God’s Effective Call (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
God’s Effective Call
Jeremiah 31:31-34
July 16, 2017
As you know, we are working through those 5 Solas of the Reformation
And we have camped out for several weeks on that second Sola, which is of course SOLA GRATIA, or the belief that we are saved By Grace Alone.
And I think you will probably agree,
That though there are many who give a sort of lip service
To the notion of grace,
But the true reality of it is much deeper
Than most of us have ever really pondered.
It is becoming increasingly clear to us that
We have absolutely no part in the credit for our salvation.
We are not saved by “Grace A lot” we are saved by “Grace Alone”
And in order to see that in a more systematic way
We have been working through what is commonly referred to as
• “The Doctrines of Grace”
• Or for some “5 Point Calvinism”
• Or even still “The TULIP”
And thus far we have learned that:
Because of man’s ABSOLUTE INABILITY to seek or even to respond to God by his own human effort, he is in total need of God’s divine intervention.
• Man cannot and would not respond to God on his own.
• He is dead, by reason of the fall, and utterly helpless and hopeless apart from God’s intervention.
The good news is that God has chosen to save some
In spite of their utter rebellion and inability.
We call those whom God has chosen to save “the Elect”
And they are referred to all throughout Scripture.
And of course most recently we have seen that God’s will in SOVEREIGN ELECTION is totally fair and totally just.
• God is the sovereign God of the universe and therefore He holds absolute autonomy to do whatever He pleases with His creation.
The good news again is that God has not chosen
To give every man what they deserve, which is judgment.
Instead, God has graciously chosen
To bestow mercy upon some for His own glory.
It is all grace.
Now, if you are keeping score, what we have covered thus far would be the first two legs of those Doctrines of Grace.
• Man’s Absolute Inability (Also called: Total Depravity)
• God’s Sovereign Election (Also called: Unconditional Election)
TONIGHT I WANT US TO MOVE AGAIN A LITTLE FARTHER.
Many people who take issue with these doctrines
Would explain the phenomenon of salvation a little differently.
Instead of seeing man as universally dead and totally dependent upon grace for salvation, they sort of spin it a little differently.
As we have noted, they like to take the decision out of God’s hand,
And put the decision solely in the hands of man.
To them, all men are certainly lost,
But God has in fact universally chosen all men
And universally called all men,
And the decision of salvation is totally up to man.
Everyone (they suppose) gets an equal shot,
It’s really just up to man whether they accept the call or not.
And of course this road is taken mostly in an attempt to maintain
What they refer to as Man’s Free Will.
To that, we have said that man does have a sort of free will.
• That is to say, he is free to choose whatever he wants, It’s just that in his lost condition, all he will ever choose is sin.
• And the only reason anyone ever chooses God is because God causes them to choose Him.
And that brings up YET ANOTHER POINT OF CONTENTION
Among those who deny these doctrines.
It is the old “YOU MAKE MAN OUT TO BE A ROBOT” argument.
So let’s look at this a moment.
• Is that true?
• Is man nothing more than a robot?
• Does God drag men (kicking and screaming) into the kingdom of heaven absolutely against their will?
If you’ve ever watched the John Wayne movie “The Horse Soldiers” there is a scene were a young group of Confederate boys decide to march into battle against John Wayne’s horse soldiers.
As they are leaving one of the boys mothers grabs him and literally drags him out of line as the boy is kicking and screaming and resisting.
Does God do that?
And of course we have to answer: NO
Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.”
Perhaps you will remember Stephen’s sermon before the Sanhedrin:
Acts 7:51 “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.”
Those passages clearly reveal that
Men often times RESIST God’s offer of grace.
Well these passages have been used countless times to try and refute the third doctrine of grace which we are introducing tonight.
It has been historically referred to as: IRRESISTIBLE GRACE
WE DO TAKE A LITTLE ISSUE WITH THAT LABEL
After all, men clearly resist God’s grace all the time.
Hebrews 3:7-12 “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’; AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.'” Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”
That is obviously a clear warning
Not to resist the call of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Or even later in the book we read:
Hebrews 6:4-6 “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”
Those were people who had grace poured out to them in enormous fashion.
• They “have once been enlightened”
• They “have tasted of the heavenly gift”
• They “have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit”
• They “have tasted the good word of God”
• They have tasted “the powers of the age to come”
Their partaking in any of that was nothing but grace and yet, we read in that passage that despite their benefits, they still rejected Christ.
It is comparable to those 8 great rejected privileges of Israel
Which we recently read about in Romans 9.
So clearly, talking about IRRESISTIBLE GRACE
Brings with it some obvious and fitting debate.
However, what we are talking about here
Is something much more significant than that
Which is relayed in the statement “Irresistible Grace”.
John MacArthur gave it a better term I think in referring to it as
“GOD’S EFFECTUAL CALL”
NOW, LET ME EXPLAIN THIS A BIT.
If I talk to you about “The Call of God”
You can understand that easy enough.
It would be any request or invitation that comes from God about anything.
• Maybe God calling you to salvation
• Maybe God calling you to repentance
• Maybe God calling you to obedience
• Maybe God calling you to ministry
You get the idea when we talk about a call.
What you must understand is that Scripturally speaking
There are two types of call which come from God.
THERE IS A UNIVERSAL CALL
This is the call which God universally delivers to all men.
It is the “whosoever” concept.
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Revelation 21:6 “Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.”
Revelation 22:17 “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.”
These are universal calls to all humanity.
What we see in Scripture is that this call is UNIVERSALLY REJECTED.
No man answers that call
Because man is not interested in repentance or salvation or righteousness.
And Scripture is literally filled with examples
Of people rejecting God’s universal call.
However, there is a second type of call also revealed in Scripture and that is GOD’S EFFECTUAL CALL.
To put it another way,
It is when God calls in such a way that it is never rejected.
This call is spoken of in:
Romans 8:28-30 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
There is no indication anywhere in that verse
That there is one single person who is “called”
Who is not also “justified” and subsequently “glorified”.
It is a call which comes with a 100% success rate.
That is obviously different from the universal call we so often see rejected.
We saw this call last time in our study of Romans 9:
Romans 9:22-24 “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”
There Paul is referring to those whom God did save,
Whom he referred to as the “called”.
And this, by the way, is A COMMON DISTINCTION OF THE REDEEMED.
“Called” is the Greek word KALEO
And it refers to being summoned or called into someone’s presence.
For example:
Matthew 2:7 “Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared.”
Well, we are called the Church which is EKKLESIA
KALEOIS is to be summoned
EK-KALEOIS is to be called out
The church is those who have been called or called out by God.
WE ARE NOT just those, who like everyone else, heard a universal call.
We are those who have been specifically called out by God.
1 Corinthians 1:26 “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;”
You are familiar with that verse,
Paul is clearly referring to God’s sovereign and electing call of salvation.
Ephesians 4:1 “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,”
Colossians 3:15 “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.”
2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Timothy 1:9 “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,”
1 Peter 2:9 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION,A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”
1 Peter 5:10 “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.”
You get the picture.
It is a specific and effective call from God
By which He purposely called you out of darkness and into light.
It is a justifying call
It is a sanctifying call
It is an effective call
That is to say it always works
Because everyone who receives this call
Is also justified and glorified as Romans 8 says.
Jesus said it like this:
John 6:37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”
So, while we do see sinners
Reject God’s universal call of salvation all the time,
What we also understand is that to His elect
God issues a call that cannot and will not be refused.
• To those whom God has foreknown…
• To those whom God has predestined…
• To them God issues an effective call which will not be rejected.
To put it another way, if God chooses you,
There is a call that you will absolutely respond favorably to.
HOW CAN THAT BE?
If God does not drag us kicking and screaming against our will, how can you say that all of God’s elect will absolutely respond favorably to this call?
Are you ready for the answer?
BECAUSE GOD FIRST CHANGES THEIR WILL
God first causes them to want what He offers.
Look at our text in Jeremiah 31
(We’ve got several, but we can run through them quickly because the point is so obviously made)
Now, we read verses 31-34 to get started tonight.
What you should know is that
• Jeremiah is speaking to a people who are under judgment.
