In the sweet providence of God, we now come to Luke chapter one, verses 76-80, as we continue making our way very meticulously through this amazing gospel. Let me read the passage to you.  I've entitled my discourse "Anticipating the Fulfillment of the New Covenant." Remember now, this is the priest Zacharias. He is rejoicing. He's filled with the Holy Spirit. He knows that he is going to have a son who is going to be John the Baptist. And here's what he says, beginning in verse 76 of Luke one,

"'And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on BEFORE THE LORD TO PREPARE HIS WAYS;

"'To give His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins,

"'because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,

"'TO SHINE UPON THOSE WHO SIT IN DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH, to guide our feet into the way of peace.'

"And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel."

This is an astonishing passage of Scripture, but only if you understand the historical context, and only if you understand the stunning implications of the New Covenant. And my responsibility before the Lord is to make sure those things happen for you this morning; my burden is that you will see some glorious truths here. Let me give you a bit of a background of what we've studied thus far. A couple of weeks ago, we examined Zacharias' celebration of the coming Messiah, that his son John was going to announce, emphasizing elements of the Davidic Covenant. That's kind of where he began promising the eternal rule of the Lord Jesus Christ over all the earth. And then last week, we see how he was talking more about the Abrahamic Covenant, which is more national than universal, revealing God's promised blessings to ethnic, national territorial Israel and their role during the Millennial Kingdom - the redemption of all the people, both Jews and Gentiles, who are reconciled to God through repentant faith in the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. And today we see his emphasis more on the New Covenant. Thus, the title of my discourse "Anticipating the Fulfillment of the New Covenant." And it's the New Covenant that makes the Abrahamic and the Davidic covenants possible. Without the New Covenant, none of this would be possible, as you will see. 

Without it, dear friends, we would all be without hope. We would all perish in our sins and bear in mind that sin is man's innate inability to conform to the moral character and desires of God. We are unable to do that unless God does something. There exists an uncrossable chasm between the infinite holiness of God and we as his sinful creatures; and the only way it can be bridged is through forgiveness of sin and the imputed righteousness of Christ to sinners, and this requires a supernatural work of God. This is not something that we can pull off on our own. God must do this. He must radically change the depraved dispositions of the human heart. But you must understand that the Davidic Covenant that he talked about first - with its promises concerning the eternal rule of Christ over the earth - the Davidic Covenant had no provisions to save people, to transform the heart. Likewise, the Abrahamic Covenant did not promise that either. May I remind you, in the Abrahamic covenant, we read of God's plans to save people and restore all things, including, he speaks of a seed, referring to Christ, who is going to come through Abraham a land or a specific territory that he would give to the people. God would set apart and give to his people, actually from the river of Egypt to the river of Euphrates; a place where he would eventually dwell with them in holy and intimate communion. He promises a nation that would come from Abraham and God's glory would be displayed materially and spiritually and socially. The glory of God's grace would be would eventually be put on display; national promises concerning what's going to happen during the Millennial Kingdom.

And there's also a promise of divine blessing and protection for God's covenant people, which is reaffirmed in the New Covenant blessings that are recorded, for example, in Jeremiah 31; but like the Davidic Covenant, it offered no forgiveness of sins, no saving, transforming grace. Both the Abrahamic and the Davidic Covenant were, what we would call, non-salvific and likewise, the Mosaic Covenant revealed the righteousness of God through his law and the curses that would come upon those who violated the law, which includes all of us. It exposed what's called "the law of sin," and how the law of sin within us exerts its power over us. It proved our inability to overcome the law of sin that ruled us. It demonstrated our desperate need for God's mercy, his grace, his forgiveness, and a righteousness beyond our own; a righteousness that we could never attain, but it made no provision to save sinners and to change the heart. And although the Jewish people have tried, down through the centuries, even to this day, to somehow fulfill the law and earn their salvation, as many others try to do, it's futile. Despite their best efforts, they will always fail because beloved sin is too powerful. We all need a heart transplant, and that's what the New Covenant is all about. Those who had never been born again can never overcome sin because they do not have the Spirit of God dwelling within them. There is nothing there to restrain sin. There is no change of the inner man. Think of unsaved people that you know who struggle with life dominating sins. Many of them fail in significant ways and just kind of live in a dumpster fire of sin. We all know those people. I know them. Have them in my family. It's heartbreaking. And you see people, oh, they go to AA, they go to drug rehab, they go to anger management, marriage counseling, all manner of therapies. They take all kinds of prescription drugs; anything to somehow change their heart and change, therefore, their behaviors. But nothing really works. It might work for a while, but it's always short lived, and typically people just exchange one idol for another. I've seen this over the years. People try to deal with their issues apart from Christ, and all they're doing is rearranging the deck furniture on the Titanic, the ship still sinking.

