Luke 1:5-22

Zacharias – Luke 1:5-22

The opening chapters of Luke is perhaps most well known for the story of our Lord’s birth, it gives so much more detail than the other gospels, that it has become the place to go for the Christmas season. So, in a sense, Luke chapter 2 is where many people start to read when they come to this Gospel, rather than starting in chapter 1. When we do this, we miss so much, because it is chapter 1 that we are introduced to another couple with a miraculous birth, the couple known as Zacharias and Elisabeth.

Today, let’s look at this wonderful story and see the hand of God move on this family.

Vs 5-10 The Righteous Offering of Zacharias

1. Relationship (vs 5)

· Zacharias made sure to marry a woman who believed in the Lord like he did.

· We don’t often consider our marital relationship as an offering unto the Lord.

· One of the best ways you can show the Lord you love him is by the relationship you have in marriage.

· How much better would our marriages be, if we kept the bonds of marriage Holy and Sanctified unto God

· We make the statement, “I give myself to God” without intending to give him all aspects of our life, marriage being one of them. We need to place our marriage to the one who can keep it together.

· Did this marriage face struggles? Absolutely, one of the biggest causes of divorce in this day was the lack of children. But because they put God first in their marriage, they were able to overcome this fault, and have their marriage be glorious, because they gave it to God.

2. Lordship (vs 6-7)

· Now the next thing we notice about this man, Zacharias, is the fact that the Lord wasn’t just a part of his life, the Lord was his life.

· Here was a man that started everyday with God on his mind.

· The Bible teaches us that we are to deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow him. This isn’t something that we say, “well tomorrow I walk for the Lord, but today is for me.” We must offer ourselves to God’s Service.

· The Bible tells us that Zacharias walked in the commands and ordinances of the Lord. And easier way to understand this is by saying, Zacharias gave himself to God’s Word.

· Let me ask you, how often to you find yourself spending in the Word of God? Not listening to someone else talk or preach about it, but time where you read it and absorb it in to your life?

· The Bible said that Zacharias walked in all the commands and ordinances of the Lord, not of man, but of the Lord. If we were to go and try to count them, we would find that there are roughly 600+ laws in the Bible.

· The Word of God didn’t say he was perfect, but it did say he was blameless, meaning that Zacharias spent time in the Word, knowing what the Bible said, and when he sinned, he gave it God and repented.

· In a survey in July 2020 of Christians, it was found that only 9% read their Bible on a daily basis.1 How sad it is, that so many Christians don’t know the Bible because they will not give the time to God.

· Listen, Zacharias read the Bible and lived according to its Word. He allowed his life to be an offering unto God.

3. Worship (vs 8-10)

· Now there is a third thing that Zacharias offered unto the Lord, and that was his worship. Zacharias was a priest, this was his job, and when he went to the House of the Lord, he went there to Worship the Lord.

· In Jewish culture, the duties of the priest were divided among the families, and Zacharias was part of the priest office that was to burn incense, a time of prayer to God.

· Now listen, we mustn’t forget that one of the greatest ways for you to worship the Lord is to pray to Him. Pray to him in the House of the Lord, in your workplace, and with your family.

· Worship is not something that just occurs on Sunday, it is something we do everyday of the week.

· Be intentional with your worship as well, Zacharias knew what he was to do when he went to the Temple, he wasn’t told what he was suppose to do, he just did it.

· Let’s ask ourselves this question, “If we could literally see our worship, would it be something we would want to give to God?” Think of it this way, say your worship is like a cake you are going to give to God, but you leave out some ingredients, you leave out the egg because you don’t like egg, or you leave out the milk because you didn’t feel like going to the refrigerator to get it out, you know what kind of cake you are going to have? A bad one. But yet, we come and give God only some worship, we only go so far with it, listen, when we don’t worship God entirely, it is like eating that bad cake, and how can we be proud of that?

Vs 11-17 The Rejoicing Offspring promised to Zacharias

1. Came by Prayer

· Now as righteous and loving of God that Zacharias was, he was still faced with a problem. He had no child. Remember, in these days, to not have a child was considered a curse on a family. Here was a man that lived for God, but hadn’t received one of the greatest joys of life.

