Blessing The Faithful God - [Luke 1:57-66]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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May 28, 2023

00:00: Well, if you ask most people what is Christianity, they'll probably tell you it's a religion that stresses
00:10: Being good to live a moral life Reminds me of Aesop's fable remember
00:18: Hercules and the Wagoneer. How many people know Hercules and the Wagoneer? Not many how many people know
00:23: John 316 better. I'll take that but if you were to read Hercules and the
00:29: Wagoneer the Wagoneer was man in a wagon and he was stuck in the mud and he just kept trying harder and harder to get out with the horses and couldn't get out of This mire and so he thought he would pray to Hercules and he cried out to Hercules help me in my hour of distress and Hercules responds according to Aesop and he says man don't sprawl there get up and put your shoulder to the wheel and And of course with Aesop's fables there's a moral to the story and what's the moral of the story of the
01:02: Wagoneer and Hercules and the answer is Self help is the best help
01:09: The moral is heaven helps those who help themselves the moral is
01:17: God's helped them that help themselves Don't you think that pretty much sums up today? It sums up evangelicalism sometimes today
01:25: And so this morning we are going to look at a passage that will remind us that salvation doesn't come from ourselves
01:32: If you drive a car, it's called an automobile because it's self -driving and certainly if I say auto
01:38: Soterism self -salvation we realize at Bethlehem Bible Church. That is not true
01:45: Obviously Jesus wants us to live a moral life as Christians, but that's not the sum. That's not the essence
01:51: That's not what Christianity is Matter -of -fact if you could get to heaven by being good
01:58: Why would the Father send the Son at all? Christ would have died Galatians 2 for no purpose
02:06: And as you know, if you've been here for some time, and if you're a visitor just visiting with us on this weekend Welcome, we are going verse by verse through the gospel of Jesus according to Luke So if you have a
02:16: Bible turn your Bible to Luke Matthew Mark Luke and John are the four gospels in the
02:21: New Testament And it's our custom here to just simply preach through the passages And one after another after another in a continuous fashion so that we don't miss any richness found in God's Word Now we're in chapter 1, but before we get to chapter 1
02:35: I'd like you to turn your Bible to chapter 19, please as I set the stage for our passage today In seminary our
02:43: Bible school or even in my preaching class Sometimes I would ask the students or I would be asked by my professor.
02:49: What's the key verse in this book? What's the key verse in Galatians to unlock it is there a key verse in Mark for instance so that we understand
02:58: The entire book with the key verse and you can do that through every book of the Bible if you want if it was
03:03: Mark It would be chapter 10 verse 45 that Jesus didn't come to be served but to serve and to give his life a
03:11: Ransom for many and so one of the things that you could do on your own is you could say I'd like to know a key
03:16: Verse that helps me summarize every book of the Bible because if you know that key verse it helps you understand that book in the
03:23: Bible So if we're gonna go to Luke chapter 1 and we're working through Luke week by week
03:28: I'm guessing five years or so will be in Luke I'm not exactly sure but it is the longest book in the
03:34: New Testament after all and it's so rich And it's all about the Lord Jesus if I ask you the question.
03:39: What's the key verse in Luke? What's the theme verse what summarizes who
03:45: Jesus is and what he does so that you can understand every other passage in Light of the theme because the theme drives everything and that is found in Luke 19 10
03:56: I think you probably already know that Do you want to know what the summary is the theme are the key to this book to help you understand all of the book?
04:05: Including the early chapters. It's found in Luke 19 10 for the Son of Man Came to seek and to save the lost
04:15: He came to rescue transgressors. He came to rescue sinners. He came to rescue those trespassers
04:24: The sovereign initiative of Jesus that reminds me of Luke 5. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance
04:33: If you understand this verse you can understand all of the gospel of Luke really all of the gospel in Matthew Mark Luke and John Jesus mission is briefly stated to seek and save the lost
04:45: Why did Jesus come to seek and save the lost? Some have called this the golden text of Luke.
04:52: Why did they say that because this is the theme? And of course if we could save ourselves or if we could be good to get in heaven.
04:59: Why send Jesus on the rescue mission? I Love Ezekiel 36.
05:04: Does this sound familiar? God speaking my flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill
05:10: My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth and there was no one to search or seek for them
05:18: Thus says the Lord God behold. I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out
05:26: No other shepherd could do it. So God himself seeks and searches out his sheep
05:33: DL Moody said of this passage in Luke 19 To me Luke 19 10 is one of the sweetest verses in all the
05:39: Bible in this one short sentence We are told what Christ came into the world for he came for a purpose he came for a work not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved and Another writer say this is so wonderful.
