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Dec 03, 2023

True Hope

True Hope

Passage: Luke 1:10-12

Speaker: Matt Petty

Series: Christmas At Burnt Hickory

Category: Sunday Sermons

Keywords: love, church, worship, prayer, faith, christmas, jesus, god, sermon, christian, bible, christ, hope, joy, sermons, holy spirit, peace, angels, mary, nazareth, jesus christ, the bible, christianity, nativity, joseph, bible study, bethlehem, birth of jesus, joy to the world, mary and joseph, christmas story, study the bible, christmas sermon series, christmas season, bible teaching, christmas sermons, story of jesus, jesus is born, 2023, burnt hickory worship, burnt hickory baptist church live stream

We begin the Christmas season with a sermon series diving into the aspects of the advent – hope, joy, love, and peace. This week as we look at the source of our true hope, we see that it comes from a God who has come to earth to be among us. Hope is the expectation of future blessings and the confidence that the best is yet to come. As Christ followers, we can have true hope because Jesus removes our past, reshapes our present, and refocuses our future. Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come to His people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant Daved, salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. That’s what brings us hope this Christmas – Jesus. If you’ve got questions about Jesus or want to know more about placing your hope in the finished work of Christ as you call Him savior, then reach out today. We would love to take the time to answer any questions you’ve got and pray with you. As always, you can take the next step by visiting burnthickory.com/next

Christmas truly is a wonderful time like no other. And when I think about my childhood Christmases, my heart is full. But the joy of Christmas doesn't just live in the past. It's right here, right now. The greatest gift any of us can give our families this Christmas doesn't come from having the biggest tree or the most gifts under it. But by keeping the hope, love, joy and peace of Christ at the very center of our hearts and the center of our homes. Christmas is so much more than a season. It's a celebration of the one who gave himself to us. He is our treasure and he is our prize. Make the very best memories you will ever have this Christmas, by giving your family the greatest gift of all

Well Church, I hope you had an incredible week this week. I know that we did. As we said last Sunday, our whole ministry lead team jumped on an airplane this week and spent the week in Guatemala together. And it was like the Clampetts went to Guatemala. Let me just tell you, with our group, it was like a family that was traveling together, but it was awesome. It really was. I brought a picture with me this week. We were trying to be nice to each other just for a few minutes to get a good picture there. And Josie should have just been in charge. Let me just tell you for the whole week, what we realized was how incredible she really is at Children's ministry. One day we were doing some leader training and Josie and I had the leaders of the kids ministry and some of the other leaders for the area. We were doing this training and all the rest of the pastors and Chip Vincent had to go do the morning with about 75 Ninos that didn't speak English and it was awesome watching these incredibly trained men chase these little kids around for the morning. But man, it was a blessed week this week. And just want to let you know if you have not taken the chance to go on one of our Guatemala trips down with Pastor Marvin, your heart will be changed. You need to do that. He tells me to send greetings to you and tell you how much you are loved and how much he prays for this church. So, guys, bless you this week for having just given us this opportunity to be there and jump on the next trip.

All right. Well, look, we have officially launched the Christmas season. I don't know if you've noticed yet, but every radio station that you turn to is all things Christmas all the time. The lights are up around town. Almost 90% of you have made your obligatory Instagram post with your Christmas tree and feet in it with the fire going. All of that has happened and most of us are already nervous because of how much we spent on Cyber Monday. That means Christmas is here, but that means that we are starting our Christmas series today. We're starting a four week kind of march towards Bethlehem. But what we're going to do is we're going to do it through the lens of some of the most incredible blessings that God has promised his people. And God has passed them down from generation to generation. And these aren't just the family traditions or recipes or stories of the good old days, and they're not even just the kind of life hacks that get us through the holidays til January. The blessings that we're going to look at over these next couple of weeks really focus on the truth that Christmas is not just a time about giving and family. It's a time that we celebrate that Jesus was given to make us family. That's what we're going to look at over these next couple of weeks. And actually, the four things that we're going to look at are four of the bedrocks of our faith and the promises of what God has given us. You can really say the four things that we look at are the four foundational words of Advent.

