I can never be told, all the
unsearchable riches of pride, precious, more precious than
gold. Who shall their greatness declare? The half has never been told.
So much to tell, so little time to tell it. A great story. I'm trying to be told by earthen
vessel. Seven persons' names in this
story. Several people. Yet the story
is really of one. The last one spoken of, the last
one born, is really the first. The one this is all about. Two
couples, two sons born, and an angel is sent to tell both couples
of a son being born. Now all of their lives, listen
to this, All of their lives are connected. Each one of these
persons, their lives are vitally joined together, connected in
life by God's eternal decree and purpose and power for one
reason, for one reason, for one purpose, for one person. The second son is really the
first. Listen to Ephesians, and God
hath abounded toward us in wisdom and prudence. He has made known
to us this purpose for all things, our purpose and all things. The
mystery of his will he has made known according to the good pleasure
which he hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of time he might gather together in one all things in
Christ. both which are in heaven and
which are on earth, even in him, in whom we have obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his own will, that we should
be to the praise of his glory who first trusted in Christ. I've just told you the whole
story. I've just told you the meaning
of life, the reason this whole universe was created. The purpose
for its existence is to the praise of the glory
of the Son of the Most High God. And everything and everyone was
created for that reason. You and I, all people, all places,
All things are in God's eternal, absolute, unchangeable, predestinated
purpose. All people and things somehow
to the praise of His glory, either in our salvation or our condemnation. All things are either going to
be in His kingdom, all people are going to be in His kingdom,
in His family, singing forever to the praise of the glory of
Him who has loved us and washed us from our sin in His own blood.
No mention of anything that they have ever been or ever done or
ever accomplished. Not one single human being saved
by His grace is mentioning anything of man but all of Him. Because
that's why they were saved. to declare that. Or, if they're not in that kingdom
and not in that place and that day, somehow or another they
are related, somehow or another their purpose is to give birth
to someone who is, or in some way play some part in this life
of the one who has been predestined and in his kingdom. And then
when their purpose is fulfilled for that, for another person,
they will be discarded and thrown away as refuge. That's right. And if you and I don't live now to acknowledge our God in some
way, if it's not for His glory, His
honor, His worship, His praise, We cumber the ground, and our purpose, and the Lord will be through
with us someday. And so I say, and this is the
message, because all have sinned, the greatest sin of all, rebellion
against our Creator, and come short of the glory of God, which
is to acknowledge our God and to live for and speak of the
praise of the glory of His grace. That's our purpose. And so I
say to all of us, every one of us, repent. For the Kingdom of
Heaven is at hand, very near. It's all about the King's Son.
It's all about His glory. And if we don't give Him any
glory, He's done with us. But if we do, He's not done with
us. We're going to keep this. The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
This is a long chapter, a long story, and began much further
back than this. It began in the eternity path.
Please, I hope the Lord will enable someone to listen. The
story is one, the theme is one, the subject is one, as I said,
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the story of salvation
in Him. That's the story of this chapter.
That's the story of the whole Gospel of Luke. That's the story
of the whole Bible. That's why it was written. That's
why, as I said, the whole universe was written. It's His story.
All of His story is for the purpose of Christ to come into this world.
The story of one, the Lord Jesus Christ, the story of salvation
in Him, the story of salvation by Him, who was to come, who
did come, who's coming again. And this one angel named Gabriel,
you know, he didn't give his name until a little later. Why?
It wasn't important. It's not important that they
know who he is, but they know the one who's coming. But this
one angel was sent to tell of one who's coming. Before he came,
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I don't want... John is called great, and so
is the other son. One is greater than the other.
Infinitely greater. And the only reason the first
is called great is because he has something to do with Christ. But before the Lord Jesus Christ
came, heaven and the angel and a multitude of heavenly hosts,
they anticipated it. And when He came, all of them
were sent to announce it. Well, a handful believed it,
received it. Boy, were they glorified. And
while He was here, this one, God Himself, Out loud, he hadn't
spoken for 400 years, as if he couldn't contain himself. Spoke
out loud to all heaven and earth to hear. Said, this is my beloved
Son in whom I'm well pleased. And when he died, the whole earth
trembled, and the sun hid his face. And when he arose, the sun came
up to him. And then he ascended into glory,
and those ones who came the first time came to usher him back into
glory. And there he sits right now,
reigning and ruling over all. And this same God says, He's
coming again. Anytime. Any day. You just don't
know. He's coming. Coming again. Every eye shall behold Him, and
every ear shall hear His voice, even those who would hear anybody
but Him. They're going to be forced to
hear Him. And every knee will bow, and every tongue that cursed
Him and wouldn't even acknowledge Him Every mind is going to be
on Him, every eye is going to see Him, every ear is going to
be forced to hear Him, be absolutely forced to acknowledge, there
He is. And whether they want to or not,
they're all going to be made to say, He really is Lord. So you just see, you see don't
you, that salvation is now. Then, it's too late. Alright,
here's the story. Here's the story. Several things
to see here, several lessons to learn, but one truth. Okay?
