 The title of our sermon this morning is His Word Was With Authority. His Word Was With Authority. Our text, Luke chapter 4, verses 14 through 32. We won't have opportunity to work in detail fashion through this whole text, but we do want to make reference to it considering our subject that we'll be covering this morning. Our sermon today is part of a new series at our church entitled The Essentials. And if you're visiting with us, we're compiling a series of sermons and a series of classroom lessons on the essentials of Baptist theology or the essentials of church practice. And we're doing that in hopes of producing a resource that we can use with new members of our church or those who are new to our church to help them become established in the faith, give them a firm foundation of Christian doctrine. And so we come now in this series on the essentials to a segment of theology dealing with the doctrine of revelation. And we've looked at so far general revelation, we've looked at special revelation and last Lord's day, the doctrine of inspiration. And so today we come to the subject of biblical authority or the authority of the scriptures, biblical authority. If the Bible, that form of special revelation that you hold in your hands this morning, if your Bible is the inspired word of the living God, then it is undeniably true and uncompromisingly authoritative. It's undeniably true because God, who is the source of all truth, cannot lie. It is uncompromisingly authoritative because it is the word of the Lord our God, the one to whom we must give an account. And not only is the Bible undeniably true, not only is the Bible uncompromisingly authoritative, but the Bible then, being that it is in fact the inspired word of the living God is the only source of divine authority. Only that revelation which comes from him is ultimately authoritative. There is no other source of divine authority. And I'm saying in making that statement that you can't find truth in other things. We can't find that we can't find truth in nature, for example. We know that the heavens declare the handy work of God or that you can't find truth in other sources to the extent that those sources reflect the truth that is ultimately and primarily and originally found in the authoritative word of God. We may read good books, but those books are good as long as they point us to the authority and sufficiency and clarity of God's word. We may hear good sermons and hear truth from sermons, but that truth is only authoritative and only good to the fact that it points you back to the word of the living God. There is no other source of divine authority. There is only that authority that is asserted by fallen men. So what we find then is we're talking about two categories, two categories of authority so to speak, divine truth or worldly philosophy, God's wisdom or man's wisdom, that which is spiritual, that which is carnal, two categories. What we believe, the way that we think, the way that we conduct ourselves, the way that we reason, the way that we understand is ultimately rooted and ultimately grounded in this question of authority, the authority of God or the authority of man. Two categories, two camps, a clear line between them and a decision to make. What are you going to submit to? Who are you going to trust? Will you continue to rely upon man's wisdom or you can continue to trust and submit to man's so-called authority or will you submit to the authority that is found alone in the word of the living God? The unbelieving sinner, the unbelieving sinner disregards the authority of God and upholds the authority of man. The unbelieving sinner thinks to himself, I can decide for myself what is true. I can decide for myself what is false. They locate authority in their own reason, in their own understanding. They become the arbiters of divine truth or they become the arbiters of what is true and what is false and they may in that pursuit make it sound objective. You know I believe in science or I trust in that which is the natural laws all around us are inviolable, they're unbreakable. I trust in the natural laws, I trust in science, sounds very objective. But ultimately he himself, because he's abandoned the wisdom that comes from God, he himself is the ultimate authority over his own life, he's going to call the shots. He'll choose who he wants to listen to and who he doesn't want to listen to and if science doesn't agree with him then we'll change the science, won't we? We see it all the time. Used to be that homosexuality was a perversion, then it was a disorder, then it was a syndrome and now it's normal. Used to be that there was a baby in the mother's womb and then that baby became a fetus and now that fetus is a valueless blob of tissue, right? If the science doesn't agree with us, we'll change the science. Why? Because man finds himself his own ultimate authority in all things, we'll just change the science. Besides, he makes the decisions and he ultimately knows what's best for himself. The unbelieving sinner disregards the authority of God, upholds the authority or autonomy of man. The moral unbeliever, the moral unbeliever disregards the ultimate authority of God and upholds the authority of man. Generally, the moral unbeliever gives lip service to what he and others around him commonly accept as right or wrong. His motives are self-righteous, his motives are self-aggrandizing, that one who is a moral unbeliever seeks to appeal to those within his circle in order to make himself look good and right and just. His morality may even hold as long as it serves his own self-promoting, prideful purposes. The religious unbeliever, the religious unbeliever disregards the authority of God and upholds the authority of man. They find truth outside the Word of God and they put their faith in the vain imaginations of men. They rely on tradition. They rely on religious ritual. They rely on the teachings of a church that contradict the Word of God. They may in part acknowledge the Bible, but it will be Bible plus church councils. It will be Bible plus papal and cyclicals. It will be Bible plus a magisterium. It will be Bible plus some other writings or vain