Please turn with me to the book of Luke, Luke chapter 1, Luke chapter 1, verses 5 through 25. Following the reading of God's Word, we will sing the Gloria Patri which is printed for you in your bulletin. Please stand to hear the reading of God's Holy Word. In the time of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. His wife, Elizabeth, was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God. observing all that the Lord commanded, and the regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well along in years. Once, when Zechariah's division was on duty, and he was serving as a priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and a delight to you, and many will rejoice because of His birth, for He will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will He bring back to the Lord their God." and he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." Zechariah asked the angel, how can I be sure of this? I'm an old man, and my wife is well along in years. The angel answered, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time." Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. When he came out, he could not speak to them, They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this, his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. The Lord has done this for me, she said. In these days, he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace from among the people. This is God's Word. Praise be to God. One way of understanding the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is to say that they are the fulfillment of God's promises. That's one way to understand the Gospels. They are the time of fulfillment. On the first pages of Luke, the opening chapters of Luke, everyone is bursting into praise. Everyone is bursting into song. To understand why, we have to understand that this is not the normal time. These are not normal circumstances when God suddenly shows up in a very big way and fulfills His promises. These are abnormal times. What is this passage about? It's about John the Baptist, the foretelling of the birth of John the Baptist. It's the prelude to the birth of the Messiah. The mission of John the Baptist was to turn people's hearts to the Lord. It tells us even in verse 17 that John will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. In keeping with that mission, the purpose of this sermon is that we and you, individually, would turn our hearts to the Lord. That's the purpose. In fact, it's the purpose of preaching, that people would turn their hearts to the Lord. that they would put their faith in the Lord Jesus. Now, even though this passage is about John the Baptist, there is great nourishment for you and I. Particularly, how do we answer the question, how do we live in light of God's promises? There are three challenges that are here in the text in living with God's promises, and one challenge is this, unanswered prayer, two, doubts, and three, disgrace. Living in light of God's promises with one doubts, excuse me, one unanswered prayer, two doubts, and three, disgrace. Unanswered prayer, doubts, and disgrace. First, unanswered prayer. For 400 years, God's people had been praying for another word from the Lord. For 400 years, they had not heard anything from God. For 400 years, they had no prophet. since the end of the Old Testament period. Here are some of the promises that they would have clung to at this opening moment in the book of Luke. All the way back to the time of Moses, God promised, Deuteronomy 18, 18, I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. A promise that was given to David in 2 Samuel 7, 16. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. A promise given through Jeremiah the prophet in Jeremiah 23. The days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch. and he shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. The last promise given in the Old Testament, the very last two verses of the Old Testament given through the prophet Malachi are these, Malachi 4, 5 and 6, chapter 4, verses 5 and 6. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Then for 400 years, They heard nothing but silence. The verse five, the passage here, tells us that Herod, the king of Judea, was on the throne. Herod was a tyrant. He was cruel. He was a murderer. Some of his own family members had been murdered by him. Matthew tells us that he murdered innocent children. This was a dark moment in the history of God's people. Into that dark world, God's light shines on two ordinary people, Zechariah and Elizabeth. They are of the priestly line, tells us in verses 5 and 6. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly, but they had no children. Elizabeth was barren. They were both well along in years. Undoubtedly, they had prayed for children. It would have been a very sad and trying circumstance that the Lord had put them through. Then God shatters the silence. He answers their prayer in a very big way, a very unexpected way. Zachariah is chosen to go into the temple, into the holy place, and in verse 13 it tells us that after he had seen Gabriel, an angel, the angel tells him, do not be afraid, your prayers have been heard. Now which prayer is he talking about? It's possible that Zachariah was still praying for a son. I tend to think that given they were old, He may rarely continue to pray for that, but I think he was praying as a representative, as a priest, for the redemption of Israel, for the promises to be completed, to be fulfilled, the promise given to Moses and Malachi and David and Jeremiah, those promises he was praying that they would be fulfilled. After the angel Gabriel makes him mute. In verse 20, at the very end, this is what the angel says, that my words will come true at the proper time. That phrase, at the proper time, I think is rich with meaning, because God is always on time. He's never late. There's a verse in Galatians that says that when the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. God is always on time. It's not that he was not there. It's not that he was not listening to the prayers of his people. He was waiting for the appropriate time. My grandparents got married during World War II. It was a quick wedding, as many weddings were in those days. Many people who were married during those days would write love letters from across the ocean or overseas. Sometimes, A wife would be writing weekly, and she wouldn't hear anything back. The line would go cold, and she would wonder, is he okay? Is everything all right? Is he still alive? Many would eventually hear from their husbands, but some would never hear from their husbands. It would be a glorious day when after having silence for a number of years, your husband walked up on your front door alive and well. Now it's an imperfect analogy, but Israel had been praying to the Lord for the fulfillment of His promises for 400 years, and they hadn't heard anything from the Lord. There were no prophets given to them in Israel. Then the Lord shows up in a miraculous way. Not only that, but we have been waiting, we have been waiting for 2,000 years since Jesus Christ roamed the earth for the fulfillment of all of God's promises. We're waiting, we're waiting. 2 Peter 3, verse 9 says that the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. The reason that God is waiting is that He is merciful, and it's His desire that all would reach repentance that He has chosen. There's a small part of me that does not want the Lord to yet come back because I still have people I love who don't know the Lord. I want them to know the Lord. Do you know that God is listening to your prayers even when you don't feel like you're getting an answer? Doubts, doubts. That's the second thing we learn. Here, the context tells us in verses 8 through 10 about Zechariah. There are many reasons from the circumstances that God had put Zechariah in. There were many reasons that he should believe in God's working power and His promises. It tells us that Zechariah was of the priestly line. His division was on duty. and he was serving as a priest before God, he was chosen by lot. That might not sound like it's a big deal. In those days, there were 24 divisions of the priesthood. Each division would serve for two weeks in the temple. And in every division, there were at least several hundred priests. Not very many people would be chosen to go into the holy place. Now was it luck that Zechariah was chosen by Lot? No. It was God's providence. One commentator said there were tens, excuse me, tens of thousands of priests. The very fact that he was chosen, many priests would never even get a chance to serve in the holy place. The fact that he was chosen was an evidence of God's providence. Not only that, but His very name and the name of His wife gave reason why He should believe in the promises. Zachariah means the Lord remembers. The Lord remembers. Elizabeth means God keeps His promise. Their very names reminded them of the faithfulness, the covenant faithfulness of God Himself. So this was a precious couple that God knew and loved and remembered. For all of those reasons, what happens next shouldn't have happened. So let me paint the scene. Zachariah is chosen by Lot to serve in the holy place. Verse 10, not the NIV, but many other translations say there's a multitude praying outside. When the time comes, Zachariah would have ascended the steps, the temple structure would have been where the holy place and the most holy place were kept. It would have been a massive, massive structure. He alone went into it, and on his left, he would have seen the candlestick, the golden lampstand. And to the right, he would have seen the table of showbread. In the back, he would have seen a massive curtain that separated the holy place from the Holy of Holies, the place where only the pride priest could go, and only once a year. In front of that massive curtain was the altar of incense, where he was called to burn incense. But then, The unexpected happens. He sees an angel of the Lord, Gabriel, standing at the right side of the altar, and he says, your prayer has been heard. Now to understand the full import of what he is saying, consider this, that John would be the one, not only is he going to have a son which he had been praying for, for years and years, but this son would be the one in fulfillment of Isaiah 40, verse 3, the one crying in the wilderness, the voice crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. That's going to be your son, Zachariah. That's your son. This is good news. In fact, when it says good news in verse 19, that word good news is the same word for gospel. Your son is going to prepare the way for the Messiah. He's coming. Your son is going to be the one that Malachi was prophesying about, that Elijah, the prophet, before the great and the awesome day of the Lord comes. That's going to be your son to prepare the way. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful? And Zechariah does what all of us might have done. He doubts. Not only is he afraid. Being afraid is normal when you see an angel in Scripture. Everyone's afraid, but he doubts. An all-too-human reaction. How can this be? I'm an old man. My wife is no spring chicken. Gabriel says, I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God. Who are you, Zechariah? That's the tone. He rebukes Zechariah and strikes him mute. He strikes him mute. What are we to learn from this? What are we to learn about our doubts and our fears in light of what happened to Zechariah? There's a great moment in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe where Lucy discovers a magical wardrobe. She goes to the back and it's a portal into a new world, an imaginary but yet a visible world. And she goes back and she tells her siblings, Peter and Susan and Edmund, and they think she's crazy. They think she's crazy until the day when they see this world that they thought was imaginary. I wonder, what will you say in the day that the invisible things of God become visible to you? Because God has promised that that day will come. That day will come to you and I, when the invisible things of God become visible. Right now, we walk by faith, but there will come a day when our faith is made sight, in spite of any doubts that you have currently. You can doubt, but you have to know that there will come a day when the invisible reality, this world of angels and demons, the world of the Lord Jesus Christ, this world will become visible to you. And what will you say in that day? Nothing is impossible for God. I encourage you not to rely on the things that you feel, your impulses. That was the reaction of Zachariah. He thought the way he felt, and he spoke the way he felt. I'm an old man. My wife is an old lady. But God's power and his might is greater than our feelings. Nothing is impossible with God. I encourage you to cling to what you know in Scripture to be true, not what your eyes see today, not the way that you feel, but cling to what you read in Scripture about the promises of God. Finally, disgrace. We talked about unanswered prayer, doubts. Finally, disgrace. We see this particularly in Elizabeth. If you read with me in verse 6, It says that they are upright. Both she and Zachariah are upright in the sight of God. They are observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children. That might not sound like a big deal, but in that day and age, in that culture, to be childless and married was a sign of God's displeasure. It was a sign that God was displeased with something you had done. There would have been shame around Elizabeth. There would have been, she no doubt would have felt some guilt feelings. I'm taking Zachariah through this. We don't have any children. What have I done? In that day and age, it was a sign of God's curse. But we are also told very clearly that it was not In her case, the result of God's displeasure. In her case, it was not because of her sin that she was suffering disgrace, it was in spite of her blamelessness. There's a passage in Luke chapter 13 where, listen to this, it's an interaction that Jesus has with some of his followers. There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He answered them, do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? Or those 18 on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. The text tells us that Elizabeth and Zechariah were blameless. That doesn't mean they were sinless. They were trusting in the Messiah. But what they were undergoing, the childlessness, was not a result of their sin. And the point is that you and I may go through disgrace and suffering that has nothing to do with our sin. There are some reasons and purposes that God has for giving us disgrace. and suffering, and maybe even childlessness, I don't know your story, that have nothing to do with our sin. Here in this passage, it's very clear why Elizabeth was brought through this barrenness. That from her womb would come the one who is to prepare the way for the Lord's Messiah. From her womb would come the one that Malachi had prophesied, the Elijah to come. This is a great blessing that you and I get to see the reasons why one particular woman in one particular time was allowed to go through disgrace. And it shows you that you, you may not be able to see the reason why God is taking you through a particular suffering or disgrace. But that does not mean that He has no reason. It does not mean there is no purpose. But rather, that purpose, broadly speaking, in some mysterious way, is to bring glory to God. That's the purpose. Here, Elizabeth is to give birth to the last Old Covenant prophet, John the Baptist, the last prophet before the Messiah would come. It was a great privilege, a high honor. Elizabeth no doubt would have known the story of Rachel in Genesis chapter 3, excuse me, 30. It says this, verses 22 and 23, God remembered Rachel and listened to her and opened her womb. She conceived and bore a son and said, God has taken away my reproach. If you look with me in verse 25, it's very similar words. The Lord has done