Jesus is the only way of salvation.
B1 Describe the two ways people reacted to Jesus’s message.
B2 Explain the importance of believing in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
B1 Luke 4:16-30 Jesus’s rejection at Nazareth
B2 John 4:1-42 Jesus with the Samaritan Woman and Townsfolk
B3 John 8:58-59 The great I AM
B4 John 10:25-33 Jesus at the Feast of Dedication, rejected, and a stoning attempt
B1 Luke 4:16-30
D1 Jesus’s hometown Nazareth
D2 The place of Jesus’s carpentry business
C2 Date—The Sabbath
D1 Origin in Babylonian Captivity
D2 Not a place of worship. The place of worship was Jerusalem at the Temple.
D3 On Sabbath every Jew came.
D4 The men sat on one side and the women on the other.
D5 The Elders (including the Chief Ruler) the Rabbi’s sat at the front
D6 The order of service
E1 The Confession of Faith (“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, NKJV)
E2 The Congregational Prayer
E3 The Reading of the Pentateuch (These readings could be done by any adult Jewish male 12 years and older).
E4 The Reading of the Prophets
E5 The sermon which was based on the readings
E6 The Blessing on the Congregation
E7 The Alms for the poor which was given as they left.
C4 Jesus reads
D1 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, (Isaiah 61:1-2) When Jesus read this passage, He stopped at “the acceptable day of the LORD.” He did this on purpose.
D2 Then hands the scroll back to the attendant
C5 Jesus’s sermon
D1 While all are watching
D2 His sermon
E1 “…and He began by saying to them, “Today, this Scripture in your ears has been fulfilled”. (Luke 4:21, WPNT)
E2 “Then He said, “Assuredly I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. But I tell you truly, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine all over the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a widow woman. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” (Luke 4:24-27, EMTV)
C6 The reaction
D1 Their emotion—Well, upon hearing these things everyone in the synagogue was filled with fury, (Luke 4:28, WPNT)
D2 Their action and rising up they drove Him out of the town and took Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him off the cliff. (Luke 4:29, WPNT)
D3 Their failure—But He, passing through the middle of them, went on His way. (Luke 4:30, WPNT)
B1 Why did these Jews get so angry?
C1 Their pet interpretation was a physical one.
D1 Plenty of money
D2 Plenty of food
D3 Plenty of health
D4 Plenty of freedom
C2 Jesus wanted them to know the truth. This is a prophecy about Messiah and His spiritual kingdom.
D1 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. (Romans 13:14)
D2 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17)
D3 Jews and Gentiles are to be in God’s Kingdom.
B2 Why did they want to kill Jesus?
B3 What became of their attempt? (He passed through their midst).
B4 Do people today get angry at the Gospel?
B5 Do most people, even Christians, understand the Gospel?
B6 When Jesus said, “Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” did Jesus exaggerate?
B7 In Luke 4:18, the Lord has _______________ me. What does anoint me mean in this context? (Specially chosen and gifted by God to do a commissioned work)
B8 What was Jesus anointed to do? (Preach the Gospel). So, we know that what Jesus was preaching is the Gospel.
B9 Who is Jesus to preach to? (The poor). Who are the poor in this context? (people humbly listening and believing the words of God. It is the opposite of being proud and believing our way is right).
C1 “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.” (Proverbs 12:15)
C2 “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts.” (Proverbs 21:2)
C3 “One can see the results of doing this. In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25)
B10 What was sent out to do?
C1 Heal brokenhearted.
D1 Most modern translations leave these words out.
D2 Wilbur Pickering informs us that only 1.5% of Greek manuscripts leave these words out, thus 98.5% have these words.
D3 Who are the brokenhearted?
C2 Proclaim liberty to the captives.
D1 What liberty is this?
E1 “…because even the creation itself shall be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. Romans 8:21
E2 “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Corinthians 3:17)
E3 “…and that was because of false brothers secretly brought in (who slipped in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might reduce us to slavery).” (Galatians 2:4)
E4 “Stand fast therefore in the freedom in which Christ has made us free, and do not be loaded down again with a yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1
E5 “For you, brothers were called to freedom; only do not use freedom for an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13
D2 Who are the captives?