imaginations of wicked and fallen men. For some religious unbelievers, their authority is charismatic experience. And whatever they experience becomes instantly more authoritative than God's Word. Above God's Word, relied on more than God's Word. Whatever they feel, whatever they sense or believe they experience becomes the authoritative rule over the Bible. And that which allows them to set aside the ultimate authority of the Bible for the sake of some religious fantasy or some religious superstition, that list is long and infamous. Our authority, the Christian's authority, is the Word of the living God. Our authority is God Himself. And God has spoken in His inspired and authoritative Word, and that's what we believe. That's what Christians believe. That Word revealed at various times and in various ways and times past to the fathers by the prophets. Most preeminently in these last days, He has spoken to us in His Son. That special revelation of God has been written down. It's been inscripturated. And the means by which that revelation has been written down is through a process of verbal plenary inspiration. The words are inspired and all of them, all of it is inspired. Second Timothy chapter 3, verse 16, Paul says, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's breathed out by God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. Peter, in second Peter chapter 1, verse 20, knowing this first Peter says, no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation. It's not of any human source, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved or carried along by the Holy Spirit. In other words, the thoughts didn't originate in man, the concepts didn't originate in man, the words didn't originate in man, the source of Scripture isn't man, the source of Scripture is God. Now we believe that we have, through that Spirit-wrought process of inspiration, through the sovereign supernatural, superintending work of God, is God's revealed word in one book, the Bible, 40 different authors, 1500 different years, 39 books of the Old Testament, 27 books of the New Testament, 66 books of the Bible altogether, the Biblical canon in perfect unity, infallible, inerrant, sufficient, and clear. That's what has been given to us by God. That word is true, and because that word is true, because that word is in fact the word of God, that word is authoritative. That's what Christians believe. It's authoritative and we are accountable to it. Now no other authority is ultimately worthy of our trust. It is God alone who can bind the conscience of man, and it is God alone who has absolute authority. Now others would tell you differently. You know that, we see that we run into that witnessing to others. Roman Catholicism, among others, would have us believe that God's authority doesn't only reside in the Bible, but it also resides with the Roman Catholic Church. And God has delegated His authority to the church, first to Peter, and then through a succession of Peter's popes. Well how trustworthy has that institution, the Roman Catholic Church, how trustworthy is that institution proven over the centuries? How trustworthy is that institution seen as being today? No. There is no other ultimate authority besides God who alone has absolute authority. The issue of authority begins with how we understand the canon. It begins with how we understand the canon, canonicity, the collection of writings, or those books that make up our Bible. Now here's the argument from Rome. Because the church was given authority to make that decision about which books should be formally included in the canon of Scripture and which books shouldn't be included in the canon of Scripture. The Scripture then is subject to the authority of the church. Besides it's the church who decides. In other words, Rome would say, you don't have the Bible without the church. And so the church, along with her tradition, is given authority over the Scriptures. The question is then, did the church produce the Bible? Was it the church that produced the Bible? That question is an emphatic no. The church, in fact, you want to think about it, the word of God is a means through which God produced the church, not the other way around, right? The church did not produce the Bible. In fact, those in the church, at the time that our canon was being acknowledged and affirmed due to attacks and assaults on what was commonly understood to be the canon, those who were putting that together at the time or that were acknowledging or affirming the canon were not so arrogant to have said that they were giving birth to the Bible or were creating the Scriptures. In fact, they were formally said to be receiving it. That was the word they used. We receive the Scriptures. We receive the Bible recognizing its authority, recognizing its source and origin as being from God. We receive the canon, the canon or that collection of sacred books. We call the Bible is not a product of the church. The canon is a product of inspiration. The canon is a product of inspiration. The canon of Scripture, our Bible, came into existence because God has spoken. Without God having spoken, we have no Bible. But because God has spoken and inscripturated what He has revealed to a process of inspiration, we now have an authoritative word, our Bible. Because God breathed out the Scriptures, men were carried along by the Holy Spirit to write what God had revealed to them. God produced the canon. The canon of Scripture is made up of those books that we acknowledge, that God's people acknowledge to be inspired. In other words, books that bear His character, books that bear the marks of His work, books that bear the attributes of their divine author. Not merely books that were chosen by men, not merely books that have been approved or chosen by historic counsel, not merely books that justify some heretical doctrine that men want to hold to. If it's not the Word of God, then it is the Word of men, right? And why would we ever submit ourselves to the words of men? And so the authority of the Word of God rests upon the divine inspiration of the Word of God. And we submit to that authority that properly reflects His Word. In