Anointed to preach the Gospel to the poor (Quality: Good)

[0:00] I again ask your attention to the fourth chapter of the gospel as recorded by Luke and verses 18 and 19 the gospel is recorded by Luke chapter 4 and verses 18 and 19 the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord as we close the reading it was with these words and they were astonished at his doctrine for his word was with power now that is the solemn sacred difference between this greater of all preachers this greatest of all preachers and all other that stand in a pulpit his preaching was with power and in this verse 18 the Lord Jesus Christ was reading from the 61st of Isaiah

[2:11] Isaiah and of course the prophecy of Isaiah is full of Christ full of his pathway whether it is his birth or his death or his sufferings or his ministry and this is the pathway written in Isaiah written in Isaiah's prophecy of the preaching and commission of the Lord Jesus Christ it could never be said of any other preacher what is said in this 18th verse it could never be said in this verse because though other preachers may have the anointing of the spirit and must have the anointing of the spirit and that to preach the gospel the applications that are spoken of here is not theirs and it never will be the power of the spirit is upon the word then these things will be accomplished but the glory isn't to the preacher it is to

[3:29] Christ and to the spirit of truth it is only him that could say he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted to preach deliverance to the captives and the recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised and he not only has the wisdom but he also has the power as it was demonstrated in all his ministry a minister sent of God those who are anointed of the spirit the power is not in them there's only one thing that you should follow in a minister you know today people run after ministers and they never should do it was done so in the days of the apostle and he reproved the church at Corinth in particular but there's only one thing that you should trace in a minister and that's found in the apostle's words in the in the hebrews whose faith follow and that's all whose faith follow now if that faith be of God then it is to be sought for it isn't a person and it must never be the person but in this blessed person of christ then how he demonstrates and by his teaching and preaching that it is of the spirit that these mercies and blessings are known there is of course it must always be god has sent sinners into the ministry sinners who are called by grace sinners who are led of the spirit into these truths sinners that are commissioned of god to preach to preach sent of god to preach not of men paul said and he wrote to the to the church unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given that i should preach among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of christ christ it is descriptive of course of all god sent servants the less than the least of all saints but they must be anointed to this work they must be anointed of the spirit it isn't just a desire to talk or even a desire to preach if they are sent of god they have a commission given them to preach but they stand in need from first to last to this anointing and every time they stand up they are to preach what they have been given to preach and under the anointing of the spirit of truth that is what they must preach whether men will hear or whether they will not the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor now in that respect then in that respect only all such that are saint servants of god are spirit taught spirit taught and are taught what to preach they are led into pathways which i was going to say that few walk in because it is for the for their preaching sake and it is for their hearers sake that they are brought into those pathways anointed they sometimes have to say as i've often reminded you of those words those words of elijah in the 18th chapter of the first of kings when he said this he was in in a great strait was elijah he was on his own and he's on he was on his own in this respect that there was no one there to be his support only his god and so he looked to his god for that support and for that confirmation and he said let it be known this day that thou art god in his round that i am thy servant that i have done all these things that i have done all these things that thy word it's a plea that the lord will own and bless his appointed servants and prove to them again and again it is a need to prove you need confirmations my friends if you are a child of grace you will beg for confirmations but so does those who preach the gospel they need confirmations that they were ever sent the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor and are rightly known as servants and if they're in their right spirit they won't rise above that place either they are servants to the church and they are to preach this gospel and are taught it in low places and are taught it so that they shall be a means to teach others the power isn't in the word they may have light and liberty it's sometimes been said that by those who are preached that well we have such liberty and what happened nothing but then it's been said also we felt shut up in the dark and struggled and the lord was pleased to bless that ministry i'm not talking to myself not for a second but it has been said of god-sent servants that in his sovereign way and purpose he uses men on the walls of zion who have tasted and handled and felt and experienced the words of this gospel well let us look then as the lord will help us at this time the purpose of this gospel the spirit of the lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor there's one more worthy anointing in deuteronomy we read about that anointing then we'll come to the text if i can find it i find the need to confirm these things and it's and of asher he said let us should be blessed with children let him be acceptable to his brethren and let him dip his foot in oil there is to be an anointing it is the oil of the spirit but it is also if if the lord sends a man with a word if he sends them a man with the gospel it is to be sent to the to sinners they are they and only they are the ones who shall find something in the gospel preaching that makes it suitable and to their condition and to their place now the first clause then in this preaching is this to preach the gospel to the poor and that is the poor in spirit you remember in the in uh matthew's gospel in the what is called the beatitudes in the sermon on the mount the lord jesus christ began to preach and he said blessed are the poor in spirit now all these