We're turning to Luke's Gospel chapter 1 again. Luke's Gospel chapter 1, and we'll read from the 8th verse of the chapter. Luke chapter 1, and we'll commence this reading at the verse number 8. Word of God says, and it came to pass that while he, speaking of Zacharias, 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 at the time of incense. There appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 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 return 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 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 I'm sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee these glad tidings. And behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak. And to 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. It came to pass that as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. Amen. And we'll end our reading for this week at the end of the verse 23. Let's unite in prayer, please. Our loving Father, we come to the public preaching, declaration of thy word. Lord, how we need thy help and thy spirit. Reminded already this morning of how a past anointing is not sufficient for today, how we need, O God, to be anointed with fresh oil. Yet with the psalmist we can say, thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. We pray for the infilling of thy spirit with wisdom and power. Grant, O God, thy word to have free course and be glorified in our midst. Challenge my heart. Challenge the hearts of my brothers and sisters. Challenge the hearts of the unconverted, we pray. Be pleased, O God, to come down into this meeting place. capture all of our hearts, and bring every thought into captivity and into the obedience of Christ. Let us obey Thy Word, not only hearing Thy Word, but heeding and applying it and working it out in all of our lives. And so, grant, O God, help, we pray, for we ask this in and through Jesus' precious and worthy and wondrous name. Amen. Over the last number of weeks I have been attempting at least to paint on the canvas of our minds the backdrop for the coming of the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ, John the Baptist, into the world. We have taken time to consider together the conditions that existed politically, religiously and parentally in the home of John the Baptist and in the nation into which he would be born. And I would encourage you that if you weren't present to hear those messages, I would encourage you to listen to them because I believe that they do contain challenging counsel for us all. Over the next number of weeks I want to focus our thoughts on two utterances that we have here in Luke chapter 1. One an angelic utterance, the other a human utterance. It gives us an insight into the type of man that John the Baptist was going to be and the kind and type of ministry that he was going to exercise when he come on and when he stepped on to Israel's history stage. this Lord's Day, we want to consider the angelic utterance from the angel Gabriel concerning Christ, a forerunner, and a message that I've entitled today, Gabriel's Proclamation concerning the Baptist. Gabriel's Proclamation concerning the Baptist. To consider that subject matter, we want to focus our thoughts upon the words that we have here in Luke 1. the verses 13 through to the verse 17. Now while Zacharias the priest was busy ministering in the place that God had appointed for him to minister, the angel Gabriel is dispatched from heaven with a message from God to him and his wife. Fear not, Zacharias, the angel said, for thy prayer is heard, verse 13, and thy wife, Elizabeth, shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. I believe those words are placed here by the Holy Spirit, for thy prayer is heard. I believe they're placed here for our encouragement today. Remember, Zacharias and Elizabeth were both described in the verse number six as being righteous before God. It is James who reminds us in James 5 verse 16 that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much and such was to be the case in the lives of these righteous ones. God had heard their prayer. That prayer of Zacharias was most likely a An old prayer, it was most likely a prayer that he had prayed many, many years before, and yet God had heard that prayer and he was about to answer it. You see, circumstances had to happen, not only in the life of Zacharias and Elizabeth, but also in the life of Joseph and Mary for that prayer to be heard. You see, John was to be the forerunner of the coming Christ. And there are times that our prayers maybe go unanswered because there needs to be an answer to prayer in some other life before God answers prayer in your particular home. God is always working, always engineering circumstances, always working all things after the counsel of His own will. And so you must never be discouraged, child of God, if you utter a prayer and that prayer seems to go unanswered. because God may have to answer another prayer in another home before your prayer is answered within your home and such was the case in the life of Zacharias and Elizabeth because Jesus Christ was about to come and God had to work to bring Joseph and Mary together in order for that birth to take place and then for the