[SPEAKER_00]: My name is Terran Newman, and I'll be reading from Luke chapter 1, 5 through 20.
[SPEAKER_00]: In the time of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abbaja.
[SPEAKER_00]: His wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron.
[SPEAKER_00]: Both of them were righteous in the side of God, observing all the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly.
[SPEAKER_00]: But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.
[SPEAKER_00]: Once when Zacharias Division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by a lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord in burning sense.
[SPEAKER_00]: And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
[SPEAKER_00]: then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
[SPEAKER_00]: When Zachariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zachariah.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your prayer has been heard.
[SPEAKER_00]: Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you are to call him John.
[SPEAKER_00]: he will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth.
[SPEAKER_00]: For he will be great in the sight of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is never to take wine or any or or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with a Holy Spirit even before he is born.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the word of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, you guys can have a seat.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you so much, Terren.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, if you have a Bible with you, go ahead and open up to the book of Luke chapter one.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to read through kind of the rest of that story that Terren began for us this morning, about the birth, not of Jesus, but of John the Baptist today.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus is a second cousin John the Baptist because we kind of forget about that part of the story sometimes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously we rejoice in the birth of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the most important one.
[SPEAKER_01]: But John and his birth was actually prophesied as well in the Old Testament, the books of Malachi and Isaiah, as a chapter 40, speaks of a voice crying in the wilderness to make straight the path of the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so this little baby was also prophesied about that he would
[SPEAKER_01]: to the Messiah, to the king, to the one that the Israelites were hoping for.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so there's a big deal as well that this little child was born.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's what we're going to talk about today here in Luke chapter one.
[SPEAKER_01]: I shared with y'all last week as we opened up this series sing to the king that there are recorded specifically in the gospel of Luke.
[SPEAKER_01]: four songs, four songs that are sung around the nativity story around the birth of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I said, today's about real the birth of John the Baptist, but the birth of John the Baptist is significant because the birth of Jesus followed right after that and he was a foreigner again to Jesus who would be born.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so Zachariah actually sings a song that we're going to look at today called the Benedictus, the Benedictus, which is about blessing.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a Benedictus from the Latin.
[SPEAKER_01]: word.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to look at that loop chapter one if you guys will turn there with me and let's let's pray together and we'll jump right in.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, thank you so much for your word.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, thank you for this time of year that we we always just come back to these scriptures here in the first couple chapters of Luke and of Matthew and we just read about the stories of all the things surrounding your sons births.
[SPEAKER_01]: So thank you for that.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, thank you for Christmas time.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lord, thank you that you have sent
[SPEAKER_01]: in the darkness.
[SPEAKER_01]: God, we're so grateful.
[SPEAKER_01]: We love you Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: In Jesus' name.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you know this story, it's an interesting story.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's one of these kind of wild encounters that a person has with an angel.
[SPEAKER_01]: We see this a few times throughout the scriptures where an angel of the Lord will appear to a person, give them news about something angel means, messengers, that's really what it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: Angels are messengers and they are servants, they are servants of humankind, really sent from the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so this angel Gabriel, he shows up.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's the one who showed up.
[SPEAKER_01]: We read last week about him showing up to Mary and announcing the birth of her son, Jesus, of course.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he also showed up here to Zechariah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Zechariah was a priest and he was chosen by a lot.
[SPEAKER_01]: This was actually a very rare thing to be able to be the one who would go in and offer the incense.
[SPEAKER_01]: There was tons of priests, lots and lots of priests.
[SPEAKER_01]: So the odds of you getting chosen to be the one to go in and off the incense were pretty small.
[SPEAKER_01]: This may have been the first time he ever did this.
[SPEAKER_01]: It may be not.
[SPEAKER_01]: But
[SPEAKER_01]: May have been, and maybe the only time he ever did this, but he goes in, offers the incense, and while he's doing that, this angel appears to him, Gabriel, and he announces the birth of his son.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, Zechariah and his wife, as he said, both well-long and years, and she is barren.
[SPEAKER_01]: They've never had children.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, of course, this comes as a pretty big surprise, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: To Zegra, these probably thought we are well beyond that point in our lives.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are not having children, of course, in their culture.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a very big blessing to have a child.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, to not have a child, it's not having air, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: That'd be a hard thing, especially for a priest, because he would be hopeful that he would have a son who would be a priest after him.
