Sermon Note (1st svc)
Pastor Lawrence
A great ℓσνє that will melt our heart. A ℓσνє that will give us hope in the hopeless situation.
God has a word for you today. I pray that this word will touch your heart. One touch from God, our lives will never be the same again. Our God is a good God.
God is good all the time.
His goodness is far beyond what you can ever ask think or imagine
Don’t just go for one level of goodness. Go for ultimate goodness. God will pour forth His abundant blessing on us.
He has came to set the captive free.
God has a heart for prisoners. Prisoners of people who has committed a crime. They are placed in a place deprived from freedom.
God has a special heart for people who are in prison of hopelessness, or addiction. Our God is a good God. His heart is for us to be set free.
Our church received an opportunity to go to prison to minister to prisoners
However as fast as it was opened, it was closed 8 years ago.
The Lord opened the door for our church this year. This time the door did not shut.
God has the heart for the worse of the worst. And you need to know that.
When you can see His heart for the worse of the worst, you can see His heart for you.
Luke 4:16-19
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
(Matt. 13:54–58; Mark 6:1–6)
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. 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:
“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.”
Isaiah 61:1-2
The Good News of Salvation
“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,
1. Jesus added something and did not complete something –
Luke 4 – recovery of sight to the blind
In the OT, no one was healed of blindness.
In the OT, in the prophesy given by isaiah, he prophesied that the coming of the Lord will heal the blind.
Isaiah 42:6-9
“I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness,
And will hold Your hand;
I will keep You and give You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the Gentiles,
To open blind eyes,
To bring out prisoners from the prison,
Those who sit in darkness from the prison house.
I am the Lord, that is My name;
And My glory I will not give to another,
Nor My praise to carved images.
Behold, the former things have come to pass,
And new things I declare;
Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
No blind eyes were opened until Jesus came.
God has a heart for people who are in the prison
If anyone can open blind eyes, He is the Messiah
Recovery of sight to the blind –
We cannot do that.
Jesus added this in to tell them look at what He is doing.
He is the Messiah.
He can open eyes that are blind.
The Healer of brokenheart is here
He who sets the captive free, He is here
He can heal you and He can man your brokenheart.
He has a heart and a ℓσνє for the worse of the worst
Mark 15:6-7
Taking the Place of Barabbas
(Matt. 27:15–26; Luke 23:17–25; John 18:39—19:16)
Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested. And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion.
Barabbas was rebelling against government at that time. He had committed murder. He was a murderer.
Matthew 27:15-18
Taking the Place of Barabbas
(Mark 15:6–15; Luke 23:13–25; John 18:39, 40)
Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. And at that time they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew that they had handed Him over because of envy.
Barabbas was public enemy
People knew him because of the wicked thing he has done
Matthew 27:20-26
But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitudes that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said to them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?”
They said, “Barabbas!”
Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?”
They all said to him, “Let Him be crucified!”
Then the governor said, “Why, what evil has He done?”
But they cried out all the more, saying, “Let Him be crucified!”
When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.”
And all the people answered and said, “His blood be on us and on our children.”
Then he released Barabbas to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.
God is very particular in wanting us to know His Son is sinless
He is innocent of the blood but little did he know that it was this blood that made him innocent.
Barabbas name means son of the father
Here we have 2 sons of the father. On one hand we have only begotten Son of the Father.
This son Barabbas was a criminal. He had committed crime. He knew when he was going to be killed.
He did not know that this son of the father was set free by the Son of the Father.
He did not know what was going on.
He has a higher form of punishment waiting for him. He must have felt finally something good entered in His life.
God loves Barabbas. He was the worse of the lot.
God saved Barabbas.
He came to set the prisioners free.
If He can ℓσνє the worse or the worst, He can save you!
Barabbas represents us. Jesus came and He took Barabbas punishment.
Jesus came to set the prisoners free
On the cross there were 2 thieves who were crucified
These 2 thieves were condemned. Both thieves mocked at Jesus.
When the thief saw Jesus he could see Jesus in the darkness.
Your soul lives on when you die physically.
Today most assuredly i said to you, you will be with Me in paradise. Jesus gave the thief a full affirmation.
When you ask of the Lord, He will exceed your expectation
Through one act of the cross, Jesus set the captive free. He came to set the prisoners free
Through His shed blood today we are forgiven
He whose the Son has set free is free indeed
God made garment of skin for them
Christianity without the shed blood of Jesus Christ is not Christianity
The thorns pierced His head so that His blood can flow.
Without the shedding of blood there can be no remission and forgiveness of sin.
His blood has been shed so that you and I can be free!
Your sin has been forgiven.
We always have the forgiveness of our sin
Ephesians 1:7
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
We are forgiven!
The life of the flesh is in the blood.
It is the blood that makes atonement for the soul
We are made righteous because of the blood of Jesus Christ
We need to believe we are forgiven and loved
This blood can save you, heal you. This blood can reach you in your loneliness
He will save you from your sin!
Knowing you are forgiven is the power of Jesus Christ.
His blood alone justify you
Let your faith be in the blood of the Lamb
This blood saves you
Grace is not just a doctrine
Grace is for everyone
For baby christians, for pre believers, for experts, for pastors, for every stage of our walks with the Lord.
Romans 5:9
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
It is our sin that crucified Him and put Him on the cross.
Our sin makes us accountable as well. Jesus made the statement at the cross, forgive them for they know not what they are doing.
Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing
Father into Your hands i commit My spirit
Steven thought about himself first
Jesus thought of us first. He prayed the prayer of forgiveness before He prayed to commit His spirit
He thirst and they gave Him a sour wine. He received the curse so that we can be blessed. Sour wine is a type of curse
He cared and honoured His mother in His weaken stage
Everything He did was for us
He came to set the prisoners free
There is freedom in Jesus Christ.
You are forgiven! The gospel is meant to believe
Those who receive personally and believe, will have effect on them
We need to remember the cross, His death
This is my blood for the new covenant which is shed for the forgiveness of sin
The Lord wants us to remember Him via Holy Communion but we need to receive personally
We need to partake of it in faith
Not doing but believing
His blood of the new covenant
Hebrews 8:10-12
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
There is always hope in Jesus Christ.
This blood that Jesus has shed is for you
This blood that saves the lost is for you
This blood that heals the sick is for you
This blood that mend the broken heart is for you
This blood that makes you righteous is for you
This blood that can set you free from captive from addiction is for you