Baptist to precede him by six months. to proclaim that the Lamb of God was coming, the Prince of Peace had arrived. He was coming to take away the sin of the world. I believe that this incident here is one of those Bible incidences that reminds us that unanswered prayers must never be viewed as disregarded prayers. Unanswered prayers must never be discarded or must never be viewed as disregarded prayers. Now sometimes prayer is immediately answered and heard in heaven. I think about Elijah on Mount Carmel and how he prays for fire and how God immediately in hearing that prayer sends fire upon the sacrifice, an incident whereby prayer is uttered and immediately the answer is given. But sometimes the answer is deferred a long time before such prayer is heard. You ask yourselves why? Why does God allow our prayers to go unanswered? There are many reasons. I give you just two. Can I say in the first place that God defers to answer our prayers in order to try our faith and patience. How we need written over lies on many occasions, ye have need of patience. Sometimes an unanswered prayer, maybe for a loved one, for some circumstance in your home, in the nation at large, it's to try our faith. try our patience. Another reason why God may defer to answer our prayers is that we might discover more of the wisdom and the power and the goodness of God whenever He does answer prayer. We see God working it all out. We stand back in amazement and see God's providential and sovereign hand within our lives, and we'll have to declare on that occasion the wisdom of God in it all, the power of God in it all, the goodness of God in it all. To know our prayers are heard is to know that in God's good time, and in God's good way, they will be answered. Thomas Guthrie said, prayers which are not answered at once, nor perhaps for a long time afterwards, may nevertheless be accepted. God's people are apt to forget this, he said. May God help us then to continue instant in prayer. Thy prayer is heard. Fear not, Zacharias. For thy prayer is heard. Brother, sister, your prayer has been heard in heaven. Continue instant in prayer, as you're encouraged to do in Romans 12 and the verse number 12. Well, it was time for God to answer the prayer of Zacharias, a prayer that had lain dormant, I believe, for many years, but was now to come to pass in the birth of John the Baptist. Now, while no parent knows what kind of child God would gift, to them, Zacharias and Elizabeth were going to be different because they knew exactly what type of child God was going to give them. They were given a unique insight into what their son was going to be and what their son was going to do by this angelic messenger, something that is quite unique whenever If you are a parent, your wife told you that she was expecting. God never sent you an angelic messenger to tell of what type of son or daughter they were going to turn out to be, but Zacharias and Elizabeth are a unique couple. We have noticed that. God is going to reveal to them what John the Baptist was going to be like and we're going to consider some of those statements that we find here in Gabriel's proclamation concerning the Baptist and see what lessons we can learn from them today. In the first place, I want you to notice with me the joy, the joy that John was going to bring to his home and to his community. The joy that John the Baptist was going to bring to his home and to his community. Note the verse number 14 and the words of Gabriel to Zacharias. He said, and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. Now some parents, some parents could foresee how wicked, how sinful, how rebellious some of their children would grow up to be. instead of them rejoicing at their birth, whose parents would grieve at their birth. They would wish that that child had never been born. However, John was going to be a great comfort. He was going to be a great blessing to his parents. His presence within the home was going to generate happiness and great delight to his aged parents. And that joy was going to be felt beyond the four walls of that home there in the hill country of Hebron, for it was going to break out into the very community into which John the Baptist would be born, because we're told that the community at large were going to rejoice at his birth as well. Now all of us are sons and daughters. Sadly, some of our parents are no longer with us because of death. But those of us whose parents are still alive, let me ask you this question. Do you bring joy and gladness to their hearts? Do you bring joy and gladness to their hearts? Are you a source of joy to your parents? See, whenever a child is born as a result of prayer, and that prayer is continually offered for them throughout their lives, while at the same time the child is trained up in all the commandments and the ordinances of God, as we read there in Luke chapter 1 and the verse number 6, the parents walked in those ways, I believe they brought the child up in those ways as well. When a child is born into that atmosphere, into that particular home, that child is more likely to bring joy and gladness to the hearts of their parents than a child who has never been prayed for, and who is allowed to live a life that is