Book of Luke - Ch. 1, Vs. 1-15 (11/10/2019)

Park Meadows Church

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Okay, we'll go ahead and get started. We'll be in Luke.

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Yeah. So this morning we're going to start a new book. And in the

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New Testament, it's a book that looks past the judgment. We've been over the past, for me, a year and a half,

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I think, of dealing with the judgment of God. But this book is not dealing with the judgment of God so much.

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It looks to grace or love, the unmerited favor of God.

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And it looks to the Son that He sent so that we can be seen by God as righteous.

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Because not only are our sins imputed to Jesus, but also the righteousness of Jesus is imputed to us.

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So let's begin this morning with a prayer. Most gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us this place and this time to come together to study your

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Holy Word. We thank you for the Holy Spirit that helps us in our understanding.

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But we thank you most of all for your Son, that you sent not only to bear our sins, but that we could bear

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His righteousness. Protect us and keep us. Go through all the services today.

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In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And come right on in.

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We're going to jump right into the first verse of Luke.

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What I had intended to do was to spend a little time declaring that we are celebrating

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Christmas at the wrong time. But it's going to work out better when we're closer to our actual celebration of Christmas.

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We'll be to the portion of Luke where we need to be in order to do that anyhow.

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So we'll just wait and handle that at the appropriate time. So verse 1,

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I'm going to read the first four verses. And the first four verses are going to sound much different than all the rest of Luke.

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And there's a reason for that. For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the

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Word. It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent

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Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed.

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All right. The first four verses of Luke are one sentence in the original

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Greek. And they're written in the refined, academic, classical style of Greek at the time.

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But then for the rest of the gospel, Luke didn't use the same language.

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He didn't use the language of the scholars. But he used the language of the common man.

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Who was a Greek speaker at that time in any case? It was the language of the village and the street.

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And by this Luke is telling us that this account has all the proper academic and scholarly credentials.

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But it is written so that the people would understand Jesus. Not so that they would admire the penman's brain nor his literary skill.

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Now we're going to go verse by verse through those first four and it won't take us long. For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us.

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There were many earlier accounts. Many have taken in hand. Many accounts.

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But of those many earlier accounts, the only ones to survive are

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Matthew and Mark. And of course Luke. Even as they delivered them unto us.

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Luke is telling us that he was not an eyewitness to the accounts that he is describing.

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But the account that he is to present he received from reliable eyewitnesses.

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Which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. Then the third verse says this.

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It seemed to be good also having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first.

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That is complete understanding. Not that he understood everything perfectly well but that he had a complete understanding.

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To write unto thee in order most excellent Theophilus. Theophilus literally means lover of God.

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And by his title most excellent, most excellent Theophilus he was probably a

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Roman government official. And it's likely that the books of both

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Luke and Acts both of which were penned by Luke make up Paul's defense brief for his trial before Caesar in Rome.

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The reason for that is Acts concludes with Paul awaiting trial before Caesar.

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Verse four. That thou mightest know the uncertainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed.

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So whoever Theophilus was he had already received some instruction in the faith in which you were instructed.

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So he tells us that. We can infer from that that Theophilus was probably a

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Christian. He was probably a Christian Roman official. But whoever he was he had received some instruction already.

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Now here's how Matthew Henry dealt with the first four verses in Luke.

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I'm just going to read his account. I have to tell you it's

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Matthew Henry because you'll, I don't have to tell you that because you'll know immediately that this is not me speaking.

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Now observe here. Why St. Luke wrote this gospel? It is certain that he was moved by the

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Holy Ghost. Not only to the writing, but in the writing.

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In the writing of it. But in both he was moved as a reasonable creature and not as a mere machine.

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And he was considered, made to consider the following three points. One, that those things he wrote of were things that were most surely believed among all

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Christians. And therefore things which, this is my insert, which they, all

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Christians, ought to be instructed in. That they may know what they believe.

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And the things which ought to be transmitted to posterity, who are as much concerned in them as we are.

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And, in order to do this, to be committed to writing.

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Which is the surest way of conveyance to the ages to come. So he's going to write it down so that it will be preserved.

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He will not write about things of doubtful disputation. Things about which

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Christians may safely differ from one another and hesitate within themselves.

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But of things which are and ought to be most surely believed.

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So he's going to, Luke is going to stress those things which ought to be believed with everyone, by every

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Christian. And he's not going to go off on a tangent on the things that could be believed one way or the other.

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Not things of doubtful disputation. Things which were performed by Christ and which his apostles did.

