The Possible

Introduction

Last Sunday:

We looked at how John was called by God to live a radical life, to position himself to carry out his purpose, to usher in Christ our Savior “to prepare the way of the Lord”

One major theme we looked at in our text was ”to turn” “And he (John) will turn many of the children of Isreal to the Lord their God

John would prepare the way of the Lord and in doing so will call the “hearts of the Fathers back to their children and a call to turn the disobedient to the wise and just.”

A call to the people of God, through John in the midst of darkness to turn their hearts back to God; to believe again in God’s promise‘s that the Messiah will come. And that He is indeed on the way to save His people

Today we will continue in the “Orderly Account“ of the Gospel Of Luke in Luke 1:18-25

We will read today of Zechariah’s reply back to the Angel; and the Angel speaks back

Let us read our text this morning then pray to our Faithful God:

Please stand for the reading of God’s Word

Read Passage

Luke 1:18-25 “And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.””

Pray

When we left off last week the Angel Gabriel was telling Zechariah of what John is being born to do, or to carry out.

But now Zechariah answers the angel.

Luke 1:18 “And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.””

“And Zechariah said to the angel...”

It is one thing to see an angle but it’s another thing to have the strength to speak back to his message, and Zechariah replies

“How shall I know this?”

What is the this that Zechariah is referring too?

What we have been learning about the last two Sunday’s?

The Message the angel Gabriel was delivering to Zechariah that him and Elizabeth will bear a son And He will be great before the Lord.

lets re-read it.

Luke 1:8-17 “Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 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 father…”

So Zechariah says “how”… shall I know this..”

See in this word “How” Zechariah uses is hinting at some skepticism, and or disbelief in what has been said

Not about God and His existence and holiness. But in this message, so there is some disbelief about what he has just heard

It’s like when someone says “a fox got into the Chicken coop.” and them replying but how? (as if they didn’t believe it was so; making the one who told them look like a lier)

We also see this word How in the OT when God tells Abraham that he is to possesses the promise land:

Gen 15:8 - When Abraham is to take possession of the promise land…"But he said. "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?"

Zechriah is not alone here, as we can see Abraham is in the same company with him asking God how Shall this be?

See what did we learn two weeks ago about Zechariah and Elizabeth?

Luke 1:6 “And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.”

But this moment of how here in Zechariah’s life shows us sheer weakness; and fleshilness and disbelief in one who is a righteous man - meaning He knows God; but he’s having trouble beliving all the details God is brining to him in this message.

“And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this?....For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”

So we can see while the angel of the Lord stands before him in the temple, telling Zechariah of John to be born

This “righteous man” looks at what physically is in the way and in his mind so assuming this can not be accomplished

Because in Zechariah’s mind their time was up for conceiving a child because “they were both advanced in years”

In a sense as Gracie says this often to me “you hear what you want to hear” and in this moment, well Zechariah really wasn’t listening in to the message of the angel, but was trapped in his thought of disbelief “we are old so this wont wont work.”

From what he could see how could this be?

In the OT we can refer back to Abraham and Sarah:

Gen 17:15-17 “And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?””

Does it sound like the physical properties of human nature can be overcome by the power of God? Absolutely!

So this was nothing new for God to do, so he did this for Abraham and Sarah with the birth of Issac

And now God is ushering in John “the one great before the Lord” in the same circumstances, with them adanced in age

So after Zechariahs “how” and after him pointing out the physical, obvious, hurdles to the angel of the Lord.

As if the Angel wasn’t informed already

Luke 1:19 “And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.”

So as Zechariah in our text has spoken his disbelief, because he and his wife being too old

So the angel answered back

“and the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God...”

“I stand” - in the greek means to “stand by God”

So Zechariah, this message that which I was sent to deliver to you; as God is perfect and without sin and HOLY, HOLY HOLY!

So in this message there is no flaw or nothing God can not do in the context and details of this message “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God.”

I can be trusted, but even more so Zechariah God can be trusted With His Word.

“And I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.”

So from the loving, sovereign and providential hand of the Lord Gabriel is there to deliver a message in the midst of dark times, sin and forgetfulness of God’s promises to his people

Another place in Scripture we see Gabriel coming with a message is in the OT in the book of Daniel:

In Dan 8:16 “And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.”” -

Gabriel whom has been God’s messenger since OT days; is even able to help those who are confused, or questioning the message, to “understand”

In Dan 8:16 “make, understand” meaning to realize with full attention, to be discerning

And so Gabriel speaks back to Zechariah and now labels this message as “good news”

We know John here is not the Christ, we know he is preparing the way for the Christ

But this is still really “good news”

1. because this news of John means Jesus is just on the horizon bringing hope to His people

2. And good news that they will get to have a Child finally for which they have prayed for

Luke 1:20 “And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.””

