Our Bibles today to Luke chapter
1. Luke chapter 1 and I want to
read verses 5 through 25. There was in the days of Herod
the king of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias of the course
of Abiah, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her
name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous
before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of
the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because
Elizabeth was barren, and they were both now well stricken in
years. And it came to pass that while
he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his
course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot
was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at
the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an
angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of
incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he
was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto
him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is 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 Zechariah said
unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? For I am an old
man, and my wife well stricken in years. 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 that as soon
as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed
to his own house. And after those days, his wife
Elizabeth conceived and hid herself five months, saying, thus hath
the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me
to take away my reproach among men. The first thing I want to
say to all of us here today is that this is part of the all
scripture that is given by inspiration of God. And it is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness. And my prayer is, and I trust
it is yours as well, that God the Holy Spirit will be pleased
to make this portion of his word profitable to all of us today. I'm reminded of Paul's words
to the church at Corinth. He said, I planted and Apollos
watered, but God gave the increase. And that's what I'm doing here
today. I'm planting and I'm watering. But I know this, God must give
the increase. God must bless his word to each
one of us, that we receive his word into our hearts, that we
may grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord. There are four things
that I want to bring to us today from this passage of scripture. Four things that we're told about
Zacharias and Elizabeth. First, the times of their lives,
the time of their lives in the days of Herod, the king of Judea. Now what do we know about the
time in which these two individuals lived? Let me answer that question
with two negative answers. What do we know about the times
in which Zacharias and Elizabeth lived. Well, first of all, we
know that it was not a time that was especially conducive to knowing
and serving the true God. Scripture says in our text, in
the days of Herod, the king of Judea, was this King Herod a
man like King David? Was he a man, like King David,
of whom the Lord God said, he's a man after mine own heart? Well,
you know the answer to that is no. Herod was a wicked man. Caesar, who Herod reigned under
his authority, he was given this kingship at the pleasure, he
served at the pleasure of Caesar. Caesar said this about this Herod,
He said it'd be better to be one of his hogs than one of his
sons. He was such a wicked man. He
had a number of his sons, his mother, his wife, all executed. He knew he was so hated by the
Jews that he commanded When it was time for him to die, he realized
he was close to death, that a certain number of the leaders of the
nation of Israel be gathered together in a place. And when
he died, when news came of his death, that they all be executed,
he knew that way someone would weep at his death. He was a wicked man. He was a
cruel man, a man who thought nothing of commanding his soldiers
to go to Bethlehem. After the wise man had come from
the east and they came to Jerusalem asking, where is he that is born
King of the Jews? And they sought in the scriptures
and found he was to be born in Bethlehem. And you know this
wicked man told those wise men, you go and find him and when
you find him, you come back and let me know that I can come and
worship him also. They found the Lord Jesus Christ,
they were directed to where he was by that star, and they were
warned in a dream not to return the way they had come. And when
Herod realized that he had been deceived, he'd been tricked,
he commanded his soldiers to go to Bethlehem and kill all
the boys that were under two years of age, a wicked man. There was nothing conducive to
spirituality. We know later, 30 years after
this approximately, this son that was promised to them, he
addressed the religious leaders of the nation of Israel with
these words, you generation of vipers. There was nothing conducive
to spirituality, to knowing God and serving God in the days in
which these two lived. We're prone to think that we
live in a time when When it's hard to be a Christian, there's
no doubt in my mind that at different times and different places, God
has called a number of his elect, has had a number of his elect
in one place, and the times were blessed times, no doubt. Great
awakening, the second great awakening in our country were times like
that. But these individuals, they didn't
live in a time like that. So that's my first answer, the
time of their lives. We know that it was not a time
that was especially conducive to knowing and serving the true
God. My second answer, also a negative
answer, We know that it was not in the time of the New Testament
dispensation. The New Testament dispensation,
the dispensation in which you and I live, it began with the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember on the cross some
of his last words there, He cried with a loud voice, it is finished. And there's a world of truth
in those three words, it is finished. But one thing that happened immediately
in the temple when he died, and it was the same time in which
Zacharias was in the temple this day, that is the evening sacrifice
when they burned incense, three o'clock in the afternoon, it
was when the Lord Jesus Christ cried on the cross, It is finished
that in the temple there, that veil that had separated the holy
place from the most holy place was read from top to bottom,
showing that the end of that old dispensation, which was made
