SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). For Zac & Liz a miracle baby! (chapter 1 verses 57-66)
• (1a). A promise fulfilled (vs 57).
• (1b). An instruction obeyed (vs 59-63):
(2). For Zachariah a Song of Praise (chapter 1 verses vs 67-79)
• (2a). He has come to redeem his people (vs 68).
• (2b). He has come to raise up a horn of salvation (vs 69).
• (2c). He has come to save us from our enemies (vs 71 & 74).
• (2d). He has come to forgive our sins. (vs 77).
(3): For Mary & Joseph they Got a miracle child, a son (Chapter 2 verses 1-21).
• (3a). Saviour.
• (2b). Christ,
• (2c). Lord.
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• Emoji Quiz.
• (a small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion)
• (Quiz Slides available on request)
TRANSITION: The Christmas story contains a number of songs/hymns.
• i.e., Mary’s Song: ‘A Song of Trust’ (Luke chapter 1 verses 46–55).
• i.e., Angels: ‘A Song of Peace’ (Luke chapter 2 verses 13–14).
• i.e., Simeon: ‘A Song of Hope’ (Luke chapter 2 verses 29–32).
• i.e., Zechariah Song ‘A Song of Faith’ (Luke chapter 1 verses 67–79)
• Title of this morning’s sermon is: ‘What’s at the top of your list this season?’
• For those people in the passage the answer is threefold:
• FIRST: For Zac & Liz a miracle baby! (vs 57-66)
• You don’t have to be a rocket scientist, or even a gynaecologist for that matter,
• To know that couples in old age don’t have children.
• But with God nothing is impossible,
• And Zac & Liz finally got a son, they were told to name John (Luke chapter 1 verse 13).
• SECOND: For Zac a Christmas number one!
• He topped the charts with a catchy little number we call ‘Zechariah’s song’ (vs 67-80)
• Fortunately for Zac he didn’t have to compete with Cliff Richard that year!
• THIRD: For Mary & Joseph they also got a miracle child, a son,
• (Miracle child being born without being sexually active between the parents),
• Who they were told to name, ‘Jesus’ (Matthew chapter 1 verse 21)?
• Because this baby, “Will save his people from their sins”
Note: Let’s keep that three-fold division/outline and pull out a few threads.
(1). For Zac & Liz a Miracle Baby! (chapter 1 verses 57-66)
• Now in one sense every child born is a miracle,
• Quote:
"The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him." (or her)
There are three things to note from these verses.
FIRST: A promise fulfilled (vs 57).
There are four words that every Christian should never forget:
• 'God keeps his word'.
• He will not tell us one thing and do another!
• He will never use the expression that we often use,
• "Oh well, promises are meant to be broken".
• God traffics in truth!
• God keeps his word, always!!!
God made a promise to for Zechariah and Elisabeth and he kept it:
The promise was made in chapter 1 verse 13:
“But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.”
The promise is fulfilled in chapter 1 verse 57:
“When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.”
• God kept his word,
• He granted them a baby boy.
• In that part of the world, the birth of a child, especially a boy,
• Was an occasion of great joy.
• When the time of the birth was near,
• Friends and local musicians gathered near the house.
• When the birth was announced and it was a boy,
• The musicians broke into music and song – it was party time!
• That is why there is a crowd mentioned in verse 58:
• Notice: Zechariah and Elisabeth were quick to give all the glory to the Lord:
“Her neighbours and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy,
and they shared her joy.”
SECOND: An instruction obeyed (verse 59-63):
• God had kept his side of the bargain,
• And now they are to keep their part of the agreement.
“On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, 60but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John."
61They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name."
62Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. 63He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John."
In a Jewish family in New Testament times.
• Boys were named on the eighth day at his circumcision.
• Girls could be named anytime within thirty days of their birth.
• It was traditional to name the new-born baby boy.
• After his father or someone else in the family.
• So, Zechariah and Elisabeth’s relatives and neighbours were shocked.
• When they break with tradition and insisted on the name John.
• So strong was the tradition and the disbelief of family and friends,
• They refused to listen to Elizabeth until Zechariah wrote it down on a slate!
• John is a shorter form of the name ‘Jehohanan’ which means ‘Jehovah’s gift’.
• It was a good description of the parent’s gratitude for an unexpected bundle of joy.
• But this baby was also a gift to the nation,
• The baby would prepare the way for an even greater gift that would soon be born.
Application: Remember that God’s delays are not necessarily God’s denials.
