Luke, the author of this third gospel, was
called by Paul the Apostle, the beloved physician.
There is some speculation that his patron was
a man by the name of Theophilus.
In those days, physicians were often slaves.
And there are some who theorize that Luke
was Theophilus' personal physician and servant.
Whether or not that be so is only
a matter of speculation and thus worthless to
delve into.
Luke was a Greek and he is the
only Gentile to have the privilege of placing
Scripture in that holy canon of Scripture, which
we recognize as inspired of God.
And there are two New Testament books that
are ascribed to Luke.
Of course, the Gospel according to Luke and
then the Acts of the Apostles, which he
begins, again addressing himself to Theophilus, saying, The
former treatise have I made unto thee, O
Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to
do and to teach.
There are some who say that the word
Theophilus is not actually a person, or Theophilus
is not actually a person at all, but
just the word in Greek, Theophileo is lover
of God.
And so that Luke is actually addressing his
letter to the lovers of God.
However, the people were usually named after hopes
or aspirations or whatever of their parents.
And there is no real reason to believe
that Theophilus was not an actual person.
In fact, being addressed as the most excellent
Theophilus indicates that he was actually a ruler
in the Roman Empire, as that is a
title that is given to men who had
a ruling position within the Roman Empire.
Luke introduces the Gospel to Theophilus in the
first four verses of chapter one.
For as much as many have taken in
hand to set forth in an orderly fashion,
those things which are most assuredly believed among
us, even as they delivered them unto us,
which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers
of the word, it seemed good to me
also, having had a complete understanding of all
of these things from the very first, to
write unto thee an orderly progression, most excellent
Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of
those things wherein you have been instructed.
So Luke here declares that he has heard
the message from those persons who were actually
the eyewitnesses to these things.
Now, Luke, no doubt, interviewed personally Mary in
order that he might get a complete understanding
concerning the circumstances that were surrounding the birth
of Jesus.
Luke, being a doctor, would be interested in
various aspects that bordered on the medical profession.
And it is obvious that he received the
information of chapters one and two directly from
Mary.
And so from his interview with Mary and
his questioning of Mary, he got the information
for chapters one and two.
And the information in these two chapters is
not found in detail like this in the
other Gospels.
He had heard Peter and John and those
who had been with Jesus, those who were
eyewitnesses, he heard their stories as they told
of their relationship with Jesus and of the
work and the ministry that Jesus performed.
And then he no doubt questioned them more
thoroughly to get a more complete understanding.
And having what he feels to be a
complete understanding of the story, he then proceeds
to write to this man Theophilus in order
that he might realize the certainty of those
things that he had heard.
Now, Luke begins then the actual story of
the Gospel of Jesus by dealing with the
birth, first of all, of John the Baptist,
who was to be the forerunner of Jesus
Christ.
And so 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.
So immediately we're introduced to the persons that
will be involved in the first part of
his narrative here.
Zacharias of the tribe of Levi, making him
then one of the priests.
He was of the family of Abira or
Abiram.
His wife was also of the tribe of
Levi.
She was a descendant from the family of
Aaron.
Now, at this particular time in Israel, there
were around 20,000 descendants from Levi, male
descendants involved in the priesthood.
And in as much as it was, of
course, impossible for all 20,000 to serve
continually in the temple, each family had their
turn to serve and they served twice during
the year for one week periods.
And when it was the turn of your
family to serve, they would cast lots to
determine what particular aspect of the service you
would be engaged in.
And maybe once in a lifetime, the priest
would have his lot to fall upon the
offering of the incense before the altar of
incense before the Lord.
This was usually just a once in a
lifetime, one day in your life, you get
this glorious privilege of going in with the
incense before the altar of incense to offer
it before the Lord for the people.
And so this was surely a significant and
a special day for Zacharias, who during the
time that he was serving there, the lot
fell on him for this particular task.
Now we are told concerning Zacharias and Elizabeth
that they were both righteous before God.
They walked in all of the commandments and
the ordinances of the Lord blameless.
Two beautiful, righteous people who are quite insignificant
as far as the world is concerned.
People who love the Lord, people who walked
with the Lord, people you would have never
heard about unless they had been so involved
in the story of Jesus Christ.
The people because of their involvement, we are
told of them.
Now we are also told that they had
no child because Elizabeth was barren and they
were both now well stricken in years.
That is the years had taken their toll.
They were bent over.
They had become feeble and the idea of
well stricken in years is that of feebleness
as the result of age.
In that culture, it was considered a curse
for a woman not to bear a child
and it was legal grounds for divorce.
Had Zacharias desired to put away Elizabeth because
of her inability to bear children, no one
would have questioned it.