up of ceremonies, types, and figures, was brought to an end. and the way into the most holy
place, into the presence of Almighty God, has been opened up, has
been manifestly opened up by the blood of Jesus Christ. They lived in the Old Testament
dispensation. You might say, well how were
people saved in that old dispensation? And they were saved, Zacharias
and Elizabeth, they were saved because you notice the scripture
says they were both righteous before God. How was a person made righteous
before God, declared justified before God before the Lord Jesus
Christ died in that old dispensation. The same way that men and women
are declared righteous before God in this New Testament dispensation. There's never been but one way
of salvation. There's never been but one gospel. There's never been but one Savior. There's never been but one way
that a man or woman may be declared righteous before God, and that
way is by the righteousness of Christ being accounted or imputed
unto them. Now these believers, like Zacharias
and Elizabeth, lived in that old dispensation. They believed
in Him who was promised to come. We trust, those of us here today,
we trust in Him who not only was promised to come, but came
and finished the work of salvation. Look with me in Romans chapter
4 just a moment. Romans chapter 4. In this part
of the letter of Romans, Paul is dealing with this matter of
justification. And he gives two examples here
in Romans chapter 4. One man lived before the law
was given. The law of Mount Sinai. The law that God gave through
Moses to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. That law that
had all of those types and figures and The whole temple, the whole
tabernacle was a picture of Christ and the way to God, the mercy
seat, the blood, the great day of atonement, the scapegoat.
All of that was pictured to them in the law. But here's a man
who lived 430 years before the law was given. Paul's giving
him as an example. His name, Abraham. Abraham. Romans chapter 4 verse
1. What shall we say then that Abraham
our father as pertaining to the flesh, that is those who were
Jews by birth, pertaining to the flesh, hath found? Now notice,
for if Abraham, before the law was given, if he was justified
declared righteous before God by works he hath whereof to glory. But that ain't going to happen. I'm just paraphrasing there.
But not before God. There's not going to be any man
who's going to stand in the presence of God and stick out his chest
and say, look at me, I'm here because of my works, or my decision,
or anything else that he says is mine. That's not going to
happen. For what saith the scripture,
Abraham believed God, and it was counted It was imputed unto
him for righteousness. Well, he lived before the law,
but now Paul brings out someone that the Jews were all familiar
with, who lived after the law was given. His name was David. Look in verse 6. Even as David
also describeth the blessedness. Oh, the blessedness. If you trust
in Christ today, you believe in Him as your Lord and Savior,
His righteousness has been imputed unto you. And I want you to see
what God says about you and about me and about every other believer.
Blessed. Oh, the blessedness. You can't
be more blessed than this. Oh, the blessedness. of the man
unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. Saying, Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. And look down to verse 16. Therefore,
it is of faith, that is, by believing in Christ, trusting in Christ,
just as Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him to
righteousness, the righteousness of Christ is imputed unto everyone
who believes, who trusts in him. Therefore, it is of faith that,
in order that, it might be by grace, To the end, the promise
might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of
the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who
is the father of us all." In other words, the seed that Christ
was given, his chosen people, among both Jews and Gentiles,
the promise is sure. It is of faith that it might
be by grace. So these two individuals, the
times of their lives in the days of Herod the king of Judah, we
know that it was not a time that was especially conducive to knowing
and serving the true God. And number two, we know that
it was not the time of the New Testament dispensation. Nevertheless,
they were righteous before God. Here's the second thing I want
us to consider, the conduct of their lives, walking in all the
commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. One of the covenant promises
is, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in
my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them. It
is the Spirit of God who gives life and then strength to walk
in the commandments of God. To believers, Paul wrote, for
it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His
good pleasure. Now the fact that the promise
is He puts His Spirit within us and causes us to walk in His
commandments, His statues, does that mean When we hear that,
does that mean for us as believers that this is something which
is just automatic and that we have no responsibility? Well,
the answer, of course, is no. It doesn't mean that. Once we
are given life, we have a responsibility looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. We are to walk and serve Christ
looking unto Jesus. And the strength to walk, the
strength to obey comes from Christ. It's Christ in us who gives us
the grace, the strength, the Spirit of God in us that causes
believers to walk in the commandments of the Lord. Now I want us to
look at several words that we read here about Zacharias and
Elizabeth in verse 6. If you still have your Bible
here in Luke 1 in verse 6, let's read that verse again. And they
were both righteous before God. We know how that was so, by the
imputed righteousness of Christ. They believed in Him who was
to come, walking in all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord blameless." Now, as we look at that verse,
I want to call our attention to several words. The first word
is both. Both. How important is this? It's very important for every
child of God, when choosing a husband or wife, to choose one with which
you are agreed. The scripture says can two walk
together except they be agreed. They both, that is Zacharias
and Elizabeth, they both desired to live for the glory of God.
