WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.500 It seems as if the whole point of Christmas has become not thinking about the point of Christmas. 00:00:11.500 --> 00:00:18.000 ! Christmas is about Santa Claus and presents and reindeer. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:24.859 David Cameron said a couple of years ago about Easter, the true meaning of Easter is family. 00:00:26.019 --> 00:00:28.820 You might as well have said that in a Christmas message as well. 00:00:30.579 --> 00:00:39.420 Christmas decorations go up in September already and it's all about Santa Claus and reindeer and all of those things, isn't it? 00:00:39.420 --> 00:00:50.219 We made up stories for our enjoyment, but perhaps it's more sinister than that. 00:00:51.460 --> 00:01:00.240 Perhaps those things and the tinsel and jolly songs and even the food under which our table is grown do more than that. 00:01:01.060 --> 00:01:08.099 They cause us to lose sight of what or who Christmas is really about. 00:01:09.420 --> 00:01:18.180 Now I know we're not quite in the season that the church calls the Advent season, officially about the four Sundays before Christmas. 00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:24.359 But I think if you look in the shops, they've been in their Advent season for a long time, haven't they? 00:01:25.620 --> 00:01:30.780 And let's be honest, we might already be making plans for Christmas and buying presents. 00:01:30.780 --> 00:01:38.540 But are we so distracted by all of these things that the real reason for Christmas, the birth of Jesus, 00:01:39.439 --> 00:01:46.620 becomes just another element in a very disordered and jumbled and chaotic time of the year, 00:01:47.060 --> 00:01:49.879 as we hurtle towards Christmas. 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:54.280 A series of things that all form part of our idea of Christmas. 00:01:56.599 --> 00:02:01.259 And we seem to have lost our way in thinking about what it really is about. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:08.159 There's a scene in the movie, Love Actually, where the daughter very excitedly tells her mother, 00:02:08.919 --> 00:02:11.639 we've received our parts in the nativity play. 00:02:11.639 --> 00:02:15.759 And her mum obviously asks her, oh so what part did you get? 00:02:16.539 --> 00:02:17.919 And she says, the lobster. 00:02:18.819 --> 00:02:19.919 Second lobster. 00:02:21.159 --> 00:02:24.619 And her mum, knowing a bit about the story of Jesus' birth, was puzzled. 00:02:25.219 --> 00:02:28.979 There was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus. 00:02:30.079 --> 00:02:30.560 Duh! 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:38.159 There have been many stories about and around the birth of the person of Jesus. 00:02:39.259 --> 00:02:44.460 Who exactly is this man who was born in Galilee in Palestine 2,000 years ago? 00:02:45.560 --> 00:02:50.159 Now this author Luke, who wrote this gospel account that we've just read from, 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:52.420 he was a doctor and a historian, 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:56.960 and he wanted to write down an ordered account. 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:01.620 An account with facts and dates and people and events, 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:05.000 which can be verified and tested and proven to be right. 00:03:06.200 --> 00:03:09.240 But he didn't just want to write us a history textbook. 00:03:10.319 --> 00:03:14.080 An interesting biography of this man called Jesus. 00:03:15.020 --> 00:03:17.760 He tells us in verse 4 why he wrote it, doesn't he? 00:03:18.379 --> 00:03:22.300 He says in verse 4, writing to Theophilus, who he dedicates this book to, 00:03:22.300 --> 00:03:28.180 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. 00:03:30.160 --> 00:03:38.360 Now just a side note here, certainty doesn't mean we always feel 100% like we are 100% confident. 00:03:39.880 --> 00:03:42.660 It doesn't mean we'll never have doubts or questions. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:50.640 Anybody who knows children know they're 100% confident one day they like peanut butter, isn't it? 00:03:50.639 --> 00:03:53.639 And the next day when you offer them a peanut butter sandwich, 00:03:54.519 --> 00:03:57.339 the reaction you get is as if you were skinning a cat alive. 00:03:58.059 --> 00:04:01.539 They're 100% certain the next day they don't like peanut butter. 00:04:02.359 --> 00:04:03.299 Now we're not that different. 00:04:03.500 --> 00:04:06.159 Our emotions and our feelings do vary. 00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:13.479 The confidence, the certainty that Luke wants us to get here is from looking outside of ourselves. 00:04:13.479 --> 00:04:16.219 At what really happened. 00:04:16.819 --> 00:04:18.360 At who Jesus is. 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:23.860 And I think in our day, in our time, in this day and age, more than ever, 00:04:24.379 --> 00:04:29.420 we need to look at, very closely, at the facts and the person of Jesus. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:33.500 We think we know the stories, we're so familiar with them, 00:04:33.500 --> 00:04:38.980 and it gets, like I say, so jumbled in with all these other stories that the world tells us about Jesus, 00:04:39.100 --> 00:04:39.959 and then about Christmas. 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:44.620 I think we need this well-ordered account of Luke more than ever. 00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:49.360 So I hope in the next couple of weeks leading up to the carol service, 00:04:49.899 --> 00:04:53.819 we'll be looking at Luke 1, at the start of this Gospel, 00:04:54.399 --> 00:04:58.699 about how Luke wants us to understand Jesus' birth, 00:04:58.939 --> 00:05:00.639 and the events leading up to that. 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:06.779 And I hope we'll discover a new certainty as we look at this chapter of this Gospel of Luke. 00:05:08.019 --> 00:05:12.599 We will cut through some of the fluff that goes along with this time, 00:05:13.079 --> 00:05:14.860 and see who Jesus really was. 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:18.300 Now, I mean, it's interesting when we look at this chapter, 00:05:18.860 --> 00:05:22.959 that Luke starts with people who seem to have nothing to do with Jesus. 00:05:24.279 --> 00:05:27.740 A priest named Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, 00:05:28.360 --> 00:05:30.139 they're an older couple, we know that, 00:05:30.139 --> 00:05:33.699 and we know that people who know God and love him and follow his commandments, 00:05:34.419 --> 00:05:35.560 they're not without sin, 00:05:36.279 --> 00:05:40.240 but people who live a life following God. 00:05:41.599 --> 00:05:45.219 And yet there's something missing from this picture. 00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:48.120 They do not have a child. 00:05:49.719 --> 00:05:53.939 Now, many people who long for children know the pain of that longing, 00:05:53.939 --> 00:05:58.339 and some of us here may know that or have known that ourselves. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:02.399 And it was no different for Zechariah and Elizabeth, I'm sure. 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:05.379 I think we're much better now, 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:09.500 and understanding and empathizing with people who want to and cannot have children, 00:06:09.639 --> 00:06:12.720 but in those days, even more so than with us, 00:06:13.399 --> 00:06:19.839 not having children was seen as God having removed his blessing from you, 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:20.979 his favour. 00:06:23.119 --> 00:06:25.259 So they were not... 00:06:26.259 --> 00:06:29.639 The picture does have an element missing, 00:06:30.060 --> 00:06:31.859 but for them caused a lot of pain. 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:34.759 Now in the wider context though, 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:38.899 Israel was itself also not in a good place. 00:06:38.899 --> 00:06:43.079 For 400 years, God has been silent to them. 00:06:43.979 --> 00:06:45.699 No prophets speaking to Israel. 00:06:46.819 --> 00:06:48.259 They're under Roman occupation. 