The sermon, titled 'Hearing without Ears' by Peter Allison, begins with a call for prayer requests and mentions of an upcoming Presbytery meeting, emphasizing the importance of church fellowship and collective worship. The speaker reflects on God's sovereignty, using the narrative of Saul being chosen as king to illustrate how God orchestrates events for His purposes. The sermon emphasizes the need for believers to be vigilant against temptation, praying for God's protection against the world, the flesh, and the devil. The narrative of Zacharias and the prophecy of his son John the Baptist is discussed, highlighting the themes of faith, divine calling, and the role of the Holy Spirit. The sermon concludes with a reflection on the nature of true fear, reverence for God, and the assurance of salvation through Christ, urging believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to live lives of repentance and obedience.

Good morning. Good morning. He is risen. Amen. Amen.

Any prayer requests for praise the Lord with you, to petition the Lord with you this morning? Anybody? Yes, Hildeberto. This morning. Yes, Hilda Berto.

And he's having like a month, so he's in charge of the core stage. And this is interesting because he likes his work, he takes care of his heart. I'm not a fan of him, sorry, for one month. In a month, he's stuck with the news. Okay.

What's his name? Pedro. Okay, what's his name? Pedro. And you said he's a believer?

Okay. Does he have a family? Okay. Oh. Okay.

Pedro, anyone else? Yes, Christina. Alright, thank you. Yes, Corbin. Alright, thank you.

Yes, Corbin. Okay. All right. Yes. All right, then let us, yes?

Yes. Okay, lost and found. Yes. We'll be doing our study on eschatology this afternoon, Lord willing. And then next week is And then next week we'll be out of, not this week, but one week From now we'll be going to Presbytery in Iowa.

So that is for those that haven't been, that is the one time a year that all of us from across the country get together and meet as a church for worship and for fellowship and for the work of the church. As we see in Acts 15 and where the church comes together from many cities, from other other regions, and deals with matters that are present before the church. So We have no really pressing business, but there's still some important things to discuss relating to the health and the strength of our church. So we appreciate your prayers that that Lord would use that time to strengthen and edify and encourage His people and His church. All right, and let us prepare to worship the Lord.

The Lord reigns, Jehovah. Let the earth rejoice. Let the multitude of Isles be glad. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. A fire goes before Him and burns up His enemies round about.

His lightnings light the world. The earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax at the presence of Jehovah. The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the people see His glory. Let all be put to shame who worshiped carved images.

Worship Him, all you gods. Zion hears, and the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments, Jehovah's judgments. For Jehovah is most high, above all the earth. He is exalted far above all gods. He preserves the souls of His saints.

He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. Rejoice in Jehovah, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name. Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, graced you in peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. Let's begin our worship and praise of Jehovah with hymn 48, Oh Lord most high with with all my heart. You are the sun, you are my heart, You're always the moon, You're the water, You're my day, I'll be the heaven where you rose, And to the day you found your way.

O'er the land we watched, Thee we hailed, and hailed, Thee we hailed, and hailed, Thee we hailed, and hailed, Thee we hailed, and hailed, St. James, the barrow's wide, His name comes out of his. Saint Jesus, our Lord of hosts high, You reign over us in high on high, In heaven's light, in heaven above, Let us pray. Almighty Heavenly Father, it is with all of our heart that we proclaim your greatness, your glory, your wisdom this morning. We give you Thanks for you are the creator God.

You are the God who is above all other rulers, who is above all other powers and principalities. Indeed all of these are created by you and all have their authority from you. But you, you alone, are the one who has made all things out of nothing by the word of your power. You are the one who sustains and maintains all things that exist in existence. These worlds are upheld by your power, moment by moment, day by day, year year by year, century and millennium after century and millennium.

Your constant presence, your unending power, holds and orders all things. And We praise you this morning that this is so. That even our lives and our existence has been ordained by you, and your eye is upon us as it is upon everything else that you have made. We also, Lord, praise you this morning and give you thanks with all of our heart because you have also loved us. You have known us even from before we existed.

And you have called us to yourself. You have made us your children. And for this, Lord, we give you thanks. Because you have loved us, we love you. We ask that you would increase our affection for you, our devotion to you, our obedience out of that love and affection.

Lord, we want to know more of You and to know You. We ask that You would come this morning to speak to us, to speak grace and peace to us, your children. And we ask that you would receive our thanks and our praise, our adoration, our worship for Christ's sake. It's coming from those that you have redeemed, in whom you are working. And so we bring our sacrifice of praise through Jesus Christ.

