Luke chapter 23, we're going
to read the first 11 verses, 1-11. Verse one of Luke 23, and the
whole multitude of them arose and led Christ unto Pilate. They had already captured him
at the Garden of Gethsemane and bringing him before Pilate. And
they began to accuse Christ, saying, we found this fellow
perverting the nation and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying
that he himself is Christ a king. And Pilate asked Christ, saying,
Art thou the king of the Jews? And he answered Pilate and said,
Thou sayest it. Then said Pilate to the chief
priests and the people, I find no fault in this man. And they
were the more fierce, saying, He stirred up the people, teaching
throughout all Jewry, beginning from Galilee to this place. When Pilate heard of Galilee,
he asked whether the man were a Galilean. And as soon as Pilate
knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to
Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem at this time. And when
Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad, for Herod was desirous
to see Christ of a long time, because he had heard many things
of him, and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. Then he questioned with him in
many words, but Christ answered him nothing. And the chief priests
and scribes stood and vehemently accused him. And Herod, with
his men of war, set him at naught, and mocked him, and arrayed him
in a gorgeous robe, and sent him back again to Pilate." I'm going to deviate from this
text and look at other texts to make my point in outline. Turn with me to John chapter
one. John chapter one. I will entitle this miracle number
one. Miracle number one. In Genesis
chapter one, you don't need to turn it, we see the creation
of the world. God spoke and it was. In John chapter one, verse
one through four, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was
with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life, and the life was the light of men. In verse 10, He, Christ,
was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world
knew Him not. So the first miracle, also entitled
it, is the creation. And who is it said in John chapter
one, created or made this world or this earth? In the context,
who is it said? Jesus Christ. Miracle number
one. Turn to Isaiah chapter nine.
Miracle number two. Isaiah 9, verse 6 and 7. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given. and the government shall be upon
his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
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 and 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. Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2, verse 1-5 and 9-14. 1-5 first, Luke 2, came to pass
in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first
made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be
taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up
from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth unto Judea, unto
the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of
the house and lineage of David. to be taxed with Mary, a spouse-wife,
being great with child. Verse 9, And lo, the angel of
the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them, And they were sore afraid. And the angel said to
them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto
you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger. And suddenly there was an angel,
a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory
to God in the highest on earth, peace and goodwill towards men.
This is, who are these verses in Isaiah and in Luke? Who are they speaking about?
Jesus Christ. The one to come and to redeem
and to show forth righteousness. Miracle number two. Miracle number
three, Luke chapter seven. Luke chapter 7 starting in verse
16 to verse 20. And there came a fear
on all and they glorify God saying this is a great prophet that
a great prophet is risen up among us that God hath visited his
people. And this rumor of him went forth
throughout all Judea and throughout all the region roundabout. And
the disciples of John showed him all these things. And John
calling unto him, two of his disciples sent them to Jesus
saying, art thou he that should come or do we look for another? When the men were come back to
John, they said, I'm sorry, they came to Christ and they said,
John had sent us unto thee saying, art thou he that should come
or should we look for another? Now, who's this referring to?
This is the disciples of John the Baptist and he's in jail
and he says, go to this person and ask him, are you the one
or should we look for another? Who did John the Baptist send
his disciples to? And in another place, John, I
believe it was John chapter one, John says, of Christ, he was
unworthy to even unloose or untie his shoes. Yet he is the one
to whom all the prophets pointed, all that they spake regarding,
and this whole Old Testament said, He would come, and you
can find that in Malachi chapter three, verses one through three.
He's speaking of Christ. Miracle number three. Miracle
number four. What was to be accomplished by
this person? Turn to Daniel chapter nine. Daniel chapter nine, verse 24,
25, and 26. Daniel chapter 9, and he informed
me and talked with me and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth
to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplication, the commandment
came forth that I am come to show thee that thou art greatly
beloved. Therefore, understand the matter
and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city. to finish the transgression,
and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity,
and to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision and prophecy,
and to anoint the most holy. Acts chapter eight. Miracle number four, Acts chapter
eight. Now that was in Daniel 9, Acts
chapter 8, starting in verse 26. The angel of the Lord said to
Philip, saying, Arise, and go towards the south unto the way
that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And
he went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority,
under Candace, queen of Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasure
and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning and
sitting in his chariot, reading Isaiah 53. He's reading Isaiah. Then the Spirit said unto Philip,
go near and join thyself to this chariot. Philip ran up to him
and heard him read the prophet. And he said to the eunuch, Philip
said, understand what you're reading. A logical question.
And the eunuch said, how can I except some man guide me? And
he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The
place of the scripture which the eunuch read was this. He
was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his
shears, so opened he not his mouth. In his humiliation, his
judgment was taken away, and who shall declare his generation?
For his life is taken from the earth." That's what this person
accomplished, what this person, this miracle accomplished. And the eunuch said to Philip,
I pray thee of whom speaks the prophet this of himself about
Isaiah or some other man. And Philip opened his mouth and
began at the same text, the same scripture and preached unto him,
Jesus. Miracle number four, it's the
preaching of Jesus the Jesus that saves his people from their
sins. And you don't have to turn there,
but Hebrews 2.17 says, wherefore in all things it behooved him,
Christ to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to
make reconciliation for the sins of the people. And he also says
in Hebrews chapter 10 in verse 12 and 14, but this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God, for by one offering hath he perfected
forever them that are sanctified. That's what this person, the
Lord Jesus Christ came to do. And, Paul, when he was talking to
Felix and changed in Acts 26, you don't have to turn there,
he said, this thing wasn't done in a corner. He says, Felix,
you yourself know about the Jewish history. He said, this thing,
the birth, the life, the death of Christ was not done in a corner.