00:06:48.959 --> 00:06:52.539 I mean, these were the days of Herod, the king of Israel, after all, as we read. 00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:56.399 They were longing for a promised saviour. 00:06:57.279 --> 00:06:59.539 The saviour God has promised to his people 00:06:59.539 --> 00:07:02.819 since the day it all went wrong in the Garden of Eden. 00:07:03.539 --> 00:07:05.919 And it's been a long, long wait. 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:09.620 And it didn't look like things were looking up. 00:07:10.960 --> 00:07:16.480 So I think we can speculate about whether Zechariah was praying about their personal circumstances, 00:07:17.340 --> 00:07:20.120 or about Israel's predicament. 00:07:21.620 --> 00:07:22.700 Maybe both. 00:07:24.439 --> 00:07:27.920 But what we know from Luke's researched account is this. 00:07:28.920 --> 00:07:32.379 On this day, the pinnacle of his priestly career, 00:07:32.379 --> 00:07:36.560 the day he is chosen to go in to offer the incense of all the priests, 00:07:37.159 --> 00:07:39.600 this one day that he personally gets to do that, 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:43.120 he got more than he bargained for in that temple. 00:07:44.219 --> 00:07:47.139 An angel appears to Zechariah. 00:07:47.579 --> 00:07:49.699 The angel Gabriel, no less, we learn. 00:07:50.199 --> 00:07:52.000 And he has a message for Zechariah. 00:07:52.759 --> 00:07:56.939 The angel standing at the right-hand side of the incense altar, 00:07:56.939 --> 00:07:58.639 and just an aside here, 00:07:59.100 --> 00:08:01.879 just note the little details there as we go along. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:06.779 I mean, we know exactly where the angel was standing when he appeared to Zechariah. 00:08:07.060 --> 00:08:11.860 This is only the kind of thing you can know when you've spoken to the people involved. 00:08:12.819 --> 00:08:14.300 This angel was there to tell him, 00:08:14.399 --> 00:08:15.659 their wish for a son, 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:19.959 and their longing for Israel's salvation, 00:08:20.899 --> 00:08:24.319 was wrapped up in a way that Zechariah couldn't even have imagined. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:29.019 This angel promises Zechariah a son. 00:08:30.019 --> 00:08:32.100 But it's not just any son, is it? 00:08:32.399 --> 00:08:37.419 This son has been named by God before he's even conceived. 00:08:39.659 --> 00:08:42.539 John, meaning God has favour. 00:08:43.419 --> 00:08:44.319 That's from the Hebrew, 00:08:44.740 --> 00:08:47.799 which came into the Greek for John. 00:08:49.000 --> 00:08:50.759 And he'll be a delight to his parents, 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:53.179 and many people will rejoice at his birth. 00:08:53.179 --> 00:08:55.199 He'll be great before the Lord, 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:57.479 he'll be filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth, 00:08:57.799 --> 00:09:00.739 and he'll cause many people to return to God. 00:09:01.659 --> 00:09:06.919 His work will cause the restoration of relationships 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:09.059 between parents and their children, 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:11.659 and turn foolish people to wisdom. 00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:15.559 Now, of all the kind of birth announcements 00:09:15.559 --> 00:09:17.500 that you've read in your life, 00:09:17.500 --> 00:09:21.179 I don't think we've seen one quite like this, have we? 00:09:22.340 --> 00:09:23.200 Because of him, 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:25.340 people's relationships with God, 00:09:25.779 --> 00:09:27.460 vertically and with each other, 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:29.039 horizontally will be restored. 00:09:29.580 --> 00:09:30.820 It's an incredible announcement. 00:09:31.259 --> 00:09:33.919 An incredible announcement about who this son is going to be, 00:09:34.179 --> 00:09:35.379 this promised son. 00:09:36.679 --> 00:09:37.039 And I mean, 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:40.820 this is more than what Zechariah and Elizabeth wanted, 00:09:40.919 --> 00:09:41.679 even, isn't it? 