• Most of their people have either been killed or deported to Babylon.
• All that is left is Jerusalem and it is under siege and they are being starved out.
In a very short time, Nebuchadnezzar is going to break down the wall,
Burn down the temple and deport what remaining survivors we find to Babylon, where they will be held captive for 70 years.
You should also know the reason for this turmoil.
It is because Israel broke their covenant with God.
Israel made a commitment to obey all of God’s Laws.
Exodus 19:7-9 “So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD. The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever.” Then Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.”
You know that Israel didn’t not keep their end of the bargain.
I don’t want to drudge all through it,
But if you were to read Deuteronomy 28 you’d find a very long list of curses which God promised to bring upon Israel if they failed to live up their commitment to follow God.
Here is one of those pronounced curses or consequences.
Deuteronomy 28:30-37 “You shall betroth a wife, but another man will violate her; you shall build a house, but you will not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard, but you will not use its fruit. “Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat of it; your donkey shall be torn away from you, and will not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and you will have none to save you. “Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and yearn for them continually; but there will be nothing you can do. “A people whom you do not know shall eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressed and crushed continually. “You shall be driven mad by the sight of what you see. “The LORD will strike you on the knees and legs with sore boils, from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. “The LORD will bring you and your king, whom you set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone. “You shall become a horror, a proverb, and a taunt among all the people where the LORD drives you.”
So it is very clear to see that all that is happening to Israel and Jerusalem
Is the direct result of them having failed to keep the commandments of God.
They broke the covenant and they are suffering for it.
Now, the strange part of Jeremiah 31 is that before we get to the passages we are studying, there are 30 verses that seem way irrelevant and out of place.
Jeremiah gives 30 verses that describe a coming day of absolute bliss and blessing.
• It talks about Israel again being the people of God.
• It talks about God rebuilding the temple
• It talks about tambourines and merrymakers and singers
Look at verses 12-14
Look at verses 28-30
Now you read that, especially in light of the Babylonian army outside
And it just doesn’t seem to fit.
We know why Israel is in this predicament,
It’s because they couldn’t obey God.
All of those things Jeremiah talks about in the first 30 verses
Are for people who do obey God.
So what in the world would make anyone in Jerusalem think that they will ever achieve any of those things?
Surely they know that when given the choice,
Their history reveals that all they ever choose is the wrong thing.
Why would they think that it will ever be any different?
Why would they think that they will ever choose correctly?
And then comes the answer:
READ JEREMIAH 31:31-34
Let me give you 3 quick things there.
#1 THE DECISION
Jeremiah 31:31
Notice that God has made a decision.
He DOESN’T promise all that bliss and then say, “Because I’m thinking you will have learned your lesson, and next time you’ll do what is right.”
• God knows better.
• God knows that if left up to them, Israel will never keep their agreement.
God described them accurately in Psalms 95
Psalms 95:10 “For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways.”
God knows that they will never keep their end of the deal,
So God’s decision is “I will make a new covenant”
Well, what makes this one any better than the other one?
#2 THE DISTINCTION
Jeremiah 31:32
This covenant will “not [be] like the covenant I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,”
Do you remember that covenant?
Let me sum it up for you.
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Joshua 24:15 “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
The old covenant took a set of Laws and inscribed them on tablets of stone and said, “Now, you have a choice to make.”
• You can either choose to obey these commands wherein I will bless you.
• Or you can choose to disobey these commands wherein I will judge you.
That covenant was dependent upon the will and decision of man.
And here in Jerusalem, with Babylon breathing down their neck,
Israel learned firsthand how ineffective that covenant was.
God said, the new covenant, will not be like that old covenant.
SPECIFICALLY, IT WILL NOT DEPEND UPON YOU.
The Decision, The Distinction
#3 THE DESCRIPTION
Jeremiah 31:33-34
What a thing of beauty!
No longer would God write His commands on tablets of stone and present it to the people, God would now write His commands upon their hearts.
God will make them His people.
And it will be a totally intimate relationship.
“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know me.”
The old system maintained a definite pecking order.
• Moses went up, talked to God, received the commands, and then brought them
to you and told you who God was and what God desired.
• Even after Moses, priests entered the temple and communed with God and
came out to tell you what was expected.
• The only thing you knew of God was what someone told you about God.
God was here saying, it won’t be like that anymore,
I’m going to do a personal work on everyone’s heart.
It is going to be a Divine Work
It is going to be an Internal Work
It is going to be an Effective Work
For it will end in forgiveness.
Now, you are familiar with that passage, it is also recorded in Hebrews 8.
It reveals that God will do an internal work in His elect
And cause them to be who He calls them to be.
That’s not the only place it is revealed.
TURN TO: EZEKIEL 36:22-32
• Again, we don’t have to dwell long here, but you’ll see the point.
• Ezekiel is announcing that same new covenant.
(22-23) – Make sure you see WHY God is doing it. As we have said repeatedly, this is all about the glory of God, not the happiness of man.
But look at what God will do.
(24-27) Do you see that?
God is doing it all.
He is taking a hard-hearted people who always choose wrong
And He is promising to change their heart
In order to cause them to do what is right.
(26-27) “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
My goodness, Ezekiel was a Calvinist before Calvin was a Calvinist.
Perhaps we should call Calvin an Ezekielist!
God will “cause you” to do it.
And the result then of your new-found obedience is that you will receive all the blessings of obedience.
(28-31)
See how God is taking matters into His own hands?
And again, remember why (VS 32)
THIS IS ALL FOR GOD’S GLORY.
Now, if those two passages are not enough to get the point across,
GOD EVEN GIVES A LITTLE ILLUSTRATION.
READ EZEKIEL 37:1-14
Did you see it again?
Now the reason I give you all that is because
I want you to understand GOD’S EFFECTUAL CALL.
I want you to understand how Jesus could say:
John 6:37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”
How can you say that all the chosen will come, when we no darn good and well that people resist God’s call all the time?
Jesus could say that because He knew that in the case of the elect,
God would change their heart and change their will
And cause them to respond favorably.
Have you not recognized this in your own life?
• I did, specifically in regard to my calling to preach.
• I wouldn’t do it because I wanted to do it so bad, and I figured that couldn’t be
right.
1 Timothy 3:1 “It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.”
Where do you suppose that desire came from?
God did that.
And that is what He does in regard to His call for salvation to the elect.
He changes their heart and changes their will
And causes them to respond.
Paul said it like this:
Romans 5:5 “and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
That is a love for God, which was given to us by God.
It is God’s means of effectively calling His chosen.
And for this reason, those whom God calls, He also justifies, and those whom He justifies, He also glorifies.
Jesus certainly knew that.
John 10:14-16 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.”
John 10:27-30 “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. “I and the Father are one.”
Do you see that?
He knew His sheep were coming.
WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT HERE
IS ANOTHER ASPECT OF GOD’S AMAZING GRACE.
• Not only does God choose to save those who don’t deserve it.
• Not only does God choose those who would never choose Him.
• But God also does such a work in their heart as to cause them to want Him so that when He calls, they respond.
God did a work in your heart to cause you to want Him.
If He had not, you would not have responded to Him.
That is GOD’S EFFECTUAL CALL
And look, if we had time, all we have to do is go to the life of Abraham, whom God called out of Ur of the Chaldeans into the land He promised him.
But how many times did Abraham try to mess that up?
God just wouldn’t let him.
• Go read Genesis 12 and see how no sooner does Abram enter the promised
land then does he try to leave it and throw Sarai to the curb, but God
won’t have it.
• God was calling Abraham, and God was seeing to it that Abraham responded.
It is God’s Effectual Call.
And let me tell you what that does.
It absolutely crushes your pride and gives every stitch of glory to God.
We can’t even say that we were saved because we chose what was right.
The only reason we chose what was right
Is because God caused us to choose it, by doing a work in our heart.
• We were sinners, dead in sin and choosing death.
(ABSOLUTE INABILITY)
• But God chose us, by pure grace, for His own purposes.
(SOVEREIGN ELECTION)
• Then God caused us to desire Him by doing a transforming work in our heart.
(EFFECTUAL CALL)
And so at the end of the day all we do
Is praise God for His amazing grace!
