Well, good morning. If you care
to open your Bibles with me to the book of Luke this morning.
Luke chapter 1. As you're turning, let me make
a couple of announcements. We have scheduled for our children a 2020 modified version of Vacation
Bible School. It'll be in the evenings, three
evenings, beginning of 21st, right? I didn't write it down.
Beginning on the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd. We'll look forward
to that. Also, some of you may not know
this. I haven't been printing a bulletin
just to eliminate touch surfaces, and we don't have a call to worship,
but I have still been doing a bulletin. I put the articles on the church
Facebook page. But if you would rather read
the bulletin instead of the Facebook page, if you'd be sure I have
your email address, I'll email that out to you each week. If
you don't want to read it on the Facebook page. You won't
get any new information than what's on the Facebook page,
but if you'd like, I can do that. Also, Luke Simpson is tested
positive for the virus. We want to remember him in prayer. All right, Luke chapter 1. We're
going to read the whole chapter in the same way as I told you.
Wednesday night, it's a lengthy passage, but I'll never apologize
for reading God's Word. Let's look at it, beginning in
verse 1. For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth
in order a declaration of those things which are most surely
believed among us, even as they delivered them unto us, which
from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word, it
seemed good to me also having had perfect understanding of
all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order,
most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty
of those things wherein thou hast been instructed. There was
in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named
Zacharias, of the course of Abia. His wife was of the daughters
of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous
before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of
the Lord blameless. and they had no child, because
the Elizabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken
in years. And it came to pass, while he
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 him, he was troubled, and fear
fell upon him. And the angel said unto him,
Fear not, Zacharias, for 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 he turn 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. And Zechariah said
unto the angel, whereby shall I know this? For I'm an old man
and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answering
said unto him, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God.
and him sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee these glad tidings.
And behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak until the
day that these things should be performed, because thou believest
not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. And
the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he tarried
so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could
not speak unto them. And they perceived that he had
seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned unto them, and
remained speechless. And it came to pass that as soon
as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed
to his own house. And after those days, his wife
Elizabeth conceived and hid herself five months, saying, thus hath
the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me
to take away my reproach among men. And in the sixth month,
the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named
Nazareth to a virgin, a spouse to a man whose name was Joseph.
of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. An angel
came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that art highly favored,
the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast
in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel
said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with
God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth
a son. And thou shalt call his name Jesus. And he shall be great
and shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God
shall give unto him the throne of his father, David. And he
shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom,
there should be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel,
how should this be? Seeing I know not a man. And
the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy ghost shall come
upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee.
Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth,
she hath also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the
sixth month with her, which was called barren. For with God nothing
shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid
of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed
from her, and Mary rose in those days, and went into the hill
country with haste into a city of Judah, and entered into the
house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass
when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her
womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. And she
spake out with a loud voice and said, blessed art thou among
women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this
to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For lo,
As soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe
leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that believes,
for there shall be a performance of those things which were told
her from the Lord. And Mary said, my soul doth magnify
the Lord. My spirit hath rejoiced in God
my Savior, for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth, all generations shall call me
blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things,
and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them that
fear him from generation to generation. He hath showed strength with
his arm. He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their
hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and
exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with
good things, and the rich hath he sent empty away. He hath opened
his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. He spake to our
fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever. And Mary abode
with her about three months, and returned to her own house.
Now Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered,
and she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins
heard how that the Lord had showed great mercy upon her, and they
rejoiced with her. And it came to pass that on the
eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called him
Zacharias after the name of his father, and his mother, answered
and said, Not so, but he shall be called John. And they say
unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this
name. And they made signs to his father how he would have
him called. And he asked for a writing table
and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marveled all.
And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he
spake, and praised God. And fear came on all that dwelt
round about them, And all these sayings were noised abroad throughout
all the hill country of Judea. And all they that heard them
laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child
shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was
with him. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost,
and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for
he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up
an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.
