Let's look together in Luke chapter 1, and I'll read from verse 57 all the way down to verse 80, a little bit longer portion of Scripture. I want to speak with you about Zacharias' testimony. Remember, Zacharias was one of the priests whose lot it was to go in and out of the temple at a prescribed time. And while he was in there, the Lord had revealed unto him that his wife Elizabeth, who was beyond years of being able to bear a child, would bear a child. And his disbelief in that the Lord smote him with dumbness. Now, he and his wife both being stricken in years, this was the way the Lord would keep him shut up, his mouth shut until such time as the Lord would fulfill what he had promised. And so that's what we're reading here. Elizabeth indeed did conceive. But now, in verse 57 of Luke 51, Elizabeth's time came that she should be delivered. And she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her And they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass that on the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child. And they called him Zacharias after the name of his father. This was the custom, to name the child after the father. And his mother answered and said, Not so, but he shall be called John. And that because in verse 13, the angel had said unto Zacharias, that thou shalt call his name John. So, verse 61, they said unto her, there is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. It's like you naming a child. You sit back and think, who is that named after in our family? And they made signs to his father how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marveled all. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake and praised God. And fear came on all that dwelt around about them, And all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him. We know what manner of child he was to be. We just read it in Malachi chapter 3. It was foretold that he would be the forerunner of our Lord Jesus Christ, John the Baptist. And his father, Zacharias, 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 swore 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, shalt be called the prophet of the highest. What an honor. The glory going to Christ. But thou shalt be called the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways. That's what we read in Malachi 3 and verse 1. 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. Christ the sun, Christ the light, 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 the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel. Now we'll probably come back to verse 68 down to the end of the chapter and look more closely at this message of God being the horn of salvation in Christ. But I want us to consider this story of Zacharias here as we find it set forth. And how the Lord blessed him and Elizabeth in particular to bring through their loins this one who was to be a servant of the Most High. I see in this a two-fold reminder, and this is good for all of us, I believe, to consider. And that is, first of all, that children are an heritage of the Lord. Here was Elizabeth. Here was Zacharias. Probably in a society, more so even than today, where to be without a child was to have a blight on you. People would look at you and think, OK, what have you done wrong? Why is God judging you? Why is God punishing you? There might be some that still think that way today, that it's some sort of punishment. But it's just a reminder that children are an heritage of the Lord, that even the ability to have children, It's of the Lord's doing. The number. How many? And when and where? If you look in Psalm 127 and verse 3, Psalm 127 and verse 3, you read here, beginning with verse 1, Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. So had Zacharias and Elizabeth had some notion that the Lord was going to fulfill His purpose through them, and they had tried all those years to have a child called John the Baptist, it wasn't going to happen. Except the Lord keep the city of the watchman, waketh but in vain. I'm sure they probably as a couple had this discussion. And finally came to the point that, hey, the Lord purposed that we not have any children. And we're bound to it. When suddenly, the Lord said, okay, now. After all hope is gone, you're going to bear a child. But he says, it is in vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows, for so he giveth his beloved sleep. In other words, when you can rest in God's purpose regardless, then you're not straining and striving. This matter of praying isn't getting God to acquiesce to our will, but it's rather as He causes us to cry unto Him, whether early or late, it causes us to sleep, to rest in all that He has purposed. In verse 3, lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward. That's true physically, but it's also true spiritually. You know, if you were to judge Noah and his ark and how many of those were saved, by evangelist quote-unquote standards today, they would say it was a failure because only eight out of the whole world were saved. And yet, not one more or less was saved than what God purposed. And I think about that even as to everyone that the Lord brings to Himself through the hearing of the gospel. It's not the preachers determining. It's not me saying, well, I think I need to see some things happening so I'm going to get up a little earlier. or step a little later, striving, laboring. No, the Lord gives His beloved sleep. I'm confident this one thing, that if any are the Lord's, He is going to call them. He is going to draw them. He is going to, in His time, it might be in the late hour, as with Elizabeth, but that one will be brought forth that Christ has redeemed. It says in the fruit of the womb is His reward. So that's one thing to keep in mind here. by way of introduction. But secondly, this is also important, that who and what will be the purpose of those children served in this life is going to be according to God's will and purpose as well. I think we tend to think, well, if they're raised in a good home and they're raised under the preaching that they're going to turn out to be the best children ever. Well, you know, there