Lukes first account pt 1

There, we're going to be picking up actually. We're going to read from verse 1 again, but we're just going to read down through verse 7. So, our primary focus this morning will be on the 5th, 6th, and 7th verse, but I find that it's so important for us to be reminded of why Luke wrote this Gospel.

So, Luke's Gospel chapter 1, the Word of God says this,. "...inasmuch as many as have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word, they delivered them to us.

It seemed good to me also, having had a perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abiah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless.

But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.". Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as I come before your throne this morning, I ask for wisdom, for knowledge, for grace, dear God, to teach and preach and to proclaim the truth of your blessed and your holy Word this morning.

Help me to preach with passion, with zeal, and with knowledge. And I pray that you help those who are in the congregation this morning to listen with passion and with zeal, and to listen according to knowledge.

And that you, Heavenly Father, you, Lord Jesus Christ, that you, Holy Spirit, would instruct our hearts and our minds, point us to the work of Jesus Christ, as we have here in Luke's gospel, beginning with the account of Zacharias and Elizabeth.

Help us to put to mind, to memory, and to heart the things that we hear today, that we might accurately tell others of what you have done to save us from our sins. For it is in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

And amen. Luke chapter 1. We noticed here in the third and the fourth verse, or actually if you just go back a little bit further to the second verse, notice Luke's words here. And if we had a running theme for the gospel of Luke, we know this.

Remember last week I asked you some questions and I gave you some answers. Who is Luke's gospel about? Jesus. Right. Remember our agreement that we made that you would respond, just like in Sunday school with Kenny?

By the way, Sunday school was great this morning. Amen. So Luke's gospel, as the other gospels, as is the word of God itself, that's not a trick question. It's about Jesus. It points us to the work of Christ.

But notice what Luke said in verse 2. He said just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, they delivered them to us. This is Luke writing from a first-person perspective that he has been interviewing basically those whom he's writing about in a large degree.

Alexander McLaren in his commentary on Luke's gospel brought that point out very clearly, and I thought that really makes good sense because Luke here in the word, we have him clearly tell us that he's heard these things from eyewitnesses, people that have actually experienced this, that have gone through this, that know what they are talking about, and he put them together, the Bible says, in an orderly account.

Now I want to ask you a practical question this morning. Is there anything that is more simple than ABCs and one, two, threes, right? And I was telling April, I can't remember if it was yesterday or the day before, maybe it was Friday night.

Yes, she was sitting on the couch beside of me, and I was telling her it's amazing. You know, a lot of times preachers and teachers think that the wheel has to be reinvented to teach people, but it's so clear how it's laid out in the scripture.

And as a matter of fact, the words particularly here in Luke's gospel, he says he wants to give Theophilus an orderly account. Orderly means in order. And so we as Christians, we'll do a little bit of recapping here, but I just want to set the stage for this as we look at this today.

I'm going to give you four questions and answers, basically it's a catechism that we can learn, and I didn't pick this up from anybody. I just went verse by verse asking these questions because we say we need to know what the Bible says.

Amen? Amen. And we also need to know, we need to know, number one, the books of the Bible, right? What are the first four gospels or the first four books of the New Testament? Anybody wants to shout it out?

Matthew. Mark. And John. Yes, that is very correct. And so can anybody tell me what the first account that Matthew gives in his gospel is of? That's okay. That's okay. You don't have to know that. I know we went through that in detail, but the first account he gives is a genealogy, right?

In Mark's gospel, he gives a different account. Luke's gospel, he gives a different account. John's gospel, he gives a different account. If you'll remember that we use the term, and Kenny's used it much with us in Sunday school, about the synoptic gospels.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as synoptic gospels, meaning they give a synopsis of the life of Christ. Now, where Matthew speaks, Mark may not speak about. And where Matthew and Mark do not speak, Luke's gospel fills in those gaps for us.

So it's not only important to know what the books of the Bible, but to know the content of those books. And as we go on this journey through the book of Luke, if we do it in an orderly account, if we take simply the orderly account that Luke has given to us, we can know if asked by anybody, what's the first thing that Luke talks about in his gospel?

And then by course of reason, we'll be able to say as we get to it, what's the second thing that Luke talks about in his gospel? What is the second account given? And so on and so forth until we get however many numbers that takes, but we'll be able to give an account.

So the first account that Luke gives in his gospel is of Zacharias and Elizabeth. So if you want to write these four questions down to start with and then leave a little space, maybe you want to write Q for question or just write question however you want to do it, put a question mark if you like shorthand, but it's probably just as easy to write a Q as it is a question mark.

