Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayer for attention to the gospel according to Luke chapter 3 and verse 15, or part of that verse. We read in this verse, the people were in expectation. The whole verse reads, and as the people were in expectation, And all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or not.

Now John answers and testifies to them that he is not. But there come one mightier than I, the lecher of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. And we read then of our Lord's baptising and the Holy Ghost descending on a bodily shape like a dove upon him. And then the voice came from heaven which said, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.

John Baptist was sent before our Lord and one of those reasons why was to bring the people to be in expectation. Expectation is that strong belief that something will happen or be the case. And the people there were of the feeling that something was afoot, something was happening, so much so that they wondered whether John Baptist was the Christ, whether he was himself the Messiah. And really that's indicative of how effective his ministry of preparation was, that it should bring those words from those that were looking on, that they really began to think and began to expect that Christ was there, that either John was or that something was happening

Now, of course, 30 years before then, our Lord had been born. But no doubt many of those were either unaware of that event or had forgotten that event, weren't thinking of joining those two things together, especially when later on the Jews were saying that no prophet ever came out of Galilee. that it was prophesied that he should come from Bethlehem, though obviously forgetting or did not know that our Lord had actually been born in Bethlehem.

Sometimes we can just assume a thing, can't we? With myself, I've still got somewhat, I believe, an Australian accent. that those that do know me know that I was actually born in England. And so you could listen to someone's accent and say, well, that's where they've been born. But they're not being born there, but spent most of their lives in another place. And remember that Peter, when he denied the Lord those three times, They said, thy speech betrayeth thee, for thou art a Galilean. There was obviously a difference in the speech of a Galilean than there was of those that were at Jerusalem.

But John then is used to bring about this expectation. The word of God speaks about expectations in several ways. There's a most solemn word. in Proverbs 10 verse 28, that the expectation of the wicked shall perish. The wicked, they also think that something is going to happen, think that they are going to come to a good end, and the things that they are planning they'll be able to do, but the Word of God is very solemn concerning their end.

And it reminds us that any expectation, it has a foundation to it. What our expectation is based upon is very, very important. With the wicked, it is very clear that their expectation is not based upon the word of God is not based upon reality of truth, but upon their own feelings and thoughts or of the devil that has deceived them or men that have deceived them. You need to remember that if we have an expectation, how has that expectation been raised up or where have we actually got it from? If we were to go to the Psalms and go to Psalm 62, then we read in verse 5, my soul wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him. So it's not saying my expectation is in God, which indeed it may be, but testifying that that expectation that the psalmist had was from the Lord. He had raised it up in his heart and it would have been through the Word of God.

We may say that our expectations, they do, if it is a good expectation, it is based upon the Word of God, it is based upon what the Lord has done for us in calling us and quickening us, based upon our experience.

We think of Even in a natural sense, like a child that has year by year been fed and clothed by their parent, they have that expectation that that will continue because they know their parent loves them and they have the experience that it had always been so.

And so it can be based upon experience of the Lord's goodness and provision And certainly in Gospel days, where we have the prophecies first of our Lord and then His coming, any further expectation we have based upon prophecy or the Word of God, we know from what has been fulfilled, we can rely upon the Word of God to expect something to happen, expect these things to come to pass in the Lord's time and the Lord's way.

In fact again in Proverbs 23 verse 18, we have a beautiful word for the Lord's people, that thine expectation shall not be cut off. Where the Lord does give a real expectation, he doesn't mock his people, he doesn't give them something, he's not like perhaps a parent that would give a child the real expectation that coming up to a birthday or Christmas, they're going to have a great, wonderful present and wonderful gifts. And when it comes to the actual time, then it's not what they expected at all.

Sometimes it can be a misunderstanding. Simple thing. Years ago, when we were children over in Australia, of course, we were brought up with English parents. And to us, a lolly was like a lollipop. But to the Australians, a lolly was just a little sweet. And so when a friend said to us that they were going to give us some lollies, we were really in expectation of this wonderful treat of a lollipop or something like that. And all they had in their hand was little sweets. And I still remember to this day going round to receive these things and being very disappointed. because it wasn't what we thought. The expectation was different because we didn't understand. Different words were used to describe different things.

