Now take your Bible and let's
turn again to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. I want to bring
a message from the last four or five verses in Luke 1 beginning
at verse 76. Now this is the conclusion of
the message that Zechariah, the priest of God, brought there
in the temple that day, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit,
and he declared the gospel of God. I'm entitling the message
from the words found in verse 76 of Luke 1, and I'm calling
the message, John, the prophet of the highest. You see that?
And thou child, talking about his eight day old son John, shall
be called the prophet of the highest. How did he know that? Well, he heard that from the
messenger named Gabriel. He shall be great and many shall
rejoice at his coming. And Zacharias repeats the message
that he heard. Zacharias was praising and thanking
the Most High God for salvation and redemption through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Let's go back just a minute.
Luke chapter 1 verse 67 and turn there. Zacharias, the father
of John, was filled with the Holy Ghost. Remember now, this
is in the temple, the child, eight day old, being circumcised.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he had visited and redeemed
his people and has raised up on horn a power of salvation
for us in the house of his servant David. He spake, as he spake
by the mouth of the holy prophets, which have been since the world
began, that we should be saved from our enemies, from the hand
of all them that hate us, to perform mercy, promise to our
fathers, to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore
unto Abraham. God's gonna bless a multitude
of people through that covenant seed, Isaac, which is Christ,
that he would grant us that we being delivered. The Lord Jesus
Christ is our deliverer. If you ever delivered from your
sin, it will be by his doing. He is the Deliverer. That we,
being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, we might serve
Him without fear, and serve Him in holiness and righteousness
before Him all the days of our life. How does a believer serve
Him in holiness and in righteousness? Being in Christ, who is our holiness,
who is our righteousness. And thou, child... I just can
imagine Zacharias looking thou child shall be called the prophet of
the highest. It's like we're going to see in chapter 2 when
they brought the eight-day-old baby named Jesus to the temple
to be circumcised on the eighth day. Zacharias or, goodness,
Simeon. I had a senior moment, forgive
me. Simeon, I've been preaching that for 30 years. You all have
to overlook my senior moments, and I'll overlook yours. Simeon
picked up the eight-day-old baby, the Lord Jesus Christ, and said,
Behold, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. John's father here,
Zachariah, turned his attention to this eight-day-old son and
declares and described the ministry that the Lord had given to his
special son, John. And his name means gracious,
gracious. God blessed his people with a
prophet. You remember in John chapter
1 verse 5, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. He was sent from God, clearly. A special man? A sinner saved
by God's grace, sent for a special time, sent to a special people
with a special message. You remember John said, I came
to bear witness of the light. John said, the Lord Jesus Christ
must increase, I must be diminished and taken out of the picture.
And that happened. True and faithful gospel preachers
are gifts of Christ unto His church. They don't put themselves
in the ministry. They are called, sent, gifted
by the Lord with His message. True then, true today. I pity the poor sinner who puts
himself in the ministry. God puts men in the ministry. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
3. Ephesians chapter 3 and we can
see that this is a pattern that God has ordained. In Ephesians
chapter 3 verse 7, wherefore I was made a minister, this is
Paul, according to the gift of his grace given unto me by the
effectual working of his power unto me who am less than the
least of all the saints. Paul said I I'm less than the
least. Vanity. And this grace is given
that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ. That's the gift of God to His
church or gospel ministers. Look across the page, Ephesians
chapter 4. Verse 8, Wherefore, he saith,
when he ascended upon high, he led captivity captive, and gave
gifts unto men. Now he that ascended, what is
it? But that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth.
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above
all things, that he might fill all things, or fulfill all things.
And he gave, the resurrected Christ gave some apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors, teachers. God gave them to His church,
these men, for the perfecting of the saint, for the work of
the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we
all come to the unity of faith. God has a purpose in sending
out gospel preachers. Faithful gospel ministers, faithful
ministers of the gospel do not seek the praise of men. They
are seeking to honor the Lord Jesus Christ, pointing sinners
to the Lord Jesus Christ, glorying only in the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the greatest gifts God
can give to any people and to any community is a God-sent,
God-called minister of the gospel of God's grace. The gift of God. given to His people. Their message
is the message of Christ. Christ in Him crucified. John,
when he came early on in his ministry as a young man, 30 years
old, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away our sin. You see, we preach not ourselves. We preach not our experiences.
We preach not our feelings. We preach Christ. Our message
is the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach not ourselves, but
the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach ourselves your servant
for Christ's sake. God has ordained the preaching
of the gospel. Now listen to this carefully.
