Lord God said, Behold, I will
send Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful
day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers
to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers,
lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. And then he didn't speak for
400 years. Not another word. Not another
word. For 400 years, there was no prophet
in the earth. For 400 years, there was no man
to speak for God to men. For 400 years, after giving the
revelation of the Old Testament scriptures, and had given the
types and ceremonies and prophecies of the law, God had established
His worship in Israel, His priests, His prophets were there, His
sacrifices were there, everything was there. And then God didn't
speak for 400 years. Now, if you want to have some
idea of just how important it is to be blessed of God with
the privilege of hearing the gospel, try to consider what
happened in those 400 years. The worship of God in Israel,
which God Himself had established, degenerated to nothing but just
ceremonialism, ritualism, empty, base religion, and idolatry. When our Lord Jesus came into
the world, after he preached for three and a half years, there
wasn't but a hundred and twenty people in the whole world who
believed God. A hundred and twenty people in
the whole world. Because men and women left to
themselves even with the light that is given in the pages of
Scripture. cannot and must not be left to
themselves if we expect them to be guided in right and truth.
God speaks to men by men through His Word. For four hundred years,
God spoke not a word. And when the Lord God looked
down upon the earth, He saw the abomination and the ungodliness
and the wretchedness with which men who claimed to be following
Him and worshiping Him had degenerated. Can you imagine what it must
have been like to have been in the house of
God? A man who was few and rare in those days, a man who worshipped
God, a man who believed God. A priest, just one of the common,
ordinary priests of the courts of Abbiah, goes in every morning
and every evening and burns incense at the altar of incense. And
one day after 400 years, an angel from God met him right there
at the altar. Can you imagine what must have
gone through his mind? First time an angel from God had come
to anybody in 400 years. We can't begin to imagine what
must have gone through his mind. He was serving God in His appointed
place, devout and faithful at the appointed time. knowing that
no one had heard from heaven until this hour, had now suddenly
the Lord God appeared with a word of divine revelation." Now, our
subject this evening is when God broke His long silence. We have our text in Luke chapter
one, verses five through twelve. Here is the story of Zacharias
and the Lord's appearing to him, announcing the birth. of this
Elijah who must come to prepare the way of the Lord, the birth
of John the Baptist. Luke chapter one, verse five.
There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain
priest. I love the language of Scripture,
don't you? Not just any priest would do, but a certain priest.
A certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abiah, and his
wife was of the daughters 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
then Elizabeth was barren, and they both were now well-fiction
in years. And it came to pass that while
he executed the priest 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. The first recorded thing
in Luke's Gospel is the appearance of this angel to Zechariah, one
of the priests in Israel. And here the angel appears to
announce to this old man that his wife, who was also well stricken
in years, who had been barren all her life now, would bear
a son. And not just any son, but she
would bear him a son who was prophesied back in Malachi. That one who would come with
the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord,
to turn the heart of the people to their God, and so that God
might spare some in this world from the curse and wrath that
we justly deserve. Now, I'm sure it's impossible
for us 2,000 years later to begin to grasp how astounding this
thing must have been. But as we look through the text,
I want you to understand that certainly Without any preparatory
work, God sent His angel to this old man and told him that Daniel's
seventy weeks were now fulfilled. Messiah the Prince is about to
be revealed, that the seed of Abraham, in whom all the nations
of the earth are sure to be blessed, is about to come. He tells this
old man that the desire of all nations who would fill the house
of God with the glory of God is about to stand on this earth.
And Zachariah hears this word as he anticipates what the angel
must say, stands before him troubled and trembling. Now, though we
can't begin to grasp the awesomeness of this great revelation given
to such a man in such circumstances, there are several things in the
passage that are obvious words of instruction to our souls.
First, we have an obvious, plain example of divine election here. Our text tells us that God sent
his angel to a certain priest named Zacharias of the order
of Abiah. The Lord selected one man to
whom he would send his angel. One man who was not the high
priest in Israel, nor did he send his angel to all the priests
in Israel, but one man of the course of Abiah. One man who
was one of the common, ordinary priests. while men and women
squirm and wiggle and fuss about it, this book teaches, as plainly
as the nose on your face, the sovereignty of God Almighty in
His electing love in all aspects of His grace. God has mercy on
whom He will. He reveals Himself to whom He
will. He speaks to whom He will. He
gives grace to whom He will. The Lord God has, from eternity,
chosen a people to be the heirs of His salvation, a people whom
He has ordained unto eternal life, a people for whom His Son
came into this world to bleed and die. And He has appointed
a specific time and a specific place called the time of love,
when He will come in sovereign mercy and bring life to the chosen
sinner. He'll send you one of His angels.
