Oh, a star rising in the east A messenger of holy peace, a star shining o'er the earth. the herald of a royal birth. Upon the darkness shines a light, and from the Lord there comes a sign. ♪ Behold, a virgin shall conceive ♪ ♪ And bear a son ♪ ♪ Emmanuel ♪ ♪ A star ♪ ♪ Of heavenly design ♪ ♪ Revealing hope ♪ ♪ To all mankind ♪ ♪ A star ♪ ♪ A witness of his care ♪ ♪ The answer ♪ For unto us a child is born. For unto us a child is born. The Son is given. The government shall be upon His shoulder. He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Everlasting Father, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. The star shining through the night, Thank you, Brother Mike. I love songs that have scripture in them. Not that I dislike songs that don't, we've got many songs that don't but especially when it makes me think of Handel's Messiah that almost all of the text of the Messiah is from scripture and prophecies about the coming of the Lord. Luke chapter 1 will be verses 57 to 66. This morning a couple of announcements that I neglected to put in the bulletin. And I didn't have a pen with me to write them down while I was thinking about it. So just I numbered them off on my fingers a minute ago. So I think I can remember them. One of them is, I know that we're coming up on the season when people are going to have perhaps some sickness. And I'm just going to say during our handshaking time, if you would rather refrain from that, please don't feel badly about doing that. Okay. I understand the need to protect your health. Everybody else, if you go to shake somebody's hand and they choose not to, they're not mad at you, okay, we're just giving them the option to refrain from that. And then, too, I wanted to say, as much as we like to have a full auditorium or to have everyone here, if you are sick, please do not feel badly staying home. I know I have the tendency, and of course I'm the pastor, but I have the tendency to play the part of a hero. I think I can do it. I can push through. I can muscle through. And please do not feel badly missing a service if you need to. We have the live stream. You're able to watch it on that. And we're seeking to improve that even in various things. But that's the second one is so if you feel like you need to stay home for your health, please don't feel badly about that. And then the third thing is, as far as the weather, two weeks ago or last Sunday weekend, we did have a little bit of snow, not enough to impede any driving. But typically, if I'm going to cancel a service, it's going to be because I watched the weather online. And if the National Weather Service says that traveling is discouraged, okay, because of the weather or the road conditions, then that's probably when I'll cancel the services. If they don't say that, you know, if it's not going to be much accumulation or anything like that of snow or ice, then we'll probably go ahead and have services. But also watch your email, because if we're going to cancel services, I'll let you know. But I was also going to say that even if we don't cancel services, if you don't feel safe driving, then trust your own judgment. I don't want anybody to create any unneeded anxiety or have any accidents. So if you don't feel safe driving, you're not going to offend me if you don't make it. And I'm not going to look at you and think, oh boy, they just can't handle the weather. I'm not going to think that at all. So I would far rather you be safe. And so anyways those were the three things that I had to number off because I didn't write them down and I don't know why I didn't have my pen with me. So all right Luke chapter 1 verses 57 to 66 and we're going through the life of Christ of course and harmonizing this and it's interesting to me that we're in these passages of scripture around the Christmas season and I don't have time to finish the entire section this morning which ends in verse 80. As far as following the birth of John the Baptist is the song or the prophecy of his father Zacharias and there are some very interesting things that are said and we'll look at that section beginning in verse 67 next week. We'll start with that and finish it and then the following Sunday which would be technically Christmas Sunday then we'll be looking at the birth of Jesus because that's the next thing chronologically. And so looking at this, you might say, well, this is, you know, if we're talking about the birth of John the Baptist, this is six months before the birth of Jesus. He's six months older, but we're following it through. And actually John the Baptist's birth is in preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ. He's the forerunner. as we know him. So reminding you of the context of the book of Luke and the theme of the book of Luke, remember in the first four verses of chapter one that Luke had told Theophilus that he wanted him to have certainty of the things which he had been taught, the things that other men had taught Theophilus about Jesus and about his life and the things that surrounded him as the Messiah, as the perfect man, according to the book of Luke. There were things that he wanted to give certainty to. And so Luke has done research. I've told you, I'm convinced that Luke spent two years traveling through from the north and Galilee and Nazareth, and then moving down to Jerusalem, that he was tracing the steps of Jesus. interviewing people and asking them questions, meeting people that Jesus met and so forth. And so he has, as he says, a full understanding or a full knowledge of the life of Christ. And so the Holy Spirit took those facts that he had investigated the history of Christ and the Holy Spirit inspired him to write this book to the man Theophilus to give certainty to the things which he had learned or literally the things in which he had been catechized to give him understanding that the things that you have heard, they're true. I've investigated them. I've learned them. I know them. And