We're turning to Luke's gospel. Chapter 1, Luke's gospel. Chapter 1, and we'll read from the opening verse of the chapter. Luke chapter 1, and we want to read from verse number 1 of the chapter. For as much as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most assuredly believed among us, even as they delivered them on to us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very Right on to thee, in order, most excellent Theophilus. Thou mightest know the certainty of those things which wherein thou hast been instructed. There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the course 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. 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. The whole multitude of the people were praying without the time of incense. 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. We'll end our reading there just today at the 13th verse. Let's pray. Our Father, we come before Thee and we thank Thee for the reading of Thy Word. We thank Thee for all that has already taken place in this service, the giving of praise, the giving of tithe and offering, the offering of prayer. We come now to the preaching of Thy Word, the central act of this worship service. We pray that Thou will be glorified and praised even in this place. We pray, O God, that Thou wilt assist this preacher, filling him with Thy Spirit and power, helping, O God, the minister to place the emphasis where the Spirit of God would have him to place the emphasis. We cry, O God, that the Word of God will have that two-sharped edgedness to it today. We pray, O God, that it will not only wound us, but it will also heal us. So answer prayer. May our hearts and minds be open to thee and to thy will. We pray this in Jesus' precious and worthy name. Amen. And amen. If the 16th President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln, said, no man is poor who has a godly mother, what would he have said about a man who has both a godly mother and a godly father? A man who was blessed in this way was a man that we were thinking about last Lord's Day, John the Baptist. In that message we gave some consideration to some of the conditions that existed in the time when John the Baptist stepped on to the stage of human history. We noted back then that both the political world and the priestly world in the days of Christ's forerunner were dire. were dire to say the least. Israel was under the dominion of a foreign power that was given over to all kinds of sensuality and sin, while in the religious world, though it was pious outwardly, was marked by inward corruption and dead formalism. As I said last week, God always has his remnant in the darkest of days. Not many godly people lived in the time of John the Baptist, and yet there were some. Among that noble bunch there were individuals like Joseph, and Mary, Simeon, and Anna. And among the ranks of the corrupt priesthood, God was going to find another faithful home where its members were true in their godliness, genuine in their faith in Jesus Christ. It would be into that faithful home, the home of Zacharias and Elizabeth, that Christ forerunner was to be born. So having thought about the priestly conditions and having thought about the political conditions at the time of John the Baptist's birth, today we want to take a look into the home of John the Baptist and consider the parental conditions at his birth. And in doing so, we want to focus our attention on Zacharias and Elizabeth. There are a number of things I want you to note concerning this godly couple. I want you to note, first of all, their marriage. Their marriage. In Luke chapter 1, in the verse number 5, we read that there was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the course of Abiah, and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. The name Zacharias means God has remembered. The name Elizabeth means God of the oath. Their names were prophetic in nature because God was about to remember His covenant, He was about to remember His oath. the oath that he had previously made, a way back in the Garden of Eden, that the seed of the woman was coming, that the Messiah was coming into this world, who would be preceded by his messenger. Now, for Zacharias to be a priest within Israel, he had to be able to do something. He had to be able to trace his genealogy back to the tribe of Levi, because it was the Levites that were given the responsibility chosen by God to carry out the priestly functions within the land of Israel. Now in the time of David's reign so many were the priests that were available to attend to the priestly activities that David had to divide them into 24 different groups to better organize their administration. Those groups they were named after the sons of Eliezer and Hithpenar who were in turn the sons of Aaron. Abijah or Abiath as we have here in Luke chapter 1 and the verse number 5. Abijah was the eighth course of the 24. That simply meant that twice every year Zacharias left his home and went up to Jerusalem to fulfill the office of a priest. It was a period of time of a week consisting of six days and then the two Sabbath days on either side. And so this is where we find Zacharias. He's made his way up to the house of God here in Luke chapter 1. Elizabeth on the other hand was, note the words, of the daughters of And so I see here that Elizabeth was able to trace her ancestry back to the exact same family as Zacharias, as he could trace his ancestry back to. Zacharias was of the family of Aaron, the Levites. Elizabeth was of the daughters of Aaron. What we really have here, brethren and sisters, is that we have a priest married to what is known as a priest's daughter. It was Plummer who said to be a priest and married to a priest's daughter was a double