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And did with such circumstances that gave full assurance that they were really done.

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So as they have gained and established lasting credit. Note that it is not the foundation of our faith, yet is a support to it.

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That the articles of our creed are things that have been long most surely believed.

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The doctrine of Christ is what thousands of the wisest and best of men have ventured their souls upon with the greatest assurance and satisfaction.

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That's one point that Matthew Henry established. One thing that Luke had in his mind as he wrote this book, or at least one thing that Matthew Henry thought that Luke had in his mind.

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The second was this. That there was a requisite there should be a declaration made in order.

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A declaration made in order. Of those things that the history of the life of Christ should be methodized and committed to writing for the greater certainty of conveyance.

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When things are put in order we know the better where to find them for our use. And how to keep them for the benefit of others.

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And third, dealing with the many. That there were many who had undertaken to publish narratives of the life of Christ.

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Many well -meaning people who designed well and did well. And what they published had done good.

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Though not done by divine inspiration. Not everything that's written that does good is done by divine inspiration.

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If I were to write a book it would not be from divine inspiration. Even though it may do some good.

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If Brother David wrote one it would probably be better designed. But probably still not divinely inspired.

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But I can't say that for certain. I can't say for certain. Well designed and did well.

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And what they published had done good. Though not done by divine inspiration. Nor done so well as they might have been.

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Nor intended for perpetuity. They weren't designed to last forever.

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And they didn't. All of those many narratives that are now gone were not designed to last forever.

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Okay. Now we're going to get into the actual account of Luke. The first four is just the prelude.

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It's just telling us what he's going to do. Now there was in the days of Herod.

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This is verse 5. Now there was in the days of Herod a king of Judea. A certain priest named

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Zacharias. Of the course of Abia. And his wife was of the daughters of Aaron.

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And her name was Elizabeth. I'm going to hesitate a second and tell you something. Of all the gospels the one that speaks most often and most favorably about women is

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Luke. So we are predominantly women.

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No, we're equally split this morning. If you count me. Two men and a woman are mentioned here.

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One man, known as Herod the Great was at the end of a long and terrible reign.

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His reign is about to be over. Ethnically, he was not a descendant of Israel.

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And by that I mean the man Israel, not the country Israel. Jacob. He was not a descendant of Jacob.

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But he was a descendant of Jacob's brother Esau. And therefore he was an

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Edomite. Or an Edomitean. He was known for his spectacular building programs.

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He was the one that rebuilt the temple. That Jesus looked at and said not one stone would be left on another.

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That temple was the result of Herod's rebuilding of the temple in order to try to gain favor with the

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Jews who viewed him as an outsider because he was a native man. But he was even more known for his paranoid cruelty.

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Which drove him to execute many people. Including members of his own family.

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The other man was Zacharias. Zacharias was a priest to the

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Most High God. So those were the two men. The woman was Elizabeth.

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The wife of Zacharias. She was to become the mother of John the

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Baptist. Who Jesus described as the greatest of all the prophets.

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He does that in Luke 7, 28. If you want to just kind of look over it a little bit or I'll read it.

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For I say unto you, among those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the

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Baptist. But he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

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Now, I'm going to tell you what I used to think. And I'm going to tell you I don't think that anymore. And I'm going to leave it for you for next week to consider what you think.

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And we'll bring it back up again. I used to think that the reason for this last comment.

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But he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. Here's what

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I used to believe. I used to believe that the reason for this comment was that the least of the kingdom of heaven were permanently indwelt by the

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Holy Spirit. Whereas John was not. How many of you...

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I've got to show of hands. How many of you kind of believe that that might be the reason? Am I the only one?

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When Jesus said that there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, he followed that up with this comment.

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But he that is the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John the Baptist. And so my thought was that the reason that the least in the kingdom of heaven was greater than John is that they were indwelt by the

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Holy Spirit and he was not. That's what I thought. Now you notice

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I said that three times in the past tense. I don't think that now. How many of you think that or thought that?

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You never thought that. Okay, good. So I am whipping a dead horse. But we'll whip it again next week.

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I don't think that's the case now. So if that's not the case, if that's not the reason, there must be another reason.

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And we're going to deal with that other reason next week, God willing. So we'll revisit that thought next week.

