Zechariah's Song: On Our God's Tender Mercy

Good morning and Merry Christmas to you. It’s so good to get the blessing of gathering together as the people of God to worship our Holy God and our Savior Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit of God. Before we jump into the sermon this morning I just a couple of things to remind you of.

Next week we will have a guest with us. Kurt Anderson from Youth For Christ will be visiting with us in worship. Kurt is a missionary with YFC but was also my youth pastor growing up. You will not want to miss meeting Kurt. I wanted to give a special time for you to meet Kurt and hear about the ministry sort of informally so what I would like to do is invite you to come to the church building on Saturday night at 6:30 to meet Kurt and for him to talk about ministering to military dependents. Here’s a short video of what YFC Military Community Youth Ministry is all about.

Second I want to remind you that it is the end of the year and we are behind in our budgeted giving for the year. In order for us to meet budget and do all of the things we want to do in ministry, we need to meet our budget. Please pray and let God lead your hearts in this.

If you want to follow along with the sermon, we have an interactive sermon outline that you can access by simply scanning the QR code on the screen right now with your smartphone.

And now for the sermon. Please turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 1, verses 67-80. While you are finding your place, I want to tell you a little about when I was growing up. My mom is originally from northern Mississippi. She loved music and grew up listening to a lot of Motown artists. I can remember when I was younger she had a Marvin Gaye tape that we listened to in the car. At the time I was interested in it because the California Raisins song was on there. Later in life I became an appreciator of some of his other tunes as well. As I was preparing for this message, I found a story about him as recounted by Thabiti Anabwile.

Exalting Jesus in Luke The Savior, Christ, and Lord (Luke 1:57–2:20)

Soul music began largely as a genre focusing on ballads. The pioneers of soul were “crooners,” bellowing out sultry lyrics for lovers. Marvin Gaye was perhaps one of the most famous soul singers of his era. Gaye—who grew up in a pastor’s home in the Deanwood neighborhood of Washington, D.C.—became the poster boy of smooth, sultry, romantic sound with hits like “How Sweet It Is to Be Loved by You,” “I Heard It through the Grapevine,” and with Tammi Terrell “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “You’re All I Need to Get By.”

However, by the 1960s many artists and genres of music became more concerned with the political issues and causes of the day, including Marvin Gaye. Gaye released a string of chart-topping hits like his 1971 tune “What’s Going On?,” “Inner City Blues: Makes Me Wanna Holla,” and “Mercy, Mercy Me.”

“What’s Going On?” and “Mercy, Mercy Me” captured the anguished cry of a disenchanted and disenfranchised generation. The songs were urban laments, longing for an almost mythic day when things like hunger and war would cease to exist.

In other ways the songs gave voice to a question—a prayer, really—that almost irrepressibly escapes one’s lips amidst life’s turmoil. Gaye seemed to be crying out with his generation for mercy. The cry for mercy is as old as humanity’s fall in the Garden. It’s been uttered, whispered, and yelled in every generation among every people since sin entered the world. When we reach those limits, something in us looks for mercy.

Today we turn to the prophecy of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist upon the occasion of John being born as promised and God allowing Zechariah to once again be able to speak. The cry for mercy has been answered in the person of Jesus Christ. Our God is full of tender mercy. He had been merciful to Zechariah and Elizabeth by giving them a son. Their son would be the forerunner of the ultimate mercy, Jesus. John would prepare the way for the Christ.

If you’ll recall from last week, Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth were older and had not been able to have children together. The angel Gabriel came and told Zechariah that Elizabeth would conceive and bare a son. Zechariah didn’t believe it and so the angel told him he would be unable to speak until these things happened. So here we are after the birth of John, when Zechariah had written that his name is John and his tongue was loosed. Let’s pick it up in verse 67.

Luke 1:67–80 ESV

67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, 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, 70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 71 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; 72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us 74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” 80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

Just like Mary’s song last week was called the Magnificat, this hymn has a name that it is referred to as. It’s known as the Benedictus. This is due to its first word in the Latin Vulgate (an ancient Latin translation of the Bible)

I. Zechariah responds to what God has done with Spirit filled praise. (v. 67)

Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit.

This is a significant truth. It signifies that God has renewed His presence among His people.

See

Isaiah 32:14-17

Isaiah 32:14–17 ESV

14 For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks; 15 until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. 16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. 17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.

Isaiah 44:1-4

Isaiah 44:1–4 ESV

1 “But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! 2 Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. 3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. 4 They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams.

