What makes men angry enough to kill God? We discover that the people of Nazareth were so angry at Jesus’ sermon in the synagogue that they tried to throw him off a cliff! The reason was because they viewed themselves as too big and God as too small.
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What Makes Men Angry Enough To Kill God?
Luke 4:22-30
In Luke 4 we read of what has got to be the most unique sermon in the history of the world. Certainly there has never been a greater reaction to it. The listeners go from speaking well of Him and wondering at His gracious words as He began to speak, to being filled with rage so that they tried to kill Him at the end of it.
Let me briefly remind you of the setting. Jesus has returned to His home town of Nazareth after about a year of public ministry. During that first year, Jesus has performed miracles, healed the sick, cleansed the temple, and taught in the synagogues of Israel throughout Galilee. All of this has created a tremendous stir. His fame has preceded Him, so that, by the time He comes to Nazareth, and enters the synagogue on that Sabbath day, practically the whole city turns out to hear what He would say. They were also probably hoping to see a miracle from His hands. So, what does He do? He stands up to read the Scripture. The attendant hands Him the scroll of Isaiah, so He deliberately opens the scroll to what we would refer to as Isaiah 61, and He reads verse 1 and the opening portion of verse 2. Then He sits down. Every eye in the synagogue is upon Him. He has just read the prophecy that God would send the Messiah to preach good news to the poor, release the captives, give sight to the blind, set at liberty the oppressed, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Ever since they can remember, they have heard the prophecies about the Messiah read to them, Sabbath after Sabbath. The person who got up to preach, had always told them that this Messiah would come one day. He wasn’t here yet, but He was coming. So now, what would Jesus say? Well, we know the answer. Jesus said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” The Messiah is here, and he is Me!
So, how did they respond? Well, initially, they were very impressed. “All were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips.” However, Jesus didn’t let well enough alone. I guess Jesus hadn’t read our church growth books. He could have easily stopped speaking at that point, and He could have been loved by everyone in Nazareth. However, He knew that there were some things that needed to be said, for their own good. So, He went on to speak of what took place through the ministry of Elijah and Elisha. This so enraged them, that they got up from their seats, interrupted His teaching, laid hands on Him, and drove Him out of the city, intending to throw Him off the brow of a cliff. No Sabbath began so wondrously, and no Sabbath ended so tragically.
So, what happened? What did Jesus communicate to them, that caused them to go from wonder to rage – from speaking well of Him to trying to kill Him? This morning we want to try to answer the question, “What makes us angry enough to kill God?”, for that is exactly what they tried to do. God incarnate was in their midst, speaking truth to them, that they needed to hear, but they would not humble themselves to be helped by it. Instead, they proudly resisted His words to the point of attempting Deicide – the murder of God.
You see, there are certain truths in the Word of God, that people love to hear. They love to hear that God loves them, that He will forgive them, and that He has sent Jesus Christ to save them. They love to hear us speak of God’s mercy, and grace and kindness, and compassion. However, there are other truths in Scripture that people hate. In fact, these truths enrage them, especially if they happen to be religious people. They are the twin truths of the sinfulness of man, and the sovereignty of God. If you have ever read the pamphlet The Free Grace Broadcaster, at the bottom of every issue it says, “Our Purpose – To humble the pride of man, to exalt the grace of God in salvation, and to promote real holiness in heart and life.” Well, that’s a great purpose statement. Jesus Christ actually accomplished the first two. Jesus in this sermon, humbled the pride of man, and exalted the grace of God in salvation.
You see, there were 2 things going on in the people listening to Jesus’ sermon that caused them to react so violently to His message – 1) their view of themselves was too big; and 2) their view of God was too small.
1. Their View Of Themselves Was Too Big (4:22)
Now, we’re going to have to read between the lines a little. This first point is not explicitly stated, but I think it’s implied. When Jesus began to preach to them, they could hardly believe their ears. They had never heard Him preach before. What they heard literally floored them. They were listening to the greatest speaker who ever lived. Later, Jesus’ own enemies would say, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks” (Jn. 7:46). Jesus understood truth perfectly, and communicated it flawlessly. He used rich and applicable illustrations. He interpreted God’s word infallibly. He was clear. He spoke the truth. He was passionate. As they listened to Him, they were absolutely stunned and in awe of His speaking ability. Now, don’t make the mistake of thinking they believed in Him as their Messiah and Savior. They didn’t! But, they were literally blown away by His preaching on that day.
However, at some point what He was saying began to hit home. After Jesus read the Scripture from Isaiah 61, He expounded it. He told them that how He had come to fulfill the prophecies concerning the Messiah. He told them about the salvation He had come to bring, and who would receive that salvation. He told them that salvation was available, but only to certain people. A person could only be saved who admitted his spiritual poverty, spiritual captivity, spiritual blindness, and spiritual oppression.