05:56: You don't even have two syllables in any word here It's just single syllables in the English. He came to seek and save the lost matter of fact
06:04: Christian. He came to seek you He came to search and find you he rescued you
06:11: I think we sing about that don't we he sought me and bought me with his redeeming blood and Of course this passage has a context
06:25: Remember Jesus goes to Jericho in John 19 and he's passing through and there's a lovely man whose name is pure and righteous
06:34: Well, his name was Zacchaeus, but that means pure are righteous, but he wasn't pure. He wasn't righteous he was a tax collector and a
06:41: Sinner if you just look up just a few verses above Luke 19 10, you can see chapter 19 verse 1
06:48: He's in Jericho. Jesus is he sees Zacchaeus. He's a chief tax collector and he was rich And of course, it's hard for rich people to get into heaven
06:57: Jesus just said that in the chapter before with the rich young ruler It's impossible for people to get saved if they're rich, but with God everything's possible here's the possibility right here
07:08: Zacchaeus the rich sinner the tax collector and Jesus says to Zacchaeus remember you can remember the kids song even
07:17: Zacchaeus hurry and come down because I must stay at your house today and by the way When Jesus comes to seek and save sinners
07:24: Most of the religious leaders are so happy because that's why religious leaders are leaders because they want everybody to be right with God But not these religious leaders.
07:34: What did they say they grumbled? He's gone in to be the guest of a man.
07:40: Who's a sinner Now we say sinner generally we're all sinners and we fall short of the glory of God But this is a particular word that means disgraceful
07:48: Dispicable despised. I mean, he's a traitor. He's Zacchaeus and now he's taking money giving it to the
07:55: Rome Roman government He's they're grumbling
08:01: Of course the Greek word for grumble sounds like grumble. What's the Greek word for grumble? I know Charlie Crane knows this
08:07: Gungus must good job It's below the the surface you're just complaining
08:14: Jesus is saving sinners he's eating with sinners He's not going to condone what they do.
08:19: He's a physician of sinners as Luke is a physician to temporal needs Jesus is a physician for spiritual needs.
08:26: Of course, he's going to sit with him not to say it's fine, but to rescue Man of sorrows what a name for the
08:33: Son of God who came Ruin sinners to proclaim. What's the next line?
08:39: Hallelujah, what a Savior and Jesus says in verse 9 today salvation has come to this house
08:45: Since he's also a son of Abraham and Here's the theme of it all for the
08:50: Son of Man came to seek and save the lost That is Christianity not do good not be good
08:57: But it's the rescue mission of the astounding kind Lord Jesus sent by the
09:02: Loving Father Spurgeon said Christ does not leave it to ourselves to seek him
09:08: Or else it would be left indeed for so vile as human nature that although heaven be offered
09:15: And though hell thunder in our ears Yet there never was and never will be any man who?
09:22: Unconstrained by sovereign grace will run in the way of salvation and so escape from hell and flee
09:28: The only hope is Jesus who comes to rescue and so Luke says
09:35: I have good news and it's called the gospel I have good news that Jesus comes to seek and save the lost and of course if you're a
09:42: Christian you could think Thank you Lord for seeking me and saving me, and I was running my own path and you intercepted
09:49: And if you're not a Christian here, this is the mission that Jesus comes to seek and save sinners like you
09:55: If you have loved ones who aren't saved you think there's a God who seeks and a God who saves If you'd like to know the theme of Luke so you can understand everything else in Luke It's this
10:05: Jesus came to seek and save the lost Now the response to that should be certainly praise aren't you glad Christian you don't have to go to hell
10:16: Aren't you glad you get heaven aren't you glad you get the Spirit of God fellowship the Bible etc. Yes what's the response to this rescue mission a
10:26: Desire to evangelize certainly we want to tell others about the good news What's the response to such a
10:34: Savior to honor him by the way? We live godly lives out of Thanksgiving, but is there any other thing we?
10:42: Should respond with when it comes to this great salvation And the answer is yes, it makes me
10:50: Want to learn all about the salvation it makes me want to understand it more matter of fact
10:56: It makes me want to go back to the beginning to learn all about this I Know this doesn't make perfect sense in terms of an illustration one -to -one, but when
11:07: Kim and I Met somebody introduced us etc. In a certain place and time and as the children are older now sometimes
11:14: They like to hear the story. How'd you and mom meet give us all the details? What was that lady's name who was in the cult who said she knew
11:21: Jesus her name used to be Sharon and now it's Aria How do you get introduced by this lady in this cult etc.