Now, I know some of you are new to church, but I also know that some of you grew up in faith traditions that celebrated Advent and celebrated it bigly, right? Bigly, I don't think that's a word, but you get it right. You grew up in churches where someone lit the candle every week, where everything was about Advent, where everything was set around the advent. The good news is that we are going to walk through some of the themes of Advent, but we're not going to exactly follow all of the traditional things that come with it. We're going to have it in the Spirit. Because here's what Advent means. I know some of you are new to church. You're like Advent, I thought it was the Christmas season. Yes, it's both because Advent is really just a way that we describe the anticipation of the coming of King Jesus. That's what Advent is. It's a time in our calendar every year where we set aside to prepare our hearts or align ourselves into the message that God is coming. Now, Advent is a season. It's a December season that points towards the birth of Christ. It's an anticipation season. It's less of a God fix me season. A more of a God be with me season. So what we're going to do is we're going to look forward to the birth of Jesus. In a single statement, Advent is a season that God comes and He comes into the craziness, He comes into the shame, He comes into the pain and the busyness and the chaos.

But advent literally means that God is coming. So this morning, as we celebrate the beginning of this season, we're going to do it and really, we're going to do it with thousands of other churches, with thousands of other people, with thousands of years of saints doing it. And it all begins with a promise. Advent begins with a promise. And that promise is this principle I put in your notes. You can write it down. Here it is. The promise of Advent starts with the idea that God is a God who has come to Earth and has given us hope. That's the beginning of the whole march to Bethlehem. And it starts with this incredible message of hope and the hope message is simply this: Jesus has come as Emmanuel and Jesus is coming as the Lord and the Savior, the one that is mighty to save. That church is where we find our true hope. Before we get to our main text later on in Luke chapter one, let me just describe to you and define what hope is. Here it is. I gave you the definition in your notes. Hope is defined as the expectation of future blessings and the confidence that the best is yet to come.

Now, hope is one of those words, leave that definition up there, that we've all heard the word, but we've never really been able to articulate what exactly it is. Hope is the idea that the best is not yet here, that the best has not yet come. And church, that exactly describes why we place our faith in who Jesus is, because we know that all of this stuff this world brings us does not get us to the point where we know that one day we have hope in the fact that Christ will return and it tells us that we have hope. I got to thinking about something this week as I was preparing this message. Did you know that there was a time on this earth where hope was not needed? Have you ever thought about this? There was a time in creation where no one needed hope, where hope didn't even exist and hasn't even been created yet. You say Matt, what are you talking about? Go with me back to the beginning of time. When God created the earth, when God created mankind. What did the Bible say? The Bible says that God was fully with us, right? It said that he walked in the garden, His full presence was with them, that they were in perfection. There was constant communication and presence. But what the Bible also says is instead of us living in the fullness of the presence of God, we as mankind, we chose to walk away from God. We chose to walk our own way, to do our own thing. And listen to this. It was at that point when the divide between a holy God and a sinful man happened, that God had to create hope. Now, this is pretty profound because up until that point it wasn't needed. The best was not yet to come. They were living in the best. But at that point, when sin entered the world, God had to begin to give them a way back to him. He had to begin to give them hope. And when you think about it, it's logical. Why? Because the rest of the Old Testament is about hope. The rest of the New Testament is about God giving hope.

We see it in the promises of the coverings of their sin in Genesis, where God gave them away back to Him to cover their shame. We see it in Abraham in Genesis Chapter 12, where God called a nation to bless them and deliver them. We see them in the we see this hope in the laws of Moses that if people would walk in these walls, that God would be with them. We see them in the temple worship of the Old Testament that once a time, a year on the day of atonement, that their hope would be brought to them, their sins would be covered. We see this in a continual Passover message that the Lamb of God would be slayed for their sin. We see this in the continual messages of the prophets don't we? That they spoke of a hope that was coming, a message that was coming, a messiah that would come, and that one day this Messiah would come and He would bring hope.