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I'm going to give Brother David an opportunity to hear what I said and what I think and what

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I thought and what I... No, next week I'll tell him what I think. You read the verse from Luke describing

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John the Baptist, Jesus describing John the Baptist. It says, For I say unto you, among those that are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the

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Baptist. And then he follows that up with this quote, a comment. But he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

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Now my thought used to be this. Those in the kingdom of heaven are indwelt with the

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Holy Spirit. Whereas I thought John wasn't. I don't think that's the case any longer.

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I don't think that that's the difference. There must be a different reason for him tagging this on, that John was less than the least of the kingdom of heaven.

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Did I get that said clearly enough? I did it better last time. Okay. So we're going to consider why it is that Jesus said that John was less than the least in the kingdom of heaven.

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But we'll do that next week. Verse 6. And they, that's

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Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, were both righteous before God. Now, there is a really important word in there.

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I'm not exactly sure if it's even in the Greek. The word before.

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They were righteous before God. That doesn't mean that they were righteous.

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What that means is they were seen by God as righteous. So why did

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God see them as righteous? Why did God see Zacharias and Elizabeth as righteous?

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Isaiah said there was none that were righteous. No, not one. Well, why were they viewed as righteous before God?

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Well, they were doing that, but that's not why he saw them as righteous. He knows.

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How long has he known? Always. You know why he saw them as righteous?

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He didn't choose to see them. God chose to see the righteousness of Jesus rather than the sinfulness of the two of them.

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Both of them, even though they did their best to walk in the ordinances and the commandments of God, both of them were nonetheless sinful.

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And God chose not to see their sinfulness, but he chose to see the righteousness of Jesus.

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They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the

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Lord and blameless. Not that they were without sin and therefore blameless, but they were seen by God, the

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Father, as righteous and therefore they were held blameless.

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They were elect. Their debt has been paid for in advance by the

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Son of God, by Jesus, the Messiah. Now, further,

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John, that debt having been paid did not release them from their obligation to live their lives in accordance with the commandments and the ordinances of the

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Lord. So yes, they are doing their best to walk according to the commandments and ordinances, but it's not how closely they walk to that.

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It's not even that they had an attempt to walk that way. It's because God chose them and it was their obligation to walk that way.

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We walk the way we walk, not to become saved, not to be seen as saved, but because we're saved.

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And that's a really big difference. And I know I'm talking to everyone that already has that firmly ingrained in their heads.

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Verse 7, And they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both now well stricken in years.

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The fact that Elizabeth was seen as barren was seen by many as a sign of disfavor, by many, but not by God.

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God does not see the sins of Zacharias, and therefore punishes him with not having a child.

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Nor does He see the sins of Elizabeth, and punish her by not giving her a child.

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What God sees instead is the payment that His Son made in their stead.

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So He sees the payment of His Son, not the sinfulness of them.

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She's not barren because He sees her as sinful. She is barren so that He can be able to show us a great and wonderful sign that had she had a child at 23 would not have been so special.

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To see the glory of God, absolutely. To reveal the glory of God. God is out of time altogether, and that's so hard for us to understand.

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He is not in time at all. Let me show you something. I didn't bring this on purpose to show it to you.

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Anybody know what that is? You know why it's called a floppy disk?

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It's not floppy. It's because it works floppy. It does this. It jumps from place to place.

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This is matter, and one of the properties of matter is time.

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There is something stored on here, and it happens to be notes.

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I don't know notes of what. I plug it in. I can't plug it in anymore. This doesn't even work on computers nowadays.

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It's just left in this satchel because when I had this original computer, this thing worked in that computer.

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If I put this on a precise scale and took its mass, wrote it down, loaded it up with megabits of memory, books and books of memory, reweight it, how much would it weigh?

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The same as it weighed before. Thoughts, spirituality, things like that are not matter, and therefore time is not even a property of them.

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Those kinds of things are different. God is not like us. God is

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God, and he is spiritual. He is not matter, and time is not of any consequence to him because he is not matter, and therefore it doesn't exist for him.

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So it's more than just he can zip to the future and he can zip to the past.

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He is in the future and the past. And that's why when, what was it?

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Bush. Moses. When Moses said, Who are you?

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He said, I am. That answers it.

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I am. He couldn't even say always. He couldn't even say present.

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He just said, I am. And that, for us that says in the past, now, in the future, always, and not in sequence, like the floppy disk.

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It can just be anywhere in there. Okay. I think we'll get to the end of this day anyhow.

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So what God sees is the payment his son made for Zacharias and Elizabeth.

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So he doesn't view her barrenness as a sign of disfavor because she has no disfavor.

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He doesn't even see her. Back to Luke and back to Zacharias.

