‘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.””
•Burning of this specially prepared “incense” represented & symbolized the ‘prayers’ of Israel ascending up before God as a sweet aroma.
*It pleases God immeasurably when His people earnestly seek Him.
•Simultaneously with the incense offering, a lamb was offered for the ‘burnt offering’ outside the temple proper, on ‘the bronze altar’, which was located in the Court of Priests/Israel twice per day(Ex. 29:38-41ff.). The ‘burnt offering’ was offered for the ‘consecration’/ ‘sanctification’ of the nation of Israel as a whole, which accomplished a ‘temporary’ covering/expiation/removal of the consequences of sin. An innocent animal’s life was given & accepted in exchange for the sin of the person/nation(Israel) who committed the sin.
*Thru such offerings faithfully given by His people, God was welcomed, invited, & free to “dwell among the children of Israel &” “be their God”(Ex. 29:45).
*Now...After that MINIMAL description of the ritual associated with worship at the temple, I want you/us to consider the reality of how easy it would be, to get so ‘caught up’ in the ritual, that a person could easily suppose that their sin could ‘be done away with’, just by performing the ritual!
*Some people today in America, suppose that ‘the ritual’ of ‘GOING TO CHURCH’ is enough to put them in good standing with God!
*Yes, offerings in Israel were continually made for the nation, BUT, the majority of the offerings were personal offerings. And YOU provided YOUR OWN goat, sheep, ox, pigeon, whatever to sacrifice in your stead, to cover YOUR OWN sin!
*Your heart had to be ‘right’ with God!
Zacharias would have received instruction for most of his many years in how to approach & meticulously perform the proper “burning” of the “incense.”
Ex. 30:7-8—““Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it. And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.”
•Now it was Zacharias’ time. He would have considered it an honor! And it was His Duty to do so.
And in offering or “burning incense” before YHWH, Zacharias would have been nervous, & stressed considering that he would be entering into YHWH’s special presence in the temple...
Lev. 9:23--10:3—“And Moses & Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, & came out & blessed the people. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people, & fire came out from before the LORD & consumed the burnt offering & the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted & fell on their faces. Then Nadab & Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer & put fire in it, put incense on it, & offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the LORD & devoured them, & they died before the LORD. And Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke, saying: ‘By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.’” So Aaron held his peace.”
Argumentation:
A High honor to serve the Lord
1Kgs 10:1-9—“Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels that bore spices, very much gold, & precious stones; & when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters & their apparel, his cupbearers, & his entryway by which he went up to the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her. Then she said to the king: “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words & your wisdom. However I did not believe the words until I came & saw with my own eyes; & indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom & prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard. Happy are your men & happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you & hear your wisdom! “Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice & righteousness.”
Lk. 19:41-44—“Now as He drew near, He saw the city & wept over it, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you & close you in on every side, & level you, & your children within you, to the ground; & they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.””
Mat. 13:10-13, 16-17—“And the disciples came & said to Him[Jesus], “Why do You speak to them in parables?” He answered & said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has, to him more will be given, & he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”.....“But blessed are your eyes for they see, & your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets & righteous men desired to see what you see, & did not see it, & to hear what you hear, & did not hear it.”
2Cor. 9:6-8—“But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, & he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”
Acts 8:5-8; 26-31, 35-39—Following Stephen’s martyrdom & prior to Paul’s conversion, the Holy Spirit took Philip from a ‘successful’ ministry in Samaria, to a single person—“Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria & preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing & seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; & many who were paralyzed & lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city.”.....“Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Arise & go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is desert. So he arose & went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, & had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go near & overtake this chariot.” So Philip ran to him, & heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, & said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he asked Philip to come up & sit with him.”.....“Then Philip opened his mouth, & beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered & said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip & the eunuch went down into the water, & he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; & he went on his way rejoicing.”
Consider the outcome of YOUR duty.
Illustration:
*People get involved & vested in careers that mean nothing more to them than bringing home a paycheck! As the the saying goes, ‘You can’t get good help these days!’ That is a SAD way to live out the life that the all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-existing, perfectly-loving God has ordained for you!
•On the other extreme, I have seen propagandized videos of people in China that seem to have a fantastic work-ethic. That sounds well & good, IF it were not for the fact that the videography that praises & elevates the ‘work done’ & the ‘hard-working worker’, so that both are IDOLIZED! That is a Communist go-to!
The videographers, but especially the workers, by blindly busying themselves, miss the reality that God calls all people to commit their ‘work/labor’ to Him! DO NOT ‘IDOLIZE’ either ‘Hard Work’ or ‘the Worker’!
* ‘Work’ is a PRIVILEGED DUTY ‘properly’ entered into by the direction of God!
*Recently, at the end of August, Salem Baptist Church completed the volunteer nomination process for this coming year. Volunteers were meticulously approached with needed responsibilities & asked if they would commit to the tasks at hand. Volunteer ‘ministry personnel’ & volunteer ‘ministry leadership’ commitments were promised & finalized by a Church-wide vote of acceptance & confidence. PRIVILEGED DUTY.
*It is a high PRIVILEGE to DUTIFULLY serve in the gathering of God’s people—the Church—that God has designed & ordained to give Him glory!
Application:
?Can God depend on YOU to see YOUR DUTY as PRIVILEGED in Turning people to Himself?
?Will YOU serve God in ‘initiating the turn?’
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
In order to initiate the turning of people to God, there must be a well-timed & decisive commitment to the action/intent that will actually bring it about.
In fulfilling biblical prophecy toward turning the hearts of people, to Himself, God had to initiate a well-timed & decisive commitment to the needed actions/intent/changes/adjustments.
Action:
In Initiating the Turning of people to Himself, God uses...
2. PRIVILEGED DUTY(:8-9)
1. RIGHTEOUS FAITHFULNESS(:5-7)
Pt# 2 only! presented 09/17/2023am to:
Salem Baptist Church
1618 Salem Rd.
Bennettsville, SC 29512