Now, try to put yourself in their sandals. How would these people have received that message? Remember who Jesus is talking to. He’s talking to religious people, respectable people. These people went to the Synagogue to worship and learn God’s Word every Sabbath day. They participated in the feasts and festivals in Jerusalem several times a year. They were righteous and noble. They studied God’s Law. They gave tithes. They prayed. They fasted. They were God’s covenant people. And then Jesus comes along and says, unless you see yourself as destitute, prisoners, blind and downtrodden, you can’t be saved. Jesus was telling these proud, self-righteous Jews that they were spiritual beggars in God’s sight. He was telling them they had no righteousness God could accept. They must come to God as having nothing, and extending their hands as a beggar to receive all from Him alone.
So, when the truth of what Jesus was saying finally began to sink in, how do you think they responded? You guessed it! They responded with unbelief and anger. They respond at the end of verse 22, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” In other words they were thinking, “Who does this guy think He is?!” Why does He think He’s so high and mighty. Who is He to humble us like that? We don’t have to take that from him. After all, we know who He is. We watched him grow up. We changed his diaper in Sabbath school. We don’t have to take this and be humiliated like this!”
Oh, brothers and sisters, beware of developing a proud spirit! The Bible says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Do you really want Almighty God to oppose you? I didn’t think so. Oh, for your own good, humble yourself under His mighty hand. If you’ll do that, He’ll give grace to you. But, if you refuse to humble yourself, He will crush you.
Be careful when you are reading in the Scriptures where it speaks of man’s depravity, and you feel this indignation rising up within you. Be willing to agree with God about your sinful, fallen condition. After all, who knows better – you or God? If you will be humble enough to learn about your true, natural state, and agree with God about it, you are in the place where you can receive grace from God. When you discover the roots of pride growing within your heart, pull them out before they can alienate you from God.
Folks, even the church can be guilty of this! Remember, that the church of Laodicea made this tragic mistake. They were saying, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.” However, the Lord responded, “No, you are really wretched, and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (Rev.3:17). The fastest way to block the grace of God working in your life is to let pride well up in your heart. Brothers and sisters, beware!
However, that wasn’t their only problem. Not only was their view of themselves too big, their view of God was too small.
2. Their View Of God Was Too Small (4:23-27)
Just as they needed to learn and confess their own depravity, they needed to learn and confess God’s sovereignty. Now, what do we mean by the sovereignty of God. Simply put, we mean that God is King, ruling from His throne. God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, and always as He pleases. He is accountable and subject to no one. He is working out everything according to the counsel of His will. Psalm 115:3 says, “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.” There were three truths about God’s sovereignty which these Jews needed to learn.
God Does Not Owe Anyone Anything
After they began saying to one another, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” Jesus responded by saying, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.”
Notice, first of all that Jesus read their minds, and knew what was in their hearts. He says, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me.” He knew what they were thinking. He knew what was in all men. Jesus knew that they did not believe in Him as Messiah. They knew Him only as Joseph’s son. They had heard that He had done miracles elsewhere. But in order for them to believe in Jesus Christ, they wanted to see a miracle. A doctor spends his whole life using his knowledge and skill in healing others. This proverb was saying that the doctor should use that knowledge and skill to bring healing to himself or his own family when they were ill. Jesus goes on to explain the proverb with the words, “whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.” You are like a physician who is healing others everywhere outside of Nazareth. We have heard that You have done miracles and mighty works all over Capernaum. Well, physician, heal yourself. Do those same miracles right here in Your own hometown! We won’t believe in You without miracles. You owe us. We are your own kin and neighbors and friends. We have a special claim upon You.
Notice the verbs in verse 23 – “heal” and “do”. These are imperatives. These people were commanding Jesus Christ to do a miracle. They were making demands on Him. They felt they had that right because they knew Him better than all others. However, Jesus refuses to do what they were insisting that He do. It is always a big mistake to try to make demands on God!
Jesus goes on to say in verse 24, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.” In other words, even though you are speaking well of Me now, you haven’t welcomed Me. In fact, you won’t welcome Me unless I gratify your curiosity by doing a miracle. “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign” (Mt. 16:24).
Friends, anything we get from God is pure grace. We have never merited anything but judgment from God. We can never bring into debt to ourselves. We can never obligate Him. Paul asks the question in Romans 11:34, “Who has known the mind of the Lord?” Answer – “no one.” Then he asks, “Who became His counselor?” Answer – “no one.” Then he asks, “Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again?” Answer – no one! None of us has ever or will ever be able to put God in our debt. No man has ever done something for God that has obligated God to him. Think about it – who here has ever first given anything to God? Yes, you may have given Him some of your time or money or energy. But where do you think you got that time or money or energy to begin with? It was from Him! None of us has ever first given to God. And because anything that we give God is only a response to His gift to us, we can never put Him in our debt. He doesn’t owe anyone anything.