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Zacharias. And it came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the

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Lord and with the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of the incense.

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Now, here's the thing. Only priests from a particular lineage could serve in the temple.

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Over the years, the number of priests had multiplied. And it's estimated that there were as many as 20 ,000 priests at the time of Jesus.

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Obviously, too many. So they used a lot to determine which priests could serve and when they would serve.

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So, by chance, if chance is a kosher word, by chance, the lot fell upon Zacharias.

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Now, because of the large number of priests, most priests would never be chosen for such a duty.

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And no one was permitted to serve in this capacity twice. So you've got to know how

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Zacharias felt at this time. No doubt he regarded this as the supreme moment of his lifetime as a priestly servant.

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He will never again be allowed to do this. The incense was kept burning perpetually just in front of a veil that divided the holy place from the most holy place.

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Now, if you remember, there was a place in the temple that the priests could go, but there was beyond that the most holy place where only the chief priests could go and that only one time a year.

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And they put a veil on his ankle and a rope around him so that if he died while he was in there and the veil quit ringing, they could drag him out because no one else was allowed in.

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Now, when the incense was being burned, only one priest was in the temple, in the holy place.

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He would offer the incense every morning and every evening. While the rest of the priests and all the worshippers stood just outside the holy place in prayer.

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So, Zacharias had gone in to the holy place. Everybody else was waiting outside, praying, waiting for him to come back.

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And while he was there, there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right hand of the altar of incense.

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Now, because Zacharias was the only man inside the holy place, he was clearly the only man to see the angel.

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And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him.

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That's what happens almost all the time when someone sees an angel. It's a common, normal response to be afraid.

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And so the angel said what he always says when he speaks to anyone. First word, fear not.

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Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. Now, wait a minute.

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What prayer are we talking about? Evidently, he had been praying for a child, or he may have been praying for a child for 20 years.

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Or he may have been praying for a child just this morning. Let's think about that just a minute.

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I'm going to keep reading. Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. And the wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son.

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There you go, John. And shall call his name John. John literally means

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Jehovah has shown grace. Apparently, since the lot fell on Zacharias to have the honor of burning the incense, and since that was such a rare privilege, he may have felt that now would be a good time to ask the

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Lord for a son. Maybe all these other times were not so good a time, but now I am in real favor with the

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Lord. Maybe now is the time to ask. Well, I don't know if that's the case, but there are a lot of commentators that said

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Zacharias would have been so honor -bound and duty -bound and filled with the Holy Spirit that he wouldn't have prayed for something selfish like a son.

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I don't think that. I think that right now is the time that he would have.

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This is the time I would have prayed. The Lord has shown me great favor. Maybe He'll show me one more.

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In any case. Go ahead. They didn't understand about Moses. No, they didn't.

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And obviously, he knew he was in the presence. He just probably was overwhelmed.

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And he would have thought, now is a good time because now I have the ear of God. Maybe the last time

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I was praying, I didn't have the ear of God. But now I do. I don't know he's very old.

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That was

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John. John right now, right now

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John was not even conceived. He had the

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Spirit. I think it's 728 that he would have been filled.

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But it wouldn't have been yet. Yeah. He's not even conceived yet. And that's one of the things we're going to deal with in great detail next week.

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Yes, sir. Zacharias.

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Well, he was to have prayed.

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He was to have prayed for the whole Jewish population.

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John. And says, and what does John mean? That God has shown grace.

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That's right. Oh, he will, yes.

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But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Okay. So maybe it's a good time now for Zacharias to ask the

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Lord for a son. And so the angel goes on to say this. And thou shall have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth.

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Many shall rejoice at the birth of John. Okay. Now, the angel informs

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Zacharias that God will use his son John in an extraordinary way.

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Moreover, he instructs Zacharias as to how to raise his son.

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He wants his son raised as a Nazirite. Remember any other

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Nazirites? Samson and Samuel are

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Nazirites. Jesus was a Nazarene. That's slightly different.

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Jesus, I don't think. I'm not sure how to treat

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Jesus, except to treat him as something special. Okay.

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Here's what he says. This is what the angel says. For he shall be great. Oh, I can tell you now about Jesus.

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I can tell you for certain that Jesus was not a Nazirite. That was a quick study, wasn't it?

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How do I know? Look what it says. For he shall be great in the sight of the

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Lord. This is John. And shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. Did Jesus ever drink wine?

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Therefore, he was not a Nazirite. Did John ever drink wine?

