WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.599 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:20.480 ! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:25.679 either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:32.159 that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:37.359 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:42.159 we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:48.799 Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:55.120 what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian, 00:00:55.119 --> 00:01:00.320 checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.280 questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:07.679 that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:19.680 Father, your word said that the Holy Spirit came upon Zechariah and he was able to prophesy. 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:24.400 And Father, we aren't asking that we can prophesy. Although if you give us that gift, 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:30.800 Father, help us to say yes. But we acknowledge before you, Father, that we desperately need the 00:01:30.800 --> 00:01:36.719 help of your Holy Spirit for us to understand your word. And so we ask, Father, that you would continue 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:42.800 to gently but powerfully pour out the Holy Spirit upon us this morning. May your Holy Spirit carry your 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:49.519 word into the depths of our hearts, into who we are. And we give you permission, Father, for your word 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:57.039 to do its renewing, converting, renewing, reviving, forming work in us. And we ask this in the name of 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:01.440 Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:10.800 Some of us present have enemies. 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:18.159 Some of us present have enemies. In fact, the matter is, is that some of us who are here 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:23.520 have people who hate us. I'm not going to say everybody here has enemies or everybody here has 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:29.439 those who hate us. But I would, I mean, I just know for a fact, that's something that some of us 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:38.800 have to live with. And also, if we're very honest, some of us are seen as enemies by other people. 00:02:39.600 --> 00:02:46.080 And some of us are seen as haters, hateful people by other people. That's how they would perceive us. 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:58.320 And some of us struggle with hating others. Or feeling in enmity with others. And maybe some of us 00:02:58.320 --> 00:03:01.920 should struggle with it, because we don't. We just give in to it. We give in to hate. 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:09.200 We give in to seeing the world as, or certain groups of people or individuals as our enemies. 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:13.200 And by the way, when I'm saying this, it doesn't mean that there aren't real enemies and there aren't 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:18.719 real haters. But we struggle, or should struggle with how exactly to deal with it. 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:25.519 The Bible text that we're going to look at today actually speaks into this with great wisdom and 00:03:25.519 --> 00:03:31.679 great comfort and great help. And it also does it in the context of dealing with something else that 00:03:31.679 --> 00:03:40.159 we struggle with. When I talk to people about Christianity, one of the, if you get past a 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:45.039 couple of surface conversations, at some point in time, these are people who are outside of the 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:50.400 Christian faith, at some point in time they will raise with me their great objection to the Christian 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:56.079 faith, which is the problem of evil. Why does God allow evil in the world? Why does God allow suffering 00:03:56.079 --> 00:04:02.879 in the world? In fact, I've had some people who were sort of on the outside of the Christian faith, 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:09.359 were teetering on the edge of it. I'm thinking of one barista just about a year or so ago, 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:13.280 who actually wanted me to sit down with him and have a coffee with him because 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:18.400 he wanted to believe, but he had problems with that. And so it's a very, very common problem. And 00:04:18.400 --> 00:04:22.560 so the text that we're going to look at today both has, it's not going to solve the whole problem of 00:04:22.560 --> 00:04:28.080 evil, but it has some, a part, I mean the whole, to try to talk about, you know, you write, people write 00:04:28.080 --> 00:04:34.000 big books like this about it, but it has something very profound to say about that problem of evil. 00:04:34.000 --> 00:04:38.959 It's an aspect of how Christians would respond to it. And it does it by at the same time dealing 00:04:38.959 --> 00:04:45.600 with the whole problem with enemies and haters. So if you have your Bibles, if you turn in your 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:51.600 Bibles to the text that we're going to look at today, we're looking at Luke chapter one, basically 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:58.800 verses 68 to 79, Luke one, 68 to 69. That's basically the prime bit that we're going to look at. 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:06.000 And what we're doing here is we're in the season of Advent, which is an ancient Christian season of 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:11.120 preparing people for Christmas. And what we've decided to do, not only our church, but the two 00:05:11.120 --> 00:05:16.800 churches that we have a hand in planting, one in Kanata, one in Charlottetown, we're all looking 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:22.160 at four songs of the Savior that take place in the first two chapters of Luke as a way to understand who 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:27.920 Jesus is and his significance. So last week we looked at Mary's song known as the Magnificat. This week 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:33.439 we're going to look at the Benedictus or Zechariah's song. Next week we're going to look at the song, 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:38.640 The Angels Sing to the Shepherds After Jesus is Born. And then the week after that, the Sunday 00:05:38.640 --> 00:05:45.200 before Christmas, we'll look at Simeon's song, the song that he sang while he was in the temple 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:52.879 over the baby Jesus. And just another thing about this, for those of you who are a bit of history nerds, 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:59.680 or you're looking for things that have some depth to them. This song that we're going to look at right 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:04.000 