[SPEAKER_01]: And those kind of things being in the line of air, and but he does not have a son to this point now.
[SPEAKER_01]: And verse 16, here's where we left office says many of the people of Israel.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says well, he will bring back to the Lord their God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's speaking of who this son will be, who this, who this John will be that he is, that he is prophesied about that will come through Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth.
[SPEAKER_01]: He will go on before the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: in the spirit and the power of Elijah.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is, like I said, that's a prophecy from the Book of Malachi.
[SPEAKER_01]: Chapter three and four, Malachi talks about this, one who would come as a four-runner to the Messiah, who would be in the power and the spirit of Elijah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Elijah was the greatest prophet in Israel's history.
[SPEAKER_01]: Kind of known as the most powerful, the most influential prophet in all the history of Israel.
[SPEAKER_01]: So to come in the power and the spirit of Elijah, that's a big statement, just to say, this will be a, a, a,
[SPEAKER_01]: profit-type man with the same power, the same spirit that Elijah had so many years ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he says to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom and the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, Zechariah asks the angel, verse 18.
[SPEAKER_01]: How can I be sure of this?
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm an old man, and my wife is well along in years.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a fair question, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, a fair question.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's an old guy.
[SPEAKER_01]: His wife's a little bit older, probably post-menopausal at this point, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so they have not had children.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, that's just the fact, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And so they're wondering how,
[SPEAKER_01]: God, how are you going to do this?
[SPEAKER_01]: We taught last week about him.
[SPEAKER_01]: God conceiving a child within Mary, who is a young virgin, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And the angel Gabriel tells Mary, what?
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing is impossible for God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he references that Elizabeth is pregnant because nothing is impossible for God.
[SPEAKER_01]: But Zekarize wondering, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: As you and I would, don't brochure it on him, we'd be asking the same question, all right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 19, the angel answered, I am Gabriel.
[SPEAKER_01]: I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you until you this good news.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now you will be silent, and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.
[SPEAKER_01]: a harsh man right like you know if you remember Mary's story Gabriel says that she will have a child and Mary also had a little bit of a moment of like I'm a virgin like how is that gonna gonna happen but Gabriel doesn't tell her she's gonna be silent and shut her mouth I mean does that to Zechari and I think the reason is because I mean think about it Mary's a young lady and I mean as a young lady she
[SPEAKER_01]: isn't to the to the status and the understanding of all the things of the word of God and I like I think Gabriel and God are just giving her a little bit of a little bit more grace as a young person.
[SPEAKER_01]: Zuckeriah is a priest.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it would be like, as a pastor, God giving me a command and me being a little bit more hesitant to obey God versus a child.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I'm saying?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, there's a higher level of responsibility here, and for Zechra, I think there's just a higher level of responsibility.
[SPEAKER_01]: He should be quick.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a priest in the house of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He should be quick to obey the Lord, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: As we grow in our knowledge adults, listen, as you grow in your knowledge and understanding and wisdom in the Lord and in His Word.
[SPEAKER_01]: You should become quicker to obey Him as you get older.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes we get slower to obey him as we get, because we get set in our ways, you know, but he should have been really quick.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's the reason we're doing gay rules just like I do.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're not talking for nine months.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, if you couldn't talk, let's just say nine months.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you couldn't talk for nine months, think about this because we're going to get to this part in the story here.
[SPEAKER_01]: What would be the first thing you'd say when you could talk?
[SPEAKER_01]: Think about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, nine months of this, nine months of this, and you can't say a word.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he said, like, when this happens, then you will be able to speak.
[SPEAKER_01]: You and I'll be able to speak until then.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what would you say?
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just something to think about, because we're going to see what he says here in a second.
[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 21, meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zech Ryan, wondering why he stayed so long in the temple, and when he came out, he could not speak to them.
[SPEAKER_01]: They realized he had seen a vision in the temple for he kept making signs to them, but remained unable to speak.
[SPEAKER_01]: When his time of service was complete, you returned home and after this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant for five months remained in seclusion.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord has done this for me, she said.