other words, these words are authoritative precisely because these written words are God's words. And God's people acknowledge it as so. Therefore, if you think with me now, to reject inspiration is to reject the authority of the Bible. To reject inspiration is to reject the Bible's testimony of itself. To reject inspiration is to reject the authority of God Himself. Reject inspiration and the Bible becomes a book like any other book. Parts of it out of date, parts of it irrelevant, parts of it that don't matter, parts of it wrong, parts of it unreliable, all of it unauthoritative. How is it, how is it that the Lord exercises His Lordship over His people? He does that by His Spirit through His Word? The question becomes, if we think about this subject together, the question becomes how do we know they are God's words? How do we know? If we're going to submit to this authority, how do we know that they are God's words? There are many, many, many ways in which we can answer that question from Scripture. There are many ways that we can answer that question from outside of Scripture. There's both internal evidence to the inspiration of God's Word and the authority of it, and there's external evidence to the inspiration and authority of God's Word. Many different approaches that we could take, but it's good that we consider the answer. We could begin by saying that the Bible is authoritative because it claims to be the Word of God. The Bible itself claims to be the very Word of God, and that is true, and the Bible is authoritative when it claims it. But there are many books, aren't there? There are many books that claim to be divine in origin, divine in source. There are many books that claim to be inspired by God. We could say that our belief, our trust in the Word of God is a matter of faith. That we are people of faith, we're to be people of the book, and so we believe and trust the Bible because it claims to be the Word of God. It's a matter of faith, and we should make it a matter of faith. It is a matter of faith, but there are many who would say the same thing about their supposedly holy books. It's a matter of faith to them that they believe their Scriptures. How do we know that what we have is the Word of the living God? How do we know they are God's words? The issue of authority is established by the way in which God's Word manifests to God's people the glory of the One who revealed that Word to us. Now think with me for a moment. The issue of authority, the issue of inspiration, knowing that this is God's Word that we have in our hands, the issue of authority is established by the way in which God's Word manifests itself to God's people the glory of the One who revealed that Word to us. It manifests the glory of God. The Westminster Larger Catechism gives us this answer to a Catechism question. This is really helpful. Catechism says this. The Scriptures manifest themselves to be the Word of God. How? How do the Scriptures do that? How do they manifest themselves to be the Word of God? By their majesty and by their purity, by the consent of all the parts, by the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory to God. By their light, by their power to convince and convert sinners, to comfort and build up believers unto salvation, but the Spirit of God bearing witness by and with the Scriptures in the heart of man is alone able fully to persuade it that they are the very Word of God. Even that evidence of divine inspiration is a work of God's Spirit in the heart of God's people. So as we think about that statement together, there are some objective means by which we know that the Bible is the Word of God, but the confession is quick to point out that the primary means is the subjective work of the Spirit of God in the heart of man. Paul would say it this way in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 6, the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, that God must shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. We need the Lord to shine abroad in our hearts. The Lord says this in John chapter 10. Listen, he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and he leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him. For they know his voice, yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. He later told the Pharisees in the same chapter, you do not believe my words because you are not of my sheep. Absolutely, sinks the ship of mental ascent, doesn't it? If someone comes to a knowledge of God through mental or intellectual means alone, simply doesn't work that way. The Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit. So we may see the words majesty, the words purity. We may marvel at the consent of all its parts. We may stand in amazement at the scope of the whole and we should. It should inform our faith. It should strengthen our confidence in the Word of God as the infallible inerrant scripture, and thereby preserving us an appreciation of its authority, develop or cultivate within us an appreciation of its power. But ultimately it will be the Word of God in the hands of the Spirit of God, shed abroad in your heart and my heart that is alone able to persuade us fully that it is the Word of God. We may be able to see its true majesty and its true purity, its true harmony, its true unity, its true scope only through the work of the Spirit of God. I'd like for us to consider this reality from our text this morning found in Luke chapter 4 beginning in verse 14. This work of inspiration or this establishing of divine authority in the Word of God. Until the arrival of Jesus Christ, turn with me there to Luke chapter 4, until the arrival of Jesus Christ, the authoritative Word of God consisted in the Old Testament scriptures. We have our Old Testament, that is the Word of God. However, God who at various times and in various ways spoken time past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days now spoken to us by his son. And so what essentially began then the New Testament canon is not the arrival of the apostles, not the arrival of apostolic preaching or teaching, but the arrival of God himself in the person of his incarnate