Let's turn in our Bibles, brethren,
to Luke chapter 1. Last time we were introduced
to Zacharias and Elizabeth. They were well stricken in years,
and they had no children, for Elizabeth was barren. Now let's
pick up in verse 8. And it came to pass, that while
Zacharias executed the priest's office before God in the order
of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office,
his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the
Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without
at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an
angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of
incense. And when Zacharias saw, he was
troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto
him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. That's going
to be our subject, thy prayer is heard. And thy wife Elizabeth
shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And
thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his
birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and
shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. And he shall be
filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many
of the children of Israel shall return to the Lord their God.
And He shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias
to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient
to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared
for the Lord." Our subject is, Thy Prayer is Heard. You know, when I start this Bible
study in the mornings, sometimes I pray publicly, sometimes I
don't. But I don't want you to think
that I don't pray. That's what I've been doing sitting
here. That's what I've been doing on the drive over here. That's
what I was doing before I left my house is asking the Lord,
please meet with us, begging Him to meet with us and be our
teacher. And the reason we pray is because
we're utterly dependent on our Lord Jesus Christ. We want His
will done. We know whatever He does will
be best and right and for our good and for His glory. And we
want Him to be glorified. And so we want His will done.
And we're dependent on Him to bring to pass His will. So we
pray to Him. And what I want us to see here
is our Lord Jesus, because He is the intercessor for His people
with God, our prayer is heard. Our prayer is heard. Now, by
our Lord Jesus, that's, you know, Zacharias and Elizabeth, she's
barren. He's in this temple praying.
Now, our Lord hears prayer. We know from Genesis 25, 21,
Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren.
And the Lord was entreated of him. And Rebekah, his wife, conceived. Then Hannah, remember Hannah,
she couldn't have a child. Wherefore it came to pass when
the time was come about after Hannah had conceived that she
bear a son and called his name Samuel, saying, because I have
asked him of the Lord. The Lord heard her and gave her
a child. Psalm 118.21 says, I will praise
thee for thou hast heard me and art become my salvation. Like
everything else in our salvation, this thing of prayer glorifies
the Lord Jesus Christ. It glorifies Him. Now I want
you to see this. First of all, we see how God
ordains and predestinates and brings to pass His eternal purpose. He ordained it, predestinated,
He brings it to pass. Look here in verse 8. And it
came to pass. What's it? and it came to pass. What? God's purpose. God brought
his purpose to pass. Zacharias executed the priest's
office before God in the order of his course. According to the
custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when
he went into the temple of the Lord. And while he was in there,
the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time
of incense. God ordained this from eternity.
God ordained, not only elected Zacharias, in Christ, blessed
him with all spiritual blessings like he does all his people.
He ordained that Zacharias would be a priest at this time. And
the Lord brought it to pass. You know, like he said, Jeremiah,
before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and I ordained thee
a prophet. I sanctified thee and I ordained
thee a prophet unto the nation while you were in the womb, God
said. There were many priests at this time. Now he's not a
high priest, he's one of the regular priests, but there was
a lot of those at this time. Some, they say over 20,000 priests
at this time of the House of Levi. And the custom was they
divided these priests into courses. So just so many of them came
to the temple. And, but they had enough priests
there to carry out every service God had ordained to be performed
during their worship. That was their public worship.
So there was enough priests in a course to do whatever needed
to be done in the service. And they would cast lots to determine
who did what. One lot would determine who's
going to cleanse the altar and prepare the fire. One light would
determine who's going to kill the morning sacrifice and sprinkle
the altar and sprinkle all the vessels in the temple with the
blood so that they'd be holy before God. A light would fall
on who would offer the evening sacrifice, on and on. They cast
lights so that there was a priest to do each thing, and they all
picture all these different services In the temple picture, Christ,
our high priest, they all picture him. He's the showbread, he's
the altar, he's the lamb, he's the high priest, he's the mercy
seat within the holiest of holies, he's everything. And Zacharias'
lot was to burn incense. His lot was to burn incense.
They cast lots, and his lot felt that he was to go in the holy
place, not the holiest of holies, but in the first room, the holy
place, while the people are on the outside, and he's going to
burn incense and pray on behalf of the people. That's what God
brought to pass. God made that light come to pass
for him, that he would be the priest in there doing this. The
light is cast into the lamp, but the whole disposing thereof
is of the Lord. That's what the scripture said.
