Song of Zechariah (Luke 1:57-80)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:04.280 If you're able to remain standing, please do. And let's turn our attention 2 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:10.830 to Luke Chapter One, verses fifty seven through eighty. Luke Chapter One, 3 00:00:10.910 --> 00:00:20.230 let's here it Gotsworth. Luke one, verse fifty seven. Now the time 4 00:00:20.429 --> 00:00:26.899 came for Elizabeth to give birth and she bore a son, and her neighbors 5 00:00:26.940 --> 00:00:31.460 and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her and they rejoiced 6 00:00:31.579 --> 00:00:36.369 with her. And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child and 7 00:00:36.490 --> 00:00:41.170 they would have called him Zachariah, after his father, but his mother answered 8 00:00:41.369 --> 00:00:45.689 no, he shall be called John. And they said to her, none 9 00:00:45.729 --> 00:00:49.850 of your relatives is called by this name. And they made signs to his 10 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:54.520 father inquiring what he wanted him to be called, and he asked for a 11 00:00:54.679 --> 00:01:02.520 riding tablet and wrote his name is John, and they all wondered and immediately 12 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:07.590 his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed and he spoke blessing God, and 13 00:01:07.829 --> 00:01:12.390 fear came upon our fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things 14 00:01:12.430 --> 00:01:17.510 were talked about through all the hill country in Judea, and all who heard 15 00:01:17.629 --> 00:01:21.900 them laid up in their hearts saying what, then, will this child be? 16 00:01:22.780 --> 00:01:26.299 For the hand of the Lord was with him and his father's Ecker. 17 00:01:26.340 --> 00:01:32.930 I was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying blessed be the Lord, 18 00:01:33.049 --> 00:01:37.409 God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has 19 00:01:37.450 --> 00:01:41.329 raised up a Horn of salvation for us in the House of his servant, 20 00:01:41.329 --> 00:01:45.370 David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 21 00:01:45.930 --> 00:01:49.799 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all 22 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:55.319 who hate us, to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember 23 00:01:55.480 --> 00:02:00.200 his Holy Covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to 24 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:04.670 grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might 25 00:02:04.709 --> 00:02:09.909 serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness, before him all our days. 26 00:02:10.629 --> 00:02:15.539 And you, child, will be called the Prophet of the most high, 27 00:02:16.219 --> 00:02:21.139 for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give 28 00:02:21.300 --> 00:02:25.300 knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of 29 00:02:25.419 --> 00:02:30.770 the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on 30 00:02:30.889 --> 00:02:35.969 high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of 31 00:02:36.090 --> 00:02:42.370 death to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew 32 00:02:42.650 --> 00:02:46.560 and became strong in spirit and he was in the Wilderness until the day of 33 00:02:46.680 --> 00:03:13.300 his public appearance to Israel. Amen, you may be seated. Let's start 34 00:03:13.300 --> 00:03:15.939 with just a little bit of context for this story. We jumped right in 35 00:03:16.020 --> 00:03:23.659 into the middle of it. You have this man, Zachariah, who had 36 00:03:23.699 --> 00:03:31.849 been promised child would been promised a miraculous birth, but he didn't believe it. 37 00:03:32.610 --> 00:03:38.370 He didn't believe God when he was told and his wife, Elizabeth, 38 00:03:38.449 --> 00:03:43.599 were told that they would have this son because they were a very old it 39 00:03:43.879 --> 00:03:50.280 was not possible for them to have a baby. But just as it was 40 00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:54.240 not possible for Mary to have a baby, Elizabeth's cousin, I'm God, 41 00:03:54.639 --> 00:04:02.030 I'm delights in doing the impossible and making man to be fools and showing his 42 00:04:02.189 --> 00:04:06.270 his great wisdom. And so Zachariah, this this prittest of the Lord, 43 