LUKE 1:5-25 KEEP ON PRAYING2011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 1:5-25 Keep On Praying

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011.

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The book of Luke chapter 1, it's kind of the beginning of the book of Luke. Last week we started looking at verses 1 through 4 and we saw Luke's introduction, which was really kind of a foundation, just letting us know how he came to know these things and that we can trust that these things are certain and true. And now he's beginning the narrative, he's beginning the account of the life of Jesus.

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And as he begins the account of the life of Jesus, he goes back to the very beginning. Actually, before the beginning of Jesus' life and into the beginning of the forerunner to the Messiah, who is John the Baptist.

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As we talk about Zacharias and Elizabeth and the child that is promised to them, you need to know that this child that is promised is John the Baptist. He is the one who would go before Jesus to announce to the Jewish people that the Messiah was coming, that the kingdom of God was at hand. Now the time of this account of these things taking place is around 5 or 6 B.C.,

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And at that time, the Jews are in Israel, the place that we call Israel today. They're living in the land, but they're not their own sovereign nation. They're under the rule of the Roman Empire. In fact, Herod the Great is the king of Judea at this time. He's the king over the region of Israel. And so they were always...

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very conscious of that fact and they were looking for the Messiah in this time period. They were desperately wanting the Messiah to come because what they were looking for was someone to come and set them free from the Roman rule. They wanted to be set free so that they would have their freedom as a nation to worship God, to walk with God and to be the Jewish people that God had called them to be.

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And so they were always aware that they had this Roman rule over them and they were always praying for the Messiah. Now during this time also, the Jews were experiencing what we call a time of prophetic silence. In fact, it was 400 years long.

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The last thing that God had spoken prophetically came through the prophet Malachi. And it was 400 years prior to this event. And 400 years prior, Malachi spoke and his final words there in Malachi chapter 4 verses 5 and 6 are,

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were the promise of the forerunner, the one who would go before the Messiah, the one who would go before Jesus, although they didn't know him by Jesus at that time. Malachi chapter 4 verse 5 says, "...behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse."

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This prophecy that was given by Malachi announces that Elijah the prophet will come before the Messiah. Now this prophecy actually has two fulfillments. The first is a partial fulfillment. The second is the final fulfillment. The final fulfillment has yet to take place. That will happen as we talked about in the book of Revelation during the tribulation period.

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But the first fulfillment of this has taken place and it was fulfilled in the man, John the Baptist. And Jesus says so to his disciples and we'll get there when we get there in the book of Luke and we'll get to see that as Jesus explains it to them.

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And so Israel is here, they're desperately looking for the Messiah. The last prophetic word that they had heard was the announcement that Elijah would come first. And so they're looking for Elijah, they're looking for the Messiah, they're looking for a Savior. And here as we begin this account, we're now going to learn of the birth of this Messiah.

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messenger, this one who would go before the Lord. And this man, John the Baptist, was going to be born to Zacharias and Elizabeth. We're introduced to this couple here in verse 5. It says, "...there was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth."

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And so we're introduced now to this couple. Luke says, living water, meet Zacharias and Elizabeth. Here they are. Zacharias is a priest. His wife is of the daughters of Aaron, which was how it was to be for priests. They were to marry the descendants of the Levites, the daughters of Aaron. And so they were...

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faithful to the Lord. Zacharias served the Lord in his temple. They were a godly couple that served the Lord faithfully for many years. We see that in verse 6. It says, And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless.

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And so this couple were faithful to God. He calls them righteous before God. Now, Luke is not suggesting that they were without sin because there's none righteous, no, not one. But what he is suggesting is that they were obedient to the word of God.

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In those times, if you wanted to walk with the Lord, this was before Jesus came and died upon the cross. And so the way that you would walk with God and be close to God and take care of your sin would be to follow the law.

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And so what Luke is saying is that this couple was faithful to follow the law. That when they sinned, when they fell short, they would offer the appropriate sacrifices. And they would participate in the feasts that were specified in the law. They would celebrate those things that God had called them to celebrate and offer the sacrifices at the appropriate times. And so they weren't without sin, but they were walking with God. And so in that sense, they were blameless.

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because they dealt with the sin according to what God had revealed. Verse 7, But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years. And so as we're introduced to this couple, everything looks good. You know, he's a priest, and she's a daughter of Aaron, and they're both godly, they're both walking with the Lord, they're both blameless, wonderful. But now we find that there's a problem. The problem is, they have no children.