It would have been accepted by everybody, but
no doubt there was a tremendous love that
they shared together and they shared this grief
and this sorrow together that they were unable
to have children.
Now it came to pass that while he
was fulfilling the priest's office before God in
the order of his course, they had the
priestly orders and this was one of the
weeks that he had to come in for
his particular duty of service.
According as was the custom of the priest
office, his lot fell that he might burn
incense when he went into the temple of
the Lord.
And you can imagine the excitement of this
old man, probably the only day in his
life and he probably had given up by
now ever having the opportunity of burning incense.
And when the lots were drawn, his was
that lot to burn the incense before the
Lord that day.
And the whole multitude of people were praying
outside at the time of incense.
Now they would go in before the altar
of incense and they would take this little
golden bowl that had burning coals that had
been taken from the altar where they had
offered the sacrifice.
The lamb was offered in the morning and
in the evening.
And they would take the coals from the
altar and put it in this little golden
bowl.
And then they would put the incense on
top and they would go in swinging this
little incense burner before the altar of incense
and the smoke, the sweet smelling smoke would
ascend up.
And it was a beautiful symbolism of how
God receives the prayers of his people.
Our prayers that we offer to God arise
before God as a sweet smelling odor, pleasant,
beautiful.
In the book of Revelation chapter 5, when
the lamb takes the scroll out of the
right hand of him who was sitting upon
the throne, John said, and the 24 elders
came forth with their little golden bowls full
of odors, which are the prayers of the
saints.
And they offered them before the throne of
God.
Now you remember that when God gave to
Moses the instructions for building the tabernacle and
all of these furnishings and the methods of
worship were established, the Lord told Moses over
and over, now be careful that you make
it exactly according to plan.
And the reason why he was to make
it exactly according to the plan that was
given to him was because this whole thing
was a model of what is in heaven.
If you want to know what the heavenly
scene, the throne of God and all looks
like, you can study the tabernacle and it
was a model of heavenly things.
So as the priest on earth would take
these little golden bowls and fill them with
incense and the incense would arise as the
prayers, a sweet smelling savor before God.
So in heaven, chapter 5 of Revelation, we
see it fulfilled in the heavenly scene as
the 24 elders offer their little golden bowls
full of odors, which are the prayers of
the saints.
And so a beautiful symbolism there.
And so he's in offering the incense before
the altar of incense, which was in the
inner court of the temple in the holy
place, not the holy of holies.
Only the high priest went in there once
a year, but the holy place, which was
just outside of the holy of holies.
And while he was there, the multitude of
people were waiting outside because it was then
customary when he came out to place the
blessing of God upon the people.
It was a special occasion and the people
would wait for the priest to come out
and give them this blessing.
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.
What prayer?
For years he had been praying, Lord, please
give me a son.
It really gives to us encouragement for persistence
in prayer.
He didn't give up even though he was
now old, well stricken with years.
He was still praying, oh Lord, I'd love
to have a son.
Thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth
shall bear thee a son and thou shalt
call his name Johanan, which means the Lord
is gracious.
It is shortened to John, but the full
name is actually Johanan.
And thou shalt have joy and gladness and
many will rejoice at his birth.
For he shall be great in the sight
of the Lord and he shall drink neither
wine nor strong drink and he shall be
filled with the Holy Spirit, 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, that is
the Messiah, in the spirit and in the
power of Elijah to turn the hearts of
the fathers to the children and the disobedient
to the wisdom of the just, to make
ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Now, the last word of God to man
prior to this was in Malachi, the fourth
chapter.
And the last word of God to man
was in Malachi 4-5, behold, I will
send you Elijah the prophet before the coming
of the great and awesome day of the
Lord.
And he shall turn the heart of the
fathers to the children and the heart of
the children to their fathers, lest I come
and smite the earth with a curse.
That was the last word of God to
man in the old covenant period prior to
the angels meeting Zacharias there at the altar
of the Lord.
And it is interesting, though the Lord has
been silent for 400 years, that very promise,
which was the last promise of the Old
Testament, is the first word of the Lord
in the New Testament, which is the fulfillment
of that prophecy, which is about to take
place as this child that will be born
will go forth in the spirit and in
the power of Elijah.
Now there is a lot of confusion as
regards to John the Baptist and the prophecy
of the coming of Elijah.
In John's gospel, we are told that as
John was baptizing at the Jordan River, the
Pharisees came out and they demanded of him
his authority and who gave him the authority
to do these things.
They said, are you the Messiah?
He said, no.
They said, are you Elijah?
He said, no.
Then who are you?
