December 11, 2024 • 38 mins
What happens when peace feels elusive, especially during a season that's supposed to be about hope and joy? Join us as we navigate the Advent season's deeper meaning, exploring how genuine peace can be rooted in faith despite life's inevitable challenges. Through heartfelt prayers and reflections, we find strength in the biblical stories of Zechariah, Mary, and Elizabeth, learning how their experiences with God's promises can guide us toward true peace.
Discover the enduring faithfulness of God's promises, where ancient stories breathe life into our present-day struggles. We'll examine Zechariah's transformative song of praise, shedding light on the profound hope offered by Christ, the ultimate redeemer. As we peel back layers of doubt and anxiety, we invite listeners to consider how salvation through Jesus Christ offers freedom and unwavering peace, transcending financial worries and broken relationships.
As ambassadors for peace in a troubled world, we explore the powerful call to share Christ's light with others. Inspired by figures like John the Baptist, we'll discuss how true peace isn't found in political power or material wealth but in embracing our divine purpose and serving without fear. Through prayer and reflection, let's celebrate God's tender mercy and commit to embodying and sharing His promise of peace with a world that desperately needs it.
Discover the enduring faithfulness of God's promises, where ancient stories breathe life into our present-day struggles. We'll examine Zechariah's transformative song of praise, shedding light on the profound hope offered by Christ, the ultimate redeemer. As we peel back layers of doubt and anxiety, we invite listeners to consider how salvation through Jesus Christ offers freedom and unwavering peace, transcending financial worries and broken relationships.
As ambassadors for peace in a troubled world, we explore the powerful call to share Christ's light with others. Inspired by figures like John the Baptist, we'll discuss how true peace isn't found in political power or material wealth but in embracing our divine purpose and serving without fear. Through prayer and reflection, let's celebrate God's tender mercy and commit to embodying and sharing His promise of peace with a world that desperately needs it.
ABOUT JAMES AND LESSONS FOR LIFE
Are you longing to find answers to the deeper issues of life? Join Dr. James Long, Jr., a pastor, counselor, and university professor with over 30 years of experience. Hear James as he tackles some of life’s biggest questions and helps us find God’s solutions to life’s struggles. Learn the power of living by God’s grace and for His glory. Experience the joy of forgiveness and freedom found in Jesus Christ alone. If you are in search of freedom, you will love being part of this conversation. Subscribe, and enjoy the show!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Would you be seated?
The psalmist said bless theLord, o my soul and all that is
within me.
Bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, o my soul, andforget not all his benefits.
Who forgives all youriniquities, who heals all your
(00:20):
diseases, who redeems your lifefrom the pit, who crowns you
with steadfast love and mercy,who satisfies you with good so
that your youth is renewed likethe eagles?
Would you pray with me, father?
I love this time of the year wecome out of Thanksgiving and
(00:43):
just being able to celebrate youand to thank you, to have just
gratitude in our hearts for whatyou've done for us.
You've done for us in your son,the lord jesus christ, what
you've done for us by your holyspirit, and what you continue to
do in our lives and what youwill do.
We praise you and the father.
We go into the Advent seasonbeing able to focus on hope,
(01:05):
lord, focus on the hope thatyou've given us in the person
and work of your Son.
I thank you for the joy that wecan have in this Christmas
season, father, I thank you forthe love that we can display to
one another, because you'vedisplayed the greatest love to
us and we get to display that toa world that desperately needs
(01:25):
it.
And, lord, today, as we talkabout the topic of peace, I pray
that you would help us not tohave just a superficial peace, a
surface level of peace, atemporal level of peace.
Father.
Give us a peace that is deepand rooted on your son.
Father, when the winds and thewaves come, father, I pray that
we be firmly planted on thisfirm salvation, that we have the
(01:50):
salvation in Christ.
Father, for those that are herethat are struggling, struggling
with grief, struggling withemotional difficulties,
relational difficulties,financial difficulties, whatever
it may be, medical difficultiesin their lives, father, the
problems seem so big, sooverwhelming.
I pray that they would see thatnothing is bigger than you.
(02:13):
So, lord, I pray that you wouldspeak comfort in their lives.
I pray that you would speakmercy and grace in their lives.
Talk to us through your wordtoday.
Help us to see your son today.
Fill us with your spirit today.
Help us to reflect you today inJesus' matchless, holy and
powerful name.
We pray Amen and amen.
Well, children, you could bedismissed for your classes and
(02:37):
for the rest of us.
Would you turn in your Bibleswith me to the Gospel of Luke?
The Gospel of Luke to theGospel of Luke, the Gospel of
Luke.
We are in our Advent season here, and last week we heard about
hope and today I get theprivilege of speaking to you
about peace.
So let's be honest.
(02:59):
We live in a world today thatis struggling with hope and
struggling with peace.
You may feel it.
It may feel the pressure thatis there, heavy in your life.
I could feel it as well.
And as you look at the headlines, as you pull up your app on
your phone, you see theheadlines.
The headlines are filled withdivision, it's filled with
(03:20):
hatred, it's filled withconflict.
That's the world that we livein.
There's this us versus themmindset.
It's this camped mindset wherewe are with our own groups and
we struggle.
We struggle with relationships,we struggle with anxiety, we
struggle with depression, timeafter time.
So many of us struggle withbroken relationships.
(03:40):
Maybe some of you that are here,maybe you're struggling with
anxiety, maybe you're strugglingwith restlessness and you lack
the peace.
And you hear it.
You hear about this Prince ofPeace and you hear about the
things that he wants to do inyour life, but for some reason,
you know it intellectually, butexperientially, you struggle.
I was in my devotional thismorning talking about this theme
(04:02):
of practical atheism.
That was my devotional thismorning and it's like it's
knowing God intellectually butstruggling to know him
personally and relationally.
And many of us are there veryhonestly and the chaos that we
see around us.
We keep hearing people saypeace, peace, and we think that
(04:23):
if we get a political leaderwe'll have peace, or if we have
money in the bank we'll havepeace, or we get a good report
from a doctor, we'll have peace.
And it kind of harkens back towhat Jeremiah said, that peace,
peace where there is no, what?
No?
Peace that the people arelonging for peace deeply in
their hearts and they just don'thave it and they cling for all
(04:44):
of these things and theystruggle with finding it.
What we see here today is astory of Zacharias.
Now, zachariah is a priest inhis time, just before the birth
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and heis an old man and I'm feeling
older each day, but not that old.
(05:06):
He's really old and as he'sfeeling old, he doesn't have a
child and he's now doing hispriestly duties and God says I'm
going to give you a son.
It's been 400 years of silence.
God has not said anythingprophetically to the nation of
Israel for 400 years.
(05:27):
That's a long time.
And out of that silence, godbreaks through and he says I
want to give you peace.
So Zechariah, today, is goingto give us a song.
He's going to sing a song to us.
He's going to praise God forwhat God has done.
So we want to look at that songtoday and we want to understand
what God is offering to ustoday.
So, if you're here today andyou're struggling with peace and
(05:51):
there's this chaos and thisconfusion and this brokenness in
your heart, I want you to hearthat God is the Prince of Peace,
that he wants to speak to thestruggles that you have, he
wants to give you hope, he wantsto give you joy, he wants to
give you a satisfaction, asecurity that there is a firm
foundation, a rock on which youstand.
Would you pray with me?
So, lord, I pray today for youto be present in our lives.
(06:18):
Father, through all the chaosthat is here, I pray that you
bring us peace.
I pray that you would open oureyes today to hear from you, to
see from you, to hear from yourword, to show us our need, but
to show us that you answer thatneed in your son.
So fill us today with yourpresence and help us to honor
(06:40):
you and reflect you In Jesus'matchless, holy and powerful
name.
We pray Amen and amen.
Okay, so I'm going to befocusing on Luke, chapter 1,
verses 67 to 79.
But before we get there, let'sjust kind of do an eagle's eye
view of what was happening inZechariah's time.
If you go back to verse 26,you'll see that the angel
(07:04):
Gabriel comes.
And the angel Gabriel was sentfrom God to the city of Galilee
named Nazareth, to a virginbetrothed to a man who was named
Joseph, in the house of David.
And the virgin's name was who?
Mary.
(07:27):
So we see the story and thestory begins here in verse 26,
that the angel comes to Mary andsays that I have great news for
you, that you are going to givebirth to a son.
