WEBVTT 00:00:00.649 --> 00:00:03.149 Hello, you are listening to Second City Sermons, 00:00:03.270 --> 00:00:06.209 a ministry of Second City Church in Midtown Harrisburg. 00:00:06.889 --> 00:00:08.750 It's our hope that these sermons will draw you 00:00:08.750 --> 00:00:11.169 more into the life of following God, Father, 00:00:11.330 --> 00:00:14.150 Son and Holy Spirit. Please consider coming and 00:00:14.150 --> 00:00:16.469 joining with us each Sunday morning at 10am in 00:00:16.469 --> 00:00:18.809 the heart of Midtown Harrisburg. You can find 00:00:18.809 --> 00:00:22.329 us online at SecondCityChurch .org and on Facebook, 00:00:22.609 --> 00:00:25.030 Instagram and YouTube. We hope you enjoy this 00:00:25.030 --> 00:00:35.859 sermon. God Bless. Lord God, I pray that as was 00:00:35.859 --> 00:00:39.659 our Lord's custom to go into your house on your 00:00:39.659 --> 00:00:44.979 day, Lord, it is ours. And I gotta pray this 00:00:44.979 --> 00:00:52.799 morning that as you met the prayers of the people 00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:55.579 long ago in Zechariah and Elizabeth's prayers, 00:00:56.619 --> 00:01:00.899 As you met with Zechariah long ago in your house, 00:01:00.899 --> 00:01:03.380 Lord, I pray that you'd meet with us again today, 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:07.739 Lord. No doubt, Lord, some of us have had joy 00:01:07.739 --> 00:01:12.379 -filled weeks, and others of us have been reminded 00:01:12.379 --> 00:01:17.980 of the brokenness of life. Some of us have faith 00:01:17.980 --> 00:01:20.920 that feels like it could move mountains this 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:24.359 morning, and others of us Now the doubt looms 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:26.640 large and some of us are convinced of who you 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:30.920 are and others are unconvinced, Lord. God, would 00:01:30.920 --> 00:01:35.239 you open our ears? Would you hear our cries? 00:01:36.700 --> 00:01:39.060 Would you meet us now? In your name we pray. 00:01:39.500 --> 00:01:46.680 Amen. So last Sunday we looked at Joseph and 00:01:46.680 --> 00:01:49.659 we learned a few different things about quiet 00:01:49.659 --> 00:01:53.569 Joseph, his quiet faithfulness. And today we're 00:01:53.569 --> 00:01:55.670 going to look at another father figure in the 00:01:55.670 --> 00:01:58.510 early narratives of the Gospels right before 00:01:58.510 --> 00:02:04.129 Jesus is born, Zechariah. And I mentioned last 00:02:04.129 --> 00:02:07.629 week how Joseph, as Nate Bargat pointed out, 00:02:07.969 --> 00:02:09.870 doesn't really get songs. He doesn't get songs 00:02:09.870 --> 00:02:11.729 in the text. We don't really have songs of Joseph 00:02:11.729 --> 00:02:17.819 so much in our church history. Zachariah doesn't 00:02:17.819 --> 00:02:19.360 have a song in the text. Next week we're gonna 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:22.039 look at Simeon. We often sing the song of Simeon 00:02:22.039 --> 00:02:26.520 at the end of our services in this season. We're 00:02:26.520 --> 00:02:29.319 gonna look at him next week. But there is a great 00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:33.280 song about Zachariah in an album that came out 00:02:33.280 --> 00:02:36.219 about 10 years ago by a group called Rain for 00:02:36.219 --> 00:02:40.770 Roots. Children, maybe you know this song. Adults, 00:02:41.069 --> 00:02:42.650 maybe parents especially, you know this song. 00:02:42.710 --> 00:02:46.430 We have played it lots of times in the car rides 00:02:46.430 --> 00:02:50.830 in our family. The best part is the chorus, but 00:02:50.830 --> 00:02:52.169 I'm gonna read to you the first verse in the 00:02:52.169 --> 00:02:53.949 chorus. So the first verse recounts for us some 00:02:53.949 --> 00:02:56.750 of this story that we just heard in Luke chapter 00:02:56.750 --> 00:02:59.169 one about Zachariah. It says, Zachariah went 00:02:59.169 --> 00:03:01.310 into the temple and an angel of the Lord was 00:03:01.310 --> 00:03:03.669 waiting there. He said, You've waited your whole 00:03:03.669 --> 00:03:06.289 life. Good news. You and your wife will have 00:03:06.289 --> 00:03:08.969 a son named John. The Lord has heard your prayer. 00:03:09.930 --> 00:03:12.229 Zachariah was afraid and started talking. He 00:03:12.229 --> 00:03:14.169 said, How can this be? How will I know? Gabriel 00:03:14.169 --> 00:03:17.430 said, God gave this special task to me. And since 00:03:17.430 --> 00:03:20.490 you ask, here's a sign for you until he's born 00:03:20.490 --> 00:03:29.090 to show. And Zachariah said. Then he couldn't 00:03:29.090 --> 00:03:35.879 say. But his heart went, then he tried to say, 00:03:37.740 --> 00:03:41.419 but he couldn't say. But his heart went boom, 00:03:41.419 --> 00:03:45.379 boom, boom. I mean, Zachariah couldn't believe 00:03:45.379 --> 00:03:48.259 what he heard. And therefore when he went out, 00:03:48.300 --> 00:03:49.960 I actually love it too, because you really get 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:53.000 the sense that he was playing charades with the 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:54.939 people, right? He didn't know American sign language 00:03:54.939 --> 00:03:58.840 back then. He goes out, right? He's supposed 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:01.759 to bless the people. and they couldn't hear the 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:04.460 good news that he had been given. And part of 00:04:04.460 --> 