11:27: Etc. They want to know the details because they're thinking the Lord's put these Two together tell me the story don't just start with I do
11:35: In the marriage, how'd you meet probably talk to couples like that all the time tell me your story?
11:40: And so when you know Jesus seeks and saves the lost it makes you want to say I want to know the story from the beginning
11:47: Don't just tell me about his life and death and resurrection Yes, tell me about those things, but not only those things so Luke says in his preface in chapter 1
11:56: Do you know what we're gonna start from the beginning? We're gonna start from the very beginning so you can just say
12:03: Jesus he did it all and look at only God a sovereign God could put all these things together with Zechariah and Elizabeth and the baby and John and Mary and the
12:15: Virgin and Overshadowing with the Holy Spirit and conceive God man pure blameless.
12:22: Tell me all the details When you know you're saved and when you're Sought after by God's redeeming love you don't want to just dive into the end or the middle you want to know about the beginning
12:33: So let's go back to Luke chapter 1. I tell my preaching students You want to get to your passage in about three minutes, and so we're 12 minutes in but I was preaching the
12:43: Bible Did I not preach Luke 19? Yes, I did and so all this to set up we come to passages in the
12:50: Bible knowing the theme He seeks and saves the lost so we can understand the details and Luke makes it very clear in chapter 1 verses 1 through 4 that he's going to make an eyewitness account.
13:02: He's a doctor He wants things set up very orderly and he's going to set it up so that you might be certain that this is in fact the
13:08: Christ and that you could have hope of Forgiveness when you trust in him alone. I love all the details about the marvelous grace of God the
13:19: Father of God the Son and God the Spirit is like the hymn grace to the charming sound harmonious to the ear
13:25: Heaven with the echo shall resound and all the earth shall hear
13:32: Today we're going to look at Luke chapter 1 verses 57 through 66 we finished the
13:39: Magnificat last week Mary's praising the Lord my soul magnifies the Lord And now we come to the birth of John the
13:45: Baptist Dear congregation a question if you have any of verses 57 through 66 underlined are highlighted in your electronic tablet phone or Underlined with a pencil yellow mark or anything else would you raise your hand if you have any part of this underlined?
14:07: One and she and oh two three four okay good feel like I'm in an auction or something
14:15: That's wonderful, but you four probably underline everything in the Bible I remember
14:20: Haley was little every verse was underlined. I'm like yes, that's good so of course it's all
14:26: God breathed right we know that from 2nd Timothy chapter 3 and Sometimes you just think
14:32: Oh Mary's praise. That's underlined my spirit rejoices in God my Savior But but how do you preach a passage that hardly anyone underlines?
14:42: It just doesn't seem to like really jump off where you think oh I just can't wait to camp on this passage and figure this out.
14:51: I call this the remarkable unmarked passage The remarkable unmarked passage that after you hear it preached not because of me.
15:01: I'm a no one I'm frail and sinful as you know, but because of the text you're gonna say that's a remarkable passage
15:07: And I should probably have it marked By the way, I give you permission by the authority vested in me to take a pencil and mark in your
15:15: Bible It's okay. Don't ever use a yellow marker though. It's blasphemy Now you do whatever you want.
15:23: I have no authority over you marking your Bibles. I'm just glad you read your Bibles It's a remarkable passage.
15:29: That's typically unmarked So we're gonna work through this passage today. Here's my outline
15:36: And I'm gonna ask you a series of Questions about this passage and about the God of this passage to help you understand the
15:44: Lord better through this section Super simple. I have eight questions. We'll see how far
15:49: I get. Maybe we can get through the whole thing We'll see we're in no rush eight questions designed for you to say that's a remarkable passage
15:58: And it's not going to be just data about the passage We're gonna think about this in Context and where it is in the theme of Luke and why
16:06: Luke wrote it so that we can understand Who God is because this passage isn't here just for history just for us to dissect.
16:14: It's here for you. It's written for you It's written for me so that we might understand God better and respond eight questions about a
16:22: Remarkable unmarked passage that hopefully will drive you to think. Oh, thank you
16:28: Lord You came to seek and save a sinner like me Question number one is
16:34: God faithful Question number one in this remarkable unmarked passage is
16:39: God faithful verse 57 of Luke chapter 1 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth and she bore a son
16:49: Now, of course if you're reading too fast, you're like, okay. Yes. Yep time for a son.
