There Came a Man Sent From God (Part 2)

The Gospel of John, the 1 chapter, the 6th verse says that there was a man, there came a man, sent from God, whose name was John. We've looked at the man, now we're looking at how this man was sent from God. Mainly because how he was sent draws parallels to how you and I are sent.

By God. We told you that he was sent, number one, personally. Luke chapter 3, verse number 2 says that the Word of the Lord came to John.

God actually spoke to John. How long God had been speaking to John in the wilderness, we do not know. But specifically, when the Word of the Lord came to John, it moved him into his ministry.

So he was personally called by God. Everyone in the room who is a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ was called by God. We were called through his word.

Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing about a word concerning the Christ, Romans 10:17. Paul would say to those in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 1, verse number 2, that they are saints by calling. God calls us into his kingdom through the power of the Spirit of God and through the scriptures that are spoken to us.

And God calls us to be his children. He calls us to be citizens of his kingdom and to represent his glory. So John was sent from God, first of all, personally, because he was personally called by God.

Second, he was sent from God privately, because Luke 3, verse number 2 says, the Word of the Lord came to John in the wilderness. He was in total obscurity, all by himself. And how long he was there, we do not know.

Most assume that he probably went into the wilderness sometime around the age of 20, because that's when he would have entered the priesthood anyway, and he was in line for the priesthood, but we don't know exactly when that occurred. But even a year in the wilderness, if you've ever been to the Judean wilderness, it's a dry, dead, hot place. But let's say he was there for 10 years, and all he did was read Old Testament manuscripts, listen to the voice of God.

But personally, he was called by God, and privately he communed with God. There was something about obscurity, total obscurity, that breeds transforming maturity. There's something about being alone with God, all by yourself, listening to his voice as he speaks to you through his word, and then responding to him.

And we told you last week that silence and solitude were the most practiced spiritual disciplines by our Lord. The Bible says these words in the book of Lamentations, Lamentations chapter 3, verse 25, the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord.

Verse 28, let him sit alone and be silent since he has laid it on him. Let him put his mouth in the dust, for perhaps there is hope. Solitude is a rest of the life, where silence is a rest for the lips.

And so many times we spend so much time talking that we spend very little time listening. Well, John's all alone in the wilderness. There's nobody to talk to except God, and I'm sure that his communion with God was sweet and special.

And he had to ask the question, what is my communion with God like? In the privacy of my home, in the silence of the early morning or the late evening, we are so busy. You know, our cell phones keep us occupied. Every time there's a buzz, or every time there's a vibration, or every time there's a sound, we jump to our phone.

We're like Pavlov's dog, every time it goes off, we just foam at the mouth to see, is there a text? Is there a notification? Is there something for me? The challenge would be to go home and place your phone in the closet, shut the door, and just leave it there. But see, we can't do that, or we won't do that, because we are so occupied or preoccupied with the busyness of life. We have to know what's going on in the world.

We have to know what's going on in our community. We have to know what's going on in every area of life. We just have to know, as if we're that important.

But we think we are, and so we have to know. We have to know if somebody calls, if somebody texts. Why? When I was growing up, we didn't have any of that stuff.

You had to be home to receive a phone call. You had to go to the mailbox to get a letter. Those days have long, long gone.

But what I'm trying to say is that we get so preoccupied with the busyness of life that there's no time for silence and solitude. And so John, he was forced into the wilderness. He was there all alone, and there he grew.

Luke 1:80 tells us that he grew strong spiritually. Could it be that in today's society, in today's church, we are as weak as we are spiritually because we don't spend time alone with God? John did, and he grew spiritually. There came a man sent from God, personally called by God, privately communed with God.

And number three, that's where we left off last week, prophetically chosen by God. If you've got your Bible, turn to Luke's Gospel, the 3rd chapter, the 4th verse. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord.

Make his path straight. Every ravine will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough road smooth, and all flesh will see the salvation of God.

That's from Isaiah 40, verse number 3. Matthew, Luke, and John record that. Mark, Mark quotes Malachi 3, verse number 1, which says this, Behold, I am going to send my messenger, says the Lord.

That's John the Baptist. And he will clear the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight is Jesus, the Messiah.

But he's going to send his messenger, and that messenger will clear the way for him. Now think about this. You're John the Baptist.

