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So, just go back there to Luke chapter 1, Luke chapter 1, look at verse 17. Luke chapter 1 verse 17, the Bible reads, And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. The title of the sermon this afternoon is, A People Prepared for the Lord, A People Prepared for the Lord. There's so much, 80 verses, I was working for this sermon, I had to, I can a lot of it, I would have loved to go into a lot more detail in some of the things here, but I do want to cover this chapter as a whole, if I can, as much as I can today, and let's just pick it up from verse number 1. It says, For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things, which are most surely believed among us. So, we have the author here, Luke, saying, look, I'm coming to set in order the things that we've believed, the things among us. And then he tells us who in particular he's writing this book to, okay? It's actually in verse number 3, but look at verse number 2, Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. I want you to understand that Luke, the author here, is writing this book based on eyewitness testimony, okay? He's gone around people that knew Jesus Christ, those that were there from the beginning, those that were there for his ministry, and he's basically like a reporter. He's listening to these eyewitnesses and he's putting down this book of the Bible, okay? And of course, he's being moved by the Holy Ghost to take down the report accurately, as the Holy Ghost would have him. But then look at verse number 3, It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things, from the very first to write unto thee in order. Notice that word again, in order. Luke wants an orderly presentation of the ministry of Christ. Then it goes, most excellent Theophilus. Theophilus, okay? So, it's interesting that he's writing this book to most excellent Theophilus. Now, that title, Most Excellent, most people assume this means, and I probably am amongst that, that Theophilus was a man who was probably renowned, you know, a man of recognition, maybe a chief ruler. You know, it's kind of like, you know, when someone might say, oh, it's the honorable so-and-so. It's usually someone that's sort of renowned in the community, and it sounds like he's writing to a new believer, dictating what happened in the life of Christ, so that his faith would be reinforced in what he's believed, okay? And then look at verse number 4, That thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed. So, it's my goal as a church as we go through the Book of Luke that we would be as certain about the life of Christ, that as we study through this book, it'll reinforce our faith. It'll ground our understanding of Jesus Christ and that we would have an orderly approach to learning about Jesus Christ. Something that's unique about the Book of Luke compared to the other gospels is that the other gospels by and large are written in chronological order, chronological order. A lot of the Book of Luke, yes, generally is in chronological order, but some of the events that take place together are not told chronologically, okay? Luke decided to tell it in a certain order, and I would say to you, instead of his focus being chronologically, his focus, the order that he was trying to put it together, was more like a topical approach, maybe theological, okay? And so, obviously, as Jesus would go around preaching his message, he went to preach to multiple people. Sometimes he had thousands of people before him. There's no way that Jesus Christ could have preached to all 5,000. He would have been going into groups with his disciples preaching to one group, preaching to another group, preaching to another group. So you can see that Christ would have, by and large, been preaching many messages, but it seems like if you look at the Book of Luke, Luke takes effort into putting certain themes together, teachings together so it makes sense, okay? Now, just to give you an example of this, look at Luke chapter 3. Go to Luke chapter 3. Luke chapter 3 verse 20. Luke chapter 3 verse 20. Now, as we read Luke chapter 1, you saw that a lot of that was on John the Baptist. So these first chapters do cover a lot about John the Baptist, but Luke chapter 3 verse 20, the Bible reads, sorry, yeah, added yet this above all that he shut up John in prison. So in verse 20, where is John? John the Baptist is in prison, right? We've read that. Now, look at verse 21. Now, when all the people, sorry, when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying the heaven was opened. When did this take place? When was Jesus baptized? Who baptized Jesus? It was John the Baptist. But hold on, in verse 20, where was John? In prison, okay? So obviously, that is not chronological, okay? Now, the understanding there is that Luke wanted to give the story of John the Baptist and then turn our attention onto Jesus Christ. And so it quickly there covers the story of John the Baptist being in prison and then obviously losing his life after that, okay? So I just want to show you one example there that the book of Luke is not in strict chronological order. Even if, we'll go into this when we go into the temptations of Christ, but even if you look at the temptations of Christ in the wilderness with Satan, it's in a different order than what is recorded in the book of Matthew, okay? It's a different order. Matthew has it chronologically. Luke doesn't, okay? But we'll go into that when it's due time, okay? The other thing I want you to notice, keep your finger there in Luke, go to Acts chapter 1, Acts chapter 1, verse 1, Acts chapter 1, verse 1, because obviously we know the gospel of Luke was written by Luke. That's not complicated. But when you look at Acts chapter 1, verse 1, you know, people often wonder, well, who wrote the book of Acts? Was it Paul? Was it someone else? Acts chapter 1, verse 1, it says, The former treaties have I made, O Theophilus, for all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. So, what was the book of Acts written to? Who was it written to? Same man, right? Theophilus, right? But notice that the author mentions the former treaties have I made. That would be the book of Luke. So, who's the author of Acts? Luke. In fact, if you read through Luke and then you continue on into Acts, you'll notice that it just carries on. It's the same thoughts, the same stories. There's not really any overlap there. It just continues on and it's quite clear to most people that the author of Acts was also Luke, okay? So, I just wanted to give you that as an introduction. You know, both Acts and Luke were written by Luke. It's been a combination of eyewitness accounts being removed by the Holy Ghost to accurately take down the story of Christ and it's written in a particular order. You know, yes, chronologically, generally, but specifically thematic, doctrinal, however you want to say it. That's what Luke was focused on. So, I think as our first gospel book that we're going through, I think it makes sense to go for the book of Luke, okay? Because if we just want to draw doctrinal truths from it, it's probably going to give us a lot there. It's also the biggest gospel book that we have. There's a lot of detail in this book, okay? So, it's amazing how Luke, with the power of the Holy Ghost, was able to take down so much about Jesus Christ, but there's no contradictions to this book with any of the other gospels, okay? It's just told in a different order. That's what you need to understand, all right? Now, look at verse number five, Luke 1, verse five. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest's name, Zacharias, of the course of Abir, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. And they had no child, because that Elizabeth was barren, and they both were now well-stricken in years. Now, I just want you to notice there, what does God say about this couple? Are they godly? Yes. Are they righteous? Yes, blameless, okay? People can't find problems in this relationship, okay? They're a strong married couple, but do you notice they were going through some difficulty? What was that difficulty? She was barren. She was unable to have children, okay? And unfortunately, we have, you know, some Christians or some, you know, so-called Christians would often look at difficulties that people go through and say, well, the reason you're going through that difficulty, the reason why, you know, you're going through that hardship is because of sin in your life, or because of a lack of faith in your life. That's why God has not given you any children, Elizabeth, because you're sinful, because you have problems, because you're not faithful to God. No, we see that even a couple, a godly, righteous, blameless couple, who's doing all the right things, who's being uplifted by God in these words, even they were going through some difficulties, right? Though, we can't assume just because someone goes through difficulties, just because someone goes through trials, that it's because God's just punishing them, okay? This, in fact, it serves a purpose. The purpose that she was barren, I'm sure a lot of people looked at her and probably shook their heads, why isn't she pregnant? But we find out later, it's because God had it prepared to have John the Baptist. You know, Jesus Christ calls the greatest man, okay? That's lived, okay? So, yeah, just, you know, please, as a church, let's not make that mistake. Just because someone's going through difficulty, it's not necessarily because they're a rotten person, okay? They could be the most righteous people in the church and going through those difficulties. Verse number eight, and it came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, so you see that he was serving the temple and that there was a course, there was order in the temple, okay? The way God likes to run things is neatly and organized, okay, and timely, and we need to be thinking, you know, just think about this as a church. I know we're not at the Old Testament temple, but as a church, we need to strive to run things orderly and right. It's how God wants his house run, okay? But look at verse number nine. According to the custom of the priest's office, his lot or his job was to burn incense when he went into the temple of God, and the whole multitude of the people were praying with that at the time of incense, and there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. Now, the angel comes and brings him fantastic news. You know what? If Zacharias was not faithful, was not righteous, I doubt God would have chosen him, okay? God had a plan for him. He didn't know what he was. We'll soon see that they were struggling. They wanted to have children, right? But God was holding back on them. Verse number 12. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled and fear fell upon him. I want you to also notice here that when an angel appears, an angel of the Lord appears to a righteous man, he fears, he trembles, all right? This, look, an angel appearing to you is not an everyday event. It's not something that happens all the time, okay? What we see in the Bible when it does happen, good righteous people, faithful people freak out. They get worried, they get upset because this is not normal, okay? It's not normal that a host of heaven would come down and bring a message to a man like Zacharias. Verse 13. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer, notice this, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shall call his name John. Now look, this couple, the Bible says, were well stricken in age. I'm not sure how old they were, but I think the fact that the Bible mentions that, I think Elizabeth was passed having children, okay? And I doubt, I mean, look, this is just my opinion, but I think it's pretty well founded. I don't think Zacharias was praying for a child at this point in life, all right? I don't, I mean, would you, if your wife is passed the childbearing age, you're probably not praying for children, right, at this point. I mean, that's pretty common sense. But notice that the angel says, for thy prayer is heard, okay? So whenever that was, when they were 20, 30, 40 years old, and they were praying for that child, the angel comes and says, oh, your prayer's been heard, okay? You probably forgot about it now Zacharias, all right? But God has heard your prayer, and he's going to answer, he's gonna give your wife a son, and thou shall call his name John, John the Baptist, okay? A great man of God, a great man of God. Verse 14, and thou shall have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. Hey, when a baby is born, when a baby is born from a woman, it's a time to rejoice. It's a time to be thankful for the provisions that God gave. Again, children are a blessing and an inheritance of the Lord, okay? And the fruit of his womb, of the womb is his reward, okay? Children are a blessing, okay? And I know that can be a burden, all right? But we need to raise them, right? We need to raise them in the nurturing and admission of the Lord. But hey, look, children are a blessing. Children is something worth rejoicing over, okay? Don't listen to this world. Don't listen to this world. Don't listen to what they say about children, that it's a burden, that it's expensive. Hey, look, if it gives you joy, don't you want to spend money on it anyway? I mean, that's what people do, right? They spend the money looking for joy, but a child can be delivered, given to you, and it's a time of rejoicing, okay? Yes, it costs. Yes, it's work to have children, but it's for joy, okay? Verse 15, and he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. Now, notice this. Notice how it relates the fact that John will be great in the Lord, and also says, by the way, he's not going to be drinking alcohol, okay? He's not going to be a drunkard, okay? These two things don't go together, okay? You can't be someone that's consuming alcohol, getting drunk, okay, losing sense in your mind, and then think you can be great for the Lord. No, it's one or the other. You may got to make that decision, right? And here, the Lord is prophesying about John. He's going to be great, and he's not going to touch the alcohol, okay? He's not going to get drunk. He's not going to defile his mind, and of course, when you do that, it says then he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, okay? Filled with the, even from his mother's womb. Wow, a baby in