Friends, God is the ultimate hope giver. He is the one that has always wanted to be with us. He is the one who has always given us a way. He is the one that has gone out of his way to warn us and provide for us all the way through the Old Testament. When we get to about 700 years before the birth of Christ in the Old Testament and God sends this man name Isaiah, he sends this prophet named Isaiah. Now, Isaiah, he wrote a lot. He was famous, but he wasn't always popular. His message wasn't always received. Right. But he was the poster boy for hope. He was the voice of hope. Why? Because God gave Isaiah an incredibly clear picture of the hope that those people and us can have in salvation. He gave them an incredible picture of how and where and why the Messiah would come with this incredibly strong glimmer of hope that one day and all the pain and all the shame a messiah would come and he would deliver them. In fact, Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14, says this Here's the message. Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign the Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and we'll call him Emmanuel. They knew what that meant. They knew that God was going to send the Messiah to be with them. In verse chapter nine, Isaiah said this in verse six Speaking of the one that was coming, he said, For unto us, a child is born, a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful counselor, Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And of the greatness of His government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness. From that time and forever, the zeal of the Almighty Lord will accomplish this. Do you see what's happening? In a time that people were walking away from God, although all hope was lost, Isaiah and many other prophets heard from God, had a message from God and a warning from God that God was giving hope because he's the hope giver.

You can imagine the hope that this brought them, but just like many of us, the people eventually did, as most of us are prone to do. And that was instead of relying on the hope that God was sending, they began to rely on themselves. They began to seek out hope on their own. They begin to put their hope and their own talents out on their own treasures or in their own image, their own fame and their self pride and false gods. And eventually God said okay, and he gave them over to their own pleasures. That's what God did, and that's what God does. But before he did, that being the God of hope, He gave them one more messenger named Malachi. He's the last prophet of the Old Testament in Malachi, Chapter three. Listen to what the hope that he has for us, where God said God said, I will send my messenger who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple and the messenger of the Covenant, whom you desire will come, says the Lord Almighty. And so with this proclamation from the Prophet Malachi, the Old Testament, catch this church, closes with a promise that one day one would come and that one would make a way for the Messiah.

Now, let me give you a little bit of history. After this proclamation, God went silent for 400 years. Imagine this with me just for a minute. For 400 years, there was no voice of God. There was no work of the Holy Spirit on people's lives. There was no new messages, no new warnings, no new comfort. Think about what 400 years is. I was in Washington, D.C. with the family about two weeks ago looking at our original documents and I was already studying this. But I was just thinking our country is only a little under 250 years old. For 400 years, God said nothing because he gave the people over to their hearts. For 400 years it was silent. Think about the lack of hope. Think about the lack of promise in God's people. And then we get to Luke chapter one. Now, I know I've spent a lot of time building this, but you've got to see that this is the God of hope that He doesn't just leave us. He doesn't just walk away from us. If you have a copy of Scripture, turn with me to Luke chapter one. Because it's in Luke, Chapter one that the advent begins and the hope begins to rise. In this chapter, we meet an old priest named Zechariah. And Zechariah is an incredibly amazing figure in Scripture. In fact, Zack's name literally means that God remembers his wife's name is Elizabeth. We're going to meet her in a few minutes, and her name literally means my God of the oath. When you smash those two together, how incredible is it that God set these two people up to be the people that says that God remembers his oath? Which is greatly ironic because these two people, this couple, are very religious, their lives show it. They've been living out the message of God, but God has been silent. They were old. The Bible clearly says they were old. They didn't have much time left. They didn't have any children, which was seen as a disgrace. They had nobody that was going to take care of them. They were living in a time of harshness under one of the most evil rulers of all mankind named Herod. All of this while God was silent and Zachariah was a faithful priest, the Bible says. What does that mean? That means he took care of his local synagogue. He did the work of God. He read the Torah over his people. He trained his people, even though God had said nothing. He still walked in his presence. Zechariah was a priest from a small town up in the hill country of Judea, and his division that day was on duty in the Temple of Jerusalem.