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Now we look at that today and it's not that big of a deal to not have children as far as our society is concerned. But in their day, for them personally as well as for their culture, for the society that they were living in, not having children was a serious issue. It was a big problem. In fact, the Jewish rabbis taught that that was one of the primary evidences that

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that God had excommunicated you or that you were cursed by God as if you had no children. And so that was the mindset of the people. If you saw a couple and they had no children, it must mean that you've been cursed by God or you're living in sin. For the Jewish mind in that day, verse 6 and 7 would kind of be a contradiction. The fact that they were righteous with God, walking with God and had no children, in their minds that wasn't possible.

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And so they would look at this and they would say, you know, there's some kind of problem. You're in some kind of sin or God has cursed you. And so there was this, there's this heavy stigma that was placed upon those barren couples in the society because they had this expectation that if you were walking with God, that would not be an issue.

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And so as we look and consider this couple that were introduced here in Luke chapter 1, I would encourage you to put yourself in Elizabeth's sandals for just a moment. There you are, an elderly lady. I know that's hard for us guys to imagine, right? But there you are, an elderly couple, let's say, okay? And you're there and society has placed this label upon you.

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that you are cursed. All the people around you, there's scorn, there's mockery, there's ridicule, declaring that you are cursed by God. Now, they're old, and so they've experienced this for many years. It's been going on for a long time. Now, that's what's happening as far as the society is concerned, but then consider themselves personally, as a couple, the difficulties that would be there, the emotional hardships that would take place as they

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face the reality that they are unable to bear children. The desire is there, but it's not able to be fulfilled. There's this expectation and these outward pressures that

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That add to the complexity of the emotions that they're already feeling within their own relationship. And so you can imagine they're in a tough spot. Now we look at this and we understand the end of the story. We just read through the portion where the son is promised. In a couple weeks we'll look at where the son is delivered. And so we understand it's very easy for us. Boom, boom, no problem. They're given a son. It's not that big of a deal. But for them, they were living...

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the situation and so for them it wasn't just well just get to the end of the story flip a couple pages for them is they had to live they had to pass through lots of amounts of time for the story to be fulfilled and perhaps you can relate to that because there are things in our lives that we go through that are very unpleasant that are very difficult that are tough things for us to handle and

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And we don't just flip the page and, "Okay, now we're done with it." But it takes time. We have to go through those seasons of difficulty, of hardship. Now what's encouraging about Zacharias and Elizabeth, or what's amazing about them, is that they were faithful to the Lord even though life was not what they had hoped. This wasn't what they signed up for when they got married. It wasn't what they planned. They didn't plan a life of rejection by society, a life of this label of being cursed by God.

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That's not what they had hoped for. That's not what they had planned. Yet here we find them after walking with the Lord many years, they're still faithful to one another and to the Lord. It describes them here as being well advanced in years. They're old now and they have no children. That's the problem for them. That's the problem that God's going to be addressing here. Now, in her prime, Elizabeth was barren, but now she's well past her prime. And so the hope of

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Having the situation resolved is long dead. It's long gone. Yet there's still that reproach of being barren. And so now we get a little bit of understanding about Zacharias and Elizabeth and what they must have gone through, what they must have experienced. And so now we're ready to learn from them some things about prayer. And that's what I want to highlight as we look at this portion this morning is really the idea of keep on praying.

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It's an encouragement as we look at this couple to keep on praying. And there's five points I want to share with you about prayer that we learn here from Zacharias and Elizabeth. The first thing to point out found in verses 8 through 10 is that your access to God is amazing. What we see here in this account is access to God that's limited, right?

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for the people. But that's before Jesus Christ took care of the sin issue upon the cross. And now things are quite different. Now we have full access to God and that is absolutely amazing. Let's look at their condition in verse 8 and 9. It says,

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So it was that while he was serving as priest before God, in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

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And so here they are. Again, it's around 5 or 6 BC. The temple is there in Jerusalem. The priesthood is active and they're serving the Lord at the temple. People are bringing their sacrifices to take care of their sin, to worship the Lord together.

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And there were so many priests, in fact, that they actually had to set up divisions. And there were 24 divisions of priests. And they would do a rotation so that not one person would have to do it all the time, but everybody would get their chance to serve the Lord in that way. And so each division got to serve for one week at a time.

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And they would get to serve probably twice a year. So one week here, one week there, twice a year, they would get to serve the Lord. And that's where we find Zacharias here. He was serving as priest. He was actually in the temple. It was time for his division. They were scheduled and he was there to be serving the Lord at the temple.

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And as he is there serving the Lord at the temple, they would cast lots for what roles each one would fulfill. There was a lot to do at the temple. There was a lot of sacrifices that had to be offered. There was a lot of cleaning up afterwards that needed to be taken care of. Also, if you can remember the layout of the temple, if you walked into the temple, there was two rooms. The first room was

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was called the Holy Place, and it had the table of showbread, which had to be maintained. It had the lampstand, which had to be maintained every morning and evening. And then it also had the altar of incense, which had to be maintained every morning and evening as well.

