What Kind of Child Shall This Be?

Greetings this morning in Jesus name. Appreciate the things that have been shared so far. I want to be that place also and you know I think I can agree with Brother James, you know, I'm not sure I'm there but I want to be that place of full surrender.

Let's stand together for prayer again. Father in heaven we come to you in Jesus name this morning. Thanking you again for your goodness to us.

Thank you for the blessing of being gathered here and the privilege we have of being able to freely meet to worship you and to be instructed from your word and to fellowship together. Thank you Lord for the blessings of this land of freedom. Help us Lord not to take that for granted.

Lord you've been so good to us. I pray Lord that you would be with us here as we look into your words, speak to our hearts, be with me Lord as I endeavor to break the bread of life. Lord I pray that you would inspire our hearts together as we look into your word this morning.

We ask it in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated.

Well as I look out over the congregation this morning I see there's a good number of children among us and I think there's actually a number of children are missing this morning but I did a little bit of research or I checked our records and I learned that we have about 70 children in this congregation who are under the age of 18. Around 40 of those are under the age of 12 and 11 of those are under the age of 2. So as I think about the future of this church I realize there's a lot of potential sitting here in this congregation. There's a lot of potential if we as parents will raise them with vision and we are purposeful in raising our children for God's glory.

I remember many years ago as a young man, probably my early to mid-teens, I don't remember exactly how old I was and can't remember the details but I do remember visiting, our family was visiting my aunt's and uncle's house and I don't remember if it was a full family gathering it was just our two families there visiting. I don't recall but we were sitting there and discussing. I don't remember the context of the conversation other than somehow child training or child rearing was the topic of discussion and my dad made this comment about how brother Denny Kenniston says, well he's not raising children, he's raising adults.

Well that brought a reaction from my aunt and she's just like, I do not agree with that. Children need to be children and well there's probably some truth to both perspectives but I think it is imperative that we as parents, as we raise our children, raise them with a vision. They're not going to stay children.

Do we see ourselves as raising children? Are we just going to let them grow up or do we raise them with a purpose, with a vision, looking ahead to what they will be when they are adults? Well today I invite you to turn with me to our text in Luke chapter 1 and we're going to be studying the last part of the chapter beginning in verse 57. This is the account of the birth and a little bit about the childhood of John the Baptist. As we go through this study this morning I would like you to consider the question, were Zacharias and Elizabeth raising a child or were they raising a prophet? And then I want all of us who are parents to ask another question.

Am I raising a child or am I raising an adult? Do I have a vision for this child to become an effective tool in the hand of God? Do I have a vision for this son of mine, this daughter of mine, to be an asset in God's kingdom? Let's read Luke chapter 1 beginning in verse 57. I'll read several verses. Now the backdrop of this story we had studied this earlier a couple of times ago when I preached here.

We read the account of how the angel Gabriel came to Zacharias the priest and told him that he's going to have a son and even though they were old, well past childbearing years, and John was doubtful. He was like, how can this be? I'm old. And so because of his doubting, the angel Gabriel said this will be the sign you will not be able to speak.

And he could not. He was deaf and dumb from that point forward. But in spite of his struggle with accepting the message and believing it, God still accomplished his purpose and and did as he said he would do.

So now we come back to Elizabeth here in verse 57. Now Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered and she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her and they rejoiced with her.

And it came to pass that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child and they called him Zacharias after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, not so, but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, there is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.

And they made signs to his father how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table and wrote, saying, his name is John. And they marveled all.

And his mouth was opened immediately and his tongue loosed. And he spake and praised God. And fear came on all that dwelt round about them.

And all these sayings were noise abroad throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, what manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him. Title chosen for my message is taken from the last verse there.

What kind of child shall this be? What kind of child shall this be? Well, Elizabeth here had come to the time of the birth and she brought forth a son, this promised son. A miracle son. She was well past childbearing age, and yet God had given her a son.

And so it was a miracle. But you know, every child is a miracle. I remember when I was a child, my mother telling me that and it made an impression upon me.

And it's true. Even though births happen all the time, we're familiar with it. We tend to take it for granted, the miracle of life.

But life is a miracle from God. And we still do not fully understand it. But a new life begins when two cells come together and they unite into one.

One from the father, one from the mother, each one containing 23 chromosomes. And those two cells unite and they combine to make 46 chromosomes. And those chromosomes contain the DNA, which contain the whole instructions of how this child will be formed.

