If you will, let us open our
Bibles today to the first chapter of Luke, Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one, beginning with
verse five. There was in the days of Herod,
the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the
course of Abiah, and 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
that Elizabeth was barren. and they both were now well stricken
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 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. But 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 am an
old man and my wife well stricken in years. The angel answering
said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of
God, and am 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 shall be
performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be
fulfilled in their seasons. 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, 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. 400 years before what we've just
read took place, the last of the minor prophets gave this
prophecy concerning John the Baptist. Behold, I will send
my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord
whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the
messenger of the covenant whom you delight in. Behold, he shall
come, saith the Lord of hosts. So 400 years. before this took
place that we just read about, God foretold the birth of the
son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, that he would come as the forerunner
of the Lord, the messenger of the covenant, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I have four things I want
to point out to us this morning from these verses which we read.
First, God chose the parents of this promised messenger. That is, God chose the parents
of John the Baptist. A priest named Zacharias and
his wife Elizabeth would be his parents. And I want you to notice,
as you look at the scriptures, at what we are told about his
parents. First of all, they were both
righteous before the Lord. You see that in verse 6? And
they were both righteous before God. Now, when you read this
passage, you should not overlook the fact that it is declared
that they were both righteous before God. Righteous before
God. How were they made righteous?
They were not born righteous, obviously. They partook of Adam's
sin like all men do. We all come into this world and
we do not become sinners by sinning. We sin because we are born sin. We are shaped in iniquity, conceived
in iniquity, shaped in sin, the scripture tells us. Well, they
were not righteous by coming into this world as a man and
a woman, how were they righteous? And notice they weren't just
righteous before men. You know, it's easy. It's easy
for people to put on a fake aid or a dress and look righteous
before other men. And that's good. But that's not
enough. The most important thing for
you and for me today is to know beyond a shadow of doubt that
we are righteous before God, before God Almighty, because
before Him one day we shall stand. Well, how were they then righteous
before God? Well, not by the works of the
law. For the apostle Paul wrote in
Romans 3 in verse 20, Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there
shall no flesh be justified, made righteous in his sight. You might say, well, if the law
wasn't given to make us righteous, if the law wasn't given for us
to study it and learn it and obey it so that we might be righteous,
then why was the law given? Well, the rest of that verse
tells us, doesn't it? It reads like this. For by the
law, therefore by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight. Now listen, for by the law is
the knowledge of sin. We read the law, and if God blesses
the reading of the law to us, we realize the law is not just
dealing with outward acts, but it's talking about the inward
thoughts and intents of the heart. We might not ever be guilty of
committing actual adultery, but our Lord said if we were to look
upon a woman with lust in our hearts, we've committed adultery. The law of God was given to show
us our sin and our need of a savior. When we read here that both of
these were righteous before God, we realize that they were made
righteous, as all men are, who are righteous before God by the
righteousness of Christ. It's called the righteousness
of God because it's a righteousness that he worked out by his obedience,
his perfect obedience to the law. And when a person believes
in Christ, trust in Christ, that righteousness is imputed, is
charged unto the person who believes. The scripture says, therefore
being justified, made righteous by faith, we have peace. with God. They believed God. That's the point, isn't it? You
say, well, they were born before the Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world. Absolutely. But everyone who
was saved in the Old Testament from Adam on We're all saved
in the same way through the righteousness of Christ. They look forward
by faith. Abraham believed God and it was
imputed unto him for righteousness. They looked forward to Christ
coming and dying as a substitute for sinners. We look back. We look back to the cross. But
that's the only way anyone could ever be declared righteous in
the sight of God. Now notice the second thing about
them. This also in verse six, they
walked in the commandments of the Lord blameless. Now, you
say, what is this? They walked in the commandments
of the Lord blameless. Well, this was evidence This
was evidence that the righteousness of Christ had been imputed unto
them because, now hear me now, this is so important. When the
Lord imputes righteousness to one who believes, righteousness
is also imparted to that person. You say, what do you mean by
that? I mean that person becomes a new creature in Christ Jesus.
Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. We have a new nature, a new desire
to please God. Remember James, the apostle,
said, show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show you
my faith by my works. Now, their obedience walking
in obedience to the commandments of the Lord didn't justify them,
but it did evidence, it did manifest that they were justified, that
they truly did believe. And I think this is something
that is missed in our day. It's such a sad thing for me
as a pastor when I hear and see so many people, it's hard to
find anyone who doesn't profess to believe in Christ. It's hard
to find a person who just comes out, I don't believe that. I
don't believe that at all. It's hard to find a person like
that. Most people say, oh yeah, I believe.