[SPEAKER_01]: In these days, he has shown his favor in taking away my disgrace among the people.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's skip now.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to look at what what ends up happening here.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's look at verse 57.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says, when it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.
[SPEAKER_01]: Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy and they shared her joy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Her eyes very excited about this.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is an amazing thing, and I'm sure Elizabeth has told us, I'm sure Zekarai in the main style over these nine months is, you know, really written this down a lot, and they've probably communicated that way a good bit, so he's told her, and this angel, and his name is John, and all these things, and he's going to be great, and he's probably hoping for the day when the child is born, and then hopefully he can speak again.
[SPEAKER_01]: Verse 59, on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, that was the custom.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they were going to name him after his father's Echariah, a pretty normal thing to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: But his mother spoke up and said, no, he is to be called John.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're a little taken back by that, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And they said, you know, they said to her, no one among your relatives has that name.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then they made signs to his father, which is funny, because he's not deaf, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And they don't know why, but they made signs to his father to find out what he would like the name, what he would like to name the child.
[SPEAKER_01]: He asked for a writing tablet and to everyone's astonishment.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wrote, his name is John.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I like that, I like the way that it is written there in the book of Luke that his name, this house, Zechariah wrote it.
[SPEAKER_01]: His name is John.
[SPEAKER_01]: Not, you know, I think I'd like to call him John.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not what he says.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, this was not Zechariah's idea, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's going back nine months before, he's like, I'm not speaking right now because I didn't believe that God would do this.
[SPEAKER_01]: And now God has done this like, I think he's learned his lesson over the nine months.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's like, making a statement here.
[SPEAKER_01]: His name is John, not I think it should be John, not that's a good name to name him, but this is not my will, this is God's will, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: This is of a resolute statement that Zechariah is make, that is his name because God has named him that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then it says this, his name is John, immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed and he began to speak praising God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it will be the first thing you say, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: If you couldn't talk for too much, what would you say first?
[SPEAKER_01]: What would you sing first?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I'm not singing to the king.
[SPEAKER_01]: It will be your first song, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think about your go-to, like karaoke.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you'll have one.
[SPEAKER_01]: But like, what would be your very favorite, like, if you could say you couldn't sing for nine months, I would be your go-to, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: Bezekarai as soon as he's able to speak.
[SPEAKER_01]: He just says he starts praising God and then neighbors were all filled with awe throughout the Hill Country of Judea.
[SPEAKER_01]: People were talking about these things and everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, what then is this child going to be for the Lord's hand?
[SPEAKER_01]: Was with him, verse 67, his father.
[SPEAKER_01]: Bezekarai, listen, says he was filled with the Holy Spirit.
[SPEAKER_01]: and he prophesied.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now here's Zechariah, a song.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's sort of a song of prophecy, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: This is called the Benedictus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, the Benedictus means blessing.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is the blessing.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's from the very first word here.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the word praise or blessed be.
[SPEAKER_01]: If your translation says that blessed be the name of the Lord, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: But I just think that's interesting, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: The first thing he does is he speaks praise to God and then he begins to sing this song.
[SPEAKER_01]: It says the Holy Spirit, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: to prophesy and to sing, you know, but it's just something interesting to think about.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Holy Spirit loves to sing.
[SPEAKER_01]: He loves to sing.
[SPEAKER_01]: At least he loves for us to say.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, you know.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like he loves to make us sing.
[SPEAKER_01]: He loves to inspire in us songs.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, Jesus speaks about the coming of the Holy Spirit in John 14, 15, 16, talks a lot about the Holy Spirit in those chapters.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he says, and he makes it very clear that the Holy Spirit would come to the believers of Jesus to his disciples and that he would bring glory to Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's really the Holy Spirit's main role in our lives.
[SPEAKER_01]: A couple of things like to empower us for ministry to equip us with gifts, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: He's the one who really brings us to life in Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, regenerate us from death to life.
[SPEAKER_01]: But really, his job is to glorify Christ in us.