so that's his purpose and so anywhere in the Gospel of Luke we could say, what is it that Luke wanted Theophilus to know? And that's really the easiest way to follow the interpretation through the book. What is it that Luke was writing to Theophilus? Why did he want them or why was this portion of scripture, why was this story important? And so we could ask ourselves a question there, and we're going to go through. I think that we'll see this, that primarily what it is, is he wants Theophilus to see God is in charge of this whole thing. And really, it's a reason for praise then. The birth of John the Baptist was miraculous. He was born to a mother who was past childbearing years. He leaped in the womb whenever he heard of the announcement of the Messiah. And so Luke is informing Theophilus of all of these things so that he recognizes the providential hand of God in this and therefore in his own life would be one who is giving praise. It would be the same thing for us that as we look at this passage of Scripture we look and see God was in charge of that, God was behind that, this is what God wanted here. And that the people marveled and we'll see that phrase here in just a moment, the people rejoiced. And that's the same desire that should be seen in us or that should be the desire that is here for us as we come through this portion of scripture. We often get hung up on, this is one of, in my mind, there are funny things that happen in the scriptures every now and then, and this passage is one of them. whenever they, or John is born and the neighbors and the relatives look and say, oh, well, he's going to be named Zacharias. My question is, first of all, who gave them the right to name the son? You know, why is it that they get to pick out the name Zacharias? But then it's funny to me whenever they, Elizabeth says first, no, his name is John, or he's going to be called John. I'm like, John? Why John? There's nobody in your family named John. The same thing happened to us back in May. When we went to northern Missouri for my mom and dad's 50th anniversary, my daughter and her little baby were able to come out with her husband and so forth. And my grandma is in her 90s, 94. And so we wanted to get a five generation picture. And after my mom and dad's 50th anniversary celebration that evening, we drove to the nursing home where my grandma is and we went in there and As we had all reintroduced ourselves, she doesn't remember who all of us are, but we went in and she remembered my name. She saw a dad and so forth. And so we were talking and grandma says, well, why is everybody here? We, my dad says, well, mom or mother, he calls her mother. He says, we're going to get a picture of five generations. And she says, five generations. And she just says, big deal. I guess at 94 it wasn't a big deal to her, but it was to me, and it will be to Jack whenever he's grown. But then when she, this is the first time she had ever seen Jack or met him, and she says, well, what's his name? And my daughter, Laura, says his name is Jack. Now remember, he's a Lukens, okay? He's not necessarily a Deacon, or a Dietrich, or a Deacon. But my grandma says, well, there's nobody in our family named Jack. That was her response. And I said, well, Grandma, he is a Lukens, and that's the name they chose for him. And Jack is a nice manly name. There's nothing wrong with that name. But it's happened to us. And that's exactly what happened here. Everybody's saying to Elizabeth, John, why are you naming him John? There's nobody in your family named John. And we kind of look at that as the funny part, or it kind of gathers our attention as far as in this story. But there's a whole lot more to that. And by the way, what his name John means is important as well. And we'll consider that in a few moments. But the story is about John, the birth of John, and I want to remind you of this. He is not known as John the Baptist yet. It's not until his earthly ministry is initiated at around the age of 30 years old that he's actually known as John the Baptist. At this point we would be better off calling him John the Forerunner. And if you look at verses 15 through 17, in this when it's announced, for he shall be great, of chapter one, 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 turn to the Lord their God and he shall go before them in the spirit, and that's the phrase, 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. It's not until his earthly ministry is initiated that he's actually recognized as the baptizer. At this point, when he's announced to Zacharias' father, he's the forerunner. And so we would really consider him to be the forerunner at this point. I used to have a Toyota forerunner. And a friend told me I should name it John. You know, some people name their vehicles. And I think slowly. I'm actually very slow at getting dad jokes. And I kind of looked at him funny. And I'm like, what? Name my forerunner John? And he says, John was the forerunner. And I'm like, oh, OK. Slow brain that day. But this story is not about the Baptist and what this story is is about the birth of John the Baptist and the proof again that God is working in bringing the Messiah to the world because he's fulfilling Old Testament scriptures and several other things that we'll see. Again at this point he is still or should be recognized as the forerunner who would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. In this section, verses 57 through 66, there's a theme of joy, amazement, awe, thanksgiving, and praise that runs through this paragraph. And as we look at it, and you'll see some of the different places where some of the words are used as far as the people, they rejoiced with Elizabeth. They were in awe or they were in amazement, and that was referring to the name of John. Even at the very end of the section, the very end of the paragraph, the hand of the Lord was upon him. And there is throughout this section of scripture, just a picture of