You might remember when the Israelites affirmed their covenant with God. Remember, in Exodus 24 they vowed to obey His law. Oh, yes, "we're all in." We read about this in Exodus 24 I want to give you a few examples to demonstrate the point here of the desperate need for God to do something beyond the Abrahamic, Davidic and Mosaic Covenant. Exodus 24 beginning in verse four, "Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. In other words, all the law that God had given him.

"Then he arose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with 12 pillars for the 12 tribes of Israel.

"He sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD.

"Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

"Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, 'All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!'

"So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, 'Behold, the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.' "

And if you go on to read the narrative, you'll see that that Moses and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu and 70 of the elders were allowed to see some partial manifestation of the glory of the God of Israel, an amazing scene. And the people saw the glory cloud of the Lord, the dazzling, ineffable light of the shekinah presence of the living God that covered the mountain for six days. Can you imagine that? Imagine seeing that now for six days, and on the seventh day, the text says that God called Moses to enter into the glory cloud of his presence, and the people see him disappear into that cloud. And Moses is there for 40 days and nights. He receives the stone tablets of the law, also called the Tablets of the Covenant, along with detailed instructions, you can read about it concerning the tabernacle and the furnishings in the tabernacle and different kinds of sacrifices and the priests and all of these kinds of things.

And in verse 17, we read that, "...to the eyes of the sons of Israel, the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountain top." Naturally, that's what we would all think. It was absolutely terrifying. It was glorious. That would be a good place to use the overused word "awesome." That would have been awesome. Astonishing talk about a motivation to be obedient to God. I can't think of any more dramatic display of his glory than what they saw. But how long did their commitment last? Less than 40 days. Before Moses descended from the mountain top, they fell into the practices of the pagan culture around them, and they built a golden calf. They even called it Yahweh. They abandoned all moral discernment. The text says that they "rose up to play," which is a euphemism for having a drunken orgy. They indulge in every imaginable form of intoxicated immorality and raucous revelry, all of the types of things that the idolatrous fertility cults around them would do. That's the power of the culture, and that's the power of a depraved heart. My point here is that obviously the Mosaic Covenant that was given to them didn't change them, and it was not meant to save them or transform them. So what was the purpose of the Mosaic Covenant? To expose man's sin and his desperate need for a Savior, because we can't save ourselves. We can't do enough good works to somehow earn our salvation. That's why Paul said in Romans 3:20, "...by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law," catch this, "...comes the knowledge of sin." The supreme commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. How you making out on that? We all struggle, don't we, to love our neighbor as ourselves?

Then you have a 10-fold summary of the supreme Law and the Decalogue - the 10 Commandments. How do we make out on that? Galatians 3:24, "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may just be justified by faith." Dear friends, never underestimate the power of man's sinful nature and his desperate need for what I would call a spiritual heart transplant, which is at the core of the New Covenant promise. I think of Romans three beginning at verse 10,

"...as it is written,

'THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;

"'THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NON WHO SEEKS GOD;

"'ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;

"'THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.

"'THERE THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS;

"'WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS

"'THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS,

"'AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.

"'THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.'"