00:04:08.719 the question is, do you hear, right? Do you hear 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:11.520 what I hear? Can you hear it? I want us to look 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:14.139 at this text this morning, really focusing on 00:04:14.139 --> 00:04:15.639 Zechariah. There's a lot that we could talk about 00:04:15.639 --> 00:04:18.220 in this passage, okay? I actually looked back. 00:04:18.259 --> 00:04:21.240 I have preached this passage to you years ago, 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:25.379 but we focused there mostly on John. But I want 00:04:25.379 --> 00:04:27.560 us to consider Zechariah, and I want us to consider 00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:31.470 his improbable opportunity the unbelievable announcement, 00:04:31.790 --> 00:04:35.649 and then the idea of open ears and open mouths, 00:04:35.829 --> 00:04:38.509 okay? So first, just the idea of an improbable 00:04:38.509 --> 00:04:44.230 opportunity. So if you have that text open before 00:04:44.230 --> 00:04:47.730 you, Luke chapter one, verse five begins with, 00:04:47.730 --> 00:04:50.740 in the days of King Herod, King of Judah, And 00:04:50.740 --> 00:04:52.899 this is actually kind of common with Luke. He 00:04:52.899 --> 00:04:55.060 sets this historical context, and he gives you 00:04:55.060 --> 00:04:57.279 this big picture of what's happening. But it's 00:04:57.279 --> 00:04:59.399 almost as though Herod is sort of this other 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:01.519 figure that's there, but he's not the main figure. 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:03.319 Luke actually does this quite a bit. He highlights 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:04.860 for us the people that we would sort of push 00:05:04.860 --> 00:05:09.000 to the side, the overlooked. And so it moves 00:05:09.000 --> 00:05:11.779 on quickly. There was a priest named Zechariah. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:14.660 And then it highlights this little detail for 00:05:14.660 --> 00:05:18.910 us of the division of Abijah. And part of what 00:05:18.910 --> 00:05:20.889 Luke is doing right here, right at the beginning, 00:05:21.509 --> 00:05:24.730 by mentioning the divisions, is he's highlighting 00:05:24.730 --> 00:05:27.029 for you the improbability of what's taking place, 00:05:27.110 --> 00:05:29.170 the improbability of this opportunity, right? 00:05:29.930 --> 00:05:33.089 So here's what's going on. Every direct descendant 00:05:33.089 --> 00:05:36.629 of Aaron, right? Aaron was the brother of Moses. 00:05:36.769 --> 00:05:39.389 He was the original high priest. Every direct 00:05:39.389 --> 00:05:44.829 descendant of Aaron was automatically a priest. 00:05:45.319 --> 00:05:48.040 and therefore they were to serve in the temple. 00:05:48.379 --> 00:05:50.480 And there were so many priests by the time of 00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:52.959 David that David broke them into 24 different 00:05:52.959 --> 00:05:54.879 divisions. Actually, it's kind of interesting 00:05:54.879 --> 00:05:58.879 that when the exiles came back from the Babylonian 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:04.040 captivity, there were still so many priests that 00:06:04.040 --> 00:06:06.040 even though only four of those divisions came 00:06:06.040 --> 00:06:08.660 back at that time, they were again broken up 00:06:08.660 --> 00:06:10.639 into their 24 divisions with the same names. 00:06:11.079 --> 00:06:13.600 Well, the division of Abijah was the eighth division. 00:06:14.459 --> 00:06:18.560 And it's estimated that around the time of this 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:22.860 taking place, there were about 20 ,000 descendants 00:06:22.860 --> 00:06:25.579 of Aaron, 20 ,000 priests. And so what would 00:06:25.579 --> 00:06:30.480 happen is that each division would get one week, 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:32.720 sort of every six months -ish, two weeks a year 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:35.540 to come and to serve in the temple. So you can 00:06:35.540 --> 00:06:38.240 imagine, I mean, if there's 24 divisions, there's 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:42.000 about 20 ,000 priests, there's about 850 people. 00:06:42.300 --> 00:06:46.579 per division, okay? And so, you know, there's 00:06:46.579 --> 00:06:49.339 no need for 850 people to come and serve in these 00:06:49.339 --> 00:06:53.959 different ways. And so what it meant was that 00:06:53.959 --> 00:06:57.399 you would have your name drawn by lot. It actually 00:06:57.399 --> 00:07:00.100 mentioned that there, that his name was drawn 00:07:00.100 --> 00:07:06.209 by lot. It was sort of a by chance. And... And 00:07:06.209 --> 00:07:08.209 you could do different acts of service sort of 00:07:08.209 --> 00:07:10.129 in the temple, but there was one act of service 00:07:10.129 --> 00:07:12.689 that was so unique and so highlighted and so 00:07:12.689 --> 00:07:15.730 respected and so desired that you only got to 00:07:15.730 --> 00:07:20.029 do that one act once in your life. And that one 00:07:20.029 --> 00:07:22.509 act was to go actually to be the one to go into 00:07:22.509 --> 00:07:26.149 the temple and to burn the incense that was a 00:07:26.149 --> 00:07:29.050 symbol of the prayers of the people going up 00:07:29.050 --> 00:07:30.980 to God. I don't know if you noticed this, it's 00:07:30.980 --> 00:07:33.480 actually, it's highlighted, that is referenced, 