Sermon On the Net

IT IS WRITTEN

 

Luke 4: Yes indeed everything we need to know is written in the Bible. In the first part of this chapter Lucifer is tempting the Lord following His 40 days of fasting in the desert. He was hungry and Lucifer was trying to break His will by offering Him the world and everything in it; as if He didn’t own it already. Jesus responded by telling him in verse 4:  “man does not live by bread alone.” In verse 12 Jesus said: “It says: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” He also said in verse 8: “It is written, worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”  

 

Jesus went to Nazareth and went into the Temple. He was handed a scroll and Jesus read the words which told them in verses 18-19 that He was sent to ‘preach the good news’ to the people, ‘to proclaim freedom to the prisoners, restore sight to the blind and to release the oppressed.’ He gave the attendant the scroll, sat down and began to teach them. He told them in verse 21 that the scripture He had just read “was fulfilled that day.” He also said that a prophet is not recognized in his own home town. He continued to preach to them and they became furious with Him and drove Him out of town where they tried to kill Him but He slipped away. He then went to Galilee and while He was in the synagogue He ordered a demon possessed man to be free of the demon which amazed the people.

 

Jesus went to the home of Simon and healed his mother who had been stricken with fever. He healed many people in the area. At daybreak Jesus went to a solitary place to pray and the people found Him and tried to prevent His leaving. But He told them that He must do what He was sent to do which was to preach the good news of the kingdom of God; salvation; verse 43: “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.”

 

Of all the things ever written, the two most important are to love the Lord and to love others. Before we can love the Lord we need to know Him and the only way to know Him is through the name of Jesus. We need to accept the meaning of His words preached throughout the Gospels; to recognize we are sinners and to know that the forgiveness of sin can only be achieved through accepting God’s free gift; Jesus. Yes, Jesus bridges the gap between God and man. Without Jesus people are lost to eternal separation (Hell) from God. God gave us the free will to accept Jesus or to reject Him by doing nothing. As was once said, ‘if it is to be it is up to me.’ Your choice.