Zechariah: From Skeptic to Singer (Luke 1:5-23, 57-66)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:05.679 The scripture for the sermon this evening is coming from Luke one. It's familiar 2 00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:11.910 text. It's a little bit longer. I will not apologize. Luke one, 3 00:00:12.550 --> 00:00:16.949 starting in verse five and we're going to read through to Verse Twenty Three. 4 00:00:17.910 --> 00:00:21.309 Then we're going to skip down a little bit to verse fifty seven and 5 00:00:22.460 --> 00:00:27.539 read through verse sixty six. So Luke one, starting in verse five. 6 00:00:29.059 --> 00:00:33.420 In the days of Herod King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah 7 00:00:33.939 --> 00:00:37.490 of the division of a Baija, and he had a wife from the daughters 8 00:00:37.530 --> 00:00:42.130 of Erin and her name was Elizabeth, and they were both righteous before God, 9 00:00:42.810 --> 00:00:47.770 walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they 10 00:00:47.770 --> 00:00:53.439 had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years. Now, 11 00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:57.240 while he was serving as priest before God, when his division was on 12 00:00:57.280 --> 00:01:00.159 duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by a 13 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:04.310 lot to enter the temple the Lord and Burn Incense, and the whole multitude 14 00:01:04.310 --> 00:01:08.510 of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense, and there appeared 15 00:01:08.549 --> 00:01:12.269 to him an angel of the Lord Standing on the right side of the altar 16 00:01:12.310 --> 00:01:17.590 of incense and Zechariah was troubled when he saw him and fear fell upon him, 17 00:01:18.230 --> 00:01:21.060 but the angels said to him, do not be afraid, Zechariah, 18 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:26.099 for your prayer has been heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you as on 19 00:01:26.379 --> 00:01:30.819 and you shall call his name John and you will have joy and gladness, 20 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:34.090 and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the 21 00:01:34.209 --> 00:01:38.010 Lord and he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be 22 00:01:38.049 --> 00:01:41.530 filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb, and he will 23 00:01:41.569 --> 00:01:44.409 turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, their God, and 24 00:01:44.569 --> 00:01:48.319 he will go before him, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to 25 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:52.640 turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom 26 00:01:52.680 --> 00:01:57.519 of the just to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. And Zecharai 27 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:01.150 said to the angel, how shall I know this, for I am an 28 00:02:01.189 --> 00:02:06.790 old man and my wife is advanced in years. And the angel answered him, 29 00:02:07.349 --> 00:02:10.189 I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God and I was 30 00:02:10.349 --> 00:02:15.430 sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, 31 00:02:15.939 --> 00:02:19.979 you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things 32 00:02:20.139 --> 00:02:23.539 take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled 33 00:02:23.659 --> 00:02:29.219 in their time. And the people were waiting for Zechariah and they're wondering at 34 00:02:29.300 --> 00:02:32.009 his delay at the temple, and when he came out, he was unable 35 00:02:32.050 --> 00:02:36.930 to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in 36 00:02:37.009 --> 00:02:40.250 the temple. He kept making signs to them and remain mute. And when 37 00:02:40.330 --> 00:02:45.879 his time of service was ended, he went to his home. Then skip 38 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:51.240 down to verse fifty seven. Will read through verse sixty six now. The 39 00:02:51.360 --> 00:02:54.840 time came him for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son and 40 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.629 her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her and 41 00:02:59.750 --> 00:03:04.229 they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day they came to circumcise a 42 00:03:04.270 --> 00:03:07.870 child and they would have called him Zechariah, after his father, but his 43 00:03:07.030 --> 00:03:13.219 mother answered no, he shall be called John, and they said to her, 44 00:03:14.020 --> 00:03:16.740 