16:55: She bore a son But of course you're remembering aren't you earlier in chapter 1 and you're remembering aren't you?
17:02: 2400 years before chapter 1 where Malachi had said inspired by the Spirit The forerunner is going to come and if there's a forerunner, there's an after runner if there's a forerunner
17:16: There's a runner if there's somebody who's leading there's someone who comes next and so when John the
17:22: Baptist comes Everybody get ready because the Messiah is going to come It tank came time for her to give birth.
17:28: Okay, nine months or so. She bore a son If this son is going to come the
17:35: Messiah is going to come and by the way You should be thinking God is faithful because go back to chapter 1 verse 13
17:41: You can see it right there in your own text But the angel said to him do not be afraid Zechariah for your prayer has been heard
17:47: And your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name John God says through Gabriel there's going to be a son to be born.
17:57: His name is John and guess what old baron Elizabeth Bears a son
18:02: God's faithful. God keeps his word. I Love the song by Isaac Watts happy the man whose hopes rely on Israel's God he made the sky
18:15: His truth forever stands secure. He saves the oppressed. He feeds the poor and none shall find his promises vain,
18:29: I Know God is faithful and by the way, if you begin to think to yourself I wonder if God's faithful to the little people in the world to the minute people not just kings and queens and royalty and others
18:39: I mean could there be anyone more insignificant than Elizabeth? mover no shaker no
18:49: God is faithful. God is unchanging and that means Christian God is faithful to you when you read
18:55: God kept a promise to Elizabeth and to John you should be thinking. Yes. He's a promise keeping
19:01: God He keeps his promises. He's faithful Did you know Christian God's never been unfaithful to you?
19:10: God has never failed you one time. He's never been faith unfaithful to you not once I don't care what the doctor's results say.
19:18: I don't care about deaths in the family. I don't care about any of that With tears in her eyes and though he slay me yet.
19:23: I'll trust in him. God is faithful That's one of the first things you should see out of this passage the faithfulness of God John is writing the physician is writing so that you might have certainty
19:35: God's keeping his promise in the Old Testament and Isaiah 7 and Isaiah 9 and Malachi 4
19:40: God keeps his promise Ralph Davis tells about this great story about God's faithfulness to his own people lower
19:47: Manhattan fall of 1874 in a little flat somebody knocks on a door and the blind woman answers
19:57: The person said hold out your hand and the person put a folded up piece of paper into her hand
20:04: It turned out to be $10 and she had prayed for $10 to pay the rent By the way, that tells you a little bit about rent now going up to 1874
20:14: She prayed that the Lord would supply her need and here a man shows up at the door She didn't know who he was.
20:19: She didn't even know his $10 because he couldn't feel it and she said you know what? I'm gonna write a song about God's faithfulness today because of that happened and here's what she wrote
20:28: I think you know the song Fanny Crosby all the way my Savior leads me. What have
20:34: I to ask beside? Can I doubt his tender mercy who through life has been my guide?
20:41: For I know what e 'er befall me Jesus Does all things
20:49: I think Christian you can say that can you not? We ought to be saying that Joshua 21 not one of the good promises, which the
20:58: Lord had made of the house of Israel has failed not one promise For as many of the promises of God 2nd
21:05: Corinthians one in him Christ Jesus there. Yes And amen
21:12: God is faithful. His promises are faithful. They're reliable Hebrews 10 let us hold fast the confession of her hope without wavering for he who promised is
21:22: Faithful God doesn't lie He's faithful look back in your life.
21:28: God. You've been faithful Think about your life today. God. You've been faithful. I wonder what he'll be in the future
21:35: Maybe he'll fall asleep. Maybe he'll he'll take a trip. Maybe he won't care about you. Oh, no, no, and no
21:40: God is faithful Matthew Henry said though men are false.
21:46: God is faithful Of course, we love to sing that song great as thy faithfulness
21:51: Morning by morning new mercies, I see all Most all I've needed you've provided almost
22:01: Okay is your faithfulness? Changing is your faithfulness
22:07: Once in a while, you're faithful I begin to read this and I'm just not reading the Bible here in this section and this you know carved off place
22:15: Let me give you the data for this. We see it in light of Scripture What is Luke trying to drive you to do when you're reading about the promises of God kept for other people?
