All righty. If you got your Bibles, we're going to get to Zechariah's song.
The things that have been foretold here in Luke chapter 1 are coming to pass.
And we're going to just jump right in here.
After Mary goes and hangs out with Elizabeth for a little while,
Elizabeth's getting close to delivering her child.
And we looked at Mary's song last time.
And then it says in verse 56 that Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her house.
Miraculous things happening in this time with the miraculous conception of Elizabeth.
and then obviously the immaculate conception of the Lord Jesus in the womb of Mary.
And so verse 57 says, now Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered and she brought
forth a son. When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her,
they rejoiced with her. And so it was. On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child
and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zecharias.
His mother answered and said, no, he shall be called John.
But they said to her, there is no one among your relatives who was called by this name.
And so they made signs to his father what he would have him called.
And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote saying his name is John.
And so they all marveled immediately with his mouth.
when his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed and he spoke, praising God, and then fear came on
all who dwelt around them. And all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of
Judea. And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts saying, what kind of child will this be?
And the hand of the Lord was with him. Let's pray. Lord, thank you. Thank you for your word.
Thank you for your promises, Lord, and that,
When you say something, Lord, you bring it to pass.
You speak of those things as your word says as though they are before they ever happen.
And just the reality of it all, that just is that title of Gordon's books,
it is no accident.
Lord, you hold our lives and our bodies, our very breath and every beat of our heart in your
hands, Lord.
And Lord, we just want to thank you and praise you and worship you.
along with Zacharias, Lord, as you were doing an incredible work in he and Elizabeth's life,
Lord, we know that you desire to do work in all of our lives. So may we find ourselves as in a place
of humility this morning. Lord, as we look at your hand moving in these people's lives,
Lord, and know that we're no different. We're all people of like passion. Lord, we've all been
tempted the same ways. And yet you always provide a way of escape. You are our way of escape.
So may we look at that today.
And may you meet us in this place in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, I wanted to also thank all of you who helped on the work day yesterday.
We had a pile of debris that was humongous, actually.
And we got it all picked up.
And that was pretty incredible.
So thank you for being willing to weather the storm inside the darkness of our new building.
It is so dark in there.
And yet the dust was rolling and people were taking it all in.
So thank you.
And if you die early, you can blame that.
So with black lung or something, I don't know.
But this passage is powerful in that as we just read there,
verses 57 through 56.
And it's fulfilling.
the things that the angel had told Zecharias.
And we kind of take it for granted because we just read to it and say, oh, yeah,
that was already foretold and everything.
But you think about telling the future before it happens.
That's a pretty powerful thing, right?
I mean, who wouldn't go get a, you know, what do they call them?
Yeah, what do they call the ball?
Powerball.
Who wouldn't do a power ball?
I mean, if you know what's going to happen tomorrow,
what the numbers are for the powerball.
all, right? That would be very lucrative. But this angel tells Zechariz these things, right? And so he says her full time had
came and to be delivered to this baby. And it's just miraculous. This old woman is going into labor.
And, you know, obviously you would probably fear for her life. Can her heart take it? I mean, labor's
pretty intense. Can women say amen? Right? It's pretty intense. I've only watched. Right. But it's, it was a powerful thing. And it says when her
neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her.
Well, that's exactly what the angel had told Zacharias would happen. It says, and many will rejoice
it is birth. Verse 14. People are going, seriously, this old woman is going.
have a baby. Yeah. And, and not just any baby, right? And so when they bring him for the
circumcision, it's interesting that they would circumcise on the eighth day. That was the command, right?
That the Lord had given Abraham. And they say that the eighth day is when the vitamin K
factor in the blood is at its highest on the eighth day. And, and they say that the eighth day is when,
And obviously you're making a little boy bleed. And do you think that's circumstantial?
No, that's God's divine plan. And so they would circumcise the babies on the eighth day when that clotting
factor where they wouldn't bleed that bad. And then, and then obviously the name comes.