The Coming Restorer – Part 1 (Luke 1:5-7)
The Coming Restorer – Part 1
Luke 1:5-25 (5-7)
July 16, 2017
Well, a couple of weeks ago,
We began a new study here in the word of God.
It is a study I am calling “The History of Redemption”
That is precisely what Luke has set out to give us.
Luke 1:1-4 “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.”
• There were so many stories floating around about Jesus, that Luke felt
the necessity to sort of “set the record straight”.
• He investigated the things that were said about Jesus and compiled it
together in an orderly fashion for one purpose.
• That we might know “the exact truth” about the things which have been
said about Jesus.
Luke gives us a Holy Spirit inspired historical account.
And we call it “The History of Redemption”.
And Luke’s first order of business
Is to connect his account to the Old Testament.
In order to fully grasp what Luke is doing,
We need to turn back to the final statement of the Bible Luke read.
Luke’s Bible ended with the prophet Malachi.
TURN TO: MALACHI 4
We’ve never studied Malachi on a Sunday, but some of you were with us when we worked our way through it on Wednesday night a few years back.
The book of Malachi delivers a direct punch in the face to apathy.
It addresses people who were apathetic about the things of God.
• In chapter 1:6-8, God confronted the fact that they were content to give the blind, lame, and sick as a sacrifice to God.
(The idea being that God could just have what we no longer wanted,
instead of the unblemished offering He deserved.)
• Coupled with that, chapter 1:12-13 also tells us that the priests who performed the sacrifices saw their duty as a tiresome burden.
(Here was God’s ordained means of atonement and forgiveness,
and instead of being grateful for the opportunity, the priests saw it as a burden.)
• Chapter 2:7-8 reveals that the priests had also grown lax in their commitment to teaching truth. God says that they had corrupted the covenant, and were in fact twisting the truth.
It revealed a total lack of reverence for God.
• Chapter 2:11 reveals that Israel no longer cared about God’s statutes regarding marriage, but had grown content intermarrying with non-believers.
• We also find in chapter 2:14-16 a total lack of integrity spreading throughout the nation in the rise of divorce which God hated.
Because of this apathy, God promised a day of purification was coming.
Chapter 3:1-4 revealed a coming “messenger” who would “clear the way before Me.” And then, “the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple;”
But before Israel got excited about this event they should know that
He was not coming to comfort, He was coming to confront.
3:2 asks, “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.”
When the Lord would come,
He would have to confront the apathy and immorality of the people.
And then Malachi returns and exposes yet another sin of the people.
• 3:8-12 reveals that they had stopped tithing to God, which was hurting the poor, who were direct beneficiaries of this benevolent giving.
• 3:13-15 reveals that God’s people had begun to envy the arrogant simply because they were successful in the world.
Now, what we also found in the book of Malachi was that
There was A REMNANT who responded to this convicting message.
• Malachi 3:16-18 revealed that there was a remnant who feared the Lord
who humbled themselves in repentance and a recommitment to the
Lord, and the Lord accepted them as His and promised to spare them
when He would come.
And God promised that “you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve Him.”
So you can see how confrontational and challenging
This final book of the Old Testament is.
It is a book that seeks to cut through the apathy and traditional religion in order to produce people:
• Who genuinely love God,
• Who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
• Who serve God with a whole heart.
That is really the heart of Malachi.
And then the book ends with chapter 4 and this promise.
READ MALACHI 4:1-6
• There we find that God is promising to come and in His coming He will judge the unrighteous and as though they are chaff in the fire.
• He will not tolerate nominal religion, He will not tolerate unrighteousness cloaked in ceremony, He will come like a purifying furnace and will judge the wicked.
That is the promise.
It is certainly something for the wicked to fear.
However, verses 2 & 3 reveal something very important, that we need to grasp.
(2-3) “But as for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day which I am preparing,” says the LORD of hosts.”
The LORD is going to come and judge the wicked,
And this will be a great and glorious day for those who fear Him.
This would be the people who have been forced to dwell in the midst of the wicked and who have felt their righteous souls tormented by the corruption around them.
They are people who have sought to stay righteous in the midst of evil.
They were lone lamps in the midst of the darkness of night.
But the promise to them was that,
“the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings”
No longer would they be the outnumbered voice for God.
God Himself would come and shine light into the world
And once again elevate righteousness.
THAT WAS THE PROMISE.
In light of that reality, (application)
Malachi reminded again that people should rekindle their love for the word of God and for genuine obedience, which is what we read in verse 4 when he says, “Remember the law of Moses”.
That is to say, remember the importance of fearing God and living in obedience to Him. On the day that He comes, it will greatly matter.
And then the book closes with yet ONE MORE PROMISE.
(5-6) “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”
Malachi reminds that the “day of the LORD” is coming.
• For those who fear the Lord, it will be “great”.
• For those who are apathetic towards Him, it will be “terrible”
And so, BEFORE THE LORD COMES He will first send “Elijah the prophet”
And “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”
Before the Lord comes in judgment,
He will first send a forerunner to clean up the people
That they might enjoy the Lord’s coming and not dread it.
This forerunner will “restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers.”
This does not mean the forerunner will promote family unity.
“the fathers” here is a reference to the patriarchal fathers,
Or those who were the faithful of old.
At the present the fathers would not be pleased with these children
And these current children clearly are not like their fathers.
Perhaps you will remember Jesus saying:
John 8:39-40 “They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. “But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do.”
It was clear in Jesus’ day that the “children of Abraham” were nothing like him.
Perhaps you even remember John the Baptist saying:
Matthew 3:7-9 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.”
The people thought they were children of Abraham,
John revealed they were actually sons of snakes.
That was the problem in Israel.
The forerunner would come to fix that before the coming day of the Lord.
NOW, THAT PROMISE WAS HOW THE OLD TESTAMENT ENDED.
And it would be over 400 years
Before God would ever break the silence with a new revelation.
I don’t want you to assume that God was totally silent for that time,
For surely God continued to speak through His word just as He does today.
But for 400 years there was no new revelation from God.
• There were no prophets with anything new to reveal.
• There was just this final promise from Malachi that the Lord was coming and
His forerunner before Him.
And the faithful remnant of God was patiently waiting for this “sun of righteousness” which would “rise with healing in its wings;”
That is where God’s word stopped.
AND THAT BEARS WITNESS TO THE METICULOUS DETAIL OF LUKE.
LUKE PICKS UP RIGHT WERE MALACHI ENDS.
You could end Malachi 4 and go straight into Luke 1 without missing a beat.
In fact, NOTICE some of the things Luke references here.
After announcing to Zecharias that he will have a son, Luke reveals this angelic message.
(17) “It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people for the Lord.”
Where have you heard that before?
Do you see how Luke is just carrying the story forward?
Later, when John is born and Zecharias is again allowed to speak, notice what he says about his son.
(1:76-79) “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE HIS WAYS; To give to His people the knowledge of salvation By the forgiveness of their sins, Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, To guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Did you catch that reference?
Luke is careful to make sure you understand that
This story of Jesus is not independent of the Old Testament.
The story of Jesus IS THE CULMINATION of the Old Testament.
These two stories fit together as one.
The New Testament is LOST without the Old
And the Old Testament is INCOMPLETE without the New.
This isn’t some different message or religion from a different God. This story of Jesus is the culmination and completion
Of all that God was doing and promised in the Old Testament.
It’s as though Luke found the final missing chapters of the book and is finally working to attach them that we might have the whole story.
Or, as Luke put it, “the exact truth”.
Luke wants you:
• To pick back up in Malachi 4,
• To agonize in anticipation for 400 years
• As you wait for “the sun of righteousness”.
Because Luke has found the fulfillment of that promise.
And when you get to Luke’s gospel, the silence of God is finally broken.
If you’ve read the chapters ahead of time then you are aware,
That not only does God break His silence,
But He does so with a vengeance.
We get not one, but two messages directly from God.
Luke 1 contains two angelic visits and two angelic announcements.
After Malachi 4 God laid down His pen,
But in Luke chapter 1, He has picked it back up again.
THE STORY OF REDEMPTION IS MOVING FORWARD.
