All right, if you want to turn to Luke chapter 1 this morning Maddy's been memorizing her verses. So we've heard Luke 2 a whole bunch in the last few weeks. And you know, every time she wants to say it, she always picks the worst times. And she was like, you want me to say my verses? And I'm like, we're serving supper or something, I don't know. But I still try to not discourage her too much from saying them. Quoting the Bible. And it's a lot to learn. We all learned them when we were kids. It's one of them that I still have after 30 couple years. It's still bouncing around. I mean, it's still in my head. And I can still quote it just pretty much verbatim all the way through. Well, that was like the first one I ever memorized, I think, as a little bitty kid. But, you know, Luke chapter 2. The story don't start there. And I thought about calling you this morning, early, because I was up at six or so, and asking you what you were going to preach about this morning, so that we didn't, because we've been passing each other really close in the river there, like our boat's been bumping against each other. It's a real concern in Sunday school and church, but I figured it wouldn't matter if we hit it twice, though. But anyway, y'all know the story about how Zachariah and Elizabeth, Elizabeth was Mary's cousin. And she was expecting, she was about six months along ahead of Mary. That's when Mary went to go be with Elizabeth. Elizabeth was about six months along. For the sake of time, I don't want to read the entire chapter about how the angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah and Gabriel. It was Gabriel, the same one that came to Mary. and how that he was made mute. God closed his mouth because he didn't believe. He said, okay. So when his mouth was finally opened after the baby was born, after John was born, the first thing that he said was his name is John. Then he prophesied and he said some things concerning Jesus and concerning his son, his son John. So I want to try to find it here. I think it's in verse number 67 of Luke chapter one. And we're going to start in 67 and I'm just going to read this, read a few verses here. And his father, speaking of John's father, Zachariah, was filled with the Holy Ghost. Now, I want to just interject this here real quick. The Holy Ghost Everybody likes to think, or you know, it's just kind of like your knee-jerk, go-to assumption that the Holy Ghost, when did we all say the Holy Ghost came? At the day of Pentecost. But that's not true. That wasn't true. Jesus wasn't even born yet. And Zechariah was filled with the Holy Ghost. And you know, if you look at it, it's kind of like you can see the evidence of the Holy Ghost all through the Old Testament. David the king, you've been talking about him so much, but there was a reason why he would just pray to God. He had a different kind of relationship with God that included, that involved the Holy Ghost. It was present there, you could see the effects of the Holy Ghost on his life and in the way that he was. And Zechariah was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel for he hath visited and redeemed his people and hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets which have been since the world began that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant the oath which he swear to our father Abraham that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. And thou, child, speaking to John, shalt be called the prophet of the highest for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. And then there it says, and the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel. Now, I just want to talk about a couple of things here, pretty elementary, but it's just neat that how it just, there it is. It's the same mainframe of design and purpose through all the whole Bible, you know. Jesus's purpose, that's what Zachariah talked about, you know, why he was coming. You know, in verse 71 there it says that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us. You know, lot of people interpreted that in different ways and you got to think about you got to try to put yourself there that's what everybody you know every cantata and every christmas play and every christmas movie and everything that you see concerning christmas and this season always tries to take and make you kind of put your mindset there with them. It's to make you try to be there and imagine what it was like and what was going on. The Bible is one of those things that it has in it what we need to live for God. It's not necessarily a storybook. And so there's a lot of things that's left out about the day-to-day and the things that was there because it's not pertinent to living for Christ and His kingdom. But don't lose sight of the fact that, you know, He really did come to this earth in a stable. You know, Zachariah really was an old man, and so was his wife, was old and beyond, well stricken in years, it says, and she was barren. So, you know, they had passed the time of their life where they were begging God for a child. They'd moved on, you know, and when the angel came to Zachariah, you know, he told him, I'm gonna give you what you've always asked for. But he had a purpose. John had a purpose, just like so many others did. There was a reason why God came to Zachariah and Elizabeth and said, I'm gonna give you what, you remember what you used to ask me for so much? I'm gonna give it to you, because I need him now. Now's the time. But it says, if you read back there in the beginning of that chapter, There was a priest named Zechariah of the course of Abijah, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth, and they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." Everybody that God has ever used in that way fit that criteria. You know, Noah, He was, what did it say, perfect in his