Too Good to Be True?

Introduction

Good morning please open in your Bibles to the book of Luke chapter 1 that is Luke Chapter 1. If you are using one of the Bibles scattered throughout the chairs the passage is on page 803 that is page 803.

In the first four verses of Luke we read Luke 1:1–4 “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” So, Luke writes this book for man named Theophilus who has been taught things that would coincide with the contents of this book. That is Theophilus has been taught about the life, death, and resurrection of a man named Jesus. And many others have taken on the task of compiling a narrative or an account of Jesus and his life. These people were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, this refers to the 12 apostles and the other followers of Jesus, and books like Mark and Matthew. Luke’s Gospel at many times quotes these Gospel accounts word for word. Luke himself, was not an eyewitness to the life of Jesus, but rather he was a man who met with these eyewitnesses, read their accounts or narratives about the life of Jesus (like Mark and Matthew), and now he wants to compile an orderly account of the details of Jesus’ life in order that Theophilus would have certainty about the teachings his has heard about Jesus. The teachings that Jesus was the Son of God, the promised Messiah and King sent to deliver God’s people from sin, Jesus lived a perfect life, died on the cross for the sins of man, and rose from the dead, and that through faith or belief in Jesus you can become a child of God and be saved from your sins. These details are what we call the Gospel, or the Good News about Jesus. It is what you and I are called to believe today, and through this book I believe we can all grow in our certainty of these things as well.

We are to have faith in Jesus, that is to say we are to be certain of the legitimacy of Jesus’ claims to be Son of God who lived, died and rose again for sinners like us. And what is so interesting is that the opening episode of a book meant to provide certainty Luke tells us story about a righteous man who is told really good news and he doesn’t believe it. Zechariah, our main character in today’s passage, is given good news about a son that will born to him. And when the word good news is used, it is the same word that the translate as gospel, Zechariah’s response is “How shall I know this?” In other words how can I be certain about this good news. Luke’s opener in a book about certainty is a true story about a good man that lacked certainty. What is Luke trying to tell us? Aren’t the good and holy men supposed to do the good and holy things. Certainly, the priests Zechariah isn’t going to struggle with faith? Yet, he does. And my guess is, that you are like Zechariah from time to time. You are like Theophilus, you have heard things about Jesus and been taught good Christian teaching, but every now and then we ask, “How shall I know this?” How can I be certain? Maybe the good news about Jesus just seems to be a little too good to be true. Let’s read Luke 1:5-25 together this morning.

God’s Providential Work v. 5-7

Faith is an interesting thing because we obtain it by a mysterious combination of supernatural and natural means. Here is what I mean by that, faith is a gift from God. The experience of being born again, converting to Christianity, is a supernatural one. God must reveal Himself to the sinner. But God chooses to do this through natural means. Faith is a gift from God, but it is a gift given through hearing the word of God. God uses ordinary people like me and you to tell people about Jesus. He uses an ordinary method to disclose Himself to humanity through the written word. Luke writing an orderly account of historic events is not in of itself supernatural. Yet, there is something supernatural about God’s word. As we investigate these ordinary means, we encounter an extraordinary God. The Bible is a powerful book, it is a book that changes the reader in a profound way. Its words, the history it records, its wisdom, changes the reader supernaturally as the reader does a natural thing like read. And so, we come to this text today and I want to ask what increases our faith? What gives us certainty? What are the building blocks of certainty? And as we look at the text with natural eyes and I pray that God will supernaturally reveal himself to us, that our faith will increase.

So, this episode in the Gospel of Luke opens and we are told of a priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. They are both righteous before God and walk blamelessly before. They obey His commands and live a God-pleasing life. Yet, there is a problem. They have no children for Elizabeth is barren. She is unable to have children, and it gets worse. They are advanced in years… They haven’t had any children and they are just getting older. As we read about Zechariah and Elizabeth we are reminded about another couple in the Old Testament who could not have children. Abraham and Sarah. Abraham is considered the father of Israel. It is through him that God eventually brought about the 12 tribes of Israel and an entire nation. God promises to Abraham in Genesis 12 that he will make Abraham a great nation and then in Genesis 15 God promises give Abraham more descendents than there are stars in the sky. However, though makes this promise to Abraham there is a problem. His wife Sarah is like Elizabeth. She is barren and able to have children. And years about God makes his promise to Abraham they are still childless, and Abraham and Sarah are also getting old. God has make a promise and time is running out.

God renews his covenant with Abraham and Abraham Genesis 15:6 “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” Abraham and Sarah are barren, old, and righteous. Zechariah and Elizabeth are barren, old, and righteous. And it is here that the Lord says, I got ‘em just where I want ‘em. The reader of the Old Testament would hear of a couple struggling to conceive and think, I know what happens next. You see, Abraham and Sarah have son named Isaac. Rebecca is woman without children and she has twins Esau and Jacob. Rachel can’t conceive and after Jacob has 10 sons with three other women, Rachel bears the 11th and 12th sons Joesph and Benjamin. Hannah cries in the temple for a son and God gives her Samuel. There is theme in the Old Testament of barren women who pray to the Lord and God hears their prayers. We read this episode in Luke and we should get that feeling of anticipation. We know what is going to happen next, the barren one is going to conceive. And God is going to show up, at the 11th hour. It’s going to work out.