· I said it, children should be considered a joy of life, a blessing given to us from God. Children are not meant to be a curse.

· Its sad that we live in a world where people are not thankful for the children they have, and instead look at them as a burden. Especially, when there are people who want children but cannot have children.

· Here was Zacharias, a man who wanted children but was unable to have children up to this point. But he hadn’t given up hope, he kept praying to God for a child.

· He demonstrates something that we all should be doing; he’s praying to God about it.

· Let me ask you, are you praying for your children? Are you praying that God will one day give you children? Are you praying that God will have his hand upon their lives? Listen, we need to be praying for our children of today and of tomorrow.

· If fathers would just pray for their families, how much better would that family be.

· Now I would be amiss if I didn’t bring to our attention the fact that Zacharias prayed and God listened. God heard this man’s prayer and moved on it.

· Even when most people would have quit praying for it at this point, here was a man that kept praying, and God heard the prayer and answered.

2. Came with Praise

· Zacharias has been told that he is going to have a son!! Imagine this, a man who is up in years is finally going to be a daddy!

· I remember the day that Lisa came and told me that she was pregnant, I didn’t know how to respond at that moment. I was shocked, happy and with disbelief all at the same time.

· This child was going to bring joy to this family, how do I know this? Well the Bible says it, in verse 14.

· Can children be a challenge? Absolutely! They can push our buttons, cause us to worry and stress, and make us want to beat them to an inch of their life. But at the end of the day, can we not say, that children bring joy into our life?

· Now if you are not praising God for your children, are your children growing up to know how to praise God? If all you ever say to them is their faults, and what they are not doing right, then are you really right with God? We ought to be praising the Lord for our offspring.

3. Came for Purpose

· God was blessing Zacharias and Elisabeth with a son, now they were told what they were having, before they even had him. But they were being given a son that would have a purpose.

· The Bible tells us that this boy would grow up to tell the Children of Israel about the Lord. Now let me ask you, how would this boy be able to preach the message, if he didn’t have a godly father?

· This child would grow up to be John the Baptist, a man who would be the forerunner of Jesus Christ. I believe John was able to preach and speak with authority, because as a child, Zacharias exhibited and taught him the Word of God.

· John had a purpose, to prepare the way of the Lord’s coming, but Zacharias had a purpose too, and that was to raise John to love the Lord.

· Now you may think that you don’t have much purpose, but I believe it is the will of God that for every parent, that we raise our children in knowing and loving the Lord.

· This child would be such an influence on people, that the Bible says that many would come to know the Lord because of him.

· As parents we need to let our children know they have purpose, when we say things like you will never grow up to be anything, or your worthless, or any other derogatory phrase, we are saying to them they have no purpose. But listen, we need to tell them they have purpose, there is a reason that they are here. And it just might be, that the children that are here today, might lead a multitude unto Christ.

Vs 18 The Refuting Objection spoken by Zacharias

1. Disbelief

· Now here is a man of God, that has been told of this wonderful blessing that he and his wife are about to receive, and how does he respond to the news? He doesn’t believe it.

· Even as faithful and dedicated as we might be, there are times in our life where we doubt the power of God. That our situation is to great even for God. We may have prayed about it, but deep down inside we still struggle with unbelief.

· Here, Zacharias has prayed for a child, but logic tells him that he cannot have a child. Are we not just like that, we believe that God exists, and we say we put our trust in him, but there is a part of us that still doesn’t believe fully?

· It reminds me of when the father of a child that was possessed with a devil, and he came to Jesus for help, and Jesus said unto him, “if you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes” in which the father cried with tears back with the Lord, saying “I believe, help my unbelief!” – Mark 9:23-24

· You may be the most faithful person in this congregation today, but I would dare say that all of us have struggled with unbelief at times. Can God really do this, can God really change this situation. Can God really save me?

· When it comes to disbelief, it is like we are saying to God, I believe you are God but… Listen there should be no “buts” about it, God is able to do things far beyond our understanding.