I think you will agree, that this is pretty exciting stuff!
Now, that’s the big picture, I just wanted you to see that before we start working through the details of the story.
THIS MORNING we are going to begin looking at
The announcement of this Restorer that Malachi promised us.
Malachi said:
Malachi 4:5-6 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”
Well let’s see how this restorer arrived on the scene.
By this point you’ve already figured out that there is no way we’re going to make it through all 25 verses this morning, but let’s begin and we’ll finish it up next week.
There are 4 main points to this section
Which will help us see what is going on.
#1 THE CHOSEN SERVANTS
Luke 1:5-10
Luke begins “In the days of Herod, king of Judea”
The “Herod” mentioned here is the first of 5 seen in the New Testament, and he is no doubt the most famous.
• He is Herod I or Herod the Great.
• His dad was Antipater and a supporter of Julius Caesar who rewarded him by making him governor of Judea. Antipater then made Herod I the governor of Galilee.
• Herod was quite a PR man, who did a great many things to try and win over the Jews and to gain their support.
• He even married a Jewish woman and conducted many public works including rebuilding the temple. He also lowered Jewish taxes and during a famine even melted down his own gold in order to feed the poor.
• He was so popular among the Jews that many became known as Herodians.
However Herod also had a dark side.
He was a very suspicious man and was known to be ruthless.
This was best seen in the murder of his wife, her brother, her mother,
And several of his own sons.
Of course he is most famous for the slaughter of the Hebrew babies
In Bethlehem following the birth of Christ.
At this point, Herod’s reign was about to come to an end.
(MacArthur, John [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series; Luke 1-5; Moody Publishers; Chicago, IL, 2009] pg. 22-23)
AND THERE THE STAGE IS SET.
• It was a time when Judaism was growing comfortable inside of Rome.
• They had their temple, they had sympathetic man on the throne.
• The culture was such that apathy could flourish.
But during this time, “there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.”
“Zacharias” name means “The Lord Remembers”
And of course that was a very fitting name.
It was said that he was “of the division of Abijah” which is true,
But in title only.
• After the deportation to Babylon Ezra 2 teaches that only 4 of the original 24 orders of priests returned, and Abijah was not one of them.
• However, in order to maintain the old system priests were simply assigned to the old division of orders under David even though genetically speaking it was not so.
It was just another picture of how apathy had settled in,
But Israel continued to try and play the part.
Zacharias’ wife was a woman named Elizabeth who was also from the tribe of Levi and so we have here A DEVOTED PRIESTLY FAMILY.
(6) “They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.”
Now this is a very interesting statement
And one that you need to understand to grasp another of Luke’s points.
Throughout Luke’s gospel, there is no doubt that
Luke highlights a specific group of people.
And they are people just like Zacharias and Elizabeth.
• In the first two chapters alone we’ll see Mary, and Simeon, and Anna, who are
also people who fit the mold.
Throughout the book Luke will continually focus on groups of people like:
• Tax Collectors
• Samaritans
• Centurions
Luke almost shows them totally in a positive light,
While he continually reveals people like Pharisees and Scribes and Lawyers in a negative light.
WHAT IS THE UNIFYING THEME TO THIS?
HUMILITY
LUKE MAKES SURE THAT WE ALL UNDERSTAND
Exactly the type of people whom the Lord accepts
And exactly the type of people whom the Lord rejects.
• It wasn’t about your level of religion.
• It wasn’t about your level of knowledge.
• It wasn’t even about your level of morality.
You cannot read Luke’s gospel without quickly recognizing that
The Lord is moved with compassion on those who are humble.
• They may be those who are outcasts in the world.
• They may be those who sort of fly under the radar of importance.
• They may be those branded as insignificant, unimportant, or even cursed.
But Luke wants to make sure you see that
These are the people whom the Lord accepted and whom the Lord used.
That reality is probably summed up better in Luke 6
Than in any other spot in the book.
Luke 6:20-26 “And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets. “But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. “Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.”
It is clear that Luke was keenly aware that
Christ was opposed to the proud but gave grace to the humble.
When LUKE REVEALS JESUS’ FIRST MAJOR DECLARATION of who He was, listen to the account that Luke recorded.
Luke 4:16-21 “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Luke revealed Jesus as the One who was for the humble and the lowly, not the arrogant and self-righteous.
And of course this is A PERFECT FIT
To the things we learned of God in the Old Testament.
Isaiah 57:15 “For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.”
Isaiah 66:2 “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”
Micah 6:6-8 “With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”
And those verses then help us understand
Who Zacharias and Elizabeth were.
Luke says that “They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.”
No, that does not mean that they were sinless.
They were righteous in the sense that Abraham was righteous.
Genesis 15:6 “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”
They were blameless in the way that Job was blameless.
Job 1:8 “The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”
It simply means that
• They genuinely loved God.
• They genuinely trusted God.
• And when they messed up, then they humbled themselves before God and in
faith trusted in His provision of atonement.
Zacharias and Elizabeth were among that small remnant of Jews
Whom Malachi referred to as “you who fear My name”
And as “those who feared the LORD”
They just really honored God.
And it is obvious that God was totally pleased with them.
• He had accepted them.
• He had drawn close to them.
• And He was about to honor them.
Now, this is interesting that we see how God viewed them,
Because I promise you that this is not how the world viewed them.
(7) “But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.”
Luke tells us that these two were pleasing to God,
But if it wasn’t for that piece of information you might never know it.
Because there is no doubt that in their day
They were thought to be cursed.
WHY?
BECAUSE THEY WERE BARREN.
Psalms 127:3-5 “Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate.”
That is certainly a great passage of Scripture, but it’s highly doubtful that you’ll ever see it hanging on the wall of a fertility clinic.
And in this day in age,
A woman who couldn’t bear children was thought to be accursed.
Since God and God alone could open the womb and create life, what else could be deduced but that God was somehow displeased with those who had no children?
(It was the same type of thinking that caused Job’s friends to assume that he must have offended God; or else why all the calamity?)
Zacharias and Elizabeth are the first in a long line of rejects
That we find have been accepted by the Lord.
AND THERE IS QUITE A MESSAGE IN THAT ALONE.
We tend to attributed prosperity and ability as indicators
Of those whom God is most pleased with
And as indicators of those whom God wants to use.
“Boy, God could sure use that guy!”
And yet the Bible is clear that worldly success and ability
Is not an indicator of divine acceptance, or usefulness.
Even religious achievement is not an indicator of divine acceptance.
LUKE PICKS UP RIGHT WERE MALACHI LEAVES OFF
In order to remind the world that God is looking for those who fear Him.
God is looking for those who will humble themselves before Him.
I think I’m safe in saying that we’ve got plenty of apathy regarding God in our world today.
Admit it, when we walked through Malachi a moment ago and we talked about people who:
• Gave the broken to God…
• Sighed as though the Lord’s work was too burdensome…
• Weren’t interested in teaching God’s word in truth…
• Were joining themselves to the world, even in marriage…
• Were engaged in divorce simply because they were tired of their spouses…
• Didn’t see the need to give to God or take care of the poor…
When we highlighted those people, could you not see the relevance?
We have plenty of people
Who are content with a skin deep and half-hearted commitment to God.
• So long as that commitment doesn’t cost them anything.
• As long as God doesn’t ask me to give Him the things I love most…
• As long as God doesn’t ask me to work too hard for Him…
• As long as God doesn’t ask me to teach what is unpopular…
• As long as God doesn’t ask me to forsake the world…
• As long as God doesn’t expect me to endure discomfort…
• As long as God doesn’t ask me to give until it hurts for the sake the poor…
As long as God doesn’t ask for any of that, then sure, I’ll follow Him.
And then comes Luke’s gospel.
And we find that those are the people who
Merely THOUGHT THEMSELVES to be acceptable God,
But in reality they NEVER REALLY WERE.
They were the ones who were about to face the fire of refining.
They were the very ones that this forerunner was coming to confront.
And that is why GOD IS NOT USING ANY OF THOSE PEOPLE in His story of redemption.
• Instead He is using an old barren couple.
• He’s about to use an insignificant virgin.
• Then He’ll reveal Himself to devout man named Simeon.