And so where the Lord gives his people, especially an expectation based upon the Word of God and what he has done for them and blessed to them, He says that, though an expectation shall not be cut off, it will come to pass.

And when we think of those dear Old Testament saints in Hebrews 11, all of them died with an expectation of the coming of the Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, to put away their sins through the sacrifice of himself.

I want to look at this word expectation and the people being in expectation in the three ways. The firstly, in expectation of Christ's coming as the seed of the woman. Those Old Testament saints, that was their expectation. Yes, they did go beyond that to the Lord's sacrifice and rising again and second coming, but mostly they're looking for his first coming. And then secondly, an expectation of Christ coming to our hearts, being formed in our own hearts. And then thirdly, an expectation of Christ coming In the clouds with power and great glory, the second coming of our Lord. Firstly, the expectation of Christ's coming is the seed of the woman. I describe Christ's coming in that way because that was the first promise that was actually given in the Garden of Eden. And that gave an expectation that, as was said of Eve, that she should be saved in childbearing.

After Adam and Eve had sinned, we have in Genesis 3 verse 15, the Lord speaking actually to Satan and to the serpent who had deceived, And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. And what it was pointing to is the Lord Jesus Christ coming, the seed of the woman, born of a woman and made under the law, and that he then should suffer at Calvary, and his sufferings, that is the bruising, of his heel, but what he accomplished in his sufferings and death and enduring the wrath of God in himself, that bruised Satan's head, because it delivered those for whom Christ died out of Satan's hand. It paid their debt. The accused of the brethren was cast down. He could not hold those for whom Christ had settled their debt and made a way into the holiest of all four.

And so this is what that promise was pointing to when he gave rise right the way through to the coming of the Lord as being the seed And this was opened up with the promises to Abraham, in thee and in thy seed shall all nations be blessed. And that same promise given to Abraham was given to Isaac, and it was given to Jacob, those three patriarchs, the three fathers, and Jacob, of course, his children, the 12 tribes of Israel, Jacob changed his name, God changed his name to Israel as he wrestled with God and with man and prevailed. And so there is that real expectation that that would be so.

And of course, this is what is emphasised. We stopped in our reading. We didn't read the whole line. If we'd have continued reading in Luke 3, then It comes from the son of Joseph, or Mary's father, which was the son of Heli, and it goes right the way down Mary's line, because Mary was the bloodline, the human line if you like, the seed of the woman, And that traces right back in the last verse there in chapter three, which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God. And so we're traced to Adam, we're traced to God.

If we were to go to the gospel according to Matthew, then we have with the beginning of that gospel, setting forth of the line the kingship line, which is not a bloodline, but it's pointing to the kingship of our Lord. And that goes from Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So it goes from Abraham, and we have 14 generations from Abraham through to David. from David to the carrying away into Babylon, and from carrying away into Babylon unto Christ, 14 generations, going right through the tribe of Judah. And so that very first promise of the seed of the woman was a very important one.

We think of how the expectation was shown in Job. Job, he says, that how can there be that which is clean, born of a woman? And he puzzled how it was that this promise should be fulfilled when everyone that was born in the world was tainted with sin. But we know in the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, It was in that way that our Lord was spotless and free from sin, as if sin is coming through the male line and not in the seed of the woman. We also have Job saying that, I know that my Redeemer liveth So he is testifying already before our Lord Jesus Christ came, he lived, he was in existence, he is the eternal son of God, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. That was his expectation, and he went even further. And he said that after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my Flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself and not another. He viewed the resurrection, and that he would see God himself after he died.

This was an expectation that Solomon had. When Solomon dedicated the temple at Jerusalem, then Solomon said, but will God in very deed dwell upon the earth? Behold, the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less this house that I have built thee. And our Lord Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man. He did dwell upon the earth.

We have promises in the blessings that Jacob gave to his sons until Shiloh come, and the Shiloh is our Lord Jesus Christ. And we have blessings as well that point to Bethlehem, though thou be small among the tribes of or cities of Judah. And we have that promise and that prophecy in Micah, where it's pointing that our Lord Jesus Christ should come through Bethlehem or come to Bethlehem. And so these prophecies that went before, they were used, just like John Baptist, to raise up an expectation.