Amen. Let us confess our faith together as we recount what it is that we are asking the Lord to do when we pray the words, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Confessing together In the sixth petition which is, And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil, Acknowledging that the Most Wise, Righteous and Gracious God, for divers and holy just ends, may so order things that we may be assaulted, foiled, and for a time led captive by temptations, that Satan, the world, and the flesh are ready powerfully to draw us aside and ensnare us, and that we, even after the pardon of our sins by reason of our corruption, weakness, and want of watchfulness, are not only subject to be tempted and forward to expose ourselves to temptations, but also of ourselves unable and unwilling to resist them, to recover out of them and to improve them, and worthy to be left under the power of them. We pray that God would so overrule the world and all in it, subdue the flesh and restrain Satan, order all things, bestow and bless all means of grace, quicken us to watchfulness in the use of them, that we and all His people may by His providence be kept from being tempted to sin, or if tempted, that by His holy Spirit we may powerfully be supported and enabled to stand in the hour of temptation, or when fallen, raised again, and recovered out of it, and having sanctified use and improvement thereof, that our sanctification and salvation may be perfected, sainten trodden under our feet and we fully freed from sin Temptation and all evil forever That was one sentence.

Did you get it? The essence of that sentence is that we are praying that God would overrule the world and all things in it, subdue the flesh and restrain Satan and bestow and bless the means of grace and quicken us to watchfulness in the use of those means of grace." There's the essence, the heart of the sentence. God would so overrule the world and all things in it. Subdue our flesh and restrain sainting. Three things.

The world, the flesh, and the devil. That's what the prayer concerns. And then quicken us, it's to make us alive, to make us sensitive and responsive. Quicken us to watchfulness in the use of those means of grace, the word of God, and the sacraments, the preaching of the word, and the sacraments, and prayer, so that by his spirit we may be powerfully supported and enabled to stand or when we have fallen to be raised again. And when it speaks of improvement, speaking about learning, growing from these temptations, that we are wiser, that we are more watchful, that we've learned something from them.

There's been a spiritual blessing that's come to us through that event, through that temptation, So that the Lord uses it in our life for good. That's the prayer. Our scripture reading is 1 Samuel chapter 9. Samuel chapter 9. We continue in the narrative of the people asking for a king and God providing.

First Samuel 9, Hear God's word. There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekoroth, the son of Baphiah, a benjamite, a mighty man of power. And he had a choice and handsome son, whose name was Saul. There was not a more handsome man than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.

Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. And Kish said to his son Saul, Please take one of the servants with you and arise and go and look for the donkeys. So he passed through the mountains of Ephraim and through the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them. Then they passed through the land of Shalim, and they were not there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but They did not find them.

And when they came to the land of Zeph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, Come let us return, lest my father cease caring about the donkeys and become worried about us. And he said To him, look now, there is this city, a man of God, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honorable man, all that he says surely comes to pass. So let us go there, perhaps he can show us the way that we should go. Then Saul said to his servants, But look, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread in our vessel is all gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God.

What do we have? And the servant answered Saul again, and said, Look, I have here at hand one fourth of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God to tell us our way. Formally in Israel when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus, Come Let us go to the seer, for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer." Then Saul said to his servant, Well said, come let us go. So they went to the city where the man of God was, and they went up the hill to the city.

As they went up the hill to the city, they met some young women going out to draw water and said to them, Is the seer here? And they answered them and said, Yes, there he is, just ahead of you, hurry now, For today he came to this city because there is a sacrifice of the people today on the high place. As soon as you come into the city you will surely find him before he goes to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes because he must bless the sacrifice afterward. Those who are invited will eat.

Now therefore go up for about this time you will find him so they went up to the city and they were coming into the city there was Samuel coming out toward them on his way to the high place Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came saying, Tomorrow, about this time, I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him commander over my people Israel, that he may save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked upon my people because their cry has come to me." So when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, there he is, the man whom I spoke to you, this one shall reign over my people. Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate and said, Please tell me where is the seer's house? And Samuel answered Saul and said, I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today, and tomorrow I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart.

But as for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, do not be anxious about them, for they have been found. And on whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on you and on your father's house?' And Saul answered and said, Am I not a Benjamite of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak like this to me? Now Samuel took Saul and his servant and brought them into the hall, and had them sit in the place of honor among those who were invited.

There were about thirty persons. And Samuel said to the cook, Bring the portion which I gave you, of which I said to you, Set it apart. So the cook took up the thigh with its upper part and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, Here it is, what was kept back, it was set apart for you. Eat, for until this time it has been kept for you, since I said I invited the people.

So Saul ate with Samuel that day. When they had come down from the high place into the city, Samuel spoke with Saul on the top of the house, saying, Get up that I may send you on your way. And Saul arose and both of them went outside, he and Samuel. And as they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Tell the servant to go on ahead of us and he went on. But you stand here awhile, that I may announce to you the word of God." thus far the reading of God's holy word, a word that is without error, a word that is breathed out by God Himself.

We talked about God ordering all things, and here is a story, a narrative, of God ordering all things. Of God ordering all things. We don't always have the word of God to tell us, like we do about this example, but see God is organizing all these events. Saul and his servant are looking for three days. They're walking all around, looking for some lost animals, which means that they don't really have a set path that they're following.

They're simply finding one clue. They're on like a treasure hunt. They find one clue and that leads them to go to the next place. They find some clue there and that leads them to go to the next place. So they're on what we would call a random journey.