• And to a widow woman named Anna.
• He’s going to use a hermit in the wilderness
• He’s going to use fishermen, and tax collectors, and rejected women
It becomes clear that God is looking for the genuine and humble in heart.
Let me read that passage from Micah one more time.
Micah 6:6-8 “What God Requires of Man With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?”
Is this not the message of the New Testament?
James 4:6-10 “But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
This has always been the message.
God is not concerned about your commitment to religion,
God is concerned about the humility and reverence of your heart.
Luke is just picking up where Malachi left off.
Highlighting the importance of humility and reverence for God.
We’ll continue on next time.
The Purpose of Election (Romans 9:22-24)
The Purpose of Election
Romans 9:22-24
July 2, 2017
As you know, we have spent the last several weeks
Sort of walking through this concept of God’s Sovereign Election.
We have seen is reality and we have examined it’s “fairness”.
The fact is, that because of the fall,
Mankind is dead in sin and absolutely incapable of saving himself
Or of prompting God to save him,
Or of even responding to God when God offers salvation.
Because of this drastic reality we have seen unmistakably that
The only way any sinner would ever be saved
Is if God so chooses to save that sinner in spite of them.
We call this Sovereign Election.
Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
• It is something God purposed.
• It is something God chose to do.
• It is something that God accomplished by His own sovereign prerogative.
And that reality is all throughout Scripture.
What we’ve been examining the last couple of weeks is
The “FAIRNESS” of that election.
That seems to be the major cry regarding the notion of election.
That’s not fair! That’s not love! That makes God a monster!
That makes us robots!
And in order to answer those accusations
We have spent the last two weeks in Romans 9
Where we took a deeper look into the way God has worked with Israel.
We saw that Israel is lost, and that it most definitely is not God’s fault.
And we saw some key components to God’s salvation.
• It is a SPECIFIC SALVATION (Isaac, not Ishmael)
• It is a SUPERNATURAL SALVATION (by the promise, not the flesh)
• It is a SOVEREIGN SALVATION (Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated)
God most certainly did what He willed to do.
Now the first question centered around GOD’S JUSTICE in this matter.
It just seemed wrong that God would choose one and not the other.
Romans 9:14 “What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!”
And to this Paul gave us two illustrations to further examine
Whether or not God has the right to sovereignly choose to save sinners.
The first illustration was wayward Israel who had built a golden calf and worshiped in defiance of God.
• God had every right to destroy them for this act of idolatry
• Moses interceded
• And God decided to be merciful to those sinners
And we say, God has every right to do that.
He has every right to show mercy whenever He so chooses.
There is no injustice in that.
The second illustration was pagan Pharaoh.
• Pagan was an idol worshiping pagan
• Pharaoh had enslaved and mistreated God’s people
• Pharaoh even demanded worship of himself as god
• And God took this sinner who deserved judgment, but instead of judging him
immediately, first chose to allow him to live so that God could use him for a
greater purpose during the Exodus; namely to demonstrate His power.
And we again must say that God had every right to do this.
God has every right to judge sinners who have offended Him
In whatever way and in whatever time He so chooses.
That again is just.
So election certainly lines up with God’s justice.
The next question however was regarding FAIRNESS.
After all, the text says that God hardened Pharaoh and then judged him and that was just more than most people’s intellect could stand.
Romans 9:19 “You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?”
It doesn’t seem fair that God would harden sinners
And then judge them for it.
And of course Paul answered that with a strong warning.
(20) “On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?”
“You’d better rip your tongue out of your mouth before you go questioning the sovereign prerogative of God.”
And incidentally, this is why I think this study is so important.
In our day of humanism and man-centered theology,
It is so important that the church be reminded
Exactly who God is and what that means.
Psalms 100:3 “Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.”
If we accomplish nothing else through this study
I hope that you at the very least are brought back to a place
Of Holy Reverence and Fear regarding God.
And then AS WE LEFT LAST WEEK,
We read a hypothetical explanation from Paul.
This is not Paul explaining why God sovereignly chooses who He does (that knowledge is for God alone) but it is Paul giving one hypothetical reason for why God might be doing it.
(22-24) “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”
The implication here is that the reason so many people have such a difficult time with election is because they don’t understand it.
• They don’t understand what it says about the patience of God.
• They don’t understand what it says about the love of God.
• They don’t understand what it says about the glory of God.
Look at this passage for a second.
First Paul gives us a theological fact about God:
God is “willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known,”
If you’ve read the Bible at all, this should be an obvious conclusion.
We don’t get past chapter 6 of the Bible before we find God grieved over the sin of humanity and He sends a global killer to wipe everyone out.
We don’t get past 19 chapters of the Bible before God is raining down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah.
And the list continues.
• We seem Him judge nation after nation after nation.
• We seem Him judge sinner after sinner after sinner.
Anyone who assumes that God tolerates the wicked
Because He is somehow opposed to wrath and judgment,
Obviously doesn’t know God.
God judges sinners, and He will do that for all eternity.
So God is “willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known,”
And here comes the hypothetical.
Paul says, “But…” “What if…”
Instead of demonstrating His wrath God chose to go a different direction.
What if He chose to “endure with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?”
So now we have the entrance of “vessels of wrath”
What does that mean?
Ephesians 2:1-3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
So “vessels of wrath” are merely sinners who love their sin
And as a result of their sin abide under God’s fury and judgment.
And Paul describes these “vessels of wrath” by saying that
They have been “prepared for destruction”
That is to say, God is angry at them, they deserve judgment,
And that is where they are headed.
SO AT THIS POINT we have a God who has no problem demonstrating His wrath and we have sinners who certainly deserve it.
It seems like we are about to see fire rain down from heaven.
However, Paul says God chose to go a different direction.
Instead of instantly judging those sinners, God instead “endured [them] with much patience”
Here we have a belligerent sinner who has irritated God at every turn,
And although God has the power and the willingness to judge that sinner,
God instead chose to just endure them.
We would ask: WHY?
• If they are sinful and deserve judgment…
• If they are headed to judgment anyway…
• Why would you endure them?
If you’re figuring it out, this centers around the Pharaoh question of fairness, for that is precisely what God did with Pharaoh.
So why would you endure him?
(23) “And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory”
Now we have ANOTHER GROUP enter the equation.
Paul calls them “vessels of glory”
• If “vessels of wrath” are destined for judgment.
• Then “vessels of glory” are destined for what? Glory
Now, don’t misunderstand.
It’s NOT THAT one are sinful and the other are righteous.
We have already learned that there is none righteous, not even one.
It’s just that some of those sinners received God’s grace
And His divine election and He chose to change their destiny.
He chose to take them out of their sin and make them “vessels of glory”.
(“But God…” Ephesians 2)
If you want further explanation:
“vessels of wrath” would be Esau/Pharaoh
“vessels of glory” would be Jacob/Israel
You get the picture?
So we have the introduction of this new group and Paul explains why God chooses to endure those “vessels of wrath”.
And the answer is “to make know the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy”
CAN I TELL YOU SOMETHING ELSE ABOUT GOD?
HE IS GLORIOUS!
Psalms 29:9 “The voice of the LORD makes the deer to calve And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everything says, “Glory!”
And God’s glory is the sum total of all that He is.
• This includes His mercy
• It includes His grace
• It includes His love
• It includes His holiness
• It includes His patience
• It includes His wrath
• It includes His power
All that God is, is contained in His glory.
That is why Paul calls it “the riches of His glory”
God’s glory is insurmountable and incomprehensible.
AND HERE IS THE FACT.
It is the desire of God to make His glory known.
That includes His love and mercy and patience
As well as His fury and wrath and power.
God’s desire is to reveal His glory to His elect.
Listen to the prayer of Jesus on the night before He is crucified.
John 17:24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
God’s desire is to reveal His glory to His elect.
And the fact of the matter is,
• If there is no Pharaoh to resist God, then there is no opportunity for God to demonstrate His power through the plagues.
• And if you never get to see God’s power or wrath or judgment, then you never get to see His glory.
So God takes a sinner who is doomed to destruction
And merely delays His judgment so that He can demonstrate
To His elect just how glorious He truly is.
