Isaiah 61:1-3 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord
has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He sent me to bind up
the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from
darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and
the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide
for those who grieve in Zion-to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead
of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of
praise instead of a spirit of despair.  They will be called oaks of
righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

 The other day I ran across a friend of mine who was all excited about
something recently experienced.  The person had been to her church where
the Power Team Ministry was putting on their show.  She spoke of how they
broke this and that, bent this and that and how absolutely awesome it all
was.  She felt it was a great ministry of the Lord.
 I asked her if I could ask a few questions!  She said, "Sure."
 My first question was simple, "What does breaking this and that or
bending steel bars have to do with Jesus?"  Her answer was, "Well, they
use that to get people to come and then they preach a message of
salvation."
 My second question was, "Did you hear specifically that Jesus suffered
and died for your sins and rose from the dead to proclaim the forgiveness
of sins?"  Her answer was, "No."
 My third question was, "Then what did they preach?"  Her answer was, "At
the Sunday service they used the story of Jesus and the paralytic and
helped us to understand how we need to work together to get things done.
At the rally in the afternoon the message was on how to best serve the
Lord."
 At that I simply told her, "Then you did not hear a message of
salvation.  You heard a message of the law!"  She didn't know what to
say, although I got the impression that she was rather dismayed at me.
And all I did was ask a few questions.
 To make sure I spoke right I went to the website of this group.  It
intrigued me that they do have a "what we believe" section and in that
section was a pretty fair statement about Jesus as our atoning sacrifice
and Savior.  They also stated that preaching the gospel was their main
goal in everything.  But then I saw two other things that disturbed me.
First, they made it clear that they were non-denominational, that what
they had to say would fit in with any type of church!  I viewed that as
their willingness to compromise whatever they believed to suit what you
want.  Second, there was a whole section that spoke of their work in
public schools and doing their thing and they made the promise and
assurance that nothing religious would be said.  In other words a
"ministry of the gospel" (their own words) that would be willing to keep
quiet about Jesus and eternal life.  I now know that this young person
heard a message of work righteousness and that my suspicions that they
simply use the name of Jesus to get money is true.  Wolves in sheep's
clothing feeding their own bellies.  I know that because in truth, they
are ashamed of Jesus and their promise not to say anything religious if
you hire them shows that.
 Do you think Jesus would not want to be mentioned?  Do you think Jesus
would change his preaching and his message just to get the crowds?  Today
we have another prophecy that tells us what we can expect in Jesus and
what he is all about.  Our words today will answer the questions I just
asked.  Our theme will be: ANOINTED TO PREACH!  1st. Preach the Good
News.  2nd. Preach the judgment.  3rd. Preach for salvation.
 Now if there is one thing that I have always liked about this particular
prophecy of Isaiah is the fact that when Jesus was in this world and had
opportunity to preach one of the texts that Jesus himself used to preach
on was this very prophecy.  We heard that truth in the gospel reading of
Luke.  Jesus, himself points out that He is the very fulfillment of these
words!  Pretty hard to dispute what these words say and mean, unless you
are willing to say that Jesus didn't know what he was talking about.
That's the beauty of this text.  What it says and what it means is made
clear by Jesus.
 And so Jesus, reads Isaiah and tells us that He is the fulfillment of
these words.  Needless to say that leads us to ask, "So what did Isaiah
say?"
 Isaiah said, "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the
Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor."  These words tell
us that the Messiah to come would be someone anointed.  That means that
this person would be specifically chosen and appointed by the Lord God
himself to become the herald and messenger of God himself.  And the whole
purpose of this anointing, this choosing and sending of the Messiah by
the Lord is made clear.  The Messiah is coming to preach.  To preach and
proclaim, to declare and reveal the good news of God.  That is his
purpose in coming.  To make sure that mankind has the truth of God.
 What is it that will be preached?  We are told, "the good news."   But
don't stop there.  In the Hebrew text that is only the first thing said
to describe what the Messiah will do.  In the Hebrew text it is clear
that verses one to three are one continuous thought.  They flow together
and in essence they speak of the entire work of the Savior.  It would do
us well to think of each phrase and its impact.  Please note that because
of what Jesus said, we know that all of these phrases are spiritual in
their meaning.