They didn't know where they were going when they started out. They simply are following the clues as they look for these animals and They are not successful and so they come to a city after a few days. And Samuel is a circuit rider. The Bible says that he went around all of Israel judging them and then he would come back to his house at Rama. So Samuel is on this circuit and the day before Jehovah told him that there was somebody that God would send to him, a young man, and he was to anoint him king, a commander over the people, because God would use through him and God would deliver on the children of Israel.

And this man is Saul, he's a Benjamite, this is the person that Paul, apostle Paul was probably named after because he was also of the tribe of Benjamin. He was a benjamite. And this man is choice and handsome. He's choice and handsome. This first king that God gives to them, and this is God giving them a king, He gives them a very handsome person who's big, who's tall.

He's the epitome of what Hollywood would think is a desirable person, a choice person to lead the army. He's bigger than them, he's handsome, he is strong. He looks outwardly like the perfect person, because we know that he wasn't. That he turned away from the Lord. The Lord refused to listen to him.

And the Lord tore the kingdom away from him. And the next person that God chose was just the opposite. David. David, God told Samuel, I look on the heart, I look on the inward, not the outward. And so David was not any of those things.

David says was ruddy. He was he was a lad At the time but Saul is choice. He's a he's a beautiful specimen of a human man And and God brings and orchestrates all these events to bring Saul right into Samuel's path. Saul on this random journey, Samuel on this circuit that he's riding around, and God brings them together because God had a plan to anoint Saul to be king of his people. And God worked all things, even all the details.

God worked together to bring this to pass. And that's what we pray then, that God would so overrule the world and all that is in it. So that we might be preserved from temptation or kept by the power of God. That's this is the God that we that we worship. This is the God that we pray to, the Sovereign.

Let us go now to this to Jehovah with our prayers of confession and petition Almighty Heavenly Father, we come before you remembering all of the duties that we have left undone. All of the things that we ought to have done, that we have forgotten, that we have The means of grace to praise you, to count it a joy when we fall into various trials, to rejoice always, to pray without ceasing. Father, We confess this morning how often our heart is cold and distant. And yet, Lord, we come asking your forgiveness, knowing that you are just and faithful to forgive, and knowing that you are rich in mercy, abounding in loving kindness, and that you have provided for us a sacrifice in Christ. That you have not left us in our condition, but that you have paid the penalty of our sin and that you have risen again and that you ever live to make intercession for us.

And so Lord, we come to you as your children as well, asking for your provision of your grace, asking for Inhabit our hearts, our praise, our thanksgiving. For you to subdue the world that we so easily become enamored with to subdue our own flesh and to subdue the evil one and to protect us. Lord, this is your power. This is your work. We ask this of you this morning.

Father, we pray that you would show to us our sin, the depravity of our heart. Not to beat us down, but in your mercy to sanctify us, to purify us, to enable us more and more to die to our sinful nature and to live to you, to put off the old man with its lusts and to be put on the new man, to be renewed in our thinking and in our emotions, and in our affections. Father, we thank you for your great deliverance of us this week. You have defeated a foe that was far more powerful than we are, a foe that had far more wealth than we did. Lord, we do rejoice at your power, that you are the same yesterday, today, and forever, that you are the same God today as the one who destroyed the Assyrian army in one night Without your people lifting one sword indeed while they were sleeping So father you have delivered us as well and and we praise and thank you You are the mighty God who orders all things, the hearts of all people, the course of their feet, their path, And you have ordered all of these things in this case.

Father, we pray that you would raise up from all of your people a thanks for your deliverance. May you encourage us and strengthen our faith that we may be emboldened to ask great things of you. For there is nothing, Lord, that is too hard for you to accomplish. But Lord, we acknowledge that our faith is weak, that our prayers are often feeble. So we ask that you would help our unbelief, that we may remember these deliverances, to speak of them, to thank you for them and to speak of them to our children, your wonderful works, to your people.

Lord, we lift up Pedro, Hilda Berto's brother, with sorrow at this illness and the severity of it. Lord, we ask that you would heal for where there is life, there is hope, and there is grace. And we pray that you would comfort his family, his sons, his wife. May you strengthen their faith and draw them to you. And draw them to you.

Lord, we also ask for the presbytery meeting that's coming up, for all those who will be traveling to it. We ask for safety in this. In order to be asked that is we gather together that you might be present with us, that your wisdom might rest upon us, and that you would use this time to strengthen your church, to preserve her from errors, to lead her in paths of righteousness, to fortify her against the wolves that would arise even from within our own midst, as you have said will happen. Lord, may you protect us, preserve us by your power. May you use these shepherds that you have raised up to feed, to bless, to equip your people.

Father, We ask also that you give wisdom to Damien and Christina. Lord, you are the one in whom is all wisdom. And you have promised to give without uprating, without reproach to those who ask. So we ask that you would guide their steps. May you open your word to them and by your Spirit lead them to the truth and in paths of righteousness.

