If you have your Bible, please take it again, and we'll read our New Testament reading, Luke chapter one, verses 57 through 80. Luke chapter one, verses 57 through 80. This too is God's word. Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. And her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had shown her shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, but his mother answered, no, he shall be called John. And they said to her, none of your relatives is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, his name is John. And they all wondered. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosened and he spoke, blessing God. And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea. And all who heard them laid them up in their hearts saying, what then will this child be for the hand of the Lord? was with him. And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hands of all who hate us. To show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath that He swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people, in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel." Let's pray. Lord, our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, again, we confess, we acknowledge before your presence that we are in need of you. And we pray, especially as we've just read your word, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, as we've sung it this evening, that you would cause your Holy Spirit to illuminate for us. Lord, give sight to our eyes and ears to our... the ability to hear to our ears and enable us to see Christ and to understand the truth of your word. Lord, we pray that you would so work in us, both individually and together as your people, that we would understand, believe in full conviction and live out your word, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Full body scans claim to give people a comprehensive glimpse of their insides. And the reason you might use one is to see what your needs might be. A technology that takes a look at people's insides, therefore promises early warnings of things like cancer and cardiac disease and other abnormalities that might be going on within. Clinics and medical imaging facilities nationwide, as you might imagine, tout this technology for health conscious people, whole body CT scanning or screening. It typically involves scanning the body from the chin below the hips with a form of x-ray imaging that produces cross-sectional images. taking preventive action, finding an unsuspected disease that's lingering within, uncovering problems that you may not realize you have while they're treatable, of course, sounds great, right? But the Food and Drug Administration, upon examining this technology, knows of no scientific evidence that demonstrates whole body scanning of individuals without symptoms actually provides more benefit than harm to the people being screened. It would be nice to be able to crawl into a scanning chamber and see an accurate status of what our real needs are as human beings. But quick and easy when it comes to what's going on with us as human beings, doesn't really apply. And so the reality is, as we go before God's word and as we go before him, we must slowly examine our hearts before God, allowing him to work and to reveal darkness and unhealthiness that is within us. But there is good news here in this text we've just read. God, in reality, knows you and I better than we even know ourselves, and his salvation meets that need in a comprehensive manner. And so, since God provides this comprehensive salvation, we can trust Him. This passage highlights three important aspects of God's comprehensive salvation. Each area is also an area of Him fulfilling promises that He has made in the Old Testament. And so, first of all, we see personal fulfillment. The word delivered by Gabriel to Zachariah is now, as we read this text, coming to fulfillment. And so it's time for Elizabeth to give birth. And it's as promised that she gives birth to a son. We remember what Gabriel had told her. In verse 58, Luke highlights that this fulfillment spreads joy. Her neighbors and her relatives hear that the Lord has literally magnified mercy to her, and they rejoice with her. You'll remember, of course, last week in the previous passage, Mary was magnifying the Lord. But here, it's the Lord who magnifies His mercy to Elizabeth. And the joy that this fulfillment brings overflows to her relatives and to her neighbors. Such is the salvation of the Lord. That's exactly what joy tends to do, right? It has this sort of inherent capacity of overflowing to others. On the eighth day, this righteous and blameless couple, as we were told at the beginning of Luke chapter one, this righteous and blameless couple are ready to circumcise their son, faithful Israelites. And so here we also find that this fulfillment evokes praise. There's a real sense of community involvement, isn't there, here, with the naming of the child. They were told, presumably friends, neighbors, a plurality of people, at least, would have named the child Zachariah after his father. His mother, in faithfulness, again, to the word that Gabriel delivered, said, no, he shall be called John. The people replied, none of your relatives is called by that name. And so apparently that's the convention in that particular context to use a family name. In any case, they make signs to Zachariah inquiring what he wanted the child to be called. And