One truth. It's all related to Christ. All
these little people, all these little parts that they played
according to the purpose of God, had something to do with Jesus
Christ. Alright? Verse 5 says there's
a certain man. And his wife. Certain old man.
Just an old man and his wife. What an insignificant couple
this is, huh? Aren't they? Just another old
man and his wife. Just like these two down here
on this front row. It's just another old couple.
Oh no, it's not. Oh no, it's not. These are special. In themselves. Anything special
about Zechariah? He's just another priest. There's
a bunch of them. Elizabeth, just another daughter of Aaron, huh? No. You know what made them special?
You know what made them differ? You know what it was that made these people so special? God chose them. They were chosen. They were called.
Called. God sent an angel to them. Who? Insignificant couple. Well, who
were they? Nobody. But God chose them, came
to them, because they're vitally joined and connected to His Son. They are important to God. They're
vital to God. Not in and of themselves. Not
that they can contribute anything. But God chose them to be a part
in this wonderful, predestinated purpose for God's glory to redound
to the praise and the honor and glory of His Son. They're a part
of it. Chosen, called, vitally joined
to His Son. And everybody in His Son is going
to be gathered together in His Son. And some of them don't think
they have any part. I'm sure Zachariah thought, Mom,
I bet he thought, what good am I anymore? You reckon? I'm just an old man. I have no purpose in life. Doing
the same old thing. You don't see what God sees. You know, I'm not like most preachers
that say, you're special to God. You're special. You're a unique individual. No, you're not. No, you're not.
I don't care what your mama says, you're not. There's a zillion
just like you. Just like you. Bunch of sinners,
bunch of worms. That's right. Jotted this little
illustration down. Scripture calls man a worm. He's
not anything special. He is a dog. We've had dogs. You've had dogs,
Tim. We had a dog recently. We chose
a dog. We paid for the dog. And after
having it 17 years, you know what he was? A dog. He was rightly named. His breed,
he was a Shih Tzu. Appropriate name. But anyway,
we had him for years. But you know what? We loved that
dog. We loved that dog. We chose that
dog. We paid money. You can find dogs
everywhere. We paid money for this one. We
redeemed it. And we loved that dog until the
day he died. We did everything for that dog.
What did that dog do for us? What did that dog do for us?
Oh, I know they're service dogs and they're rescue dogs and all
that. Well, it's all said and done. If they're not trained,
they're just dogs. Sorry, you dog lovers. It's just
so. Your dog is not better than any
other dog. It's just a dog. And you know how dogs want to
die? Like a dog. Same with human beings. But that
dog gave us great joy. That dog gave us great pleasure. We love that dog. You know why
we love that dog? You know how that dog gave us
joy? It loved us. Does Zoe love you, Bonnie? I've
seen her. I've seen her. Do you love her? It's just a dog. That's mine,
she'll tell you. That's my dog. Don't you say
anything about my dog, huh? Isn't that right? But how do
you get joy? How do you get gladness, huh?