But we can read Zechariah doesn’t just get to slip by, on his doubting and disbelief about the truth that He and Elizabeth would bear a son and his name will be John and that he would be ”great before the Lord”

No here we can see… “And behold” - Gabriel speaking to Zechariah’s how. Moment

“And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place...”

Now Zechariah is being punished for his lack belief in the message the angel Gabriel had from the very hand of God the Father

And this punishment for Zechariah was “You will be silent and unable to speak...”

Why silence, why muteness?

We know in this time as He is in the temple, he will come out eventually and the people who are outside will want to rejoice with Him

They will want him to bless them and pray with them before they depart home

But we see here how long will Zechariah not be able to speak? “until the day that these things take place.”

Meaning John will not be born as soon as he walks out of the temple, so their will be silence still, a darkness still amongst the people of God.

Why is this important?

Remember context. So now under the rule and reign of King Herod, in a dark time spiritually when the people of God needed to be reminded of God’s promise of a Messiah to come, because they had wondered from HIs promises

So Zechariah was silenced for his disbelief in God’s message about John, His Son which Gabriel was delivering to him.

Meaning the good news was unable to be communicated to the people of God in the silent and cold waiting. The silence would continue, even though really the spiritual temperature was rising and Christ was soon to make His triumphal entry.

Luke 1:20 “And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.””

Not that Zechariah did not believe in God; thats not it!

No we know He and Elizabeth were “righteous before God” - and nothing can take away Christ’s righteousness from us.

But you will be unable to speak Zecharia…”because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time”

This message to Zechariah just seemed way too impossible to believe, especially looking at the physical hurdles in the way

Him and Elizabeth, their whole life have been trying to have a child, so why now?

And while the angle could of left Zechariah in the dark in his disbelief without more clarity

So he did not. But affirms “these things” will come to pass “in their time”

As we read in Daniel - Gabriel helps them know the message is true and will come to pass.

So what this means is Zechariah and Elizabeth were really going to have a son, despite their old age. Wow

So God has spoken through sending Gabriel brining “good news” to Zechariah about John their son to come

Luke 1:21 “And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple.”

Remember Zechariah was on duty, so as all of this is going on in the temple, so you have many people outside waiting to see if the priest on duty would come out of the temple after offering the incense (as he always did)

This exit would be one of rejoicing and praising God!

And the priest blessing the people before they departed, but this time

“They were wondering at his delay in the temple.”

Wondering here in greek - to be amazed

But what they wanted to know, is what they wouldn’t know, until Zechariah could speak again, until John was born.

Luke 1:22 “And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute.”

The angel was not lying about the repercussions of Zechariah’s lack of belief in his message

Now he was experiencing the fruits of his disbelief

So many are waiting to hear Zechariah speak but, “he was unable to speak to them.”

They also realized something else about his posture:

“they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple.”

Except this was not a vision, but an encounter of God’s angle Gabriel; one who stands in the presence of God the Father

So what Did Zechariah do? Just walk by them with no gestures? No.

Zechariah was trying to tell them something because we can see “He kept making signs to them and remained mute”

Meaning he nod beckoned to them

But no words came out!

Luke 1:23 “And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.”

Meaning he has served his time in offering the incense of prayer for the people of God

Him having “filled completely his service”

And the lot fell perfectly, and now he is headed home to his wife

Now departing home to be with His wife, he would not be able to speak

This would be awkward and in a sense bad news for Elizabeth:

Zechariah who had been gone awhile walk in and hears his wife say…

“Hey honey how was your time in the temple? And Nothing silence.

And how important is communication between a married couple?

No doubt about it, this might of been difficult for Zechariah but also for Elizabeth who’s husband can not speak.

Luke 1:24-25 “After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.””

So as the angel of the Lord said to Zechariah that they would have a son in their old age, so Elizabeth conceived

But Elizabeth was uninformed, that this babe in her womb was a promise of good news to them and many

Not the Good News (who is Christ to come) but the good news in our context of their prayer being answered for a Son who would prepare the way of the Lord.

Notice it says “ and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people”

Why would she keep herself hidden?

This was huge news, not being able to conceive a child all of your life and people seeing you as a disgrace

Seeing you as their is some secret and dark sin in your life that’s why you are barren (we learned two Sundays ago)

And now Elizabeth being advanced in years, having waited and faced the rude and dark culture around her, in her womb is a child?

What is going on?