• Every Christian is baffled by the fact that God sometimes delays the answer to prayer,
• While at other times answers “before we call” (Isaiah chapter 65 verse 24).
• Always remember “Wait” does not imply “No!”
• Our prayers may well be answered but not right away, or according to our timescale.
• Delays to answered prayer can cause either doubt or trust,
• We can give up hoping and praying or we can keep on trusting and waiting.
God isn’t telling you that you will never have that thing, the job, marriage, a family.
• He is just telling you to trust Him with the timing.
• He is telling you to trust Him with the person.
• He is telling you to trust Him with the process.
Ill:
• Mary, Martha & Lazarus in John chapter 11.
• When Lazarus died the sisters and close friends of Jesus send for him to come and help.
• But when Jesus hears the news,
• We are told he loved the sisters, and he delays his journey to then by two days,
• There is no reason given to explain why he stayed, apart from it being deliberate.
• When Jesus arrives at Bethany both the Martha runs out and greet him with the words,
• “Where were you, you could have saved him, if you had been here” (vs 21)
• Now God’s delays are not necessarily God’s denials,
• Jesus is not going to heal Lazarus but raise him from the dead!
• A far bigger miracle than they could have hoped for,
• And one that would bring greater glory to God the Father and the Son.
• But, for that to happen they had to wait, to trust, to hope,
• And that waiting, that hoping, that trusting was rewarded.
• When God intervenes,
• His surprises are always for his immediate glory and for our ultimate good.
• TRANSITION: “Wait” does not imply “No!”
• Our prayers may well be answered if they are in God’s will,
• They may well be answered but not right away, or according to our timescale.
• God’s delays are not God’s denials,
• Even if prayers go unanswered for weeks, months, years, or decades,
• God can and may still answer them.
(2). For Zachariah a Song of Praise (chapter 1 verses 67-79)
Notice:
• That before Zechariah ever opened his mouth,
• The Holy Spirit filled his soul and inspired him to sing God’s praise.
• So, remember Zechariah is not speaking as a proud father of a newborn son,
• This is more than an overjoyed father talking about these events.
• Zechariah is speaking like one of the prophets of old,
• He is speaking on God’s authority, delivering a message from God,
• By the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
• Although Zechariah is the proud dad and center of attention,
• He focusses on the Lord rather than himself.
The theme of the song is not hard to find.
• Because Zechariah uses one key word at the beginning and ending of his song.
• The word, “Come” in both verses,
• The verb phrase comes from a root word that means “to visit personally.”
• Verse 68 says,
• “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people.”
• Then verse 78 says
• “the rising sun will come to us from heaven.”
Ill:
• It has the idea of seeing someone in distress and personally getting involved,
• In order to relieve their misery.
• Question: Who dresses in red and gives to the children this Christmas?
• Answer: Marcus Rashford.
• When the Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford.
• Heard that the UK government would stop providing free school meals,
• To children in England during the 2020 summer holidays.
• He was moved to get involved.
• As a youngster, money was tight in his family and he relied on those school meals.
• So he started a campaign.
• Rashford, who set up a petition for the cause which more than a million people signed,
• He involved the media and he got personally involved in providing a solution.
• TRANSITION: That is what these verses are saying,
• God is not distant looking on at an ongoing situation.
• He will get involved!
• And in Jesus Christ he came among us and was involved at the deepest level.
Ill:
• The Pit - by (Kenneth D Filkins)
• A man fell into a pit and could not get himself out.
• A subjective person came along and said, “I feel for' I you down there.”
• An objective person came along and said,
• "It's logical that someone would fall down there. "
• A Pharisee said, “Only bad people fall into pits.”
• A news reporter wanted the exclusive story on the man's pit.
• Confucius said, “If you had listened to me, you wouldn't be in that pit.”
• Buddha said, “Your pit is only a state of mind.”
• A realist said, “That's a PIT.”
• A scientist calculated the pressure necessary (PSI) to get him out of the pit.
• A geologist told him to appreciate the rock strata in the pit.
• A tax mall asked if he was paying taxes on the pit.
• The council inspector asked if he had a permit to dig a pit.
• An evasive person came along and avoided the subject of his pit altogether.
• A self-pitying person said, “You haven't seen anything until you've seen MY pit!”
• An optimist said, "Things could be worse,"
• A pessimist said, “Things will get worse.”
• Jesus, seeing the man, took him by the hand and lifted him out of the pit.