now, which is called the Benedictus commonly, if you want to find musical settings for it, 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:10.560 that's what you would look up under Benedictus. This has been part of Christian worship since, 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:18.240 I mean, probably right from the beginning, but from the early 700s, when they began to codify, 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:23.759 you know, in monasteries and for priests and for congregations, the types of, the way they would 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:27.600 read the Bible and pray together in the morning, and the way they would read the Bible together and 00:06:27.600 --> 00:06:36.160 pray in the evening. The Benedictus has been part of that rhythm since the early 700s. So for 1300 years, 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:41.120 many Christians have thought, if you want to spend some time reading the Bible and praying 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:46.720 in the morning, you should have on top of your Bible readings this, because it's going to have a 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:51.840 very important way of forming you. And I'm not going to answer all what you'll see why we go into 00:06:51.840 --> 00:06:57.519 it, why that would be that this is viewed as something which is very significant. And so, 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:03.840 just before we start reading at verse 69, what's the context? Why does Zechariah burst into song 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:10.000 in a book which is a very, very realistic book, and is going to have, as the book progresses, 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:15.840 it's going to have people really filled with hate, it's going to have a grisly death, it's going to 00:07:15.840 --> 00:07:19.519 have people whipped, it's going to have somebody, you know, stripped naked, it's going to be very 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:24.240 realistic, but Zechariah bursts in the song, and what's the context after that? Well, if you go back 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:30.079 and you read the Luke from the beginning, you'll see that Luke was a pagan who became a Christian. 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:34.639 So he used to worship the gods of Rome or Greece, he becomes a Christian, we don't know when, 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:40.399 and he decides that he's going to talk with the eyewitnesses and look at official records and write a true 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:46.000 true biography of Jesus, and that's what we have. And he begins that by describing the story of 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:51.519 Zechariah, who was one of the ironic priests. So last week we looked at Mary, and Mary was a nobody, 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:57.519 living in Nowheresville, okay? But now we go to Zechariah, and Zechariah is a somebody, 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:05.279 he's a very important person, he's well-educated, and he's a priest, and he's doing a sacrifice in the 00:08:05.279 --> 00:08:11.599 very holy of holies, right in the very center of the temple, and while he's doing that, an angel from 00:08:11.599 --> 00:08:17.199 God comes and says to him, and this is actually a real, it's a whole other sermon topic by itself, 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:23.199 because Zechariah is very old, and his wife is very old, and the angel says to Zechariah, 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:27.759 Zechariah, your prayers have been answered. You're going to have a baby. 00:08:29.039 --> 00:08:30.959 Why is this such an interesting thing for us? 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:37.279 For us? I mean, he probably stopped praying for a baby 20, 30 years ago. He forgot that he'd been 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:41.759 praying for a baby. He'd given up on that, but God hadn't forgotten. God just said, yeah, I'm going to 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:45.519 answer, you know, in a sense, go to heaven, Zechariah, what God would have said to Zechariah, 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:50.240 yeah, yeah, I was going to say yes, I just wanted you to wait 30 years before you had the baby, that's all. 00:08:50.240 --> 00:08:53.759 One of the things that will be probably really cool for Christians is we'll go up to heaven, 00:08:53.759 --> 00:08:57.439 maybe thinking about all these prayer requests we never had answered, and God said, no, no, no, no, 00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:03.680 no, here, let's just look. Remember you prayed this, you know, in 1995, and I answered it in 2005. You 00:09:03.680 --> 00:09:09.200 just didn't notice that I answered it ten years later. Anyway, so, but, so God says, God through 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:15.200 Gabriel says, you're going to have a baby. Answer your prayers. And Zechariah does not believe the angel, 00:09:16.560 --> 00:09:22.480 and gives a bit of a defiant pushback to it. And, and, and God says other things about the baby. He's 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:26.560 going to have this huge role. He's going to be from God. He's going to have this huge role 00:09:26.560 --> 00:09:32.240 in preparing for the, the, the Messiah. But Zechariah doesn't believe it. And so the angel said, 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:36.960 I'm going to strike you dumb, so you can't speak. And, and if you go and you look around a little 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:40.800 bit more careful, I'm going to take away your ability to hear and your ability to speak 00:09:41.680 --> 00:09:47.680 until what I have foretold comes to pass. So Zechariah goes out of the temple, and he can't speak, 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:52.959 and he can't hear. And so people realize that he's received a vision. He finishes his tour of duty, 00:09:52.959 --> 00:09:58.959 goes home. Elizabeth, his wife, gets pregnant. Then in the story, the next thing happens, the same 00:09:58.959 --> 00:10:05.120 angel appears to Mary. We talked about that last week, the virgin birth. Mary goes to visit Elizabeth. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:10.719 And it's after that that Mary sings her song, the Magnificat, that we looked at last week. 