And that was a great help one to the other. I have no doubt
in my mind but These two had experienced the words of Solomon
more than once when he said, two are better than one. For if they fall, the one will
lift up his fellow. And there's no doubt that both
of these individuals sometime they experienced discouragement,
or what have you, and the other picked that person up. What a
blessing it is for husband and wife to be agreed. We encourage the young people,
we do our best, and yet I realize that young people, when they
choose a husband or wife, many times, They just choose someone
and they'll find out later what kind of a person they are. And that's a terrible mistake
for a child of God, for a believer. This should be your list of priorities. If you're looking for a husband
or wife, this should be number one. In the Lord. Marry if you are a believer,
if you are a child of God. They both, both Zacharias and
Elizabeth, together, they were serving the Lord. The second
word is the word walked. How important is this? Well,
it's very important. God has no stillborn children. I can't imagine anything any
sadder than for woman to carry a baby for nine months and that
baby be born still. God doesn't have any stillborn
children. Everyone that experiences the
new birth which is the work of the Spirit of God in us, creating
something that was not there before, that is, a new creation
in Christ Jesus. Everyone, not most, but everyone
will be sure to walk. Walk, that is, there will be
activity. There will be a desire to serve
the Lord. Paul said, being confident of
this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you
will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. God has no stillborn
children. Everyone born of the Spirit of
God, when we receive life in that new birth, a new creation,
a new principle of life, within us we begin to walk in the ways
of God. It doesn't mean we walk perfectly. It doesn't mean that we don't
fall many times. But my friends, we walk. Those
who are saved by the grace of God. We're not just existing. Our name is not just on a church
roll somewhere. So that when you die, The funeral
home says, who's going to preach his funeral? Oh, I don't know.
Let's call the church he used to go to years ago. And they'd
look up on the church registry, and sure enough, he was a member
here at one time. Well, he must be saved then.
Hadn't seen him in years. Had no indication whatsoever
that he loved God, that he was walking with the Lord. But, well,
we better preach him into heaven anyway. Oh, no. These two, they
both walked. The third word is the word all. A-L-L. How important is this? Well, it's important, my friends. The psalmist said, then shall
I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments. You see, a believer doesn't He
doesn't choose this one, well this, I'm kind of inclined towards
doing this anyway, my flesh kind of likes to go in this direction,
but here's something over here that, you know, no, no, all,
all. The believer, the child of God
doesn't choose and pick which commandments which he will follow,
no. When a child of God When our
obedience springs, that it springs up, it comes from a desire to
please God. If that's our desire, and our
obedience springs from a desire to please God, then it's going
to result in avoiding everything that God says to avoid. And it's
going to result in doing those things that God says to do. Look with me in Titus just a
moment. Titus chapter 3. In Titus chapter 3 and verse 8,
this is one of those four faithful saints the Apostle Paul gives
us in his letters. We love that first one, don't
we? This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation,
that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. Oh, I
love that one, don't you? I love this one too. This is
a faithful saying, verse 8. This is a faithful saying, and
these things I will, Titus, I will, this is my will for you, Titus,
that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed
in God..." And notice the order here. "...they that have believed
in God might be careful to maintain good works." You know, man comes
along, and like always, he likes to flip things and turn things
around. And he wants to say, first of
all, this is the way you come to to have a relationship with
God, that is by maintaining good works. No, no. First, it is believing. Believing in God. When we believe
in God, when we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, when we're
made new creatures in Christ Jesus, then we are to maintain
