“The Just Shall Live By Faith”

New King James Version                          Written by: David Hicks

 

Romans 1:17 “ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

Galatians 3:11 “But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith."

Hebrews 10:38 “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him."

“Articles of Faith”

 

An Orderly Account Of The Greatest Story Ever Told

(A Study in Luke)

Chapter 4:14-30:

Before we start, there is for this lesson a chart that has been published for you to use concerning the ministry of Jesus in both Galilee and Judea – use this link:

http://www.plvcc.org/MinistryChart.htm

This lesson is the starting place of the Lord's Galilean ministry ( 4:14 - 9:50 ). Following His temptation, Jesus would come to His native region and begin to preach. He taught that God had sent Him to bring deliverance to all people. The first thing we will learn from the beginning of His ministry is that a prophet finds His greatest rejection from those of His very own home!

Text #1:

Luke 4:14-15 “Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee , and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.”

Power of the Spirit: The word ‘power' is from the Greek, “ dunamis ”, which means; might or ability that is the individuals to command. As we have discussed in the previous two lessons, John the Baptist was not only able to testify that he witnessed the Spirit descend upon the Lord, but that Jesus had the Spirit without measure ( John 1:32 -34 ; 3:33 -36 ). He would use this power in His Galilean ministry to demonstrate that He had been sent by God.

Synagogue: The word ‘synagogue' occurs many times in the New Testament. It was an assembly of Jews formally gathered together to offer prayer, and listen to scripture. The term is also given to the structures where these solemn assemblies were held. These gatherings date themselves back to the Babylonian captivity and by the time Jesus was to come, every town and city in both Judea and the dispersion that had a sufficient number of male Jews had a synagogue (the larger cities had several).

Text #2:

Luke 4:16-22 “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. 17 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:

18 " 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; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord ."

20 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. 21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 22 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?"

His Custom: It was the Lord's custom to attend worship services in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and this stands as an example of the desire that any servant of God should have in attending worship services. Any male member of the synagogue could have read scripture, but Jesus was ready to participate and serve in the service.

Handed the Book: The book of the prophet Isaiah was a roll of manuscript and Jesus showed His respect for the written word by locating the place in the book He wished and read.

Isaiah 61:1-2 : Isaiah would declare that the Great Servant of God would have the Spirit of God upon Him (the Spirit of God would have a distinct role in the work of the Great Servant of God: Isaiah 11:2 ; 42:1 ; 48:16 ; 50:4 ), and that it would be through this Divine appointment and power that the Great Servant of God would go about His work. He would preach good tidings of victory and deliverance to the meek, humble, lowly, and the gentle.

He would proclaim liberty to captives and bring out of prison those in bondage, which would look to a spiritual fulfillment; one which Peter would reference when writing to Christians in Northern Asia Minor, note:

1 Peter 3:18-22 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God , being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit , 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison , 20 who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. 21 There is also an antitype which now saves us--baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.”

In addition, the Great Servant of God would proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and a day of vengeance. A year and a day may actually be significant if you consider the comparison in time. A longer time is assigned to the blessing being proclaimed and delivered; whereas the proclamation of vengeance will be swift and just.

Today: Jesus openly and without reservation applied the words of the prophet to Himself. Just as the Apostle Paul would record to the churches of Galatia ; the events recorded by the prophets were to happen in their lifetime , note:

Galatians 4:4-5 “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

The Savior proclaimed to the people of His native land that He had come to initiate the promise of the prophet and bring the blessings of freedom to the land.

They Marveled: At first the reaction of the people was favorable and they marveled that a carpenter's son could speak with such knowledge. It was obvious that they were un-accustomed to this kind of instruction, especially away from Jerusalem .

Text #3:

Luke 4:23-27 “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.' " 24 Then He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 25 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; 26 but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."

He Said To Them: Jesus was a ware of the reasoning of the people and whether they heard Him with physical or spiritual ears. He knew that they had heard of His fame in Capernaum and that they would challenge Him in the same way as Satan; to improve His own and His family's physical status.

No Prophet Is Accepted In His Own Country: This simple statement was the reason why the Lord limited His work in His home. It brings to mind the statement, “familiarity breeds contempt” . They were already jealous that Jesus had a reputation in Capernaum and that they had not received similar status, so they have defamed His origins as being to simple for a prophet of His status.

Illustrations: Jesus would use the illustration of Elijah and Elisha ( I Kings 17:8-16 ; II Kings 5:1-14 ). If these old prophets passed over so many people and bestowed their favors upon a few humble cases, it was because they were considered worthy of the benefits.

1 Corinthians 1:25 “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

Therefore, by these illustrations, Jesus denotes that the people of His home were not worthy of the power and knowledge at His disposal.

Text #4 :

Luke 4:28-30 “So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 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. 30 Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way.”

Filled With Wrath: They obviously understood the insinuation made within the illustration (they couldn't understand or better yet, didn't want to understand that He was there to bring freedom from the slavery of sin; however, they understood that He had found them unworthy!).

The Lord did not resist their force against Him, until it was necessary to preserve His life. This will become a repetitious event in order to preserve Himself until the day of His predicted end. He only

used His power to escape, never did He use force that would harm.

This stands as testimony to those who say that He failed in His mission to establish His kingdom when he suffered the death of the cross. The fact is the death of the cross was the only death He would allow ! That was the death of prophecy and fulfillment of God's great plan of salvation!

Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Jesus would find rejection in many of the places He would go, but this lesson shows that this rejection would not be as comprehensive as in His own home!