And he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which had
been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all that hate us, to perform the mercy
promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. The
oath, which he swore to our father, Abraham, that he would grant
unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies
might serve him without fear and holiness and righteousness
before him all the days of our life. And thou, child, shalt
be called the prophet of the highest. For 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 day spring from
on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of
peace. And the child grew and waxed
strong in spirit and was in the deserts. to the day of His showing
unto Israel. Thank God for His Word. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our Father, we bow before You in fear and
reverence, knowing that we come before the thrice holy God. And Father, we dare only come
into Your courts, into Your presence. We dare only take Your precious
name upon our sinful lips in the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ. We bow before You, pleading His blood that washes us and
cleanses us from all of our sin. We bow before You, pleading His
obedience, which is our righteousness. He is the only righteousness
that we have. He's the only hope of acceptance
before Thee we have. And Father, how we thank you
for the Lord Jesus Christ, that in his person we can come before
your very throne and cry, Abba, Father. Oh, how thankful we are. How thankful we are for your
infinite wisdom and mercy and grace that you'd send your own
darling son into this world to be made flesh, that he might
be the representative of his people, that he might be the
perfect lamb to be sacrificed your people father how we thank
you at this time of year when the world is forced to stop and
think about the birth of christ our savior father we pray you'd
make us mindful of this great miracle not just this time of
year but at all times that christ jesus came into this world to
save sinners of whom i'm chief oh father how we thank And Father,
I beg of you this morning that you would enable us to worship
and bless your holy name. Meet with us and enable us to
hear word from thee, to worship you from the heart and spirit
and in truth. Let the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ ring forth from this place this morning, that you might
dispel the darkness of ignorance and unbelief and give us the
light of life that we might see, believe, and lay hold upon our
Lord Jesus Christ. Let everything that's said and
done here this morning be done to his glory, to the praise of
his matchless name. Father, how we thank you. And
Father, I thank you for this congregation of people that you've
called together and pray you'd continue to bless us. Father,
we especially pray for the sick, those who need you especially.
We pray for Luke and Pray for Juanita, that you continue to
heal and touch their bodies. And Father, we thank you for
the good report we've had on so many. We thank you that you
brought Charlie back our way. Father, continue to strengthen
and heal our brother and others, Father. How thankful we are for
your hand of mercy and grace and protection upon us. And all
these things we ask, and we give thanks in that name, which is
above every name. In the name of Christ our Savior,
amen. the The herald angels sing Glory
to the newborn King Peace on earth and mercy mild God and
sinners reconciled Joyful all ye nations rise, Join the triumph
of the skies, With angelic hosts proclaim, Christ is born of Bethlehem. Hark the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King. By highest heaven adored, Christ
the everlasting Lord. Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate Deity. Pleased as man with men to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King. The heaven-born Prince of Peace,
Hail the Son of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings, Mild he lays his glory by Born
that man no more may die Born to raise the sons of earth Born
to give them second birth Hark, the herald angels sing, Glory
to the newborn King! Come, desire of nations, come,
Fix in us thy humble home. Rise, the woman's conqu'ring
seed, Bruise in us the serpent's head. Adam's likeness now we
face, Stamp thine image in its place. Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy love. Hark the herald angels sing,
? Glory to the newborn King ? Adam's likeness, now face. Stamped by an image in its place.
How I long for that day, don't you? That's good. Alright. Open your Bibles with me again
now to Luke chapter 1. I titled the message this morning,
The Silence is Broken. Lord willing, this week I want
us to look at the birth of John the Baptist, and next week, Lord
willing, we'll look at the birth of our Lord. Now these two birds
are very closely tied together. It's not just because they're
cousins, naturally speaking. Not just because they're both
born to women who physically, naturally speaking, cannot have
children. These two births are so closely tied together because
John the Baptist was born first. And he was born for this purpose. He was born to preach Christ.
He was born to be the forerunner of Christ. He was born to be
the one to point out the Lord Jesus Christ and to identify
him as the Savior, to identify him as the long awaited Messiah. And there's something miraculous
about both of these births. Elizabeth is too old to have
a child. Mary can't bear a child because
she's a virgin. Yet both of them give birth to
these two sons. And that's a picture of preaching
the gospel. You know, when the gospel is
preached, something miraculous is going on. Something miraculous
happens when the Gospels preach. Dead sinners are given life.
When the Gospels preach, God's sheep, the hearts of God's sheep
are fed through the preaching of the Gospel, through the preaching
of Christ our Savior. Now that's God, the miracle of
His grace and His power. Now at this point in Israel's
history, for 400 years, God's been silent. There's not been
a prophet in Israel since Malachi, 400 years ago. And now, Zachariah
is silent too. You know, Zachariah is a believer. Verse 6 says, speaking of Zachariah
and Elizabeth, they are both righteous before the Lord, walking
in all the commandments and ordinance of the Lord blameless. Zachariah
was a believer. But even believers have weak
faith. Zachariah just could not believe
that he and Elizabeth are going to have a child when they're
as old as they are. And the prophet or the angel told him, you're
not going to be able to speak until this child is born because
of your unbelief. And for the next nine months,
Zachariah was silent. He couldn't say a word until
John the Baptist was born. And a week later when they brought
the child to be named and be circumcised, Zachariah was silent
all that time. Look at verse 57. Now Elizabeth's
full time came that she should be delivered. And she brought
forth a son and her neighbors and her cousins heard how the
Lord has showed great mercy upon her. And they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass on the eighth
day, when they came to circumcise the child, they called him Zacharias
after the name of his father. But his mother answered and said,
not so, but he should be called John. And they say unto her,
there's none of thy kindred that's called by that name. And they
made signs to his father how he would have him called. And
he asked for a writing table and wrote saying, his name is
John. And they marveled all. And his
mouth was opened immediately. Now Zacharias can speak again. His mouth was opened and his
tongue loose and he spake and he praised God. Now the silence
is broken. For 400 years God had been silent. He had not spoken to his people.