22:23: You should say God is faithful Even to me and by the way, he will be so faithful that he will get you dear
22:29: Christian struggling Christian weak Christian all the way to heaven He will get you to glory first John 2 and now little children abide in him so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at his coming.
22:48: I mean all the sins we commit You think there be shame when he comes but we abide in him.
22:54: We trust in him we're believers in him and Therefore that Lord the advocate the propitiatory
23:01: Advocate talked about earlier in first John 2 will make sure we get home all the way.
23:07: No shame in his coming question 2 How do we look at this remarkable unmarked passage and just think about it and mull it over a little bit?
23:15: Well question one, it's God faithful question 2. What's the response to God's faithfulness?
23:21: How do we respond to God's faithfulness and of course the last two weeks I've tried to make it very clear that there's this there's this movement back and forth when it comes to God Showing himself either in nature or through the word doing deeds when
23:35: Jesus was on the earth and then the response Revelation response we see a beautiful sky and we say wow.
23:42: Look at that sky. We see a sunset. That's incredible You go to the Grand Canyon Wow, there's revelation in general in nature and people we respond with That's awesome.
23:53: Same thing when it comes to revelation that's specific found in the Bible and Here you'll see that revelation demands a response.
24:03: I Wonder what their response was to God's faithfulness probably should be our response to God's faithfulness.
24:09: Let's see verse 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the
24:15: Lord had shown great mercy to her and what's the response to faithfulness? What's the response to God keeping his promise?
24:22: What's the response to a merciful God? They rejoiced with her. Do you see it?
24:29: Now remember earlier in chapter 1 verse 46 Mary said my soul magnifies the
24:34: Lord That's a great translation. My soul magnifies the Lord He's great and I put a magnifying glass up not to change who he is not to make him more great
24:44: But just so I can see an intricate detail Sadly the ESV and NES don't translate this like they should
24:51: The legacy standard does and I give them credit for that. Here's how it should be translated With the exact same word found in the
24:59: Magnificat her neighbors and her relatives heard That the Lord had magnified his great mercy toward her and they were rejoicing.
25:08: Oh Magnify the Lord Mary says and here we have God Magnifying who he is for Elizabeth and what's the response?
25:19: Praise rejoicing. It's right there in verse 58. They rejoiced Look back at verse 13
25:26: Of the same chapter, but the angel said to him do not be afraid Zechariah for your prayer has been heard and your wife
25:31: Elizabeth will bear a son you will call his name John and you will have What? What's the response to the work of God joy?
25:38: What's the response to God's sovereign hand? gladness and Many will rejoice at his birth the neighbors come the relatives come
25:48: I'm sure the neighbors have been hearing what is going on with this barren woman who's now going to have a child
25:53: We have to come and see this God has magnified his mercy toward her Everywhere you go in Luke chapter 1
26:02: Mercy his mercy is though for those who fear him chapter 1 verse 50 this verse 54 in remembrance of his mercy
26:09: Verse 72 to show mercy promised to the father's verse 78 the tender mercy of our
26:14: God God is so merciful and remember sometimes we think mercy is
26:20: I don't get what I deserve All right, I guess generally speaking that could be true But mercy is when
26:26: God sees we're in a condition that we can't rescue ourselves We're in a condition. We can't have a baby at 90 we meaning you ladies
26:38: I'm gonna refrain from going off on a red rabbit trail The best classes though seminary classes and even high school classes and others were when the teacher got off on a rabbit trail
26:48: Those seem to be the most entertaining, but I'm not here to entertain. So let's get back at this God looks at us and says if I don't intervene
26:58: There's nothing gonna happen except doom. So I will intervene that's that's called mercy But God being rich in mercy
27:04: Ephesians chapter 2 With a great love with which he loved us They respond
27:11: God's mercy is not some general thing floating around here It's it's concrete the baby's born the relatives know the friends know the neighborhood knows the town knows and they all rejoice
27:23: I Love for Samuel 12 fear the Lord serve him in truth with all your heart for consider the great things.
27:29: He's done for you Kindness and mercy leads to rejoicing
27:36: God's faithfulness leads to rejoicing God has been faithful to you. God has been faithful to me
27:42: How should we respond and the answer is with rejoicing same for us? Literally here in the original.