good works. The fourth word is the word blameless,
back in our text. Blameless. How important is this? Well, this is important, and
it is important that we recognize that blameless is not sinless. Blameless is not sinless. We
know this because we see Zacharias. As we read on and as we go on
in this lesson, we see that Zacharias was guilty of an awful sin. You say, what was it? Unbelief. Can there be any more wicked
sin than unbelief? Unbelief is calling God a liar. There's a difference between
blameless and sinless. These two individuals, they were
blameless, but they were not sinless. Blameless in the sense
that they had been kept, kept from falls which injure a person's
influence and reputation. If you've been kept, by the grace
of God, isn't it? If you've been kept, as a child
of God from falling into some awful sin. It's by the grace
of God. They were blameless. Now here's
the third thing. So first of all, the times of
their lives, and then we looked at the conduct of their lives,
and now the crook, the crook in the lot, of their lives. They had no child. What do I mean by the crook in
the lot? Thomas Boston was a pastor, Scottish
pastor, who lived at the end of the 1600s and into the early
part of the 1700s. And he was a man who was greatly
used of God. He's best known for his book,
The Fourfold State of Man. But he wrote another book titled,
The Crook in the Lot. The Crook in the Lot. He took
his text from Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse 13, which says, Consider
the work of God, for who can make that straight which he hath
made crooked? Those things in our lives which
we find hard to bear. I tell you what, my own personal
experience. I had that book on my bookshelf
for years. And over the years I'd open it
up and I'd start reading, read a few pages, close it up and
put it back. Until something happened in my life. a personal tragedy in our family. And I took that book out and
I read it all the way through. Had no trouble reading it this
time. Those things in our lives as
children of God, and every child of God has one or more at some
time or the other, which we find hard to bear. That's what is
meant by that which is crooked. The crook in the lot. Now the
remedy Mr. Boston gave was to see that it
was God who made it. It was God who made it. Consider
the work of God, for who can make that straight which he hath
made crooked? That's the remedy, the first
part of the remedy. Consider who made it. God made it. And it must continue
as long as He will have it so. As long as God will have it so,
it must continue. God's work in their lives was
that they had no child, the crook in the lot. Here are two things
that I see about their crook. Number one, for Elizabeth, for
this lady, This woman, this wife, for her not to have a child in
that society was a reproach. It was a great reproach upon
a married woman in Israel not to have a child, to be barren. And you notice in our text here
in verse 25, this is what she said, Thus hath the Lord dealt
with me in the days wherein he hath looked on me, to take away
my reproach, my reproach among men. And for both Zacharias and
Elizabeth, not to have a child meant years of unanswered prayer. Years of unanswered prayer. I say years, for look at the
angel's words to Zacharias in verse 13. But the angel said unto him,
Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. When do you
think he started praying? I would imagine soon after he
and Elizabeth were married. But years later now, when the
angel tells him in verse 18 that they're going to have a child,
what does he say? said unto the angel, whereby
shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife
well advanced, well stricken in years. The crook and the lot. Years of unanswered prayer. You may be here this morning,
I'd be surprised if there's not quite a few. You've prayed, and
you've prayed, and you thank God hasn't heard you. What did
the angel tell Zacharias? Thy prayer hath been heard. But it was answered in God's
time. Now let me say this. It may be God's time will be
after you leave this world. It may be. I'm gonna stop here. I've preached too long already,
but I had another point maybe another day. Let's sing this hymn. Number 323. More love to thee,
more love to thee. Let's stand as we sing. And I
pray, I trust that the Lord has taught us something
here today, all of us. Surely in a passage like this,
a message like this, there's some food, there's some good
for everyone here, no matter what our circumstance may be. I trust it so. Let's stand as
we sing, More Love to Thee, 323.