Well, good morning and welcome
to our continuing Bible study in Luke. And if you join me in
Luke chapter one this morning. Last week, we were discussing
the conception of John the Baptist. And we kind of started off from the
book of John, where it says, there was a man sent from God.
His name was John. And this week, We're going to move on from that
and look a little bit about he's declared to be the messenger
of the Lord. So join me as we read here, starting in verse 13, the angel
said unto him unto Zacharias. Fear not, Zacharias, for thy
prayers heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou
shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness,
and many shall rejoice at his birth, for he shall be great
in the sight of the Lord. and shall drink neither wine
nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost
even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel
shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him
in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children. and the disobedient to the wisdom
of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And Zacharias
said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? For I am an
old man and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answering
said unto him, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God
and am sent to speak unto thee and to show thee these glad tidings. And behold, Thou shalt be dumb
and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be
performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be
fulfilled in their season.' And the people waited for Zacharias
and marveled that he tarried so long in the temple, and when
he came out he could not speak unto them, and they perceived
that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned unto
them and remained speechless. And it came to pass, as soon
as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed
to his own house." So we'll just deal with that
block of scripture today. Remember, his job, as we studied
last week, his job in his lot fell to light the incense in
the temple as the people were praying outside. And we mentioned
how those incense and the prayers kind of went together. One symbolized
the other, and they went up to God in a pleasant aroma as the
people prayed to the Lord their God. And they prayed for the
Messiah to come. And And they said, the angel said
to Zacharias, you're going to have a son. He is going to go
before the Lord. and be the messenger. He shall
be great in the sight of the Lord, and he shall go before
him in the spirit of the power of Elias. There were several
things that came to mind, and I went through these as I was
preparing. When I got it all done, I got it all typed up the
other day, and I was telling Norm this morning, I said, there
was like a It's like a piece of my jigsaw puzzle was missing
and I just couldn't quite put my finger on it and then this
morning our ring doorbell went off at four o'clock in the morning
and I got up and well I might as well get up and I'll just
do some more studying and Lo and behold, here comes the word
that put it all together for me. So I hope you'll enjoy this
study. Remember, as we talked about
Zacharias, his name meant Jehovah Remembers. He is told that he's going to
have joy and gladness at the birth of John, and he's going
to be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. Boy,
wouldn't we all like to say that about our children? And I know
we all have concerns about our families, and we wish for those
kind of things. Many shall rejoice as well at
his birth, it says. And the reason for this, joy
and this gladness. He gives about six reasons here
why Zacharias is going to have joy and gladness. He shall be
great in the sight of the Lord. That would make people pretty
happy. He shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He shall
be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from the womb. Many of the
children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. That's
an important phrase there. And we're going to spend probably
quite a bit of our lesson on that notion there. He shall go
before him, before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elias. That's the New Testament in the
Greek rendering of Elijah. to turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just." There's
a good article in your bulletin this morning about a comparison
between our hearts before and after regeneration and where
we get wisdom and who do we turn to for that. To make ready a
people prepared for the Lord, it says in verse 15 through 17. The first part of this prediction
that the angel tells him about, the angel Gabriel, seems to be
a reflection of what's written in Proverbs chapter 23, regarding
a rejoicing in this son. In Proverbs, the 23rd chapter,
starting in verse 15, Proverbs 23, 15, it says, my son, if thine
heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. Yea, my reins
shall rejoice when thy lips speak right things. Let not thine heart
envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the
day long. For surely there is an end, and
thine expectations shall not be cut off. Hear thou, my son,
and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. Be not among
wine-bibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh. For the drunkard and
the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a
man with rags. hearken unto thy father that
begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. Buy the
truth and sell it not, also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that
begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him. Thy father and
thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice."
Isn't that just a good description of Zacharias and Elizabeth at the news of this birth of
their son? And they were already old. Can
you imagine by the time John is a young man, 18, They're going to really be old.