Oh yeah, I've heard that, I believe. But their life is not changed. They do not manifest in their
walk that they have a relationship with Christ, that Christ lives
in us, as the scripture says. Oh, these did. And I would point
out that that word blameless is not sinless. It's not sinless. If you look on down to verse
20, you will see that Zacharias, he was not sinless. because here
he's charged with the sin of unbelief. But it does mean that
dressed in his righteousness, when the Lord looks at his church,
if you were one of his children today, ah, bless the Lord, oh
my soul, to think about this. If you are one who trusts in
Christ, When the Lord looks at you, he says what we read in
the Song of Solomon, thou art all fair, my love. Thou art all
fair. With his right breast and his
righteousness, we are as righteous as he is before God. Thou art all fair. Oh, yes. The third thing we see that is
recorded about them, they were now old and childless. Well,
if you live long enough, you'll all be old. I can't say we because
I'm already there. But if you live long enough,
but thank the Lord, the Lord blessed my wife and I with children. But this couple, God didn't see
fit to give them a child. And you have to recognize that
in the society of Israel in which they live, this was a great grief. It was a great grief to Elizabeth
that she had no child. They were old, the scripture
said. And they had prayed, listen, they had prayed. I'm sure when
they first married and, you know, Elizabeth didn't conceive, she
didn't get pregnant, and they prayed, Lord, give us a child. Lord, give us a child. Give us
a son. Every man, for some reason, wants
a son. I've told some of these young
men, if God gives you a daughter first, you'll wonder why you
ever wanted a son. No, but they prayed. They prayed. But God didn't answer their prayer
in giving them a child. And they were now old. Their prayer was heard. If you
look in verse 13, the angel said, Zacharias, this is how I know
they prayed for a child. Fear not, Zacharias, for thy
prayer is heard. And thy wife, Elizabeth, shall
bear thee a son. and thou shalt call his name
John. What a lesson for you and I. Pray and keep on praying, right? Especially when we pray for loved
ones who are lost, who don't have any interest. Some of you have, all of us do,
have friends, we have family members that just seem to have
no interest in the things of God. They're in this world and it's
almost as if they're oblivious to the fact they're going to
meet God. They have no concern. No concern whatsoever. And we pray and the Lord doesn't
do anything for them. Don't give up. Don't give up. Pray on. Lance said the other
night, soldier on. That expression he said is an
Australian expression. Soldier on. Pray on, pray on. Here's the second thing. God, here's my second point.
God arranged the meeting between the angel Gabriel and Zacharias. This didn't happen by chance.
This didn't happen by circumstance. You say, why do you say that,
preacher? Why do you say that God arranged this meeting? For
two reasons. Number one, because this is an
angel of God, a holy angel of God. And he would not have presumed
to come unless he had been sent. And he would not have delivered
this message unless God had given this message to him. He's a holy
angel, Gabriel. And the second reason is, look
in verse nine. We read, according to the custom
of the priest's office, his lot. Now it's easy to read over that
and it not register, his lot. What does that mean? Well, a
priest, like Zacharias, would come to Jerusalem to do service
in the temple according to his order, Abiyah. And he would serve
at least three or four days. He would be in one of those categories. And each day they would cast
four lots, just like you roll the dice. They would cast four
lots. And the lot would go to this
priest, the first lot. His work would be to clean the
ashes from the altar, the brazen altar. Another lot would fall,
and his lot, this priest, he would carry the sacrifice up
to the altar. The lamb, which was slain, remember,
a lamb every morning and every evening. A third lot would be
to trim the candlelight, the candelabra in the temple. The fourth lot would fall to
the burning of incense. Didn't happen every time. A priest
might go up to Jerusalem and serve four days, serve three
days in the week and go back home and do one of these other
things. You say, well, casting of the
lot. Yes, casting of the lot. Remember
what the proverb says? The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. God arranged
this. They cast the lots, however they
did it, and it wasn't going, the lot to burn incense wasn't
going to fall on any one of those other priests. It was going to
fall on Zacharias. God had a messenger and a message
for him. The message was, Elizabeth, your
wife, is going to have a son. And it's going to be a joyous
occasion to you, Zacharias. After praying for something and
waiting for something, God gives it to you when you'd lost all
hope. Or to have a child born into a family. That's always
a joyous occasion, isn't it? To have a newborn in the house. And that's a blessing of the
Lord. That's a blessing of God. Should never take that for granted,
should we? God gives you a child. What a
blessing. What a responsibility. All right,
here's the third thing. God will accomplish his purpose. Notice in verse 15 we read, for
he, that is the angel speaks, 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. He shall go before him in
the spirit and power of Elijah 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. God will accomplish
his purpose. The angel told Zacharias, your
son, that God's going to give you. He shall be great in the
sight of the Lord. Think about that. Think of the
people today who are great in this world. You see this? What is it Taylor Swift? Oh,
I mean, if you ask people on the street, who's a great entertainer,
they would be great spoke, sports people great in the eyes of the
world. But this man is going to be great
in the sight of God. All the difference between great
in the sight of men and great in the sight of the Lord. And
why is he going to be great in the sight of the Lord? Because,
as the scripture here says, he will turn many of Israel to the
Lord. Now, turning to the Lord, that's
conversion, isn't it? Well, John, he didn't have the
power. He didn't have the power, though
he was filled with the Holy Spirit, to turn a sinner to God. Preachers
don't have that power. Churches don't have that power.