again, Unless the Lord is pleased to cause their end to be to His glory and honor, they'll be just as evil as the worst reprobate out there. I know in school they like to teach you it's all about environment. But we've seen cases where in the worst environment that could ever be imagined, the Lord was pleased to take one out of that evil and bad environment and to deliver them and show them Christ and save them. And we've seen the other, where some have sat all their lives under the faithful preaching the gospel, and in the end have gone to hell being reprobates. You say, well, who determines that? Well, look here in Romans chapter 9. It's just to say that God didn't give Zacharias and Elizabeth a good child because they were good parents. In His purpose, they were just as much sinners as any. They needed as much the redeeming work of this One that John the Baptist was brought forth to foretell is coming. They needed as much His redemptive work as anybody. It wasn't due to anything in them. And we know that right here in Romans chapter 9. It goes all the way back to Abraham and Sarah. In verse 9, for this is the word of promise, at this time will I come and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by her father Isaac, notice here, for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, But of him that calleth, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. And it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." So there was God making that distinction. And the Lord continued to remind Zacharias and Elizabeth and all of their neighbors of the distinctiveness of this one that was to be born of the Lord. You're not even going to call them after your name, Zacharias. You're not going to get any glory out of this one. See, when the child turns out pretty well, the dad's kind of proud of that. Like, that's how I raised him. But if the child is a, you know, abject rebel out there, you're kind of thinking, oh, I don't know whose child that is. We like to have them named after us when things are going well. But there wasn't to be any glory even given to Zacharias. Zacharias, even though it created a conflict with his family. And I'll tell you, when the Lord is pleased to isolate out one of His own and draw them to Himself, there's going to be a fight. The Lord said He didn't come to bring peace but a sword. Now how come this one turned out this way? You talk about if you knew that this child that the Lord would give you, their sole purpose would be to live for 30 years and then put on a camel skin and go out there in the desert and do nothing but eat locusts and honey and cry, behold the Lamb, and then have them decapitated after a year of preaching that. How would you feel about it as a parent? See, none of that was revealed ahead of time. All they knew was as God was pleased to reveal. But that was God's purpose for bringing this one John into their lives for this particular time. And when you know that those children are heirs of the Lord, you bow regardless. You bow regardless. And so, as we come back here to Luke chapter 1, this is Zacharias' testimony. He was just a means that the Lord used to bring about His will and purpose through John the Baptist. But the first matter or truth that I see here with regard to Zacharias' testimony is this. that man proposes, but it's God that disposes. Man proposes, but God disposes. And we see that in something as simple as the naming of the child. And it says there in verse 59, it came to pass in Luke 1 that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. This was the custom. This was something that was taught back in the Old Testament all the way back to Genesis chapter 17 where the Lord had established male circumcision as a sign of that people that was to be set apart from the rest of the world. Now physical circumcision is a very common thing, Jew and Gentile. But back then, if you weren't a Jew, then you weren't circumcised. And it just wasn't the custom. Here we see him coming and fulfilling this custom that came to circumcise the child and at that time to name the child. And I know religion today has kind of taken that and transposed it into christening of babies and naming, giving it a Christian name and all this that you see going on in religion today. But that's not really what the scriptures consider to be circumcision. It's not a physical thing. It's not an outward act that in any way brings us into relationship with the Lord. There are many who have been circumcised, quote unquote, baptized or by some ceremony brought in to identify with a religious organization that perish. And by the same token, there are some that have never been through any outward profession. See, baptism doesn't save, just like circumcision doesn't save. It wasn't bringing him to be circumcised that would in any way enhance God's work in this child. God had already purposed that this child be His. Thankfully, it's not dependent upon outward works and acts. Otherwise, what would the thief on the cross have done? right up to the last moment. We find him hanging there, unable to move. If it was modern religion, he would have been lost because preachers say, well, let me see your hand. Raise your hand. He couldn't even raise a hand. Walk an aisle. He couldn't walk an aisle. His feet were nailed. God required nothing of him. In fact, God did all the work in him. He was reviling Christ all along with that that other thief until such time as the Lord opened his eyes. And that's when he said today, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He was looking at a bloodied body of a man. And it must have sounded foolish to people around. What? He must be delusional. What kingdom? But right above Christ's head was the King of the Jews written in all three languages. Jews try to get it changed. He said, Pilate said, what I've written, I've written. All of that, God determined. But suddenly his eyes were opened to see that this one that was dying there as a man was none other than the Son of God, the substitute, the Redeemer. And his heart was drawn to Him. That's how God works. That's His purpose accomplished, irrespective of what men try to