00:04:06.389 --> 00:04:12.580 this one who's called to say things about God, to deliver God's word to 44 00:04:12.819 --> 00:04:18.500 the people, found his mouth shut. I'm not able to speak. The 45 00:04:18.620 --> 00:04:24.730 child is born. I'm but what will he be named? What's the baby's 46 00:04:24.769 --> 00:04:32.410 name right? What will he be called? And his mother says John and 47 00:04:32.529 --> 00:04:36.209 everyone says, I can't be right, nobody's name John, and our family 48 00:04:36.329 --> 00:04:44.600 don't listen to her. What does the father want and he can't talk. 49 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:48.480 They bring him a tablet, he writes his name is John and then immediately 50 00:04:48.600 --> 00:04:55.029 Zacharias mouth is opened, and I love this. Of Love this verse, 51 00:04:55.230 --> 00:04:59.269 in Verse Sixty Four. Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loose 52 00:04:59.350 --> 00:05:04.470 and he spoke blessing God. Right, he lost his speech because he was 53 00:05:05.029 --> 00:05:13.019 doubting God, and now, after regaining his speech, he is blessing God. 54 00:05:14.339 --> 00:05:16.540 And this is just a perfect little picture of what God does in our 55 00:05:16.620 --> 00:05:21.930 lives. All the time. He blesses us and then we bless him and 56 00:05:24.009 --> 00:05:27.730 he blesses us not because we are, I'm so wonderful or great, or 57 00:05:27.769 --> 00:05:33.850 he's really impressed with us for doing some piddling thing. He blesses us because 58 00:05:33.889 --> 00:05:39.279 he does, because he loves us, because, as it says in this 59 00:05:39.399 --> 00:05:45.680 passage a couple times, he's merciful, he's good, and when he blesses 60 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:49.910 us in these ways, he also changed us in such a way that our 61 00:05:50.470 --> 00:05:56.629 tongues and other members of our bodies, which have been used in the past 62 00:05:56.870 --> 00:06:01.310 for evil now are used for good, and so is tongue is loose and 63 00:06:01.389 --> 00:06:06.660 he speaks. Any blesses God. This is such a big deal. But 64 00:06:06.819 --> 00:06:14.180 this man goes suddenly mute and then suddenly gives is able to speak, and 65 00:06:14.300 --> 00:06:19.209 we have this amazing prophecy here being filled with the spirit that it says that 66 00:06:19.529 --> 00:06:27.649 fear came upon all their neighbors and throughout all the hill country and Gda, 67 00:06:27.769 --> 00:06:33.199 people could not stop tweeting about it, up, talking, talking about it. 68 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:41.360 The word was spreading, as word does when amazing things happen, and 69 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:49.709 we see why. We see why to really understand what was going on in 70 00:06:50.069 --> 00:06:56.470 this moment and understand what was going on in Zacharia's heart and, even more 71 00:06:56.509 --> 00:07:00.269 importantly, to understand what God was doing at this moment in human history. 72 00:07:01.579 --> 00:07:08.100 Want to turn our attention to Zacharia's prophecy. What has been turned into a 73 00:07:08.220 --> 00:07:14.899 song, a song we will sing at the conclusion of the sermon and our 74 00:07:14.980 --> 00:07:21.529 prayer. Are sachrized prophecy in verses sixty eight through eighty is, as it 75 00:07:21.730 --> 00:07:29.569 begins and as it is summarized before that, a blessing which is interesting to 76 00:07:29.649 --> 00:07:35.160 think about. I think a blessing is essentially a good word and it's sort 77 00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:41.360 of most basic form. A blessing is a good word, but depending on 78 00:07:41.439 --> 00:07:46.870 WHO's saying the blessing or who's giving that blessing, it has a different effect, 79 00:07:46.589 --> 00:07:53.350 different possibilities. When God speaks a good word, such as let there 80 00:07:53.430 --> 00:08:00.500 be light, goodness happens. There is light and God says that it is 81 00:08:00.660 --> 00:08:05.899 good. Right. When God blesses us, when God calls US blessed, 82 00:08:05.819 --> 00:08:15.250 he's not merely hoping or praying even or wishing for a blessing. He is 83 00:08:15.529 --> 00:08:20.810 creating blessing. When God blesses, when God speaks that blessing, we are 84 00:08:22.370 --> 00:08:28.120 blessed, and this is what he does for us. When God speaks a 85 00:08:28.439 --> 00:08:31.240 good word and sends it forth, it does good. Now, when we 86 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:37.080 bless, when we speak a good word, we are not God right. 