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:35.540 the incense is referenced for us three times 00:07:35.540 --> 00:07:38.519 in this text, verses 9, 10, and 11. It's as though 00:07:38.519 --> 00:07:40.959 it's highlighting for us, this is a big deal. 00:07:42.060 --> 00:07:44.899 This is the thing that any descendant of Aaron 00:07:44.899 --> 00:07:46.920 would have spent their life desiring to do, and 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:49.220 not all would have been allowed to do it. You 00:07:49.220 --> 00:07:51.899 would have had one opportunity to do this in 00:07:51.899 --> 00:07:55.379 your life. And Zechariah, we are told in verse 00:07:55.379 --> 00:07:59.250 7, actually, and again in verse 18 was, advanced 00:07:59.250 --> 00:08:03.269 in years. So he'd waited his whole life. He'd 00:08:03.269 --> 00:08:06.189 waited his whole life to come in and to do this, 00:08:06.329 --> 00:08:09.110 to offer the prayers of the people, but also 00:08:09.110 --> 00:08:11.290 to offer his own prayers there in the midst of 00:08:11.290 --> 00:08:14.470 the temple. All this is to say that it was an 00:08:14.470 --> 00:08:17.670 entirely improbable opportunity, and he's going 00:08:17.670 --> 00:08:21.589 to make the most of it as we all would. So he 00:08:21.589 --> 00:08:23.129 not only brings, of course, the prayers of the 00:08:23.129 --> 00:08:26.509 people through the symbol of the incense, but 00:08:26.509 --> 00:08:30.220 he brings his own a lifelong sorrow that he's 00:08:30.220 --> 00:08:33.840 carrying, his own desire for God to hear him, 00:08:34.120 --> 00:08:37.419 to be attentive to him, to understand what he 00:08:37.419 --> 00:08:40.259 and his wife have been going through. So just 00:08:40.259 --> 00:08:43.799 think of this for a moment with me. What prayer 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:51.179 would you bring? I mean, almost certainly the 00:08:51.179 --> 00:08:54.440 one time he gets to go into the temple, You'd 00:08:54.440 --> 00:08:56.720 bring the long prayers, right? The prayers that 00:08:56.720 --> 00:09:03.019 you've prayed again and again and again. Likely, 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:05.019 you would maybe bring the prayers that you had 00:09:05.019 --> 00:09:10.139 grown to doubt would ever be answered. The prayers 00:09:10.139 --> 00:09:13.399 that you'd cried out to God to hear time and 00:09:13.399 --> 00:09:16.080 again. Maybe the thorns in your flesh, as we 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:19.220 just heard in 2 Corinthians, Paul have, he cried 00:09:19.220 --> 00:09:22.860 out to the Lord to take from him. That kind of 00:09:22.860 --> 00:09:29.460 prayer. Maybe you've prayed some prayers so much 00:09:29.460 --> 00:09:32.399 that you think that actually the opportunity 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:35.580 to offer them one more time might just be futile, 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:39.039 right? But here we read that Zachariah and his 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:41.840 wife were righteous before God and they were 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:43.960 walking blamelessly in his commandments and his 00:09:43.960 --> 00:09:46.659 statutes. Which is to say they were trusting 00:09:46.659 --> 00:09:48.220 in the Lord. They were righteous. They were trusting 00:09:48.220 --> 00:09:51.039 in God's promises to them, his work on their 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:54.860 behalf. And their life reflected this. And so 00:09:54.860 --> 00:09:58.820 they held out hope, the act of God on their behalf. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:02.860 But think with me also about the prayers of Zechariah 00:10:02.860 --> 00:10:06.080 and the people, okay? So I've mentioned this, 00:10:06.179 --> 00:10:09.539 right? As the priest and as his name was drawn 00:10:09.539 --> 00:10:11.759 by law, he would have gone into the temple there 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:13.580 and he would have offered the prayers of God's 00:10:13.580 --> 00:10:17.919 people. And no doubt, the dominant prayer of 00:10:17.919 --> 00:10:20.559 God's people at that time and actually kind of 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:22.840 throughout history would have been for deliverance. 00:10:23.940 --> 00:10:28.460 Deliver them. It's mentioned again right there 00:10:28.460 --> 00:10:31.820 in verse five in the days of when King Herod 00:10:31.820 --> 00:10:36.720 was over Judea, right? Herod was a Roman. He 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:39.899 wasn't the king Israelites wanted. He wasn't 00:10:39.899 --> 00:10:42.480 the king that God had promised to them, right? 