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:18.240 And, and now the story continues. Elizabeth is pregnant. She gives birth to a baby. Zechariah 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:24.160 still can't hear, and he can't speak. And the, all of her friends, the whole village is all really 00:10:24.160 --> 00:10:28.800 excited, and they want to name the baby Zechariah, because it's a baby boy. And she says, no, his baby, 00:10:28.800 --> 00:10:33.360 the name's going to be John. And they said, there's nobody in your family called John. What on earth are 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:40.340 you doing? And so actually, if you just look up above from, from verse 69, verse 68, look up to 00:10:40.340 --> 00:10:47.379 verse 63, and see what happens when they go and speak to Zechariah, verse 63. And Zechariah asked 00:10:47.379 --> 00:10:54.779 for a writing tablet and wrote, his name is John. And they all wondered. And immediately his mouth was 00:10:54.779 --> 00:11:01.759 opened, and his tongue loosed, his mouth was open, and his tongue was loosed, and he spoke, blessing 00:11:01.759 --> 00:11:08.319 God. And fear came on all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about through all the hill 00:11:08.319 --> 00:11:15.279 country of Judea. And all who heard them laid up in their hearts, saying, what then will this child be? 00:11:15.379 --> 00:11:20.259 For the hand of the Lord was with him. That's sort of important in terms of remembering how it is that 00:11:20.259 --> 00:11:24.059 Zechariah would not be. One of the things about Luke's gospel is that Luke wrote his gospel 00:11:24.059 --> 00:11:28.899 on eyewitness testimony, while eyewitnesses were still alive who could correct it. 00:11:29.639 --> 00:11:34.659 And then we go in verse 68, and his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and 00:11:34.659 --> 00:11:40.739 prophesied, saying, and now we get to the Benedictus. But you can see why it is that he bursts into 00:11:40.739 --> 00:11:48.439 prophetic language. Now, here's the thing. True confession, when I was reading this text, 00:11:48.439 --> 00:11:53.000 you probably had a hard time understanding what was going on. I do too. 00:11:54.059 --> 00:12:02.719 It's actually a very interesting text. It's one long eight-verse sentence in Greek, followed by a 00:12:02.719 --> 00:12:10.599 long four-verse sentence in Greek. Any editor, if Luke was bringing this to an editor in 2025, 00:12:11.139 --> 00:12:17.699 they'd cross it all out, and they'd tell you, these sentences are too long. I can't follow all the 00:12:17.699 --> 00:12:22.479 clauses and how they relate to each other. You need to rewrite it. Well, it was written at a time when 00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:28.820 nobody did that, and we have this long sentence. And so, just to be honest, for me, when I say 00:12:28.820 --> 00:12:34.879 morning prayer, and when I read this text, I, in a sense, the words just sort of flow over me and in 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:39.399 me, and I pick out different pieces of imagery from it. But I've never actually, until I was preaching, 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:43.659 I mean, I've preached on it before, actually tried to figure out how to explain it to you, how that 00:12:43.659 --> 00:12:48.980 sentence all works with its clauses all over the place. So what I'm going to do is we're going to read 00:12:48.980 --> 00:12:54.460 this, we're going to read it, and I'm going to imagine for a second that, you know, Zechariah read 00:12:54.460 --> 00:13:02.840 it, then, you know, wrote it down and read it, and then he had somebody who was, said, Zechariah, 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:08.360 just, just, could you, could you read it out for me again? And I just want to pause you periodically 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:15.360 to ask what's going on. So here's, here's how the sentence works. And, and remember, we're going to 00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:21.720 eventually get to the enmity and evils and haters, and, and here's, here's how it works. Zechariah 00:13:21.720 --> 00:13:29.680 begins by saying, blessed be the Lord, sorry, blessed be the Lord God of Israel. That's how he begins, 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:36.840 blessed be the Lord God of Israel, like a word of, of exclamation and praise. And, and now before he 00:13:36.840 --> 00:13:40.539 goes on any further, the, the, the person just taps on, oh, no, no, no, Zechariah, before you go any 00:13:40.539 --> 00:13:47.719 further. Okay. Why, why, why are you saying that? And why are you saying it in such a way that you 00:13:47.719 --> 00:13:52.759 think I should learn this and I should say it? Like, why did you say it? And Zechariah says, oh, 00:13:52.819 --> 00:13:59.439 well, just look, uh, first, um, just, just look at 68b. He said, so I said, blessed be the Lord God of 00:13:59.439 --> 00:14:05.659 Israel. And then I say, for, that's why, why should you bless the Lord God of Israel? It's because he has 00:14:05.659 --> 00:14:11.559 visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:17.259 servant, David. That's, that's why you should say, blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because he's 00:14:17.259 --> 00:14:23.539 just, he's done that. He's doing that. He will do that. Visited here means, uh, it's like an act of 00:14:23.539 --> 00:14:30.419 grace and redeemed means delivering us from slavery and horn of salvation. That's like a, think of a 00:14:30.419 --> 00:14:37.120 really, think of a huge elephant and its tusks. Think of a rhinoceros with its tusks, uh, an animal 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:43.679 in, uh, in full power that uses these things to, to defeat its enemies. And that's what God has just 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:49.919 done and he's going to do. And that's why you should say, uh, blessed be the Lord God of Israel. 00:14:49.919 --> 00:15:00.179 Uh, and now Zechariah does something like me. So I, I get my sermons debriefed, 00:15:00.179 --> 00:15:05.519 periodically. I'm part of a group of people who debrief each other's sermons. And, uh, one of the 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:10.139 things that people point out about my sermons is I always have asides that I just gave you an aside 00:15:10.139 --> 00:15:16.319 right now. And, uh, but then people say, well, if you know, George, George actually can't speak very 00:15:16.319 --> 00:15:20.659 long without making asides. Like he does come back. I mean, sometimes he says, what were I talking about? 00:15:20.659 --> 00:15:28.939 But I come back. So in a sense, Zechariah, he does an aside here as well. And that's, what is the aside? 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:35.839 We'll look at verse 70. The aside is, by the way, so to speak, you know, this visiting and redeeming 00:15:35.839 --> 00:15:42.620 his people and, and the horn of salvation. This is all as he spoke, verse 70, by the mouth of his holy 00:15:42.620 --> 00:15:47.659 prophets from of old. That's a bit of an aside, by the way. You know what I'm just talking about? 