God not only elected Zachariah to save him, God not only ordained
him to be a priest and made him a priest to typify Christ, and
that's why he's a priest, he's a picture of Christ. God not
only ordained he'd be the father of John the Baptist who would
go before preaching Christ, God ordained that Zacharias would
be burning incense and praying, interceding on behalf of the
people at the time that this angel appeared to him. God ordained
this. Nothing comes to pass by chance.
It came to pass. God's purpose came to pass because
God brought it to pass. Brethren, everything God ordains,
He brings it to pass in time. And He does it to glorify the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what we have right
here. This is what Zacharias was doing, is an example of what
Christ, our intercessor, is doing for us continually. Right here. You get the picture here, the
people are on the outside of the temple. Me and you are down
here below now. And we're praying. They were
all praying. We're praying. And the priest went into the
holy place and he burned the incense before the altar of incense
and prayed on their behalf. That's a picture of Christ interceding
for us, praying on our behalf. The scripture says this, Psalm
141.2, this incense pictures prayer, our prayer. And the priest
in there praying pictures Christ offering our prayers to God,
so that they come to God as they ought to be. Psalm 141.2 says,
Let my prayer be set before thee as incense. Look over at Revelation
5.8. Revelation 5.8. We looked at
this when we went through Exodus, but Revelation 5.8, John saw the Lamb, and it says,
when He had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and
twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, verse 8. It says, having
every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, that was
incense, which are the prayers of the saints. You see that?
Look over at Revelation 8. This incense represents prayer. Revelation 8, verse 3. Another
angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer, and there
was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with
the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before
the throne. And the smoke of the incense
which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before
God out of the angel's hand." It came up before God out of
the angel's hand. You see that? See this censer
burning this incense? this good smelling incense. As
the prayer went up, that incense is a picture of Christ who makes
our prayer accepted to God. He makes it acceptable, otherwise
God couldn't accept us. By His blood, our Lord Jesus
has justified His people. He came and fulfilled everything
that's written in the Scripture. All those prophecies, all those
types, he fulfilled them all, but he also fulfilled the moral
law for his people. He's the righteousness of his
people. Then he goes to the cross and he put away all our sin completely. Christ did that. And our high
priest has entered into the holiest of holies, just like Zacharias
went into that holy place. Christ has entered the holiest
of holies, into God's presence. And He's commanded you and me
to pray to the Father in His name. He's commanded us that. There's a reason we pray in the
name of the Lord Jesus. It's because He's our intercessor
with the Father. Look at John 14. John 14. We can't do anything without
our Lord Jesus Christ, nothing. Even our prayer, the only way
we can come to God is through the Lord Jesus. Look here in
John 14, 13. He said, whatsoever ye shall
ask in my name. You see that? In my name. That
will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you
shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. Look at John 16,
verse 23. He said, and in that day, you
shall ask me nothing. He's talking about after he's
arisen. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever you shall
ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto you've
asked nothing in my name. ask and you shall receive that
your joy may be full. Look at verse 26. At that day,
you shall ask in my name, and I say not unto you that I will
pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you,
because you have loved me and have believed that I came out
from God. So God and our Lord Jesus are one in this. He's our
righteousness with God, and his presence is intercession for
us. He's very present there. But
when He brings you to pray in His name, that's when we pray
in His name, the prayer comes to God and is made acceptable
by His merits, by His merits. Look at Hebrews 7. By His righteousness, by His
holiness, by His perfection, that's how our prayer comes to
God and is accepted. Hebrews 7 verse 22. So much was Jesus made surety
of a better testament. And they truly were many priests
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
They had to be new priests all the time because they died. But
this man, because he continueth forever, Talking about Christ,
he hath an unchangeable priesthood. So here's how that applies to
me and you. Wherefore he's able also to save them to the uttermost
that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. So even in announcing the birth
of John the Baptist, our Lord ordained everything to picture
his son, our intercessor. He ordained this. Now secondly,
go back to Luke 1, I want you to see that by our
Lord Jesus Christ, God really does hear our prayer. By our
Lord Jesus, for his sake, he hears our prayer. Verse 11, there
appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right
side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw, he was
troubled and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him,
fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. Now I would
say this angel is Christ himself, but it says an angel, it doesn't
say the angel. And Christ our mediator sent
this angel. It says he's an angel of the
Lord. Christ sent him. Scripture says
angels are ministering spirits sent to minister to them who
shall be heirs of salvation. Ministering spirits sent to minister
to them who shall be heirs of salvation. Sent by God our Father,
sent by our mediator Christ Jesus to minister to you and me who
are heirs, his heirs of salvation. But it's by Christ the mediator.