27:51: It's rejoicing with to rejoice with and in a lot of commentators say
27:58: Joy needs fellowship Because if something that incredible has happened to you Don't you want other people involved to share the joy and to chip in with the joy and to say yes, that's true
28:10: God is faithful and the response to God's faithfulness should be joy question three in this remarkable unmarked passage
28:19: God is faithful. We respond with joy number three is obedience important is obedience important There's always the risk of So highlighting sovereign grace and mercy and love that people might think well
28:34: I just get to do whatever I want to do if I'm saved only by the works of Jesus and you are
28:40: Then what does it matter how I work? Of course, we know that's improper thinking
28:46: God says you're never saved by your own works, but out of gratitude for being saved by Christ works
28:52: We want to obey we want to honor the Lord with our lives and to live a holy life and a blameless life in his eyes
29:01: Isn't be obedience important for the Christian the answer is of course and you see these Old Testament believers
29:07: Respond here with obedience. It's good for us to be reminded that obedience is important Christ obedience saves us our obedience is the fruit of his work out of gratitude verse 59 is
29:20: Obedience important, of course, it is verse 59 and on the eighth day They came to circumcise the child
29:28: And they would have called him Zechariah after his father Now, of course, there are
29:35: Jewish people here and they know on what day must you circumcise a baby Well, we realize that now when we go to hospitals, they might circumcise on the first day
29:45: But for the Jews circumcision was commanded For the eighth day, right?
29:53: Genesis 17 every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations a
30:00: Servant who was born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants
30:07: Eighth day circumcision Paul remember even boasted in Philippians 3. I was circumcised on the Seventh day.
30:13: No, I've circumcised on the eighth day and they would have called his name
30:19: Zechariah after his father But God didn't say to do that. What did God say to call him answer? junior
30:27: No, Zacky little Zack No, you can see where this is all driving toward they obey
30:37: With the eighth day circumcision like every Jew must be circumcised every Jewish boy circumcised on the eighth day
30:43: And it says they would have called him Zechariah after his father If you study
30:48: Luke Ruth chapter 4 sometimes the whole Neighbors get together to try to help name a child.
30:54: No, the child's already been named by God sent by Gabriel if you just flip forward to chapter 2 verse 21 with the parallel passage
31:08: With Jesus getting circumcised. What day do you think Jesus got circumcised? 221 at the end of eight days when he was circumcised.
31:15: He was called Jesus Sometimes you name a baby when they're born. Sometimes you name a baby when they're circumcised
31:23: Both John the Baptist and Jesus named on the day. They were circumcised There's even more obedience we see here
31:32: But his mother answered verse 60. No, he shall be called John They said to her.
31:40: None of your relatives is called by this name. I Mean it was it was immediate. She just said it's knee -jerk
31:45: No, that's not right. And as we try to tell our children, of course, we can tell ourselves delayed obedience is disobedience well, how does she know if her husband was struck with the
31:58: Chasing hand of God and he can't talk. Well, he certainly could write and we'll see that later
32:03: She knows from her husband. It was only the husband whom Gabriel showed up to in the pre in the temple
32:11: She says with very strong Greek, no, I'm not going to do it not at all I'm not going to do that because the angel in chapter 1 verse 13 says your his name is gonna be
32:20: John by the way, John means
32:26: God is gracious Yahweh is gracious. That's the name you give
32:33: Doesn't matter if no relatives have been named that You know in my family. My grandfather was
32:38: Henry Hank and his Son was named Lee my father and Lee gets the middle name of the father.
32:47: So it's Lee Henry My name is Michael. I get my dad's first name Michael Lee Luke is born and Luke gets what for a middle name?
32:55: Luke Michael and all of a sudden there's these kind of traditions that happen back then and what do you mean?
33:01: You're not gonna name the child after you we're not going to Do this we're gonna obey
33:09: God Look at there's more obedience for 62. They made signs to his father inquiring what he wanted him to be called
33:17: I mean if Elizabeth can't figure it out, maybe John can I mean so excuse me as Zechariah can
33:22: But here not only was Elizabeth obedient. So was Zechariah Not a second lost
33:30: Now here's kind of something interesting. I'm not gonna get bogged down in the weeds reread verse 62
33:35: With me as I read it or just you know in your mind and they made signs to his father inquiring what he wanted to be
33:41: What he wanted him to be called Wait, I thought he couldn't talk
33:47: Now it sounds like he can't hear either. Why are you making signs to him? Well people try to figure out what's going on here
33:56: Spurgeon said he was deaf and dumb. I'll only disagree with Spurgeon once a year
34:02: So here's my once a year. You can't find this word that has a double meaning anywhere in the
34:09: New Testament plus when Zechariah received the chasing hand of God it said in verse 20 and 22 you will remain silent and not be able to speak
34:23: And when he came out he was unable to speak And in verse 64 if you look ahead a little bit and immediately his mouth was open and his tongue loosed and he spoke
34:31: Didn't say anything about his ears So I have no idea why I don't know.