none of your relatives is called by this name. And they made signs 45 00:03:16.740 --> 00:03:21.300 to his father inquiring what he wanted him to be called, and he asked 46 00:03:21.340 --> 00:03:27.530 for a writing tablet and wrote his name is John, and they all wondered 47 00:03:28.250 --> 00:03:31.449 and immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed and he spoke blessing God, 48 00:03:31.889 --> 00:03:36.330 and fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked 49 00:03:36.370 --> 00:03:39.090 about through all the Hill Country of Judea, and all who heard them laid 50 00:03:39.090 --> 00:03:44.280 them up in their hearts, saying what then will this child be? For 51 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:47.800 the hand of the Lord was with him. This is the word of the 52 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:54.120 Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. In these weeks 53 00:03:54.479 --> 00:04:00.270 leading up to Christmas, it is good for us as Christians to consider a 54 00:04:00.389 --> 00:04:06.550 new the significance of the birth of Jesus, to celebrate again the mystery of 55 00:04:06.949 --> 00:04:13.780 the incarnation, to rehearse the story that Christians have been recounting now for two 56 00:04:13.900 --> 00:04:17.980 thousand years. But in our familiarity with this story or of the birth of 57 00:04:18.060 --> 00:04:24.769 Jesus, we can sometimes do one of two things. We can either treat 58 00:04:24.850 --> 00:04:31.930 these people as characters to be almost adored, saints, people who didn't have 59 00:04:32.050 --> 00:04:39.480 any flaws, any problems, on a higher than average plane in reality, 60 00:04:39.639 --> 00:04:44.000 so to speak, those of that mistake is often made by some of our 61 00:04:44.079 --> 00:04:47.920 cat Catholic friends. For US Protestants, on the other hand, we fall 62 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:54.149 into perhaps another are error, in that we just blow through the story again 63 00:04:54.670 --> 00:04:57.430 it's a lot. There's a lot of text here, even just in what 64 00:04:57.509 --> 00:05:00.790 we read, and you can just keep going into the next chapter and it 65 00:05:00.870 --> 00:05:04.949 just keeps going. Luke likes really long chapters with lots of detail, and 66 00:05:05.189 --> 00:05:09.180 we just go from one section to the next, to next, move on. 67 00:05:09.300 --> 00:05:12.180 Okay, that happened, yes, that happened, yes, that happened. 68 00:05:12.259 --> 00:05:15.579 This person came into the story, this person leaves a story, and 69 00:05:15.740 --> 00:05:20.889 we miss the fact that these are actual, really people. We overlook the 70 00:05:20.930 --> 00:05:26.170 fact that they're not just actors in a play or characters in a drama. 71 00:05:27.329 --> 00:05:31.370 These are real people with real stories, real lives, real hopes, real 72 00:05:31.490 --> 00:05:39.240 fears, real joys and real sorrows. They laughed and they cried and they 73 00:05:39.319 --> 00:05:44.639 even doubted, and that's what we find here. What we just read was 74 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:50.389 Zechariah, Jesus's uncle. Zechariah was a faithful follower of God. You probably 75 00:05:50.430 --> 00:05:56.949 picked up from the reading that he's a priest. But despite that, despite 76 00:05:56.990 --> 00:06:03.149 that, Zechariah has a deep seated skepticism, not about whether God exists or 77 00:06:03.230 --> 00:06:06.060 you know, whether there is a god or not, but whether he he 78 00:06:06.220 --> 00:06:13.180 doubts at a heart level whether God is for him, whether God truly cares 79 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:17.139 about him, whether God listens to him. Because, you see, as 80 00:06:17.220 --> 00:06:24.529 we read, Zechariah was childless. We read that in verse seven weeks of 81 00:06:24.649 --> 00:06:29.769 Marriage Turn into months, months of marriage turned to years, years turned to 82 00:06:29.930 --> 00:06:40.000 decades and nothing happened. They were childless. Prayer after prayer after prayer went 83 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:47.269 seemingly unanswered. But this story is bigger than just Zechariah and his personal family 84 00:06:47.310 --> 00:06:56.269 problems, because in a way Zechariah represents all of God's people. Because here 85 00:06:56.310 --> 00:07:00.149 at the beginning of Luke's Gospel, God's people have been waiting now for four 86 00:07:00.269 --> 00:07:09.019 hundred years with no prophet, no new revelation, silence from God, as 87 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:14.259 their nation has been conquered again and again by this nation and that empire and 88 00:07:14.339 --> 00:07:18.250 then this empire and then the Romans come in, attacking them, oppressing them, 89 00:07:18.449 --> 00:07:23.970 and they're wondering, God, where are you? Are you silent? 