He said, I'm just the voice of one
crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way
of the Lord, make straight his paths.
And yet here the angel of the Lord
tells his father that he will be going
forth in the spirit and in the power
of Elijah.
Now the confusion exists in the fact that
there were two comings of the Messiah.
The first coming that we find recorded here
in the gospel, the second coming for which
we presently wait.
And even as Elijah will appear before Jesus
comes again.
So John the Baptist came in the spirit
and in the power of Elijah.
And if a person is able to accept
it, he was the fulfillment of that promise
of Elijah coming before the Lord to cause
the hearts of the children to turn to
their fathers and the fathers to the children.
So the confusion lies in the fact that
there are two comings of the Messiah, as
well as the two comings of Elijah, both
of them to prepare the people for the
coming of the Lord.
He shall be great in the sight of
the Lord.
He was to be as a Nazarene, not
drinking wine or strong drink, but filled with
the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb.
In a little bit, we will be studying
where Mary, when she received word that she
was to be the instrument through which the
Messiah was to be born, went to this
little village of Judah, the home of Elizabeth,
who at that point was six months pregnant.
And when Mary walked in and greeted Elizabeth,
Elizabeth felt the baby leap in her womb
and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
So at that time, no doubt, John was
also filled with the Holy Spirit, a prenatal
experience, which is quite interesting indeed, even from
his mother's womb.
Now, though Zacharias had been praying that he
might have a son, the prayers had not
really been prayers of faith anymore, just of
a hardly even a glimmering hope, because when
this angel told him that he was to
have a son, he didn't believe it.
And he challenged the angel.
Zacharias said unto the angel, whereby shall I
know this?
For I am an old man and my
wife is well stricken in years.
And the angel answering said unto him, I
am Gabriel that stand in the presence of
God, and I've been sent to speak to
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 you did not
believe my words, which shall be fulfilled in
their season.
It is interesting to me that we so
often put such great emphasis upon our faith
that God will do a certain thing, as
though God is almost impotent apart from man's
faith to operate or to work.
But here with Zacharias, the angel said, all
right, you want to sign?
You're not going to be able to speak
until the day the child is born because
you didn't believe the things that God is
going to perform.
Whether you believe it or not, God's going
to do it.
Your unbelief will not stop the work of
God.
It will not hinder the purposes of God.
And so many times they put heavy trips
on us, you know, as though God's work
is totally responsible upon my hanging in there
and believing.
And, and, you know, and I feel so
guilty because maybe I failed God and, and,
and thus, you know, people are lost or
whatever because I failed God.
No, God's purposes shall stand whether I believe
it or not.
You see, your believing or not believing doesn't
really hinder the work of God.
He's going to do what he's going to
do in spite of us.
And that's sort of comforting because I'd hate
to think that God's work depended on me
and my faithfulness.
You remember when the children of Israel were
threatened with extinction because of Haman's getting the
king to sign the decree that all the
Jews were to be put to death on
a certain day.
And Mordecai sent a message to Esther that
she should go in before the king and
plead the cause of her people.
And she responded, you know, you just don't
do that.
That's not the protocol of the court.
Even as his wife, I can't go in
there anytime I want to see him.
I can't go in there unless he calls
me in.
And if anyone would dare to go in
before the king not being called, you're putting
your own life in jeopardy because if he
doesn't raise the scepter, they'll put you to
death immediately.
And so Mordecai sent an answer back.
Do you think that if this decree goes
through that you're going to escape?
How do you know, Esther, but what God
didn't bring you to the kingdom for just
this purpose?
And then he said, if you altogether fail,
then their deliverance will arise from another quarter.
God is going to deliver his people.
His purposes are going to stand.
God's going to deliver his people, but you
will lose out completely.
Now God's work is going to be done.
You may lose out on those rewards and
blessings that you could have experienced had you
been faithful, but your unfaithfulness is not going
to stop that which God has purpose to
do.
And so here is Zacharias filled with unbelief.
How can I know this?
I'm an old man.
My wife's an old woman.
What do you mean I'm going to have
a son?
You know, I am Gabriel.
The last appearance of Gabriel to our knowledge
on the earth was about a little over
500 years prior to this particular event when
Gabriel appeared to the prophet Daniel and gave
to Daniel one of the clearest prophecies concerning
the time of the coming of the Messiah.
It was Gabriel who said unto Daniel that
there are 77 determined upon the nation of
Israel to finish the transgression, to make an
end of iniquity, to bring in the everlasting
righteousness, to anoint the most holy place, to
complete the prophetic picture.
And no one understand from the time the
commandment goes forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
to the coming of the Messiah.