Well, they're going to name him Zechari's because of his father. And Elizabeth says, no, we're not.
not going to name him that. We're going to name him John. Why? Because that's what the angel said.
Right? The angel foretold the baby's sex and the baby's name. Way before ultrasounds.
And so this is this is a pretty powerful thing. Right. And so it's interesting that John is the, you know, the Hebrew word.
of, I can't pronounce it because they don't have the J sound.
But it would probably be the equivalent to Johnathan, which was the root of John,
which means Yahweh is gracious.
Yahweh is gracious.
So this little baby, his name would mean that Yahweh is gracious.
And we know that John was a preaching machine.
Right?
And so they asked Zachari.
Well, he's still, he's still mute. He hasn't spoken all this time. Throughout all this
pregnancy, obviously, he had some, um, some way of communicating with Elizabeth that the baby's
name would be John and they called him and asked him what his name. He says, bring me a tablet.
And he writes down, he shall be called John. And immediately, his mouth was opened.
And so he confirms with that little note that he writes.
And notice his first words, what does he do?
Well, it's about time that I could talk, right?
No, he wasn't embittered at all.
What does he do?
He praises God, right?
It was fitting that Zacharias first words were praised to God.
His chastisement for disobedience had not made him bitter.
instead, it made him want to trust God all the more at every opportunity. God did what he said he was going to do with this baby
and with his wife getting pregnant. And no doubt, he was probably shaking his head for nine months going,
wow. God really is big. God can do anything. There's nothing. There's nothing too powerful, too
awesome that the Lord can't do. And this,
This baby of Elizabeth and Zacharias was the talk of the town, right? No doubt.
Hearing that she went into labor, wondering, no doubt if she survived, giving birth.
And the story that an old woman has born a son. And no doubt they had a lot to rejoice about.
And you're thinking, what does all this stuff mean? Well, it's pointing to something. All the activity that we see
going on in Luke chapter one is pointing to something. All the stuff that we see going on today,
folks, is pointing to something. Jesus said, when you see these things happen, lift up your head for your
redemption draws near. Right? The stuff going on in Syria and Lord knows what's going on right now with the
You know, we know that Trump's on the move with the relations with Israel, no doubt,
and they just struck in Yemen, the U.S. was involved in that.
This stuff is just getting crazy.
What does it all mean?
It all means that Jesus is coming soon and very soon.
And so too here, all this stuff happening, right?
This crazy idea that the old would bear a son.
And it goes on there.
and it says that all these people kept these things in their heart.
Verse 66.
All these sayings were discussed through all the hill country of Judea
and all those who heard them kept them in their heart saying,
what kind of child will this be?
What's going to happen?
Could you imagine?
Living in the same community as John the Baptist,
For the next 30 years, you're watching this kid's every move.
Right?
What's he up to?
Right?
Well, he liked the outdoors.
Right?
John was an outdoorsman.
Usually had a grasshop of her leg hanging out his mouth, stuck in his beard.
Right?
And honey.
And he was attractive.
Here he was this voice of one crying in the wilderness that that Isaiah tells us.
us about. But people were watching. Even here, they were watching. And maybe we should be watching
in these days that we live in. And when John starts to talk, the people listen. And you remember when the
people, the religious people heard about John. And no doubt they knew that John's. And they knew that John's
lineage, he was of the tribe of Levi, that he should have a good understanding of the law and, and, and, uh,
the religion of the day. And they would, they went out and asked him. They asked him if he was the
Messiah. And he said no. And, and the common people would ask him, what do we need to do? What do we need to do to be
right with God? And he starts to give him some instruction, right? Don't be greedy. You people, you
people, don't usurp it over people.
Don't use it as a battering ram for people in your jurisdiction.
Be humble. Be kind.
Because his message started with the word repentance.
Repent. Repent. Repent. Repent. Turn from the way you're living.
Make straight the way of the Lord. It tells us.
And so the angel had told Zachariah, he'll be great.
God proved the greatness of John the Baptist by putting him in the wilderness.
Right?
It wasn't with great accolades and great pomp that we see with other kings and other people
who were in a place of leadership.