he asks for a writing tablet because as you remember, he still can't speak. He writes, his name is John and everyone marvels And the marveling just gets started at that point because immediately upon obeying the word that came through Gabriel, his mouth and his tongue are loosened and he praises God. Again, we're to see the fulfillment of the word that was spoken to them through Gabriel. And once again, as well, the impact overflows. We're told that fear came on all their neighbors. In fact, These things are discussed through the entire hill country of Judea, that whole region in which they were living. And we're told that all who hear pay attention. God has the attention of the people, and they lay these things up in their hearts. In fact, it causes them to ask the question, what then will this child be? Such is the nature of John's birth that it indicates that this child is going to be special. And Luke, with his commentary at the end of the verse there, confirms that idea. He says, for the hand of the Lord was with him. The birth of John, do you see, is personal fulfillment in the lives of Zechariah and Elizabeth. We see the fulfillment of the word delivered through the angel Gabriel to them. Have you had the experience where you maybe got something that you wanted, and maybe you really wanted, only to find that once you have it, it lets you down in some way? We see this in the book of Ecclesiastes. It stresses the limitations that pursuing good pleasures can give us as human beings. Like many other stories outside the Bible and things like fairy tales, we find that our hearts desires don't yield the fulfillment we'd hoped. Some of the most bittersweet films depict hurting characters who pursue good things, but in attaining them remain unfulfilled such as the normality of this human experience. For example, in La La Land, Mia, played by Emma Stone, is wistful at the end of the film. And it isn't meant to suggest that she chose wrongly and that some alternate path would have led to an unreservedly happy life with Sebastian, played by Ryan Gosling. Only when we get everything we wish for, do we start to realize that having it doesn't fulfill us like we assumed it would. That experience can leave a person cynical. It can sometimes be the case, even for us as Christians. While our hearts longings do in fact disappoint us and we need to recognize that as Christians. Luke also suggests here that that longing itself points to something true. It's manifest here in this text in the personal fulfillment experienced by Zachariah and Elizabeth. The salvation that is coming in Jesus Christ, into which they are being caught up, delivers joy that even overflows to others from their lives. And it results in praise pouring out from Zachariah's tongue that has now been set free by God. And so, as you think about that, this passage encourages particularly, I think, faithful mature Christians who may be tempted to think that they have reached the limits of growth in Christ. Remember, John is specifically pointed out by Luke as being righteous and blameless. And yet, as we saw, he doubted. But God meets him right there and delivers more to him than he could have imagined. He experiences the work of God in a new and more personal light, and in the process, it stretches him beyond the limits of even his prior faith. And do you see, that's the nature of God's salvation. So you, who maybe have been in the faith for some time now, you mature, faithful Christian, keep pressing on. Trust that God's salvation is much more expansive than we can even imagine. Zachariah, Elizabeth, and John show that God's fulfillment has this very personal impact that's even individual in our lives. But next, we also see political fulfillment. In verse 26, Zechariah, we're told, is filled with the Holy Spirit. He praises God, but he's also prophesying. And so to begin with, we see political fulfillment in his prophecy of victory. In verse 68, there's already and not yet. So there's both the already and also the not yet. And as well, the context is definitely God's salvation in the Messiah here. He has visited, can be understood as already underway with John's birth and Mary's pregnancy, as we've seen in Luke's gospel. but redeemed his people is something that references the fulfillment yet to come that we're going to get to as Luke's gospel unfolds. Verse 69 refers, I would suggest, to Jesus Christ. He is the horn of salvation for Israel raised up in the house of David. Horn, as I'm sure most of you are aware, refers to power, strength, and even rule. In this context, it may even evoke the idea of the warrior ruler, the warrior king, which is reinforced by Christ being the son of David. Verse 70 affirms that his coming is the fulfillment of God's word through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. And notice specifically this horn is coming, why? so that God's people should be saved from our enemies. That's victory. And from the hand of those who hate us. Again, victory. The danger, I think, for us as 21st century American Christians is most likely to over-spiritualize this promise. In fact, it does promise political victory. Certainly, Jesus defeats Satan, but in so doing, he will also one day defeat all of God's enemies, which are also the enemies of his people. God reigns, we need to remember, even right now. In this time, he has allowed the present world to remain under the power of sin and death, even as