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And then the end of the room was a big veil. And that veil separated the holy place from the second room, which was called the most holy place or the holiest of all or the holy of holies, whichever way you want to describe it. But it was the place where the presence of God dwelt. And so that room was limited only to the high priest. And only once a year could he enter into the presence of God there in the holy of holies.

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The priests who were serving had the opportunity to enter into the holy place, the first room of the temple, because they would need to maintain the table or the lampstand or the altar of incense. And so that would be regular for them.

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And so there was all these different duties that needed to be fulfilled. And so as the division was called and all the priests in that division show up, then they would cast lots and say, okay, you're responsible for this. You're responsible for that. And the lot fell to Zacharias. Zacharias, you are responsible for burning incense on the altar of incense there in the holy place.

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Now this would have been an exciting day for Zacharias. This was something that the priests would look forward to. The privilege of burning incense there on the altar in the holy place was a big privilege. It was an awesome privilege. Because what it was, was they would go and they would burn this incense on the altar...

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And they would lift up the prayers of the people to the Lord. And the incense is that physical representation. They would see the incense filling the room, the incense filling the presence of God there in the most holy place. And it would be a representation of the prayers of the people coming to God. And so it was considered a great honor to be able to burn the incense.

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And it was pretty rare because of the amount of priests in those days. Probably it's estimated that a priest would have this honor maybe once in their lifetime. And so here it is. The lot falls to Zacharias. He gets this wonderful privilege. It's probably the only time in his life he's had this privilege. He's to go in to offer this incense before the Lord to lift up the prayers of the people to God. Verse 10.

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And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. And so what would happen is the priest went in to offer this incense, the people would wait outside. Because again, the priest was going in to offer the prayers of the people to God.

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But then he would come back and bless the people with a blessing from God. And so he was working, you know, on both the halves. He would go representing the people in prayer to God, and then he would come back representing God in blessing the people. And so he would go in and he would bless, he'd come out and he would bless the people, probably with the blessing that God instructed in Numbers chapter 6, verse 24 through 26. And

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where he gives the blessing there, how the priests are to bless the people, saying, the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. And so he'd come out and give this blessing and the people would wait for him to come out so that they could receive this blessing.

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Now another aspect of this is that the priest would usually do this pretty quickly because there was some fear in entering into the holy place. They didn't want to spend too much time there because perhaps they began to sin in their hearts and thoughts

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that were inappropriate or unworthy would begin to creep in. And so rather than dwell there and risk being struck down by the Lord, they would go in, they would offer the incense and they would come out. They wouldn't just kind of hang out, kick back, lean up against the wall and spend some time in prayer, but they would offer the prayer and then get out of there as soon as they were able. Because there was this fear as they were entering in. They had this real sense that they were entering in to the presence of God.

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Now all of this leads me to share with you the point this morning. Your access to God is amazing. Your access to God is amazing. Because there in the holiest of all was the presence of God, but Zacharias wasn't able to enter into that. He wasn't able to enjoy or experience the presence of God. He was able to go right to the limits, right beyond the veil, but he wasn't able to go beyond that.

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Now, the rest of the people weren't even able to go into the holy place. They had to wait outside for Zacharias to go in on their behalf. Now, could you imagine if you came to church this morning and the doors are shut and George is standing outside and says, you guys can't go in. You don't have access to God. I'm going to go in. I'm going to pray for you. You guys just wait out here. I'll come back out and give you a blessing. You just have to wait in the parking lot.

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That's what it was like in those days, because that was before Jesus took care of the sin, the sin situation or the sin issue upon the cross. When Jesus died upon the cross, something amazing happened. We'll get to it as we read further into the book of Luke, that as Jesus was dying upon the cross, the veil that was in the temple was ripped from top to bottom.

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This wasn't man's doing. It wasn't some, you know, breakdown of the material. This was God sending a message that the way into the presence of God has now been opened. That access is now granted. That it's not limited like it once was. The author of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter 9 tells us that the veil in the temple was the Holy Spirit's way of telling us that the way into the presence of God was not yet revealed.

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But then he goes on in Hebrews chapter 10 to tell us that now the way has been opened. Hebrews 10.19 says, Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, he says, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.

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And so the author of Hebrews is explaining that veil was the Holy Spirit saying at one time, the

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The way is not accessible yet. You have to come to God through the law. You have to practice the sacrifices. That's the way to walk with God. But when Jesus died upon the cross and the veil was torn from top to bottom, that was the Holy Spirit saying, the way is now open. That because of what Jesus did for us and by faith in Jesus Christ, we have full access to God.