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:45.159 A king... lineage of David that would sit on 00:10:45.159 --> 00:10:49.500 the throne with justice and righteousness. All 00:10:49.500 --> 00:10:51.600 of them had read the Old Testament promises of 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:55.460 God's purposes to bless them and to bless the 00:10:55.460 --> 00:11:01.740 world through them. In a sense, no doubt they 00:11:01.740 --> 00:11:03.600 believed that God's presence was with them. They 00:11:03.600 --> 00:11:05.320 were showing up to the temple to offer their 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:07.120 prayers. It says that the people were praying 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:11.710 outside. But their faith was constantly put to 00:11:11.710 --> 00:11:15.970 the test, maybe like yours is. And the situation 00:11:15.970 --> 00:11:17.529 in which they found themselves and said, what 00:11:17.529 --> 00:11:20.909 is God doing? We've cried out for deliverance 00:11:20.909 --> 00:11:25.950 time and time again. Can he hear us? Their faith 00:11:25.950 --> 00:11:28.389 was constantly battered by the fact that evil 00:11:28.389 --> 00:11:32.169 seems more active in the world and frankly, more 00:11:32.169 --> 00:11:36.230 effective in the world and the power of God at 00:11:36.230 --> 00:11:41.309 times. There is no question that that fact shook 00:11:41.309 --> 00:11:46.330 them just as it shakes you and I. For all the 00:11:46.330 --> 00:11:49.169 glad tidings and great joy that we proclaim and 00:11:49.169 --> 00:11:53.409 we hopefully live into in this season, we collectively 00:11:53.409 --> 00:11:55.509 and we individually actually have these long 00:11:55.509 --> 00:11:57.809 prayers that we pray again and again and again 00:11:57.809 --> 00:12:01.769 and again. Think about this, one of the last 00:12:01.769 --> 00:12:04.870 prophecies that we have recorded for us in Holy 00:12:04.870 --> 00:12:07.090 Scripture is coming from the book of Malachi. 00:12:07.759 --> 00:12:10.600 And one of those prophecies says the Lord whom 00:12:10.600 --> 00:12:12.659 they seek would suddenly come to his temple, 00:12:13.340 --> 00:12:17.080 right? And then connected with this is that there 00:12:17.080 --> 00:12:22.259 would be a prophet like the prophet Elijah. They 00:12:22.259 --> 00:12:24.360 would come and bring a season of great repentance. 00:12:25.159 --> 00:12:28.299 But that, I mean, that was written over 400 years 00:12:28.299 --> 00:12:32.580 earlier. To give you a reference, it's like talking 00:12:32.580 --> 00:12:34.940 about something that was said to the pilgrims 00:12:34.940 --> 00:12:39.830 long ago. I mean, how long had they prayed that? 00:12:40.049 --> 00:12:44.850 How long had they hoped that? And that's just 00:12:44.850 --> 00:12:48.490 the collective prayer. But think about how long 00:12:48.490 --> 00:12:51.230 Zechariah and Elizabeth had brought their individual 00:12:51.230 --> 00:12:56.009 prayers before the Lord. So not only was this 00:12:56.009 --> 00:13:00.129 an improbable opportunity that Zechariah has, 00:13:00.230 --> 00:13:03.450 near the end of his life, he's advanced in years. 00:13:03.669 --> 00:13:08.350 He finally has his name drawn. And he's going 00:13:08.350 --> 00:13:10.470 to make the best of it. But he goes before, he 00:13:10.470 --> 00:13:12.629 goes in there and he offers the incense, symbolizing 00:13:12.629 --> 00:13:14.730 the prayers of the people. And undoubtedly he 00:13:14.730 --> 00:13:16.190 offers his own prayers. In fact, we have a good 00:13:16.190 --> 00:13:18.070 sense that he did because of what the angel says, 00:13:18.090 --> 00:13:22.070 right? He's saying, this is my improbable opportunity. 00:13:22.110 --> 00:13:28.029 I'm going to make the best of it. But what he 00:13:28.029 --> 00:13:29.870 hears, what I want to suggest to you, what he 00:13:29.870 --> 00:13:32.370 hears is actually an unbelievable announcement. 00:13:33.830 --> 00:13:36.389 And we know that because that's his response. 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:40.139 This is unbelievable. It's an unbelievable announcement. 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:43.700 So again, the communal life of God's people was 00:13:43.700 --> 00:13:47.740 one of tragedy. It was going from, think about 00:13:47.740 --> 00:13:49.759 this, okay, let's just go back the last like 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:51.559 thousand years. We could go back farther and 00:13:51.559 --> 00:13:52.940 actually illustrate this, but if you just go 00:13:52.940 --> 00:13:54.980 back the last thousand years of Israel's history, 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:57.440 you have a divided kingdom after King Solomon. 00:13:58.810 --> 00:14:01.169 After that, you have just a wreck of different 00:14:01.169 --> 00:14:02.789 kings between the Northern kings and the Southern 00:14:02.789 --> 00:14:04.470 kings. You have a lot of rebellion against God. 00:14:04.549 --> 00:14:06.509 And then the Assyrians come in and they take 00:14:06.509 --> 00:14:08.110 away the 10 Northern tribes. And then a couple 00:14:08.110 --> 00:14:12.029 of centuries later, well, about 150 years later, 00:14:12.470 --> 00:14:14.750 the Babylonians come in, they take away the Southern 00:14:14.750 --> 00:14:18.549 tribes. After that, there's the Persian domination. 00:14:18.690 --> 00:14:20.990 After that, there's the ravages by Antiochus 00:14:20.990 --> 00:14:23.419 Epiphanes. And now they're under Roman rule. 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:25.879 I mean, literally, it's just tragedy upon tragedy 00:14:25.879 --> 00:14:28.159 upon tragedy that's taking place. And the people 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:31.000 are crying out, forgot to do something. He said 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:33.960 time and again that he would act, he would act 00:14:33.960 --> 00:14:40.799 on their behalf and they're desiring that. And 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:42.639 it's almost like after that long, they're like, 00:14:43.179 --> 00:14:46.679 I don't know about this faith thing. Sort of 00:14:46.679 --> 00:14:52.220 unbelievable. But interestingly, The angel does 00:14:52.220 --> 00:14:54.940 not first speak to the collective prayers that 00:14:54.940 --> 00:14:57.159 are symbolized by the incense. Instead, he first 00:14:57.159 --> 00:15:01.679 speaks to the prayers of Zachariah when he's 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:04.360 there. Now, the first thing that the angel spoke 00:15:04.360 --> 00:15:07.320 to was the prayer of Zachariah and his wife, 00:15:07.700 --> 00:15:10.200 which I want to also suggest to you is an unbelievable 00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:16.259 announcement. Why is this? Elizabeth was not 00:15:16.259 --> 00:15:21.700 a spring chicken. Actually, again, verse 7 and 00:15:21.700 --> 00:15:24.679 18 both say that they were advanced in years. 