We think of when the wise men went to Herod, and then they inquired of the Jews where that Christ should be born. They quoted this in Micah 5. But thou, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is, to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. And these promises, these all gave an expectation. And so, as we said with those in Hebrews 11, faith, the evidence of things not seen as yet, they all died in that belief that Christ would come and that he would put away their sin by sacrifice of himself.

We actually have a similar faith but we look back and we can read the account of his coming. We have greater clarity and blessing than those Old Testament saints did who had the types, they had the shadows, they had the sacrifices, they had those things that pointed to what Christ should be.

David, when he was shown of Solomon's kingdom, that God told him it was to be an everlasting kingdom, he realised that what God was telling him was not just Solomon's kingdom. It was of the Lord Jesus, of the Messiah, that was to come. And so he said, is this the manner of man, O Lord God? God had shown him that type that the Lord would come.

Of course, we read together from Isaiah of the child being born, again pointing to the seed, pointing to one being born that is wonderful, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David, upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

And lest we should think, well, it's just one born, a child, no one so great. To have a prophecy like this, it's setting such wonderful words and such a wonderful blessing upon this child, showing who he is, what his offices are, that he is even given the names, the mighty God, the everlasting Father. Now Lord testified, I and my Father are one, he fulfilled these prophecies. He fulfilled that which the people were in expectation of.

And yet there were many that knew not the day of their visitation. They could not see the Lord was this one that had been prophesied. They stumbled that he was the son of Joseph, a carpenter, that his brethren were there, half-brothers, sisters also, and they stumbled at these things. There were those that the Lord revealed himself to so clearly.

The woman at the well of Samaria, she said that, I know when Messiahs cometh, he shall tell us all things. She had an expectation of what the Lord would do and tell them. The Lord had already told her about her life. That which had been hidden wouldn't have been known by him, and he told her he knew it all. And then he clearly said to her, I that speak unto thee am he.

But her message to the Samaritans was, come see a man that told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ? What she had expectation of, the Lord actually fulfilled. in her experience, and that meant more to us, her even, than the Lord telling her that he was the Christ.

You have how he revealed himself to the man that had been born blind as well. And many, of course, his disciples, those that believed on him, Peter, when they were asked, whom say ye that I am, The Lord first asked what others were saying. Many different things were being said about him, whether a prophet risen from the dead or some other person. But Peter says, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And our Lord said to him, blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my Father. which is in heaven.

And so the Old Testament saints, they were in expectation of Christ's coming as the seed of the woman. They were, like we have set forth in our text, in expectation in their lives, in their day, in their generation, The same is brought to a head here as the people were in expectation.

I want to go from this point, realizing we have here those generations in expectation, and when the Lord came, he fulfilled those scriptures. He truly fulfilled that expectation of those that died, trusting and resting in what God would perform and do. We have a real example of souls, generations, resting upon the words of the Lord, trusting, leaning upon the word of the Lord.

Our Lord says that heaven and earth shall pass away. My word shall not pass away. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. It is infallible. It is said with the oath of heaven, we may rest upon the word of God in our expectation. Thou saidst. How many times do we plead the word of God? Do we base our expectations upon it?

Want to look then secondly at in expectation of Christ's coming to our hearts. The Lord commissioned his disciples and following them, all of us who preach the gospel, to preach the gospel, to preach Christ and him crucified, To lift him up in the Word of God, we are told to preach the Word. Not our own feelings, though our feelings will be bound up with the Word. When the Word tells us about sin, the Lord will make sure that we know our sin and what we feel under that sin. When we read that the blessing of the Lord maketh rich, he addeth no sorrow with it. Then to handle taste and feel those things, to be blessed in that way, we will say amen to what the word says about a spiritual blessing. The Lord said that the words that I have spoken unto you, they are spirit and they are life. And he said, these things I have spoken unto you that in me you might have peace, that peace based upon the word of God. In the world you shall have tribulation, but in me you shall have peace. And so the expectation of a preacher going forth is that God will bless that word.