the mother's womb, he was already filled with the Spirit of God, with the power of God in the womb, as we'll see later on how that happens, and then verse 16, and many of the children of Israel shall return to the Lord their God. How I would love for the Lord to say that about my children, all right? That my children or your children would be able to turn the hearts of Australians to the Lord. I mean, if God said that about your children, how happy would you be that your children will turn the hearts of Australians to the Lord, okay? Hey, but they can, all right? We raise our kids to know the Word of God, to have an advantage over us that got to know the doctrines and the deeper things later in life. They've got all the advantage right now to know the things of God, to learn to be a soul winner, to start and work in the hearts of the people and turn the hearts of Australians to the Lord. Hey, why not? We can raise a generation to do this, all right? Verse 17, and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, that probably needs its own sermon, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Now, I'm going to give you my opinion as to what verse 17 is saying there. If you have some other thoughts, let me know. But it says to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, okay? Now, this is what I believe it's talking about. I believe that the fathers here are not really the biological fathers, but the spiritual forefathers. Because later on, it talks about Abraham as a father as well, okay? So, I believe here, what it's saying is that the fathers that have gone before, the prophets of old, the great men of God, that their hearts will turn the hearts of those fathers or their faith to the children. So, we're going to see here with the influence of John the Baptist, a new generation of believers carrying that same faith of their forefathers, okay? And I think that ties in with the beginning there, where it says that he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias. Same kind of idea, that a forefather of old, a faithful man of God, and that in that same spirit, in that same power, John the Baptist will be turning the hearts of the people. That's what I think that verse is talking about. If you have some ideas, let me know. Verse 18, And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? So, how will I know this? Now, look, if you had an angel of the Lord appear to you, right? You'd probably say, wow, okay, I'll accept that. But there was a lack of faith on his part here, right? Now, he was a righteous man, but even righteous men can lack faith. And to be honest with you, if my wife was past childbearing age, and an angel told me she's going to have a child, I'd probably be lacking faith as well. I can relate to him a little bit here, okay? But still, okay, this is a word of God, and we saw even a faithful man, a righteous man was lacking in faith here, okay? Because then he goes, For I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. You know, how are you going to show me this? Like, you know, so he definitely had some doubts. And I'm reminded of Abraham and Sarah, you know, in the Old Testament, because they were also very well stricken in age, very old. And still, they had the faith that God would give them that promised child, okay? But verse 19, And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee these things. Look, my testimony should be the proof. And I stand in the presence of God. You know, he sent me to tell you these things, okay? And behold, so this is the punishment that comes for being, for lacking some faith. Yeah, I feel sorry for him a little bit. Hey, this is what happened, right? He's lacking a bit of faith. And behold, thou shalt be dumb. He's going to lose the ability to speak, okay? It's a miracle. He won't be able to talk and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believeth not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. Okay, so you see that the lack of faith, he did not believe the words of the angel. And that's the confirmation as to why he went dumb, why he could not speak. And the angel tells him that he's not going to be able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed. So, he's going to be dumb, unable to speak for nine months. He's going to have to wait for John the Baptist to be born, then he'll be able to speak, okay? Verse 21. And the people... I've got a note here. I'll just say, look, the Lord answered his prayer, all right? And he was lacking in faith. So, I just had a little note there. Just, you know what? When we pray, we need to pray in faith, okay? We need to pray in faith, knowing full well that if it's the will of God, he can answer and accomplish that request that we have, okay? We need to make sure that we're people that pray in full faith without doubting, okay? And again, look, we have a good man here who doubted, okay? It's something we definitely need to work with. And even the disciples said to Jesus, help me with my... What was that, help me in my unbelief? Help my in unbelief, help my in unbelief. That's right, yeah. That's the phrase he said. So, look, it's just a reality. It's a reality of being a fallen human being. But verse 21, And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he tarried so long in the temple. So, why is he taking so long? He's meant to be burned in this incense. He's taking so... Obviously, he has in this conversation. He's probably in shock that he can't even speak. He's taking a while to get out of there. And verse 22, When he came out, he could not speak unto them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned unto them and remained speechless. And it came to pass that as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. So, I find it fascinating... I'll just get a testimony here from Jason. Jason, if you were at work, and you lost the ability to speak, would you just keep working or go to the hospital? You'd probably go home, right? You'd probably go to hospital. I love his faithfulness. He's accepted the fact that I've lost my voice because of my lack of faith. And instead of going home and whining about it, he sees out his time. He's got, I'm rostered on to work. You know, he's a working man. He does the hours. He works hard, knowing full well that this is something that God had given. There's nothing he could do now. He couldn't go to the hospital. He couldn't, you know, take cough medicine. His voice was not going to come back. All right? I like that about him, that he just saw out his time. Like, I would have been panicking, I think. I would have been ringing Christina. Hey, I wouldn't be able to talk to her, right? I'd have to go to the house and write things down. But yeah, you know, he didn't take a sick day. You know, he saw out his time. He worked hard. I like that about him. And, oh yeah, and then, I'm sorry, what am I up to? Verse 23, I think. Oh, no, I read that. So he departs into his own house, verse 24. And after those days, his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. See, so we see here, a couple well stricken in age, okay? But because of what's happened to him, the punishment that he's having, now obviously he believes. He obviously believes this is going