do. So in that, I see there that man proposes. They proposed that he be called Zacharias, but when it came down to it, the Lord revealed, no, that he should be called John. In verse 63 there, when Zacharias wrote it, he said, His name is John. He didn't say, I suggest his name be John. His name is John. He was declaring exactly what the Lord had showed him. And it says they marveled all. Now, it's interesting that when God strips us of any ties to man, to organizations, to outward ceremony, etc., that's where we see in verse 64 that his mouth was opened immediately and his tongue loose and he spake and praised God. God wasn't going to open his mouth until he had finished teaching him and showing him. how these things would be fulfilled. And that's the way it is. We're silent before the Lord until such time as the Lord is pleased to loose our tongue and to cause Him to be glorified. When God opens our lips, our mouths will show forth His praise. And better be without speech than not use it in praising God. That's just the bottom line. This is how God disposes. Unless God opens the lips and loosens the tongue, we could never speak to His glory. That's just the truth. If you look over in Psalm 51 and verse 15, again, this is how man proposes, but God disposes. In Psalm 51, we just sang that, Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise. as you sang it. Was that truly in your heart? Or was it just words coming out of your lips? And we need God to give us a heart to praise Him. But here in Psalm 51, in verse 15, you can see the cry of David here, O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. That's how I know a work of grace has been done in a heart, whether mine or yours. Your testimony is going to be to the praise and honor and glory of God alone. And I find that that's specifically what's stated here in Luke 1 and verse 64. It's not that his mouth was opened immediately and his tongue loose and he began to talk about his experience of what it was like to be dumb for all those months and, you know, guys, this is really the Lord doing all the attention on me, me, me, as you hear men's testimonies today. It says there, and he spake and praised God. That's what grace does. It doesn't take any honor or glory to oneself, but it gives God all the honor and the glory. And so, we see that. Man proposes, God disposes. God alone is worthy of all praise and glory. Great things He hath done. But thirdly, look down here. Where God does a work, and we see this in Zachariah's testimony, the work of God instills a spirit of awe and wonderment. When you look there in the portion of Scripture, it says in verse 63 that they all marveled. And then in verse 65, and fear came on all that dwelt round about them. Here again, you can't create this. There's churches and preachers that decide they're going to have a campaign and go out and revolutionize a whole city, and so they go out and go to work and try to get people to do things and be things and all of this. That's not how God works. Here we find that fear came on all that dwelt around about them, and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea. What was pushing that? What was driving that? It wasn't Zacharias. But the Lord used his testimony to cause that word to be carried now into the outer regions. Today, people speak of a spiritual awakening. I hear a lot about that today. Or getting back to God. And a lot of preaching and talk about that. The only true awakening, dear friends, is that which God produces. If it's because of me, people are going to go back to sleep right away. It's kind of like waking someone up and, oh, it's still not time to get up. OK, back to sleep. But I'll tell you, if the Lord wakens you, you'll not go back to sleep and you'll carry forth his word and his glory. in all that is in accord with His will and purpose. When it says there in verse 65, "...and fear came." That word in Scripture is used not of cowering, like I'm afraid, but it has to do with a reverence. Only God can produce this sort of reverence in the heart of a sinner. If you look, for example, in Acts chapter 9 in verse 31. This is how we know that God is at work when we see a true fear of the Lord. We read it this morning in our Bible class in Romans 3, that there's no fear of God before their eyes. That describes men. They'll do religious things. They'll go through religious motions and activities, but there's no fear of God before their eyes. They're right back to doing whatever they did before they went to church or whatever. A true fear of God, notice in Acts 9 and verse 31, it says, Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied. Those two go together. To walk in the fear of the Lord is to walk in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. It's to walk in that peace that the Holy Spirit gives when he's pleased to reveal Christ in your heart. You see, that's that fear, that reverence. Again, in Romans chapter 3, I made reference to it a little while ago, but verse 18, that's what it's talking about here. When it says, there is no fear of God before their eyes, it means people are lethargic. We see it in our day. Look at the number of jokes floating around about God and about hell and about the devil and about this and that. And people laugh. It's just like la-di-da. If they had a true perception as the man in hell did when he woke up in hell and he was thirsty, he was begging just for a drop of water on his tongue. Begging Abraham to send somebody back and tell his brothers And he said, well, they have the scriptures. Let them hear them. The fear of God. There's no fear of God before their eyes. No concept at all of God's holiness and justice. And how it is that a sinner, such as we are, can ever expect to have acceptance before a holy God. It's not going to be based on our works. So if that's where you're looking, there's only condemnation of the ways. It's the peace that comes, the fear of God, the true awe and reverence is in knowing that, even as Zacharias will testify here, that this One who was to come, the Lord Jesus Christ, He would visit and redeem His people. It's in the redemption that is