WEBVTT 00:00:04.799 --> 00:00:12.480 This podcast is brought to you by Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people to know, enjoy, and glorify God. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:18.000 For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org. 00:00:19.199 --> 00:00:21.120 Let's pray together, Church. 00:00:22.719 --> 00:00:30.000 Father, we come today as your people to hear you speak through your word and to respond in obedience. 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:40.159 We're especially grateful when we hear words like that, Lord, say, raise us to your glorious throne, because there's more than just what we see in this world and in this life. 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:44.640 But we're also grateful today for your tender mercies. 00:00:45.039 --> 00:00:46.719 They're new every morning. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:50.960 We didn't use up yesterday's mercy, and we're never going to run out. 00:00:51.679 --> 00:01:02.799 But we look back today to the messengers, the angels, the prophets, all the ways that you revealed your gospel to us, all the ways that you have prepared us for the way of our salvation. 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:07.519 Lord, we want to be like those who listened to the prophets and obeyed. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:12.079 So give us grace, Lord, to hear your word today and to forsake our sin. 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:16.879 Prepare us, Lord, through the preaching of your word for the life to come. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:19.280 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:01:19.599 --> 00:01:20.000 Amen. 00:01:20.079 --> 00:01:20.959 You can be seated. 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:21.439 Welcome. 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:22.560 Good morning, church. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:23.519 My name's Clyde. 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:24.560 I'm the worship pastor. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:25.599 We're so glad you're here today. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:27.519 If you're new, this is your first time with us. 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:29.200 Thank you for checking out a new church. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:38.000 I want to invite you to take out your Bibles today and turn to Luke's gospel, chapter one, and we're going to start at verse 67. 00:01:38.640 --> 00:01:43.040 Luke's gospel has a very unique story in it about a family. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:46.000 And no, it's not Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. 00:01:46.079 --> 00:01:47.519 It's actually another family. 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:53.920 Mary's cousin, Elizabeth, her husband Zechariah, and their son John the Baptist. 00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:57.760 See, the Gospel of Luke has not one but two births. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:00.640 The first birth is John the Baptist. 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:04.879 And today we're going to pick up just after his birth has happened. 00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:09.280 So let's read from Luke chapter 1, verse 67 through 79. 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:56.719 And his father, that's John the Baptist's father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 00:02:57.120 --> 00:03:22.319 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the way of peace. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:24.879 And that's the title of today's sermon, The Way of Peace. 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:27.919 We've lit in the second candle of Advent, which is for peace. 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:30.719 But before we get to that, I want us to go back to verse 67. 00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:35.039 We find the priest Zechariah speaking a blessing. 00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:37.439 Now, this was not a normal blessing. 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:47.280 This was Zechariah says, filled with the Holy Spirit prophesying over his son and giving us a vision for how God would use John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus. 00:03:47.439 --> 00:03:53.759 It's helpful for us before we get to what Zechariah said to have some background on Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:59.680 The first thing we see today is that God uses ordinary people like Zechariah to do extraordinary things. 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:06.080 Earlier in Luke chapter 1, we learned that Zechariah was a priest in the land of Judea in the days when Herod was king. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:09.199 Now, this was a dark time in Israel's history. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:17.759 Even though the nation of Israel had come back from exile, they were occupied by a foreign nation, the Roman Empire, and he had installed their puppet, Herod the Great. 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:22.720 Worse than that, though, was there had not been a prophet in Israel for 400 years. 00:04:22.879 --> 00:04:30.639 Since the book of Amalachi, you have what's called sometimes the 400 years of silence, where no one has spoken as a prophet. 00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:33.600 So in the meantime, you have priests like Zechariah. 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:36.480 They were just continuing the ministry that God had given them. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:37.759 Now, what is a priest? 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:42.000 A priest that we're talking about not back then isn't necessarily what we would think of as today. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:44.079 Priests were the people that led the people in worship. 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:49.120 They offered sacrifices, they burned incense, they taught the scriptures, they served in the temple. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:51.839 And when we first meet Zechariah, that's exactly what he's doing. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:55.360 He's doing actually something very special in the temple, and he's burning incense. 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:59.439 This was such a big job that you got to do it once in your whole life and you were done. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:01.279 It's kind of like the Super Bowl for a priest. 00:05:01.439 --> 00:05:01.680 All right. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:03.519 So he's never going to get to do this again. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:04.800 He's got this big moment. 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:06.959 And we'll come back to that in a little bit. 00:05:07.040 --> 00:05:09.040 But Zechariah wasn't just a priest. 00:05:09.199 --> 00:05:11.439 We also see he was an old priest. 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:14.800 He was married to Elizabeth, who was also old. 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:19.439 If Zechariah and Elizabeth were members of our church, they'd be involved in the varsity. 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:23.519 If some of y'all are familiar with that, I see some of y'all 65 and older know what I'm talking about. 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:28.959 So we see the problem for Zechariah and Elizabeth was they had no child. 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:30.879 Elizabeth was barren. 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:37.040 And this was particularly painful because childlessness a lot of times had a cultural stigma attached to it. 00:05:37.279 --> 00:05:41.040 But Luke 1, 6, it says this about Zechariah and Elizabeth. 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:52.000 They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord, but they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years. 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:53.519 Now, this is important for two reasons. 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:57.279 One, because their childlessness, it was not a judgment for sin. 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:03.040 Number two, this childlessness would be used to display the miracles of God. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:10.079 And I'm not going to go back and read the whole passage, but I do want us to look at those three miracles from their lives briefly. 00:06:10.160 --> 00:06:17.120 Because here's what, again, God takes an ordinary man, an ordinary woman, and he does three miracles in their lives to do something extraordinary. 00:06:17.279 --> 00:06:22.000 The first miracle is this Gabriel the angel appears, just like we heard earlier, he appeared to Mary. 00:06:22.160 --> 00:06:24.639 He also appeared to Zechariah before that. 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:29.279 He tells Zechariah, his wife Elizabeth is going to conceive and they're going to have a son. 00:06:29.439 --> 00:06:33.759 All the years that they've been praying for a son, he hears that prayer is going to be answered. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:38.959 Now, remember how I said Zechariah and Elizabeth would be in the varsity if they were in our church? 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:48.800 Earlier this week, I was telling my kids this story, sitting at the dinner table, doing our advent devotional, and I said, Can you imagine if your mamma and pop pop were having a baby in their 60s? 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:50.720 You should have seen the look on their faces. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:54.560 They're like, come on, dad, don't talk about that. 00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:56.639 Yeah, we we all get this. 00:06:56.800 --> 00:06:58.399 It's a miracle. 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:05.360 But God is sovereign over every part of our bodies, including our reproductive organs that never worked like they should. 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:20.959 All those stories that Zechariah and Elizabeth had heard over the years of Sarah, of Rachel, of Leah, of Hannah, of Naomi, of these people being given babies by God, what they had read about was about to become real for them because their prayer was gonna be answered. 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:26.720 God is the God of the womb, and in his wisdom, he closes it and he opens it for his own purposes. 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:29.120 The second miracle was not being able to speak. 00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:31.600 Now, this was the result of Zechariah's disbelief. 00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:36.480 Gabriel, the angel, had told him, Hey, I'm God's messenger and you're gonna have a son. 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:39.680 And Zechariah's response is hysterical. 00:07:39.920 --> 00:07:42.240 His response is, I'm old. 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:45.600 My wife is barren, my wife is old. 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:48.639 Do you think the angel didn't know that? 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:53.360 I mean, I'm God's messenger, you're gonna have a son. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:55.439 Zechariah's response is, I'm old. 00:07:55.680 --> 00:07:58.160 Gabriel's response, I'm Gabriel. 00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:00.480 I stand in the presence of God. 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:02.720 I mean, the humor here is just it's just rich. 00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:06.399 So instead of trusting God's messenger, Zechariah wants a sign. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:08.000 So Gabriel does, he says, you know what? 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:08.800 I'll give you a sign. 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:09.600 You can't talk anymore. 00:08:09.680 --> 00:08:11.920 It's like he took the remote out, hit the mute button. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:16.959 You're not gonna talk until all these things that I've mentioned have taken place. 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:21.360 Now, Zechariah wasn't able to speak for nine months. 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:25.120 Some of you wives right now are thinking, man, my husband couldn't speak for nine months. 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:26.720 That'd be pretty nice. 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:35.519 It's like Zechariah all of a sudden goes home, can't talk. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:41.840 A couple weeks later, he starts to realize, oh, the angel wasn't lying. 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:50.000 Because he, you know, Zechariah and Elizabeth, they did what married people do, and it became clear that a woman in the twilight of her years was having a baby. 00:08:50.320 --> 00:08:56.960 And so now we see Zechariah has nine months to think, what has God been talking about through this angel? 