Now, while we read a short story like this we can see where this going, but that isn’t true for Zechariah and Elizabeth. When you take a big step back and when you are an outside observer it is easy to see that God has them right where he wants them. We read the story and get giddy because we know that a baby is coming! And if it is like the OT this baby is going to do something great for God’s kingdom. The problem is when you and I are in the middle of barreness. It is a lot easier to have faith reading the story, it is a lot harder to have faith when you are living the story. When you want children and you are barren, and you are just getting older. Perhaps your struggle is not “barreness” isn’t literal children, but there is something you want that is a good thing but God has chosen to withhold it from you. You have prayed and prayed, but there is no answer. And I want you know as hard as it is, God has you, just where he wants you. This season of barreness of God withholding a good thing is a part of His providential work. You are to continue in faith, you are to continue to be certain that God is good.

Certainity, faith, is not built upon circumstance. Faith is built upon a trust in God’s providence. Faith is not built on circumstance. Faith is build on Providence. God has a plan for your life. You might be barren and advanced in years, but God has you just where he wants you. There can be in your life anticipation that God is going to show up. He is going to use you for His glory. I don’t know what God will or will not do in your life, but I know he will everything for something better and sometimes we get to see that in this life and sometimes we do not. Brittany and I planned to have three biological children and then adopt 1 child to give us for kids. And then barreness struck, it was dark and hard season for us. Years of prayer and no baby. So, God through a means we did not expect brought us not one but two adopted children. And in His kindness has brought two biological children as well. God has a plan for your life, and His plan is better than what you can imagine. Even if it takes you through a season of barreness or unanswered prayer. Even in this, remember God has you just where he wants you.

T/S- God works in our lives providentially and he also works miraculously.

God’s Miraclous Work v. 8-17

Zechariah is selected through the casting of lots to burn incense in the Holy place of the temple. The Jewish Temple was constructed in that in it were the holy place and the holy of holies. Only priest could enter into the holy place and only the high priest could enter the holy of holies and he could only do this once a year. In this holy of holies the ark of the covenant, which contained various holy items sat. It was here that God would dwell in the midst of the people. Still separated by a curtain and the holy place. In the holy place there was the altar for incense which would be burnt as a perpetual offering unto the Lord. Twice a day (morning and night) a priest would go into this space and perform this ritual. It was great honor and only those who had never done it before were eligible to do it. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Two priest would typically enter into the holy place to burn the incense while the people would stand outside and pray and worship the Lord.

It is during this event that an angel appeared before Zechariah. He was probably not alone in the Holy place, but it does seem he was the only one who could see the angel. Something similar happened to Paul on the road to Damascus in Acts 9:7 “The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.” The angel appears and he is standing on the right side of the altar of incense. The Holy of Holies is the place where God dwelt, and here the angle stands at God’s right side, a place of prestige and power. It shows us the significance of this angel, this holy messenger in front a holy priests in a holy place. And Zechariah sees the angel and he is greatly troubled and afraid. Mary, when she meets this angel, will also be troubled and afraid. And so the angel says to Zechariah Luke 1:13–17 “But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will 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 for the Lord a people prepared.”” This is an incredible moment, these are not normal circumstances. This a miraculous moment in 3 ways.

First, an angel appears before Zechariah. Even in the Bible this is not something that happens all of the time. It does happen in other passages of Scripture, but it is not a normative experience. The birth of John precedes a more miraclous birth, the birth of Jesus. The angel will appear to Mary, the mother of Jesus as well. And in Matthew’s Gospel an angel will appear to Joseph the fiancée of Mary and earthly father of Jesus. The event is show shocking that Zechariah is troubled, the word used here means thrown into turmoil. He is deeply afraid as he encounters the angelic being.

Second, the angel announces a miracloulus healing that will happen. Elizabeth, an old barren woman, is going to conceive. She has never been able to do this, and we don’t know her precise problem, but at the announcement of this angel Elizabeth is going to be able to conceive. It is clear that God is at work here. It not a coincidence, but rather a direct answer to the prayer of Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth.

Third, a 400 year old prophecy is going to be fulfilled. In Malachi 3:1 ““Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” The my messenger in Malachi is the John we are reading about. He will come to prepare the way for Jesus, the messenger of the covenant. And in Malachi 4:5–6 ““Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”” there is striking similarity between Malachi 4:5-6 and Luke 1:16-17. This is a miracle!