The prince will be seven sevens and 62
sevens.
The wall shall be built again in troublous
times.
And after the 69 sevens will the Messiah
be cut off and receive nothing for himself
and the people will be dispersed.
And so this amazing prediction of the time
of the coming of the Messiah was given
by none other than our friend Gabriel.
Sort of a timeless fellow because now it's
over 500 years later and he shows up
on the scene again probably looking as young
and fresh as ever.
Announcing now to Zacharias that his wife Elizabeth
was to bear the son which was to
be the forerunner of the Messiah as he
will go forth in the spirit and in
the power of Elijah to fulfill the prophecy
of sending the messenger before the face of
the Lord.
It would appear that as God has set
in order the things of the universe that
he probably placed Gabriel as the overseer in
charge of the details of getting his son
into the world preparing the people on the
earth preparing Mary and because it was Gabriel
who appeared to Mary preparing here Zacharias.
It would seem that he has a hard
time keeping secrets.
He appeared 500 years earlier and spilled the
beans to Daniel at the time that the
Messiah would be coming.
And so here he is again on the
scene some 500 years later.
It'll be interesting to meet Gabriel looking young
and fresh as ever as he is one
of those special angels that God has committed
great responsibilities to and I for one am
quite anxious to meet Gabriel.
Now I don't expect him to sit on
my bed and pet my dog and for
you who have read that book you know
what I'm talking about.
Now the people waited for Zacharias.
They were waiting outside for that blessing from
the priest and they marveled that he tarried
so long in the temple and when he
came out he could not speak unto them
and so they perceived that he had seen
a vision in the temple for he beckoned
unto them and he remained speechless and it
came to pass that as soon as the
days of his ministration were accomplished he departed
to his own house.
So because they only served for a week
at a time in just a few days
he left their Jerusalem and went to Judah
which is nearby Jerusalem actually.
And after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived
and she hid herself for five months saying
thus hath the Lord dealt with me in
the days wherein he looked on me to
take away my reproach from among men.
Her inability to bear children caused her to
be a reproach but the Lord she says
has taken that away.
And in the sixth month the same fellow
Gabriel the angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to
a virgin who was espoused to a man
whose name was Joseph of the house of
David and the virgin's name was Mary.
Three terms we need to deal with engaged
espoused and married.
A person could become engaged when they were
two years old because for the most part
marriage was by arrangement.
So parents would get together they would be
friends you'd have a pretty little girl your
friends would have a nice little boy and
we're friends with each other.
Why don't we have your son marry my
daughter and we make the arrangements.
And so here these little kids three or
four years old walking around saying well we're
engaged because the arrangements have been made by
their parents that they would have each other
as husband and wife.
They felt that decisions as important as marriage
should never be left to the capriciousness of
youth.
They felt that young people didn't have enough
wisdom to choose their mates.
Now as they became older and usually they
were married by the age of 15 or
16 years old and as they became older
one year before they had the marriage ceremony
they entered into a period known as espousal
where they were as though they were married
in that they were committed completely to each
other but there was never a consummation of
the marriage during this period of time.
However once they entered into the period of
the espousal they were considered married to the
extent that if the fellow wanted to break
it off he had to actually get a
divorce even though the marriage at this point
had never been consummated.
So Mary and Joseph were in this period
of espousal where they were totally committed to
each other and to the marriage of each
other and yet the marriage was not to
be consummated until the ceremony at a later
time.
And so to the virgin who was a
spouse she was in this period of the
one year before the actual consummation of the
marriage to a man whose name was Joseph
of the house of David and the virgin's
name was Mary.
And the angel Gabriel came in unto her
and said, Hail thou art highly favored.
The Lord is with you.
Blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him she was troubled
at what he was saying and thought in
her mind, what kind of a greeting is
this?
And the angel said unto her, Fear not
Mary, for thou hast found favor with God.
And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb
and bring forth a son and shall call
his name Jehoshua, which in Greek is Jesus,
but in Hebrew Jehoshua, which means Jehovah is
salvation.
Now you remember in Matthew's gospel when Joseph
found out that Mary was pregnant and he
was really troubled by it because they were
espoused, he thought he might just give her
a bill of divorce but put her away
privately because if he would expose her publicly,
she'd be stoned to death.
And the angel of the Lord came to
Joseph at night and said, Fear not to
take Mary as your wife for that holy
thing, which is conceived in her or that
which is conceived in her as of the
Holy Spirit.
And thou shalt call his name, she'll bear
a son, thou shall call his name Jehoshua.
So both Mary and Joseph were instructed by
the angel of the Lord in the naming
of Jesus.