90 00:07:25.129 --> 00:07:30.839 Why are you going to be faithful to your promises? Where's the Messiah God 91 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:39.800 that you've promised us as your people? Do you really care about us? 92 00:07:42.199 --> 00:07:46.029 I'm friends you and I wrestle with this same question even today. Hasn't gone 93 00:07:46.350 --> 00:07:51.350 away. What we're going to see is we walk through this passage is that, 94 00:07:51.509 --> 00:08:00.300 despite our doubts and the seeming slowness of God's plan, he is the 95 00:08:00.459 --> 00:08:03.899 faithful promise keeper. There's no way we can touch on everything. There's there's 96 00:08:03.899 --> 00:08:07.100 just too much here. So we're going to do sort of a shotgun approach, 97 00:08:07.500 --> 00:08:11.819 just let it fall where it lie. Where first thing, the first 98 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:16.889 we're gonna look at three truths. The first is this, despite all appearances 99 00:08:16.930 --> 00:08:22.089 to the contrary, God knows what he's doing. So, despite all the 100 00:08:22.129 --> 00:08:26.129 appearances to the contrary, God knows what he's doing. Look with me again 101 00:08:26.129 --> 00:08:31.399 at verses five through seven. And the days of Harry King of Judea, 102 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:35.320 there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of a Baija, and he 103 00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:39.399 had a wife from the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth, and 104 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:43.830 they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly and all the commandments and statutes 105 00:08:43.870 --> 00:08:48.149 of the Lord. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both 106 00:08:48.389 --> 00:08:52.549 were advanced in years. Luke, here he's setting the scene for us, 107 00:08:54.309 --> 00:08:56.980 he sees drawing us in, he's setting it up and he goes to some 108 00:08:56.100 --> 00:09:01.940 length to explain, to get across that the message that Zechariah has a highest 109 00:09:03.340 --> 00:09:05.899 credentials. He's a priest, which means that he comes from the tribe of 110 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:09.769 Levi, and the levites were the ones dedicated, set apart to God. 111 00:09:11.049 --> 00:09:16.049 They were the the one out of the twelve that was dedicated as holy unto 112 00:09:16.529 --> 00:09:20.490 the Lord. He married. Well, his wife, Elizabeth, is also 113 00:09:20.529 --> 00:09:26.600 of a priestly family. She too is of the daughters of Erin. And 114 00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:33.519 what's more, Luke describes them both as righteous before God, walking blamelessly in 115 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:39.990 all his commands. And that sounds Cliche, or that sounds just service of 116 00:09:39.070 --> 00:09:45.590 maybe okay, cool, awesome, but that's actually a really rare designation and 117 00:09:45.669 --> 00:09:52.419 the Old Testament it only happens twice. first time is with Noah in Genesis 118 00:09:52.500 --> 00:09:58.779 six, and Abraham, then Abraham in genesis seventeen, as being called righteous 119 00:09:58.379 --> 00:10:03.220 for the Lord and blameless walking blameless sleep before him. So this is an 120 00:10:03.340 --> 00:10:11.610 elite group that Zechariah is a part of and scripture. And yet what overshadows 121 00:10:11.769 --> 00:10:18.970 all his credentials, everything that stands out on his resume, is the fact 122 00:10:18.049 --> 00:10:24.960 that he lacks a child. He's childless, his wife is barren and to 123 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:31.080 the ancient Israelite hearing this, that doesn't make sense, because barrenness was supposed 124 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:37.230 to happen if you rejected God and you've disobeyed God. Fruitfulness and blessing is 125 00:10:37.309 --> 00:10:41.990 what you get if you obey. It's God's blessing on your obedience. Listen 126 00:10:43.070 --> 00:10:48.590 to what Deuteronomy Twenty eight has to say, and all these blessings shall come 127 00:10:48.629 --> 00:10:52.139 upon you and overtake you if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. 