distinction. A.T. Robinson said that their marriage was like a preacher married to a preacher's daughter. The truth that we want to really get across with respect then to Zacharias and Elizabeth, when they came to find a partner for life, When they came to find someone to whom they would be married to, they looked for a partner from the same family from which they came from. I don't think I need to make the application, but maybe for conscience sake I better. When you as a Christian man come to seek a wife, or a Christian woman to seek a husband, and let me say and remind you that that is the only union that is recognized by the God of heaven, the union between a man and a woman and a woman and a man. When you come to seek a marriage partner, can I encourage you, can I implore you to make sure, make sure that you choose such an individual from the same spiritual family. from the family of God. Abraham sent his servant to find a wife for his 40 year old son Isaac. Abraham gave very clear instructions about where he was not to go and where he was to go in order to find a suitable wife for his son. Let me read you the words of Abraham, you can turn there, Genesis 24, the verse 3 and 4. He says, And I will make thee swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that thou shalt not take unto thee a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell, but thou shalt go unto my country and to my kindred and take a wife unto my son Isaac. It was only from the same family that the future bride was to be chosen. Now can I say that the girls of Cana, I'm sure they were fair and I'm sure they were beautiful to look on, but they were enemies of God. and they were idolaters at heart. And Abraham, knowing that and knowing the snare that that would cause to Isaac in future days, reminds the eldest servant not to go to Cana, but to go to his own family from his own tribe, from his own particular nation, from the family that he came from. And I say young people, older people, when it comes to choosing a life's partner, make sure, make sure you marry in the Lord. Make sure of that. The Bible is very clear by way of exhortation and by way of example that a saved person who knowingly, and I'm choosing my words carefully, a saved person who knowingly enters into a marriage covenant with an unsaved partner is not marrying in the will of the Lord. They are not marrying in the will of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 7, 39. A wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth, but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will only in the Lord. Only in the Lord. 2 Corinthians 6, 14. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communeth hath light with darkness? We think of that verse in Amos. Can two walk together except they be agreed? And so young people, older people, whenever you come to choose a marriage partner, a husband or a wife, make sure that you are marrying in the Lord. In the Lord, and only in the Lord. There are men in Scripture who chose to walk contrary to God's revealed will in this matter. And those men were going to find that their choice was going to cause friction in their home and in their family and cause damage to their walk with God. 40 years of age, Esau took two Hittite women to be his wives. The Hittites were the enemies of God's covenant people and we're told in Genesis 26 and the verse 35 that they were a grief of mind on to Isaac and on to Rebekah, his father and mother. They were a grief of mind, his own father and mother, knowing that they were not individuals who were following and worshipping Jehovah, the true and living God. I think of another man, a man by the name of Solomon, what a home he was brought up in, a godly home. Solomon married a woman, married women from the surrounding nations, nations that were idolaters, nations that defied God, nations that had no time for Jehovah. And we read that whenever Solomon came to old age, 1 Kings 11 verse 4, when Solomon was old, that his wise turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God. And we say very clearly, very distinctly in faithfulness to my charge as a minister of the Word, the Bible is very dogmatic on this matter. Believers in Christ should only marry other fellow believers. I think this would be a good time for me to save any embarrassment in the future. Now our young people have already been told this in youth fellowship, but I am going to say it again. It will save you embarrassment, it will save me embarrassment with respect to this matter of marrying and who we marry. I want to make you aware You're maybe not aware, but I want to make you aware that this denomination will not marry a couple who are unequally yoked, where a person is a Christian and the other person is a non-Christian. They will be interviewed by me, the minister, and they will be asked the question, do you profess faith in Jesus Christ? And if one professes faith and the other doesn't, couple will not be married in this church or in this denomination. Our Presbytery have ruled in it. So I want to warn you, don't be coming and asking me or any other free Presbyterian minister to marry you if you profess faith in Jesus Christ and your spouse doesn't, because I or they will not consent to the officiating of that marriage. And so that will save embarrassment for anyone who plans to go down that road. You may answer incorrectly to the questions that I put to you. That's your choice and your decision. But under God, God would have you to marry only in the Lord. And can I say that if your future husband, if your future wife cannot attend a gospel preaching church like this, and there's a problem with attending gospel preaching church like this, you would be better to leave that relationship. Better to leave it. Because down