Episode Transcript
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Let's turn our attention now to Luke
chapter one of verses sixty seven through eighty.
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In the morning we've been considering for
a while the gospel of John,
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and this John the Baptist in particular, and his role in preparing the way
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for the coming Messiah. Now we
consider the birth of John the Baptist and
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the way it also prepared for the
birth of the Lord Jesus. I'm here
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with a prophecy from Zechara, John's
father, Zachariah, so Luke Chapter One
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and verses sixty seven through eighty,
and his father, Zechar I, was
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filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied
saying blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
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for he has visited and redeemed his
people and has raised up a Horn
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of salvation for us in the House
of his servant David, as he spoke
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by the mouth of his holy prophets
from old, that we should be saved
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from our enemies and from the hand
of all who hate us, to show
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the mercy promise to our father's and
to remember his holy covenant, the oath
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that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we being delivered
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from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear, in holiness
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and righteousness, before him all our
days. And you, child will be
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called the Prophet of the most high, for you will go before the Lord
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to prepare his ways, to give
knowledge of salvation to his people and the
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forgiveness of their sins, because of
the tender mercy of our God, whereby
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the sunrise shall visit us from on
high to give a light to those who
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sit in darkness and in the shadow
of death, to guide our feet into
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the way of peace. And the
child grew and became strong in the spirit,
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and he was in the Wilderness until
the day of his public appearance to
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Israel. A man he may be
seated. So, after the sermon,
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I'm going to ask you to join
together in singing the song of Zechariah,
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which is two hundred and ninety four
in your hymnals. You can turn there
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an hour later, it's doesn't matter, but we're going to give an opportunity
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to sing this, this marvelous prophecy
that the Lord, the Lord's spirit,
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gives to Zechariah. As we consider
Zacharia's prophecy and his son, the Prophet
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John, John, the baptist.
One of the things we notice is how
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remarkable this is, in many ways
paralleling Jesus's own birth. As with John's
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Gospel, the story of Jesus begins
with the story of John in Luke as
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well, and in particular with John's
parents, Zecharia and Elizabeth, before we
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consider his prophecy, in particular these
wonderful words that are here. I do
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want to share with you some of
the back story for Zechara and Elizabeth that
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we find in Luke chapter one.
It helps us to understand it's understand what
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Zecharai is saying and and and think
about some important applications of it as well.
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One a way, you can think
about Zecharai and Elizabeth, John the
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Baptist's parents are kind of like the
Abraham and Sarah of the New Testament.
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That's because, like Sarah, Elizabeth
was old and barren. Zechariah was old
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as well, both of them without
a children. Moreover, because of their
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age, the hope of having children
was a long past, but even still
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they had, it seems, if
I'm not reading too much in between the
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lines, what we today called baby
fever, because Zechariah is praying for a
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child even as his old age.
He's desiring that God would provide for them
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a child. Well, in the
midst of these prayers, I'm Zecharai continues
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to do his duty, and one
of the what we realize, or what
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we are told in Luke Chapter One, is that Zacharai is a priest,
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and that means that it was his
job to serve the Lord God in the
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temple. The priests, you may
remember, had regular duties each priestly,
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each priest was put into one of
twenty four divisions and then throughout the year
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you'd have sort of two weeks on
call at the temple. You might think
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about it that way. Luke one
five tells us that among the different divisions,
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he was of priest belonging to the
division of Abijah. This was the
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eighth of the twenty four divisions,
according to first chronicles ten. Now this
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detail about Zakaria belonging to this particular
division I don't think is immensely important,
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but it does remind us right away
of the detail and the accuracy of Luke's
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reporting of the Gospel about Jesus.
It also reminds us of this duty that
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Zachari had and, as versus eight
and nine, tell us at the beginning
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of this at the beginning of chapter
one here, one of the things that
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happened is that, year by year, there was a lot that was cast
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and one of the priests that were
on duty for that two weeks would be
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given the special honor of offering incense
and a sacrifice as well in the temple.
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Now, a lot is sort of
like casting a die. It's,
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by our perspective, a chance.
You don't know what's going to happen,
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and this would sometimes and you would
never be chosen. You'd go your whole
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life as a priest, every year
serving but never getting to be the one
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chosen to go in. If to
happen to fall on you twice, from
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what I understand the you would only
be given this honor one time and it
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would be passed on to another.