• ill: Youtube version: https://youtu.be/gEftDn-OOUY
• TRANSITION:
• 4 points to note form this song as to why Jesus came.
Point #1: A. He has come to redeem his people (vs 68).
“He has come and redeemed his people.”
Ill:
• It occurred to me this week that millions of people this Christmas,
• Will be encountering that old fashioned word, ‘redeemed’,
• And they will use it in its fullest sense!
• Now I am not talking about Church people,
• Because we use the word all the time in songs hymns, prayers and sermons.
• I am thinking of unchurch people,
• Young people, people from all nations and from all faiths.
• Let me explain.
• I was given one of these (hold up an App Store & iTunes Card) for my birthday.
• But I have only this week got round to using it.
• It was paid for by someone else and given to me.
• I went on the iTunes website and clicked on the ‘gift card redemption code’.
• And as I put in the redemption code,
• The credit was transferred from someone else’s account into mine!
• TRANSITION: Redemption is the act of buying something back,
• Or paying a price or ransom to return something to your possession.
• Redemption is the English translation of the Greek word, ‘agorazo’,
• Meaning "to purchase in the marketplace."
• In ancient times, it often referred to the act of buying a slave or releasing a prisoner.
This verse reminds us Jesus came to redeem his people,
• And the price of redemption was high!
• (Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7 & (1 Peter chapter 1 verse 18)
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace”
“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors,”
Point #2: He has Come to raise up a horn of salvation (vs 69).
“He has raised up a horn of salvation for us.”
• Note: This is the only place in the New Testament where Jesus is called a horn,
• So, you have to go back to the Old Testament to understand the image.
• To see what it means.
• But before we do that let mew tell you a story.
Ill:
• A few years ago we went on a family holiday to Israel,
• My son Arlo bought a Shofar, (also spelled shophar) horn.
• A musical instrument made from the horn of a ram or other animal.
• TRANSITION: The kind of horn referred to here is not a musical instrument,
• This horn refers to the deadly weapon of the ram, a wild ox, or a bull.
• A horn is a symbol of strength. A symbol of destructive strength.
• The image of a ram, a wild ox, or a bull, an effective weapon when fighting.
• Quote: Psalm 92 verses 9 & 10 gives us a picture of what the horn stood for:
• The horn is a sign of strength and a means of victory.
“For surely your enemies, Lord,
surely your enemies will perish;
all evildoers will be scattered.
You have exalted my horn[b] like that of a wild ox;”
• Quote: Micah chapter 4 verse 13 God says to Jerusalem,
• The horn is a sign of strength and a means of victory.
‘Rise and thresh, Daughter Zion,
for I will give you horns of iron.
I will give you hooves of bronze,
and you will break to pieces many nations.’
• Jesus is a horn of salvation,
• Because he uses his power to secure and protect his people.
Point #3: He has come to save us from our enemies (vs 71 & 74).
“salvation from our enemies”
“to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,”
• When Jesus came the nation was looking for a political Messiah,
• One who would save them from their enemies the Romans.
• But Jesus made it clear, as do the writers of the New Testament,
• He had other enemies, bigger enemies, more devastating than the Romans to destroy.
• This Messiah will destroy and save his people from their enemies.
• With hindsight we know those enemies to be ‘Sin’, ‘the devil’ and ‘death’
• "But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin."
• (1 John chapter 3 verse 5)
• "Through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil" (Hebrews chapter 2 verses 14-15)
• "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work".
• (1 John chapter 3 verse 8)
Ill:
• Last week at the Church I was preaching at I spoke to Mike Slydel,
• I asked him how his knees were, and he replied,
• “They are good because they have both been replaced as has one hip!”
• He then said, “I am waiting for the other one to be replaced”
• Tongue in cheek I said., “You are going to glory in stages!”
• But that conversation got me thinking,
• I am not sure I have ever knowingly met anyone who has had a heart transplant.
• I’ve met many who have recovered from heart attacks,
• Many who have had stems fitted and pacemaker etc.
• But as far as I know,
• I have never knowingly met anyone who has had a heart transplant.
• But in very sense of the word, if a person has a complete heart transplant.
• They can truly say, “that the donor died so that they might live.”
• Now that illustration is flawed because,
• (1st). The donor did not die voluntarily,
• (2nd). The donor did not know who would receive their donated organ.
• TRANSITION: The message of the Bible is the opposite of those statements.