son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one to whom all authority has been given. That's what ushers in, you could say, the New Testament canon. Now I'm presenting our case for the authority of the Bible. I want us to see from Luke chapter 4 how the Lord himself handled the scriptures. And Luke begins his record of the ministry of Jesus Christ in verse 14 with the Lord's return to Galilee. Look at verse 14 with me. And then Jesus Christ returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee and news of him went out through all the surrounding region and he taught in their synagogues being glorified by all. And note with me first in verse 14 that we see the Lord's power and in verse 15 we see the Lord's purpose. Verse 14 is power, verse 15 is purpose. He went out in the power of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is at work through the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ is laboring in ministry in the power of the Spirit of God. Do you see? Not apart from the Spirit of God. This is another example of the indispensable operations of the Trinity, of the Godhead. We see the Lord's power. Verse 15 we see the Lord's purpose. His purpose for returning to Galilee was to preach and to teach in their synagogues. Now what was the Lord preaching and teaching? He's preaching and teaching the Word of God. Lord said, Jesus said, I don't speak on my authority, on my own authority. The words that I speak are the words that I've been given to speak by God. His words are the words that I speak, right? He's not preaching or teaching on his own authority, so to speak. He's preaching the Word of God. Now that sums up the earthly ministry of the Lord. This power of the Spirit with the purpose of preaching and teaching the Word of God, the Gospel. Preaching and teaching in the power of the Spirit. Notice first now, I want you to see the central place of the Word of God in the worship of God. The central place of the Word of God in the worship of God. From Jewish history, we know that a typical synagogue service would have begun with the singing of Psalms. This was written down. They would have sang Psalms together. On this particular day, they would have sung the Hallel. Psalms 145 to 150. They would have sang Psalms together. They would have recited the Shema from Deuteronomy chapter 6. They would have said together, Here, 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. That is the authoritative Word of God. They would have recited that together after singing Psalms. After the Shema, there would have been prayers, several prayers offered to God. And then 18 benedictions, called the Shemona Esrae. 18 benedictions. Now all of this was leading up to the center or focus of the service, which was the reading and exposition of God's Word. They have begun with a reading of the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. There were multiple readings in the Torah, and then they would read from the prophets, the Haft Torah. There would be an expositional sermon, an explanation of a text, by someone appointed to preach, and then they would close with a benediction. And notice in that explanation of synagogue worship, how Word centered their worship was. This was the context in which Jesus Christ would come into the synagogue to preach and to teach. Word centered, the context of their worship, service, it focused on the Word of God. If you listen to that, it sounds familiar, doesn't it? They got together, they sang together. They recited or read the Word of God together. There were several Scripture readings, which they heard together. And then there was an exposition of a text, a sermon, and then they prayed together and dismissed. Sounds like our service even today, doesn't it? Sounds like worship of the church throughout the centuries, doesn't it? The worship of the church throughout the centuries has been Word centered. Centered, focused until our day, when largely today we find so-called worship in so-called churches that is not Word centered. But even today, the real people of God love to have the Word of God preached. They love to hear the Word of God explained. They love to sit under the preaching and teaching of God's Word. They love to sing theology that comes from God's Word. They love to praise the people of God to God, echoing back God's words to him, right? The people of God love that. They love to have it so. Those who are false professing Christians do not. No other authority is recognized in the Lord's church, but the Word of the living God. This Word is authoritative then in our worship, and it has been authoritative in the worship of God's people through all the centuries. Incidentally, as we think about that from verses 14 and 15, what would have gone on in the synagogue at that time? Every time that the Word of God has given historical background or information about history, the Word of God proves itself to be entirely accurate and entirely authoritative. Every single time, there are many through the centuries, right? They'll come along, archaeologists will say, well, this city is not true in the Bible because that city has never been found. Ten years later, they find that city, right? This king has never been mentioned. Five years later, they dig up some base with that king's name on it, right? In every case where the Bible touches history, the Bible is found to be entirely accurate and authoritatively true. Now, this would have been the context in which the Lord Jesus Christ came preaching and teaching in the synagogue at Nazareth in Galilee. So verse 16, he comes then to Nazareth where it had been brought up. Jesus is coming back home, so to speak. This is where he would have grown up. He would have known the people in that small town. He would have gone and attended synagogue services with them as a child. He would have sat back and listened to the preaching of teaching. He would have sang psalms and prayed with the people, right? This is the town where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, that's nice, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ. It was his custom to go in and gather with the people of God to worship God. As his custom was, verse 16, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read. And he was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. 