what it must have been like for
Zacharias when he opened his mouth for the first time in ten
long months and uttered these remarkable words that we have
before us and then Luke to have them written
and recorded for us. So let's just look again. John
the Baptist's ministry, and we've been looking at it on account
of the fact that in Acts, John the Baptist is still extraordinarily
highly esteemed and there are disciples of his in many parts,
in Egypt and in many other parts. Paul meets some in Ephesus in
Acts chapter 19 and we've been just looking at this remarkable
ministry of this man, John the Baptist. And I love the summary
of his ministry in John chapter 1, there's a summary of John
the Baptist's ministry. And you know his declaration,
John the Baptist came and he just had one great declaration
and he said, behold, to look at and examine, behold the Lamb
of God. And he could say like no other
prophet, he said, there he is. There he is. I didn't have a
clue who he was. But God the Holy Spirit revealed
him to me. He says, Behold the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world. And anyone who has any
understanding of the character of God knows that taking away
the sin of the world is taking away the sin of all the world,
all of his elect in the world. It cannot possibly be that the
Lord Jesus Christ endeavoured to take away the sins of all
the world because if he did and he failed, and God says he can't
fail, and it's a denial. That particular doctrine is a
denial of every revealed character of God in all of the scriptures. And wherever we come across it,
we need, if the Lord would allow for us, to repudiate it. But
at least here we want you to know that our God is a God of
holiness and is a God of justice. And when he put his son to death
on Calvary's tree, it's an act of holiness, it's an act of justice,
it's an act of sovereignty. And every revealed characteristic
of God was there on perfect display at the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So John the Baptist wasn't declaring a universal salvation.
There were multitudes in hell, and John the Baptist well knew
it. And there were multitudes around John the Baptist, John
the Baptist called vipers, who were heading to hell. And he
knew it. So he had no notions of this
modern idea that the Lord Jesus Christ tried and failed. as one
local pastor told me a few years ago. But listen to what the result
in John 1 verse 37. Verse 36 he says, Behold the
Lamb of God and the two disciples, they heard him speak. They heard John the Baptist speak
and they followed Jesus. Wherever one of God's prophets,
wherever one of God's spokesmen is speaking, The one desire that
all of them have is that they might hear the words of a man,
but we really want them to hear the words of God. To hear the
words of God and then follow the Lord Jesus Christ. But John
the Baptist had this ministry, and his father prophesied of
that ministry. You shall be called, in verse
76, the prophet of the highest. He's the prophet of the highest,
a great description for the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet thou shalt
go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give
knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their
sins, through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the Dayspring
from on high has visited us." What a lovely description of
our Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Dayspring. He's like
the sun rising, as Malachi chapter 4 says. He comes into a darkened
world and He's like the sun rising. That word can also be used, the
branch, and Zechariah talks about Him being the branch. He is the
one that springs forth like a root out of dry ground, our Lord Jesus
Christ. But what does He do? When He
visits people, when He visits His people, He gives light to
them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. And this
is the phrase I'd like us to spend this little time here thinking
about, because we think so much about sanctification, don't we?
We think so much about how we walk in this world, and people
are troubled about it all the time. But here is the promise
of God. Here is the promise of God when
the Lord Jesus Christ visits his people, to guide, to guide
our feet into the way of peace. That word, to guide, means to
straighten fully, to direct, to direct our feet. There's always
the feet of a particular people going to be directed. Everything
in this prophecy refers to a particular people. They are His people in
verse 68, the house of His servant, that we should be saved from
our enemies, verse 71. I think there are 20 personal
pronouns in here and they're all particular. They all relate to a particular
people. To guide our feet, our feet,
into the way of peace. So to go into something is to
enter into it. To guide our feet into, and I
love that description, the Lord Jesus Christ used that word of
himself and the church was known in its early days as the way.