00:15:47.659 --> 00:15:51.819 I'm giving you this prophecy right now, but it's actually just what the prophets of old have all 00:15:51.819 --> 00:15:55.519 said. And it's actually really interesting. Here's another thing. If you were to be writing this, 00:15:55.919 --> 00:16:01.019 you know, clickety, clickety, click, you'd get a, uh, a red line. Is it a red line? You'd get a red or 00:16:01.019 --> 00:16:06.199 blue line underneath, uh, that sentence and it wouldn't like it. Uh, and that's because if you 00:16:06.199 --> 00:16:12.120 look at it again, verse 70, it says, as he spoke with the, by the mouth singular of his holy prophets, 00:16:12.279 --> 00:16:16.519 plural and, and Google and all wouldn't like that. They'd have marks over it. You have to correct it. 00:16:16.519 --> 00:16:21.600 But that's actually one of those things where, uh, Zechariah would just ignore it because it's 00:16:21.600 --> 00:16:27.220 really an important thing is that God is the one. It's, it's him. And ultimately all the prophets 00:16:27.220 --> 00:16:32.220 were just one, all they were speaking on God's behalf. It's ultimately God who speaks, but that's 00:16:32.220 --> 00:16:39.539 just an aside. And then, um, and then, uh, somebody says in an introduction, okay, uh, okay, uh, Zechariah, 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:44.980 blessed be the Lord God of Israel. Okay, that, that's really good. Uh, and you give me the reasons 00:16:44.980 --> 00:16:49.100 why, and you give me that little aside and now all of a sudden, I don't know, maybe that's a proof text 00:16:49.100 --> 00:16:56.259 for George having asides all the time. Uh, but, but why, what, what exactly is going on, uh, with, uh, 00:16:56.759 --> 00:17:03.200 with, uh, why did he visit us and redeem us and raise us up? And then you look at verse 71 and he 00:17:03.200 --> 00:17:08.819 explains why he sent a horn of salvation, why he visited and redeemed. He explains it in verse 71. 00:17:08.819 --> 00:17:15.919 It, well, okay, all this happened that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all 00:17:15.919 --> 00:17:22.259 who hate us to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant. 00:17:22.919 --> 00:17:27.960 That, that's why he's doing that. That's why he's visiting us and redeeming us and a horn of salvation. 00:17:28.460 --> 00:17:33.200 And, and it's what he spoke about through the prophets. He did it so we could be saved from our 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:39.259 enemies, verse 71, and saved from the hand of all who hate us, verse 71 still. And he did it to show 00:17:39.259 --> 00:17:44.680 that he's full of mercy, just as he's always told people. And he does it to remember his holy covenant. 00:17:44.799 --> 00:17:50.420 And remember here means to dwell on it. And it's to say that he just, this is like a reassurance to us 00:17:50.420 --> 00:17:55.620 that we might forget the covenant we have with God, but God never forgot it. He always dwelled on it 00:17:55.620 --> 00:18:01.240 and thought about it and pondered it. And this is him acting in light of the promise he made in this 00:18:01.240 --> 00:18:06.160 covenant and all these other promises. It's showing what's about to happen and is happening, 00:18:06.299 --> 00:18:11.480 is showing these things as, as, as being true. That's the reason why God is doing it. 00:18:12.420 --> 00:18:17.640 And then you might say, okay, uh, that's really good, but okay, there's a whole pile of covenants. 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:23.420 Like, is it the covenant with Adam? Is it the covenant with Noah? Is it the covenant with, uh, 00:18:23.839 --> 00:18:28.519 uh, you know, Abraham? Is it the covenant with Moses? Like what, what covenant are you talking about? 00:18:28.519 --> 00:18:33.960 Well, uh, Zechariah says, well, no, no, here, just look verse 73. This is the covenant I'm talking 00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:39.480 about. The oath that he swore to our father, Abraham. That's the covenant we're talking about. 00:18:39.539 --> 00:18:43.339 The one that he gave to our father, Abraham. That's the one I'm really focusing on. 00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:49.759 And if you, uh, know what that is, this is where it's, this text is so interesting because on one hand, 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:58.339 it is so deeply, profoundly Jewish all the way through. It is soaked with imagery from, uh, 00:18:58.339 --> 00:19:03.220 from what our Jewish friends call the Tanakh and what we call the Old Testament. It's so deeply Jewish, 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:09.539 right? Even the fact that it begins with blessed be the Lord God of Israel, uh, that it's very deeply 00:19:09.539 --> 00:19:16.180 Jewish. And, but now all of a sudden it, it throws it open to a whole bigger world. If you just 00:19:16.180 --> 00:19:23.299 turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 12, verses one to three, you'll see what it is that he's 00:19:23.299 --> 00:19:28.039 referring to, which is going to be really important for the rest of the story. Genesis chapter 12, 00:19:28.279 --> 00:19:33.620 one to three. Now the Lord said to Abram, because he was called Abram before God changed his name, 00:19:34.180 --> 00:19:39.420 go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. 00:19:39.820 --> 00:19:43.340 Uh, go from where you are a pagan and worship the moon. That's a whole other thing, 00:19:43.339 --> 00:19:47.399 but that's what Abraham was. He was a moon worshiper, a pagan. He worshiped the moon. 00:19:48.099 --> 00:19:53.619 And, uh, he, and God says to him, go away from all of this. Verse two, and I will make of you a great 00:19:53.619 --> 00:20:00.139 nation, a great people, and I will bless you and I will make your name great so that you will be a 00:20:00.139 --> 00:20:05.019 blessing. And here's the verse in particular, which is really important, right? And this is before, 00:20:05.619 --> 00:20:11.220 before the covenant with Moses. It's before the covenant with David. It's the basic root covenant, 00:20:11.220 --> 00:20:17.660 which is important to us. And it's in verse three, I will bless those who bless you and him who 00:20:17.660 --> 00:20:25.259 dishonors you, I will curse. And here's the, here's the thing. And in you, all the families of the earth 00:20:25.259 --> 00:20:34.319 shall be blessed. All the families of the earth shall be blessed. Moon worshipers and Jewish people, 00:20:34.319 --> 00:20:42.139 everything in between are ultimately going to be blessed by what is going to happen. I'm going to 00:20:42.139 --> 00:20:48.720 begin to do through you. So you go back now to, to Luke. And so that's the covenant, he said, you know, 00:20:48.779 --> 00:20:54.019 there, you know, it's all to the covenant that God is going to do. And it's the covenant about Abraham. 00:20:54.259 --> 00:20:59.619 And so then, you know, somebody might say, okay, that's interesting. Like what's a covenant? And, uh, 00:20:59.619 --> 00:21:05.719 you could say, well, a covenant like the, a covenant is like a relationship and it has terms, 00:21:05.719 --> 00:21:11.399 so to speak. And what it's saying is that God would like to enter into a deep relationship 00:21:11.399 --> 00:21:17.779 with human beings like you. And, uh, in this relationship, it's going to be, there's going 00:21:17.779 --> 00:21:23.899 to be benefits to it. And God is going to make promises to you. And, uh, and that's, that's what a 00:21:23.899 --> 00:21:29.199 covenant is. And so we might say, okay, well, like that sounds, in fact, actually a lot of Canadians 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:34.600 would say, that sounds like a very Canadian idea. I'd love to sit down on two sides of a table, 00:21:34.720 --> 00:21:38.700 God on one side and me on the other side. And I'd like to say, okay, God, we're going to have a 00:21:38.700 --> 00:21:44.700 covenant, like a contract, like here's my terms. God says, you know, here's my terms, you know, 00:21:44.700 --> 00:21:48.559 and then you have another, well, how about, you know, we take these out, cross this out, you know, 00:21:48.600 --> 00:21:52.279 double that. And, and, you know, and then God gives you back. No, no, I want you to cross that. 00:21:52.340 --> 00:21:56.420 No, no, no, no, no. Is that what's going on? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:21:56.420 --> 00:22:02.120 How? You've misunderstood the covenant. Well, how have I misunderstood the covenant? Well, 00:22:02.140 --> 00:22:08.440 that's in verse 72 again. Uh, yeah, verse 73, right? The oath or the, to the, for the covenant 00:22:08.440 --> 00:22:13.480 that he swore to our father Abraham. And here are these three words that are really, really important, 00:22:13.580 --> 00:22:23.960 to grant us, to grant us. And this word grant is grace. God doesn't count, weigh your merits, 00:22:23.960 --> 00:22:30.819 He pardons your offenses. God isn't having a negotiating session with you. God is going to 00:22:30.819 --> 00:22:37.340 create this covenant relationship purely and utterly out of grace and mercy to people who 00:22:37.340 --> 00:22:42.720 don't deserve it, and he's going to do something whereby you can come into this covenant relationship 00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:49.640 with him, and however you understand redemption, however you understand salvation, however you 00:22:49.640 --> 00:22:56.200 understand any of those types of things, it isn't just to take you out of bondage or darkness or 00:22:56.200 --> 00:23:02.160 slavery just for you to do whatever you want. It's to take you out of that into a deep relationship 00:23:02.160 --> 00:23:09.660 with God, a covenant relationship. He pledges himself to you, and he does this purely and utterly 00:23:09.660 --> 00:23:15.360 out of grace. That's what Grant implies, purely and utterly out of grace. I mean, even think about it 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:22.839 that you go back to Abraham. Abraham was worshiping the moon, and God came up while he's worshiping 00:23:22.839 --> 00:23:28.879 the moon and said, I'm going to offer you a covenant. You can be mine. Forget the moon. 00:23:29.399 --> 00:23:34.079 Forget all those pagan deities. You can be mine, and I'm going to do this. I make the promise, 00:23:34.459 --> 00:23:38.059 and then you go back and see it, and he fulfills the terms, and there's all that other type of 00:23:38.059 --> 00:23:42.579 imagery that goes along with it, and so you might then pause and say to Zechariah, 00:23:43.940 --> 00:23:50.720 well, okay, what exactly is it that God graciously and in mercy granted to people? 00:23:51.679 --> 00:23:56.859 And then you just say, well, that's in 74. That's what I was saying next, Zechariah would respond. 00:23:57.500 --> 00:24:04.519 He, you know, verse 74, that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, there's that word 00:24:04.519 --> 00:24:12.500 enemies again, might serve him, that is God, without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him 00:24:12.500 --> 00:24:18.619 all our days. That's what he's granting us. That's what the covenant will be. It means that he's going 00:24:18.619 --> 00:24:24.139 to deliver us from enemies. It means that we can actually come into this covenant with him and serve 00:24:24.139 --> 00:24:29.720 him, and that he's going to create a covenant world where you live without fear, and holiness means that 00:24:29.720 --> 00:24:35.940 he sets you apart as his precious possession and treasure for all eternity, and righteousness means 00:24:35.940 --> 00:24:41.200 that he's going to make you right with him, and right with each other, and right with creation, and we do 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:45.860 all of this. This whole covenant means that we always live the rest of our lives in this covenant with God 00:24:45.860 --> 00:24:52.019 before him, in his presence. He's not the God who is really distant. He is the God who's right here amongst us 00:24:52.019 --> 00:24:59.420 this morning. He's the God who's with you when you do your day. And Zechariah would smile, and he'd go, 00:24:59.720 --> 00:25:07.740 okay, now there's a pause. The first sentence has come to an end. It's a bit of a pause. 00:25:08.740 --> 00:25:13.600 Maybe Zechariah takes his breath before he launches into the second sentence, which is now only four 00:25:13.600 --> 00:25:18.360 verses long, not eight verses long. And in this little pause, we see there's going to be a bit of 00:25:18.360 --> 00:25:23.500 a change of direction, but it's still all explaining that beginning bit. Like if you go back up where it 00:25:23.500 --> 00:25:29.519 says, blessed be the Lord God of Israel. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. Why? 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:34.500 That's the four. It's still coming around. What's another reason? What are further reasons why we 00:25:34.500 --> 00:25:41.339 should bless the Lord God of Israel? There's going to be a change of direction. Now, 00:25:41.860 --> 00:25:54.299 what's happened up to now has been a whole series of images and metaphors and abstractions. And if you 00:25:54.299 --> 00:26:00.279 think about it for a second, if you go back and just take a step back and think about it for a second, 00:26:00.460 --> 00:26:08.299 we've seen all of these things. We see these things around us all the time. You can't read stories or 00:26:08.299 --> 00:26:17.899 watch movies without seeing these things. Like constantly, what is always, what are going on 00:26:17.899 --> 00:26:24.419 often in movies? People being delivered out of bondage. You know, private detectives, cops, war 00:26:24.419 --> 00:26:30.180 movies, delivering people out of bondage. Vampire horror movies, delivering people out of bondage 00:26:30.180 --> 00:26:36.420 against great evil. We see the conflict between, you know, in a sense, you know, justice and righteousness 00:26:36.420 --> 00:26:42.519 and injustice. And we see hatred and we see it being dealt with. And those are the constant themes 00:26:42.519 --> 00:26:48.360 of movies all of the time. And it's really interesting if you think about it that, you know, 00:26:48.359 --> 00:26:55.299 these, and even in fantasy things, in science fiction novels, these types of ideas of redemption, 00:26:55.939 --> 00:27:04.859 deliverance, covenant, how does the classic successful American movie end after the bad guys are defeated? 00:27:06.139 --> 00:27:13.559 The hero and the heroine kiss. With the implication, what? They're going to be in a covenant. 00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:20.159 That's how they end. Those are the movies we like. We don't like movies like The Wall, 00:27:20.519 --> 00:27:27.119 spoiler alert, where the bad guys win and everything is completely and utterly depressing. And you know, 00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:33.119 that's the way the movie is because critics give it a 98% score and audience has a 22 score or 12. 00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:39.639 Always a sign of a terrible movie when the critics give it a high score and the average audience doesn't, 00:27:39.640 --> 00:27:43.960 right? And that's just showing how sophisticated they are, you know, about all of this and the 00:27:43.960 --> 00:27:49.140 problem of evil. And that's because where on earth do all of these happy ending stories of redemption 00:27:49.140 --> 00:27:55.720 and deliverance for, where do they come from? And some people might say, well, George, that explains 00:27:55.720 --> 00:28:02.120 Christianity. Like people like stories like that. So Christians wrote a story like that. But what we 00:28:02.120 --> 00:28:07.759 have before us and what's going to be a turn in the whole direction next is all of these abstractions 00:28:07.759 --> 00:28:16.440 are going to become historical. Because this is introducing us to a biography, a story about a 00:28:16.440 --> 00:28:24.019 man named Jesus who lived in a particular time and place. And this story is for every person in every 00:28:24.019 --> 00:28:29.980 time and place. But it's not a story from nowhere. It's a story from somewhere to everywhere. 