uh descriptions in this 18th verse and 19th verse are spiritual experiences they're not natural experiences they're not those necessarily they may well be by providence found amongst the poor but these are spiritual experiences and and this is to whom the gospel is to be brought and to it is and whom it is to be preached and it's the power of that gospel that shall be made a blessing the the gospel in itself is a blessing it is full of christ and it is christ but if there's no power in the ministry that is if the holy spirit is not pleased to clothe the word with power then it is but words the spirit of the lord god the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor let me remind you too that the lord god the lord god is upon me and the lord god is upon me and the lord jesus in compassion said to these that came from john go show john again these things and how the blind received the sight uh the deaf here and the last clause was the gospel the poor had the gospel to preach done to them my friends what a mercy it is that we have a gospel but what a mercy is if we're poor enough for that gospel and it won't be by any means that we have come to it doesn't come out of habit or formality or coming to and fro the lord's house it's an inward work to be poor i will not be moved from this truth by anyone my friends that those who are appreciative to the gospel and the substance of that gospel have been made poor and i tell you this they will be kept poor those those evidences of poverty are in themselves riches indeed you compare the poor you if you know yourself to be a poor sinner and you feel it to be so and you mourn over it it and you're often found well write yourself off because you're poverty my friends you compare your lot to the lost and i say this you would rather be poor would you not you'd rather be poor oh what it is to be poor for the gospel the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor these are the characters who will indeed and i say this in a right way receive the gospel because what's in the gospel suits these poor sinners well now once again my friends the hearing of the ear is one thing the application of that gospel to the soul is everything the word of truth is full of blessing but it's the application of that blessing that will make the poor rejoice these are those who we long for in the house of god you know those who are poor in spirit those whom the holy spirit has made poor and how is it and you may look at it in this light and it may be the right way to be able to describe how we come to be poor if we're poor naturally it's because we don't possess anything or it is this that we may have possessed something and now that they've been it's been removed from us and now we're poor people who perhaps in in in a way of providence of one time possessed much but through circumstances and those circumstances have come and the means at the end of these circumstances is that what they did did have they now no longer possess so they're now amongst the poor so it is spiritually my friends when you was when you and i were dead in trespasses and sins we weren't poor we weren't that is we weren't in the knowledge of that poverty we were indeed poor but we weren't aware of that poverty but the holy spirit's work has many aspects to it but it is one thing very certain my friends if the gospel is to be preached to the poor and if it is to be made a blessing to the poor it's not the gospel that's got to be changed it's the poor and it's these sinners that are called by grace that are to be brought into the state of the poverty which upon which the gospel is to be made a blessing you know there's got to be a coming down the dear apostle in his religious unregenerate state was very rich he dwelt on a righteousness which he thought would take him to glory his upbringing was essential oh he could look at chapter and verse as it were of experience and see how he was brought along and he was somebody my friends to be dealt with in in the in the religion of a pharisee and i've often said he stood head and shoulders above all for zeal but his own words were this what things were going to me those i counted loss for christ and doubtless i count all things but done that i may win christ and be found in him he was brought to nothing and this is the work of the spirit and blessed be god when it goes on in the heart it can't be understood by the natural mind of man it can't be understood there's mourning over it there is distress over it there is complaining over it there's a sense of utter lost and ruined condition within and david said in the psalm destitution my friends poor the blessed gospel is for the poor and it's for the spiritually poor now what are they destitute of what what brings them into destitution well every ground upon which they stood is removed every comfort of hope outside of this blessed gospel is removed resting on false religion resting on tradition resting on coming to chapel resting on reading the bible comes very close resting upon being sons and daughters of gracious parents it'll all be stripped away and and you'll find yourself poor i i don't know what it was here or somewhere last week i i said i have to come in with top lady and i believe it's a good place to be and he said nothing in my hand i bring simply to thy cross-cycling naked come to thee for dress helpless look to thee for grace black eye to the fountain fly wash me savior or i die my friends you know whether you are poor i don't mind i i don't mind who resists this truth but i believe those of the lord's people know they're poor and it's a feeling destitution within it's an emptiness and the poor possess nothing they feel you find a man and a woman who's poor they haven't got anything you know you hear people say or you read of people in extreme poverty that all they've got is what they stand up in my friends and so it is with a believer all he's got is what he stands up in and that's poverty complete poverty it's nothing he looks and desires for that which will be his spiritual comfort and he's nothing but then the gospel is to be preached as such this stripping work is of the spirit is it in yes it's in the book of job isn't it it was said of job by the lord the lord that he was a man who feared god and a stewed evil and the man was perfect and upright but time the end of his trouble came he was in a different place i have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eyes seeth thee wherefore i abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes there was many things you might say of dear job he of his substance and of his comforts were stripped out of his own health and strength he was removed but it was those