Father we also lift up to you our legislature, especially the Chairman Leach, who holds in his committee, in his hand, the power to change our laws. To bring them into conformity with your word, to declare the murder of unborn children, the killing of unborn children to be murder, and to bring the penalty that you have ordained in your word against those who would shed innocent blood. Father, this is a mighty foe. A mighty foe that is not flesh and blood, but powers and principalities in high places. Yet these two Lord are under your dominion.

We thank you that our weapons are not of the flesh, but they are mighty for pulling down strongholds and casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Lord, this legislature has exalted itself against you. It has refused to end the killing of unborn babies, of innocent people. He's been moved by Satan. We ask Lord that you would break his deception, that you would destroy his edifices and buildings that hold our land in darkness.

Lord, we tremble before your judgment. We tremble before these earthly powers even because they are great and yet we ask Lord that you would take away our fear and that you would give us boldness, that you would give us faith in you and in your power. And though this seems impossible to us, for there is but only one day left in the usual order of things, Lord we ask of you, We beseech of you, we beg of you that you would deliver us, that you would hear the cry of your people. Lord, we ask that you would raise up prayers of your people. Of your people.

Father our lives are in your hands. This government is in your hands. This heart of the legislature is in your hands. And whatever you ordain is right and good. And so we commit this to you, knowing that you are the great shepherd of your people, that you are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

And we worship you and we praise you with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength through Jesus Christ. Amen. Through Jesus Christ, amen. Psalm 14a. ["Psalm 14a"] hear my heart, things of your endless world.

Where your roots found the memory of all the human ways. The U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S.

U.S. U.S. U.S. U.S. O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's There are no end to heaven, nor the ways without your house, Nor the words in your mouth, nor the words in your mouth, And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, the bombs bursting in air, the bombs bursting in air, And the spirits will bring him.

All who will do is choice his captives, and Jacob is now saved. Please turn with me to Luke, the first chapter. I'd like to read the same narrative again beginning at verse 5. There was in the days of Herod the king of Judea a certain priest named Zacharias of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron and her name was Elizabeth.

And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and they were both well advanced in years. So it was that while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. And then an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing on the right side of the altar of incense, and when Zacharias saw him he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is 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 in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also 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 also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And Zacharias said to the angel, How shall I know this?

For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years. And the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you and to bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time." and the people waited for Zacharias. And they marveled that he lingered so long in the temple, but when he came out he could not speak to them. And they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned to them and remained speechless.

So it was as soon as the days of his service were completed that he departed to his own house. Now after those days his wife Elizabeth conceived and she hid herself five months, saying, Thus the Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among the people. May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Word and write it upon our hearts. Heavenly Father, we ask now that you would sanctify these lips in this vessel of clay, that they might proclaim the riches of your grace, the wonders of Your mercy, Your glory, that they might speak as You would lead. Father, we ask that Your Word may dwell richly in us.

We ask that You would turn our hearts and our minds to You. That you would equip us to put aside those things that distract. And Father, feed us through Jesus we ask. Amen. Last week we left Zacharias at the altar of incense.

He was offering his incense in the prayers. God sent an angel Gabriel to appear to Him and to bring a message to Him. And like all people who encounter the living God, or who have an interaction with God in some way, or his angel, great fear came upon Zacharias. So The first thing that Gabriel says to him is, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid.

He comforted him. Now, in the Bible, We're told to fear God many times. In fact, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And yet we are also, in all of these, many of these places, we are told, do not fear. Do not be afraid.

Because there are two senses to this word fear. There is the sense of reverence, of honor, of a carefulness not to do unrighteousness. And in that sense, we are to have a fear of God, a great reverence for Him. But There is another sense in which, as you know, it speaks of cowering, of being scared, frightened, in terror. And so that kind of fear, John says, perfect love casts out that fear, for fear involves torment.

And so we are not to have that kind of fear. We have that kind of fear by nature because we are sinners and when we stand in the presence of the Holy God, we are afraid in terror. But Gabriel's first message is a message of comfort. Because Zacharias is known by God. Zacharias is righteous.

And the only way anyone is ever righteous is because of the righteousness of Christ that is imputed to them. Enabling them, giving them the power to live in obedience to God's commandments. And so, Zacharias is God's child. He is one of those who is the apple of God's eye. He is a royal priesthood.

He is known by God. He is known by God as we will see in a minute, even before he was born. And so he tells him, the very first words are to Zacharias, so do not be afraid. Do not fear. Have faith.

You are no longer under the condemnation of God, but you are accepted in the Beloved. That's His message to Zacharias. And that's the message of God to us as well. Do not be afraid, for you have passed from death to life. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

So we do not need to be afraid. We do not need to have that fear that is natural to our sinful condition. You too are accepted in the beloved, accepted in Jesus Christ. And the wrath of God is turned away from us. He comes with this message that he would have a son, his wife would have a son.