And yet through all that, they're going to be rejoicing in Him
because of the blessing of the Lord on Him. This great cause
of rejoicing is found of the blessing of the Lord through
the Holy Spirit filled with the Holy Ghost from His mother's
womb. He's great in the sight of the
Lord. He's going to be declared to be. And you know, Jesus declared
him that very thing in Matthew chapter 11 verse 9. It says, He's talking
about John, and they're saying, well, we went out to look at
him, but he was just kind of a disgusting old looking guy
in dirty clothes. And he says, well, what went
you out to see? A prophet? Yea, and I say unto
you, more than a prophet, for this is he of whom it is written,
behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare
thy way before thee. This is written by, this is something
said by God the Father to the Lord. I send my messenger before thy
face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say
unto you, among them that are born of women, there has not
risen a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that
is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And the Lord is just quoting Malachi
chapter three, verse one. Behold, I will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom
ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts." And what was the message that John the
messenger was going to bring? He was going to bring the gospel.
And we find that kind of recorded here in Isaiah chapter 40, verse
1 through 5. In Isaiah 40, verse 1 through
5, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. the voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall
be exalted, every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the
crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And
the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall
see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. What
a forecast there. My messenger is going to come.
He's going to prepare a people for the Lord. He's going to say,
comfort the people. Be a comfort to the people. Tell
them their sin has been paid for. It's been paid for double. Not just the minimum. Not just
barely enough to get by on. where sin did abound, grace did
much more abound. It's been paid for double. So
this is the message that John would proclaim. He would proclaim
the gospel. And this gospel would turn many
of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. There's nothing
else that does that. The gospel is the only thing
that accomplishes that. Now this word turn here, it's
an interesting word it turns out. The warfare is accomplished in
the work and person of Christ the Lord, their iniquities pardoned.
This turning describes a super, when you look that word up, it
says, it's a super imposition, which is something, when we superimpose
something, we lay something over the top of something else. And it's coupled to a word that
means a turning around or reversing. And it just gives us a divine
view of that word. He shall turn many of the children
of Israel to the Lord their God with the gospel. They shall be
turned from idols to the one true God through faith, the total
reliance on faith in Christ for salvation. In 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1 verse 4, He says, Knowing, brethren, beloved,
your election of God for our gospel came to you not in word
only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much
assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you for
your sake. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having
received the word in much affliction. with joy of the Holy Ghost, so
that you were in samples to all that believe in Macedonia and
Achaia. And for from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not
only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith
to Godward is spread abroad, so that we need not speak anything
For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we
had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the
living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom
he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from
the wrath to come." Now this turning is very important here
as we look at this, because in verse 17 it says, Let's back up and read verse
16 with that. And many of the children of Israel
shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him
in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to
make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Now that is coming
from Malachi the fourth chapter. where it says, behold, I will
send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful
day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of
the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to
their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. So if we were to go back in the
Old Testament and look at Elijah, that's what the, this Elias is
the, the, the Greek rendering of his name as we kind of went
through that a little bit last in our previous lesson. He's
going to come in the spirit and power of Elias. And when we go
back to the Old Testament, we find out he's always referred
to as Elijah the Tishbite. Now, that's an interesting appellation,
that Tishbite. In Strong's Concordance, it defines
that his name as patriarchal, from an unused name meaning recourse. And I thought, well, that's unusual. Why didn't it just say, well,
he was from Tishba? Because that's kind of the general
description that you get from your commentators. Well, Elijah
the Tishbite, he was from Tishba. But this word recourse, And it's
coupled with this, it says it's coupled with this patrial term
that relates to one's fatherland. And we'll see how that kind of
comes together with it here in a minute. But recourse is a Latin
word that's, it means back to run. a return, a course redirection is what that
means. Re would indicate a correction
back to the true course. You can look that up in your
Webster's 1828 dictionary. It kind of gives you the idea
of a return back to the father, a turning back. So we might think
of Elijah from more than Elijah the Tishbite to Elijah the Turner. That's kind of what that means. And I was looking in Matthew
Henry's commentary, and he took it a step farther. And he says,
we should have called him Elijah the Converter. Because that's
what he did. He preached the gospel and he
spent much of his career battling the false religionists
of the day. He spent a lot of his life declaring
the truth of God to people that were caught up in false religion
and idols. And we have an example here. Let's look at one example in
1 Kings chapter 18, verse 20. And this relates to the story
of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. And if you remember, they
had this contest. He said, why don't you guys go
down and set up an altar and put your sacrifice on it and
call down to your God and see if he'll consume it with fire.