But God raised him up.
And that's what the Bible says, that God raises up.
Those who he wants, he wants to be raised up, and God will take those down who do not humble themselves.
And so it's just, it's just in line and in flow with the will of God.
He will make him great is what the angel told Zachariah back in verse 14.
This guy's going to be great because his message was so powerful.
And he was turning people's hearts to the Lord.
And so that was just ruminating in the heart.
of the people as they see this, this, this birth and this, and this circumcision and the, the things
that were happening and people were in awe of it.
Only is a precursor to something much more awesome.
So these next verses here, verses 67 through 75 are called the Benedictus, or the song of
or the prophecy of Zechariah. And it says now in verse 66, now his father, Zecharias was filled with the Holy Spirit
and prophesied saying, blessed is the Lord God of Israel. He who was visited and redeemed his people
and was raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David as he spoke by the
mouth of his holy prophets who have been since the world began. And we should be saved, that we should be
saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us to perform the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his Holy Covenant, the oath which he swore to our Father Abraham,
to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear
in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. And so Zacharias is filled here with the
Holy Spirit, and he begins to proclaim the gospel.
And, you know, the Bible says, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring us good news.
This is no doubt good news for the people of Israel.
Some believe that it's this 400 years of silence of the prophetic word that all of a sudden,
here it comes back to life as Zechariah proclaims the good news.
He proclaims the gospel.
And so he's filled with the Holy Spirit.
Now, there's something very telling about somebody who is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Are you filled with the Holy Spirit?
Some people say, well, yes, I am filled with the Holy Spirit.
And some people go, well, I don't know.
And some people think, the Holy Spirit scares me.
And being filled with the Spirit is,
a very important thing for the Christian life. Right? Now, I'm not going to go into great detail on how that
happens, but for me, that the end well, the infilling or the upon of the Holy Spirit didn't come
until after I was saved. Right? The spirit was with me, leading and guiding me into truth. I understood the
gospel. I understood that Jesus died on the cross for me and that I was saved through his sacrifice on
Calvary's cross, and I believe that he rose again from the dead. Right, the Bible says those who believe
that were saved. I was saved. But I wasn't in, I wasn't filled with the Holy Spirit. Because those who are
filled with the Holy Spirit will tell you a story right off the bat. They glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.
When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. That's exactly what Zachariah is
doing here. These prophecies that he speaks right.
right here are all of Jesus. Right? All these things that Zachariah speaks right here are all of Jesus.
And just as Jesus came to glorify the Father, right? Jesus came to glorify the Father.
Everything he says, I only do what the Father tells me to do. I glorify the Father.
Then Christ suffers, dies, is buried, rose again, and tells the people, you're going to do. You're going.
going to be endued with power from on high, and you will be my witnesses. Right? You're going to testify of me.
And so that is the telltale sign of somebody who is filled with the Holy Spirit. Are you filled with the Holy Spirit?
Because what happened in my life was, is I received a boldness to speak about Jesus that I had never had before.
And I was in prison when it happened.
Pastor Scott, you were a prisoner?
No, I went in on my own.
I should have been one of the prisoners.
I just never got caught.
I was involved with a thing that Choke Colson had put together years ago called
a prison invasion.
So we went in.
And I remember the first time I shared my testimony.
I was scared to death.
And that night before I shared a brother,
ladies' hands on me and prayed for me and said, receive your gift. I didn't know what that means,
or I didn't know what that meant. At the time, I didn't, you know. But the next day,
when I shared my testimony, I had a boldness to talk about Jesus that I'd never had before.
Right? That's what the Holy Spirit. That's why Jesus, he says, you're going to, I'm going to give you my
spirit. And he's going to lead you into all truth. And he's going to lead you into all truth. And he's, and he's,
He is going to give you power.
You're going to be endued with power from on high.
To do what?
To resist sin.
Right?
To not be afraid of death.
The Holy Spirit gives you that power
and dews you with that power.
And he gives you a boldness to talk about Jesus.