And Mary's sitting there sayingwell, I'm a virgin, how is that
possible?
And she has these questions,but in her heart she responds in
faith and she says let it beaccording to your word, whatever
you want, do it in me and do itthrough me.
And he's saying that the angeltold her that the Lord, jesus
(07:50):
Christ, is going to be comingout of your womb and then she
also.
She was also told that herrelative, her relative Elizabeth
, was also with child.
Now Elizabeth was old and it'slike she's with child.
It's like miracle after miracle.
I haven't even been with a manand now I'm pregnant and
Elizabeth is pregnant.
So what Mary does is she getson the road and she goes and
(08:12):
visits Elizabeth and now,amazingly, when Elizabeth is
there and Mary comes into theirhome, the baby that's in
Elizabeth's womb leaps for joyhome.
The baby that's in Elizabeth'swomb leaps for joy celebration
worship.
He couldn't contain himselfwithin her womb and it talks
about Elizabeth is filled withthe Holy Spirit and says that
you are blessed Mary among women, and these two women are
(08:35):
responding and out of the song.
I love Luke.
Luke is this wonderful bookwhere he begins with all these
songs.
He begins with the song, theMagnificat, you know, mary's
praise to God, and then we haveSimeon's song that we read about
in Luke, we have the angel'ssong, glory to God, and we have
this song by Zacharias.
I guess they really like musicand Luke really likes music,
(08:58):
which I can agree with andZachah is writing this song in a
world that's not really muchdifferent than ours.
It's a world that is broken.
It's a world that is indesperate need of healing.
It's a world that is indesperate need of peace.
It's a world that is crying out.
Maybe there's oppression thatis happening in his world, which
(09:19):
it was injustice and a longingfor deliverance.
You and I are experiencing thesame thing.
We've gone through a politicalseason and some of us got our
candidate and some of us did not, and some of us are thinking
that this candidate is going tobring healing and righteousness.
Well, the reality is none ofthem ultimately will, because
they cannot produce what onlyChrist can.
(09:40):
So it's a world that's not muchdifferent than ours.
It's a world that is longingfor peace, as I said in Jeremiah
.
In Jeremiah, chapter 6, verse14, it says they have healed the
wounds of my people lightly.
God says Peace, peace wherethere is no peace.
Now I was trying to think abouthow the world seeks peace, and
(10:02):
the world seeks peace throughpolitical rebellion, right?
So if I can get political power, if my person can be in office,
then I can have peace.
That's what some of us believedas we went to the voting booth
just four weeks ago, and thereality is that political
rebellion or political overthrowor political leadership doesn't
(10:22):
provide peace.
People were thinking that ifthey could overthrow the Roman
oppressors during this time thatthey would get peace.
They didn't.
Some people not only seekpolitical power, but some look
for peace through religiouslegalism.
They think if I do the rightthings that God will be happy
with me.
God will be satisfied.
So if I go to church, if I readmy Bible, if I give enough at
(10:43):
church, then guess what?
God will be happy with me.
And they're seeking peacethrough religious things and it
becomes legalism in their lives.
So some seek it throughpolitical power, some seek it
through legalism, some seek itthrough just compromise.
I'm not going to fight theworld anymore.
I'm just going to kind of dowhat the world does.
I'm going to think what theworld thinks, I'm going to speak
(11:03):
like the world speaks and if Ikind of go along with the world
I'll have peace.
Those are faulty ways thatpeople have sought peace.
But because the root problem forour lack of peace in life is a
three-letter word and that wordis what Sin?
It's been that reason that sinhas caused the break that is
(11:23):
there between us and God andbetween us and one another, that
sin that is in our lives hasbeen a byproduct of the lack of
peace.
Sin separates us from God.
Sin hinders our relationshipwith one another.
Sin causes a brokenness within.
Sin affects you and meconstantly, and all of those
remedies political power,religious work or compromising
(11:47):
with the world will never solvethis root issue that you and I
have.
The root issue is sin, andZechariah, as I said, is
speaking to a people that haswaited for 400 years for God to
speak to them.
In that 400 years, there hasbeen no prophet, no fresh word
from God.
Just waiting.
They've been waiting in silence, waiting for God to answer them
(12:10):
.
What's amazing is this.
I think we at times think thatwhen we don't hear from God,
that God is not working.
It's a complete lie.
God is working.
We see it working through themiraculous pregnancies with Mary
and Elizabeth.
We see it working through themiraculous pregnancies with Mary
and Elizabeth.
We see it working through thefact that I'm going to hinder
you, zechariah, from speakingfor months.
(12:31):
See it working through the factthat God has a sovereign plan
to bring about real peace andhope in your life.
He wants to transform you, hewants to change you, he wants to
change your status with him andhe wants to change you from the
inside out.
For nine months as well,zechariah hasn't been able to
speak.
That would be hard, I'm tellingyou, because I mean, some of us
(12:52):
really like to talk but hewouldn't be able to speak.
Some say he wasn't even able tohear for nine months.
And that was a judgment.
You know, when Mary heard fromthe angel Gabriel, she believed
him and says do whatever youwant, I'm here as your vessel.
When Zechariah heard, zechariahsays I don't believe that can
happen.
This is a priest of God.
He wasn't sure that this couldhappen.
(13:13):
And God says okay, you don'ttrust me, let me show you.
And what does he do?
He makes him silent for ninemonths.
Let's think about that.
For nine months he's sittingthere because of his doubt.
It's the judgment that God, theconsequence For nine months.
He is now seeing with his eyes.
He's watching God fulfill thepromises, one promise after
(13:34):
another promise after anotherpromise, and he's unable to
speak.
I know when you have some joythat's happening in your life,
you can't help but speak.
Like Pastor Doug, he couldn'thelp but speak about his
grandchild that was being born.
We can't help it.
And he could not speak.
Zacharias had to hold on to thismonth after month.
I was wondering as he wentthrough that silence.
(13:56):
It probably filled him with alevel of regret and repentance
that Lord please forgive me fordoubting you.
Maybe it filled him withanticipation Wow, I can't
imagine.
I can't wait to see.
Maybe it filled him withreflect.
In that nine-month period oftime he did not turn bitter.
What we see is that Zachariahcame to a place where he
(14:17):
exploded with joy and what hetalks about in this song, three
things that I want to show youin it.
But what he talks about in thissong is not fleeting peace that
the world offers you.
It's a true and lasting peacethat comes from one person, the
person and work of the Lord,jesus Christ.
So let's look at the passageand let's look at his song.
(14:40):
We're going to break it downinto three steps.
The three steps are this thatGod answers your need for peace.
See, god sees your need forpeace and he answers your need
for peace.
He sees it and he answers it.
Number one.
Number two that is answeredonly through the precious work
of his son.
That he is the dawn of peace,he is the light of peace, he's
(15:03):
the sunrise of peace.
So God knows your need forpeace, that it is answered alone
through the dawn of peace, theLord Jesus Christ, and then you
and I, if we're believers, arecalled to live in peace.
So those are the three things Iwant to try to look at today.
Let's look at this Benedictus.
It's called the Benedictusbecause he is a benediction, a
(15:25):
prayer benediction.
Let's look at verse 68 andlet's see where he starts.
He says blessed be the Lord,god of Israel.
Blessed I love that word,blessed.
He's talking about worship.
He is talking about the factthat God is worthy of praise.
That's exactly what worship is.
(15:45):
It's a blessing.
He's worthy of worship.
He says blessed be the Lord,god of Israel, for watch.
He has visited and redeemed hispeople.
He has raised up a horn ofsalvation for us in the house of
his servant, david, as he spokeby the mouths of the holy
prophets from old, that weshould be saved from our enemies
(16:07):
and that from the hand of thosewho hate us.
To show the mercy promised toour fathers and to remember the
holy covenant, the oath that heswore to our father Abraham to
grant us that we may bedelivered from the hand of our
enemies might serve him withoutfear, in holiness and
righteousness before him all ourdays.
(16:27):
And you, child, will be calledthe prophet of the most high,
for you will go before the Lordand prepare his way to give him
the knowledge of salvation tohis people, in the forgiveness
of their sins, because of thetender mercy of our God, whereby
the sunrise shall visit us fromon high to give light to those
who sit in darkness, the shadowof death, and to guide their
(16:51):
feet in the way of peace.
Pray that the Lord add hisblessing to the reading of his
word.
Point number one I want you toconsider is that God answers our
need for peace in verses 68through 75.