00:15:26.139 --> 00:15:29.440 She had been post -menopausal for a long time. 00:15:31.700 --> 00:15:34.639 Their life together had been overshadowed by 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:36.539 tragedy, just as their communal life within Israel 00:15:36.539 --> 00:15:41.740 was overshadowed by tragedy. For a Jewish couple, 00:15:41.840 --> 00:15:45.379 for a Jewish woman to not have a child was not 00:15:45.379 --> 00:15:49.850 only a source of sorrow for them, But actually, 00:15:50.009 --> 00:15:53.450 collectively, it was sort of an issue of reproach. 00:15:53.529 --> 00:15:56.250 It was sort of a communal reproach. It was oftentimes 00:15:56.250 --> 00:15:58.590 considered a symbol of God's lack of care for 00:15:58.590 --> 00:16:03.090 you, lack of attentiveness to you. So they had 00:16:03.090 --> 00:16:07.450 cried out, cried out year after year, seemingly 00:16:07.450 --> 00:16:12.870 heard little to nothing. Personal grief was one 00:16:12.870 --> 00:16:15.710 thing, communal reproach was another that just 00:16:15.710 --> 00:16:20.419 added to the sorrow. Here's what I'm saying. 00:16:22.399 --> 00:16:27.460 Is it any wonder that Zachariah found this good 00:16:27.460 --> 00:16:30.820 news an unbelievable announcement? I mean, literally 00:16:30.820 --> 00:16:34.080 just not very believable, right? Too good to 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:38.480 be true. Was it any wonder that he found his 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:42.360 answered prayer hard to believe? Here to have 00:16:42.360 --> 00:16:46.899 a child, he's told, and he will be in the spirit 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:50.269 and the power of Elijah God, hearing the communal 00:16:50.269 --> 00:16:52.370 prayers of His people and the individual prayers 00:16:52.370 --> 00:16:55.809 of He and Elizabeth, long, long prayers answered. 00:16:57.669 --> 00:16:59.070 Think of this again, okay? You've been waiting 00:16:59.070 --> 00:17:02.909 400 years for the prophecies to come true, and 00:17:02.909 --> 00:17:06.890 you've spent your entire married life, no doubt 00:17:06.890 --> 00:17:10.490 many nights, flooding your pillow with tears, 00:17:10.589 --> 00:17:13.869 and you have this one opportunity to go into 00:17:13.869 --> 00:17:17.049 the temple, and there you start hearing things. 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:18.559 That's exactly what you're going to be thinking. 00:17:18.700 --> 00:17:22.279 I'm hearing stuff. This is a figment of my imagination. 00:17:23.259 --> 00:17:27.240 I've started seeing things in my old age. My 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:29.839 body and my brain are not working properly. Things 00:17:29.839 --> 00:17:34.180 like that, right? The day has come. He's waited 00:17:34.180 --> 00:17:36.839 his whole life to enter into the temple, to offer 00:17:36.839 --> 00:17:39.839 incense, and an angel appears to him and he's 00:17:39.839 --> 00:17:42.799 like, man, this incense is some strong stuff. 00:17:43.559 --> 00:17:46.789 I don't know what's happening here. Right? This 00:17:46.789 --> 00:17:51.569 must be a figment of my imagination. And so Zacharias 00:17:51.569 --> 00:17:59.410 says, how shall I know? And I mean, it's true. 00:18:00.130 --> 00:18:04.470 The angel says how this is the question of unbelief. 00:18:04.809 --> 00:18:06.730 But what I'm suggesting too, isn't this exactly 00:18:06.730 --> 00:18:10.269 what we'd be doing? It's not that divorced from 00:18:10.269 --> 00:18:14.609 our own experiences with God. Zachariah couldn't 00:18:14.609 --> 00:18:17.190 believe what he heard. It was an unbelievable 00:18:17.190 --> 00:18:21.309 announcement. But it's true, asking for signs 00:18:21.309 --> 00:18:25.529 in the Bible is often a show, a demonstration 00:18:25.529 --> 00:18:30.009 of a lack of faith. And why is this? Well, George 00:18:30.009 --> 00:18:32.190 Carey, the great British New Testament scholar 00:18:32.190 --> 00:18:36.289 said, certainty which leaves no room for doubt, 00:18:36.890 --> 00:18:40.630 incidentally leaves no room for faith. That's 00:18:40.630 --> 00:18:44.069 a great quote. Maybe read that again for you. 00:18:44.609 --> 00:18:46.549 Certainty, which is what he was wanting. Give 00:18:46.549 --> 00:18:49.170 me some certainty about this because I don't 00:18:49.170 --> 00:18:53.130 think this is very believable. Certainty, which 00:18:53.130 --> 00:18:56.650 leaves no room for doubt, incidentally leaves 00:18:56.650 --> 00:19:01.650 no room for faith. Caird goes on, he says, the 00:19:01.650 --> 00:19:05.650 quest for infallibility is always an illegitimate 00:19:05.650 --> 00:19:12.700 one. Zachariah says, this is unbelievable. Answer 00:19:12.700 --> 00:19:19.119 all my doubts. Zachariah wanted certainty. God 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:23.920 wants his faith. Zachariah