Turning again this morning to Luke's Gospel, Luke chapter 1. I'm going to read a portion, pretty much the same portion that we read last week. We'll begin in verse 5, reading down through verse 25. And with God's word open before us, let's seek the Lord in prayer, and let's all pray and ask the Lord now to speak to us through his word. O Lord, as we bow in thy presence now with thy word open before us, we do ask that thou wilt indeed speak to our hearts. O Lord, may the Spirit bear witness to the truth of thy word, and may he make the application to every heart need As Lord, thou does know every heart need here today. I couldn't possibly know it, Lord. I couldn't minister to it if I did know it. We need to hear from thee by thy spirit and through thy word. So Lord, may it please thee to empower me. And to that end, I plead the blood of Christ over my life. Oh Lord, who am I that I should embark on this privilege. I am but a sinner, but I thank Thee that I'm a sinner saved by grace, and that Thou has called me to this task. So, Lord, cleanse me that I may in turn be filled with Thy Spirit, and may it please Thee to grant to me strength of heart and mind, clarity of thought and speech, and especially unction from on high. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Luke chapter 1, we begin in verse 5. This is the word of God, let us hear it. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the chorus of Abiah, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. And they had no child, because that Elizabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. And it came to pass that while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And Zechariah said unto the angel, whereby shall I know this? For I am old, I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God, and am sent to speak unto thee and to show thee these glad tidings. And behold, thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. And the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he tarried so long in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them. And they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple, for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless. And it came to pass that as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. And after those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived and hid herself five months, saying, thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me to take away my reproach among men. Amen. We'll end our reading in verse 25. We know the Lord will add his blessing to the reading of his word for his namesake. If I could call your attention in particular to the words of verse 18. And Zechariah said unto the angel, whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife well stricken in years. Whereby shall I know this? In the case of Zacharias, the question arose from his unbelief. That's made pretty plain by the narrative, isn't it? So the angel Gabriel says to him, verse 20, behold, thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. There's something, you know, very appropriate in these words that we can apply to ourselves today. which is that when unbelief gains the mastery of our souls, chances are we won't open our mouths for Christ any more than Zacharias could open his mouth at all. And so long as we go through seasons of unbelief, it's probably better that we don't open our mouths for Christ. or we're liable to come across more as hypocrites than believers if our lives communicate the message that we don't believe as if we believe what we're saying anyway. I came across a saying some while back, maybe it was a Facebook meme, I don't know where I saw it, but it went something like this, I can't hear you, your life is too loud. What a challenge. Let's not fail, therefore, this morning to rise to the challenge and allow the text to challenge and convict us in this regard. Perhaps it's worth noting here also that even though we didn't read as far down as verse 34 for this message, in that verse we find the Virgin Mary pretty much asking the same question. Once the same angel, Gabriel, tells her that she's been chosen to bring forth the Messiah. So we read in verse 34, then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be, seeing I know not a man? Interesting question to ponder, isn't it? Why wasn't she told that she'll be muted until the baby is born? Well, I think the best explanation is to be found in that she didn't doubt the truth of it. She was simply questioning the manner of it. So you can interpret her question as being, how is it to be, or how is this going to happen? And the angel Gabriel goes on to tell her exactly how it's going to happen, through a supernatural conception that won't involve a man at all. But turning our attention now back to Zacharias, recall what we noted in our last study, that he and his wife Elizabeth were both, according to verse six, righteous before God and blameless before others, and yet sorely tried for a very lengthy season. They had no child, we're told in verse seven, because that Elizabeth was barren and they were both well stricken in years. We looked last time at the description of their characters and considered the certainty of justification and sanctification as well as the certainty of trials. All three are divine certainties and we're keeping the idea of certainty at the forefront of our studies in Luke Because the purpose for Luke writing his gospel is that his readers might know the certainty of those things wherein we have been instructed. Verse four. Another certainty arises out of the narrative we've just read now from Luke chapter one. It's something we might wish was not a certainty, but alas, and if we're honest, We'll have to acknowledge it. It's the certainty of unbelief. We read earlier in the service that portion of Mark's gospel where the distressed father comes to Christ, pleads with Christ to do something for his demon-possessed son. If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us and help us, to which Jesus replies, if thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And in that well-known statement that occurs nowhere else in the Gospels, we