God has ordained the preaching of the gospel to call out his
people. That is the mean that he has
ordained. The preaching of the gospel to
call out his people to give them knowledge of salvation that is
of the Lord. Now turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Look at verse 18. John was sent to preach Christ. The point I'm laboring to make
is that every God-sent, God-called preacher preaches the same message
Christ and Him crucified. Determined to do so. Salvation
accomplished by Christ. Verse 18, For the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish, or who are perishing, is foolishness. But unto them which are saved
it is the power of God. The gospel is the power of God.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, O bring
to nothing the understanding of the prudent? Where is the
wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not
God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Is preaching necessary to saving
faith? True preaching is. Faith comes
by hearing and hearing of the Word of God. For the Jews require
a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified. Unto the Jews, a stumbling block. Unto the Greeks, foolishness.
Look at verse 24 carefully. By God. But unto them which are
called, where are they called with? The gospel. Both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God, Christ the wisdom of God, the cross of Christ,
the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I
would not make much of any preacher I would not make much of any
preacher. He is a sinner saved by the grace of God alone. We
do not worship preachers. We thank God for them, but listen
to me carefully. I would make much of preaching
the gospel. Do you understand what I'm saying?
I'm just a voice." They asked John, John who are you? He could
have said some things. I mean John had some credentials.
He said, I'm a nobody. I'm a voice crying in the wilderness,
behold the Lamb of God. I would not make much of any
preacher, but I would make much of the preaching of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God and the
salvation to everyone that believeth. For therein, in that gospel,
is the very righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.
You read through the book of Acts. All through the book of
Acts, you find the apostles in the early church doing exactly
what the risen Lord told them to do. What did he tell them
to do? Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to everybody you bump into. I mean everybody you run
into. Preach the gospel. Go and preach
the gospel. The Apostle Paul, while sitting
on death row waiting to have his head taken off for the gospel,
writes back to young Timothy, he said, I charge you, young
man, Preach the Word. Preach the Word be instant, in
season, out of season, reprove, rebuke with all longsuffering
and doctrine. Preach Christ. Preach Christ. Preach the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isn't there something else you can preach? No! Every message I bring, I always
try to zero in, center in, on the Lord Jesus Christ, His person,
and His Word. That's what this book is all
about. Now, God uses the preaching of the gospel to bless His people.
You know, that's exactly how this ministry started, right
here in this little spot called Zebulun. The biblical pronunciation
is Zebulon. Zebulon. I call it Zublon. But Zebulon, you know how this
ministry right here started? In 1982, a man by the name of
Pastor Henry Mahan. Some folks down here in Pike
County started watching his TV program. And some folks up here
in Canada, Kentucky. Canada, Kentucky. I took the
boys one time when they were little to West Virginia and we
went through Canada. I said, boys, we're in Canada
now. Dad, what are you talking about? We're in Canada, Kentucky.
Pastor Mahan went out there in 1982 and preached to a group
of people who desired to hear the gospel of God's grace and
he met, he ran into, not by luck, accident or chance, Paul and
Sue Thacker. Paul and Sue Thacker heard the
gospel of God's grace. And the Lord gave them a love
for that gospel. This piece of ground was nothing
but a swamp, part of that creek. And Paul bought that piece of
property, crossed the road, took that hillside down and put the
rock right here and built this building. Here it is. He heard
the gospel in 1982. In 1985, this building was finished.
And here we sit 31 years later. Did that just happen? What if Pastor Mahan wouldn't
have went and said, well, I'm too busy. And he was a busy man. In 1982, he preached at over
30 churches in a 52-week span and preached not just one message,
but preached two or three messages in those 30 churches. And yet
he found time, by the grace of God, he went to Canada, Kentucky.
I mean, where's Canada, Kentucky? I mean, they have a post office,
I think, don't they? But I mean, that's about all
that's there. There's not even a stop sign.
You just go right on through. Aren't you glad that Pastor Mayhem,
by the grace of God, went there and preached the gospel? You'd
never heard the gospel. Now here, it never would have
rung true here in Zebulun without... You see how the Lord used...