not curbed, not restrained by the commandments and by the ordinances of the Lord. And notice that I said that the child is more likely more likely to bring joy and gladness, but that is not always the case. Many a child has been brought up in a godly home, a Christian home, and has brought shame and disgrace, has brought tears and heartaches to their godly parents because of their sinful lifestyles and choices. quoted a verse last week concerning a young man who decided to marry outside of the family of God. Well worth repeating again, it's concerning Esau. We read there in Genesis 26 and the verse 35 that when he came to choose a wife, he didn't choose from his own family. He instead chose to marry a wife or two wives out of the enemies of Christ from the Hittites. And we read there that they were a grief of nine. Onto Isaac and to Rebecca. I wonder, is there a mother here today? Is there a father here today? Their son, their daughter, is a grief of mind onto them. I know that there are parents here today. I know that there are individuals who are brokenhearted because of their wayward children, but I want you to remember this. Prodigals always find their way back home. Prodigals always find their way back home. So keep praying, keep witnessing, keep seeking God, because God can turn their hearts back to him again. Adam Clarke said, a child of prayer and faith is likely to be a source of comfort to his parents. Where proper attention paid to this point, there would be fewer disobedient children in the world, and the number of broken hearted parents would be lessened. A child of prayer and faith is likely to be a source of comfort to his parents. So let me ask you, you who have parents still living, whether you're young, whether you're old, are you a source of joy and gladness? to your parents? Or do you walk about the home as a wet week, as my mother would often say? Are you a turmoil to them? Do you bring turmoil into the home, disagreements into the home by your attitude within the home? I speak to every teenager, every young person still under the mother and father's roof? Are you bringing joy and gladness into that home? Because John the Baptist did. And this is an example for us to follow, young person, older person. You'll bring joy and gladness to your Christian parents when you first of all turn from your sin and trust in Jesus Christ. Because what joy, what joy enters the heart of a father and a mother when their own flesh and blood comes into saving union with the Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest joy that a Christian parent can have is to know that their child is saved from sin and hell and saved by grace and ready for heaven. Albert Barnes said this, if a child wished to confer the highest possible happiness upon his parents when with them, it would be by becoming a decided Christian. If when abroad in foreign lands or on his own, he wished to convey intelligence to them that would most thrill their hearts with joy, it would be to announce to them that they have given their heart to God. There is no joy in a family like that when children are converted. There's no news that comes from abroad that diffuses so much happiness through the domestic circle as the intelligence that a child is truly converted to the Savior. There is nothing that would give more peace to the dying pillow of a Christian parent than for them to leave the world with the assurance that their child is converted. Greater joy, no greater joy that you could give your Christian mother or father today than to be saved by God's grace and made ready for heaven. So let me ask you, are you a Christian? Are you ready for heaven? Have you been brought into saving union with Jesus Christ? Are you depending alone upon the righteousness of Christ as your only merit of heaven? I tell you, when you are, you'll bring joy and gladness to your mother and father. But do you remain in your sin? You'll break your mother and father's heart, and they'll die a broken-hearted person, knowing that you lived for sin and for self, and you died and went to hell. I trust that you'll come to Jesus Christ. You'll bring joy and gladness when you're trusting alone in Jesus Christ, but you'll bring joy and gladness to your parents when you walk in the truth. When you walk in the truth. Referring to spiritual children, I believe the words of A third John, one in the verse number four, can just as well refer to physical children. There John said, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. To walk in truth, not only to be converted, not only to be saved, but actually to walk in the truth of God's Word. Thy Word is truth. To walk in the truth of Christ. Christ is truth. These things cause joy and gladness to see their child, to see their son, to see their daughter growing up in the things of God and becoming one who believes God, one who has convictions, Bible-based convictions and sees them worked out in their home and in their family when that is established as they marry in the Lord. No greater joy could that bring to a parent's heart than to hear that their children are walking in truth. I wonder, parent, is that your joy today? Many a parent, they rejoice that their son has been promoted to some place