And most of the cells in the life that is, begins to replicate and the cells divide and they grow and they multiply. And those, each cell contains that DNA that gives the instruction for life. And all of us have that.

It's a miracle. You know, science has never been able to perform life out of non-living matter. Only God can do that.

They try and they keep trying. But science has never been able to do that. With all the advancements.

Why is that? I believe they never will. Because life comes from God. Life is a miracle.

So as we think about this, do all of us as parents recognize the miracle that the child is, that we've been given? I think it's important to recognize God's hand in bringing this child to life. Recognize that God has a purpose for this little child, this little son, this little daughter of ours. Elizabeth recognized that.

Not only Elizabeth, but her friends and family did as well. Her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her and they rejoiced with her. They brought great joy.

They recognized the great blessing of having a son, especially for Elizabeth, after many years of being childless. And especially in a society where it was a disgrace to be childless. It was different from our society today where it is not so much considered a disgrace.

Although there is still, God has given to women the desire to be a mother. Elizabeth finally had that desire fulfilled. It caused great joy.

There's so much joy and blessing in motherhood. I can't quite relate to it. I'm a father, but I'm not a mother.

And there's a special connection that a mother has with her child. And so it was with Elizabeth. And so they rejoiced with her.

And then on the eighth day, it says they came to circumcise the child. Now, the child was circumcised as a sign of the covenant that God had with his people. This was done at the command of God and all the Jewish male children were circumcised.

If you go back to Genesis chapter 17, we have this commandment from God given to Abraham. Genesis 17 verse 9. And God said unto Abraham, thou shalt keep my covenant. Therefore, thou and I seen after thee in their generations.

This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and I seen after thee. Every man child among you shall be circumcised. He goes on there to give specific instructions, but it was a sign of the covenant between God and his people.

And this child was no exception. This little boy was circumcised and so he identified with the people of God that he was there called to minister to later in his life. So I think it's important to learn from this that while we do not have this binding on us today, yet we all should have a vision for our children to unite in covenant with God.

Now, they cannot of their own free will do it when they are just a small child, but as parents, we need to bring them up with that vision that they are going to serve the Lord. There should be no question in our children's minds as they grow up who they are and what they are about and what their purpose in life is. God desires to have a covenant with them.

So they came together to do this. And then it says they called him Zacharias after the name of his father. Well, that makes logical sense.

Here's this child, a son, and they call him Zacharias. But when they did that, Elizabeth said, No, his name is not Zacharias. His name is John.

And they were like, well, why is he John? I mean, you don't have any relatives that are called by John. Generally, apparently the practice was to name children after close relatives. And that wasn't the case here.

And so, but she stood fast. She said no. She was willing to withstand the social pressure that was put on her to how she related to her newborn son here.

Are we willing to do that? Are we willing to go against the flow when the way that our friends or our family are raising their children goes against what we believe God has called us to do in raising our children? Are we willing to take a stand? Elizabeth did. Well, so they asked John. They made signs to him.

This indicates that he was deaf, not only dumb, he wasn't able to hear. So they made signs to him. And so he understood what they were asking.

And so apparently he made signs back and asked for a writing tablet and because he couldn't speak. And so he wrote his name is John. Why did he do that? Because the angel Gabriel, when he had come to him and told him that you will bear a son and you shall call his name John.

And so he responded in obedience. You know, at first when he was told that he's going to have a son, he responded in unbelief, but now he had learned to believe. He had learned to trust and he chose to obey.

He chose to obey God rather than man, rather than accept the or buckle under the pressure that was put upon them. And how they relate to their son. And God calls us to do that as well.

When the apostles, after the resurrection of Jesus, were testifying of him in the temple and they were called into question by the authorities and commanded not to speak in the name of Jesus. The authorities are trying to squelch that doctrine. His response was, or their response was, we ought to obey God rather than man.

You know, parents today face many pressures. They face pressures from society. They face pressures to follow the psychology of today and man's ideas rather than God's methods of child training.

You know, God's word gives us instruction. It tells us to train our children the way they should go. It exhorts us to use the rod of correction when needed.

That's not popular in today's society. Which will we choose? Are we going to choose man's way? Are we going to choose God's way? Well, this child was called John. They agreed or they did that.

And, you know, the word, the name John means Jehovah is a gracious giver. Obviously, that name was fitting. After many long years of barrenness, God had chosen to give a gracious gift from the Lord.

And so they recognized this little baby as that. We also need to recognize each child as a gracious gift from the Lord. Well, when John wrote that and declared that, God worked another miracle.