internal mercies and blessings there was those spiritual things which he was to know the soreness of and the the feeling sense of poverty concerning when he cried oh that i knew where i might find him this was the man who feared god and eschewed evil he seems as if he was even devoid of the comfort of the presence of god you read again that 23rd chapter and you'll find where he is he was poor the spirit of the lord is upon me because he hath appointed me to preach the gospel to the poor now the preaching of the gospel is the preaching of christ that's the gospel do you know the pharisees and the good works and those who rest on good works will tell you all about what you've got to do i love telling you what you've got to do what you've got to let go what you must leave behind change your change your your ways of life the hymn rises says change the heart not change the works change the heart renew the will and turn the feet to zion's hill these people who rest on the ability of man for his comfort of his soul will tell them what he's got to do do you know i can't think anything more deceiving to say it was somebody dead in trespasses and sins for the comfort of your it's your soul of your eternal happiness you can turn to christ you can no more turn to christ and you can put life into a soul into a body that's dead my friends that's the truth that is you can no more persuade somebody dead in trespasses and sins to take up with christ and his gospel and his gospel and you can move mountains the spirit of the lord is upon me and that's where the power is it's in the spirit it isn't in the flesh and it never will be and if you and i have a saving knowledge of christ it isn't because we turned our natural mind to these things it's because we were anointed of the spirit and we were led of the spirit and taught of the spirit now the gospel the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor the poor in spirit the ruined by saying the lost within themselves the destitution felt within the hopeless case the helpless case also my friends how suitable is the gospel how suitable what does this what does the condition of your soul bring you to what it what does it make you feel this the work is a feeling work you know and the gospel is a gospel of love he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor here the holy spirit is to preach to the heart what really must be summed up in a very simple way as the preaching of the gospel is to preach christ and the preaching of christ is to preach mercy that free and full gift of god blessed work is free as it is full as it is suitable to the poor who has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor i feel we would say this too those who are anointed of the spirit sent of god what would be the point of sending someone to preach to you that's never walked in your path never walked in your path what would be the purpose of preaching a gospel to sinners if he wasn't a sinner and have never realized the depths the heights the breadth and the lengths of the mercy that's in the gospel what would be the purpose my friends to preach christ as the redeemer of the lost if he wasn't him in himself to know what it was to be lost and didn't know the redeeming love and blood of christ by revelation and by application my friends when the spirit of the lord was upon christ he preached himself because he is the gospel he preached his commission he preached his work he preached what he was and what he was to do and what he did do my friends that is the difference between the the preacher of those who are anointed of the spirit and the person of christ the gospel you know that's one of the most blessed parts if i may so put it of the gospel is first the mercy of the gospel because everything that christ did for his people was what was on the grounds of mercy and on the grounds of love the gospel i said is christ my friends and if you are brought to need christ what a great mercy it is you've cried for mercy you remember the text last week i will have mercy and not sacrifice now that mercy is christ but it is also the compassion and and blessing of the covenant of grace to the poor and to the needy he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor away with all that preach anything else my friends the lord cannot bless anything else he will bless the gospel he will bless christ to the poor and the needy what comfort will it be when those who preach the law keep on pointing to moses as the way to peace and blessing keep on trying to make people to believe that in keeping of the law was uh their way of salvation when this blessed person came who is the end of the law who went to the end of the law for righteousness sake uh who kept the law made it honorable not for himself of course but for his people who pour this is the pouring in of the oil and the wine that the poor man knew on that road down from jerusalem to jericho brokenhearted is the word in the in the text but the poor are completely poor and the gospel is the sufficiency of god to the comfort and redemption of their soul well you just take one example of the poor and i i've said already that the poverty is known by the stripping away by the holy spirit of everything that's forced and everything that mustn't be rested upon and everything of tradition and formality and duty and it leaves bare the soul as it were in its poverty and a sinner under gracious teaching will mourn over sin the gospel my friends when the holy spirit applies the gospel first of all is the mercy of the gospel because not only is the gospel for sinners but the sinners who it is to be blessed so are prepared for that gospel but then my friends it's the blessing within the gospel the way of salvation this person of christ is revealed to the poor and the needy is the only way you know i believe this by faith before there is a knowledge of the blessing in the gospel there's a going out after it there's a seeking for it there's a praying for it there's a longing for it that man we know as the publican was longing for the for the substance of the gospel and the substance of the gospel is forgiveness when he cried for mercy he cried as a sensible sinner and and mercy is christ the gospel is christ my friends all the blessings of the gospel could be centered in the one person of christ i know he died and i know he rose again and by his death and resurrection he opened the door of mercy there was a way made that sinners could approach to god through him for he said i am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me but what he did in his uh the solemn death and glorious resurrection was there was a fountain open for sin and uncleanness those matters that the gospel