We was talking.
We watched a couple games of the NCAA football tournament.
First time, right?
12-team deal.
and my grandson had mentioned that he liked the coach for Boise State.
I said, yeah, that dude's bold. He talks about Jesus all the time. Yes, he does. Right?
There's a power there. There's a boldness to speak the name of Jesus. That's the Holy Spirit.
We just read it this last week, Pastor Steve taught on Wednesday night, right, that no one can say,
listen, no one can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit, right? No one can do that. And that's a very, very powerful
thought. But as this old man is filled with the Holy Spirit, he begins to proclaim all the things
that Jesus is, right? Blessed be the Lord. He begins to proclaim all the things that Jesus is, right?
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people.
The Redeemer is coming.
Zacharyon knows it.
He knows his son that is the forerunner.
God has revealed this to him.
And he's bringing praise to God for this redemption.
Have you praised God that he's redeemed you lately?
Why would he do that?
I mean, honestly, when you look at the mirror and you think, oh,
Why would you do that?
Why would you redeem me? Right?
Redemption means to buy back something that was lost.
And he's done that for you and me.
He's done that for the nation Israel.
We're seeing it all play out right now, right before our eyes.
God has done this redemptive work in that little tiny strip of land there on the east side of the Mediterranean.
Absolutely incredible to watch.
Even last night, as these missiles were coming in and they were just exploding in mid-air.
Some people get hurt occasionally.
But in the contrast to what Israel has done to its enemies, there is no comparison.
None. Zilch. God's powerful.
Now, it's interesting. I don't know why I've got this scripture here, but I'm going.
want to read it to you because it's powerful. And it talks about the power of the son of God, the Lord
Jesus. In Hebrews 1 through 4, it says, God, who at various times and in various ways, spoke in time
passed to the fathers by the prophets, because it talks to me, he talks about the prophets here,
that they've always been from the beginning of time. People have been pointing to the prophets
have been by the power of the Holy Spirit, pointing to this one that would come in Bethlehem.
Far back as you can go. You want to go to Genesis? It's right there. I mean, you can even go back to
Genesis 1-1 in the beginning God. And there he is. Right? And it says, spoke to us through the prophets.
Has in these last days spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things.
through whom also he made the worlds, who being in the brightness of his glory and the express
image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better
than the angels as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
There is no comparison.
to our redeemer. He's the only one. He was the only one qualified to redeem us. And here,
Zacharias is bringing attention to him and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house
of his servant David, a horn. Horn. What do you guys think of when you think of a horn?
Do do-do-do-do-do-do! Now, I don't think that way just because of my western roots.
right?
I remember praying the prayer.
I've been praying the verse when I was in my 20s.
Maybe before I was even saved.
There's a verse in Psalm chapter 22 that says,
and saved me from the horns of the wild oxen.
Right?
Because I was a bull rider.
And there was a big difference in drawn a mulee.
A mule is one without horns.
and drawn one with horns.
When you drew a bull with horns and big horns,
the intensity level went up like, you know, five or ten points.
Because you mess with the bull, you get the horn.
Horn here is a type of authority.
It's power.
Right?
And cattle that know how to use their horns are very detrimental to humans.
When I hear, I do this bull, I'd never seen him hook anybody.
And I'd seen him buck for about five or six years.
I'd never seen him hook anybody.
He was part Watusi.
Anybody know what a Boatusi is?
Watusi is an African cattle.
The base of their horns are about like,
like this. I mean, they'd cut his off so he could get in the shoots and he'd still have to turn his head
sideways like this to get in the shoots. And his name was Winchester. And I get on him. He bucks me off.
And I'm scrambling trying to get to my feet and I see. He turns around and he sees me. And here he comes.
And I see him turn his head sideways. That's the last thing I seen. As he turned his head sideways. That's the last thing I've seen.
and he stuck his horn right between my legs and just flipped me. And I only was about this high off the
ground, but I flew for about 35 feet through the air. And it just wadded me up in a ball and I was trying to get
back to my hands and knees and here he'd come again, just run over the top of me. He didn't hit me with a horn
that time. He was going too fast. But it's a scary thing, this horn. This horn. Right?
