The title of the message this morning is the Savior and His Preparatory Prophet. The prophet who sent before the Savior to make ready the people for his saving work. We had a recording snafu last week, so there's no audio from what you said Mike, but Mike sent me his notes And when I was reading his notes, there were two things as I was reading that really struck me as, oh, these points are really, really good. I just wanted to review them. The first was that Zacharias was under the discipline of God for nine months, and the first words out of his mouth were praise to God." So this tells you so much about Zacharias, not embittered by his discipline.

He really had his discipline coming. God sent him an angel, and then he didn't believe what the angel said. So the discipline was right, but he wasn't embittered by it. Actually, the first words out of his mouth, his tongue was loosed and he spoke praises to God. I'll just say a hearty amen to that.

Then the second thing that really hit me from the notes was that we missed the force of this phrase, His name is John. Zacharias wasn't naming John by saying his name was John. He was writing that this baby already had a name. God had already named him. So Zacharias in that sense felt constrained.

He wasn't at liberty to give any other name because God had already named this baby. Now in today's text, Zacharias is filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit fills him and he prophesies. He speaks for God. God puts these words in his mouth.

And there's a natural division in the text. I can't imagine dividing the text in any other way. Verses 67 through 75 is a prophecy about the Savior. It's speaking about the Savior that God is sending to do this saving work among His people. Then the rest, verses 76 through 79, is a prophecy about the prophet that's sent to make the people ready for this Savior.

So the division in the text is natural. We'll just follow that division. Let's ask God to help us. God, Thank you so much for your Word. Your Word is a treasure.

We need it. Where would we be without your revelation of truth from Heaven? We'd be in such ignorance about ourselves, about you. Thank you so much for revealing a lot about ourselves and about you in this prophecy that you have given us through Zacharias, your prophet. Thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well let's begin by rereading verses 67 through 75, and then I'll talk about it. Hopefully your Bibles are still open to Luke chapter 1. Now follow along as I reread 67 through 75. Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying, Blessed is 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, who have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which 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 the days of our life." In these verses, Zacharias prophesies about a saving visit from God.

So, if you're taking notes on the handout and filling in the blank on the handout, saving fills in that blank. A saving visit from God. One of the things the commentators set my expectation for in the introductory material to the Gospel of Luke. So I set your expectations for this in the introductory sermon to the Gospel of Luke was that we would frequently be brought to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Luke is especially known for that among the Gospels, being brought to the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

And so it is in this text. This has certainly proven to be true in Chapter 1 and we're going to get more of the same in Chapter 2. Look back at verse 35. And the angel answered and said to her, said to Mary, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

So the actual incarnation is going to be a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary and causing her to be pregnant. Then look at verses 41 and the beginning of verse 42. And it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, so the Holy Spirit actually compels her to say these praises of God. She is filled with the Holy Spirit too.

And now in verse 67, we read, Now his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying, so again the Holy Spirit is coming upon this man and putting words in his mouth to deliver to the people who were there. And ultimately to deliver to us, right, this is the ultimate purpose of this, is that these things would be captured in Scripture and make it down through the generations to us. What is the result of Zacharias being filled with the Holy Spirit? He prophesies, which means that the Holy Spirit puts the words of God in his mouth to either foretell on behalf of God, say what's going to happen in the future. Only God can do that, by the way.

We don't know what's for dinner. God knows what's going to happen a thousand years from now. So he can put in the mouth of a prophet for telling exactly what's going to happen in the future or to forth tell on behalf of God to actually speak either commands or encouragements or exhortations or judgments to tell forth from God on behalf of God. In either case, it is a thus saith the Lord moment. So Zacharias could have very well said, thus saith the Lord, and then all of these things, because that's what's happening.

God is speaking. He's actually both foretelling, telling the future, and foretelling in the contents of this prophecy. In this case, Zacharias is announcing on behalf of God that so many of the things that have been foretold, so he's foretelling, that so many of the things that have been foretold by God's prophets through 2, 000 years are now about to be fulfilled in their midst. God has been sending prophets, like Zacharias, filled with the Holy Spirit, the words of God put in their mouths, for two thousand years to make promises, and God is is forth telling through Zacharias that all those things are about to be fulfilled in their midst. But first of all, before he forth tells about all the foretelling, he begins by blessing God for the amazing things that are before Him.