His wife who we read was old, advanced in years, well advanced in years, Beyond the normal years of bearing children. So his first message is, your wife Elizabeth will have a son, and you will call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth and he will be great in the sight of God and he won't drink any wine or strong drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb, and he will turn the hearts of many to the Lord." Now, all of this is known before this child is even conceived. The text is very clear that it is after this service that Zacharias went back to his house and that Elizabeth conceived and a son. So here God is telling Zacharias the name of his son before his son is even conceived, the gender of his child before this child is even conceived, and he's telling him about the calling of this child and the life that this child would live when he grew up and that the and the mission the calling of this child and this is all before this child is even conceived Before this child exists in any physical sense.

There is no cell that ever was a part of a person called John. It doesn't exist, and yet he is known by God. Because God has known us from before the foundation of the world. And it is God that gives existence to everything. God knew you before you were conceived.

He knew me before I existed. God can say all these things, of course, because we know that God is the one who determines the course of history. Every one of these things that happen, just like the narrative of Samuel that we read and saw, God brings to pass. These things are certainties. These things can be proclaimed as facts and as truth because it is God, because God has foreordained all these things to come to pass.

God is making these things to happen. Now, He's also using the decisions and the choices and the actions of people. Just because God has ordained all these things doesn't mean that Zacharias can do whatever he wants. Now, God in ordaining all things to come to pass is is ordaining all things to come to pass through agents, through means, through people making freely, freely making decisions. Zacharias Did a lot of things To make all this come to pass He had relations with his wife when the child is born He named that child John contrary to what is will see later all the people there wanted him to do, or thought he should do.

But God also said that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit. And that he would, before that, that he would drink neither wine nor strong drink. And that he would be great before the Lord. He would be great before the Lord because he would have a great office, that of the herald of the Messiah. God was calling him to a great calling, a great duty in his life, to be the herald, to be the one who goes before the Messiah to prepare the way, to be the herald.

Today we don't have kings that send a messenger with a trumpet, but we still have this same idea with a herald coming before a great king. And When the president visits a city, there are people that go before him to prepare the way. They go several days or even weeks in advance. They prepare the path, the course that the president will follow. They vet all of the people that will touch and have access to him.

They set up all the security and they position everything that they need. These are the heralds, if you will, going before to prepare the way. That was John's calling. That was the purpose of his life, was to be the herald. Now, the focus is not on the herald, but the focus of the herald is to point people and to prepare people for the one who comes after him.

And so greatness in the Bible is always linked with humility. He that is least in the kingdom, God says, is the greatest in the kingdom. And that's what John was. He said, he must increase and I must decrease. And then, shortly after that, John is put in prison and beheaded because of his faithfulness to his calling of being a prophetic voice and bringing God's word to this generation.

But God said, even though his life was short, we would say cut short, even though He didn't do any great miracles and did not live a life of greatness as we see it. He was great. God said that he would be great. He would be great before the Lord in the sight of God. He was great because of his office, and he was also, as a part of this special office that God was calling him to, he was to be separated to the Lord in a special way.

He was to drink neither wine nor strong drink. Because of this office, because of what the duty that God was calling him, to be the herald of the Messiah, He was not to drink wine or strong drink. And the word for strong drink is in the Greek is the Hebrew word for strong drink. It's the transliteration. The Greek word is the transliteration of the Hebrew word for strong drink.

So it's something that's different from wine. It's something that is brewed or distilled and not fermented. Strong drink and wine was forbidden to priests while they were on duty. Only while they were on duty. Other times the priests, when they were not in their week of, as Zechariah says here, this is his week of duty.

When they were on duty, they were forbidden to drink wine or strong drink. But at any other time, they were able to drink wine or strong drink. In fact, it was part of the rejoicing tithe, or the time of rejoicing to be able to drink wine or strong drink or whatever your heart desired The Bible says you could drink So there's nothing wrong. It's not it's not more holy to not drink these things but it is rather a sign of somebody being separated, set apart, that's what holy means, set apart for a special purpose. This is similar to the Nazirite vow that was given in Numbers.

It's similar here, but there are a few differences. When a man or woman consecrates an offering to take a vow of a Nazirite, the purpose was to separate himself to the Lord. In the Old Testament, there was this provision for people who wanted to separate themselves to the Lord to take the valve of Nazareth and he would separate himself from wine and Similar drink he drank neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from similar drink neither shall he drink any grape juice, nor eat any fresh grapes or raisins, all the days of his separation." The whole point of this was for somebody to be separated to the Lord. He should eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine from seed to skin. All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall come upon his head until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord.

He shall be holy. Then he shall let the locks of his hair grow. All the days that he separates himself to the Lord, he shall not go near a dead body. He shall not make himself unclean even for his father or mother, for his brother or sister when they die. Because His separation to God is on his head.

All the days of his separation he shall be holy." And the text goes on to talk about what if somebody dies suddenly? What if you're standing with somebody next to them and they suddenly die and you touch them accidentally? Then what do you have to do? The Bible gives instructions on what to do there. But this vow was to separate people to the Lord.