87 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:43.549 We do not have the power or the capability to control the only one who 88 00:08:43.590 --> 00:08:48.750 governs all the creatures of the world and all their actions, something will consider 89 00:08:50.029 --> 00:08:56.019 in our essential elements or essential questions class after church, after worship this morning, 90 00:08:56.779 --> 00:09:01.899 God's Providence. Now, only God is the one who has the power 91 00:09:01.019 --> 00:09:05.700 to rule all his creatures and all their actions, which meet up, which 92 00:09:05.740 --> 00:09:11.289 means we don't have any sort of way to control him. We can't bless 93 00:09:11.409 --> 00:09:16.250 someone or curse someone and cause that to happen in the way that God can. 94 00:09:16.450 --> 00:09:22.409 Only God is in control of those things. So when Zachara a bless 95 00:09:22.570 --> 00:09:28.240 is God, he is not creating for God some kind of goodness or happier 96 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:33.679 situation that God needs. God doesn't need Zechariah. So what is Zechara doing 97 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:39.870 when he blesses God? What do we do when we bless God? Psalms 98 00:09:39.029 --> 00:09:46.789 say sixty eight twenty six commands us bless God in the great congregation the Lord, 99 00:09:48.269 --> 00:09:52.980 Oh you who are of Israel's fountain. What are we doing when we 100 00:09:52.259 --> 00:09:56.179 bless God? What are we doing when we speak this good word to him? 101 00:09:58.340 --> 00:10:03.980 We are praising him, we are glorifying him, we are extolling him. 102 00:10:03.700 --> 00:10:09.409 We receive these good things, these glorious things, and we return back 103 00:10:11.169 --> 00:10:16.610 praise. That's what we give to God, that's what it means to bless 104 00:10:16.610 --> 00:10:20.129 him. This, by the way, as not only commanded in the Old 105 00:10:20.210 --> 00:10:28.159 Testament, but is something that Christians do as well, and is we see 106 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:31.679 Christians doing in the New Testament. The very last words of this Gospel The 107 00:10:31.799 --> 00:10:39.149 gospel of Luke. We have this about Jesus and his disciples, Luke writes, 108 00:10:39.389 --> 00:10:43.190 and he led them out as far as Bethany and, lifting up his 109 00:10:43.269 --> 00:10:48.470 hands, he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them 110 00:10:48.830 --> 00:10:54.340 and was carried up into heaven, and they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem 111 00:10:54.379 --> 00:11:00.059 with great joy. And we're continually in the temple blessing God. That's it, 112 00:11:00.179 --> 00:11:03.980 right there, God, this is the whole Christian life. Right, 113 00:11:03.370 --> 00:11:09.929 God blesses us and then we bless him, but not in equal ways, 114 00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:16.210 right, not in equal ways. He creates an US new life, he 115 00:11:16.409 --> 00:11:20.159 rescues us, he saves us. We did we don't go rescue God and 116 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:24.799 save him. It's not equal. He's God, we are not. He's 117 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:28.879 the father, we are not. But that's not a bad thing. What 118 00:11:30.039 --> 00:11:33.669 it means is that as God blesses us, as God blesses us, as 119 00:11:33.710 --> 00:11:39.429 God gives us these things, he then creates in us a spirit that can 120 00:11:39.549 --> 00:11:43.350 bless him. I can give thanks and praise, and that's what's happening here 121 00:11:43.470 --> 00:11:52.220 with Zechariah. So how does Zachariah bless God? How does he praise God? 122 00:11:52.299 --> 00:11:58.700 How does he speak this good word of the God of Israel. Well, 123 00:11:58.779 --> 00:12:03.970 he recounts various things that God has done. Now, each of us 124 00:12:03.009 --> 00:12:07.490 have lots of different reasons that we can bless God. Right the chair that 125 00:12:07.610 --> 00:12:11.929 you're sitting on, the clothes on your back, the roof over your head, 126 00:12:11.929 --> 00:12:15.840 all of these things are things that we can bless God for, things 127 00:12:15.879 --> 00:12:20.519 that he has given to us. But God has also blessed us not only 128 00:12:20.600 --> 00:12:24.840 with these particulars in our life, but in all of life. God has 129 00:12:24.919 --> 00:12:30.029 done things that have affected all of our lives and even all of human history, 130 00:12:30.070 --> 00:12:33.750 and that's what Zecharia is blessing about. is here both of those things. 