generation. I mean, he walked that way before God. David the king was used by God in a lot of really mighty ways despite some of his shortcomings, but it's because he lived his life that way too. He observed all that God wanted him to do. with the right heart and the right spirit. You talked about that last week. Perfect. What was it? Excellent spirit. And Zachariah and Elizabeth had not been granted what they always wanted, but they still did not fault God for it. And they didn't just keep kicking it down the road, shaking that tree, hoping that cherry would fall out if they shook it hard enough. No, they just had the right spirit about it and moved on with their life. And guess what? God gave them what they wanted in his time for his purpose. And it was because of their spirit. But here he come, here come little John and his purpose You know, Zachariah covers that there too, but first, when he talked about this, when he prophesied, he talked about what Jesus was going to do, why his purpose was for coming to the earth. Second thing he said was to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. That's why Jesus came. It was part of the purpose. And I know that sounds redundant, what I'm saying, but it's, you know, There's so many songs and so many little memes now on Facebook and so many things about why Jesus was born. I don't like, I said it last year and I'm gonna say it again this year and I don't care who hears it, I don't like them calling him an unplanned pregnancy. That's blasphemous. He was the most planned. You know, His birth and that pregnancy was planned from the Garden of Eden. You know, God gave them the choice. They made their choice. So then it started being planned. And it didn't happen, not even the birth of John happened until the time was right. So it was not unplanned. You know, don't identify with this wicked, perverse world and the way they feel about unplanned pregnancies, you know, the Lord called them something else. And Jesus was not that. And, you know, He came to perform the mercy promised to our fathers. That's what Zechariah said. You know, you've got to remember in context and put yourself there again, like I was telling them this morning, God had not spoke to them in 400 years. You know, them priests still went. Zachariah was a priest. And don't think he hadn't, you know, been comforted by the Lord. I mean, the Holy Ghost came to him. So it ain't like he hadn't heard from God in all of his life. But the Lord had not spoke to his people in 400 years. It was a dark time. But there were still people. There's always been a remnant of people who did know God. You know, the people who raised Daniel, They were in a really bad time in Israel's history and yet they raised their kids right. Their kids turned out. Them three Hebrew boys, their parents did too. Somebody, you've been talking about David, somebody raised him, Jesse. I can't help, when you look at the genealogy and you look at the timeline, I can't help but know that his grandma and grandpa had a little bit to do with it too. You know, Boaz and Ruth. They were around. David knew them. I just know he did. And you think they didn't train him, you know, instruct him in the things of God? Surely they did. You know, there's always been a remnant of people who know God, even in a dark time. And that's what Zachariah said. He's coming. It's finally time. It's finally time. That's when Mary showed up and Elizabeth and met her and Elizabeth lifted up her voice because the babe leapt in her mouth. John recognized, see that was a supernatural thing that happened there. It wasn't just, oh, I felt the baby move. No, no, it was noteworthy enough to record in the word of God forevermore. It's part of it that won't ever pass away or fade away. It's been preserved all the way until now for us. It happened because there was more going on than just two pregnancies. There was more going on. He was come. And there were people who didn't understand why he was coming. They thought he was coming to free them from the tyranny of the Romans. Or to rise up and do all these things. But Zachariah knew. Simeon knew. Mary knew. Elizabeth knew. You know, there was some of them who knew. Even the disciples, there was a few of them. Didn't say a whole lot. Speaks more to the ones who, like Peter, who didn't, he didn't figure it out for a while. But some of them knew. And even John, because you know, remember, they weren't, he was just a man. Even he had to be reassured of it at some point. You know, I read there where he sent word to Jesus. So even John, you know, It was way more to overcome than just a story that they've been told and that they just believed. See people, for us, we've read this story so many times and we've just accepted it as, okay, this is how it all went down. And it did. But for these people, it took a huge act of faith in God to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. You know, when you sit and hear these people say, what Zachariah says here about Jesus coming, it was him exercising a vast amount of faith in the face of complete disbelief by everyone else, you know, including all the religious people that was in that day. And for us, I mean, we just, yes, Jesus was born. He was the Messiah. Oh, you know, and Christmas. But it was a bigger deal back then for them. He said, he's come to perform the mercy promise to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. See, he knew the word of God. He knew the law and he knew the covenant that God made with them way back when. And that's what he was hanging on to. And he was rejoicing to see it finally being fulfilled. It increased his faith to see God fulfill the covenant. And that's what he was rejoicing in and prophesying about. And he also, I like where he throwed this in there, what the covenant was, and why there was a covenant, and what