praise, amazement, of wonder, of rejoicing. Okay. And that's what we're going to follow through this morning. So I think there's four different ways and actually many more, but these are just the ones I'm going to give you this morning. There are four ways that we can see God praised through the birth of John, the forerunner in this particular section of scripture. And several of the things here it's not as though as there are instructions, there are commands that are given. By the way in narrative passages of scripture where we're being told what happened there isn't often instruction, there isn't normally an imperative that tells us this is what you 21st century believers need to do as this passage of scripture. But when we look at what's happening here that this whole passage of scripture is one of praise and amazement. And so that should be our response too as we see the same thing. So praising God, first of all, number one, beginning in verse 57, there's praise through recognition, praise through recognition, and this is recognition of what God has done. The public are the ones who are recognizing this as they're looking at Elizabeth and Zacharias and the birth of John the Baptist, they're recognizing what God has done. You notice in verse 57 and verse 58, specifically verse 58, her neighbors, And her cousins heard how the Lord showed great mercy upon her, and they rejoiced with her." And so they have heard, they've observed, they've noticed what God has done on her behalf. And remember, she didn't show for five months, or she didn't make it public for five months, but the whole thing is in this, is that she was an elderly woman who was past the time of childbearing. She was called barren. She had recognized that as her reproach, or she thought it was such. And now once that has been removed, everyone is rejoicing with her. But there's praise that comes through recognition of what God has done. There's a promise that's realized in verse 57. Now Elizabeth's full time, meaning her nine months, the time that the baby is ready to be delivered, that she should be delivered or that the child should be born. And she brought forth a son. Now we try to look at this in life in such a way. that we don't discriminate, I guess you could say, in our minds between genders which are born. But men desire to have a son to carry on their name. I'll just be frank, whenever our first child was born, I really wanted a son. I wanted to have someone that I knew was going to carry on my name. By the way, that hasn't been an issue with Dietrich's. There's quite a few of them, at least in my realm. I've got six of them. So Carol was afraid she wasn't going to get a girl. is what it was, but I wanted a firstborn son. But in this particular context, okay, thinking of that, and of course, Elizabeth knew that she wasn't carrying the Messiah, okay, that was the anticipation or the hope that many Jewish women would have, beginning all the way with the promise to Eve in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. She wasn't anticipating carrying the Messiah, but she did want a son as most women would. And so she has the son, by the way, that was the fulfillment of prophecy as well. You remember that when the angel had told them that they would have a child, the angel had said that she would bear a son. And so there's a promise that is realized not only of having a child but also of having a son. And then not only the promise that was realized with this as far as why there is a recognition of what God has done, verse 58 shows us the rejoicing of those who are around her, the public rejoicing. Verse 58, and her neighbors, interesting word there, is just indicating those who lived about her. We might say those who lived in the hill country of Judea near her, those who were a part of her village or her town doesn't seem to have been a large place, but her neighbors and then also her cousins. And the word is interesting here. Whenever I think of cousins, I think of those who were born to my aunts and my uncles, okay? I'm kind of limited in what I think of cousins. But the word here, and I'll tell you this, it's those who are begotten with her, okay? It's really just the idea of relatives. Gene says the word for begotten, okay? And soon is together with, okay? So those who are her near relatives, those who were born near her or around her. Then those, they heard, okay, how the Lord had showed great mercy. The idea of heard there is indicating that they weren't necessarily all present at the birth, but it wasn't long after John was born that the relatives and the neighbors have heard that she's had this child. Now, for the last three to four months, they have known that she was expecting, but now that the child is born, they're hearing that this has happened. the neighbors, the cousins, they've heard how the Lord, okay, speaking specifically the one who has done this, has showed great mercy. And the idea of great mercy here is that he has shown greatly, he has manifested something in a magnificent way. And the fact that she was past childbearing years, the one who was called barren, that God has given her a child in her agedness through her husband, that God has done this. The people are looking at this and saying, God has shown her amazing, magnificent, the word is mega, great mercy. The word mercy there is referring to the thought of what someone doesn't deserve, that God has given her. In God's mercy, what do any of us deserve? But God has shown her great mercy, this mercy that surpasses human understanding. He has shown her his goodness in all of this. Incidentally, the name John is very similar to this. The word John means that God is gracious or God is giving. And so there's a very close similarity to what it's recognized here, that the neighbors have all recognized God's great mercy upon her. And notice the response, they rejoiced with her. And the word is, again, together that they have rejoiced. You know, sometimes there