34:42: I mean, I just was trying to think in my mind He was only mute What is this whole making signs to his father and the only thing
34:48: I can come up with and don't hold me to this If you ever met somebody in another country and you don't speak their language and I'm in Germany.
34:56: I'm in German Province in Germany and all of a sudden I just start talking louder when
35:03: I'm said I'm asking for directions To go over there to the tower Like somehow they can hear me
35:10: In a different language if I just speak louder. I mean, maybe it's something like that. I have no idea but The chastening hand chasing the hand of God was you're mute.
35:20: You can't speak and he does the right thing. He can speak You can study that on your own
35:28: Heaver 63 asked for a writing tablet. You just see obedience permanating Permeating everything here.
35:34: His name is John not will be no No, his name is John and they all wondered back in those days
35:42: If you had a little tablet and you put a bunch of wax on the top You could take any kind of little stylus a stick or anything else
35:48: You could kind of write in the wax and after you write in the wax Then you could kind of make the wax flat again And then you could take the stylus or the stick or whatever you had
35:56: To kind of engrave and then write and so that's probably what he was doing I kept thinking to myself when
36:02: I was a kid we had those At your sketch Yeah Are those other things where you would write on top of the plastic and then you go like that and it would erase it all
36:11: Yeah, you with me. I Have a tablet now, by the way Just to let you know.
36:17: I Hope it doesn't crash. His name's
36:24: God is gracious and Lots of times in the Bible. You'll see people named for what they're gonna do think
36:30: Harry Right and you have Jacob and Esau the heel snatcher What they'll do in the future
36:39: God's gracious by the way, John the Baptist God is gracious by sending John the Baptist To warn people that the wrath is coming seek the
36:49: Savior Judgment is going to happen. You'll die one day and stand before God repent the kingdom of God is at hand
36:57: Isn't it gracious when? People present the demands of God I mean,
37:03: I think even in my own life that people that preach to me the law of God God's holiness reflected in the law to make me realize
37:10: I could no way measure up to that So I'm going to need to seek a Savior who did measure up to the law and who did die for sinners like me
37:18: His name's going to be John is gracious. God is gracious because he is going to be gracious He's going to tell people free but flee from the wrath of God And of course for us as we see the obedience found here.
37:32: I hope you just don't say I'm glad they're obedient I hope you say to yourself. Yes Obedience is good.
37:38: Obedience is right. I Know Christian obedience is important to you our statement of faith chapter 16 says these good works done in obedience to God's commands are fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith and By them believers manifest.
37:57: Why do we do good works not to get saved not to stay saved but to manifest their thankfulness Strengthen their assurance
38:06: Edify their brethren We'd God doesn't need our good works, but our brothers and sisters do
38:12: Adorn the profession of the gospel Stop the mouths of adversaries and glorify
38:17: God whose workmanship. They are created in Christ Jesus Is obedience important the answer is yes question for There's no way
38:28: I'm gonna make all eight. Okay That's okay. These are important truths. We're in no rush Have some friends.
38:37: They've been preaching an hour and 10 minute sermons an hour and 20 minute sermons But I'd rather make the folks say
38:44: I wish he'd keep going versus why doesn't he land the plane? I'm also thinking about nursery workers.
38:52: By the way, if you pick up your children in the nursery or preschool today Would you would you think that the teachers back there because they're letting you by their service coming here
39:02: God is faithful. We respond with joy and praise obedience is important question for What is the
39:10: Christians main motivation for obedience? What is the Christians main motivation for obedience again?
39:22: It's not to be saved We can't get saved by anything less than perfection So our obedience could never yield
39:29: God's righteousness It can't be out of fear that we're gonna lose our salvation because God's faithful and what he starts
39:37: He finishes and we're sealed by the Holy Spirit the promise to the day of redemption The Bible teaches when you believe in the
39:45: Lord you're saved eternally this is eternal life So what's our motivation? There are many motivations and here's one if you got my email this week
39:57: It's that God is your father It's not in the text here, but this is just a reminder.