128 00:10:52.580 --> 00:10:54.220 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in 129 00:10:54.259 --> 00:10:58.500 the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of 130 00:10:58.539 --> 00:11:01.740 your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds, 131 00:11:01.779 --> 00:11:05.330 the young of your flock. The Lord will establish you as a people holy 132 00:11:05.450 --> 00:11:11.409 to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments 133 00:11:11.450 --> 00:11:18.009 of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. From Deuteronomy Twenty eight. 134 00:11:18.720 --> 00:11:26.159 And that's exactly what Zechariah was doing. He was walking blamelessly before the 135 00:11:26.240 --> 00:11:31.519 Lord, righteous before him. But instead of being blessed, it says if 136 00:11:31.559 --> 00:11:39.909 he's being cursed. He's receiving the curses for covenant unfaithfulness. It doesn't make 137 00:11:39.990 --> 00:11:46.029 sense, it doesn't line up, it doesn't seem fair, and some of 138 00:11:46.110 --> 00:11:50.379 you this evening know what that feels like. I'm sure you have tried to 139 00:11:50.500 --> 00:11:58.139 follow after God, being obedient to his commands, but still this has happened, 140 00:11:58.299 --> 00:12:01.929 and then that happened, and then that happened, and it leaves you 141 00:12:01.929 --> 00:12:07.809 wondering why, why am I still going through this if I'm just trying to 142 00:12:07.850 --> 00:12:13.409 follow you? God? Where are you? Do you hear me? What's 143 00:12:13.450 --> 00:12:18.519 going on? Is God paying attention? As he distant? Is He distracted? 144 00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:24.840 Where is he? But Luke wants us to understand something about the way 145 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:31.909 that God works, that God often works behind the scenes, now just out 146 00:12:31.950 --> 00:12:35.230 of the outside, that your peripheral vision, sort of see things in the 147 00:12:35.309 --> 00:12:39.830 corner of your eye. This is how God works. Because again, note 148 00:12:39.870 --> 00:12:48.820 how Luke Describes Zechariah and Elizabeth. Says that they're barren, that their childless, 149 00:12:48.139 --> 00:12:52.139 she's bearn he's trying to call back to your mind, and maybe you 150 00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:58.129 thought of this when we read it, Abraham and Sarah in genesis eighteen, 151 00:12:58.929 --> 00:13:05.330 because they too, they too were barren, they too were advanced in age 152 00:13:05.409 --> 00:13:09.570 and after twenty five years of waiting, God finally gave them a child. 153 00:13:11.289 --> 00:13:15.440 Maybe God's at work here, and it's here, then, that we also 154 00:13:15.480 --> 00:13:20.159 start to notice all sorts of clues. Zechariah is randomly chosen by lot to 155 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:24.240 go into offer incense on the altar in the temple, and there are so 156 00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:30.230 many priests that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. This is the 157 00:13:30.549 --> 00:13:35.149 pinnacle of Zechariah's career here to go into the Temple and put incense on the 158 00:13:35.230 --> 00:13:41.940 altar. This is no random lottery. And what's more, there's a crowd 159 00:13:43.059 --> 00:13:46.220 outside while he's offering this incense. Fact that there's a crowd probably means it's 160 00:13:46.220 --> 00:13:50.179 the end of the work day, which means it's a time. This incense 161 00:13:50.259 --> 00:13:54.340 is being offered at the time of the evening sacrifice. And Luke here is 162 00:13:54.379 --> 00:13:58.250 that that means that he's setting up a parallel. was something in Daniel Nine. 163 00:13:58.889 --> 00:14:05.409 Daniel nine versus twenty and twenty one, because they're Daniel just finishes up 164 00:14:05.490 --> 00:14:11.120 a prayer at the time of the evening sacrifice, he's praying on behalf of 165 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:16.120 the people. And when he finishes his prayer, do you know who shows 166 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:24.120 up? Gabriel with a message of salvation. It's again another parallel. What's 167 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:26.429 this message that Gabriel brings. Well, and look at verse thirteen with me. 168 00:14:28.629 --> 00:14:31.990 But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zechariah, 169 00:14:31.309 --> 00:14:35.710 for your prayer has been heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son 170 00:14:35.029 --> 00:14:39.340 and you shall call his name John. Well, what's so special about John? 171 00:14:41.659 --> 00:14:45.500 Plain ordinary name? We get the answer in verses fifteen through seventeen. 