Let me put it to you this way – “How many of you deserve God’s blessings?” If we were honest, we would have to say, “None.” Well, how many blessings does God owe us? Absolutely none. All of us have sinned away any right to God’s blessings. If any of us receive God’s blessings, it will not be because we have earned it or deserve it. It will come to us because of God’s grace. God does not owe anyone anything but hell.
God Is Free To Bless One and Not Another
Now, this truth about God comes out very forcefully in Jesus’ message to them. Jesus had just said that no prophet is welcome in his hometown. Hen then goes on to say, “Let me tell you about 2 different prophets. Their message wasn’t welcome in Israel, so God sent them outside of Israel to bring His blessings to foreigners.”
The first prophet is Elijah. During the time he ministered, God brought a drought upon the land, in judgment upon the idolatry of the people. King Ahab had married Jezebel, who was a Baal worshipper. Through Ahab’s alliance with Jezebel, Baal worship had spread throughout the land of Israel. Thus, God did not allow it to rain for three and a half years! Imagine what that would mean for the people of Israel. Since it didn’t rain for three and a half years, all of the rivers and lakes are drying up. Trees and vegetation die off. You can’t grow anything. So, what is the result? People start to starve to death. And the folks that are worse off are the widows. A widow had no man to provide for her. Often the only thing she could do to survive was to beg. However, during a great famine, people don’t have anything left over to give to beggars, so they are the hardest hit. Now, think about what Jesus is saying. He said that during this time of great famine there were many widows in Israel. However, God didn’t send Elijah to any Israeli widows. Instead, He sent him to a widow in Sidon. You remember the story? God sent Elijah to a widow who was picking up sticks to bake a couple of biscuits for her and her son, and then die, because all they had in the world was a little bit of flour and oil. When that was gone, they would starve. Elijah told her to feed him first, and if she would do that, God would not let the flour or oil run out until rain came. Well, she believed God, and made Elijah a bread cake, and God provided for her and her son through that entire drought. The interesting thing about this widow is that she was from Sidon, the very place that wicked Queen Jezebel was from, who had introduced Baal worship into Israel through her husband, King Ahab. So, what Jesus is saying is that God passed over the widows of Israel to take care of a Gentile widow from the Baal-worshiping country of Sidon!
Then Jesus told them a story about another prophet – Elisha. During Elisha’s time, there were many lepers in Israel. However, God didn’t send His prophet to any lepers in Israel to heal them. Instead, God used Elisha to cleanse Naaman the Syrian. Naaman was the captain of the armies of Syria, Israel’s arch enemy! So, what Jesus is saying is that God passed over the Israelite lepers to cleanse a Gentile leper, who happened to be the enemy of God’s covenant people! And this, is what made these Jews so angry that they tried to kill Jesus Christ.
It is true that God is free to bless one and not another. And often the ones He chooses to bless are the most unlikely ones! They are the most sinful, and depraved and wicked. They are the prostitutes and tax collectors. They are the drug addicts and drunkards. They are the sexually immoral and perverse. They are the destitute, the captives, the blind and the oppressed.
One of the most distasteful doctrines of the word of God to the natural man is the sovereignty of God in salvation. When you begin to teach that God is free to save one man and not another, you will find all kinds of resistance and opposition. However, the Bible is very clear on this subject. Listen to some of these statements from the book of Romans:
“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Rom.9:13).
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion” (Rom.9:15).
“So then, it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” (Rom.9:16).
“So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires” (Rom.9:18).
“Does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?” (Rom.9:21).
“What then, what Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened” (Rom.11:7).
I have found out the hard way over the last 23 years, that when you preach the truth that God is free to save one and not another, and that ultimately the choice is His, you will receive a violent reaction, even from the Church! But think about it. If you were able to become a multi-millionnaire, and decided one day that you were going to give some poor orphan an all-expense paid tuition to the college of his choice, would you be obligated to give that same gift to every other poor orphan in the world? Of course not! Consider, the wealthy woman who decides to adopt three poor starving children from Africa. Do we accuse her of being wicked because she doesn’t decide to adopt every poor starving child in Africa? No, we realize that her adopting those three children was an expression of kindness and grace. So, why would we accuse God of being cruel or unfeeling if He saved a great multitude which no many can number, but passed over others and allowed them to receive His justice? If God does not owe any man anything, then when He graciously gives salvation to some, we ought to look upon that as an expression of His great love and kindness, not impugn His character as being somehow evil! God is free to bless one and not another, and He exercises that freedom! God’s grace is His. He is free to give it or withhold it according to His will and pleasure.