And now God's going to speak to them through Zacharias. His
tongue was loosened and God's going to speak again to his people.
And after all those years, centuries of silence, I'm interested to
hear what God has to say, aren't you? Zacharias hadn't been able
to speak for nine months. And now he can speak again. What's
the first thing he's going to say? What is it he's going to
start saying? In nine months of silence, I bet you Zacharias
has learned something. I'm interested to hear what he
has to say, aren't you? Well, let's listen to it. Here is the
message that rings out of the silence and out of the darkness
of ignorance and unbelief. Every single time God ever speaks,
the message is Christ. The message is salvation in Christ
every time. Now that Zacharias can finally
speak, he's going to preach the message that God gave him. He's
not going to talk about his son. Now, you know, You and I can
just barely imagine how thrilled Zacharias was to have a son. After all this time, Elizabeth,
they've been married, Elizabeth has been barren. And they looked
upon that at that time as a curse from God. And now she's been
blessed. How thrilled he is to have a
son. You know he loves that boy. You
know he's thrilled about this child. But that's not what he
speaks about. He speaks about the son of God. He's speaking here as the prophet.
He speaks about the savior who we've waited for so long. Here
he is. Zacharias speaks about salvation
and righteousness and deliverance from sin in Christ. He speaks
about God fulfilling his covenant of grace in the Lord. Jesus Christ
is going to be born about three months later. That's what he
speaks about. And the only time Zachariah speaks
about his son, John, is to say that John the Baptist is born
for this purpose, to be the forerunner of Christ. God hasn't spoken
for 400 years, and now he is again. And John the Baptist will
be the last of the Old Testament prophets. John the Baptist is
going to be a prophet like Elijah. God promised us, he didn't promise
to send Elijah again, but he promised to send a prophet like
Elias, who would come with the same message that Elijah had,
who would come with the same zeal for preaching this message
that Elias had. Zacharias tells us the important
thing is not John the Baptist, this baby, John the Baptist,
that's not the important thing. The important thing is the one
to whom John will point. See, the message is always Christ. Whenever God speaks, The message
is Christ. So 2,000 years later, the same
thing is true. The message that still rings
out of darkness, that still rings out of the silence, is still
the same message that Zacharias preaches this morning of the
circumcision and the message that John the Baptist will preach
throughout his ministry. If a man preaches the gospel
today, he'll preach the very same message that Zacharias preaches. And Zacharias says John the Baptist
will preach. Now it's so important for you
and me that God send us a man that God has called and that
God has equipped to be his preacher. I'll tell you when Zacharias
was equipped to bring this message. It says here he was filled with
the Holy Ghost. Now he's equipped. Now he's got
something to say. God had been silent for 400 years. For 400 years God had not sent
a man with his message. And look what happened to Israel
in that time. They've fallen into a legalistic,
lifeless religion. And we need God to send us a
man with this same message or the same thing will happen to
us. We'll fall into a legalistic, lifeless religion. So I want
to give you eight ways to identify God's message that comes out
of the silence from our text. Number one is this. The message
God gives that rings out of the silence, gives God all the glory. Verse 68. Zacharias prophesied
saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel. Blessed be God. The whole purpose of the gospel
is to glorify God. The message of the gospel is
not how God can do something for me and how God can give me
some toys to play with. The message of the gospel, the
purpose of the gospel is for God to glorify himself. That's
the purpose of the gospel, that we see God's glory. And God's
glory is His mercy in saving sinners. God has the capacity
to love sinners. Now that glorifies God. God has
the power to give a dead sinner life. He has the grace to save
the guilty. He has mercy for the miserable. God has the wisdom to provide
a ransom that enables God to be both just and still justify
sinners. That's the message of the gospel.