What good is that dog to you? It loves you! It looks to you! You do everything for it. You
protect it. You provide for it. You feed
it. You house it. You water it and do all that
thing. It does nothing for you. But what? Acknowledge you! Thank
you! Thank you! Thank you! Huh? That's why we were created. Beth
Romans once says, man, no, I don't serve the Creator, but the creature
myself. I don't even think there is a
God. Like all these dogs, it will bite you. What good are they? What should
be done with them? Huh? All these days. Fed and watered and housed. That's
what Isaiah says. Oh, I brought up a people, they
rebelled against me. I fed them, I watered them, I
protected them, I provided for them. Given, given, given, given,
given. And they've never one time from
their heart given me thanks. In fact, they've robbed me of
my glory. Proud. Conceited. Look what I've done. And if God doesn't change them,
If God doesn't reveal to them, like Brother David's article
in our bulletin, if God doesn't show them all the goodness, all
the mercy, all the grace, the good parents, the good place
they were brought up under, to hear the good news of the gospel,
of Christ who came, if God doesn't show them, you don't deserve
any of this. You deserve to be destroyed. But God, so rich in
mercy and grace, if you call on Him right now, if you ask
Him for mercy right now, if you tell Him, what should I say to
Him quickly? Say, I'm sorry. Say, I'm wrong. It's nobody's
fault. Say, I was ungrateful. Say, help me. Huh? You know what He'll do? He's
such a good dog. You've never done anything for His glory all
your life. You know what He'll do? He'll
have you. He'll take you. Come on in, dog. Come on in the
house. You're mine forever." Isn't he
a good God? Where am I? Well, it's the same
story. A certain old man and his wife,
chosen, called, vitally joined to the Son. It says in verse
6, they were righteous and blameless. They were calling on Him. And
I think, as we said before, I'm just certain of it, that Elizabeth
and Zachariah had given up all hope of having a child. You know
that. You know it. And we did, didn't we? I mean,
after five years, we didn't think we'd have children. Well, forget
that. It's not the Lord's will. Well, is that giving up? What were they praying for? They were praying, verse 13 says,
Fear not, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard. What were they
praying for? You're going to hear Zechariah's prayer in a
minute. They're praying for salvation. They're praying for mercy. They're
praying for light in dark times. They're praying for the salvation
of God's people. They're praying for the redemption of God. They're praying for deliverance
from our enemies, from our captives. They were praying for salvation
by the charm. Whether God gave them a son or a child or not,
That's not important. That's not vital. We don't need
to have a child, but we need saving. And if we have a son,
I sure hope He saves him. That's what was on their mind.
We don't need a son. We don't need a child. We need
saving. I've just told you the whole
story. An angel was sent to declare unto them, verse 13, fear not,
fear not, my son. It says you'll have joy and gladness. Joy and gladness. You know that boy of theirs ended
up getting his head cut off. Were they allowed to see that? Mary was alive to see her son
hanging in agony. That's what Simeon said, a sword
is going to pierce your soul. What mattered about those boys? What mattered? Joy and gladness. Joy and gladness. Well, here's joy and gladness. Real joy and gladness. There
are two sons, and here's a lesson in greatness. Are you with me?
Here's a lesson in greatness, true greatness. Two sons born
to two couples destined for greatness. As said, one is a whole lot greater
than the other. Both lived for each other. Do
you know that? They both lived for each other.
John? lived for the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who was to come. Christ came and lived for John,
that he might behold his glory. Both lived for each other. One
first lived, he lived first, born first. Or was he? No. He lived by the other. That's
a mystery. Yeah, because the second, that
wasn't his beginning. It was his beginning, it was
way below. The child was born, but the son is given. Zechariah and Elizabeth, they
wanted a child. Listen to me. The Lord didn't
give them a child, but finally He did. And now they're expecting
that child. Once they heard it, they were
just like any other couple. Every one of you who has been
given and blessed with a child, They wanted a child, and finally
they were given a child. Like all couples, they were expecting
this child and their thoughts, they had many thoughts, they
had dreams, they had hopes, they had fears, didn't they? For the
child, what will he be? What will she be? What will she
become? What's going to be his name or her name? What will he
do? What will he be? What will he
accomplish? Will he be married? Will he have children? Will he
have a home? What's going to be his occupation, right? And the Lord said through the
angel, he's going to be great. Great! To who? God, in the sight of the Lord. That's the only greatness there
is. Not he that proveth himself,
but whom God proveth. And God said this about John.
Listen to me. Listen to the Scripture. You
know what God says? That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God. That every man at his best state
is altogether vanity. So what is greatness? What is greatness? What does
anyone have that they have not received? John's the one that
said that. A man can receive nothing. They
came to him calling him great. They came to John calling him
great. Sister. And they said, what's your name?
He said, I have nobody. Nothing. My name doesn't need
to be mentioned. There cometh one that is greater
than me. That's the purpose of my existence. But what's your credentials?
A voice. My voice was created for one
thing. He shall be great, greater than
me. And I'm not worthy, John said,
I'm not worthy to tie his shoes. He shall be great, Son of the
Highest. What do you wish for for your
children? Greatness? The Lord said that
to a fellow one time in the scriptures in Jeremiah as a king. And he said, seekest thou great
things for thyself? Seek them not. He said, what you're going to
be called to suffer is great sorrow for my sake. What do you want your child to
have? What do you want for your child, for yourself? Productive
life? People say that. I want them
to live a productive life. I want them to help others. I
want them to contribute to society. I want them to be a good member
of the human race. Well, that's all well and good, but that's
not my creator. It's all well and good, but that's not any good. So suppose they become a great
builder and build great houses. That's fine. People need houses,
okay? We've got good carpenters. I'm glad. Our Lord was a carpenter.
But every house they're going to build is going to fall down.