Just as he had wrought a miracle and caused him to be deaf and dumb, now God blessed Zacharias for his obedience and following through with what he was being commanded to do. And he healed him so that he could hear and speak again. And what was Zacharias' response? He spoke and he praised God.

I see here that Zacharias in praising the Lord created an atmosphere of worship. And as he was praising the Lord, you know, the response of the people was, wow, what is going on here? God obviously is working a miraculous thing here because Zacharias is now speaking. After not speaking and or hearing for nine months, he's speaking again and he's praising the Lord.

As a result, it says that fear came on all those that dwelt around about them. Why were they afraid? Well, obviously God was at work. Something supernatural was going on.

The scripture tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So this was a good thing. It caused them to recognize God is visiting us.

God is at work here. It was the talk of the community. Did you hear what happened? Zacharias was struck deaf and dumb and now all of a sudden when this child was born and he says his name is John, he starts speaking again.

What do people think? What goes through their minds when they get to know your family? Do they recognize God at work? Do they wonder what kind of child would this be when they see how your children relate, when they see how they interact with their siblings, and how they relate to you? That was the effect here. What kind of child shall this be? And he goes on to say the hand of the Lord was with him. God calls us to live in such a way that others recognize the hand of the Lord is with us.

And not only with us, but with our children. When they're raised in the and taught the fear of the Lord, we can see God's hand at work in their life. Well, he goes on here to say in verse 67, and his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied.

What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Ghost? In Zacharias's case, he prophesied as being as a result of being filled with the Holy Spirit. He spoke forth by divine inspiration. Now, God wants all of us to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

It tells us in Ephesians 5, verse 18, it says, be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit. So, when we, when someone is drunk, we refer to that as being under the influence of alcohol. When someone is filled with the Holy Spirit, they are under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

That's the contrast there. That's the, what is illustrating there in that verse. So, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we may not prophesy like Zacharias did.

This was a special inspiration from God here, a prophetic word that God gave him in relation to this child that was just born. But, it will have an effect upon us. It will affect the atmosphere in our home.

Those who are filled with the Spirit will bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. Love will be evident in their life, joy and peace, long-suffering, etc. You know the fruits of the Spirit.

You know, when parents are filled with the Spirit, a father and a mother, they live in harmony with one another because the same Spirit is working in both of them. When parents are filled with the Spirit, they talk freely of the things of God. They're not ashamed to share about what God is doing in their lives.

How does that affect the atmosphere? When children grow up in that type of environment where a father and a mother are filled with the Spirit, how will it affect the way children are raised? If you're filled with the Spirit, you will nurture your children physically, emotionally, spiritually. Ephesians 6, 4 says, Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Parents who are filled with the Spirit will train their children to be obedient.

They'll train them to be respectful so that they are conditioned to yield themselves to the Lord when they come to that age of accountability. Parents that are filled with the Spirit will, as we heard this morning, walk in Golasenheit, that heart of surrender to the Lord. And as they do so, they leave an example for their children to follow.

And they prepare their hearts to surrender their hearts to the Lord when they come to that age, when they make their own personal decision. So, Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and he prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. He blessed the Lord.

Again, we have him praising the Lord. I think of the passage in Psalm 34 where it says, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.

Is this our testimony? Do our children hear us magnifying the Lord continually? What kind of effect does it have in our homes when we are blessing the Lord? I believe this had a profound effect upon John the Baptist, this little boy as he grew up. This was the kind of parents he had. And while this here is just talking about the days shortly after his birth, I believe that these principles we're talking about were manifested and worked out in this home in which he grew up in.

And so, we can learn lessons from this. Zacharias goes on in his prophecy here, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people and hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. Zacharias noted here and was aware that God was fulfilling his plan of salvation.

God was doing a marvelous work. And while this little child was not the Messiah, yet he recognized that he was preparing the way for him. And he was excited about that.

God was at work. He's breaking into history in a marvelous way here. And something is about to happen that is marvelous and is going to bring redemption.

God was visiting his people. He came to see his people. God cared about his people.

And he was involving himself in their lives. He came to bring redemption. He came to deliver them from the power and the penalty of sin.

He's raising up a horn of salvation for us. Now, that is a term that we don't typically use today. But when it talks about a horn, it was referring to the horns that animals have, like a cow or a bull.