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:45.439 This is the child they have longed for, 00:09:45.799 --> 00:09:46.779 and more. 00:09:49.479 --> 00:09:51.579 And Zechariah blows it completely. 00:09:52.959 --> 00:09:54.519 How shall I know this? 00:09:55.039 --> 00:09:56.219 For I am an old man, 00:09:56.259 --> 00:09:58.219 and my wife is advanced in years. 00:10:00.719 --> 00:10:03.159 Now, there are echoes of the Old Testament here. 00:10:04.319 --> 00:10:05.500 If you know the Old Testament, 00:10:05.719 --> 00:10:07.939 Abraham said something very, very similar, 00:10:08.139 --> 00:10:08.620 didn't he? 00:10:08.620 --> 00:10:11.360 When he was told by the angel of the Lord 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:14.060 that he and his wife Sarah were going to have a son, 00:10:14.820 --> 00:10:18.480 through whom God would bless all the nations of the world. 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:21.320 And people sometimes say, 00:10:21.399 --> 00:10:22.500 if God spoke to me, 00:10:23.179 --> 00:10:24.940 I would believe he exists. 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:26.159 Or even, 00:10:26.259 --> 00:10:28.340 if God sent an angel to speak to me, 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:30.259 I would believe he exists, 00:10:30.500 --> 00:10:31.779 and I would listen to him. 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:36.000 And I think we see from the Bible 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:37.840 that that's not necessarily true. 00:10:38.620 --> 00:10:41.919 I think Zechariah shows us something about all of us. 00:10:43.539 --> 00:10:45.340 Even someone like Zechariah, 00:10:45.460 --> 00:10:47.500 who walks blamelessly before the Lord, 00:10:48.379 --> 00:10:50.080 who keeps all of God's commandments, 00:10:51.060 --> 00:10:53.700 can disbelieve God's promises 00:10:53.700 --> 00:11:00.940 when we don't want to believe him. 00:11:00.940 --> 00:11:04.740 What this angel promised to Zechariah, 00:11:04.800 --> 00:11:06.480 what he promised him about his son, 00:11:06.880 --> 00:11:10.680 was more than what Zechariah could believe God could do. 00:11:12.140 --> 00:11:13.400 But especially as a priest, 00:11:13.520 --> 00:11:15.640 he should have known how God has done this 00:11:15.640 --> 00:11:17.140 time and time again, 00:11:17.260 --> 00:11:18.460 this exact thing, 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:21.060 bringing life where life seemed impossible, 00:11:22.100 --> 00:11:23.700 giving children to people who, 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:24.720 humanly speaking, 00:11:24.900 --> 00:11:26.780 would have been unable to have them. 00:11:26.779 --> 00:11:29.399 And how God has always kept his promises. 00:11:30.699 --> 00:11:33.339 And how this promise of a son to come 00:11:33.339 --> 00:11:35.220 can be trusted too. 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:37.620 But he, 00:11:38.039 --> 00:11:40.480 and I think we can have some sympathy with him, 00:11:40.659 --> 00:11:42.919 because we're rather like that too, 00:11:43.079 --> 00:11:43.459 aren't we, 00:11:43.500 --> 00:11:44.079 if we're honest, 00:11:44.679 --> 00:11:46.799 diminishing what God can do 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:47.240 in our, 00:11:47.339 --> 00:11:48.419 in our minds. 00:11:49.740 --> 00:11:51.620 He trusts what he can see 00:11:51.620 --> 00:11:53.059 and what he can sense 00:11:53.059 --> 00:11:55.139 more 00:11:55.139 --> 00:11:57.339 than what he has heard from God. 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:02.339 And he's disciplined for his unbelief. 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:04.939 But fortunately only temporarily. 00:12:06.219 --> 00:12:07.259 And even then, 00:12:07.339 --> 00:12:09.859 as another sign of God fulfilling his promises, 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:10.819 that you will be, 00:12:10.939 --> 00:12:12.259 the angel tells him you will be silent 00:12:12.259 --> 00:12:14.539 until the day when these things are fulfilled. 