[SPEAKER_01]: For the Holy Spirit does in us, to us for us all the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I would just, at least to think about this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we should all think about this for just a moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you are a Christian person and you do not love to sing to King Jesus, I would argue that at least in some way you are quenching the Holy Spirit in your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: because he loves to do it, loves to rejoice in Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not saying you got to be a person that just gets up on stage here.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you got to sign up for the worship team, and come up here and sing and lead us in worship by their special gifts for that.
[SPEAKER_01]: But man, I just, seriously, if there's no joy, no hope in your heart and Christ that causes you to want to express that and song, I would just ask you why.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why, like, are you seriously like ignoring the Holy Spirit's work in your life because that's what he does.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what he does.
[SPEAKER_01]: He makes us want to rejoice.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Holy Spirit really.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's our worship leader.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is though.
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll know that, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, come in here.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not Scott.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not Chris.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not these guys and ladies.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not our worship leaders.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're here to serve and just use their gifts and towns.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thank you for them.
[SPEAKER_01]: But, and ultimately, it is the Holy Spirit, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: He's the one leading us in worship.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's just a thought, man.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just, if you find yourself never being drawn into
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think you should go to the Lord about that and pray to Him for greater joy, greater hope.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I'm not saying you got to get up in front of everybody and sing all the time.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just saying there should be joy and there should be songs in our hearts if we love the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: So is that grab begins to sing?
[SPEAKER_01]: This Benedictus, here's what he says.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, praise beats the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and redeemed his people.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David notice.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's singing at the birth of his son John in the states day in the circumstance.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's this whole ceremony.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's singing at that, but he's singing about Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what he's singing about, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: He gets to John at the end of the song, but he's right right in here.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first eight verses to all about Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David as he said through his holy prophets long ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's an important phrase.
[SPEAKER_01]: through his holy prophets long ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want you to think about this morning as we're talking about hope, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: We're saying all about hope, we're talking about hope today here in our Advent season.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hope, what is hope?
[SPEAKER_01]: What is hope all about where does hope come from?
[SPEAKER_01]: Hope comes from this.
[SPEAKER_01]: It comes from the confidence that we have that God is a God of His Word.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where hope comes from.
[SPEAKER_01]: When we think about hope, when you think about Christian hope, this is a firm steadfast confidence in the Lord that He keeps His word.
[SPEAKER_01]: God does what He says He's going to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Always, that's our hope.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I say this all the time, just be reminded in a worldly sense, hope is wishful thinking.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what hope is in the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of us watching the game last night, you hoped Georgia would win.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it did.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yay.
[SPEAKER_01]: But they don't always.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because sometimes that hope is not fulfilled.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a wishful thinking.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a maybe it'll happen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it will not.
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's not Christian hope.
[SPEAKER_01]: Christian hope is firm and steadfast.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because God's word is firm and steadfast.
[SPEAKER_01]: God's word always comes true.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is why Zechariah is singing this song.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the song of hopefulness, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because he has seen the promises of God now being fulfilled through the birth of Jesus coming in his own son, who is now born as a one to prepare the way for the Messiah.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's just so hopeful, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's where that song is coming from for him.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's look at some of the things that he's saying that God has kept his word about in this song, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: He's just, that's where he, that's his whole point here.
[SPEAKER_01]: God has kept his word.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's kept his word by.
[SPEAKER_01]: uh... accomplishing redemption for his people versus six years when he said he's accomplished redempt he is because he is common has redeemed his people he's kept his word because he is raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant david that that term horn of salvation that's a term of strength right
[SPEAKER_01]: The strength of God's right hand accomplishing for us, the salvation that He promised long ago.
[SPEAKER_01]: All the Scripture, and we walk through this for nine weeks in the last series we did, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: All of Scripture points to God's redemptive purposes that He has been planning from the beginning of all of this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And God, speaking through His prophets, working through His people for hundreds of years, thousands of years.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, coming to fruition in the birth of John the Baptist, then the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the horn of salvation, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And then He is proving that His word comes to pass every time.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says in verse 71, salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
[SPEAKER_01]: God has kept his word to save his people to redeem as people remember Israel at this time, they're occupied by Rome.
[SPEAKER_01]: And before that, they were occupied by the Greco-Roman Empire, the Persian Empire, the Mito-Persian Empire, the Syrian Empire, the Babylonian Empire, like they were just, they're just a conquered people.