And she is left in silence as her husbands disbelief has cut off his speech

Her thinking she will be mocked if word gets out; so she keeps herself hidden not knowing it’s good news of John their son to come

And for five months she kept herself hidden, saying…thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people

Reproach in greek meaning - rebuke, disgrace, or disapproval

And so while Zechariah is unable to speak; so Elizabeth keeps quite and hidden; in disgrace while John is in her womb.

good news, who would ultimately point to the Good News who is Christ To come.

Points:

Zechariah is physically struck with muteness; because of his unbelief in God’s message

As we said it is not that Zechariah is no longer righteous, meaning not saved

It’s that this message for him seemed quite unbelievable; as this was something John and Elizabeth were waiting for, for a long time.

A prayer long prayed; now being answered.

So for John’s disbelief in this message called the ”good news” God made him mute

And therefore this delayed the “good news” to His wife Elizabeth that she was going to bear a son

and so we see disbelief in God‘s Word not only wrecking havoc in Zechariah’s life but also in his bride‘s life

who is struggling/confused; but happy trying understand why would God take away my disgrace and my reproach among these people who once accused me and cursed me?

2. And then we have Elizabeth, and we can see something was taken from her that wasn’t physical like Zechariah but spiritual; a heavy weight inside her soul called disgrace.

So from these two points we can come to these conclusions, first for the unbeliever:

Disbelief in Christ, in that He was sent from God the Father to this earth to save us from our sins...

This unbelief in Christ awaits a punishment; and this punishment is an eternal place called hell for not believing in Jesus.

We call them an unbeliever - For he does not believe that God sent His son to die for them to pay the price for their sin, guilt and shame

You don’t only get muteness you get torCher.

Therefore just as we see with Elizabeth and how her inner condition was dealt with ”her reproach was taken away”

Something that man can not do, but only God.

So for the unbeliever, while they are going to hell for not believing in Christ

Also their being an inner absence of the Holy Spirit by grace through faith in their life, they are still slaves to their sin to obey it and not Christ.

Meaning the weight of their guilt, sin and shame still reside so ever close to them and they will be guilty at the end of their days; sentenced to eternal separation from God, in hell.

So if you are an non-believer in here this morning here me out!

Turn to Jesus Christ, repent of your Sins and trust in Christ as the Lord and Savior of your life!

And recevive the gift of the Holy Spirit to have your guilt, sin and shame covered by the blood of Jesus

Not that you just get out of hell, but that you get to know Christ and be with Him for eternity

And for the Christians this morning:

We who are saved and sealed with the Holy Spirit, by grace through faith, just like Z and E “are righteous”

So our doubts and disbelief, such as Zechariah’s “how moment” is not punisehd by eternal life in hell:

But Christ on our behalf has freeded us from the penalty of sin, shame and death and rescued us from hell by dying and rising for us, giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit by grace through Faith in Him That we can have NEW LIFE.

So that when doubts do arise, because we still are in the flesh And they will

When disbelief in one of God’s promises comes to our minds and we begin to question it

We know we have Christ on our behalf holding us up in our struggle

This is Good News for us Christians in a broken world, who still struggle with doubt and disbelief in God’s Word and his promises.

For Zechariah and Elizabeth, its almost like they could echoed these words in Mark: The story of the posssed boy and the remarks of his Father to Jesus:

Mark 9:24 “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!””

Sometimes we as Christians while we do believe in Christ, need to know we are not alone in this journey of doubting, the promises of God.

Gosh this week I doubted that God would be a refuge; to me (as iv’e read in the Psalms)

And as I forgot this promise so it began crumble me under fear.

Church we have an enemy who is all to good at skewing the truth with His lies and getting us to falter in our whole belief of God and His promises

But why can we take heart and be encouraged?

Because these “How” moments, moments of doubt in what God has said are found in Abraham, Zechariah and Elizabeth, (the greats) and these moments don’t get the last word In their life.

Because the one thing accompanying these moments of doubt and disbelf in the life of a ChristIan; is a faith in Christ that is true, sure and a steady anchor for us Christians.

Zechariah didn’t take God at his word at first.

Abraham asked How as well?

While Elizabeth couldn’t believe that God would take away her reproach

I didn’t believe God was a refuge this week.

Church we can take God at His Word because his Word is Christ, who is perfect.

And Just becuase a Christian doubts, because we still are in the Flesh, doesnt mean he’s not saved:

It Just points us to Christ and how we need Him and His Word even mor….

Christ who is Good News for weary sinners, who do struggle with doubt At times In the Christian life

Christ the sure and steady Anchor In the fury of the storm When the winds of doubt blow through me And my sails have all been torn In the suffering, in the sorrow When my sinking hopes are few I will hold fast to the Anchor It shall never be removed