In verse 68 when Zechariah says that God had visited and redeemed his people, this redemption includes corporate and individual aspects. As God’s people, Israel are delivered from their enemies and individuals experience forgiveness of their sins, granted only though God’s plan of salvation.

Horn of salvation (v.69)

This phrase appears in the tradition of David.

Horn was a symbol of strength. So we’re talking about the strength of God’s salvation. It’s strong and mighty.

II. Salvation has a purpose. (72-75)

The goal here wasn’t something as simple as physical freedom. The goal was worship. It’s the same type of feeling as when God told Moses to tell Pharoah what we find in Exodus 7:16.

Exodus 7:16 ESV

16 And you shall say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But so far, you have not obeyed.

Physical freedom is a good goal. But this goes beyond it to something even better. When the people were set free, they would be free to worship anywhere they wanted and in any way they wanted.

God will keep the covenant promise He made to Abraham.

There are multiple parts to this salvation. Let’s look back at our passage and see what we can see.

III. John was the prophet and precursor of salvation. (v. 76-77)

Zechariah’s words turn toward his new son. John is going to be unique among the prophets. He would soften the ground for the Messiah to come. He will make ready the way but will be pointing straight away from himself and toward God’s true salvation from sin - Jesus Christ.

Jesus is John’s superior because he’s the Son of the Most High as in verse 32. John, though, is called “a prophet of the Most High.” John would be the one to plow the road ahead of the Son of God, Jesus. His role in this alludes to Isaiah 40:3

Isaiah 40:3 ESV

3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Zechariah’s hymn of prophecy here speaks of John’s life in relationship to Jesus’s life and mission.

WE MUST DEFINE OUR LIVES THIS WAY. Greatness doesn’t come from serving ourselves and looking to get ourselves ahead. True greatness comes from humbly serving God. Just as John didn’t try to replace the actual bringer of salvation, so too we should be pointing to Jesus and not trying to wrestle him for his place.

IV. There is peace in salvation. (v. 77-79)

Peace is an important concept in John’s Gospel account. Again, just like redemption and salvation, there is a danger in understanding this the right way. We should not understand this peace in mere social or political terms. This points to what one author calls, “a cosmic restoration that God’s final saving act will bring about”.

1. Salvation is spiritual and personal.

Humans are all in sin. We have a sin nature. Sin is any action or thought that goes against God’s perfect will or law. Why is sin a problem that needs to be dealt with?

Because sin is against God.

Sin must be judged.

Sin can only be removed by blood.

2. Salvation is because God is merciful.

It’s God’s mercy on His followers. Mercy is the only reason anyone’s sin is forgiven. You can’t earn forgiveness for your sins and unless you are shown mercy, you will experience the wrath of God for your sin. Forgiveness comes only through mercy. It’s free. It’s unmerited. You don’t deserve it and can’t demand it and neither do I. So we must go to God and beg for His mercy. But we have a good God. And He gives us a good promise.

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

3. Salvation brings light. (v. 78-79)

The people had just come through a time of about 400 years where God was silent. We call this the 400 silent years. It’s the intertestamental period. But then movement starts. This child is foretold and then born and a few months later his cousin is born and the light comes to the world. But the people at this point had been sitting in darkness and despair and waiting day after day and year after year for the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah and the other prophets that told of the one coming to rescue Israel. They waited in the darkness.

- In our sin we all sit in darkness.

- Jesus is the rising sun. He brings light. And when light enters a dark room, the darkness flees from the light.

The light of God’s mercy and forgiveness of sin brings peace. Do you know this peace? Has this great light risen in your soul?

Conclusion:

How should they respond?

Well, if you take a look at verse 74, this mercy, this salvation, this kindness and grace shown to God’s people isn’t just because. It’s shown so that:

We would serve Him without fear.

That we would not fear anyone and that we would not allow fear to keep us from serving and worshipping the God who had mercy upon us.

Serve Him in holiness

Purity. Set aside for God’s use.

Serve Him in righteousness

all of our days.

Worship Him and glorify Him. Serve Him fearlessly. Be pure and holy as God is holy. Serve Him because in Christ, through His death on the cross as a substitute for you, you are given Jesus’s righteousness. Serve Him in that right standing before God.

You can not do that and stay the same. The Word of God and the Gospel change us. It brings light where there is darkness and peace where there is worry and anxiety. Will you trust Him today?