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:02.559 Fast forward nine months, a third miracle happens just after John the Baptist was born, eight days after his birth. 00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:05.600 He got all the aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:08.399 They've all come for the naming and the circumcision. 00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:12.159 They're ready to meet little baby Zechariah, because that's what they wanted to do. 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:13.519 They wanted to name him after his dad. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:14.240 That was common. 00:09:14.399 --> 00:09:20.000 But Elizabeth looks at her husband, who's not spoken a word for nine months, and she says, No, his name is John. 00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:21.919 Well, the family doesn't like that. 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:27.919 So they go to Zechariah, which, by the way, this is just a side note, but lots of you have family members that do this to you. 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:31.440 They don't get what they want from you, so then they go to your husband or they go to your wife. 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:32.799 Uh that's called triangulation. 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:35.759 You're gonna see a lot of it over the holidays, so be looking out for it. 00:09:36.799 --> 00:09:41.519 John steps up, he asks for something to write with, and it says, His name is John. 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:46.399 And all of a sudden, a voice that they had not heard for nine months is speaking. 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:50.799 It's like God took that remote out, unmute, and now Zechariah can speak. 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:52.720 And his speech was that third miracle. 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:58.960 That was the proof that God had spoken through the angel that his work and his will would be done. 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:04.000 We say all this to begin here, just to say that God is at work at every moment of your life. 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:06.000 God is at work in every moment of my life. 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:08.000 We don't always understand God's purposes. 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:13.600 He often uses unexpected events and unexpected people to accomplish those purposes. 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:20.000 See, God had prepared Zechariah and Elizabeth through every season of their long lives for this moment. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:38.159 The very ordinary feelings of excitement to be married, to have children, of having unanswered prayer for those children, of growing older, of experiencing resignation with childlessness, and then the surprise of a pregnant woman in her 60s or 70s. 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:44.000 God used their whole lives to show us how he does extraordinary things with ordinary people. 00:10:44.159 --> 00:10:44.480 G.K. 00:10:44.639 --> 00:10:52.240 Chesterson once said this: the most extraordinary thing in the world is an ordinary man and an ordinary woman and their ordinary children. 00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:58.799 You know, it's often through the mundane, ordinary, taken for granted things that God uses to make his point. 00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:02.960 Now, that was a long introduction to get us to Zechariah's blessing in verse 68. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:07.679 Uh, or as Uncle Lewis says to Aunt Bethany in Christmas Vacation, the blessing. 00:11:08.080 --> 00:11:09.279 How I like to remember this. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:13.279 But uh now, again, this is just a side note, but we get to a blessing. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:14.879 This is very important to me as a dad. 00:11:14.960 --> 00:11:17.679 Uh now I want to speak to the parents in the room, especially the dads. 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:19.360 I want to encourage you to take note here. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:22.799 Get in the habit of regularly blessing your kids. 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:25.759 Speak God's promises over them in their life. 00:11:25.919 --> 00:11:27.759 Tell them that God has a plan for them in their life. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:28.960 Put them in their bed at night. 00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:30.639 Ask God to bless them and keep them. 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:32.799 Make his face shine upon them. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:38.080 Don't confuse material blessing of the world with the spiritual blessing of being a father. 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:41.519 Young men, there's some men in this room, you're married, you haven't had kids yet. 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:45.600 Be thinking now, what are the things you want to say when you're handed your newborn child? 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:47.679 Start thinking about those things. 00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:55.120 So Zechariah begins his blessing by blessing God and remembering what he has done in the Old Testament. 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:57.759 Now, the second thing we see today comes from verse 68. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:11:58.639 Y'all still with me? 00:11:58.799 --> 00:11:59.840 That was a long introduction. 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:00.960 Thanks for sticking it out. 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:02.559 Uh, this is the second thing today. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:05.279 You can't understand Jesus without the Old Testament. 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:12.080 Verses 68 through 74, this is a summary of all that God has done to save his people up to this point in history. 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:16.720 Verse 68 says that God has visited and redeemed his people. 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:18.480 And this was the plan the whole time. 00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:19.840 Jesus didn't come by accident. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:23.200 He was sent as the plan from the beginning to save God's people. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:25.360 Now, there's just two things we want to highlight here. 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:28.799 One, Abraham's covenant, and two, the lineage of David. 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:35.679 God appeared way back to Abraham in Genesis 12, and it says this, and I will make of you a great nation. 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:39.919 I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 00:12:40.080 --> 00:12:44.159 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you, I will curse. 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:48.080 And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:58.000 See, even though Abraham and Sarah were old, just like Zechariah and Elizabeth, God gave them a son in their old age, and they became a great nation. 00:12:58.159 --> 00:13:01.200 This is what we call the Abrahamic covenant. 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:05.120 God's plan to bless the world came through Abraham. 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:09.279 That's by the way, what one of our core values as a church is blessing. 00:13:09.519 --> 00:13:12.240 We have gospel, community, mission, and blessing. 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:17.360 When we do our part as the church, we are a part of God's blessing. 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:20.320 The blessing that God's telling Abraham about, that's us. 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:22.399 We are that blessing as the church. 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:24.159 Now, the other person I mentioned is David. 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:30.799 Luke 169 says that God raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:36.879 David was the greatest king of Israel, and God also made a covenant with him, 2 Samuel 7. 00:13:37.120 --> 00:13:43.120 God says to David, and your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. 00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:45.440 Your throne shall be established forever. 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:51.440 That's one of the reasons that Matthew's gospel opens up with this long list of people that had a role to play in the history of salvation. 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:55.840 Starts at Abraham, goes to David, and ends at Jesus. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:05.600 Now, when I think about this first section of Zechariah's prophecy from 68, uh going down to verse 75, it's interesting to note to this point. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:12.799 Zechariah, like I said, has had nine months of silence to think about what that angel said. 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:17.600 The blessing that he's giving here, it's really a great act of worship. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:24.639 Great acts of worship often come from great seasons of silence and of stillness. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:30.960 As we read this blessing, we read the words of a man who's been thinking deeply. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:33.519 What did he think about? 00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:37.360 Did he think about God's promise of salvation? 00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:41.120 Did he think about the endless role that he had as a priest? 00:14:41.279 --> 00:14:51.440 Of the endless rivers of blood that spilled and flowed with each generation of priests that made endless sacrifices that could never fully atone for endless sins? 00:14:51.759 --> 00:14:53.039 Did he think about scripture? 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:54.639 Did he think of history? 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:59.200 Did he think of his son John preparing the people for the coming of the Lord? 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:02.720 You know, as we hear the words of this blessing, the answer is yes. 00:15:02.960 --> 00:15:15.919 Even though Israel had lived through centuries of exile now, even though they had no king from the line of David, even though they're living under foreign rulers, Zechariah's words remind us that God still remembered his oath to Abraham. 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:20.240 All that time of silence and stillness, it wasn't punishment, it was discipline. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:24.879 When we hear Zechariah's blessing, we hear a man that has a new understanding. 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:27.120 Look at verses 72 and 73. 00:15:27.360 --> 00:15:35.440 It says this to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham. 00:15:35.919 --> 00:15:42.240 Zechariah, his name is a combination of two words, Zakar and Yah. 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:44.320 Zakar means remember. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:46.960 Yah means Yahweh. 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:51.039 So his name means Yahweh remembers. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:52.480 But it gets better. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:54.720 Elizabeth's name, two words. 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:56.639 Eli and Shiva. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:01.200 Eli, God, Shabbat is an oath. 00:16:01.519 --> 00:16:05.440 Her name means God is an oath. 00:16:05.840 --> 00:16:09.840 Just picture these two people throughout their whole lives waking up each morning. 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:11.039 Good morning. 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:12.799 Yahweh remembers. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:14.399 Good morning. 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:16.080 God is an oath. 00:16:16.399 --> 00:16:22.399 And saying those names and having that understanding of God and wondering, are our prayers ever going to be answered? 00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:27.360 Not just prayers for the baby, but the prayers for the restoration of Israel. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:37.120 And at the end of their lives, they're given their newborn son, looking at each other, holding their son in bed, whose name means God is gracious. 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:38.399 That's what John means. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:39.360 God is gracious. 