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Lukes first account pt 2
Valerie quoted Philippians where the Apostle Paul told the Philippian church to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Remember what he said, just immediately following that, for it is Him who works in you.
Praise the Lord for that. Turn your Bibles to Luke's Gospel this morning. Chapter 1, we're going to read in your hearing actually 1 -17, though the last two weeks we've looked at verses 1 -7 in detail, but it's important that we remember, keep in mind the context of what we're reading so we understand what we're reading, so we make a right preaching of the truth of God's Word today in this.
Let's read, the Word of God says this in Luke 1 -1, Inasmuch as many as have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word, delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed, that's blessed assurance.
There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abiah, his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, her name was Elizabeth, and they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless, but they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.
So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing on the right side of the altar of incense, and when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him.
But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John, and you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
He will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, as I come before you one more time this morning, it is with a grateful heart that we stand here this morning before you and before your people and having read your holy word today, our desire is this, Lord, this morning, that you remove us out of the way, dear God, that you bring to mind the things that we have studied, that you help us to rightly interpret the word of God, dear God, to stay for me personally this morning, I pray that you help me teach and preach within the confines of the text and to teach what thus says the word of God and that your people would be hearers of the word and that you, Holy Spirit today, would instruct our hearts and our minds in the knowledge of your word so that we might know you better, so that we might love you better, and so that we might serve you better.
Burn your word into our hearts and in our minds, for it is in Jesus' name I pray, amen and amen. Just a bit of recap as we begin this passage of scripture again, particularly we're going to be focusing in on verse 8 through verse 17, but just as a summary, it's important for us to remember what we're going to be seeing throughout the book of Luke as we take it verse by verse, sentence by sentence, chapter by chapter.
We're going to see throughout Luke's gospel many biblical doctrines brought to light. We'll see the biblical doctrine of God's sovereignty. We're going to see the biblical doctrine of God's providence.
God's providence is primarily really what we're going to look at today. We'll see the biblical doctrines of grace brought out to us from the word of God. By that, I mean the radical and total depravity of man.
I want to say this publicly. I am thankful for the leaders that took these young people to hearts on fire and they did not just take what was told them, but they tested it according to the scripture. Thank you all for that.
Thank you all for that because there was error, but the error was refuted according to the word of God. That's the truth. Ain't none of us good. So throughout Luke's gospel, we'll see the radical and total depravity of man.
We'll see God's unconditional choosing of man unto salvation that God does not choose us based upon our merit or our deeds, but according to his great love, he loves us. We'll see that he does this by and through and for his glory.
We'll see the biblical doctrine of definite atonement that Christ died an atoning sacrifice. We'll see the biblical doctrine of the effectual call of God. We'll see the biblical doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.
That's just the big way of saying that a man, a woman or a boy or a girl who has been born again by the spirit of God regenerated, we will never ultimately and finally fall away from the faith. That's what the word of God teaches.
Amongst other biblical doctrines, we're going to see throughout Luke. Again, this is not today, but throughout Luke, the biblical doctrines of heaven and hell, the biblical doctrine of angels. We see the angel of the Lord here and the biblical doctrine of the authority and inspiration of the scripture itself.
So there's a lot here. So if you remember in the fourth verse there or third verse, Luke said that he was writing to Theophilus an orderly account. There's that Greek phrase parahon katakethos, which basically means a catechism or an orderly way of learning the truth of the scriptures.
And that's what we're setting out to do here. If you'll remember last week, we gave you four questions. I want to encourage you to do something. Keep these questions as we go along, these questions and answers as we go along.
When we are finally through, whenever we do get through the book of Acts, we're going to compile them into a booklet. So we'll have an actual little teaching, an actual little catechism on the book of Luke so that you, by question and answer, will be able to give account to people who ask you, what is Luke's gospel about?
By the way, remember this, Luke's gospel is about Jesus Christ. Above all, first and foremost, it is about Jesus Christ. It is not about you. It is not about me. And I know I did that backwards there in case some of you are really paying attention.
I know I did that backwards. It is not about us. It is about Jesus Christ. But Luke says, I want to write to Theophilus an orderly account so that you can be, Valerie, certain of the things that you have been taught, certain of the things that you have heard so that they're just not hearsay, or grandma always said that, but that they are the word of God.
