Initiating The Turn-2(2023)

‘INITIATING The TURN’-II—Luke 1:8-9(:5-25)

Attention:

Deciduous tree leaves are known & expected to ‘turn’ colors & fall to the ground in the fall of the year. Losing leaves is what deciduous trees do in order to prepare for & to survive the below freezing temperatures of winter.

There are at least three different triggers which may cause a tree to commit to the ‘fall’ process...

1)Some trees depend on an extended or protracted time of cooler weather. And that is what initiates/triggers the fall-to-winter preparatory process.

2)For other trees shortening of the ‘length of days’ is what triggers/initiates the fall-to-winter preparatory process.

3)The combination of the first two.

Major yearly changes occur in space & the atmosphere, in order to cause, initiate, or commit a tree to the ‘winterizing process’ that God has designed for them.

Likewise, for God to accomplish the promised ‘turning of people’ to Himself, there had to be a well-timed & decisive commitment, initiated on God’s part, to bring about the actions that were necessary for mankind’s eventual salvation & glorification in Christ Jesus(Rom. 8:17-21, 30).

*The title of this sermon ‘turns’ on Lk. 1:16-17.

Need:

We ALL have a need to experience true & lasting peace, certainty, & confidence, in our lives. And we have the means to have it so...

...IF we are simply willing to TURN to God, thru implicitly/unconditionally trusting His one-&-only Son Jesus, who is the promised Christ/Messiah. Jesus is God the Son, who emptied Himself of His heavenly glory in order to take on human flesh, so that He could pay the redemption price for your sin, my sin, & the sin of all mankind of every generation. So that you & I would freely be appreciative of Him, freely love Him, & freely be grateful for His rescuing us from our otherwise impossible situation.

Over 2000 years ago, God ‘INITIATED’ that TURN toward Himself, thru a Jewish couple in Israel whose names were Zacharias & Elizabeth.

Luke informed his audience of the initial steps that God took to turn His people toward Himself.

God began the process of turning of His people toward Himself.

And we are answering the question...

...What does God use to begin turning people toward Himself?

11 principles God used to begin turning people toward Himself.

The last time we looked in Luke, we found that:

In initiating the Turn to Himself, God uses...

1. RIGHTEOUS FAITHFULNESS(:5-7)

Today we’ll find that:

2—In Initiating the Turn to Himself, God also uses...

PRIVILEGED DUTY(:8-9)

Explanation:(:8-9)Honor

:8—“So it was, that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division,”

On one particular day, something noteworthy took place “while” Zacharias “was performing his tasks “as priest” in the temple.

:9—“according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.”

“his lot fell to burn incense...”

Evidently, some of the priestly tasks were not assigned to predetermined persons of a house, but were chosen by “lot.”

•Given that there were a large number of priests, & that it was chosen ‘by “lot”(‘chance’), it was an extreme privilege & high honor to offer the “incense.” Such an honor could easily have occurred only once in a priest’s lifetime, so that many would never have the privilege of performing this offering.—DBECNT/RWP/MNTC

*“Incense” would have been offered on the ‘golden altar’ coinciding with the burnt offering on the ‘brazen/bronze altar’, twice per day at sunrise & at dusk(Ex. 29:38-42). It was offered for the sake of the nation of Israel as a whole.?•The ‘golden altar of incense’ was located inside ‘the Holy Place.’ ‘The Holy Place’ & the “incense” altar were separated from ‘the Most Holy Place’(‘Holy of Holies’) by an ornately stitched veil/curtain. The veil itself was of finely woven linen of blue, purple, & scarlet material with an ‘artistic design’ of cherubim(angels)(Ex. 26:31-33).

•The incense altar itself was a small box(1 1/2 ft. square X 3ft. high(Ex. 30:1-10))made of acacia wood, & having 4 small upright horns, one on each corner, & entirely overlaid with gold.

•The incense itself was a specific recipe that was never to be used aside from the golden altar of incense(Ex. 30:34-38).

Ex. 30:34-38—“And the LORD said to Moses: “Take sweet spices, stacte & onycha & galbanum, & pure frankincense with these sweet spices; there shall be equal amounts of each. You shall make of these an incense, a compound according to the art of the perfumer, salted, pure, & holy. And you shall beat some of it very fine, & put some of it before the Testimony in the tabernacle of meeting where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. But as for the incense which you shall make, you shall not make any for yourselves, according to its composition. It shall be to you holy for the LORD. Whoever makes any like it, to smell it, he shall be cut off from his people.””