Well, in the year 2022, believe it or not, there were 3,600,000 and 70-something thousand babies born. A couple of million babies born. Born in the U.S. That is a lot of babies. That is a lot of birth announcements. A lot of birth announcements. And a birth announcement usually or basically to let your family and friends know that your baby has arrived, your baby has been born. usually have a picture of the baby, the newborn baby, and some catchy line like, welcome to the world, baby Julia. Or maybe, our baby has arrived, please welcome little Nick. Or, we're tickled pink at the arrival of Michaela. And this would be followed by the basic statistics, height, weight, time born, and all that kind of stuff. Well, we're going to read in chapter one of Luke two birth announcements. And the one we're going to look at today comes to Zacharias the priest as he's burning incense in the temple. And it doesn't come the way we get birth announcements, which is usually after the baby is born, but this comes before the baby is born. This comes even before the baby is even conceived in his mother's womb. And he's coming to parents who are righteous in the sight of God. And he's coming to parents who probably have lost all hope of ever having a child. And he's coming to a nation that has been waiting and praying for him to come. Because his coming means that the Messiah's coming is right around the corner. What I'd like to do today in verses 8 to 17 of chapter 1 of Luke, in a sermon titled, John's Birth Announcement, is use three points. They would be simply a priest's work, an angel's visit, and a prophet's portrait. A priest's work, verses 8 to 10. So it was that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, His lot failed to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Well, Luke tells us what Zacharias is doing when the angel appears to him. And we know from verse 19 of this chapter that the angel is Gabriel. And the new King James says, so it was. And the NSAB says, now it happened. And so it was and now it happened mean this was not Look, this was not a coincidence. This was not happenstance, right? Rather, this was the providence of God. The providence of God that Zacharias was serving that day in the temple, offering incense to the Lord. And he happens to be visited right at that point by an angel who brings him a message that will change not only his life and his wife's life, not only the nation of Israel, but ultimately all nations for all time. So this was no mistake, no chance encounter. It was divinely orchestrated by God and all events happen exactly that way. God does everything to fulfill his will and understand all the details of your life have been and will continue to be put together by God. Think about your own salvation, how God saved you, what went on before that, all of the behind the scenes, seemingly mundane events. God was orchestrating them, that you went this way instead of that way. You talk to this person instead of that person. You listen to this thing instead of that thing, and God saved you. No mistakes, no mistakes. God's providence, God's providence. Just like it was God's providence that Joseph being sold by his brothers into slavery, would become the governor of Egypt. Why? To save God's people from starvation during a seven-year drought. And he would say to his brothers, what you meant for evil, well, God meant that for good. God meant that for good. Paul would say in Ephesians 1.11, the Lord works all things according to the counsel of his will. Things aren't just going willy-nilly out there. God is in control, and he's in control of my life and your life. Now we read in Luke 1 that Zacharias was serving as a priest before God in the order of his division. And we said last week that when David was king, he divided up the priests into 24 divisions. And each division In Zacharias' day, there were about 20,000 priests. Each division had about 800-833 priests in them. Each division would serve twice in the temple during the year, one week at a time. You don't need 833 priests to do the functions necessary in the temple for a week. What they would do is cast lots to see what man or what priest would do what job. And lots were kind of like rolling dice, if you will. It was a way of determining who the Lord was choosing to do something. So we know from Acts chapter 1, And after Judas kills himself, because he betrays Jesus, the apostles say, hey, we've got to replace Judas. We need 12. We need 12 apostles. And so they need to pick a 12th one. And they decide between Justus and Matthias, for both of those guys had the qualifications. Therefore, a lot was cast, so the Lord would choose which of those two he wanted. And of course, we know he chose Matthias. Also Jonathan, Saul's son, used lots to determine if it was the Lord's will for him and his armor-bearer to just go ahead and attack the Philistine stronghold all by themselves. And we read, back then it was. And so concerning lots, we see in Proverbs 16, 33, the lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. So there were four lots cast. to determine what priest would do what work in the