Now Zechariah's song begins withthis fact that God is not
silent.
God has not abandoned you.
God is with you, and he doesthat first by seeing that God
(17:14):
has visited us and redeemed us.
These two things, I think, areso important.
What he talks about is he looksto the character of God Now,
out of nine months of silence.
He doesn't hold on tobitterness and resentment.
What he does is he bursts outin praise, and he's not talking
about himself.
Let me tell you what it's beenlike for nine months.
He doesn't do that.
What he does is he bursts outin praise and honor and glory to
(17:38):
God.
He talks about how God hasvisited his people.
I thought it was interestingthat if you go to the root word
for visit, it connects to theidea of vision, of seeing.
It's not that just God hasarrived on the surface, but God
sees you.
You know, some of us are gonnago to work tomorrow and when we
(17:58):
go to work tomorrow we are goingto have somebody who is our
super.
What Visor?
What does a supervisor do?
The supervisor sees you and isover you.
Supervisor Well, jesus Christis the great supervisor, he's
the epi-supervisor.
He sees you.
He doesn't just come to be withus.
(18:18):
He knows everything that you'regoing through.
He knows every struggle thatyou are enduring.
He knows every pain, he knowsevery sin, he knows every
thought, he knows everydifficulty that you are dealing
with, even the things thatpeople do not know.
God knows, he sees, and when hecomes to visit you, he comes to
visit you and he says I see youand I'm still coming to find
(18:40):
you because I love you.
But he doesn't just come to seeyou and visit you, he is coming
to redeem them.
And what Zacharias hearkens backto is, I think, the Exodus.
Back in the Exodus, when hispeople were in Egypt, what was
happening?
These people were crying outfor God to set them free.
(19:02):
They desperately wanted to befree and they were enslaved for
400 years, enslaved and theycould not get out.
And they cried out time aftertime please give me a redeemer,
please.
And God hears them and he seesthem and he sends Moses.
And he sees them and he sendsMoses and he says let my people
(19:23):
what Go.
And God does a miraculous workto not only visit them but to
redeem them.
It's a small thing, lookingforward to what Jesus Christ is
going to do.
Jesus Christ came to this world2,000 years ago.
The second person in theTrinity, who has always existed,
took on human flesh 2,000 yearsago and became the human being,
(19:43):
the Lord Jesus Christ, trulyGod and truly man.
And he walked on earth and hesaw us, he knew us deeply.
He saw Nathaniel over there.
I see you over there.
I know things.
I know things about you.
Yet I come and I pursue youbecause I love you.
So the first thing I want youto see is that God visited his
people and redeemed his peoplein verse 68.
(20:06):
And I should tell you thatredemption is not with silver
and gold.
Redemption is with what theperfect blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Verse 69 tells us that he talksabout this horn of salvation.
Watch what he says here.
And he raised up for us a hornof salvation for us in the house
of our servant, david.
So he's now connecting to David, and David is the.
(20:27):
Jesus Christ is going to be theson of David.
He's gonna be in the lineage ofDavid.
That, the promise that God hadgiven to David thousands of
years before, is this thatsomebody is going to be on your
throne forever and ever and ever.
And Jesus Christ has becomethat one.
But he talks about this horn,and the horn here is this
powerful image, and it's drawnfrom the Old Testament, and it's
(20:51):
a powerful image of strengthand victory, that the God that
you serve, the leader that youseek peace from, is not a weak
person.
He is the ultimately strongperson and he is the one who has
provided ultimate victory.
And so he's looking and sayingthat you know what?
You're not going to get yourultimate victory through a
political party or politicalpower.
(21:12):
You're going to get it throughthe one who conquered sin,
conquered Satan and conquereddeath the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's conquered.
Him I was thinking about like achampion who comes in after his
battle, and as he comes inafter this battle, he's not
coming in with some fragileshield, he's not coming in with
some weak sword.
He's coming in with anunshakable power, and that's
what Jesus Christ does for you.
(21:33):
He is the ultimate might andhe's the ultimate mercy.
So I wonder for you do youtrust in the strength of God?
I was thinking about this formyself this week, as I was
thinking about why is it that Ilack peace at times?
And I think I lack peace attimes in my life because there
(21:53):
are things that I need to dealwith in my life.
Maybe you're there, maybethere's some sin in your life
that is there and you know aboutit and you need to deal with it
.
Maybe there's some sin in yourlife that is there and you know
about it and you need to dealwith it.
Maybe there's some struggles inyour life that you don't even
know and you need some help todeal with it.
But the lack of peace that weoftentimes struggle with is a
byproduct of the fact that weare looking for hope and healing
in something else other thantrusting in the strength of God.
(22:15):
Or maybe, as most of usstruggle with maybe, we're
trying to fight the battle onour own, without going to the
mercy and might of Christ.
And without the mercy and mightof Christ, you will fight your
battle, but you will gettemporal peace, but you will not
get real peace.
I love this in verse 70.
He talks here about the fact ofGod's faithfulness.
(22:37):
He says in verse 70 through 73,as he spoke from the mouths of
the holy prophets from old, thatwe should be saved from our
enemies and that from the handsof all those who hate us, to
show mercy promised to ourforefathers and to remember his
holy covenant, the oath that heswore to our father Abraham to
grant us.
So what he does is he goes nowto the fact that God's
(23:01):
faithfulness is his covenant.
See, the God that you serve isa God who is a promise keeper.
I will sometimes make promisesthat I don't fulfill,
unfortunately.
Things that I really wanted toget done I couldn't get done
because either I didn't have thewill or the might or the
willingness to do it.
And you all have done the samething You've made promises and
(23:23):
have not been able to fulfillthem.
But when God promises yousomething, the amazing thing
here is this, and this is whatwas blowing Zacharias' mind that
as he's seeing his wifepregnant and he sees Mary filled
with a baby, he looks back towhat God has promised hundreds
and even thousands of years ago.
And he goes back and he saysGod, you are the ultimate
(23:44):
promise keeper, the unchangeablenature of God's promises.
He can't lie, it's not possiblefor him to lie.
So when he promises yousomething, you could trust it.
When he offers an oath, youcould trust it, trust his word.
And so he's looking back and hesays wow, even back to my
father, father Abraham,thousands of years before
(24:08):
Abraham, who had no children.
But God says I'm going to giveyou a child.
And then they tried to figureit out with this human effort to
get Ishmael.
And he says that's not the one.
I'm going to give you onethrough your wife, and I'm going
to give you Isaac.
And he says that's not the one.
I'm going to give you onethrough your wife, and I'm going
to give you Isaac.
And that Isaac looked forwardto not only Isaac, but every
single one of you that are inChrist.
They're all children of ourfather Abraham.
(24:31):
So when Zechariah is praisingGod here, he's looking back to
the fact that God is a covenantkeeper.
He's a promise keeper you couldtrust.
So, whether it's a promise toAbraham thousands of years ago
or a promise to David, it is nowbeing fulfilled in the person
and work of the Lord JesusChrist.
Our world easily breakspromises easily.
(24:52):
Maybe you do as well.
I want you to know this forcertainty, that God doesn't ever
break a promise to you.
I say this often to my peoplethat I have this phrase.
It goes I can't, he can.
He has in the past, he doesright now, he will in the future
(25:14):
.
I can only in him.
And when you start to thinkabout the fact that my inability
I can't, but I can in him isthe rock on which we stand,
because that is peace.
Verses 74 and 75 not only tellus about God's faithfulness to
his covenant, but it talks aboutthe fact that you've been
(25:35):
delivered for a purpose.
Watch what it says in verse 74.
It says that we, beingdelivered from the hand of our
enemies, might serve him withoutfear, in holiness and
righteousness before him all ourdays.
Some of us wonder very honestlywhat's the purpose of our lives
?
Why am I here?
Why do I exist?
Why am I here, god?
(25:56):
Why did you create me?
For some people, they've gottento the place where they don't
see any purpose to their livesand they want to end their lives
.
And God says I have created youwith a purpose.
Before this world was everexisted, I had planned you and,
for those of you that knowChrist, god has, before this
world was ever decided, he hadchosen to pick you to be part of
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his family.
You have an amazing purpose,because God has not only
delivered you from his enemies,but he wants you to serve him.
Watch what he says.
Serve him without fear.
How many of us struggle with alack of peace because we're
constantly worried that God isnot happy with us?