are happy things that happen, but you don't have anyone to share it with. You know what I'm talking about? Have you had good things happen before? You look around, there's nobody to smile with, no one to laugh with. I was at a Cubs game and a Cardinals game, but it was at Wrigley Field. And one of the Cubs hitters hit a home run. And the guys all around me, the guy that I went with was our pharmacist in town. And I went with him. He was a Cubs fan. The other people that I went with were all Cubs fans. And I was the one Cardinals fan at Wrigley Stadium, I think. And they call it the friendly confines. But they won, so it made it a nicer day. The Cubs won, because then I didn't get beat up. But anyways, one of the Cubs players hit a home run. And all the row in front of me, they all jumped up, and they all started to clap hands and shake hands and pat each other on the back and give each other five, rejoicing. And one of them turned around to give me five, and he saw my Cardinals shirt and hat. And he stopped. He stopped mid-cheering. And he kind of looked at me and I'm like, it's OK, I like to see a good home run. And he gave me five, you know, but it's like he was ready to celebrate until he saw me. He wasn't going to share it with me. OK, here's the idea of rejoicing together. And we're going far more than just baseball here. OK, we're talking about the child who is the forerunner of the Messiah. This child has been born to a woman who was past childbearing years and her whole life had been barren. This is matter for great rejoicing, but they're not just rejoicing that she had a baby, they're rejoicing because they recognize the great mercy of God that was shown upon her. The whole village is looking at this, all of her family is looking and saying, Elizabeth, God did this. They recognize the great mercy of God on Elizabeth and really on Zacharias as well. And so the first thing that is eliciting praise here, the rejoicing, is that they realize the Lord has shown great mercy to her. I think that it is important for us, the scripture says, to rejoice with those that rejoice and weep with those that weep. But there's a picture here of rejoicing whenever we see what God has done for someone else, whenever we see how God has demonstrated his power, when he's demonstrated his control, when he's worked in the lives of other people to rejoice with them. That, by the way, is what was happening in Luke chapter 16 whenever the woman lost her coin, when the shepherd lost his sheep, and when the father lost his son. And whenever they were found, there was rejoicing at the lost coin, there was rejoicing at the lost sheep, but the older brother wasn't rejoicing whenever his younger brother came home. Rejoicing is the expectation. Rejoicing is what the Pharisees should have been doing when the publicans were saved. That's the point of Luke chapter 16 speaking of that, they should have been rejoicing whenever Jesus was eating with publicans and sinners and seeing those which were lost coming home. The response of seeing God's mercy manifested in the lives of other people should be rejoicing and that's what was happening here. There's praise through the recognition that God has demonstrated great mercy upon her and so they rejoiced with her. And so in this passage of scripture, first of all, we see praise through the recognition of God's mercy, his great mercy that has been shown to her. And then there's also number two, verse 59 and following, praise through, and I'm going to say this, the designation, and that is of his name, what it is that he was called. First of all, we notice there's three different stages or a couple of different stages that are happening here. There's the circumcision that is seen and then his name that is there and in the name there's the thought of what the relatives thought he should be called, the expectation. Then when Elizabeth said, no, this is what he's going to be called and then there was the reaction whenever They heard that he would be called John. They marveled all. They were amazed. They sat with wonder. And we'll kind of work through that. But notice in this the designation of his name, which is given to them. It starts with a circumcision, verse 59, and it came to pass that on the eighth day, They, okay, came to circumcise the child. Interesting thing, the word they there is probably referring to the priests or those whose responsibility it was to circumcise this little Jewish boy on the eighth day. It came to pass that on the eighth day after he was born, that they came to circumcise the child. And you remember as far as in circumcision that was the sign of the covenant that God gave to Abraham in Genesis chapter 17 to mark them out as his people and to show that they were really a part of the faith community and that these children have been designated as those who are following along in the family of faith or that was the idea of that. And so it's the sign of the covenant that God had with them. Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day. And those children who were of parents of faith, who were living in the land of Israel, who were the people of God, if they were living in an obedient manner to the covenant which God gave to them, they were circumcised. You remember what happened in Exodus chapter 4 to Moses when God had already given him the responsibility to go to Egypt and deliver his people. In Exodus chapter 4, God was ready to slay him in the way. He was on his way there, okay? And the scripture leaves some things for us to fill in, but how is it that his wife was able to spare Moses' life? She circumcised their son, okay? Which indicates that God was essentially saying to Moses, I've got work for you to do, but if you're not going to be living in obedience to my commandment and to my covenant, you're not going to be going on any further. And so once Moses's son was circumcised then Moses was able to go on and deliver the people of Israel from Egypt. All