Every word is significant. You can destroy the gospel with
one little program. Every word is so significant.
You see how subtle it is? And we're not splitting hairs
here. We're trying to stay true to
what every word is significant. All right, Luke chapter 1. Every word in these verses is
significant. If we had the capacity or the
understanding, if we had the time to go through and search
out carefully every word, but we don't. We don't have the time. We don't have the capacity. But
we'll look at what we can and try to deal with what the Lord
leads us into. All right, verse 5. Let's begin
there. This is where we left off. There
was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest
named Zacharias. Now, there were many priests
that ministered about the holy thing. As you know, priests that
made the bread, priests that chopped wood and killed fire,
priests that washed pots, priests that lit candles, made candles,
priests that did this. But there was a certain priest.
a chosen priest, an elect priest, which the angel of God appeared
to, Zacharias. That's a picture of right off
the, right at the start, a certain priest. There was a bunch of
priests out there. He didn't appear to them. This
is a legend. Now a certain priest named Zacharias,
of the course of Abijah, Abijah was a son of Aaron, And his wife
also was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
Zachariah, that's a fitting name. Do you know that the last Old
Testament prophet to be spoken to by an angel was Zachariah? And then several hundred years,
four or five or six hundred years later, The first of the New Testament
prophets was spoken to by angels. Is it the same message? The message didn't grow old.
The same message. Look over at Zechariah. Let's
look at it. It's fitting that what his name
was when he was a priest. And that's fitting too, isn't
it? We've just been studying there right now. Sunday morning we're going to
deal with Hebrews 9 that talks about the burning of incense. If I'd have tried, Rick, I couldn't
have planned it this way. Zechariah chapter 4, and this
whole book of Zechariah, if you want something to start reading
in, read this book. Start reading this book. The
whole book is a glorious prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's
just look at some of the high points. Zechariah 4, verse 5, Then the angel that talked with
me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be?
And I said, No, my Lord. Then he answered and spake unto
me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel,
saying, Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, saith
the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, great mountain,
the forest of rubble? You remember who that is, don't
you? The builder of the temple? The rubble, the picture of Christ? Read on. Thou shalt become a
plain, and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings,
crying, Grace, grace unto it. Moreover, the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation
of this house, his hands shall also finish it. And thou shalt
know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you." The angel
is telling him, you're going to know with a certainty of what
I'm saying, because it's going to come to pass. And that's exactly
what the angel told the other Zechariah. Read on, "...who have
despised the day of small things, they shall rejoice, and shall
see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel." Look over at chapter
6, Zechariah 6, verses 12 and 13. The angel is still speaking. Speak unto him, saying, Thus
speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the Lamb, whose name is
the branch. He shall grow up out of his place.
He shall build the temple of the Lord, even he shall build
the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear the glory, and shall
sit and rule upon his throne, and he shall be a priest. And the counsel of peace shall
be between them both. Chapter 9, Zechariah 9, verse
9. Zechariah 9, verse 9. Rejoice
greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee. He is just. Remember that
he is just. And having salvation, lowly,
riding upon an ass and upon a colt, a foal of an ass. Many of these
you remember. Chapter 12, chapter 12, verse
10. If I could write 12, verse 10. I will pour upon the house of
David. You're going to see in a minute there
was another family there you appeared to from the house of
David. All right, I will pour upon the
house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace
and of supplications, and they shall look upon me whom they
have pierced, and they shall mourn for him. Chapter 13, verse
1, In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house
of David. I believe, Jo, that's where we
get that psalm, there is a fountain. Verse 6, chapter 13, one shall
say unto him, what are these wounds in thy hands? And I'll
be looking with stars in my eyes. Chapter 14, verse 1, behold,
the day of the Lord cometh. The gospel shall be divided in
the midst of thee. Verse four, his speech shall
stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem. Verse nine, and the Lord shall
be king over all the earth. In that day there shall be one
Lord, and his name one. So it's fitting that this prophet,
Zachariah, this priest, He was a priest first, but we're going
to find out he's also a prophet. It's fitting that he has this
name and fitting that the angel of the Lord came to him since
he was the father of the forerunner or last Old Testament prophet
named John. All right, look at verse 5 now
in Luke 1. It says that he was, of the course
of a Bible, his wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
Now, Zechariah and Elisabeth were of the house of Aaron. Joseph
and Mary were of the house of David. And the same angel appeared
unto them later on, was Israel. He talked about the priest, and
then he talked about the house of David, and the Spirit of the
Lord, the Spirit of grace. It's going to be poured on the
house of David. Yea, grace personified. It's going to be in that womb
of the house of David. Aaron is the household of prophets
and priests. Right? Prophets and priests.
