What to Do With God's Promises

2023 SBBC

Luke 1:5-20 and 1:34-38

What will I do with God’s Promises?

5 – Herod – “Herod the Great” - (Was deemed/declared “King of the Jews by Marc Anthony and Octavian/Augustus)Was a puppet king under the authority of the Roman Empire. He was one of the cruelest rulers of all of history. He murdered family members that got in his way or threatened his rule… what may have been “great” about him was his building projects only.

This is who would order the slaughter of innocent babies 2 years of age and younger after the wise men did not come back to report to Herod.

It was said that Herod executed a large group of people on the day of his death, so that people would mourn on the day of his death.

These were the days… in which they lived. And these were the days in which Zach and Elizabeth remained faithful. The darkest days reveal what’s in our heart… it reveals if we have light. It will reveal the faith that we have. And we see here that this couple remained faithful during these dark days… they remained faithful as the years would go by and prayers remained unanswered… they remained childless.

Is it possible to be faithful and to experience great hardship, and unanswered prayer?

Yes - They were faithful to God, but not everything went their way. It was a disgrace for Hebrew women to not have children. But, even in disgrace… they both lived and walked by God’s grace.

Zach was a priest and Elizabeth was a home maker, and it fell on Zach to burn incense this day. Zach drew straws, as it were, to see who would do what… and it fell on him to serve at the golden alter (the place of prayer in the temple). So, he went in at evening worship to do this and to pray… and it is here that that something remarkable happens…

“Yea, an angel speaks to Zach… I get it…” No, no, no… much more happens here. What?

God breaks a 400 year silence that existed between Malachi and this verse. God ended with Malachi with a promise that He would send the people an Elijah before the day of the Lord. He would come to do a work before the Christ… to clear the way… and then the Lord, the messenger of the covenant will come to His temple… and you will see Him.

And then there was 400 years that were identified as the “silent years,” because there are no records of God speaking to or through prophets to communicate His word to anyone.

But… here we are in Luke 1… and the silence has been broken… and the promise is here and now… which leads me to point out this remarkable detail… coincidence or not… you let me know…

After 400 years of silence, many would have thought that God’s promise had failed. But, God puts together Zach and Elizabeth for such a time as this to fulfill God’s prophecy… and when you put their names together… their names mean “God remembers His oath.” How about that? Coincidence?! No!

Many people probably fell away waiting for God. Many people gave up. Many people forgot God’s promises… But God… He never forgets. (God remembered Noah, Abraham, Moses and David)

God remembers you.

Zach thought that God had forgotten him and his prayers. He and his wife had been praying for so long, and maybe others had been praying for the same thing… but eventually… Zach gave up hope…

Now, it is possible that Zach was praying for a child right here and now, because the translations read “your prayer has been heard,” or “your prayer is heard.”

We sometimes pray and don’t believe that God will give what we are praying for. Is that how we pray? Why do we pray if we do not expect God to move or to answer our petitions? That may be why our prayer lives are apathetic and dead… that may be why we do not pray without ceasing and lean on God as we should… because… in the end, we really don’t believe that God hears and answers…

May God deliver us from this lie, deception and spiritual sickness. Because… God will answer prayers…

What happens next? Gabriel (the one out of the two angels named in the Bible, who stands before God as His messenger, appearing to Daniel in the Old Testament), gives the promise: “You will have a son, and He will be filled with the Spirit; he will go in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way… and this is how you are to raise him… like a Nazarite… He is not to find his joy in the bottle but in the Spirit of God…

(commercial) That is where we find our joy, in the Spirit of God and not in the bottle (Ephesians 5:18). There are a lot of babies in bars today trying to find joy in the bottom of the bottle, but everlasting joy will only be found in being filled with the Spirit of God. (end of commercial)

So… Zach hears and receives the promise… and what does he do? He doesn’t believe the promise… Zach is very human just like us here, isn’t he??? He is just like us sometimes when we hear the promises of God and read the promises of God. And he says… “how can this be?”

“This is impossible; this is too big for God…” Sounds like many today…

“God is not powerful enough, strong enough… God cannot create everything out of nothing… He cannot make man out of dust into His image. God cannot hold this world together and work through all the chaos. God cannot produce redemption through all this mess. God cannot produce a Christ through a lineage of sinful humanity. God cannot make a baby in a virgin. God cannot become a man and die on a cross for humanity and forgive sins. God cannot raise the dead.”

“How can this be? This is impossible…”

What did Zach do with that promise? Brothers and sisters… we have received promises… what are we going to do with these promises? What do we do with God’s promises. What will we do with God’s promises? Let’s be sure to examine ourselves before we criticize Zach…

We see here next that Zach is disciplined for his unbelief. What happens? He is made a mute.

It is quite possible that Elizabeth’s prayers are now being answered… hahah…

But to drive a point: Maybe God has not made you a mute because of your unbelief… but let me ask this… does your unbelief keep you from talking about Jesus? Does unbelief keep you silent? Is that the reason why you don’t discuss God and His Word… because the reality is… you don’t believe it.

When Zach came to believe, and in faith, wrote out John’s name for all others to see… his mouth was opened. I believe that when our faith becomes real… our mouths will be opened as well.

What will we do with the promises of God?

Well, we can either do what Zach did, or… we can do what Mary did? (Read verses 34-38)

Do we see and hear the differences of responses? We have two promises and two different responses…

And we will find ourselves in one of the two.

But this is where I want to be… this is where I want to camp… and this is what I want my response to be as I live by faith before God…

Verse 37 – Nothing is impossible for God.

Verse 38 – Behold your servant! Let it be as you have said…

Two promises. Two responses. What is your response today?