The issue of Pharaoh’s hardening…
The issue of Esau’s judgment…
Had nothing to do with fair, it had to do with God revealing His glory.
God chose to demonstrate His greatness and His glory.
And incidentally Pharaoh isn’t the only time we see this.
Let me ask you a question:
WHO LET SATAN IN THE GARDEN?
• Are we to assume that he slipped past God’s security, and snuck in there and
wrecked the plan before God was able to detect him and detain him?
WHY EVEN PUT A FORBIDDEN TREE IN THE GARDEN?
• Wouldn’t God in His omniscience know that man would be tempted to eat from
that tree?
We certainly believe that God is sovereign over all things and all events,
And we do not believe that Satan can do anything
Unless God grants permission.
(We certainly saw that with Job)
WAIT A MINUTE PREACHER:
• Are you saying that God somehow wanted men to sin?
• Are you saying that God is the author of sin?
ABSOLUTELY NOT!
• When God created Satan, how did He create him? Perfect and holy
• When God created man, who did He create him? Holy and blameless
• When God created the earth, how did He create it? Good
James 1:13 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.”
God is not the author of sin.
Sin originated in the heart of man.
Sin originated in the heart of Satan.
THE QUESTION IS DID GOD USE SATAN AND SINFUL MAN
FOR HIS OWN GLORIOUS PURPOSES?
So Satan rebelled against God;
Would God have been just to instantly destroy him? Yes
SO WHY NOT?
What if God chose to patiently endure him until the day of his destruction so that He might demonstrate His glory to His elect?
• Would you know of God’s mercy if you had never sinned?
• Would you know of God’s healing if you had never been sick?
• Would you know of God’s wrath if you had never been confronted?
• Would you know of God’s grace if you had never been chosen?
God is not the author of rebellion, nor is He the author of sin.
God merely allowed His sinful creation to do what they do i
N order that He might demonstrate His glory through their rebellion.
Let me give you another example.
Take the cross.
Acts 2:22-23 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”
• Did God make the Pharisees conspire against Jesus? No
• Did God make Judas betray Jesus? No
• Did God make Pilate condemn Jesus? No
They all did that on their own.
In fact, they all did that in spite of the preaching
And teaching and pleading of Jesus.
God merely gave those wicked men some leash
And they did exactly what sinful men will always do,
And it afforded God an opportunity to demonstrate His glory.
In that case,
• His glory to raise Christ from the dead,
• And His glory to provide atonement for His elect.
God didn’t make them sin, they did that on their own,
But God certainly permitted their freedom
That He might demonstrate His glory.
THIS IS WHAT PAUL IS TALKING ABOUT HERE.
You could not know the glory of God,
Unless God allowed sinners to remain longer than they deserve,
That He might demonstrate His power in them.
Do you see where we are going here?
IT IS ALL ABOUT THE GLORY OF GOD.
Even at the end of this section in Romans, in chapter 11, Paul summarizes why God would break off Israel, graft in the Gentiles and then graft Israel back in a again.
Romans 11:28-32 “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.”
What if Israel never rebels?
Then Gentiles never learn about mercy AND Israel never learns about mercy.
But through their rebellion, God demonstrates His glorious mercy and grace to those who would have otherwise never known it.
DO YOU SEE THAT?
God endured “vessels of wrath” so that He might reveal His glory to “vessels of mercy”
And according to Paul, we are those vessels.
(24) “even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”
SO DO YOU SEE THE PURPOSE
BEHIND THIS REVELATION OF ELECTION?
Do you see why it is important that you understand it?
Because it demonstrates the glory of God.
This whole thing is not about man.
• It is not about man’s happiness.
• It is not about man’s free will.
• It is not about what is fair to man.
It is all about God demonstrating His glory
And being worshiped accordingly.
Those who deny it all in favor of man’s free will,
Think they are doing God this great favor
By making Him look so tender and loving and merciful.
In reality they are stripping Him of glory.
They are removing His sovereignty from Him
And giving it to man who gets to choose.
And God is reduced to this sentimental and mushy God who is up in heaven just hoping people will choose Him so that He can save them.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
Psalms 115:3 “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”
Everything God does is so that He might demonstrate His glory.
BUT STILL, I KNOW PEOPLE – NOW COMES THE BIBLE ARGUMENTS
I hear what you are saying, but what about those verses?
• What about: Romans 10:13 “for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF
THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”
• What about Jesus weeping over Jerusalem saying, “How I longed to
gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks, but you were
unwilling”?
• What about the end of Revelation where we hear Jesus Himself offer
living water to anyone who thirsts?
• What about that passage in 2 Peter which says that God “is not willing
that any should perish”?
Those verses are not inconsistent with what we are learning here.
Give me a second to show you.
TURN TO: ROMANS 10:9-13
You are familiar with that.
It is the famous passage that reveals how to be saved.
You must “confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead” and you will be saved.
Wonderful verse!
And Paul goes on to say that
• Whoever believes won’t be disappointed (11)
• And whoever calls will in fact be saved. (13)
It is the truth that God will never turn away one single repentant sinner.
If you repent, He will forgive.
If you call on Jesus, He will save.
But don’t stop there…
(14-15) “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”
Did you catch that?
Anyone who calls can be saved.
• But they can’t call unless what? They believe.
• And they can’t believe unless what? They hear.
• And they can’t hear without what? A preacher.
• And they can’t preach unless what? They are sent.
And who is it that sends preachers into the world with the gospel?
That passage only reinforces what we have been saying.
It’s not that God would ever refuse a repentant sinner,
It’s just that no sinner will ever repent unless God initiates it.
There is nothing contradictory about that verse.
WELL WHAT ABOUT JESUS WEEPING OVER JERUSALEM?
• Aren’t we to assume that He wanted to save Israel, but it was their
stubborn rebellion that thwarted His plan?
• Can’t we assume then that God was trying to save some who wouldn’t be
saved?
Be careful there.
Are you going to afford sovereignty to sinners
Or are you going to afford sovereignty to God?
Listen, we just learned that God is willing to judge sinners.
But we also clearly read throughout Scripture that sinners grieve God
And that HE TAKES NO PLEASURE in their judgment.
Ezekiel 18:23 “Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord GOD, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?”
Ezekiel 33:11 “Say to them, ‘ As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’”
God’s grief regarding sinners
Should never be misinterpreted as impotence regarding sinners.
And just because God judges them for their sin
Does not mean that God enjoys it.
And just because they reject His invitation
Does not mean that they thwarted His will.
BUT WAIT PREACHER…
Then why does Peter say that God is patiently waiting for sinners, hoping they will repent?
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
We would do good to read what that verse actually says.
Most people think it says. “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward THEM, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
Who does Peter say God is patient toward? “you”
Who is Peter writing to?
2 Peter 1:1 “Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:”
In his first epistle, he gives them a different title.
1 Peter 1:1-2 “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure.”
So who is this “you” Peter is writing to?
• It is those “who are chosen”,
• It is those “who have received a faith as the same kind as ours”
It is the elect.
God will not judge this world
Until every one of His chosen repents and comes.
He is not trying to unnecessarily put the redeemed through hardship,
It’s just that He is not willing to come and bring judgment early
Until all of His elect have come home.
Imagine if you had a house fire
• And you started pulling your children out, and you get all of your children out
and into the truck except for 1, who is still in the house.
• And all of the kids in the truck start talking about how hot it is and how thirsty
they are, and how they want to go get something to drink.
• But you aren’t worried about their discomfort so much as you are
concerned about what? That last child in the fire.
God is not about to leave without all of His elect.
Well then why did Jesus in the Revelation say that anyone who was thirsty could come and have eternal life?
Revelation 21:6 “Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.”
Revelation 22:17 “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.”
Of course that is true!
And He most certainly will give living water to anyone who thirsts!
The issue is that apart from His divine intervention they won’t want it.
Did we not see all those sinners throughout the tribulation who, despite the hardship, refused to repent, but instead chose to blaspheme God?
In fact we saw that there was only one group of people who was willing to repent and resist the Anti-Christ. Do you remember who those people were?
Revelation 13:8 “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.”
THAT HAS BEEN THE POINT ALL ALONG.