within their business. And that brings them great joy. Some person, they're encouraged and they're blessed because that child gets an honors degree. or a master's degree and that's what brings them joy or they get a lovely house and they're able to pay the mortgage and they've got lovely possessions and their parents they boast about those things but Christian parent this is where your joy is to be that your children are walking in the truth and though they be purred And though their jaws may be menial, yet if they walk in the truth, what a blessing. This is to bring your joy, Christian parent, that they walk in the truth. Let's pray that our children walk in the truth. Yes, and you'll bring joy and gladness when you honor and obey your parents, if you're a son or daughter. It seems to be that respect for parents, or disrespect for parents, is the order of the day. But when a boy, when a girl, when a son, when a daughter obeys and honor their parents, it brings great joy and it brings great gladness to a father and a mother. And I know that there are times whenever you're in teenage years, things seem to be difficult and hard for you at school, but I tell you, you're to bring joy and gladness to your mother and father. be seen, and then walk in the truth, and then honor and obey them in the Lord. And by doing so, you will bring joy and gladness to their hearts. I trust that your presence in your home, I trust that it brings joy to your parents. I trust that your conduct, I trust that your conversation in your home is a source of gladness to your mother's heart. and even those within the wider community. When they come into contact with you, may they remark that they're the better for the meeting of you. Because John's birth was to bring gladness not only to the home, but to the community. Because he was going to bring the greatest message, the gospel message. A deliverer was on the way. The Messiah was about to be born. A Saviour was about to be given to the world and they believed on that and they were saved. John the Baptist turned many, many on to God, turning them away from their sin. And whenever that happens, joy and gladness fills the heart. fills the heart of the person who was bowed down by their sin, under the weight of their sin. Joy and gladness fills the soul when the person, when the sinner is converted to Jesus Christ. Oh, that we would be used as men and women that turn many sons to Christ. That's the first point. I want you to see in the second place, John's greatness in the sight of the Lord. John's greatness in the sight of the Lord. You know, there are many who strive to be great in the sight of their fellow men. The journey to which causes a man or a woman to be callous, cruel, selfish, ruthless with those who get in their way to greatness. However, the only greatness that matters is when a man or a woman, when a person is found to be great, in the sight of the Lord. pontetins, conquerors and leaders of armies, state men and philosophers, artists and authors. These are the kind of men that the world calls great. Such greatness, he said, is not recognized among the angels of God. Those who do great things for God, they reckon great. Those who do little for God, they reckon little. They measure and value every man according to the position in which he is likely to stand at the last day. I smiled when I read this statement by some unknown author. He said, when God measures the greatness of an individual, he puts the tape measure round the heart and not the head. When God measures greatness, he puts the tape measure around the person's heart and not the head. Mr. Greatheart, ever read him, about him in Pilgrim's Progress? You should. Mr. Greatheart, that's the person who is great before God. It was Evangelist D.L. Moody who remarked, the beginning of greatness is to be little. The increase of greatness is to be less. The perfection of greatness is to be nothing, to be a nothing. To me, a nobody. That's what it is to be great. Yes, a nobody in man's sight, but to be great in God's sight. Brethren and sisters, this is what we must strive for. It's very interesting to notice in this chapter that the king of Judah, or Judea at this time, is known as who? Herod the Great. That's how he was known. in the community, those who served him, those who feared him and those who were under his governance, that is how he was known, Herod the Great, he is termed here just in the verse number And the verse number one, there were in the days of Herod, but there were many Herods. There was Herod Agrippa, Herod Antipas, but this one is known as Herod the Great. That was how he was known. But notice how the Holy Spirit calls him. What is the name that the Holy Spirit gives him? The author of this book, verse number five, there were in the days of Herod. And he drops off his title, how he's known. Yes. The greatness is taken from Herod, and it is attributed to whom? A preacher of righteousness, a preacher of repentance, a preacher of the gospel. It is John who has said, verse 15, for he shall be great. He's going to be the great one, not Herod, not the one who has wealth, not the one who has armies, Not the one who is richest, not the one who is palest, not the one who is lauded by