David, the king. All right, verse 6. Every word
is significant. Like I said, I hope the Lord
will give you ears to hear. Verse 6 says, And they were both
righteous before God. How so? How were they righteous? Well,
you say it's said next, it's because they were walking in
the commandment and ordinance of the Lord, they were blameless.
They walked blameless, therefore they were considered righteous.
No, no, no, that's not what they said. It says they were both
righteous. And, because they were righteous,
they were walking in the ordinances of glory and blameless. Right? Scriptures don't contradict truth. Isaiah said a long time before,
and Paul quoted him, say, there is none righteous. No, not one. Not Zachariah, and not Elizabeth. Not in themselves. Right, right. None righteous. How does anyone
make righteous? Abraham. All right, let's begin
with Abraham. He's the father of the faithful. which Paul gives
as an example of salvation. He said, Abraham did what? Good works, and therefore God
made him righteous. He believed God and counted on
Him for righteousness. And we saw Sunday morning, why
does anybody believe God? According to the working of His
mighty power. Thank you for the gift of God
and grace of God. These two people, this husband
and wife, were righteous before God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the only way anybody is considered righteous before God
and blameless, because only He can present us blameless, faultless,
unblameable, unapprovable before God's praise. Is that right?
Oh, yes. That's the heart of the gospel.
If these two were righteous without Christ, And Christ came and died. Right? If they were made righteous
by the deeds of the law, Christ died in them. That's how serious
it is. And many would take this and
quit, but wouldn't. Scriptures don't comment. You see the order.
They were righteous. Why? God tells us that. All right? All right. In Christ,
all believers are righteous before God. Okay? How did they give
evidence that they were righteous before God? Well, it says here
that they walked in all the commandments of the Word. Walked in the Word
and the ordinances of the Lord, they were blameless. In other
words, they worshipped God the way God said worship. That's
how you know. Am I right? That's how you know anybody's
a believer. They worship God the way God's
supposed to be worshipped in Christ. The way God ordained to worship,
through the preaching of the gospel, seeing Him, reading the
Word, and prayer, and that's it. Nothing more, nothing less. Right? According to the ordinance. The way, the method, the means
that God has ordained. The right way. And they were
looking to Christ. They weren't like those old,
some of those Jews that were just looking through the ordinances.
No, this man and this woman were looking to Christ in the ordinance. See that? That's the difference.
All right. I want you to notice also, as
we go through here, God blessed this man and this woman. God
is faithful to bless the husband and wife who faithfully serve
Him. Yes, He is. Paul said in his
epistle, he said, God is not unrighteous to forget your labor
of love. They were rewarded. They were
greatly rewarded, the man and the wife. They were rewarded
with sons who believed Christ Jesus. And boy, what a son he
was. Well, look at verse 7. They had
no child, because that Elizabeth was barren. They were both now
well stricken in years, old people. How old, we don't know. Old,
too old to have children, must have been at least sixty-some-odd,
right? Would you say maybe in their
seventies? Had to be. Had to be. It says Elizabeth
was a barren woman. Just like several of God's choice
daughters were, there's many. Sarah was a barren
woman. God bless her with Isaac. Rebecca
was a barren woman. God bless her with Jacob. Rachel
was a barren woman. God bless her with Joseph. And while God graciously blessed
these barren women with children, yet in this same gospel, let
me read it to you. The Lord Himself said this. He says this in Luke 23, verse
29, that, Behold, the days are coming in which they shall say,
Blessed are the barren." The wombs that never care. So
in God's good purpose, women are made barren. Some women never
have children. I began thinking about this.