Here's what that means. During that time, there were synagogues that were spread out all over the world, all over the nation, the known world there. And they were all priests; about 18,000 of them were divided into 24 teams. And all these teams, they would spend two weeks a year where they would be called out of their local context. They would go up to Jerusalem to take care of the affairs of the temple, of the presence of God. So they would all of them come in for two weeks, they would set up camp, they would move into the temple, and when they got there, they didn't know what their role would be. There were more priests than there were roles, and so they would do what they called casting lots over, finding out what their specific role would be. When they cast the lights, they would find out what their role would be for the next two weeks or on these days. And what the Bible is describing to us here is that Zachariah ended up in the fourth lot casting. That means nothing to us but to them. It meant that the Zechariah was chosen to burn the incense on the holy incense altar.

Now I know that clears it up for us, right? No. Let me teach you a little bit about the temple. In the temple we have what's called the Holy of Holies. It's the center of the universe for the Jews world. It was where God's presence reigned prior to the Holy Spirit being placed into people's lives for the day of Pentecost. But right outside the Holy of Holies, because nobody could go in the holy of holies. Once a year, the High priest could enter the Holy of holies at the day of atonement, having a rope tied around him, right, to present the sins of mankind to God, to have them cleansed. But every other day, right outside of the holy of holies was what was called the Holy incense altar. Right outside of that holy of holies was a room, was the incense altar. There was a couple other items in that room, and not just anybody got to go in there. It was only the duty of a priest that had purified himself, gone through the rituals of purification, that he would go in there. Now, a priest would do this in the morning and in the evening he would place the incense onto the burning coals of the altar to have the smell rise up as a representation of them lifting up the prayers of mankind to God. They would intercede on people's behalf. Well, Zachariah drew the lot to be able to do this deed, this deed that had taken place since the beginning of God's establishment of the temple over 400 years, these priests had been in and out, in and out at daybreak and at dawn at dawn and day. And when the day was over, every day.

And God had not spoken for 400 years. But now watch what happens as Zachariah walks into the altar to place the incense offering on the coals. Luke, Chapter one, verse ten. Watch the hope happen. It says, so when the time for the burning of the incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. That was all the rest of the priests and all the people that had just stopped by to pray. That's who that is, in the courtyard. Verse 11, then an angel of the Lord appeared to them, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. Now, we don't have time for this, but the right side is the blessed side. It's the holy side. It's the righteous right hand of blessing that the Old Testament talks about. How cool is that? Verse 12 when Zachariah saw him, that's the Angel Gabriel. He was startled and he was gripped with fear. Now, I think that's a little bit of an understatement for the Bible right there. It probably almost killed the old man, really is what that says. Now, let this soak in. Don't glaze over it. For 400 years, God had said nothing, zero. 400 years at this point. Right here is when the silence broke. Let me ask you something, a personal question. Does it feel like God has been silent in your life for a very long time? For a very long time? Look, listen to me closely. God hasn't forgotten you. He hasn't turned his back on you. He has not. Zachariah would just say, What does he do? And keep worshiping him. Keep praying for him, Keep lifting your stuff up before him because of God's presence. You know Zachariah went into this Holy incense room to pray for the coming of the Messiah. That was his role. That's what they've been doing for thousands of years. That's what they did. But you also, I would bet money know that he also went in not only praying for the people's needs, but he also went in praying for him in his life to have a child.

You know that. I bet you my lunch money on it. Why? Because you’ll see in just a minute. But also, we're going to see he did it because he knew that that was the only place he could place his hope. He knew that's the only one that could perform the miracle that he needed in his life. And listen church, we need to know that Jesus hears every single one of our prayers just the same as He heard Zacharias prayers. He hears them. And that's where hope comes from. So at the moment you think God has done. He speaks a lot of times. Keep going. In verse 13, it says, But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zachariah. You know what that means? He was afraid, right? He says, Your prayer has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son and you will call him John. I told you he prayed for a son. It's right there, right? Your prayer has been answered. His name is going to be John. Couple of observations here. Number one, I like Zach is Zach Zacchaeus. He's little. This is Zechariah. He was scared. You would be, too. You would be. The second thing I hear and see here is, man, how incredibly hopeful is it that God hears every single one of our prayers, just like He did his? And the third thing I see here is these old people about to have a baby. Amen. Amen.