he is reigning. But Jesus's reign intrudes, therefore, into the present political reality. And I think we need to be cautious here about how we understand the relationship between any given politician, regime, or political administration and Jesus's reign. They will never be one and the same right now. At the same time, we also need to recognize that the new heavens and the new earth will be characterized by the government of the triune God. His reign will be over his people. And that will be a political reality, as it were. And all his enemies and ours will be permanently removed from the new heavens and the new earth by being permanently defeated. God in Jesus Christ is victorious. And in God's consummated reign, there will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain. But this political fulfillment is also seen in service. In defeating enemies, God is fulfilling the mercy promised to the fathers in the Abrahamic covenant, as well as we've seen the Davidic as well. His purpose is that being delivered from the hand of our enemies, we might serve him without fear, in holiness, righteousness before him that is in his presence all our day brothers and sisters that's a present reality for us in this way Luke indicates that Jesus Christ is leading God's people into a new and better exodus. You see, it's the same idea. Victory and service in Christ are both already a present reality, and at the same time, we look forward to a consummation that we do not yet experience now. Right now, our lives should be devoted to serving Jesus. but in the consummation, we will do that fully, as fully as is possible, unimpeded in any way by sin or by death. We need to take to heart this political fulfillment of salvation. The dashboard, Jesus, had its cultural moment. It was some time ago. The idea was to stick this bobblehead Jesus on your dashboard so that he could come along with you for your ride. There's even songs about it in the song, Plastic Jesus, Billy Idol sings, with my plastic Jesus, goodbye and I'll go far with my plastic Jesus sitting on the dashboard of my car. It's got a nice rhyme to it, right? Paul Newman sang it in the movie, Cool Hand Luke, The words begin, well, I don't care if it rains or freezes, long as I have my plastic Jesus sitting on the dashboard of my car. As a cultural phenomenon, dashboard bobblehead Jesus betrays the danger of a deficient view of the political reality of salvation in Christ. The truth is that Jesus, this coming Savior about whom Zachariah is prophesying, is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is not someone you take along on the dashboard of your car. Either he takes you along or you perish. As human beings, The reality is that we need leadership, and particularly, we need good government. Today, as we think about that, it's easy to be extremely cynical about politics. Cynical as if, as though it is merely the pursuit of selfish interest. rather than any real public service. And to a large extent, of course, that's fair, because in this fallen world, that's the nature of sin, to pursue your own selfish desires. And when you have the power to do that, to really pursue it. Indeed, as Christians, we understand that reality of sin and therefore do not seek any utopia, perfect government in this present fallen world. But cynicism doesn't change that we were created by God to thrive under the government of God Himself, under the government of the triune God. And therefore, we need to be careful about our cynicism and recognize that politics are in fact important for us. experience something substantial of God's government as Christians right now. Jesus is our King. And that means that our citizenship as believers in Jesus Christ is first and foremost in His kingdom. Now, that doesn't mean it's wrong to be patriotic toward your country, but it does mean definitely that we recognize that every present human government is more or less tainted by sin. And so fall short of the goodness and perfection of God's government and especially the consummated kingdom. So God's fulfillment has personal and political ramifications. Zacharias hymn also reveals spiritual fulfillment. Look at verse 76. In verse 76, Zechariah addresses his child, John. He will be called the prophet of the most high. And as such, he will go before the Lord to prepare his ways. His role is to prepare the Lord's ways, especially for the ministry of Jesus Christ. And in this regard, spiritual fulfillment comes in the form of, first of all, forgiveness. John will give knowledge of salvation in the forgiveness of sins. And so in as much as we need to be careful about over spiritualizing the truth of salvation in Christ, it remains that our spiritual needs are most fundamental. Whether you consider our personal needs or our political needs, the problems that we find in both of those arenas all trace back to the problem of sin. Forgiveness of our sins is our most fundamental need. Without forgiveness, there's no salvation for sinners. The basis of our forgiveness isn't what we deserve or merit, notice, On the contrary, verse 78 attributes it to the tender mercy of our God. The word in the Greek there refers to literally the entrails. And it's talking about this deep compassion of the Lord that results in mercy toward us. And so God forgives sinners in spite of the fact that we don't deserve it. That's what mercy is. Next, spiritual fulfillment is also evident in peace. The sunrise