Election is not about revealing God to be some sort of monster.
Election simply reveals that God is gracious.
For if left up to the free will of man, none would repent, none would trust, none would thirst, none would be willing, none would come…EVER!
Romans 3:10-12 “as it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”
God would certainly save any who come,
But like the king who sent out wedding invitations, none were willing to come.
So God, according to His sovereign prerogative, chose to save some,
In spite of what they were,
And He chose to make His glory known to them.
WHY?
So that for all eternity, He might be surrounded
By the redeemed who would glorify Him forever.
Ephesians 2:4-7 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
This is all about the glory of God.
The fact that God chose me, in spite of me,
And chose to reveal His glory to me,
Is not unjust or unfair,
IT IS ABSOLUTELY GLORIOUS!
So, you see the first two aspects of what it means to be saved BY GRACE ALONE.
• Man’s Absolute Inability
• And God’s Sovereign Election
Next time we’re going to move on to the next aspect of Grace Alone,
Which is what has been titled
IRRESISTABLE GRACE or “God’s Effectual Call”.
We have so much left to cover here.
The Exact Truth (Luke 1:1-4)
The Exact Truth
Luke 1:1-4
July 2, 2017
This morning we are going to begin a new study in the word of God.
We are going to be working our way through the gospel of Luke.
THIS MORNING IS REALLY SIMPLY A PRIMER
TO GIVE US MOTIVATION FOR STUDYING THIS BOOK.
Just for a little information, you might like to know that
Luke is responsible for writing about ¼ of the New Testament.
• He is credited with the gospel of Luke (which is the longest of the gospels)
• And with the book of Acts.
• Some even credit him with Hebrews, but that’s tough to prove
In this gospel Luke not only gives us the longest gospel,
But he also includes quite a bit of information
That the other gospels do not.
Luke gives us 7 miracles and 17 parables
That are totally unique to his gospel account.
• It is also generally believed that Luke was in fact a Gentile, and that is based on a couple of New Testament passages.
Acts 1:19 “And it became known to all who were living in Jerusalem; so that in their own language that field was called Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)”
Where Luke refers to the Hebrew language as “their own language”
Colossians 4:10-14 “Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sends you his greetings; and also Barnabas’s cousin Mark (about whom you received instructions; if he comes to you, welcome him); 11 and also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me. Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. For I testify for him that he has a deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis. Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings, and also Demas.”
And there of course Paul lists all the members of the circumcision who are with him
And Luke is not listed among them.
• We also learn from the passage in Colossians that Luke was “the beloved physician”, and that is saying quite a bit since most physicians were seen as scammers and quacks and were most certainly not “beloved”.
• From our text this morning, we also learn that Luke was a dedicated historian/investigator of facts.
He wasn’t interested in superstition or mere hearsay, Luke wanted the truth.
These facts are what makes his gospel both unique and valuable.
We have here a gospel written by a Gentile
And by a Gentile with a passion for the truth.
There is obvious benefit and intrigue then for us who are in fact Gentiles.
Well, this morning we begin with simply the prologue.
It is Luke’s announcement of the project he has undertaken, and even from that we learn a great deal about the importance of this study.
There are 5 points we need to see here from these 4 verses.
#1 HIS OBSERVATION
Luke 1:1-2
Luke was aware of something profound that was occurring,
And that was that many were giving their story regarding Jesus.
Luke says, “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us”
“accomplished” there is a long compound Greek word that means
“the complete fulfillment of something”
The idea then is that there were many people
Who were doing their best to record an account
Of the complete life and works of Jesus.
And Luke says that they were trying to pass them on (2) “just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,”
SO…
• Luke does not claim apostleship, and neither did most of those who
were also trying to give a detailed account of the life of Jesus.
• Luke puts himself more in the role of an investigative reporter who
was doing his best to talk to as many eye witnesses as he could to
find out the truth regarding this Jesus.
And his reasoning is obvious:
BECAUSE THERE WERE
SO MANY ACCOUNTS OF JESUS FLOATING AROUND.
And of course you know this is true.
We learn this even from the gospel accounts that
FASCINATION WITH THE MAN CALLED JESUS WAS OFF THE CHARTS.
Matthew 4:23-24 “Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.”
Matthew 9:23-26 “When Jesus came into the official’s house, and saw the flute-players and the crowd in noisy disorder, He said, “Leave; for the girl has not died, but is asleep.” And they began laughing at Him. But when the crowd had been sent out, He entered and took her by the hand, and the girl got up. This news spread throughout all that land.”
Matthew 9:27-31 “As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them: “See that no one knows about this!” But they went out and spread the news about Him throughout all that land.”
Mark 1:25-28 “And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” Throwing him into convulsions, the unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee.”
Mark 1:40-45 “And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, and He said to him, ” See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.”
Luke 4:14 “And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district.”
Luke 4:37 “And the report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district.”
Luke 5:13-15 “And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him. And He ordered him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses.”
Luke 7:14-17 “And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!” This report concerning Him went out all over Judea and in all the surrounding district.”
You get the idea?
AND ONE CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE TYPES OF STORIES
That were floating around about Jesus.
Especially given the way that people tend to exaggerate and embellish
In order to make their story more entertaining and fascinating to their audience.
One can only imagine what the stories about Jesus
Must have been like by now.
Scripture gives us insight as to some of the ideas that were floating.
Matthew 14:1-2 “At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus, and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
Matthew 16:13-14 “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
It’s not surprising that society was getting the facts about Jesus wrong.
And it’s not surprising that society was eager to spread those false truths.
People love the sensational, people love to have a good story to tell,
And so people have always been guilty of
Allowing their fascination to run away with them.
Of course that wasn’t all.
There were also those who were
DETERMINED to spread a deliberately FALSE STORY about Jesus.
We remember:
Matthew 28:11-15 “Now while they were on their way, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And when they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, and said, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’ “And if this should come to the governor’s ears, we will win him over and keep you out of trouble.” And they took the money and did as they had been instructed; and this story was widely spread among the Jews, and is to this day.”
Or we remember what Paul told the Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 11:1-4 “I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.”
And indeed this reality is warned about all throughout the New Testament
As we see the warnings against false prophets and teachers
Who will malign the truth.
1 John 4:1-3 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.”
2 John 7 “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.”
I think you get the idea.
The ideas about who Jesus was and what He did
Were everywhere and not all of them were reliable.
Certainly we can understand this in our own day.
We hear all sorts of testimonies about Jesus.
…things He has supposedly done.
…things He has supposedly said.
…things He supposedly desires.
…things He supposed will do.
Beyond that we see Jesus painted in any number of different lights
And most of the time He is painted as that which is
Most pleasing to the people telling the story or listening to it.
Luke fought the same battle.
It wasn’t that Jesus wasn’t talked about,
It’s just that not all that was said about Him in the world was reliable.
That was Luke’s observation.
#2 HIS DECISION
Luke 1:3a, 3c
“it seemed fitting for me as well…to write it out for you…”
With so many reports out regarding Jesus,
Luke developed a burning in his stomach to publish his report as well.
THAT’S NOT TO SAY THAT
Luke viewed everything being said about Jesus as false,
It’s just that there was so much being said,
He felt the need to clarify what was true.
And I like that mindset.
I like that Luke said “it seemed fitting”,
For when would we ever reach a point where we would decide that it wasn’t “fitting” for us to bear witness of Christ?
I also like that Luke determined “to write it out”
That carries with it two ideas.
• One is that most of the stories of Jesus were just passed down via word
of mouth and that subjected them to be ever changing. There
needed to be some concrete record kept.
• It also insinuates that many of the stories of Jesus were just floating
around independent of one another and there needed to be
some sort of cohesion given to them.
There is something to be said
For a systematic approach to looking at the life of Jesus.
One may take one story of Jesus independent of the rest
AND TOTALLY MISS what Jesus was all about.
For example:
How many in our day quote the story about the woman caught in adultery and seek to use that to insinuate that Jesus was clearly against confronting sin?
Of course if you read of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well,
Then you know that Jesus had absolutely no problem confronting it.
When stories are kept independent of one another
It is easy for the hearer to develop wrong notions of Jesus,
There needed to be a systematic and complete record of His works.