131 00:12:33.909 --> 00:12:39.149 Really he has in mind the great salvation of the world that is coming 132 00:12:39.149 --> 00:12:43.460 in Christ, but also the role of his particular son in that. A 133 00:12:45.139 --> 00:12:50.940 saving work he and and it's for these things that he blesses God. So 134 00:12:50.100 --> 00:12:54.299 what has God done? Let's read it in verse Sixty Eight. He has 135 00:12:54.419 --> 00:13:00.970 visited and redeemed his people. He has raised up a Horn of salvation for 136 00:13:01.049 --> 00:13:03.649 us and the House of his servant David, as he spoke from by the 137 00:13:03.690 --> 00:13:07.970 mouth of his holy prophets, from his old from of old, that we 138 00:13:07.169 --> 00:13:11.330 should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all those who hate 139 00:13:11.330 --> 00:13:15.480 us, to show mercy, the mercy promise to our fathers, and to 140 00:13:15.559 --> 00:13:18.879 remember his Holy Covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, 141 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:22.679 to grant that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might 142 00:13:22.759 --> 00:13:28.350 serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness, before him all of our 143 00:13:28.429 --> 00:13:33.429 days. Let's take this apart a little bit. First, God visits his 144 00:13:33.870 --> 00:13:37.110 people, and when you receive a visit from your home, maybe out of 145 00:13:37.190 --> 00:13:43.580 town guests, some family members or friends that you love, you get excited 146 00:13:43.620 --> 00:13:48.820 right when somebody, when let's say you are visited by somebody who is honorable 147 00:13:48.860 --> 00:13:56.690 or high in some way, let's say the CEO for your whole company, 148 00:13:58.129 --> 00:14:03.730 comes and comes into your tiny little department and thanks you for the good work 149 00:14:03.809 --> 00:14:09.129 that you're doing, you feel Honored Right Your your appreciative of that. Well, 150 00:14:09.210 --> 00:14:11.639 if these things happen in this way, at this human level, imagine 151 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:15.879 what it would be like, or know what it is like, to know 152 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:20.799 that God, the all glorious God, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, 153 00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:26.389 comes and visits us, is present with us. Well, you would 154 00:14:26.549 --> 00:14:31.309 just love him or be honored. You would sing and less his most glorious 155 00:14:31.350 --> 00:14:35.350 name. And that's what he does. And God doesn't just come and visit 156 00:14:35.470 --> 00:14:41.700 with us for a moment, he comes and lives with us, even dwells 157 00:14:41.019 --> 00:14:48.139 in us. This is what Zucchara is praising God for now. This visitation 158 00:14:48.379 --> 00:14:52.970 is not like an outoftown guests who's coming to sleep on a couch for a 159 00:14:52.009 --> 00:14:58.409 few days. This is the visit of power. This is a visitation of 160 00:15:00.370 --> 00:15:07.879 life changing power and authority and glory and salvation. How do we know? 161 00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:15.799 Well, because Zakaria says he has visited and redeemed his people. This means 162 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:20.320 that God has taken our sins away from us, he's paid for our sins 163 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:24.389 and rescued us out of our slavery. If you want an image of this, 164 00:15:24.590 --> 00:15:30.389 you can think of God rescuing his people, redeeming his people, out 165 00:15:30.389 --> 00:15:35.299 of Egypt. You Remember, God had made these promises to Abraham that he 166 00:15:35.299 --> 00:15:41.059 would make him a father of many nations. Abraham, little Abraham, this 167 00:15:41.220 --> 00:15:46.940 one person, would become the father of many nations that God would create from 168 00:15:46.940 --> 00:15:52.929 him this family, this family of God, but this family came under the 169 00:15:52.090 --> 00:16:00.529 authority of Evil Pharaohs in Egypt. And eventually one who put them under slavery 170 00:16:02.049 --> 00:16:11.080 for hundreds of years. Hundreds of years they they worked as slaves, surrounded 171 00:16:11.240 --> 00:16:18.669 everywhere by false idols, false hopes and tragedy. And then God came and 172 00:16:18.789 --> 00:16:23.669 he spoke a good word. He blessed them through the Prophet Moses. He 173 00:16:23.830 --> 00:16:33.899 said, let my people go, and they were released with power and authority. 