temple. The first lot was to choose the priest who would clean the altar and then prepare its fires. The second lot was for the priest who would offer the sacrifice and then clean the candlestick and also clean the altar of incense. The third lot, which is what we're dealing with and focusing on today, was for the priest who would burn the incense. And the fourth lot was for appointing those who would allay the sacrifice and meet offerings on the altar. So the lot falls on Zacharias to burn incense for a week. And this really was an amazing thrill and an honor for him. For a priest could only burn incense once in his lifetime, once as a priest. Should he even be chosen to do it at all? Remember, one out of 800. And by the way, most priests serve their whole priesthood without ever offering up incense. They just didn't do it because they weren't one of the one in a hundred. They just didn't do it. So this was a highlight. This was a highlight for Zacharias' whole career, probably, maybe, the best day of his life. Maybe. Now the incense was perpetually burning in the temple. And it was on the table of incense, which was right, it was in the holy place, right next to the veil of the most holy place, which was where only the high priest could go, and only once a year to make atonement for the whole nation. And the priest would offer incense every morning and every evening while the rest of the priest, those are the guys that weren't chosen, and all the other people were outside praying. And they couldn't see Zacharias, who was inside, who was praying while he was offering the incense, but they know he's praying. Everybody's praying, and they know he's praying. And the picture here for us is that how we can't see Jesus in the throne room of heaven praying for us right now, but the Bible says he's praying for us. Isn't that a comfort? Isn't that a comfort to know he's praying for us? Well, the question is, what are Zacharias and the people praying for? What are they praying for? And they would have been praying prayers of salvation and prayers of repentance and confession of sins for Israel. They would have been praying prayers of thanksgiving and for the peace of Jerusalem and for provisions and blessings, but most definitely, they were praying for the coming of the Messiah. and therefore they were praying for the coming of the one who would be the forerunner of the Messiah. So then, this incense symbolized the people's dependence upon God, their submission to God, their devotion to Him, and His sovereign rule over them. And the incense gave the people assurance that God was listening to their prayers as they were being brought up. And so we see His work, and now really the bulk of it, the angels' visit, and then finally who the prophet was gonna be. And there we read in verses 11 to 14, that an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard. And your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. Well, we go from Zacharias's priestly duty to now this angel visitation. And Luke doesn't give us any fanfare here, right? There's no grand entrance of the angel coming, no grand entrance or appearance of Gabriel. He just says, then an angel of the Lord appeared to him. Boom! There he is. And now, for the first time in 400 years, God is breaking his silence. He does so by sending an angel, a messenger with a message for Zacharias. God's last words to Israel. 400 years before, or from the prophet Malachi, which is the last book in the Old Testament, which has the promise of the forerunner of the Messiah, who is going to come, and he was going to prepare the way for him. And when Zechariah sees the angel, we read, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. And this is a normal response. It's a normal response when someone saw an angel. We see it throughout scripture. The word trouble means to be panicked. It means to be gripped with fear. When Mary sees Gabriel in verse 29, we read she's troubled. In Daniel chapter 8 verse 17, when the angel Gabriel comes to Daniel to explain the vision that Daniel just had, he said this, so he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was afraid and I fell on my face. I was terrified. I was terrified. Samson's parents. were also terrified. They had an angel visit them, telling them that they would have a son. Afterwards, in Judges 13.22, Samson's father says, we shall surely die. Why? Because we have seen God. It's a fearful thing. Now, the reason why there was often fear when one encountered an angel is because angels often brought messages of judgment. A lot of their messages weren't good, no messages of judgment. And Zacharias, he knows this, right? He knew about the angel of death at the first Passover, where the firstborn in every household was killed. He knew about the angel that slew 185,000 Syrian soldiers in one night, 2 Kings chapter 19. He knew about the two angels that came to Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah. He knew about that, that they destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of their sin. And not only did he know that angels brought messages of judgment, but he also