It's the way, the way. There is only one way. There
is only one way of peace. There is just one people who
will have their feet guided into the way of peace. It's a remarkable word, isn't
it, that word peace? It's the most remarkable feeling,
isn't it? It's such a fleeting feeling
in this world, isn't it? This world has never known peace
universally since we left the Garden of Eden. And people who've
had peace have had it in a fleeting way, haven't they? We have times
of peace and that peace can be shattered so easily and so calamitously, can't it? We think
that we've got all of our ducks lined up in a row and we think
we've got our world all together and things are sort of moving
in a way where we can have peace and all of a sudden someone comes
along, our God comes along and it's like a tornado and it's
all sort of tossed up in the air. And all of what we were
holding onto that we thought was going to bring us peace is
actually all taken away from us. And it's taken away from
us in a heartbeat. And it's taken away from us purposely
by God. Because those who have their
feet directed, guided by our God into the way of peace are
going to find that like Zacharias' remarkable prophecy here, that
the one place, the one place where there will be peace and
the one foundation, and the one place to build your nest, is
not on the things of this world. Hold them with an open hand because
God can blow them away. What's he say of wealth? It can
take wings and fly away. It does, doesn't it? We live
in the house in Terrera that was built by what was, at the
time in the 1820s and 30s, one of the wealthiest men in Australia.
He had a huge house in Sydney, entertained all the politicians,
and that's how he ended up scamming his way into getting our place
down there. And he had a huge house with a ballroom and hot
and cold running servants and shops, and he had ships that
travelled all over the place. And he traded with China and
traded with other places, and they built our place as a holiday
house. That's how wealthy he was in
the 1830s. By the time he was 40, he was
bankrupt. And he was living, living in
that place down there because his wife had some money. He lost
absolutely everything. And then just a few short years
after that, he died of epilepsy. He lost absolutely everything. He had it all and he lost it
all in a heartbeat. Brothers and sisters, this world
is not our home. This world is not the place for
us to build our nest. The things of this world are
not the place to place our security in. God will take them away at
your death, and if he's merciful to you, he'll take all that you
cling to away from you before you get to meet him. He will
take all the props of the lives of all of His people. He'll take
them all away so that they are left completely and utterly dependent
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He will. And He He makes peace, our Saviour. He makes peace, doesn't He? He
makes peace between us and God. He makes peace because, I love
those verses in Ephesians 2, He is, Ephesians 2 verse 14,
He is our peace. Verse 13, he says, but now in
Christ Jesus, you who were sometimes far off, you were aliens from
the commonwealth of Israel and you were strangers from the covenant
of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Having
no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus,
you who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. There is, because of Him, for
He is our peace, and He's made both one. And He's reconciled
us to God in one body by the cross, slaying the enmity. God's children have a peace with
God, have a peace with God. It's a peace made. It's a peace
given to His people. It's a peace entered into. And I love what it says, isn't
it? He says he's going to guide our
feet into the way of peace. He's going to direct us into
a place of peace. Peace with him, and with him
we have peace with God. And with him we have peace with
this world. in the sense that we know that
our God reigns and rules over all things. We can have a peace
with his providence and peace with his purpose in this world. But look how the peace comes,
look how that peace comes. A peace that is made for us,
a peace that is given to us, a peace that we entered into,
It's a peace that comes in verse 78 by a visit. By a visit. It's a peace which comes by a
visit of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. having slain the enmity thereby,
and came, who came? He comes, he comes, and he preaches
peace to you that were afar off and to them that are nigh." See,
peace, according to Ephesians 2.18, is to have access by one
Spirit unto the Father. He comes in the preaching of
the gospel. And when he comes, when he personally
comes, he gives, in the words of verse 79 of our text in Luke
chapter one, to give light, to give light to them that sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death. He comes. It's a remarkable promise, isn't
it? That God, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
2 Corinthians 4 verse 6. God who commanded the light to
shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. See, we have a
shining God. We have a God who is light. If
you read that verse, if you turn with me to 2 Corinthians 4, verse
6, it's a remarkable verse, and I'd like us to see something
of what the Holy Spirit has here. I love when we read the Scriptures,
I love the fact that people might go away and say, well, you missed
something. I always do, and there's more to say. And I pray that
the light of the gospel shines brightly for you, and you can