found himself in an 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:26.880 improbable opportunity. He wanted to make the 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:30.700 most of it. And then he received an unbelievable 00:19:30.700 --> 00:19:33.500 announcement. Finally, I want us to consider 00:19:33.500 --> 00:19:37.180 the idea here in this text of open ears and open 00:19:37.180 --> 00:19:41.460 mouths, okay? And here's what I want you to see. 00:19:43.389 --> 00:19:45.750 is that in the midst of this improbable opportunity 00:19:45.750 --> 00:19:48.930 and this unbelievable announcement, in this place 00:19:48.930 --> 00:19:51.190 where the prayers have been long prayed and it's 00:19:51.190 --> 00:19:57.150 seemingly unanswered, who listens? Well, we have 00:19:57.150 --> 00:19:59.970 some people that don't listen. I mean, they just 00:19:59.970 --> 00:20:01.730 literally can't. There's all the people outside, 00:20:01.730 --> 00:20:07.769 right? He exits the temple and he starts motioning. 00:20:10.490 --> 00:20:13.960 So people aren't the ones that are hearing. The 00:20:13.960 --> 00:20:16.119 one who's hearing actually that's highlighted 00:20:16.119 --> 00:20:20.980 for us in the passage is God. The open ears are 00:20:20.980 --> 00:20:27.640 the Lord's, right? The Lord has heard your prayer. 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:31.259 Do not fear Zechariah for your prayer has been 00:20:31.259 --> 00:20:41.099 heard. Open ears are God's. Now, Zechariah knew 00:20:41.099 --> 00:20:44.140 the ways of the Lord. We were told that he walked 00:20:44.140 --> 00:20:49.180 in the statutes and commandments of God, and 00:20:49.180 --> 00:20:53.519 he probably knew the scriptures well. He probably 00:20:53.519 --> 00:20:56.039 knew that God often does his most impressive 00:20:56.039 --> 00:21:01.259 work in the context of the impossible, because 00:21:01.259 --> 00:21:03.400 that just seems to be the way of God working 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:07.759 in the midst of the impossible, to show his power 00:21:07.759 --> 00:21:14.339 and his glory. And yet he doesn't have ears really 00:21:14.339 --> 00:21:17.420 to hear the angels so much. He says, how can 00:21:17.420 --> 00:21:21.559 this be? But God has ears. But think with me 00:21:21.559 --> 00:21:26.440 of this fact of God often doing his most impressive 00:21:26.440 --> 00:21:28.980 work in the context of the impossible, just with 00:21:28.980 --> 00:21:33.140 regards to barrenness, okay? There's almost this 00:21:33.140 --> 00:21:34.900 thought that like Zacharias should have been 00:21:34.900 --> 00:21:39.019 like, oh yeah, this is how you work. That wasn't 00:21:39.019 --> 00:21:41.220 his response. But think with me, Sarah, Abraham's 00:21:41.220 --> 00:21:46.029 wife, Anybody how old was Sarah when she conceived 00:21:46.029 --> 00:21:50.750 and bore Isaac? Pretty old. It's pretty old. 00:21:51.730 --> 00:21:56.589 Rebecca, she waited 20 years before she gave 00:21:56.589 --> 00:22:02.710 birth to Jacob and Esau. Rachel was childless 00:22:02.710 --> 00:22:07.210 until at last Joseph was born to her, right? 00:22:08.170 --> 00:22:12.029 Waiting a long time. In Judges 13, we could read 00:22:12.029 --> 00:22:16.049 about Samson's mother. Minoa was barren until 00:22:16.049 --> 00:22:21.410 she gave birth to Samson. Think about this. Ruth 00:22:21.410 --> 00:22:24.009 was married, wasn't she? Ruth was married, that's 00:22:24.009 --> 00:22:27.450 a big part of her story. To her first husband, 00:22:27.569 --> 00:22:29.509 didn't have any children. She had to wait a long 00:22:29.509 --> 00:22:33.109 time. She was married finally to Boaz, and then 00:22:33.109 --> 00:22:37.069 they had Obed, right? Then from Obed came... 00:22:37.480 --> 00:22:39.779 King David. But here's the thing, what you find 00:22:39.779 --> 00:22:41.980 in the Bible is again and again and again, God 00:22:41.980 --> 00:22:45.759 seems to show his possibility in the midst of 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:50.039 what seems utterly impossible. And so verse 13 00:22:50.039 --> 00:22:54.140 tells us, your prayers have been heard. God has 00:22:54.140 --> 00:22:58.900 open ears in the midst of the impossible. That's 00:22:58.900 --> 00:23:01.940 what Zechariah heard. And in some ways I want 00:23:01.940 --> 00:23:06.140 to invite you into that. Do you have ears to 00:23:06.140 --> 00:23:09.589 hear? Do you hear what I hear? Do you hear what 00:23:09.589 --> 00:23:17.589 I hear? I mean, if anything, this is the announcement 00:23:17.589 --> 00:23:24.009 of Christmas. God doing what is utterly impossible 00:23:24.009 --> 00:23:27.930 for us, the unbelievable coming into reality. 00:23:28.069 --> 00:23:30.849 God hearing the long cries of His people as He 00:23:30.849 --> 00:23:33.309 did long ago in Egypt when they were crying out 00:23:33.309 --> 00:23:37.130 to Him. and sending a deliverer himself in the 00:23:37.130 --> 00:23:41.369 flesh, God in the flesh. He does his most impressive 00:23:41.369 --> 00:23:44.809 work in the midst of the impossible, God giving 00:23:44.809 --> 00:23:48.829 his own son the prayers of his people, long, 00:23:49.029 --> 00:23:51.690 long prayers of his people going up, ascending 00:23:51.690 --> 00:23:58.910 to him. And he hears, God has open ears. Think 00:23:58.910 --> 00:24:00.869 about this, if Zachariah had two great hopes 00:24:00.869 --> 00:24:04.799 in his life as a priest, First, they were to 00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:07.180 go into the temple to burn