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 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, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And notice second with me, the central place of the Word of God in the redemptive work of God. We looked at the central place of the Word of God and the worship of God. Look now at the central place of the Word of God in the redemptive work of God. This word is effective. It is efficacious in our redemption. Paul said to the Thessalonians that they received the Word not as it is as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the very Word of God which is effective in those who believe. This word is effective for bringing about the purposes that God intends. Now at the right time in the service, the attendant in the synagogue called the Hassan, the one in charge of the scrolls, right? This attendant comes up to Jesus who had been given an opportunity to speak. This was obviously set up ahead of time. And this attendant hands him the scroll of Isaiah, the appointed reading for that particular day. It's interesting, 154 readings in the Torah, in the prophets, 154 readings, it would have taken three years to get through all of those readings. And it just so happens today as the Lord Jesus Christ just so happens, right? As the Lord Jesus Christ is entering the synagogue, that the reading for that day is from the scroll of Isaiah, the gospel, so to speak, of the Old Testament. The Lord will read from the scroll of Isaiah. And so the Lord turns to Isaiah chapter 61. Turn there with me. Isaiah chapter 61. And he begins reading in verse one. Now all there in the synagogue would have recognized this text as a reference to God's promised Messiah. They would have seen this text as a messianic text. The anointed one is the one, the Christ who would come in the power of the Spirit. As we look at Isaiah chapter 61, this messianic prophecy or this messianic development had taken place throughout the book of Isaiah. It's written all over the scroll of Isaiah. Flip back with me. Keep your finger there in Isaiah 61. And flip back with me to Isaiah chapter 9. Begins all the way back in Isaiah chapter 9. Where in verse 6, Prophet says, For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the government will be upon his shoulder. His name will be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. This is the promise of the coming Messiah. Now what this should harken us back to even as we consider the text of the Old Testament is all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 where God promises in the course of the curse of the serpent that he will send the seed of the woman and that serpent will bruise his heel but the seed of the woman will crush the serpent's head. And this is a fulfillment of that promise seen in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6. It's a messianic prophecy. Flip the page and look at Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah chapter 11 and look there beginning at verse 1. There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of its roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. He will be, he will come in the power of the spirit of God. Flip the page and look at Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42 and look there beginning at verse 1. Behold, Isaiah says, behold, the Lord says, my servant whom I uphold, my elect one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He is the anointed one, right? He is the anointed one. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out nor raise his voice nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed, he will not break. Smoking flax, he will not quench. He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands shall wait for his law. This is a prophecy of the coming messianic servant of God. Flip the page and look at Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. An absolute amazing text in the Old Testament speaking of the Lord's Messiah. Isaiah chapter 53 verse 1. Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He has no former comeliness. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised, rejected by men. A man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid as it were our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. Surely he has borne our griefs. He's carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before it shears is silent so he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who will declare his generation? For he was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgressions of my people he was stricken. They made his grave with the wicked but with the rich at his death because he had done no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge my righteous servant shall justify many. For he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great. He shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death. He was numbered with the transgressors. He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors. There's so much theology in that one chapter that the Jews at that time had no earthly idea what it was talking about. Right? They had no idea what it meant. They didn't understand these things about the Messiah. What you have in Isaiah chapter 53 is substitutionary atonement. Penal substitutionary atonement. You have a sacrifice, a perfect sacrifice. The Lord bearing the sins of his people. Absolutely amazing. Men didn't write this. Do you see? They didn't even believe it. When the Lord Jesus Christ came they didn't believe it. They didn't understand it. And these truths, these truths are all over the New Testament. Complex truths, difficult truths, all over the New Testament clearly expounded and perfectly in harmony with the Old Testament. So many other references in the book of Isaiah the Prophet. So many. Those in the synagogue that day in Luke chapter 4 would have recognized the reference in Isaiah 61 as the one, as one of the coming Messiah. And so the Lord finds his place then in the scroll. Isaiah chapter 61 beginning in verse one. 