That's the work of God. But God uses man, doesn't he?
He uses man. He uses men in preaching the
word, his word, the word of God. When we come here on Sundays,
we come here to hear the word of God. We're not here to hear
the word of the world and the leaders of this world and things
like that. Take the newspaper and go through
the headlines and make comments upon that. No, no. We're dealing
with eternal matters. We're dealing with matters that
are all so important. And one place we go, the word
of God, the word of the living God. Now, we will hear later,
when John comes of age, the first thing that we read about him
is, John came preaching in the wilderness saying, repent ye. That's how rather he would be
great, God would use him. Oh, how we should pray that God
would call young men and use men in preaching the gospel.
Would to God that he'd raise up another George Whitefield
or Martin Luther or John Calvin or Charles Spurgeon, or someone
who God would just lay his hand upon, and he would have the ear
of the people. We've got entertainers in pulpits
today, not preachers, not everywhere, I understand that, but so much
of the time it's just trying to entertain you, make you feel
good about yourself, and cheerleaders, No, we need men like John the
Baptist who would come preaching in the power of God because it's
only that power that will change a man or a woman, a boy or a
girl. Now, the reason I said this heading
here, God Will Accomplish His Purpose, Zacharias didn't believe
God. He didn't believe this angel.
Now, we're told that. You say, are you sure a preacher?
Well, yes, look at the verse. Look at the verse here. He didn't
believe. Verse, is it 18? Yes, Zacharias 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 am
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 shall be
performed because, here's the reason that he's going to be
struck dumb, not able to speak and not able to hear. Why? Because thou believest not my
words. Okay. He didn't believe God,
I guess God's gonna have to change and go to plan B. How foolish,
how foolish. God's purpose is going to be
accomplished. In fact, the Apostle Paul, writing
to Timothy, made this point. He said, if we believe not, if
we believe, Zacharias didn't believe, if we believe not, Yet
he, God, abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. Yes, his purpose is going to
be accomplished. Now, unbelief, men and women,
boys and girls, we may think sometimes unbelief, that's a
very minor thing, a very small thing, God doesn't feel the same. God doesn't think the same. God
who cannot lie, God who is truth, and we don't believe him. That's
a serious thing. That's a serious matter. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Oh, but
I must do something. I must do, I must do something.
Surely there's, I've got a part to play in this. No, Christ did
it all. When he said it is finished,
the work of redemption was finished. Believe in Christ and be saved. That's the message. That's the
message of the word of God. God's purpose is going to be
accomplished. And here's my last thought. God will always keep his word.
You can take it to the bank. He will always keep his word. Now I might not, I may tell you
something and I don't mean to lie, but circumstances may change. Or I may forget, I'm fallible,
that's for sure. But I want to tell you something.
When God says something, it's going to take place. It's going
to happen. He cannot lie. There's just four
things the scripture says that God cannot do. He cannot lie,
he cannot change, he cannot deny himself, he cannot look upon
iniquity. Yes, my friends. What happens? Look at the verse and I'll close.
Verse 23. And it came to pass. Well, surprise,
surprise. Surprise, surprise. It came to
pass. No surprise. Not at all. Why? Because when God says something,
it's going to happen. When God gives his word, you
can count on it. You can lay down your head at
night on your pillow and go to sleep knowing that God's in charge
and nothing's going to happen to you. Nothing's going to take
place in your life that God doesn't allow, that all things work together
for good to those who love God, to them who are the called according
to its purpose. Oh, what peace. And what joy
do God's children have? Why? Because we have God's word. God's word. What a blessing. I wish to thank God every day,
and I trust we do, for his word. Oh, to be in this world without
his word, what an awful, awful situation. We'd be in darkness
without any light. We'd be in death without any
life to be without the Word of God. Thank the Lord for His Word. Now Bill's going to come and
lead you in a hymn.