Look at verse 14. It says this. He, it's talking about John. He will be a joy and a delight to you. And many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great and the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or any other fermented drink and wine, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit before he is born. Look what the angel just said to his dad. He says, Hey, this guy, this baby John that you're about to have, John, he's going to be a leader of people. He's going to herald the name of Jesus. He's going to be set apart. People are going to know that He is the Lord. And I want you to notice something that God does here that's incredibly profound. God here gives us one of the most beautiful pro-life statements in all of the Bible. In all of the Bible, Do you see it? John was named. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. He was called. He was set apart. Watch this. Even before he was born. You know what that means church? That's really hard to know if that's just an embryo floating around in there. He called this baby in the womb. Why? Because it's a baby. Look at verse 16. It says he, John, will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord, their God. He will go on before the Lord in the spirit and the power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. I love how the message, a translation of the message summary gives us this. He says that God will get, or John will get the people ready for God. To which yes, we're excited about. I've been excited about preaching this for two weeks, but Zachariah at this moment could not believe what he had heard. Why? because he knew the Old Testament.

He knew that what was happening from this angel was a direct mirror to Malachi chapter four, verse six From 400 years before this. He knew that this was a fulfillment to the last chapter of the last words from God, where Malachi said a messenger would advent the coming of a messiah. Now, inside this, there's these two incredible blessings. One is for Zachariah and his family that God is directly blessing his family. Right? Amen. But on the other side, God is doing more than just blessing his family. God is universally telling the world that the savior of the world, the Messiah, Jesus is about to burst into the earth and to give us hope. That's what's happening. God balances these two things all the time. The immanence of God and the transcendence of God are always all around us, where God is working in the whole world, but also He is wholly working and just you. And he wants to hear your stuff. He wants to hear your prayers, he wants to hear your request. And this is the hope that we have that he's 100% interested in you, In you.

That's the hope that Jesus has come and then he's coming back. Now back to the story. Zachariah. He is obviously floored at this moment, and Zachariah should have taken the win and gone about his own business and gone home, right? He should have just listened, taken the win, worship, sang bow on my knees and cried Holy, and got out of there. Right. That's what he should have done. But he didn't. Like most men, he needed to have the last word. Amen, ladies. He needed to have the last word. He needed to say something. And he did. He spouts back at God a little bit. He keeps questioning God with an unholy motive. So God disciplines him and he makes him a mute. Right. Amen. Ladies, be kind of cool. Right? There it is. And in verse 18 through 25, the mute Zechariah, you got to read this. Later this week, the sweet mute Zechariah comes out of the temple and he didn't he doesn't respond with the proper chant. Everything was very scripted during this time. So the people knew that something was going on in the sign language. Somehow, Zechariah describes that he had had a vision from God, that an angel had given him a vision from God. And now these people are kind of excited that God had broken in and God had spoken. But now Zechariah’s time at the temple had come to an end and he had to walk home. Now you can imagine this walk home is a little bit awkward for him. Number one, he can't speak. And number two, he's got to tell old Elizabeth she's about to be pregnant, right? Amen. She's about to get pregnant. And she does. He walks home and verses 57 through 66. You'll see after she gets pregnant through natural means, if you know what I mean. She gets pregnant and has hope and God. And in verse 57 through 66, Elizabeth has this baby.