That message glorifies God. And that message is a message
that we all hear preached every week. God help us from being so familiar
with the gospel that that quits being glorious to us. The glory
of God is revealed in the preaching of the gospel. God gets all the
glory in this thing. God's the one that purposed salvation. He planned it. God's the one
that brought it all to pass. God's the one that applies it
to the hearts of his elect. It's all the work of God. But
Jonathan, there's no room for the creature getting glory in
that. None whatsoever. The purpose of the gospel is
that God be praised, so that God gets all the glory. That's
the purpose of the gospel we preach today. And the occupation
of heaven throughout eternity will be that. that we sing His
praises and glorify God. The word bless that Zacharias
uses here means to praise and to give thanks. It means praise
God. Give God thanks for His grace,
for His love, for His pity for sinners. Only God could do this. Only God could send His Son in
the flesh to be the representative of His people who are in the
flesh. Only God could send a second second Adam from above, to come
and in the flesh, undue for his people, everything that Adam
did to him. Only God could be that wise.
Only God could provide redemption through a representative man.
Only God could provide a salvation that first honors and glorifies
God, that honors His justice, that honors and magnifies His
holiness, His righteousness, and at the same time give sinners
exactly what they need most, redemption. salvation. Only God
could be that gracious and we'd never know about God's greatest
glory if God didn't tell us by the gospel that his mercy is
in Christ. Number two, the message that
God gives that rings out of the silence tells us why Christ came. Verse 68, Zacharias says, blessed
be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed
his people. That word visited It means more
than just go visit at somebody's house. It means to look out for,
to look out for. The Son of God came incarnate.
He came in our flesh with our nature so that He could look
out for His people. And when He looked out for His
people, He did everything that needed to be done for them. You
know, every time scripture says God visited His people, every
single time, God's people were blessed. God visited Sarah. And she had a son in whom are
the promises in Isaac. God visited Hannah. She was barren. She had no children. She couldn't
bear a child and God visited her and she bore Samuel. And
then she bore a bunch of other children. God visited his people. They'd been in bondage in Egypt
and God visited them and they were delivered. They walked out
of that place free. In the book of Ruth, there was
a great famine in the land. And scripture says God visited
his people. And he gave them bread. Now it
says Christ came. God visited earth. He visited
his people in the person of his son. Christ came to look out
for his people by redeeming them from their sin. He looked out
for his people, provided for them their greatest need. And
the same thing is still true today. You and I don't need a
new earthly king. to come and set up this great
kingdom, you know, on earth where the Christians all be happy and
blessed and Christians will be top dog. We don't need a new
earthly king, a new earthly kingdom, any more than the Jews needed
a new earthly king who would set them free and deliver them
from being under the boot of Rome. They didn't need an earthly
king to come and restore to them the kingdom of David. They needed
a savior. Just like you and I do. It's
our greatest need. We need a redeemer. We need one. who will look out for us and
redeem us from the curse of the law, who will save us from God. We need to be saved from God,
from God's justice. We need one who can redeem us
from our sin because we've sold ourselves under sin. We need
one who can come and look out for us who can pay the debt.
And the Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who can. He's the
only one with perfect, precious blood. He's coming in a human
body. He's going to be born to die. To die. He's going to be born
with precious blood that's going to be shed as a sacrifice for
the sin of His people. Now only God in human flesh can
do that. And you and I would never know
why God came in the flesh if God didn't tell us in the gospel.
left to our own devices, we would think, well, Jesus came to be
an example. So we could wear this yellow
band around our wrist. And what would Jesus do? We think
he came as an example. We think he came maybe as a reformer
to change. Now we're not going to be under
the law. You know, God tried to save his people under the
law. Now it's going to be under grace. He came as a reformer.
He came to change the way that God dealt with men. No, sir.
That's not why he came. God's always dealt with his people
in this time. He's always seen his people and
his son, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
But we never would have known that if God didn't send his son
into the world and then send somebody to tell us why he came.
We'd never know that God saves his people through his son, the
God man, God in human flesh, if God didn't tell us. Now, when
we hear that message, this is what Christ came to. God in human flesh visited his
people in order to redeem them. Doesn't that make you want to
praise God for doing something so wonderful for the likes of
you and me? It does me. All right, here's the third thing. The message God gives that rings
out of the silence, that rings out of the darkness of man's
unbelief and ignorance tells us of a successful Savior. Verse 69. He hath raised up an
horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. Now
the word horn here has to do with power and strength and courage. It also has to do with courage.
