Today on Growing Through Grace, Zachariah over these last life had learned something about trusting God's Word. And Dad had given way to obedience. And that's as the result, he just called his name Cha. I love growing in your grace. You are your end on me. And all that I do, love will keep me strong. I love growing in your grace. You're listening to Growing Through Grace with Pastor Jack Abellon of Morning Star Christian Chapel in Whittier, California. When God the Father was ready to send His Son as a Redeemer, He gave mankind every opportunity to know Him, including sending a forerunner to pave the way. Today in Luke 1, verses 57 through 80, Pastor Jack will detail for us the birth of John the Baptist and the glorious fulfillment of the promise that God made to His parents. Here's our teacher with today's lesson. Alright, shall we open our vitals this morning to Luke 1, verse 57. And now Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a sign. And when her neighbors and her relatives heard how the Lord had shown her great mercy, they rejoiced with her. And so it was on the 8th day that they came to circumcise the child, and they would have called them by the name of his father, Zacharias, but his mother answered and said, "No," but we called John. And they said, "Well, there's no one in your relatives who is called by that name, and so they made signs to His Father. What would you like to have Him called?" And he asked for a writing tab and he wrote down his name as John, and they all marched. Verse 57, "The time for her son to be delivered." God had said it would be a son. Again, count on God. He tells you something you can count on it. Notice that the family and the relatives rejoiced in that work of God's grace. By the way, in the culture, first century, you may not be happy to hear it, but you know, they were agrarian cultures, so if you had a boy, there were great shouts of joy. Everyone came over and the party lasted a long time. If you had a daughter, that's so much. She was kind of seen as a liability on the party and it occurred. They took John, well, his name would be John, to be circumcised on the 8th day. The circumcision I know you have understood, hopefully by now, that God gave that to Israel as a sign, an outward sign of faith, that these people that He chose were to live by their spiritual convictions. But they weren't to live by their flesh like the world. They were to live guided by the Lord, guided by His Word, led by His Spirit. And so God gave the outward sign in the flesh of circumcision. The cutting away, if you will, of the flesh, so that God's people would be led by Him. There would be spiritual mind in there, to be spiritually led. Yet, like any outward ritual or right, if you will, the minute that purpose for that ritual is lost in devotion, it becomes mechanical and it becomes worthless. And you can certainly find that in the Bible that sometimes what turned out to be an outward action to mirror and heart of love or commitment has now been reduced to kind of mechanical religious exercises. And you should know that was the case for most people in Jesus' day when it came to circumcision. It was something you did because of who you were, not because of who He was. And there isn't that connection made, well, there is with this family certainly, but there's usually not that connection made between the right and what it represents. So much Jewish confidence in religious rights without faith were certainly a part of the landscape in the first century. When Paul wrote to the Romans in chapter 2, he said, "Look, circumcision is profitable if you keep the law, or really if you're seeking God's heart." But the minute you're a law breaker and you really don't care about what God has to say, that circumcision might as well be uncircumcision. And he went on and he says, "You know, it isn't the physically circumcised that are right with God, it's those whose hearts are right with Him." And then it isn't someone who's a Jew outwardly, but one who is a Jew inwardly by believing in the Lord and trusting in Him. And then I think it's in the next chapter, maybe a second, chapter 4, maybe of Romans. Paul says, "And by the way, Abraham was counted right with God and a friend for God before he was circumcised, so that he could be an example of that that's really what God's after, right? Your commitment to Him, not the ritual. The ritual is fine because it represents truth, but it's worth us if the heart isn't right." And so Paul goes out of his way there in Romans, chapter 4, to say, "Look, this is something that Abraham had in his heart before the Lord ever brought him to that right of circumcision." Certainly for Zacharias and for Elizabeth bringing their son to the temple, this was an act of faith and obedience because everything we know about them, they had a tremendous relationship with God. And so everyone came on the eighth day to the circumcision, the family, and all. And notice the "they" there said that they should name him Zacharias because that was his dad's name and circumcision day, the dedication day was also the day of putting his name on the official documents, and so everyone said, "Well, you've got to be right, Zacharias." And it was Mary, I'm sorry, Elizabeth who spoke up and said, "No, we're going to name him John." Which by the way is what the angel, back in chapter 1 verse 13, had told her husband, "When is the boy named John?" Well, the family didn't like that answer. By the way, the name Zacharias means God remembers, and so they turned to Elizabeth. You know, what do you mean, John? And like I