Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm19971119.htm

LUKE: GOSPEL OF CERTIFYING THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Part XV: God's Encouraging Certification Of Christ's Credibility Though He Was Rejected
(Luke 4:18-44)
  1. Introduction
    1. When a Christian takes a right stand on an issue and that stand is not accepted by onlookers, a question can be raised about the credibility of the stand itself. That being said, the credibility of the person having made the stand can also be raised, and with it tendencies of insecurity in the one taking the stand.
    2. This tension that is felt by the party making the stand needs to be addressed in an encouraging way, and God shows us that He has a ministry of certification for those who have rightly stood their ground.
  2. God's Encouraging Certification Of Christ's Credibility Though He Was Rejected, Lk. 4:18-44.
    1. When Jesus ministered in Nazareth's synagogue before His hometown people, He was soundly rejected:
      1. Having mentioned that He was the Messiah in fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1-2a, the people of Jesus' hometown synagogue questioned this claim, believing Him to be merely Joseph's son, Lk. 4:18-22.
      2. Jesus, knowing of their unbelief, stated that He realized they would want Him to show miracles that they had heard He'd done elsewhere as proof He was Messiah, Lk. 4:23. Yet, He refused to perform miracles due to their unbelief, stating that the people in Nazareth were as godless as the nation Israel was in Elijah's and Elisha's era so that they had to minister to Gentiles, 4:24-27.
      3. This infuriated the unbelieving crowd so that they attempted to kill Jesus, Luke 4:28-29.
      4. Jesus accordingly left them, going away from His hometown of unbelievers, Luke 4:30.
    2. Were Luke to have left this incident unchallenged in the context, he might have neutralized his effort to provide a defense of the Christian faith for Theophilus, cf. Luke 1:4. After all, Jesus' claims might seem to have been false since He was without miracles and acceptance by the synagogue of His own home town!
    3. However, in Christ's move to Capernaum, God provided evidence of how right Jesus was, Luke 4:31-44:
      1. In leaving Nazareth, Jesus went down to Capernaum and astounded the people there with His authority, and that through a significant demonstration of miracles that were so absent in Nazareth, Luke 4:31-41:
        1. Luke notes that Jesus left the synagogue in Nazareth to minister in Capernaum's synagogue, 4:28-33.
        2. In the Capernaum synagogue itself, Jesus performed a miraculous exorcism of an evil demon that convinced the onlookers that He spoke with God's authority in direct contrast to Nazareth, 4:31-37.
        3. Also, Jesus performed a miracle outside of the synagogue in healing Simon's mother-in-law, 4:38-39.
        4. And as though even that weren't enough, at the setting of the sun when Jesus would have been exhausted from a day of ministry, the whole town brought people with different diseases and demonic problems, and into the late night He powerfully healed "every one of them", an overwhelming proof of how wrong the crowd back in Nazareth had been about Him, Lk. 4:40-41a.
        5. Also, many of these demons were admitting that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, a claim to His equality as God with the Father in contrast to Nazareth's view that He was only Joseph's boy, Luke 4:41b, 22 with Jn. 5:18. Jesus had come to be glorified by people, not by claims of demons, so He kept ordering the demons to be quiet, Luke 4:41c. However, the evidence for His being Messiah and God incarnate were overwhelming in direct contrast to the viewpoint of the people of Nazareth!
      2. Accordingly, when Jesus got off alone outside Capernaum, its believing crowds, just the opposite those of Nazareth, sought out and begged Jesus to stay with them, Lk. 4:42,29. (B.K.C., N.T., p. 215)
      3. Thus, having ministered in Capernaum, Jesus continued declaring in more towns what the people of Nazareth had rejected, the acceptable year of the Lord and the kingdom of God, Luke 4:42-44:
        1. Stating that He had been sent to other cities of Israel, Jesus left the accepting crowds of Capernaum to preach in additional towns that He was the Messiah presenting God's kingdom, Lk. 4:43-44, 19.
        2. Thus, Jesus kept on doing what Nazareth had so errantly resisted -- presenting Himself as Messiah!
Lesson: (1) The viewpoint of a whole religious crowd that REJECTS one's stand can indeed be very WRONG! (2) If SO, GOD is able and willing to REVEAL their error in TIME by DEMONSTRATING the CREDIBILITY of the stand, and (3) the godly are thereby encouraged to maintain their stand! Application: If we are called to take an upright stand as was Jesus, and that before doubters, merely WAIT for God to bring the CREDIBILITY of our stand to light, and hold on! (cf. 1 Tim. 5:24-25)