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From the beginning of this year, we have been venturing through the gospel of Luke and as long as the Lord allows me, I will continue to preach through Luke’s gospel verse by verse and chapter by chapter until I reach the end of this gospel because it is my hope that we see with great clarity the risen Savior Jesus, who has provided salvation to all.
This is the main point of Luke’s gospel.
Also, since the beginning of this year pastor Gus has been preaching through his sermon series Salvation and the Church.
In his sermon series, he has highlighted God’s redemptive plan for sinners to be saved through the propitiation of Jesus Christ (John 3:16, 12:32; 1 John 2:2).
Jesus’ atonement allows sinners to be adoptive sons and daughters of God the Father.
And the salvation that God has granted to those who confessed with their mouths and believed by faith that Jesus is Lord and God’s eternal begotten Son, is not only saved from God’s eternal judgment and eternal wrath (Matthew 3:7; Romans 5:9) but they have been transformed into a new creation (Galatians 6:15; 2 Corinthians 5:17).
And for the last four consecutive Sundays, pastor Gus and I have preached at some length on Luke 1:67-80 which is the prophecy of Zechariah that pertains to God’s covenantal salvation.
Again, the points of pastor Gus’s sermons shows us that the salvation that God has given to the church not only saved our souls but it allowed us to be sanctified through Christ Jesus.
Pastor Gus sermons pairs well with today’s message.
This is good.
Speaking of today’s message, I like to remind you Zechariah prophecy is about the dawning of salvation.
It is about God’s redemptive history and how he’s willing to save people for the sake of his own glory; it about God’s salvific plan sinners.
In Zechariah’s prophecy, he distinguished David, Abraham, and John the Baptist.
These three persons, David, Abraham and John Baptist points towards God’s unified covenantal plan to send His Son Jesus so that he can procure salvation, fulfill Scripture, bring glory to the Father, and elect those whom he died for.
For example, God made an everlasting covenant with David, in 2 Samuel 7:12-14 God said to David, “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”.
Beloved, David is dead (cf.
Acts 2:29), along with his sons, in fact, the state of Israel is a secular democratic nation which is far from being a monarchy; that is to say, it is no longer a kingdom.
Since this is true, how is it possible for God to establish an everlasting kingdom on David’s behalf?
The everlasting kingdom that God promised to David cannot exist unless God was speaking about someone who is greater than David, and a person who can rule for all eternity (Revelation 20-22).
And Jesus has done just that, whenever he returns, he will establish his millennial kingdom and rule for thousands of years (cf.
Revelation 20:4-5).
He will be Israel’s everlasting king.
And during the millennial reign of Christ, the remnant of the Jewish people will be saved and they worship Jesus as their crucified Savior, and this will allow the nation of Israel to be prominent among other nations.
And Jesus would fulfill the words of his Father which he spoke to David.
In terms of Abraham, God said to Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3); and God made an everlasting covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15:5, God said to Abraham, “‘Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’
Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’
And [Abraham] believed the Lord, and the Lord counted it to [Abraham] as righteousness” (cf.
Luke 1:73-75).
Just as much Abraham believed by faith in God’s Word and God accredited it as righteousness on the behalf of Abraham (cf.
Romans 4:3), was the means by which God will save all who believe in the righteousness of Jesus Christ and if they do their sins will be pardon forever (cf.
Romans 4:5-8).
Abraham believed by faith in the promises of God’s words, is the same way that we have come to faith in Christ Jesus.
As Paul has said, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
We are saved by the grace of God (cf.
Ephesians 2:5) and the prophecy of Zechariah demonstrate the truth.
Within Zechariah’s prophecy, he recalled God’s promises were made to David and Abraham and finally Zechariah will show us how his own son John the Baptist was part of God’s plan that ushered in salvation.
[Pause]
At the time the angel Gabriel pronounced the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah disbelieved the angel words (cf.
Luke 1:18).
Disbelief is a direct act of disobedience towards God, this is evident today as he was in biblical times, because as you know Zechariah was punished for disbelieving.
Zechariah wasn’t able to speak for nine months until the birth of his son, John (Luke 1:63-64).
His faithlessness left him speechless.
However, after the birth of his son, he believed, and instantaneously the Holy Spirit enabled Zechariah to not only speak about David and Abraham but more importantly, he was able to speak about his son (cf.
Luke 1:64).