said, it's a very patriarchal society, and so she says, "John means God is gracious." And they went, "Yeah, let's talk to her husband." Because we're not liking the answer, she's giving us. And so not getting anywhere with her, verse 62, they turned to dad. I'm sure they expected him to appreciate the fact that everybody thought naming him after him would be good. And here's the deal, he's still not able to speak. If you were with us when we started, the angel said, "You're not going to be able to speak, that will be your sign, no speaking until your son is born." He was born over a week ago now. So I don't know if Zacharias is going. Come on, man, everything you said is true, except this part, you know. So I don't know how he was handling this very well, but they said to him, "What do you say?" And he answers, "It is John." And he doesn't say he shall be called John, he's very assertive. His name's John. It's a settled issue. Because again, back to verse 13 of this chapter, he's been told. Whether speaking or not, Zacharias over these last lines of months had learned something about trusting God's word. And really that's what he got him in trouble to begin with, right? He was told God's word, he was sent an angel. He was given a wonderful promise and he went, "Yeah, I need a sign." And that's unbelief, it's something that God wants to develop out of our lives. And certainly, I think over the last nine months, that's been going on in this young or older father's life. You know, goodness gracious, I should have trusted the Lord. Now I can't say a word and spend months on it. And that had given way to obedience and that's as the result, he just called his name John. And so we read as everyone marveled in verse 63 that he didn't want to be named after his own name. It says in verse 64, immediately when he made that assertion, his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed. And he was able to speak and he began to praise God. And fear fell upon all those who dwelt around them and all those sayings were discussed through all of the hill country of Judea. And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts and said, "What kind of child will this be?" And the hand of the Lord was with him. Zacharias obeying the direction of the Lord through the angel Gabriel. Now find himself in a different position. When you receive God's word and act upon it, God is able to bless you again. It had been Zacharias that had been so doubtful and so hesitant. And if you're reading through the narrative, you go stand with Zacharias. He struggled but his wife was getting very pregnant every day. And he had to just face that day in and day out. And so what happens the minute he obeys the Lord's word, he acts upon what he has been told. God now can bless him again and the sign has to be removed and he's been brought to the place of trust. And so he begins to praise the Lord and sing his praises if he will. And notice it left the people at least around them convinced that God was at work and there was this healthy kind of fear that gripped their hearts. And they began to wonder what kind of child would this be. And I don't doubt that already they were speculating. Maybe this is the Messiah. Maybe that began already there in the hills of Judea and we don't know. But we do and are told that God's hand was upon old JB, easier than John the Baptist was called JB, from the moment of his birth. Now I don't know what happened 30 years later because literally John's going to disappear today until chapter 3, 30 years later. We really won't know anything at all about John for the next 30 years except this verse. God was with him. I don't know if the people in his family and those were able 30 years later to look back and remember this circumcision. Remember the day of dedication and the things that happened then are by then maybe the town had just simply forgot about this miracle and this miraculous birth and all these things that were happening as a result. Well, his father Zachariah verse 67 was now filled with the Spirit and began to prophesy. Early on in the book you're sort of getting a lot of people singing. Elizabeth sings, Mary sings, Zachariah sings. And you read this phrase and you're going to see it a lot. You read it about Elizabeth, you'll read it now about her husband Zachariah's filled with the Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit. He can then begin to just speak out the things that are in his heart that God wants to say. I thought about Zachariah's this week and thought, you know, here's a worshiping priest who was fortunate enough to be chosen that day to go into the temple and serve and light the candles in the holy place and met with the angel. And then had to sit for nine months and watch God's Word come to pass. You know, couldn't escape the obvious, right? Had to see his wife continue to kind of grow more pregnant and he had to sit without saying a word. He couldn't and I wondered if somewhere along the line he didn't say to the Lord, sorry. Should have listened to you. You know, now I feel like a failure, like, or maybe you're punishing me. I wonder how many times he might have asked the Lord to restore his speech. I was wrong. I had such little faith. But I'll tell you what the Lord took him through to get to this place. His song here, his worship, his prophecy showed that he had certainly gotten over this doubtfulness about God and had begun to live his life with a confidence in the Lord that God would have us to have as well. If Mary's song is called the Magnificent, a Magnificent, which comes in, comes from verse 