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Full access to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Full access to the Creator of the Universe.

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You and I, we get to come boldly. Zacharias went, he didn't even get to go all the way, but he went with fear, with trepidation because, well, he had to be careful. He wanted to make sure not to offend, not to do anything wrong. But for you and I, we get to come boldly, not because we're any more righteous, but because of what Christ has done for us upon the cross in paying the full penalty for our sin.

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You see, your access to God is amazing. You have the same access to God as every other Christian. Sometimes Christians kind of think more of others and think, well, man, you know, Pastor Cisco, he must be really close with the Lord or Pastor Greg Loy or Pastor Chuck Smith or, you know, Billy Graham. Listen, you have the same access to God as Billy Graham. You do as a believer in Jesus Christ.

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Same access to God. By faith in Jesus, the sin issue is taken care of and God invites us even more. He commands us to enter into his presence. In Revelation chapter 3 verse 20, Jesus says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and dine with him and he with me.

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He gives the invitation to whoever will receive Jesus. He says, look, you'll experience my presence. You will experience the presence of God. And so the way has been opened. The veil has been torn in two. And that means that your access to God is absolutely amazing. And as amazing as it is, it is tragic that some Christians only use this access to God to thank Him for meals or to cry out in a state of emergency.

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Once in a while or lightly at mealtime, accessing the presence of God. When you have access to the Creator of the universe, listen, we need to do like Paul said, pray without ceasing. Really spend time with God because He's opened up to you and He's commanded you, listen, come in to my presence. Experience a real relationship with me. That was opened up for us.

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when Jesus died upon the cross for our sin. And that's why the author of Hebrews says, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. I want to encourage you this morning, as we consider Zacharias and Elizabeth, the limited access that they had and the rest of the people had is no more. Now we have full access. So let's draw near to God. Well, the second thing we find here in the account in verses 11 through 13, another word of encouragement for us is,

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Your prayer is heard. God hears your prayer. Imagine that. In verse 11, it says, Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. Here, as we continue on reading about what Zacharias did, he was given the opportunity to offer the incense before the Lord. And so he goes in.

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Again, there would probably be some fear in his heart. You know, I want to make sure I do this right. Once in a lifetime opportunity. Never done it before. Okay, let me remember the scriptures. Let me remember my training. How to do this properly. How to do it correctly. He's there. He goes in before the altar of incense and he puts the incense upon the altar, the coals, and the incense is beginning to fill the room. He's lifting up the prayers of the people before the Lord.

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Probably he has his eyes closed as he's praying before God and then he opens his eyes and BAM! There's an angel in front of him. Freaked him out. Now some of you think I'm an angel but this is the only way. This is the only way I'm like an angel.

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I do like to step in front of people and surprise them and freak them out. That's fun, but that's about it. But here's this angel. It's the angel Gabriel we find out a little bit later. So Gabriel, here's the Zacharias in the temple. You know what it's like. You can picture what Zacharias is experiencing here. Because have you ever been in a place where you're supposed to be alone? There's nobody else there and then all of a sudden someone's there and it just scares you to death.

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On top of that, it's an angel there in front of Zacharias. And so he is freaked out. He's offering the incense. He opens his eyes and there's this big surprise. Verse 13, But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you shall call his name John.

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And so the angel speaks. Now remember, this is God breaking the silence. For 400 years, there's been prophetic silence. But now God speaks through this angel, through Gabriel to Zacharias. And he says, fear not. Don't be afraid. Zacharias is freaked out. He says, don't be afraid.

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I'm not here to hurt you. I'm not going to take your head off. You didn't do anything wrong offering the incense upon the altar like you did. No, I'm here to give you some good news. I'm here to tell you that your prayer is heard. Your prayer is heard. Sometimes when God is silent in our lives, in our hearts, we begin to be fearful, don't we? We get to be freaked out like, man, what's happening? What's wrong? We begin to get worried sometimes.

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I'm not hearing from the Lord like I once did. It's fearful. God would send the message, don't be afraid. Your prayer is heard. Your prayer is heard. Now what prayer exactly was heard? In those days, as I shared earlier,

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The people were desperately looking for the Savior. They were calling on God to send the Messiah, to set them free from Roman rule. Now when Jesus came, He is the Messiah, He is the Savior, but His primary focus on His first trip here was not to set the people free from Roman rule, but to set people free from the bondage to sin and death. And so that's why He came in meekness and humility and died upon the cross for sins.

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But the people were expecting the second coming of Jesus, when He will come again and establish His kingdom. That's what they were thinking and expecting of the Messiah when they were calling on God for Him. And so it's said that when the priest would go in to offer the prayers on the altar of incense there, that he would be praying for that Messiah, that Savior, for God to send the one that would set them free. But here we see that the angel connects this answered prayer...

