Scripture for today comes from the Gospel of Luke chapter 4 verses 16 through 30 that's the Gospel of Luke chapter 4 verses 16 through 30 and he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and as was his custom he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him he unrolled the scroll and found a place where it was written the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor he has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and he wrote up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him and they begin and he began to say to them today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing and all spoke well of him and marvel at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth and they said is not this Joseph son and he said to them doubtless you will quote to me this proverb physician heal yourself what we have heard you did at Capernaum do here in your hometown as well and he said to them truly I say to you no prophet is acceptable in his hometown but in truth I tell you there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the heavens were shut up three years and six months and a great famine came over all the land and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zareffat in the land of Cidon to a woman who was a widow and there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha and none of them was clans but only Na'aman the Syrian when they heard these things all in the synagogue were filled with wrath and they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to a to the brow of the hill on which their town was built so that they can throw him down the cliff but passing through their mist he went away this is a word of the Lord when mothers give when they when they give birth to children it is inevitable that they have expectations for those children parents no matter how hard they try can't help but think about what their children will become can't help think about what they will do or perhaps who they will marry now some of the expectations that parents have for their children they are reasonable expectations in fact there is a there's a popular book for women who are pregnant entitled what to expect when you are expecting I'm assuming that's still popular that's what was popular when the last time we had our children there are expectations around around how they will sleep or when they will start eating solid foods or when they might utter their first word or when they might walk all of these are common expectations that parents have of their children but then there are some of the grander ones like I mentioned like what they will become or who they will marry and often what happens is parents begin to project their wants and their desires onto their children and set expectations far too high often leading to disappointment frustration because of all this because of all this setting expectations often get a bad rap but expectations in and of themselves we must know are not bad they're not all bad we we we all have hopes and dreams for for those who we love we have expectations of ourselves and for the institutions that we are a part of it's not that we shouldn't have expectations the question is are those expectations realistic are they based in fact in possibility or are they misinformed and irrational? Brothers and sisters you do realize and you do know that Jesus was born with expectations in fact it was his birth that was expected Jesus had long been promised before he was born in Bethlehem he was expected to come the prophet Michael tells us in five two but you owe Bethlehem F Ratha who are too little to be among the clans of Judah from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel who's coming forth is from of old from ancient of days here a prophecy of Micah that that that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem then Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 714 says therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign behold the virgin south conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel Jesus was expected to be born not only was he expected to be born there were expectations upon his life both Mary and Joseph were told that the son would that they would raise would be special Joseph was was told that Jesus would save his people from their sin Mary was told that that Jesus the baby she was carrying would be great he would be called the most to high both don't send me in and Anna went up on laying their eyes on Jesus praise the Lord because they they saw in Jesus the Savior of the world Jesus was was born with expectations his parents had expectations of him we see Anna and and and Simeon have the expectations of him the the Jewish the Jews had expectations of the Messiah the the promise was that that God was sending a Redeemer and and God's people had long been expecting that the Messiah the anointed one would come upon the scene the Jews not only expected that this Messiah would be born but he they they expected that he would deliver them from their enemies freeing them from oppression and giving them the power they wanted now this was a this was a a common expectation as the as the people began to see and hear the works that Jesus was doing they they saw him as as the one who would come to deliver them but but deliver them from the earthly oppression that they were under even Jesus's disciples expected this you remember in Matthew chapter 20 though the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to Jesus she asked if her sons could sit at Jesus's right hand and it's left hand when he when he came into his kingdom she didn't have in mind a heavenly kingdom she had in mind this earthly kingdom that Jesus would be ruler over and that she wanted her sons prominent influence prominent positions in this kingdom now people the Jews were not totally off base with this expectation it was an expectation that was in a sense biblically informed yet yet they misrepresented they misinterpreted the scriptures I mean you can read Isaiah 9 6 and 7 and you can see how they could come to the conclusion that Jesus or that the Messiah was coming to set up some earthly kingdom listen to what Isaiah says verses chapter 9 verses 6 and 7 for unto us a child is born to us the son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called wonderful counselor and mighty God everlasting father prince of peace of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore the zeal of the Lord of Hope will do this you you can imagine them reading this and and coming to the conclusion that that this kingdom that was supposed to be established was to be an earthly kingdom that Jesus was to be king over just like David or the Messiah was to be king over just like David was king Jesus was born with expectations but unlike most of us who never live up to our parents expectations or the expectations others have of us Jesus fulfilled all of his expectations he fulfilled all the ones that were written in the scriptures he didn't fulfill those those ones that were that that failed to be biblically informed in our text this morning allows us to to see the heavenly expectations the biblically informed expectations that Jesus fulfilled and the uninformed expectations of others that were not fulfilled Luke tells us that