read in chapter nine of Mark's Gospel, verse 24, and straightway, the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. I wonder this morning, have you ever had occasion to make that petition your own? I've used it often. And it demonstrates to us how the Christian's battle against unbelief is a constant battle. We'll see in the course of this study that even in our most impressive displays of spirituality, faith can be tainted with unbelief and we find ourselves constantly having to fight against it. So that's what I wanna focus on this morning. The theme of fighting unbelief. We as Christians have to be constantly fighting against unbelief. And in the moments that remain, I want to leave with you three thoughts as to how that battle must be fought. Consider with me, first of all, that we fight the battle against unbelief first by facing the truth of it, by facing the truth of it, You're not gonna fight the battle unless you recognize and acknowledge the truth of it. I've mentioned already the character of Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth. Let me read that verse again that describes them. This is verse six. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. You wouldn't think that a man that's justified and sanctified would be plagued, nevertheless, with unbelief. But as the narrative shows us, this was exactly the case with Zacharias. Nor would you think that seeing an angel in the temple standing on the right side of the altar of incense would allow room for unbelief. But still, unbelief manifested itself, the fearful side of the angel notwithstanding. Now Zacharias is certainly not unique in this regard when it comes to the battle against unbelief. In his and his wife's trial, you could say, and you probably make the connection here, how they, that is Zacharias and Elizabeth, resemble Abraham and Sarah in the book of Genesis. I'm sure you can make that connection. In both cases, you have a couple advanced in years beyond the time of childbearing. Interestingly enough, Zacharias would have to fight the same battle that Abraham and Sarah fought, which was the battle against unbelief. So in Genesis chapter 17, beginning in verse 15, we read these words, And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her. Yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations. Kings of people shall be of her. Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed. said in his heart, shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old, and shall Sarah that is ninety years old bear The very next chapter reveals the same thing about Sarah, the same unbelief that her husband manifested in chapter 17. So we read in chapter 18 in Genesis, beginning in verse 11, now Abraham and Sarah were old and well-stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, after I am waxed old, shall I of pleasure, my Lord, being old also? They both were afflicted with the same thing, weren't they? Unbelief. Grace is certainly manifested by the Lord when unbelief in the end can be met with laughter, when Isaac is miraculously born and is named Laughter, for that's the literal meaning of the name Isaac. What I want you to see now, however, is that unbelief plagues even the most prominent characters of the Bible throughout the history of redemption. In our text, Zacharias, who's called righteous before God and blameless, is nevertheless gripped by unbelief when the angel Gabriel tells him that his prayers have been heard and that his wife Elizabeth will bear a son whose name is to be called John. It reminds me of what I consider to be one of the most ironic portions in the book of Acts. This portion would be humorous and in a sense is, but yet our humor is tempered by the fact that tragedy is also recorded in that chapter. In Acts chapter 12, you have the account of James being executed and Peter being arrested and imprisoned. Every indication is that Peter also would be executed following the Feast of Passover. And so we read in Acts chapter 12 and verse five of the church's response to this emergency involving Peter's execution. We're told in verse five that prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him that is Peter. Now try to picture that scene. The church is engaged in an all-night prayer meeting. They're knocking on heaven's door, and they're pleading for Peter. The chapter then reveals how an angel appears to Peter, wakes him up, leads him out of the prison where he was being held in custody. He goes to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together, praying, we're told, Acts 12 and verse 12, and while the people gathered for prayer are knocking on the doors of heaven, the answer to their prayers is standing at the door, knocking on that door to gain admittance into the house. Nobody lets them in, at least not initially. A damsel by the name of Rhoda recognizes Peter's voice, but instead of letting him in, we're told that for gladness she ran in, tells the others how Peter is outside standing at the gate. Now keep in mind, they've been praying throughout the night for Peter, and when they're told that he's arrived, it's as if they say, nah, couldn't be. They go so far as to suggest this damsel must be mad. You're crazy. Someone else comes up with a brilliant explanation of what this damsel thinks she's heard. Must be his angel, someone else suggests. At last, Peter is admitted, and they're all astonished. And so should we be astonished when we read the account in Acts 12 of how they knock on heaven's door while the answer to their prayers is knocking on their door, and they don't believe that their prayers were answered. What a vivid example of faith being tainted with unbelief, even in the place of prayer. Think about it for a moment. They obviously had faith. They had faith enough to call for prayer for Peter. They had faith enough to pray without ceasing, we're told in Acts 12 and verse 5. That's impressive, isn't it? An all-night prayer meeting, praying earnestly to God for Peter. And when it's reported to them that he's outside standing at the gate, they don't believe it, but come to ridiculous conclusions instead. You're mad, or it's his angel. Oh, we might as well face