Turn with me if you would now
to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1, I believe we
will look at Luke chapter 2 Sunday morning. And because of that I read Luke
chapter 1. And I saw something in here that blessed my heart
so much. I thought we would look at Luke
1 tonight and Luke 2 Sunday morning. We'll see. Let me tell you what
takes place in Luke chapter 1. Let me give you just an overview
of Luke chapter 1 and then I'll point out what our message will
be. The first four verses are an introduction to the letter
or the book. And they declare the absolute
truth of what has been written right here. Verse 1 says, 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 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 Theophilus, that word means lover of God. that
thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou
hast been instructed." Those verses declare the certainty
of the things that have been instructed in God's word. And
then beginning in verse five, it tells us of a man, he was
a priest named Zacharias. and his wife, Elizabeth. Verse 5 says, There was in the
days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias
of the course of Abiah, and his wife was of the daughters of
Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And it goes on to say that she
was barren. She couldn't have any children.
But the scripture says an angel of the Lord appeared to Zacharias
and told him that they would conceive John the Baptist. And
according to the word of the Lord, they did. But the angel
told Zacharias that as a sign of these things, he would not
be able to talk all through her pregnancy. So verse 24, if you look with
me at Luke 1 24, it says, After those days his wife Elizabeth
conceived and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the
Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me to take
away my reproach among men. So Elizabeth conceived. She was barren. and she was an
older woman at this point. But she conceived and was pregnant
with John the Baptist. Now verse 26 tells us that six
months after Elizabeth conceived, it says, "...in the sixth month
the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named
Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph
of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the
angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored."
That means graciously accepted, much graced. He said, the Lord
is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.
That can be said about all of God's people. You are highly
favored. You are much graced. The Lord
is with you. Blessed are you. Verse 29, it says, And when she
saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind
what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said
unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob, forever. And of his kingdom, there shall
be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel,
How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered
and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth,
she hath also conceived a son in her old age. And this is the
sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing
shall be impossible. And Mary said, behold the handmaid
of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed
from her. He said, the Messiah, the Christ,
Immanuel, the one that was prophesied back in Isaiah. Immanuel is going
to come forth through you. And he said the Holy Spirit of
God will do this. Man will not take part in this. This is God's work and it's going
to be unto God's glory. And as the angel said, It happened
just as he said it happened because beginning in verse 39, it says,
Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with
haste into a city of Judea and entered into the house of Zacharias
and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass that when
Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her
womb. And Elizabeth was filled with
the Holy Ghost, and she spake out with a loud voice and said,
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy
womb. I just absolutely adore the thought
of this encounter. I always have. I can't help but
think of Mary coming into the house, coming into Zechariah's
house, and Mary says, Hello, Elizabeth. And as soon as her voice was
heard, John the Baptist leaped in her womb. As soon as she walked in, John
knew who was in his presence. This is an infant in the womb.
And John knew, my Lord has just entered into my presence. And
he leaped and his heart cried. Can't help but thinking about
Brother John in the womb. Dear brother, right there in
the womb. I'm right there with him. He leaped and his heart cried,
all hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angels prostrate fall.
This is what he was doing in her womb. Bring forth the royal
diadem and crown him Lord of all. Oh, happy day that fixed my choice
on thee, my savior and my God. Oh, may this glowing heart rejoice
and tell its raptures all abroad. Come thou fount of every blessing,
tune my heart, sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise. Verse 39 says, Mary arose in
those days and went into the hill country with haste into
a city of Judah and entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted
Elizabeth. And it came to pass that when
Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her
womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. And she
spake out with a loud voice and said, Blessed art thou among
women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this
to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For lo, as
soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the babe
leaped in my womb for joy. Now from this point down to verse
55, Mary and Elizabeth being filled with the Holy Ghost, it
says they have a conversation. And then in verse 56, Mary goes
home and Elizabeth delivers John the Baptist and they name him
John. Zechariah's mouth was opened
and he spake. And he praised God and it says
Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and he declared some
things concerning Christ and he declared some things concerning
John being the forerunner of Christ. And then in verse 80
it says that John grew and waxed strong in spirit. and was in
the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel. All right. Those are the events of chapter
one. That's what happened in Luke
chapter one. Now let me show you what stood out to me for
our message tonight. Elizabeth, Mary, and Zacharias. Those three. The whole time I
was studying this, I couldn't help but think about our Elizabeth,
our Mary, and I was thinking, if we just had a Zacharias here.
