Be Prepared

Introduction

If you have a Bible with you, you can open it to Luke chapter 1 and we will being reading in a moment starting at verse 5.

Pause

Pray for yourself

Let’s read Luke chapter 1 starting at verse 5

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Pray

The objective of the Advent season is to slow down and take time to think about Jesus. To think about and remember that he once came and that he His coming again.

In this Passage we see one man, who although loved and followed God, had a heart harden by difficult times and another man, not yet born, who’s calling would be to prepare the hearts of God’s people.

As we look at the story of these two men, I would like us all to see this main truth from this passage:

God prepares His peoples hearts for the coming of His son.

We all need to have our hearts prepared for the coming of Jesus, and we all need our hearts changed in different ways.

However, God prepares our hearts in different ways. There is not just one way that the God goes about doing preparing and changing our hearts.

With this in mind lets look to the passage and see how…

God prepares His peoples hearts for the coming of His son.

God prepares His peoples hearts by… Using difficult times Vv.5-7

In the opening we are told this simple fact that we can easily skipped over, we are told our story takes place in the days of Herod, king of Judea.

Luke, the author of this gospel, who is, as verse 3 says that he is writing to Theophilus an orderly account. Luke has taken time to make this accurate account of the life of Jesus to share with Theophilus, so that Theophilus might know all that he has been told about Jesus, what he knows about Jesus is true.

This means Luke doesn’t use ink to write wasted details. So when Luke tells Theophilus that Herod is King of Judea at the time that this story takes place, he is not just telling some random bit of trivia or simply time stamping the story. Luke is giving us the setting with this simple little line. And this is the setting:

It is a very dark time for God’s people. They no longer have their own king on the throne. The land that God promised and gave to them is no longer their own. The king on the throne is an evil man, known for killing his own sons and wives to keep his throne and power.

On top of all of this God’s people have not heard from God in over 400 years.

Why have the not heard from God in such a long time?

If we go back to the last book in the OT this how God’s priest, the men who were suppose to lead the people in worshiping God by offering sacrifices are described.

Malachi 1:6–8 (ESV)

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. But you say, ‘How have we despised your name?’ By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil?

They are doing evil. They are not worshipping God as he has told them to. They do not bring the first and best animals, they do not even bring the second best, but they bring what they themselves do not want.

So the setting is the darkest of times:

- God’s people do not have their land.

- They have a foreign and evil king ruling on the throne.

- And God has been silent for a long time because their hearts have been evil for even longer.

In this setting of the darkest of days we are introduced to a priest. A priest and his wife, who are not like these other priests, both, as verse 6 tells us "are righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statues”

These rare people in these dark days are experiencing there own dark time. v.7 tells us…

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This verse is saying they have no chid, and there are too old, humanly speaking to have one at their age.

In our culture today, not being able to have a child is a difficult experience to go through as a couple. Eager to have a children but not able to brings pain and sadness. For Elizabeth and Zechariah they must have felt this pain as well, but there was another level of difficulty from them in the culture. We get a glimpse of this down in verses 24- 25 when Elizabeth says this:

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Not having a child gave them reproach or disgrace, it gave them a bad reputation in their community. It is save to assume by the way Luke mentions that they were godly people, that their friends and family and neibrouhts did not think of them as godly because they had no children. We see in the gospels that the isrealiets had this idea that is a person had a disease or sickness ment someone must have sinned. So we can imagine the gossip around town about Zecahier and Elizabeth. People saying:

”they act so godly, but look they have no children, I wonder what they did to deserve that.”

This is not how God works to be clear. To be sure, these health troubles do show that we are sinners, that since Adam and Eve sinned that all of creation is under a curse until Jesus returns again for 2nd time.

However, to be sick doesn’t mean you have sinned and to be healthy doesn’t mean that you have not sinned. It is not a simple mathematical equation. And we see it here in this story.

An evil king rules and has power and sons. A godly couple cannot have children.

But God uses dark times to prepare the hearts of His people for the coming of His son.

We read earlier that the Angel told Zechariah that he would have a son. What we did not read is Zechariah’s response, which you can read later if you want, but he does not trust God’s message to him.

He asks how can he know this is true? In the dark times of his life Zechariah forgot the power of God. He forgot who was the true king over the world. He trusted and worshipped God enough to burn incense in the temple, but dark times hard harden his heart to believe God could give him a son. Just like God did for Abraham. Just like God did Naomi in a different way.

As you come into this Advent season, are you going through dark times?

Have you lost a loved one? Has your health been a struggle? Is your marriage difficult? Are you children or grandchildren not following God? Is your work a burden? Is your financial situation more than just tight?

Dark times can do two things. They can make us bitter or the can make us better. They can drive us away from Jesus, or drive us to Him. They can harden our hearts toward God, or cause our hearts to cling to him more.

Timothy Keller once said

The same sun that melts wax, hardens clay.

In other words, two people can go through the same dark time and one can come out of it more in love with Jesus, more ready for His coming and other person come out of it with their heart hardened towards Him.