the truth of it, folks. We won't do battle against it until we do. Unbelief plagues us all. Other examples could be cited. I'll quickly mention one more because it comes from a man that is described as a man after God's own heart. It's David. Verse Samuel 26, we have the account of King Saul pursuing David, and for the second time, Saul is delivered into David's hand. He could have easily put an end to the life of his pursuer and his men were of the opinion that they should do so, but David's conscience won't allow it. Instead, he reveals himself to Saul, makes it known to Saul what he could have done and was advised that he should do and yet didn't do. And then, as you come into 1 Samuel 27, you see in the very first verse how unbelief manifests itself. We read in verse 1, 1 Samuel 27, Oh, my, unbelief gripped his heart, didn't it? Faith would have said, He'll never get me. Every time he tries, the Lord delivers him into my hand. But unbelief prevailed in this instance, and we find David entering what could only be described as a dark period in his life where he would spend a year and a half in the land of the Philistines. This is why I say that if we're going to do effective battle against unbelief, we must first face the truth and reality of it. Well, let's move on now to the next point in battling unbelief. If we're going to wage effective warfare against it, we must do so next by knowing the cause of it. If we're going to battle against it, we have to know the cause. What is it that gives rise to unbelief? I'm sure I could expand this point probably to identify many causes for unbelief. But I'll limit myself to the cause that can be found specifically in the case of Zacharias. Let's go ahead and read the angel's announcement to Zacharias again and include his response to the glad tidings. We begin with verse 13, Luke chapter 1. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John, and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God, and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Oh, my, you talk about an answer to prayer that goes exceedingly above all that Zacharias and Elizabeth could ask or think. Here it is. And not only is the answer to Zacharias' prayer significant, to put it mildly, to him and his wife Elizabeth, but it's significant way beyond them when it comes to the history of redemption. Zacharias, you and your wife are going to give birth to a son that will be great in the sight of the Lord. You are going to have joy and gladness, and so will many others rejoice at his birth. In Zacharias' response, verse 18, whereby shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife well stricken in years. It's as if he says, nope, it's impossible. Can't happen. I'm too old. My wife's too old. Makes me kind of wonder, did he even know the story of Abraham and Sarah? Surely he must have. But I have to be careful not to be too hard on Zacharias because what he said was right. He was old. His wife was old. He and his wife were beyond childbearing years. But in his rationale, we are able to very clearly identify the cause of his unbelief. The cause is being so tied to the things of this world that Zacharias, and we like Zacharias, place limits on God. Can't happen, we say. Not even God can overcome such a handicap as old age. We may not go so far in some cases to say certain things can't happen, but only that they won't happen. And why? Because we've waited so long for some things to happen that haven't happened that we conclude that they'll never happen. It amounts to the same thing, placing limits on God. At our most recent week of prayer, when I preached to the ministers on Wednesday morning, I recalled for them the very first message that I preached at a week of prayer after being ordained to be the minister of this church. Kind of interesting liberty you have when you preach at the week of prayer. If I'm deciding between one message or the other, the thought comes to me, wait a minute, I don't have to pick between them, I'll preach them both. The message was from 2 Kings 6-7, where you have the account of the city of Samaria under siege by the Syrians. The siege lasted so long and became so severe that we're told in 6, verse 25, And there was a great famine in Samaria, and, behold, they besieged it, until an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a calf of doves dung for five pieces of silver. In that awful condition of being under siege, a woman complains to the king. The woman had entered into an agreement with another woman that they would cannibalize the one woman's son, and then the next day they would cannibalize the other woman's son, and now that woman was holding back on her part of the deal. The king becomes so angry upon hearing this report that he's determined to arrest and behead the prophet Elisha. Somehow this is all his fault. So a party consisting of representatives from the king is sent to arrest Elijah, and upon their arrival, Elijah announces to them a word from the Lord. Hear ye the word of the Lord, we read 2 Kings 7, verse 1. Tomorrow, about this time, shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria. Elisha is predicting that the famine that had been so long and had become so severe was going to be relieved so quickly and so bountifully that the city would instantly become prosperous. Now listen to the words of verse two. They resemble the same spirit of unbelief that Zechariah manifests in our text in Luke one, second Kings seven and verse two. Then a Lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God and said, behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? You hear what he's saying? You pick up on his rationale, can't happen. It's impossible. It couldn't even happen by God performing a miracle of opening windows in heaven. The famine has lasted too long. The famine has been too severe. It's beyond even God. Another instance here of placing limits on God. But if you know your Old Testament history, then you may recall that it did, in fact, happen exactly as Elisha foretold. The Syrian army hears a noise. They think that Israel has hired the Hittites and the Egyptians to come to their rescue, so they hastily flee, leaving