When Jonah was sent to Nineveh, Jonah ran away first, and the reason why he did, we're told in chapter four and verse one, was that he knew God was a gracious and long-suffering God. He knew if God sent a preacher, even to say that the city would be destroyed in 40 days, if he gave them warning, then he would bring them to repentance. And the Lord did. and the Lord spared them. And so Jonah, he knew something of the Lord and what was joined with a minister.

We think of the Apostle Paul when he was going forth, he tried to go into Bithynia and the spirit suffered them not. He was forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach in Asia and then had a vision come over into Macedonia and help us. And he went, surely believing that the Lord had meant them to preach the gospel there. And when they did, there was those that were saved, the Philippine jailer, Lydia.

There is an expectation where the Lord sends a man, where the Lord places a minister, that there is a purpose. And there will be those souls that are either called by grace or they'll be fed, nourished, strengthened, encouraged, and taught in the things of God. And central to this is the Lord Jesus Christ being revealed. He says, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. And especially in the new birth, being born again of the Spirit, Our soul is made to be able to know and love the Lord whom we do not see. We view him by faith.

We think of the eunuch that Philip was sent to. Again, we have a minister sent to a man. And he was reading Isaiah 53, which he couldn't understand. Does the prophet speak of another man, or is he speaking of himself? He's led as a lamb to the slaughter, the sheep before his shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth. And Philip began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus. And he was brought to believe in the Lord. He was brought to be blessed with believing. We read that after he was baptized, He went on his way rejoicing.

There are those and will be those to the end of the world that Christ is revealed to. We think of the Apostle Paul himself, persecuting the people of God that called upon the name of the Lord Jesus. He didn't believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ. He knew the Old Testament scriptures well, but he didn't believe and couldn't believe But when the Lord met with him on the Damascus road, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. Then he was brought to see him as one born out of due time, he says, and to believe on his name and to preach the Lord Jesus Christ. His life was different from that point.

And this is the expectation. When the word is preached, that those who even hated The Lord, hated the things of God, will under the preaching of the Word be changed, be brought to believe, to receive Him, to trust in Him, to look to Him, to forgive and pardon their sins, and to value His Word. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. and so we should in these Gospel days. These are days of in-gathering of God's people, and there is no salvation outside of Christ. The earth only remains because there are those still to be born, and then born again of the Spirit, brought to believe. When the last one is brought to believe, then this world shall be destroyed, the Lord shall come that second time.

But our expectation should be that the Lord does come, Christ formed in you, the hope of glory. The Apostle Paul says that for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. That his daily life was to walk with the Lord, we think of Enoch, who walked with God and was not, for God took him.

And to the people of God, it is the Lord coming to them, revealing himself to them so that they believe him and trust in him. That is the great expectation. It's a blessed thing to be a seeker, to seeking after the Lord.

Seek ye the Lord while he may be found Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man his thoughts.

These are the words of the prophet Isaiah, and they are the language of the gospel. The apostles, they pointed men to Christ. John Baptist pointed to repentance. Christ pointed to repentance, the apostles did, to turn from idols, to turn from the world, to turn from every other way, and to look to Christ alone for salvation, to trust in him alone. Not an almost Christian, but altogether, not just partial, but a real new creature in Christ, whom having not seen ye love, in whom though you see him not yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable.

Christ revealed to a soul so that they believe and rejoice and trust in him. And so we from the word are to have an expectation where Christ has sent forth his servants and again, he's not just based upon Christ sending forth his disciples, But in the letters, in the Acts of the Apostles, we read that expectation realized. That when they preached, there were those that did believe. And God's sovereign act was in that too. As many as were ordained unto eternal life believed. Some believed the word spoken, some believed not.

Never be put off that some people, even wise people, people that the world think great, that they don't believe and receive the Lord, don't be put off by that in our Lord's own day. There were those of the religious elite, those that were looked up as godly religious people, they didn't receive the Lord. But it was those that were the simple ones, those that were untrained, they did, they were able to see. And we need to Remember the sovereignty of God in that and bless God if he has ever opened our eyes, given us to believe, trust in him and to look for him.