174 00:16:33.179 --> 00:16:41.740 God blew open the doors of Egypt, hard hearted doors, and allowed 175 00:16:41.899 --> 00:16:48.409 his people to be free. This freedom that they were rescued to his will 176 00:16:48.450 --> 00:16:52.169 consider in a moment, was not freedom to just wander around in the desert. 177 00:16:52.210 --> 00:16:57.409 It was freedom to go through the desert to the promised land. That's 178 00:16:57.450 --> 00:17:03.360 why this redemption is described in verse sixty nine as a Horn of salvation, 179 00:17:03.639 --> 00:17:11.160 this mighty Horn raised up for the people. God is this powerful champion. 180 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:18.190 He is rescuing us now. If that weren't all enough, Zacharai goes on 181 00:17:18.309 --> 00:17:22.990 to say that this is all happening exactly as God himself has promised, exactly 182 00:17:23.069 --> 00:17:27.869 as he has prophesied, which means that there has been a hope that people 183 00:17:27.910 --> 00:17:33.500 have been hanging on to four years and years and years, and now God 184 00:17:33.619 --> 00:17:37.579 is not only doing these things, but he is faithful in doing them. 185 00:17:37.019 --> 00:17:44.140 He's proving and showing how good he is, because he's doing it all exactly 186 00:17:44.220 --> 00:17:48.890 as he is promised, which is just yet another thing to praise God for. 187 00:17:48.809 --> 00:17:52.569 Promised and predicted that he would save us from our enemies, that he 188 00:17:52.609 --> 00:17:57.640 would that we would receive mercy, that we would be close with God. 189 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:03.640 So he says in Verse Seventy Zecharai says, as he spoke by the mouth 190 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:07.720 of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our 191 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:11.559 enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show mercy, 192 00:18:12.150 --> 00:18:18.710 promise to our father's to remember his holy covenment. These it words are so 193 00:18:18.990 --> 00:18:26.230 important because we find ourselves often times still waiting. In some ways, we've 194 00:18:26.309 --> 00:18:30.140 received the first advent of our Lord, his coming into the world, but 195 00:18:30.259 --> 00:18:36.819 we await his coming again. We await that second coming, the second coming 196 00:18:36.900 --> 00:18:41.890 into the world, and while we wait, it's easy to grow disheartened sometimes, 197 00:18:42.009 --> 00:18:47.130 isn't it? It's hard to press on, it's hard to continue. 198 00:18:48.210 --> 00:18:52.210 But what Secara is telling us here is that he's saying, look, God 199 00:18:52.329 --> 00:18:57.240 is fulfilling his promises, because that's the kind of God he is. In 200 00:18:57.319 --> 00:19:03.440 other words, we have, in Zechariah's blessing, a theology which is just 201 00:19:03.880 --> 00:19:08.000 piling up for us more and more and more reasons to trust the Lord. 202 00:19:08.920 --> 00:19:17.670 I hope you are trusting the Lord. And why is all of this happening? 203 00:19:18.190 --> 00:19:23.299 This closeness, this intimacy, this visitation, this power, this rescue, 204 00:19:23.420 --> 00:19:30.819 this redemption, it's all to fulfill God's plan for us, which is 205 00:19:30.940 --> 00:19:40.690 that we might enjoy him and glorify him forever, that we might be close 206 00:19:40.849 --> 00:19:45.410 to him and near to him. Notice what verse seventy four says, that, 207 00:19:45.529 --> 00:19:49.089 being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we might serve him without 208 00:19:49.089 --> 00:19:52.240 fear. This is not jumping in from, you know, from the frying 209 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:59.519 Pan, into the fire right. This is not some evil king rescuing and 210 00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:04.200 scare quotes us, you know, out of darkness into yet even more doom 211 00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:08.990 and more darkness. No, Colossians tells us that when God rescues us out 212 00:20:08.990 --> 00:20:12.950 of this dominion of darkness, he brings us into the Kingdom of light, 213 00:20:14.869 --> 00:20:18.549 the Kingdom of his beloved son, a kingdom that is filled with love and 214 00:20:18.789 --> 00:20:26.940 warmth and peace and security and all the things that we want. Tender mercy. 