So this was an important and a special
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thing. I'm in Zechariah was chosen, but, as we see throughout the
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gospels and in our lives as well, the things that seem by chance to
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us or of course never by chance. Sometimes people say, wow, that
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was a god thing, but it's
important to remember that it's all a god
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thing. There's not a single thing
that happens in this life that isn't isn't
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under God's sovereign control. Well,
this is what happens. God sovereignly brings
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the lot down on Zechariah, and
this all is preparing us for this amazing
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event. Because what happens is Zechara
goes into the temple and something very unexpected
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happens there. What he expects is
to go in, offer the incense,
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the sacrifice and then come out to
the people who are waiting and then he
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he will bless them. But instead
what he got. Happens is he goes
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in and he sees the Angel Gabriel. Now, if you go into a
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modern Christian book store today, you
might thinking think that seeing angels is of
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commonplace and maybe even cute, but
verse twelve tells us that neither of these
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things were true. Zecharia goes in, he sees Gabriel standing there and he
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doesn't say Oh, adorable, look
at its little bottom. He says he
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is afraid, he's terrified. Trouble
falls upon him and Gabriel in fact has
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to tell him do not fear the
angel. We find out as they are
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not to terrorize him as one of
these majestic, powerful glorious creatures of Jaw
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of God. Very mate. Well, might a know? Instead, this
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is what he says in verses thirteen
through seventeen. Do not be afraid,
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Zachar I am, for your prayer
has been heard and your wife Elizabeth,
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will bear you a son and you
shall call his name John, and you
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will have joy and gladness and many
will rejoice at his birth, for he
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will be great before the Lord.
He must not drink wine or strong drink,
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and he will be filled with the
Holy Spirit, even from his mother's
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womb, and he will turn many
of the children of Israel to the Lord,
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their God, and he will go
before him, in the spirit and
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power of Elijah, to turn the
hearts of the fathers to the children and
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the disobedient to the wisdom of the
just, to make ready for the Lord
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a people prepared. So Zacharia gets
his prayer answered. But this is no
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ordinary son. God doesn't just give
him a son, he gives him this
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one that had been promised and Alikai, this one who had been anticipated,
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this one who would come in the
spirit and the power of Elijah, who
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would prepare the way of the Lord. Joy, gladness, rejoicing and on
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the path on the part of many
people. Are the things that this angel
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says, the Messenger of the Lord
speaks to the Lord's servants. Now,
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you and I, who think too
much of ourselves, I think, would
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probably assume that if we heard this
news because God had answered our prayer request,
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would be praising God. We,
of course, would be more than
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happy about this and would rejoice and
all the rest. But I think more
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than likely we'd do what most children, even the older children like Zechariah of
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God, do, and that's and
that's argue. Children argue right even over
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blessings we've been praying for. We're
ridiculous, I will say so. Here's
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Zechariah praying for years for a son, here's an angel from God saying to
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him, here's a son, joy
and gladness under you. You will be
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this amazing figure, and all the
rest. And what is Zecharas Aria's response?
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How can this be? I am
an old man and my wife is
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advanced in years. Now, Zechariah, on the scriptures say, was righteous,
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he was a good man, he
was a servant of the Lord.
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A reminder to us that even the
greatest among us, a still have doubts,
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still struggle with faith, and this
is what happens. He says this,
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how will I know this? And
the angel answers him and says,
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I am Gabriel, I stand in
the presence of God and I was sent
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to speak to you and to bring
you this good news. And behold,
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you will be silent and unable to
speak until the day that these things take
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place because you did not believe my
words, which will be fulfilled in their
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time. So we like to think, even in our everyday lives that when
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we ask things of God, that
when he answers them, we will be
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immensely happy and will praise God.
Maybe not, maybe we think a little
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too highly of ourselves. Zechari struggled
with it at least. Nevertheless, to
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prove the power of God and discipline
his servant a little bit, God shuts
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the Zechara, such secharaa, as
mouth until the day when these promises are
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fulfilled. Now I want you to
imagine this. Now, at this point,
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from Zacharai's perspective, he's got this
kind of embarrassing problem. Right,
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here's this man of God who was
sent to go in finally, right the
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lot was cast on him. He
is this great honor of going and offering
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the sacrifice, and now he's mute. He's supposed to come out and pronounce
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a blessing on the people, he's
supposed to say something. They're all expect
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they're waiting there for him, the
scriptures say. But now he's unable to
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speak, and he's unable to speak
because of his unfaithfulness while he was doing
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his work as a priest. He
can't tell them about the angel, he
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can't tell them about this promise or
anything. All he can do is go
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out and I guess at well it
says, he says, he makes gestures.