God is free to pass over the Jews, and give His blessings to Gentiles. God is free to pass by the wise and mighty and noble of the world, and give salvation to the foolish, the weak, base, and the despised. Jesus once said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight” (Mt. 11:25-26).
God Does Not Owe Us An Explanation For What He Does
When Jesus retold the stories of Elijah and Elisha passing over God’s covenant people and bringing God’s blessings to the hated Gentiles, He doesn’t give one word of explanation. He doesn’t tell them, “The reason God gave His blessings to the Gentiles and not to the Israelites was because of …” The truth is that in Scripture God rarely ever explains His actions. In Job 33:13 we find Elihu rebuking Job by saying, “Why do you complain against Him that He does not give an account of all His doings?” That is absolutely true. God does not give an account of all His doings. God is answerable to no one but Himself.
And when God passes over some, and bestows salvific blessings on others, He doesn’t owe us an explanation. The only explanation we have in Scripture is that it is well-pleasing in His sight to do it this way.
Now, friends, when Jesus told the Jews these 2 stories of Elijah and Elisha, I think they could read between the lines. They were demanding that He do miracles before they would believe. Jesus responds by saying that God gives His blessings to whoever He wants, often bypassing the covenant people and giving them to the despised Gentiles. I think He is implying, “Be very, very careful! Unless you repent of this pride, self-righteous, racist attitude, you are going to find out that God will pass over you, and give His blessings to the very people you despise. And when God passes over some, and bestows salvific blessings on others, He doesn’t owe us an explanation. The only explanation we have in Scripture is that it is well-pleasing in His sight to do it this way.
Life Application
We find in this passage, that the twin truths of man’s sinfulness and God’s sovereignty, when they are openly and honestly declared, will cause a reaction. Either they will humble the sinner and bring him to repentance, or he will stiffen his neck and harden his heart, and be lost forever. As we close, I’m going to draw out a few spiritual lessons.
1) A Lesson For The Preacher Man: Let’s learn from Jesus Christ. When Jesus had an opportunity of leaving these hearers with all smiles, and everyone loving Him, He deliberately began to preach truths that He knew they would recoil from. He could have remained a favorite and popular preacher, but He chose to preach truths which would cause them to hate Him. This teaches me that it is never the duty of the preacher to say only what will please his hearers. If we make it our ambition to please men, we can’t be the bond-servants of Christ. Jesus was not interested in popularity. He was interested in faithfulness to the truth. On that final Judgment Day, Jesus Christ will not say, “Well done, good and successful servant, or good and popular servant.” He will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” We must be more concerned with faithfulness to God and to the truth of His Word than we are with the numbers of people that come to hear us. It is this that compels me to preach the whole counsel of God to you. This is why we teach straight through books of the Bible. If it were up to me, I would just pick and choose to preach on my favorite subjects and neglect the rest. However, a faithful preacher will preach what you like, and what you don’t like. His concern will not be for your applause, but God’s. His goal is not popularity, but faithfulness.
2) A Lesson For The Religious Man: If you will ever be saved, you are going to have to humble yourself. You are going to have to come down, down, down, and acknowledge your great need. You are going to have to confess that you are a spiritual beggar man, bound man, blind man, and broken man. No man can ever be saved who doesn’t realize his sin and guilt. No one will ever turn to Christ as Savior, until they see their need for Him. Let God teach you through this book, your true spiritual condition so that you might turn to Him and be saved. My friends, we are all fallen. We are all shot through with sin. It has infected our entire being. From the crown of our heads to the sole of our feet, we are infected with the virus of sin. We are corrupt in our totality – it extends to our minds, emotions, and wills. The sooner we see this and confess it, the better off we will be.
3) A Lesson For All Men: Whether you are saved or lost, you possess a natural aversion to the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. We don’t want God to be king, because that means we can’t be. We don’t want God to be able to do as He pleases, because that means we can’t do what we please. Man doesn’t want a Sovereign God. He wants a God to do his bidding. He wants a God who exists for him. Man, by nature, doesn’t want the God of the Bible. However, we can’t stop Him, manipulate Him, or control Him. He is God! The truth that God is sovereign means that He is not in our hands to do with Him as we please. Rather, we are in His hands so that He does with us as He pleases! I once could not stand the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, especially in salvation. However, after I embraced this truth, it has become one of the sweetest doctrines in all of Scripture, and I see this truth on almost every page of the Bible. I pray that instead of kicking against the goads, you will humbly submit to Him and ascribe to Him the right to do as He pleases in heaven above and on earth beneath. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and in due time He will exalt you (1Pet.5:6).
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