[SPEAKER_01]: People beating down for hundreds of years at this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so again, this Messiah, the prophecies of this Messiah, that God would redeem that He would purchase His people and not just from oppression, from, like, kind of outside forces, but also redemption from sin, from sinful nature, from the guilt and the penalty of sin.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, that God has rescued us from our enemies.
[SPEAKER_01]: From the very beginning, I'll remember the story in the garden.
[SPEAKER_01]: After Adam and Eve sin, and then God comes and He speaks to Adam and Eve and He dishes out punishment, but He also dishes out hope.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because what does he say, there will come a day when one will be born of a woman who will crush the head of the serpent, crush the head of the snake, and that is the promise that got us fulfilling now through the coming of his son Jesus, the salvation that is happening from our enemies, because ultimately our enemies are not like people out here really for us, our enemy is our own sinful nature.
[SPEAKER_01]: and the deceiver of our souls, the one who would keep us from no in Christ, that's how he's our enemy.
[SPEAKER_01]: And God has made certain that that enemy is now crushed under the feet, of His own Son Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: Be born and in Zechariah is just rejoicing in this, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Just rejoicing in the hope.
[SPEAKER_01]: The God has rescued us from our enemy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ultimately, our enemy is sin and death too.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sin and death.
[SPEAKER_01]: Romans 623, the wages of sin is death.
[SPEAKER_01]: But the free gift of God, free gift of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is salvation in Jesus Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are told that.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is the rescue we have.
[SPEAKER_01]: to forgive us by the of our sins, by the blood of his own son.
[SPEAKER_01]: This was prophesied about Isaiah 53, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Zachara Shirley knows Isaiah 53, the suffering servant who would take on the iniquity of the people.
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, this is the horn of salvation that he's singing about.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the redemption.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the salvation from our enemies being rescued out of that by this servant who would now come to be born.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then he goes on.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our Father, Abraham.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he hear the Old Testament stuff, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, God's word coming to pass.
[SPEAKER_01]: God's word being fulfilled.
[SPEAKER_01]: That is the hope we have always.
[SPEAKER_01]: If God's not a trustworthy God, y'all, we can't have hope.
[SPEAKER_01]: All we can have is wishful thinking at that point.
[SPEAKER_01]: If God doesn't keep His word, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: You get that, but if He does, if His word comes to pass, then our hope is steadfast and sure.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this makes us want to sing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Makes me want to sing.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why we sang what we sang this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why everything about hope?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because God's faithful to us.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's faithful to His people.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's faithful to keep His word.
[SPEAKER_01]: He does not lie.
[SPEAKER_01]: God does what He says, He's going to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: He said, the oath he swore to our Father, Abraham, to rescue us from the hand of our enemies and enable us to serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.
[SPEAKER_01]: To serve Him without fear.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why can we serve God now without fear?
[SPEAKER_01]: Why is that?
[SPEAKER_01]: First John 4, 18 says that perfect love casts out fear.
[SPEAKER_01]: And what is he talking about?
[SPEAKER_01]: He's talking about judgment.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is the one thing above all things?
[SPEAKER_01]: There's lots of things that we fear.
[SPEAKER_01]: But what is the one thing that we should fear above all else?
[SPEAKER_01]: The judgment of God?
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: You have other stuff that you're afraid of.
[SPEAKER_01]: I have things that I'm afraid of.
[SPEAKER_01]: But ultimately, on the last day, there will be one thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: That will matter, whether or not you will be under the judgment of God or you will not.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you are under the judgment of God, that is fearful.
[SPEAKER_01]: And what John's point is when he wrote first John 418, perfect love, cast out fear, he's saying, the love that God has given us in that we now have for him.
[SPEAKER_01]: If we love the Lord, if we are in the love of Christ, then we have no fear, there's no fear of his judgment on us anymore.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's what Zechariah is talking about.
[SPEAKER_01]: That we can serve him without fear.
[SPEAKER_01]: ever again because the Messiah has come, the Messiah has been born and he says in a holiness and in righteousness before him all our days.
[SPEAKER_01]: Where does holiness come from?
[SPEAKER_01]: Where does righteousness come from?