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As far as I know, no
developed American sign language or other assign
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languages. At this point, let
me ask you to imagine exactly how you
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would describe meeting an angel that's promised
to give you a son, who comes
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in the power of Elijah to your
wife, who is well known as Baron.
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Exactly what gestures would you use to
describe to the people your situation?
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Like I said, perhaps a little
bit embarrassing, hard to explain, but
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it all begins to fall out exactly
as God has said, and Elizabeth becomes
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pregnant, giving yet more proof to
these promises, these things that God has
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doing. And when it comes time
to give birth, the give birth this
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son, there is some discussion about
what his name will be. They try
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to name him Zechariah, after his
father, and exactly though, rights on
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a thing. His name will be
John. Call Him John, and at
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that moment God opens his mouth,
loosens his tongue, and that's what we
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have recorded in verses sixty seventh through
eighty. Now, before we get to
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that, take just a moment to
think. Do you not see God's amazing
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hand and all of this, and
all of this, my friends, is
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just a warm up to the story
about Jesus's birth, the most important story,
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but we can't skip over it.
John is important. The scriptures say
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so. He's given by God to
the world to prepare the way for our
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savior. In the birth of John
There is joy and rejoicing. It's a
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good reminder that part of the joy
of things that the God gives to us
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is the anticipation of them, the
preparation of them, so that we are
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then ready to receive. Kind of
like I was saying before about the prayers
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that we ask of the Lord,
that we make to the Lord we often
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think that we're all ready to go, that I want this thing, it's
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a good thing and of course I'm
ready to receive it. So I'm just
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waiting on the Lord, you know, in his timing, which could be
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now, but zen for whatever reason, right and we are impatient and we
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think that we should have things and
are capable of having things right now.
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But of course it's not always true. Some times the Lord desires to go
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things and will give those things to
us, but he wants to give them
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to us not sometimes but all the
time, on his time, on his
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schedule, and sometimes that means there's
preparation for them. I heard a sociologist
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on the radio yesterday talking about the
different ways of the French and Americans eat
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their food. He said Americans tend
to think about food in terms of an
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event that happens in your blood stream, thinking about calories and carbohydrates and these
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kinds of health things. The French
tend to think about food, he says,
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as an event that happens in your
mouth. Makes meals more social.
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There's an experience that's happening and focused
on there, and so it's a strong
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enough I guess that this even in
fast food restaurants. The French will spend
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more time than than we do eating
their meals. There, of course is
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Americans will think and ask, but
are they healthier? We can't get away
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from that, but it's really beside
the point. The point is that sometimes
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it's it's not about getting to the
point. It's not about rushing there and
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just getting the thing that we think
we want or getting right there right away.
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Sometimes the anticipation and the preparation is
part of the point itself, and
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we have liked to think that we're
always ready to have whatever we want,
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but that's not always true. Even
Zechariah and His Holiness, in his experience
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and is walking with the Lord in
his old age and after all his prayers,
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wasn't yet ready to receive the marvelous
news about this gift of his son,
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to receive it with faith. Sometimes
we need preparation and God works in
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our hearts. He makes us weight, but in doing so he prepares us
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to receive the thing so that when
we're ready, we burst forth with joy
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and praise at the things God has
done. So instead of arguing, instead
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of being disappointed, instead of not
appreciating them, we wonder at the wonders
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he makes happen, and this is
of course, true not only of our
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own lives or Zachariah is life,
but this is what God has been doing
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for centuries before the Messiah was born, preparing the law, preparing of the
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way for the Lord, and that's
what Zacharai is prophecy is largely about.
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And when the time came, Zacharai
was ready and when he spoke, he
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burst forth in the praise of God. I think this is a remarkable thing.
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If you were silent for nine ten
months, so I imagine there's a
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lot of things that you could potentially
say. Right if you think about the
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various options that Zachariah had. He
could say hello to his wife, he
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could cool over his baby, he
could give a more detailed explanation to his
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neighbors and friends of what had happened. What does he do instead? His
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heart was fixed on the whole thing
that the Holy Spirit had given him to
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say. The Holy Spirit had turned
this Priest into a prophet to praise and
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glorify God and speak about the nature
of this son who was coming. And
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his message is it bursts forth out
of his mouth, his heart full of
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faith and the Holy Spirit was a
very simple one. God is good and
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Glorious and to be praised because through
this child away would be prepared for the
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greatest gift of all, the salvation
of the world through Jesus. One way
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you might think about Zachariah's work and
his son John, the baptists work as
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a prophet as well, or kind
of like the last two cranks in the
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Jack in a box. Before all
of this joy just springs forth, and
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that's kind of what happens here with
Zachariah. He says in this prophecy that
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everything, everything in the history of
the world has been building, building,
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building to this moment now. This
may be hard to understand if you're a
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gentile who just walked into the family
of God thirty minutes ago. Some of
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us this is very true, and
others of us, historically speaking, we're
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all kind of in this boat.