 "To preach good news to the poor."  The good news is none other than the
gospel, the message of the forgiveness of sins that Jesus would win for
each and every soul.  And don't we grasp that souls without the gospel
are indeed poor, poor in spirit, poor because they do not have or know
the treasure of God.  Jesus has come to reveal and be that treasure.
 "To bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and
release from darkness for the prisoners."  Please note that all of these
phrases are really synonyms and explanations of our first phrase.  The
brokenhearted are those who despair, who have no hope for this life or
the life to come.  The captives are the prisoners of Satan, the souls of
men that are held in slavery by virtue of sin and death.  Jesus has come
to release souls from that darkness of Satan and to lead souls to the
marvelous light of the love of God.
 The next phrase deserves some special attention.  It says, "to proclaim
the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God."  That
phrase is reference to the judgment day of God, that day when God will
come forth and pronounce his eternal justice upon all who have existed in
the world.  For some, those believers in Jesus, those who heard the good
news and believed in the message of freedom, for those that day of
judgment is a day of joy and wonder, total marvel and comfort.  But more
on this in just a bit.
 For others, those who have rejected God's gift of grace in Jesus, those
who have despised the sacrifice of the cross in favor of their own works
and goodness, for those that day will be a day of vengeance.  For on that
day, God in his infinite justice and perfect righteousness, will condemn
them to the depths of eternal hell.  These words are a reminder of the
nature of sin and its destructive force.  We cannot claim we have no sin.
 We cannot ignore the very point of Jesus dying on the cross and
declaring "It is finished."  We cannot put aside Jesus and his atoning
sacrifice and live like there is no god and no eternal judgment to come.
These words are there to help us to see that Jesus came to deal with the
issue of sin, death and the devil.  Should we decide that these are not
issues for us to deal with, well, please note that God is going to deal
with them anyway.  You can have the justice of God revealed in Jesus or
you can have the justice of God without Jesus.  One is the message of a
Savior and grace, the other is a message of your need for utter
perfection and if you are guilty of even one sin, you will be condemned
without Jesus.
 At this point the phrases continue.  "to comfort all who mourn, and
provide for those who grieve in Zion-to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment
of praise instead of a Spirit of despair."  Now did you notice the subtle
change in the phrases?  The first two are in the same vein as the others
bringing comfort and encouragement over our sins.  But the next phrases
have a change.  The next phrases are speaking of the end result of the
Savior's work.  We will receive a crown!  Think of all the phrases in the
New Testament that speak of our being co-rulers with Christ in his
kingdom or of the crown of life that we will receive or of our becoming
the heirs of God's eternal and perfect kingdom.  That's what this is
speaking of.
 Or we hear of, "the oil of gladness."  In Jesus we are anointed and
chosen of God.  In Jesus we take on the sweet aroma of salvation because
of our eternal election as God's redeemed.  And that "garment of praise"
is none other than a reference to the clothing of righteousness that is
ours in Jesus, a reference to the wedding clothes we find ourselves in at
the Feast of the Lord.  In these last phrases we find direct promises of
our deliverance to God's eternal heaven.  In other words, Jesus, is
coming to bring eternal life and salvation.
 One last phrase that I don't want to overlook.  It says, "They will be
called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of
his splendor."  It would be helpful for you to know that elsewhere in
Scripture you find references to our being planted by the Lord or to our
being, for lack of a better word, a "forest" to the Lord.  They are
wonderful pictures of how we will be planted and taken care of by the
Lord in his eternal garden.  What is especially important to note here is
that the planting is of and from the Lord.  He does it.  He takes care of
it.  He oversees it to His joy and splendor.
 All in all, we realize what we have in Jesus.  Jesus is the Savior.  He
has come to proclaim to us the grace and mercy of God.  He has come to
take care of our woes and troubles, our heartaches and dark moods.  He
has come to deliver us from sin, free us from the fear of death and
deliver us from our slavery to Satan.  He has come to make us His
children and heirs of His eternal kingdom.  That's what Jesus is about.
His coming is to give us the peace of God that surpasses all
understanding.  It is the peace of sins forgiven, of the battle won, and
of eternal victory for us.
 No wonder Jesus reveals that these words are about him.  He did fulfill
these words.  He did exactly what those words declared.  He brought us
the good news and that good news is ours forever.  Jesus has come to give
us the kingdom of God.  He has come to be our Savior.  Amen.