that to say that this is a large part of the nation of Israel. And so with this, they came to circumcise the child. And during this time then is when they're going to officially name him. Normally for us, we like to have the name picked out several months in advance. Jeb and Laura already have their next son, our next grandson, they have his name picked out, which I'm not allowed to tell everybody yet. But anyways, they've already done that. Our kids' names, we had them picked out months before they were born. Okay, we know a family, they're missionaries in Madagascar, and they have a child, or they've had several children since we've known them. And they wait, it's like a week or 10 days later. I mean, the baby's already been born, there's pictures online and so forth, and we see them, but they're still baby boy. you know, or baby girl, and they wait days to name it. That's more what's happening here, that after eight days, the baby has not yet been named. There's the belief and the realization sometimes that they made it official with the circumcision, that there's a ceremony that's a part of it. Now, think about naming a child, okay? Naming a child usually, at the beginning, reflects more about the one who is naming the child than the one who is being named. Okay, the infant has no choice in their name. They are named because of what their parents are thinking. I can take all of my children, I can tell you their names, and I can tell you what I was thinking at the time. Our son Grant, I was reading a biography on General Ulysses S. Grant. With Josiah, I was thinking of the Old King in the Old Testament, Josiah, who was a righteous man, but also his middle names reflect the first baptism that took place in the state of Illinois, at least that's recorded in 1894, I believe it is. 1794 at Fountain Creek just across the river over in Illinois. The man who did the baptizing was Elder Josiah Dodge and the man that he baptized was Isaac Enochs. I could tell you Gardner and Gillian, I could tell you why I named their kids that, or my kids, but they don't know or they didn't know at the time why they had the name they did. It was a reflection of me more than it was a reflection of them. When we're thinking of John the Baptist or John the forerunner here and God said you're going to name him John it was a reflection of what God was doing and it was a reflection of the obedience of Zacharias and Elizabeth as far as giving him that name. Often children will begin to reflect that name and even for instance in the case of Jacob which meant supplanter he was named that because he tried to even though his brother was going to be first he tried to supplant him. And his brother said, wasn't he named aptly, is what he said about him. So sometimes the name will reflect the character of the person, but usually it's a reflection of the one who is actually giving them the name. And so with this, we follow the story through verse 59, they came to circumcise the child, they called him Zacharias. All the neighbors started naming him something before his parents had even said anything. They just assumed you're going to name him Zacharias after his father, the name of his father. And his mother answered, remember, What is the handicap that Zacharias has temporarily at this particular point in time? He can't speak. Because of his lack of faith, whenever the angel came into the temple to speak to him, because of his lack of faith, he said, the sign is you're not going to be able to speak until this has all been accomplished. And so he can't speak at this point. And so his mother said, not so. And that is, if you want to say it this way, that's a fairly dogmatic statement. No, he's not Zacharias. Now, this could have been confusing to the people that were there. They may have thought Zacharias wanted him to be called Zacharias. And now she has said, no, that's not going to be the case. I know of a particular story where the mother was ready to name a child something and after the child had been given to her and the birth certificate was being made, the father actually changed the names between the husband and the wife. It could be that these people thought, wait a minute, Elizabeth is saying no, but how do we know that's not what Zacharias wants? And that seems to be the case. His mother answered and said, no, not so, but he shall be called John, which again, I mentioned a moment ago means the Lord or Jehovah gives mercy. The word Nathan, or Nathan is the English name, Nathan is the Hebrew word, or pardon me, the Greek word for mercy. Gift, okay? And then you've got Joe, which would be short for Jehovah. And so this is like God's gift. And that's how they're looking at John. That's what the name John means. He gives grace or he is gracious. He's giving. And they said unto her, there is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to the father, okay? So it's like they're thinking Elizabeth and Zacharias aren't on the same page here. I want to say interlopers. Okay. Who made it your business? But they do. They go to him and they say, well, let's find out from Zacharias what he thinks. And so they make signs to him, by the way in verse 62 when they made signs to him there are some who believe that this indicates that he was both dumb and deaf. And I've read multiple commentaries on this and there's no definitive answer, people look at it back and forth. I don't think it really matters as far as that goes. We know he was dumb, we know he couldn't speak, we know that his tongue, his mouth were not capable of forming words now at this time. But they made signs to the father how he would have him called. as though they're ignoring Elizabeth, doesn't matter what she just said. And by the way, I don't think that it would have been feasible or logical at all to assume that Zacharias and Elizabeth have not spent much time, even though he can't speak. He's got a writing tablet, which he uses. I don't think it would make any sense at