“Why the Praise of God is Appropriate” Part #1

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Good Morning, would you turn in your Bible with me to Luke chapter 1. Let me begin by asking you what are you excited about? What one thing do you find that you like to talk about? Often times the things that come bursting out of our lips are the things that we are most excited about.
-For some of you, you love to talk about your children.
-For others you love to talk about the places you have traveled.
-Maybe you find that you love to talk about the things you are learning.
-The point is that there are many things that come bursting our of our hearts and minds and through our mouths that we are excited about.
The title of our message this morning is, “Why the Praise of God is Appropriate.” Zachariah is is so excited that what comes bursting out of his mouth is a praise song to his God. Of course Zechariah was praising God for the events that had just taken place. What events are those? Well we need to go back nine months earlier to understand everything. We know that the angel Gabriel came to him as he was ministering in the temple and told him that his prayers had not only been heard, but they would be answered by giving Zechariah and Elizabeth a son. However Zechariah had a lack of faith that this could be true and was unable to speak during this time. So, eight days after Elizabeth delivers her son, Zechariah was asked what the child’s name was to be and he wrote down his name is to be John. At once Luke tells us his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed and he spoke, blessing God. Zechariah’s song of prophecy was spoken under the guidance given to him through the Holy Spirit.
Luke 1:67 ESV
67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
* There are 2 brief things that we need to mention here before we move on. In Israel’s past as well as in the early church in Acts, the filling of the Holy Spirit was often for the purpose of prophecy.
-So, first of all what does it mean to be filled by the Spirt? Being filled by the Holy Spirit is to live in the consciousness of the the personal presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, as if we were standing next to Him, and too let His mind dominate our life. It is to fill our hearts and minds on God’s Word, so that His thoughts will be our thoughts, and His standards our standards, His work our work, and His will our will. Being filled by the Holy Spirit is not some emotional experience that causes us to be out of control; rather it is a giving over to the Spirit’s control.
-Second, what is prophecy? Prophecy is a proclamation of the truth. It is a message from God to the people. So, prophecy means to tell the truth. The content of prophecy may be given through the past, present, or future. Whenever a servant of God faithfully and accurately proclaims God’s word whether that be a word of condemnation, reproof, command, admonition, he prophesies.
Another name given here to Zechariah’s song of prophecy is the Benedictus which comes from the Latin meaning, “To Bless the Lord, the God of Israel.”
It is important for us to see today that Zechariah is praising God for having provided salvation for his people in fulfilment of prophecy and the covenant that he gave to Abraham.
Zechariah’s song begins with praise, and then turns to show us the reasons for glorifying God. To give praise to God Zechariah uses the psalms to show us.
Psalm 41:13 ESV
13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.
Psalm 72:18–19 ESV
18 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. 19 Blessed be his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and Amen!

What was the reason that Zechariah could bless or praise God?

Luke 1:68–69 ESV
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people 69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,

1. God visited His people.

Commentator William Hendrickson says here about verse 68, that God looked after His people. Zechariah begins his song by praising God for his concern and saving intervention for His people. The actual Greek verb here that is translated “visited” is the noun (episkopos) this word is translated into English as bishop. It is the word we translate into scope. The scope is something we look through. We may think about the word vision and the word visit.
We are told in 1 Peter 2:25 that as we return to the Lord, Jesus is the Shepherd and Overseer (Bishop) of our souls.
My point here is that often times in our world today we have a supervisor or boss who is the one who looks at the things we do. He or she looks deeply and carefully over our work to see that every single detail is getting done. Ultimately we have a supreme bishop in God, who is watching over us and observing everyday and every moment over everything in our world. How do we know this? Jesus tells us this in Matthew chapter 10.
Matthew 10:29–30 ESV
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
In the Old Testament God would often visit with His people either through a wonderful and redemptive way or even through His judgment. The people of God in the Old Testament looked forward to the promised day of the Lord. They knew that in a future day God would come and redeem His people, bringing peace and justice and would redeem them from their enemies. The ultimate visit from on high was when Christ stepped down out of heaven and entered into this world.
How many times have we as God saints felt the absence of God? Maybe you have recently wondered where God is because you don’t sense the Lord’s nearness. There is a great story told about Martin Luther at Worms, the night before his trial, Praying and crying out: “God, where are you? Send me your help. I need you. He said God this is not my cause, this is your cause. This cause is yours, and I am yours.” Luther prayed that the next day God would visit him and give him strength. The next morning as he stood trial and his life hang in the balance the Lord God who is omnipotent visited with Luther and upheld him.
On 17 April 1521, he was asked if the books, whose titles had been read aloud by the council were his and whether he would stand by their contents – some of which was considered heretical and a threat to the Church's authority – or recant. If he chose to recant and repent of the works, he could be welcomed back into the Church; if he refused, he would be branded a heretic and could be burned at the stake.
His response, “Here I stand I cannot do otherwise.”
God graciously visited Zechariah and Elizabeth, and he was about to visit the whole nation with the birth of His Son Jesus. This is why Zechariah could sing, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed His people.