Who is the one courageous enough to be made sin and face the Father? Not only has the power to do
it, but the courage to do it. The Lord Jesus Christ and anyone
who preaches the gospel. will preach a successful Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ, and this
glorifies God. If Christ came to save somebody
and He didn't do it, there's no glory in that, is there? The
Gospel glorifies God. The Lord Jesus Christ completely,
to the uttermost, saved everybody that He came to save. Because
He's got the power to save. When God sent redemption to His
people, He sent one who's mighty to save. He's got the power to
save. And anybody preaching any other
gospel, any other variation of that is not preaching the gospel.
Anybody begging you to accept Jesus, to accept this Jesus can't
save you unless you do something to make it effectual for you
is not preaching the gospel. That's never God's message to
his people. God's message to his people is
that the Lord Jesus Christ is a successful Savior. The Father
gave him a people to save. And Eric, he saved every last
one of them. He saved all of them. Everyone that Christ came
to redeem is redeemed. Everyone that Christ came to
give eternal life to has eternal life and they can never perish. Anyone who has God-given faith
in Christ is saved and nothing can ever touch their soul or
take their salvation away from them. They have rest on every
side from every enemy. They have no worries. Just rest
in Christ. He's the successful Savior. Verse
71 says, He came that we should be saved from our enemies and
from the hand of all that hate us. What enemy do you have? What enemy does God's people
have they really have to worry about? Not one. Christ has defeated
every one of them. No enemy can harm God's people
if God saves them. Christ has saved you, you have
no fear from any enemy. And we never would have known
such security, such peace, such rest in Christ if God didn't
tell us the Lord Jesus Christ is a successful Savior. And you
can rest your soul in Him. All right, fourthly, the message
that God gives that rings out of the silence is the eternal
gospel. The message that God gives always
agrees with the Old Testament scripture. Verse 70, as he spake
by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world
began. Now God only has one message. The one message that rings out
of the silence, the one message God's given every one of his
prophets in the Old Testament, every one of his apostles, every
one of his preachers in the New Testament in these last times
is just one message. There isn't a message of the
Old Testament and then a different, like a new and improved message
in the New Testament. You know, that's the way men
sell products, you know, in marketing. You know, we got a pretty good
product, but now we got a new and improved one, you know. No,
there's one message. The Old Testament is not God's
plan A, save men by their obedience to the law, and that didn't work
out so well, so God came up with plan B in the New Testament.
No, the message of the Old Testament is the exact same message of
the New Testament. The message is Christ. In every
page of the Old Testament, in every page of the New Testament.
The message is Christ. Salvation in Him. Not in our
works of the law, but in Him. The Old Testament tells us Christ
is coming. Now, yes, the Old Testament gives
the law, lays out the law for us, but that ought to show us
the purpose of God giving the law was to show us we can't keep
it. We can't keep it. So the good news of the Old Testament
is there's coming one who came. There's coming one who can redeem
you from your sin. And the New Testament says, here
He is. Here's the promised Messiah.
God promised Him in all those thousands of years. You ought
not be surprised He finally showed up. God promised He's coming.
Now you trust Him. He's God's eternal Savior. God never had another way of
saving His people. The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Savior. Now you can trust Him. See, the
whole Old Testament tells us someone's coming. All the Old
Testament The prophets prophesied that Christ is coming. And the
primary prophecy that Zachariah is talking about here, the one
that since the world began, is the oldest prophecy we have.
God told Adam, there's coming a seed of woman. There's coming
a seed of woman who's going to come and crush the serpent's
head. The seed of woman is coming, Adam. Look what you did to your
race. Look what you did to the world.
You brought sin and death and blight and darkness upon this
earth. But Adam, there's one coming. The seed of woman is
going to undo everything that you've done. Everything for God's
people is done by the Lord Jesus Christ. God promised him to Adam
when he kicked Adam out of the garden. And Zachariah is saying,
he's here. This child that's born, he's
going to announce him. He's going to point him out.
Don't be surprised that he's here. God's been promising for
4,000 years. And God always keeps his promise.
And when we preach the gospel, We preach the same thing. We
preach the promise of God. God has promised salvation to
His people. That's the eternal will of God.
Don't be surprised when He does it. Don't be surprised when God
saves His people. Don't be surprised when someone
comes to the pastor and says, I heard what you're saying. I
want to confess Christ and believe His baptism. We're thrilled every
time. Thrilled beyond words. Thankful
every time. But not surprised. I'm not surprised in the least.