172 00:14:46.100 --> 00:14:48.539 He will be great before the Lord. He must not drink wine or strong 173 00:14:48.580 --> 00:14:52.009 drink. He'll be filled up the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb, 174 00:14:52.490 --> 00:14:56.809 and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, 175 00:14:56.850 --> 00:15:00.610 their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of 176 00:15:00.690 --> 00:15:05.250 Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to 177 00:15:05.289 --> 00:15:09.320 the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord of people prepared. 178 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:15.039 So John will be set apart by the spirit from his mother's womb, 179 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:20.120 just like Jeremiah. He will be set apart to God, like like Hannah 180 00:15:20.200 --> 00:15:26.509 offering up Samuel to God, another baron woman. He'll be clothed with the 181 00:15:26.549 --> 00:15:31.269 spirit and power of Elijah. He comes and, using the language that we 182 00:15:31.389 --> 00:15:35.860 just read from Malachi three and four, he comes as a messenger of the 183 00:15:35.940 --> 00:15:41.940 Messiah, and think about that. Zechariah hearing these words spoken to him. 184 00:15:41.940 --> 00:15:46.220 He's a priest, he knew his Old Testament. He he knew what this 185 00:15:46.500 --> 00:15:50.370 angel, what Gabriel, was saying. Friends, he would have realized that 186 00:15:50.490 --> 00:15:58.210 this is not an accident. The last words of the last Old Testament Prophet, 187 00:15:58.090 --> 00:16:03.799 spoken four hundred years ago, are being spoken to him about his son. 188 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:11.960 It's not an accident. God knew what he was doing, planning that 189 00:16:12.360 --> 00:16:23.429 moment. Centuries beforehand, God was at work behind the scenes, setting up 190 00:16:23.549 --> 00:16:29.070 all these pictures, all these images, all these scriptures that then come to 191 00:16:29.190 --> 00:16:37.259 a culmination right in front of Zechariah hearing this message from the Angel Gabriel. 192 00:16:38.019 --> 00:16:44.899 Friends, this same God who is in control and all these events leading up 193 00:16:44.899 --> 00:16:48.129 to Zechariah's life. He's the same God who's in control of your life too, 194 00:16:49.490 --> 00:16:56.929 down to the tiniest detail, everything that happens to you. I should 195 00:16:56.929 --> 00:17:02.559 put this way. Perhaps nothing that happens to you is an accident. God 196 00:17:02.679 --> 00:17:07.240 is sovereign, he is at work bringing all things to pass that he is 197 00:17:07.279 --> 00:17:14.680 ordained, and that means that, though it may not make sense to us, 198 00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:18.990 we may wonder, why is this still happening to me? We can 199 00:17:18.230 --> 00:17:26.309 trust him that he knows what he's doing. That's the first truth. God 200 00:17:26.430 --> 00:17:30.140 knows what he's doing, even if it seems like he doesn't. And Secondly, 201 00:17:30.660 --> 00:17:36.420 God confronts our unbelief. Look with me at verses eighteen through twenty, 202 00:17:37.619 --> 00:17:41.099 and Zechariah said to the angel, how shall I know this, for I'm 203 00:17:41.140 --> 00:17:45.609 an old man and my wife is advanced in years. and Angel answered him. 204 00:17:45.609 --> 00:17:49.089 I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God and I was 205 00:17:49.210 --> 00:17:52.650 sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, 206 00:17:52.690 --> 00:17:57.089 you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things 207 00:17:57.170 --> 00:18:02.799 take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled 208 00:18:03.359 --> 00:18:10.640 in their time. Zechariah wants proof. He only has to look at his 209 00:18:10.799 --> 00:18:12.670 reflection, which I guess he didn't have a mirror so but he if he 210 00:18:12.750 --> 00:18:17.549 could. He only had to look at his reflection in the mirror to realize 211 00:18:17.670 --> 00:18:22.549 that he's old and his wife is old. How is this possible? This 212 00:18:22.710 --> 00:18:26.660 isn't going to work. You cannot turn back the clock. So he asked 213 00:18:26.740 --> 00:18:33.259 what would be a reasonable question. I don't think we should necessarily get down 214 00:18:33.339 --> 00:18:37.059 and hard on Zechariah for asking the question how is this going to happen? 