So He's going to get to the fourth telling, saying the things that God has given Him to say, but before He does that, He blesses God. He praises God because God has set this group, this amazing pile of amazing things that are being accomplished in their midst before Him, and He thinks he has to praise God for these things. He begins by saying, blessed is the Lord God of Israel. Let God be praised for these things that He's revealed are being fulfilled in our midst. This should make our radar go up.

The Holy Spirit has put things in Zacharias' view that make Zacharias bless God. It would be unthinkable to Zacharias to have these things set before him by God in view and not praise God for them. I hope you've come here hoping for that. What did you come here for? Is it just because it's Sunday?

That's okay. But there's more to it than that. I hope you've come with an expectation that God might set something in view that would make it unthinkable that you wouldn't praise God for those things. That the Word of God would set before you things that make you well up in praise to God. That the singing for us would be just a sweet outlet to praise God.

We would feel like we have to sing or say something to praise God because of the things that the Word of God are putting in our view. God, if you're really like that, you must be worshiped. This is what is happening to Zacharias in our text. As I was preparing, I found myself being very systematic. That will not surprise you.

You know I preach a perfect outline. One, two, three, A, B, C, then applications. It's the same outline every week, just different content, right? I was too lazy to become an engineer, but I preach like an engineer. I think like an engineer in this very systematic, regimented thing.

So it will weigh so that when I prepare, my brain goes into systematic mode and I'm studying this text and it just occurred to me, stop! Stop breaking this down into the perfect outline. This is poetry. This is song. This is a song of praise to God.

This is God putting before me, putting before us, things in view about Himself and the things that are being fulfilled here that make you say, God, if this is true, you must be worshiped. You can go back and be systematic in a moment, but for now, feel like Zacharias' feeling about this God who's doing these things. Sinners are being saved. Can we be sterile and mechanical and systematic about that? Sinners are being saved!

Now Zacharias gives us the grounds of his praise. So he lays a foundation for why God must be praised. And this prophecy contains two great pillars on which his praises rest. Pillars are the things in the house that bear the weight of the structure. So why should God be praised?

We have two great pillars that bear the weight of these praises. One, The Lord has come to redeem his people. And two, the things that are happening are the fulfillment of many promises. I think those are the two great pillars that bear the weight of Zacharias' praise. The Lord has come to redeem his people, and the things that are happening are the fulfillment of many promises across 2, 000 years.

Let's take those one by one. Pillar number one. The Lord has visited and redeemed his people. Look again at verse 68. Blessed is the Lord God of Israel for...

Praise God because He has visited and redeemed His people. The term visited has a rich Old Testament usage, meaning that God came to draw near and rescue His people. That's what it means that God visits His people. He comes to draw near to His people and help them and rescue them. Here's one Old Testament example of this usage.

Exodus 3 verse 16. This is God speaking to Moses. Exodus 3 verse 16. God says to Moses, Israel together and say to them, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me saying, I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt. I've come, I've drawn near to you, and I'm coming to help you and rescue you from the bondage that you're in.

I have visited you. Redeemed means to ransom. We actually sang that in a couple of our hymns this morning, to ransom or to purchase out of slavery. You're a slave and I go make a deal with your master to purchase you out of that slavery that you're in. I pay the price required to get you out from under that master.

Once again, this is what God did when he liberated the Israelites from their bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt. He came and paid what it would take to get them out of their slavery to Pharaoh and Egypt. And all of that, Exodus is the gospel in picture. You get that right? It's a physical, historical happening that has a spiritual equivalent that is the Gospel.

God coming and purchasing you out from under a cruel master. It's all a picture of our spiritual slavery and God's liberating power to break you out, to buy you out of that slavery. Listen to what Matthew Henry says. Matthew Henry says, this was the errand on which Christ came into the world to redeem those who were sold for sin, they were sold because of their sin, sold for sin, and sold under sin. They were under the bondage of sin.