· Disbelief if just a form of doubt, and we shouldn’t doubt God, that he is unable to fix our situation. Now Zacharias was a faithful man, but he had his doubts, and you might be here today, as well, you love God, but you have your doubts, well what we must do, is just let go of the doubts and just allow God to be God.

2. Disability

· Zacharias met God’s message with disbelief and also his disability. The old “I can’t” excuse.

· You know, these are two words we need to remove from conversation and our way of thinking, “I can’t” is saying to the Lord, that he can’t.

· People will try to list out every inability, disability of why God can’t use them. I’m too old, I’m too weak, I’m too tired, I’m too busy, I’m not smart enough and the list goes on and on. Listen, God is not interested in your weaknesses, because it is in our weaknesses that God works through us.

· We should never get to the point where we use our age as a reason for why God can’t use us.

· Now don’t shut me off right now, here was a man of God who didn’t think he was capable of being used by God, but I want to remind you that through God all things are possible.

Vs 19-22 The Reproving Order placed on Zacharias

1. It was Personal

· Now here was a God-fearing man, who didn’t take God at his Word, and because of that, the Lord reproves Zacharias through his angel Gabriel.

· I want you to know, that God will deal with his children and their disbelief, he dealt with a nation, and he will deal with a person individually as well.

· Zacharias was going to face the reproof of the Lord for his doubting, now I want you to know, that if you are a believer and you are denying the hand of God, God is going to reprove you. He’s going to discipline you.

· You may not like what the Lord has to do to correct you, but the Lord will deal with you.

· I believe that some of you here, that the Lord is dealing with you personally, He’s telling you to believe, you’re fighting against it, but what you need to do is believe the Lord and what he has said.

2. It was Powerful

· Because of Zacharias’ unbelief, he stricken with the inability to talk. He becomes a mute.

· Now here is a man who has the capability to talk and use his voice for many years, but now it has been silenced.

· It might sound strange to understand, that from a medical standpoint, there was nothing wrong with Zacharias, this wasn’t a case of laryngitis, but the Lord in his powerful nature had prevented the vocal cords of Zacharias from being able to form words.

· Here was a man who ought to have believed God, who ought to have gone and told the people what the Lord was going to do in his life, now not being able to share the news of the coming miracle.

· Listen, when we don’t believe the Lord, the things that we have and are able to do, might be take away from us. The Lord is powerful and he capable of doing anything.

· You might have a wonderful talent or gift that the Lord has placed on your life, you know the Lord can take it away. You might have the ability to process tremendous things in your brain, the Lord can take it away. You might have the strength in your body to complete difficult task, the Lord can take it away.

· The Lord is powerful, and he will use his power to prove his point.

3. It was Precise

· Zacharias is being taught a lesson for not believing the Word of God, and God designated how long it would be for as well.

· Zacharias is not able to speak for somewhere around 8-9 months. The entire time when Elisabeth is carrying a child in her womb, Zacharias could not say anything. Could you imagine, not being able to tell people anything.

· Perhaps it was a blessing to Elisabeth, where all Zacharias could do is listen and not speak.

· But the Lord said through Gabriel, that this would not last, when the child came, Zacharias would be able to speak again. And you know what? That’s exactly what happened.

· I want you to know that the Lord has a time table for all of us. He has a time table for when he is going to end things, he has a time table for when he is coming back, and you know what, it will be precise.

· So, precise that he is dealing with you here today, that he has you here at this very moment in this service to hear his Word, that you might find deliverance.

· We don’t need to try to explain away how God is moving, we just need to stop and start believing God.

Conclusion

Zacharias exhibited the life like many believers, a good life that loved the Lord, but had doubts. Doubts may not stop the blessings from coming, but they can prevent us from being able to share what God is doing. God wanted to bless this family, but Zacharias struggle with the impossibility, when we allow the impossibilities stand before us and the Lord, we are hindering the blessings. Tonight, let us let go of the impossibilities of our reality and allow God to do the miraculous.

1 https://disrn.com/news/new-state-of-the-bible-report-reveals-only-9-of-americans-read-bible-daily#:~:text=The%20American%20Bible%20Society's%2010th,Bible%20on%20a%20daily%20basis.