And of course, like with the Thessalonians, this led to looking for his coming again. That's my third point. The Thessalonians, the word they received was not just the word only, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, and they became followers of the Lord and followers of the disciples, and to wait for his Son from heaven. What was joined with their believing was a believing that the Lord would come again.

So my third point is in expectation of Christ coming in the clouds with power and great glory. The apostles were told this in the Acts in chapter one, we can read of it. When they stood looking up into heaven, Then the angel came and spoke to them, verse 11, which also said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. What an expectation that would be. that the Lord would indeed come again.

The Lord had told them the time when he would come, going back to Matthew chapter 24, and our Lord is speaking of the second coming of the end of the world. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, The stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, that is, our Lord Himself coming. And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And it is said for the people of God that when those things happen, when they see that happen, that they are to look up for their redemption, draweth nigh.

The Lord warns in this chapter, Matthew 24, towards the end of that chapter, Watch therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Right the way through our Lord's teaching was that his second coming would be as quickly as what Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed, as quickly as Noah's flood happened, Men were still marrying and giving in marriage and buying and selling. And then suddenly there was the end.

And in recent events or going back, I suppose, recent 22 years to the 2004 tsunamis in Asia, and to read of those that were just driving along, just doing about their shopping, And then they noticed that all the sea had gone out. They saw signs of something strange happening. But those signs were so quick upon the sea then returning that they had no time to flee. And they were destroyed with the waves of the tsunami.

And so when we read of these things, these signs and the things that are coming before our Lord returns, I believe it will be very, very quick, so quick that, as our Lord said, there's not time to get down from the top of the house to the bottom, but the end shall come quick. We're exhorted to be ready for that time. And for the people of God, they're looking for it, they're expecting it, they're desiring it.

Mentioned about the Thessalonians looking for the Lord to come from heaven at first, they thought he was coming very soon. And so they stopped working. They were idle. And the apostle had to write letters to them to tell them to keep working. They weren't just to wait. And of course, now we are a couple of thousand years further on. But there will be a generation when the Lord does come. When we think from the first, promise of Christ to his coming to this earth was 4,000 years. So 2,000 years, we can expect any time the Lord to come.

But also the Thessalonians, they feared as well that those that had died had perished. And so The Lord gave a word through Paul to the Thessalonians. Beautiful word at the end of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, where we read, he says, I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, or those who have died, that you sorrow not as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, Even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. Their bodies are in the grave, their souls are with God, they're with the Lord. And then when the Lord comes, they shall be coming with Him. But their resurrected bodies then, united with their souls, and those that are alive on the earth to be caught up with them in the air. This is what is said here. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent or go before them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

And that chapter closes with these words, wherefore comfort one another with these words. It's meant to be a comfort for the people of God, a comfort to those in bereavement, whose loved ones have died in the Lord, that they are with the Lord, and that the Lord will come again, and that he will bring them, and we shall be caught up in the clouds with them.

And so, the church today, those who are uncalled, living in expectation of Christ revealed and calling, Those that are called in expectation of his visits, of blessings, spiritual blessings, that the Lord would come to them, comfort them, bless them, walk with them, draw near to them, and that they would behold him by faith. And then walking in that expectation of his second coming, that the Lord will come again. There shall be a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. And we shall be ever with the Lord.

And so the Lord has done this through history. He's given expectations. He's given it in the very first promises of the coming of the Lord. He's given it in the preaching of the word. He's given it also in the expectation of the Lord's second coming and where he gives that expectation. especially where he has blessed us with being called, be born again, and to believe on his name, and to walk in his fear, continuing in his word, true disciples, then our expectation, based on the word, based on our experience of calling, is that that will not be cut off. We shall be with the Lord. We shall be with him eternally. He is our God now. and he will be forever.

We read in Psalm 84, he shall give grace and glory, no good thing shall he withhold from them that walk uprightly. Well, the Lord be pleased to bless this word and grant us to be in expectation of the coming of the Lord. Amen.