How many of us struggle with alack of peace because we
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struggle with sin in our lives?
We feel guilt and condemnationconstantly.
Maybe you're feeling it, andwhat God says is this I want you
to know that there is thereforenow no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus.
Nothing will ever separate youfrom his love.
I don't want you to live inconstant fear that you're going
to lose everything.
I want you to be so assuredthat I am yours and you are
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secure in my hands.
That will give you amazingpeace.
But he doesn't just say withoutfear.
He says in holiness andrighteousness.
So what happens in salvation isthis when God comes into your
life and saves you, he changesyour position.
You go from enemy to family.
You go from rebel to therighteous.
You go from out of the world,out of a relationship with him,
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to in a relationship.
You are justified by faith, byGod's grace in your life,
because of Christ.
And what God does amazingly ishe takes my record and your
record and he applies that toChrist.
And then he takes Christ'srecord and he applies it to you.
When God looks at you, he looksat you as though you live the
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perfect and righteous life ofChrist.
But very truly, I'm not thatway.
And so what God does is this hedoesn't want to just free you
from the standard and thecondemnation.
He wants to set you free inholiness and righteousness.
He wants to transform you.
So when he freed the people inExodus, he didn't just free them
to do whatever they wanted.
He freed them because he wantedthem to worship.
He took them from Egypt toMount Sinai.
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He wanted them to worship him,he wanted them to commune with
him.
And he says that I want togrant you peace in amazing ways.
So the first thing I want youto see, that's a longer section.
I want you to see that Godhears your need for peace.
The second is that Jesus aloneis the dawn of peace.
Look at verses 76 into 79.
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It says and you, child, will becalled the prophet and the most
high, for you will go beforehim, the Lord, to prepare his
way, to give him the knowledgeof salvation to his people in
the forgiveness of their sinsbecause of the tender mercy of
God.
I'll stop there.
So what he does is he looks atthe sunrise and he says you know
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, in the darkness that ishappening around this world, he
wants you to know that God'speace isn't just a concept.
God's peace is a person.
God's peace is not temporal,god's peace is eternal.
God wants to give you a realpeace.
And he looks Zacharias has beenfocusing on God.
Now he looks at his son, hisson that he's probably holding
in his hands, and he's lookingat that son and he says God has
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got amazing things for you Ican't imagine to be able to know
, before the child is even born,that God has already told you
that God is going to use yourboy to be the preparer of the
way for the Messiah is even born, that God has already told you
that God is going to use yourboy to be the preparer of the
way for the Messiah.
I mean, it's like I can't evenimagine what Zacharias and
Elizabeth must have beenexperiencing.
And this son, he is called theprophet of the most high.
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John was the last and thegreatest of the Old Testament
prophets and it talks about thefact that he's going to prepare
the way.
John wasn't a ministry abouthimself.
It was a ministry about Christand he's pointing people to
Christ.
And he talks here about theknowledge of salvation.
So I want you to know this thismorning that salvation is not
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from your political enemies orearthly struggles.
Salvation is found in beingrescued from the greatest issue
that you have sin, and rescuedin your relationship with God.
Humanity's deepest need isn'tabout circumstances, but it's
about being restored intocommunion with God.
I love this word.
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He talks about the tender mercyof God in verse 78, because of
the tender mercy of God, thatwhat God is doing for you and me
is not because of human effort,it's not because I'm a good guy
.
It's the fact that God's hearthas been so captured and so
compassionately loves us.
He moves to us on our behalf.
He didn't wait for us to cometo him.
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He came to us through Christ.
He came and he broke out of thedarkness and he came into the
darkness of our lives to bringthe sunrise.
And he visits us.
I was out for a walk thismorning and it was cold.
But I was out for a walk and itwas just before the sun had
risen and it was dark outside, alittle bit darker outside, and
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as I looked around you couldkind of see certain things.
But then all of a sudden thesun starts to rise and I got to
start to see things in adifferent way, a majestic way,
as the sun is rising and thatit's symbolic of what God does.
He doesn't just arrive, hearrives with a purpose, he wants
to illuminate things.
He says I see the strugglesthat you're having, but I want
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to point you to the one that isgoing to set you free.
Jesus Christ brings clarity, hebrings hope, he brings healing
in his wings.
In Malachi, chapter 4, verse 2,malachi says this the son of
righteousness rises with healingin his wings.
He talks also about the factthat there's light in the
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darkness, that the darkness thatpeople are struggling verse 79,
to give light to those who sitin darkness, in the shadow of
death, and to guide their feetin the way of peace.
So the first thing I want youto know is this that God knows
your need and he answers yourgreatest need for peace.
Second, I want you to know verydeeply that Jesus Christ, and
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Jesus Christ alone, is the dawnof peace.
You cannot get peace throughanyone or anything other than
him.
But the third thing I want youto consider before we leave
today is this I want you to knowthat, as a result, you, as
God's people, are called to livein light of peace.
We're called to live in lightof shalom.
See, peace is given to you as agift.
(32:23):
It says to give life.
That gift is given.
You know, I had a birthdayearlier this week, a couple of
days ago, and guess what?
I got some gifts, which waspretty cool.
I like gifts, everybody likesgifts, right?
And at Christmas time my wifesays what do you want for
Christmas, I mean?
So it's like you know we lovegifts, right, and those gifts
are great, but those gifts endup usually broken eventually, or
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in a basement somewhere or in atrash can.
Let me tell you about a giftthat God wants to give you that
will never leave you.
It's a gift that you don't earn, you don't merit, you don't
deserve.
But God says I want to give youpeace, I want to give you hope.
I want to give you peace.
I want to give you joy.
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I want to do something amazingin your life.
I want to forgive you of yoursins.
I want to set you free fromyour sins.
I want to give you a familywhen you feel broken and out of
weight from a family.
I want to give you a future.
I want to give you real andlasting peace.
It's given to you as a gift.
But he says you can't just getthis gift.
I want you to walk out thisgift, because that's important.
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He says to guide our feet inthe way of peace.
See, jesus doesn't just bringpeace, he teaches us how to live
in peace.
So I want you to think aboutthis as we close.
If you are in Christ, you havepeace with God already.
Romans 5.1,.
I love this verse.
He says, therefore, since we'vebeen justified by faith, we
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have peace with God.
It's already yours If you arein Christ.
When you feel in the guilt andthe condemnation and the fears
and the insecurities and thedoubts, I want you to know that
God says you have peace.
It's objective, it's not basedon your up and down feelings,
it's not based on your up anddown performance.
It's based on Christ finishedwork.
You have peace, peace with God.
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But then he says it's not justabout peace with God, it should
be peace with others.
I should be a peacemaker.
I should be looking to extendforgiveness and seek
reconciliation.
Are you at war with somebody inyour life?
If you are a believer in theLord Jesus Christ, god calls you
to be a peacemaker and so, asyou have received peace, now you
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need to extend peace to others.
But it's not just peace withGod, it's not just peace with
others, it's also peace within,and there's so many people, very
honestly, that struggle withthis brokenness within.
I want you to trust God, nomatter what the trials are, no
matter what the struggles arethat you're going through.
Trust him.
His word is sure, his promisesnever fail.
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He cannot lie.
Trust him so practically.
How do I live this out, james?
How about seekingreconciliation?
Maybe you know that you have abroken relationship or maybe you
didn't know that there was abroken relationship.
Seek that person out and try tomake it right.
Practice gratitude.
I have my journal here.
I love just writing down in thejournal thank you God, thank
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you God, thank you God.
I think that's what Zachariaswas doing for nine months.
Thank you God, thank you God,thank you God.
I think that's what Zachariaswas doing for nine months.
Thank you God, thank you God,thank you God.
And then, when he got anopportunity to say it, he
couldn't help it.
Thank you God.
Be a person that is just sofull of gratitude in your hearts
because God has given youeverything and you deserve
nothing, and just thank him.
Or how about this?
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I pray that you would considerjust sharing the light with
others.
This is what John the Baptistwas doing.
Zacharias is modeling for hisson.
Nine months of silence.
He then got an opportunity toshare the light with others.
John the Baptist is now goingto live his life sharing the
light with others, and you and Iget the same privilege to what
Share the light with others.
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So, as we leave here today, Ipray that you would know that
you're called to be anambassador for shalom,
ambassador for peace.
You're called to know that yourgreatest need is peace, that
the only one that is going toprovide that peace is the Lord
Jesus Christ and, as a result,we're called to live in light of
that peace.