Matthew Henry says Christ redeems them by price out of the hands of God's justice and redeems them by power out of the hands of Satan's tyranny as Israel out of Egypt. So he pays a price to get you out of God's justice which is due for your sins and he redeems you by power out of the hands of Satan's tyranny. He breaks Satan's power with his own power. Amen to all that. That's what's before us here.

He visited his people to redeem his people. How has God visited and redeemed his people? By raising up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David. That's the exact words of the text. He has visited, drawn near to us to rescue us, and redeemed, bought us out of our bondage by raising up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.

There are two elements here. First, A horn of salvation is raised up for us. What is a horn? When was the last time you used the word horn in a context like this? That would be never.

So what is a horn? Well that too has a rich Old Testament usage, and it means strength and power. The horn is the symbol of an ox's, or a bull's or a goat's or a ram's strength and power. If you mess with the bull, you might get the horns. That's why you don't mess with the bull, because you might get the horns.

You might get the strength and power of the bull. When you mess with the bull, you might get the horns. That's why you don't mess with the bull, because you might get the horns. You might get the strength and power of the bull when you mess with the bull. You might get the horns.

An example of this is Daniel 8, where Daniel has this vision of a ram with two horns that's pushing the nations around, and then it's confronted by a furious goat which uses its horn to drive them out. These two animals with horns are the representation of the strength and power that they're exercising in the earth. So what is being said is that God has raised up for us a Savior with abundant strength and power for our saving. I've come to save you. Oh really?

That's going to take some doing. Do you have strength and power? Yes! I have all the strength and power in abundance to do the saving work to save you. That's what's being said here.

God has raised up for us a Savior with abundant strength and power for our saving. It's going to take a lot to save us, no problem. That is the first element, a horn of salvation raised up for us. The second element, the second element is this. This strong Savior coming from the house of David, God's servant, is from the line of kings.

That's what it means that he's been raised up from the house of his servant David. This strong Savior is coming from the line of kings. The strong Savior is sent as our King. That's the whole point. He's a mighty Savior King.

So that was pillar number one. The Lord God has visited and redeemed His people. Pillar number two for Zacharias' praises, he's setting the weight of his praises, also on pillar number two, The Lord is doing this in fulfillment of all His promises. God put promises in the mouths of the prophets for 2, 000 years. Starting Genesis 3.15, the seed of the woman crashing the head of the serpent.

And then Abraham, and then Samuel, and then David, and then Isaiah, and then Jeremiah, and then Ezekiel, and then Daniel. You can find promises of a mighty Savior King being found in all of these places. And, and, and. Now he's keeping all of these promises that he put in the mouth of his prophet for 2000 years. His prophets for 2000 years.

Look at verse 70. As he spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets who had been since the world began. No sooner had man fallen into sin, corruption, entered into human nature than God started putting promises in the mouths of prophets that he wasn't going to leave us like that without hoping this world. That he was going to send a mighty Savior King to visit and redeem his people in the fullness of time, to put it in New Testament language. Google, how many Old Testament promises did Jesus fulfill?

On the low end you get an answer over 300, and the highest one I saw was 574. That's someone who really likes to count every which one, anything. But that's the range, over 300 to 574. Nobody who answers that comes up with a number smaller than 300. In other words, the smallest number is really, really big.

How many did he fulfill? How many promises did he fulfill? The smallest number answering that question is a really really big number. Now let's just walk through verses 71 through 75 bit by bit. So look at 71.

That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. So we have enemies who hate us. This strong Savior is saving us from them. So, it hasn't listed them. We'll sort of get to that, but never mind the list.

It's enough to know you have enemies that hate you, and God has sent a mighty Savior King to save you from them. So it actually, in the end, won't matter that they hate you and that they're enemies, because he has strength and power in abundance to do the saving work that God has sent him to do. So don't worry. Look at verses 72 and 73. They should be taken together.

To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant the oath which he swore to our father Abraham what was promised mercy verse 70 72 verse 72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers. What was promised? Mercy was promised. Mercy was promised. The promises are promises of mercy.