Four questions that are going to aid us in our learning this first account. So the first question is this, what is the first account given to us in Luke's gospel? What is the first account given to us in Luke's gospel?

And the answer, A, however you want to put it, the first account given to us is the account of Zacharias and Elizabeth and the conception of John the Baptist. Now some of you may already be aware of this and this may seem like it's an oversimplified way to teach and communicate this truth to you today, but friends, this is so important.

If you already knew this, just bear with the rest of us. So what is the first account given to us in Luke's gospel? And the answer, the first account given to us is the account of Zacharias and Elizabeth and the conception of John the Baptist.

Second question for you to write down. Remember how important context is. We ask questions like what, where, who, how. The second question is this, who is being spoken of in this first account? Who is being spoken of in this first account?

And the answer is King Herod, Zacharias, Elizabeth, and the angel of the Lord. The next question, question three of four for this first three verses that we're going to look at today. The third question is this, what is the significance of the mention of King Herod or what is the importance of King Herod's mention by Luke?

What is the significance of the mention of King Herod? Answer, mentioned it to you earlier, the answer to that question is this, Luke fills in where the other synoptic gospels leave gaps. And we'll explain that here in just a moment.

We'll give scripture evidence of that. So what's the significance of the mention of King Herod? That's the question and the answer is Luke fills in where the other synoptic gospels leave gaps. And the fourth question, what is significant about Zacharias and Elizabeth?

What is significant or important about the mention of Zacharias and Elizabeth? This is actually a two-part answer. We're going to look at a big picture answer and we're going to look at a detailed answer.

But for the purpose of your notes, for memory, the answer to what's the significance about Zacharias and Elizabeth, big picture answer is this, we'll see God's particular choice in the individuals and in the circumstances that he chooses to use to bring about the salvation of his people.

That's the big picture. God's particular choice in individuals and in the circumstances that he chooses to use to bring about the salvation of his people. Part two, the detailed answer is the second thing that is significant about Zacharias and Elizabeth in detail.

We're going to see from God's word the character of Zacharias and Elizabeth. So those are the four questions that we're going to zoom in on in these three verses today. And we'll have detailed answers for it.

And having done so, this is going to be very, this isn't going to be a long sermon like normal. I'm going to try to give this in short bursts because as we do this, as we're basically doing, going to be learning a catechism on Luke's gospel so that we can answer questions when it's all said and done, even if you have to look back at your notes, you're going to be able to answer questions that are asked about the gospel.

And if any of the gospels, you'll have a detailed knowledge of what's being said in this. So remember this, that throughout Luke's gospel, we're going to see many biblical doctrines with a biblical doctrine of God's sovereignty, the doctrine of God's providence, biblical doctrines of grace.

We're going to see amongst other doctrines, we'll see the doctrine of heaven, of hell. We'll see the biblical doctrine of angels as the angel of the Lord is introduced in this particular passage. We won't get to the angel of the Lord today, but we are going to see Herod.

We're going to see Zacharias and we're going to see Elizabeth. So Luke said he wants to give an orderly account so that it can be, so Theophilus can be certain of the things that he has been taught. Now, have any of you ever sat in church?

And you'll have to be honest. It's likely every week, and my hope is this, that every week that you are challenged to say, well, there's something the preacher said today that I'm not certain. That term comes up.

I'm not too certain about that. I'm not sure about that. Right? So what Luke is writing to Theophilus, he says, Theophilus, I want you to be able to be certain, to be rock solid, settled in your mind and in your heart, that the truth of the word of God is what it says it is.

And it says what it says it says. So Matthew Henry said this, probably Luke had baptized Theophilus, and he knew how well instructed he was. Concerning which, in a matter of fact, you remember last week I mentioned to you that Greek term that is used there, perihon katikithos, which concerning which thou has been catechized, or concerning that which thou has been taught.

That's what he was saying in that. Henry went on to say this. It was intended that he should know the certainty of those things, that he should understand them more clearly and believe them more firmly.

So that when you hear the word of God taught, when you hear the word of God preached, you grasp it and you lay a hold of it and you go away from God's house, being certain of his word. Henry went on to say this.

Those who have been well instructed in the things of God, when they were young, should afterwards give diligence to know the certainty of those things, to know not only what we believe, but why we believe it.

That is important. That we may be able to give a reason of the hope that is within us. Had the privilege and the opportunity. At work on Friday, the men that we work with are unbelievers. One particularly outspoken, agnostic, against the Lord, had a great privilege and opportunity to talk with him about the gospel.