Oh, not one of those heavenly beings, no, but one who's described
as an angel because he's a messenger from God, a messenger with good
news for your soul, and he'll cause you to hear the word, and
you'll believe, and then you'll know, sure enough, he chose me.
The apostle Paul wrote some Thessalonians, and he said, knowing, brethren,
beloved, your election of God. How can you know that? How can
you know who the elect are? For our gospel came not unto
you in word only. but also in power, and in the
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. The Apostle Paul writes to Timothy,
and he tells us that God has saved us and called us with an
holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His
own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality
to life, through the gospel. Now, what does that mean? Well, Amy's sitting here tonight.
God's given you life and faith in His Son. He gives you life
and faith in His Son, and thus inscribes upon your soul this
word of assurance, I've chosen you, I've called you. I gave
life to you from eternity, and now it is brought to life by
the gospel. When you've come to believe on
Him, when the gospel is declared to your soul effectually, that
which God has done in eternity is brought to light to your soul.
Believing on the Son of God, I'm chosen of grace. Believing
on the Son of God, I know the Son of God personally. Believing
on the Son of God, I have been called by His Spirit by irresistible
power. Not only is it true that God
has chosen sons of salvation and eternal life, But it is also
true that when God has a special work to do, He has a certain
man especially and specifically chosen to do that work. I don't
know how to state this any more plainly than it's stated in our
text. There was a certain man, a certain priest named Zacharias
of the course of Abiah. Usually, those men who are chosen
of God for special things, are men whom we would consider the
least likely to be used for anything. That's usually the way it works. Usually the way it works. Just as the Lord sent me down
here to anoint one of your kings, one of your sons to be king in
Israel. He said, Man, I got six of them. Let's go get them. Let's
go get them. Here he is. No. But he's He's best looking. He's biggest. He's smartest.
That's not him. He brings an extra. No, that's not him. And an extra. It's Jesse. Don't you have any
more sons? He said, yeah, but he's David. He's that skinny little old runt
out in the field. He just keeps the sheep. Go get him. In comes
David. That's him. That's him. And that's
always the way it is. That's always the way it is.
The Lord chooses this man, Zacharias, and we're told specifically that
he is of the course of Abiah. Now, you can look back in 1 Chronicles
24 later, when the temple was established, the priests were
set in order, and they were given various ranks and classes and
orders. There were 24 of them in all. The course of Abiah was
the eighth in the course of the priests. This man, Zacharias,
while he was a devout, believing godly man, one in whom God had
established his grace and his kingdom. He was a man who went
about the priestly function. Day by day, he'd go in and he'd
see to it that the incense was burning in the temple, at the
altar of incense, every morning, every night. And I just, this
is just my two cents worth, but I'll just almost guarantee you,
nobody knew who he was. Nobody knew his name outside
of a few friends and maybe a few priests he lived with or lived
around and associated with him every day. Nobody had any idea
who he was. But God did. God knew where he
was. God knew what he intended for
him. And at the time appointed, God sent his angel and said,
Zachariah, I've chosen you to be the father of him who shall
be the forerunner of Messiah and usher in the kingdom of God.
But what a word of grace. This man Zachariah, it was too
much for him. He didn't believe it. He didn't
believe it. And God said, you'll believe
it before I get done, because you're not going to speak to this boy's
boy. And Zachariah was the chosen vessel of God's mercy. Now, this
is what I'm saying. God Almighty saves whom He will,
and uses whom He will. to accomplish His will in this
world, and He knows exactly where to find His servants. He knows
exactly what He'll do with them, and He will call them at His
appointed time and send them for His appointed purpose, and
He will accomplish His purpose for the saving of His people.
Secondly, Zacharias and Elizabeth set before us the character of
truly righteous people. In verse six we read, And they
were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord blameless. They were righteous, both of
them, before God. Now, it's regrettable that I
have to even say this, but the sad fact is, folks hear that
and they say, well, the Lord chose Zachariah because he was
such a good fellow. He chose Elizabeth because she
was such a good woman. They were both sinners. They
were both sinners. They didn't have any righteousness
of their own, and they knew it. They had no righteousness with
which to stand themselves in good stead before God, and they
were fully aware of it. All believers are. The Word of
God tells us plainly there's none righteous. No, not one.