But we don't. Maybe we will. I don't know.
But Elizabeth, Mary, and Zacharias. All three of them declared the
glory of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what struck
me as I read these events. OK. They all three declared the
glory of our gospel concerning our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And they did that by repeating these two words. These two words
are over and over and over. All three of them said, He hath. He hath. This is the gospel. He hath. That's what they declared. I wanted to title this message,
The Gospel According to Elizabeth, Mary, and Zacharias, but that's
too long for sermon audio. So I titled it, He hath. It's a better title anyway. This
Christ hath. This coming Messiah hath. The Lord Jesus Christ hath. Now let me show you those places
where they declared this. Look at verse 24. Luke 1 verse 24 and see if you
can really enter into this. After those days, his wife Elizabeth
conceived and hid herself five months, saying, Thus hath the Lord dealt with
me in the days wherein He looked on me to take away my reproach
among men. She said, Elizabeth was the first one to
declare it. This is what he hath done for me. That's the gospel
message in one verse right there. Thus hath the Lord dealt with
me. Isn't that what the Lord said?
You go tell how great things the Lord has done for you. Thus
hath the Lord dealt with me. The Lord did this. She said, in the days wherein
he looked on me, he looked on me, he dealt with me. What did
he do, Elizabeth? He took away my reproach among
men. That's what he did for us. That's
the gospel according to Elizabeth right there. Glorious news, glorious
news. This is what he's done for me.
He hath, thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he
looked on me to take away my reproach among men. Mary is the
next one to declare this glorious news of the gospel of Christ. The angel came to Mary and the
angel was saying he shall. He shall, he shall fulfill his
promise, everything he's promised, he shall. But when Mary left
the angel, she went and visited Elizabeth and she declared, he
hath, he hath. Mary came into the house and
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost and she cried out
for joy. And Mary, also being filled with
the Holy Ghost, she responded by saying in verse 46, look at
this right here, verse 46. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify
the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior, for
he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. Mary said,
my soul magnifies and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, my
Lord and my God. Well, wait a minute, Mary, isn't
that your baby? No. This is my Lord and my God. This is God my Savior. She said,
God Almighty is my Savior. And she said, I magnify him. And I rejoice in him. Verse 48,
for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. For
behold, from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed. He is high and I'm low. But he
regarded me. He regarded me. That's a that's
a wonderful word. That word regarded means to turn
the eyes upon, to look upon, to gaze upon with favor. Pity and partiality is what that
means. Mary said, thank God he had looked
upon me. Thank God. Isn't that what we
all cry? Thank God He looked upon us. Now here's the rest of Mary's
gospel message here. Verse 48, she said, For He hath
regarded the lowest state of His handmaiden. Verse 49, she
said, For He that is mighty hath done to me great things. And holy is his name. He hath
done to me great things and holy is his name. Oh, what great things
the Lord has done to me. Holy is his name. Holy is his name. Holy is His
name. We read this name. Unto us a
child is born. Unto us a son is given. Everybody
at this time of year is consumed with our Lord being this little
bitty baby. Everybody's so focused on the
Lord being a little bitty baby. They want to bring him back down
to being a little bitty baby. Who is this little baby? This
is the wonderful Counselor. This is the mighty God. This
is the everlasting Father. This is the Prince of Peace.
Holy, holy, holy is His name. Holy is His name. Verse 50, she said, And His mercy
is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. His mercy, the mercy of God that
is given to sinners through the blood and sacrifice of this very
Savior," she said, here's the good news, that mercy, that sparing
of life, That transfer of wrath, that's what mercy is. It's a
transfer of wrath. You know, we say it's not getting
what we deserve. It's so much more than that.
God can't just not give us what we deserve. Mercy is a transferring
of wrath from a sinner to a savior. From a sinner to a substitute.