But when he told Joseph call his name
Jehoshua, he said, For he shall save his
people from their sins.
So the name is extremely significant because it
expresses the mission of Jesus and that is
bringing God's salvation to man.
Jehoshua, the Lord has become our salvation.
And then the angel Gabriel went on to
say he shall be great and shall be
called the son of the highest.
And the Lord God shall give unto him
the throne of his father David.
And of course, throughout the Old Testament prophecies,
there was that promise that the Messiah would
sit upon the throne of David to order
it and to establish it in righteousness and
in judgment from henceforth, even forever.
And he shall reign over the house of
Jacob forever.
And of his kingdom, there shall be no
end.
In the book of Revelation, again, that glorious
song that Handel has put to music,
King of kings and Lord of lords forever
and ever.
Hallelujah.
And so the angel is telling about the
eternal reign of Jesus Christ.
Then said Mary unto the angel, how shall
this be seen?
I know not a man.
Now there's a vast difference between the question
of Zacharias and the question of Mary.
Zacharias was questioning the word of the Lord.
Mary was only asking information on the procedures.
How is this to be?
Seeing I know not a man.
Hers was not the question of doubt.
Hers was only an inquiring question as to
the manner by which it should be fulfilled.
She believed.
And that is pointed out a little later
as Elizabeth said, blessed art thou who has
believed the word that the Lord spoke to
thee.
She believed the word that the Lord spoke
to her.
However, she didn't know by what process it
was to be fulfilled.
And that really was her question.
How is this going to be seeing?
I am a virgin.
I know not a man.
And the angel answered and said unto her,
the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and
the power of the highest shall overshadow thee.
Therefore, also that holy one which shall be
born of thee shall be called the son
of God.
And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth has also conceived
a son in her old age.
And this is the sixth month of her
pregnancy who was called barren.
For with God, nothing shall be impossible.
And Mary said, behold, the handmaid of the
Lord, be it unto me according to thy
word.
And the angel departed from her.
There is sometimes within the Protestant circles, perhaps
a backlash to that position that the Catholics
have sought to place Mary in as the
intercessor.
And even some today, the co-redemptress.
And there is that backlash among Protestants, oftentimes
to sort of put Mary down.
However, as the angel said unto her that
she was highly favored, that the Lord was
with her and she was blessed among women.
Surely, when God chose an instrument by which
to send his son into the world, I
am certain that he chose an instrument that
he had thoroughly prepared.
And I believe that Mary must have been
one of the most beautiful of character of
any woman, woman who has ever lived.
And I think that we can demonstrate this
actually in the text that she was a
extremely unique individual.
Now, remember, it is possible that at this
point she was only about 16 years old
and yet there is such a depth of
character that is demonstrated in her.
And it begins right here as when the
angel tells her all of these remarkable, unusual
things that are bound to create problems as
they did with Joseph, her espoused husband.
She said, behold the handmaid of the Lord,
be it unto me according to thy word.
In other words, she submitted herself to the
purpose of God.
Here I am.
Let the Lord do as he pleases in
my life.
That kind of commitment.
And I'm just intrigued.
And Mary is another one that I want
to meet.
What an unusual, remarkable person.
Surely the most blessed of any woman who
has ever lived.
Now, culturally, it was the dream, the hope,
the desire of every Jewish girl to be
the instrument through which God would send the
Messiah into the world.
And thus, many young Jewish girls, when they
had a boy born to them, would call
his name Joshua, hoping that maybe God would
use that child to be the instrument of
his salvation.
And that was a reason, one of the
reasons, why being barren was considered such a
curse.
You have no opportunity to be the mother
of the Messiah if you are barren.
And that was the hope of every young
Jewish girl to be the instrument that God
would use.
The dream, the hope.
And with Elizabeth being barren, she had lost
that hope.
And of course, everyone who was barren, they
would lose the hope.
Oh, I can't be the instrument.
And that was a very disappointing thing to
them, to feel I can't be the instrument
that God uses to accomplish his purpose.
Oh, that we would be concerned about being
the instrument through which God accomplishes his purposes.
Today, the Druze, a very interesting people, they
have an interesting religion that really they don't
even know what it is.
In the Druze religion, it's a break off
from the Muslims, but only their priests know
what they believe.
The people don't know what they believe.
And the priest does the whole religious bit
for them.
They know they're Druze and they know that,
you know, this is their religion and all,
but only the priests know what it's all
about and they know what they believe, but
the people don't.
And many of the men, though, are priests.
And as you go through the Druze villages
today, you will see these men wearing these
pants with these large pouches in the front.