Doesn't matter how great the carpenters. Suppose they become
a doctor, okay, to help people, help people get well. And I'm
thankful for doctors. I'm thankful for these men because
you know what? They're all going to die anyway. They're not going to live any
longer. and what the Lord purposefully did. But there's one thing that
lives on. There's one. Neither of these sons born, and
I'm talking about greatness, neither of these sons lived a
long life. 33 years. That was 30 years ago for me.
40 for Amy. Isn't that right? Thirty-three.
You think thirty-three... Lauren and somebody think thirty-three
is old. Don't you? I think it's real
young. Somebody dies at thirty-three,
that's a child. Neither one of them lived but
thirty-three years. That's it. What'd they accomplish? Who'd they live for? Was it a
productive life? Did they help others? Oh my, neither one of them owned
one material thing. I told myself, Seth, you don't
have to holler this. Yeah, we do. Because our society
is consumed with stuff. And if the Lord doesn't take
stuff out of us, the world out of us, we're going to be consumed
with this stuff. My wife and I are getting ready
to throw everything away, aren't we? We're going to start today.
Yes, everything. You said it. We're going to go
up in that attic. Ain't going to keep a thing. We're going
to throw it away. Right? You said it. But it's a fact,
people. It's a fact, isn't it? What are we living for? The Lord
said it's all going to be burned up. Seeing that all these things
shall be dissolved, Peter wrote, what manner of person should
we all be? Who are we living for? What are we living for?
What's our purpose? I'm not preaching a purpose-driven life. I'm preaching
Christ's. Neither one of these persons
owned a material thing. John was never married. Neither
one of them were married. Neither one of them had children.
Or did they? They were married to each other. Oh, the second one had children
alright. I'm one of them. Both of them were hated by the
world. And both of them were brutally murdered by the world.
But God called them great. Great. And the only thing, poor
but rich. As rich as nobody else knew.
John's greatness, verse 16, says, many of the children of Israel
shall he turn to the Lord their God. He shall go before him in
the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children, and to disobedient, to the wisdom of the just. Oh,
my parents, this son was from the womb. Can you imagine? From the womb, came out. Can
God save a young person? Oh, yes. Oh yes. I know people that have
been divinely impressed from an early age and the Lord spared
them, restrained them all the days of their life. God put the yoke upon them in
their youth. What a wonderful thing that is. Before the world
gets a hold of them. Before they do harm and damage
and hurt. and bring shame and reproach
upon all around them, including themselves, upon God. What a
mercy and grace of God that is. Now, it's not in the person.
It's not because that person is great. It's because God is
great. God in great mercy and grace,
restraining grace and constraining grace. John was given the Holy
Spirit. John was born a sinner, but he
was given the Spirit of God. And when you're given the Spirit
of God, You have the mind of Christ.
You have a heart for Christ. Your life is lived for the glory
of Christ. Your whole purpose is to redound
to the praise of the glory of Jesus Christ. So that's what
John was all about. And God said, He's a great man. A great man. It doesn't matter
what anybody else thought. The whole world hated him, but
God said, no, he's great. Jesus Christ said, none greater.
Didn't he? Why? Why, Mike? Because John witnessed of and
testified and gave glory to Jesus Christ. That's why. That's it. He didn't build any buildings.
He never healed a person. He never performed one miracle.
Ever. Ever. Not one. What did he do? Preach
Christ. God said, this is great. The
world thinks what I'm doing. What we're doing right now is
just useless. God says it's great. So, here's the story. And John's
name means highly favored of God. He's the son of the Most
High God. What do you want for your children? What do you want
for your children more than anything else? What do you want for those
girls sitting beside you? One thing, isn't it? Does anything
else really matter? You want them to be highly favored
of God. You want them to belong to God.
You want them to be one of God's own, don't you? So that they'll
live a life, a productive life, a fruitful life. What kind of
life is that? To the praise of the glory of his creator. That's
it. Nothing else matters. It really
doesn't. Because it's all going to perish. And he said, verse 14, you're
going to have joy and gladness. Many will rejoice at his birth.
Joy and gladness. How long did that last, that
joy and gladness? John left them. He left home
and went out to live in the wilderness. Son, don't you love us? Yeah,
I love you, Dad, Mom, but I'm on a mission. That was a heartbreak to them,
but it's God's purpose. And then they saw him die of
joy and gladness. You know, life goes so fast,
doesn't it? When those children are first born, do you remember
it? It seems like a vapor, doesn't
it? Like a sleep. And they grow up so fast. We
had one daughter, as you know, Hannah. It means the gift of
God, the grace of God. And we loved her so much. Still do. But she grew up so
fast. And then our first granddaughter
came along. And you know, for the first five
years, I called her Hannah. I did, Catherine. All the time. To Isabella, Hannah. Because it had come so fast.