46, the word magnify. Zachariah's song is often referred to as the Benedictus, another Latin word meaning to bless to verse 68. His prophecy, though, of the words that we're going to read here, focus much more upon Jesus than upon his own son. In fact, there's only going to be two verses in here which even mention John's ministry. But the rest has to do with God's promise of a Messiah. He'd been told by the angel, your son will be the forerunner of the one we're all waiting for. And that's his focus. If Mary in her song of praise focused on God's character, in fact, we go back and read it. She just talks about who he is. Zachariah's focus is upon his work, what he has come to do and what he will yet do. And so here's the prophecy of a priest whose voice has returned to him because he now trusts the Lord and he is filled with the Holy Spirit. Verse 68, "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people." Zachariah's faith is now overflowing. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who has redeemed and notices written in the past tense. Has he redeemed Israel yet? No. This is the first time in 400 years. Israel has heard anything from God. But here's the thing. Zachariah's faith has been growing to the point where God would have years to be and that is this. If God says it, whether he's done it yet or not, doesn't matter, he will. And so oftentimes even the Lord speaks about what he is going to do in the past tense as if it's already an accomplished fact. God will meet your needs. I hope he will. He will meet your needs. You could literally say, "God has met my needs." Are your needs on it? No, but he will. Because he is a faithful God and Zachariah has learned so well that the Lord is now the one that can meet his needs. All of a lesson that we have to learn if God says it, there's no doubt about it. But when Paul was on that ill-fated boat trip on the way to Rome, and the Lord took this boat through a storm of unparalleled kind of danger. And the boat was about to just be destroyed. Paul had been held downstairs as a prisoner, but he asked to meet with all of the people. He stood up and he told them that the Lord had appeared to him, that God had shown them that if he didn't jump ship and you'll just stick with a boat until the Lord says no one would die. Well, I'll be saved. It'll all be fine. And then Paul said there in Acts 27, "You can take heart, men. I believe God is going to do just like God said." That's the faith God wants from us, right? That's the faith Zachariah needed to learn. And so he says that here 400 years of silence, Israel now dominated by a foreign power, weary Jewish eyes looking for the Messiah, longing for God to move, and that hour has come. And Zachariah is now nine months later convinced him. His boy would be the forerunner of the Lord was come. So he writes in verse 68, "He has visited, he has redeemed his people." God was going to visit man to redeem him. Jesus is God. The word, by the way, redeem means to buy back, to pay a price. Even the son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom. Same word for men. Zachariah had come to realize that they were on the brink of the saving work of God and sending his son the Messiah. He was well aware of Mary's visit, well aware of his wife's response when Mary walked in, the prophecy, Mary's understanding, he had a lot to go on now. And he was taking it all in and responding to it as well. He writes in verse 69, "And has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant, David." The term "horn" in the scripture is always speaks of strength. It's usually a leader's strength. God is able to save us. God is able to deliver us from sin and from hell and from ourselves. He has come as promised to the house of David. Now both John to Baptist parents were from the tribe of Levi. He's not speaking about his son. He's speaking about the one that he would come before. He says in verse 70, "And he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been since the world began, that we would be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all of those who hate us, to perform the mercy, promise to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant." Promised by the mouth of the prophets. I suspect that Zachariah had spent a long time these last nine months digging into the prophets. What did he say? What did they say about the Messiah? Was there any indication in their words? Well, as in Malachi of his own son's ministry running before the Lord preparing the way. I suspect that this helped him to establish the establish of the faith. The first assurance God ever gave to us about our redemption was his words to Adam and Eve. I will put enmity between you and the woman between your seed and her seed. He'll bruise your head. He'll, you will bruise his head. He'll bruise his head. He'll bruise his heel. So, as you read through the scriptures, God continued to develop this promise of a coming Savior. To Moses, Deuteronomy 18, I'm going to raise a prophet that will arise like you. To David, I will give you one to sit on the throne at the right hand of the Father. The amazing prophecies to Isaiah, that one that would come would be Immanuel, God with us. That it would be the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And then go read Isaiah 53, all of the suffering that the Messiah would suffer. And Zachariah is dug in. Notice what he writes here, "By the mouth of your holy prophet, since the world began, you were telling us that you would deliver us from our enemies and from those who hate us, while performing the mercy that