There's no indication that any of the apostles had children. There isn't. Do you recall hearing anything
of their children? Peter had a wife. There's no
mention of Bernstein. We know Paul didn't. Was he blessed? Paul was unmarried
for that matter. Mary made one, and she had children. No indication of that. No indication
she ever got married. Or did she? She had a husband,
all right. She's with him now. She chose
the best part. Instead of watching that screaming
baby, he was sitting at his feet. There's reason. God has a reason,
and it's an all-wise purpose and reason. And don't fret, and
don't murmur, and don't complain. He did say, the day is coming
when they'll say, blessed, blessed. And the reason for those women
And the reason Elizabeth was married at an old age, and having
this miraculous child, like Mary, who was a virgin. God's going
to make it evident that this child was the gift of God. But
this one is sent by God. Everybody's going to know God
sent this child. Isaac. He started that with Isaac,
didn't he? With a barren woman. Didn't he? That's how he started out. The
son of promise. The son of promise. That's how it all started out.
Every one of those imminent saints. Jacob. We call him his son. Joseph. Pictures of Christ, Samson,
Samuel, and on and on it goes. John, the Lord Jesus Christ,
came from this barren woman to make it in. God sent these things. Christ is the same as God. Somebody
pointed out John was born of a barren old woman, and so he's
the last Old Testament prophet. Christ born of a young virgin. And it came to pass that while
Zacharias executed the priest's office before God in the order
of his course, or in what he was given to do, according to
the custom of the priest's office, his lot, now the lot is cast
into him. But his lot, what fell to him,
he didn't choose it, but God gave it. 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 or outside of the temple 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 Zechariah saw him, he
was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto
him, Fear not, Zechariah, for thy prayer is heard." What does
the incense represent? That's right. Prayer to Christ. Prayer to Christ. Incense. And
like I said, we're about to study that in Hebrews. Hebrews 9. The
incense, or the altar of incense, was right before the veil, before
you went in the Holy of Holies. Before you could go in the veil,
before the high priest could go in the veil, this incense
had to be found. And that represents the prayers
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The prayers, you could say, which
Christ offered there in John 17, right before he went to that
holy place called Mount Calvary. But that incense represents the
prayers, or the prayer of Christ. And if you read yourself, and
we'll think about it later, That incense was to be constantly
burning. Constantly burning. It was to
never go out. Why? Well, the scripture says, He
ever liveth. Christ ever liveth to make what? Intercession for us. His prayers
are continual. His presence are those prayers.
Well, it's fitting that Zachariah's prayer was heard while he was
offering this incense. It's fitting that Zechariah's
prayer was heard while he was offering his incense. Our prayers
are not going to be heard except through the incense. Can you
follow me? Huh? Our prayers are only heard
through Christ, our mediator, our intercessor. Right? Now look
at what he says. The angel says to Zechariah,
verse 13, Thy prayers are heard. Thy prayer is heard, and read
on, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt
call his name John. Thy prayer is heard." You think
that Zachariah and Elizabeth, you think they were praising
the children? Are you and Roberta hoping to
have children someday? Huh? You think for a moment that they
were 60 and 70 years old and wanting a baby at this point. Abraham and Jephthah are not.
They weren't praying for children. No, no. It's past that. They've forgotten about that.
Right? That wasn't their prayer. We're
praying for children. Over in, you don't have to turn,
I'll turn and read it for you. Over in Psalm 145, it says this.
And it's written, every word's significant. It doesn't say prayers,
it says prayer. They kept offering us one prayer. Zachariah really had one thing
to do. One thing he kept asking for.
He wasn't coming before. God asked him for a baby. Only
a baby? Every day? Give me a baby. Give
me a child. He was asking for a child all
right. It wasn't his child. Listen to this. Psalm 145 verse
19 says this. Listen to this. He will fulfill
the desire of them that fear him. He will hear their cry and
will save them. The desire. Desire is what they
desire. One thing have I desired of the
world. It's one thing. And that's what
I seek after. One thing. that I may dwell in
the house of the Lord all the days of my life, and behold the
beauty of the Lord, and inquire of his good and fault." Christ
was David's one desire. Christ was Zechariah's one desire. And the angel said, in third
chapter, he's coming. And, on top of that, you're going
to have a baby. They're going to give you the
cake, You don't get these, do you? You don't get the bread,
and here's a little cracker. See that, Jeff? The Scripture
tells us, set your affection on things above, doesn't it? Look not on things on the earth.
But on things above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God.