Jesus is in his home town he goes home perhaps for the holidays he went home to his town in Nazareth and as it was his custom he he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day he's given a scroll and he begins to read from the prophet Isaiah and all of all who were in attendance at that day that Sabbath day would have have recognized the text for it spoke of the one who was to come he read from Isaiah chapter 61 verses 1 and 2 Isaiah had prophesied that that the anointed one would come and perform wonderful acts of blessing good news would be proclaimed to the poor captives would be set free the blind would see and the oppressed would be liberated in what appears to be a dramatic scene as told from Luke's perspective after reading this text after after opening up the scroll and reading it Jesus closes the scroll and he goes that he sits back down and he others these words today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing wow wow this with this declaration what had been an ordinary day in the synagogue was about to be set ablaze with wonder and amazement and a flood of questions you see while while we hear Jesus read Isaiah 61 saying that the scriptures were filled today in here in this in their hearing while that may get lost on us man while that may go over our heads not the people who were in attendance at the synagogue that day they knew exactly they knew exactly what Jesus was saying and what he was and who he was proclaiming to be the age the age of deliverance and the proclamation of the good news and the miracles Jesus was declaring that all of that had arrived here and now and he was the one ushering it in he was the one doing it he was the anointed one the Messiah the spirit of the Lord was upon him and everyone in the synagogue that day would have known that that's the claim that Jesus was making he was fulfilling the expectations of Messiah and here's the thing it was true it had been happening it had been happening all these blessings that Isaiah had talked about were indeed taking place they were seeing them with their eyes they were hearing about all of these miracles and these works happening at the hand of Jesus Jesus was a catalyst for it all captives were being set free and the blind were receiving sight and the oppressed were being set free you you remember you remember when John the Baptist was in prison and he began to doubt he was wondering is this is this is this is really the Messiah is this the one and so he sent his disciples to Jesus John says disciples to Jesus to ask them hey is are you the one or should we expect another one to come and Jesus says to John disciples you you go in Luke 7 and 22 go and tell John what you have seen and what you have heard the blind received their sight the lame walk leopards are clans and the death here the dead are raised up the poor have good news preached to them Jesus tells John to look at all that he has done line them up with the expectations of the Messiah and you come to the conclusion John
you need not look to another Jesus is the long expected Messiah he was fulfilling all the expectations the biblical expectations of him the people you could imagine and because his mind blowing this is paradigm shifting for those there in the synagogue that day they began to brim with excitement they had never heard such wisdom and the authority that Jesus was was was teaching with I mean they say he had gracious words they marveled how he explained the scriptures he began to marvel and wonder perhaps they began to to celebrate or to get excited about about the thought of the oppression of the of the Romans coming to an end the Messiah is here he's coming into his kingdom it's going to come to an end but as quickly as they were amazed as quickly as they were amazed at what Jesus was saying they were soon perplexed and they began to question aren't you Joseph's boy aren't you Joseph's son they began to question and they began to doubt in fact they determined in their hearts that they were going to test and put Jesus to the test Luke 4 and 23 Jesus assisted him doubtless you will quote me this proverb physician and heal yourself what we have heard you did at Capernum do here in your hometown as well Jesus perceiving what was in their hearts knows that they are going to challenge him to do in Nazareth what he had been doing elsewhere in Capernum and other places they were going to say prove yourself Jesus show it to us do what you do there here so we can know that you indeed are who you say you are we don't believe who you say you are we grew up with you we know your brothers and sisters we saw you running around at the playground we saw you tagging along with your dad can't be the Messiah why the sudden change I mean they were just once quickly amazed and then all of the sudden they start doubting and they start questioning could this really be the Messiah why the unbelief you know what happened they let their man-made expectations of the Messiah trumped their biblically informed expectations of the Messiah the Messiah couldn't come from Nazareth he's just an ordinary man he's the son of a carpenter those assistants here is an important question to reflect upon at this point in the sermon what are your expectations of Jesus are they man-made or are they biblically informed if they are man-made then you are going to be just like the Jews Jesus encountered in the synagogue as he begins to reveal himself to you you are going to start questioning the things that that don't line up with your expectations all brothers and sisters it is at this point you have to start asking yourself are my expectations of Jesus man-made or are they biblically informed your expectations or that Jesus when you accept him when you trust in him is that Jesus is going to make you rich in this life that is a man-made expectation but if you expect that no matter the number that is in your bank account if you have Jesus he is all you need that is a biblically informed expectation you expect that Jesus is going to give you everything you want a good job a good marriage good kids nice cars and nice clothes that is a man-made expectation but if you believe that having Jesus means that no matter what's going on that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purposes that is a biblically informed expectation if you expect that Jesus is going to get on board with every issue you champion and every idea you have that is a man-made expectation but if you believe that in Jesus you are a new creation and he is the Lord of all your life and in him you surrender everything to that is a biblically informed expectation oh we can go on and on with this you can have expectations of Jesus that those are good ones I would I would hope that you would have expectations of Jesus when you come into this place that you are going to hear from his word and that by his grace he is going to impart his wisdom and his truth to you she would hear the gospel for claim oh you you can have expectations of Jesus they just need to be biblically informed and not man-made whether sisters don't let your don't let your man-made expectations trump your biblically informed expectations of Jesus those in the synagogue that day allowed that to happen and Jesus called it out you see because their