And you can imagine how the news spread. Now, it's not only hope in Zechariah that he has and not only hope in these priests that were standing around and heard that God was speaking. Now it's not only hope in just Elizabeth, but now it's hope in the whole community. Do you know why? Because hope is contagious. Have you ever noticed this? How contagious hope really is? When you're around people of hope, you know what usually tends to happen? It rubs off on you. When you're around people who realize where their hope is, it begins to rub off on you. It begins to fulfill your heart. But the converse of that is true as well. When you're around negative people, when you're around despising people all the time, it begins to play a nasty role in your life. Hope is contagious. And church, listen, when we have the hope of Jesus, it is contagious to those around us. That's why the body of Christ is so important to us that we go out and we work all week long in places that don't have a lot of hope. We come back into a place like this and it should be the most hopeful group of people that we meet all week because we know the end and we know what Jesus is going to do. So they had this baby. On the eighth day, they take it over to the temple, which is what they did in Jewish times on the eighth day. They took it for the circumcision and the naming of the child. For eight days, the baby didn't have a name, right? They take it over there and through a little bit of confusion.

You got to read it later on in verse 57 through 66, John describes by writing on a slate what this baby's name is supposed to be. And it's not he's not naming. I mean, Zechariah is not naming him after himself. He's naming them what the angel said he needed to name them. And Zechariah writes down that this baby's name is John. And at that moment, God gave Papa Zachariah his speech back. Right. It's what happened in verse 64. It says that immediately when that happened, he began praising God and the crowd gets excited. The town finds hope. Why? Because hope spreads. Look at verse 66. It says, Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, What then is this child going to be? For the Lord's hand was with him. The Father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and the Bible says and he prophesied. So Zachariah, at this moment, this is where we usually kind of start the story. Zachariah began to prophesy about who Jesus is and who this baby is going to be. And it's part of the coming of the advent of Jesus. Zachariah has the song of Praise, this Song of Hope. That gives us some incredibly practical wisdom that no matter where your life is right now, no matter what the holidays are looking or how hard they're going to be for you are right now, no matter what your job looks like, no matter what disease you're battling, no matter what your finances look like or struggles that you're walking through, Zacharias gives us a message of hope because Christ is come and he gives us three very quick areas that we can hang our hope on Jesus in. Let me give them to you as we close this morning, He gives us the secret sauce to finding true hope. Number one, Zechariah says, We have true hope because it's Jesus that removes our past. It's Jesus. You see, many times we find ourselves in the bottom of despair when we feel like there's no hope because of something that has already happened to us. It might be a stalemate in our relationship or a baggage of a past that, if blown up, or a long term kind of sinking feeling that we just can't shake. Or maybe we're like Zachariah and Elizabeth or Israel that we've waited for so long in the voice of God that we just kind of gave up on Him never speaking to us.

Zechariah says no, let me tell you who Jesus is. Look at verse 68 It says this. Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people. That is the overarching statement of the Messiah and of the advent. Watch this. And then he gets specific, He says, and he's redeemed them. He's raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant, David, as he has said to us through his holy prophets of long ago, salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. He gives us four incredibly big descriptions of how we can know our past has been taken care of. What does he say? Number one, real closely, he redeems us. That's what Jesus does for us. Both deliverance from our sin and deliverance from situation. God is a God who has brought us back to him. But not only has he redeemed us like the verse just said. It also says in verse 69 that he raised up a horn of salvation, and that means that he has saved us. You know what, if you were in Christ, you know what that means? It doesn't really translate into our culture. But in their culture, a vast, powerful warrior would wear a helmet of horns to represent the strength that he possesses.

And that's who our God is. We have a God that not only just redeems us, but he literally saves us with his power and into his power. The next time you think that God is done and God is not there, the next time you think that God has gone silent and there is no hope, you speak of the redemption of Jesus in the salvation of Jesus back over Satan in your life. But He keeps going in verse 72 and he says, To show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his Holy covenant, the oath he swore to our Father Abraham, to rescue us from the hand of our enemies. He gives us two more specific-like hope responses. And in other words, when he talks about remembering the Holy covenant in his oath, he is telling us that God is a God that remains. He abides. He stays with us. He's not a God that saves us and leaves us. He is a God that saves us and walks with us. And then verse 74 says that he is a God that rescues us every single time trip up. He is a God that comes with us there, walks with us and beside us, and he picks us up.