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to Elizabeth having a son. He says, your prayer is heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. And so really it's a fulfillment of both prayers. First that the Messiah will come because their son, John the Baptist, would be the forerunner to the Messiah. But also their prayer for a son was heard. And Elizabeth is going to bear you a son and you're going to call his name John. To me it's interesting to consider

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How long has it been since Zacharias prayed for a son? It described him as being well advanced in years. He's old. He's an old man. How long has it been? Now, we don't know exactly how old he was, but they were both well advanced in years. And so we estimate probably at least 60 years old.

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is a conservative estimate. Some suggest as much as 80 years old, that as he stands there before God, he's an old man. Definitely well past the normal time of childbearing. Now how long had it been since he prayed for a son if he's 60 or 80 years old?

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Now you could imagine, go back to the early days of Zach and Liz. There they get married, they're excited about life, and they're looking forward to starting a family. They're looking forward to what God's going to do. And they probably prayed every day for a son. That was a big part of their culture. That was a big part of their society. And so they were probably praying every day. As years went on though, and there was no child, the frequency of

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of their prayers probably increased. They probably began to pray several times a day for a son. And then as years went on from there, people were beginning to say, hey, they must be cursed of God. There was this reproach upon them. There was this stigma in their lives and in their hearts. Probably even more and more. They would pray, they would cry out to God for a son. But there must have come a point...

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As age increased, as the years went on, there must have come a point where those prayers began to fade and become less and less frequent. How long do you think it had been since Zacharias had prayed for a son? He may have not prayed that prayer for 20, 30, 40 years. But now Gabriel comes and says, your prayer is heard. You see, you and I, we decide if our prayer is heard by if we get the response in the next five minutes or not.

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And if we get the response in the next five minutes, hey, we know our prayer was heard. But if we don't, if it takes a week, that's really tough for us. If it takes a month, if it takes a couple months, if it takes a couple years, that feels like eternity for us. And by that time, as months or years have passed, it feels like, you know, it's never going to happen. God's not listening to us. He hasn't heard our prayers. You know, something's going on here. Many times, God is answering our prayers that we forgot we prayed.

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God remembers them. Even after we've long forgotten them, He remembers our prayers. And so here's Zacharias. Many years ago, he was praying fervently for a son. And now Gabriel says, God hears your prayer. It's important for us to understand this so that we remember to keep on praying. Don't give up. Don't lose heart if you haven't had your prayer answered after five minutes. Hey, if it takes 20, 30, 40 years, that's okay. God hears your prayers.

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He's listening. He's paying attention. Jesus taught us in Luke chapter 18. Hopefully we'll get there before the rapture comes. Or actually, hopefully the rapture comes first. But Luke chapter 18, Jesus teaches them a parable to teach them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. That's what Jesus wants for us. To pray always and not lose heart. I'm sure that Zacharias and Elizabeth had a lost heart. They were past the age. Hope was gone.

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But don't lose heart, Jesus says. Don't give up. Your prayer is heard. Point number three, as we go on in verses 14 through 17, is that God answers prayer in His timing. We're not real excited about that truth, but it is the truth. Verse 14 says,

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Gabriel announces she's going to have a son. And Zacharias, you're going to have joy and gladness. And all kinds of people are going to be rejoicing at his birth.

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Now that's pretty exciting. For them, oh man, what a great joy. After waiting for so long and having all hope lost, what a great joy and gladness it would bring. And even for the friends and the family, oh how exciting.

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But you know, normal babies bring joy and gladness. Well, at least, you know, the anticipation of it. Afterwards, immediately afterwards, then there's sleeplessness and a bunch of other things. But you get the idea. You know, yesterday they had a celebration, a baby shower, right? For the little bueno that's on the way. There's lots of joy and gladness surrounding this. That's what normal babies bring. But even more than the normal joy and gladness that comes with having a child...

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Gabriel explains that this son will have a very special role in God's plan. There in verse 15 he says, He will be great in the sight of the Lord. This son that Elizabeth is going to bring forth is going to have a place, a role of great importance for the Lord. In fact, Jesus said in Luke 7.28 that there was no greater prophet than John the Baptist.

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This was going to be an incredibly important person in God's plan and in God's kingdom. And so not only was there going to be the joy and gladness that comes from normal childbirth, but there's going to be the joy and gladness of this special ministry and this special role that God had called this man to.