Folks, you need not look any further than the violent leftist protesters obstructing and attacking the federal law officers trying to arrest the illegal aliens and the criminals in Minneapolis, and other places around our country, and you will see what we see here, "...people whose mouths it says are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood." We see it all around us. Look at the leftist lunatics trying to take over the Democratic Party. Look at the Neo Marxists and the Islamists trying to take over our country, the communists. I mean, we see it. Look at the wickedness in other parts of the world.

Well, Moses understood that the people were incapable of sustained obedience before the Lord from their heart, and he recognized the need for a superior covenant. And it's fascinating that just before the new generation entered into the Promised Land, Moses reiterated the principles of the Mosaic Covenant. And he even spoke in Deuteronomy 29:1 of another covenant. He said quote, "...besides the covenant which God had made with them at Horeb," referring to the Mosaic covenant, and because of what God would eventually do as a result of the New Covenant, Moses, the inspired Prophet made this promise under the inspiration of the Spirit, Deuteronomy 30 beginning at verse one,

 "'So it shall be when all these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you,

"'and you return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons,

"'then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God, has scattered you.'"

In other words, this will be the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant that would be made possible by the New Covenant.

Another example, you will recall when Joshua challenged the people, the Israelites to commit themselves to obeying God's law in Joshua 24 beginning in verse 15,

"'If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods which your father served which were before beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.'"

A lot of us have that plaque on our wall, don't we?

"The people answered and said, 'Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods;

"'for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.'"

In other words, "oh, Joshua, hey, we're all in here, we are all in." and he warns them in verse 20 and following,

"'If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you.'

"The people said to Joshua, 'No, but we will serve the LORD.'

"Joshua said to the people, 'You are witnesses against yourselves, that you have chosen for yourselves the LORD, to serve Him.' And they said, 'We are witnesses.'"

Well, so how long did that commitment last? You guessed it, not very long. Move ahead historically, just a little bit. Judges two, beginning verse seven, it says, "The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who survived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of the LORD which He had done for Israel." And now you would think that the next verse would say, "and they continue to serve him to this very day." But no, despite all their good intentions, their sinful nature was too strong, and soon they compromised with the culture, and they became like the culture, like some of you. In Judges two, beginning in verse 10, "All that generation also were gathered to their fathers..." In other words, they died, "...and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel."

By the way, I could preach a whole sermon right there on the importance of parenting. Folks, you simply must raise your children in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord, or they will wander away into the world that will devour them. It also says a lot about shepherding. Somehow these people did not hear, did not believe. They wandered off. And it says,

"Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals,

"and they forsake forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them and bowed themselves down to them; thus they provoked the LORD to anger.

“So they forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

"The anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them, and He sold them into the hands of their enemies around them, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies.

"Wherever they went, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had spoken and as the LORD had sworn to them, so that they were severely distressed."

So again, neither the Abrahamic, the Davidic or the Mosaic Covenant, could forgive sin. They couldn't change the disposition of a person's heart so that they could overcome the law of sin within them. And so God provided a superior covenant, and this is what is animating Zacharias' praise. God gave the New Covenant, an unconditional, unilateral, eternal, irrevocable promise, to redeem lost sinners from judgment in hell. And also, if you look into the details of it, you see that there are promises concerning national blessings, material blessings to Israel - united and restored Israel - in the land of promise, the rebuilding of Jerusalem; material prosperity, and all of that that would be fulfilled in he Millennial Kingdom. But central to the New Covenant is the idea of God putting his law in our hearts, the hearts of his people, through the indwelling Spirit, writing it on their hearts. Jeremiah 31 for example, beginning in verse 31,

"'Behold, days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

"'not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,' declares the LORD.

"'But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,' declares the Lord, 'I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

"'They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, "Know the LORD; for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the Lord, 'and I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."'"

Oh, the mercy and the grace of God towards sinners. Ezekiel speaks of this as well. For example, in Ezekiel 36 beginning in verse 26,

"'I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

"'I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.'"