all that they have not communicated about this. How is it that she knew the child's name was supposed to be John? Somehow or another, he had communicated that to her after the angel had told him that in the temple. And so they've communicated about this. So the people have come and said how they would have him called. And he asked for a writing table. By the way, they used to use tablets. wooden tablets that were covered in wax. And they could use something to scratch out whatever their letters were. They could use that to write. I read years ago that some even ancient Hebrew teachers would have a school of young boys, 9 to 12 years old, and they would actually put honey on the tablets that they would use. And the boys would write them with their fingers, and then they would lick their fingers. And it was supposed to keep them interested in school because they were tasting the words like honey. All of that to say that Zacharias calls for this tablet and he calls for this piece of wood that would have had wax on it that he could scratch out letters and made signs to him. He asked for a writing tablet and he wrote saying his name, and notice the word there, his name is John. It's already recognized. I think in the mind of Elizabeth and Zacharias that from the time the angel had given them the announcement and after Zacharias has lost his ability to speak, and so he's been assured that this is going to happen, that from that point his name is John. I think that as she was carrying this baby inside of her for nine months, I think in their minds they were referring to him as John. Most parents, do they not begin to talk to their children when they're still in the womb? Okay, I remember many times putting my head down and speaking to one of our kids or talking to one of our kids or all of our kids as they were in the womb. He's been John since he was conceived. He's been John since he was promised of the Lord. And so the reaction then, the third part of this, and they marveled all. they all sat in wonder. Okay, I think there's a couple reasons for this. One of them is that they're not naming this little boy Zacharias. There's nobody in their family that's named Zacharias. Why are you naming him John? Or there's nobody that's named John. Why are you not naming him Zacharias? They're all marveling at this, but the word marvel is giving the understanding that they're sitting there in amazement, that there's an awe, especially when you realize that, again, the name signifies the one who has chosen the name. And they're essentially saying the people may not know that God's the one who said this is what his name is going to be but Zacharias and Elizabeth are in unity when they say his name is John which means God gives mercy or God is gracious, God is the giver. They've acknowledged that God's shown you great mercy, that was back in the first thought, they've acknowledged that by the coming of the child. But now they're codifying that, if you will, by saying, we're not only going to acknowledge God's graciousness and God's mercy, we are going to name him. God has been gracious. God is merciful. God has been giving to us. And so praise is recognized, number two, through the designation that's given to him, his name. God is gracious. So we see first of all praise through the recognition of his family and of his relatives or their relatives. They say the Lord has shown great mercy upon you and that they rejoiced with her. There's praise through the designation of his name and then there's also praise through the restoration of Zacharias. Praise through the restoration of Zacharias. Verse 24, pardon me 64. There's a couple of ways that this praise is recognized. It's recognized from Zacharias in verse 64 and then it's recognized from the people beginning in verse 65. And we'll notice a couple of things about this. And his mouth was opened immediately. Incidentally there are a couple of words that are used here. The word mouth is one word that is referring of course to the organ or his mouth there and then his tongue is loosed. So he refers to both the mouth and the tongue and then he spake. All of those things are recognizing that, okay? Luke is putting this together. He's emphasizing his mouth, his tongue, his speech. And what does he do with that? He praises God. And his mouth was opened. What's the adverb that's describing when his mouth was opened? Immediately. You know what? The angel had said to him, you're not going to be able to speak until these things are fulfilled. And when the baby was born, and then when they named him John, which was the final fulfillment, if you will, of what God has said for them to do, that you're going to name him John. As soon as he said his name is John, his mouth was opened immediately. And this is his restoration, he's able to speak again. And his tongue then was loosed and he spake and praised God. Now the word praised is interesting, it's the word that's used in Ephesians chapter one, I've given you this word on several different occasions before. It's the word which is a very literal transliteration, eulogized. When we eulogize someone we speak well of them. I've told you this before that whenever I have been given the privilege or the opportunity of doing a funeral, one of my favorite things to do, and I hope that doesn't sound morbid, but one of my favorite things to do is to go and visit with the family and have them start telling me stories, start talking about their loved ones, start telling me things that they knew about them, things that they appreciated about them. I start writing or I start typing and I, as much as I can, I put together a history or a story or a narrative of that particular person. I take it and I put it into a preachable form or a speakable form and I use that as a eulogy at the funeral or at the memorial service. And it's to speak well or it's good words literally about someone. And what we see here is that Zacharias is speaking well of God. He's