knew that he was in the presence of holiness, and that he himself was unholy. That he was in the presence of one who was in the presence of God, and one who worshipped him in the throne room, and worshipped him perfectly, and that he himself was still a sinner. before a holy God. So he sensed his inward weakness. He sensed his guilt and corruption as he stood before an inhabitant of heaven. And it reminded him of his imperfections, his natural unfitness to stand before a holy God. So he knows, I don't belong in the presence of an angel. And maybe, just maybe, we get a touch of this when we're around a saint who really is much holier than we are, or living much closer to the Lord than we are, living a much more sanctified life. who is not so easily succumbing to temptations as we seem to be. Someone whose prayer life and biblical intake and knowledge far surpasses ours, and they seem really to be walking much closer to the Lord than we are. And when we're around someone like that, let's say like a George Mueller type of a saint, we can see and sense our own deficiencies a whole lot better. I don't know about you, but sometimes that makes me feel that way. Well, when you're in the presence of a holy angel, you would certainly see how unworthy and sinful you are, how unfit you are in and of yourself to be there, how prone we are to wonder, how prone we are to leave the God we love. And I got to tell you, I marvel at people who tell me they're going to tell God a thing or two. They're going to tell him a thing or two when they're on the last day, when they have that time where everybody's before him. They're going to give him a piece of their mind. They're going to say things like, I'm going to want to know why did he let this happen this way and why didn't he stop that? Why didn't he do that? I'm going to question him on how he governed the world and how he governed my life. They're going to want to know why things went this way or that way. But the reality is when Christ returns with his mighty angels, no one is questioning God. No one is questioning God. 2 Thessalonians 1 8 says that when Jesus comes back he comes back in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and Secondly on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ And when he comes again with his mighty angels, Jesus said in Matthew 13 that he will send his angels out and they will gather out of all of his kingdom all things that offend and those who practice lawlessness. And he's going to cast them into the fire of furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That doesn't sound like questioning going on, right? And then in verses 49 and 50, he says that the angels will separate the wicked from the just and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Again, it doesn't sound like people are gonna be questioning God. And then when Jesus comes again with his angels, we read in Revelation 6, verses 15 and 17, that the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, and every free man, by the way, that's everybody, that they're going to hide themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and they're going to say to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. Why? For the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand? Nobody's going to be sitting there saying, now why did you do this? Why did you let that happen in my life? Why did this one get sick? Why was that one hungry? Why did that tsunami happen? Point here is no one, is going to be questioning God. No one. Listen. If Zacharias, who was redeemed by God and righteous in his sight, trembled and was terrified in the presence of one angel, how can anyone hope to stand before the presence of God, who is infinitely holy on the Day of Judgment? How can anyone even hope to stand? If angels are so great that righteous men tremble What must the Lord of the angels be like? What must the Lord of the angels be like? If God-fearing men like Zacharias are troubled by a sudden vision of a friendly spirit, what will the ungodly be like when the angels come forth to gather them like tares for burning? Listen, if you're unsaved today, if you're not a Christian today, you need to know what the future holds for you. You need to know. And it's not going to be good, and it's not going to be fun. And your finger's not going to be shaking. It's just not. It's not. You're not going to be doing that. And you can cross your fingers and hope it all works out in the end, and many people do. They're like just blindly going down a path of judgment. They don't know it. But you need to know that divine and holy justice and judgment awaits you. See, if you're not in Christ, that means you're outside of Christ. And if you're not one of the sheep, that means you're a goat. And if you're not a child of God, that means you're a child of the wicked one. And all your sins are still on you, and you will carry them to the day of judgment. And you will be justly judged because of them, and that means an eternal doom. Which is why Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5.11, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. We try to persuade people to repent and believe, to turn from their sin and turn to Christ. He's there to save you. He could save you. He could forgive you of every sin. But if you reject him, you've got to know there's terror coming. Another writer, the writer of Hebrews said this, Hebrews 10.31, it is a fearful thing. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Where do you think you're going? What hands are you going to fall into? These aren't nice hands. These aren't affirming hands. These are the hands of God. That means power, it means authority, it means sovereignty. It's a fearful thing. But the hope of Luke chapter one is your hope today. That John would be born and tell Israel the one who was coming was greater than him. That was one coming who could change the hearts of the disobedient and make them just. One was coming who could forgive sinners of their sin and make them righteous before God. All right, for they are the ones who do not have to fear death or judgment anymore. Jesus died their eternal death, if you will. How? By taking their judgment for them. Listen, if you repent of your sins, you turn to Christ, you call on Him, trust in Him today, I'm telling you, that means your sins, if you're really believing Him and following Him, your sins were nailed to the cross and Jesus took it for you. That judgment is done. You were judged in Him 2,000 years ago, so no more judgment for you. Now peace and hope and life and joy, but you must repent. Well, Gabriel appears to Zacharias and he's terrified and Gabriel says to him in verse 13, don't be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name John. So don't be afraid. I'm not here to pronounce judgment, but I'm bringing a message. And the message is God has heard your prayer. God has heard your prayer. And the question is, what was his prayer? What was his prayer? And some say that his prayer right there and then was that Elizabeth would conceive and bear a son. And certainly that was a prayer. He probably prayed 10,000 times before. But not now. Not realistically now when he and Elizabeth are on social security. I don't think so at all. But rather before he prayed that prayer. Rather before he would pray that prayer. Many times in his youth and growing up and being married to Elizabeth, they prayed that prayer. I don't think he was praying that prayer at all. I think now he's praying what I said before, salvation of Israel, peace of Jerusalem, confession of sin, repentance, provisions, and God's blessings, and ultimately for the coming of the Messiah. Now I want you to notice what Gabriel says right after this, that God has heard your prayers, and that is that your wife is going to bear a son. Gabriel is saying, even though you didn't just pray for a son, And most likely you haven't prayed for a son in many, many, many years. God heard that prayer. God heard that prayer. God hasn't forgotten what you once greatly desired. And now years later, he's answering it. He's answering it. And there's an important truth about prayer right here, and that is that God hears the prayers of his people and answers them in his time. And if it is his will, his answer may not come back in a long time. But it could be a long time. So maybe it's yes, maybe it's no. Maybe it's not now, maybe it's not now, and for a long time to come. Maybe. So not that God is obligated to give us what we want, but he could. And he could do that whenever he deems best to do that. How many parents, how many parents have prayed for the salvation of their children, and they left this world never seeing them saved? But God saved him afterwards. God answered that prayer when the parents were in heaven already. God's not obligated to save anybody, and he's not obligated to save them on our time schedule. But if he wants to save them, he's gonna save them, whether we're here for it or not, right? He can save, he can save them. Cotton Mather, Puritan, prayed for many, many years for revival. And then he died in 1728, and he never saw revival. 12 years later, about a dozen years later, God poured out his spirit, the first great awakening, and tens and tens and tens of thousands were saved, right? Well, Gabriel says, you're going to have a son. And you're going to have to name him John, John. And you know what John means? It means God has been gracious. God has been gracious. And indeed he has. And indeed he has. And then that he and Elizabeth would have great joy and gladness at this son's birth. And joy is this inner gladness, this deep-seated pleasure. It's a cheerful heart that leads to a cheerful behavior. And gladness refers to demonstrating that joy, kind of like jumping for joy. And not only would Zacharias and Elizabeth be glad, but many would rejoice at John's birth, because of the effect that his ministry would have. The effect that his ministry would have. And so we see a priest's work, an angel's visit, and now a prophet's portrait. Now a prophet's portrait, verses 15 to 17. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children to Israel, to the Lord their God. He will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn hearts, the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Well, Gabriel says Zacharias and Elizabeth will have a son and that many would rejoice at his birth. And now he tells them why. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He will be great in the sight of the Lord. This is the first thing. This is the first thing Gabriel says about John. And this is saying a boatload. It is saying a lot. Now the world and the Lord have different standards of what great is. The world's standard of great is very different from God's standard of great. And I know you know this, but let's think about it. In the sports world, there's a big debate of who is the G-O-A-T, the GOAT, greatest of all time. or who's the greatest of all time in this category or in that category. The world calls athletes great. It considers entertainers and celebrities great. It lifts up musicians, inventors, entrepreneurs, political leaders. They're great. It exalts people who do benevolent works for the good of their fellow man as great, magnifies all authors and artists and philosophers as great. Somebody creates an app that makes everybody's life a little easier or starts up a tech company that's really successful, they're great. They're great. So the world sees success as greatness. And then there are people who are called great. It's in their name. Herod the Great, Alexander the Great, Frederick the Great, Catherine the Great. And then there are people who tell you they're great. Muhammad Ali, I'm the greatest. No bones about it, I'm the greatest. But God doesn't view greatness the way man views greatness. In fact, those who are great in his eyes are often despised in the eyes of men. Often. Now Jesus tells us his criteria of greatness in Matthew 23 11. There he says, he who is the greatest among you, let him be your servant. So those who are servants in his kingdom, Jesus says, they're great. They're great. Then he adds in verse 12, whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. So those who are servants in his kingdom are great. So they're humble or great in Jesus's eyes. Then he adds, those who obey the scriptures and teach men to obey the scripture, well, they're great too. Matthew 5.19, whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Greg, you're a great man. Teaching Bible study this morning, Sunday school. Amen. And truly, the only greatness that really counts are those who God deems as great. Truthfully, if you think about it. So John the Baptist would be great in the sight of the Lord, and he would be great because he was a servant, a humble, obedient servant. And he would also be great because he fulfilled his mission and was controlled by the Holy Spirit. And he was great in faithfulness. And his ministry gave evidence of his blamelessness and devotion to the work of God. Like Paul in Philippians 3, he would say this, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus. That's great. He wants to be more like Jesus. He wants to live a life that glorifies Jesus. That's great. And his success was great, John the Baptist, in turning many sinners to the Savior. He was great because he humbly submitted to the role and labor that God had given him to do. And he was a Christ-focused man. His whole life was to tell people about Jesus, was to point them to Jesus. This is why he said in John 3.30 that he must increase and I must decrease. It's never about me, but it's always about him. And not only was John great in the sight of God, the Father, but Jesus said of him in Matthew 11, 11, among those born a woman, there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist. That means every Old Testament prophet, John was greater than. That means every person ever born to that point, barring Jesus of course, He was the greatest. He was the greatest. So Jesus, the wisest, most humble, most holy man, the only perfect man to ever live, said that no man born of woman was greater than John. So he was greater than Enoch, who walked with God. He was greater than Noah, who was righteous before God and spared from the flood. He was greater than Melchizedek, the great king of Salem, the priest of the Lord Most High to whom Abraham paid tithes. He was greater than Abraham, the father of faith and a friend of God. He was greater than Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. He was greater than Moses, the great lawgiver. And then Samuel and Samson and Gideon and David. David, a man after God's own heart. He was greater than Elijah and Elisha. and Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and all the prophets. So John was greater than all of those listed in Hebrews 11, the great chapter of faith. And mind you, mind you, his ministry lasted about three years. He had a three-year ministry. And mind you, he didn't live very long. He died somewhere in his 30s. And he had no degree. He owned nothing. He started nothing. And he would lose his head before King Herod, telling him it was sinful for him to take his brother's wife. So from the world's perspective, he achieved nothing. He achieved nothing that amounted to nothing. He didn't move the needle for humanity from the world's