Will you do that today?
Would you pray with me?
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Father, I just want to thankyou so much.
We live in a world that is sobroken, a world that is in
desperate need of peace, father.
For some, they believe that apolitical leader is going to
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give them peace.
They won't.
For some, they believe thatreligiosity is going to give
them peace, making sure they doa bunch of checklist things,
spiritual disciplines as greatas spiritual disciplines are,
those actions alone will notbring us ultimate peace.
For some of us in this room, wehave kowtowed to society, we
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have compromised with societyand we figure that if we don't
buck the system, we'll havepeace.
None of us will.
None of that will bring peace.
What will bring peace is theone that Zacharias sang about
the dawn of peace.
Your son, who is a visitor.
He comes to us, he sees us.
I praise you for that, even thesin that he sees in my life, he
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still loves me.
In spite of that, and for everyperson here, I trust in him.
He redeems us.
He bought us back with hisprecious blood.
He's the horn of our salvation,he's the power source.
He is the promise keeper.
He is the God that we get achance to share the light with
in the world.
So, father, help us to reflecthim.
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Help us to honor you In Jesus'matchless, holy and powerful
name.
We pray Amen and amen.
Would you be seated?
The psalmist said bless theLord, o my soul and all that is
within me.
Bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, o my soul, andforget not all his benefits.
Who forgives all youriniquities, who heals all your
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diseases, who redeems your lifefrom the pit, who crowns you
with steadfast love and mercy,who satisfies you with good so
that your youth is renewed likethe eagles?
Would you pray with me, father?
I love this time of the year wecome out of Thanksgiving and
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just being able to celebrate youand to thank you, to have just
gratitude in our hearts for whatyou've done for us.
You've done for us in your son,the lord jesus christ, what
you've done for us by your holyspirit, and what you continue to
do in our lives and what youwill do.
We praise you and the father.
We go into the Advent seasonbeing able to focus on hope,
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lord, focus on the hope thatyou've given us in the person
and work of your Son.
I thank you for the joy that wecan have in this Christmas
season, father, I thank you forthe love that we can display to
one another, because you'vedisplayed the greatest love to
us and we get to display that toa world that desperately needs
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it.
And, lord, today, as we talkabout the topic of peace, I pray
that you would help us not tohave just a superficial peace, a
surface level of peace, atemporal level of peace.
Father.
Give us a peace that is deepand rooted on your son.
Father, when the winds and thewaves come, father, I pray that
we be firmly planted on thisfirm salvation, that we have the
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salvation in Christ.
Father, for those that are herethat are struggling, struggling
with grief, struggling withemotional difficulties,
relational difficulties,financial difficulties, whatever
it may be, medical difficultiesin their lives, father, the
problems seem so big, sooverwhelming.
I pray that they would see thatnothing is bigger than you.
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So, lord, I pray that you wouldspeak comfort in their lives.
I pray that you would speakmercy and grace in their lives.
Talk to us through your wordtoday.
Help us to see your son today.
Fill us with your spirit today.
Help us to reflect you today inJesus' matchless, holy and
powerful name.
We pray Amen and amen.
Well, children, you could bedismissed for your classes and
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for the rest of us.
Would you turn in your Bibleswith me to the Gospel of Luke?
The Gospel of Luke to theGospel of Luke, the Gospel of
Luke.
We are in our Advent season here, and last week we heard about
hope and today I get theprivilege of speaking to you
about peace.
So let's be honest.
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We live in a world today thatis struggling with hope and
struggling with peace.
You may feel it.
It may feel the pressure thatis there, heavy in your life.
I could feel it as well.
And as you look at the headlines, as you pull up your app on
your phone, you see theheadlines.
The headlines are filled withdivision, it's filled with
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hatred, it's filled withconflict.
That's the world that we livein.
There's this us versus themmindset.
It's this camped mindset wherewe are with our own groups and
we struggle.
We struggle with relationships,we struggle with anxiety, we
struggle with depression, timeafter time.
So many of us struggle withbroken relationships.
(03:40):
Maybe some of you that are here,maybe you're struggling with
anxiety, maybe you're strugglingwith restlessness and you lack
the peace.
And you hear it.
You hear about this Prince ofPeace and you hear about the
things that he wants to do inyour life, but for some reason,
you know it intellectually, butexperientially, you struggle.
I was in my devotional thismorning talking about this theme
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of practical atheism.
That was my devotional thismorning and it's like it's
knowing God intellectually butstruggling to know him
personally and relationally.
And many of us are there veryhonestly and the chaos that we
see around us.
We keep hearing people saypeace, peace, and we think that
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if we get a political leaderwe'll have peace, or if we have
money in the bank we'll havepeace, or we get a good report
from a doctor, we'll have peace.
And it kind of harkens back towhat Jeremiah said, that peace,
peace where there is no, what?
No?
Peace that the people arelonging for peace deeply in
their hearts and they just don'thave it and they cling for all
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of these things and theystruggle with finding it.
What we see here today is astory of Zacharias.
Now, zachariah is a priest inhis time, just before the birth
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and heis an old man and I'm feeling
older each day, but not that old.
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He's really old and as he'sfeeling old, he doesn't have a
child and he's now doing hispriestly duties and God says I'm
going to give you a son.
It's been 400 years of silence.
God has not said anythingprophetically to the nation of
Israel for 400 years.
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That's a long time.
And out of that silence, godbreaks through and he says I
want to give you peace.
So Zechariah, today, is goingto give us a song.
He's going to sing a song to us.
He's going to praise God forwhat God has done.
So we want to look at that songtoday and we want to understand
what God is offering to ustoday.
So, if you're here today andyou're struggling with peace and
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there's this chaos and thisconfusion and this brokenness in
your heart, I want you to hearthat God is the Prince of Peace,
that he wants to speak to thestruggles that you have, he
wants to give you hope, he wantsto give you joy, he wants to
give you a satisfaction, asecurity that there is a firm
foundation, a rock on which youstand.
Would you pray with me?
So, lord, I pray today for youto be present in our lives.
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Father, through all the chaosthat is here, I pray that you
bring us peace.
I pray that you would open oureyes today to hear from you, to
see from you, to hear from yourword, to show us our need, but
to show us that you answer thatneed in your son.
So fill us today with yourpresence and help us to honor
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you and reflect you In Jesus'matchless, holy and powerful
name.
We pray Amen and amen.
Okay, so I'm going to befocusing on Luke, chapter 1,
verses 67 to 79.
But before we get there, let'sjust kind of do an eagle's eye
view of what was happening inZechariah's time.
If you go back to verse 26,you'll see that the angel
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Gabriel comes.
And the angel Gabriel was sentfrom God to the city of Galilee
named Nazareth, to a virginbetrothed to a man who was named
Joseph, in the house of David.
And the virgin's name was who?
Mary.
(07:27):
So we see the story and thestory begins here in verse 26,
that the angel comes to Mary andsays that I have great news for
you, that you are going to givebirth to a son.
And Mary's sitting there sayingwell, I'm a virgin, how is that
possible?
And she has these questions,but in her heart she responds in
faith and she says let it beaccording to your word, whatever
you want, do it in me and do itthrough me.
And he's saying that the angeltold her that the Lord, jesus
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Christ, is going to be comingout of your womb and then she
also.
She was also told that herrelative, her relative Elizabeth
, was also with child.
Now Elizabeth was old and it'slike she's with child.
It's like miracle after miracle.
I haven't even been with a manand now I'm pregnant and
Elizabeth is pregnant.
So what Mary does is she getson the road and she goes and
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visits Elizabeth and now,amazingly, when Elizabeth is
there and Mary comes into theirhome, the baby that's in
Elizabeth's womb leaps for joyhome.
The baby that's in Elizabeth'swomb leaps for joy celebration
worship.
He couldn't contain himselfwithin her womb and it talks
about Elizabeth is filled withthe Holy Spirit and says that
you are blessed Mary among women, and these two women are
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responding and out of the song.
I love Luke.
Luke is this wonderful bookwhere he begins with all these
songs.
He begins with the song, theMagnificat, you know, mary's
praise to God, and then we haveSimeon's song that we read about
in Luke, we have the angel'ssong, glory to God, and we have
this song by Zacharias.
I guess they really like musicand Luke really likes music,
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which I can agree with andZachah is writing this song in a
world that's not really muchdifferent than ours.
