When God Speaks, His People Must Listen (2025)

Introduction

When God speaks, we should listen.

It’s easy to agree with that statement when we are at church on Sunday morning, or when the preacher says it.

But let’s face it, even good, spiritually mature people can, at times, lack the faith to believe what God says and act on that faith.

For example:

God says: “Go and make disciples of all nations,” but how many of us have talked to a non-believer about Jesus this year?

God says: “Teach those new believers to observe all I have commanded,” but church attendance numbers have declined in most churches over the last twenty years.

God says: “I am with you until the end of the age,” but so many are unwilling to try big things that take great faith because we are worried about failing.

Again, when God speaks, His people ought to listen.

This morning we are going to see what happened with Zechariah, the priest we met in 1:5-25.

Zechariah was a good man. In fact, if he was in our church we would see him as one of the examples we all wanted to follow.

But, like all of us, he made a mistake and allowed disbelief to creep into his life, when his response to the Lord should have been to praise God and trust Him, in spite of something that seemed impossible.

We will see that Zechariah learned his lesson, and from that see that we can also turn things around when we are lacking faith.

Additionally, like Zechariah learned, we will see that God has a calling for each one of us, that we might serve Him fully.

Body

Verses 57-66

The child is born, as promised. And as was laid out in the OT for the Jews, he would be circumcised in the Temple on his eight day of life.

It was not stated in Jewish law that the child wouldn’t be named until then, but some believe it had become a custom.

Either way, it’s at the naming that the controversy arises.

The issue: well meaning friends and family believed that the child should be named after his father, Zechariah.

Possibly in honor of him, especially since the “tragedy” of his muteness.

But Elizabeth says that his name is to be John, obviously having communicated with Zechariah the angel Gabriel’s visitation about their son.

When they can’t convince Elizabeth, they decide to try to appeal to Zechariah.

Good to know meddling in-laws are not a recent discovery!

There is a lesson here: Sometimes in life, well meaning people will give us bad advice from human logic…

That’s why we must always begin with: “But, what does God say?”

However, Zechariah lets them know that his name is John, end of story!

With that Zechariah shows that the intended lesson has been learned.

God gave him 9 months of silence to consider whether he was going to really trust God or not…lesson learned!

In fact, the first words out of Zechariah’s mouth are shared in this praise song below.

Verses 67-75

This song is more than just a song, it’s a prophecy as well.

We can see three distinct parts within it, this first that I just read is all about praising God.

Once again we find someone being filled with the Spirit, which leads to a Spirit-filled response of worship.

This is the expected result for God’s people…see Eph. 5:18-21

Ephesians 5:18–21 ESV

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

One of my favorite things about this story is this: After finishing his work within the Temple, Zechariah was supposed to utter a benediction. But he was struck mute and could not.

So it’s fitting that he fulfills that which he couldn’t do earlier now, giving this incredible benediction & prophecy.

In these verses Zechariah offers praise to God for His faithfulness to Israel through the promises of old.

What He has done:

Visited and redeemed His people.

God is the God who throughout history has saved His people.

But realize that God’s people are not rescued without a cost.

To redeem something means it cost you something.

Nothing would ever cost more than what God would do to redeem His people to Himself!

Why He has done this:

So His people would serve Him without fear.

Without fear of what?

For the Jewish people their history is rife with threats against them; from the beginnings with Abraham throughout their entire history, even to today.

In Zechariah’s context, the fear tie back to the reign of Antiochus IV, the Seleucid king who persecuted the Jews during the intertestamental time (leading to the Maccabean Revolt). But also the Romans, who were now the foreign oppressors of the Jewish people.

Remember, it would be about seventy years after this time that the Roman military under Titus would brutally crush the Jewish Revolt, leading to the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple and the killing of tens of thousands of people.

Tensions were always high throughout Israel as their hatred for the Romans and the Roman’s hatred for them was palpable.

In that context, the average person probably spent a lot of time in fear, never knowing what spark might ignite the powder keg and start open warfare with the most powerful military force the world had ever known at the time.

So, living in fear was likely a common experience for the people of Zechariah’s time.

But, Zechariah foresaw a time when God’s people would not have to live in fear as they did in his day. When, instead, they could serve Him without the constant fear of annihilation.

Today, as God’s people we live in a context much more like what Zechariah foresaw. But, are we living like people who are free to serve God, or a people who are free to serve ourselves?

Historically speaking, God’s people have typically lived in fear because they or their forefathers served themselves and stopped serving God!

So His people could live holy and righteous lives.

It’s important to distinguish our faith from simple behaviorism.

Behaviorism is the idea that if we stop doing certain behaviors a more agreeable outcome will eventually result, but if we continue to do wrong things, bad things will follow.

This is sometimes true in life. But, our standing with God has little to do with behaviorism.

As His people, we can only live holy and righteous lives if His Holy Spirit is at work in our lives.

And we cannot, by our own efforts, become spiritually holy or righteous before God. This is why the Gospel is fundamental to our faith.

It is only through gifted holiness and gifted righteousness that we can be spiritually right with God.

But that same gifting also enables us to live holy and righteous lives, through surrendering to the moving of the Holy Spirit and applying God’s Word to our lives.

Simply stated: God made a way and we respond in obedience.

So, to summarize, Zechariah’s benediction points out that God has visited and redeemed His people so they could serve Him without fear and they could live holy and righteous lives.

This was true in the past, was true in the presence with the birth of not only John, but Mary’s baby especially. And, it continues to be true in our day.

God visits and redeems us so we can serve Him without fear and live holy and righteous lives that bring glory to Him.

Verses 76-79

In this section we see the two other focuses within this song:

A prophecy about his son, John;

A prophecy about the Messiah, the one John was to go before.

Zechariah can now reveal to all that John will fulfill the Lord’s will in this way:

John will be a prophet;

Meaning he will boldly proclaim the words to the Lord to the people.

John will be the precursor to the Messiah;

John would do many important things, but his most important calling was to point others to Christ Jesus.

John will show people how to be saved from their sins;

Not by John or his baptism, but by the work of God through Jesus Christ, who would bring light into a dark world!

Forgiveness of sins is at the heart of salvation. God saves sinners from eternal separation from Him in hell by atoning for and forgiving their sins.

Romans 5:6–9 (ESV)

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

So What?

This morning we’ve seen that God visited and redeemed His people so they could serve Him without fear and they could live holy and righteous lives.

We’ve also seen that John the Baptist came to a prophet of God, pointing others to Jesus.

Within these two concepts, we see what we need to do when we lack the faith to believe and/or do what God is calling us to.

First, we need to remind ourselves of what God has done for us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

He has redeemed us...

We did not/could not earn this...it was the free gift of God...

Because we have value to God...

Second, we’ve been redeemed so we can serve Him without fear.

Too many today believe that we’ve been saved simply to go to Heaven when we die...

In fact, God has saved us, in part, so we can serve Him here on earth in the time He has given us...

Serving Him is more than praying, going to church, studying your Bible...

How does God want to use me in my church and community this next year?

Am I willing to move past all the excuses and serve Him without fear?

Third, we’ve been redeemed so we can live righteous and holy lives.

Is there anything in my life right now that is keeping me from living a righteous and holy life before God?

Confess and repent...

Here’s the greatest news: because of what Jesus has accomplished, we can be forgiven of our sins and live lives of righteousness and holiness before God through the work of the Holy Spirit.