I remember meeting with a young man who was new to much of what the Bible had to say. We started to study the Gospel of John together and we started talking about John the Baptist and I told him about this prophecy. He was really amazed. He was genuinely in awe of the reality that there was a prophecy made in the Old Testament that was later fulfilled in the New Testament. I sometimes miss being in awe of things I have grown too familiar with. This is the unstated danger of the Christmas story and the annual celebration of it. Our hearts can grow accustomed to the miraclous work of God. That is a sad thing. For many of you, you have heard this story over and over again and so unfortunately it has lost its wonder. We fail to stand in awe of the God who reveals himself through angels, who opens wombs, and who keeps all His promises. We serve a God who is total of control of every baby born and the entire course of human history. A God who works through the casting of lots, answered prayer, and a fulfilled prophecy. And in our lack of awe, we also lack faith. The old stories don’t strike us like they use to and perhaps God himself does not strike us like he used to.

We serve a fearsome God, and if one of his holy messengers appeared before you, you would be terrified. And that fear is a good thing. It is a more fearful thing to lose our awe of God. Malachi’s audience lost their awe of God. And listen to what he said Malachi 2:3–5 “Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the Lord of hosts. My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name.” Do you stand in awe of the name of God. Do you remember that you serve the God of miracles? Faith is not something we muster up, it is the reflect of being awe. We have faith in God when the curtain is pulled back and we see Him for who He is! If your faith has gone cold this morning, don’t look into yourself to conjure up faith. Rather look outside of yourself and into God’s Word and behold the God of miracles. Don’t look to your subjective and ever changing feelings about God, look to the objective and miraclous works of God! The God who rules the angels, opens the womb, and always keeps his Word, even words spoken hundreds of years before.

T/S- As we look to God and his work we come face to face with this reality. Even good men like Zechariah doubt, but God is still gracious.

God’s Gracious Work v. 13-25

Zechariah is told to call his child John. John, in Hebrew, means God is gracious. And this child who will come as a work of grace to a barren couple will bring them joy and gladness. This old couple will rejoice at his birth and he will be great before the Lord. John will come to prepare the way for Jesus and his work will make way for the work of grace that Christ will do. The reference to John not drinking wine or strong drink might be a reference to a nazarite vow, though others parts of the vow are not explicit in the text. I think it best to see that John as a son of a priest is going to do a priestly work. Leviticus 10:9 ““Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.” The priest could not be drunk when performing their work before the Lord. John’s life’s work will be priestly is that he is preparing the people for the arrival of the Messiah. A great King is coming and John will be his herald who will go before Him and announce his impending arrival. John will mediate between Jesus and the people by preaching a baptism of repentance in order to prepare their hearts to receive Christ as King. He will do this with the spirit and power of Elijah, the great prophet that God used to defeat the prophets of Baal as Elijah called down fire from heaven. John’s ministry would be effective as he is used to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and disobedient would become wise. He would prepare a people for the work of Christ. He would make way for God’s grace.

And Zechariah hears this news and he doubts. Luke 1:18 “….“How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”” Now it doesn’t seem like Gabriel is very gracious with Zechariah because he tells Zechariah that he won’t be able to speak until these things take place because he does not believe the words from Gabriel. So, Zechariah has to come out from the holy place and stand before the people where he is supposed to speak pronounce the Aaronic blessing in front of all the people Numbers 6:24–26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” . While all this is going on in the Holy Place the people are outside and don’t know what is taking Zechariah so long. They want to hear this blessing and he emerges and he is unable to speak. And they realize he has seen a vision, but it doesn’t seem like he can explain what has happened. God uses the silence of Zechariah to announce the messenger who will come and prepare the way of the Lord. Its the weakness or inability to speak that highlights the strength of God. His unbelief and subsequent silence makes for a dramatic announcement regarding the grace that will come.

He goes home and Elizabeth conceives. For 5 months she keeps herself hidden, like the news just too good to share. and says, Luke 1:25 ““Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”” This is what grace does, it takes away our reproach. Elizabeth was reproached because her inability to conceive. And God took away her reproach through a son named, God is gracious. When John is born and Elizabeth wants to name him, her relatives what to name him Zechariah after his father. John is not a family name, so they ask Zechariah who cannot speak and he asks for a writing tablet and he writes, His name is John. And the text says immediately he was able to speak and Zechariah blessed God.

He sees this angel and is afraid. He is told this really good news about this son he will have and he is instructed to name Him John. His doubt results in being mute, and when asked what do you want to name your son, writes His name is John. The boy is named grace. And Grace takes away the reproach of his mother, brings joy and gladness, turns the hearts of fathers to their children, the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and prepares the way of the King of Glory. Make no mistake grace is powerful, and it by grace that we are given faith and certainty.

Conclusion

What are the building blocks of faith? When our faith is waning and we need help to fight our unbelief, where do we go? We look to God who works providentially for our good. We remember that He has a plan and even when it looks like things are not going the way they should we remember he has us just where he wants us. We remember that we serve the God of miracles who often waits until the 11th hour to miraculously provide. Nothing is outside of his power and He will keep His word in His timing. And we remember that we serve the God of grace in his grace removes our reproach, prepares our hearts to receive him, and He our God is the greatest cause for joy and gladness. Let’s pray.