“The Good News Candle”
December 9, 2007
"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us— to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."
Luke 1:68-79
This is good news to Zechariah. It is such good news that Zechariah doesn’t just tell it or preach it – he SINGS it. This is called Zechariah’s song. But the good news isn’t just to Zechariah, it is for all people. It is good new for you and me. This morning I want to talk about the good news the angels brought to the world – way back then. First, I think it is important to notice what kind of people Zechariah and his wife was. Verse 6 of this chapter tells us:
“Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.” Luke 1:6
These folks loved God. They were devoted to Him. How do I know that? They were obedient. They kept His commands and all those religious regulations they had back then. They were blameless and upright in the sight of God, God’s Word says. That tells me they loved God with their whole hearts. They believed in Him and His Word. You don’t do all the things they did if you don’t.
And I want to point out that, even though they were obedient and God fearing and lovers of God, everything didn’t go just right for them. The thing they wanted most, a child, God didn’t bless them with. But just because things didn’t go their way, did they get angry and resentful? No. They just kept lovin’ and workin’ and obeyin’ God anyway. What do we call that? We call that FAITH! Here was a man and woman of faith! And their faith was rewarded. God gave them a child to accomplish His purpose. And it wasn’t just any child. It was a blessed child from birth. We still remember him 2000 years later. We marvel at him and talk about him to this day.
Folks, when you are a man or woman of faith, good things happen. God can use you for good things. God can bless you in great ways. But if you are the kind of person who gets upset and resentful when things don’t go the way you think they should go – nothing much happens. God can’t bless that kind of attitude. Trust and obey – there’s no other way, the old song says. And it’s still true today.
In the good news that Zechariah brought, the first blessing he mentions is that “he has come and has redeemed his people”. There’s a couple of important things about that bit of Good News that catches my attention. First, notice it is in present tense. It hasn’t happened yet – but to this man of faith – it has. God said it. He believed it. That settled it.
Also, God is time and space transcendent, which means that everything is present tense to Him. He was and is and will be – all at the same time. He transcends time. He is above time. We are locked into this little space capsule we call ‘now’ or the ‘present’, but God isn’t. He can (and is) present yesterday, today and even tomorrow, before it even comes to us. That is why when Moses asked God to describe Himself, God described Himself as “I Am”. He is ‘omnipresent’. That is why the Bible also says “He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.” And Jesus was the redeemer for the folks in the Old Testament, the New Testament and for us today. It is good news that God sent His Son to redeem Israel and us.
But what does that mean? Why the big deal about redeeming Israel? The Bible Dictionary defines redeem like this:
“when a family member pays a price to buy someone or something back from slavery or ownership by someone else.”
Well, why do we need to be redeemed? Why does Jesus have to pay to buy us back? When God created the world, He gave the world as a present, so to speak, to Adam and Eve. He said,
"Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Genesis 1:28
God gave Adam and Even responsibility to rule over the earth. They were to be the stewards of the earth. They had the responsibility to ‘manage’ the earth for the Lord. When they rebelled against God and disobeyed Him, they sold themselves to the devil. The bible says,
“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?”
Romans 6:16 (NIV)
Did you notice the result of sinning? The Bible says,
“For the wages of sin is death…” Romans 6:23
So Adam sold, not only Himself, but all who followed him, into sin. The bible says,
“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned…”
“Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.” Romans 5:12,14
So here’s the deal. Because of Adam, we all are born into sin. We all are slaves to sin. It is now our nature to sin. Our hearts are wired to rebel. And the result of that is death. We all are under the penalty of death. Our destiny is eternal death. We are all born under a curse and on our way to hell – because we are all slaves to sin. When you are born – you are on your way to hell!
But here’s the Good News! God has sent a Redeemer to redeem us. The Redeemer buys us back. How does He do that? What is the cost?
Well, the wages of sin is death. The result of our sin leads to death. The only way we can be redeemed is if someone pays that penalty. That Someone is Jesus. Jesus is our Redeemer. Even in Jesus’ time God revealed that to those who loved Him with holy hearts. The Bible says,
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29
John knew who Jesus was. He was the ‘Redeemer’! The Bible says,
“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole." Galatians 3:13
“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer slaves, but God’s children; and since you are his children, he has made you also heirs.”
Galatians 4:4-7
Are you beginning to get the picture? Are you beginning to see why the ‘news’ is called GOOD news? The bible says,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
The news is so good, because once we were all condemned to die, but now the sentence is commuted. Jesus has paid our penalty by dying on the cross for us in our place. Jesus has redeemed us – and now all who want to – can be free from sin and death. Why? Because we deserved it? NO! It wasn’t because of anything we had done. Jesus died for us while we were still sinners. God sent Jesus to redeem us from our sin and buy us back from the devil, so to speak, because of His nature of love. Because God is love, He provided a way for us to be saved from sin and the consequences of sin. But we were willing slaves to sin – and we must be willing slaves to righteousness. The bible says,
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” John 5:24
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:12
We have to choose God. We have to believe and put our faith in Jesus. God doesn’t want anyone to perish and He has given everyone a chance – a way to be saved. But we need to exercise our will and accept the gift of eternal life He offers us. Those who don’t will perish. They will die in their sin. How foolish not to accept the gift of life our redeemer has given us.
But there is even more. Not only does the Redeemer buy us back and save us from death – but we are now belong to Him. We become a child of the King. Listen to what the Bible says!
“What I am saying is that as long as heirs are underage they are no different from slaves, although they own the whole estate. They are subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by their fathers. So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer slaves, but God’s children; and since you are his children, he has made you also heirs.”
Galatians 4:1-7
“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:1-2
I don’t know if we can really comprehend what it means to be a child of God. We know a little bit about our Heavenly Father and what He has in store for us only because He has revealed it. We know that God is love. We know that in heaven there will be no sorrow, no tears, nor separation from loved ones. We know that God is the Creator of all that is good. But the bottom line is:
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" 1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV)
We can’t imagine what our Redeemer has in store for us. The Holy Spirit gives us a few clues, but it is like a person blind from birth trying to comprehend color. Imagine if you lived in a world of darkness – then could suddenly see. Imagine if you lived in a world without taste – and suddenly could taste a wonderful Christmas buffet with all the trimmings. Imagine if you lived in a world without sound – then could hear beautiful music. How awesome is THAT! That is a little bit of what it will be for those who have been redeemed by the Lamb. That is a little bit of what it will be for those who are Children of God.
Are you a child of God? Have you been redeemed by the Lamb? If you haven’t you are under a curse and a slave. The Good News is that God has sent the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, to buy you back and make you a part of His royal family. If you are willing, all you have to do is pray a prayer like this:
Heavenly Father,
Forgive me for rebelling against you. From now on I want to live for you. Thank you, Jesus, for paying the price for my sin and providing a way I can be adopted in God’s family. Help me to live for you from this point on.
In Jesus’ Name,
If you prayed that prayer, raise your hand. If you prayed that prayer it means 1) you need to seek God’s will for your life. You need to start reading the Bible every day. It means 2) you need to meet regularly with your new brothers and sisters in church and Bible study. It means 3) you need to talk often with your Heavenly Father. If you do these things, it will help you to be a productive and healthy child of God.
“As the Deer”