Set your affection, your desire, your heart on things above. Didn't we look a week or so ago,
seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness? Who's
that? Christ. And right here is the
fulfillment of that word. Zachariah and Elizabeth were,
my friends, they were looking for the Christ, the Christ child, and the angel comes and says, But the forerunner, you have
to tell me the forerunner, because that's what the Scriptures say
in Malachi, the forerunner. And people, and women who do
not have children, or men, or whoever, if you have Christ,
you are supremely blessed. You have the one sane people.
If you don't even have a husband, you have Christ. If you don't
have a wife, if you have Christ, you have the one sane people.
Those children may break your heart someday and leave you and
never return. That husband may do the same. That wife may do
the same. But you'll never leave nor forsake. You don't need a
husband. You don't need a wife. God knows
who needs what. And He gives it accordingly.
You don't need a child or else you give it. Is that not right? That's absolutely right. Respect is the all-wise purpose
of God. Respect. And as in everything
God does, it's on purpose. Zachariah and Elizabeth had to
have sons. They had to have a son named John. The name John means, and I know
two, I know one fellow in here that's mighty interested, there's
two women probably out, the name John means, Dirty, rotten scoundrel. No, no, no. The name John means, it comes
from an Old Testament word which means Jehovah will save. Jehovah favored. Favored of Jehovah. Favored of Jehovah. You've got to be kidding, John. A mighty good man. And I believe
you've got a good home. I believe you've been favored
of Jehovah. No less so than his own. We'll see that in a minute.
But he's no greater than you. Well, it says, if you look it
down, and he's got to be the forerunner. He's got to be the
messenger to prepare the way, as Malachi wrote. Verses 14 through
17, And thou shalt have joy at gladness, and many shall rejoice
at his birth. But he shall be great in the
sight of the Lord. Turn over there to chapter 7.
I know we'll get to it eventually, but I just made reference to
it. Chapter 7, Luke chapter 7. Look
at what the Lord Jesus Christ said about John the Baptist. And yet look what he says about
John the Baptist. Read on. Look at verse 20. 6
What went ye out for to see a prophet?" He's talking about John. "'Yea,
I say unto you, much more than a prophet. This is he of whom
it is written in Malachi 3, Behold, I send my messenger before thy
face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.'" The messenger
before Christ, the Lord, who shall suddenly appear in his
temple. Malachi, verse 28. I say unto you, among those that
are born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the
Baptist. You'll be great. Oh, it's not
great. Not a greater. He that is least in the kingdom
of God. This John is just as important
to me as this one. Isn't he? Here he is. He ministers
to me. He speaks to me of Christ as
this one does. And all the people heard him,
and the public, and he justified God. Oh, here's the first passage. Justified God. All right, back
to the text. And the angel said, He shall
be great in the sight of the Lord. When the Lord came, he
said, He's great. The Lord came and said, John, He's great. He's great. The angel
said, he shall neither drink, he shall drink neither wine nor
strong drink. That is, he's a Nazarite. You
remember the bowels of Nazarite? Sassan was one. They were not
to drink wine or strong drink, and they were to let their hair
grow, and not pure wine. But as blessed, that was the
commandment concerning the Nazarite. And the Lord talked about this
one time, didn't He? He said, John came neither eating
nor drinking. He said, He has a devil. And the Son of Man, He wasn't
a Nazarite. Christ wasn't a Nazarite. He
didn't have long hair. He wasn't a Nazarite. That makes
sense to you? He didn't have long hair. He
wasn't a Nazarite. He wasn't a priest after Aaron
either. He's another kind of priest. But Christ came eating
and drinking. They said, well, he's a wine-lover.
But wisdom justifies the children. All right, it says, he shall
be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. Now, there's a child worth having
out there. Isn't it? It's not out of house
of business. It's just what God says. There's a young Joseph out there
that he might remember as the creator of the days of his youth,
or the evil days to come, right? Before the world gets in him
and the Holy Spirit is there. Isn't that something praiseful?
If you want something praiseful, there we have it. It's all praise
for Joseph. Aaron, is that good enough? John, is this the man? He was
this woman's father's son. Praise Christ. That's nice, that's
nice. This happened again. We say,
well, he had a purpose to be the messenger of Christ. Well,
everybody has a purpose, isn't it? All right, and it says that he
shall turn, verse 16, many of the children of Israel shall
he turn to the Lord their God. Many. He should go before him,
before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, turn the
hearts of the fathers to the children, disobedient to the
wisdom of the just. What is this? Fathers to the
children, turn the hearts of the fathers to the children.