And so John, whether he was a Nazirite or not, It's not clear because the text doesn't mention the other things that were part of the Nazirite vow. Namely, not eating anything from a grape whatsoever, and never cutting your hair, and never touching a dead body. It doesn't say that John would need to do these things. It simply says that he would never drink wine or a strong drink. But the significance is the same.

John is being set apart from the ordinary. Not being set apart from what is sinful. This is being set apart from what is ordinary. Ordinarily people drink wine and strong drink. John is set apart from that because of his office.

John had a total, lifelong separation to the Lord for this special office. See the Nazarite vow ended, and when it ended then you could grow your hair out, you could bury dead bodies, you could drink wine and strong drink. But John's separation to his office was lifelong. We see the Lord calling other people great who had a similar separation to the Lord. In Ezekiel, God tells Ezekiel that there are three men, and he names three great men of the Old Testament, Noah, Daniel, and Job.

It's interesting who he names and who he doesn't name. Noah, Daniel, and Job. He says even if these three men were in this city, the place that God is going to judge, they should deliver, They would not be able to deliver the land. They would deliver their own souls by their righteousness, but they wouldn't deliver anyone else. In Noah, the Bible says Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation, and Noah walked with God.

Now, Noah was separated. Remember that was a generation where the imagination of everyone's thought was evil continually and God repented that he had even made man. That's how wicked Noah's generation was. There is no generation ever since that is that wicked or ever will be that wicked. It was so wicked God destroyed the entire world with a flood.

And yet Noah is righteous. Noah was separate from this. He was separated to the Lord. He was blameless in his generation. In the midst of a very wicked generation.

Daniel, Purpose, do you remember when he went to the, he's captured, he goes to Babylon, he's put in with the wise people and who are in training to be the leaders, wise people of the land, and they're given this food, the choice food to eat and wine and Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat nor with the wine which he drank. Daniel purposed in his heart to be separated from that. It's not sin to eat meat and it's not sin to drink wine, but Daniel separated himself from that. And God blessed that. Job, it says, the Bible says, was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil.

Job was separated to the Lord. And we too, as God's people, as his royal priesthood, as the people who are his peculiar people, we're called to be separate from the world as well. Paul told the Corinthians in Corinthians 6, wherefore come out from among them and be separate And touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and I will be a father to you and you will be my sons and daughters Says the Lord Almighty John was separated to the Lord, but he was also filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And it's interesting that when Paul is talking to the Ephesian church, He writes to them to not be drunk with wine, not be drunk with wine, not be under its controlling influence, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit. So there's a contrast there is being drunk, being under the influence of wine, or being filled with the Holy Spirit and being led by the Holy Spirit, being under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Do not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. And what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? What does a Spirit-filled person look like? Well, speaking to one another in Psalms, in hymns, in spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord giving thanks always for all things This is what is? Descriptive characteristic of someone who is filled with the spirit speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.

Making melody in our heart to the Lord. Giving thanks always for all things. You know, Only the Holy Spirit can enable us to give thanks for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. Only the Holy Spirit can enable us to submit to one another in the fear of God. Paul then goes on to elaborate what submitting to one another in the fear of God means, and he has directions to wives to submit to husbands.

Only by the Spirit of God can a wife submit to a sinful man? Husbands are to submit to one another as well. They submit by sacrificially loving, giving themselves for their wife. Only someone filled with the Holy Spirit can submit to a wife in that way by giving himself to her, by loving her sacrificially. And so John is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and it's from the womb, even from his mother's womb, before he's born.

Now how can an unborn baby be converted? Because John is going to be filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will come upon him. And a little later we read that when six months after he's conceived, yet unborn, when Mary came to visit him, he leaps in the womb for joy. It's the fruit of the Spirit.

Well here's something to remember. If unborn infants cannot receive the Holy Spirit and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, then all infants who die before they are born would go to hell. Because all men are sinners. All are under God's wrath and condemnation. David said he was conceived in sin.

And so if somebody dies in their sins, they go to hell. That's what the Bible teaches. Now, if that's what the Bible taught about unborn infants, then that's what we would need to believe. But is that what the Bible really teaches? The Bible says that faith comes by hearing, first of all.

Can an unborn infant hear God's Word? Their ears are not developed yet, are they? There are no brain waves in their head after they are conceived. Their brain doesn't function like our brain. But they can hear.

Lazarus' ears didn't work very well either, right? His brain didn't work like our brain. His brain was dead. There were no brain waves. There was no activity going on in him.

In fact, his body was decomposing. Martha said, it stinks. It's going to stink. But that didn't stop Lazarus from hearing God's voice when God called Lazarus come forth. Lazarus heard even though he had ears that physically didn't work.

As Psalm 94 says, he that planted the ear, does he not hear? We could say, he that created the ear, can He not make us to hear? Does God need the body parts for us to hear His voice? Lazarus didn't need any body parts that worked for Him to hear God's voice. Rather it is Lazarus heard God's voice and that's what caused his body parts to start working.