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He was to have probably a Nazarite vow because it says there he will not drink wine nor strong drink. He was to be set apart, not influenced by those types of things. He was to be dedicated to the Lord for his whole life. In fact, Gabriel says he'll be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. And so from the very beginning, he'll be empowered by the Spirit. His whole life will be set apart and unique and different because he's been called to a specific role in

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Within the kingdom of God. Within the plan of God. And what is that role? He tells us in verse 16 and 17. It says, He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. This incredibly important and special role is

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for this son that would be delivered to Elizabeth, was that he was the forerunner to the Messiah. His job was to prepare the people for Jesus to come. To prepare the people for the Savior. There in verse 16 it says, He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. Now the children of Israel in that day were religious.

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They were very religious. They would go to the temple. They would offer the sacrifices. They would practice the feasts. They were very religious on the outward. But their hearts were far from the Lord. And here Gabriel says, John the Baptist, he's going to be a big impact amongst the Jewish people. And he's going to turn their hearts back to the Lord. Where they've not been concerned about hearing from God or hearing what God is saying, they're going to turn their hearts back to the Lord.

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He's going to come on the scene and then suddenly people are going to be thinking about the Lord, focusing on God, turning their hearts toward Him, seeking Him, not just outwardly, but with their whole being. And this is going to be preparation because right on His heels is the Messiah. And so He's calling everybody's attention. He's saying, hey, wake up! And they're beginning to think about the things of God. And then right there is Jesus, the Savior of the world, the Savior of their sins.

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He says there in verse 17, he also will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah. Again, he's the forerunner. He runs before the Messiah saying, hey, get ready. The Messiah is here. The Savior is here. Pay attention. The kingdom of God is at hand. Gabriel is declaring that his son will fulfill the last word of prophecy in Malachi chapter 4, verse 5 and 6. He would be the one that would go before, that would call Messiah,

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The attention of the people. Prepare them for the kingdom of God. This is what John the Baptist declared of himself in Luke chapter 3. He says, look, I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. And so he had this awesome privilege, this awesome responsibility of calling out to the nation of Israel to wake up, to prepare them for the coming of Jesus.

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And so here we learn that God answers prayer in His timing. You see, this wasn't the timing of Zacharias and Elizabeth. They wouldn't have, if they had the choice, say, you know, I think we should wait till we're about 70 years old to have a kid. No, right away they would have wanted to, but then they would have missed out on having this awesome opportunity to be the parents of the greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist. God answers prayer in His timing.

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There was a reason for it. He waited until this time to bring them a miraculous son at the right time to prepare the way of the Messiah. Well, the fourth thing we see, verses 18 through 20, is that unbelief limits your participation. Look at verse 18, it says, "...and Zechariah said to the angel, How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years."

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So here's this incredible scene, right? Zacharias, he goes in, he's burning incense on the altar, once in a lifetime opportunity, all glorious. An angel appears before him, it freaks him out, but then he says, hey, your prayers are heard, don't fear, you're going to have a son. And Zacharias responds to this, how shall I know this? How do you think you would respond in that situation? What do you think you would have responded in that time? Here's Zacharias, he says, how shall I know this? And then he tells him why. He says, I'm an old man.

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I kind of picture Zacharias looking behind him like, who's this angel talking to? He can't be talking to me. I'm an old man. And my wife, he was pretty wise. He didn't call her an old woman. He said, she's well advanced in years. You know, she's, this isn't, he can't be talking to me. He's thinking, you know, Gabriel, you need to check your schedule again. Maybe you're supposed to be here tomorrow. There's another guy out there. He's been praying for his son. And so maybe it's meant for someone. He says, how shall I know this? It's not possible.

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He saw the limitations that were there physically. He did not believe. When we pray and when God speaks, what He asks us to do is believe. To believe Him. To believe what He has declared. To believe what He has said. Now, think about it this way. As you pray, you know, you have this bill, you have that situation, you want to, you know, meet that need or whatever prayer you might be praying. Think about it this way. Salvation...

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is more unbelievable than grandparents giving birth. The fact that Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins, the fact that we have opportunity to spend eternity with God, and to not receive the punishment, the judgment that is due to us because of our sinful condition, that is a greater miracle than anything that can happen in this life. So the hardest thing, the biggest thing, has already been taken care of by Jesus. And if you can believe that, you can believe...

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Those other things that God will speak. Those other things that God has promised. Those other things that you bring before the Lord in prayer. Because he already took care of the biggest thing. Well, Zacharias here, he's freaked out. He doesn't believe. He says, how will I know this? Now, Gabriel responds in verse 19. It says, And the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.

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And Zechariah says, how will I know this? And Gabriel says, do you know who you're talking to? Don't you know who I am? Listen, I'm Gabriel, man. I'm standing right here in the presence of God. I came here to give you this great message from God. That's the sign. Here you are praying in the temple. What more sign do you want? This is God's sign to you. This is God's word to you. You're going to have a son.

