Bad News - Good News

Thank you all.

Well, it's a great honor for me and great privilege and joy to be here this morning with you.

I have in uh titled this message Bad News, good news, especially in this order, because I come from Czech Republic and we like to think about the bad news all the time, right?

Somebody says something good, we always say something bad.

And it wasn't because of what's going on here politically in this country, okay?

The real reason why I uh chose uh this topic was because I was I believe it was God who laid on my heart this passage from Luke chapter 4.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

And you can turn uh turn there with me.

Uh Luke chapter 4, starting from verse 14.

Luke 4 · chapter mention

It it never happens to me.

I I'm when I sleep, I sleep at night.

Uh not many things wake me up, but about a month ago, as I was thinking about what I should say this morning, uh I woke up at 3 o'clock in the morning and I couldn't fall asleep since then, which is really unusual for me.

So uh when I woke up, I actually the first thing that came to my mind was a scripture that I was that I'm about to read.

And so besides saying, oh, this is a bad news, I'm I'm awake this early, I thought, oh maybe it's a good news, maybe God is really putting this on my heart.

And um so as I was preparing for this message, there were many bad news and many good news on the way.

Uh lastly, uh, it's the one that I have great news for you.

I have the best presentation for sermon ever.

And it's it's I'm really proud of it.

The bad news is it doesn't work this morning, so well, just stick with the word itself, and I I think that's the best what we can do.

In this passage, uh, we hear and we meet Jesus right after he has been tempted by the devil at the beginning of his ministry.

After 40 days of hunger, you know the story.

So then he introduces himself and his ministry in these verses.

And interestingly enough, he uses a passage from Isaiah 61.

But you can stay with the Luke 4.

Let us read together from Luke 4, starting from verse 14.

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country, and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

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 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.

And this is what I heard at three o'clock in the morning.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim the 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 rolled 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 he bank he began to say to them, Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.

And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming out of his mouth.

And they said, and they said, wait a minute.

Is not this Joseph's son?

I added the wait a minute.

You will see why in a minute.

So Jesus comes to the synagogue and he uses this maybe 700 years old prophecy from a time when Israel was taken to slavery, to Babylon, and they were desperate.

Their city, Jerusalem, was a ruin.

All the walls were gone.

Their king and their royal family went to the exile as well.

And we know all they hear on radio was these sad, sad songs all the time.

They were mourning.

They were so sad.

They lost everything.

There's no hope for us.

There's no way we can return back.

It was very similar to the situation when Jesus came to this earth.

He came in a town, in a time where pretty much all of Israel was spiritually in a ruin.

So when he was talking about the bad news, and he used the bad news in this scripture too, he wasn't very far away from the truth that people were poor.

And though they were in their own country, they were slaves to the Roman Empire.

They were bound in prison.

They were spiritually mourning.

And they saw the devastation of many generations.

Imagine the time between the Old Testament and the New Testament, that's 400 years.

There's no scripture.

God wasn't speaking to Israelites.

What is interesting though, when Jesus uses this scripture from Isaiah 61, he stops and says only the good news.

And he intentionally leaves out one sentence, and that is the day of vengeance of our God.

But Jesus at this point wanted to emphasize right now, guys, the things that you're about to hear from me, the things that you're about to see in the next three and a half years.

That's good news.

Because you will actually see many blind people that are able to see.

You will see sick and depressed being raised up.

You will see that this nation will have a good and new hope.

And though spiritually you are empty, though there is great poverty and great thirst, something new is going to happen when I speak.

That's why when Jesus came with the good news, they said, Wow, this is awesome! And they were ready to accept God's mercy, his forgiveness.

Jesus uses very strange words when he says he came to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

That's an interesting year.

When God was giving uh some instructions to his people, he said, work six days and rest on the seventh day.

That's what I did.

It works, it will help you.

Then he said, Work on your fields for six years.

In the seventh year, leave the field empty.

Don't do anything with it, because the soil needs to rest as well.

And you will learn to trust me even more.

And then he said, Do that for seven years.

Uh seven times, seven times, seven years, and then there will be a special, very special day, a very special year.

And that's the day, uh that's the year of the Lord's favor.

In that year, do something no other nation does.

If you have slaves, set them free.

What?

Yes, set them free, give them an opportunity to start a new life.

If you bought somebody's uh land, give that land back to their family.

Even if they are poor.

Give them a new start.

If somebody is in debt, forgive him all the debts.

Give them new life, new start.

That was radical.

That was radical.

Forgiveness, abundant blessing for the for God, and there is a promise that it will actually bless other nations, which we are now uh witnesses of.

So when Jesus started his ministry, he announced this same year.

He said, the time that is now coming, it's a time when you will experience joy, you will worship the Lord, you will praise the Lord again for what he has done, that you have new beginning in your life, that you have forgiveness of things, of deeds, that you can start anew.