And the Bible's talking about this savior who's who's who's, who's, who's, who's,
powerful. He's a powerful king. He's not only, he's born a king. People weren't born kings.
Right? They were born in a kingly line. But if you had a brother, your life was in jeopardy.
Because whichever brother became king, they would kill all the other brothers. That's why Herod goes and
kills all the baby boys there in Bethlehem. Right? Because why? Because he was threatened. His authority,
his power was threatened. But God, when God, when he's, he was threatened. But God, when, he's, he was, he's, he's, he was threatened.
When God raises up a horn of salvation, nothing's going to come against that.
Nothing.
And Paul tells us in Romans, right?
Romans 16.
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe.
But it's only powerful for you if you believe.
Well, maybe I should say it is power on the negative side too, because if you reject the
king of kings and the Lord of Lords, you're in big trouble. Right? You're in big trouble.
And if you're in that place of no man's land today, just say, yes, Lord. You can say just
that simple. Yes, Lord, I believe. I put my faith and trust in you. That's simple.
And then the power will be in your favor. And so this horn of salvation.
It's a powerful thought.
And we know that Jesus was born a king because the wise men when they came there in Matthew
Chapter 22 said, hey, we followed this person's star and we've come to worship.
He who was born king of the Jews.
We've come to worship him.
I don't know how they had this knowledge.
Some believe it was because they were Persian and actually,
because of Daniel's influence in Persia that they actually were looking for the Messiah as well.
Next, he talks about in being saved from our enemies.
Well, Jesus is the one who saves us from our enemies.
Right? Jesus is the one who is the horn of our salvation.
Jesus is the one to perform the mercy.
promise to our fathers.
He's the fulfillment of all things.
I feel like a broken record because we talk about this all the time.
But it's pretty powerful, isn't it?
Right, this person, right?
That brings these good things that that Zachariah talks about here.
and how he was spoken about by the holy prophets.
And he mentions that we should be saved right from our enemies.
And we're seeing that now as the Lord's protecting the nation.
And from the hand of those who hate us.
To perform mercy, verse 72, promise to our fathers.
That God's been merciful.
Has God been merciful to you?
You think of God's mercy?
And mercy, the idea of not getting what we deserve.
I appreciate when people tell me that.
How you doing?
Better than I deserve.
So this is a really good.
confirmation, right, that God is showing us that mercy, that undeserved pass, if you will.
As it says in John chapter 5, verse 24, right, that those who hear these words of mind
and do them have passed from death to life. That's God's mercy. Right? That he's shown that to us.
And though we don't deserve it. And.
and to remember his holy covenant.
It's interesting how this happens.
Many believe that the Holy Covenant, specifically,
speaking of the old covenant, the Levitical law,
which is very good, right?
And we talk about this all the time.
The problem with the Levitical law is those who try to keep it,
they're wicked and they can't do it.
Right?
they can't keep the law.
But there's something that happens when you come to Christ,
he begins to change your heart.
He begins to change the things that you rebel against.
Right? I have an old friend that told me,
I can't even throw a candy wrapper out the window now.
Right? Why? Because the conviction of the Lord is there that
Actually, God's law is written on our hearts by the spirit.
It's the spirit of the law.
There's this desire for goodness.
I didn't desire good.
I desired feel good.
There's difference, right?
So much of my feel good was not good.
And some of you know that.
But to remember the covenant of the Lord,
The God's law, it's powerful.
And that everyone is going to be judged according to that law.
Was it written on your heart by the spirit of God?
Here's that Holy Spirit again.
He keeps showing up.
Maybe he's been knocking on the door of your heart.
And you're going, what do I do with this?
Surrender.
Throw your hands in the air and surrender.
And watch what happens.
I got a friend who told me this last week.
He says, you know, I've surrendered so much now.
It's like there's no way I can turn back.
There's no way I can turn back.