expectations were man-made their expectations were selfish whether sisters all human beings apart from Jesus are sinful and glory hounds and so man-made expectations almost always I should say always are man-centered they are drenched in self-centeredness you see the Jews expected an earthly kingdom where they would reign no Romans no Greeks just to Jews God's people living under God's rule for them the Messiah was coming to make their life better and that was it unfortunately their expectations were not biblically informed for if if they were they would have realized several things but two two things in particular that we see in our text first they would have understood and known that the Messiah wasn't just coming for the Jews he was coming for the Gentiles as well and Jesus using the Old Testament strongly rebukes them for expecting anything different he reminds them of two accounts he takes them into the Old Testament and he reminds them of two accounts one in the life of Elijah and the other one in the alive of Elijah he just tells them about the widows in the days of Elijah and the lepers in the day of Elijah they were in Israel at the time they were there were great needs among these groups needs in Syria needs in Sidone insider needs in Israel there are a ton of widows ton of lepers everyone needed help the Jews needed help the Gentiles needed help and Jesus says that with all those that needed help Elijah and Elijah went to those who were Gentiles went to those in Sidone and he went to those in Syria foreigners to Israel Jesus was pointing to the fact that God's plan from the very beginning included the Gentiles he was railing against their ethnocentrism that they their ethnic superiority that it was only about them the goal wasn't just Nazareth or Copernum it was the world the Jews man made expectations was was narrow the biblical informed expectation was wide they are 42 and 6 I am the Lord I have called you in righteousness I will take you by the hand and keep you I will give you as a covenant for the people a light for the nation God had chosen the Hebrews he did he had chosen them to be his treasured possession but he didn't choose them just so that they could afford his love and his grace and his mercy but in lavishing his love and his grace and his mercy upon them that they would be a light to the nation so that that as God told Abraham through him all the nations would be blessed those in the synagogue who not too long ago were amazed just just minutes ago were amazed and and wondered at the teaching Jesus quickly quickly became enraged they were filled with anger and an amosity this was not what they had expected brothers and sisters that is what happens when your expectations don't get met you get angry you get an indignant instead of receiving Jesus you reject him you you no longer see Jesus for who he truly is and you seek to do away from him with him I mean this happens all the time people have expectations of Jesus and and when those expectations because they're man made don't get met they want to do with Jesus and they leave the face they have expectations of Jesus and they come to church and those expectations don't get met and so they leave in the black to church
happens all the time so this angry mob they rejected Jesus and they sought to do away with him they rejected the Messiah and tried to do away with him by by driving man by driving him to Luke tells us from the temple to a cliff where where they were prepared just throw him off the throw him off the cliff to do away with him stone him and put him to death some of the other writers say but Luke in verse 30 says but passing through their myth he went away now we don't really know what Luke means here I mean did Jesus somehow like miraculously escape that that could be possible that could be the case he could miraculously escape from this angry mob or in the commotion he was able to slip from the mob because there were so many people we just don't know but what we do know is that Jesus escaped he escaped the Jews did not succeed in their attempt to put him to death like they wanted and here's the question if the Jews had succeeded in their intentions to kill Jesus that day wouldn't that be in keeping with the expectations for Jesus Jesus was expected to die as they said 53 11 and 12 tells us that how the anguish of the soul he shall see and be satisfied by his knowledge how the righteous one my servant make many to be accounted righteous and he shall bear their iniquities therefore I will divide him a portion with the many and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul to death and he was numbered with the transgressors yet he bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressors the prophecy of Isaiah was that the Messiah was going to come and give his life he was going to be put to death Jesus was not expected to die any all way you see the expectation of the anointed one wasn't he that he would come and that he would set the captives free the blind would indeed receive their sight and the oppressed would have liberty but the goal wasn't simply God's people having those blessings here on earth in this temporary world but that God's people would enjoy those blessings in eternity expectation for the Messiah was that yes he would die at the hands of the Jews but not by being thrown off a cliff but by dying on a cross by this by this way this way he would become the curse for his people take taking the punishment and dying the death you and I deserve freeing us from the bondage of sin and death this is what Jesus says in John chapter 3 and verse 14 and 15 as Moses lifted up the servant in the wilderness so must the son of man be lifted up where would he be lifted up he would be lifted up on a cross like that serpent in the wilderness so that those who would look to him for salvation for the cure for their sin six soul would be saved whoever believes in him they have eternal life yes yes yes Jesus was he was expected to die the expectation was that he would lay it down of his own accord he would go to the cross willingly when his hour came he there would be no reservations there would be no slipping out there would be no escaping he was going to the cross willingly so I ask you again what are your expectations of Jesus if they are biblically informed that here's the deal they will be fulfilled Jesus fulfilled all those biblically informed expectations of him you are expecting that turning in face to Jesus that he will forgive you of your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness you can expect that to be the case and you will not be frustrated or disappointed brothers and sisters if you are here I can say please please turn from your sins and trust in Jesus he will forgive you of your sins and cleansing from all unrighteousness and if you are expecting that he will come again and put all that is wrong with this world that he will put it right let us people will live with him forever that is a biblically informed expectation and just like he fulfilled his expected birth he will fulfill his expected return oh Jesus is coming again so trust in him this morning what are your expectations are not man made may they never may those man made expectations never trump your biblically informed expectations of Jesus