society at large. No, he's not going to be great. Herod's not going to be great. But the Baptist, the one who's going to be clothed in camel's hair, the one who's going to eat locusts and honey, the one who's going to preach repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, this is the great one. John the Baptist was going to be great. You see, when we read this, we see that God's estimation of greatness is much different than man's estimation of greatness. It's certainly different, at least from man's estimation. In the estimation of the world, you may never be great. You may never be great in the sight of your peers. You may never be great in the sight of your friends. But I can say that if you walk with God, you'll be great in God's sight. And that's all that matters. Listen to these words of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can look at them, they're found in Luke 7, verse 28, if you so desire. This is what Jesus Christ said, for I say unto you, among those that are born of woman, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. And then he says this, but He that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. The least in the kingdom of God is greater than the greatest prophet that ever lived on this earth, save the Lord Jesus Christ, who was the great prophet of Jehovah. But even the least in God's kingdom is greater than the Baptist. Too many of us, we get over-concerned about being great in the sight of her peers and the sight of her friends. But we fail to recognize that the only greatness that matters is our greatness before God. You know, John the Baptist wasn't great in birth. He was only a preacher's son, a priest's son. He wasn't great in blood. He wasn't great in worldly riches or in grandeur. But he was great in gifts. He was great in grace. He was great in his work, he was great in his office, he was great in his usefulness for God. May we strive to be like the Baptist. May we strive to be great in God's sight and only in God's sight. I read this, the elements of greatness in the estimate of God are devotion to his service, burning convictions, intense moral earnestness, superiority to sensual delights, clear recognition of Jesus, and humble self-abnegation before him. I wonder do you, wonder do I possess such elements that make a person great before God's sight? let us concern ourselves to a far greater extent than we have been in how we appear before God's sight and how we appear before the sight of man. He was great in the sight of God. Note a third thing from Gabriel's proclamation about the Baptist, namely John's abstinence. John's abstinence. The angelic messenger told John's father in the verse 15 that his son shall neither drink wine nor strong drink. Let me say this very clearly, nothing good has ever come out of a distillery, nothing good has ever come out of a brewery, nothing good has ever come out of a public house, nothing ever good has come out of an oath license, nothing good has ever come out of a beer bottle, nothing good has ever come out of a wine bottle, only sorrow and hurt and regret. Nothing good has come out of such places. Nothing good has come out of such places. I believe that the Scriptures by exhortation and by example strongly argue for total abstinence when it comes to the consumption of alcohol. John, in an act of self-denial, abstained from all worldly stimulants, allowing him to think clearly and to walk soberly before God and men. And I say, brethren and sisters, there is a constant battle. There is a constant battle with our fleshly appetites. to indulge in the substances of the world. Yet a man or woman who wants to be used by God needs to do what Paul had to do. 1st Corinthians 9 27 but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection lest I by any means when I have preached unto others I myself would become a castaway self-restraint in a world that has thrown away all restraint is what we must and what God requires in the service of God. Now, none of us are beyond such a temptation. If you think you are, you need then to carefully read the end of Noah's life, the end of Noah's life. After all the great things that Noah did, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, Noah succumbed to the fruit of the vine and ended up a drunkard. He ended up a drunkard. Noah, He ended up a drunkard. Oh, that God would preserve this preacher. May God preserve our office bearers. May God preserve our members. May God preserve everyone within this preaching house from the curse of drink. From the curse of drink. May God help us. And may God help us to resolve by God's grace that like John, we shall neither drink wine nor strong drink. One of the distinctives of the Free Presbyterian Church is that we are sanctified in behavior. What we mean by being sanctified in behavior is this, that we are to live, and I quote, a godly life in obedience to the scriptures which call on God's people to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present world. Testimonies of holiness and righteousness are vital to the life and the witness of Christ's church in a world that is increasingly plagued by the pleasure crazes of this generation such as drinking, dancing, and gambling. We are to be sanctified in behavior, brethren and sisters. And I believe that this is the only safe option for us. that we shall neither drink wine nor strong drink. Sobriety, the state of being sober, is called for time and time again in the Scriptures. Let me read them for you. You can write them down. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 6 to 8. Therefore let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober for they that sleep in the night and they that be drunken are drunk in the night. But let us who are off the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love for a hamlet in the hope of salvation. Titus 2, 11 and 12. For the grace of our God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men, teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, We should live how? Suberly, righteously and godly in the present world. 1 Peter 1 verse 13, Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope unto the end for the grace that is brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 6, But the end of all things is at hand, Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. 1 Peter 5 verse 8, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a rowing lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Now the works of the flesh are listed for us in Galatians chapter 5. And what is one of the works of the flesh? Drunkenness. It is a work of the flesh. Drunkenness. But the fruit of the Spirit, what does it produce? Temperance, self-control, brethren and sisters. You may deny that, you may argue from it, but to avoid any stumbling to a weaker brother, to preserve your testimony, to preserve this church's testimony, let a draught of the water of life satisfy your brother. Let a draught of the water of life satisfy your thirst, sister, until you drink from the fruit of the vine with Christ in the Father's kingdom. Be temperate. John the Baptist, he drank neither wine nor strong drink, incorporating a low alcohol percentage, and then the strong drink. Every eventuality is covered in the life of the Baptist. God was going to use him as God's servant. May God keep us from the drink. May God keep us sober, alert in these days as we see Christ coming, appearing. Let us not give ourselves to licentiousness and to loose living, but let us be of the day, brethren and sisters. Let us be sober and may God help us to believe for Jesus Christ. Fourthly, quickly, you see encounter action to being filled with wine, John the Baptist was going to be filled with something. He was going to be filled with the Holy Ghost. The angelic messenger, notice John's filling with the Holy Ghost, told Zacharias that his son would be filled, verse 15, he would be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. Now, if you want that explained, you may ask someone else. How can we explain such a statement as one of the most profound, one of the most mysterious, one of the most difficult statements to explain written about any mortal man? But all we can do is we can take it on face value. John the Baptist was sanctified, set apart, and ordained by the Holy Ghost to be a prophet of the Most High from his mother's womb. Matthew Henry? One of the most respected Bible commentators of the church history, he said this, it is possible that infants may be wrought upon by the Holy Ghost even from their mother's womb. And I'll leave that with you. But by filling John with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb, God was divinely equipping him and empowering him for service and ministry that he would come and would give in coming days. Brethren and sisters, we have a family unit here. In Zacharias, Elizabeth, and now in John, we have a family unit where every member is filled with the Holy Ghost. Remember I showed you that last week? Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. John was filled. Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost. A family unit where every person was filled with the Holy Ghost, male, female, young, Every family member knew what it was to be filled by the Spirit of God. And instead of being filled with strong wine and strong drink, the forerunner of Christ was filled with the Holy Ghost. Later, Paul would write these words, Ephesians 5, 18, be not drunk with wine where it is in excess, but be filled with the Spirit. What a home that must have been. Because in that home, Those individuals being filled with the Holy Spirit, therefore they bore in their lives the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance. All of the fruits of the Spirit, all of the graces of the Spirit were displayed in that home. What a home. And it's all because the Spirit of God had taken possession of every member of the family. Oh, may God give us homes like that. We need the unfilling of the Spirit. We're going to serve the Lord to any degree of success. We cannot and we dare not serve God in our own strength and wisdom. We must have the help of the Spirit, and He comes in answer to prayer. Luke 11, 13. If ye then be an evil, though I do give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? Finally, very quickly, when you think about John's effective ministry. And we're going to see that effective ministry in the coming weeks. And so we don't have