That's God's promise. He promised He's going to save
His people. Call them out. The promise of God and the will
of God is that salvation be performed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
He visited His people. He did everything that's necessary
for them. Now all you have to do is rest in Him. All you got
to do is quit. Quit trying to make God happy
with you, but everything that you do, Quit trying to do anything. Just rest in Christ. Just rest.
Just rest in Him. I tell you this, Lord. You come
to Christ. Right where you sit, you look
to Christ. You trust Him. You believe Him. You rest in Him. You can trust
God's eternal promise, God's eternal will without any hesitation,
without any worry. Sean, it's God's will. It's going
to happen, isn't it? Now you trust Him. And we'd never
know. We would never have known. This
is God's eternal will and purpose that salvation be in Christ.
Yet God didn't tell us. If he didn't send us a man to
preach the gospel, he'd tell us. All right, here's the fifth
thing. The message that God gives that
rings out of the silence is sovereign mercy. Sovereign mercy. Verse
72. To perform the mercy promised
to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. Now God has
promised mercy. He promised mercy to save his
sinful people and Christ came to perform that mercy. Now mercy
is God not giving us the justice and the wrath that we deserve
for our sin. Well how does that mercy have
to be performed? I look that word performed up
and it means to make or to acquire. Why does mercy have to be made?
Why does mercy have to be performed and acquired. There were times
that our girls didn't do something right. Jan and I were very strict
disciplinarians, but there were times we let something slide,
didn't we? We were merciful. We didn't give them the punishment
they deserved. Why didn't God do that then? Why didn't God
just be merciful to His people and just not punish them even
though they deserve it? Because that wouldn't be God-like.
That wouldn't be holy. And it wouldn't be just. And
everything God does must be holy. And it must be just. God must
punish sin. God must punish every sin of
every human being ever born in His creation. He must. If He
doesn't, He's not holy. If He doesn't, He can't be God
anymore. So God sent His Son. God sent the Lord Jesus Christ
to make mercy for His people. He sent His Son to acquire the
promised mercy for His people. by taking the punishment his
people deserve. See, God still punishes every
sin, either in you and me or in Christ our substitute. That's
why Christ came. God can be merciful to his people
and not give them the punishment that they deserve because he
gave Christ our substitute the punishment that our sin, the
sin of his people deserves. Now that's what Christ came to
do. Now you think of that. Christ came to make mercy, to
acquire mercy for his people by suffering for their sins.
He came to do it willingly. He came to do it on purpose.
You think of that. And then think of this. Think
what he had to suffer to acquire, to purchase mercy for his people.
His suffering began in the womb. How he had to suffer, how he
had to humiliate himself to be an embryo in the womb of one
of His creatures. But He did it. And then He was
born. And He lived a life of hardship.
He lived a life being hated and rejected of men. He came unto
His own. His own received Him not. Even some of His own brothers
and sisters. The children Mary and Joseph
had after our Lord was born. Some of them didn't believe Him.
Perform a miracle and we'll believe you. And then, after all that, He was rejected of men again.
They said, give us Brambus. Crucify Jesus. He was made sin
for his people. Roman soldiers nailed him to
a cross and hung him up between heaven and earth for all men
to see. And the father rejected him.
The father turned his back on him because he was made sin for
his people. The father poured out his wrath
on his beloved son. You think what Christ suffered
in order to acquire mercy for his people. Does that break your
heart? Oh, can you think of a better
reason to bless God and to praise God and to thank God and to glorify
His precious name than His mercy to sinners that was acquired
by the death of His Son? I can't think of one. I honestly
can't think of a better reason. And if you're lost in sin, somebody
here this morning is lost in their sin, does not know God.
And you found out By God's grace, you found this out. You can't
do anything to make God happy with you. Try as you might, you
can't. Try as you might, you can't do anything, find any reason
to trust in yourself, and you have no other hope, but God might
be merciful to you. My friend, you don't have a better
reason to trust Christ than God's promised mercy to sinners. Why
wouldn't you trust him? Why wouldn't you? I expect you to believe. I expect
you to hope in God's mercy. Why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't
you? What do you need more? What do you need more than God's
mercy? I expect you to believe, to trust, to rest in God's mercy.
And you and I never would have known anything about God's mercy
to sinners if it wasn't for the Lord Jesus Christ coming and
acquiring it, purchasing it for us. And that's why we preach
the gospel. so that men will quit trusting
in their own works and beg God for mercy. That's why we preach
the gospel. All right, sixth, the message that God gives, that
rings out of the silence, tells us about a covenant of mercy.
Verse 73 speaks here about the oath which he swore to our father,
Abraham. In the end of verse 72, he says,
Christ came to remember because God remembered his holy covenant.
