He had some work to do. He was anointed to "preach." The word "preach" is used three times in these verses. Jesus said that He was anointed "to preach the gospel," "to preach deliverance," and "to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."

Of the three words that are translated "preach," two different Greek words are used. The first usage, "euanggelion," is the Greek word that means to announce the good news. The emphasis is on the content of the message. If you are going to preach God’s Word, then you must announce the good news about Jesus Christ and what He can do for everyone who is willing to hear. It’s a positive message. It’s a good message. It’s a message about hope and forgiveness and love and a wonderful home in heaven. Be careful of looking too closely at a sinful and failing world. The message that God wants you to give is the message about good news.

The second word in these few verses that is translated "to preach" comes from the Greek word "knrusso," and it emphasizes the fact that the message is publicly proclaimed. God wants the message of the gospel to be made public. It’s not something to be kept as a secret for a few select people. It’s meant to be publicized to the whole world. "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." Jesus said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Notice to whom Jesus said that He was going to preach the gospel: to the poor, the broken-hearted, the captives, the blind, and the bruised. God wants to save everyone in the world, but He can only save those who are ready to listen. The gospel of Jesus is for the poor. That means poor in spirit. If you realize your extreme poverty of spirit without Jesus, you will come to Him and find the spiritual life that will enrich you for eternity.

Jesus said that by preaching the gospel He would heal the broken-hearted. For some people no one knows what sorrows life has brought them: no one but Jesus. But no matter how dark is the cloud, how heavy is the burden, or how great is the sorrow: Jesus can take it all away. He said, "Come unto me all ye that labor and that are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Jesus knows all about it. Jesus loves you. He can replace your sorrow with acceptance and joy, because the gospel is a message of hope and of a bright future, and it’s a message that can overpower human cares and disappointments.

Jesus said that He would "preach deliverance to the captives." Human beings are slaves to sin and its horrible consequences. He that commits sin is the slave to sin. Because "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," the only escape possible from the slavery is through Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."

Through the preaching of the gospel, there is deliverance to the captives, and there is also "recovering of sight to the blind." Of course, this is talking about spiritual blindness. There are countless numbers of people in the world who cannot see. They are in darkness, spiritual darkness. In order to see they must come to the light. Jesus is the Light of the world. In Him is no darkness at all, and through the preaching of the gospel, the blind receive their sight.

In the last part of Luke 4:18 Jesus said that another reason for the preaching of the gospel was "to set at liberty them that are bruised." The Greek work that is translated "to set at liberty" comes from the same Greek word that is elsewhere translated "forgiven." It’s a wonderful thing to be forgiven. When a person sins, their sins become a part of their identity. If you know their sins, then when you think of them you remember the sins that they have done. God knows everything that you have done. He knows what sins you have committed. But forgiveness is so complete and so wonderful because it removes from you any connection between you and your sins. "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our sins from us." When God forgives, He is not as man: He forgives you completely. He sets you free from your sins. Jesus said that He was anointed to preach the gospel in order to set at liberty them that are bruised. You may live in a free country that offers you life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; but you will never know true liberty until you know the freedom from sin that only comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus said that He was anointed to preach, the last thing that He said was that He was anointed "to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." In a way we could say that Jesus is giving the characteristic of the age in which we live. It’s the acceptable year of the Lord. It’s a time of favor and grace. What is the attitude of God in the world here and now when they have seemed to go crazy with sin and vice and excess and pride? God sees it all, and He knows. The attitude of God is one of love and graciousness. The arms of God and of Christ are stretched out to the world with an invitation to come and taste of the water of life freely. It’s still the age of grace. It’s still the time of God’s forbearance when you can come to Him, if only you will.

Jesus quoted from Isaiah Chapter 61, and He spoke of the age of grace and of His purpose and message in this age. But when Jesus quoted Isaiah, Jesus stopped in the middle of Isaiah 61:2. The second part of Isaiah 61:2 says, "and the day of vengeance of our God." Jesus did not speak of the day of vengeance here in Luke Chapter 4 because His purpose was to only speak of the day of grace. The day of vengeance will come, but during the life of Christ and even until now is the day of grace. A wise person and a blessed person will take advantage of the day of grace and turn to the Lord while there is still time.

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