See, some people kind of want to go like this, you know,
do the old straddle the fence, doing the balancing act,
sinful life, walking with Jesus.
You know, you want to do this thing.
That don't work.
Right.
That ends in a total back.
and a crash and a burn if you keep going there. But no, surrender. Let the Holy Spirit take over that you
would be his vessel, that he would vessel through. I got a friend that has told me before.
He heard a message one time and the Holy Spirit moved and he goes, that was good vesseling.
Right? Are you doing some vesseling? Right? Just saying, okay, Lord, I'm surrendered. I know I ain't got much,
but what I got, you use it.
And he does.
It's coming to the point of reckless abandon towards Jesus.
And then he says, Jesus makes us able to serve without fear.
Luke 1.74.
And grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear.
No fear.
The Lord comes and removes all that fear.
Because fear can involve what the Bible says is torment.
John chapter 4.
I'm going to read it to you.
I can't remember which.
It says there is no fear in love.
but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.
We love him because he first loved us. And here's the Holy Spirit again. In 1st Corinthians, we were in chapter 12
looking at the gifts of the spirit. The gifts of the spirit. And then there's something called the fruit of the
spirit. Right. The fruit of the spirit is love.
That's the fruit of the spirit.
The gift of the spirit is much different than the fruit of the spirit.
The fruit of the spirit is love.
Galatians runs through that list for us.
The gifts of the spirit are gifts that God's given us.
Everything from administration to speaking in tongues to the gift of helps, all those things.
And then we're to minister them with the fruit of the spirit for the body of Christ,
which is love.
and love, when you're totally consumed by the love of God, you have no fear.
Perfect love casts it away, cast out fear.
And that's what Jesus came to do, was to help us that we might be able to serve the Lord
and know that God's going to save us from our enemies, but if he does not, right?
like all of those who have gone before us,
especially the apostles, all laying down their lives, they weren't afraid.
The fear was gone.
The fear of death was gone because they saw Jesus overcome the grave.
Verse 75, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.
Holiness and righteousness.
Set apart to do what's right.
It's the promise that God had.
given to Abraham there in verse 73, right?
That where he says, now, the Lord has said to Abram, get out of your country from your family
and from your father's house to a land that I will show you, I will make you a great nation,
I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.
And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who bless you,
those who curse you and in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.
Where here it is. This righteousness and this holiness that he's talking about here,
it's found in the seed of Abraham, the Lord Jesus. That's what he said he's pointing to.
That's why people of the earth are blessed. It's because of Christ and him coming to.
To every tribe, tongue nation. Anyone who names the name of Jesus.
holiness set apart you realize that when God calls you, he calls you to himself to set you apart, to be
different. I'm different than my friends today. I still got friends that I parted with when I was in my
teens and they're still my friends. They only call me when they have a crisis, right?
A death in the family or a divorce. A divorce.
or loss of a child, or that's the only time I get called, but I still get called. I kept those lines
of communication open because I love these people. We don't agree, right?
Unless all hell is breaking loose in their life. But God has set me apart from that. I'm apart from
them, but I still reach out to them and I love them. And I talk to them. And I minister to them when
when the Lord opens the door. And he does that.
because there's a righteousness in my life now. They, and they used to tease. They used to call Rick
Oro Roberts. Who remembers who Oro Roberts is? Okay. Right. When he got saved, because he was much more
wicked than me. So the contrast was so great, right, that they would call him Oral Roberts.
and then occasionally Billy Graham, right?
Billy Graham.
The man was holy. He was righteous.
He was a modern day prophet.
I heard a story about Billy Graham.
He, in all his days, right, going to the crusades and stuff, many times, they would come
and pick him up in a limousine.
And Billy one time asked this, this limousine drives.
You know, I've never driven a limousine. Can I drive?
And the guy goes, sure, Mr. Graham, whatever you want.
So Billy's in there driving and gets pulled over by a police.
Billy drove kind of like me.