That God won't treat you like you ought to be treated for your rebellion against it. He'll pass over that and deal with his anger in another direction. You know where I'm headed with that. He'll interpose. He'll send someone to stand between you and his anger to absorb all of his anger against your rebellion.

These are promises of mercy of not dealing with you as you deserve. The promises are promises of mercy and now the fulfillment is in remembrance of these solemn promises that God made. God made solemn promises and said, He swore an oath to Abraham. God doesn't have to swear you an oath, He owes you nothing, but He swore an oath to Abraham that He would be merciful to those who had Abraham's faith. He's doing these things in the time of Zacharias and Mary and Elizabeth and Joseph in remembrance of oaths that he took to Abraham.

Verses 74 and 75 to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear and holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. Now we get insight into the enemies that this mighty Savior King has been raised up to save us from. It is the enemies that when you are delivered from them, You can then serve this perfectly good and holy God without fear. In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of your life. You don't have to spend another day in fear of this perfectly good and holy God.

Not another day of your life! This strong Savior King, this mighty Savior King has been raised up to save you from your worst enemies. Yes, some are outside you. Amen to that. Jesus has conquered them too.

Amen to that. But some are inside of you too. Have you ever heard the saying, you are your own worst enemy? Somebody got that from the Bible. This mighty Savior King will settle your sin debt with this perfectly good and holy God.

You have a sin debt settled. Nothing left to say. Nothing left to account for. Fully accounted for. Debt fully relieved.

So now you can serve Him without fear, even though this God that we're dealing with is perfectly good and holy. And you can serve Him in holiness and righteousness for the rest of your life. Not fearing for the rest of your life. Having us being in a state of holiness and righteousness for the rest of your life. Having a being in a state of holiness and righteousness for the rest of your life.

But what if I sin? You did today already! More times than you know! Your pride would make you guilty. Your self-sufficiency would make you guilty.

Your apathy would make you guilty. Your laziness would make you guilty. Only God has sent a mighty Savior King to account for all these things. Israel was looking for a savior to get the nation out from under the thumb of Rome. This was their expectation of the Messiah.

Finally the Romans gone. Rome was the least of their problems. We're going to be reading this gospel, but you've already read all the gospels and you know what the condition of Israel was like spiritually. It was awful. Rome was the least of their problems.

God raises up and puts down empires with the snap of his fingers. Rome is the problem. The nations are a drop, as a drop in the bucket to Him. What about my sin? What is to be done about my sins that are before this perfectly good and holy God.

My sins stand against me. God has raised up this mighty Savior King to conquer my sins, to clear my sin debt. By the way, many people don't have any fear of God, so they would read this and say, no big deal. I live before God with no fear today. Let me say this, that's because they are totally disconnected from reality.

That any sense of reality, they would be terrified of the position that they hold. That their sins are clinging to them and that they're just perfectly good and holy God and one day they'll have to give an account for all of that. They're totally disconnected from who they really are and from who God really is, so they live life without fear. Because they have no idea that we're going to stand before a perfectly good and holy God to give an account. That's when Jesus' record for your record really matters.

When you begin to understand, oh this is what the Bible says about me and in my heart of hearts I know the Word of God is right about me. This is what the Bible says about God and I know in my heart of hearts that This is right about God. Oh no! I can have Christ's record in place of my record? How?

Tell me how! There is a roaring lion seeking to devour me. 1 Peter 5 verse 8. Your adversary, the devil, is on the prowl. A roaring lion seeking to devour you.

God has raised up this mighty Savior King to conquer that enemy. Greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world, 1 John 4. Don't worry about that enemy. Be sober, be vigilant. Don't worry.

One is greater. One that is greater, a conquering king is in you. There is a world system that is against me and I still find so many corruptions remaining in my flesh. God has raised up this mighty Savior King to conquer those enemies. This world system that makes you feel like a salmon swimming upstream with all your might, don't worry.

There is a flood that makes that flood in the opposite direction the world system look like nothing. I find so many remaining corruptions in me, God has raised up a mighty Savior King to save me, even from those remaining corruptions. I can live free. I don't have to live in bondage to those things anymore. God has raised up this mighty Savior King to conquer my enemies, so that I might serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of my life." Praise God indeed, Zacharias.