The point I'm trying to make, the Lord uses the ministry of
the gospel to call out his sheep. That's right. Those who have
heard the gospel give Him all the honor and glory. What Zechariah
says concerning John the Baptist is true concerning every true
gospel preacher. They're sent of God. They're
sent to prepare the way of the Lord. They're sent with the message
of the gospel of Christ that prepares the heart of God's people
to believe the gospel and causes them to turn unto the Lord. Preachers,
can you make good on that? Right here in 1 Corinthians chapter
2, I hope you're still there in 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians
chapter 2, look at verse 5. In chapter 3 verse 5. Chapter
3 verse 5. Who then is Paul? Who is Apollos? The ministers by whom you believed,
even as the Lord gave. The Lord, he said, Paul said,
I planted, Apollos watered, God gave the increase. So neither
is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth anything,
I told you preachers are nothing, but God gives the increase. He
makes much of preaching. Now here's how important this
is. Turn to Romans 10. Romans 10. He prepares The Lord uses the
message of the gospel to prepare the hearts of His elect to hear
the gospel of His own will, beget He us with the word of truth.
Romans 10 verse 13, look at that carefully. Romans 10 verse 13,
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, Now that declares his lordship,
his sovereignty. Sovereignty, his salvation shall
be saved. How then shall I call on him
in whom they have not believed? You can't call upon someone that
you don't know about. How shall they believe in Him
of whom they've not heard? How shall they hear without a
preacher? How shall they preach except they be sent as it is
written? How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace, that bring glad tidings
of good things, that say, if you read over here in the reference
to Isaiah 52, that say, undesigned, behold, thy God reigneth. Verse 17, So then faith come
by hearing, hearing by the word of truth. You see how important
and necessary the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is. Now, that brings us back to our
text. Luke chapter 1, verse 77. And here we have God's description
of a gospel ministry. And thou, child, shalt be called
the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face
of the Lord, being sent by the Lord." His face is his purpose,
his determination to prepare his people, to prepare his way. Now, look at this. To give knowledge
of salvation unto his people. by the remission of their sins,
through the tender mercies of our God, whereby the day spring
from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit
in darkness, in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the
way of peace." Now, six things are given here. Six things are
given here. and we see the responsibility
and business of every gospel ministry of the Lord's church.
The first thing he mentions here is to give knowledge of salvation
unto his people. You see that? To give knowledge
of salvation unto his people. Now, we cannot give salvation,
can we? Salvation is a gift of God. We
cannot give salvation, that's the free grace of God alone.
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. But we must preach that salvation
is of the Lord and that there is salvation in Him and in no
other. You need to know that. You see,
we give out that salvation is of the Lord and you need to hear
that and you need to know that and you need to believe that
so you can trust Him and not trust yourself. Look unto me,
and be ye saved. We must preach that salvation
is of the Lord, and that there is salvation in no other. Neither
is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Other foundation
can no man lay than that which is laid, which is the Lord Jesus
Christ. This knowledge of salvation is
the gift of God that comes through the means that God has ordained. Did you get that? This knowledge
of salvation is a gift of God that comes by the means that
He has ordained. Okay, what is that? Turn over
here to 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Through the means that God has
ordained. I just read to you Romans 10.
The means that God has ordained it pleased God through the preaching
of the gospel to call out His people. In 1 Thessalonians chapter
1 verse 3, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and
labor of love, patience and hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in
the sight of God our Father, knowing, brethren beloved, your
election of God. For our gospel came not in word
only, But it did come in the Word, didn't it? They heard the
Gospel and God blessed it by the power, but also in the power
of God the Holy Spirit and it came with much assurance in that
God used the preaching of the Gospel to raise up the dead sinner
and to grant and give him life and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now find 2 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 verse 13. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. We
are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth, whereunto He called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. How did God call you?
Well, you know, I had a dream. No, you ate too much watermelon.
God calls his people with the preaching of the true gospel
of God. Forget dreams, visions, and feelings
and some experience. As a guy recently told me, well,
I know I'm saved because one time I was out digging ginseng
and I crossed a hole of yellow jackets and they didn't sting
me. Well, I said, well, that's awful strange because I went
across the hole, if you remember last spring, I fell across the
hole of Yellow Jackets out here on the creek bank and got stung
about 50 times. Well, I mean, if you go by that
standard, he's saved and I'm lost. See how ridiculous things
are? See how ridiculous people can
be? You see, saving faith is based upon a foundation. It's
not feelings. Feelings come and feelings go,
feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the Word of God,
nothing else is worth believing. The foundation of faith is, thus
saith the Lord. Anything else, cast it aside. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. Now listen to me carefully. In
Acts chapter 16, I jotted this note down. I thought of it this
morning when I came over. In Acts chapter 16, talking about
the apostles that described their ministry, he said, these are
servants of the Most High God that show us the way of salvation. There is no knowledge of salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ apart from the declaration of Christ
and Him crucified. You preach a Christ who wants
to and can't, you've got a phony, a counterfeit. You see, the Christ
of God is successful. Saving faith is in the victorious,
conquering king who cannot fail. And notice this carefully, if
you will, back in our text, Luke 1, 77, this knowledge of salvation
comes unto everybody. Uh-oh, preacher. That's not what
it says there. Now, I said that on purpose to
get your attention. Because that's what most people
say. To give knowledge of salvation
unto His people. Who are His people? Where do
you get these people? Why do they follow Him? Why do
they love Him? You remember John chapter 6?