• (1). Jesus choose to lay down his life, he died voluntarily (John 10:18)
• (2). Jesus knew who he was dying for – a lost world! (John 3:16)
Point #4: He has come to Forgive our sins. (vs 77).
“To give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins.”
Zechariah is telling us that God did not visit this planet simply to see how we were doing.
• He knew how we were doing.
• That’s why he came!
• We (every human being) were in trouble and Jesus came to save us.
• That’s what Christmas is all about.
Ill:
• We called this talk, ‘What’s at the top of your list this season?’
• If I am honest there is nothing ‘at the top of my list’ that I really need or want.
• These days I don’t need ‘things’
• I rather have experiences e.g., go to a concert or play or go watch a game of football
• But by way of contrast to that question,
• I can tell you what I do not need!
• If someone here was to buy me a mousetrap,
• (not your cheap version but a super-duper modern device)
• I would have felt very little excitement or appreciation for the gift.
• The reason being we don’t have mice or any other vermin in in our house.
• That present is only good if I have a problem with mice or vermin.
• Or suppose you offer me a quick ride after service to the emergency room,
• At Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth.
• I would think you were strange, after all, why go there?
• TRANSITION:
• In all of life: we do not appreciate gifts that meet no needs or satisfy no desires.
• We do not value or love an offer for help,
• Unless we know we are sick or endangered by some enemy.
• Likewise, vast numbers of people look upon Jesus and the Christmas story,
• And to them it is as useless as a useless as an unwanted mousetrap,
• Or an unnecessary crazy trip to the A&E.
This verse is one of many that highlights, “Salvation…forgiveness of sins”
• A reminder there is a greater danger to the world than Covid-19,
• It is a real and deadly disease called sin.
• The bad news is we are all infected by it,
• "All have sinned and come short of God's glory" (Romans chapter 3 verse 23).
• "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
• Not just physical death,
• But spiritual death, separated and cut off from God forever!
• So, there is a deadly disease and everyone single person will die from this disease,
• Unless they take a cure.
• Well, the good news is there is a cure, not a drug but a person!
• And not just any person, but the eternal Son of God,
• That leads us onto our final section.
(3): For Mary & Joseph they Got a miracle child, a son (Chapter 2 verses 1-21).
• These are some of the best-known verses of the Bible,
• Read every year at Christmas and acted out in nativity plays all around the world.
Ill:
• If you try to point out something to a dog,
• The dog will often fix its eyes on your finger, instead of the object you are pointing to.
• It is frustrating and amusing,
• Amusing because as you move your hand up the dog’s eyes move up,
• And if you move your hand down the dog’s eyes move down,
• (often in the hoping of getting a treat of some kind).
TRANSITION: When it comes to the Christmas story,
• We can so easily make the same mistake.
• We focus on the wrong things, e.g., a star, a stable,
• e.g., We focus on a manger Most famous feeding trough in all of history!
• e.g., We focus on the animals, the ox, the cattle, the sheep etc
• (not that Luke even mentions any!)
• So, with these best-known verses of the Bible,
• Let me dwell on the most important thing (vs 11)
“Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”
I love that word ‘Today’ -
• Up until these first two chapter of Luke’s gospel,
• No angel had shown up for over 400 years in the story of Israel's history.
• God hadn't sent a message in 400 years.
• There hadn't been a prophet in 400 years.
• There hadn't been a miracle in over 500 years,
• And there hadn't been a group of miracles in 800 years.
Now all of a sudden it is miracle after miracle, one supernatural event after another.
• ill: Domino effect,
• Where one tumbles over and it knocks over the next one and the next one etc.
• These events are signaling loud and clear,
• That the long-awaited, long hoped-for Messiah, has come.
• He is no longer on the way! The long wait is over!
• God has come, God has visited his people in this child!
• He is, “The Messiah, the Lord!”
• Note: “A Savior is born”.
• Not a an example, a teacher, a healer, nor a prophet,
• The number one reason Jesus entered our world, was to save it!
• Note: "The Messiah is born."
• Messiah, means, ‘chosen one’ he is the one and only way to God the Father.
• If there was another way, then Jesus need not have come and died.
• Note: “The Lord is born.”
• God the Son, God incarnate,
• God in flesh-to live, walk and reside among people.
Conclusion
"A Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord"
• Jerusalem and Bethlehem take no notice.
• But shepherds do. so do angels and so does Joseph and Mary
• What about you?
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=7ft0wUV81nS6QEj81QaXkazez5QisTqQ
SERMON VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/NgmtJAqtu8U