But Zacharia explains this, he helps us
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to understand. So if you would, and this last part of my sermon,
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I'd like you to just sort of
sit with me for a moment and
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listen to the way that Zachara explains
our family history. Who explains what it
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means to belong to God and this
end, to have this good news.
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What Zacharias says and the power of
the Holy Spirit is for that, thousands
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of years, God had been preparing
a way. He says, blessed be
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the Lord God of Israel, for
he has visited and redeemed his people.
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He has raised up a Horn of
salvation for us in the House of his
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servant, David. This speaks of
a prophecy that God, or a promise
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rather that God, had made to
David that through him he would establish his
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kingdom forever, what we sometimes called
the DIVIDIC covenant. But this promise was
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rested on promises even before that is
Zacharai goes on to say, as he
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spoke by the mouth of his holy
prophets from of old, that we should
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be saved from our enemies and from
the hand of all who hated us or
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who hate us, to show the
mercy promise to our fathers and to remember
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his Holy Covenant, the oath that
he swore to our father Abraham, to
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grant us that we, being delivered
from the hand of our enemies, might
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serve him without fear, in holiness
and righteousness before him all our days.
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One of the reasons we are called
Covenant Orthodox Presbyterian Church is to remind ourselves
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that God has established us in the
Covenant Promises of His grace. This is
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the way that Zachariah frames the good
news about his son, the good news
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about the coming of this of the
Messiah, that God had made these covenants
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of old to Abraham, to David
in particular, he singles out. And
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now and now he's fulfilling them.
This redemption, this salvation, this rescue
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from enemies, this life of peace
and holiness and righteousness, it was all
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coming together, it was all about
to happen. There's this just intense joy
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that sechariah has. And wouldn't you, after thousands of years of promises,
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that your son is going to be
this promised one to come and, as
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he describes him in Zachar in verse
seventy six, speaking to his baby boy,
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and you, child, will be
called the profit of the most high,
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for you will go before the Lord
to prepare his ways. If Jesus
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is the door, you might think
of John is the key, because in
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verse seventy seven he will give knowledge
of salvation to his people in the forgiveness
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of sins, of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God.
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And then these beautiful words whereby the
sunrise shall visit us from on high
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to give light to those who sit
in darkness and in the shadow of death,
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to guide our feet into the way
of peace. It would be of
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great benefit of you to memorize Zecharias
prophecy, to go over and over in
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your mind these words Horn of salvation, forgiveness of sins, visited and redeemed
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promises to Abraham swore to our father's
grant us tender mercy, sunrise, knowledge
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of salvation. It's beautiful and it's
our hope this message, that his son
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would preach this message, that he
himself is preaching this message, that John
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The evangelist would testify to that luke
the historian is preaching. The message I
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give to you now is our message, it is our Gospel, because it
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is the Gospel, the good news
that God has given to us that to
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all who sit in darkness and the
shadow of death, there's light in Christ.
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What struggles do you face in your
life? No doubt there are many,
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some known publicly, some unknown,
unanswered prayers, physical maladies, the
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discipline of the Lord, Alienation of
friends and family, things that you don't
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understand, things that you want that
you can't have, may bee deeper miseries,
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ongoing sin, fear of death,
slavery to Sin, the war of
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the evil one against your soul.
Whatever your darknesses are, let the word
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of the prophets be light to you, of John, the bap us,
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the prophet, of his father Zachariah, of all those of old, the
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entire scripture, Gabriel and every preacher
who's ever testified to you the good news
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about Jesus Christ. Hold fast to
the words of God. Let them be
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light to you in the darkness.
Do not hold your heart away from God
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or your tongue from confessing his name
and singing his praise, but instead hear
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the promises of God with faith.
Take these things that have been given to
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you, like they were given to
Zechariah, and like they have been given
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to God's children over and over again. Treasure them in your heart and let
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them burst forth with praise. Let
each of us and this church be a
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place where God's praise bursts forth whenever
we hear the good news about Jesus,
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because the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.
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Our Lord, our Savior. He's
promised for a long time. He's
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good and he has come. In
him you can find light and life,
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the forgiveness of your sins and the
tenders, tender mercies of God. Let
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us pray