Notice, I will, I will, I will, because you can't, you can't, you can't, I will. And then he says, "and you will," It's all of God's grace, isn't it? And by the way, obviously this covenant is in effect in the church age in which we live and we proclaim the gospel, and that is the New Covenant. In fact, in Second Corinthians 3:6 we read that God has made us "sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit." Again, beloved, were it not for the New Covenant, we would never see the reality of our sinfulness, the depravity of our heart. We would never see who Christ really is. I mean, all of that is a work of grace. That is the glorious truth of of regeneration, the idea of being born again; that is a spirit wrought miracle within the heart of man, where he raises us from spiritual death to spiritual life. Regeneration is that supernatural, instantaneous impartation of spiritual life to the spiritually dead, and that's the promise of the New Covenant. And apart from that, despite all of our good intentions, we would never sustain our obedience before the Lord.

Now, occasionally I'm asked, "Well, what about Christians that are enslaved by sin. They just live like the rest of the world. There's really no distinguishing between them and other people that are unsaved. How come the new covenant is not working from them? How come they will embrace things that God calls abominations? Where is the new covenant there?" Well, the issue here is that they are false professors. They have a counterfeit faith that cannot save. Remember, in Luke six, verse 46 Jesus said, "'What do you call Me "Lord, Lord," and do not do what I say?'" And the point is, is because I'm not your Lord, despite what you claim. You see, genuine faith produces the fruit of obedience from the heart. In fact, in that passage in Luke six, just before that, he talks about how a tree will be known by its fruit. He talks about how good trees don't produce bad fruit and bad trees don't produce good fruit. Matthew 7:21, Jesus said, "'Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord!" will enter the kingdom of heaven.'" Then he adds this, "'But he who does the will of My Father, who is in heaven.'" The idea that that's the one that will. You see, obedience is the only reliable indicator of one's faith in Christ. What validates a person's spiritual rebirth, what validates genuine saving faith, is doing the will of the Father, and we cannot do that apart from the power of regeneration that radically transforms our heart. That's what it is to be born again. So many people are self-deceived. They're phony Christians. They're counterfeit Christians. They have no basis to claim genuine saving faith, because they're still slaves to sin. Romans six speaks of this, for example, in beginning in verse six,

"...our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;

"'for he who has died is freed from sin."

I mean, we all know the passage in Second Corinthians 5:17, that, "If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature; the old things pass away; the new things come." There's a radical transformation. I run across this a lot, and I have people interacting with me on this typically not from the church, but from outside the church. They talk about the wickedness that we see in the church. For example, somebody brought it to my mind. There's a queer gospel group, if you can imagine that, a queer gospel group called the Harlem Gospel Travelers, and they were, as I understand, were nominated for a Grammy, if you can imagine that; and they brag about the fact that they are the first openly queer, non-binary gospel group to be nominated for a Grammy. And I saw, I had to look it up, I thought, Oh, boy. Of course, nothing surprises me anymore, but I had to look it up. And I saw a short video of them, and it was so sad. I mean, they had these flamboyant outfits, and they had all of the sodomite talk and all of the gestures and all of this type of thing. And it, frankly, the scene reminded me of the freaks and aliens in the barroom scene in Star Wars. I mean, that's what it looked like. It was just so sad. And again, they were doing everything they could to accentuate their perversions before people. But you see, sadly, these people and people like them, they're not Christians, and they're not proclaiming the gospel. First Corinthians, six, beginning in verse nine,

"...Do not be deceived..." And the idea here is, it's easy to get deceived, "....neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate nor homosexuals,

"nor thieves nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revelers nor swindlers, will enter the kingdom of God."

Folks, there is no such thing as a queer Christian, just like there's no such thing as a pregnant man, despite the insane people that would have us believe otherwise with all this transgender insanity. I mean, think about this, either in the New Covenant God actually caused us to have a new heart and put a new spirit within us and put his Spirit within us that would cause us to walk in his statutes and make us careful to observe his commandments - either he did that and he can do that and continues to do that, - or he doesn't. So whenever I hear about people who claim to be followers of Christ, yet they reject the authority and the rule of Christ in their life, I know that they have no basis to claim genuine saving faith. The New Covenant has never changed them.