you promised to our fathers and remembering your holy cup." Ezekiel spoke of the shepherd that was to come. So did Zachariah the prophet? Daniel spoke of his rule and of his sacrifice and of his work. I suspect that Zachariah took a lot of notes these last time. He was pushed into a place where he had to kind of look at his own heart. He spoke verse 70, sorry, he spooked by the mouth of his holy prophets. It's God's word I've learned I can count on you if I don't understand. It really is the lesson of these verses. Zachariah has come to believe that God means what he says. Notice he writes in verse 71 about the deliverance that the Messiah would bring to Israel from their enemies. For the Jewish nation, their narrow view of deliverance was to overcome the Roman yoke. That was all they cared about. Again, it's out from under the oppression of the politics in which we find ourselves. In reality, God had a much greater deliverance in mind, deliverance from the real enemy of our life, from the devil himself, from sin and from the flesh. I think Paul, when he wrote to the Ephesians, said, "Look, we're not wrestling against flesh and flesh, but against principalities and powers from the rulers of darkness and high places." That's our battle, and so Jesus took our sin and defeated our enemy at Calvin. It's a great verse in Colossians chapter 2 where it says, "And you being dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh." He's made alive together with him, having forgiven you your trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that are against you, contrary to you. And as taken them out of the way, he's nailed them to the cross, he's disarmed with principalities and powers, and he's made a public display of them, and he's triumphed over them. That's exactly what God promised. The devil would lose. You would win. Your sins would be forgiven. Your name would be redeemed. He has come to perform verse 72, "The mercy that is promised to our God, to our fathers, to remember his holy covenant and the oath which he swore to our father, Abraham." I'll just point this out because it's not very evident in English, but I thought it was kind of interesting. It was the first time I actually saw this reading and studying this week, but there are three words there that reflect the name of the three people involved, which is interesting to me. Not sure if that's how we meant it, but the word "mercy" is the name for John, and the word "remember" is the name of Zacharias. And the word " oath," God's promise is " oath," is the name for Zacha Elizabeth. So God has made a promise. He's made an oath. We should remember his mercy, and as the Lord has made a covenant with Abraham years earlier, and that covenant in Genesis 12 was that the Lord would bless those who bless you. I'll make a great name for you. And all of the families of the earth would be blessed because of you. Years later, how many years later? Anyway, years later, take me a minute to think it out of the earth. In Genesis 22, so Abraham was 125 years old. God repeats that promise to him when he was willing to sacrifice his only son Isaac. And by now, young Abraham was grown into a man of tremendous faith, even believing if he had to offer his son to the Lord who had no children, and God made this promise of having kids that God would have to raise him from the dead. But one thing for sure, God couldn't fail because God said so. And so God spoke to him in Genesis 22, and he said, "I'm going to bless you and multiply you, and your descendants, like the stars of the heavens and the sands of the sea, and your descendants will possess the gates of your enemy, and you all of the nation of the world would be blessed because you have made my voice." And God made that promise again and again to Abraham that he could rely upon the Lord. That is always eager to encourage our faith. And with that thought, we'll stop there for today and pick up the balance of Luke chapter 1 verses 57 through 80, the next time we're together. This has been the first part of a three-part study taught by Pastor Jackabealan. If you'd like to get the entire message, we do have that available for you. All you need to do to order is simply contact us and ask for study number 42-38. When you get ahold of us, be sure to mention the call letters in the radio station that you're listening to. And in the day and age that we live in, I'm sure that all of us struggle one way or another with our finances. But what does the Bible say about money? Well, the world says that money brings power and freedom. Yet God's Word tells us that the love of money can lead to destruction. Now, we're promised blessing as a result of our right attitude about money, along with the promise that God Himself will provide for every one of our needs. Pastor Jack has written a book that's titled, "God's View of Money," which really details all of the Bible's perspective on the believer and His money. So if you'd like to order "God's View of Money" by Pastor Jack, or to get today's study, just dial our toll-free phone number at 866-88-GRACE. That's 866-88-4-7223. Again, 866-88-4-7223. Or you could find this and all of our resources online at growingthroughgrace.com. That's growingthroughgrace.com. That will bring things to a close for us today. We do appreciate you tuning in. So until next time, as you daily walk with our Lord Jesus Christ, may you continue to grow in His grace. Growing Through Grace is a listener-supported ministry brought to you by Morningstar Christian Chapel in Whittier, California, a Calvary Chapel Outreach. (gentle music) [MUSIC]