It's a world that is broken.
It's a world that is indesperate need of healing.
It's a world that is indesperate need of peace.
It's a world that is crying out.
Maybe there's oppression thatis happening in his world, which
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it was injustice and a longingfor deliverance.
You and I are experiencing thesame thing.
We've gone through a politicalseason and some of us got our
candidate and some of us did not, and some of us are thinking
that this candidate is going tobring healing and righteousness.
Well, the reality is none ofthem ultimately will, because
they cannot produce what onlyChrist can.
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So it's a world that's not muchdifferent than ours.
It's a world that is longingfor peace, as I said in Jeremiah
.
In Jeremiah, chapter 6, verse14, it says they have healed the
wounds of my people lightly.
God says Peace, peace wherethere is no peace.
Now I was trying to think abouthow the world seeks peace, and
(10:02):
the world seeks peace throughpolitical rebellion, right?
So if I can get political power, if my person can be in office,
then I can have peace.
That's what some of us believedas we went to the voting booth
just four weeks ago, and thereality is that political
rebellion or political overthrowor political leadership doesn't
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provide peace.
People were thinking that ifthey could overthrow the Roman
oppressors during this time thatthey would get peace.
They didn't.
Some people not only seekpolitical power, but some look
for peace through religiouslegalism.
They think if I do the rightthings that God will be happy
with me.
God will be satisfied.
So if I go to church, if I readmy Bible, if I give enough at
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church, then guess what?
God will be happy with me.
And they're seeking peacethrough religious things and it
becomes legalism in their lives.
So some seek it throughpolitical power, some seek it
through legalism, some seek itthrough just compromise.
I'm not going to fight theworld anymore.
I'm just going to kind of dowhat the world does.
I'm going to think what theworld thinks, I'm going to speak
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like the world speaks and if Ikind of go along with the world
I'll have peace.
Those are faulty ways thatpeople have sought peace.
But because the root problem forour lack of peace in life is a
three-letter word and that wordis what Sin?
It's been that reason that sinhas caused the break that is
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there between us and God andbetween us and one another, that
sin that is in our lives hasbeen a byproduct of the lack of
peace.
Sin separates us from God.
Sin hinders our relationshipwith one another.
Sin causes a brokenness within.
Sin affects you and meconstantly, and all of those
remedies political power,religious work or compromising
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with the world will never solvethis root issue that you and I
have.
The root issue is sin, andZechariah, as I said, is
speaking to a people that haswaited for 400 years for God to
speak to them.
In that 400 years, there hasbeen no prophet, no fresh word
from God.
Just waiting.
They've been waiting in silence, waiting for God to answer them
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.
What's amazing is this.
I think we at times think thatwhen we don't hear from God,
that God is not working.
It's a complete lie.
God is working.
We see it working through themiraculous pregnancies with Mary
and Elizabeth.
We see it working through themiraculous pregnancies with Mary
and Elizabeth.
We see it working through thefact that I'm going to hinder
you, zechariah, from speakingfor months.
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See it working through the factthat God has a sovereign plan
to bring about real peace andhope in your life.
He wants to transform you, hewants to change you, he wants to
change your status with him andhe wants to change you from the
inside out.
For nine months as well,zechariah hasn't been able to
speak.
That would be hard, I'm tellingyou, because I mean, some of us
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really like to talk but hewouldn't be able to speak.
Some say he wasn't even able tohear for nine months.
And that was a judgment.
You know, when Mary heard fromthe angel Gabriel, she believed
him and says do whatever youwant, I'm here as your vessel.
When Zechariah heard, zechariahsays I don't believe that can
happen.
This is a priest of God.
He wasn't sure that this couldhappen.
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And God says okay, you don'ttrust me, let me show you.
And what does he do?
He makes him silent for ninemonths.
Let's think about that.
For nine months he's sittingthere because of his doubt.
It's the judgment that God, theconsequence For nine months.
He is now seeing with his eyes.
He's watching God fulfill thepromises, one promise after
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another promise after anotherpromise, and he's unable to
speak.
I know when you have some joythat's happening in your life,
you can't help but speak.
Like Pastor Doug, he couldn'thelp but speak about his
grandchild that was being born.
We can't help it.
And he could not speak.
Zacharias had to hold on to thismonth after month.
I was wondering as he wentthrough that silence.
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It probably filled him with alevel of regret and repentance
that Lord please forgive me fordoubting you.
Maybe it filled him withanticipation Wow, I can't
imagine.
I can't wait to see.
Maybe it filled him withreflect.
In that nine-month period oftime he did not turn bitter.
What we see is that Zachariahcame to a place where he
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exploded with joy and what hetalks about in this song, three
things that I want to show youin it.
But what he talks about in thissong is not fleeting peace that
the world offers you.
It's a true and lasting peacethat comes from one person, the
person and work of the Lord,jesus Christ.
So let's look at the passageand let's look at his song.
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We're going to break it downinto three steps.
The three steps are this thatGod answers your need for peace.
See, god sees your need forpeace and he answers your need
for peace.
He sees it and he answers it.
Number one.
Number two that is answeredonly through the precious work
of his son.
That he is the dawn of peace,he is the light of peace, he's
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the sunrise of peace.
So God knows your need forpeace, that it is answered alone
through the dawn of peace, theLord Jesus Christ, and then you
and I, if we're believers, arecalled to live in peace.
So those are the three things Iwant to try to look at today.
Let's look at this Benedictus.
It's called the Benedictusbecause he is a benediction, a
(15:25):
prayer benediction.
Let's look at verse 68 andlet's see where he starts.
He says blessed be the Lord,god of Israel.
Blessed I love that word,blessed.
He's talking about worship.
He is talking about the factthat God is worthy of praise.
That's exactly what worship is.
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It's a blessing.
He's worthy of worship.
He says blessed be the Lord,god of Israel, for watch.
He has visited and redeemed hispeople.
He has raised up a horn ofsalvation for us in the house of
his servant, david, as he spokeby the mouths of the holy
prophets from old, that weshould be saved from our enemies
(16:07):
and that from the hand of thosewho hate us.
To show the mercy promised toour fathers and to remember the
holy covenant, the oath that heswore to our father Abraham to
grant us that we may bedelivered from the hand of our
enemies might serve him withoutfear, in holiness and
righteousness before him all ourdays.
(16:27):
And you, child, will be calledthe prophet of the most high,
for you will go before the Lordand prepare his way to give him
the knowledge of salvation tohis people, in the forgiveness
of their sins, because of thetender mercy of our God, whereby
the sunrise shall visit us fromon high to give light to those
who sit in darkness, the shadowof death, and to guide their
(16:51):
feet in the way of peace.
Pray that the Lord add hisblessing to the reading of his
word.
Point number one I want you toconsider is that God answers our
need for peace in verses 68through 75.
Now Zechariah's song begins withthis fact that God is not
silent.
God has not abandoned you.
God is with you, and he doesthat first by seeing that God
(17:14):
has visited us and redeemed us.
These two things, I think, areso important.
What he talks about is he looksto the character of God Now,
out of nine months of silence.
He doesn't hold on tobitterness and resentment.
What he does is he bursts outin praise, and he's not talking
about himself.
Let me tell you what it's beenlike for nine months.
He doesn't do that.
What he does is he bursts outin praise and honor and glory to
(17:38):
God.
He talks about how God hasvisited his people.
I thought it was interestingthat if you go to the root word
for visit, it connects to theidea of vision, of seeing.
It's not that just God hasarrived on the surface, but God
sees you.
You know, some of us are gonnago to work tomorrow and when we
(17:58):
go to work tomorrow we are goingto have somebody who is our
super.
What Visor?
What does a supervisor do?
The supervisor sees you and isover you.
Supervisor Well, jesus Christis the great supervisor, he's
the epi-supervisor.
He sees you.
He doesn't just come to be withus.
(18:18):
He knows everything that you'regoing through.
He knows every struggle thatyou are enduring.
He knows every pain, he knowsevery sin, he knows every
thought, he knows everydifficulty that you are dealing
with, even the things thatpeople do not know.
God knows, he sees, and when hecomes to visit you, he comes to
visit you and he says I see youand I'm still coming to find
(18:40):
you because I love you.
But he doesn't just come to seeyou and visit you, he is coming
to redeem them.
And what Zacharias hearkens backto is, I think, the Exodus.