Full circle, hadn't it, Nancy? That's Shannon. No, no, that's Lauren. Isn't
it? I can. And then before you know it,
if I'm still living, your granddaughter is going to be the same way. Our daughter's birth, at that point, was one of the
greatest days of our life. I will never forget that day. I watched her come into this
world. I was the first face she saw, the first voice she heard. You thinking I love her? And
she loves me. But you know when a greater day
came? The day she was born of God. Sixteen years old or something
like that. When she saw His face. When she
heard His voice. Now, Mindy, does anything matter? Would it have mattered if she
got married? No. Would it have mattered if she
bore us grandchildren? No. Would it have mattered if she
became a nurse or productive? Would it have mattered? Not really.
You know what? This is the one thing that matters,
isn't it? Because some of us know the Lord will take them
and that nothing matters. And if they don't belong to the
Lord, Her husband, Gabe, before they had a child, he told me
this later, he said, I asked the Lord, don't give us any children
if they're not your children. What do you want for your children?
What would you rather your child be? A preacher? President of
the United States? Huh? You know who God says is
great? The world says it's foolishness.
God says it's greatness. The Lord had mercy on our daughter.
It wasn't me, it wasn't Mindy, it wasn't her. It was the grace
of God, the mercy of God, the sovereign electing grace of God.
My parents had four. I believe three of them were
God's elect. One's not. But it's not over. It might be. I hope so. He obtained greatness
in this world, the education world, became a history professor.
He's esteemed highly by many. But God rejects him if he doesn't
know him. He's rejected. And his life has
been of no purpose unless some way, some way is
connected to him. that God's going to bring into
the kingdom. Maybe his son, maybe his grandson,
huh? That's right. And then God's
going to discard him. And I'm going to have to say
amen. And I'm going to thank him for choosing
me. Like Jacob, like Esau. What do you want for your children? Don't buy fast. What matters? What matters? Well, where am
I? Alright, let's look at, in closing,
let's look at this prayer again. After it's all over, Zechariah
prayed. And just look at it in closing.
Verse 68. Zechariah prayed. And there's
not really any mention of John. Except in the end. Like Hannah's
prayer. Anybody know Hannah's prayer? 1 Samuel 2? She never mentioned
Samuel. No. It's not about him. It's about God's mercy and grace
and God's salvation. Because that's what this world
is about. Verse 68, Zechariah said, Blessed be the Lord God
of Israel. He hath visited and redeemed
his people. He's raised up a horn of salvation. in the house of his servant David,
as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been
since the world began." Thank God for Jesus Christ. Thank God
for salvation. Thank God for His Word. Thank
God for His prophets. Verse 71, that we should be saved
from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us. Thank
God for salvation. To perform the mercy promised
to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant. Thank God
for his covenants. Thank God for remembering mercy.
Thank God for remembering grace. Thank God for remembering us. The oath which he swore to our
father Abraham. Oh, thank God for his oath, his
covenant, his grace. They support me in an overwhelming
flood of sorrow and grief and sin. That He would grant unto
us, me and my poor wife, that we being delivered out of the
hands of our enemies should serve Him. Oh, what a great privilege
and honor we have of serving and worshiping our Lord, our
God. In holiness and righteousness,
thank God He's going to present us holy, unfaltered, unblamable,
unreprovable in His sight someday. All the days of our life, we're
going to dwell in the house of the Lord forever and behold the
beauty of the Lord in the quiet of His temple. Thank God. Oh
yes, and thank you for this boy. Thank you for the child, that
he knows you, that he belongs to you, that you've told us he's
one of His, yours. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Prophet of the Highest. Can't
get any greater than that, can you? He'd go before the face
of the Lord, prepare His way. To do what? What's His purpose
in life? Give knowledge of salvation unto His people. Salvation that's
for the remission of sin. Through the tender mercy, oh,
the tender mercy of our God, whereby by the day spring the
Son of Righteousness from on high has visited us. Oh, He's
given us light to sit in darkness. The shadow of death. guided our feet, put our feet
into the way of peace, Christ. And the child grew, John, and
waxed strong in spirit, and boy did he live a productive life.
It wasn't long, but it was great. And then the next we're going
to start looking, and the rest of this book is about the other
one. Whew! It gets better. None greater. All right. What's
the closing hymn, Brother John? Oh, Give Us Homes. Christian
Homes. Good words. Let's sing all four
verses. 525.