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Verse 20, But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the days which these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time. So Zacharias did not believe. And yet, God's purpose, what God said, was still fulfilled. Unbelief limits your participation. Unbelief doesn't thwart the plan of God. It doesn't ruin the plan of God. It doesn't change the plan of God.

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It just limits your participation in the work of God. And so what happened is Zacharias, he says, Gabriel says to him, you're going to be mute. You're not going to get to celebrate. You're not going to get to tell everybody the news. You're not going to get to declare what God has done. You're going to be mute until these things are fulfilled. He basically says, Zacharias, you're on some quiet time. Think about what you said. Think about your unbelief. Listen, God will work with you or without you.

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You may miss out, but you will not cause God's word not to be fulfilled. When we don't believe God at His word, when we don't believe what God is speaking to our hearts, it only limits our participation in the work of God. You see, God not only invites us to spend time in His presence, to seek Him, to pray, to get to know Him, but He invites us to participate in His work, which is a great and awesome privilege. It's a glorious thing to be a part of.

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But this is how it happens in our hearts. We look at Zacharias and we say, I can't believe, you know, you said, how will I know this? Zacharias, you should know better than that. But we follow the same type of thing in our own hearts, don't we? How many times do you sit here in service and there's the opportunity to pray at the end and God is prompting your heart and he's saying, you need to go up and ask for prayer. And you begin to think, well, how do I know this is of the Lord?

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I don't need to go up there to pray. I can pray right here. I can ask this person to pray for me. I don't need to go up there. And you're right. You don't have to come up for prayer. It's not like there's some special access to God that we have, right? But God's prompting your heart. So it's not about the special people that are here available for prayer. It's about God speaking to your heart and you responding to that. Or you know how it is. You're out and about. You're in line. You're at a table. You're there and someone catches your eye.

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The Lord prompts your heart and says, hey, why don't you go pray with them? Or share with them something. Or just say hi to them. Introduce yourself and see what happens. And then we begin to wrestle internally. How do I know this? Lord, is this really of you? Now, I think a really good thing for us to test those kinds of situations, when those promptings are upon your heart. Here's the test. Is this something that Satan would ever tempt me with? Because I can guarantee you, Satan doesn't tempt you to come up and ask for prayer.

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And your flesh doesn't crave for you to come up and ask for prayer. That's not something that, you know, he's not throwing those darts, you know, in your mind. Hey, to go and minister to someone, that's not the enemy. That's not your flesh. Your flesh doesn't want to go pray for somebody. And so it's a good test right there. Is this something that the enemy or my flesh would try to tempt me with? If it's not, you don't have to ask, how shall I know this? That's of the Lord. You don't naturally want to do those things. God's speaking that to your heart.

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Now many times though, we're like Zacharias, unbelief, and so we miss out. We don't go up and get prayer. We don't reach out and share with that person. We don't take that step of faith. We don't go forward in that area. We miss out because of unbelief. Now God will still send someone to go pray with that person. He'll still send someone to go reach that person. He'll still do the work that He wants to do. But we've limited ourselves by unbelief in our participation of that work. And so as we pray...

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As we have this access to God and we sit there in His presence, we enjoy this communication. We need to learn, we need to know that as He speaks to our hearts, we need to believe Him and act on those things that He speaks to us about. Well, finally, point number five, we find that God's will is fulfilled. Verse 21 says,

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And the people waited for Zacharias and marveled that he had lingered so long in the temple. But when he came out, he could not speak to them. And they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. So meanwhile, as Zacharias is in there and the angel is speaking to him, the people are outside waiting and they're wondering...

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What's taking so long? Again, the priest would usually go in and out really quick because they didn't want to be caught in there in some sinful condition. And so they're wondering, hey, it's been a long time. How come he's in there for so long? What's happening in there? And so they're marveling, they're wondering. They're out there waiting for him to come out and give the blessing. But when he comes out, he's not able to speak to them because he's mute, because he's

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Did not believe Gabriel as he announced him the news of the son that would be born to him. Now it says that they perceived that he had seen a vision for he beckoned to them and remained speechless. I love this picture. In my own head, it's hilarious. I don't know if I can portray it accurately for you, but basically Zacharias is playing charades. He's like, I'm in an altar of incense. An angel appeared to me.

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I don't know if that's how he did it, but that's what I imagined in my head. You know, he's explaining to them, and they realize, oh, he must have had a vision. Something amazing happened in there. And as a result, he's been made speechless. Now, a little interesting side note. He probably wrote down those things. We know that he was able to write, even though he couldn't speak, because later on in the story, he writes down the name of his son, John the Baptist. Well, he calls him John.