00:28:31.140 --> 00:28:35.720 And what Christians would say is this, no, no, you've got the cart before the horse. You don't 00:28:35.720 --> 00:28:43.339 understand. You should ask yourself in a world like this, why is it that we love stories like this? 00:28:43.740 --> 00:28:50.160 And what you should understand is not that the gospel is just one more story like this, but because the 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:59.460 gospel is true, it's speaking about something in human experience and human longings. The truth of the 00:28:59.460 --> 00:29:09.000 gospel explains why it is that people love stories like this. That's how you should understand it. 00:29:09.960 --> 00:29:15.299 So let's look. There's still going to be abstractions, but it moves in a very, very different 00:29:15.299 --> 00:29:20.819 direction. Verse 76, it's a new sentence. And now you just have to remember the context which I told 00:29:20.819 --> 00:29:28.220 you in Zechariah is now holding his little baby, John, now known as, eventually known as John the 00:29:28.220 --> 00:29:33.240 Baptist. And he's holding little, he's holding little John like this. Sorry, I wasn't supporting 00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:41.119 his head. His head was flopping off the edge. His head's over here. I'm holding up his head so it 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:47.899 just doesn't flop around. And now he looks down at this little baby, this little baby. And we have 00:29:47.900 --> 00:29:58.400 verse 76, and you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High. We have all these abstractions. 00:29:59.160 --> 00:30:07.340 Now it's right back to Zechariah's time, and he's looking at that little baby, and he said, you will be 00:30:07.340 --> 00:30:16.140 called the prophet of the Most High. And now you might say, well, why will he be known as this? Like, why 00:30:16.140 --> 00:30:21.540 will this little baby be known as the prophet of the Most High? And Zechariah would say, well, I cover 00:30:21.540 --> 00:30:26.920 that next. Look at verse, you know, the second part of verse 76. Notice that little word for. Why will he 00:30:26.920 --> 00:30:34.140 be called the prophet of the Most High? For you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give 00:30:34.140 --> 00:30:41.720 knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins. That's why you will be. And by the way, 00:30:41.720 --> 00:30:46.839 here is a text that says that right at the beginning of Luke's gospel, Jesus is taught as God. 00:30:48.600 --> 00:30:53.700 John the Baptist is going to go before Jesus, and he's, and this Zechariah is saying he's going before 00:30:53.700 --> 00:31:00.660 God. It's a text that teaches the divinity of Christ. And what it's saying is that John the Baptist 00:31:00.660 --> 00:31:06.440 is going to go to be the one who says, listen, salvation is coming, and this salvation is going to 00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:13.320 involve the forgiveness of your sins. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. Blessed be the Lord God of 00:31:13.320 --> 00:31:18.600 Israel. That's what, that's what my job is, is just to point the way. And by the way, here's the thing, 00:31:18.700 --> 00:31:22.840 and this is why John is the last and the greatest of prophets. If you go back later on and read John's 00:31:22.840 --> 00:31:29.980 gospel, all the other prophets were seeing images of the Messiah through all these imagery and, and 00:31:29.980 --> 00:31:35.320 complicated ways, and they were seeing it off in the future. But John the Baptist was one who was one 00:31:35.319 --> 00:31:41.279 day standing there, and as Jesus is walking by, and he's maybe just come from lunch, and because he 00:31:41.279 --> 00:31:45.599 had a beard and there are no mirrors, he might have a little bit of tabbouleh and a little bit of pita 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:51.539 and maybe even some hummus in his beard. And as he's walking by, John the Baptist says to the people 00:31:51.539 --> 00:31:59.899 around him, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. First words about Jesus, behold the 00:31:59.899 --> 00:32:05.259 Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's what John the Baptist does. 00:32:05.319 --> 00:32:13.299 Points right at Jesus. And so that's what the Messiah is going to do. And so, and, and so people 00:32:13.299 --> 00:32:20.819 might say, why did God have John the Baptist as his messenger, and, and why is it that God 00:32:20.819 --> 00:32:26.720 actually wants this to be the message that will prepare people for the Messiah? And, and, and, and, 00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:31.220 and Zechariah would say, well, no, I deal with that right next, right? That's, I anticipated your 00:32:31.220 --> 00:32:36.240 question. Look at 78. Why does God want to have somebody like John the Baptist? Why is it that 00:32:36.240 --> 00:32:39.960 God wants to have salvation and deliverance? Why is he wants to have your sins forgiven? 00:32:40.680 --> 00:32:45.059 Verse 78, because of the tender mercy of our God. 00:32:47.019 --> 00:32:51.120 And the word mercy there is, for those of you who know a little bit about the Old Testament, 00:32:51.259 --> 00:32:55.880 I can't pronounce it the way Jewish people would, it's chased. There's like a couple of spitting 00:32:55.880 --> 00:33:00.920 noises in there that should be existing to, to try to communicate it, but it says God's faithful 00:33:00.920 --> 00:33:08.760 covenant mercy and love towards people. And that, who, who is God? Who is, why is it that we should 00:33:08.760 --> 00:33:14.700 say, blessed be the Lord God of Israel? We should say that because the God of Israel is a God of tender 00:33:14.700 --> 00:33:21.900 mercy. That's who he is. And it's not just an abstraction. He's going to make it all very, 00:33:21.900 --> 00:33:28.040 very real and very, very powerful. And then you might say to Zechariah, well, how will this 00:33:28.040 --> 00:33:34.160 forgiveness happen? And then he says, well, I continued on to that. I anticipated your question. 00:33:34.280 --> 00:33:38.500 Look at the first part, because of the tender mercy of our God. And then I very, say the very next thing. 00:33:38.840 --> 00:33:45.420 It's very interesting. The sunrise shall visit us from on high. In other words, the light from God, 00:33:45.600 --> 00:33:50.519 that's going to be like the dawning of light in a dark world, that's going to come down from God 00:33:50.519 --> 00:33:55.960 amongst us. And you can think of John chapter one. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with 00:33:55.960 --> 00:34:00.299 God, and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through him, 00:34:00.339 --> 00:34:04.839 and him was life, and the life, you know, and all that. And then the light comes down. And Jesus is 00:34:04.839 --> 00:34:10.000 the light of the world. A light that comes not from the light around us, not from the light of our 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:15.599 creativity, but a light that comes right from God into our world. And it is this coming of the light 00:34:15.599 --> 00:34:21.099 into the darkness of who we are that is part of how it is that God saves us. He grants us this 00:34:21.099 --> 00:34:26.519 to make us people of the light. That's what we should be, people of the light. 00:34:28.799 --> 00:34:32.119 And that's what he just says, because you might say, well, what is it that he will do? Look at 00:34:32.119 --> 00:34:38.000 verse 78. He will give light, verse 79, I should say, to those who sit in darkness in the shadow of 00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:46.579 death and to guide our feet into the way of peace. Now, very, very briefly, very briefly, 00:34:47.099 --> 00:34:52.960 this very, very, very beautiful and powerful text. What we see here is that when we put our, 00:34:53.079 --> 00:34:59.059 what God's desire is, that he wants to turn us from enmity with ourselves, enmity with others, 00:34:59.059 --> 00:35:07.840 enmity with God, from that to peace with God. He wants us to deliver us from doom to security and life. 00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:14.920 He wants to deliver us from slavery into freedom, free citizens, not just freedom, but free citizens 00:35:14.920 --> 00:35:22.120 in his kingdom, the kingdom of love and the kingdom of mercy. He wants to deliver us from darkness to 00:35:22.120 --> 00:35:30.440 light. He wants to deliver us from death, certain death and doom to unending life. He wants us to walk 00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:36.500 in the light to the light, and he will deliver us and give us his salvation. He grants us all of these 00:35:36.500 --> 00:35:47.179 things, and all we can do is receive it. It's been a longer sermon than I intended, but I need to say a 00:35:47.179 --> 00:35:52.179 couple of things about my beginning. And here's a couple of things about the problem of evil and the 00:35:52.179 --> 00:35:59.260 problem of enmity. The problem that my secular friends have with the problem of evil is they might 00:35:59.260 --> 00:36:06.100 think that that ends up being a good reason not to believe within God, but all it leaves you is in a thin, 00:36:06.100 --> 00:36:14.120 desolate, despairing place. Evil still exists, and then you die. 00:36:14.119 --> 00:36:23.960 And there's absolutely no comfort in it. One of the things which is so brilliant about this, and this 00:36:23.960 --> 00:36:31.059 is just part of the whole ending, just a tiny part of the whole answer that Christians have to evil, 00:36:31.219 --> 00:36:39.539 is that Christians say, no, no, death doesn't win, and God will judge all the evil and enmity and 00:36:39.539 --> 00:36:46.320 hatred in the world. And we know that as a guaranteed fact. It does not get a pass. It will be dealt with. 00:36:48.559 --> 00:36:53.579 And I have not only the comfort and the hope that it will be dealt with at the end of the end of the 00:36:53.579 --> 00:36:59.880 end of the end, but God doesn't just sort of talk about this as abstractions, because this is the 00:36:59.880 --> 00:37:03.500 beginning of the gospel that goes all the way through the rest of the story, all the rest of the 00:37:03.500 --> 00:37:08.880 story, when you see things happening to Jesus, bad things happening to Jesus, and not only in Luke's, 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:15.780 but the other things, Herod wanting to kill him as his young child, and imperial power, and hatred of 00:37:15.780 --> 00:37:20.840 authorities, and there's this story for you to enter into, to understand that everything you see in this 00:37:20.840 --> 00:37:27.900 story is all about God bringing light into the world, and bringing deliverance from slavery, and the defeat of 00:37:27.900 --> 00:37:33.960 enemies, and hostile things, and this is all, and so we not only have a knowledge that at the end it will all be made 00:37:33.960 --> 00:37:43.139 right, that everything sad will become untrue, and that God gives us a story to dwell on as we undergo 00:37:43.139 --> 00:37:49.960 the hard problems of life, and at the end, and not only that, but he calls us into a relationship with 00:37:49.960 --> 00:37:56.139 Jesus, and Jesus' people to walk with us amidst the evil and hard times. 00:37:59.800 --> 00:38:01.320 Secularism or this? 00:38:03.659 --> 00:38:06.320 My secular friends, don't you wish this is true? 00:38:07.519 --> 00:38:14.720 And it is true. Jesus did rise from the dead. He did vindicate what he said, and it says something 00:38:14.720 --> 00:38:19.000 else as well about this, because you see, the idea that at the end of the end of the end of the end, 00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:24.699 that God will judge all evil and all enmity. It doesn't create within Christians, it shouldn't 00:38:24.699 --> 00:38:28.739 create within Christians, an idea that says, okay, well, I don't care about the injustice in Canada, 00:38:28.739 --> 00:38:33.900 I don't care about the injustice in my community, I don't care about bullying, that's somebody else's 00:38:33.900 --> 00:38:37.179 problem, I don't have to worry about those things, because God's going to deal that at the end, 00:38:37.219 --> 00:38:38.960 I can just turn a blind eye. No! 00:38:42.360 --> 00:38:46.539 Because you know that God thinks these things are important and they will judge it, 00:38:46.539 --> 00:38:54.599 you and I should rise up and stand against injustice and evil. Whether it's just quietly 00:38:54.599 --> 00:38:59.059 say no or something more dramatic, that we are not silent. 00:38:59.059 --> 00:39:06.360 And the other thing which is so delightful about this story, because some people will say, George, 00:39:06.420 --> 00:39:10.599 you say all of those things, but it's filled with all that enemy language and everything like that, 00:39:10.639 --> 00:39:14.500 and doesn't that just create within Christians this type of sense that there's us and all the others, 00:39:14.579 --> 00:39:19.679 and we other everybody else in the world? And no, no, no, no, no, no, no, because you need to 00:39:19.679 --> 00:39:25.139 understand why is it that God, the Son of God, why is it that Jesus comes to earth and actually dies on a 00:39:25.139 --> 00:39:30.400 cross? It is because God takes no delight in the death of a sinner, but that they would turn from 00:39:30.400 --> 00:39:37.679 their wickedness and live. He's in the business of turning enemies into his friend. He wants enemies 00:39:37.679 --> 00:39:44.980 to become part of his covenant people. So it's not just a matter, like at the earlier service, 00:39:44.980 --> 00:39:50.059 I prayed about the great persecution going on in places like China, but in particular about that 00:39:50.059 --> 00:39:55.460 going on in northern Nigeria. And I not only pray for the Christians undergoing it, but I also pray 00:39:55.460 --> 00:40:03.000 that their persecutors would stop persecuting and turn to Jesus, and that's how we are taught to pray 00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:07.920 for enemies. And then there is the most remarkable thing of all about this text, 00:40:07.920 --> 00:40:13.360 Christ. And it completely undercuts any talk as if this is othering. 