You're in the wilderness. You have Old Testament manuscripts, and you're able to read about yourself. You're able to read about the messenger that's going to pave the way for the Messiah.

And John knows that he's the guy. He reads about it in Isaiah. He reads about it in Malachi.

Can you imagine the exhilaration he must have felt reading those texts? The excitement that must have pervaded his heart and mind as he would read those things to realize that he was coming to prepare the way for the Messiah. They were specifically chosen by God to be that man. In other words, his coming was expected.

His coming was anticipated. The problem was that it had been 700 years since Isaiah wrote chapter 40, verse number 3. Been a long time. And John is reading this and realizing this and coming to understand that it's been 700 years, and now here he is.

Malachi was written 400 years, and the Lord hadn't spoken. And the people had waited a long time for the Messiah to come. Ever since the arrival of Abraham in the promised land way back in Genesis chapter 12, that his seed would bless the nations of the world.

Even reading in the book of Genesis that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head. All this prophecy for hundreds of years, thousands of years. Now John is realizing that the time has come.

He's the guy. He's the chosen prophet. God could have chosen anybody else.

John was the guy. And prophetically, he was chosen by God. And you know, there was no preparation for him to be culturally relevant, because he wasn't in the culture.

He was in the wilderness. There was no preparation for him to be socially savvy, because he was in the wilderness. He didn't know the lingo of the people.

He was privately in communion with his God. He didn't know the modern language of the day and the cliches that people would use. Didn't know any of that stuff.

Because when God calls you to represent him, he doesn't call you to have something in common with your culture. He calls you to be counterculture. Why? Because you're a prophet of God.

You're gonna speak things that the culture is not used to hearing. You're gonna say things that the culture doesn't want to necessarily hear, because you're gonna preach an undiluted message of the truth. And here is John, recognizing that he is the fulfillment of prophecy.

He was prophetically chosen by God. Now, I want you to listen very carefully to what I'm gonna tell you. You were prophetically chosen by God as well.

Think about that. John specifically, and to some degree, you specifically as well, because the Lord knows you by name, but you have been generally chosen by God. Why? Notice what it says in verse 6 of Luke 3, that all flesh would see the salvation of the Lord.

Not just Jews, but Gentiles as well. The goene, that's people like you and me. See? But there is, there was a choosing, or choosing, excuse me, of your life and mine.

Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 2. Let me show you this. And this is really rich, when you begin to understand what Peter is saying. 1 Peter 2, verse number 9. But you are a chosen race.

Peter is speaking to those, those Jews who've been scattered abroad. In fact, go back to chapter 1, verse number 1. It says, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, 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. That's who he's writing to.

He tells them that they are a chosen people, a chosen nation. Look what it says in verse number 6 of 1 Peter chapter 2. For this is contained in Scripture, as Peter quotes from the prophet Isaiah, behold, I lay in Zion a choice stone, a chosen stone. Who's the chosen stone? The Messiah.

He takes that from Isaiah chapter 42, verse number 1, which says, behold, my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. The Messiah was the chosen one. When was the Messiah chosen? Did God look down the corridors of time and see the man Jesus and chose him to be the Messiah? Nope.

He was chosen in eternity past, just like you were. In fact, your name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life, Revelation 13:8, Revelation 17:8, before the foundation of the world. So prophetically, you were chosen by God.

Your name might not be in Scripture, but it's written in the Lamb's Book of Life. So before time began, those of you who know Christ as Lord and Savior, your name was written already in the Lamb's Book of Life. The Bible says these words, John 15 and 16, you did not choose me, but I chose you.

Say, wait a minute, I chose Jesus? Yeah, your choice is subject to his sovereign choice. You did not choose me, I chose you. Listen to Acts 13:48.

It says, as many who had been appointed to eternal life believe. As many as had been appointed. When were they appointed? When they were chosen in eternity past.

They believed. Paul would say in 1 Thessalonians 1, verse number 4, knowing, brethren, his choice of you. Wow.

His choice of you. Turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2:2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse number 13. But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning.

God has chosen you from all eternity, from before time began. Paul says, we're giving thanks for God's choice of you. We look at John the Baptist, we realize that this man prophetically was chosen by God to be the forerunner to the Messiah.

But don't forget that you and I were chosen in eternity past, because our names are written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. And when you and I gave our life to Christ, that's when eternity intersected with time, and we gave our life to the Lord Jesus Christ. And there are certain characteristics of that choosing that you need to understand, because they were characteristic of John as well.