215 00:18:37.940 --> 00:18:44.009 I don't understand. It doesn't make sense. But notice what he says next, 216 00:18:44.130 --> 00:18:49.329 in verse eighteen. He says literally, I am old. Doesn't necessarily 217 00:18:49.329 --> 00:18:52.089 say I'm an old man, but he says I am old. nors this 218 00:18:52.289 --> 00:18:57.119 he's saying. This is me, this is who I am, this is 219 00:18:57.400 --> 00:19:08.960 my defining characteristic. I am old, this is my identity. It's like 220 00:19:10.069 --> 00:19:14.829 he's saying to Gabriel. You know, Mr Angel, and God through Mr 221 00:19:14.910 --> 00:19:17.309 Angel. I don't know if you've realized. I know, maybe maybe you 222 00:19:17.390 --> 00:19:22.589 just have, maybe you just forgotten, but I'm old. Men, why? 223 00:19:22.750 --> 00:19:26.140 My wife is ancient. How is this going to happen? This is 224 00:19:26.220 --> 00:19:33.380 not going to this. You. You obviously have the wrong person. How 225 00:19:33.420 --> 00:19:37.859 does the Angel Respond? Who? He sort of just gives it right back. 226 00:19:37.940 --> 00:19:41.529 He says again, literally, I am Gabriel. It's like we you 227 00:19:41.569 --> 00:19:44.130 already told you know. Why. Why do you doay? Well, he's 228 00:19:44.170 --> 00:19:48.130 just saying back to he's just saying back to Zechariah. Was Zechariah said to 229 00:19:48.170 --> 00:19:51.450 him I am old. Well, I am Gabriel. Nor is he saying 230 00:19:51.490 --> 00:19:56.839 it doesn't matter who you are. That's beside the point. What matters is 231 00:19:56.000 --> 00:20:02.400 who I am, that I am a messenger come from God himself with good 232 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:11.829 news for you. It totally says I'm announcing the Gospel to you and it 233 00:20:11.990 --> 00:20:19.990 was too good for Zechariah to believe. It didn't make sense, it's impossible. 234 00:20:22.019 --> 00:20:26.619 But Gabriel is saying this news from God is what should define you, 235 00:20:27.819 --> 00:20:33.779 what God is going to do in you, through you, despite your weaknesses, 236 00:20:33.980 --> 00:20:40.049 despite your failures, despite who you think you are. This is what's 237 00:20:40.170 --> 00:20:45.009 really real about you. And Friends, I would ask you, how do 238 00:20:45.089 --> 00:20:53.440 you define yourself? What's your chief characteristic? Maybe it is your age, 239 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:59.240 maybe it is your athletic ability, maybe it's the glory days of the past 240 00:20:59.920 --> 00:21:02.480 that you can call it to your memory. Maybe it's your grades, maybe 241 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:06.509 maybe it's a fact that you're in a relationship or that you're married or that 242 00:21:06.589 --> 00:21:11.470 you have a child, or that you have none of those things, and 243 00:21:11.589 --> 00:21:15.549 you're anxiously wondering, what is this going to happen to me? But what 244 00:21:15.630 --> 00:21:18.819 Zechariah is learning here, and what we need to learn here as well, 245 00:21:19.859 --> 00:21:25.619 is that God is a one who defines who we are. It's not us, 246 00:21:25.660 --> 00:21:30.700 it's nothing about us. It doesn't matter whether you're weak or in papeable, 247 00:21:30.140 --> 00:21:34.849 powerless, sinful or strong for that matter. None of that matters in 248 00:21:36.089 --> 00:21:44.490 God's way of reckoning. What matters is that, as Gabriel here is announcing, 249 00:21:44.569 --> 00:21:52.680 and as Gabriel will announce later, the king has come. The Messiah 250 00:21:52.920 --> 00:21:57.440 of God's people has come to redeem us from our sin, to rescue as, 251 00:21:57.480 --> 00:22:03.269 coming into our world, coming into a time and space bit taking on 252 00:22:03.349 --> 00:22:07.309 himself our human nature and living the perfect life that we should have lived, 253 00:22:07.349 --> 00:22:11.029 dying the death that we deserve on the cross, taking the penalty and punishment 254 00:22:11.109 --> 00:22:15.670 for our sin and our shame, and then rising from the dead three days 255 00:22:15.710 --> 00:22:22.180 later to give us new life. That's our identity in Christ. If you're 256 00:22:22.220 --> 00:22:27.299 trusting in Christ tonight, that everything that Jesus has done is accomplished for you 257 00:22:29.059 --> 00:22:37.849 and for me, and we receive that by faith. God has not forgotten 258 00:22:37.930 --> 00:22:44.359 us, God has not abandoned us. Friends, God is g in Jesus, 259 00:22:44.519 --> 00:22:49.240 returning one day, so we don't need to doubt God's plan. But 260 00:22:49.400 --> 00:22:55.200 that's exactly then, what Zechariah does. It's kind of funny actually again this 261 00:22:55.400 --> 00:22:59.269 good news is so good it doesn't make sense. It doesn't line up. 262 00:22:59.349 --> 00:23:06.470 It's like it's like parents, like let's say your it's your child's birthday and 263 00:23:06.789 --> 00:23:11.589 you plan a trip to Disneyland for them, and so you go into there, 264 