And he kind of mocked him. He said, well, maybe your God's
taking a nap, or maybe he's visiting a far land and he didn't hear
you very well, or something like that. And nothing ever happened
with their sacrifice. They were just fakers. They were
just promoting a false idol, a false worship. And he says,
okay, now you go down and set up my sacrifice, and then I want
you to pour all this water on it. And then they did that, and
he says, okay, do it again. Soak it. Soak it really good.
Dig a ditch around it. Fill it full of water. Drown
it. And the fire from the Lord came down
and consumed the whole thing up, every bit of it. And so we're going to tune in
here at 1 Kings chapter 18 verse 20. And Ahab sent unto all the children
of Israel and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel. And
Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long halt ye between
two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. Hear me. that this people may
know that thou art the Lord God and that thou has turned their
heart back again." This turning, this turning from idols to worshiping
the true God, this thing that happens in regeneration. And that's what has to occur
before there's a turning. Then the fire of the Lord fell
and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones,
and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces, and they
said, The Lord, He is the God. The Lord, He is the God." Well,
in Luke here it says, John is going to go before Him
in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the children
to the Father and the disobedient to the wisdom of the God. He's
going to turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
And how is he going to do that? He's going to do it after the
pattern of Elijah by preaching the gospel. And we're going to see that later
on when he's baptizing. A lot of the false religionists
came to him the Pharisees and the Sadducees came to his baptism
and says, ooh, ooh, we want in on that. And he says, generation
of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
And so that, you can find that and we'll hit that a little bit
later in Luke chapter three, verse seven and Matthew chapter
three. gives us the added detail that
it was Pharisees and Sadducees to whom he addressed the Viper
portion of his comments. But he was baptizing and many,
many of the people were coming unto him. And we'll talk about
that repentance that was, he says, bring some evidence. Bring
some evidence that says your heart's been turned. In those days came John the Baptist
preaching in the wilderness of Judea, preaching the gospel and
saying, turn ye, repent ye, set a new course, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken
of by the prophet, Elijah, or Isaiah, saying, the voice of
one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord,
make his path straight. And the same John had his raiment
of camel's hair and a leather girdle about his loins and his
meat was locusts and wild honey. Remember when Elijah, I think, is in 2
Kings. The king sent, he was sick in
bed and Elijah said, you're going to die in bed. He sent the soldiers
out there to arrest him and bring him in and they were all killed
by the Lord. So he sent another captain of
50 out and they were all killed by the Lord. The next guy that
came out says, don't kill me, don't kill me. Have mercy, you
know. And so he said, turn back to
the king that sent you. And he gives him a message from
God. And they get back to Elijah,
or to Ahab, and he, well, who turned you around? Well, this
hairy guy with leather girdle told us, thus saith the Lord. So they went back. So this was
he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying, the voice
of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord,
make his path straight. And this same John had his raiment
of camel's hair and a leather girdle about his loins and his
meat was locusts and wild honey and then went out to him, Jerusalem
and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan and were baptized
of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. Unregenerate people don't do
that. They don't recognize themselves
as a sinner or not much of a sinner. Or maybe if they do, they do
it in a boastful way. I'm a great sinner. I'm a bad
man. And they do it in a boastful
way. But you know, when a person is regenerated, when they're
born again, They just have a different view of their sin than Jeremiah. He says, after I give you a new
heart, you're just going to look at your old ways that were not
good, and you're just going to loathe yourself for them. But
the good news is you're going to recognize that your sin has
been paid for double. Your warfare is accomplished. When he saw many of the Pharisees
and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation
of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bring forth therefore fruit, meat for repentance." Bring some
evidence that you've turned from your idol worship, which in the
Pharisees' situation, they just worshipped the law. They worshipped
their works. They worshipped what they did. So he's going to come in the
spirit and pattern of Elias to turn the hearts, to make ready
a people prepared for the Lord. And Paul describes what's necessary
for a people to be made ready and prepared for the Lord. It's
just the gospel. In Romans chapter 10, how shall
they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they
believe on him in whom they've not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? A turner, if you will. A person
that gives them the gospel. Romans 10-15, how shall they
preach except they be sent? There was a man sent from God,
his name was John, to preach the gospel, to prepare the way
for the Lord of glory that was going to come and pay double
for their sins. As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel, for Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our report?
