Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord.They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
3 sermons cite this verse
We can look at this story on two levels. The personal level, we have many familiar elements for many of us and familiar names as the Christmas story unfolds. I like to think of it as just find the young children somewhere in the Christmas story. We thought about Joseph for one of our later boys, but we already had a Mary and an Elizabeth. And Ian is just Scottish for John, and his middle name is Zachariah. So it seemed a little presumptuous to throw in a Gabriel or any more children into the Christmas story. Many of you know this story. And one way to understand it is on a personal level. It's a personally moving story for this couple and their new child. But we can also look at it on the epical level. That's the word E-P-O-C-H. Epic, epoch, epical. So we can look at this on a personal level, dealing with the people in the story, and then at the level of one epic to another. …
communicators of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some of you are preachers and pastors. Some of us are seminary teachers, some campus administrators, some chaplains, some lay leaders and church authorities. We all have our different ministries. We all have our different places and ways of service. But what holds us all together today in this place is that in some way or another, we have all been called to the task of interpreting the Christian faith and proclaiming the Christian gospel. Now what in the world does that mean? In this kind of culture? is there anybody out there still listening? The voice of the Christian gospel is not the only voice out there. In fact, it's not even the dominant voice anymore. There are more Muslims out there in America, you know, than Episcopalians these days. And even when our voice is heard, is it really heard? I was reading a review in the New York Times book review recently, and the reviewer got to the end of the review, and she said, All in all, this is a very disappointing book. …
In these and other passages of Scripture we learn, that though Christ came to be the light of the world, yet He is not and cannot be a light to all, but to those only who seek Him in the way of His commandments; and to all others He is hid, the god of this world "blinding the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the Image of God, should shine unto them." 2. And if we look to the history of the first propagation of the Gospel, we find this view confirmed. As far as we can trace the history, we find the early Christian Church was principally composed of those who had long been in the habit of obeying their consciences carefully, and so preparing themselves for Christ's religion, that kingdom of God from which the text says they were not far. Zacharias and Elisabeth, to whom the approach of Christ's kingdom was first revealed, are described as "both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless." Joseph, St. Mary's husband, is called "a just man;" Simeon is spoken of as "a just and devout" man; Nathaniel, as "an Israelite in whom was no guile;" Joseph of Arimathea was "a good man and a just;" Cornelius, the centurion, was a "religious man, and one that feared God with all his house, who gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway." And in the book of Acts generally, we shall find (as far as we are told any thing) that those chiefly were addressed and converted by St. Paul, who had previously trained themselves in a religious life:--At Perga, St. Paul addressed the Israelites and those who feared God, not the mere thoughtless heathen; and many of these followed him. At Thessalonica a great multitude of religious Greeks believed; and at Athens the Apostle still disputed with the Jews, and with the professedly religious persons, though he also addressed the educated heathens who lived there. Here then is much evidence that Christ and His Apostles chiefly sought and found their first followers, not among open sinners, but among those who were endeavouring, however imperfectly, to obey God. …