Back in the Exodus, when hispeople were in Egypt, what was
happening?
These people were crying outfor God to set them free.
(19:02):
They desperately wanted to befree and they were enslaved for
400 years, enslaved and theycould not get out.
And they cried out time aftertime please give me a redeemer,
please.
And God hears them and he seesthem and he sends Moses.
And he sees them and he sendsMoses and he says let my people
(19:23):
what Go.
And God does a miraculous workto not only visit them but to
redeem them.
It's a small thing, lookingforward to what Jesus Christ is
going to do.
Jesus Christ came to this world2,000 years ago.
The second person in theTrinity, who has always existed,
took on human flesh 2,000 yearsago and became the human being,
(19:43):
the Lord Jesus Christ, trulyGod and truly man.
And he walked on earth and hesaw us, he knew us deeply.
He saw Nathaniel over there.
I see you over there.
I know things.
I know things about you.
Yet I come and I pursue youbecause I love you.
So the first thing I want youto see is that God visited his
people and redeemed his peoplein verse 68.
(20:06):
And I should tell you thatredemption is not with silver
and gold.
Redemption is with what theperfect blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Verse 69 tells us that he talksabout this horn of salvation.
Watch what he says here.
And he raised up for us a hornof salvation for us in the house
of our servant, david.
So he's now connecting to David, and David is the.
(20:27):
Jesus Christ is going to be theson of David.
He's gonna be in the lineage ofDavid.
That, the promise that God hadgiven to David thousands of
years before, is this thatsomebody is going to be on your
throne forever and ever and ever.
And Jesus Christ has becomethat one.
But he talks about this horn,and the horn here is this
powerful image, and it's drawnfrom the Old Testament, and it's
(20:51):
a powerful image of strengthand victory, that the God that
you serve, the leader that youseek peace from, is not a weak
person.
He is the ultimately strongperson and he is the one who has
provided ultimate victory.
And so he's looking and sayingthat you know what?
You're not going to get yourultimate victory through a
political party or politicalpower.
(21:12):
You're going to get it throughthe one who conquered sin,
conquered Satan and conquereddeath the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's conquered.
Him I was thinking about like achampion who comes in after his
battle, and as he comes inafter this battle, he's not
coming in with some fragileshield, he's not coming in with
some weak sword.
He's coming in with anunshakable power, and that's
what Jesus Christ does for you.
(21:33):
He is the ultimate might andhe's the ultimate mercy.
So I wonder for you do youtrust in the strength of God?
I was thinking about this formyself this week, as I was
thinking about why is it that Ilack peace at times?
And I think I lack peace attimes in my life because there
(21:53):
are things that I need to dealwith in my life.
Maybe you're there, maybethere's some sin in your life
that is there and you know aboutit and you need to deal with it
.
Maybe there's some sin in yourlife that is there and you know
about it and you need to dealwith it.
Maybe there's some struggles inyour life that you don't even
know and you need some help todeal with it.
But the lack of peace that weoftentimes struggle with is a
byproduct of the fact that weare looking for hope and healing
in something else other thantrusting in the strength of God.
(22:15):
Or maybe, as most of usstruggle with maybe, we're
trying to fight the battle onour own, without going to the
mercy and might of Christ.
And without the mercy and mightof Christ, you will fight your
battle, but you will gettemporal peace, but you will not
get real peace.
I love this in verse 70.
He talks here about the fact ofGod's faithfulness.
(22:37):
He says in verse 70 through 73,as he spoke from the mouths of
the holy prophets from old, thatwe should be saved from our
enemies and that from the handsof all those who hate us, to
show mercy promised to ourforefathers and to remember his
holy covenant, the oath that heswore to our father Abraham to
grant us.
So what he does is he goes nowto the fact that God's
(23:01):
faithfulness is his covenant.
See, the God that you serve isa God who is a promise keeper.
I will sometimes make promisesthat I don't fulfill,
unfortunately.
Things that I really wanted toget done I couldn't get done
because either I didn't have thewill or the might or the
willingness to do it.
And you all have done the samething You've made promises and
(23:23):
have not been able to fulfillthem.
But when God promises yousomething, the amazing thing
here is this, and this is whatwas blowing Zacharias' mind that
as he's seeing his wifepregnant and he sees Mary filled
with a baby, he looks back towhat God has promised hundreds
and even thousands of years ago.
And he goes back and he saysGod, you are the ultimate
(23:44):
promise keeper, the unchangeablenature of God's promises.
He can't lie, it's not possiblefor him to lie.
So when he promises yousomething, you could trust it.
When he offers an oath, youcould trust it, trust his word.
And so he's looking back and hesays wow, even back to my
father, father Abraham,thousands of years before
(24:08):
Abraham, who had no children.
But God says I'm going to giveyou a child.
And then they tried to figureit out with this human effort to
get Ishmael.
And he says that's not the one.
I'm going to give you onethrough your wife, and I'm going
to give you Isaac.
And he says that's not the one.
I'm going to give you onethrough your wife, and I'm going
to give you Isaac.
And that Isaac looked forwardto not only Isaac, but every
single one of you that are inChrist.
They're all children of ourfather Abraham.
(24:31):
So when Zechariah is praisingGod here, he's looking back to
the fact that God is a covenantkeeper.
He's a promise keeper you couldtrust.
So, whether it's a promise toAbraham thousands of years ago
or a promise to David, it is nowbeing fulfilled in the person
and work of the Lord JesusChrist.
Our world easily breakspromises easily.
(24:52):
Maybe you do as well.
I want you to know this forcertainty, that God doesn't ever
break a promise to you.
I say this often to my peoplethat I have this phrase.
It goes I can't, he can.
He has in the past, he doesright now, he will in the future
(25:14):
.
I can only in him.
And when you start to thinkabout the fact that my inability
I can't, but I can in him isthe rock on which we stand,
because that is peace.
Verses 74 and 75 not only tellus about God's faithfulness to
his covenant, but it talks aboutthe fact that you've been
(25:35):
delivered for a purpose.
Watch what it says in verse 74.
It says that we, beingdelivered from the hand of our
enemies, might serve him withoutfear, in holiness and
righteousness before him all ourdays.
Some of us wonder very honestlywhat's the purpose of our lives
?
Why am I here?
Why do I exist?
Why am I here, god?
(25:56):
Why did you create me?
For some people, they've gottento the place where they don't
see any purpose to their livesand they want to end their lives
.
And God says I have created youwith a purpose.
Before this world was everexisted, I had planned you and,
for those of you that knowChrist, god has, before this
world was ever decided, he hadchosen to pick you to be part of
(26:18):
his family.
You have an amazing purpose,because God has not only
delivered you from his enemies,but he wants you to serve him.
Watch what he says.
Serve him without fear.
How many of us struggle with alack of peace because we're
constantly worried that God isnot happy with us?
How many of us struggle with alack of peace because we
(26:39):
struggle with sin in our lives?
We feel guilt and condemnationconstantly.
Maybe you're feeling it, andwhat God says is this I want you
to know that there is thereforenow no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus.
Nothing will ever separate youfrom his love.
I don't want you to live inconstant fear that you're going
to lose everything.
I want you to be so assuredthat I am yours and you are
(27:00):
secure in my hands.
That will give you amazingpeace.
But he doesn't just say withoutfear.
He says in holiness andrighteousness.
So what happens in salvation isthis when God comes into your
life and saves you, he changesyour position.
You go from enemy to family.
You go from rebel to therighteous.
You go from out of the world,out of a relationship with him,
(27:23):
to in a relationship.
You are justified by faith, byGod's grace in your life,
because of Christ.
And what God does amazingly ishe takes my record and your
record and he applies that toChrist.
And then he takes Christ'srecord and he applies it to you.
When God looks at you, he looksat you as though you live the
(27:47):
perfect and righteous life ofChrist.
But very truly, I'm not thatway.
And so what God does is this hedoesn't want to just free you
from the standard and thecondemnation.
He wants to set you free inholiness and righteousness.
He wants to transform you.
So when he freed the people inExodus, he didn't just free them
to do whatever they wanted.
He freed them because he wantedthem to worship.
He took them from Egypt toMount Sinai.
(28:07):
He wanted them to worship him,he wanted them to commune with
him.
And he says that I want togrant you peace in amazing ways.
So the first thing I want youto see, that's a longer section.
I want you to see that Godhears your need for peace.
The second is that Jesus aloneis the dawn of peace.