Now the oath which God made to Abraham, God's covenant with
Abraham, was not the birth of Isaac. That was not God's covenant.
God's covenant with Abraham was the birth of Christ, who's going
to come through Isaac. But the promise, the covenant,
was the birth of Christ. And that was the day Abraham
was looking for. By faith, Abraham saw it afar
off. He saw that day coming and he rejoiced. He saw by faith
the Messiah come in the flesh as a sacrifice to put sin away,
as a substitute for his people. Christ came because of God's
covenant. He came to fulfill God's covenant.
Now God is a covenant God. You can't preach the gospel without
preaching God's covenant. And when I say God is a covenant
God, this is what I mean. that everything God has ever
done, God does because he promised to do it. He purposed to do it
before time began. Before God created anything,
God purposed, promised everything that he would do. And then God
created the world and he put man in it so he could do everything
he promised to do. That is the whole purpose of
creation. That's why God created anything is so he could do everything
he promised to do. So that means that everything
that happens in human time happens because God determined for it
to happen before He created the world and put man in it. I'll
tell you what that means. That means as you and I go through
this world, there are no accidents. There are no slip-ups. I used
to, Jan, I used to watch a show called Quantum Leap and this
guy would, he created this time machine. He could leap through
time to put right what once went wrong, he said. Can't do it. Can't do it. Because nothing's
ever gone wrong. In all the pain, in all the suffering,
in all the hatred, in all the wars and man's best attempt to
destroy God's creation, there's been no slip-ups. There's been
no accidents. Satan hadn't had a hand in any
of it. unless God allowed him to. It's
not that he messed up anything. No. Man's sin hadn't messed up
anything. It's marred God's creation. It's
put a horrible black mark on God's creation. But that black
mark only stands out, only is there to make the glorious light
of the gospel in the Lord Jesus Christ stand out all the more
brightly. Everything that ever happens
in this life happens according to God's purpose or else it wouldn't
happen. I mean, can you think of anything
that happened that would be against God's purpose? God said, I don't
want that to happen. It happens anyway. That's ludicrous. Everything that ever happens,
happens according to God's purpose. Then I wish I'd quit worrying
about it, don't you? I wish I'd just quit fretting
about it and getting all tore up about it. It's not an accident. This is God's will and God's
purpose. God has a covenant and His covenant, His promise all
has to do with one thing. the redemption of His people
in, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ. God's purpose,
God's promise shall be accomplished because God's the one who promised
it. God's way of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ cannot
fail because God who promised it cannot lie. God will fulfill
His covenant. His covenant is His promise to
save His people. God's gonna keep His covenant
because the blood of the perfect This one that John the Baptist
is going to point out. What is the first thing we read
in scripture John says about him when he sees him? Behold
the Lamb of God has taken away the sin of the world. This is
the perfect Lamb. His blood is going to seal, going
to ratify God's covenant. Now since salvation in Christ,
the second Adam, that God made and says that's God's purpose,
you and I should be expecting it. We should be looking for
it. and we should be resting in it in complete confidence. It's God's promise. And we never
would have known what God's purpose was. His purpose from before
creation, we never would have known God's purpose was the redemption
of His people and His Son unless God sent us a man preaching the
message and told us about it. We'd never know what was God's
mind concerning the salvation and the redemption of His people
if God didn't tell us. Oh, aren't you glad? Aren't you
glad God sent a Savior and send a man to tell us about it. This
is God's eternal covenant and purpose. It's going to happen.
All right, here's the seventh thing. The message that God gives
that rings out of the silence is holiness and righteousness,
verse 74. That He would grant unto us that
we be delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him
without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all
the days of our life. Now how can sinners like us honestly
serve God in holiness and righteousness? Have you ever done anything that's
holy and righteous? You know, we can't make ourselves holy
and righteous by our works of the law and then we can serve
God. No, all the law can do is show us how unholy and how unrighteous
we are. We can't make ourselves holy
by the law. We can't make ourselves holy
by the ceremonies of religion. So if we would serve God in holiness
and righteousness, somebody else is going to have to make us holy
and make us righteous. Holiness and righteousness can't
be earned to us. They have to be granted. He says
here that he would grant unto us. God's going to give this
to us. Well, how's God ever going to give holiness and righteousness
to his people? It's through the Lord Jesus Christ
that John the Baptist came to preach and all God's preachers
today preach. Behold, the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. Here's how God's going to make
his people righteous. Christ came to take their sin
away from them and to make them holy, to make them righteous
by his perfect obedience for them and by his sacrifice, which
takes away their sin. He, God the Father, hath made
him, God the Son, sin for us, him who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him, by him, made righteous
In righteousness and holiness are ours in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that holiness and that righteousness
is perfect. It's the righteousness of Christ.