So then faith come by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And so, isn't that a great picture
of, he's gonna come in the spirit and power of Elijah, Elijah the
Turner, we're gonna call him. To turn people from, the idol,
the worship of idols and worship of themselves and turn them to
the true and living God by declaring the gospel and the payment for
sin. And it's just typical of us, you
know, even after we're saved, We struggle with unbelief. You
know, it says about Zacharias and his wife, they were both
righteous before God and blameless. And yet here the angel says,
you don't believe one word I've just said. And you say, well, how can that
be? Well, that's just how it is. We just struggle with that. His reaction was like those two
on the road to Emmaus, if we ever get to the end of the book
of Luke here, chapter 24. They're just moping along and
they don't realize that their sin has just been paid for double,
that their warfare has been accomplished. And they're just despondent,
they're depressed. And the Lord appears to them
and says, what's the problem? And they said, where have you
been? Have you not been in this neighborhood lately? It's been
three days. And he said, oh fools and slow
of heart not to believe all that the prophets wrote. They wrote
about this. And we spent some time reading
Psalm 22 that just gives that graphic detail. When we were
studying the fabric of grace, the detail of his crucifixion,
strong bowls of bastion have surrounded me. They pierced my
hands, my feet. They gaped about me with their
mouths. They parted my raiments and cast lots from my vesture. The seed of the woman from Genesis
chapter one is going to bruise the head of the serpent. All
these things, the Lord shall supply himself a sacrifice. All those things that testified
that Christ, search the scriptures and then you think you have eternal
life and they are they that testify of me. All these things you probably
read, and you read them, and they just kind of go over your
head, and then all of a sudden the Lord reveals a word to you
like tishbite. And then a lot of things come
together for you that were just words before. slow of heart to believe all
that the prophet said. I had to come. I must have come
and been maltreated by the elders, and arrested, betrayed, crucified,
buried, and rise again the third day. He said, I have to do that. I want to do that. I will do
that. And then he says, I did do that. That guy with the child in Mark
chapter 9, I believe, Lord help thou my unbelief. That's the
cry every one of us could shout out. That's always the result
when we try to apply human wisdom and nature to spiritual things. I don't, I'm like Zacharias,
I'm old, how's that gonna be? I believe the Lord, but I have
a notion about how things work and I can't reconcile the Almighty
with how I see things. And we just have trouble with
that. In your bulletin there's a thing about the infinite love
of God. I was thinking, Rachel's husband, he's a big
guy. He is large. And I was thinking, what if I
gave him my sweatshirt there and said, here, put that on. it would just come down to here
on him and he wouldn't be able to get it around him. And that
article says that's the way God's infinite love is. It has to be
as big as infinite God. It can't be less than that. It
has to be as infinite as He is. And so when we try to reconcile
things with a human perspective to a spiritual thing, then it
doesn't measure up most times, only by faith. Zacharias, he
tried to do that. He said, well, since you don't
believe, you're just going to not be able to speak until these
things be fulfilled. And that came to pass. We only believe by the working
of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised
Him from the dead. And we have to depend on that
all the time, even if we can't reconcile our... physically things
that we see and things that affect us. But we have God's word, which
is unalterable and steady, and it's a rock. And so there's some
good lessons to us here from Zachariah. Those things didn't
happen to him just for no purpose. So we'll stop there. And next
time we get together, Lord willing, We'll be looking at, Thou shalt
conceive a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. In the remainder of Luke chapter
1. So, thank you for your attention,
and as always, be free.