say, this is remarkable. Just read the verse with me again.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. That's
a reference to the first words of God in the scriptures. That
word of great sovereign power. He says, light be, in the original,
light be and light was. And very evidently it's not the
sun, and it's not the moon, and it's not the stars. He's talking
about spiritual light. And that's what Paul's talking
about here, the Holy Spirit's guiding us into this. But God
who commanded light to shine out of darkness has shined in
our hearts. Let's leave the description of
what He did in Genesis 1 out of there. For God has shined
in our hearts. for God who has shined in our
hearts. To give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Peace with God
is given. Peace with God comes from God
shining a light on his son. to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Any mention
of God, any mention of God and any description of God that you
ever hear which doesn't directly relate and doesn't directly glorify
the Lord Jesus Christ is just nonsense. There is one place where God's
glory is seen. It's seen in the face of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He shines in our hearts, brothers
and sisters. He shines in our hearts. If He's
shone in your heart, then you have seen Him. What's the hope
of glory? According to Colossians 1.29,
it's Christ in you. he really takes up residence
as the shining God in our hearts. And he shines that light, and
that light is reflected from the scriptures. We see him as
he's described in the scriptures, and for those who have seen him,
he's like the Shulamite said, he's just altogether lovely.
Every single attribute of His shines with such a glory everything
that a sinner needs, the Lord Jesus Christ is. It gives that light. It's a light. Paul describes, we've looked
at that Damascus Road experience as Paul, it was a light from
heaven. Paul describes himself as a pattern.
He's a pattern to all who after him would believe. He's a pattern. God set him up
as a pattern. Every New Testament believer
has followed Paul's pattern. There's a light that shines. There's a voice. God speaks to
his people. There is a humbling of people,
isn't there? Paul riding proud and tall with
his letters under his arm and murder in his heart and righteousness,
righteousness covering all that he did. He was doing God's service,
he thought. Paul the Patron sees a light
from heaven and he hears a word from heaven. Paul the Patton
is knocked from his high horse. And Paul the Patton is a Patton of all religious
people who are saved. He didn't know who God was. He
had all that religion and all of that knowledge and he didn't
know who God was. And he says, Lord, what will
you have me to do? You see, God appears when he
shines. He appears as an absolute sovereign. To give light to them that sit
in darkness. See, darkness is a picture of
the separation of people from God. Darkness is a picture of
God's judgment on a people. you might recall in Exodus, one
of the plagues that the Egyptians had in Exodus chapter 10, and
I can read the verses to you. He says to Moses, our God, stretch
out thine hand towards heaven that there may be darkness over
the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. And Moses
stretched forth his hand toward heaven and there was thick darkness
in the land of Egypt three days. thick darkness, a darkness that
could be filled. And it's remarkable, you read
the judgment of God upon these people. And they saw not one
another, neither rose any from his place for three days. See not only did the light of
the sun, not only was the light of the sun taken away from them,
they weren't even enabled of God to have even a lamp. And
they sat in the same room in darkness. It's a great picture
of hell, isn't it? The Lord Jesus describes it as
outer darkness. They sat in the same room with
their fellow Egyptians and they couldn't see them. And there
was no light for three days. But all the children of Israel
had light in their dwellings. They had light in their dwellings
and the Egyptians couldn't see the light in their dwellings.
What a remarkable picture. It's a remarkable picture of
the judgment of darkness, isn't it? You might recall when Exodus
14, after the Passover, when the people were there at the
Red Sea, God, as that remarkable pillar of fire and pillar of
light, stood between that Egyptian army and there were the children
of Israel. Like so many of the children of Israel, having their
Red Sea experiences, they can't see a way forward. They look
behind them and they see an army, a superpower, and there they
are without any weapons. And in front of them is just
miles of sea. What do we do? What do we do? Moses said to the people, Fear ye not. In a situation where you see
absolutely nothing around you that can give you any help, fear
ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he
will show you today. You might recall that pillar
of cloud and that pillar of fire and that pillar of cloud which
was shelter and shining and light for the children of Israel, it
went between them and the Egyptians, and it was light. It was light
for the Israelites, and it was black darkness for the Egyptians. So the very same gospel, the
very same gospel, the very same activities of God, which enlighten
these people, darken those. Darken those. The light comes
to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. You
see, you'll appreciate the light when you've known the darkness.