00:40:17.519 --> 00:40:20.159 You see, before I became a Christian, 00:40:20.920 --> 00:40:23.340 I was God's enemy. 00:40:27.300 --> 00:40:28.619 Enemies aren't out there. 00:40:30.940 --> 00:40:32.960 It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord. 00:40:32.960 --> 00:40:36.679 It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord. 00:40:39.159 --> 00:40:41.420 The light has to come into my darkness. 00:40:43.880 --> 00:40:46.260 Jesus has to deliver me from my slavery. 00:40:51.199 --> 00:40:52.619 There are no others, there's just, 00:40:52.619 --> 00:40:54.639 there's just sinners. 00:40:54.639 --> 00:41:01.199 And that's how I have to understand the text. 00:41:01.839 --> 00:41:05.539 You know, in a sense, and I'm not saying this to downplay the fact that some people here are really 00:41:05.539 --> 00:41:07.799 in the midst of maybe some very terrible evil. 00:41:08.719 --> 00:41:14.019 But John Maxwell famously said that if you could kick the person most responsible for your problems 00:41:14.019 --> 00:41:17.460 really hard, you wouldn't be able to sit down for a week. 00:41:17.460 --> 00:41:24.720 Because a lot of times it's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord. 00:41:27.019 --> 00:41:29.220 So just in, you know, in closing, 00:41:29.679 --> 00:41:32.420 there is no better time than now to give your life to Christ 00:41:32.420 --> 00:41:34.019 if you haven't given your life to Christ. 00:41:34.119 --> 00:41:37.659 To say, God, I want this salvation and this light to come into me. 00:41:38.579 --> 00:41:41.079 And I want to be part of your covenant people. 00:41:41.860 --> 00:41:43.599 And I want to know and learn 00:41:43.599 --> 00:41:45.480 as part of this covenant people, Father, 00:41:45.579 --> 00:41:47.639 what it means to walk 00:41:47.639 --> 00:41:50.199 with Jesus as my light 00:41:50.199 --> 00:41:51.739 and in his light 00:41:51.739 --> 00:41:53.980 and know that I am walking towards light. 00:41:54.199 --> 00:41:54.880 And I want to be, 00:41:54.940 --> 00:41:57.719 I want to be used by you to reflect your light 00:41:57.719 --> 00:41:58.779 into a dark world. 00:41:58.980 --> 00:41:59.699 And so, Father, 00:42:00.519 --> 00:42:01.559 and in your mercy, 00:42:01.940 --> 00:42:03.319 I give myself to Jesus 00:42:03.319 --> 00:42:05.860 and there's no better time than now to pray such a prayer. 00:42:07.880 --> 00:42:10.139 And you could pray that us as a congregation, 00:42:10.339 --> 00:42:12.019 we are soaked in the scriptures 00:42:12.019 --> 00:42:14.039 and have the scriptures form us. 00:42:14.380 --> 00:42:17.039 And could you pray that we as a congregation, 00:42:17.639 --> 00:42:19.800 that we are an outpost of God's covenant 00:42:19.800 --> 00:42:23.380 and that what characterizes us 00:42:23.380 --> 00:42:25.039 is that in a dark world, 00:42:25.360 --> 00:42:27.139 we are light and life, 00:42:27.719 --> 00:42:29.259 offering light and life, 00:42:29.380 --> 00:42:30.360 not out of superiority, 00:42:31.099 --> 00:42:32.440 not out of condescension, 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:34.759 but out of humble fact 00:42:34.759 --> 00:42:37.000 that we have received such mercy ourselves 00:42:37.000 --> 00:42:38.599 and we want others to receive 00:42:38.599 --> 00:42:39.980 and live that as well. 00:42:40.860 --> 00:42:41.880 I invite you to stand. 00:42:42.019 --> 00:42:43.019 Thank you. 00:42:47.759 --> 00:42:49.519 You know, one of the wonderful things 00:42:49.519 --> 00:42:50.940 just before I close in prayer 00:42:50.940 --> 00:42:51.619 is that, 00:42:51.659 --> 00:42:53.519 you know, 00:42:53.579 --> 00:42:55.320 one of the wonderful things 00:42:55.320 --> 00:42:57.159 is that once you grasp 00:42:57.159 --> 00:42:59.739 how this song introduces 00:42:59.739 --> 00:43:01.159 all the things that are going to happen 00:43:01.159 --> 00:43:01.780 in the gospel 00:43:01.780 --> 00:43:03.940 and what it is that Christ does for us, 00:43:04.639 --> 00:43:05.719 turning us as enemies 00:43:05.719 --> 00:43:06.739 into his friends 00:43:06.739 --> 00:43:07.800 and his covenant people, 00:43:07.920 --> 00:43:09.119 taking me who is dark 00:43:09.119 --> 00:43:10.579 and bringing his light into me, 00:43:10.579 --> 00:43:13.400 and to know that that is what Christ has done, 00:43:13.460 --> 00:43:16.079 it creates a safe emotional place 00:43:16.079 --> 00:43:20.360 for us to deal with the crap in our own lives. 00:43:20.360 --> 00:43:23.400 There is no darkness 00:43:23.400 --> 00:43:25.180 you will ever discover about yourself 00:43:25.180 --> 00:43:26.680 that God did not know about, 00:43:26.780 --> 00:43:28.120 that Jesus did not know about, 00:43:28.200 --> 00:43:29.360 and that he does not desire 00:43:29.360 --> 00:43:30.300 to shine his light 00:43:30.300 --> 00:43:31.660 even more deeply into it. 00:43:32.160 --> 00:43:34.160 No other message 00:43:34.160 --> 00:43:37.480 gives you such a profound place of safety 00:43:37.480 --> 00:43:39.960 to deal with the crap and mess 00:43:39.960 --> 00:43:40.960 in your own life, 00:43:41.700 --> 00:43:43.680 knowing that he loves it 00:43:43.680 --> 00:43:44.780 when you say that to him. 00:43:44.780 --> 00:43:47.040 He wants you to walk in the light. 00:43:47.780 --> 00:43:48.640 Let's bow our heads in prayer. 00:43:48.760 --> 00:43:50.620 Father, thank you so much for your word. 00:43:51.160 --> 00:43:52.700 Thank you so much for Jesus. 00:43:53.480 --> 00:43:54.300 Thank you, Father, 00:43:54.519 --> 00:43:55.500 that we have, 00:43:55.620 --> 00:43:56.800 that you have provided a way 00:43:56.800 --> 00:43:58.420 to understand who Jesus is 00:43:58.420 --> 00:43:59.880 and what he's accomplishing for us 00:43:59.880 --> 00:44:00.560 on the cross 00:44:00.560 --> 00:44:02.120 in this whole story 00:44:02.120 --> 00:44:03.420 and history of the gospel. 00:44:03.580 --> 00:44:04.460 We thank you, Father, 00:44:04.560 --> 00:44:06.780 that you desire to turn enemies 00:44:06.780 --> 00:44:08.120 into your covenant people, 00:44:08.340 --> 00:44:10.220 that you desire to walk with us 00:44:10.219 --> 00:44:12.519 and have us serve you 00:44:12.519 --> 00:44:14.599 without fear 00:44:14.599 --> 00:44:15.599 and with confidence 00:44:15.599 --> 00:44:16.500 and with joy, 00:44:16.639 --> 00:44:17.459 and we ask, Father, 00:44:17.519 --> 00:44:18.879 that you bring the gospel 00:44:18.879 --> 00:44:20.859 deeply, more and more deeply 00:44:20.859 --> 00:44:21.819 home to our hearts 00:44:21.819 --> 00:44:22.739 and bring this story 00:44:22.739 --> 00:44:24.539 ever more deeply home to our hearts, 00:44:24.659 --> 00:44:26.099 that it might form us, 00:44:26.519 --> 00:44:27.859 that it might shape us, 00:44:28.079 --> 00:44:29.619 that it might propel us, 00:44:29.939 --> 00:44:31.219 that it might draw us, 00:44:31.559 --> 00:44:32.799 that we might breathe it 00:44:32.799 --> 00:44:34.319 and eat it and live it 00:44:34.319 --> 00:44:35.319 and dwell in it 00:44:35.319 --> 00:44:36.959 as we walk with Jesus 00:44:36.959 --> 00:44:38.739 and as you become more and more 00:44:38.739 --> 00:44:39.919 central to our hearts. 00:44:40.219 --> 00:44:41.139 That day by day, 00:44:41.259 --> 00:44:42.719 we desire to shout out, 00:44:42.819 --> 00:44:44.919 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. 00:44:46.259 --> 00:44:47.759 And all God's people said, 00:44:48.359 --> 00:44:48.659 Amen.