215 00:20:27.740 --> 00:20:32.299 This is what God is giving to us. This tenderness is what he 216 00:20:32.460 --> 00:20:40.130 brings us into that we might serve him without fear, but in holiness and 217 00:20:40.289 --> 00:20:48.089 righteousness before him all of our days. It's easy to imagine the Israelites being 218 00:20:48.130 --> 00:20:56.960 attempted to serve Pharaoh as a eyepleasers. Look busy right, don't get in 219 00:20:57.160 --> 00:21:00.680 trouble, do the minimal amount of work right, that kind of thing. 220 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:06.710 When we serve the Lord, as those who have been rescued Zachari says, 221 00:21:06.750 --> 00:21:10.829 we don't serve him as I pleasers will, trying to look busy, trying 222 00:21:10.869 --> 00:21:15.710 to look put on a good show for God. No, we serve him 223 00:21:15.910 --> 00:21:22.259 with joy. We Serve Him With Holiness and righteousness all of our days. 224 00:21:22.299 --> 00:21:26.779 This is our joy to know him and deserve him. There is no higher 225 00:21:27.539 --> 00:21:34.569 no higher end. Well, that's the first part. This is the one 226 00:21:34.609 --> 00:21:42.410 of the reasons that Zachariah Zachariah blesses God because God is coming into the world 227 00:21:44.009 --> 00:21:48.960 to fulfill his promises, to visit US and redeem us. Now, on 228 00:21:49.079 --> 00:21:56.440 top of all of that, Zachariah gets to be the father of John. 229 00:21:57.240 --> 00:22:02.549 He gets to see and understand the only the role that his own son is 230 00:22:02.750 --> 00:22:07.230 going to play in all of this. And what is that? It's that 231 00:22:07.390 --> 00:22:11.869 God has made his son. Is promised that his son would be a prophet 232 00:22:11.390 --> 00:22:17.779 to go and announce this good news. Now he is not the light, 233 00:22:18.099 --> 00:22:23.779 but he comes to bear witness about the light. Now this is important because 234 00:22:23.779 --> 00:22:27.059 you might think, well, of course if God was coming into the world 235 00:22:27.660 --> 00:22:33.009 to do all these amazing things, I'd be ready to receive it. Maybe 236 00:22:33.089 --> 00:22:42.049 not, maybe not. You might picture this whole thing like being stuck in 237 00:22:42.130 --> 00:22:48.839 an underground cave. Outside of flagstaff there are these lava tubes. Maybe some 238 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:52.880 of you have been in them. You sort of wander out into the forest 239 00:22:53.039 --> 00:22:59.869 a little bit and then there's kind of a hole in the ground and then 240 00:22:59.910 --> 00:23:03.710 you sort of go down into this hole and gets dark really fast and then 241 00:23:03.750 --> 00:23:07.670 you travel, if I remember right, it's about three quarters of a mile 242 00:23:07.710 --> 00:23:11.309 or something like that, back into this tube and eventually it kind of stops. 243 00:23:11.109 --> 00:23:14.700 Anyway, it's a fun thing to go out there and travel down. 244 00:23:15.740 --> 00:23:19.140 The thing is it's very, very, very important to bring a light because 245 00:23:19.180 --> 00:23:23.900 there's not electricity running down there and there's no light getting into death except at 246 00:23:23.940 --> 00:23:32.329 the very opening. I had a friend ones who went down into that tunnel 247 00:23:32.690 --> 00:23:37.849 and he didn't bring a flashlight and he got left behind by his friends. 248 00:23:37.890 --> 00:23:44.960 He spent the next several hours, maybe five or six. It was well 249 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:51.359 after midnight when he finally got out of this thing, crawling, feeling his 250 00:23:51.559 --> 00:23:53.920 way through this thing, hoping, you know, trying to kind of keep 251 00:23:53.960 --> 00:23:57.269 his sense of direction and not to sort of spin around his circles is because 252 00:23:57.269 --> 00:24:00.549 a little bit big, he's going to moving carefully, slowing through this whole 253 00:24:00.589 --> 00:24:03.509 thing. Now, if you've ever seen that, you know volcanic rock, 254 00:24:04.109 --> 