00:16:39.440 --> 00:16:44.399 See, the Old Testament is a book of people that looked back in faith to what God had promised. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:48.879 But it's also a book of people who look forward in the hope for God to keep that promise. 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:51.519 And the lesson for us is really the same. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:53.840 God always keeps his promises. 00:16:54.080 --> 00:17:00.240 The greatest promise is found in sending us that Messiah, the Son of David, Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:02.960 He's the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises. 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:06.319 Just like Zechariah looked back in history in faith. 00:17:06.559 --> 00:17:08.480 We look back in history in faith. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:10.720 The message of Advent is really the same. 00:17:10.960 --> 00:17:13.519 Look back in faith, look forward in hope. 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:19.759 Our hope is in that second coming, the future resurrection that we just sang about earlier, the new heavens, the new earth. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:22.880 Our hope is that Jesus will return and make all things new. 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:29.119 And it takes the whole Bible, Old and New Testaments, to wrap our heads around this faith and this hope. 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:35.440 There's an idea that shows up throughout history that God of the Old Testament is somehow different than the God of the New Testament. 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:44.079 It goes something like this: the God of the Old Testament was mean, he was inferior, he was judgmental, he was all about wrath and all about keeping the law. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:49.119 The true God, though, was the God of Jesus, the God of Paul, the God of love, the God of grace. 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:51.680 This is a bad idea, and it's shown up several times throughout history. 00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:53.519 It started with this guy named Marcion, by the way. 00:17:53.599 --> 00:17:58.880 His solution was to get rid of most of the Bible and just give us parts of Luke and ten of Paul's letters. 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:10.000 And that's one of the reasons that passages like this are so important, because Zechariah speaking through the Holy Spirit shows us that God had been saying the same thing, past, present, and future. 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:12.720 The whole Bible, Old Testament, New Testament. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:14.480 There's one God, three persons. 00:18:14.720 --> 00:18:22.079 God the Father planned redemption, God the Son accomplished redemption, God the Holy Spirit applies redemption. 00:18:22.319 --> 00:18:26.240 Three persons, one God, acting consistently through all eternity. 00:18:26.400 --> 00:18:28.240 So that's the first part of Zechariah's blessing. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:31.759 It's a reminder, you cannot understand Jesus without the Old Testament. 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:34.319 And you cannot understand the Old Testament without Jesus. 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:37.279 Jesus himself said this later on in Luke's gospel. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:41.039 After his death and resurrection, he meets two disciples on the road to Emmaus. 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:50.400 And in chapter 24, verse 27, it says this, and beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 00:18:50.720 --> 00:18:58.000 If you were to open your Bible to the Old Testament and begin reading, would you be able to do what Jesus did? 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:08.960 Would you be able to understand how the Old Testament shows our need for someone more than just a priest, someone more than just a prophet, someone more than just a king, but a savior. 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:12.960 There's over 400 prophecies that predict the coming of the Messiah. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:15.839 Jesus fulfilled every single one of them. 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:22.079 The Old Testament shows us this pattern of God's activity again and again that predicts this coming of Jesus Christ. 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:28.799 And Advent helps us to see that Jesus is just as necessary in the Old Testament as he is in the New Testament. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:30.400 Which brings us to our third thing. 00:19:30.480 --> 00:19:38.079 We see that Advent has more to do with the ministry of John the Baptist than it does with the birth of Jesus. 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:49.680 So verse 76, Zechariah turns his attention now to his son, and he says, And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:53.759 See, Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:20:00.480 Advent is all about preparing for the coming of Jesus, his first coming and his second coming. 00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:08.319 Verse 76 tells us that this was John the Baptist's whole job description, to go before the Lord to prepare his ways. 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:09.920 Now, how did John prepare those ways? 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:16.319 Verse 77 says this to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins. 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:18.319 He told people what they needed to know. 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:19.839 What did they need to know? 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:22.559 They were sinners in need of forgiveness. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:25.759 That's your need, that's my need, forgiveness. 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:26.960 How did that forgiveness happen? 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:32.640 The Bible says in Hebrews, there can be no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of what? 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:33.759 Blood. 00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:36.079 No forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:43.759 That's why you had to have a priest like Zechariah who would slay animal after animal, shedding blood for the forgiveness of sins. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:50.319 That's why this story is so compelling, because Zechariah had a son whose job it was to say, Hey, guess what? 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:58.000 Dad, you and me, we're about to be out of a job because there's coming a high priest who's going to make one sacrifice for all. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:02.640 There's going to come one prophet who's going to reveal God's word once and for all. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:04.079 His name is Jesus. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:11.759 That's why John the Baptist says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:15.839 This is how John the Baptist would prepare his ways. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:22.400 Later in his life, we see John the Baptist, and that's precisely what he's doing: preparing people to meet their God. 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:28.160 He was called John the Baptist, by the way, uh, because we don't have a John the Methodist or John the Presbyterian. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:29.599 We got a John the Baptist, right? 00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:30.960 I feel like I got a little heavy in here. 00:21:31.039 --> 00:21:32.160 Are we y'all still with me? 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:32.960 All right. 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:35.119 I hope I'm doing this right. 00:21:35.359 --> 00:21:44.960 Uh so we meet John the Baptist later in his life, and he's baptizing people as a sign of repentance, for forgiveness for sin. 00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:48.640 Repentance from sin, but also forgiveness for sin. 00:21:49.039 --> 00:21:53.680 And he would preach this simple message repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:58.319 When John grew up, he was very good at making religious people angry. 00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:02.559 So priests, Scribes, Pharisees, they hated John. 00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:03.680 They couldn't stand it. 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:08.799 Tax collectors, soldiers, prostitutes, they loved John. 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:09.920 Why? 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:12.960 Because they understood what he was preaching about. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:14.960 They understood themselves. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:17.519 They knew they were sinners in need of forgiveness of sins. 00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:20.480 They knew they were sick and needed healing. 00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:25.440 These were the kind of people that were prepared for the coming of Jesus. 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:29.359 John wasn't just out there making people feel bad about their sin. 00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:34.880 He was pointing forward to the one who was going to come and do something about that sin. 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:36.720 That's how he prepared people. 00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:38.480 I was thinking about this week. 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:42.720 I think preparing for the coming of Jesus is a lot like getting ready for a wedding. 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:45.839 I actually brought you some pictures to give you an example. 00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:49.839 This is my wife on the left with her bridesmaids. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:56.240 And you can kind of see, you know, they're putting on makeup, they're getting their hair just right, uh, making sure the dress looks good. 00:22:56.400 --> 00:23:02.720 You know, all this is a part of getting the bride ready to meet her groom. 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:06.000 And that's a picture of what John the Baptist did. 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:10.400 His job was to help get the bride ready. 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:22.799 His job was to turn the nation of Israel back to their God, to turn disobedient children back to the Father, to make ready for the people, for the Lord, a people that were prepared. 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:25.759 We, the church, are the bride of Christ. 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:32.160 And God gave the apostles, the evangelists, the shepherds, the teachers to equip the saints to the work of ministry. 00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:40.240 But what's more than that, he gave gifts from the Holy Spirit to each of us and commands us to use them to strive in building up the church. 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:42.960 That's the work of a bridesmaid. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:47.119 That's the work of someone who's getting the bride ready to meet the groom. 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:56.480 So when you put money in those boxes, when you go next door and rock babies, when you go on mission trips, when you share the gospel with your coworker, that's bridesmaid work. 00:23:56.720 --> 00:24:01.599 And remember, that's how God has called you to prepare the bride to meet the groom. 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:11.119 As John the Baptist approached the end of his ministry, he said, You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I'm not the Christ, but I've been sent before him. 00:24:11.440 --> 00:24:14.079 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. 00:24:14.240 --> 00:24:19.359 The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:22.799 Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. 00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:26.880 He must increase, but I must decrease. 00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:32.000 John the Baptist's job was to prepare the way and then get out of the way. 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:36.880 John the Baptist didn't have what the kids call these days main character energy. 00:24:37.680 --> 00:24:39.279 Students, y'all know what that is, right? 00:24:39.440 --> 00:24:41.279 That's a Gen Z term, no cap. 00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:51.359 John the Baptist was there to get us ready for the one who did have main character energy. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:58.880 That's why it's so fitting for us, Grand Parkway, the bride of Christ in the year 2024, to do what these words on the screen say. 00:24:59.039 --> 00:25:00.559 To just make this our prayer. 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:02.079 Come, Jesus, come. 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:04.240 Because it echoes those words of revelation. 00:25:04.400 --> 00:25:08.880 The Spirit and the bride say, Come, come, Lord Jesus. 00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:15.200 We want this kingdom of this world to decrease and for the kingdom of heaven to increase. 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:18.799 Advent is all about getting people ready for that reality. 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:26.480 If you want to catch someone's attention, instead of saying Merry Christmas this year, just go up to them and say, May you decrease and may Jesus increase. 00:25:27.920 --> 00:25:30.559 Can you imagine just checking out at the line at H E B? 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:33.920 May you decrease and may Jesus increase. 00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:37.519 Your faces are like, we're gonna stick with Merry Christmas. 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:38.240 Thanks, man. 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:42.160 This brings us to the fourth and final thing today, and that's this. 00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:42.960 Very simple. 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:44.559 Jesus is the only way to peace. 00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:46.079 Look at me, verse 78. 00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:56.079 It says that the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:26:02.160 The image Zechariah gives us here is of the sun rising on the darkness and shining the light on the path of peace. 00:26:02.319 --> 00:26:06.880 Again, just to remind us of our history here, Zechariah is living in a time of deep darkness. 00:26:07.039 --> 00:26:09.519 God had not sent a prophet for 400 years. 00:26:09.680 --> 00:26:10.720 They were in the dark. 00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:16.319 They were waiting for a king to come and deal with the darkness and make them a kingdom again and defeat their enemies. 00:26:16.480 --> 00:26:17.359 And we all want that. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:20.319 We all want the bad guys to lose and the good guys to win. 00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:23.759 We want someone to come and deal with the darkness. 00:26:23.920 --> 00:26:27.759 Peace is what happens when our enemies get defeated. 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:33.119 We feel that need for a king to come and fight the darkness on the outside. 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:35.119 But what about the inside? 00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:38.559 We all want somebody to deal with rebels. 00:26:39.200 --> 00:26:41.039 But what about our rebellion? 00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:47.039 See, once we begin to understand this, we begin to understand this way of peace. 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:53.440 One of the problems we see over and over in the Bible and in the world is that people do not know the way of peace. 00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:59.440 Isaiah 59, 8 says, the way of peace they do not know, and there's no justice in their paths. 00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:01.119 They have made their roads crooked. 00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:03.519 No one who treads on them knows peace. 00:27:03.759 --> 00:27:13.039 This is every person's natural state: anxiety, chaos, conflict, wars, rumors of wars. 00:27:13.519 --> 00:27:15.039 Sin makes the world this way. 00:27:15.119 --> 00:27:23.359 And in spite of all of our self-effort, in spite of all our advances in technology and knowledge, by the way, I know that this screen back here has been blinking. 00:27:23.440 --> 00:27:24.400 It was driving me nuts. 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:26.880 Y'all have been ignoring it this whole time, by the way, right? 00:27:27.039 --> 00:27:29.039 I love technology until it goes wrong. 00:27:29.200 --> 00:27:36.480 So in spite of all of our advances, in spite of all the things we've seen happen in the history of the world, we're unable to walk in the way of peace. 00:27:36.559 --> 00:27:38.640 In spite of all of our governments, all the peace treaties. 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:42.880 In fact, this is one of the reasons that the uh the Kellogg Brian Pact was a joke. 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:47.039 And y'all say, What in the world is the Kellogg Briand Pact, Clyde? 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:53.440 In 1928, a bunch of elite government officials and rich people got together and they decided they were gonna outlaw something. 00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:55.279 Guess what they wanted to outlaw? 00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:56.319 War. 00:27:56.880 --> 00:27:58.000 1928. 00:27:58.240 --> 00:27:59.119 No more war. 00:27:59.359 --> 00:28:01.920 You're gonna get along, you're gonna get along. 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:03.680 Why was that a joke? 00:28:03.920 --> 00:28:08.400 Because this guy named Hitler came along and he showed why that was a joke, if you know your history. 00:28:08.559 --> 00:28:12.720 Uh, I mean, they were so confident this was gonna work, they even gave them a Nobel Peace Prize. 00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:14.079 Like, really? 00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:19.279 See, our problem is that peace is a nice ideal, but it's not a reality. 00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:31.759 All the words we use around Advent, hope, peace, joy, love, those are nice sounding sentiments, but they're never realities in every area of our lives without Jesus. 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:33.119 How do I know this? 00:28:33.440 --> 00:28:35.680 Because I drive in Houston traffic. 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:39.440 It does not give me hope. 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:40.400 Despair? 00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:41.200 Yes. 00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:42.000 Hope? 00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:42.640 No. 00:28:43.359 --> 00:28:46.799 There's no peace on the road, just anxiety and speed. 00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:53.599