to take place and he's intimate with his wife and she conceives. And then she says here, that she hid herself five months, saying, thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me to take away my reproach among men. So do you see that? There was reproach from others toward her for being barren, okay? This is the reality of life. You can be righteous. You can be holy. You can be blameless, serving the Lord, doing the best you can in life. But when things are wrong, there's always going to be the criticism. There's always going to be those that say, well, why? Why is this happening to them? They must be wrong. I mean, if you've read the book of Job, you'll know that's a reality. Job was perfect, did everything right. You know, God allowed some trials, some massive trials come into his life and his friends come along and say, well, this is the reason why, Job. You're in the wrong. You're in sin. God is angry at you. Hey, it's not always the case. It's not always the case, okay? God has a plan for his faithful people. And again, it's to have such a great son, all right? So that word reproach basically means scorn. You know, she's being looked down for being barren. And I'm not sure why she hid herself exactly for those five months. It's probably because she was being scorned for not being pregnant and now she's old and she's pregnant. Maybe just to avoid all that attention. Maybe that's the reason why she hid herself. Not really sure. But verse 26, And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David and the virgin's name was Mary. Now, a lot of people, just a quick note in verse 27, when they read that word espoused to a man, they often think about, you know, the way we do things in Australia. Because normally in Australia or other Western countries, people get engaged, right? They get engaged for some future time to get married, okay? I've even, have you ever heard some people get like, what is it? It's like a promise to get engaged? Like, I've seen some ladies where they've had a ring. I said, oh, what's that ring about? Well, that's a promise that we're going to get engaged. Like, what? All right, but look, she wasn't engaged. She was actually married. She was actually espoused to Joseph. What's your spouse? It's your husband or your wife, okay? Your spouse is your husband or your wife. But in some cultures, and I believe this culture is similar to say, South America, Chile, you know, you often get married, like have like a legal, civil marriage. And then you're, in the government's eyes, you are married, okay? But then what often believers will do, they won't live together or anything like that. They'll wait, organize their wedding day, then get married in the church. Because generally speaking, like a pastor in like in Chile, will not marry you unless you've been first legally married, okay? But here in Australia, they do the legal paperwork on the marriage day, okay? So, what I believe is happening here is something similar to some of the places in the world. They're married, they're legally married, but they've just not come together, still not live together. The wedding day is probably still the, you know, the ceremonial wedding day is probably still a little far away, okay? Anyway, that's not really a big note there. But verse 28, And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that are highly favored, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, look at this again, she is being told she's highly favored, she's blessed. Obviously, she's a godly woman. Is she always seeing angels? Is this always something that's happening in these days? No, she sees him and was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel, look what he has to say to her. And the angel said to her, Fear not, Mary. So, she was obviously afraid at this vision, okay? She was afraid of this visitation of the angel. Again, please don't assume that angels are just going to be visiting you like, you know, your whole life and it's just happening to everybody. Hey, it's something very special, something especially the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. It would make sense that, yeah, the angels will start appearing at this point in time. But notice that even the most righteous people, this is quite an experience. It doesn't happen, okay? And they're fearing. Verse 31, And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. And he shall be great. Now, I've said this before, notice that Jesus Christ will be great, okay? But then it says, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, okay? When we talk about the Trinity, we need to accept the fact that there is this chain of command, there's this authority structure. God the Father, he is the highest within the Trinity. And Jesus Christ, yes, he's great, yes, he's God, but he's the Son of the Highest, meaning that the Father has a higher authority than the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then it says, and the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father, David. So, obviously, King David, King David's throne, which was promised to be everlasting, which was promised by God to never end, okay? Has it ended? Well, physically speaking, all right, we don't have a Son of David on the throne of Israel today, in that sense, in that land, okay? But because we know that when God promised this everlasting kingdom, it was not an earthly kingdom, he was referring to the Lord Jesus Christ who is eternal, and who will reign forever and ever, okay? These promises that were given to the Old Testament saints, like to Abraham and like to David, were ultimately to be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? And again, unfortunately, there are those that take this and say, well, no, we still need a king in Israel. We still need a nation today of Israel to serve for God's purposes. Look, just set your eyes on Jesus Christ. Here's the fulfillment of these prophecies, fulfillment of these promises to come from the Lord. Verse 33, look at what it says here. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, since I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest, who's the highest? The Father, okay? So the Holy Ghost who come upon her, the power of the highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also the holy thing which shall be born, that's Jesus, shall be called the Son of God. You notice that the Trinity there is mentioned in that verse, okay? You have the highest God, you have the power of the Holy Ghost allowing her to fall pregnant as a virgin, but then that which was born of her would be called the Son of God, okay? And what did we read about? It said in verse 31 that his name shall be Jesus, okay? So it's not saying that Jesus is the highest. It's not saying here that Jesus is the Holy Ghost. It's very clear, we don't need to even go to 1 John, very clear in this passage that Jesus is the Son, that which would be born of Mary, okay? Now, some people look at this and say, well, see, this teaches that Jesus was not always the Son of God. They'll say, they'll look at this verse and say, well, it says here that he shall be called the Son of God when he's born of you, okay? So that's the point that he became the Son of God