From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part two of a series. Read part one.

As He demonstrated on this day and so many others, to turn away from the one true Gospel is to turn away from Jesus himself.

In the first article of this series we described the setting in which we find Jesus preaching. He is in Capernaum, preaching in a house, and an overflow crowd has gathered to hear Him - a crowd made up of people who were there for a wide spectrum of reasons - some with godly motives, others with ungodly motives.

I invite you to imagine yourself in that place, as part of that crowd. In the eye of your mind, place yourself there as an eyewitness to the events that are about to unfold.

The Preaching

And as we do that, let us notice, first of all, that preaching is taking place. Verse two tells us that Jesus "preached the Word to them." We do not have a detailed account of what He preached that day. But we have definite knowledge of the content of that preaching. The word that is translated "word" here is logos. Jesus preached the Logos to them. Jesus Himself, the Gospel of John chapter one tells us, Jesus is the Word. "In the beginning was the Word" - the Logos - "and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus always preached about Himself, the living Logos, the living, incarnate Word of God.

And Jesus always preached about Himself using the written Word, the written Logos, the Scriptures themselves. In Luke chapter four we read of such an occasion early in His ministry. After He has been tempted for forty days in the wilderness, Jesus came to Nazareth. He went into the synagogue there, and began to preach. He opened the book of Isaiah and read from chapters 49 and 61.

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Luke 4:16-21)

Jesus preached by reading about Himself, and expounding what was written. He read Isaiah's prophecies that the Messiah would come to earth, and that He would begin to teach and to preach about Himself. And Jesus said to the people in that synagogue, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." Today the Messiah's earthly ministry has begun. You have seen it with your own eyes. You have heard it with your own ears.

And now, a few weeks later, Jesus is preaching to these people, in this house in Capernaum. And we have no doubt that Jesus is preaching the same message. He is preaching it, no doubt, from the Old Testament Scriptures. That was Jesus' pattern and practice.

The Imperative of Gospel Preaching

This is the Gospel we must preach. It must be about Jesus. There is no other. We must never deviate from it. "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). We must remember the warning of the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul to the Galatian church,

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. But I make known to you, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:6-12)

To turn away from the one true Gospel is to turn away from Jesus himself. As Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel!" (1 Corinthians 9:16). In his letter to the believers at Rome he explained why this is the imperative:

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:16-17).

But in the scene we are witnessing in our minds' eyes, we find that Jesus' preaching is providentially interrupted. His discourse takes an unexpected and decisive turn - but as we shall see it is still focused on His own person, His deity, and His power to save.

Next: Men Determined to Bring Someone to Jesus

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