Jesus was fulfilling forevermore, for all the way to us, and until whenever time ends. What he was fulfilling in fulfilling this covenant, and remembering the covenant, this is what he was fulfilling. The accomplishment that Jesus was going to do was this. that He would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, not Rome, that's not who He was talking about, the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear. Up until this point, everybody served God out of fear. Israel was blind, still are, because they only ever served God out of fear. That's why when He delivered them, they loved Him. when He demanded holiness and righteousness out of them, they abandoned Him because they only ever served Him out of fear. You know, it's a fact of life, it's a principle of love that no one truly loves someone out of fear. And all the Lord has ever wanted in this matter of His relationship with mankind is love without fear. And Jesus being born, fulfilling the covenant that He made with Israel way back when, and with all of us forevermore, was really the most important thing to Him. To be fulfilled out of all of that was to eliminate the reason why you serve him out of fear. He said, love me without fear, that we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. That's all he wants. And that's what he came to accomplish, to do something about this matter of sin so that we could serve him without fear. Remember what we was talking about at the house the other day about breaking a horse, and I made that not really a very good analogy of people's attitude towards God about surrendering their will to Him. They don't know Him, so they don't understand what it even means to surrender your will to Him. And they act like that He's demanding their will be surrendered to Him so that He can work them to death. And it's not that way. He wants you to serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness. And see, there is where sin is dealt with. If you can serve Him, In holiness and righteousness, you'll do it without fear. Because sin is the only thing that creates that enmity and breeds fear between God and man. Funny how that works in a family, in a church, in everything else. If sin's in the camp, there's fear and distrust and unease and distress. He came and remembered the covenant so he could do something about all that. And Zachariah knew that before he was even born. And that was what Jesus' purpose was. And then Zachariah turned around and looked at his little child, John. You know, John didn't live for a long time. I think Zachariah kinda knew that was the way it was gonna be. Because if he understood what Jesus was coming to do, then he also had to have known that John was, he was too close for it not to affect him in some way like that too. But he looked at him and he said, this is what your purpose is. He said, you're going to be a prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. And you need to understand something. John's purpose, see he wasn't the Messiah. He was just the one going before him. And his purpose is our purpose too. It's what we're supposed to be doing too. Go before the face of the Lord and prepare his ways to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God. That's what he said, your purpose is going to be, little John. He said, this is what your life's about. I'm going to raise you so that this is what your life's about. Because he said, I understand what's going on here. He said, God wouldn't give me a son when I'm an old man if it wasn't for something important. And so it was kind of like his unspoken vow that he was going to do the right thing before God by His Son, John, and raising for the purpose God really did give Him to Him for. There was a lot going on during this time, a whole lot. It was more than just the Christmas story. He said, to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercies of our Lord, and to give light is seen by the tender mercy of our God whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace." If you think about what he kind of was laying almost like a charge to John. You know, if we would do these things and just kind of make them, like I said, kind of like the framing and construction of our life and our service to God, you know, it really... I don't think we'd stray too awful far from God's purpose for our life. He gave John a purpose. Zechariah was prophesying when he said it. It says so. That means it was coming from God. It was God speaking through Zacharias saying, here's what Jesus is coming to do. And then he looked at John and he said, child, this is what you're going to do. And by it being prophecy, it wasn't just for those two. It is for all of us. I mean, that's what we ought to be doing too. And then one more thing, and I'm kind of getting done early here, but You know, it says there at the end, the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in the deserts to the day of his showing unto the Lord. He wasn't influenced by anybody else. And another thing to think about too was the fact that all these people were family. You ever thought about that? I never had gave it a whole, whole lot of thought, but they were all kin. Mary and Elizabeth were cousins. And so, you know, I know that a lot of times that, you know, especially today in the day we live in that family, there's a lot of our families that don't follow God and don't, they got wild ideas because they've been influenced by so many other influences. And it's hard for a family to unite together and all be of one accord and all have the same goal for God and have the same heart for his work and for your purpose and all that. to the point where, you know, we're divided. And you feel it. You feel it. Especially around the holidays, because, you know, some of us are there and some of us ain't. But this was a family. Not all