40:03: So when I talk about obedience, you remember the motivation for obedience God is your father
40:09: Romans 8 you did not receive the spirit of slavery to slavery to fall back into fear But you receive the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry out
40:17: Abba father Why do we want to obey God? Just like if we have a great dad on earth, and I'm sorry if you didn't but you have a great
40:24: God in heaven You want to honor him and you want to obey him and you want to make him look good
40:30: Because you know what he's giving you is for your own good Everywhere you look
40:36: God is father. God is father. God is father Giving thanks always Ephesians for everything to God the father in the name of the
40:43: Lord Jesus Ephesians 1 blessed be the God and father our Lord Jesus when he taught us to pray said our what?
40:52: Father if you get father you get Christianity Jay Packer said in his book knowing
40:58: God if you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity Find out how much he makes of the thought of being
41:07: God's child and having God at his father You're adopted.
41:17: You're adopted Christian Packer said I summarize
41:22: New Testament religion as the knowledge of God as one's father through Christ Jesus He called this the secret of the
41:31: Christian life and of a God honoring life in other words Don't forget it and you want to honor the
41:38: Lord think of him as father the Great Father the Heavenly Father and Packer said Knowing that the truths of God the
41:45: Father you should say these six things to yourself over and over and over He said same in the morning when you wake up Same at night when you go to sleep when you wait on the bus when your time and your mind is free
41:57: He said these are the six things That should go through your mind That will motivate you to obey
42:05: I am a child of God God is my father Heaven is my home
42:12: Every day is one day near My Savior is my brother and every
42:18: Christian is my brother, too That good that should motivate you to serve
42:28: Last question for today, and it'll be a quick one number five does God discipline disobedience?
42:34: Does God discipline disobedience and the answer is? Well, of course we just saw it
42:41: Zechariah didn't believe Gabriel He didn't believe God and it says in Luke chapter 1 verse 20 and behold you will be silent and unable to speak until the day
42:49: That these things take place because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their time does
42:54: God discipline his children when they disobey Yes And you're not a good father if you don't and he's a heavenly father and he does
43:06: I'd like to finish the sermon by reading from Hebrews 12 So please go forward to Hebrews 12 as I answer this question does
43:14: God discipline disobedience? Answers yes, and next time we're going to talk about does
43:21: God reward obedience but for today Is God faithful what's the response to God's faithfulness is obedience important?
43:31: What is the Christians motivation for obedience and number five does God discipline disobedience yes
43:39: But I don't use the word punish Because Jesus has been punished in our place.
43:45: I don't use the word wrath because the wrath has been satisfied by Jesus Fathers mothers don't punish your children chasing them
43:58: Hebrews 12 Does God discipline disobedience of course because he wants our best he wants us to be conformed to the image of the
44:05: Sun therefore Since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside also every weight and sin which clings so closely
44:14: Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us Looking to Jesus the founder and perfecter of our faith
44:23: Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross? Despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God Consider him who endured from such sinners are from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint -hearted
44:39: In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
44:48: My son do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord nor be weary when he reproved by him
44:55: For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and he chastens every son whom he receives
45:04: It is for discipline that you have to endure God is treating you as sons For what son is there whom his father does not discipline if you're left without discipline
45:14: Which all have participated then you are illegitimate children and not sons besides this
45:21: We had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them Shall we not much more?
45:29: Be subject to the father of spirits and live Do they discipline us for a short time as seem best to them?
45:36: They're limited in their wisdom, but he God disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness
45:43: He he's crafting. He's working. He's cutting off loose edges rough edges sharp edges for the moment
45:50: All discipline seems painful rather than pleasant But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by this
46:02: God discipline disobedience Yes, he does. He does for our good and for his glory when
46:12: I step back and I look at this passage I say It's remarkable
46:19: Because it's not just a bunch of data that I look at and say this word means this and this word means that These things were written for us so that we might learn and we might grow
46:31: God is faithful and our response is joy Our response is we want to obey our response is we obey out of gratitude and our response is
46:41: Lord Thank you for disciplining us because it means you love us. Let's pray father
46:46: We give you all the glory you are our Heavenly Father not just mine not just the people's but our and collectively we say
46:55: Great is your faithfulness. Would you help us? To be full of joy as a response to your faithfulness.
47:01: Would you help us to obey? Would you help us to obey the commandments?
47:09: Rightly with the motivation of freedom and love and a response to your grace
47:16: Father I thank you that you just discipline us and even though at the time it doesn't seem good
47:22: But it's for our glory and for our good rather in your glory in Jesus name.