00:24:07.789 you know the cinders. This is not, you know, like California Beach 255 00:24:07.869 --> 00:24:11.619 Sand. This is hard stuff. If you fall off, you trip, 256 00:24:11.740 --> 00:24:15.220 it hurts, and that's what this thing is made of. And so you 257 00:24:15.299 --> 00:24:19.819 can imagine being in this tunnel, trying to get out, crawling and getting 258 00:24:19.859 --> 00:24:26.450 hurt now here. This is a picture I'm hoping, I wanted to be 259 00:24:26.849 --> 00:24:30.609 a picture of what it's like to live in a world filled with sin and 260 00:24:30.690 --> 00:24:36.289 misery. It's to be in darkness, not where you knowing where you're going, 261 00:24:36.490 --> 00:24:41.400 getting hurt all the time, to crawl around and move and a hope 262 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:47.160 that maybe sometime things will get better, hoping that maybe you're moving in the 263 00:24:47.240 --> 00:24:52.680 right direction, but we don't. Well, we're still in our sin. 264 00:24:52.839 --> 00:24:56.150 We just keep going in circles and going in circles, keep getting hurt. 265 00:24:57.869 --> 00:25:00.430 Now you would think, as I was going back to what I was saying 266 00:25:00.470 --> 00:25:06.910 earlier, that if somebody came into the tunnel and said or yeah, if 267 00:25:06.950 --> 00:25:10.700 somebody came into the tunnel and said hey, good news, there is a 268 00:25:10.779 --> 00:25:14.220 way out, that you would rejoice and leave. But you know what, 269 00:25:14.460 --> 00:25:18.819 our sin is so bad that what we usually do is we start camping out. 270 00:25:18.980 --> 00:25:22.690 We go, well, this is just hopeless and yeah, maybe I 271 00:25:22.730 --> 00:25:27.609 kind of like you here. I prefer it. And so even when good 272 00:25:27.690 --> 00:25:32.089 news comes to us, we don't always hear it as we ought. We 273 00:25:32.250 --> 00:25:36.240 find that we would rather just stay in our sin. We'd rather stay in 274 00:25:36.359 --> 00:25:42.640 our misery. We've kind of come to like our situation. We are deceived. 275 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:51.710 What God is doing here in bringing light is he's providing for US light 276 00:25:51.869 --> 00:25:56.869 at the end of the tunnel. Right, he's giving to us a way 277 00:25:56.990 --> 00:26:03.819 out and hope. But before that he sends this messenger, John, down 278 00:26:03.980 --> 00:26:11.940 into the tunnel to tell us what is about to happen. And you, 279 00:26:11.259 --> 00:26:14.980 child will be called the Prophet of the most high, and you will go 280 00:26:15.180 --> 00:26:18.809 before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of the salvation to 281 00:26:18.930 --> 00:26:25.210 his people and in the and in the forgiveness of their sins, because of 282 00:26:25.289 --> 00:26:30.009 the tender mercy of God, whereby the Sunrise shall visit us from on high 283 00:26:30.049 --> 00:26:33.079 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, 284 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:37.440 to guide our feet into the way of peace. Can you imagine being 285 00:26:37.480 --> 00:26:41.480 in a tunnel like I've described and having given up, given up for a 286 00:26:41.640 --> 00:26:45.599 long time, and you're sitting down there and you're in your you're in your 287 00:26:45.640 --> 00:26:51.910 misery or in your sin, and then somebody comes and you hear a voice, 288 00:26:52.349 --> 00:26:55.710 but it's not a voice like you've heard before, those voices in your 289 00:26:55.750 --> 00:27:00.750 own head. Know this one is different. This one is from God and 290 00:27:00.990 --> 00:27:07.500 he says light is coming. He says light is come into the world. 291 00:27:10.259 --> 00:27:14.940 The one who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. 292 00:27:15.450 --> 00:27:19.009 This one who is coming, I'm not even worthy to untie the strap of 293 00:27:19.089 --> 00:27:23.650 his sandals. This one who is coming is the lamb of God who takes 294 00:27:23.730 --> 00:27:32.759 away the sin of the world. Light is coming. You are in this 295 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:37.720 darkness not by accident, but because of your sins, and this one who 296 00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:42.160 is coming is coming to forgive you your sins, to rescue you out of 297 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:48.430 this and to bring you from darkness into light. That's what John