behind all the provisions of their encampment. Those provisions are discovered by four lepers who eventually report the news to the city of Samaria, and Samaria's famine is alleviated. When I recounted that story at the week of prayer, I followed up by asking the question, how far away is revival? Some people would say it's impossible. It's beyond us. Famine's been too long. We're too steeped in sin. Famine is too severe. As a matter of fact, the answer is, it's a word away. Revival is a word away. It's all it takes for the Lord to give the word. And when the Lord gives the word, then it doesn't matter how long or how severe the spiritual famine has been, nothing can hold back the blessing of God when God gives the word. So let's identify the cause of unbelief. It comes by placing limits on God. Zacharias placed limits on God. Abraham and Sarah placed limits on God. David limited God. God delivered me twice from the hand of Saul, but he can't keep on delivering me. So David would have thought. Let's make sure folks that we don't put limits on God. In Psalm 78, we have Asaph recounting much of the history of Israel. In verses 40 and 41, we read these words, how oft did they provoke him in the wilderness and grieve him in the desert, yea, they turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. Oh may God help us to battle against unbelief by avoiding what becomes admittedly a very real temptation given the state of things, which is to place limits on God. So we battle against unbelief by facing the reality of it, by identifying the cause of it. Let's consider finally that we battle unbelief by exercising faith in God's word. by exercising faith in God's word. Look with me at verses 19 and 20. This is the angel's response to Zacharias' question, whereby shall I know this? And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God and am sent to speak unto thee and to show thee these glad tidings. And behold, thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. This message you see that the angel communicated to Zacharias came with divine authority. This was not, in other words, the angel Gabriel's opinion. He didn't deliver this message of his own accord. Now, granted, I can think of an instance in the New Testament that we're told not to take an angel's word for anything. Galatians 1, verse 6, Paul writes, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another. But there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. And so the question that might naturally have arisen in the mind of Zacharias could have and perhaps should have been, is this message communicated to me by an angel a message that's going to move me away from God? Is this a message that advances the kingdom of Christ? And as I pointed out in my introduction, this blessing being pronounced upon Zacharias and Elizabeth served a purpose that went way beyond them. Listen again to the angel's announcement, verse 13. The angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. Thy wife, Elizabeth, shall bear thee a son. Thou shalt call his name John. Thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God and he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Nothing in this message to suggest another gospel so to speak. The message clearly communicates the advancement of the cause of Christ. The purpose behind this message was not merely to bring a great blessing to Zacharias and Elizabeth on a personal level. Indeed, their happiness, you might say, was only the byproduct of something that went very far beyond them. So the angel's message should have been received by Zacharias, and it should have been trusted by Zacharias. And the lesson we can take away from the experience of Zacharias is that we don't want to be like him in this instance. Now, in many ways, we would want to be like him. He was, after all, righteous before God and blameless in his conduct. But he should have believed the word of the Lord. And so should we believe the word of God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10, 17. This makes your time in God's word pretty important, doesn't it? This is how you fortify yourself against unbelief. You tend to your faith. This is a point I made in our last communion service. Do you remember the prayer of Paul in Ephesians 3? For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. And the way you can give feet to the answer of this prayer is by tending to your faith, or in other words, keep constant communion with Christ through his word and through prayer. I might add here also that when we read Romans 10, 17, that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God, that statement occurs in the context of the preaching of God's word. Romans 10 and verse 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. And in that context then of the preaching of God's word, we go on to read verse 17. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So let's face the truth of our own unbelief this morning. Sad to have to acknowledge it. It's as certain as our fallen natures, which have not yet left us, which means then there are battles we have to fight, battles against unbelief, which springs from our fallen nature. And let's beware of limiting God, I know I've said on various occasions that we never need fear overestimating the greatness of the God we worship and serve, but there's a constant danger to underestimating His greatness. And let's tend to our faith by being attentive to the Word of God, reading it, praying over it, reciting it to ourselves, memorizing it, appropriating it, believing it. And in so doing, we'll go a long way in gaining the victory over unbelief. Let's close then in prayer. Oh Lord, as we bow in thy presence now, We thank thee for the truth of thy word. We thank thee for a book we can trust. O Lord, we cannot deny that we live in a day when you can't trust anything or practically anyone. We thank thee we can trust thy word. Help us, therefore, to read it, to meditate upon it, to pray over it, to appropriate it, that we may indeed gain the victory over unbelief. So hear our prayers, dear God, and stamp this word on our hearts. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.