00:12:14.539 --> 00:12:17.059 But yeah, 00:12:17.139 --> 00:12:18.159 one thing we see there, 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:18.539 isn't it, 00:12:18.579 --> 00:12:20.439 that we shouldn't fool ourselves. 00:12:21.539 --> 00:12:23.659 Listening to our own feelings 00:12:23.659 --> 00:12:26.319 over God's promises to us 00:12:26.319 --> 00:12:29.299 rarely work out better for us 00:12:29.299 --> 00:12:33.599 than having listened to what God promises to us 00:12:33.599 --> 00:12:34.459 and believed him. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:38.199 And mercifully, 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:39.819 God does what we wouldn't. 00:12:40.699 --> 00:12:43.159 He's merciful to Zechariah there. 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:44.620 He disciplines him, 00:12:44.819 --> 00:12:46.959 but in order to help him understand, 00:12:47.779 --> 00:12:50.319 rather than God writing Zechariah off 00:12:50.319 --> 00:12:50.779 and said, 00:12:50.919 --> 00:12:52.159 you don't believe my promises, 00:12:52.980 --> 00:12:54.360 I'll find someone else 00:12:54.360 --> 00:12:55.500 who does. 00:12:56.179 --> 00:12:57.439 Despite our unbelief, 00:12:57.559 --> 00:12:59.219 God remains faithful to us. 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:02.719 And Zechariah becomes the father of John the Baptist, 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:05.959 who Jesus calls the greatest prophet 00:13:05.959 --> 00:13:07.439 who ever lived. 00:13:08.339 --> 00:13:10.939 Incredible mercy from God in this story. 00:13:10.940 --> 00:13:16.040 But that's what the whole Christmas story is about, 00:13:16.140 --> 00:13:16.640 isn't it? 00:13:17.800 --> 00:13:19.960 God doing more than we can imagine. 00:13:21.380 --> 00:13:23.960 Christmas isn't like the make-believe Christmas stories 00:13:23.960 --> 00:13:26.540 of Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. 00:13:27.400 --> 00:13:30.180 It isn't even about presents or meals or family. 00:13:31.520 --> 00:13:32.940 Those things are nice things. 00:13:32.940 --> 00:13:35.600 But it is about God doing a miracle 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:39.120 that we couldn't even have imagined or believed 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:41.540 if we had thought of it ourselves. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:44.180 Luke's cutting away at our presuppositions 00:13:44.180 --> 00:13:47.200 and our fantasy and our imagination 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:50.720 because all of those things come up short. 00:13:52.220 --> 00:13:55.400 He wants us to see in this ordered account 00:13:55.400 --> 00:13:58.120 that he wrote that this is as real as it gets. 00:13:58.120 --> 00:14:01.659 And that's why he gives us all of this detail 00:14:01.659 --> 00:14:02.460 in this account. 00:14:02.799 --> 00:14:04.799 This detail about Zechariah and Elizabeth's families 00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:06.139 and where the angel was 00:14:06.139 --> 00:14:08.080 and the brutal honesty here 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:10.220 about the characters that we meet, isn't it? 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:13.340 And that's why he starts with this story, I think. 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:16.100 Because this promised son, John, 00:14:16.139 --> 00:14:18.220 who would do such great things, 00:14:19.220 --> 00:14:20.639 is being put on the stage 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:23.799 to prepare us as he was preparing Israel 00:14:23.799 --> 00:14:27.279 for Jesus' birth, 00:14:27.419 --> 00:14:28.720 for greater things to come, 00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:31.039 for the even greater miracle to come 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:34.759 than this miracle child, John, being born. 00:14:35.879 --> 00:14:37.679 He's reminding us of the fact that 00:14:37.679 --> 00:14:40.539 throughout history, God has done miracles, 00:14:41.439 --> 00:14:43.179 providing children where people thought 00:14:43.179 --> 00:14:44.220 they could not have them 00:14:44.220 --> 00:14:45.279 because they were too old, 00:14:45.340 --> 00:14:46.879 like Abraham and Hannah, 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:48.960 the prophet Samuel's mother, 00:14:48.960 --> 00:14:49.780 and others. 