Luke — Chapter 4

What is Christianity all about? There is no one better to get an answer to this question than Jesus Himself. In this sermon on Luke 4:18–19 titled “What is the Good News?” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones looks at Jesus’s statement concerning Himself. Jesus tells that He has come to bring good news to the poor and to give sight to the blind. What does this mean? First, Jesus brings healing not to the self-righteous, but to those that know they are weak and poor in spirit. Only those who know they are poor seek the riches that Christ brings. Secondly, Jesus is the source of blessing and wisdom. From an early age, Jesus confounded the teachers of the law with His wisdom and knowledge of the things of God. What then is Christianity about? According to Jesus Himself, it is about Him and His gospel message of salvation for sinners. All Christians must look to Jesus Himself for an understanding of what Christianity truly is, not tradition and culture, but the person and work of Jesus Christ.

In this sermon on healing the broken hearted from Luke 4:18, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones discusses the disease in humankind—sin. This disease has many symptoms, and there are numerous manifestations of sin. “Do you regard this gospel as the greatest good news you have ever heard?” One must know they are sick if they are going to be healed. “Sin is something that leads to a broken-hearted condition.” Christ’s coming does judge, but He did not come only to judge. He brought salvation and healing. How does Christ heal and what does salvation contain? Listen as Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones proclaims the word of the ultimate physician. Christ came because humanity was a failure. Christ came not only to offer comfort, but to cure people of the disease of sin and reconcile His people to God. “You are not healed by Christ if you are not rejoicing.” This perfect and complete work turns ashes into beauty and the listener is encouraged to not rest until they are clothed with the pure white garments of Christ.

Why does the Bible tell that people are captives? This is an odd statement to many today, just as it was in the time of Jesus, but this truth is at the heart of the gospel. In this sermon on deliverance from Luke 4:17–19 titled “Deliverance to the Captives,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches on the glorious truth that Jesus has come to save the captives from sin. God Himself came into the evil world to die upon the cross for the salvation of His enemies so that they might become His children. When God saves sinners, He not only frees them from sin, but also makes them new creatures with new desires for righteousness and the things of God. In His grace, God takes people out of their sin and makes them a new creation. The call for all who have believed in Jesus is to stand in faith and resist the devil, pursue godliness, and flee all sin. This sermon contains the most important message any can ever hear because it is the message of grace and salvation. It is the message of the good news of Christ.

The glorious truth of the message of Christ is that people can know God and come into a relationship with Him. God has not created humanity and left them to themselves, but has revealed Himself. This revelation does not come through human reason, for Paul tells that the message of the gospel came to those that were not considered wise by the world. God has revealed Himself through Christ in grace. In this sermon on Luke 4:18–19 titled “Divine Knowledge,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches on this truth that God can be known not because of human wisdom, but because God is gracious. It is because God so loved this sinful and evil world that He has sent His Son so that all who repent of their sins and believe in Jesus might be saved. This is not merely theoretical knowledge, but it is a knowledge of God and what He has done. How is one to respond to this revelation? The answer of this sermon from Scripture is that they must believe God. They must believe that Jesus Christ is God’s son who has come to die and take away the sin of the world.

In this sermon on Luke 4:18–19 titled “Recovery of Sight to the Blind,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones uncovers the biblical truth regarding the human heart that most do not want to consider. People are wholly corrupt and sinful as a result of the fall. They are blind and unable to see the light of God’s truth because they reject the grace of God and scorn the gospel of Jesus Christ as foolish and offensive. But it gets worse. God has appointed a day when He will come in judgment to condemn all those who will not repent and believe in the gospel. The Bible is clear that no one escapes this final judgment. There are no second chances. But as Dr. Lloyd-Jones proclaims, there is hope. By repenting and believing in the message of salvation given in God’s word, anyone may be made right with God. This powerful work is what the Holy Spirit does inside of people, giving the blind sight and the dead new life. This gospel of grace, repentance, and redemption in Christ Jesus by the work of the Holy Spirit is the only means of salvation that God has given this world.

What does it mean that a person is bruised by sin? In this sermon on Luke 4:18–19 titled “Bruised By Sin,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches on Jesus’s teaching that people are slaves and victims to sin. They are so blinded by their own deceitful hearts that they are unable to see the need for salvation and grace. They believe that they do not need a savior. All of humanity’s faculties, the mind, will, and intellect are subject to sin. This is why Jesus proclaims that He has come to save the captives. Jesus is the deliverer of sinners who are captive to their own evil desires. People are even victims of their own evil, according to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, for a person in sin is like those that are diseased and sick. They are wholly unable to heal themselves. But Jesus as the great healer can free all from all this suffering and pain. He alone can save sinners. What does this message mean for humankind? It means that all can have hope despite their sin and depravity because Jesus has come and died for sinners. All who believe are set free from their sin and made righteous before God.

What is the acceptable year of the Lord? In this sermon on Luke 4:19 Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones looks at the year of jubilee in the Old Testament where every seven years slaves were set free and land was returned to its original owners. He shows that this looks forward to the day when God’s chosen would be redeemed in Christ and set free from sin. People in sin are like those in bondage and awaiting the year of jubilee to set them free. It is Christ Jesus who is the ultimate fulfillment of this promise and it is by His death, burial, and resurrection that salvation comes to all who believe. This shows clearly that salvation is not brought about by one’s good works or even initiative, but salvation is wholly something God has done for His people. As Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains, this is what it means for salvation to be a work of God’s grace apart from human merit. This is why it is a grave error to reduce Jesus Christ to nothing more than a moral example, because Jesus came to die for the sins of many, not simply to provide an example to follow. Christianity is fundamentally about what God has done, is doing, and will do by His grace.

What does the rejection of Jesus by His own people teach about humanity? In this sermon on Luke 4:22 titled “A State of Unbelief,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones states that while one might be tempted to overlook the story of Jesus’s fellow Jews rejecting Him as ancient history, there is more than meets the eye. He says that the Jewish people’s rejection of Jesus is not borne out of rational arguments or reason, but it is a result of unbelief. They stumbled over Jesus’s message because sin had such a grip on their hearts that they were not able to understand the message of God’s grace. Pride and sin blind all from seeing the truth of the gospel until God in His grace breaks into their world. Sin is a state, not only an action. All are in this state of sin until God opens their eyes so that they can believe. At the heart of this story is the message that humanity is in sin and that God is a Savior. It is ultimately a message of hope for all who believe because it is the only means of being forgiven and made new in God. This sermon calls all to believe in Jesus

Why do men and women today reject Jesus? In this message on Luke 4:22 titled “Unbelief and Modern Man,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains that modern people reject the gospel for the same reason that the Jewish people of Jesus’s day rejected Him: Jesus is not who they want Him to be. Jesus is not a mere moral teacher dedicated to giving them a better life. He is the Son of God that has come into to the world to take away its sin and destroy evil. In their prejudice, people reject the idea that they could need a Savior because humankind naturally hates the idea that they are vile sinners in need of divine grace. Humanity uses so-called reason as an excuse to reject the gospel. This sermon tells the bad news that humanity is in sin, in denial of their situation, are lost, and on a path to eternal destruction. But more importantly, it tells that Jesus died for sinners. Jesus alone can overcome this hatred and prejudice and make fallen sinners children of God. This sermon contains the only message of true and lasting hope: the message of the gospel.