It was wonderful to do this because Christians, and many of you said amen earlier when I said it's good to be saved. And you were testifying and agreeing, yeah, I'm saved. If you're a Christian, you need to be able to talk with people in the world about what the word of God teaches.

And we need to be able to do so without getting so flustered and upset that all we want to do is walk away. Our job is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to every creature under the heaven. Whether they like it or not, right?

So we've got to learn and to know the scripture to be able to do that. But we had this privilege and honor. And I want to tell you if you've never had the opportunity when asked this question, and you may not have ever been asked this question, but I'm just going to tell you what I was asked.

The question was posed to me something like this. So are you saying, because a bystander asked the question, so are you saying, asking me, said, are you saying that Mormons are all going to hell? And I said, based upon the doctrine that they teach about the person of Jesus Christ, they will go to hell.

Not with arrogance, not in pride. I did not say that. And then the question immediately followed. What about Jehovah's Witnesses by the bystander? Same answer because the doctrine of Jesus Christ is not the biblical doctrine.

And the gentleman that I was talking to directly looked appalled and he said, so you're saying that there will be good people who are in hell? And all that I could say was, yes. There will be plenty of good people in hell, which opened the door for the opportunity for us to share the gospel just a little bit with him that day.

And I look forward this week likely to be able to share more with him. But we must be, and we were able to carry on a conversation for about 30 minutes after that. And it's very easy to get flustered.

It's very easy to get frustrated if you do not have a knowledge of what the Word of God says and you do not understand or realize, as was mentioned in Sunday school, that the scripture is our standard for speaking with others in the world.

They may say that the world will say there's no basis historically or any other reason in the scripture for you to use the scripture. And many people will automatically say, oh, you know, you're right.

I won't say nothing to you. No, our responsibility is to stand upon the Word of God. Right? How many of you remember that song as a child learning it? The B-I-B-L-E. Yes, that's the... Right. I stand upon the... Amen.

Right? These things that you've been taught as children, as adults, you need to know the certainty of. And by the way, what these ladies in the classrooms try to teach us and Kenny tries to teach us as both children and adults, that you as a child and as an adult need to be able to be certain of the things that you are being taught.

That when you come out and you talk about them, you have a certainty about you. It is very, very important. I was thankful in asking all the young people that came out this morning what they learned in class.

They were just right there. They were rattling it off. They couldn't pronounce some of the names. Johnny couldn't pronounce Mephibosheth. Johnny practiced that this week. Hey, Johnny. Up here. Right? Right?

It wasn't the Lord talking to you. It was just me. Mephibosheth. Try that. That's okay. You practice through the week. But he was able to tell us Mephibosheth's condition. He was able to tell us what he was taught, what he was instructed about.

And he had a point of reference, which is the scripture itself. Again, this is leading us into answering these questions. So remember, Luke fills in where Matthew and Mark leave gaps. So Luke, John Calvin wrote this, Luke very properly begins his gospel with John the Baptist, just as a person who was going to speak about the daylight would commence with the dawn.

That is a beautiful phraseology. Matthew Henry said something almost to the same extent. He said John the Baptist is mentioned because he is the morning star in making reference to the son of righteousness that is coming.

This is good truth here. Now, Matthew and Mark pick up six months after John the Baptist's ministry. John the Baptist begins his ministry preaching what? Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of God is at hand.

So Luke picks up here before that. He gives us the back story. And so in understanding what has been written, it is reasonable for us to make an inference here that it's likely that he could have even interviewed Zacharias and Elizabeth about what the Lord did in and through them.

This is incredible when we think about this. This is eyewitness testimony accounts given to us, preserved by the Holy Spirit of God in the written word. It is incredible. So it's fitting that we have John the Baptist's conception and birth since the Lord himself spoke so highly of him.

If you turn back over to Matthew's Gospel chapter 11. If you want to just keep your finger Matthew, in a few minutes we'll be going back there too. But Matthew's Gospel chapter 11. I said this was going to be short and succinct so I've got to keep moving.

Matthew 11 verse 11 through 15. Listen to what Christ himself said of John the Baptist. He said, Jesus is making reference to the prophecy about Elijah coming again. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

That's what the Word of God says there. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. So Jesus spoke very highly of John the Baptist. And so going into our first question. So what is the first account given to us in Luke's Gospel?

The answer being this. The first account given to us in Luke's Gospel is the account of Zacharias and Elizabeth and the conception of John the Baptist. How do we know this? Because the Bible says, There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias of the division of Abiah.

His wife was the daughter of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. There in the fifth verse, five short verses into the first chapter of Luke, we have the detailed description of Luke's first accounting.