Because the word of God is our only standard that we as Christians have. If you'll remember very quickly, our aim is to know what and why we believe the Bible so that we can give an accurate account of what the Bible says to those who ask us these things.
This is very important. Let's recap those four questions. What, first question that we ask, what is the first account given to us in Luke's gospel?
Anybody?
And the conception of John the Baptist, right? So this is just an orderly way we're putting this out. Just like Luke, under inspiration of the Holy Scripture, we have it preserved for us. We're putting these in question and answers.
The first account given to us in Luke's gospel is Zacharias and Elizabeth and the conception of John. Second question, who's being spoken of in this first account?
Amen.
Third question, what is the significance of the mention of King Herod? That's right. And was, let's go to this side some. And was Herod bad or good? Bad. He was, bad is putting it lightly. He was evil, jealous, treacherous.
He was a murderer. That's exactly right. He was a murderer. And we know this because Matthew tells us in his gospel that he had every child two years and under murdered in a certain area of the towns around about him.
He was a murderer. So it's important that we understand who Herod was. So what's the significance about Zacharias and Elizabeth? Remember this, there were two answers to that, right? Big picture and detail.
The big picture answer, what's significant about Zacharias and Elizabeth, anybody remember? That's right, big picture. Big picture, we see that God's particular choice in individuals and their circumstances that he uses to bring about the salvation of his people.
This is important because this is what we're gonna see when we study today concerning the providence of God. If you're not aware of it, sovereignty and providence, when we use those terms, sovereignty is God's authority and right to govern all things.
When we say God is sovereign, that's what we're saying. He has the authority and right because God made the heavens and the earth and all things that are in it. Providence, when we speak of providence, what we're talking about is God's actual governance of all he has right and authority to govern.
Is there anything on this earth that is outside of the scope of God's governance? No, he made the sea stand still, he made water come forth from the rock, he caused the waters to stand upon a heap so the children of Israel could go through them.
Right.
And yet there are people who say, God cannot do this and God cannot do that. God can do anything that he chooses to do.
Natalie knows that, don't you? Is there anything God cannot do, Natalie? What's the answer? No, but I know you know this, it's one of their catechism questions. He can do all things, right, that he chooses to do.
I put her on the spot, that was embarrassing for her. Bless her heart, that's okay. So big picture, God's particular choice in individuals and circumstances that he chooses to use to bring about the salvation of his people.
And then detail, what do we see concerning Zacharias and Elizabeth? They're righteous, that's right. They kept the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly, we see their character. This is important, when you read God's word, God has given us detailed information about the people that we are reading about.
We know that they were godly people, they were people of good character, they were considered righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. Nevertheless, they were not able to have a child.
Now this is contrary to the prosperity gospel, and we'll get into the text here, but the prosperity gospel says, God wants all his people to have everything they want, whenever they want and however they want, and that's just not the case.
Our life, truly, we're called to suffering. We're called to persecution, we're called to obedience unto the Lord. Well, sign me out, preacher, I'm not here for that. That's the word of God. Jesus said, if a man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow after me.
That's the gospel call there. So just a few things as we enter into this text, just a bit of information I wanna communicate to you too. Alexander McLaren, now Alexander McLaren, he was a contemporary, he was a preacher during the times of Charles Spurgeon, in his commentary on Luke's gospel, this is what he wrote concerning Zacharias and Elizabeth, and it's beautiful, listen.
Their disappointed hope had not made them sour, nor turned their hearts from God. If they prayed about it, they would not murmur at it. This is in the 1800s this is being written. If they prayed about it, they would not murmur at it, and they were not thereby hindered from walking in all God's commandments and ordinances, blameless, and he said this, let us learn that unfulfilled wishes are not to clog our devotion.
This is important, this is one of the things that we learn from the character of Zacharias and Elizabeth, that their unanswered prayers throughout the years, listen, during childbearing years, she was not able to have a child because she was barren,.
And now they were old, hope was gone.
So McLaren went on to say this, that their unfulfilled wishes did not clog their devotion, nor silence their prayers. As Christians, our devotion must and cannot be based upon our circumstances surrounding us, but it must be based upon the faithfulness of Almighty God.