For one of the things that the Druze
do believe is that when the Messiah comes,
he will be born of a man.
And so going through their villages, and it's
fascinating to go through the Druze villages and
see these huge baggy pants in the front,
these sacks that hang down in the front.
And these men wear these in case they
are the one that God chooses to send
the Messiah through.
In other words, they're the ones that will
get pregnant with the Messiah.
And so they're prepared for it by wearing
these pants with these large baggy things in
the front.
They're all set for their pregnancies.
They've already got their maternity clothes.
But such was the hope of every young
girl in Israel.
And the fulfillment of that hope came to
one, a young girl from Nazareth, a beautiful
young girl of character and spirit named Mary.
And Mary arose in those days and went
into the hill country with haste to the
city of Judah.
And she entered into the house of Zacharias,
and she greeted Elizabeth.
That word saluted is an old English word,
and it actually means greeted.
In the marriage ceremony, they used to say,
you may now salute your bride.
But during World War II, too many of
the guys were not really understanding the old
English word salute.
And so it is now, you know, something
that you say, you may now kiss your
bride.
So she entered into the house of Zacharias
and greeted Elizabeth.
And it came to pass that when Elizabeth
heard the greeting, the salutations of Mary, that
the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth
was filled with the Holy Spirit.
And she spake out with a loud voice
and said, Blessed art thou among women, and
blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
And whence is this to me that the
mother of my Lord should come to me?
For lo, as soon as I heard the
voice of your greeting sounding in my ears,
the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
And blessed is she that believed, for there
shall be a performance of those things which
were told her from the Lord.
I suppose that this would be an appropriate
place to talk about abortion.
Here was John the Baptist six months along,
and yet there was some kind of a
recognition for when Mary spoke, he responded to
it in the womb.
We are told that as the child is
in the womb, that it begins to understand
and to recognize voices, that you pregnant mothers
should talk to your child.
For if you are talking to them while
you are still pregnant, they will be comforted
by your voice after they are born because
they've learned to recognize it.
More and more we are discovering interesting facets
of that fetal development.
And here at six months with John, there
was that capacity to leap for joy in
his mother's womb when he heard the voice
of Mary.
Now, remember, she is speaking by the Holy
Spirit, and thus we have the word of
the Holy Spirit that the child leaped for
joy at the word of Mary.
We talked a little bit this morning about
what factors are considered in determining what is
right and what is wrong in our present
society.
And the effect that the philosophy has had
upon our entire culture, the idea that the
mores determine in a society what is accepted
and unacceptable behavior, what is good, what is
bad, what is right and what is wrong.
And in this particular philosophical determination,
if enough people within a society begin to
practice a certain thing, it becomes then sociably
acceptable, or it becomes good, or it becomes
right, because that is determined by the mores
of the society itself.
Accepting that God does not exist because it
has to come from a totally humanistic base.
God does not exist, and therefore there is
no godly standard for right or wrong.
And inasmuch as there is no godly standard
for right or wrong, right or wrong now
is determined strictly by the practices, the mores
of a particular society.
And the sociologists will show that there are
societies where the father has nothing to do
with the children, and so in that society
is perfectly all right as the uncle takes
the father role within the home.
There are societies where they have a plurality
of wives or a plurality of husbands, and
because it's the accepted practice of the society,
no one thinks wrong of it or thinks
it's bad or evil, and because the mores
determine what is right and what is wrong.
So you get enough people doing something, and
suddenly it becomes right.
And so we get enough abortions killing millions
of innocent babies, but it's all right because
it's become a part of the mores.
No one's supposed to say anything against it.
I have a hard time handling my emotions
around a child.
I become foolish.
I try to come down to their level
a bit to communicate with them.
I'm so fascinated with children.
I love children so much.
I love little boys, and I love little
girls, and to me there's nothing more enjoyable
than communicating with children, seeing their responses.
I love to study their faces.
I love to study their habits.
I love to study just children.
I can hold them and just look at
them for hours on end, watching them, watching
the changing expressions and all.
I love to see them develop and grow.
That is why I have such tremendous difficulty
with child abuse.
Where an adult would deliberately abuse a little
child, hurt it, damage it, beat it, destroy
it, and unfortunately it is a rising,
increasing problem in our society.
In fact, in Los Angeles County this year,
there have been more murders of infants than
any time in the history of Los Angeles.
It's at record height.
Babies that are beaten to death, or drowned,
or suffocated, abused, it's reached record
proportions this year.
And I have such difficulty with this.
My body begins to recoil.
I have to put it out of my
mind because I just can't think about it
too long.
It just affects me too deeply.