the incense. That 00:24:07.180 --> 00:24:08.539 was the great thing that you were only allowed 00:24:08.539 --> 00:24:10.279 to do once because there were so many priests 00:24:10.279 --> 00:24:11.599 and that would have been the highlight of his 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:16.339 career. And then the other thing was not just 00:24:16.339 --> 00:24:19.180 to go into the temple, but to go out from the 00:24:19.180 --> 00:24:22.400 temple and it was that that priest's job to declare 00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:25.569 the Aaronic blessing over God's people. So he 00:24:25.569 --> 00:24:28.289 would have had two functions when his name was 00:24:28.289 --> 00:24:29.730 drawn by Lot. He would have gone and offered 00:24:29.730 --> 00:24:32.089 the incense and he would have come out and he 00:24:32.089 --> 00:24:36.549 would have blessed the people of God. But when 00:24:36.549 --> 00:24:39.789 he exited that temple, like I said, he had to 00:24:39.789 --> 00:24:43.970 play charades with the people. Not sure how you 00:24:43.970 --> 00:24:52.329 do that. Guess he just went like this. Do you 00:24:52.329 --> 00:24:53.700 know what I'm saying? Some of you know what I'm 00:24:53.700 --> 00:24:55.000 saying. Lord bless you and keep you and make 00:24:55.000 --> 00:24:56.779 his face shine upon you. Right? That's what he 00:24:56.779 --> 00:24:58.720 would have said, but that's what he would have 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:04.279 done. He would have gone and said... Right? And 00:25:04.279 --> 00:25:08.220 they didn't have ears to hear. But the wonder 00:25:08.220 --> 00:25:10.759 of wonders is that God had the ears to hear their 00:25:10.759 --> 00:25:14.279 cries that went up, and his blessing was for 00:25:14.279 --> 00:25:17.019 them in the midst of that. And here's a wild 00:25:17.019 --> 00:25:19.160 thing that if we jump down the chapter, we didn't 00:25:19.160 --> 00:25:21.160 read this part, but... We jump down the chapter 00:25:21.160 --> 00:25:24.759 to when John is born, the first words that come 00:25:24.759 --> 00:25:27.700 out of Zacharias' mouth are words of blessing. 00:25:28.220 --> 00:25:30.160 And they're not just words of blessing to the 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:34.019 people, what it says is he blessed God. Because 00:25:34.019 --> 00:25:38.619 God had the ears to hear the long prayers of 00:25:38.619 --> 00:25:42.779 his people. Verse 64 says, then immediately his 00:25:42.779 --> 00:25:44.759 mouth was opened and his tongue loosed and he 00:25:44.759 --> 00:25:50.079 spoke blessing God. He was to speak the blessing 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:53.119 of God to the people, but he must speak blessing 00:25:53.119 --> 00:25:56.039 to God first because his ears were open and attentive 00:25:56.039 --> 00:25:59.920 to the cries of his people. What we learned from 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:02.099 Zachariah is that often God does his greatest 00:26:02.099 --> 00:26:05.519 work of blessing in our long waiting. His most 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:09.460 impressive work is through the impossible. His 00:26:09.460 --> 00:26:11.839 most positive work often comes in the negative. 00:26:12.859 --> 00:26:14.779 Let me tell you a little story I read this week. 00:26:15.769 --> 00:26:22.029 In 1930s, there was a 15 -year -old. I thought 00:26:22.029 --> 00:26:25.470 of this illustration with little Will Donowski 00:26:25.470 --> 00:26:28.089 in mind. I'll have to tell it to him later because 00:26:28.089 --> 00:26:31.049 they're not here. But there's a 15 -year -old 00:26:31.049 --> 00:26:33.569 who went to try out for the St. Louis Cardinals. 00:26:33.890 --> 00:26:36.210 That's a 15 -year -old. His name was Pete Reisner. 00:26:37.210 --> 00:26:39.589 I wonder if his middle name was James because 00:26:39.589 --> 00:26:43.569 then he would have my initials. And he went to 00:26:43.569 --> 00:26:46.049 the tryout camp where there's all these scouts 00:26:46.049 --> 00:26:48.650 and there's all these other people trying out. 00:26:51.930 --> 00:26:54.230 And the ones that did well, they were asked to 00:26:54.230 --> 00:26:56.529 come back. And the ones that didn't do so well, 00:26:56.549 --> 00:27:00.990 they were cut. And Pete Reisner wasn't asked 00:27:00.990 --> 00:27:03.869 to come back. And so, of course, he went home 00:27:03.869 --> 00:27:10.000 dejected and discouraged. And my guess is that 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:11.880 he's 15 years old. He's like, this is an improbable 00:27:11.880 --> 00:27:14.440 opportunity anyway. I wasn't expecting this unbelievable 00:27:14.440 --> 00:27:19.539 announcement that I wanted. He gave it his best 00:27:19.539 --> 00:27:21.539 shot, right? Well, a couple of days later, this 00:27:21.539 --> 00:27:23.660 big Buick pulls up in front of his parents' home 00:27:23.660 --> 00:27:26.799 and it's the head scout for the Cardinals. And 00:27:26.799 --> 00:27:28.559 they come in and they ask him, hey, we want you 00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:30.660 to play for us. And the father's like, what are 00:27:30.660 --> 00:27:32.740 you doing? Why'd you cut my son? He's at the 00:27:32.740 --> 00:27:35.380 worst days of his life. He said, we actually... 