not complaining. You know, obviously he's an older man now and he's been given a child which he and his wife had no longer expected or anticipated. God has blessed them in that. He's been without his speech for the last nine months, but that's the worst thing that has happened to him. Everything else has been good. And you'll see what some of his good words are as the Holy Spirit fills him and he praises God even more in the next section that we'll look at next Sunday. But he eulogized God. Meaning that he spoke well of God. Everything that he was saying was to say, this is who God is. This is what God has done. Sometimes I think the phrase is maybe a little bit overused. OK, when we say, well, praise the Lord. Well, praise the Lord. Well, praise the Lord. But the reality is that ought to be our habit in everything that's happening in life. The Lord did that. Praise God. He's in control. I trust him. He knows what he's doing, even if I don't. He's good. And here Zacharias is praising God. The word is basically just he's eulogizing God. He's just speaking well of him to these neighbors and to the relatives that are here as a part of this. There's the praise then for his restoration or through his restoration. He couldn't speak up until this point. You get this? For nine months he said nothing. As soon as he's able to speak again what is it that he does? He praises God. We wouldn't have judged him if he would have said, I have a son. We wouldn't have judged him if he'd have said, Elizabeth, I'm proud of you. But he praised the Lord. we see his restoration that God has then brought his speech back to him. Not only do we see praise from Zacharias, but there's also praise from the people. Verse 65, And fear came on all that dwelt around them. And all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be? The praise that's from the people can be seen in several different ways. First of all, you notice in verse 65, what's the second word in the sentence? verse 65, and fear came upon all that dwelt about them. The idea of fear in this particular context, we think of fear as being something which causes trepidation in someone or something that they don't like, there's an anxiety that is a part of it, that's not the context of what is here. The idea of fear in this, when we fear the Lord we live in awe and in reverence of who he is. And that's the result of these people, that there is an awe, there's a wonder, there's a reverence, there is fear that came on all that dwelt round about them, all those that lived in the villages or the area near them in the hill country of Judea. Basically, the word spread. Everybody was saying the priest, Zacharias, who was without speech for the last nine months, but Zacharias and his wife, Elizabeth, who was formerly called Baron, And they're both well stricken in years as the scripture says, they've just had a child. This child is born. They've named him John, which means God is gracious and giving. And so the people are spreading the word. All these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea. It would be one of those things that if we were speaking in modern lingo, we would say it went viral. Okay, on social media, it went everywhere. Okay, people in the area, they all heard about this. And verse 66, the hill country of Judea, they've all heard this, it spread abroad, and all they that heard them, this phrase I love, laid them up in their hearts. You know what this is saying? They're all starting to think about this. You can almost think of them, Zacharias, okay, this older couple, they've had this child. There's something strange that's going on here. And they haven't named the child as we all expected them to, they've named him John, God with us, or pardon me, God is gracious to us, or God is gracious and giving. They're thinking about all of these things that are happening. And though many of them have probably known for several months that Elizabeth is expecting, the reality of holding the baby, or the reality of seeing the baby, or the reality of hearing the baby has a name, this baby has been born. They're meditating on these things, they've laid them up in their hearts. I believe that probably Luke talked to some of them. As I've told you before it's a mark of an individual conversation whenever Luke said of Mary that she put all these things in her heart or she thought on these things. The thought is that this is an individual conversation. Luke has probably talked to some of these people that said, yeah I heard that, I heard that story and boy did I think on that. That was something that caused me to stop and wonder what's going on. And so with this, they have held them or they've laid them up in their hearts saying, what manner of child shall this be? It's a unique birth. There's something special that is happening here. What kind of child are we going to see here? You know, all parents think that way. Do we not? We look at that little child. Okay. I remember when Joel was born, he was a little over 10 pounds and 23 inches long. And I thought he is going to be a big boy. And he is six foot six, okay. And whenever we look at our kids, we look at them and we think this child is going to be special. But do you think that about everyone else's kids? Okay, but here's what's happening. All these people, when they hear the manner of John's not only conception, but also his birth, all of the people are looking there and saying, what kind of child is this going to be? because they recognize the hand of God, they recognize that God is behind all of this and so there is a public praise or a public recognition. And by the way when they're saying what manner of child this should be think of what has been prophesied first of all to Zacharias. He would have the spirit of Elijah, he would be the fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures, he would turn man to repentance, the fathers and the hearts of the sons to the fathers, the greatest born to a woman by