There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. We're all going out of the way. We are together become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good. No, not one. Not even old men
and women. Brother Tim James, he said, he
said, of course, everybody thinks when sons get old, they get spiritual. They know they're rocking chair
rebels. They just can't do what they used to. And that's the
way it is. There's none righteous. None. Well, how does the Scripture
say here that Zacharias and Elizabeth were righteous? God made them
righteous. They were made righteous by the
grace of God, by the righteousness of Christ being imputed to them
in justification. and made righteous by the grace
of God, by the righteous nature of Christ being imparted to them
in sanctification, in the new birth, in regeneration. And those
two things always go hand in hand. No man is ever born of
God who was not justified by the imputed righteousness of
Christ back at Calvary when the Son of God shed His blood for
us, and no one for whom the Son of God accomplished justification
shall fail to be sanctified in time, made righteous by grace. All God's people are. These things
are common in all who believe. Both Zacharias and Elizabeth,
his wife, were righteous before God. Now, that's where it counts. That's where it counts. Their
righteousness was not the righteousness of most religionists. They didn't
put on a show. Their righteousness was not an
outward show of righteousness. Their righteousness was not an
outward act intended to impress other people with their devotion
and godliness. Isn't it amazing when when people
start to justify doing certain things, saying things. Take,
for example, offering prayer in public restaurants. You go
out here to Shoney's, and everybody's stumbling around trying to get
to the breakfast bar, and some religious pious prayer, so you'll
stand up and start to pray. And, well, we've got to show
folks that we love the Lord. That's what the Lord said not
to do. That's exactly what He said not to do. Read Matthew
chapter six. It's a plain vision. He said, Don't show others your
righteousness. Don't do it. Oh, how would it bear good testimony?
Live it! That's exactly right. Zacharias
and Elizabeth were righteous before God. Their righteousness
was inward. It wasn't an outward show. They
didn't do anything to make folks look at them and say, now there's
a fine Christian couple. They were righteous in God's
sight. Both of them were. Oh, what a blessed home that
is, in which there's a man and a woman. who are both recipients
of God's free grace, made righteous by the imputed righteousness
of Christ, made righteous experimentally by the grace of God being imparted
to them, walking before God in righteousness. Zacharias and
Elizabeth were righteous before God, walking in all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord, Now that, Merle, is what the
character of righteousness is. That's exactly what it is. Somebody
asked, well, can you describe true faith? Yeah. True faith
walks with God. It just walks with Him. It's
a way of life. It's not an event in life. It's a way of life. Faith walks
with God. Belief in God walks with God. in all the commandments and ordinances
of God. That is to say, true faith walks
in obedience to the Word of God. The whole thing. Some fellows
say, well, we'll pick out ten commandments and we'll say we're
led by the law. No, no. We walk in obedience to the whole
Word of God, the whole revealed will of God. beginning to end,
putting it all together, understanding that all in Christ Jesus the
Lord, the believer works in obedience to the revealed will of God in
His written Word. And the believer, believing on
the Son of God, willingly, gladly submits to and keeps the ordinances
of divine worship. This old man and his wife kept
the word and ordinances of God, as they were given to Israel,
as few in Israel did. Most people went through the
ceremonies. Most people in Israel, in this very text we've read,
all the people on this day were outside, while Zacharias was
in there burning incense, worshiping God, all the people were outside
going through the motions of religion. The whole, most of
you, was out there keeping the Sabbath observance and praying.
But Zacharias was worshiping God. Zacharias saw something
in that instance that nobody else saw. Zacharias saw there
was one coming who would make intercession unceasingly on behalf
of sinners, and there they would be accepted because of his intercession. And that's what that altar of
incense represented. Zacharias and Elizabeth delighted in the
ordinances of God because they saw what they represented. You
see, believers, they come to the house of God, and they meet
together with God's saints to hear the Word and worship God,
not because they have to. I've been pastor of this congregation
for 19 years. I've never threatened anybody
here to do anything. Never. I've never said to one of you,
you know, if you don't want to come to church, well, watch out. We don't
set up a discipline committee saying how many times you missed
last month. That's foolishness. That's foolishness. If you haven't come here to worship
God, what you're doing here is just mockery. That's just reality. Believers keep ordinances of
God because they want to. They worship Him. You say, well,
you mean that's what believers ought to do. No, that's what
they do. That's what they do. He says to believers, do this
in this ordinance of baptism to fulfill all righteousness
symbolically, representatively, yes, but in this we show forth
the Lord's death and we worship Him. We'll break the bread and
eat the wine just a little bit, or eat the bread and drink the
wine just a little bit, and as we do, we will keep this ordinance
because we delight to remember Him who loved us and gave Himself
Moreover, Zacharias and Elizabeth were blameless in their behavior. What a word. What a word. They lived with such—strictness is the wrong
word. That's the wrong word. They live
yet with such consecration and devotion to God our Savior that
the folks who knew them best could not lay any just accusation
against their character. That's what it is to walk in
this world before God, keeping the ordinances and the commandments
of God blameless. In verse seven, we see that there
is a cook in the lot of every believer. The believer's lot is a blessed
lot indeed. I've been on the other side.