Paul was blinded, wasn't he? For those days, that light shone
so brightly that Paul was blinded. There is a way There is a way that seems right
to men in this world, and God says the ends thereof are the
ways of death. There is a way, there is a way
in religion, according to our God, the greatest mark of Satan
in today's world. Is someone standing with a false
gospel in a pulpit and what's he doing to people? He's saying
peace, peace to people who have no peace. How are they saying peace, peace
to people? You've heard it, haven't you?
They say peace, peace to people in two ways, don't they? One
of them is to distort the character of God. God loves everyone. Well, if he loves everyone, then
he must love me, even though I have no regard for him whatsoever.
God loves everyone. God has proved his love for everyone
by sending Jesus to die for everyone. So if he's died for everyone,
he must have died for me. And the Holy Spirit wants to
save everyone. You distort the character of
God. And you distort the character
of man. The number of times I've heard over the years, it would
be thousands, probably hundreds at least. God gave man free will. God gave man free will. They
name the name of God. See this piece, this piece. that Zacharias is talking about.
This peace from God is a peace that God brings. It's a peace
that comes as a result of the character of God, as you read
the rest of this prophecy. It comes from a revelation of
the character of God. It comes from Him giving knowledge
of salvation. It comes from Him remitting the
sins of His people. It comes from Him revealing His
character. It comes from Him revealing the
character of people, the character of man. We need to be delivered, verse
74. We need We need to be saved, brothers
and sisters, verse 71. We need to be saved from the
hands of all that hate us. We need to be saved from our
enemies. We are a people who don't have free will, but we
are a people, according to the verse that we're looking at in
verse 71, we sit in darkness, and we sit in the shadow of death.
We need to be saved. And the false teachers are saying
that people are good, and God says they're evil. The false
teachers are saying that you can do something about your salvation,
you can make a decision, you can come down the front, you
can pray the sinner's prayer. You can do it. And then we'll
declare you on the basis of your doing that you're saved, and
we'll spend the rest of your time in these churches, we'll
spend the rest of our time preaching peace to you because you can
do it. And we want you to act and look like Christians because
you can do it. I can do better. I have some
righteousness. You find the true enmity of people
against God in religion when you tell them that God says their
righteousnesses are filthy rags. That's what God says. You don't
have any righteousness. You can do no righteousness.
As I said earlier, sin's falling short of the glory of God. You
have a glimpse of his glory, you'll understand how far short
we fall right at this very minute. We are all sinning right now,
brothers and sisters. And yet, our God, our God, comes. He comes to sinners. He comes and visits sinners.
Just recall in your mind the visits of the Lord Jesus Christ
to people in the Gospel. They're just remarkable visits,
aren't they, to people who are helpless and hopeless, and have
nothing in themselves and nothing of themselves, and nothing to
offer God. They don't go to the temple and
say, I thank you that I'm not like these other ones. I thank
you, God, that I'm not like these other people. And I do this,
and I do this, and I'm not like those filthy people down there
in the gutter. I'm not like those filthy people in Corinth. I'm
not like those filthy people in Nauru. I'm moral and good. And I'm thanking God for it. What does a sinner do? I've got a problem that's much
deeper than my skin. I've got a problem that's much
deeper than all the people who are calling me a sinner because
I'm a filthy publican. I've got a problem with my heart.
I've got a problem with my heart. And religion, sticking band-aids
on people who have no peace from God, is nothing less than doing
the work of Satan. Lying to people. He's a liar
and a murderer, isn't he? He lies to people so he can murder
them. We have peace. We are guided
into the way of peace. We are guided into the way of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We are guided into His particular
work. We are guided into the character
of God. So there is no peace except where
God gives Himself. There is no knowledge of salvation. You look there in verse 77, to give the knowledge of salvation,
to give the knowledge of salvation by the remission of their sins.