Knowing that God chose you from eternity past pummels all pride, destroys your pride, because God chose you, you didn't choose him. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but by the washing and regeneration and renewing of the Spirit of God. Listen to what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse number 26, for consider your calling brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world, and the despised God has chosen the things that are not, so that he may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God, but by his doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, so that just as it is written, let him who boasts boast in the Lord.

God has chosen the weak things, the despised things, the base things of this world, the foolish things of this world, so no one will boast in and of themselves. God says, I chose you, you didn't choose me. Your choice was based on my predetermined knowledge.

I chose you, and therefore it pummels all pride. What did John the Baptist say? He must increase. I must decrease.

That was John. He could have said, hey, I'm the forerunner. I'm the guy prophesied.

I'm the chosen one to prepare the way for the Messiah, but he didn't. He said, I'm not even worthy to loosen the straps on his sandals, because when you see when you're chosen by God, you recognize that? It pummels all pride. Number two, it promotes only God.

It promotes only God. Philippians 1, verse number 29, Paul says these words, for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake to believe in his name. You are saved for Christ's sake, for his glory.

Three times in one, Paul says, to the praise of his glory. You were predestined by God. You were regenerated by God.

You were sealed by God to the praise of his glory, and therefore, to recognize that you've been chosen by God not only pummels your pride, but promotes only God, and number three, produces joy, produces joy. Over in 1 Peter chapter 1, Peter says this, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope, to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. In this, you greatly rejoice.

You greatly rejoice. God did that. Remember in Luke chapter 10, verse number 20, when the apostles came back and they saw people healed, they saw people give their life to Christ, they saw all kinds of miracles, and they were ecstatic about the ministry, and Christ says to them, listen, I don't want you to be so excited about your ministry that you forget your destiny.

If you want to get excited, get excited about this, that your names are written down in heaven. That's where the joy is, because ministry fluctuates. It comes and goes.

There's positives and negatives, ups and downs, but heaven, heaven is yours, and that's your destiny. That's your joy. John the Baptist knew that.

His joy was in presenting Christ, knowing that even in chains, he was going to heaven. He knew that he would testify and witness only for the Christ, because he came to promote only his God. Number four, knowing that your chosen only promises privileges.

Ephesians chapter 1, verse number 3, 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. Knowing that you're chosen by God, promises privileges, produces joy, promotes God, pummels pride, propels holiness.

Colossians 3, verse number 12, so as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

As chosen by God, you are to be holy, you are to be blameless, and when you recognize that God has chosen you for his kingdom, it propels holiness. John was a Nazarite, or took a Nazarite vow, because he wanted to be separate and holy from the world, and he recognized that the prophetic choice of God upon his life propelled him to live a life separate from those all around him, because he wanted to be holy, uniquely distinct from the world.

Knowing that you're chosen by God, provides security. Philippians 1, verse number 6, being confident of this very thing that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Over in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and 24, faithfully see you, calls you, who also will complete it.

Knowing that you've been chosen by God only, only provokes or provides security. And lastly, it provokes evangelism, because Peter says that you're 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 called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. John was prophetically chosen by God.

Don't think for one moment that you were not, because so were you. You were chosen in eternity past. God's elective love came down upon you and chose you, not because of anything that you did.

He didn't choose you because you were smart, you were wise, or you were a good athlete, and you would just make a good representative of him. Look at the apostles. They were a bunch of nobodies, but they turned the world upside down, because they recognized that God had chosen them for that ministry, chosen them to be a part of his kingdom.

Same is true for you and me. Those of us who know the Lord, we've been chosen by him from eternity past. In the mind of God, we were prophetically chosen by God.

Number four, John was providentially cared for by God, personally called by God, privately communed with his God. He was the one who prophetically was chosen by God, but was providentially cared for by God. This is so exciting.

Turn to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. Remember in Galatians 4, it said this, in the fullness of time, verse number 4, Galatians 4, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who are under the law. In the fullness of time, in the perfect time, in the providence of God, there was a perfect time to send his son, born of a woman. It was the perfect time economically.

It was a perfect time socially. It was a perfect time spiritually. It was a perfect time politically.

It was just the perfect time to send his son. Well, if that's the case, then it would have been the perfect time to send the forerunner. So in the providence of God, he perfectly chose John to come six months before the Messiah.

