Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

We have been out of the book of Luke for about 3 weeks (this was not intentional as we had Lord’s supper, I was out and then senior Sunday)

So let me catch us up to where we are at in our text in the Gospel of Luke chapter 1.

If we remember Luke was written as an orderly account, therefore he sought to write most of what happened in order (and we learned from the start of the Gospel of Luke that God’s Word is (infallible and inherent)

Infallible - the belief that what the Bible says is wholly useful and true

Inherent - The belief that the Bible is without error or fault in all of it’s teaching

So as we start this morning lets take a step back and look at the birth announcement of John the Baptist:

See with the birth announcement of John the Baptist did not only come a mention of a son to Zechariah, but their was more to this encounter and announcement.

It was said that Zechariah’s son John, would “be great before who? - the Lord” - and that “he (John) will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, v.17 and He will go before Him

Who is this Him?, Him being Christ Jesus the Messiah who is to come.

So while the birth of John the Baptist was about John’s birth announcement.

(mind you the son who Zechariah and Elizabeth prayed for.)

So Zechariah’s prophecy today in V. 67-75 is about Zechariah in a moment of thanks, being filled with the Holy Spirit to testify to another Son, this Son; being the Son of Man who was to come.

Who was to rescue and deliver and Keep His people from the dominion of darkness and sin.

So on the timeline in Luke Ch1: (Recap)

We see Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

Birth of Jesus Foretold (Mary is overshadowed by the Holy Spirit)

Mary Visits Elizabeth (Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit to testify to Christ in Mary‘s Womb)

Mary’s Magnificat

The Birth of John The Baptist

And today is Zechariah’s Prophecy

And as we look today and next Sunday at Zechariah prophecy Luke 1:67-80

We will break it up into two parts:

First this morning we will be looking at God’s promise Kept! - We will understand more as we go through this text

Second (which is next Sunday) we will look at Verse 76-80 as Zechariah praises God that His son (John) gets to usher in the Lord and prepare the way for Him

Read Luke 1:67-75 “And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”

Pray

Luke 1:67 “And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,”

So John, Zechariah’s son was just born…

Meaning John has been born and it’s important for us to know Zechariah is John’s Father

Zechariah according to God’s Word was going to have a son and now Zechariah‘s name has changed to Father.

And let it be said, only by the mercy of God can a man become a Father.

“And his father…Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit...”

So what happened to John’s Father in our text?

“was filled with the Holy Spirit”

In the greek “was filled” - means to be or become generously supplied with; or fill completely

The idea of having a glass half full at the restaurant (meaning their is room for more) But when the waitress comes around and fills it to the top their is no more room.

This “was filled” was meaning their was no room left for anything but God’s Spirit that has filled Zechariah

Now Really Quick:

Does this mean Zechariah‘s flesh and the deeds and desires of the flesh were fully gone?

No! As this was a temporary filling, to bring about the Word of the Lord To the people of the promise.

So Zechariah was still trapped in this sinful flesh; and often times would sin…

And what was he filled with?

“with the Holy Spirit” - in greek meaning blast, wind, breath

It wasn’t any kind of spirit, but it was the “Holy” -meaning devoted and set apart for the saints of God

And as we know from the text Zechariah and Elizabeth were both “righteous before the Lord...” (meaning they were chosen saints of God awiting the promised Messiah just like everyone else )

So you might be asking from our context what is this mentioning of the Holy Spirit right now?

We know the Holy Spirit as the gift the Father has given to us, through what Christ Jesus His Son has done, in His death burial and resurrection from the grave.

But just because Jesus hasn’t yet been born, died and rose again; (in our context.

He’s not even physically born yet)

Does not mean the Holy Spirit does not exist and play a key role.

It’s important for us to see that Father, Son and Holy Spirit have always been (we know this as the Holy Trinity)

So as we speak of Zechariah (the Father of John) now being “filled with the Holy Spirit” even before Christ is physically born; let us jump back even further…

Let us also make this connection of the Holy Spirit in the OT Joel 2:28

Joel prophesied of this - Joel 2:28 ““And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.”

And in the NT:

In our Gospel of Luke we have been tracking through...

If we can remember back in Luke 1:41-42 “And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”

And this being another instance where we see the filling of the Holy Spirit in the NT before Christ is even born (which indeed validates our point even more that the Holy Spirit is found in both OT and NT.)

And validates our point that just because Christ hasn’t been physically born ,does not mean the Holy Spirit has not played a role in the Bible from time past to time present and into the future

And now we read of Zechariah being “filled with the Holy Spirit...”

This filling as we know was a foretaste of what Christ was going to do, as the Holy Spirit will soon be the gift of God given to the chosen saints of God.

But what happened after he was filled?

“...Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit…and prophesied saying.”

Now as Zechariah has been filled with the Holy Spirit so now it says “he prophesied saying...”

Mind you, all of prophecy in Sacred Scripture points to Christ Jesus our Lord!

Prophecy being:

Communication of a divine message through a human.

This divine message being “prophetic” Zechariah being filled with the Holy Spirit was God using and telling one human to tell other humans who was to come

So what did Zechariah say as He was filled?

Luke 1:68 ““Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people”

Context - remember John was just born, but we see Zechariah turning his affections and attention not on John but...

Zechariah mentions...“blessed be the Lord God of Isreal.”

We see this kind of language, as it says “blessed be the Lord God of Israel” repeated in places like the Psalms…

Psalm 41:13 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!

Amen and Amen.”

Psalm 72:18 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.”

Psalm 106:48 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!

And let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the Lord!”

Remember God visited Zechariah and Elizabeth.

And now He was about to visit the whole nation of Isreal and His Chosen saint’s with the birth of the promised Messiah, as He promised.

The Long Awaited Messiah, because they had been waiting...

See has someone at one time promised you something; and yet you are still awaiting for that promise to come to pass.

How difficult does this time become?

How trying does this time become?

What temptations usually come upon us because our impatience?

Especially if you are looking forward to it, and to it’s blessing upon your life, and your families life!?

Well the people of God have been waiting for rescue, redemption and deliverance for a long time!

And here Zechariah, being filled with the Holy Spirit has just mentioned...

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel… (for what?) ”for he has visited and redeemed his people.”

Has visited in greek - to visit someone in order to determine their condition

Their condition was number one sinful, and number two their offerings for their sins was still OT sacrifices of animals, using the blood of animals to please God’s Wrath towards them and their sin.

Remember in context this time it was dark for the people of God but these testimonies of what has been happening started to break the silence that was quite long.

As God had been silent for 400 years until the appearing of the Angel Gabriel in the Temple to Zechariah and the silence was broken Of His Son and another to come.

And what is Zechariah saying about the Lord God of Israel?

“he has visited…and redeemed his people.”

Christ has not yet been born into the world.

But Zechariah speaks surely that Christ is here and not only that, He has been sent by His Father to “redeemed his people.”

Redeemed - meaning to deliver from harm or evil, conceived of redeeming or buying something back