That word remission means to release, to treat them as if
they didn't exist. That's what justification is,
brothers and sisters. That's what meeting God is. This
is that covenant that Zacharias was caused to talk about. It's
not the Mosaic covenant of do this and live, it's the eternal
covenant of I will and they shall. They'll be my people. They'll
all know me. I love how Jeremiah described
it, didn't he? He says, I'm making a new covenant
with the house of Israel. It's actually the old, old covenant
with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that
I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the
hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. which my covenant
they break, although I was a husband to them, saith the Lord. But
this shall be the covenant I will make with the House of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward
parts. The law of Christ, the law of
faith, the royal law, the law of liberty. and write it in their hearts,
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." That's
salvation, isn't it? God coming to them. And they
shall no more teach every man his neighbour, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know
me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the
Lord. for I will forgive their iniquity,
and I will remember their sins no more." That's how you know
Him, don't you? That's what He says in verse
77, to give the knowledge of salvation unto His people by
the remission of their sins. Not that the remission of your
sins comes at the end of Christian life, it comes at the beginning.
God has declared that the sins of His people don't exist. And
someone says, well, can you explain that? How can something that
is so particularly evident to us be something that God can't
remember? How did God create this world? What did he start with? Nothing. What did he do to create
this universe? He spoke a word. And something
was created out of nothing. Do you think he could speak another
word and take something that exists to us and make it nothing? He doesn't do it. He doesn't
do it apart from the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he does it. Our sins were
laid on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ bore
them in his own body on Calvary's tree, on that cross. And the
infinite holy wrath of God fell upon all of those sins. And it
fell upon us in him, all that wrath of God, until the justice
and the holiness of God says, satisfied. I'm satisfied. That's why Romans 1 speaks of peace, I mean
Romans 5 speaks of peace, doesn't it? But it speaks first of our
Lord, who was delivered for our offences, Romans 4, 25. He was
delivered because of our offences and was raised again because
of our justification. Therefore, being justified, being
already justified, We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. And what does peace with God
look like? Romans 5, 2, by whom we also have access by faith
into this grace. Peace is access with God, isn't
it? We can talk to him. We can come
to him. We can come knowing that we have
access. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience,
and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh
not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given us. And who's it for? Who's this piece for? Verse six,
does this describe you? For when we were without strength,
when you had no power, when you had no ability, in due time Christ
died for the ungodly. That word ungodly is the word
for worship. No worship is what that means.
No worship. Does that describe you? No ability,
no strength. ungodly. For scarcely will a righteous
man with one die, but yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Sinners. No strength, no worship,
and nothing but sin. Much more than being now justified
by his blood shall we be saved from the wrath to come. For if when we were enemies,
that describes you, no strength, no worship, sinners, enemies
of God. We were reconciled to God by
the death of His Son. Much more, being reconciled,
we shall be saved by His life." Is that where you find peace,
brothers and sisters? Peace that looks to Him, peace
that finds, like Zacharias did, a description of his character,
the most remarkable thing, a peace to be part of an eternal covenant
where God says, I will and you shall. When God says, I will,
the wills always happen, and when God says, you shall, the
shalls always happen. How do we walk now? We walk in
the light of who He is. We walk in the light of what
the Word of God says. We walk by simply trusting what
He says. We live by His faithfulness. The life I now live in the body,
this flesh, which as Paul knew was nothing but sin, he declared
himself to be the chief of sinners. And that life I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. Peace with the character of God.
Peace with the word of God. Peace with the purpose of God.
Peace with everything that God says in this book about himself. Peace with his sovereignty. At
peace with his electing love. At peace with his predestinating
purpose. At peace with his choosing. Peace
with his justice. Peace with his providence. Peace. The way of peace. the way into
the holiest, the way into the presence of God, the new and
living way, through his blood, by him entirely. God Guide our feet into the way
of peace. I can never find it by myself
and I'm going to continually need to be directed back into
it all the time. Guide my feet into the way of
peace. Guide my feet into the way of
the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Prince of Peace.