And I'm reminded of the phony religious leaders of Israel who wanted to cover their bases for salvation. You remember the narrative in Matthew three, beginning in verse seven,

"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism," by the way, the Pharisees were the legalists, the Sadducees were the liberals; they were political opportunists. So when he saw them, "coming for baptism, he said to them, 'You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruit in keeping with repentance." Now bear in mind repentance is a turning from sin, and faith is turning to God. They're kind of opposite sides of the same coin; and repentance will always be the fruit of faith, never the root of it, never the cause of it. Remember when Paul rejoiced over the Thessalonian believers in First Thessalonians, one nine, he's rejoiced saying how they, "turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God."

Well, all of these illustrations are simply to point you to the fact that the New Covenant makes all of this possible. Beloved, it was the hope of the New Covenant, once again, that animated Zacharias' praise. Yes, he's going to have a son, which is an amazing thing in and of itself, because he was so old and his wife was so old, but that is secondary, if not tertiary to the real issue - the Messiah is coming. So look at the text, verse 76 of Luke one,

"And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; to give His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins." Knowledge here speaks of a personal and intimate knowledge of one's sinfulness and one's need for the Savior. So he's celebrating the New Covenant contrasted it with the Old, as we see in Hebrews eight, beginning in verse seven. And here's such an amazing picture of the contrast. He says, Hebrews 8:7,

"For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second.

"For finding fault with them, He says,

"'Behold, days are coming,' says the Lord, 'when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah;

"'not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; for they did not continue in My covenant, and I did not care for them,' says the LORD,

"'For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,' says the LORD, 'I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

"'And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, "Know the LORD'" for all will know Me, from the least to the greatest of them.

"'For I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.'"

Then it says, "When He said, 'A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear."

Now, with all this background, you can better understand why Zacharias is so excited. He Yes, notice again, verse 76, "And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High." El Elyon, which speaks of the absolute sovereignty of God; the one who is in control of all things. And I would ask you, beloved, is this how you see God; that he is the absolute, sovereign over all that he has created? You remember the angel told Mary in Luke 1:32, "Your Son will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High." You know, unless one understands this about God, and unless one bows before him in reverent worship, that person will perish in their sins. You know demons even know this and they're terrified. You realize that? In Luke eight, you have the account of the demoniac, remember? This guy that was possessed with demons. He's wandering around in the tombs. Nobody can restrain him. And it says, "Seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before Him, and said, in a loud voice, 'What business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me." Remember he said his name was Legion because there were so many demons within him. The demons are speaking, "Do not throw us into the abyss." Remember the story? And Jesus called them out, and they all went into the swine, and the swine rushed over the steep bank into the lake and drowned. Many of us have been there. We've seen where that happened. But those demons knew that Jesus was the Most High God, Son of the Most High God, equal to God in every way.

 Remember the slave girl who was the medium, in other words, the fortune teller; one who's in contact with demons. Acts 16, verse 17, "Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, 'These men are bondservants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation." I'll just give you these illustrations to say, isn't it fascinating that demons will acknowledge who Jesus is, but most people will not?

Well, back to Zacharias' anthem of praise, verse 76,

"And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways;

"to give his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins..."

To give them this personal, intimate knowledge of one's sinfulness, of their need for a Savior. In other words, to give them a profound, convicting consciousness of guilt and the wickedness, the selfishness, that rules their life; the self-will that has ruled their life and offended a holy God. And I want to add this, because this is very important, you must understand that true conviction of sin that precedes genuine repentant faith in Christ includes an unreserved acknowledgment that all that I am and all that I do is fundamentally offensive to a holy God, and there's nothing I can do about it but cry out for a mercy that I do not deserve; to receive, a grace that I do not deserve. And never is a man closer to grace than when he's convinced he cannot have it. When we realize that there is no remedy in ourself, we are helpless, right? We are hopeless. We are doomed. And how often I hear people talk about their profession of faith, like recently, some celebrity was, and this is a paraphrase, said, "I think I'm going to accept Jesus as my personal Savior, just in case the Christian Gospel is true. You know, I better cover all my bases."  I've heard people say that before, "So I'm going to ask Jesus into my heart," and all that silly stuff.