And our prayers in the word of God, we are taught to pray without ceasing, not based upon how we feel, but pray without ceasing. You say, preacher, I don't think God hears my prayer when I don't feel like praying, I beg to differ with you, he would not have told us to do something that he is not in and about.
So McLaren said, don't let it clog our devotion, don't let it silence our prayers, do not let it slacken the running of our race that is set before us. Do not let things that seem to be unanswered or undone stop you from serving God.
Run the race with patience, keep on keeping on. He went on to say this, the most of the priests who appear in the gospels were heartless, formless, and we would have to admit this, you have to be honest if you know anything about the gospels themselves primarily, the Pharisees and the Sadducees were heartless, they were careless, they thought God honored them because of what they did, they did not understand that the law did not help them, but it just left them helpless, that truly there was no one able to keep the law of God fully and that's why Jesus Christ came.
Active righteousness of Jesus Christ is the theological term that that's about, but he went on to say this, Annas and Caiaphas and their spiritual kindred ministered at the altar, but listen what McLaren said, but there were some in whose hearts the ancient fires burned.
Oh, he's talking about Zacharias and Elizabeth here, that their devotion was not based upon heartless formality, but their devotion was based on the true and the living God and his faithfulness and holiness.
That's what we must look to. He went on to say this, in times of declension, and he's speaking of the fewer and fewer of those who truly love and serve God, he said in times of religious declension, the few who are still true were mostly in obscure corners and they lived quiet lives.
And I love his phrase here. He said, like springs of fresh water rising out of the midst of a salt ocean, John thus sprang from parents. He sprang from parents in whom the old system had done all that it could do.
In his origin as in himself, he represented the consummate flower of Judaism and he discharged its highest office in pointing to the coming one. In relation to that term ordinances, so there in that relation to that, remember in ordinances, the Hebrew word that's used, I can't pronounce the Hebrew word, that's used for ordinances, the Greek word in the New Testament is dikamata, which just means basically it's statutes or decrees given out.
So relating strictly to an exercise of piety.
And of divine worship,.
Meaning they held strictly to the standards that were laid out for the priesthood to live before God. Now, some people might say we ought not to be strict as Christians. I beg to differ with you there as well.
We are called to be as strict and as straight as the word of God is strict and straight. Some would say, oh, let's not put God in a box. People want to step beyond what God has set out in his word and do what they feel is right when feeling what is right isn't necessarily the right thing at all times.
We must hold to the truth of the word of God. God teaches us these things in his word. Calvin went on to say this, relating strictly to exercise of piety.
It extends both to the worship of God and to the duties of charity. He went on to say this. Now, even though they were hypocrites in that respect in that day, they are very careful and exact. They do not resemble Zacharias and Elizabeth.
Zacharias and Elizabeth stood out. They stood out as different. They stood out as unique for the sense, what Calvin went on to say this, for sincere worshipers of God, such as these two were, do not lay hold on naked and empty ceremonies, but they are eagerly bent on the truth.
They observe them in a spiritual manner. Unholy and hypocritical persons, though they bestow, and this is just Calvin's tone, hypocritical persons, though they bestow assiduous toil on outward ceremonies are yet far from observing them as they are enjoined by the Lord.
Meaning this,.
There's a lot of people who go through the motion. They go through the ritual, but their hearts are not in it. Their hearts are far from God and their hearts are far from the truth. But this is not what we see in Zacharias and Elizabeth.
We see a man and a woman, a husband and a wife, who sincerely were devoted to the true.
And the living God.
Going on. Next question that we'll add to our list. Question number five. This will be question number five. And this is where we get into the text. I know that was long introduction, but it is so very important.
Question number five. If you're taking notes, the question is this. In what way do we see the providence of God put on display in this first account? And that's what we're going to look at in verse 8 through 17.
God's providence being put on display. In what way do we see the providence of God put on display in this first account? So that's the question and the answer. If you want to write the answer down so you have it neatly there.
The Lord displays his providence through the priestly order of service for Zacharias. The Lord displays his providence through the priestly service of Zacharias. Remember, God is sovereign. He has right and authority.
In his providence, he works out all things, many times by natural means, most times by natural means, sometimes by supernatural means. But he works all things according to the counsel of,.
He is good pleasure.