That means I can't mess it up. It's Christ's righteousness.
And we never would have known anything at all about true holiness
and true righteousness if God didn't tell us. Otherwise, we'd
still be like the old Jews that thought righteousness came by
keeping the law. We never would have known that God's purpose
in giving the law was to show us our need of Christ and shut
us up to Christ and show us that righteousness can only be had
in Christ if God didn't tell us. Now aren't you thankful? That's God's message. Aren't
you thankful that God's enabled you to hear it? Aren't you thankful
God's enabled you to believe it? Alright, here's the last
thing. The message that God gives that
rings out of the silence is the whole job of God's preacher. It's the whole job. Verse 76.
And thou, child, shall be called the prophet of the highest. For
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
day spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to
them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide
our feet into the way of peace. Now the one and only job of God's
preacher is to preach Christ. The one and only job of God's
preacher is to point men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ,
say go to Him, believe on Him, and then get out of the way.
To put no impediment between the sinner and the Savior. That's
the whole job of God's preachers. God's preachers are the prophets
of the highest. We declare God over all. He can't fail. He's God over
all. Now you trust Him. God's preachers come to give
the knowledge of salvation, to tell sinners how God saves sinners. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now come to Him. Go to Him. Look to Him. God's
preachers declare the remission of sin in Christ. There's no
other way that remission of sin, the forgiveness of sin can come
other than God's mercy in Christ. Our substitute would suffer for
us. The light of spiritual life can only be had in the Lord Jesus
Christ. God's preachers declare Christ
is the way to have peace with God. He is our, he had made peace
for us. Christ who is our peace. Now
you look to him and you rest in him. That is the whole job
of God's preacher. That's the whole job. We're not
to try to fix the politics of the day. We're not to try to
fix the lax morals of the day. If that was John the Baptist's
purpose and mission, he'd have failed, wouldn't he? Why was
he in prison? Telling somebody their adultery
is wrong. If he came to fix the lax morals of the day, and to
correct the politics of the day, and set up the right kingdom
on the earth, John the Baptist was an utter failure. And I will
be too, this congregation will be too, if we make that our mission. to fix the lax morals of the
day, to fix the rebellion of the day. No, we are to preach
Christ. Period. That's our whole mission. That is the whole function of
God's preacher. So the main point that Zachariah
is making is this. It's Christ. That's his whole
point. You see that, don't you? That salvation and forgiveness
and life is in Christ. And I can't even begin to tell
you how thankful I am to Christ. People think about that this
time of year. Whether you like it or not, people are forced
to think about the birth of Christ. Songs are played on the radio.
The song Isaac's Son this morning, I've heard on the radio eight
times this week. I love it every time. People
are just forced to think that Christ came. I know it wasn't
December 25th, but I still like to think about the fact that
Christ came. I'm so glad He came. I couldn't have been saved any
other way. No other way could I be saved. I am such a wretch
and you are too. The only hope we have of salvation
is God in the flesh came to visit us and do everything that was
required of us. I'll tell you this. I'm also
thankful for the man who told me who dared dedicate himself
to do nothing but preach Christ to me and point me to Christ. I wish I could write him another
letter to thank him. I wish I could. But that's the job of God's preacher.
That's the job of God's people. That's the job of this congregation.
May God be pleased to make us faithful to do it. Let's bow
together. Our Father, oh, how we thank
you for our Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you that he came
in the flesh to completely fulfill salvation for his people. Oh,
how we thank you. How we thank you for your wisdom
in the God-man substitute, the God-man representative of your
people. How we thank you for your wisdom
in finding a ransom that will enable you to be just and justify
the ungodly. Father, how we thank you for
your mercy and grace. It's all found in our Lord Jesus
Christ. Your love for sinners. It's all
found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And how we thank you for this
message of Christ, the gospel of Christ and him crucified that
you've given to us to preach and to believe. Father, we thank
you. We thank you for not being silent in our day. Just like
those 400 years between Malachi and John, you could be silent
today. You'd be just in doing it. But
Father, we're thankful that you're not silent, but you continue
to cause your gospel to ring forth in our day for your glory
and for the good of your people. And Father, I pray that as we
leave here this morning, that you might grant each one here
a heart of faith, to believe the gospel that we've heard preached,
to believe the Christ that we've heard preached, and to rest in
Him. Father, it's for His glory that
we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, you're dismissed.