Listen to what it says in Luke 1, verse number 5. In the days of Herod the king, now you might want to stop right there, because in those days, it was a dark day. It was a depressing day. Herod was a murderer.

He murdered his sons. He murdered his wife. He murdered all the babies, two years and younger, when he realized that there was another king born in Israel.

He was a murderous man. And so it was a very dark time in Israel, and God had not spoken in over 400 years. A prophet had not come, and it was quiet in the land of Israel.

So it says, in the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias. Oh, by the way, his name means God remembers. You might not want to forget that.

Of the division of Abijah, which of course is very important to the narrative, as you will see, he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron. In other words, his wife was in the line of the priesthood as well. Her name was Elizabeth.

Her name means God is faithful. You're not going to want to forget that either, because it plays a huge part in the narrative in Luke chapter 1. It says in verse 6, they were both righteous in the sight of God, blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.

Now those verses say so much about Zacharias, Elizabeth, but more so about God and his providence, because providentially, providentially, John was cared for. John was protected. John was under the sovereign hand of the living God to come at just the right time.

They had been waiting for the sunrise from on high to shine, but nothing had happened for years, hundreds of years. But in the fullness of time, God would send forth his Son, meaning that he would make sure that in the same fullness of time, John the Baptist would be born. And so you have a very important principle here.

Remember, it says that they had no child. Why is that important? Well, because of the 613 commandments that the Jews had adopted. Number one was this, that as a Jew, you must be married.

That was number one. Number two was this, you must have more than one child. That was the command in the days of John the Baptist, the days of Zacharias and Elizabeth.

Why did you have to have more than one? Genesis chapter 2, be fruitful and multiply. So they adopted the commandment that you must have more than just one child, you must have two. In fact, the rabbis taught that certain people should be excommunicated from God. A Jew who had no wife and a Jew whose wife had no child.

So here is Zacharias, a priest. Elizabeth, who's in the line of the priesthood and marries the guy who's a priest.

They had no children. They're barren. That was a tremendous curse upon a Jewish family.

We can't really relate to that today. But in those days, it was huge. Why? Because they really took to heart Psalm 127, which says that children are a gift from the Lord.

Children are gifts. I wonder if you recognize that your child is a gift from the Lord. They are.

They're gifts. Oh, by the way, when God gives you a gift, how do you respond with the gift? Some people respond by not going to church for weeks because of the gift God gave them for whatever reason, which for the life of me, I'll never understand. But if God gives you a gift, why would you not honor him with the gift? But there's all kinds of excuses as to why we don't go to church.

It's almost as if we have maternity leave from church. Just food for thought. Don't mean the metal, but sometimes that's what I do.

But we need to think about things biblically more so than anything else, right? But here was Zacharias and Elizabeth. They had no children, but providentially, they were cared for. Note this.

There is no situation that God does not have a solution for. There is no situation that God does not have a solution for. What situation are you in today that you wonder whether or not there's a solution? Let me be right up front with you.

The solution is always Christ. Christ said in John 14:1, let not your hearts be troubled. If you believe in God, believe also in me.

Don't be afraid. Don't be anxious. Don't be scared.

Why? Because of me. You believe in God, believe also in me. Because he was the solution to their situation of fear and anxiety.

And you have to ask yourself, what situation are you in whereby you are looking for a solution? Christ is that solution. Oh, by the way, there is no affliction that does not have God's undivided attention. There is no affliction that does not have God's attention.

God knew exactly what he was doing. He had planned her barrenness. Providentially, he wasn't going to give them a child until the right time.

Providentially, God was in charge of her womb. The Bible says that the Lord opens and closes the womb. No one has ever gotten pregnant by accident.

If you get pregnant, it's by divine appointment. Twice in the Old Testament, God says, I'm the one who opens and closes the womb. God's in charge of all that.

And God closed her womb. Did you not think she was in pain? Do you not think she was lonely and sad, brokenhearted? Of course she was. And yet God in his providence was doing something because he didn't want to give them just any child.

He had to give them a specific child, a forerunner to the Messiah. He was preparing them. Notice that in a world of hypocrisy, in a world of rebellion, which Israel was in, in a world where they had defected from their God, there were two people, Zacharias and Elizabeth, who the Bible says in Luke 1, were devoutly, blameless, and righteous before God.