Does. 298 00:27:49.990 --> 00:27:55.029 That's this great message that John, that God gives through this Prophet. He 299 00:27:55.470 --> 00:27:59.420 prepares the way, he wakes us up, he wakes the world up, 300 00:27:59.779 --> 00:28:02.619 and there is John. That's what John does as he goes out into the 301 00:28:02.660 --> 00:28:07.740 Wilderness and he calls to people, he tells them of their need for repentance 302 00:28:07.099 --> 00:28:14.529 and he points to this one who's coming to to Jesus. So it can 303 00:28:14.569 --> 00:28:18.130 you imagine then, with John Calling this news, with John Pointing to the 304 00:28:18.210 --> 00:28:23.809 light? Can You understand then why, when Jesus did came, come and 305 00:28:23.970 --> 00:28:29.480 when John pointed to him? And so there is the lamb of God who 306 00:28:29.480 --> 00:28:34.160 takes away the sins of the world, people started following him. If you 307 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:40.200 were stuck deep down in a tube and you realized your sin, you realize 308 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:42.789 your misery, you realize that use certain death for you if you didn't go, 309 00:28:45.109 --> 00:28:48.349 wouldn't you follow him too? You would. If God spoke a word 310 00:28:48.470 --> 00:28:53.630 into your heart, it blew open the doors that blew up in the hardness 311 00:28:56.140 --> 00:29:02.619 there was bringing rescue. That's what God has done for us. That's why 312 00:29:02.660 --> 00:29:07.859 we have hope, light at the end of the tunnel, a sunrise at 313 00:29:07.900 --> 00:29:11.490 the end of a long night, to give light to those who sit in 314 00:29:11.569 --> 00:29:17.450 darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way 315 00:29:17.809 --> 00:29:23.359 of peace. And this is God's ultimate plan for you. This is the 316 00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:30.839 thing that you need to think of everything in your life in this context, 317 00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:38.670 that you are blessed. God has blessed you with this news, God has 318 00:29:38.710 --> 00:29:42.309 blessed you with these announcements. God has blessed you if you have put your 319 00:29:42.390 --> 00:29:49.109 faith in him, with his Holy Spirit, who is even now guiding you 320 00:29:49.589 --> 00:29:55.700 into the way of peace. So this is you stumble and fumble on your 321 00:29:55.819 --> 00:29:59.579 way through the Wilderness or out of that tube, or we can mix all 322 00:29:59.579 --> 00:30:03.980 kinds of metaphors. Now, as you move, as you move through this 323 00:30:04.220 --> 00:30:11.130 world and this age toward that promised heavenly kingdom, you can know that you're 324 00:30:11.170 --> 00:30:17.130 doing so by God's own light, by the sun that is shining in this 325 00:30:17.369 --> 00:30:22.160 world and in your life even now, and as you do so, even 326 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:26.839 as you stumble and even as you fall, because God is with you, 327 00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:30.880 because God has visit it. Did you because God has made these announcements. 328 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:37.230 Even as you're falling, even as you're getting hurt, you too can bless 329 00:30:37.349 --> 00:30:45.150 God because your being saved, and you have been saved, then you will 330 00:30:45.190 --> 00:30:52.220 be saved the way of peace, the way of hope. These things belong 331 00:30:52.339 --> 00:31:02.059 to you. God says that in Christ we are blessed with every spiritual blessing 332 00:31:02.099 --> 00:31:07.329 in the heavenly places, and he promises us not only of these, not 333 00:31:07.490 --> 00:31:15.930 only ones that directly impact our souls, but our bodies too. God has 334 00:31:15.970 --> 00:31:18.359 blessed us in every way and with them. Day this will all be fulfilled 335 00:31:21.119 --> 00:31:27.319 when we will also raise from Earth to heaven to meet our Savior and to 336 00:31:27.480 --> 00:31:36.789 follow and serve him perfectly forever. That's what the coming news of Jesus means, 337 00:31:37.069 --> 00:31:41.150 and now that he's come, that is the news that we continue to 338 00:31:41.269 --> 00:31:48.819 announce in this world. Praise God. Let's pray now and ask that God 339 00:31:48.980 --> 00:31:52.579 would help us to receive this word, live in light of it and bless 340 00:31:52.619 --> 00:31:53.579 him. Let's pray