(that’s why we also study His works the same way)
Luke understood that.
He wanted to give a definite, total, and lasting account
Of who Jesus was and what He did.
So Luke decided to write his own account.
His Observation, His Decision
#3 HIS CREDENTIALS
Luke 1:3b
“having investigated everything carefully from the beginning”
Oh God bless you Luke for your diligence!
• Luke wasn’t interested in hearsay…
• Luke wasn’t interested in legend…
• Luke wasn’t interested in gossip…
And Luke wasn’t willing to just take anyone’s word for it.
• Just because a man came up claiming that Jesus gave him sight, Luke
wasn’t about to just believe it at face value.
Instead, when he heard a testimony or a report regarding Jesus,
He went on the hunt.
HE “INVESTIGATED” WHAT HE HEARD.
Where is this blind man who claims to have regained his sight?
• I want to talk to him.
• I want to talk to those who witnessed.
Where is this dead man whom Jesus gave back to his mother?
• I need to speak with him.
• I need to speak with the funeral director who declared him dead.
Is there anyone here who was present at His baptism?
Is there anyone here who was present at His trial?
Is there anyone who was present at His crucifixion?
Is there anyone who saw Him after He rose?
You get the idea.
Luke wasn’t just sentimental, and he wasn’t biased.
He just wanted the truth about this man.
AND THIS IS FASCINATING.
You are familiar with the other gospel accounts; Matthew, Mark, and John.
They are most certainly inspired accounts and totally true.
And when you read them it is evident that these men had an agenda.
• Matthew is particularly interested in proving that Jesus is the Messiah; the
King.
• Mark continually pushes Jesus as the humble servant.
• John no doubt wants the world to know that Jesus is in fact God.
But Luke didn’t seem to hold any such agenda.
Luke just wanted to know what the truth about Jesus was,
And he was willing to investigate it.
And now, having finished his research,
He knew he was responsible to publish all that he had learned.
• He didn’t write because he was a fluent writer…
• He didn’t write because he was easy to read…
• He wrote because he had investigated the truth and felt it needed to be published.
His Observation, His Decision, His Credentials
#4 HIS METHOD
Luke 1:3c
“to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theolphilus;”
And this reiterates what we said a moment ago.
• Luke was not interested in another verbal story to be handed down.
• Luke was not looking for hearsay or gossip.
• Nor was Luke looking for some sort of random accounts of what Jesus did.
Luke sought to bring ORDER and FOCUS and a FOUNDATION
To these stories about Jesus.
His desire was to “write it out…in consecutive order”
Doesn’t mean that every word here is in absolute chronological order.
Certainly Luke does maintain a basic general chronological order as he moves throughout the life of Jesus.
• He moves from forerunner to birth to childhood to ministry to death and to
resurrection.
RATHER IT SPEAKS TO LUKES COMMITMENT TO
A COMPLETE AND STRUCTURED ACCOUNT.
The KJV translates this “an orderly account”
You know how verbal testimonies and eye witness accounts can be.
One person’s perspective can be a tricky thing.
And it is entirely possible that two different people can be at the same event and come away with two very different descriptions.
• People may have seen something from different vantage points.
• People may have been in different moods.
• People may have been influenced by others thoughts.
While the stories of Jesus would have most certainly be plenteous,
There is certainly little doubt that there was any real order given to them.
Luke wanted to get to the bottom of it all.
He was willing to do the work
That he might tell an accurate and orderly story.
That was his method.
#5 HIS GOAL
Luke 1:4
“so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.”
The “you” here is clearly the man Luke refers to
As “most excellent Theophilus”
(Luke writes the account of Acts for him as well)
We don’t know anything about this man
Other than the fact that Luke refers to him as “most excellent”
(which were also titles Luke used for Felix and Festus)
What we do know is that Theophilus had heard quite a bit about Jesus.
He had had no shortage of teachers
Who were willing to tell him about Jesus.
And it is apparently Luke’s concern
That at least some of what he had heard was not accurate.
So Luke’s goal is to investigate, and publish a work on Jesus
Which he could call “the exact truth”
I love that title, and I can FEEL LUKE’S FRUSTRATION in having to use it.
• Today, everyone has an idea about Jesus.
• Today, our airwaves are filled with “Jesus experts”
• Everyone has the answer…
• And everyone claims to be speaking the truth.
Do you suppose that it was any different in Luke’s day?
So Luke can’t just give us the truth about Jesus,
He must give us “the exact truth” or the real truth, or the truthful truth.
• The truth that comes from dedicated study and careful investigation.
• The truth that comes from hard work and commitment.
• The truth that will stand the test of time as Luke’s gospel certainly has.
It reminds me of how Paul instructed Timothy
(no doubt Paul was a positive influence on Luke as well)
2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
THIS WAS THE PASSION OF LUKE.
He didn’t just want to talk about Jesus,
He wanted to talk accurately about Jesus.
And all of that gives us tremendous insight
Regarding what we are about to be studying.
LUKE’S GOSPEL IS A GOSPEL OF DISCERNMENT.
Luke wasn’t questioning the other gospel accounts
(he actually may not have even known about the Matthew and Mark at the time of his writing; he certainly did not know about John)
• Luke was writing for discernment against public opinion.
• Luke was writing for discernment against private experience.
• Luke was writing for discernment against personal vision.
• Luke was writing for discernment against prophetic proclamation.
There were all sorts of ideas and theologies floating about Jesus.
Luke’s goal is to give you the accurate and unperverted story of Jesus.
WHY?
Because the truth about Jesus is the most important truth that the world will ever be given.
• Who Jesus is…
• What Jesus did…
• What Jesus taught…
• What Jesus requires…
These aren’t just interesting questions,
They are the very foundational questions of life
And all eternity hangs in the balance.
Is Jesus God? (If He isn’t then He is unfit to be a Savior since He also carries the guilt of Adam and as a mortal how can He bear an eternal weight of sin?)
Is Jesus Man? (If He isn’t then how can He die and bear the punishment of men?)
Did Jesus really live holy? (If He didn’t then He is unfit as a Savior)
Did Jesus really die? (If He didn’t then no atonement has been made)
Did Jesus really rise? (If He didn’t then who can be sure His atonement was effective?)
Did Jesus really work miracles? (then how do we know if He is divine? Or how do we know if He was from the Father?)
IT MATTERS WHO HE IS.
For if you believe in a false Jesus
Then you are believing in a Jesus who cannot save?
Then comes the questions of what Jesus TAUGHT and what He DESIRES.
• How did Jesus say a person is saved?
• What did Jesus say a redeemed person looks like?
Do you understand the significance there?
We have an entire movement of preachers today
• Who love to tell us how Jesus is our ticket to obtaining the world,
• But according to Luke, Jesus was emphatic that you had better forsake this world.
So you may in fact be recognizing the real Jesus,
BUT IF YOU AREN’T DOING WHAT HE SAID,
Can you really make a claim to having been redeemed?
• What if you were told Jesus doesn’t care if you sin?
• What if you were told Jesus never judged anyone?
• What if you were told repentance isn’t important, but tolerance is?
• What if you were told Jesus just wants everyone to do their best?
Do you see the point?
• It matters that we are right on Jesus.
• It matters that we know who He is.
• It matters that we know what He said.
• It matters that we know what He requires.
If we are wrong on any of that then salvation flees away.
Someday you will stand in eternity and you may find that you were wrong on any number of things.
• You may find that you should have been Republican instead of Democrat or Democrat instead of Republican.
• You may find that the toilet paper really goes over instead of under.
• You may find that Ford is better than Dodge and Chevy is better than both.
OR NOT…
And it doesn’t matter if you were right or wrong about any of those things.
But if you step into eternity without being right about Jesus,
You will spend eternity in hell.
Getting it wrong on Jesus is not an option.
Luke understood that, and this was the motivation for his gospel.
He wanted Theophilus and you and me
To know “the exact truth” about Jesus.
And he did the work to make sure it was the truth.
How’s that for a primer?
It definitely makes this study worthwhile.
So join us as we embark on a study of Jesus
And the salvation He accomplished.
Acts 4:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
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