So this, as we read this, keep in mind this. This is God working, not reacting, not adjusting, not moving, not twisting, not turning, but doing what he is determined to do from the very beginning, setting things in order so that all things happen according to his will.
This is what God is doing. So he was, verse 8, here we are. So it was that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood. The custom of the priesthood.
That was the divine order. You can see a little bit of it back in 2 Chronicles. The divine order that God had set up for the priest to follow. They were not to follow it loosely, but to follow it strictly.
Now, keep in mind, again, staying with the text, he was serving as priest to God in order of his division. Now, there were 24 divisions of priests. If you're taking notes, 24 divisions of priests. Zacharias was of the 8th division of Abijah.
So they had a specific task, a specific job to do at a specific time of the year. This is God working all things by means of his providence. He did it according to the custom of the priesthood. And listen to what the next statement says.
His lot failed to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. If you just read that and you don't know anything about it, I know you're sitting there what you're thinking, big whoop. Let us go, it's 1140, but this is important.
This is important because this is God working through means of his providence to bring about the salvation of his people. Four divisions, Zacharias was of Abijah's division, the 8th division, and he fell his course to burn incense.
Hard telling how many there were in the priesthood. And really the order in the division fell out like this, literally and most likely twice a year, a priest would serve for a week at a time in a specific role.
That's right, that's exactly right.
And once in a lifetime,.
Would a priest ever get to burn incense before the altar of the Lord? And this was his once in a lifetime. Accident, I think not.
Providence, definitely.
God working all things according to the counsel of his will. And the Bible says he went into the temple of the Lord. Now there were in the temple, you have the outer court where the public was. Actually you had the gate, you had the outer court, and then you had the inner court where the instruments of the tabernacle were kept, the bread and the candlesticks and all of that.
And then you had the holy place.
Just in front of the Holy of Holies.
Where the veil stood covering up the way to the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of God, the presence of God at that time symbolized. And so once in his lifetime, he'll ever get to do this, he's burning incense before the Lord and the Bible says this, and the whole multitude of people was outside praying at the hour of incense.
Big wolf, here's the so what preacher. So the so what is this? That what the people were doing publicly was being symbolized privately within the temple. We read numerous times, matter of fact, let me just read this to you.
Let me read to you what Ellicott's commentary for English readers said, at such a moment, all the hopes of one who looked for the Christ as the consolation of Israel would gather themselves into one great intercession.
They all were gathered there for one thing. And here's where it gets tricky. Here's where the preacher, here's where the teacher, we really need to rein ourselves in because if we were like most in the world today, we would turn this text up on its head and all of a sudden make it about you and getting your prayers answered.
This text is not about you and it's not about me and it's not about us getting our prayers answered. It's about the hope of the world, Jesus Christ being announced through the birth of John the Baptist.
How do I know this? That's a big statement to make. You say that's awful presumptuous and arrogant. No, I do not intend it to be arrogant, but I do intend to prove this to you from the text of scripture.
The whole multitude of people was praying outside and Zacharias was inside burning incense before the Lord, which was biblically Old Testament and New Testament, symbolic of the prayers of God's people ascending before the throne of God.
Some might say, what were the people praying about? I can tell you exactly what they were praying about. They were praying for the coming of the Messiah. That was their focus. It was not about having this or having that.
It was Lord send your Messiah. And as the priest, Zacharias, remember his character, godly, dedicated, devoted, focused, centered on the Lord. What do you think his thoughts were as he put that incense upon the altar and the smoke arose?
It was Lord send your Messiah. And so we have this, the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Now listen to what verse 11 says. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him. I love this. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zacharias. And here's where this rain and this end comes. Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son and you shall call his name John.
If we stopped right there, we could make the assumption that this was an answer to their wanting a child. Their wanting a child was long gone, naturally speaking. This was not about them. It was about the fulfillment of God's word throughout the Old Testament that he was going to send his Messiah.
Angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard. Again, remember the priest's duty was to be focused on the Lord. So we can rightly infer that that's exactly what he was doing.
But he said, I'm going to choose the persons. I'm going to choose the circumstances. I'm going to choose the events. And I'm going to make all things work together for my good. And so he says this, don't be afraid for your prayer is heard.
Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness. And then many will rejoice at his birth. There were many in that day. This is where the application extends far beyond just the text itself.