And this young police officer went up and said, well, can I see your driver's life?
and he goes back and he recognized Billy Graham and he gets on the radio and they said, you know,
you can have a little leniency with some dignitaries and people with some clout and and people
of position. He says, you can, you can use a little leniency and maybe not write him a ticket.
And so this young cop calls and he says, man, I don't know what to do. I pull somebody over.
It's really important. And they say, well, who is it? What he says, is it the mayor? He says, no.
this person's a lot more important than the mayor.
Is it the governor? He said no, a lot more important than the governor.
President? Oh, I got the president beat by a mile.
He said, well, who is it? He says, I don't know. It's probably either God or one of the archangels
because Billy Graham is a chauffeur.
I notice this is, in this says, in holiness, it says, in holiness and righteousness before him,
all the days of our life. Think about that. All the days of your life.
Does God got you for all the days of your life?
I think about it.
Because my greatest fear is I'm going to mess this whole thing up, right?
Then I'm going to crash and burn.
Then I'm going to make some stupid decision that's going to bring shame to the Lord
and shame to the church and shame to my family.
Lord, can we just end it now?
So I don't, because I know I'm going to be tempted in the future.
And I don't want to do that.
I don't want to. I'm afraid.
But notice, he says, he'll keep us in holiness.
He'll keep you set apart.
as long as you do your part and walk by faith and pursue him.
With all your heart, I love the confidence that God brings to our life, right?
I'm not, it's not self-confidence, it's not self-esteem, right?
I get so sick of hearing those, man, you got to believe in yourself.
Really? No. I'm not going to believe in myself.
I'm going to believe in somebody much bigger than myself.
I'm going to believe in him.
I'm going to trust in him.
He's the one that's going to get me to the finish line.
I can't even survive for one second without his hand on my life.
Every beat of my heart, every breath I take,
I realize that it is truly, honestly, a gift from God.
And he's going to keep me until he's done with me.
we're all truly invincible until God is done with us.
And once he's done with this, we won't remain in this life a second longer.
Zechariah has this incredible insight and understanding.
And he shifts from the Lord Jesus back to his son.
Notice who was preeminent.
Christ was.
Even with John the back,
Baptist, the greatest of all the prophets. Jesus said that in his own words. John the Baptist is the greatest of all the
prophets. And now Zachariah talks about his son and I'll wrap this up. And he says in verse 76,
and you child, speaking of John, will be called the prophet of the highest. For you will go before the
face of the Lord to prepare his way to give knowledge of salvation to his people. And by the remission of
their sins through the tender mercies of our God with which the
day spring from on high has visited us to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of
death to guide our feet into the way of peace. And so the child grew and became strong in spirit and
was in the deserts until the day of his manifestation to Israel. Right? It's kind of like the Lord
just kind of concealed this kid, let him grow up. And he grew up in strength and power.
And he would, he told him he will be called the, the prophet of the highest.
The Holy Spirit leads Zecharias to speak of his newborn son and his place in God's great plan.
Listen, we all have that a place in God's plan. All of us.
Jesus said, those who believe in me will be greater than John the Baptist.
Right? And if John has to be. And if John has,
had this very specific plan.
And God was going to work his plan in this young man's life.
John was a true prophet, the prophet of the highest.
John had the unique calling to go before the face of the Lord to prepare his way.
Isaiah tells us that.
John would teach and give knowledge of salvation to God's people.
He says, I'd baptize.
you with water, but there's one coming after me that's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
John said, I must decrease and he must increase. And so it is with each one of us.
When Jesus comes to us, he must increase in our life and we must decrease. Deny yourself,
pick up your cross daily and follow me. The Lord said, John would show people.
the remission of your sins.
You can want to be forgiven.
The people were overwhelmed that they could be forgiven.
Just like that.
John would give light to those who sit in darkness.
He tells them in John, the Baptist speaks in John chapter 1, verse 8,
he was not the light, but was sent to bear witness of that light.
Because people got confused.
They were wondering, is this guy of the Messiah?
Nobody kind of looked like him.
Isaiah 9-2, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death.
Upon them, light has shined.