the road you're going to have heartache in your family and you're going to pull one direction and you and the other person in another direction and it will cause great conflict. Let me say that marriage is difficult enough without marrying an unsaved person and so you've been warned warned from this pulpit about what God requires. Marry only in the Lord. And even in that, even in that young person or older person, you can still be unequally yoked even if you are professing believers. Someone could profess faith in Jesus Christ No desire for the prayer meeting, you do. Let me say, it'll not be long before you have no desire for the prayer meeting. And so you can be even unequally yoked, even as believers. Make sure you're walking in agreement, one with another, that your convictions, that your standards are the same. It'll save a lot of argument within your home. Well, this family, here we have a man who can trace his lineage back to the Levites, and here's another girl. She's from the same family. Yes, a physical family, but let's spiritualize it from the same spiritual family. Let us remember these things. But we want to move on. That was the shortest point today. We want to move on to a second point. I want you to think about their godly characteristics. Zacharias and Elizabeth and in doing so we want to consider in the chapter a chapter that lists for us the godly characteristics of the Baptist parents. We want to focus mainly in the verse 6 but not exclusively. As I read the verse number 6 and as you read the verse number 6 there as you sit, I want you to do so, I want you to remember that this is not Zacharias and it's not Elizabeth's assessment of their lives. This is the Holy Ghost's testimony. This is the Holy Spirit's record of this individual and this couple. It tells us that they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. blameless. I want you to note in the first place about both Zacharias and Elizabeth that they were saved by God. They were saved by God. I know that because I read in the verse number six that they were both righteous before God. They were both righteous before God. My folks, it's easy to be righteous in the eyes of others. It's easy to be righteous in our own estimation, but to be righteous before God is is a completely different matter. Because for a man, for a woman to be righteous before God, they must have forsaken their own self-righteousness and they must have been endowed or bestowed with a perfect righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And it is through that imputed righteousness of Christ that Zacharias and Elizabeth were declared righteous before God. They were both righteous, not before man, but before God. They had been declared righteous on the grounds of Christ's imputed or reckoned righteousness. And so we can say that John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, was going to be born into a Christian home. He was born into a home where mum and dad were righteous before God. No greater blessing could be bestowed upon a child than to be born in a home where both parents are saved and trusting in the work and in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ as their only hope for heaven. No greater honor could God confer upon a child where the motto of that home into which they are born is this, as for me, and my house, we will serve the Lord. Let me say that if God has blessed you with Christian parents, get on your knees before the God of heaven and thank God for them. Maybe as yet you haven't come to savingly know your father's God or your mother's savior. Well then let this day be the day that their prayers are answered for you. by your turning from sin and putting your trust and faith in their God and in their Savior. Ah, but maybe you're a parent and as yet you haven't trusted in Christ. No better start could you give your children for them to be nurtured and brought in and brought up in a Christian home where Christ is honored. Let me ask you, have you been declared righteous before God? you saved? Have you been born again? Do you know your mother's Savior? Do you know your father's friend? I asked you today, are you a Christian? Are you saved? Zacharias and Elizabeth had been declared righteous, they were justified ones. That's what it is, to be declared righteous means to be justified. How were they justified? Through faith. Having therefore been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. They had faith in the promise, they had faith in the coming Messiah. We look back and we have faith in one who came. Let me ask you, is your faith in Jesus Christ alone? This home was a Christian home. Christ was the head of this home. What a blessing. But secondly, the second godly characteristic was that they were obedient to God. They were not only saved by God, but that salvation worked out in a life of obedience. A life of obedience. And what did they obey? It tells us that they walked The Holy Spirit records that they walked in all, all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. Now whilst most couples living around Zacharias and Elizabeth, whilst most of them were living lawless and godless lives, this couple walked in all. Not a few, but the vast majority. Not in the ones that suited them. But they walked in all the commandments and the ordinances of the Lord." In other words, folks, biblical standards were upheld in this home. Biblical standards were upheld in this home. God's day was observed as God required it to be observed with the setting aside of all secular work. All secular work in order to worship God in His house and in the home. Conformity to the world was never countenanced by this mother and father. They walked in all the commandments of God. And why did they do it? In love to God. In love to