Praise God indeed, Jason Dome. How can we read these things dispassionately? God has sent someone to conquer enemies that hate us, And he has done it. Before we move on, we should notice this. God just disciplined Zacharias.

Nine months of discipline. We tend to think that discipline equals in the doghouse. That's the formula, right? Discipline equals in the doghouse. Zacharias, go be ashamed of yourself.

You've been ashamed of yourself for long enough, now you can come back from the doghouse. That's why there's an attraction to Roman Catholic penance. There's actually an internal attraction that we have to that. Penance is voluntary self-punishment to make up for sin. So I slink off and when I think I've felt bad about it for long enough, or I've done something to counterbalance it enough, then I can come back.

And that seems like a high view of sin. Sin requires that we make up for it, right? That's a high view of sin. No, no, no, that's the lowest view of sin, actually. It's a low view both of sin as if we could do something that would make up for it.

Sin's no big deal. If I just feel sorry for a little bit, that counteracts my rebellion against God! What are you thinking? You think you can make up for that with someone who's perfectly good and holy? That sets things right a little guilt for a little while Maybe a good deed Don't get me started on good deeds.

We don't have time for that today. And a low view of God. As if he would be satisfied with these little pennies to repay. I'll repay you for my Rebellion, God. Here's a penny.

We're even. Take your penny. I hope you recoil when I do something as if we would be dismissive to God. God, here's your penny. Take your penny.

We're even. Hopefully, you know enough of the Bible and have experienced enough of God that that thought makes you recoil. This nine months of discipline was actually for Zacharias' good. What does the Bible say? Whom the Lord loves, he chastens.

That nine months of silence for Zacharias was an act of love. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. It was an expression that God claimed Zacharias as a son, much less a servant, much less an enemy. Zacharias wasn't in the dog house feeling sorry for a little while till he could come back to the big house. He was experiencing an expression of God's love towards him and God having laid claim to him as a son.

No chastening seems to be joyful for the present. All God's people said, Amen. But painful. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Is there any evidence of this in Zacharias' life?

Nine months of discipline. The discipline is lifted. He's praising God. It's the peaceable fruit of righteousness. This discipline has had its effect.

God was training a son who He loved. What else does Scripture say? By the way, all that was Hebrews 12 if you didn't recognize it. Hebrews 12, verses 6, verses 7, verses 11. What else does the Bible say?

His anger is but for a moment, his favor is for life. This is God. This isn't in my notes, believe me. There's a far side. Everybody knows the far side.

Where this goofy looking guy is walking down the sidewalk. He doesn't even know that there's a piano suspended on a rope above his head and God is over the smite button on the keyboard. He was about to smite him. So, it's a hilarious far side. But you know what?

Do you ever find yourself sort of feeling like that? Oh man, I'm doing the wrong thing. God's probably hovering over the smite button. Like the piano's about to be released on me. That's actually not what the Bible says about God.

His anger is for a moment. His favor is for life. If you have his favor, you have it because it's actually his favor towards his son, and he's given it to you by way of substitution. He's not taking back his favor on Jesus. So you get it, and when you get it, you have it.

And you might behave in ways that displease God, You dishonor God, and so God is displeased. But that's for a moment. His favor is for life. Psalm 30 verse 5. So that's verses 67 through 75.

Zacharias filled with the Holy Spirit prophetically announces a saving visit from God. Hey, God's visiting! He's raised up a mighty Savior King to conquer all the enemies that hate you. The final section, verses 76-80. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the highest.

For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God with which the day spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those who sit in darkness in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. I'll get to verse 80 when we get to verse 80. This section is about a prophet to prepare his way. So the first part was about this Savior. The second is a prophet to prepare his way.

Now the prophecy that God put in the mouth of the spirit filled Zacharias turns to Zacharias' son, John. We know him as John the Baptist. Of course, he's a baby. He hasn't baptized anybody yet. But it gives us a way to distinguish him from John the Gospel writer and John the disciple.