All that the Father giveth to me shall come to me, all that
the Father giveth to me shall come to me, and those that come
to me I will in no wise cast out. There is no true knowledge
of salvation. in the Lord Jesus Christ, apart
from the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He that believeth
on the Son hath life, and it is unto his people, knowing the
true Christ of God is only given to his covenant children." The
faith of God's elect acknowledges what? God loves everybody. That's a lie! The faith of God's elect acknowledges
the truth. Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand. As many as were ordained to eternal life believe this
knowledge of salvation, this knowledge is not acquired by
natural reason. It comes by Holy Spirit revelation. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. Now, here's
the second thing. Found in our text, verse 78. Through the tender mercies of
our God. Salvation is through His tender
mercies. That tells us that salvation
is not by our works, is it? Salvation is not by what you
do, what you give, who you are. It's through the tender mercies
of our God. God delights to show mercies.
God delights to show mercy. I'm going to back up one. Back
to verse 77. He gives knowledge of salvation
unto His people by the remission of their sin. To declare sin
remitted only through Christ. That can only happen, we can
only have remission of sin through the Lord Jesus Christ laying
down His life for us and shedding His blood to put away our sin. One of the key privileges of
saving faith and the knowledge of Christ is knowing that the
Lord Jesus Christ came to put away my sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. He put away sin, iniquities forgiven,
transgressions forgotten, because the Lord Jesus Christ made full
payment for our sin. Do you remember in the book of
Job it said, deliver them from going down to the pit, because
I have found a ransom in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our
Redeemer, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness
of sin, according to the riches of His grace." The only way we
can have salvation from our sin is from the Lord Jesus Christ
making full satisfaction for our sin. You see, He gives us
the knowledge of salvation and He shows us that our sins are
remitted through the blood sacrifice of Christ Himself. And the fountain
of all that is my third point, verse 78, through the tender
mercies of our God. Through the tender mercies of
our God. Just how effectual is the blood
atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. How powerful is it? How prevailing
is it? It's all prevailing. It's all
powerful. God said their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more. That means they don't exist. That means that He fully made
full payment and put them away. Separated our sin from us as
far as the east is from the west. Our sins are cast into the depths
of the sea. Our sins are cast behind God's
back. They are blotted out as a thick
cloud. And it's all due to the tender
mercy of our God. You see that? The tender mercies
of our God. Here is the source, the spring,
the fountainhead of all blessings that flow to us. through the
tender mercies of our God, His free grace and sovereign mercy."
You remember in Romans 9 it says, "...not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." I
love this statement. Remember back in verse 72, Luke
1, 72, that we should be saved from our enemies, from the hand
of all that hateth, to perform mercy promised. To perform it. Mercy promised. The Lord Jesus
Christ as our Savior, as our Redeemer, He's our Performer. He's performed all things for
us, says in Psalm 57. He's performed all things for
us. Therefore we can say, it's not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
His mercy He saved us. You see, in the lamentation,
weeping of Jeremiah, he said, it is of the Lord's mercy that
we are not consumed. They are new every morning, great
is His faithfulness. Now listen carefully. It was
the mercy of God that determined to choose a people unto salvation
out of Adam's fallen race. It was the mercy of God in that
covenant of grace to choose a people out of Adam's fallen race. It
was the mercy of God that elected a people unto salvation. It was
the mercy of God that sent the Redeemer to die in our stead.