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And so he wrote down, and so he probably wrote down this account, and that's how we have this account here in the Gospel of Luke, that it was recorded there by Zacharias. What experience, what happened as the angel appeared to him? Verse 23. Verse 23.

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So it was as soon as the days of his service were completed that he departed to his own house. Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived and she hid herself five months saying, Thus the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among the people. What we see here is that God's will is fulfilled. Even though Zacharias didn't believe, God's will is fulfilled.

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Even though it is way past their normal physical ages of bearing children, God's will is fulfilled. God's will is accomplished. Whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not, whether it's normal or not, God's will is accomplished. Exactly the way that he has said. And it happened exactly the way that Gabriel said. Zacharias, he completes his week of service there. He goes back to his wife and says,

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She conceives. She's with child. She hides herself for five months. Perhaps, you know, just kind of marveling, reveling, is this really for real? Can't believe, it's unbelievable. And she declares there in verse 25, the Lord, thus the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked upon me to take away my reproach among the people. For Elizabeth, this is a big sigh of relief. My reproach is taken away. Basically, she says, God is so good to me.

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Not only because she will have a son, but also that there was purpose to these many years of barrenness. The purpose was so that they, Zacharias and Elizabeth, could be the parents of this incredibly special person in the kingdom of God. The greatest of all the prophets. You know, Elizabeth is in heaven now. And if you were able to talk to her and ask her, she would say, I'm glad the Lord did it the way he did.

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Through the many years, it was hard, it was tough. And she would have said, I'd rather do it any other way. I don't want it that way. But after it's all said and done, and she's in eternity with the Lord, she would say, I'm glad. I'm glad the Lord did it the way He did. It was worth it. It was worth the many years of difficulty and torment emotionally. It was worth it. When God's will is fulfilled, it's worth it.

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And so today as we look at this example of Zacharias and Elizabeth, again, the ultimate encouragement, sorry I forgot to put the final one on there, the ultimate encouragement for us is to keep on praying. Once again, your access to God is amazing.

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Don't take it lightly. Understand how incredible it is that Jesus has opened the veil and invited you to come in to the presence of God by faith in Him. Not by works. We don't get there by doing good or by being religious on the outside, but by believing in Jesus Christ and the finished work upon the cross, what He accomplished for us, paying the price and the penalty for our sin. He says by faith in Him, by believing that, we have access to God.

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Don't take it for granted. Take advantage of it. God commands you and invites you. You have this amazing access. Spend time, not moments, not seconds, not even minutes. Spend time in the presence of God. Get to know Him. Share with Him your own heart, your own struggles. Let Him speak to you and comfort you.

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Because God hears your prayer. He knows what's going on. He sees what's happening in your life. And He answers your prayer. It's just in His timing, which of course doesn't usually match up with our timing. But His will is fulfilled. And at the end, we'll be able to say, God, I'm glad you did it that way. It was worth it. You knew what you were doing. And as we pray, let's believe.

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Unbelief limits our participation. It doesn't limit the plan of God or the work of God. It limits our involvement. You remember the children of Israel? As they were out there in the wilderness and God was taking them into the promised land, they got right to the edge and they heard there's giants in the land and then they were filled with unbelief. And they didn't enter into the promised land. And so what did God do? He said, you are going to wander the wilderness until this whole generation dies.

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then the next generation, they're the ones I'll take into the promised land. And that's what happened. It didn't thwart the plan of God. God still brought the children of Israel into the promised land, but it limited their participation because they were there at the border and they said, we don't believe. And so they didn't get to partake. They didn't get to participate. We need to believe and trust God and act upon those things that He speaks to our hearts so that we can participate in His work. Let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, as we consider this example of Zacharias and Elizabeth, Lord, we all have our struggles. Lord, we all have the difficulties that we face. And so, Lord, we can relate. We understand a little bit of what it was like for Zacharias and Elizabeth. But I pray, God, that you would help us to be like them and that they were faithful to you even though life wasn't as they had expected or hoped. Lord, I pray that you would encourage us in this area of prayer. Lord, that we would...

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spend time with you in your presence. Lord, knowing and believing that our prayers are heard. God, that you will fulfill your will in your timing and according to your plan. So God, help us to trust in you and rest in you. And God, if there's any here who do not know you, Lord, although this access has been granted to us by Jesus, Lord, they've never entered into the presence of God. They've never been born again. They've never put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. God, I pray that you would speak to their hearts.

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Lord, that you would show them how much you love them, so much that you sent your Son to die upon the cross for our sins. Lord, I pray that you would bring them to salvation, help them to respond, to believe in you, and receive you as Savior and Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

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