But I wonder if much of this isn't
attributed to the fact that we've begun to
put a cheaper value on life by the
legalizing of abortion.
You see, it's all right, it's all right
to abuse the child as long as it
hasn't been born yet.
But if it's all right to abuse that
child because it really doesn't understand much, it
hasn't been born yet, then I wonder if
the next step is, well, it doesn't really
understand too much of what's going on, so
what difference does it make if you abuse
the child because it doesn't really know or
understand much yet.
Whether or not that has anything to do
with it, all I know is that with
the cheapening of the value of life, it
seems to be following through all of the
segment of our society.
And I think that we have some extremely
dangerous sociological implications that will arise from some
of these humanistic, liberal, legislative decisions that are
being made.
And I only say that to warn you.
I don't think we're going to have to
deal with it too long.
I don't think God will allow things to
go on much longer.
I will be very shocked if he does.
All I can say, if I was the
Lord, I would have closed it down a
long time ago.
Now, Elizabeth said unto her, blessed is she
that believed.
Mary believed, for there shall be a performance
of those things which were told her from
the Lord.
And Mary said, and here we now get
an insight into the beautiful depth of this
young girl as she began to just worship
the Lord.
My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my
spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior, for
he hath regarded the lowest state of his
handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call
me blessed, for he that is mighty hath
done to me great things, and holy is
his name.
For his mercy is on them that fear
him from generation to generation, for he hath
showed strength with his arm.
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination
of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their
seats and exalted them of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance
of his mercy.
And as he spake to our fathers, to
Abraham and to his seed forever, a reference
to the promise of God to Abraham, that
through thy seed all nations of the earth
will be blessed.
And Mary stayed with her for about three
months, probably until the time that John was
born, and then she returned to her own
house.
Probably stayed to help Elizabeth during this period
of her pregnancy.
Now she speaks here, beginning with verse 51,
of the revolution that God creates.
First of all, he has scattered the proud
in the imagination of their hearts.
And so the first revolution is really an
individual revolution of God, scattering the proud.
The second, he put down the mighty from
their thrones and exalted them of low degree.
And then thirdly, filled the hungry with good
things and sent the rich away empty, an
economic revolution.
Now Elizabeth's full time came that she should
be delivered, and she brought forth a son.
And her neighbors and her cousins heard how
the Lord had shown great mercy upon her,
and they rejoiced with her.
And it came to pass that on the
eighth day, when they came to circumcise the
child, they called him Zacharias, after his father.
But his mother answered and said, not so.
He shall be called Johanan.
God is gracious.
And they said unto her, there's none of
your family that is called by that name.
And they made signs to his father how
he would have him to be named.
And he asked for a writing tablet, and
he wrote saying, his name is John or
Johanan.
And all of them marveled.
Now, when a woman was in labor, the
neighbors would begin to gather.
They would bring their musical instruments, and they
would bring food and all, and they'd prepare
for a great party when the child was
born.
And when the child was born, and they
would say, it's a boy, the musicians would
start playing, they'd all dance, and they'd have
a big party.
If when the child was born, they said,
it's a girl, they'd take their musical instruments,
fold them up, and go home.
In those days, it was considered a great
blessing to have a boy born in the
home.
But girls were sort of disregarded.
It took really the teachings of Jesus Christ
to elevate women to their proper level, placing
upon them that glory and honor that they
deserve.
You women should be extremely thankful for Jesus
Christ.
All you have to do is go into
a culture where the gospel of Christ has
not had a strong influence, and look at
the role of the woman, and you will
appreciate more and more what Jesus Christ has
done for you.
Look at the Bedouin society.
Look at the Indian culture.
Look at the culture of those people in
New Guinea.
Read the book, Lords of the Earth.
It's a tremendous sociological insight into the culture
of the New Guineans before the coming of
Christianity.
You'll really appreciate what Jesus Christ has done
in his elevation of womanhood to its beautiful,
proper place.
Now, as soon as he had written on
the tablet, his name is John, his mouth
was opened, and his tongue was loosed, and
he spoke and praised God.
And fear came on all those that dwelt
about them, and all of these sayings were
noised abroad throughout all of the hill country
of Judea.
And all they that heard them laid them
up in their hearts, saying, What kind of
a kid is this going to be?
For the hand of the Lord was with
him, and his father Zacharias was filled with
the Holy Spirit.
Now Mary, I mean, Elizabeth was filled with
the Holy Spirit.
When Mary greeted her, now Zacharias is filled
with the Holy Spirit.
And he prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord
God of Israel, for he has visited and
redeemed his people.
Blessing God for, first of all, the fact
that God has visited his people.