I know what it is to live like hell and have hell in my soul. And I know what it is to walk
with God by faith. And I want to tell you, were
there no such thing as heaven and hell, were there no such
thing as eternity, were there no such thing as everlasting
salvation, this is a better life. The believer's lot is a blessed,
blessed, happy, happy lot. In this doomed, damned, sin-cursed
world, you and I have a good hope through grace. believe on
the Son of God. Ron, you go down that factory
tomorrow, I doubt you'll run across anybody down there who
has a good hope for God. Just find it. Walk in, in the
road to hell, and have no idea what's going on. No idea. Oh,
yours is a blessed lot. But there's a crook in the lot.
There's always a crook in the lot. God puts trials on His people
to prove their faith, to strengthen their faith, to improve their
faith. He puts trials on His people
by which He is pleased to do us good. Look here in Luke 1,
verse 7, And they had no child, because that Elizabeth was barren,
and they were both now well-stricken in years. Now today we look at
that and say, well, that's not so bad. Back in these days, no
woman could have a more bitter experience than to be barren. It was a shameful thing. No man could walk before men with pride
and hold his head high as a man who didn't have a son to carry
on his name. It was considered a curse from
God. You remember how Hannah, when
she was in bitterness of soul, she prayed because she had no
child? Well, Elizabeth and Zechariah had no children because God had
fixed it to try their faith. You see, faith in Christ, even
exemplary conduct, even devotion to the Son of God, even exemplary
does not exempt us from trials and troubles and sorrows in this
world. Now, go ask Brother Joe, Abraham,
David, and Noah. Just ask any of them. Ask any
of them. If we follow Christ, we must never consider it some
strange thing when God tries our faith, because this is the
portion of our cup, and it's given to us from the infinitely
good hand of our Heavenly Father for our good. And I realize we can't say it
like that now. I know that. When you're in the
midst of the trouble, you look at it and say, how can you speak
God? But when we get on the other
side and this thing's all wrapped up, well, gee, we're going to
see things with clearer And I'm telling you, anything
that drives me to Christ is good for me. Anything that drives
me to the Word of God is good for me. Anything that drives
me to the throne of grace is good for me. Anything that weans
me of this world is good for me. And the trial of your faith,
being more precious than gold, though it be tried with fire,
will at last be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ." Now, we also see here the place of divine
blessing. We won't read verses 8 through
11 again, but let it be crystal clear. Zacharias, on the appointed
day of worship, was in the house of doing what God gave him the
opportunity to do, in the place where God said, that's where
I'll meet you. And he's an old man now. Now, remember, we have the privilege. We come to the church. Oh, God
has so blessed us. We come here and Unless I'm deceived,
most of the time, God's pleased to meet with us. He's pleased
to reveal Himself to us. He's pleased to speak through
our hearts. Can you imagine what it'd be
like for this old man? He's been going into the temple
every morning, every night, every Sabbath day, keeping that incense
burning. Oh, God let me see your salvation. Lord, you said you'd meet me
here. And he never had a revelation from God in all those years. Not one. But Lord, you said,
if you need a man anywhere, this is where you're going to meet
him. Every day, he kept asking. Every day. And one day, God met
him there. If you could bend his ear just
a little bit, Gary, and ask him, is that Zacharias? There isn't any way, looking
back at this thing, anything under the shining sun could have
kept you out of the temple right there. I don't much think so. I don't much think so. Oh, no.
Don't you understand? The angel of the Lord that day,
with good news, told me Christ is coming. There's one more thing
here. We see in this passage of Scripture
that which is the single great interest and concern of the holy
angels. Reading this book, trying to
prepare for tonight's message, I tried to search out, find out,
what all the angels are represented as being concerned with. You
search it out. What all they're concerned with?
You know what they're concerned with? Just one thing. Redemption. And the glory of
God in it. That's all. That's all. The angels
minister to those who shall be the heirs of eternal life. The
angels announced the birth of John the Baptist. The angels
announced the coming of Christ. The angels sang His praise when
He was born. The angels ministered to Him
when He was tempted. The angels protect us and deliver
us and defend us against our enemies. The angels of God will
carry us up to glory. The angels of God meet with the
congregation, this congregation, to be instructed by redeeming
sinners in the wonders of redemption from folks who've experienced
it. That's what Paul tells us in Ephesians 3. What concerns
the angels? The glory of God in the saving
of His people. Let us imitate the angels. Nothing else? Nothing else. That's
all that matters. That's all that matters. Help
us, our Father, to hear Your Word and to commit ourselves
to the glory of God in the saving of your people. Thank you. Thank you, God our Savior, for
your great mercy, love, and grace to such sinners as we are, through Christ our Redeemer. I ask for me that your hand of
mercy be upon them. Thank you for your grace to them.
Keep them. God, keep them as the apple of
your eye in this crooked and perverse generation. For Christ's
sake, I pray. Amen. All right, Ron, you lead us in
the hymn and the deacons will serve the Lord's table.