You mean there's some fathers who don't love their children?
No, that's not what he's talking about. The Jews, the religion
of the Jews, Abraham was considered the father of the people. The Jews, Jerusalem was considered
the mother church, out of which the rest were born. They were
dandled on her side. Okay, for Christ's sake. And
the Jews were considered the father. God in Sunday time in
a diverse manner spoke unto the father. And Gentiles were considered,
and Paul wrote about them in Ephesians when he said, you were
by nature children of wrath. He said that was one. You were
children of his obedience. See that? You were children.
Yet he goes on to say, But God's going to make us two, one, father
to the Gentiles. He's going to make them both
one in Christ. He's going to reconcile them
both by Christ. And that happened, you know, that began to happen,
remember, when Paul confronted Peter in Jerusalem, you know,
when Peter swapped seats. Paul said, wait a minute, we're
all saved by Christ. All right, so that's what that
means. Fathers to the children of disobedience. You were children
of disobedience. How are you turned? Well, to
the just one. The wisdom. Christ is wisdom,
isn't he? Personified. The just one. And
John, that's what John did. John pointed people where? That was his whole mission, that
was his whole message, was to make ready, read on, to make
ready a people prepared for the Lord. Now, every word he said
he knew. He says these people were prepared for the Lord. Well,
who did it? Oh, John did, I don't know. No, John just preached. That's all John did. God prepared
these people before the foundation was laid. God elected, God chose,
God called, God prepared them to receive this message, and
in His sovereign grace brought them to the time when John was
preaching, when John said, Behold the Lamb! Everybody was prepared,
the Lord heard him say, Behold the Lamb. Everybody prepared the Lord,
beheld the Lamb. And so, prepared for the Lord. Make ready a people. You know,
I've never really, really, really understood the baptism of John
until this. That's what this is. That's what
this is. Prepare a people to meet Christ.
And that's, that's, and John, remember John said, I baptize
with water. I'm just baptizing the water,
but behold, there standeth one among you whom you know not,
he shall come and baptize you." The Spirit, only Christ can baptize
our soul. And every true messenger, like
John, wants people to cry, wants people to cry, people prepared.
That's the only people who are going to receive Christ, the
ones God prepared. Well, look at Zechariah's unbelief.
Now, Zechariah was a righteous man, wasn't he? Scripture says
so. Zechariah was blameless before
God, wasn't he? Scripture says so. Zechariah
was chosen by God, a certain priest. Scripture says so. Zechariah
had unbelief. Scripture says so. This ought
to give you some comfort here. Great men, now listen to this,
great men do not always have great faith. Saving faith, here's saving faith
to you. Saving faith is not having great
faith. It's having a great Savior. Is that not right? Saving faith is not having a
great or strong faith, it's having a strong God. Saving faith is not us being
faithful and true. Zechariah fails. Not based on
our faith, it's based on God's Word. That's what salvation is
based upon. Look at verse 18. Zechariah said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? How
shall I know that this is true? Does that sound familiar? Well,
Abraham and Sarah both laughed. Both of them. I didn't remember
before Abraham laughing, but he just said, you know, they
both laughed. Oh, come on. As if this is not possible. We
don't, can't believe it. And Zacharias, exactly what Zacharias
is saying here, he said, How shall I know this? Show me a
sign." Isn't that what he wanted? Wherefore shall I know this? How shall I know this? Show me
something. That's exactly what he's intimated
there. How shall I know this? I'm old,
and my wife's old, and look at the angels. He wanted a sign,
and here's what the angels said unto him. The angel said unto
him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of
God, and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee glad tidings. to tell you the good news. Now
I'm the messenger, the angel of God, which stands in the presence
of God, sent by God to you to tell you, not this priest or
that priest, you the good news. What else do you need? That's Thomas. He did it. No
one else but that Jesus. Huh? Isn't the Word of God our
only warrant for believing? That's what Newton wrote. Wasn't
it Newton? Felons come, felons go. Was that Newton? Or Murchase? Martin Luther! Who cares? We all felons. Feelings come,
feelings go, feelings are deceiving. My hope is in the Word of God.
Nothing else is worth believing. Signs are for the unbelieving. But the Word of God is for his
people. That's what God's people need, and that's all they need.
The Word of God. Can't believe. We walk by faith.