00:14:50.180 --> 00:14:52.139 He reminds us that God promised 00:14:52.139 --> 00:14:54.200 right at the end of the Old Testament as well 00:14:54.200 --> 00:14:56.879 to send a prophet like Elijah, 00:14:57.720 --> 00:14:59.259 who performed incredible miracles 00:14:59.259 --> 00:15:00.920 and turned the people back to God 00:15:00.920 --> 00:15:02.780 from worshipping idols and false gods. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:05.780 Someone who spent time away in the wilderness 00:15:05.780 --> 00:15:08.600 before coming back to be God's voice 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:10.960 to a people who turned their backs on him. 00:15:11.660 --> 00:15:12.820 And we'll see more of that 00:15:12.820 --> 00:15:14.480 in the rest of this chapter. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:19.379 He's giving us the background, isn't he? 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:22.680 He's preparing us to see God's incredible work 00:15:22.680 --> 00:15:24.860 in Jesus Christ being born for what it is. 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:27.519 He's reminding us of all of these promises 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:31.120 that came before this promise of a son. 00:15:31.860 --> 00:15:33.379 This promise isn't out of the blue. 00:15:33.639 --> 00:15:34.519 It isn't random. 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:37.200 It isn't unconnected to what God has been doing 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:37.960 throughout history. 00:15:38.440 --> 00:15:39.460 He's setting the stage, 00:15:39.519 --> 00:15:40.600 and it's like he's saying, 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:42.580 you think this John is great? 00:15:44.680 --> 00:15:45.580 Wait for it. 00:15:46.060 --> 00:15:46.820 There's more. 00:15:48.019 --> 00:15:49.420 Because if you read carefully, 00:15:50.300 --> 00:15:51.920 he says, doesn't he, in verse 17, 00:15:52.279 --> 00:15:54.800 that not just will this John be like Elijah, 00:15:55.240 --> 00:15:55.639 the prophet, 00:15:56.100 --> 00:15:59.680 he would go before the Lord their God. 00:16:01.899 --> 00:16:04.440 Zechariah was fearful at the sight of this angel, 00:16:05.259 --> 00:16:07.600 but he didn't realize what the right response was. 00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:10.360 The people immediately realize, 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:11.200 when he goes out, 00:16:11.259 --> 00:16:12.279 that something had happened, 00:16:12.899 --> 00:16:14.500 that he'd seen a vision in the temple. 00:16:15.659 --> 00:16:19.779 Now Elizabeth's wife recognized in some ways 00:16:19.779 --> 00:16:21.800 much better what had happened, 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:22.720 doesn't she? 00:16:22.779 --> 00:16:23.960 She's the one who says, 00:16:24.519 --> 00:16:25.279 verse 25, 00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:27.680 Thus the Lord has done for me 00:16:27.680 --> 00:16:29.120 in the days when he looked on me 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:32.620 to take away my reproach among people. 00:16:34.600 --> 00:16:36.080 Elizabeth's experience is, 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:36.780 in a nutshell, 00:16:36.780 --> 00:16:38.900 what Christmas is really about. 00:16:40.460 --> 00:16:43.620 In the promised son that Israel had been waiting for, 00:16:44.420 --> 00:16:47.240 the son through whom God would provide salvation 00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:49.420 for all people who believed in him, 00:16:49.900 --> 00:16:51.800 he's done exactly this, 00:16:51.879 --> 00:16:52.400 hasn't he? 00:16:53.639 --> 00:16:55.020 He looked upon us, 00:16:55.480 --> 00:16:57.580 and he took away our reproach, 00:16:58.080 --> 00:16:58.940 our disgrace, 00:16:59.660 --> 00:17:01.100 our very sin. 00:17:01.100 --> 00:17:03.200 And unlike Elizabeth, 00:17:03.420 --> 00:17:05.279 it wasn't disgrace in the eyes of people, 00:17:05.380 --> 00:17:06.920 because we're all in the same boat. 00:17:08.039 --> 00:17:09.420 It's much greater than that. 