In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a
woman, made under the law to redeem them. It was the mercy
of God, the motivating cause behind it. God was determined
to show mercy to sinners. And He's going to do it, and
He has. It was the sovereign mercy and free grace of God that
lifted us from the pit of corruption, that delivered us into the glorious
liberty of the sons of God. Beloved, now are we sons of God,
and at death not yet appear what we shall be, but when He shall
appear, we shall see Him, and we shall see Him as He is, and
we shall be just like Him. Now look at the second part of
verse 78, Luke 1. The day spring on high, the day
spring on high hath visited us. He visited us in mercy, in love. It was a time of love and He
cast His love upon us. The Dayspring from on high hath
visited us. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
He's the Lord from heaven. And He has come to visit us in
mercy. Notice the marginal reference
on the word Dayspring is sun rising. The Lord Jesus Christ
in Scripture is called the Son of Righteousness with healing
in His wings. The Lord Jesus Christ in the
fullness of time came in the flesh to actually accomplish
our salvation. The Lord Jesus in the closing
chapter of the book, Revelation 22, said, I am the root and the
offspring of David, the bright and morning star. The Lord has
visited us to give us light, to give us knowledge, to give
us salvation, to give us mercy. Aren't you glad He has visited
us? We've seen this once before over here in the same chapter,
verse 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for He has visited and redeemed. His people. Visited them not
in judgment, but visited them in mercy. He has not appointed
us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that gets us down to verse
79. He hath visited us in mercy,
in grace, and in love. He hath delivered us from the
kingdom of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of God, dear
Son, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow
of death." Now, two words there stand out to me that describe
what we are by nature, darkness and death. Darkness and death. By nature we love darkness, not
light. By nature we are dead in sin,
dead in trespasses, dead in sin. How can a dead man have life? He has to visit us and raise
us and give us life. To give light to them that sit
in darkness and in the shadow of death. From darkness and death. We are born in the dark. Loving
darkness, not light. You know why man needs to be
born again? Because he was born wrong the
first time. He needs to be born again. Born
from above. Born of God. If any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature. It is only by the power of God,
through the ministry of the gospel that he is ordained, that light
and truth is shined into our heart, that raises us from the
dead. Now I'll re-quote the verse I
quoted a moment ago, Colossians 1.13. He's translated us out
of the kingdom of darkness, into the light of His dear Son, into
the light of life, into the kingdom of God's dear Son, that we should
show forth the praises of Him who called us out of darkness
into His marvelous light. He did it. Now, remember the
verse in 2 Corinthians 4? God who commanded the light to
shine, has shined out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God that shines
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's by His commandment,
it's by His decree that He visits us in mercy, that He causes the
light to shine in our hearts to deliver us from darkness and
death. He raises us up from the dead. He is the light of life. The
Lord said in John 8, 12, I am the light of the world. He that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life. What does this sinner need? Christ. Look to Him. He is light. He's our Deliverer. He's our
Savior. He's our Redeemer. And then lastly
is this. The last part of verse 79, to
guide our feet in the way of peace. We need a guide. You wouldn't dare go to Africa
and go on a safari and lead yourself, would you? I mean, you'd be a
fool. You'd end up in some cannibal's
camp and they'd eat you. They'd put you in a pot and cook
you and eat you. You need a guide. My friend, in the jungles of
this world, we need a guide, we need a shepherd, and that
guide and shepherd is the Good Shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. He leadeth me. To guide our feet
in the way of peace. Now, listen carefully. This is
not teaching us how to make peace with God. It doesn't say here, He teaches
us how to make peace with God. That is a foolish statement to
guide our feet in the way of peace. This is not teaching us
how to make peace with God. No sinner can do that, but rather
guides us to see how peace is made for us by... Well, who made peace for us anyway? That's pretty obvious, isn't
it? In Colossians chapter 1, it said, He made peace for us
who reconciled us to God. He made peace for us through
the blood of His cross. Being justified by Christ, we
have faith in the One who justifies us by His grace. To guide our
feet. Oh, I need a guide. You see,
sheep by nature are lost. They're lost, they're dead, they're
in the dark, They're doomed and damned. The shepherd's got to
come to where we're at. Find us, lift us, enlighten us,
enliven us, give us life, raise us up from the dead, and make
us new creatures in Christ Jesus. May the Lord be pleased to grant
and to give us and to guide us in the way of His salvation of
peace through the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord ever be
our Savior, our salvation, our redemption, and our righteousness. And can we, and may the Lord
by His grace enable us to say as Mary does in verse 46, my
soul does magnify the Lord, my spirit does rejoice, In God,
my Savior. That's your hope. That's the
sinner's hope. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. I like what David said, Bless
the Lord, O my soul, forget not all of his benefits, his blessings,
who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases,
who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving
kindness and tender mercies. Psalm 103.