And she said, here's the good news, that transfer of wrath
from the sinner to this substitute for sinners is on them that fear
him from generation to generation to generation. Verse 51, she
said, he hath showed strength with his arm. What does that mean? That means
the Lord hath made bare His holy arm. The strength of all of God's
people. That's Christ. Verse 51, she went on to say,
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has dealt with man and his pride and his idolatry. Man,
the imagination of man's heart is so evil. concerning all these
things. And she said, He has dealt with
it. Verse 52, she said, He hath put down the mighty from their
seats and exalted them of low degree. Isn't that so amazing? God has chosen the weak things. God has chosen the foolish things.
God has chosen us. Put down the mighty and exalted
the low, them of low degree. Verse 53, she said, he hath filled
the hungry with good things. And the rich hath he sent away
empty. He's filled the hungry, those who are so empty, those
who are so needy, those who cry and beg and plead beggars. He said, open your mouth wide
and I'll fill it. Blessed are the hungry, they'll
be filled. Blessed are them that hunger for righteousness, they'll
be filled. Verse 54, she said, he hath helped,
hoping, he hath helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his
mercy. She said, the Lord has done all
these things in his sovereignty, In his kindness, in his tender
mercy, the Lord has done all these things. Those two women
right there knew the gospel. They knew the gospel. Well, verse
57 says, now Elizabeth's full time came that she should be
delivered and she brought forth a son. John the Baptist was born. And the neighbors and the family
members, they all wanted to name him Zacharias after his father. And Elizabeth said, no, his name
is John. And they said, well, let's go
ask Zacharias about this and see what he wants to name him.
And Zacharias wrote, his name is John. Verse 64, it says, and his mouth
was opened immediately, Zacharias, and his tongue loosed And he
spake and praised God. And fear came on all them that
dwelt round about them. And all these sayings were noised
abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all they
that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What
manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was
with him. And his father Zacharias was
filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied saying, here is Zacharias's
message of the gospel. Verse 68, blessed be the Lord
God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people. That's
all you need to declare, to declare the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's all you need to declare. Blessed be the Lord
God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people. What
has he done? He came and delivered his people. He visited and he redeemed his
people. All glory and praise be to God
Almighty because he came down and saved his people. He hath
purchased them with His own blood. He hath satisfied the holy justice
of God. He hath separated their sins
from them as far as the east is from the west. He hath. As soon as His mouth was open,
He cried, He hath. Listen to the rest of His message.
Verse 68, it says, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. For he
hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an
horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. The horn of salvation means the
strength of salvation. That's Christ. He is our strength
and our song. Verse 69 says, and hath raised
up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.
as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been
since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all that hate us. to perform the mercy
promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. Zechariah said the Lord hath
come to perform the mercy that was promised to us. He came to
perform the mercy. Mercy was promised and he came
to do it. He came to accomplish it. And
he came to remember his holy covenant. He said he came here
because he made a covenant to come here. And he keeps his covenant. He had to be in the holy God
that he is, he had to keep his covenant. He must fulfill, verse
73 says, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham. Zacharias
said his oath, his covenant, his blood, that's what supports
us. Verse 73, the oath which he swore
to our father Abraham that he would grant unto us that we being
delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without
fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our
life. He said, because he came. and delivered us, he has clothed
us in his righteousness, and he has made us holy and acceptable,
and that's how we're going to worship him all the days of our
life. And he said, John here is going
to be the one who tells everybody in God's good time that he has
come. This is Him. Here He is. Verse 76 says, And thou, child,
shalt be called the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go
before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge
of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins,
through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day spring from
on high hath visited, to give light to them that sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of
peace. And the child grew and waxed
strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his
showing unto Israel. Between Elizabeth, Mary, and
Zacharias, they declared, he hath ten times He hath dealt with me. He hath
looked on me. He hath done great things for
me. He hath shown the strength of
his arm. He hath scattered the proud.
He hath put down the mighty. He hath filled the hungry. He
hath sent away the rich. He hath helped his servant Israel,
for he hath visited and redeemed his people. That's the gospel. That's the glorious news of the
gospel, the great things that he hath done. And how thankful
we are for it. How thankful we are for the fact
that Christ came, visited us, and accomplished the mercy and
the grace that was promised in Him. To Him be the glory, to
Him be the credit for all the great things that He's done.