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:12.339 He took away our reproach in the eyes of God, 00:17:13.680 --> 00:17:14.220 so that, 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:16.740 like Zechariah and Elizabeth are described, 00:17:17.299 --> 00:17:19.599 we can walk truly blamelessly 00:17:19.599 --> 00:17:20.940 before God. 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:23.940 Now if you and I look at our own lives, 00:17:24.380 --> 00:17:25.680 that might seem impossible. 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:28.900 You might sit here today and think, 00:17:29.240 --> 00:17:31.380 there is no way that God can forgive me 00:17:31.380 --> 00:17:32.400 for what I have done. 00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:35.519 And we might well be tempted to ask, 00:17:35.600 --> 00:17:36.759 like Zechariah did, 00:17:37.340 --> 00:17:39.160 how can I be sure of this? 00:17:40.680 --> 00:17:42.799 Luke's answer is to show us 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:44.180 this Jesus, 00:17:44.779 --> 00:17:46.580 this true promised son, 00:17:47.180 --> 00:17:47.960 what he did, 00:17:48.120 --> 00:17:49.019 how he was born, 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:49.920 how he lived, 00:17:50.080 --> 00:17:50.880 how he died, 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:52.580 and how he rose from the dead 00:17:52.580 --> 00:17:53.660 and descended into heaven. 00:17:53.660 --> 00:17:55.900 The question for you and me 00:17:55.900 --> 00:17:57.900 this Christmas is really simple 00:17:57.900 --> 00:17:58.700 in many ways. 00:17:59.640 --> 00:18:01.519 Are we taking God at his word? 00:18:02.540 --> 00:18:04.160 Are we going to allow ourselves 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:05.360 to see what is there, 00:18:05.960 --> 00:18:07.680 what is real and what is true, 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:09.740 or are we going to be tempted 00:18:09.740 --> 00:18:11.740 to see this obscured Christmas 00:18:11.740 --> 00:18:12.759 we will see, 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:14.180 if we look at the shop windows 00:18:14.180 --> 00:18:15.820 and the Christmas ads, 00:18:16.680 --> 00:18:18.140 rather than the account 00:18:18.140 --> 00:18:19.900 God gave us in his word, 00:18:20.820 --> 00:18:22.160 so that we can be certain 00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:23.120 about these things. 00:18:23.660 --> 00:18:24.140 Maybe, 00:18:25.220 --> 00:18:26.620 unlike Zechariah, 00:18:27.300 --> 00:18:29.040 we need to talk less 00:18:29.040 --> 00:18:30.060 and listen more, 00:18:31.759 --> 00:18:33.779 especially when we might feel 00:18:33.779 --> 00:18:34.759 we are very familiar 00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:36.100 with the Christmas story. 00:18:37.380 --> 00:18:37.900 Ironically, 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:38.880 speaking less 00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:39.779 and listening more 00:18:39.779 --> 00:18:41.120 might make us 00:18:41.120 --> 00:18:42.240 more confident, 00:18:42.580 --> 00:18:43.259 not less. 00:18:44.519 --> 00:18:46.060 And this glorious certainty, 00:18:46.180 --> 00:18:47.920 this faith rooted in real events, 00:18:48.019 --> 00:18:48.800 in real places, 00:18:48.980 --> 00:18:50.900 in the lives of real people, 00:18:50.900 --> 00:18:53.120 is what Christmas was for. 00:18:54.120 --> 00:18:55.720 A promised son finally come, 00:18:56.519 --> 00:18:58.080 a God who looked upon us, 00:18:58.540 --> 00:18:59.440 and a promised son 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:01.060 who takes away our reproach. 00:19:02.180 --> 00:19:03.280 Let's be a people 00:19:03.280 --> 00:19:04.340 prepared for God, 00:19:04.980 --> 00:19:06.800 a people ready to hear his voice, 00:19:07.420 --> 00:19:08.720 and believe his promises 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:10.000 this Christmas. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:11.259 Amen. 00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:12.220 Let's pray. 00:19:12.220 --> 00:19:12.259 Let's pray.