AT A GLANCE

We live in a world of broken promises. It seems that everyone is doing whatever they can to get one over on us. This can make us jaded and cynical. But there is One who will never break a promise. Our God is a promise-keeping God and fulfilled His promise to Abraham when He sent His Son in the form of a baby. Jesus is the proof that our God is trustworthy, and we are right to put 100% confidence in Him! 

Exploring God’s Unwavering Promises: Lessons from the Birth of Christ in Luke 1

I recently switched from one cell phone carrier to another. In the store there were all kinds of promises and insinuations. As things have shaken out not everything was quite the ways they were promised. It happened the last time I switched five years ago and it’ll happen if I switch again. It’s frustrating, but what are you going to do? And in the long run, we’re talking small potatoes in terms of the financial impact. It’s a game we’re all playing.   

Have you ever wondered what if that were the case with eternity, though? Have you ever considered what would happen if God behaved like a cell phone company? Thankfully we do not need to fear because God is not like a cell phone company! He is perfectly consistent and will keep His promises. The birth of Christ is case in point. Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament promises. 

Luke 1 captures the story of two connected angelic visits, one to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, and one to Mary, the mother of Jesus, both miraculous births. The latter because Mary was a virgin and the former because Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were beyond child-bearing age. 

The angel first appeared to Zechariah in the Temple while he was executing his priestly duties offering incense. Zechariah doubted the promise of a child and he remained speechless until the birth of his son. When they took John to be circumcised on the eighth day, the people questioned the boy’s name and when Zechariah emphatically wrote “His name is John!” on a tablet, his tongue was loosed, and he was once again able to speak. 

What follows are the first words out of his mouth; two sentences occupy verses 67-79. The first speaks of Jesus, the second of John. Today in the season of the celebration of the birth of Christ, we’re going to look at only the first sentence.  

LUKE 1:67-75

http://gradsgate.com/?churching-71958163_devolution/ 67  buy provigil american express 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.

Decoding Zechariah’s Prophecy: Luke 1:67-75 | The Bridge Between Old and New Testament

Verse 67 begins And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, that is he spoke on behalf of the Lord. Zechariah is regarded as the last of the Old Testament prophets and the first of the new. His words are the words of the Lord.

Verse 68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people… This is a reminder that the God of the disciples and the God of the Church is the God of Israel. He is the God who chose Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, & David and made promises to them to be their God and they to be His people. The Lord God of Israel sent the redeemer whom Christians call Lord, Savior, and Messiah…His name is Jesus. 

Verse 69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, Not only has He sent the redeemer, but he has raised up the horn of salvation, the power of salvation for Israel in the house of King David. A horn of an animal was the symbolic representation of its strength. Thus, what is being raised up is the symbolic power of the kingdom of David, the strongest king of Israel. David was a man after God’s own heart and the Lord blessed him for it. Israel was at its strongest ever under his rule. 

Verse 70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, Some people claim that we need to unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament, citing that Paul and Peter and others pointed to the resurrection, not the Old Testament, in their proclamation of the Gospel. 

In reality, it was Paul who said, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

And Peter, in articulating his ministry of revealing the Christ, said, “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” 2 Peter 1:19-21 

Both Peter and Paul, the two most vocal leaders of the first century church appealed to the scriptures, the Hebrew scriptures; what we call the Old Testament.  

Gospel Confidence: Unveiling the Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecies

The whole basis we have to put confidence in the Gospel is that the Gospel is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. Prophecies such as: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Genesis 3:15 and…

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’” Jeremiah 33:14-16

I believe Pastor Matt is going to cover several Old Testament prophecies fulfilled by Jesus in a couple of weeks, so I’ll leave it there. But Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit began to prophesy and cried out blessing God that He has kept his promise to redeem His people.

What those prophets spoke was as verse 71 says that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; Israel had lots of enemies and the Lord sent many temporal saviors, so to speak. Yet their rescue was limited to time and space. God was sending a rescuer who would transcend time and space. Sadly, the very ones to whom this redeemer was sent became His enemies and He was subjected to the hands of those who hated Him. 

Verses 72-75 continue the promise 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.

This is really the point of my sermon today. God, in sending Jesus, was remembering His holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham. Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise God made with Abraham that his offspring would be a blessing to the nations. Just as Paul said in Galatians 3:16, “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.” Galatians 3:16 

HERE’S WHY IT MATTERS

Here’s why it matters that the birth of Christ, recorded in Luke 2, was preceded by an acknowledgement of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy: it demonstrates that God has not changed His mind and He never will. 

At the time of Zechariah’s prophecy, the promise given to Abraham was about 2000 years old, which was nearly 4000 years after the very first promise in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:15. And now we’re about 2000 years from that. 

It matters that what was promised in the Garden 6000 years ago, was ratified in the promised land 4000 years ago, delivered in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, fulfilled on Calvary 33 years later, and will one day be realized in glory. We live between Calvary and glory. How long we live in this tension, only God knows, but what is important for us today is that we believe that God will fulfill what He has promised because He always has. 

The birth of Christ is evidence that God is still on track to fulfill His promises to be our God, that we would be His people, and that He will dwell with us forever.  

WHAT IF GOD WAS LIKE A CELL PHONE COMPANY?!