F1 Before salvation, our self and our choice is first.
F2 After salvation, then doing what God wants is first.
F3 “But I see a different law in my members, waging war against the law of my mind, and capturing me by the law of sin which is in my members.” (Romans 7:23)
F4 “For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.” (Ecclesiastes 7:20)
F5 “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” (Galatians 5:17)
F1 “…and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” 2 Timothy 2:26
F2 “And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,” (John 13:2)
C3 Open prison to those who are imprisoned, bond, tied up, and chained.
D1 What is this prison?
E1 Natural humanity is going to hell.
E2 “…and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:32-36)
E3 “…to hear the groans of the prisoners, to set free those who were doomed to die; (Psalms 102:20)
E4 Some interpret it to be the prison of darkness, that is, spiritual darkness. “…to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” (Isaiah 42:7)
D2 Can any human open the doors of such a prison?
C4 To proclaim—speak out, teach, tell others
D1 The acceptable year of the Lord.
E1 God has initiated salvation. He has opened the hearts and eyes of every person. It is at that point that the time is acceptable. Any person can then resist or not resist the Gospel call.
E2 “And working together with Him, we also urge that you not receive the grace of God in vain. For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)
D2 The day of vengeance of our God. This is in the Isaiah passage, but our Lord did NOT quote this. The reason is that Jesus’s first coming was for salvation, the next for punishment.
E1 Speaking of Messiah. “The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath. He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries.” (Psalms 110:5-6)
E2 Speaking of God’s judgment and punishment for the world. “…and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9
C5 To comfort all who mourn.
D1 All those who mourn and repent.
D2 Compare—“To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.” (Isaiah 61:3)
B11 Was that prophecy/passage in Isaiah fulfilled? In what way?
B12 Why aren’t prophets accepted in the hometown?
B13 Why are these two Gentiles mentioned in Jesus’s sermon?
C1 Jesus wanted to show the Jews that God loves the Gentiles.
C2 Jesus wanted them to know the truth.
C3 Jesus spoke the truth, not some words that THEY would want to hear.
B14 What does “passed through their midst” mean?
C1 The people wanted a miracle, so here it is.
C2 We cannot assume that the people were blinded or that the Lord Jesus became invisible.
C3 Possibly the same as “But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not recognize Him.” (Luke 24:16, EMTV)
B15 Why didn’t Jesus “pass through their midst” earlier, instead of waiting until having been dragged out of the synagogue?
B16 Why do people reject Christ?
C1 They don’t like who Jesus is.
C2 They think they are a good person. They think that they do not need a savior.
C3 They don’t like His authority.
C4 They don’t want Him to be their King or obey His rules.
C5 They fear persecution, ridicule, loss of life, job, family, money, position, authority, respect, etc.
C6 They love something else more like money, power, fame, their addictions to fun, etc. They love their sin.
C7 They feel God loves everyone.
C8 They want to be the boss of their lives.
C9 They cannot believe that God would send someone to hell.
C10 They blame God for their wrong choices. “Why would God let such and such happen to me?”
C11 They are a false convert. They have a wrong definition of what a Christian is.
D1 Christianity is only cultural. “I was born in a Christian country, so I am a Christian.”
D2 Christianity was the home religion, the religion of their parents. “I grew up in a Christian home, so I am a Christian.”
C12 They feel/believe that their religion is correct or superior.
C13 It is not logical.
D1 Christianity is a reasonable faith.
D2 Christianity is not a blind faith.
B17 How do we respond to those who reject Christ?
B18 Why did the Samaritan woman accept Christ?
C1 She did believe what Jesus said.
C2 So did many of the Samaritans. “And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman testifying, “He told me everything I ever did.” (John 4:39, EMTV)
B19 Do all religions lead to the same place?
B20 Is Yahweh and Allah the same God as many say?
C1 Allah has no son; Yahweh has a Son.
C2 Islam—Jesus is a prophet. Christianity—Jesus is God the Son and the redeemer.
C3 Islam—Allah did not die for humanity. Christianity—Jesus, God’s son, did die for humanity.
Posted by Choco at 10:23 6 Mar 15
Responding to Jesus
Labels: Bible, reject/accept Jesus, Sunday School lesson