God. In love to God they kept all the commandments and the ordinances. Now I ask every parent here today, is it the case that you and I are walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord today? You cannot expect your children to walk in all the commandments and ordinances of God if you, father, if you, mother, do not. You can't expect it. You cannot expect it, Dad. You cannot expect it, Mom. When you and I are walking in all the commandments and in all the ordinance of the Lord, can I say this? If you're going to do that as a Christian in a Christian home, a Christian mother and father, if you're going to do that by the grace and by the help of God, you're going to find out something. You're going to find out that you're walking out a step of the world. And you're going to find out something else. You're going to find out that you're walking out a step with the majority of the professing church of Jesus Christ. If you walk in all the commandments and the ordinances of the Lord. Now folks, we're coming to the ordinance of the Lord's Supper after the service. God has given a very clear, a very definite command that God's people are to remember his death in his own appointed way. So Father, Mother, let me ask you this afternoon, will God find you at the end of this service walking in all the commandments and the ordinances of the Lord? It is one of his ordinances. One preacher remarked, if Zacharias and Elizabeth could live godly in such times, then so can we in spite of being surrounded by a godless society. He said, we cannot excuse our laxity and holiness on the fact that most people are living unholy lives. The character failures of others does not force or excuse our failures. We do not have to go along with the crowd. Zacharias and Elizabeth proved that fact well. Let me have a word with the young people here today before we move on. Your Christian parents will at times have to say that dreaded word, no, no. They'll have to say that word no if they're going to walk in all the commandments and the ordinances of the Lord. They're going to have to say no to the places that you want to go, the things that you want to do, maybe even to the people that you want to associate with. Discos, school formals, the cinema, going away on a summer holiday with friends without any parental occurrence or parental individuals being there, they ought to be prohibited by mum and dad. But young person, don't despise your Christian parents. Don't despise them. Because can I say that under God they're trying to shield you from sin and temptation and the world. Whilst they are also aware of something else, that under God, they will give an account of their stewardship of you at the judgment seat of Christ. And so at times, they will have to say no. No. You get your own home, you pay your own mortgage, You make your own rules. But whilst you're under their roof, they have the right to say no. No. I believe that it would be good for us all and for every parent to pray what Samson's father prayed for his coming son. Judges 12, 13 verse 12. How shall we order the child? And how shall we do unto him? Here's a man who realized the great responsibility of parenthood. And he realized that he and of himself could not do it, and so he asked the angel, who is later identified, we believe, as the angel of the Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, the pre-incarnation appearance of the Savior, how shall we order the child under God? How am I going to order my children? It is very difficult, mums and dads. And I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. But I will be there. May God help us to order the child. May God help me to order the child. The third godly characteristic of John's parents, that they were holy. They were holy before God. follow the line of thought, when a man, when a woman is declared righteous before God on account of Christ's imputed righteousness, they, by the grace of God, they're helped to walk in the commandments and the ordinances of the Lord. And then the upshot of that is a person will then be enabled to live a holy life. You cannot live a holy, righteous life if you have not been justified. Can't happen. You can try, you can attempt, but you'll be back at the cigarettes and you'll be back at the drinking and you'll be back looking at the pornography. You can't live a holy life if you haven't been declared as one who is justified, declared righteous. If you've never had Christ's righteousness put on your account. But having been declared righteous, having been saved, and having lived and now walking in the commandments and ordinance of the Lord, we're enabled by God's grace and spirit to live a holy life. Notice what it says, the end of verse six, the last word, blameless. Now, does that mean that they were perfect? Mom and dad's perfect Christians. Well, we're going to find out, I trust if we have time, that it does not mean that they were sinlessly perfect. But it does mean that these individuals from a human viewpoint, that no fault or deficiency could be found in them. Zacharias and Elizabeth were innocent and inoffensive in their manner of living. No one within that community in which they lived could point the finger and highlight some inconsistency within their life. I wonder, do I have that testimony in this church family or in the community at large in Port Malone? Is that my testimony? Or is it the case that there are individuals who would be able to point where there was an incident there? And that individual, that minister certainly did not show by his conduct or by his words or by his actions that he was living a holy life. Oh, that our testimony would be like Daniel's testimony. It says, we shall not find, this is what his enemy said, we shall not find any occasion against