I mentioned that I recently switched cell phone carriers. Can you imagine what it would be like if we related to God the way we relate to cell phone companies?! We know they will find a way to get one over on us and at the end of the day we don’t put a whole lot of stock in them keeping their promises. So how much of your hope is hanging on God being a promise-keeping God? 

Let’s begin with the fact that God said He is just. “The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty…” Nahum 1:3

“But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.” Psalm 37:38

God said He is not the kind of God that just allows wicked people to get off. He is a holy and righteous judge. That’s not a pretty picture, because “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23 and “…the wages of sin is death…” Romans 6:23a 

The Lord is not going to give a pass to anyone who is guilty; and we’re all guilty. The wages, or penalty, of sin is death. Jesus taught on hell often and with sobering effect. He said it was a real place, marked by weeping and gnashing of teeth; He called it outer darkness and compared it to a perpetually burning trash heap and it is the just consequence of sinning against an infinitely holy God. 

The sober reality is we’ve all sinned against this Holy God and we all deserve His holy wrath. Hell is the reward of the rebellious.   

Yet the message of the Gospel is that you get eternal paradise in a real place called Heaven instead. What about the fact that He will not acquit the guilty? Upon what is your hope of Heaven based? It’s based solely upon God’s grace! And grace is a promise! “For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23

Can you fathom the anxiety we’d face if our God was inconsistent? If He changed His mind? If He didn’t keep His promises? If He didn’t keep His word? Our hope of Heaven rides on God accepting the gift of grace given us in Jesus Christ according to His promise. 

Your eternity rides on God being the kind of God that says, “Yes, I promised that and I’m going to honor that.” And in a world full of promise breakers and fine-print-loopholes, we need to thank almighty God that He’s not one! 

I cannot express how important it is that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises God made 2000 and 4000 years ago because that is the basis upon which we place our confidence that He isn’t going to change His mind.

IS THAT PROMISE FOR ME?

Now the question you ought to be asking is how do I know with certainty that what God promised is a promise I can claim and depend upon? How do I know His promise applies to me? How do I know that the promise to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham (1:72-73)…how do you know you’re the benefactor of that? 

Paul provides the answer to that question in Romans 8. “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” Romans 8:9

That is stated in the negative, but stated positively, it says anyone who does have the Spirit of Christ belongs to Him. If you have the Holy Spirit, then you know that you are in Christ. You know the gift of grace has been given to you. The gift that abounds to eternal life is yours if you have the Holy Spirit. 

The next question is how do you know you have the Holy Spirit? Some say the evidence of the Spirit is that you speak in tongues, an unknown language. The Bible clearly contradicts that, though. “Do all speak in tongues?” Paul asked in 1 Corinthians 12:30. The understood answer is no. All do not speak in tongues any more than all have the gift of healing. 

If it’s not the gift of tongues, what does demonstrate undeniably that you have the Holy Spirit and that you can claim the promise of eternal life in Christ?

HOW DO YOU KNOW YOU HAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT?

You know you have the Holy Spirit because you believe God’s Word. You believe the Gospel in your heart. 

Ephesians 2 tells us we before we were saved, we deserved the wrath of God like the rest of mankind. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, “made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:4-9

While you were dead in sin you were made alive in Christ by the Holy Spirit and you were given the gift of faith to believe in Christ. This is what we call being born again by the Holy Spirit, or regenerated by Him. 

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:4-7

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1

So, you were born again by the Holy Spirit who caused you to believe the Gospel and be justified by grace through faith and brought you from enmity with God into peace with God. 

And you know this is true because today you still believe the Gospel that you believed then. Your hope is still Jesus. You no longer hope in your own goodness for salvation. You believed then and you still believe that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the righteous requirement of the Old Testament Law and the One the prophets predicted. 

WORK OF THE SPIRIT IN YOUR LIFE

Furthermore, you have the indwelling Holy Spirit of God who works in you and produces fruit in your life. You see the evidence of growing faithfulness, obedience, conviction of sin, power over sin, and fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

You routinely hear the Lord through His Word and respond in conviction with repentance. You view sin differently today than you did last year and five years ago. You not only have regret over your sin, but you quickly repent when your sin is revealed to you. 

You experience the Holy Spirit’s constant work in your life bringing sin to the fore and empowering you to deal with it, as Paul said, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

BLESSED BE THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL

You know that you are a citizen and future resident of Heaven because God fulfilled His promise that He made all the way back in Genesis 3:15 proving that God has not changed His mind and never will. You know that His promises to Abraham are for you because you are in Christ. You know that you are in Christ because the Spirit of Christ is in you. And you know that you have the Spirit of Christ because you believe the Gospel and you respond to His conviction with repentance of sin. Your life is evidence that the Spirit of Christ dwells in you and you have confidence to stand before the throne of God as one redeemed by the blood of Christ. 

It is because of this that you can echo with Zechariah this advent season, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. 

And if you do not know these things and cannot say these things about yourself, I invite you repent and believe the Gospel today. Romans 10:9-10 says, “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Would you do that today? If so, we’d love to hear from you! Please let us know that you have recently been born-again so we can help you get plugged in to a local church; we’d love for it to be Wildwood!