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 in the opening of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Notice here the ministry of the Messiah. To proclaim the gospel. To proclaim the good news to the poor. Who are those that needed the gospel? The spiritually poor. The spiritually poor needed the gospel to heal the brokenhearted. To proclaim liberty to those who are held captive. Recovery of sight to the blind. To set at liberty those who are oppressed. All summarized in Luke chapter 4 verse 19 by verse 19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Or what is the year of the Lord? Here, what is the year of the Lord? It's the year that the Lord arrives and executes his ministry in the power of the Spirit. It's the year that God's long-awaited promised Messiah would come and execute the ministry that God had given him anointed by the Spirit of God. In other words, the day of salvation has come. It's a day of deliverance, a day of God's salvation. This is the time when the long-awaited promised Messiah has come. Today, the Lord would say, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. For he says, in an acceptable time I have heard you. In the day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. And then he stops short in verse 19. He doesn't read, if you notice, the second half of Isaiah 61 verse 2. He doesn't read the second half of that verse, the day of the vengeance of our God. The Lord Jesus Christ stops halfway through the verse. Now why did the Lord stop short in his reading? Because the time to proclaim that day hasn't come yet. The time to announce the fulfillment of that prophecy hasn't come yet. Now is the time of salvation. During this time of salvation, as the Messiah performs the work in the power of the Spirit that God sent him to do, now executing that ministry through his people to church, now is the time of salvation. There will come a time when the vengeance of God will be announced and proclaimed. Now is not that time. Now is the time of mercy. Now is an age of grace. When the Lord Jesus Christ, back in Luke chapter 4, when he got to the end of that passage, verse 20, he closed the book, he gave it back to the attendant, and he sat down. He took the position of a teacher. He sat down. He's prepared now to give an exposition. It says in verse 20, the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him. What was he going to say? They were sitting there in anticipation. In verse 21, he began to say to them, today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Today, as distinct from yesterday or tomorrow, today it's fulfilled. At this point in time, the Lord Jesus Christ saying, this Old Testament passage, this authoritative Word of God is fulfilled in your hearing. The perfect tense of the verb there, ple-ra-oh, showing that it is complete. It is entirely complete. It is fulfilled in their hearing. Now think with me for a moment. What Isaiah wrote, he wrote 700 years before the Lord Jesus Christ came. And there's no one, no one of any reason, can miss that who Isaiah is writing of is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is crystal, undeniably clear. The Lord understands the text that he read in Isaiah as sacred Scripture. The Lord understands that text as God's Word. He understands it as an exacting and definitive prophecy of the future. Understands that its exact fulfillment is at the beginning of his own ministry as the promised Messiah. And that ministry will be accomplished in the power of the Spirit as the Word of God has proclaimed, among those who are poor, brokenhearted, blind, captive, and oppressed. In other words, written 700 years before the time of Christ, Jesus Christ now sitting in that synagogue in Galilee, fulfilling that text in their hearing in perfect fashion. This is not the Word of mere men. This is not the Word of mere men. This is in fact the Word of the living God. God alone tells the future. God alone decrees the ends before the beginning. The Word of God and only the Word of God does this. No other book, no other book. Incidentally, the Word of God and only the Word of God answers the question, how can I be set free from bondage to my sin? Those in the synagogue that day were to see themselves as poor, brokenhearted, blind, captive, and oppressed. Spiritual condition of their soul. They were to see themselves as poor in spirit. They were to see themselves as they should have been brokenhearted over their sin against God. They should have seen themselves as oppressed by the flesh, oppressed by the world, oppressed by the devil. They should have seen themselves as captives to their sin. They should have seen themselves in that condition. They would have received well the Word of God, but they didn't. Only the Word of God has what we need, has the answer to that question. How can I be set free from bondage to my sin? How can I be right with a holy God? How can I be forgiven of my sin? How can I go to heaven when I die? Only the Word of God has that answer. And it is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ came proclaiming good news, His own person and work proclaiming liberty to the captives, the acceptable day or the acceptable year of the Lord. Trust in Him, amen. Notice third though, the central place of the Word of God in fulfilled prophecy. The central place of the Word of God in fulfilled prophecy. One of the most compelling evidences of external support for the authority, for the truthfulness, the veracity of God's Word is fulfilled prophecy. It is stunningly amazing. God's Word tells us what is going to happen and it happens in explicit detail every time. Only God determines and foretells the future. In fact, God distinguishes His Word from any false prophet's Word on this basis. Right? If they come preaching a Word and that Word doesn't come to pass, you're not to listen to that false prophet, right? Deuteronomy chapter 13, Deuteronomy chapter 18. Only God's Word authoritatively tells the future and what it says comes to pass. We can see in Scripture clearly how all that fulfilled prophecy has taken place. All those things that God has promised have come true. Trusting, then, that