That was really a good news.

I don't know how much uh you need to hear this message this morning.

That's up to God.

I I received that, and I I trust that uh you will through God's spirit realize what is the good news and what is the bad news, or what is the bad news first, so you see the good news for you this morning.

Everybody is different, everybody has different needs, different things going on in life.

Life is hard, pray hard.

Uh, but God knows you, he knows your situation, he knows what you're going through in your family, in your relationships, in your work.

And he wants to encourage you, tell me about your burdens.

I'm a God who is concerned.

He wants to know where you're at.

And the best thing is if you realize and admit that you are in poor condition.

It can be materially, it can be spiritually, it can be poor condition in your emotions to people or to things.

And especially when we are since we are in church, I can say that if you have bondage, if you are enslaved to sin, it's a word that is not used in Czech Republic, never, ever.

But that's the core problem of everything.

The bondage of sins.

There are many things that you can be attached to.

There are bad things you can be attached to in a wrong way.

There's addiction, there's porn, drug, drugs.

You can even be attached to good things in a bad way.

You can be attached to a family and make a family your God, your religion.

So many people do in the Czech Republic.

After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, people were so open.

There was such a hunger, such poverty spiritually, but also uh physically.

And people are so open.

I could stand in a corner anywhere in town with just guitar or paper and draw something, and suddenly I had dozens of people listening to me, to my story, to my testimony.

Guess what?

It lasted about three years, and then people started to focus in a different direction.

How to make my life easier, how to have lots of money, and how to not have to worry about the future.

Which is funny.

I mean, we do everything we can to have these in life to spend all our energy and all our assets to have this few years at the end where we can really enjoy ourselves.

And yet, such a small portion compared to eternity, never-ending time.

So I guess the question for me and I, uh for me and you, I'm sorry.

I'm not that personal.

For all of us is is there anything I am enslaved to?

It could be something good.

But Jesus came to set us free.

Because only then can we really rejoice in him, only then can we truly worship him.

Jesus says in John 8, 34 to 36, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

And if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Jesus can set you free.

That's the good news.

But it can be fully understood only when we realize where we stand before God and what is the bad news for us.

Do you remember the reaction of people in the synagogue when Jesus was proclaiming the good news?

They said, wow, that's a wonderful news.

But wait a minute, isn't this the son of Joseph, the carpenter?

The poor guy?

No education?

I mean, even his birth was really suspicious, as we will remember in a month's time.

What good can come out of this guy?

So it's not just about hearing the good news, it's what you do with it every day of your life.

They want to they wanted to silence him forever when they heard heard the news.

So that's not a good example.

Uh but it wasn't his time.

So, what are we to do with this?

Maybe maybe there is some real bondage in your life, and that bondage is sin in any area of life.

Because as Paul says, sin is something that attaches to us so easily, it crawl so slowly, but then when it has you, it has you.

So maybe it's time for you today to confess.

Don't leave that for later.

When you have more time, when you can enjoy life more, or when you don't, when you cannot enjoy life anymore, then I will turn to God.

God knows you, God knows your heart.

You can hide things from people, you can hide things from your spouse, you can hide things from anybody, but not from God.

But that also means you can come to him freely and you can confess like he knows everything.

You don't have to be afraid.

Oh, if I if I confess that, I will really make him sad.

He already is sad, he already knows what you're doing or thinking.

So confess it.

Don't wait.

Or you can cry out to him if if you are in despair.

He listens, he cares.

He wants to know what you're going through, and even if it's something you prayed for a long time, don't stop.

God is on the throne and he answers in his time.

And lastly, trust his power, trust the power of his grace in your life.

He does restore.

And yes, we can see it physically, maybe hopefully, Lord willing.

He can restore ruins in all modes, he can restore buildings, but more importantly, he can restore lives, he can restore the ruins of your life, whatever you've made bad decisions in your life.

It doesn't matter to him.

He can restore your life, he can rebuild things, he can renew your mind, he can uh put together brokenhearted.

Only he can.

Let us spend some time in prayer, just in quiet.

And if God spoke to you, answer him.

Don't let this opportunity go by.

Confess your sin.

Ask and it shall be given to you.

Trust him that he has the power and he does want you to live happily.

He does want all the best for you.

He's a good God, he's a good father.

He wants to give good things to his pe his children.

And I will close in prayer after a while.

As those who are broken, blind, oppressed, depressed, enslaved.

And maybe be we are enslaved in good things, but we are enslaved, and that is a sin.

We ask for your grace.

We ask this morning for your mercy.

We ask that you would manifest your power in our lives as individuals, but also as local churches.

That you would manifest your power as the Lord of the whole church all over the world.

We ask that in your name, Jesus Christ, today.

Amen.