in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is that fear. This is the true awakening that is the result of God's work when He is pleased to do His work. And that's all I pray for. I have a dear friend that's up in years that likes to meet and listen to these messages. And her concern the other day in talking with her on the phone is that as the years come on, we know that, you sit and you get sleepy. And she said, I never used to fall asleep during a message. And I long to hear this message, but I find myself more and more incapable of even being able to listen through a whole message. He said, it concerns me because this ought to be something that is, you know, just truly refreshing to my soul. And it was a reminder as we talked that if God wants to take away your ability to hear, unless He could, He could lull you to sleep here in a second and you never hear anything. Even wide awake, you never hear anything. So how much more to rejoice when we read such things as here, that all these sayings were noise throughout all the hill country of Judea. And it says, and all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts. Luke 1 and verse 66. Dear friends, there's a hearing and then there's a hearing. We all have physical ears, but it doesn't necessarily mean we're hearing. The hearing comes by the Word of God. It comes through the Spirit of God, opening an otherwise dead, lost, depraved heart, but causing that heart to hear the very voice of Christ. Christ said, My sheep hear My voice. And that's my confidence. Every one that Christ came to save, that's His sheep. He'll cause to hear. And it's going to be in His time, just like with Zacharias and Elizabeth. It was in His time that He gave them that child. It's going to be in His time that he's going to cause them to hear. I was on the Skype yesterday with the Brethren in Malawi, and we're going down through 1 Corinthians. We started in 12, 13, 14. We're going through 15 right now, talking about the resurrection. In fact, the notes in the bulletin are the main points that I went over with them yesterday, right here in my office. At the end I said, are there any questions? And there was silence. I thought we'd lost contact. And then Brother James said, there was a day when we would have just loved to jump on this and ask questions. But he said, the Word has come home so powerfully to our hearts right now. We're just sitting staring at each other. He said, we have nothing to say but to thank the Lord. that He caused us to hear His Word today. You talk about how the Lord works in His grace. I'd much rather that after hearing a message even such as this than saying, okay, let's pull up the chairs and draw a circle and let's everybody just share what they learned. No, it's a time to be quiet before the Lord. You know, the idea here of hearing and all that heard them laid them up in their hearts. If you're talking, you're not hearing. Teachers say that all the time. Can't both of us be talking here? One's got to talk and one's got to listen. When the Lord's speaking, there's a listening going on. There's a hearing. There's a bowing. There's a drawing unto Him. And I see that here in this particular portion. Where all they could say is, what manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with Him. One other thing that I would have you see there with regard to Again, Zachariah's testimony. He wasn't going out on a campaign out into the highways and the byways and talking about his story like you see people doing today. First thing you do, you notice someone's got to write a book about it. Everything we need to know about is already written right here by the Spirit of God. But the Lord caused this word to go forth. But notice where it went. Here was Jerusalem. the citadel, if you will, of religion, and yet it wasn't there that the Lord caused that word to be heard. He took it out into, it says, the hill country of Judea. That's out in the rural areas. And I find that to be something, too, of how God often works. Sometimes you think, boy, if he'd just place a gospel witness in Chicago, or if he'd just place a gospel witness in New York City, wouldn't that be phenomenal? The Lord often passes by the big centers and puts it in a place like Shreveport, Louisiana or some other aisle-a-way place. It makes people drive a little bit to go hear it. But I'm convinced of this. You could have a place where the gospel is preached and Christ glorified set out at the end of a dirt road in the middle of a cornfield. If the Lord causes his sheep to hear, they'll come. You don't have to build anything. It's not like sports. Build it and they'll come. There's nothing even attractive necessarily about this building, but I like it that way. We've been here for 18 years. People go by and scoff. They think you've been there for 18 years and that's all you got. We got exactly the number. that the Lord his purpose should come in here. There's not one missing today in this congregation that shouldn't be here, that should be here, that isn't. Even that is according to his dictating. How many times have you got up and said, I'm going to go to worship today and then suddenly you get a headache or suddenly something happens that takes you out? That's just a reminder that it's a privilege. It's not a duty. It's a privilege when the Lord is pleased to cause us to hear. But what manner of child shall this be? Luke 1.66. It wasn't a child. When they came after John the Baptist, we're going to see that later on, and they tried to exalt him. He said, Christ must increase. I must decrease. That's what manner of child he is. He called himself the voice that cries in the wilderness. He was, the Lord had purpose to raise up and cause him to be the prophet of the highest. I'm going to stop there because verse 68 down to verse 80 is an entire other message that talks about when the Spirit filled Zacharias and caused him to prophesy. You notice the first words out of his mouth again. up in verse 64, when his tongue was loose, it was to praise God. What's the first words out of his mouth in verse 68? Blessed be the Lord God. That's a true testimony of grace, giving God all the glory.