[SPEAKER_01]: Romans 3, 21 through 26, where he says that the righteousness of God has been revealed to us, that the law on the prophets testified about a righteousness that is by what?
[SPEAKER_01]: faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's my faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: If I say faith, your righteousness, your right standing before God is by faith in who?
[SPEAKER_01]: Jesus in the one to be born, the Messiah to come for our salvation who has come now for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: He has made us right with God if we have faith in Him.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we have, again, no fear before God, only right standing, only justification before Him, our sins forgiven.
[SPEAKER_01]: Amen.
[SPEAKER_01]: Our sins forgiven.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is good news.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is hopeful, it's because this is what God promised to do, and He fulfilled in His Son Jesus Christ, in whaling this and righteousness all our days.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe the most amazing, bewildering thing about the gospel is that God sees you and me in Christ Jesus
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, take five seconds and think about why that shouldn't be.
[SPEAKER_01]: You've probably prayed about those things a few minutes ago and we took communion.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is why I'm not practically hot like I still screw it up.
[SPEAKER_01]: Every Sunday I sit in my chair and have a confess things to the Lord for my own sinful nature.
[SPEAKER_01]: but in holiness and righteousness, we can serve him without fear all our days why, because God keeps his word, to make us right with him.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's amazing, y'all.
[SPEAKER_01]: The gospel is amazing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's why we sing songs.
[SPEAKER_01]: I kind of wonder, as I read that too, if turn turn to Psalm 18, kind of right in the middle of your Bible.
[SPEAKER_01]: Psalm 18, I wonder if Zechariah loved Psalm 18, because I wanna read a little bit of it for you.
[SPEAKER_01]: and you'll hear some language that Zechariah just said.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you did, I think maybe the Psalm A.D.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anybody have a favorite Psalm?
[SPEAKER_01]: Raise your head if you have a favorite Psalm.
[SPEAKER_01]: Psalm 23 a lot of people have whatever.
[SPEAKER_01]: Psalm 19, Psalm 90, Psalm 19, there's some great, all the Psalms are wonderful, but there's some ones that just resonate with us.
[SPEAKER_01]: I kind of wonder if that was Psalm 18 for Zechariah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Listen to verses one through six.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love you, O Lord, my strength.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God is my rock in whom I take refuge.
[SPEAKER_01]: He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, hear that language, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: The horn of my salvation, my stronghold, I call to the Lord who is worthy of praise.
[SPEAKER_01]: I am saved from my enemies.
[SPEAKER_01]: The cords of death entangled me, the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
[SPEAKER_01]: The cords of the grave coiled around me, the snares of death confronted me.
[SPEAKER_01]: In my distress, I called to the Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: I cried to my God for help.
[SPEAKER_01]: From his temple, where was that cry when he lost his voice?
[SPEAKER_01]: In the temple.
[SPEAKER_01]: From his temple, he heard my voice.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I think about Zechariah and, again, God taking his voice away for nine months.
[SPEAKER_01]: I wonder what he learned in those nine months, you know?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I don't know if you know this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look right here, because I think this is just kind of a side point to the message, but I think it's helpful.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was helpful to me this week when I thought about this for myself.
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes God takes things from us to give things to us.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_01]: My God will take away from you something in order to give you something better.
[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe for Zechariah, it was just deeper humility, greater hope.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think we see that hope in his song, don't we?
[SPEAKER_01]: I think God was preparing Zechariah for nine months to sing this song.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just to get him to a place of humor.
[SPEAKER_01]: hopefulness in one thing that God keeps his word always.
[SPEAKER_01]: God keeps his word.
[SPEAKER_01]: So he gave him that, he gave him humility, he gave him patience, he gave him faith.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, in the temple, when Zechari went back to offer the incense, the way that this would work for the priest is they would go in, they would offer the incense.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was kind of representative of the prayers and the sacrifices of the people also provided like a literal cloud in the room that was sort of like part of that veil between them and the presence of God, all those things.
[SPEAKER_01]: But when he was done,
[SPEAKER_01]: You know what he was supposed to come out and do, offer a Benedictus, offer a blessing over the people.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was his job.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you offer, in a sense, then you come out.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why the people were waiting for him outside, and then he comes out and he can't speak, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because he was supposed to recite numbers six, made the Lord bless you and keep you, made his face shine upon you and be gracious to you, made the Lord turn his face towards you
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what you're supposed to say, numbers chapter six, but he comes out and he has nothing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can't speak.