It spread throughout the whole world. He, this Christ Jesus,
did, and he did it loudly, because like I said, it wasn't done in
a corner. With resolution declared as he hung on the cross, it is
finished. Who? Christ. For his church, for his
bride, for his elect. That's miracle number four. Miracle
number five. Luke, turn back to Luke chapter
seven. Luke chapter seven and verse
22. This is in the conversation with
John the Baptist's disciples. Christ tells them this and they
go back and tell John the Baptist in jail. Verse 22 of Luke 7. Then Jesus answering said unto
them, go your way and tell John what things you have seen and
heard. He starts listing miracles here,
if I'm not mistaken. What he has seen and heard. how that the blind see, the lame
walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
to the poor the gospel is preached. So that tells me that every time,
whether it's Bruce or Nathan or Matt or whoever we have up
here stands behind this pulpit and they preach the gospel. It's
a miracle. It's a miracle. Okay? In the listing of these miracles,
Christ plainly sets forth the preaching of God's gospel is
also a glorious miracle indeed. For by it, or I should say by
the believing of it, sinners are saved, redeemed, called,
and separated for His use. The truth, singular, is always
good news. Regarding the person and performance
of Christ towards God and towards the needy sinner. Always good
news. That's why, you know, years and
years, hundreds of years ago, tell me some good news. The believer
has good news. God must be honored, justified,
and glorified. He is the gospel. In the gospel,
he is such. Men, women, and children must
have a perfect covering, and he does this in the explanation
and belief of the gospel. Now, back to our text in Luke
23. Somebody wrote something, probably
William Mason, just one sentence, and it started this whole thing. That's a message there. And we
could go on. That was miracle number five.
We could go on and talk about the miracles of Christ, including
the preaching of His gospel. How God is just and justifies
the ungodly. could take upon himself flesh
and the world would not receive him. He created the world, the
world would not receive him. But sinners must have him. This
is how we're going to be saved, how we're going to be redeemed,
how God could be honored in all that he is and does in his character. Now every text that I noted,
these five miracles, who is the one these texts all refer to? Christ. Who is standing before Herod? Christ. And he didn't even know it. He
is looking for something. He's heard, now he sees the man,
and he's not looking to Christ. It's as though Herod could not
see the forest for the trees. You walk in and you're like,
no, you're standing. You're standing in this forest.
But you get blinded by other stuff. He has the miracle of God, the
miracle of grace, and the miracle of free forgiveness right in
front of Him And he doesn't know it. I've never seen this like
this. And Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding
glad, for he was desirous to see Him. Why? Of a long season, because he'd
heard many things of him, and he'd hoped to have seen some
miracle done by him. Remember Christ said, a sign
and wonder is not gonna be given to a wicked and adulterous generation.
And I did notice that he answered Pilate a little bit, but he didn't
answer Herod at all. Now he can see men's hearts.
And this is the same Herod that's gonna give a speech and acts,
and they're gonna say, oh, an orator, this is a God, and Lord
took him out by worms. So he's not even given an opportunity to be saved?
He's not saying anything. I'm not saying this is what we
ought to do. I'm just saying he wanted to see the externals.
This man wanted to see the externals of religion. He wasn't concerned
about the internals of the heart and soul made bare before his
maker. This is how we are, from birth,
by nature, and by practice. We're like Herod. How many times
have we come here? Is this us here today? We're
following Christ for the lows or for the outward signs? We're
here, we're here, we're here, never able to come to the truth. He, Christ, I tell you, is the
miracle. He was expecting to see some
miracle, And the miracle is standing right in front of him. I tell you, he is the miracle
of sovereign grace. Salvation, mercy, and truth is
in him. It's in a person, not in the
system, not in theology, not in denominations. It's in a person.
Now I close. Let's look at two verses of scripture. Jonah chapter 2 If Herod would have seen this, He would have been content. I
don't need to see miracles. I don't need to see you turn
water into wine. I don't need to see a magician show. That's what's going on in churches
today. They got all these things going on. It's external. It's like Bruce said, once you
see, once Christ reveals himself to you, It's like nothing else. Now,
you're still going to have trouble. You're going to have trial. You're
still going to pay taxes. You still got to obey the law.
You got to do all these things. But, you know, Donnie Bell said,
and I'm sure he got it from somebody else, he says, once I heard the
good news, I haven't had any bad news since. And that is true. When we see by faith who can
be against us, if God's force who could be against us. Jonah
chapter two and verse nine. Jonah says, I will sacrifice
unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed
salvation is of the Lord. And I've told you time and time
again, that word of shows origin. Salvation is of the Lord. It starts and finishes with him.
That's, that's a miracle. And that's what we need to see.
And then turn back to Luke chapter 2. And you know this is a favorite
passage of mine. Luke chapter 2, verse 25-30.
I pray this for us here this morning. Luke chapter 2, starting in verse
25. And behold, there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. The same man was devout, just,
waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was
upon him. And it was revealed unto him
by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into
the temple. And when the parents, Mary and
Joseph, brought in the child, Jesus, to do for him according
to the custom of the law, Then Simeon took him up in his arms
and blessed God and said, Lord, now let thy servant depart in
peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. He is equating this child, this
Christ, with salvation. Salvation is in a person. I've seen thy salvation. I've
seen thy miracle. I've seen Christ. Have we? Have we? May it be so, and as
it happened so many years ago, may the heavenly dove light upon
us this day and reveal this person and his accomplishments. for
us, because it's really the only thing that matters. It's really
the only thing that matters. May the Lord bless the preaching,
the reading, and Christ to our hearts. Bruce, would you close
us, please?