him except it be against him concerning the law of his God. While there is an onus, and I want all the office bearers to listen, and the preachers listen as well, while there is an onus on the office bearers of the church to be blameless, and you can trace that word throughout Paul's letters, to Timothy and to Titus whenever he does deal with those within office, whether that be the minister, whether that be a ruling elder, or whether that be a deacon or a committee man, while it is the onus on us brethren, on us brethren, to be blameless, blameless, It is also a requirement and demanded by Paul that it is the duty of every believer to live such a life. And I know that because of what I read there in Philippians 2 verse 15, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and a perverse nation among whom you shine as lights in the world. We are to be beyond reproach, beyond offense. This is what Zacharias and Elizabeth, no wonder God sent John the Baptist to this home, no wonder. Fourthly, the fourth godly characteristic of John's parents, that they were in harmony with God. Mark the word both in verse six. It wasn't that one spouse was pulling in one direction and the other spouse pulling in the other direction. No, both husband and wife were righteous before God. Both of them were walking in God's commandments and ordinance. Both of them were blameless and because they were in harmony with God, they were in harmony with one another. Too often we get it wrong. We're away to marriage counselors. but the problem is spiritual. We're not right with God, therefore we're not right with each other. The world turns it on its head. Let me say that it is a happy marriage where husband and wife are one. when they're one, one of heart, one of mind, one of spirit, one of aspiration. There's nothing like a home like that. They're not only at one in themselves, but they're one in the Lord, and such produces harmony and concord in the home. And it may be, it just may be today, that there was little harmony in your home. There was little harmony in your home today. because at least one party, or maybe both parties, I believe it can all be traced back to this, they're not walking in all the commandments and the ordinances of the Lord. May such a sad state of affairs be put right by repentance, repentance on all of our parts, by either one party or by both parties. They were both unified, walking with God, walking with one another. Oh, there's harmony in this home. Let me say another thing. These people, they were busy for God, busy for God. industrious, they were workers for God. Note in the verse number 8 that Zacharias, he was executing the priest's office before God. This was an aged man. We have read about it, he was stricken in age. He was what we would say an old-timer. An individual who had years on, too many birthdays behind him, whatever terminology you want to use, here's an old age man and what's he doing? What's he doing young people? He's serving the Lord, Jesus Christ. That's what he's doing. What an example for us young men. Here's a man still going on, still going strong for God, still serving his God, still serving his Master, employed in the Master's business, and I believe that he was supported wholeheartedly by his wife. Zacharias, you go and do God's work. I'm behind you in prayer. I'm behind you in prayer and we'll give our finances into the work of God. Here's a man, do you know what he was? He was the priest. Father, you're to be the priest in your home. You're to be the priest. Father, you're to be the one who leads family worship. You're to be the one who leads by example. You're to be the one who prays in the home. My mother, you can be involved in that. That's your part as well. But father, you're to be the priest. You represent your family before God. Abraham stood and prayed for his nephew Lot. He stood before the Lord. He represented him before the Lord. What did Job do? Whenever his family and all were feasting, Job got up in the morning and he made a sacrifice in case they had sinned in their pleasure. Here's a father who was the priest in the home. Can I say that even the children had left the home? At least some of them were married. but he still prayed for them. Maybe mom, dad, your son, your daughter has left the home. You need to still pray for them. You need to be at the times and season of prayer publicly and privately to pray for those sons and daughters of yours. God has given you the responsibility until the day you go home. The day you go home. Can I say that John the Baptist was going to be born in a home where the atmosphere was fragranced with the perfume of prayer? Because how do we find Zacharias busy? I'll tell you, at least in one activity he was busy. Yes, there was the public service, but look what Gabriel says in the verse 13. Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. Thy prayer is heard." That's how he was busy for God. And so I asked you, brother, sister, are you busy for God? Are you busy for God? In the last number of weeks, this congregation was presented with an opportunity to be busy for God. 1,000 invitations with gospel tracks had to go out into this community. Brother, sister, were you busy for God? Bible clubs had to be led. Memory verses had to be taught. Quizzes had to be conducted. Bible lessons had to be preached. Brother, sister, in the last week, were you busy for God? Prayer was offered. We had an extended Wednesday night prayer meeting. We gave it over to prayer, the vast majority of it, to pray for this endeavor in the gospel. Brother, sister, were you there? Were you there? Were you busy for God? Now we're not all public speakers, I know that. And I know, brother and sister, that age for some of us does not permit us to be tramping up steps and handing out gospel invitations. I understand that. But you could be busy at the praying. We can all do that. We can all pray. As Christ's return draws ever near, Let none of us be found sitting on the sidelines when he appears. As death draws ever near for us all, let us work while it is day, because night's coming when no man can work. Busy for God, busy for him. The sixth godly characteristic of John the Baptist's parents that they were spirit filled by God. Spirit filled. Mark the closing words of verse 41. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. Then let your eye run down from verse 41 down to verse 67. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost. John the Baptist had parents who were filled with the Holy Ghost. Parents who worshipped and who served God in the power of the Holy Ghost. Let me say, brethren and sisters, this is the great need of the home. And this is the great need of the church. And this is the great need of the nation. Parents and individuals who are filled with the Holy Ghost. And then everything else will die, that is petty. everything else when you're filled with the Holy Ghost because only His name and His cause and His standard is what will consume your very thinking. He was spirit-filled and she was spirit-filled. Mom, you can be spirit-filled. Dad, you can be spirit-filled. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to the Holy Ghost to them that ask him? They were filled with the Holy Spirit. I want to just make this comment. It's our final point and it is only a comment. They thought about their marriage. They married in the Lord, a godly couple. God brought them together. Thank God for that. We're not told how they got together, but God brought them together. They married and set up a home. What a home it was. But you know, that home, it had its heartaches. And the people within that home, they had their faults. The heartache being that they had no children. But brethren and sister, I want you to notice that though they had their heartaches, Zechariah still served God. He didn't use the barrenness and the childlessness of their marriage to stop them serving the Lord. He didn't say, well, God hasn't given us children, so I blame God for that. And I'm never going to be involved in his work, no. But they served the Lord. but they had their faults. And I said to you that that word blameless does not mean that they were sinlessly perfect. How do I know that? Because I know that Zacharias and Elizabeth were sinners. And because they were sinners, the old nature was there. And I'm sure it rose in the home whenever Zacharias forgot to take his plates to the sink. Whenever he left his maybe clothes line, not putting them into the wash basket, I'm sure Elizabeth maybe had words to say. And Zacharias, I'm sure he forgot to say how lovely the meal was. Maybe something that maybe Elizabeth did, grinded on this man, Zacharias. Oh, the old nature was still there, but the Holy Spirit focuses on one fault, and it's in the life of Zacharias. And you know what the fault was? Very simply, unbelief. Unbelief. If you notice the words in verse number 20, Zacharias is asked, how is this going to happen? How are we going to ever have children? Look at us, we're old. We're old age pensioners. How are we ever going to have children? Gabriel says, and behold, verse 20, thou shalt be dumb and not able to speak unto the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. Listen, brethren and sisters, and young people, listen to this. The sin of unbelief is often found in the best of people, even a spirit-filled person. Even a man serving the Lord, even individuals that are holy and in harmony with one another, the sin of unbelief can occur in the godliest of people. So your mom and dad, they're not perfect. And they never claim to be. But can I say that if they're trying to walk with God and they're trying to obey God and desire to please Him in all things, can I say they demand and they are worthy of our honor and our respect. And so it wasn't a little house in the prairie type of image and picture we're trying to paint here, because there were faults in the home. There were faults, but it was into that imperfect yet godly home that God was going to send the Baptist, the voice. May God give us homes like that. May God give us homes like that in this church, this spiritual home. May this become the womb that bears a John the Baptist. May God help us to live like this man and this woman, even in a godless generation. God give us homes that are built firm on the Savior. May God be pleased to bless His word. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Let's seek the Lord. Our loving Father, we come before Thee. Lord, we cry to Thee that Thou will give us, give me a home like this. Lord, Thou has challenged my heart, bringing off it. And Lord, we cry to Thee, help us to order the child, help us to order our children. And Lord, though there be those among us who maybe have never married, they've never had children yet, Lord, they can still be like Zacharias and Elizabeth, individuals within a church family that the boys and girls and the young people look up to for their godliness and the home that they've established in this community. Oh God, help us to be busy for thee. While it is day, the night cometh when no man can work. And may we never, O God, allow the challenge of this message to leave our minds and our hearts. But may God help us to put into practice within our homes all that we have learned from my word today. May it have come as a word from God, from God. give us godly homes, salt and light in this very dark and corrupt world. For we pray this in Jesus' precious name. Amen. Let's turn in our hymn books. Three, four, three, O the deep, deep love of Jesus, fast and