Second question. Who is being spoken of in this first account? King Herod? How do we know this? Well, the Bible says, There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea. Now what's important? What's significant about this?

And it goes on to say, And a certain priest named Zacharias, very particular details, even of his family. His wife was the daughter of Aaron. Elizabeth was her name. So who's being spoken of in this first account?

King Herod, Zacharias, Elizabeth, and the angel of the Lord. Again, we're not going to get down to that section of Scripture, but verse 11 tells us this. The angel of the Lord appeared to him standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

So there we have that. Third question. What is the significance of the mention of King Herod? Now there's what? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 words that introduce King Herod. Now we have nothing here of King Herod's character.

But do you think it's important, again, to know the character of the people that we study and read about? Amen? Do you think it's important for you to know the character of the person that preaches to you on a weekly basis?

Oh, we'll just let anybody come in here. Right? And your answer should have been there, no. No. Character is important. So it's important for you to know that Herod's character was this. To simplify, he was a bad guy.

Everybody understand what I say when he was a bad guy? I'm not talking about comic book character bad guys. I'm not talking about that he was bald-headed and he carried around a cat and petted it and threatened world domination.

Right? That's not what I'm talking about. This man was evil. He was wicked. He was hateful. He was blasphemous. He was flat-out mean and jealous. Now, you say, preacher, we shouldn't, you really shouldn't cast such a bad light on Herod because Luke here just says that Herod was king of Judea.

For all we know, he could have been a good person. Read on, brother. Well, let's go back to Luke's gospel, or Matthew's gospel for just a moment. In the second chapter, and remember, Luke, Matthew, Mark, and Luke are the synoptic gospels.

One fills in where the other leaves out. Luke doesn't tell us much about, at all, about Herod, king of Judea. However, in Matthew's gospel, chapter 2, we find out much concerning Herod and his character.

In Matthew's gospel, chapter 2, verse 1, the Bible says, Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who is born king of the Jews?

For they said, We've seen his star in the east, and we've come to worship him. Verse 3, When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled. And all Jerusalem with him. And when he gathered the chief priests and the scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

If you jump down to verse 7, you'll see more detail. Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. He was sneaky. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and he said, Go and search carefully for the young child.

And when you have found him, bring back word to me that I may come and worship him also. This was not a sincere request. This was a shady lie that he was telling them. He was being deceptive. The Bible says this, or if you jump down to verse 16, of that same second chapter in Matthew, verse 16 and 17, notice what the word of God says,.

Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, because God warned the wise men that what Herod had told them was a lie, and he was being deceptive, when Herod found out that the wise men deceived him, he was exceedingly angry, and he sent forth and he put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its districts from two years old and under, based upon the timeline that he had gotten about the birth of the Christ.

Now do you see why I say he was a bad man? Why he was evil? Why he was wicked? Why he was malicious? Why he was vengeful? Why he was jealous? He was so jealous, history tells us this, he was so jealous over his throne that he would even have his family members put to death.

He was a bad man. And so who's being spoken of in this first account? King Herod. What's the significance of the mention of King Herod? The significance is giving us historical, giving Theopolis and us historical context about who was king at the time.

So that's what's significant about that. And then the last question, what is significant about Zacharias and Elizabeth? Big picture, what we see is God's particular choice in the individuals and in the circumstances that he chooses to use to bring about the salvation of his people.

That's the big picture. When we read verse 5 through 7, that's what we see. That God, in his sovereignty, in his majesty, and by means of providence, worked all things, as Paul says in Romans, according for the good to all those who are called according to his purpose.

You can refer back to the Old Testament, referenced by Joseph. What Joseph's brothers meant for evil, God meant it for good. That God was able to take the evil that men do and use it for his glory. So that's the big picture.

We see God's particular choice. Now, he could have used anybody, but we know, according to the scripture, that he used Herod, that he used Zacharias, that he used Elizabeth, and that the angel of the Lord was even brought to mention here.

So we see God's, that's big picture. So in detail, let's look at this and then we're going to close because those are the only four things we're going to focus on today, to learn those four questions as we try to put into teaching or catechism form, question and answer form, answers that can be given that are clear concerning Luke's gospel.

So the second answer in detail, what is significant about Zacharias and Elizabeth, what is significant is their character. What Luke brings out to us in this text, it's so simple, it's so direct, and it's so very clear concerning their character.

What can we learn of their character? Well, the Bible says this, there was in the days of Herod, the king of Judah, a certain priest. So the king of Judah, it stops there, and then we go to Zacharias, there was a certain priest named Zacharias of the division of Abiah.