He didn't hear God's voice because his ears were working. He heard God's voice, and then his ears started working. And so, we secondly see, faith comes by hearing. Well, God doesn't need our ears to make us hear the Gospel. But how do...

One might ask, what's the source of faith, secondly? Faith comes by hearing, but what is the source of faith? We read that saving faith is a gift of God. That is, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and Word of God. So faith is a gift.

Is there any reason why if God gave it to us, why he cannot give it to an unborn baby? Somebody who he has known from before the foundation of the world, he knows this child. He knew His name, He knew His gender, He knew His purpose, He knew what He would eat and drink. God is able to give faith to anyone whom He has created, upon whom He has set His pleasure, upon whom He has loved from before the foundation of the world. And yes, that gift of faith and the Holy Spirit coming upon somebody, that does produce a response.

That produces the expression of faith and repentance. But those graces that flow from God's gift of faith, They're not the ground of that faith. We don't have faith because we can say something. We have faith because God gives it to us. God is able to give this unborn baby saving faith just as much as he is able to give it to us.

God is able to save the unborn baby who is dead in his trespasses and sins just as much as he's able to save us who are dead in our trespass and sins. He is able to enable that baby to hear his voice, just like he's enabled us to hear his voice. The Bible says, so then it is not of him who wills, nor of Him that runs, but of God who shows mercy. And so, saving faith may look very different in an unborn baby than they do in an adult. But how does saving faith look in a deaf mute?

How does it look in somebody who is paralyzed from the neck down and can only communicate by blinking their eyes? See, the outward expression, the ability to express our faith may look different depending on the ability of our body and our mind. But we should never mistake our ability to see the expression, the fruit of saving faith. We should never confuse that for saving faith itself. God is able to save whosoever He will, whenever He will.

After all, He's known us from before the foundation of the world. So John is filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. He was set apart for this special office, that of being the herald of the Messiah. And He would go before Him And turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God he would go before the Messiah in the spirit and the power of Elijah This is a And turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." This is a quote out of Malachi, The very last prophecy of the Old Testament, before the canon of the Old Testament was shut and closed for 400 years, the very last words are, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of Jehovah. And 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." That was the closing prophecy. And here is Gabriel now saying that this son that Zacharias and Elizabeth would have would come in the Spirit and the power of Elijah. See, John was not physically Elijah come back to life, because in John he's asked, are you Elijah? And he says, no, I'm not Elijah. But Jesus says that he was Elijah.

He was Elijah in that he came in the Spirit and the power of Elijah. And he did this prophetic work of being a prophetic voice, a herald before the coming of Jesus the Messiah. He is as Isaiah 40 speaks, he is the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord. And the effect, his effect, the fruit of his ministry would be, it wasn't, He didn't do many great miracles unlike Elijah, who had the encounter on Mount Carmel. He raised people from the dead.

He brought fire down on soldiers that were sent to arrest him. He worked many great miracles. John the Baptist didn't work any great miracles in that sense. But he did turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. Now what is he speaking about here?

It's easy to see this as, well he's going to bring unity within the family. And there's a sense in which that is an outworking of what he came to do. But that's not the primary focus of John's, or primary effect of John's ministry. Rather, children and fathers are being used in a figurative sense to, For example, we see in Malachi 2 a little bit earlier that in verse 8, Malachi's message to Israel is that you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, referring to their father, the fathers in the faith. And he says, You deal treacherously with one another by profaning the covenant of the fathers.

He's telling Israel they have profaning the covenant of their fathers. They have turned away from the faith of their fathers. They've turned away from the scriptures and the Word of God. And we know that that was the condition of Israel when John came. The church was in a very sad condition.

The worship of God was corrupted in many ways. The Pharisees who were the leaders of the church in that day were very superstitious. They added many things to the Word of God. They were divided into sects. The priests were openly wicked people, corrupt, utterly corrupt, sold out to money.

And so this expression, bring back the hearts of the fathers to the children, is speaking about turning the people back to the word of God, to the faith of their fathers. In Malachi 3, verse 7, he says, Verse 3, verse 7, he says, Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from my ordinances and have not kept them. Return to me and I will return to you. Return to me and I will return to you. Return to me and I will return to you.

That's what the Lord is saying to his people. Return to me and I will return to you. That's what the effect of John's ministry was. This turning is repentance, right? That's what repentance is, turning around.

Change of heart, a change of direction. And John the Baptist came to bring, to preach the repentance for the people to turn around and turn back to the Lord. And God said that he would turn to them. That's what it means then when it says, turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers." And in the text, Luke takes that little mini-chaos, right there, turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. And he says, turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, the wisdom of the fathers.

John is coming to preach repentance. And we read that his baptism was a baptism of repentance. That was John's message, to come proclaim the Messiah, to prepare the way of the Lord, to turn the hearts of these rebellious children back to the Word of God, back to the wisdom of the just, back to the covenant and the faith of their fathers. And that God promises that those who return to him those who turn to him he will and return to him he will read he will turn back to them return to me God says and I will return to you says the to you, says the Lord of Hosts." That was John's message. That was his calling.