that shall visit us from on high, I think, refers to the Christ, the Messiah, to him specifically. He comes from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. It's rifting on Isaiah there. The darkness and the shadow of death of this present world is so dark and so dire that we require light that comes from above and from the outside. And that light is Jesus Christ. He guides our feet into the way of peace. The background here is the Hebrew idea of shalom. It certainly includes that inner peace that is so elusive for us as 21st century Americans, but it's more than that. It's a wholeness of life. The way I like to think of it is that it's life as it was meant to be apart from our estrangement from God and our fall into sin. Notice as well that it isn't merely a disposition. It's a life direction, a path that He will guide our feet to walk in. In the West today, there's still a lot of people who don't believe in any such thing as the spiritual. They only acknowledge matter and energy or something along those lines. Increasingly, however, people are awakening to the irrationality of, and I'll even add the artificiality of limiting the world in that way. And so, but even if you do believe in the spiritual, we can sometimes still tend to draw this very sharp distinction between the physical and the spiritual. We even talk along those lines. The biblical view, it seems to me, is to recognize that while we can rightly distinguish them, they're far more intertwined than we typically realize. And so with that in mind, forgiveness and peace highlight the importance of spiritual fulfillment. We refer rightly to the burden of guilt. And the reason we use that terminology is because we feel that way. It is a real burden. It affects us emotionally. It affects us even physically. Sometimes even derailing other aspects of life like love and work. Likewise, now as much as ever, we see how the lack of peace disrupts our sanity and our ability to function well. And so you see the reality of the needs that God delivers in his salvation through Jesus Christ. Praise be to God that his salvation delivers spiritual fulfillment and forgiveness that removes that burden of guilt from our shoulders and in peace both internally and in that way of life that continues in peace. Spiritual, political, and personal fulfillment give us a taste, therefore, of the comprehensive reality of God's salvation. 2025 will be the 60th year of a Charlie Brown Christmas. It remains a beloved in our family. I don't know about yours. I assume, though, at least you know the story. Mocked, humiliated, and confused, Charlie Brown, exasperated, cries out, doesn't anybody know what Christmas is all about? Linus gently replies, I know what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown. And with that, as you'll remember, he takes center stage to proclaim the good news of the gospel as recorded in Luke chapter two. But have you ever noticed what happens right in the middle of that monologue? Jason Sieroski writes that Linus is most associated with his ever-present security blanket. Throughout Peanuts, if you know the comic, Lucy, Snoopy, Sally, and others all work to no avail to separate Linus from his blanket. And even though his security blanket remains a major source of ridicule for the otherwise mature and thoughtful Linus, he simply refuses to give it up. Until this moment, when he simply drops it. In that climactic scene, when Linus shares what Christmas is all about, he drops his security blanket. And it seems, of course, intentional on Schultz's part. Most telling is the specific moment in which he drops it, when he utters the words, fear not. You see, it's because God's salvation in Jesus Christ is so comprehensive that it meets all of our needs as human beings. And it does so as nothing else can, that we can trust the Lord who provides this comprehensive, this complete and glorious salvation. Let's pray. Lord, we do thank you for your word. And we thank you for your Spirit who opens our eyes to see how glorious indeed your salvation is. Lord, I pray for myself and I pray for my brothers and sisters here this evening, that we would have a firm grasp, not only in our minds, but also in the eyes of our hearts to the comprehensive reality of your salvation. And Lord, we know that salvation is not about ourselves. Even the text we've just read praises you for it, gives glory to your name for it. And we would join in praising you. And yet, Lord, it also remains that your salvation meets needs that we could never meet ourselves, that no other person could meet for us, In fact, you alone meet in the sending of your Son, Jesus Christ. And so Lord, we would grasp that reality in such a way that we would be filled with the joy that characterized Elizabeth. A joy that is so full that it overflows even to the people around us. And Lord, we would Know it such that our tongues would be loosed to praise you as Zacharias was. And Lord, that the fear of God might around us overflow to the people who you've placed us around in order that your kingdom would indeed be coming through us, weak though we are for your glory. And so Lord, we do praise you for this glorious salvation And I pray that it would become more and more dear to each one of us. And that we would see more clearly than we have in the past of the ways in which you are meeting our needs according to your glorious riches in Christ Jesus. And we pray it in Christ's name.