This is important. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth. So know this, that they were husband and wife. Everybody see that? Amen. It says Zacharias and his wife. Who wrote that?

I can't remember. Alexander McLaren actually in his commentary wrote this concerning that, these two simple saints lived as all married believers should do, yoked together in the sweet exercise of godliness and helping each other to all high and noble things.

As the body of Christ, we are called to encourage one another under good works. Amen? And Christian husbands and wives should like very much do the same. We should constantly be encouraging one another in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So we see that they were husband and that they were wife. Verse 6. Notice this concerning their character. They were both righteous before God. They were walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless.

Stop there. So their character, what do we have here in the word of God by Luke given to us concerning the character they were righteous before God? This does not mean that they were sinless. It does not mean that they were perfect.

But righteous, that's the term the Bible uses, walking in all the commandments, the Greek words there in Tole for commandments, and I can't remember how to pronounce ordinances, but basically they were obedient to all within their power to all the commandments that the Lord had given particularly for the priests and his family because their responsibility was to be holy unto the Lord.

And therefore those who looked on them round about needed to see that this was not just an external righteousness. It wasn't a show that they were putting on, but they were sincere in their love and devotion for the holy Lord of glory.

Moving further, very simply, but notice this. So we have Luke tell us that Zacharias and Elizabeth, husband and wife, righteous before God, walked holy before the Lord, kept his commandments and ordinances blamelessly, but the Bible says in verse 7, they had no child.

Now, that doesn't seem fair, does it? I mean, they were obedient to God. They ought to have everything, right? No. That was sarcasm, Sheldon, by the way. We're not promised to have everything that we want as Christians simply because we obey God.

If you read in another gospel account, you'll find that really what we need to be able to say is this when it comes down to the end of the way, if we have nothing at all, we are unprofitable servants, God.

Amen? That's what the Word of God says. We're unprofitable servants. But God chooses to bless some with what He doesn't choose to bless others with. But remember, He's working all things for His good and for His glory here.

So notice, they had no child because Elizabeth was barren. Why did they not have a child? Because she was barren. And not only that, not only was Elizabeth barren, but they were both old. You see how clear the Scripture is?

Everybody wants to, what's John MacArthur use the term, navel gaze all the time, pontificate on maybe, try to figure out the deeper meaning why they did not have this or why this was not going on. The Scripture says they did not have a child because she was barren.

In her childbearing years, she was unable to have a child. And now years had passed and they were old, unable to have child naturally speaking. But here we see the sovereignty of God at work. We see the power of God put on display in their lives.

Now, what is the first account that we have given to us in Luke's Gospel? Answer, anybody? The answer is the first account given to us is that of Zacharias and Elizabeth in the conception of John. This is the first account.

Who's being spoken of in this first account? You can look at your notes. I know a lot of you are making notes. Look at your notes. King Herod? Zacharias? Elizabeth? And the angel of the Lord. Again, I know we didn't get to that, but we will next week, Lord willing.

What's the significance of the mention of King Herod? Answer? That's right, because we fill in the gap. And last question, what is significant about Zacharias and Elizabeth? Big picture. That's right, in the individuals and in their circumstances.

That he chooses to use to bring about the salvation of his people. Because Matthew 121, when the angel of the Lord came to Joseph, that's what he said, he shall save his people from their sins. So, in detail, what's significant about Zacharias and Elizabeth?

That's right, we see their character. Who they were as human beings. Who they were as individuals. And so, in closing, I would ask you this question. You say, how can we make direct application to our lives from this passage of Scripture?

Is that, what is the direct application? It is this. Am I living holy before God? Not are you expecting to have a baby when you weren't able to have a baby before. Not are you expecting to win the lottery.

That'd be nice. But we don't expect those things. We don't look for those things. We look to please the Lord in all things. So, my aim today, for us as a body, was to begin in this three verses of Scripture and to be able to answer those simple questions.

Because when you study those throughout the week, you put them to memory. Next week, we'll learn some more questions in the next section of Scripture. And then, hard telling, however long it takes us, Lord Tarius is coming and we do finally ever get through Luke, we'll know Luke backwards and forwards.

And if somebody comes to us, you say, you know what, maybe I don't know a whole lot about Matthew, but I'll tell you what happened in Luke. I know what the first account Luke gave us. I know what the second account Luke gave us.

I know what the third account Luke gave us. Because I've said it to my heart and to my mind and because I've learned these things. And so, we can be faithful witnesses to the Lord. That is the direct application, that we be faithful witnesses to the Lord.

Sir, would you care to dismiss us in prayer?