First of all, beloved Jesus must accept you, you don't accept him. You cry out for a mercy you do not deserve, and he is the one that will grant you salvation. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone. And when we cry out for his mercy, we're not deciding to somehow join his team. And all of that will be the work of the Holy Spirit as part of the New Covenant. You see, when a person genuinely comes to saving faith in Christ, there will be some measure, and it's going to manifest itself in different ways with different people, but at the very core, there's going to be an absolute brokenness over sin. There's going to be a deep sorrow over the way we have offended a holy God. There will be an overwhelming sense of guilt. There will be a mourning, and this will always precede genuine saving faith in Christ. This is the central testimony of the Apostle Paul. Remember, in Romans seven and verse 24 he's talking about before he came to Christ, and he said, "Oh wretched man that I am. Who will free me from the body of this death?" Referring to his sinful nature. "Thanks be to God," he says, "through Jesus Christ our Lord." There's the answer. "So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin." In other words, he recognized the enmity even in his unredeemed humanness. It's still going on at some level, but sin no longer reigns when we come to Christ, even though it remains.

This is the testimony of the brokenhearted tax collector. Remember, he was utterly crushed by the awareness of his sinfulness and his desperate need for the Savior. In Luke 18, beginning in verse 13, we read that the tax collector, standing some distance away, from Christ, "...was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'" And then the Lord says, "'I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other,'" referring to the arrogant Pharisee, "'...for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.'"

Now back to our text. I want you to notice that it's God alone that saves, verse 77, he's the one that gives, his people the knowledge of salvation. See what he says, "to give his people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins." And how does he do this? Well, through his chosen servants, in this case, through John the Baptist, who will proclaim his Word. And he says, "the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins." Not through the accumulation of personal merit; and only Christ can forgive our sins. Psalm 32 one, "How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." Ephesians one, verse seven, and following, Paul says, "In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses." In other words, it's Christ who bore our sins, who paid the penalty for our sins with his very blood. Then he says, "...according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will." Why? Well, it was "according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him."

And will you notice again, in verse 78 how it is God who is the root cause of our salvation by the forgiveness of our sins, not we ourselves. He says in verse 78, "Because of the tender mercy of our God..."  In doing the exegesis here on this it's really fascinating. It literally says in the original language, "because of our God's inward parts," or "because of his entrails," or literally "because of his bowels" of mercy. You see, it's a figurative expression describing the effect that emotions have on our internal organs. I mean, we all know that don't we? When something terrible happens, we lose our appetite. You know, when there's great sorrow, there's things that goes on within us that that are not right? And likewise, when there's deeply felt affection, translated here "tender mercies." When there's deep compassion that come from the very core of who we are, there is an effect in the core of our being. That's what this is talking about, with respect to the Lord's love for us. And how often will we say, "I love you with all my heart," the same kind of thing; and when we have a loss of love, we have a broken heart. So many passages, I'll give you one, Philippians 1:8, "For God is my witness," Paul says, "how I long for you with all with the affection of Christ Jesus." Well, the point here is God gives His people knowledge of salvation - the need for the forgiveness of their sins - and this comes out of his deeply felt affection for us - his tender mercies, his compassion - that flow from his innermost being. I cannot fathom such a love, a love that I don't deserve.

I'm reminded of what Jesus said in his high priestly prayer in John 17:26, "'I have made,'"  speaking to the Father, "'I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.'" So again, Zacharias is rejoicing because his son is going to be the prophet of the Most High and he will have a new covenant ministry; a proclamation that will bring to fulfillment certain aspects of the New Covenant through Christ's death, his resurrection and ascension.