time today to develop the thought, but we notice in the verse 16 and 17 that John, by his ministry, is going to turn many Israelites on to God. Many of his fellow countrymen, he's going to turn them on to the Lord. Verse 16, and many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. Aye, and he goes on to say that he's going to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just and to make a people prepared for the Lord. That was his ministry, brethren and sisters. It was to turn sinners to the Lord, to the Lord. It is not our primary responsibility to turn sinners to the Free Presbyterian Church. That is not our responsibility. Many a man, many a woman, many a boy, many a girl has gone to Free Presbyterian Church and has died in their sin and went to hell. And maybe you're going to make up part of that company if you sinner do not turn from your sin and trust in Jesus Christ. It is my responsibility. It is your responsibility as a believing child of God to turn the ungodly to the Lord. We are duty bound to point sinners to the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Men and women, teenagers, boys and girls turn on to the Lord their God Then the hearts of the fathers will be turned to the children. The hearts of the disobedient will be turned on to the wisdom of the just. A.T. Robinson remarked, one of the first results of conversion is the revival of love in the home. A revival of love in the home. I wonder, do you know a home that is rent asunder because of sin? Do you know a home where love is absent? Do you know a home where conflict is constant? Do you live in such a home? The answer to that home is not for more benefits to be thrown to that home. The answer for that home is not for some intervention by a marriage counselor or by some social worker. The answer to that home is for Christ to enter the home. and for Christ to capture the hearts of those who live there, to cleanse those sin-stained hearts from sin, and to turn the hearts of the family members back to each other. In other words, brethren and sisters, the answer is the gospel. The gospel. For the broken homes that are outside these walls, is not for us as a church to throw a barbecue for them in order to try and help them to like us. The answer is the gospel. the gospel reminds the sinner that they must repent of their sin and they must turn on to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the gospel that will cause the family to be again established in our home as the pillar and the ground of that nation's stability. It is the gospel that's the answer, brethren and sisters. John the Baptist looked at the broken society in which he lived, the broken society of his day, and he came to realize that the gospel was the only remedy for the social ills of his generation. May God help the church to realize the same thing. While we pander to everything and try to engineer other things. May we realize, brethren and sisters, that the only thing that will change our homes and our families and our community and this nation is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Christ. Because it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And this is what the Baptist was going to do. Under God, he was going to be used to turn the hearts of people back to God. And then having done that, turn the hearts of people back to people. This is how bad society was in John's day, that the heart of the father had to be turned to the child. And we're living in such a generation where fathers don't care for their children, their own flesh and blood. But the answer is the gospel. The Lamb who's on the way, upon whom all eyes will be turned. The Lamb's the answer. Christ is the answer. Christ is the answer for your home and your family. May God help us to live like John the Baptist, and may God use us to turn many onto Jesus Christ. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Can I thank you for your attention? We are a little longer today. But I trust that the message has been a blessing, a challenge to you. And I trust that God will use it to help us to live for God in these days. Our loving Father, we thank you for thy word to our hearts. We thank you for the truths that we've been learning about John. even before he comes onto the stage of history. We thank thee for the one who came before the Messiah and pointed men and women away from himself and to the Lamb of God who alone can take away the sin of the world. Let us be like the Baptist in our living. Let us live temperate lives. Let us live lives to the glory of God. Let us live lives that are full of the Spirit of God. Let us bring joy and gladness to our homes. Let us not be those that bring turmoil and conflict and arguments into our families and causing our parents' hearts to be broken, but let us live circumspectly. Godly, let us live in accordance to Thy laws and Thy statutes. Help us, Heavenly Father, to live to Thy glory. Answer prayer. Bless every family here. And, O God, for those that are wandering, Encourage, O God, thy children today, reminding them that the prodigal finds his way home. O bring the prodigals home, we pray, and unite our families in Christ, for we pray this in and through Jesus' precious name. Amen. Thank you.