Jesus' own words, he said that of John the Baptist. But then even John the Baptist, all of these things that were said about him, even he acknowledged in this that he wasn't worthy to do what to Jesus? To unlatch his shoes or to baptize him. But all of these things, these people wondered what kind of child is this going to be, what a child this is going to be. So there's praise through the restoration of Zacharias's speech, the people praised God and then Zacharias praised God as well. Then there's praise through manifestation as we finish in verse 66 here, the manifestation of the fact that from his birth and through his childhood the hand of the Lord was with him. On Wednesday evenings we've been looking at Psalm 23 and one of the pictures that we've seen repeatedly is the presence of the Lord with David or we would say the shepherd with the sheep. And this picture here is that it has been revealed that God is with him. Now this phrase is kind of comprehensive, the hand of the Lord was with him. We're only looking at just the birth of John but this phrase anticipates that as he was growing through his adolescence, as he was growing up, as he was learning, as he was growing in life, that God was with him. The hand of the Lord was upon him, and it was manifested. People recognized it. As Luke is writing this for Theophilus, he's indicating that there are people in the area, there are probably people that Luke talked to who knew John as a child. So it was very obvious to our community. It was very obvious to those who knew him. It was very obvious to the people that were around him that the Lord was with him. The hand of the Lord was with him. This is written after the fact, Jesus has already been crucified and raised and ascended to heaven. John has been dead for decades now because of the murder by Herod. Okay, so that's all in the past. But people are now looking back and they're reporting to Luke and Luke is writing this to Theophilus and saying, it was obvious to everyone who knew him or it was obvious to those people in his community that the hand of the Lord was upon him. And that's reason for praise. The Lord was with him. And so wrapping this paragraph up Luke wanted Theophilus to know the circumstances of the birth of John the forerunner. Luke had diligently researched the facts, that was his nature, he recorded that in the first four verses. And then under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he's now related them to Theophilus. He's written this epistle to Theophilus or this letter to him. God kept his word to Zacharias and Elizabeth that they would have a son. Even more, he kept his word to the nation of Israel that there would be one who came before the Messiah and the spirit and the power of Elijah to prepare the way for him. And this section is all proof that God keeps his word. What he has said is going to happen is going to happen. The Messiah was coming and the birth of the forerunner was proof of it. The one who had been spoken and prophesied himself would be coming. So Zacharias had been unable, verbally, to communicate the message of the angel to him nine months earlier because of his unbelief. Remember when he told him, he says, what are you going to do so that I know this is going to happen? But as soon as his tongue was loosed, and by the way, we'll see next week, he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Notice verses 76 to 79. And thou child, okay, this is his prophecy after his tongue has been loosed. Thou child, speaking to John, shalt be called the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." As soon as he was able to speak, he immediately began prophesying, of course, through the power of the Holy Spirit. But there's praise to God and there's recognition of what God is doing. This entire segment has the theme of wonder, of praise, of awe, of rejoicing, all of that is running through here and I simply would say this, the passage of scripture, this passage of scripture ought to make you and me sit back in awe, amazement, wonder, and praise and just say God is incredible. We hear the Christmas story every year. However many years old you are, maybe the first one or two you weren't very conscious, but however many years old you are, you've heard the Christmas story. Many of you have known it from Sunday school on up. And we have a tendency to look at the things that we know, the things that we believe, and the things that we recognize, and they become kind of as the phrase is old hat. There are things that we're just familiar with and so there's no amazement, no praise, no awe, no wonder. And as Luke is writing this to Theophilus this passage of scripture just shows repeatedly what God has done and the expectation I think for us should be God should be praised when we see what he is doing. Father thank you for this passage of scripture I pray that as we consider these verses this morning and even the ones that we'll see next week. I pray that you would help us to look at your work in praise and in wonder and in awe as we think of the birth of John given to this elderly couple that had been barren. As we think of how you showed the sign to Zacharias that he wouldn't be able to speak for these nine months and then as soon as the child was named he was able to speak again and how he praised you and how he prophesied of what John was going to be. as they recognized even in naming John the great work that you had done in them. Lord I pray that you would help us to look at the things that you're doing in life and that we would be people of praise. I pray that we would rejoice with those who are praising you and father that our hearts together would recognize your greatness, your power, your magnificence and father that we would be people of praise as we see even in this passage this morning. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. I'm going to ask you to keep your heads bowed and your eyes closed for just a moment. It's the Christ.