It's by Christ the mediator. This was the pre-Incarnate Lord
Jesus Christ who had mediated between Zacharias and the Father,
and then he came to Zacharias through this angel. and spoke
to him and told him his prayer was answered. There's one God
between, there's one mediator between God and men, it's the
man Christ Jesus. And he not only represents us
to God, he represents God to us. As we pray, angels are ministering
spirits. Do you remember when Jacob saw
the ladder? The bottom of it was in the earth,
the top was in heaven, and the angels were ascending and descending
on that ladder. Christ is that ladder. He's the
mediator between God, our Father in heaven, and his people in
this earth. And when he sent this angel, that's a manifest
token right there that he is truly the mediator. God heard
Zacharias' prayer for Christ's sake. Now, When Zacharias saw this
angel, he was fearful. We're going to see another time,
a little further on, that unbelief overtook him. He didn't believe
what the angel told him. But we're not going to be too
hard on Zacharias. I mean, we have to remember this. This could have been the first
time Zacharias ever offered incense in the temple. If there was 20,000
priests, and they only served by lot, I mean that's a pretty
good slim chance that you're going to be called on to offer
incense. There's a lot of other things
to be done among 20,000 people. This could be the first time
Zechariah ever went in there. And also remember this, it's
been 400 years since the Lord spoke to Israel. The end of Malachi
was the last time the Lord spoke to them until right then. But
the chief reason Zacharias was fearful, the chief reason is
he was a sinner and he's before holy God. When you hear, when
the Lord's people come before God, we don't come before Him
flippantly and just, you know, we come fearful. we become fearful
because we're the sinner and we're dealing with a holy, holy,
holy God. When Moses was at that burning
bush and God spoke to him, God told him, take your shoes off
Moses, this is holy ground. Because it was God, it was Christ
there. And when Isaiah saw the glory
of the Lord, it was the angels, it was the cherubim that said,
that announced to him and said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God of heaven. And Isaiah hid his face, he said,
I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. But Christ knows
his people, he knows us by name, He's redeemed us, He's our righteousness
before God, and so this angel spoke and said to Zacharias,
fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. Just think of
Zacharias in there now. He's in there praying to the
Lord. This angel appears, and he's troubled by it, and the
angel called him by name. Zacharias, fear not. God knows His people by name. He knows your name. He wrote your name in the Lamb's
Book of Life before the world was made. Your parents named
you what they named you because He wrote your name in the book.
Who told Zacharias what this boy's name was going to be? The
Lord did. He's going to be named John. We should not be surprised when
God answers our prayer brethren. We should expect it. We should
expect it. Our prayer is heard. That's the
only thing you really want, isn't it? Don't you just want to know
the Lord hears you? He knows best what to give me.
Whether He answers my prayer and gives me what I prayed for,
I believe that to Him. I just want Him to hear me and
know that I have a need, Lord, and I'm depending on You to fill
that need. He'll do what needs to be done. He'll work His will.
I just need to know He's heard. I'm heard. Look at 1 John 5. I think that's what John's saying. 1 John 5, 13. He said, These things have I
written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may
believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence
that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to
His will, He heareth us. And if we know that He heareth
us, Whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petition that
we desired of Him. You know, the fact that He hears
you means He accepts you. He doesn't hear everybody. If
He hears us, it's because Christ is our righteousness. And that's
all I need to know. I just need to know He hears
me. Because He'll do whatever I need. And He'll do it right. And He'll meet my need. And we're
praying according to His will. Lord, Thy will be done. All the
comfort I need is to know He hears me. And He does. That's
what He said. He hears His people. See, our
confidence is in Christ for all things. You see there what John
said? This is our confidence in Christ. That's why God hears
us. What's your confidence that you
have a righteousness that God will receive? Is it any works
you do? No. It's in Him, isn't it? It's Christ. What's your confidence
that you have a holiness, a new Holy Spirit in which you can
approach God? Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's not our works. It's Christ
in you, the hope of glory. Well, what's your confidence
when you pray to God that He'll hear you? It's the Lord Jesus
Christ, our High Priest, His blood. Look at Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10.19. Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest. That word boldness,
that's confidence. Our confidence is in Christ.