Fathers, Zachariah had exuberant joy for his son and he expressed to his eight days old son, how God was going to use him to help bring about the new covenant.
I hope you were following along as Melvin was reading the text and if you were you would have noticed that Zechariah declared three things about his own son: 1. John’s calling, 2. Johns message, and 3. John’s preparation.
This is pretty much the framework of my sermon: Zechariah predicts John’s calling, message, and preparation.
John the Baptist’s Calling: The Prophet of the Most High (v.
76)
When you held your child in your arms for the first time you did know the kind of life they would live and this is true of your parents when they held you in their arms.
As of now, you still do not know for sure if your child would be a good or bad citizen of society, nor your parents had foreknowledge of what was to come about your life.
Every good parent has high hopes for their children.
They want their children to be successful and have a purposeful life.
Every good parent wants their children to be greater than themselves.
I image Zechariah was filled with joy like any first-time parent would be, as he held his son in his arms and speaking prophetically to his son, he knew exactly the kind of person his son, John would turn out to be.
As we read in verse 76, Zechariah said to his son, “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High”.
John’s calling was not a secret but it was anticipated.
Zechariah probably desired his son to become a priest.
Zechariah and Elizabeth came from a priestly family, and if tradition and customs would have had it, John would’ve been a priest too.
However, that decision wasn’t for Zechariah, Elizabeth nor John to make.
That decision was made by God himself before the foundation of the world.
Zechariah’s occupation as a priest helped him to understand Old Testament scripture, causing him to have high expectations of the prophet that would “go before the Lord to prepare [the Lord’s] ways” (cf.
Luke 1:76).
In fact, the Jewish people knew that God would send a prophet to announce the arrival of the Lord.
The only problem was that they could not identify who that prophet was.
For example, in the book of John chapter 1:20-21, the priest and Levites came to John and asked, “Who are you?”, and John confessed saying, “‘I am not the Christ.’
And they asked him, ‘What then?
Are you Elijah?’” . . .
‘Are you the Prophet?’”.
John unequivocally said no! The reason the Jewish people, the priest, and Levites, with the exception of Zechariah, thought that John was Elijah is because of what is said of John in the Old Testament.
The prophet Isaiah predicted John’s calling.
Isaiah said, “A voice cries: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3).
The prophet Malachi foretold John’s calling too.
Malachi said, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:5-6).
And when the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah inside Solomon’s temple, Gabriel said similar words to Zechariah, he said, “And [John] will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared” (Luke 1:16-17).
Pastor John MacArthur said, “Like Elijah, John faithfully, powerfully, boldly, uncompromisingly proclaimed divine truth [of the Messiah, Jesus Christ].
That caused some to wonder if he might, in fact, be Elijah” ( Luke 1-5 MacArthur New Testament Commentary.
p. 38).
MacArthur further said, “John was not Elijah literally” but figuratively, like Elijah who preached about the commandments of the Lord, John would preach about salvation that is found in Christ Jesus.
All of us have answered or asked someone this question: what do you want to be when you grow up?
When we were children we had an idea of what type of job we would do for the rest of our lives.
As we all know, people aspire to be doctors, lawyers, engineers, musicians and etc.
Everyone wants a job that is satisfying and meaningful.
When I was a little boy I vividly remember telling my mother that I wanted to become a police officer, so she encouraged me to pray to God about my ambitions.
We both folded our hands and started praying to the Lord.
I prayed a very simple prayer and it only took two minutes for me to pray.
However, that prayer never came true.
My job as a correctional officer was the only job I had that came close for me of becoming a police officer.
Likewise, it was impossible for John to fill out a job application because it was already filled out before he was born.
Therefore, Zechariah’s words to his son were affirming God’s plan to send John as the prophet the of Lord Jesus Christ.
God had predetermined that John would be from birth “the prophet of the Most High”.
As a footnote, the meaning of “Most High” stresses God’s absolute sovereignty (MacArthur, p. 117), but more importantly, according to Luke 1:32, Jesus is “called the Son of the Most High” signifying his Lordship.
Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit, therefore, he understood that Mary was pregnant and had conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that she can give birth to the Messiah, Jesus is the Most High and John was the prophet who “prepared his ways.”
John the Baptist’s Message (vv.
77-79)
John’s calling was to be the prophet of the Most High, but, how was he going prepare the ways of the Lord?
By what means was he to make preparations for the Lord Jesus?
Simply put, the answer to these questions is John’s message.
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