perspective. But he was great in the sight of God. He was the herald to announce the Messiah. He was the preacher who prepared the Jews for the ultimate preacher, Jesus. And because Luke says he was great in God's sight, that means John was right in God's eyes. So from before John was even conceived, he is deemed righteous before God and he is covered with the righteousness of Christ. So he was approved by God. And brothers and sisters, the moment you were saved, you were declared righteous before God. The moment you were saved. I want you to notice something here. that he will be great is a promise from God for the salvation of someone who is not yet even conceived. He's saying he's going to be great, he's going to be righteous and all of those things, he's not even conceived yet. He is not even in his mother's womb yet. And you must see here, and you must understand the doctrine of election here. God has chosen John for salvation before he was even in his mother's womb. And this is an illustration of how God has chosen all who believe. And he's written their names in the Lamb's Book of Life. Listen, you weren't saved willy-nilly. God didn't look down the tunnel of time and say, oh, yeah, Nick Vazquez, somewhere around 35 or so, things will turn. All right, he's in. He didn't do that. God has chosen people. He has chosen his elect. He has chosen the church, who they're going to be. We don't know who they are. I have no idea who they're going to be. But he knows. God knows every single one of his children before they're even born, before he even creates them. Kind of like the Esau and Jacob thing. One I have loved, one I have not, before they were even in the mother's womb. All right. Then Luke gives us two personal descriptors of John, that he would not drink wine, a strong drink, and that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. So he's going to abstain from alcohol, he's going to totally dedicate himself to the Lord. Thus he would separate himself unto the service of the Lord. Then some say, well this is a Nazarite vow, all the way back from Numbers 6. when one took this vow to consecrate themselves before the Lord. But I don't think that was it all, because part of that vow was you don't cut your hair at all. So like Samuel's hair must have been down here. You don't cut it, and like Samson as well. And this is never mentioned about John. Rather, John's an ascetic. He lives simply in the wilderness. He ate plainly, like locusts and stuff, and he dressed plainly. But also he's filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. So he had a supernatural source to rely on for his spiritual power. He was completely under the influence and control and power of the Holy Spirit. And Paul puts being under the influence of the Spirit and not drinking strong drink together in Ephesians 5.18, where he says, do not be drunk with wine. Don't let wine or drink influence you, which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. And being filled with the Spirit means that you're influenced by the Spirit, has control of your heart. You're making decisions and living in a way that is Spirit-led. Not some supernatural, magical, you know, wave the wand and all of a sudden you got the spirit again. No, no, no. It's God controlling you from the inside. And we all have the spirit of God living in us, right? Every believer does. Now, just a word about being filled with the spirit from the womb. I want to say what that tells us, and that tells us this, that life begins at conception. Life begins at conception. The Holy Spirit fills people, not inanimate objects, not a clump of cells. The Holy Spirit fills people. How do I know that? Well, because that's what the Bible says. Every time we read Someone being filled with the Spirit in the Scriptures is always about a person. In Luke 1.41, which we'll get to soon, Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. And then in verse 67, Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter 2, the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit. And then in chapter 4, Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 9, Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit. So God, the Holy Spirit, filled John, the human being, the person, while in his mother's womb. And listen, we don't need to waffle or buckle under cultural pressure and stay quiet concerning the abomination of abortion. That's a baby. That's a person from conception. The Holy Spirit filling that. Like I said, it's not a piece of wood or some clump of something. It's a person. We need to step up and speak up and not be quiet. Now in verses 16 and 17, Luke tells us what John would do. He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And turn is another way of saying convert or conversion. After Peter heals Anais, we read in Acts 9.35, so all who dwelt in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 1.9, Paul says, For they themselves declare concerning us what manner of entry we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. In other words, you were converted. You were going this way, you turned and went that way. Born again, saved. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3.16 that when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. You can't see, you can't know, right? Our spiritual lives are covered because we don't have spiritual lives before we're saved. And the fact that Gabriel says John will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, that implies that Israel had turned away from God, and we know they did. So his ministry was to announce the coming of Jesus to the people, and in so doing, calling them to repent, to repent and be converted. He's calling them back to the Lord their God, back from disobedience, back from apostasy, back from rebellion. That's what he's doing. And he's going to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. Meaning, even in some scenarios, whole families are going to come and turn to the Lord. Whole families are going to be converted and saved. And we ought to pray for that. We ought to pray that God would save our whole family, right? I mean, amen to whether he saves, but what a blessing and a testimony of his goodness when he decides to save your kids as well, and your unsafe spouse, and your mother and father. Listen, God is God. He can do what He wants. Right? We just take Him at His word. We take Him at His word. And this is one of the reasons that John was great in the sight of the Lord. Because with power and conviction, he preached repentance and faith to the lost in Israel, and many were converted. Many were prepared, or many were made ready for the coming of the Messiah. You understand, John's out there preaching, and preaching repentance, and the Lord is coming, and forgiveness of sins, and turn from sin. And then Jesus comes along, and that's what they were looking for. Now their hearts are ready. Now they recognize that their sin is before a holy God, and they need to turn. And Jesus comes, and that's the one they gotta turn to. That's the one they got to turn to. So when Jesus comes, they're prepared for him. John sets the table, so to speak, and many believed. 700 years before John was born. Isaiah prophesied about him in his ministry. We read it today in Isaiah 40. Comfort, yes, comfort my people, says the Lord. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert, a highway to our God. And then Malachi prophesied this as well about John preparing the way for the Messiah. And the very last two verses of the Old Testament, Malachi 4, verses 5 and 6, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And what is he going to do? And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. And in Luke 1, Gabriel tells us that John comes in the spirit and the power of Elijah. And the Jews got tripped up here because they thought that Elijah was literally coming. Remember when Jesus says to the apostles, who do men say that I am? Well, some say you're Elijah, and some say you're one of the prophets like Jeremiah. They're waiting for a physical, literal Elijah to come back again. They get tripped up. They get tripped up. I remember years ago, and even today, when the Jewish Passover seders, they leave an empty seat. You go to a seder, there's one empty seat with a plate setting and everything. Who's that for? Oh, they always leave the door open too, in case Elijah pops up, because they're waiting for him. So in case he comes in, he's going to want to eat something. So Claude and I went to a seder, one of our friends, many, many, many years ago. And I remember, you know, I don't know anything. I'm not even a believer yet. And the food was great. It really was great. And somebody read from the Torah, whatever that meant. And I said, well, who's sitting here? You know what I mean? There's a plate set up and everything. No one's there. Someone said, oh, that's for Elijah. I said, who's Elijah? Because they believe that he's got to come before the Messiah comes. So they're praying for that guy to come. So they take him literally, and he's not being literal. He's being figurative, being figurative. Said in Mark 9, verses 11 to 13, the disciples ask him, why do the scribes say Elijah must come first? Why do they say that, Jesus? We don't understand this. Because we've been told he's gotta come first. Well, here's what he said. He said, indeed, Elijah must come first and restore all things, and how it is written concerning the son of man. that he must suffer many things and be treated with contempt. But I say to you that Elijah has already come. And they did whatever they wanted to him as they wished, as it was written of him. So in other words, he came in the power and spirit of Elijah. John was a great man, he was filled with the spirit of God, and he was greatly used by God and brought great joy to those who were around him. And truth is, let us praise God for the unfolding of his great salvation plan, using this man, John, as an instrument for that very thing, amen? Let me close by leaving you with three ways to apply this message. And the first way is to remember this, that God answers prayers according to his will and in his own time. And if you're not getting an answer now, don't stop asking. For it might be the answer will come