00:23:11.670 --> 00:23:14.900 but you do it secretly. So you go into their room in the 265 00:23:14.980 --> 00:23:18.460 morning on their birthday, flip on the lights, shake them awake and say 266 00:23:18.819 --> 00:23:22.660 get up, we're going to Disneyland today, and that you know. The 267 00:23:22.740 --> 00:23:26.099 bags are packed, the car is loaded. All we're waiting for is you. 268 00:23:29.490 --> 00:23:33.809 And the child, you know, sleepily rolls over and says, Nice 269 00:23:33.930 --> 00:23:37.130 Try, Dad, I'm going to go back to sleep. It doesn't make 270 00:23:37.210 --> 00:23:41.480 sense, it doesn't compute. What is going on here now? That can't 271 00:23:41.519 --> 00:23:45.519 be true. There is there's no way, and the child is missing out. 272 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:53.680 That's what Zechariah is doing here. God is pulling my leg. We 273 00:23:53.799 --> 00:24:00.150 don't believe it. It seems too good to be true. And here's the 274 00:24:00.230 --> 00:24:07.190 thing too, is that we we have learned through painful experience often that when 275 00:24:07.309 --> 00:24:12.700 something is too good to be true, it usually is. So it's hard 276 00:24:12.819 --> 00:24:18.420 for us to give ourselves to such good news. We think there must be 277 00:24:18.500 --> 00:24:23.569 a catch. There's no free lunch. When is you know? What do 278 00:24:23.650 --> 00:24:26.210 I have to do? How am I? How do I have to pay 279 00:24:26.289 --> 00:24:32.170 this back. But, friends, the Gospel is the real true story of 280 00:24:32.289 --> 00:24:36.849 the world. God isn't pulling our leg. But that must have been with 281 00:24:36.930 --> 00:24:41.559 Zechariah had been telling himself for years and years, because why else? Think 282 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:45.119 about this, just just think about this for a moment. Why else? 283 00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:52.759 When an archangel shows up in front of you in blinding glory, Thunder's voice 284 00:24:52.589 --> 00:24:56.869 saying, Zechariah, I have a message for you from God. You will 285 00:24:57.150 --> 00:25:06.630 have a son. How else can zechariah say? HAH, that's impossible, 286 00:25:06.670 --> 00:25:14.140 I'm old. How else could he say that to an angel unless that had 287 00:25:14.180 --> 00:25:18.619 been what he had been telling himself again and again and again and again. 288 00:25:19.940 --> 00:25:25.529 It just comes back right back. It's what he was used to, it's 289 00:25:25.529 --> 00:25:32.329 what he's been telling himself. Because in the Old Testament, whenever someone, 290 00:25:32.490 --> 00:25:34.450 whenever someone encounters an angel, what do they do? They fall on their 291 00:25:34.490 --> 00:25:44.119 face in fear. WHAT DOES ZECHARIAH DO? I'm old. It's a stark 292 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:52.390 contrast. His heart had given itself over to the lie that because he was 293 00:25:52.509 --> 00:26:00.509 old, he was useless and had no more part in God's plan. That 294 00:26:02.670 --> 00:26:06.980 is something that we can do to playing these messages over and over in our 295 00:26:07.059 --> 00:26:11.700 minds. What messages you play over in your minds. My tendency is to 296 00:26:11.740 --> 00:26:18.220 replay my shame, my failures, my weakest moments, believing that they are 297 00:26:18.420 --> 00:26:22.049 what defined me, and we think to ourselves, with the cospel, can't 298 00:26:22.089 --> 00:26:29.369 really overcome that, can it? Well, the answer to that is found 299 00:26:29.410 --> 00:26:33.599 in our third point, which is will be brief. Our individual stories have 300 00:26:33.799 --> 00:26:40.240 a place within God's bigger story. Their individual stories have a place within God's 301 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:44.240 bigger story. Look with me at verse fifty nine. And on the eighth 302 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:48.029 day they came to circumcise the child and they would have called him Zechariah, 303 00:26:48.190 --> 00:26:52.670 after his father, but his mother answered no, he shall be called John. 304 00:26:53.549 --> 00:26:56.509 And they said to her, none of your relatives is called by that 305 00:26:56.670 --> 00:27:00.069 name. And they made signs to his father inquiring what he wanted him to 306 00:27:00.109 --> 00:27:04.220 be called, and he asked for a writing tablet and wrote his name is 307 00:27:04.299 --> 00:27:11.500 John, and they all wondered. For nine months. Secarai had pondered and 308 00:27:12.259 --> 00:27:18.529 thought in silent months, playing over and over that conversation he had had with 309 00:27:18.730 --> 00:27:25.450 