Sermons

S.R. Luke 1:67-79

Introduction

1. Welcome and commendation for your presence. Hero (part 2)
2. After thousands of years of the anticipated “Someone is Coming” He Came.

Outline

1. His Obscure Beginning
   1. The voice of God was heard in the cry of an infant child.
   2. This child was the son David, son of Abraham. (Matthew 1:1)
   3. This child was “God with us” (Immanuel) (Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:68))
   4. This child did not remain a child. He grew in every good way (Luke 2:52)
2. Obscurity turns to Popularity
   1. At about age 30 this Son of Man and Son of God stopped working in the carpenter’s shop in Nazareth. He traveled south and came to his cousin. (Luke 3:23; John 1)
   2. John, about six months older, had turned Judea on its ear with his teaching of the kingdom of heaven. He preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Although he never performed a sign (John 10:41) crowds thronged to hear him. Many were baptized by him but the Jewish leadership rejected his teaching and baptism (Luke 7:39).
   3. John, son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, was not the Christ, but he came uniquely equipped and prepared to point all to “the lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world.”
   4. John was a formidable foe to the Jewish leadership and the local authorities, including the Herod family. E. But his cousin, the carpenter from Nazareth was growing in popularity even as John’s work was decreasing and soon to be silenced.
3. The King is Here
   1. The King has come. The Savior of the World had arrived.
   2. This lion of Judah is the holy and sinless Lamb of God. God in human form and physical body came to experience and rescue us from our pain and our loss. This was a God who “visited” His people.
   3. This regal robed heavenly king made the longest journey ever to become the lowest slave. He humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5; John 12; Luke 22).
4. From Hero to Hated (Christ to Crucified – Death to the King)
   1. This was a God who seemed incredibly weak to permit his created ones to overpower Him and kill him. Can a man kill God? (John 10:18).
   2. The perpetrators of this crime were indeed guilty. Their will was not removed in this treacherous and envious plot. But Jesus of Nazareth deliberately walked into this trap and helped them bring about a conviction.
   3. This King of truth placed his accusers far more on trial than Himself. Even governor Pilate knew that it was for envy that the Jewish leadership had delivered him up.
   4. The Jewish leaders wanted men like Barabbas freed, but leaders like the gentle rabbi from Galilee crucified. They hated him and for years had plotted to see that he was destroyed. (cf. John 8 and 11).
5. Return of the King – from the dead.
   1. But wait! It is now the first day of the week. There are reports from women early to the tomb that it was found empty. What had He said? (Matthew 20:18-19)
   2. This Lord of Abraham and David and Paul is he the Lord of Jews only? Did He come as a light to the Gentiles and the Seed that would bless all nations?
   3. This king is the one with all authority in heaven and on earth. He is the Creator God who has created all things and holds all things together. This king demands repentance and baptism of every sinner who would be a recipient of His Kingdom (Acts 2:36-38).
6. Return of the King – for His people.
   1. This Son of Man is the Son of God who came to the throne of his Father and is now reigning over all; friend and foe (Daniel 7:13-14; Psalm 110). When He is finished completely vanquishing the power of Satan (Hebrews 2:14) and all who rebel against His Divine will He will come again. This second time (Hebrews 9:28) will be with His holy angels in flaming fire rendering vengeance upon those who know not God and don’t obey His good news (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10)
   2. At that hour (John 5:29) all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come forth. All will be judged; the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 25:41, 46). On that day of sentencing every knee will bow and every tongue confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10-11). 
7. Do you know this hero?
   1. “He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords; 16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:15, 16)
   2. Mark 16:15-16 People talk about their heroes.