That's the hope we have. Look, if you see this all through the lens of Advent, you see that he has come and he has given us this in your past can not define you. We have true hope because he removes our past. But secondly, watch this. He reshapes our present. He reshapes our present. The last verses were all pointing backwards. But now look what he does in verse 74, the second half, he says. And he does this, watch this, to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. You know what God does for us through Jesus? He doesn't just rip us out of despair. He gives us a stance to where we can stand firm in the now. He lets us stand. There's nothing worse than not knowing why you stand. And what he's saying here is he gives you a purpose. And what's your purpose? To serve him without fear. Listen, Jesus has set you free from your past, but He has set you free into your current situation to serve him without any fear. And then last, check this out. Not only does he remove our past and reshape our present, but refocuses our future. That's the advent. That he doesn't just rip us out of where we were. He doesn't just stand with us where we are, but he moves in a way that he goes before us. This is why we can have hope in him. Now, it gets a little bit confusing because Zachariah stops from talking about Jesus to talking about his son named John.

But his son named John is a forerunner of Jesus, that shows us exactly what our role is for the rest of our life when God saves us. Look at verse 76. Compare this to your life and he says, And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the most high. Listen, that's our role right now is to proclaim the name of Jesus. Watch this. And you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him. Church, that's our role right now. We are preparing this earth for the next coming of Jesus, verse 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation. That's our role, to proclaim salvation over people through what? Through the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God. Do you see what's happening right here? Zechariah is looking at us. He's talking about Jesus. He's talking about John, and he's telling us that no matter what you try to put up in your life, the only hope that you have is that you have a savior that has dealt with your past, that is dealing with your present, and it will save you in the future.

And listen church, there is no greater hope than knowing that. But Matt, you don't understand what's going on in my life. No, I don't understand what's going on in your life, but I know the one that does. But you don't understand the heartache, the family, the marriage, the staff, the wait, the job. You don't understand. I don't understand. But I know the one that does. And he has come to take care of your past. Take care of your present, to redeem your future and to give you life. Matthew 28 Jesus says, I am always with you to the very end of the age. You know what that means Church? That we have read the end of the book. And not only has Jesus come as a little baby, but he is now coming again. The rest of our lives are an Advent season of the coming of the savior of the world. And there's hope.

Pray with me this morning, Lord Jesus, God, may we be people of hope this season? God show us that there's hope and our salvation. There's hope and you and there's hope And knowing who you are. God, I just pray, Lord, in these next couple of minutes, God, would you break down the barriers of despair and show people that you are king, That you are no longer silent, that you are Emmanuel, you are God with us. And God, that's the hope that we have Lord Jesus.

In 1834, Edward Mote penned these words that his hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and His righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly Lean on Jesus' name. Lord Jesus, today that is where we find our hope. It's in you. It's in your name. Amen. Would you stand with me and sing? And as we sing this invitation, let me tell you I'm going to be standing over here with some other people.

Man, I don't know where your life is right now. I don't know what's going on in your heart right now. But I just want to say this. We're available. We're available to pray with you. And over you. We're available to lead you to who Christ is. Maybe God is calling you to give you his life today, and we love to walk with you in that. Maybe you just need somebody to speak some, just speak some graceful wisdom over you today and walk with you. We'll be available to do that. Let's sing together.

Follow Along with the Message

True Hope

December 3, 2023

PRINCIPLE: God is a God who has come to earth and given .

Hope is the expectation of future blessings and the confidence that the best is to come.

Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Isaiah 9:6–7
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
Malachi 3:1
“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.
Luke 1:10–12
10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. 11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.
Luke 1:13
But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.”
Luke 1:14–15
14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.
Luke 1:16–17
16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous — to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Luke 1:66–67
66 Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, “What then is this child going to be?” For the Lord’s hand was with him. 67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied.
We Can Have “True Hope” Because Jesus…

1. our past.

Luke 1:68–71
68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. 69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David 70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), 71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.
4 Specific Descriptions

1.

2.

Luke 1:72–74
72 …to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, 73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham: 74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies…

3.

4.

2. our present.

Luke 1:74–75
74 …and to enable us to serve him without fear 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

3. our future.

Luke 1:76–78
76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, 77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God.
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