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Ephesus In Acts

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JESUS MINISTERED TO THE OPPRESSED

Jesus explains the Gospel He came to proclaim. What is amazing is that in His reading from Scripture, He ties together the words of Isaiah 61, with Isaiah 58:6, and explains the way we are to look at those we live around. Everyone needs the Gospel no matter what they look like on the outside. Everyone is born oppressed, impoverished, and spiritually blind.

Jesus came as the Messiah to those who were bankrupted and impoverished spiritually and they know it. Jesus came to rescue those who know they are on God’s death row for their sins awaiting eternal execution. Jesus came to heal those who know that they were born handicapped by spiritual blindness. That is the first part of v. 18. But the last line is where we need to look.

SEEING PEOPLE THROUGH CHRIST’S EYES

Jesus came finally to those who are “oppressed”. The word Jesus uses here speaks of not someone in jail or prison. Rather it is used for someone that is imprisoned by life. People are overwhelmed by the pains of life. Someone overwhelmed by abusive relationships. Someone overwhelmed by illness, financial woes, and all the other endless struggles of life. They are overwhelmed, afflicted, joyless, hopeless, and empty: and they know it.

Those are the ones that Jesus came to save as Messiah. The poor bankrupted-spiritually sinners who know their lives, their choices, and their sins have made them worthy of eternal imprisonment in God’s maximum security pace of punishment facing the vengeance of a Holy God.

Jesus left us to share the Gospel of salvation. We point people to Jesus who said in Matthew 11:28, “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”

Slides


Check Out All The Sermons In The Series

You can find all the sermons and short clips from this series, Camp Barakel 2015 here

Looking To Study The Bible Like Dr. Barnett?

Dr. Barnett has curated an Amazon page with a large collection of resources he uses in his study of God’s Word. You can check it out here.