all that yet remains to be fulfilled will be fulfilled in the same manner in exacting detail. Chief example of that is Isaiah 53. Absolutely amazing. In particular, all the Scriptures speak of or point to and are fulfilled in Jesus Christ himself. Luke chapter 24, as the Lord is walking along the road to Emmaus with two disciples, says that the Lord then began with Moses and all the prophets, and He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. In other words, the Old Testament, God's authoritative Word, was about Him pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures are fulfilled in Christ. Matthew chapter 5 verse 17, the Lord says, Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly I say to you till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law until all is fulfilled. All the Scripture according to the Word of the Lord Jesus Christ is authoritative. Notice forth with me the continuity then and the unity of the Word of God across the Testaments. Christianity, what we have Christianity is a fulfillment and a progress of revelation, a continuation of all that's been given in the Old Testament. It's not something entirely new, not something entirely different. That would have been very encouraging to Christian Jews in the first century, should be very encouraging to Christians today. What we have is a progress of revelation, a grand scope, a grand narrative of God's redemptive plans and purposes in Jesus Christ that began in Genesis, ends in revelation, and will conclude with our glorification and eternity in the eternal state with Him. The continuity and the unity and the harmony, the symphony of God's Word across the Testaments, it is a beautiful testimony of the fact that this is not a Word, not words written by men. Notice fifth now, how the Lord applied the text of Scripture authoritatively to them. The Lord peels back their hardened condition, bringing conviction on them, calling them to change. The way that He brings conviction, the way that He calls them to change here is by applying the Word of God authoritatively to them. Look at Luke chapter 4 verse 18. Now here in verse 18 the Lord is essentially saying from Isaiah that unless you see yourself as spiritually poor, broken-hearted, captive to sin, blind to spiritual things, and oppressed, you cannot be saved. That's the ministry of the gospel. It's to those people that the Lord comes bringing good news, and only to those people. Those people who are poor, those people who are broken-hearted, captive, blind, and oppressed. So in verse 22 then, so all bore witness to him as he spoke now in the synagogue, and they marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, is this not Joseph's son? That little piece of amazement should also impress us as well, right? Would you, would this world, looking at the Bible as the mere words of men not say, isn't this written by mere men? And the answer to that is absolutely not. It's impossible. This is God's Word, right? They're amazed that the carpenter's son is speaking with such authority, such clarity. They're amazed he's speaking. Why? Because he's preaching the Word of God. He is God, the Son. All bore witness to him, marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and he said, is this not Joseph's son? In other words, this is uncommon speech. This is God's Word. He said to them, you will surely say this proverb to me. Physician, heal yourself. Whatever we have done, heard done in Capernaum, do also hear in your country. But then he said to them, verse 24, assuredly I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. 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. But to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath in the region of Sidon to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. They said to him essentially, listen, we've heard of what you did in Capernaum. We want you to do that here. Perform for us. Make a sign for us, right? We want to see a sign. Lord knew their heart. Lord knew their heart was hard. And so he tells them a story, a couple of stories, gives a couple of examples about widows, Naaman the Syrian. Naaman the Syrian was cleansed because he knew that he was a leper without hope and knew that he needed cleansing and he put himself entrusted himself to God for that cleansing when the other lepers in that day did not. Naaman was cleansed. There are many spiritual widows, many spiritual lepers who do not acknowledge that they are poor, brokenhearted, captive, and oppressed. There were many in the synagogue that day who would have said to Jesus Christ, show us a sign. If you are the Son of God, if you are the Messiah, show us a sign who would not acknowledge that they were poor, brokenhearted, captive, or oppressed. And so the Lord said to them, truly there were many widows in Israel in the day of Elisha when the heaven was shut up, three years, six months, there was a great famine. To none of them was Elisha sent except to Zarephath in the region of Sidon, a Gentile woman who was a widow. There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. None of them was cleansed except Naaman, that Gentile Syrian. As you can imagine, the word of God because it is authoritative brings great conviction. They didn't see themselves as poor, blind, oppressed, captive, wretched, miserable, and naked. They didn't see themselves that way. But notice fifth with me the worldly, irrational, human response to the authority of God's revealed Word. Because it is authoritative, and because the Spirit of God convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, look at how they respond beginning in verse 28. So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things and they understood exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ was saying to them and about them, verse 28, they were filled with wrath. And they rose up and they thrust him out of the city. And they led him to the brow of a hill on which their city was built that they might throw him down over the cliff. This was the world's response to the Lord Jesus Christ's first sermon in Galilee. They wanted to kill him. And passing through the midst of them, he went his