has within it substitutional death of christ is in the gospel christ in the room and place instead of his people christ is a sin bearer christ is the one who suffered for sin there is mercy in every attribute of the gospel and every attribute of christ and it is to be preached and it's to be preached to the poor i might ask the question i've had to ask it myself many a time when you come and go to chapel and you go home and you say well it didn't seem anything for me whose fault was it my friends where do you lay the blame was it because your heart was too full of something else was it because your heart was too full of the yesterdays or the tomorrows but when you come down to the bedrock truth my friends as being a poor sinner and and the gospel is pleased to be preached in your hearing and the lord make it to be preached to your heart we read also this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears my friends do understand me for a moment this is the blessing i pray that may be fulfilled in your hearts this gospel because then it will be your comfort and it will be your eternal hope too the scriptures fulfilled in the ears of those that were in the synagogue in nazareth the scripture was fulfilled the prophecy of j of isaiah in the 61st chapter was this day fulfilled in your ears but blessed be god there is a day in his calendar you know when the mercies of this gospel and the blessings of this gospel is not fulfilled in your ears only but in your heart too and that's when it's revealed and when it's applied the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor and in this gospel there is hope there's no hope elsewhere my friends this anointed once more i was going to say again please understand me if the preacher is to be anointed and the preacher here is christ therefore that the person the poor the character the individual the church of christ must also be anointed you know when he when he promises in the 14th of john to he said concern in heaven for his people i go to prepare a place for you surely then those people must be prepared for that place and as the preacher here is christ uh who speaks of his anointing surely then those for whom the gospel is to be preached are also anointed my friends if you said in a pew and you have done in times past and i trust not now but if you're sat in a pew there in trespasses and sins what was what what purpose or what effect rather did the gospel have on you absolutely nothing no there was to be a work to be done and that was the anointing of the spirit that was the quickening effect of the spirit's work within because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor they've been brought to be spiritually poor for this gospel the gospel hasn't changed cannot change oh you'll have men that will try to change it and they'll water it down and they will distribute it here there and everywhere in hopes for prosperity my friends the gospel can never be changed because christ is the gospel but those who are the hearers of the gospel those who are brought under the influence of the gospel have been brought under a gracious change under a blessed anointed and very simply my friends at the end of this poor discourse one of the change some of the changes is this that in the anointing of the spirit there is life in the soul there is spiritual hearing and spiritual understanding the spiritual desires my friends that which is as anointing of the spirit if the preacher is anointed by the spirit therefore the souls of the hearers must also be anointed so that they are receptive to this gospel so that it is made to them as their meat and drink so it is their food so it is their comfort and their consolation everything in the gospel is for for the poor and the needy now they must be brought to be poor and needy for this gospel the gospel he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor the balm of gilead you know that substance which was drawn from the trees in gilead was considered to be the cure of many afflictions and it was exported from those regions because it had what they thought was healing properties in it it's descriptive my friends of the gospel do you know any cases that the gospel has not met with have you been brought into pathways which the gospel has got no healing remedy in it and whether it is the foundation of this of the affliction being sin the gospel has christ in it and there is the there is the remedy for that malady but it is to be preached the power the authority but also the glory is christ the spirit of the lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor and you wonder why you're poor some of you may wonder why you're spiritually poor while he keeps you spiritually poor why it seems as if that well others are set at liberty as we sang uh in that hymn of the prisoner and yet you still feel poor my friends it's because you're under this gospel but it may also be the means of why the minister is always kept poor because by that same blessed anointing the gospel is to the comfort of son 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 preach deliverance to the captives the recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty them that are bruised amen god will end as a prayer meeting on wednesday and mr paul tyler is expected next lord's day shall we close with a part of him 151 what slavish fears molest my mind and vex my sickly soul how is it lord that thou art kind and yet i am not whole ah why should unbelief and pride with all their hellish train still in my ransom soul abide and give me all this pain thy word is past thy promise made with power it came from heaven cheer up desponding soul it said thy sins are all forgiven behold i make thy calls my own i bought thee with my blood thy wicked works on me be thrown and i will work thy good verse 5 hymn 151 oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

[41:55] Now there are flowers of life That the fish made pursue They made life shortly They look high Yet they look rich They look rich They look rich They look rich They learn They look rich

[42:58] They look rich They look rich guide just as as give love for me Lord life whose past bread that supernatural言 and Christ and This chance not going slow.

[43:52] Take him all the way, jail us see. The Spirit of God That they come Lord, once one requests Is this that this day Is this scripture fulfilled In our hearts Lord, bless thine own holy word Forgive all that has been said amiss Bring us together later, Lord, we pray Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ And the love of God the Father And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit Remain with us each

[44:55] Both now and forever Amen Amen