So this prophecy now turns to Zacharias' son John the Baptist. You child, you baby John will be called the prophet of the highest. So this section is about Zacharias' son John and it isn't about Zacharias' son John. It is really about this mighty Savior King that John has been exists to Prepare the people for Jesus. Let's cut to the chase.

Zacharias, filled with the Holy Spirit, is prophetically calling Jesus God. We've already encountered this a couple of times. We're not even out of Luke chapter 1 yet. But the Gospel writers all teach that Jesus is God. Here's Zacharias filled with the Holy Spirit is prophetically calling Jesus God.

He is the prophet of the highest in name of God, going before the face of the Lord to prepare His way. All this is about Jesus. And remember this phrase, The Lord is used in Luke chapter 1 and Luke chapter 2, both of the God who is sending this mighty Savior King, who has made the promises, and of the mighty Savior King Himself who will fulfill the promises and this phrase the Lord is used of both indiscriminately. There's no way to wiggle out of this. Zacharias filled with the Holy Spirit is prophetically teaching that Jesus is God.

How will John the Baptist prepare the way for Jesus? How will John the Baptist prepare the people for this mighty Savior King. Verse 77. He will give the knowledge of salvation by the remission of sins. He will give the knowledge of salvation, teach you about salvation, by the remission of sins.

Being saved by the remission of sins. Remission means to release from bondage, to forgive or pardon. How's he going to save you? He's going to release you from bondage and forgive you, pardon you. We need the knowledge of salvation.

Really? How hard is that? Get your act together. Turn over a new leaf. Try harder.

Do better. You know, that's every other religion on planet Earth's solution. How can we be saved? How can we be drawn back from destruction? Get your act together.

Turn over a new leaf. Try harder. Do better. No. You need a release from bondage.

You need to receive a pardon. This is what the Gospels offer. A release from bondage. A pardon. How's God going to do that?

Through His tender mercy. That's the phrase from the text, through His tender mercy. Isn't that wonderful? We know what mercy is. It's not getting what you deserve.

You deserve it. Oh, you deserve it. It's coming to you. Oh, but you don't get it because of mercy. But isn't it very different and infinitely more precious when we put the word tender in front of it?

The pardon that I need is extended by God as a display of His tender mercy towards me. It isn't a bare act of pity. Mercy can just be a bare act of pity. Poor thing. I won't Give Him what He deserves.

That is not what the Bible teaches God is doing in the Gospel. Poor thing. Bear active pity. No, no, no. It's an expression of His tender mercy.

There is tenderness in it. God's heart is in it. It is an expression of love. Understand, the sending of Jesus Christ into the world was an expression of the tender mercy of God. Jesus is called here, the Day-Spring from on high.

That word translated day spring is literally sunrise. Sunrise from on high. Every other place, if you look up the usage, every other place it's used maybe eight or nine times in the New Testament. All the other places, it's just rendered east. East, because the sun rises in the east.

The coming of Jesus from heaven is like sunrise. People are sitting in darkness in the shadow of death, and then the sun rises. This is actually just a quotation from Isaiah chapter 9 verse 2. So you can make that one of the hundred. Check, Jesus fulfills that one.

People are sitting in darkness in the shadow of death. And the sun rises. It's the coming of Jesus Christ. Check. One prophecy down.

300 more to go. Or 574 more to go, depending on who you let do the counting. People finally have light. People finally have truth. People finally have righteousness.

That's what light represents in Scripture. Truth and righteousness. Jesus said, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." You know, you come into this world in darkness, in the shadow of death. You might be in that state today.

If you're in that state today, I want to say to you, there's a sunrise. There's a sunrise. It's mighty welcome to people who are sitting in darkness in the shadow of death. Jesus, guide your feet into the way of peace. The war with God over all the many many ways you failed to bear His image is over.

God made man as image bearers. How are you doing? Bearing that image. Oh, I failed in a million ways. Okay.

You mean You started a war with God? You got any plans for how you're going to win that war? I wish you luck, friend, but I have no hope for you. The war with God over your sins, a war we can never win, is over. Put your feet on the path of peace.