2. God redeems His people.

Luke goes on here to tells us through Zechariah’s song about God’s redemption. The idea of redemption runs throughout Scripture. One of the highlights of God’s redemption in the Old Testament is how He delivers His people from enslavement in Egypt and brings them to the Promise Land. In Luke chapter 24 we see the expectation Jesus’ followers had that he would do a similar work of freeing God’s people.
Luke 24:21 ESV
21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.
The redemption that we see in verse 68 involves not only the coming of the Messiah who is known as the “horn of salvation,” but also what Jesus did on the cross for our sin. Jesus Christ paid a price to Redeem us by the shedding of His blood. Again, think about why Zechariah could sing, Blessed by the Lord God of Israel, he had visited and redeemed His people. If you are a believer today you can praise God for he has redeemed you.

3. God raised up salvation for us.

Luke 1:69 ESV
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,
In this hymn of praise Zechariah is not just praising God for giving him a Son even though this was truly a miracle, he is extolling or praising the greatness of God’s Messiah whom God is raising up in this very moment of history through the house of David.
The image of the horn here refers to those beasts of the earth that use their horns in battle. It is a symbol of strength. In Jewish imagery, one such animal that we see again and again in Scripture is the ox. We use to have this saying, “that person is as strong as an ox.” Here Luke records the description of the Messiah as having the horn of salvation. In other words, Jesus comes in His Messianic office with great strength, a strength that cannot be overcome by any thing or anyone including Satan and his demons. And Christ comes in the house of His servant David. Of course Zechariah is praising God for his son John that the Lord has given him, but here in this particular part Zechariah is praising God for His Son the Messiah, who was to come. Luke also mentions here that this news about the Messiah was not new, but rather it was spoken of by the mouth of God’s holy prophets from of old. The prophecy of the coming of the Messiah really began with Adam and Eve and the curse on the serpent, whose seed would be crushed by the Seed of the Woman. Moses, David, Isaiah and the prophets again and again told of the gospel promise of the coming Messiah who would bring redemption with Him.
We live in a world today that has rejected Christ. They are constantly rejecting His righteous rules and the truth He stands for. Luke wrote about this exact thing in Acts.
Acts 4:11–12 ESV
11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
If you are here today and have rejecting Christ or are running from Him will you turn back to Him? Will you fully surrender you heart to Him? There is salvation in no one else. Call out to Christ today and know that you can be forgiven, no matter your past, no matter your sin Jesus can and will save you. If you are a believer today may we everyday give praise to God for His good and mighty salvation.

4. God rescues us from our enemies.

Luke 1:71 ESV
71 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;
Luke 1:74 ESV
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear,
Here in verse 71 and down in verse 74 we see the mention of God not only saving us from our enemies but also delivering us from the enemy. Throughout the Old Testament we see how God did in fact deliver the Israelites from their enemies. Over and over again God delivered His people from the hand of Pharoah, from the Cannanites, the Medianites, the Philistines and other foreign nations. The picture of God taking Israel out of their enslavement in Egypt and into the promise land is a very helpful understanding of this. The news of young David defeating the Philistine Army and killing the giant Goliath in another.
God charged His people to remember His deliverance. So, why would He do this? To calm their fears and help them to trust in the One true God of this earth. Yahweh. Listen to what the Lord tells his people in Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 7:18 ESV
18 you shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt,
God’s people were to remember His covenant mercy not only as a picture of His power but also as an act of His wonderful love and affection. God is a God of truth and He is faithful and steadfast
But this reference here is not simply a promise that God will deliver Israel from all of their personal enemies like Egypt or the Roman oppression they faced during this time. Rather what we do see here is that the ultimate enemy will be crushed by the horn of salvation. Jesus has once and for all crushed Satan, the prince of darkness and all of his demons once and for all when He died on the cross and rose from the grave. The death and darkness and disease of the Devil puts a shadow over the joy of human life, however all of these enemies have been conquered by the Messiah who is from the house of David.
You may be here today dealing with doubt, wondering how the Lord will help you defeat the enemy? I want to encourage you today by helping you to see how God encourages us by calling your attention to God’s Works.
Isaiah 50:2 ESV
2 Why, when I came, was there no man; why, when I called, was there no one to answer? Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, by my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a desert; their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst.
God reminds us of His works once again today because we so easily forget everything He has done. God visits us, He redeems us, He saves us, and He has once and for all delivered you from the enemy. Will you trust in Him today?

5. God Keeps His promises.

Luke 1:72 ESV
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant,
So, why is the praise of God appropriate? Because God shows us his mercy and by this He keeps His promises. Think back through the history of God’s Word. Review the history of God’s redemptive project. As God brought about His people through Abraham and then through the Exodus and even these events related to Zechariah, Elizabeth and of course Mary the mother of Christ we see how God was merciful and kept His promises to His people. Notice that this is the same thing that Mary focused on in her praise song when she said that God had remembered the promise that He had made to our father Abraham.
God has rescued His people by showing them mercy, by giving us His one and only Son. God not only kept his promise to His people, but He keeps His promise to us today. How is that you may ask?
Romans 10:9–13 ESV
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
If you call out to the Lord today you can be assured of this promise, you will be saved.
(Close in Prayer and Lead into Communion)
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