and before that he was not the Son of God. I mean, there's literally hundreds of ways to disprove that teaching. We do, well, I believe and I hope it's your belief that we believe in the eternal sonship of Jesus Christ, that Jesus Christ was always the Son of God, that there's always been the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, okay? And Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday and forever, okay? But just to give you one reference and you can keep a finger there, turn here if you want. Galatians 4, 4. Galatians 4, 4. This is just one verse that I thought just quickly disproves this idea that does not believe in the eternal sonship of God. Galatians 4, 4. The Bible reads, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son. Let's not keep reading, let's stop there for a moment. So we have the Father sending who? His Son, meaning he was his Son before he was sent. Otherwise he can't send his Son, okay? And then, comma, made of a woman. So was he the Son before he was made of the woman? Yes, okay? He was sent by the Father and the way he was sent into the world was being made of the woman, made under the law, okay? So that's just one verse you can pull out and show people that Jesus Christ was the Son of God before being born by Mary and it's just reinforcing the fact that she gave birth. Hey, it's the Son of God. It's not the son of another man or some human, okay? He is truly the Son of God. Go back to Luke 1, chapter 1, verse 36. Luke 1, 36. And behold thy cousin, Elizabeth, she have also conceived a son in her old age. And this must be like a surprise for Mary, like, oh, I'm going to fall pregnant without a man and my cousin, Elizabeth, who's past childbearing age, oh, she's pregnant too, right? And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God, nothing shall be impossible. Actually, we didn't quote the memory verse but that would have been a good memory verse as well, okay? For with God, nothing shall be impossible. Hey, when we bring our prayers before God, nothing is impossible. I know that's hard for us to comprehend and I know sometimes when we ask for things that we think are impossible, we're like, if it's your will, God. I answer if it's your will, you know, but we need to pray with strength, knowing full well, hey, look, if God doesn't answer it, if God says no, so be it, okay? But there's nothing wrong with bringing petitions to Him, especially ones that may seem impossible, okay? It's possible for God. We serve a great God, you know, we must be a praying people. Verse 38, 38. And Mary said, behold, the handmaid of the Lord. Notice the difference with her response to Zacharias. Zacharias is like, how's this going to be? Right, doubting. Whereas Mary, she says, behold, the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word, and the angel departed from her. So she took the angel's word, knowing full well that he was coming from the Lord God and believed it, received it, and we see her faith. We see the kind of woman she was, she would have been, you know, a relatively young woman. I'm not sure, you know, how old she would have been, but we see that she was a faithful young lady. Okay, she believed, she was a little bit different to Zacharias who was doubting. Verse 39. And Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste. Haste, she's excited, she's eager to see her cousin who was supposed to be barren, Elizabeth, verse 40, and entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth. Now remember, John the Baptist was said that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit even in the mother's womb, okay? And so we see this play out here in verse 41. And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb. You know, have you ever wondered how can that baby even know what's going on? Okay, because it was a Holy Ghost. It was a Holy Ghost working in the life of that little child. And then it says, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost, okay? So the next words are words of Elizabeth and she's filled with the Holy Ghost as she says these things, okay? So it's not just the words of a random woman. These are words that were being filled or given to her by the Holy Ghost. And notice what it just says. Verse 42. Keep in mind that Elizabeth does not know anything about Mary, does not know anything about this, you know, this... Well, let me put it this way. She doesn't know any of the detail of what was going on here. But notice what she says in verse 42. And this is Elizabeth, sorry. And she spake out with a loud voice and said, blessed thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And I love verse 43. And whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Hey, who was the Lord of Elizabeth? It was the babe in the womb of Mary, okay? Elizabeth was obviously already a saved woman, okay? And when she heard the news of Jesus Christ being born, she immediately received Him as her Savior. Immediately. This is why, and I've spoken to some of the men before. This is why I believe any of the Old Testament saints that were saved by grace through faith, as soon as Jesus Christ arrived on the scene, they were like, oh yeah, Jesus. You know, let's follow Him. You know, they're already saved. It's not like they had to be convinced. It's, oh, yep, this is Him. I'm already saved. The Holy Ghost in them would have confirmed the truth that this was the Messiah. And you see, even before Jesus is born, she calls Him my Lord. It's amazing. Okay, of course, you have the Holy Ghost working in her and telling her these things as well, okay? And so what is it up to? Verse 44. And lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. Okay, so we see the power of the Holy Ghost reveals to Elizabeth what God had told Mary, what God had done unto Mary, that she was pregnant with the Lord Jesus Christ, and she had that information at hand, right? She wasn't aware. It's not like they had telephones or Facebook to communicate, but she was aware. She was known. She was told these things through the Holy Ghost. And it reminds me, you don't need to turn there. John 16, 13, when Jesus speaks of the Holy Ghost, of the Holy Spirit, He says, Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth, for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. It's like the Holy Ghost showed Elizabeth the things to come, okay? But the Holy Ghost does not come and teach something that is contrary to what's already been reviewed by God, okay? If you believe you've heard from the Holy Ghost, you need the Scriptures to confirm that truth, okay? If it's contrary to that truth, guess what? It's not from the Holy Ghost. It's from another spirit or it's from your imagination. I don't know. One of those two things, okay? But the Holy Ghost is there to instruct us not to speak of Himself, not to make a great show of Himself, but to point us to Christ and to teach us the same things that the Lord Jesus Christ has taught us. So we see that being revealed here through Elizabeth, okay? And then verse 46. Verse 46, And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord. This hope, verse 46 to 56, this is like the response of Mary. It would fit in any of the Psalms. It kind of sounds like a psalm. I'm not sure if this was a song or if it's just her saying these things, but, you know, it's almost like you'd find this in the book of Psalms. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. Was Mary saved? Yes, okay? God her Savior. And He hath regarded the lowest state of His handmaiden, for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Look, and we know in the story that Joseph thinks, you know, she committed fornication or adultery. Is it adultery or fornication? You know, he thinks she committed like, as a young lady who's pregnant with no man to look after her, you think she'd be afraid, all right? You think she'd be afraid for her life, what could happen to her being found out that she's pregnant, but we see instead that the kind of woman she was filled with the Spirit, and she's just rejoicing in the facts that, hey, they're going to call me blessed for forever. And it's true because it's recorded in the Bible. So as long as generations go on, as long as the Bible goes on, which is eternal, there will always be this reference of her being blessed forever. It's a great reward that she's received for being so faithful to the Lord. Verse 49, For he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name, and his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. He hath showed strength with his arm, he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, and hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree, and have filled the hungry with good things, and the rich have sent empty away. He hath hopened, that means helped, his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers. There's that reference to the fathers again, okay? To the fathers, the fathers of faith. As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever, and Mary abode with her about three months and returned to her own house. So, it sounds like if she was there for three months, and Elizabeth was already six months pregnant, it sounds like she stayed with Elizabeth until the baby was born. Seems to work out, right? Elizabeth give birth, and then Mary makes her way back to her own house, okay? She seems to abide with her till then. But it's a great thing how she mentions Abraham and the promises that were given to Abraham and to his seed. We'll go into that a bit later. Verse 57, and Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered, and she brought forth a son. And her neighbors, look at this. Look how the community reacts to the birth of this son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her, and they rejoiced with her, okay? So, it's a great thing. They're not saying you're too old to have a child. They're supportive, you know. Would it be difficult for her in her older ages to raise a child? Yes, you know, but they're not being critical. They're rejoicing in the birth of that child, okay? You know, there's a lot of people that fall pregnant who are not married, out of wedlock, single mothers, all these kind of things. Is it right? No, okay? But when the baby is born, it's not the baby's fault, okay? The baby can still grow up and be a faithful servant of God, okay? And, you know, if it's a believer, we ought to rejoice in the birth of that baby, okay? Rejoice in the birth, but should we celebrate the fact that, you know, he's out of wedlock and all those? No, of course not, okay? But we need to strike a balance with these things. Look, children are a blessing. Children are a blessing even when it's the circumstances aren't, you know, aren't right. But anyway, verse 59. And it came to pass that on the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and they called unto him, sorry, called him Zacharias after the name of his, after the name of his father. So they wanted to call John the Baptist after his father, Zacharias. And his mother answered and said, not so, that he shall, but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, there is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table and wrote saying, his name is John. And they marveled all. And his mouth was opened immediately. So there it is. Now Zacharias can talk once again, right? He confirms the truth of the word of God. His name is John, okay? That's his name. And because of that, because his faith has come to full fruition, that punishment is over. He is now able to speak. And again, we see an example here where God had punished him, okay? But was it for evil thing? Did God intend evil to punish him? No, because when you look at the subsequent verses, look what happens. And his mouth was opened immediately, verse 64, and his tongue loosed, and he spake and praised God. He praises God that now he's been released from this dumb, from being unable to speak. And look at this, verse 65. And fear came on all that dwelt around about them. And all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill of Judea. So the punishment was over. And though he was lacking a bit of faith there at the beginning, and remember, Zacharias was generally a blameless man, but God allowed this miracle to happen, yet partly as a punishment, but that so people around would be amazed that, you know, wow, God's hand is here, okay? And that day went out, you know, praising and talking about these things went out throughout all Judea about how Zacharias could now speak and how God was involved here in the hands of this child. Look at verse 66. What are they saying? And all they that heard them laid them up in the heart saying, what manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him. Hey, you know, sometimes the Lord will allow you to go for a bit of punishment, a bit of trials, a bit of difficulties, but it's so that here would be praised, okay? And when we overcome those challenges, we should be like Zacharias. We should praise the Lord, okay? We should testify of the great things God has done. And while we've gone through that, hey, God can use that to ensure that His name, that His power, that His might can go out throughout the regions. Verse, what am I up to? 67. There's a lot of verses in this chapter, right? Is it 67 that I'm up to? Yep, 67. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost. So now we have Zacharias filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying. So now we know these words is not just the words of Zacharias, but he's filled with the Holy Ghost. And so these are true words. And verse 68, what does he say? Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He have visited and redeemed His people. So, you know, this reminds me, when we're going through the Psalms, we're going through Psalm 8, remember that? Psalm 8 verse 4 was, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him, okay? So we see here Zacharias is rejoicing with the fact that God is visiting His people, okay? The Lord Jesus Christ would ultimately be the one, the Lord God Himself, coming upon this earth and seeing mankind. Verse 69. And have raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David. Okay, so, you know, we don't have to wait for John the Baptist. Yes, he's born, but his ministry is already working. His father is pointing people to that salvation, right? To that horn of salvation, which is from the house of His servant David. That's a reference to Jesus Christ. Verse 70, now look at verse 70, this is important. As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began. You know, the holy prophets of old, the writers of the Old Testament, the saints of old, what were they preaching? The same thing here, right? As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, what? That the horn of salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ would be coming, okay? Their eyes in the Old Testament were set on Christ. They didn't know His name. That was revealed when He was born. But we see, look, the Old Testament saints were saved, were preaching the same gospel message, salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 71, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us. So, he's talking about physical salvation, being saved from the enemies of Israel, if you will, in that day. And yes, ultimately that will be fulfilled when Jesus Christ comes and sets up His millennial, ruling a reign from Jerusalem, okay? Obviously, we know at the end of that time, there are armies, Gog and Magog will go and war against Christ, but that rebelling is short-lived, you know? But anyway, that will be ultimately fulfilled in the millennial reign of Christ, the physical salvation. Verse 72, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant. So, notice there, just to show you a few times, how that phrase, the fathers, have been referenced a few times in this chapter, and it's always talking about the Old Testament saints. That was why I had my interpretation before of the hearts of the fathers to the children. But anyway, and to remember His holy covenant. What is this holy covenant that is to be remembered? Verse 73, the oath which is swear to our father, Abraham. Who else referenced Abraham? It was Mary, remember? Mary referenced Abraham, and here we have Zacharias talking about this is the fulfillment now. This is what was promised to Abraham. It's coming in our lifetime. It's coming now. It's all happening. Verse 74, that He would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. Keep your finger there. Turn to Genesis 22, just very quickly. Genesis 22, and Matt preached on this not too long ago. But anyway, let's cover this again. Genesis 22, Genesis 22, verse 16, Genesis 22, verse 16. If you remember what verse 73 said in Luke 1, it said the oath which is swear to our father, Abraham. God made an oath, okay, to Abraham. And we read about this in Genesis 22, verse 16. God's speaking here and said, by Myself have I sworn. Okay, this is the swear, the oath that He swore to Abraham. By Myself, God swears to Himself basically, right? You know how, you know, have you heard people say, oh, I promise this happened. I swear to God, all right, because they're appealing to the highest authority. And God says, you know, I'm swearing this is going to happen, but I swear of Myself. Because there's nothing greater than God, okay? So He swears of Himself. And by Myself have I sworn, save the Lord. For because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed, as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gates of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed My voice. So God makes this promise, this oath to Abraham, in your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. All the nations, okay? In every nation, look, every nation, even the most wicked nations on the earth, they've been blessed by this truth. In every nation, there are people of God, there are some people in that nation, no matter how wicked and dark it is, okay? We have our brother Michael in the Czech Republic, extremely dark place, but even then, with a lot of effort, he's been able to see a couple of people saved. Not many, okay? But even in all nations, they're blessed, because the gospel message is going out and people of that nation are believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? That seed there, I'll just read to you from Galatians 3.16, which clarifies to us what that seed promises, says, now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ, okay? Which is Christ, okay? That promise that the Father has made was to Abraham, but also to his seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, our eternal salvation, okay? And as Australians, yeah, Australia is blessed, okay? I don't, you know, you might not like the nation that much, you might not like the government, that's one thing, but still, our nation has been blessed, because we have the gospel message going out and seeing souls saved, okay? Go back to Luke 1, Luke 1, 76. I think I've done all right. Verse 76, verse 76. And thou child shall be called the prophet of the highest, okay? This is the title of John the Baptist, the prophet of the highest. How would you like your kids to be called by God, the prophet of the highest? I'd love that, right? Obviously, we don't believe in Old Testament prophets in the same way they were back then, but of course, a preacher, someone that proclaims the word of God is essentially a prophet. To prophesy is to preach or proclaim the word of God, okay? For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. That was the job that John the Baptist was left with to prepare the way of the Lord, okay? He was six months older than his cousin Jesus who would come, okay, so he had a six-month head start, if you want to put it that way, to get people's hearts ready to receive the Lord God when he would come and start his ministry. Verse 77. So, how did he prepare the way of the Lord? Verse 77 gives us the answer. To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins. So, we saw the physical salvation being spoken of. That's one thing, but the job of John the Baptist to prepare the way of the Lord was to prepare a people and to give knowledge of salvation, okay? Essentially, guys, as soul winners, that is what we're doing. We're preparing the hearts to the Lord, preparing a way for the Lord to be able to come in and save their wretched soul, okay? It's the same thing. John the Baptist, yeah, he was a wild man living in the desert, but he was a soul winner. That was really what it was left to do. Get people ready so when Christ came, they would follow after Christ. Verse 78. Through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day spring from on high have visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. Now, notice there in verse 78, just as a point of note, remember when we were choosing the church name? One of my suggestions was Day Spring. Day Spring Baptist Church. It came from this verse, okay? But that reference of the day spring, that's a reference to Jesus Christ, okay? It's a reference to Jesus Christ. Now, the day spring, you don't need to turn it if you don't want, but maybe you can turn it if you want. Job 38. There's only one other reference to that phrase day spring. It's in Job 38. You can turn it if you want. Job 38, verse 12. Job 38, verse 12. I'll just read it to you. These are God's words, okay? It says, Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days, and caused the day spring to know his place, that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? Okay? So, this reference of the day spring, physically speaking, is a reference of the dawn, that