Finally, let me say again something I've said a few times before already, but I'll say again now. John the Baptist is the very rare prophet who himself is the subject of ancient prophecy. Meaning, God thought it worthwhile to tell prophets to foretell there's a prophet coming in the future. John the Baptist is actually a prophet who is the fulfillment of ancient prophecy. Let me read you.

Isaiah 40, 1 through 5. You have to understand the structure of Isaiah. 1 through 39 is so heavy on Judgment, judgment, judgment. 40 is a break, like a hard break, where it now talks about redemption, redemption, redemption. And it's such a stark contrast between 1 through 39 and 40 through 66 that scholars have come up with the term deutero-Isaiah, meaning they had to have been written by different people.

No, it wasn't different people. It was God's expression of what the people deserve in judgment and condemnation, but then his purpose, his saving purposes, and that line is so stark that many modern scholars say it can't even be the same guy writing it. So this is Isaiah 40, the first part of this ending of Isaiah about redemption. Comfort, yes comfort my people, says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended.

That her iniquity is pardoned. For she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins." Now listen to this, Isaiah 40 verse 3. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. This is John the Baptist. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill brought low the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this is a prophecy about John the Baptist he is the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

All the Gospel writers pick up on this as a fulfillment of that. Listen to Malachi 3 verse 1. Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. Even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts." It's a prophecy about the messenger who will prepare the way before the Lord who will come suddenly to His temple." Wow, was that ever filled.

Here's the last verses of the Old Testament, Malachi 4, verses 5 and 6. Remember the law of Moses, my servant, which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel with the statutes and judgments, behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse." The New Testament writers pick up on this and say, He is the prophetic Elijah who was sent before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, who turned the hearts of the people. So when we get to chapter 3, John's going to show up and preach repentance. Turn!

Turn your hearts! Our text ends with verse 80. So the child grew, this is John, John the Baptist, so the child grew and became strong in spirit. He was in the desert still the day of His manifestation to Israel. He had a Spirit-filled mother and a Spirit-filled Father.

And He was Spirit-filled even from His mother's womb. And He became strong in Spirit. We'll get back to Him. So chapter 2, now we're Shifting to the birth of Jesus, those events. And then in chapter 3, we'll be back at length to John the Baptist and his public ministry.

Applications, I'll give you two. One, Jesus is God with us. Emmanuel is His name, which is translated, God with us. He's visited us to redeem us. Jesus is God for us.

These things are out of His tender mercy. He's with us. He's for us. Do you need to be purchased out of your slavery? Jesus is God's mighty Savior King who conquers all the enemies who hate you.

He has all the strength and power and abundance for the saving that you need. Galatians 3, Paul says, the law is a tutor to bring us to Christ. What does that mean? The law shows you who you really are, so that you say, oh no, I'm really like this, God's really like that, oh no. It's a tutor, it sends you running to Christ for mercy.

Well, What does Jesus say? Jesus says, I never turn away anyone who comes to me for mercy. As a sub-point, are you disconnected from the fear of reality? Not fearing reality, but being so disconnected from reality that you don't fear God. People who understand the reality of these things, it makes them afraid of eternity.

You're just going through life, you have no fear, footloose and fancy free. You shouldn't be, if you haven't made your peace with God through His Son Jesus, shouldn't be footloose and fancy free. You Should actually be terrified. That's 2 Corinthians 7. Knowing then the terrors of the Lord, we preach Christ.

That's what a gospel preacher is supposed to do. Supposed to set eternity, an eternity of terrors before you and say run to Christ while there's time. Two, believer. Serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness. And I have to be afraid of Him for another day.

The sin debt is settled forever. All my past sins? No, not just them. The present ones, the future ones too. God, there is such a glory to these things.

Thank you. Thank you for the glory of the gospel that you weren't content to only be just. You are perfectly just. You weren't content to just give what was due, give what was deserved. That you have a heart of compassion, a heart of tender mercy that has expressed itself in the sending of your son, this mighty Savior King into the world to conquer the enemies who hate us.

Thank you for this. God, I pray that you would give eyes to see. To people who have never had eyes to see these things, give ears to hear. People who have never had ears to hear these things, so that they would find rest and peace in your son. I pray in Jesus name, Amen.