But even to us, many are rejoicing at his birth.
How many of you do not get somewhat excited?
I hope you do.
When you read about John the Baptist preaching, you see that crazy bearded dude in the desert with camel hair saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It brings joy to many then. And it brings joy to many of us today.
Many will rejoice at his birth. And then we see this detail here. He will be great in the sight of the Lord. And he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. That's referring to his raising, that he would be brought up under a Nazarite vow.
That he would be brought up under the Nazarite vow. Again, that's holding strictly to the standard given. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, neither drink strong drink nor wine. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
So what? Preacher, what's the big deal? We've got the Holy Spirit. Well, what you need to understand is this. Not everybody had the Holy Spirit like we got the Holy Spirit now. The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and was given to all believers at the moment of regeneration.
But at this time, there was only a few at specific periods and specific times that had the Holy Spirit move in on them and work on them. But this promise from the angel says John's gonna be filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb.
And by the way, you'll see as we, when we get there, whenever we get there, you'll see that's the case. Somebody might say a praying knee and a dancing foot don't grow on the same leg. But I'd have to say, yes, John that.
He was jumping around in his mama's womb when he got around Jesus. So moving on, you'll have joy and gladness. Many will rejoice great in the sight of the Lord. He'll be filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb.
And notice what the word says here. He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will turn many of the children of Israel. That's likely all caps in your Bible. Lord there. The other way that that word is used in the text and throughout other texts, you'll see Lord all capitals.
When you see Lord all capitals, that's referring to the Hebrew name for God, Yahweh. Jehovah, God, the eternal self-existent one. God, the name God itself is a title given to the Lord too. Elohim is the Hebrew term for God.
So the Lord, your God, the Lord, the Yahweh, Jehovah, the creator of the heavens and the earth, Elohim. He said, he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. Many who were turned away and facing away from God will now look unto the Lord because of the Lord's working.
He will also go before him. Wow, can you imagine? I mean, this is like, I was trying to figure out a way to get my little pea brain around this as I've read this little short text right here, this 17th verse, or the 16th and the 17th primarily.
I think it's about like a great introduction. You know how when somebody great is coming on board or coming to be at a place, maybe at an event and the curtains are closed or the lights are off, you kids will remember this from your weekend.
Remember before Crowder come out on the stage,.
It was probably dark,.
It was pitch black.
Nobody was saying nothing.
Everybody was wondering if anybody's gonna come on. And then they played this big introduction music for a few minutes. So everybody anticipation is building. And then all of a sudden here comes the beard out on the stage.
What the angel is giving here to Zacharias is the announcement of the one who would announce the birth of the Messiah. And he was getting quite a buildup. He said, he will also go before him. In reference to John the Baptist, he said, he will also go before him in the spirit and the power of Elijah.
Again, Old Testament fulfillment that Elijah will come. And he said, he'll do this. He'll turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
The, I think the Greek, the way it's actually in the Greek says ready a people prepared by the Lord. Who can make a man, a woman, a boy or a girl fit for the kingdom of heaven, God. How does God do that?
It's called regeneration. It's called renewing of the heart and of the mind. It is the work of the Holy Spirit of God. Can't be worked by human power, not by the will of the flesh, not by the will of blood nor the will of man, but by the spirit of God, it is accomplished.
So what does this lead us to here? Is we're going to close on that today because I know that was just one question, but it's so important because I want you all to get this as we go on. Just want to give little bits at a time.
It is so very important that we understand and when we read scripture, that we know what biblical doctrines are being taught to us so that when false doctrine is taught to us or false doctrine is even inadvertently accidentally taught because it's not always intentional, but so that we can always test it according to the word of God.
So my encouragement to you today is this. Test what you have heard today. Take your notes, go back in the scriptures, run your references, test it. If I've told you wrong, come to me and let's go through this.
Let's walk through it. Let's talk about it.
Let's see what the scripture says. But let's be in agreement in one thing that the word of God is true and it will stand forever and forever. So how do we see God working through means of providence in this text?
We see it being worked out in the order of the priesthood of Zacharias. How that throughout time from the very onset establishment of the priesthood, God worked all things according to the counsel of his will to accomplish his purpose.
It is a beautiful when we read it. Bruce, would you dismiss us in prayer, sir?