And how does faith come? We don't walk by sight, we walk
by faith, and faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Zechariah
heard the gospel, the glad tidings, that's what gospel means. What
else do you need? Do you need a name or a sign? It's all you need. God gave it
to you, not your sister, not your neighbor. God chose a certain
truck driver to give the gospel to. What more do you need? What a greater sign could you
have? Well, the angel said, now the angel rebukes him here. Look
at this. Now here's a blessed picture,
and I'll close this thing out. Somebody told me to take my time. And I wanted to get through verse
45, but I don't think I'm going to do it. Well, I'll take my
time. It says in verse 19 and 20, he rebukes And the angel
answered and said unto him, I am Gabriel, that now stand in the
presence of God, and am sent to speak unto thee, to show thee
these glad tidings. Behold, thou shalt be dumb, and
not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be
performed, because thou believest not my word, which shall be fulfilled."
They shall be fulfilled. But because you don't believe
my words, you're going to be struck down. Now this is a picture,
a picture. Our Lord said to his disciples
in Luke 24, when he arose from the grave, he said one of the
first things he said to those disciples was, Old fool, she said, and slow
to believe, all that the prophets had written in the world." That's
all he knew. He just listened to what the
prophets said. It worked. And Zechariah was
struck dumb till John was born. And this is a picture of everybody
who in the gospel comes in. You know, this is what God does
to everybody when he preaches the gospel to them, by his messenger,
his angel, he's a pastor, he's called an angel over there in
heaven. Everybody who hears the gospel, the first thing that
happens to them is, God shuts their ears. When you
get religion, you know, everybody's religious, they got a lot to
say, but when you see Christ, Job, like Job, said, I heard
of you, and now I see you, and I will put my hand over my mouth. God strikes us, and then He convicts
us of sin and of delusion. He shuts our mouth. The Word
comes, it says to them that are under the law, that every mouth
shall be stopped, and all the world will come guilty before
God. Then He convicts us, convinces
us of sin. And what's the greatest sin?
Christ says it's a sin because they believe not in Him. He convinces us all that
we didn't believe the right Christ, the true Christ. That's the first
thing He convinces us. Stops our mouth, and then He
reveals Christ to us. And the angel goes on to tell
Zachariah, about John and the coming of Christ. And it says
that he couldn't speak until John was born. I can get through
this. Verses 21 and probably. And the
people waited for Zacharias, and marveled he tarried so long
in the temple. And when he came out, he could
not speak unto them. They perceived that he had seen
a vision in the temple, and he beckoned unto them, but he remained
speechless. revealed the gospel to you at
first, you endeavored to tell people something. Do you remember? Do you remember? You didn't know much. He felt
like a babbling idiot, didn't he? He tried to say something,
but finally, in due time, in God's due time, that son of the
Lord, then he had something to say. And over in verses 67 through
69, oh, did he have something to say. Zachariah prophesied
then, when the Lord finally opened his mouth in due time, Zachariah
then, what did he say? It wasn't about John, it was
about Christ. Ah well, verse twenty-five says,
verse twenty-three, And it came to pass that as soon as the days
of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.
When his job was over, he went home. And after those days his
wife, Elisabeth, conceived, just like the angel said, and hid
herself five months. Say, thus hath the Lord dealt
with me in the days wherein he looked on me to take away my
reproach among men. And you know that right there
is my confession. Thus hath the Lord dealt with me. The Lord
dealt with me in the same way Christ has been formed in me. He's revealed his Son in me.
The Lord has dealt with me in the day that he looked on me
in mercy and grace, and has taken away my reproach, my sin." Is
that your confession? Does the Lord say that? All right, let's stand. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
You for Your Word, which is so glorious. So mysterious, yet
so clear when you reveal it. And certainly, flesh and blood
does not reveal it unto us, but here in the Holy Spirit, we find
it. Christ is the spirit of prophecy. The testimony of Jesus is the
spirit of prophecy. Everything concerning this book
concerns Christ. And everything concerning us
has something to do with Christ, as we're found in him. And we
thank you. We thank you that you've placed
all things in him, and that we are in him, accepted in him,
found in him. We thank you. Now reveal him,
not only to us, but in us, we pray, and conform us to Him,
mold us and shape us in His image. We've met together in His name
for all these things we get from Him. You're listening.