Verse 77, "...to give His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise..." could be translated literally the rising, referring to the first light of dawn; it's a figurative expression of the Messiah, "...with which the Sunrise, from on high," or from on height, referring to heaven, "...will visit us." In other words, he's anticipating here, the coming of the Messiah. Many of you are like me, and you love to hunt, and just recently, I've been able to do that, and I get in the deer stand about 30 minutes before dawn, it's still pitch black. You get in there, and you get all quiet, you get hunkered down, and little by little, you begin to see the light of dawn. And whenever that happens, my mind goes to this text and the next one that says in verse 79 speaking of the Sunrise, the Messiah, "...to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death." He's referring to Isaiah nine and verse two, "...to guide our feet into the way of peace." And what is the antonym of darkness? Well, it is light. Isaiah nine, verse two, we read that, "The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them." By the way, the context there is the people have endured the Lord hiding his face because of their sin for a long time. Chapter eight and verse 17 speaks of this. They're living in darkness. Yet despite their rejection of the Lord God, the prophet speaks of his mercy that is still going to come and give them the light of salvation. And bear in mind whenever we see the metaphor of darkness in Scripture, it typically depicts intellectual ignorance; it depicts error, heresy, as well as moral corruption, sin, all manner of wickedness the realm of Satan. Isaiah 59 and verse nine, we read that, "...justice is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, but behold, darkness, for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope along the wall like blind men."  It's like you're blind and you're trying to figure out where to go, so you just hang on to the wall. "We grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at midday, as in the twilight, among those who are vigorous we are like dead men." Boy, does this not describe the world in which we live? A dark world. But thankfully, the Messiah was promised, and he has come.

Verse 79, "To shine upon those who sit in darkness in the shadow of death." Malachi speaks of this in chapter four, verse two, "For you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings." Peter even speaks of this, Second Peter 1:19, "We have the prophetic word," referring to the entirety of the Old Testament, "...made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts." Notice the rising light of the Messiah at the end of verse 79.

Back to Luke one, "To guide our feet into the way of peace." In other words, no more walking in darkness - the darkness of sin; no more floundering around in Satan's kingdom of darkness like so many of our friends and some of my family do, to my sorrow; but rather that light, the light of Christ, will guide our feet into the way of peace. By the way this speaks of not only objective peace, meaning that we are justified; the war with God is over. Romans five and verse one says, "Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." But it also speaks of a subjective peace, that peace, that joy within us. For this reason, we are told not to be anxious for anything, but because the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus. Folks, where would we be if it were not for the light of the world, the Lord Jesus? Where would we be? John 8:12, Jesus said, "'I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life."

Well, finally, this section closes in verse 80, "And the child continued to grow to become strong in spirit," referring again to John the Baptist, "and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel." It doesn't say, but he was probably orphaned at a very young age because his parents were very old and the Spirit of God protected him as he lived in that desert wilderness.

Well, folks, may I challenge you, there's so many things that we can glean from all of this. Certainly, I want you to understand the glory of the New Covenant and its implications in our life. But I would challenge you, especially you parents, pray for your children that they would impart to other people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of sins, all right? Pray that your children would be those like John the Baptist, and pray that we too would have that level of boldness, that we would be ministers of the New Covenant, that we would all be a channel of blessing that brings about peace to people, so that their enmity before God would be over - the war would be over - that they would be justified, declared righteous because of Christ, and that they might enjoy that subjective peace that surpasses all comprehension in Christ Jesus. May we be that kind of person, that kind of man, that kind of woman; that we might enjoy the fullness of all that God has for us in Christ.

Father, thank you for the glorious truths of your word. May they bear much fruit in each heart that we might proclaim the excellencies of Christ, the unsearchable riches of Christ, that many will be saved. And Father, if there be one here today that knows nothing of what it means to be in intimate fellowship with the lover of their soul, Oh, Father, make them miserable until they come to saving faith. Grant them the gift of repentance, give them the gift of faith and save them by your grace, I pray for the glory of Christ, Amen.