Jesus Christ is God, manifested in the flesh.
And through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
as he is prophesying, the first declaration is
that God, the Lord God of Israel, has
visited his people.
In the beginning was the Word, the Word
was with God, the Word was God, the
same was in the beginning with God, and
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among
us.
He visited his people.
But the purpose of his visit was redemption.
He has visited and redeemed his people.
Jesus, in announcing his purpose, declared, for the
Son of Man has come to seek and
to save that which was lost.
Redemption, the purpose of the coming of Christ.
The Lord has raised up a power of
salvation.
The horn was always symbolic of power.
And so he's raised up the power to
salvation in the house of his servant David.
Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
It is the power of God unto salvation
to those that believe.
The preaching of the cross is to them
that perish foolishness, but unto us who are
saved thereby, it is the power of God.
Oh, blessed be God.
He's visited his people.
God has come to bring redemption, to give
power for salvation through the house of David,
through the house of his servant David.
As he spoke by the mouth of the
holy prophets, which have been since the world
began, recognizing that the prophecies concerning the savior,
concerning the Messiah have been in existence from
the beginning of man's existence, from the beginning
of the fall, actually, or from the time
of the fall, when God said to the
woman, cursed be the serpent, crawl upon the
earth.
But then he said that the seed of
the woman would bruise his head.
That sin would be destroyed by the seed
of the woman.
Blessed be God.
He has brought now the power of salvation.
He's redeemed through the seed of the woman,
through the virgin born child.
For God is performing the mercies that he's
promised to our fathers.
And he's remembering his holy covenant, the oath,
which he swore to our father, Abraham through
thy seed, shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed.
That he would grant unto us that we
being delivered out of the hand of our
enemies might serve him without fear.
Salvation is more than being saved from yes.
God has delivered us from the hand of
our enemy, but he has saved us for
the purpose that we might serve him without
fear in holiness and in righteousness.
Now, both holiness and righteousness have as their
root idea that of being right.
But holiness is a rightness of character, whereas
righteousness is a rightness in conduct.
But the one springs out of the other.
Holiness is the root.
Righteousness is the fruit that springs forth from
the root.
The difficulty that so many people have today
is their endeavor to be right without holiness.
But ultimately, any endeavor to be right will
break down for there is no motive strong
enough to maintain righteousness other than holiness.
You've got to be pure at the core.
You've got to have the holiness, the right
attitude, if you are to have the right
actions or activities.
And so it is God's purpose, first of
all, that we walk before him or serve
him in holiness, that God does that work
within our heart, changing our character, our life,
in order that we might also serve him
in righteousness.
The Pharisees had a system of righteousness apart
from holiness, and it was total failure.
Jesus remarked on the failure.
He said, unless your righteousness exceeds that of
the scribes and the Pharisees, you're not going
to enter the kingdom of heaven to the
disciples.
That must have been one of the most
shocking statements that Jesus has ever made, because
who was more right?
Who did the things more right than did
the Pharisees?
And yet, unless your righteousness exceeds those, you're
not going to make it, Jesus said.
Why?
Because theirs was a righteousness without holiness.
It wasn't from the heart.
Their attitudes were stinking, according to Jesus.
The outside, you're like a whited sepulcher, but
inside, dead man's smelly bones.
The outside of the platter is all clean,
but the inside of the cup is filled
with vermin.
You may clean the outside, but the inside,
you have a righteousness without holiness, totally unaccepted.
And unless your righteousness exceeds the scribes and
the Pharisees, you're not going to make it
into the kingdom of heaven, because you have
to have a righteousness that springs from holiness,
the holiness of character, and God's purpose that
we serve him in holiness and in righteousness
all the days of our life.
And now addressing the child.
This is a prophecy concerning the one that
the child is to go before, but concerning
the child himself, little John lying there, and
thou child shall be called the prophet of
the highest.
Jesus said of all of the prophets born
of women, there hasn't been a greater one
than arise than John.
Thou shalt be called the prophet of the
highest, for thou shalt go before the face
of the Lord to prepare his ways, to
give knowledge of salvation unto his people by
the remission of their sins through the tender
mercy of our God, whereby the sun rising
from on high hath visited us or the
day spring or the sun rising or the
rising of the sun to give light to
those that sit in darkness and in the
shadow of death to guide our feet in
the way of peace.
Again, referring to Christ.
God, by his tender mercy has sent the
sunrise from on high to visit us, that
he might give us light for those who
are sitting in darkness and in the shadows
that he might guide our feet in the
way of peace, peace with God.
And so the child grew and waxed strong
in spirit and was in the desert until
the day of his showing unto Israel.