[SPEAKER_01]: I got kept him from offering a blessing, a Benedictus in that moment.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so what is the first thing he does when his voice comes back?
[SPEAKER_01]: He offers a blessing, but it's not that one.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not number six.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a new song, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a new song, and it's not sort of a prayerful hope of God's blessing over people.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a confident hope that God has blessed his people now.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what he sings, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not just like, maybe the Lord bless you and keep you it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's done it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's done.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've seen it.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's fulfilled his word.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know he's faithful.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to continue to be faithful.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that makes me want to sing.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he lifts up the song.
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's saying, that's just love that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just love that.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first thing that he speaks right is it's a blessing.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a blessing to God.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's really two kinds of blessings.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's blessings conferred to people.
[SPEAKER_01]: I pray that the Lord will bless you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's that number six.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then there's the blessing to God, which is just a scribing to him and transit worth and value and glory.
[SPEAKER_01]: Right?
[SPEAKER_01]: And
[SPEAKER_01]: He's just describing to God, bless the beauty, bless the beauty.
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, God will take sometimes from us in order to give to us.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's what Zechariah gained over those nine months, was just a deeper confidence.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, can you imagine when his wife's begin to show that there's a child in here?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, this is real, this is true, and that she gives birth to this child.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, how incredible, and then they know, because Mary had already visited Elizabeth.
[SPEAKER_01]: We read that last week, Mary visited her.
[SPEAKER_01]: She's pregnant, too.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so if he kept his word about John, he's going to keep his word about Jesus, the Savior's coming, praise God.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he actually finishes his song for verses about his own son, he's talking now to John, his little child here.
[SPEAKER_01]: He says, and you might shout, we'll be called a prophet of the most high, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him.
[SPEAKER_01]: to give His people the knowledge of salvation, through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God by which the rising sun will come to us from what beautiful thing which this is, though the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.
[SPEAKER_01]: So Zekarai ends his song with just prophesying about his son's ministry.
[SPEAKER_01]: John's ministry, what would John's ministry be?
[SPEAKER_01]: John's ministry would be to point people to the light of Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was John's ministry.
[SPEAKER_01]: Think about John chapter one.
[SPEAKER_01]: And verse 29, where John the Baptist, when he's in his ministries, baptizing people when he sees Jesus coming to be baptizing.
[SPEAKER_01]: What does he say about him?
[SPEAKER_01]: But whole, the Lamb of God,
[SPEAKER_01]: takes away the sins of the world.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what his father just said.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what his father just sung about what his ministry would be.
[SPEAKER_01]: And you're gonna point people to him because he's come to forgive us of our sins.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then in verse 34, he says, I testify.
[SPEAKER_01]: John the Baptist says, I testify that I am not the son of God, that this is the son of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was John the Baptist, the one always point, young at John 330, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: I must become less.
[SPEAKER_01]: He must become great, like he was always pointing people.
[SPEAKER_01]: He must become greater.
[SPEAKER_01]: Always pointing people to Christ, because that was John's ministry.
[SPEAKER_01]: Y'all, this is what hope is really all about.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was all about the ministry that John the Baptist would have.
[SPEAKER_01]: And what is that ministry?
[SPEAKER_01]: A ministry of pointing people to Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hope is this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hope is a light in the darkness.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what hope is.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a light in the darkness, because here's the truth.
[SPEAKER_01]: This world is often a very dark and difficult place.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there are times in our lives when we just can't, we can't see five feet in front of us.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's hard to see.
[SPEAKER_01]: joy, it's hard to see love, it's hard to see hope.
[SPEAKER_01]: I actually found out yesterday a friend, actually a friend here of Easterage, who took his own life.
[SPEAKER_01]: And just...
[SPEAKER_01]: I know, I know.
[SPEAKER_01]: that some of us feel this weight at times, the weight of this darkness, the weight of struggle, the weight of sin, the weight of suffering, the weight of grief, whatever pain or whatever doubt or whatever fear we may have in this one, just feels, it feels like this, doesn't it?