this for me, she said, and these days he has shown favor and taken away my disgrace." Other translations say, my reproach among the people. Elizabeth would have known the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1, who had prayed for a son. Of course, she would undoubtedly have known about Abraham and Sarah. Abraham and Sarah, the elderly couple past their prime, who certainly desired to have children. But the Lord showed up in a miraculous way and gave them, not because of their own power and strength, but for His own glory, gave them a promised seed in order to advance the salvation of His people. That's the point. The point is not that Zechariah and Elizabeth would get together in the normal way and advance their salvation through their own strength. The point is that it was a miraculous doing of God Himself. that no one would have anticipated this, but God came through in order to advance the salvation of His people. Salvation belongs to God alone, and not to you and I. It belongs to God alone. All of these things, the unanswered prayer, the doubts, the disgrace, they point us to the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is the one that God would send to tabernacle among his people, the second person of the Trinity, God come in the flesh, to break the silence, to answer the prayer of God's people. He would be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. He would be the fulfillment of all of God's promises. All of God's promises are yes and amen in the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus went to the cross, He took the disgrace of his people upon himself. Romans chapter 15 verse three says that Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me. If you have put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you can trust that your sin, the punishment that you deserve, has fallen upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He has taken away your reproach. You can approach him now with confidence as a child of the Lord. When Jesus Christ was raised, he took away the doubts of his people. There were some doubting all the way up until that event. Even the doubting Thomas would say, my Lord and my God. I would be lying to you, of course, if I said that all of the promises of God have been fulfilled. They have not all been fulfilled. You and I know all too well. We're waiting. We're waiting. But let me say this. There will come a day, as Hebrews tells us, that Christ will come a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him. Are you eagerly waiting for the Lord to come? Are you eagerly waiting for the Lord to return? There will be no third return. When the author of a play walks out on stage, the play is over. There's no more plays after that. Are you waiting for the Lord to return? There will be no third return. And when Jesus Christ comes again, his enemies will be vanquished in fulfillment of all of the promises of God. And I don't want you I don't want you to be one of them. I don't want you to be left out of the fulfillment of God's promises. I don't want you and all of your doubts and fears not to name the name of the Lord as someone who came the first time to deal with sin and will come back a second time. Consider this too, finally. God promises that our disgrace can, in this life, lead to our joy. You can have joy in the midst of whatever disgrace and suffering you're going through, but you cannot have it without faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the whole point of the book of Luke, that you would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the whole point of the Gospels, that you would believe. Are you able to find joy in your disgrace and suffering? I invite you today to trust in the Lord. Don't let this moment pass you by. Trust in the Lord today. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Almighty God, we thank you and praise you that you are a God who is not silent. You are there and you are not silent. You have spoken to us in your word. You have given us the final word, the final prophet, priest and king, and the Lord Jesus Christ, that he has come and dwelled among us to take away our sin. You have sent him to the cross where he fully paid for our sins. We thank you for his finished work. We long for the day when he comes again. I confess there is a part of me that does not want him yet to come back. because there are many that I love who do not know the Lord. I pray that you would send your spirit through the preaching of your word to convict those who don't know you of their sin, that they would put faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that in spite of whatever unanswered prayer they feel they have, in spite of the doubts they have, in spite of whatever disgrace they've been through, that you would speak clearly through your word. and like a sword that you would pierce their heart in conviction of their sin and cause them to cry out for forgiveness. We thank you for the comfort and the hope that comes to us in the gospel. We thank you that Christ has borne our disgrace. We pray that the disgrace and the suffering that we go through today would bring us joy as it drives us to Christ and conforms us to his image. We thank you for the promises of God and we long for the day when Christ comes again. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.