00:27:35.390 --> 00:27:37.150 We actually cut him because we didn't want the 00:27:37.150 --> 00:27:38.930 other scouts to see how good he was. We wanted 00:27:38.930 --> 00:27:41.289 to send him home right away. So he didn't show 00:27:41.289 --> 00:27:43.869 up and show off the next few days and get chosen 00:27:43.869 --> 00:27:48.430 by some other team. Often the positive does come 00:27:48.430 --> 00:27:53.349 out of the negative. Friends, if Christmas, if 00:27:53.349 --> 00:27:55.410 the season that we're in, when we're lighting 00:27:55.410 --> 00:27:57.609 all these candles and basking in the goodness 00:27:57.609 --> 00:28:00.990 and grace of God for us, if it means anything, 00:28:01.089 --> 00:28:04.680 it means that God has answered our prayers. that 00:28:04.680 --> 00:28:07.579 the improbable has happened, that the unbelievable 00:28:07.579 --> 00:28:10.319 announcement is actually true, that there's a 00:28:10.319 --> 00:28:12.299 king that's different than King Herod who sits 00:28:12.299 --> 00:28:14.440 on the throne, the Prince of Peace, the everlasting 00:28:14.440 --> 00:28:18.440 God, the wonderful counselor, right? King of 00:28:18.440 --> 00:28:22.559 David seated on the throne. He knows our long 00:28:22.559 --> 00:28:25.279 sorrows. He hears your prayers. They do not go 00:28:25.279 --> 00:28:30.140 unheeded by our Lord. He comes among us and he 00:28:30.140 --> 00:28:33.849 comes for us. He comes to heal the wounds of 00:28:33.849 --> 00:28:38.769 our world. He comes to take away our sin. Do 00:28:38.769 --> 00:28:42.450 you hear what I hear? Do you hear what Zechariah 00:28:42.450 --> 00:28:47.509 heard? God is still listening, still attentive 00:28:47.509 --> 00:28:51.410 to his people, to their cries. He answers our 00:28:51.410 --> 00:28:55.210 prayers, sometimes in improbable and for us untimely 00:28:55.210 --> 00:28:59.549 ways, maybe. But he hears our long prayers, and 00:28:59.549 --> 00:29:03.900 he has heard our long prayers. So the verse right 00:29:03.900 --> 00:29:08.740 after Zachariah has his mouth restored, when 00:29:08.740 --> 00:29:13.220 he finally actually has his mouth back, and he 00:29:13.220 --> 00:29:15.619 blesses God, the verse right after that says 00:29:15.619 --> 00:29:18.920 this, and all these things were talked about 00:29:18.920 --> 00:29:26.359 through all the hill country of Judea. So Zachariah, 00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:29.059 Zachariah's prayers are answered and he blesses 00:29:29.059 --> 00:29:32.920 God, but it's a communal idea too. It's for all 00:29:32.920 --> 00:29:36.640 the people of God together to hear the good news. 00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:42.099 God has not forgotten you. He's come among you. 00:29:42.559 --> 00:29:47.319 And our response is to bless his name. Amen. 00:29:50.359 --> 00:29:54.660 Lord God, we're thankful for this story of Zechariah. 00:29:55.799 --> 00:29:58.480 I'm thankful for songs that we can laugh about 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:01.279 where he's mute. but Lord I'm thankful that his 00:30:01.279 --> 00:30:04.099 experiences that your scriptures don't describe 00:30:04.099 --> 00:30:09.279 something that is so foreign to us that we so 00:30:09.279 --> 00:30:15.140 often wait for a long time like Zachariah and 00:30:15.140 --> 00:30:18.460 Elizabeth did we often hear your words to us 00:30:18.460 --> 00:30:24.440 and we think how unbelievable give me a sign 00:30:24.440 --> 00:30:29.930 but God your promises are always true Your yeses 00:30:29.930 --> 00:30:34.450 are yes in Christ. The unbelievable happens in 00:30:34.450 --> 00:30:37.549 the God man, God taking on flesh and dwelling 00:30:37.549 --> 00:30:42.569 among us and for us. God, I pray that we would 00:30:42.569 --> 00:30:45.230 receive that news of Christmas this morning, 00:30:45.450 --> 00:30:48.809 Christ for us, Christ in the flesh, Christ on 00:30:48.809 --> 00:30:51.390 the cross, Christ through the empty tomb for 00:30:51.390 --> 00:30:58.430 us. The unbelievable happens. The greatest possible 00:30:58.430 --> 00:31:01.809 positive happens and the greatest possible negative. 00:31:02.609 --> 00:31:07.970 That Christ the God man comes for us. God I pray 00:31:07.970 --> 00:31:11.690 that just as your ears are open to us, therefore 00:31:11.690 --> 00:31:15.990 our mouths would be loosened for you. And we 00:31:15.990 --> 00:31:19.470 would praise you and we would speak of you. And 00:31:19.470 --> 00:31:22.289 the songs that we sing in this season joyfully 00:31:22.289 --> 00:31:28.960 and willingly, songs of the wonder Glory in excelsis 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:32.380 Deo, the glory of the heavens coming down. The 00:31:32.380 --> 00:31:34.440 person and work of Christ, Lord, would be on 00:31:34.440 --> 00:31:39.579 our lips gladly and willingly and joyfully. Lord, 00:31:39.579 --> 00:31:43.240 do this work in us. Remind us of your faithfulness 00:31:43.240 --> 00:31:49.160 to us. How do we wonder at your ways and gladly 00:31:49.160 --> 00:31:52.819 sing your praise. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank 00:31:52.819 --> 00:31:55.259 you for listening to Second City Sermons Podcast. 00:31:55.559 --> 00:31:57.779 We hope this sermon has encouraged you to worship 00:31:57.779 --> 00:32:00.700 God and to celebrate the gospel of Jesus. Please 00:32:00.700 --> 00:32:03.079 consider subscribing to this podcast and joining 00:32:03.079 --> 00:32:06.259 us in person each Sunday at 10 a .m. You can 00:32:06.259 --> 00:32:09.599 find us online at SecondCityChurch .org and on 00:32:09.599 --> 00:32:12.160 Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Thanks again 00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:13.680 for listening. God bless.