Some people listened and repented, but many other people hated him, despised his message. But God is faithful. God did bring back and restore and rebuild His church. And He is doing so to this very day. Almighty Heavenly Father, You are a covenant-keeping God.

You have a preserve for Yourself a people That we might be zealous for good works, that we might be zealous for your glory, that your word might dwell in us richly. That we being filled with the Spirit, may be able to speak to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our heart to you, rejoicing and giving thanks in all things, Submitting to one another in the bond of peace. Father, we thank you for this work of your Holy Spirit. We Thank you for those that you sent to prepare the way, for those that you sent to proclaim the truth. We thank you most of all for your work in us.

We ask that you would perfect that which you have begun. In Jesus' name, Amen. Psalm 85A. O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's This, I reach out like never before. I love you, I love you, I love you.

I love you, I love you, I love you. O say can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's Please be seated. From time to time, I think it's good to remind ourselves how we ought to prepare to come to this table. It's our privilege every week to come to the table of the Lord. How should we prepare to come?

That it might be effectual. Here is the instruction from the Westminster Larger Catechism on how we ought to prepare to receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. It teaches us that we are to prepare ourselves by examining ourselves of our being in Christ, of our sins and our wants, of the truth and measure of our knowledge, of our faith, repentance and love to God and one another. These are things to examine means we need to think about these things. We need to hold our life up to the Word of God.

Do we know the Word of God? Are we in Christ? Are we seeking to walk in obedience to the commands by our own flesh? Is this our own struggle that we are seeking to offer by our good deeds to please God and earn His favor? Or are we walking in Christ?

Is the life that we now live in the flesh, do we live it by faith in the Son of God? Or is this a life we are living out of our own flesh? That's what it means to examine whether we are in Christ. Is it our joy and delight to do these things? Or is this a burden that grieves us to us?

Because by it, it's simply a means that we're seeking to please God. Faith, repentance, and love to God. We examine our faith and repentance by, as John the Baptist proclaimed, bringing forth fruits that are worthy of repentance? Does our faith and our repentance, is it bearing fruit? How is our affection for God?

How is our love of the world that's passing away that we're not to love or the lust of it. Do we have charity to all people? Charity is showing kindness, love. Forgiving those that have done wrong. Jesus says if we don't forgive those who have sinned against us, then He doesn't forgive us.

That's something only the Holy Spirit can enable. To examine ourselves of our desire after Christ. Do we long for Him as a deer when heated by the chase longs for water? Do we have a longing like that for Christ, for his word, for the water of his word? A new obedience.

Remember, a new refers to the working of the Holy Spirit. And a new obedience is that which is spirit enabled spirit empowered And by renewing the exercise of these graces by serious meditation and fervent prayer Renewing the exercise of these graces by serious meditation. That is to hold the word of God in our mind. To reflect upon it. To hold it in our mind.

To meditate on something is to hold it in our mind and to think about it. Like you might eat a delicious chocolate. You just put it there and let it sit. Meditating on the Word of God and fervent prayer. May God forgiving those that have done us wrong of our desire after Christ and our new obedience, and by renewing the exercise of these graces by serious meditation and fervent prayer.

May God so enable us. Heavenly Father, we thank You for this bread and this cup. We thank You also for Your Holy Spirit and for the faith that you have given us by which we are able to receive the grace that is offered at this table. Father, we pray that this hour and this meal and this bread and this cup might be set apart by you to minister grace to us, to minister an assurance of your love, an assurance of faith, to build us up in you as we are poor in spirit, realizing and seeing the depth of our sin that you have forgiven. The corruption of our heart that you have forgiven.

And Father, we ask that you would increase our love to you. That we might see how much and how great, how much we've been forgiven and how great our sin is that you have forgiven. So we ask that you would stir us through this table and through the grace that you give us here, that you would stir us to serious meditation and to fervent prayer. In Jesus' name we ask this. Amen.

Our Lord Jesus Christ in the same night that he was betrayed took bread and blessed it and broke it giving it to his disciples saying take eat this is my body which is broken for you. This do as often as you do it, in remembrance of me. He took the cup and gave it to his disciples, saying, This cup is a new covenant in my blood which is shed for many for the remission of sins. All of you drink of it please come forward You So I'm 32 C One must say, as he longs to improve as forgiven men, This is our home, our human home, as our Trinity, where mercy is our dear, and peace is our duty. On the earth and the sky above, where the iron might fall.

I stand on the ground and say, my life may only last. May ye release me from my sleep, and turn me still to wake. Where there for a new day, where there for a new break, In the name of the Lord, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and of the Holy Spirit, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. I praise the Lord.

I believe that my preaching shall exist. I shall wait, because so will the Spirit. I shall not be, by this year shall be lost. Never to come alone. As they're coming, bright as the unshaken light, Let the truth come alive.

Is it the blessing in the Lord our praise, That the truth and the Lord O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.