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Not that I know of. Did...

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At the... Maybe so.

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I may be wrong on that. At the last supper... Thank you. Thank you.

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Marianne, I'm going to humor you more and say I was thinking exactly the same passage you were thinking about, but I interpreted it wrong.

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But Brother David bailed us both out. He did drink wine at the last supper.

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So, he wasn't a Nazirite. But he was a Nazarene. Okay, so we got that done.

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For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink.

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And that is a key element of the Nazarite vow. Well, we're going to look at the

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Nazarite vow. So, go to Numbers chapter 6, verse 1.

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And I'm going to read this reasonably quickly. Number 6, and we're going to begin with verse 1.

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Now, you've got to understand what the Nazarite vow was all about. The Nazarite vow was about a person taking upon themselves to separate themselves for the use of God.

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That's what the Nazarite was doing. Now, Solomon's mother set him apart.

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Samson's mother set him apart. John's mother set him apart.

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And they were set apart, by the way, for life. But other people that took the vow, took the vow themselves.

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So, here's what it says. The Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,

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When either a man or a woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a

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Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord. That's the purpose. He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink.

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He shall drink no vinegar of wine. He also, Jesus, drank vinegar on the cross of wine.

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Or vinegar of strong drink. Neither shall he drink any liquor of the grapes, nor eat moist grapes, nor dried.

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So he couldn't eat grapes. All the days of his separation, he shall eat nothing that is made from the vine tree, from kernels even to the husk.

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Nothing about the vine he could drink. Or eat. All the days of the vow of his separation, there shall be no razor come upon his head.

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Until the days be fulfilled, in which he separateth himself unto the

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Lord. So he separated himself from the Lord. And while he separated to the Lord, he can't drink any strong drink.

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He can't eat any grapes. He can't shave his hair. Shave his head.

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When his time of separation is over, there will be a ritual that ends it.

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All the days of the vow of his separation, there shall be no razor come upon his head. Until the days be fulfilled, in which he separates himself unto the

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Lord, he shall be holy, and he shall let the locks of his hair grow. Now, verse 6.

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All the days that he separates himself unto the Lord, he shall come at no dead body. He shall not make himself unclean for his father or his mother, or for his brother or his sister when they die, because the consecration of his

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God is upon his head. If his mother or father or sister or brother die, he is not even allowed to touch the bodies.

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Verse 8. All the days of his separation, he is holy unto God. For John, that was to be all the days of his life, but for other people, not so.

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And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled himself, he hath defiled the head of his consecration.

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If somebody near him were to die, or fall injured in a battle, and he goes over and, let's say, attempts to perform first aid, and that man dies, then he has made himself unclean.

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If a man suddenly die near him, and he accidentally touches the dead man, he must go through an elaborate cleansing ritual.

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So here's the cleansing ritual. Then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing.

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So he's shaving his head now. On the seventh day he shall shave it, and on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves, or two pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, for that he sinned by the dead, and he shall hollow his head that same day.

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And he shall consecrate unto the Lord the days of his separation. He shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering, but the days that were before shall be lost because of his separation.

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All right, so what's happened is he's now shaved off his head, he's lost all the days he's built up, he is now back on the

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Nazarite vow, and from then on he cannot let his hair be shaved again.

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Lord, make it strong and great. He goes right back to the beginning. He's lost all the days he has accumulated toward his separation.

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He must start over. And this is the law of the Nazarite. When the days of the separation are fulfilled, now when it's really over, he should be brought unto the door of the congregation, and he shall offer his offering unto the

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Lord, one lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, one new lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, one ram without blemish for a peace offering, and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil for their meat offering and their drink offering, and the priest shall bring them before the

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Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering, and he shall offer a ram for a sacrifice of a peace offering unto the

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Lord with a basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also his meat offering and his drink offering, and the

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Nazarite shall shave his head, now the separation is over, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and he shall take the hair of the head of separation and put it on a fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offering, and the priest shall take a sodden shoulder of the ram and one unleavened cake out of the basket and one unleavened wafer and put them upon the hands of the

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Nazarite after the hair of the separation is shaven, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the

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Lord that is holy for the priest with a wave breast and a heave shoulder, and after that the

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Nazarite may drink wine. This is the law that the Nazarite who hath vowed and of his offering unto the

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Lord for his separation, besides that his hand shall get according to the vow which he vows, so he must do after the law of his separation.

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So what that says is whatever vow he made while he was a Nazarite he's obliged to keep it.