way. Incidentally, I witnessed testimony of miracles in the Bible is evidence of its authority. This is a testimony of God's grace, testimony of God's mercy, his love, his compassion, and yet it receives this kind of irrational hostility that points to its divine authority. Do you see? It has the efficacious power in the hands of the Spirit to proclaim liberty to the captives, and it has, you could say, power in the hands of the Spirit to bring such conviction upon hostile, worldly, godless, unbelieving sinners that they rejected out of hand with hostility. Jesus said, this world hates me because I testify of it that its deeds are evil. He tells the disciples that if this world hated me, it will hate you also. It rejects me, they will reject you as well. Why? Because the Word of God is authoritative. In conclusion, verse 31, he went down into Capernaum, the city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. And they were astonished at his teaching, for his Word was with authority. It is the Word of God. Christ spoke with nothing less than the authority of God. What the Lord said was what God had given him to say. He teaches as one having authority, not as their scribes. The scribes were used to teaching in quotation marks. Everything came in quotation marks. The Lord Jesus Christ didn't do that. The Lord Jesus Christ came saying, you heard it said, but I say with authority equal to and greater than even the Old Testament scriptures. John chapter 12, verse 49, the Lord says, for I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me gave me a command what I should say and what I should speak. So Jesus Christ himself claimed to speak with the very authority of God. If he is the head of the church, which is his body as the scriptures say that he is, then he speaks with divine authority. And the church in submitting to his Lordship, submitting to his headship over the body, then submits to his authority. And then the Lord delegates his authority to his apostles. The word of God is authoritative. Because it's authoritative, because it's the inspired word of the living God, we all therefore have to face an ultimate question. Do we accept the Bible as the word of God as our sole authority in all matters of faith in practice? Or do we not? Do you not? Martin Lloyd Jones, is the whole of my thinking governed by scripture? Or do I come with my reason and pick and choose out of scripture and sit in judgment upon it, putting myself in modern knowledge forward as the ultimate standard and authority? Do you sit in judgment of the word of God? Do you act as judge picking and choosing that which you'll submit to and that which you won't? That which you'll believe and that which you won't? The issue, Jones says, is crystal clear. Do I accept scripture as a revelation from God? Or do I trust to speculation? That's what human wisdom is. It's speculation. Do I trust human knowledge, which is absurdly limited? Do I trust human learning, human understanding, human reason, or putting it still more simply? Do I pin my faith to and subject all my thinking to what I read in the Bible? Or do I defer to modern knowledge, modern learning to what people think today? It is inevitable for you and for I that we occupy one or the other of those two positions. There are only two categories, the wisdom that is from God or that wisdom which is worldly, sensual, demonic, that wisdom that comes only from man. So what do you think this morning? What do you think? In all this we need the Spirit's help, don't we? Ultimately, there's no one who examines the Bible merely or purely intellectually and comes back from it thinking, well, you know, I can't argue with it. It's a bunch of eyewitness testimony. There's a bunch of fulfilled prophecy. I guess it's true. And if it's true, I guess I'm a Christian then. It's not how it works. We need the Spirit of God to open blind eyes, to unstop deaf ears, to change our heart. We need the Spirit of God to testify with our Spirit that it is the Word of God, right? By which we cry out, Abba, Father. We need the Spirit's help. Cry out to the Lord. You're here this morning and you've never turned from your sin to put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God the Son, who has spoken authoritatively to us and who has preached good tidings to those who are poor, good tidings, good news to those who are broken, hearted over their sin. Cry out to God. Plead with the Lord to show you your wretched, miserable, blind, captive, oppressed condition and have Him work a work in you by His Spirit. Cry out for forgiveness of sins. Cry out to be made a new creation. Cry out for eyes to see and trust in Christ. He is our righteousness, amen, because He's the one who came and fulfilled God's Word for His people. Let's take a few moments now and pray. And as you're praying, ask for the Lord's help. Consider how you respond to His authoritative word. Do we need to humble ourselves before it? You might need to turn to the Lord this morning from your sin. Trust in the Word of God. This is the very Word of the living God to us. When you're done praying, we'll pray together and then we're dismissed. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, please work in our hearts by your Spirit. We know, Lord, and are grateful for the promise that your Spirit applies your Word to our hearts to cultivate within us faith and dependence on you, to bolster our assurance, to inform and fuel our worship and our obedience. Please, Lord, I pray, work in us to do and to will according to your good pleasure. Conform us by your Word. Transform us by your Word. Renew our minds by your Word. Help us, Lord, to obey your Word, to live according to it. Help us to value it as it is, to receive it as it is the very Word of God. Help us to desire it as the pure milk that we need to nourish our souls. Help us, Lord, we pray. We love you. We thank you for this blessed privilege of having your Word in our hands. Lord, I pray we would not receive the grace of God in vain. I pray we wouldn't take it for granted. We would seek your face in it. Shine abroad in our hearts, Lord, for your glory, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.