their family was involved in this either. It was just a handful of them. And despite, despite the discouragement that came from their family, They were still, they still continued on. Zechariah still prophesied this. Mary and Joseph still went to Bethlehem, espoused, not married. She gave birth. They still did exactly what God told them to do when they went to Egypt. I mean, who in their right mind back then would have suggested for them to go to Egypt? God did. I bet you nobody else was really supportive of that. But see, despite the people, even the ones that were close to him, that might have discouraged them in these matters. Whether it was believing that Jesus was the Messiah. I mean, didn't it say there when Jesus started His ministry that even He said, you know, prophets not without honor save in His own country. They didn't believe. They didn't believe. They knew Him too well. They knew Mary and Joseph. They knew their parents. They knew their family. And yet still, despite all of that stigma that went along with believing this, there was just a handful of them. The ones that are in the Bible. We don't even know the names of the ones who didn't believe, but we do know the ones who did. You know why? Because they had the right spirit. And they lived their life right. And they did want to do right by God. They were looking for Him. And they put some faith in what was happening and believed God. You know, Gabriel come to Mary and said all the things that she did and there's all kinds you could say about all that. But even Mary, when she said that, you know, my soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit is rejoiced in God my Savior, for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. She didn't do it. She didn't go along with it so that she would be glorified forever. But she recognized the fact that, you know, look, This is taking some serious faith. I mean, she exercised faith in God. And see, this is before the comforter came. This was before the Holy Spirit was poured out on them people in that upper room, but there was a relationship there between her and God. There was something about this family that God looked down upon and said, I can use these people. for my son to come. And John, we're going to put him in there too. And Mary, and Elizabeth, and Zachariah, and Simeon. We really don't know of any other ones. What was the woman's name? Hannah. Anna. She was the one that came in there with Simeon, didn't she? They had been waiting. They had been looking and watching. Jesus wasn't wearing a sign around His little baby neck that said, I am the Messiah. The Holy Spirit told them, this is Him. Yep. And it's a wonderful thing to think about. And it ain't just some magical story that's in the Bible preceding Luke chapter 2 that we all memorized when we was a kid. It was the fact that there was a whole lot more God accomplished in John and Jesus and Mary and Zechariah and these few little players that was involved in this than just us having something to have a Christmas play about. And there was a purpose, there was a charge given when Zachariah prophesied. It was about Jesus and what His purpose was. It was informative about what Jesus was coming to do. And it was instructional about what John was going to do. And it was instructional for us too, about what we're supposed to do. Go before the face of the Lord. Prepare His ways. Give knowledge of salvation unto the people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercies of God. And give light to them that sit in darkness. You know anybody sitting in darkness? We were talking about that the other day. People who sit in darkness. And you can't just go in there and just shine a little light and it be enough. No. It takes more than that. You know, they're in darkness. And there's an understanding that has to come from somewhere besides you and me. The Holy Spirit has to be the one. See, He was the one who helped Zachariah understand who Jesus was and who his son John was going to be. It was the Holy Spirit that gave Simeon a little insight into who he was holding. It was the Holy Spirit who comforted Mary and Elizabeth. It was the Holy Spirit who made old John jump around in there when Jesus and Mary walked up there with the Holy Spirit. That's the same thing that's going to have to be in us that helps us do our purpose. You can't go out here and just broadcast a little light around and that be enough. The Holy Spirit has to do it through you. You can't go out here and give someone comfort that's in darkness or somebody that's going through the shadow of death in the way of peace, to guide their feet in the way of peace. You can't do that for somebody. The Holy Spirit has to do that through you. And there's a lot of people out here trying to accomplish the purpose of John in their life as a Christian that don't have the Holy Spirit. And it's not something you get baptized in like we was talking about this week too where you're a Christian but you just ain't got it yet. And then it comes in the mail like something from Amazon and now you have it. No, don't work that way either. There's a way that the Holy Spirit works through you, and that's by your purpose being accomplished by doing what Jesus came to do, serving Him without fear in holiness and righteousness, doing something about this matter of sin through the repentance, through the remission of, see, the knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins. Has to be done something about. And then you can fulfill your purpose and the Holy Spirit will work through you. I don't know, it's just a thought about what was going on there that day. We just breeze over it because the exciting story is in chapter two, right? But there was a whole lot more accomplished than what we think about. And so I just wanted to think about it for a little bit.