[SPEAKER_01]: It just feels like, I just can't see this, this,
[SPEAKER_01]: This is why he's rejoicing.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not singing to say, oh my goodness, yeah, guys.
[SPEAKER_01]: Look, it's never gonna be hard again.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not singing to say, yeah, okay, we have all the answers now.
[SPEAKER_01]: We figured it all out.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not singing to say that we're never gonna suffer.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're never gonna struggle as the people of God.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's singing simply to say, and that's how we ended the song about his own son, John, and what his ministry would be, the son has risen for those sitting in darkness.
[SPEAKER_01]: A light as come.
[SPEAKER_01]: And these were the prophecies made of the Messiah from Isaiah that a light would shine to a people sitting in darkness.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's hope.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what hope is.
[SPEAKER_01]: It at least gives us something to look at, something to focus on, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: You get what I'm saying, something that we can see.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can put our eyes on and remember when everything else
[SPEAKER_01]: feels empty and dark and hopeless.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can still see Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can still see that God keeps His Word every time.
[SPEAKER_01]: So we can bring the lights back up.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I just want to end by saying this in the band being young come out.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to where you are going to sing one more time.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to have a time just to pray here in a second, but I would feel remiss if I didn't say this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know Christmas time this time, this Advent season.
[SPEAKER_01]: I said this last week, but I know that they're obviously this great joy in it, and there's great hope in it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Great love, and it great peace, and all those things, and we celebrate this time, and we should.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I also know for some, this is actually a time of year that increases struggle, increases mourning, and grief, loneliness, even, all those things.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Listen, if that's you right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: That way I look right here, if that's you right now, you are not alone.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're not alone, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, this is proof of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: If nothing else, we have the Lord, we have Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have His Son that has come to give us hope and redemption and freedom and forgiveness of sins.
[SPEAKER_01]: But also, we have each other.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we get to be part of that hope with each other for each other.
[SPEAKER_01]: None of us is, I'm not Jesus, you're not Jesus.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not the Messiah.
[SPEAKER_01]: But we are filled with all these spirit, the same as Zacharias was.
[SPEAKER_01]: And we do get to experience and share in this hope together and the joy and the love and the mercy of God every day.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so, if you are struggling right now, I'm going to give you just some simple homework this week.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ask somebody for help.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ask somebody for prayer.
[SPEAKER_01]: can talk to me when we're done, whatever you need to do, just reach out to somebody, okay?
[SPEAKER_01]: And just be, just please remember that this season, yes, as hard as it can be for some of us, this season reminds us that there is a light, no matter how dark it feels.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is a light, okay, don't forget that.
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's just, let's power it together.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want to invite a step.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's just pray.
[SPEAKER_01]: I just want us to pray to end of our time here.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna sing one more song too.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm just to celebrate the Lord and rejoice in Him still.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's power it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Listen, I'm going to come down front here if you're on the prayer team and you also want to come down.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to receive prayer specifically for something this morning, just want to invite you to step down here and we'll pray with you while we sing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Otherwise, just stay at your seats and let's just go to the Lord and pray.
[SPEAKER_01]: And here's what I want us to pray about right now is just one just to thank God that He's turned on the light and given us the light of Christ to remind us that hope is here.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hope is real.
[SPEAKER_01]: and to be mindful that God keeps His words.
[SPEAKER_01]: So maybe just think about all the ways that God's kept His word in your life.
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you're struggling, just bring that to Him right now as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so God right now just pray over us.
[SPEAKER_01]: And just, just want to say, God, I love you.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I thank you that.
[SPEAKER_01]: You're so good and so gracious and so kind.
[SPEAKER_01]: You generous to us.
[SPEAKER_01]: You give us more than we deserve.
[SPEAKER_01]: When the greatest gift you've given us your Son Jesus, born to die on a cross, to rise again, that we may always look at Him, the candle in the darkness, that lights that we can look at, that never moves and never wavers.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have hope for eternity, so thank you, Lord.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'll just pray over my church family right now, Lord, lead us as we continue to pray and sing and rejoice too.
[SPEAKER_01]: And just satisfy our souls and Christ.
[SPEAKER_01]: And Jesus, Amen.