In their obedience, in their commitment to God, God took them through a trial of barrenness. It wasn't like they had sinned. They had turned their back on the Lord.

Not at all. Luke makes it very clear they were true to their God. They were righteous with God.

They had looked forward to the coming sacrifice. But even more so than that, there were 18,000 priests in Israel during the time of Christ. And they were divided up into 24 different orders.

They had to be. And of those 24 orders, Abijah was the eighth order. And they would function two weeks a year.

Two weeks a year. And so it happens, ironically, coincidentally, or providentially, that Zacharias, during that two-week interval, was in the temple performing his priestly duties when the angel Gabriel came to him and announced that his wife would be pregnant with a child. The providence of God.

Zacharias could have said, you know what? I'm done with the priesthood thing. I'm done serving the Lord. I'm not going to serve the Lord anymore.

I'm done. I'm out. I've been serving the Lord and I got nothing in return.

But notice his steadfastness in his commitment, his faithfulness to the Lord. He was serving the Lord. He didn't stay home.

He went to work knowing that this was God's call upon his life. And in that moment, God did something great. Because there is no affliction that does not have God's undivided attention.

And there is no situation that does not have God as a solution. And sure enough, God did something unique and special. Ecclesiastes 3, verse number 1. Solomon says this, there is an appointed time for everything under the sun.

Everything. Everything is by divine appointment. And then he says in verse 11, he has made everything beautiful in its time.

Within the realm of everything being appointed in its time, a time to be born, a time to die. And he gives some illustrations about that down through verse number 10. There's all kinds of time for this and for that.

Time to cry, time to laugh, time to be happy, a time to mourn, yada, yada, yada. And then he says, he has made everything beautiful in its time. So wait a minute, my affliction is not beautiful.

My situation is not beautiful. Zacharias and Elizabeth say, well, our barrenness is not beautiful. But read on.

He has also said eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. In other words, that man might learn to trust God. You see, you're trusting God in that moment of appointed time.

And that's what makes the time beautiful. Not because of the time itself, but because of you trusting God in that appointed time. So Isaiah would say it this way, Isaiah 49, verse number 14.

But Zion said; Zion is a people here. You can read through the Old Testament, Zion can be a property, Zion could be a place, Zion can be a proclamation of the gospel, Zion is a people. It all depends on the context.

Here, it's Israel. He says, but Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me and the Lord has forgotten me. This is Israel.

You ever said that? Oh, by the way, Zacharias' name means God remembers. And the Bible didn't tell us that Zacharias and Elizabeth got angry or bitter to the Lord at all. Not at all.

Nope. Because they remembered what? Elizabeth's name. God is faithful.

They remembered that. So it says, but Zion, my people say the Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten. So the Bible says, can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.

Notice it didn't say a father would forget because we do all the time. I can't even remember my kids' names at the time, let alone my grandkids' names. My wife does though.

She knows the birthdays, when they were born, how much they weighed, how long they were. I don't know. He had stuff.

But a woman, can a woman forget her nursing child? Even God says they do. They might not forget them when they're young, but as they get older, things happen. He says, behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.

Your walls are continually before me. Your calamity, your heartache, your situation, as impossible as it may be, your dead ends, your turmoil, it's all on the palm of my hand. Because there is no situation that does not have God as a solution, and there is no affliction that does not have God's undivided attention.

Here is Zacharias and Elizabeth, and God was gonna give them the perfect son. In his time, they just had to wait and trust and believe that God would act, and God did. And God rewarded the fact that they remembered Zacharias, that God is faithful, Elizabeth.

And God answered, because God prophetically, prophetically chose John and providentially cared for all that would happen concerning the birth of John. By the way, providentially, he cares for you as well, because he knows everything. You've been inscribed in the palms of his hand, and he never forgets.

He never forsakes. He is your God. Let's pray.

Lord God, we thank you for today and all that you've done. We realize, Lord, that time is so very, very short, yet you're at work. You're at work in all of our lives.

And our prayer, Father, is that each of us would see your handiwork in our lives, that we trust you and believe in you. If there be one here today who does not know you, may they come to saving faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord. May they give their life to the living God.

For those of us who do, Lord, may we trust and believe, knowing that you have a solution for our situation, that you're completely attentive to our affliction in ways we have no idea, but yet you're there. For that, we are grateful. In Jesus' name, amen.