first light in the morning. You know when it's dark, and then you start seeing that first light of the sun? You know, the sun hasn't yet been risen, but you start to see the light that's coming from that sun, and then progressively as the sun is rise, the glory of the sun is brighter? Well, that is the day spring. Jesus Christ here is the reference to the day spring as this light, and as Job mentions, that when the day spring comes, that it shakes the wicked, okay? Because the wicked love darkness. The wicked love their sin, and they don't like the light of the Lord Jesus Christ shining upon their sinfulness, okay? Now, I'm going to read to you. You guys can turn it if you want because it's close. John chapter 3 verse 19. John chapter 3 verse 19. John chapter 3 verse 19. The Bible says, and this is the condemnation that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil, okay? For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved, but he that doeth truth cometh to the light. We have two groups of people, okay? Those that want to stay hidden in their sin. They don't want to be revealed to be sinners. They want to be able to do weaker things. They hate the light. They rather hide from that light, but then you have those that doeth truth. We want the truth. They come to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, that they be wrought in God. Hey, there are some of us that want the light to shine upon us, to shine upon our deeds, okay? To correct us when we're wrong, to guide our paths, you know, in the paths of righteousness. That's what light is good for as well, right? To shine a light, to make a clear vision so we can walk in the right path, but then have you ever turned on the lights and seen the cockroaches run away? Okay, the cockroaches, you know, the scum of the earth hate the light, and I'm just thinking about the example Callum yesterday. You know, Callum was preaching the gospel. He got through a whole gospel presentation with that man, and, you know, the man told Callum, there's no chance for me. I know where I'm going. I'm going to hell, okay? And I thought, sweet, you know, this guy already knows he's a sinner. He already knows that his destination is hell. He's going to love the light, so I thought, okay? So I thought, did you think that? You thought he's going to love the light? I thought that. You're a bit more critical than me, but then once Callum presents the gospel, and says, hey, look, it's a matter of believing. It's a free gift. You know, the guy had a shady past and made some big mistakes, and I think Callum, I can't remember exactly the conversation, but I asked the question, why don't you want to receive it? It's a free gift, and he said, because first of all, he's done some really wicked things in the past, okay, and the consequences of that was still carrying on. He wanted to continue in his wickedness, and he had some plans to continue doing some wicked things, okay? He did not want, okay, the light of the gospel to shine into his life, because he would rather continue in that wickedness. You know, I'm not saying that he had to turn from that wickedness to be saved. Of course, we don't believe that, okay? But he had to come to realize that his wickedness, you know, for him was more pleasurable. It was something that he wanted to achieve, and ignore the light to come, okay? Because if he accepted the light, okay, if he saw the truth of Jesus Christ, and then he had the Spirit of God in him, there's a chance he would repent from those things in his life, but he would rather do those evil things than face the light, okay? And so some people are like this, okay? It's not that they need to turn from those wickedness to be saved. They just rather stay in that wickedness, and hate the lights, you know? And that's just the truth that we saw yesterday, right? And so we see what Jesus Christ is. Here's the day spring. Here's this light that shines brighter, and brighter as the sun comes up, okay? We love it. We love it. That's why we're in church, right? We love the Word of God. We don't mind having our sins revealed. We don't mind learning, saying, hey, look, we're wrong. We can improve. We can do things better. You know, that's what we want as believers. That's what we should be striving for. But then you've got those that hate the light, okay? And go back to Luke 1, verse 80. I'm almost done. It's the last verse here. Luke chapter 1, verse 80. And the child grew. Talk about John the Baptist. And the child grew, and waxed strong in the spirit, and was in the desert till the day of his showing unto Israel. He grew up in the desert. Later on, we'll find out, you know, that he lived on locusts and honey, and he dressed like a wild man. He probably didn't have, you know, probably didn't smell that great either. Who knows? You know, he was a wild man, but he was in the deserts. He was being trained by God, being instructed by the Holy Ghost, and people were flocking to him, wanting to hear the message that he was preaching. And as we saw, hey, he was just pointing them to Jesus Christ. You know, that was the goal. That was his message. But I love how it says the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit. Hey, let's not underestimate our children, fathers, okay? As our children grow, are they waxing strong in spirit? You know, I don't know. You know, I hope so. I hope our kids are waxing strong in spirit, but they're probably waxing strong in video games. They're probably waxing strong in comic books, in TV shows, you know, waxing strong in, I don't know, what do the kids do? You know, being spoiled, being selfish. That's a possibility. You know, we need to be mindful. Look at John the Baptist. He waxed strong in spirit. Hey, how was he so strong? He was in the desert. Hey, he was away from the world. He was away from the worldly influences. He was away from the things that would distract him from the Lord. Hey, we need to tell our children and teach them to spend some quiet time away from the world and alone with God. Our kids can grow and wax strong, but they need to be in the desert, okay? And what I mean by that, they need some time alone with God, okay? The TV needs to be switched off, okay? The radio needs to be switched off. The internet needs to be switched off. The iPhones need to be packed away and the iPads and whatever gadgets are next and just, okay, kids, this is what we're doing for the next hour. Word of God, we're going to wax strong in spirit. We're going into the wilderness. We're going to hear from the word of God and have no other distractions and hear directly from the spirit of God, okay? So just be thoughtful about this. Hey, John the Baptist, okay, yeah. Okay, he was filled with the Holy Ghost from the mother's womb, but don't forget these things are written in the Bible for our learning so we can grow, so we can consider, hey, what are we doing with our family? You know, are we raising them up to be strong? Are we raising them to be soul winners to prepare the way of the Lord to the Australian, you know, community that we have? And yeah, so John the Baptist grew to be a powerful man of God, prepared the ways of the Lord and was a soul winner, a powerful soul winner, okay? Let's pray.