Gabriel in the temple, thinking about it, seeing his wife grow pregnant and 310 00:27:25.609 --> 00:27:32.039 larger and larger and, as a result, when his friends and neighbors come 311 00:27:32.240 --> 00:27:37.200 and ask him if his wife's crazy about calling this boy John. He immediately 312 00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:41.160 responds, asked for the writing table and says his name is John, and 313 00:27:41.240 --> 00:27:45.390 it's emphatic in the Greek. John is his name. Snow, if Hans 314 00:27:45.430 --> 00:27:51.349 Are Butts here, no question marks at the end? Maybe no, his 315 00:27:51.509 --> 00:27:56.630 name is John. He submits himself, his faith, his future, his 316 00:27:56.910 --> 00:28:03.500 child to God and he's finding his his worth, his value, his identity 317 00:28:03.619 --> 00:28:10.900 in the fact that this is true. It seemed impossible, seemed unlikely, 318 00:28:11.019 --> 00:28:19.009 but this is who I now am. By stating giving a name for his 319 00:28:19.170 --> 00:28:23.089 child, what he's really doing is taking on a name for himself and saying 320 00:28:23.130 --> 00:28:33.440 I am trust in God by calling this son John, and the result is 321 00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:38.559 that his tongue is loosed and he erps and praise. This is what true 322 00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:45.150 faith is all about. It's recognizing that all I am, all I have, 323 00:28:45.509 --> 00:28:48.710 is shame and doubt and sin. Nothing in me can commend myself to 324 00:28:48.829 --> 00:28:53.509 God. It's recognizing that I am far more, I am far worse than 325 00:28:53.549 --> 00:28:59.900 I ever dared imagine, but knowing that in Christ, because of him and 326 00:29:00.099 --> 00:29:03.299 his perfect record for me, counted is mine, that I am far more 327 00:29:03.500 --> 00:29:11.849 loved and accepted by God than I ever dared hope. That's the reality that 328 00:29:11.930 --> 00:29:17.410 Zechariah was sinking his teeth into and that's the reality that we have to go 329 00:29:17.569 --> 00:29:22.049 out into this world with knowing who we are before God, because when we 330 00:29:22.089 --> 00:29:29.240 do that, the result is a life of praise before others, which is 331 00:29:29.319 --> 00:29:37.160 what Zechariah is doing here, praising God before his neighbors, before his friends, 332 00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:40.109 saying this is what God has done from me, this is who I 333 00:29:40.230 --> 00:29:45.869 am now, and we find Zechara's outburst of praise and verses sixty seven through 334 00:29:45.950 --> 00:29:48.470 seventy nine. I just want you to sit back and listen to this, 335 00:29:48.710 --> 00:29:53.019 Moll and, with this reading, because this is how he weaves his life, 336 00:29:53.539 --> 00:30:00.779 his story, into God's Big Story of redemption. He finds meaning and 337 00:30:00.940 --> 00:30:07.089 value for himself in that. He, and every one of us it has 338 00:30:07.130 --> 00:30:15.329 a place in what God is doing, working out his redemptive purposes. This 339 00:30:15.569 --> 00:30:18.009 is what Zechariah says, and his father, Zachariah, was filled with the 340 00:30:18.049 --> 00:30:22.319 Holy Spirit and prophets. I'd saying blessed be the Lord God of Israel, 341 00:30:23.240 --> 00:30:27.400 for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a Horn of 342 00:30:27.480 --> 00:30:33.480 salvation for us in the House of his servant, David, as he spoke 343 00:30:33.640 --> 00:30:37.509 by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be 344 00:30:37.549 --> 00:30:41.670 saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to 345 00:30:41.869 --> 00:30:45.990 show the mercy promise to our fathers and to remember his Holy Covenant, the 346 00:30:45.150 --> 00:30:49.019 oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, 347 00:30:49.900 --> 00:30:53.900 being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, 348 00:30:55.140 --> 00:31:00.220 in holiness and righteousness, before him all our days. Then he turns to 349 00:31:00.259 --> 00:31:03.930 John and says this. And you, child will be called the Prophet of 350 00:31:04.009 --> 00:31:08.690 the most high, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 351 00:31:10.170 --> 00:31:14.490 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, 352 00:31:14.930 --> 00:31:18.279 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit 353 00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:22.759 us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in 354 00:31:22.839 --> 00:31:27.039 the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. 355 00:31:29.720 --> 00:31:30.799 Amen, let's pray