May I encourage all of us as we go into this Advent season, to not let the darkness over our situtioants stop us from seeing the great light of Jesus. Jesus who came in the darkest of times to shine brightly as he lived among sinners so that he might die for their sins.

This same Jesus, who once came and was not overcome by the darkness is coming again and this time the darkness will be gone.

God does prepares His peoples hearts by using dark times.

Next, we see that…

God prepares His peoples hearts by… Using extraordinary events Vv.11-14

It is easy to forget in a world with the knowledge and technology that we have that God still does the extraordinary.

To be clear, I am not say we should all expect that an angel is coming to give us a message, but we should expect and look for God to do the extraordinary in our lives.

Are temptation, at least in the Western World is to explain the extraordinary away with science or wisdom or knowledge that we have.

But here is the simple truth, we not as smart as we think we are.

Job found this out directly from God. This is what God has to say to Job about his wisdom and knowledge

Job 38:1–7 ESV

Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

These verses tell us that God is much wiser than we are. He is much smarter than we are. And that is putting it lightly.

Isaiah 55:8–9 ESV

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God has a plan that he is doing, and all our explaining it away by science or any other knowledge does not change it.

In God’s plan:

- Old people have babies

-Men can walk on water

- The unhealable can be healed

- Dead people are raised to life

- And sinners are forgiven.

Are you trying to explain anything of these truths away today? Maybe you do not believe any of it true.

If you cannot believe the first 4 truths, you won’t be able to believe that last truth, that sinners can be forgiven, either.

If this is you, may I encourage you to stop trying to figure out how miracles happen, how the extraordinary happens and let it change your heart, let it humble you. Allow it to help you see that you are sinner who needs a miracle too, that you need a saviour who can do the extraordinary in saving you from you sins.

Christians, God is using the extraordinary in your life to prepare your heart for the coming of his son too. He started it when he saved you, and he will be doing it until he returns.

You may be wondering Why don’t we see the extraordinary? How come we miss it?

Note when this extraorinday event happened to Zechariah. Vv.8-9 say it happened in his day-to-day life as a priest doing what he was suppose to do.

Now I am not saying you should expect to see an angel appear at your school, or work place, or while shopping for tomatoes. It could happen, but I think we miss the extrodinaty today because it is so ordinary.

Do you ever think of the miracle it is that we have all come here this morning. That we have people who come from many different backgrounds, lots of different families, and different countries coming to one place for one purpose? This kind of stuff makes the news. It is these kind of events that moveies are bases on.

People with nothing in common gathering for one cause. The extraorinday happens in our orinday Sunday gathering, but we miss it because it is orinday.

I am sure if you took time this week you would be able to make a list of ways that God has prepared your heart, that he has changed your heart in unexplainable ways in your life.

So in this ordinary Advent season, keep an eye out for the extraordinary. And when the Boxing Day comes, keep looking, because God is using the extraordinary to prepare your heart for the coming of Jesus.

We have seen how God prepares His peoples hearts by…

using dark times and by using extraordinary events.

And finally we will now look at how…

God prepares His peoples hearts by… Using ordinary people Vv.15-17

You may think my point is not correct based on what these verses say about John…

- v.15 says that he will be great before the Lord

- v.16 says he will turn may of the children of Israel to the Lord their God

- v.17 says he..

read from turn

This doesnt sound like a ordinary man.

But Why can John do these things? Is it because John is great? It is because John is extraordinary?

No, John is ordinary, but he serves an extraordinary God.

- v.15 tells us John will be filled with the Holy Spirit

- v.17 tells us something similar in that the same power that was in Elijah would be in him.

God was going to use John, this ordinary man to prepare the hearts of many of God’s people so that when Jesus came, they would be ready for them.

As individual christians, in world with so much content at our fingertips we need to hear this.

With a click, we have access to many different resources of men and women who teach God’s word. We can buy a book and have it on a device in a matter of seconds. We can watch sermons. Listen to podcast. You name it. And using these resources are not wrong. In fact when we use them well they are great to us.

The problem can be we make these resources are only sources. We think that our devices can replace the local church.

Perhaps the problem is this. We think if someone has a platform, by this I mean the person has written a book, or that many people listen to them that you are extraordinary. But the truth is that they are not, like John they are orinday. They are a orinday person like the person who you shook hands with this morning. They are orinday like the person singing out of key behind you. They are odinray like the church members you do life with.

It is by oridany people that God will prepare our hearts for the coming of His son. So all means read great books, listen to great sermons online, but also meet with the person who smiles and says hi to you on Sunday. Have a coffee or tea with the person singing off key behind you. Because we all are orinday people, but if we have turned from our sins and trusted Jesus, then the Holy Spirit lives in us too and God can use them or use you to help prepare hearts for when Jesus comes back.

Let’s pray.

God, help make our hearts eagarly anticapte the return of your son Jesus. May you use your means by your Holy Spirit to chnage our hearts from worry to hope. From sorrow to joy. From apathy to excitement. From seeking comfort to seeking our king.

And in all of this may your name be glorified.