in a time when you would not expect it. And even if you stop praying, and I'm sure that Zacharias and Elizabeth, they stopped. It doesn't mean that God hasn't heard that prayer. Or even that he's not gonna answer it in the way that you would hope for. But if he chooses not to answer it in the way that you hope for, then you gotta believe he knows better than you what is best for you. All right, second way to apply this is If need be, you may need to recalibrate your idea of greatness. I know we live in a society that celebrates human achievements. Praise God for that kind of thing. I know that we're often fascinated by those who do great things from men's perspective. We may even get into debates as to who's the greatest at this or who's the greatest at that, but let us consider who is great by how the Lord considers who is great. How the Lord considers who is great. And again, the word tells us, those who serve others in the kingdom, they're great in God's eyes. Those who seek to live the word of God and teach it to others as well, well, they're considered great in God's eyes. And those who are truly humble, well, they're great in God's eyes. And let us then earnestly desire to be and to do those things. And then unbeknownst to us, we will be great in the Lord's eyes. Here's the thing, we don't know that we're great in God's eyes because we don't view ourselves that way. We're just doing what we're told to do and we love to do. We're just serving, we're just teaching, we're just discipling. Remember in Matthew 25, And it's the time that the sheep and the goats are before the Lord, it's judgment. And the sheep come by, and they're on his right hand, and he says, come into my heaven, you know, blessed are you, he goes, for you have done all these things in my name. Yeah, you fed the hungry, you gave drink to the thirsty, you visited the prisoner, and you helped the sick, you did all these things, and you know what they said? When did we do those things? Like, we don't know. I don't remember doing those things. You know why? Because they were living a Christ-like life. It was natural to serve him, to disciple, to help. Just natural. We don't think about it. We're not scoring points, right? We've already won. We already have the grand prize waiting for us. So we're not trying to, you know, gain something better. We've got the best. We have Christ. When you did it for the least of one of mine, you did it for me. When you did it for the least of one, you did it for me. All right, third point of application. is this, because of the gospel and the empowering of the Holy Spirit, we, us, we can turn the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. We can prepare them by sharing the truth of the one who is the truth. You see, they need to hear the truth in order to believe the truth. No one is getting saved who doesn't hear the truth. They need to hear it. They need to know that there is a God, and that their sin is against Him, and He will judge them for every single one of them. But that Jesus, the Messiah, the Lord, has come to seek and to save sinners. And that He died on the cross to take their sin upon Himself, so that He could give them His righteous standing before God. So listen, we're not John the Baptist. We're not gonna go be baptizing people in rivers and stuff. Odds are. We're not going to be doing that kind of stuff. We're not Him. But we're sinners saved by grace. We are sinners saved by grace, and we need to tell other sinners that they can be saved by the same grace. Amen? That's our charge. That's our charge. That's how disciples are made in the kingdom. We share the gospel. God saves some, Lord willing, and He will. And then we come around them and teach them and train them what the Word of God says. In other words, share your faith. Share your faith. All right? Don't be quiet. Share your faith. Let's pray. Father, thank you for fulfilling your word. Thank you that every promise you have given has or will come to pass. Thank you, oh God, that you have saved sinners through your son and that John was the catalyst to announce him. And Lord, I pray that we would announce them to others, that we would be so filled with your spirit that we would want others to know this great salvation in Christ. It's the only place to be saved. It's the only one who can help them. Lord, help us to not be shy or stingy with sharing this wonderful message. And Father, thank you, Lord, that by your great mercy, and because of your abundant grace that you've saved our souls you made us yours through the ministry of the gospel by the power of the Spirit and Lord, for those sitting here today that are not truly born again haven't been saved, Lord, you know you know their heart, you know what they think, you know how they live, you know what they want Lord, would you change their wanter? would you cause their heart to be terrified? of the wrath of God, and find great hope and comfort in your mercy through your Son. Lord, please drive men to the cross, and women to the cross, and even children here today to the cross, that they would find life. And would you do that in Jesus' name? Amen.