Look at verses 76 into 79.
(28:28):
It says and you, child, will becalled the prophet and the most
high, for you will go beforehim, the Lord, to prepare his
way, to give him the knowledgeof salvation to his people in
the forgiveness of their sinsbecause of the tender mercy of
God.
I'll stop there.
So what he does is he looks atthe sunrise and he says you know
(28:51):
, in the darkness that ishappening around this world, he
wants you to know that God'speace isn't just a concept.
God's peace is a person.
God's peace is not temporal,god's peace is eternal.
God wants to give you a realpeace.
And he looks Zacharias has beenfocusing on God.
Now he looks at his son, hisson that he's probably holding
in his hands, and he's lookingat that son and he says God has
(29:14):
got amazing things for you Ican't imagine to be able to know
, before the child is even born,that God has already told you
that God is going to use yourboy to be the preparer of the
way for the Messiah is even born, that God has already told you
that God is going to use yourboy to be the preparer of the
way for the Messiah.
I mean, it's like I can't evenimagine what Zacharias and
Elizabeth must have beenexperiencing.
And this son, he is called theprophet of the most high.
(29:37):
John was the last and thegreatest of the Old Testament
prophets and it talks about thefact that he's going to prepare
the way.
John wasn't a ministry abouthimself.
It was a ministry about Christand he's pointing people to
Christ.
And he talks here about theknowledge of salvation.
So I want you to know this thismorning that salvation is not
(29:57):
from your political enemies orearthly struggles.
Salvation is found in beingrescued from the greatest issue
that you have sin, and rescuedin your relationship with God.
Humanity's deepest need isn'tabout circumstances, but it's
about being restored intocommunion with God.
I love this word.
(30:18):
He talks about the tender mercyof God in verse 78, because of
the tender mercy of God, thatwhat God is doing for you and me
is not because of human effort,it's not because I'm a good guy
.
It's the fact that God's hearthas been so captured and so
compassionately loves us.
He moves to us on our behalf.
He didn't wait for us to cometo him.
(30:39):
He came to us through Christ.
He came and he broke out of thedarkness and he came into the
darkness of our lives to bringthe sunrise.
And he visits us.
I was out for a walk thismorning and it was cold.
But I was out for a walk and itwas just before the sun had
risen and it was dark outside, alittle bit darker outside, and
(30:59):
as I looked around you couldkind of see certain things.
But then all of a sudden thesun starts to rise and I got to
start to see things in adifferent way, a majestic way,
as the sun is rising and thatit's symbolic of what God does.
He doesn't just arrive, hearrives with a purpose, he wants
to illuminate things.
He says I see the strugglesthat you're having, but I want
(31:19):
to point you to the one that isgoing to set you free.
Jesus Christ brings clarity, hebrings hope, he brings healing
in his wings.
In Malachi, chapter 4, verse 2,malachi says this the son of
righteousness rises with healingin his wings.
He talks also about the factthat there's light in the
(31:40):
darkness, that the darkness thatpeople are struggling verse 79,
to give light to those who sitin darkness, in the shadow of
death, and to guide their feetin the way of peace.
So the first thing I want youto know is this that God knows
your need and he answers yourgreatest need for peace.
Second, I want you to know verydeeply that Jesus Christ, and
(32:02):
Jesus Christ alone, is the dawnof peace.
You cannot get peace throughanyone or anything other than
him.
But the third thing I want youto consider before we leave
today is this I want you to knowthat, as a result, you, as
God's people, are called to livein light of peace.
We're called to live in lightof shalom.
See, peace is given to you as agift.
(32:23):
It says to give life.
That gift is given.
You know, I had a birthdayearlier this week, a couple of
days ago, and guess what?
I got some gifts, which waspretty cool.
I like gifts, everybody likesgifts, right?
And at Christmas time my wifesays what do you want for
Christmas, I mean?
So it's like you know we lovegifts, right, and those gifts
are great, but those gifts endup usually broken eventually, or
(32:46):
in a basement somewhere or in atrash can.
Let me tell you about a giftthat God wants to give you that
will never leave you.
It's a gift that you don't earn, you don't merit, you don't
deserve.
But God says I want to give youpeace, I want to give you hope.
I want to give you peace.
I want to give you joy.
(33:07):
I want to do something amazingin your life.
I want to forgive you of yoursins.
I want to set you free fromyour sins.
I want to give you a familywhen you feel broken and out of
weight from a family.
I want to give you a future.
I want to give you real andlasting peace.
It's given to you as a gift.
But he says you can't just getthis gift.
I want you to walk out thisgift, because that's important.
(33:29):
He says to guide our feet inthe way of peace.
See, jesus doesn't just bringpeace, he teaches us how to live
in peace.
So I want you to think aboutthis as we close.
If you are in Christ, you havepeace with God already.
Romans 5.1,.
I love this verse.
He says, therefore, since we'vebeen justified by faith, we
(33:50):
have peace with God.
It's already yours If you arein Christ.
When you feel in the guilt andthe condemnation and the fears
and the insecurities and thedoubts, I want you to know that
God says you have peace.
It's objective, it's not basedon your up and down feelings,
it's not based on your up anddown performance.
It's based on Christ finishedwork.
You have peace, peace with God.
(34:12):
But then he says it's not justabout peace with God, it should
be peace with others.
I should be a peacemaker.
I should be looking to extendforgiveness and seek
reconciliation.
Are you at war with somebody inyour life?
If you are a believer in theLord Jesus Christ, god calls you
to be a peacemaker and so, asyou have received peace, now you
(34:33):
need to extend peace to others.
But it's not just peace withGod, it's not just peace with
others, it's also peace within,and there's so many people, very
honestly, that struggle withthis brokenness within.
I want you to trust God, nomatter what the trials are, no
matter what the struggles arethat you're going through.
Trust him.
His word is sure, his promisesnever fail.
(34:57):
He cannot lie.
Trust him so practically.
How do I live this out, james?
How about seekingreconciliation?
Maybe you know that you have abroken relationship or maybe you
didn't know that there was abroken relationship.
Seek that person out and try tomake it right.
Practice gratitude.
I have my journal here.
I love just writing down in thejournal thank you God, thank
(35:20):
you God, thank you God.
I think that's what Zachariaswas doing for nine months.
Thank you God, thank you God,thank you God.
I think that's what Zachariaswas doing for nine months.
Thank you God, thank you God,thank you God.
And then, when he got anopportunity to say it, he
couldn't help it.
Thank you God.
Be a person that is just sofull of gratitude in your hearts
because God has given youeverything and you deserve
nothing, and just thank him.
Or how about this?
(35:40):
I pray that you would considerjust sharing the light with
others.
This is what John the Baptistwas doing.
Zacharias is modeling for hisson.
Nine months of silence.
He then got an opportunity toshare the light with others.
John the Baptist is now goingto live his life sharing the
light with others, and you and Iget the same privilege to what
Share the light with others.
(36:02):
So, as we leave here today, Ipray that you would know that
you're called to be anambassador for shalom,
ambassador for peace.
You're called to know that yourgreatest need is peace, that
the only one that is going toprovide that peace is the Lord
Jesus Christ and, as a result,we're called to live in light of
that peace.
Will you do that today?
Would you pray with me?
(36:23):
Father, I just want to thankyou so much.
We live in a world that is sobroken, a world that is in
desperate need of peace, father.
For some, they believe that apolitical leader is going to
(36:44):
give them peace.
They won't.
For some, they believe thatreligiosity is going to give
them peace, making sure they doa bunch of checklist things,
spiritual disciplines as greatas spiritual disciplines are,
those actions alone will notbring us ultimate peace.
For some of us in this room, wehave kowtowed to society, we
(37:06):
have compromised with societyand we figure that if we don't
buck the system, we'll havepeace.
None of us will.
None of that will bring peace.
What will bring peace is theone that Zacharias sang about
the dawn of peace.
Your son, who is a visitor.
He comes to us, he sees us.
I praise you for that, even thesin that he sees in my life, he
(37:29):
still loves me.
In spite of that, and for everyperson here, I trust in him.
He redeems us.
He bought us back with hisprecious blood.
He's the horn of our salvation,he's the power source.
He is the promise keeper.
He is the God that we get achance to share the light with
in the world.
So, father, help us to reflecthim.
(37:51):
Help us to honor you In Jesus'matchless, holy and powerful
name.
We pray Amen and amen.
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