Having therefore, brethren, confidence to enter into the holiest, into
God's presence. How? What's our confidence? By
the blood of Jesus. by a new and living way. He's
that new and living way, which He's consecrated for us through
the veil, that is to say, through His flesh, and having a high
priest over the house of God. That's our confidence. Let us
draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with
full assurance, confidence. He's going to hear you. Having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water, our confidence is Christ. He made Him sin who
knew no sin, that we might be made to righteousness of God
in Him. And Christ has redeemed us from the curse of all being
made a curse for us. This is why God will hear us.
He's given you faith to trust Christ to be your high priest
and represent you to God. That's why God will hear us.
It's all because of Christ. Christ said, I'm the way. And
He said, don't make it come to the Father but by Me. He's the
new and living way. He said, And look, that full
assurance of faith, when you pray, pray believing. Pray trusting
and expecting that God's going to hear you. That's what He tells
us to do. This is what He said, Matthew
21, 22. He said, All things whatsoever
you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive. Believing. Believing. Remember when he came
to those blind men and they were asking for sight and he said,
believe us now that I'm able to do this? They said, yes Lord. And he did it. They gave him
sight. Come to him believing, trusting
him for everything. Now some think that by this age,
Zacharias had probably stopped asking the Lord to give him a
child. I read that several commentaries, that by this age, Zacharias had
given up and he just quit asking the Lord to give him a child.
It looks to me like that's exactly what Zacharias was asking. The
angel appeared and said, your prayers are, you're going to
have a child. Zacharias, he believed God. He
read about Abraham and Sarah, how God gave them a child. He
knew about Isaac's prayer and God giving Jacob. He knew about
Hannah and God giving Samuel. He believed God. It was the will
of God to give those children. You know what? They're children
of promise. God produced them. So it is with
John the Baptist. So it is with you who are children
of God. If our Savior was able to call us out of darkness into
His light, If He was able to call you out of darkness into
His light, which He was, and He was able to create a new spirit
in us by His power and His grace, and He's been able to keep you
all this time and keep you trusting Him and keep you assembling and
keep you looking to Him, then we better know He can hear our
prayer. And whatever His will is, He can bring it to pass.
Zacharias believed God. Listen, Ephesians 3.20 says this,
I love this verse, Ephesians 3.20. God is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the
power that worketh in us. Now look, I'm pretty sure Zacharias
was asking the Lord for a child. Can God do exceeding abundantly
above all we ask or think? Look at this next, look at this,
look at what the Lord said, and pay attention to the word and,
all right? Verse 13, he said, thy prayer
is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou
shalt call his name John, and thou shalt have joy and gladness,
and many shall rejoice at his birth, And he's going to be a
Nazarite from his birth. He'll be great in the sight of
the Lord and shall drink either wine or strong drink. And he
shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's
womb. And many of the children of Israel shall return to the
Lord their God. and he shall go before him in
the spirit and power of a liars to turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the judge to
make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Can the Lord do
exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think? I'm sure when
Zacharias heard thy wife shall bear thee a son, Zacharias thought,
that's all I wanted. And then he hears, and, and,
and, and, the Lord just kept giving him more and more and
more and more. Brethren, pour your heart out to the Lord Jesus.
Ask the will of God to be done. Christ is our righteousness before
God. He's our advocate with the Father.
He's our intercessor with God. And He hears the prayer of His
people. He will work His will. All our confidence is He hears
us for Christ's sake. He'll do us what I need. And He'll do it abundantly. Let's
go to Him now, brethren. Our gracious Lord, we thank You
for this Word. We thank You for Your mercy.
Oh, Your tender mercies, Lord. Tender mercies. Abundant mercies. Thank You for hearing us for
Christ's sake. We ask, Lord, now that You would
indeed create life in us, revive life in us, renew life in us,
just like You did in Elizabeth. Cause us, Lord, to see you new
today like it's the first time. Cause us to rejoice in you. Lord,
keep us for your sake. And Lord, we pray this for all
Your people everywhere. Those that are going through
trial and are in darkness right now and don't have any light,
Lord, we pray You'd make them stay upon You. We pray You'd
make them trust in Your name and that You'd give them light,
Lord. Whatever Your will is, Lord,
that's all we ask. Whatever Your will, Thy will
be done. Thank you for our daily bread. Thank you for providing
for our needs. And Lord, we ask you, forgive
us our sin. Help us to have more faith to
see that you have. You've shown us so great mercy
that we might be more forgiven of our brethren, more long-suffering,
more patient. And Lord, we ask everything in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hear him on our behalf. Thank
you, Lord. In Christ's name, amen.