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Now, back to John. Not only was his separation for life, but he will be seen as great in the sight of God.

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Verse 15. For he, and this is John, shall be great in the sight of the

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Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. Now, as we said earlier, this was a key element in the

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Nazarite vow, and it would probably have been understood by Zacharias. Usually such a vow was temporary, but Samson and Samuel as well were subject unto it from birth.

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And he that... This is Judges. And he that told her all his heart said unto her,

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Thou hath not come a razor upon my head. This is Samson talking to Delilah.

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And he says, For I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb. If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak like any other man.

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So he broke his vow, and bad things happened to him.

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Samuel 1 .1 says this. She vowed a vow. This is the mother of Samuel.

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O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look upon the affliction of thine handmaiden, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaiden,

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I will give unto thine handmaiden a manchild. Then I will give him unto the

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Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.

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Now, in Luke's gospel, there's no mention made of any restriction on the cutting of John's hair.

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And Luke may have simply been omitting that detail to avoid weighing his Gentile audience down with details of Jewish law.

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When we read the vow of the Nazarite, it became very cumbersome.

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And Luke didn't want to fill his book with things that were open to disputation.

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So he kind of left that off. But he did mention that he was a Nazarite from birth.

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Yes, sir? The Nazarite?

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Well, the Nazarite was not necessarily even a priest. The Nazarite was anybody that chose to devote himself particularly to service of the

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Lord for a particular period of time. It's like in the Baptist churches, they have this, of course, when you rededicate your life to Christ.

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Remember doing that? Yes. And so you say, okay,

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I'm going to be a better person for a little while. And that's kind of what they were doing. Luke 1, 13.

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I'm going to go back and reread this. And when Zacharias saw him, the angel, he was troubled and fear fell upon him.

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But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife

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Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John, and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth.

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For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the

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Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. Now, I want you to consider that final phrase.

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What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Ghost? It's different for them, you know.

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And do they know the distinction between what we consider...

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I don't know that they knew that. I do know this. There were people in the Old Testament that were at least temporarily filled with the

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Holy Spirit. You could say that any prophet that wrote a prophecy and said,

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Thus saith the Lord, that that man at that time was filled with the Holy Spirit as he was doing his work.

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But those were times that were temporary. But now this says,

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John was filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb.

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John was always awake then, wasn't he? John was woken, awake in his mother's womb.

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We'll deal with that next week as well. But we're going to deal, first of all, with this issue of what does it mean to be filled with the

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Holy Ghost. I'm going to just look a tiny bit ahead because we've got a couple of minutes and tell you how

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I'm going to start next week. Was John the first natural man to be permanently indwelt by the

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Holy Spirit? And I did add the word permanently indwelt. In the

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Old Testament, we see many men who seem to be filled with the Holy Ghost. All the prophets.

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David had to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit a lot of times, but the indwelling came and went.

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Sometimes they had it, sometimes they didn't. David said himself, to restore to me the joy of my salvation, he was in and out of being filled with the

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Holy Spirit. Yes, probably so.

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Yes. Well, you got two.

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You got two cups. Ah, yes, but the sin nature is in the other cup.

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Yes, there's a difference between indwelling and filling. And there's a difference between the new man being totally filled with the

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Holy Spirit and nothing else and the old man being totally filled with something else and not the

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Holy Spirit. The old man is always corrupt. The new man can't be corrupt.

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But what we have the ability to do is choose whether to, as Brother David says, hold the hand of the

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Lord and deal with the new man or deal with the old man. When we deal with the old man, we're no longer filled.

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Well, the cup's filled. The new man is filled, but we're not working with the new man. We're now working with the old man.

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Kind of like the vow of the Nazarite, isn't it? When you mess up, you got to start over.

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He didn't make you go back to block one. He let you start back where you were. I believe Brother Otis was right on that.

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You just lose the time that you were failing to walk with the Lord. And he doesn't put you back at the very beginning like the

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Nazarites did. He puts you back where you left. But that's just me, and that's just my understanding.

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We do have in the New Testament these people. And I'm going to end with this.

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In the New Testament, we have Jesus. Jesus was always filled with the

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Holy Spirit and nothing else. We have

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John, who we're told was filled with the Holy Spirit from birth. And we have what are called the called ones.

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The apostles that Jesus has chosen. But they weren't filled with the

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Holy Spirit until after Pentecost. And that's kind of what we'll deal with next week. Okay, Brother John, I'm going to let you bail us out and close us with a prayer.