That John was preparing people for the light of the world.
And John would guide God's people into the way of peace.
There in John chapter 1 when he sees Jesus and he says,
Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
John knew his place.
Think about this for a second.
He had 30 years.
John got 30 years to fulfill God's plan for his life.
Now you and I think,
Wow, that's, it's pretty short.
I don't know.
I don't have all the answers to this stuff.
But I know I used to visit a grave.
I worked at a cemetery and I'd visit a grave,
a little boy, his dad was a pastor in town.
His little boy's name was Jesse David.
And I used to go to his grave sometimes wondering,
Lord, why?
And this kid was a, he was just very gregarious and fun loving and loud and, and, and, uh, and love Jesus.
He was six years old when he died of a brain tumor.
And I used to go look at his grave thinking, what's up with this?
You realize that's, Gordon nails it on his book title.
It's no accident.
we've all got this thing to fulfill.
Right?
It might be 60, 70, 80 years.
It might be four or five.
But it's all within God's plan.
And he's faithful to use it.
And if you really think about it,
if you think about it honestly,
and you look at those who have got to leave.
You're thinking, I'm so jealous of them.
Right?
Because our only boast is labor and sorrow in this life.
It is a tragic life.
The hope for the future is honestly heaven.
Now can we have good times here?
Obviously, I plan on having a good time tonight.
I'm going to be with my family.
I'm going to watch my two youngest grandsons
destroy the whole house.
we're going to have a good time, right?
But the ultimate end for them and for me
is to be in his presence.
And until God is done with them,
my prayer for myself and my grandchildren,
and for you as the body of Christ,
is that we would grow and become,
become strong in spirit.
Just like John did.
The promise of God came to fruition in John's life.
John was in the desert until the day of his manifestation,
because that is where God trains many of his prophets.
Amen.
So it's hard things that grow us up and help us to become the people that he has planned for us to be.
Everything that John's dad spoke of,
about him happened. Everything that John's dad spoke about him happened. Fathers, be careful how you talk to
your sons, right? Be careful what you say to your sons. Because if all you focus on is their failure in their
sin, that brings frustration, right? That brings provocation, you know, and we're encouraged in
in the New Testament, do not provoke your children to wrath.
Speak good things over them, even when they don't deserve it.
Because your father in heaven has done that for you.
Doesn't mean that you're not to discipline or to speak truth to them.
But everything that Zechariah said of John came to pass.
Zechariah realized that God was the preeminent one in his life.
John, as he grows up, the preeminent one in his life is Jesus as he begins to point people to Jesus. And then his life is ended. As he said,
he must increase and I must decrease. And so it is with us. He must increase. We must decrease. We must decrease.
I'm going to close with the reading of scripture. It was in the hang on Bible reading that we had this morning.
and it's found in Psalm
145. If you have a Bible, you could turn there real quick.
Psalm chapter 145, verse 17.
And it says this,
the Lord is righteous in all his ways,
gracious in all his works.
The Lord is near to all those who call upon him.
To all who call upon him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him.
He also will hear the cry and save them.
The Lord preserve.
all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord,
and all flesh shall bless his holy name forever and ever. Let's pray. Lord, thank you.
For your word, thank you that you fulfill those things that were spoken of old. Lord, you're still doing it today.
And we see it all around us. So Lord, I pray that we would live.
in a way where we are lifting up our heads, knowing our redemption draws near.
Lord, all the things foretold, they're going to happen.
Just as these babes were born and their lives played out.
And we read about them today, 2,000 years later.
Lord, that you kept them perfectly, that you fulfilled your will for their lives.
And you promised that to us that he who has began a good work in us will complete it until the
of Jesus Christ. Lord, we praise you for that. We worship you this Christmas season.
Pray that you would be the preeminent one, Lord, in our family meetings. And when we're with one
another, Lord, when we're with the people of the world who don't know you, Lord, may we truly
shine bright. Would you fill us with your Holy Spirit as you've encouraged us to ask for it?
In Jesus' holy name, amen.