I found this in reference to this word in the Thayer's Dictionary. It says, since animals, especially bulls, defend themselves with their horns, the horn with the Hebrews and other nations is a symbol of strength and courage and used as such in a variety of phrases. So, he's saying here, God is showing himself strong in salvation.

Salvation is deliverance. Salvation is safety from destruction. So, God was raising up his son, Jesus, who had not yet been born, but had been probably conceived at this time and was beginning to grow.

God was raising up his son, Jesus, to be a mighty savior who would save his people from their sins. That's what the angel told Joseph, that he should be called Jesus because he would save his people from their sins, as the word Jesus would imply. So, here Zacharias is and he's proclaiming the salvation of God.

Do we freely talk about our salvation? Do we talk about the plan of salvation? Do our children know how God wrought in our lives? Do they understand, have they heard our testimonies and how we came to Christ and how God has changed us? Do they see our lives reflect that salvation in our interaction with them and in our relationship with life? Do we see that salvation working out in us to the point that it commands their respect? Zacharias and Elizabeth lived in such a way and spoke in such a way that it had a tremendous influence upon this little boy. God was raising up a horn of salvation and on to verse 70, as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham. Zacharias here was recognizing that God was in the process of fulfilling prophecy, prophecies that were hundreds of years old, that had been given many hundreds of years before.

A savior was being raised up in the house of David, as had been prophesied. And there's many prophecies we could turn to in the Old Testament that talk about this. I'll just read just a couple of them here.

One that we're familiar with in Isaiah chapter nine, verse six, where it says, for unto us a child is born unto us, a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace of the increase of his government and peace. There shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

A savior was coming and now he was about to appear on the scene. Jeremiah 23, five and six. Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch and a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

In his days, Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name, whereby he shall be called the Lord, our righteousness. The old covenant prophets were clear.

A child was going to be born. This would be an ordinary child. He would be a child that would be called the Lord.

He would be God incarnate. This was prophesied by the mouth of the holy prophets, which have been since the world began or from of old. I don't know if we can say that these prophets were right from the beginning, but where it says since the world began was like from the beginning of the age.

Throughout history, God had his prophets who proclaimed what was going to happen in the future. You know, prophecy is an important part of scripture. There is, depending how you evaluate it, there's between one quarter and one third of the scriptures are prophecy or either prophecy or talks about the fulfillment of prophecy.

Prophecy is important, and I believe prophecy should be studied and not ignored. If God devoted so much of his word to prophecy, we shouldn't just write it off or ignore it. Now, I think it's important to understand that not all prophecy is easy to understand.

I think it's important for us to be humble as we study and discuss prophecy, recognizing that there are some things that are obscure. We may not have it all figured out. But God gave these prophecies so that we would know the truth of what he has said and that we know that his word is true.

There are so many prophecies that have already been fulfilled that we can be sure that the prophecies which are not fulfilled will still be fulfilled. Brothers and sisters, we may see some of these prophecies fulfilled in our day. Some of these prophecies have come to pass even in recent history.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. He has visited and redeemed his people as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us. Now, he may be speaking here of physical salvation, but there's certainly a spiritual aspect of it.

Jeremiah 30 verse 10 says this. Therefore, fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord. Neither be dismayed, O Israel, for lo, I will save thee from afar and thy seed from the land of their captivity.

And Jacob shall return and shall be in rest and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid. That prophecy was fulfilled in part when the Jews returned from their captivity in Babylon. That prophecy has been fulfilled further in the last century or so with the gathering of the Jewish people back to their land.

And I believe that prophecy will continue to be fulfilled. But this is talking about more than just that type of salvation from the enemies of the Jewish people. It's talking, and I believe even more so, about the salvation that God was bringing to his people, the salvation from sin.

The spiritual fulfillment is Christ's salvation of our souls from sin and from Satan. To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham. God had made a covenant with Abraham.

I referred to it earlier with the sign of circumcision, but the covenant was that Abraham and his descendants would serve the Lord. But not only that, God promised to make of Abraham a great nation. Genesis 2, I'm sorry, Genesis 12, verses 2 and 3. God speaking to Abraham, he said, I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing.

And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that cursed thee. And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. That promise that God would bless those who blessed him and curse those who cursed him, and that in them, in his seed, all the families of the earth to be blessed.

That promise is repeated to Abraham later, when after Abraham had offered Isaac his son in commandment or in obedience to God's command, God repeated that promise to him. And then later, God repeated that promise to Isaac, his son Isaac, and then later to his son Jacob, Isaac's son Jacob. That God would bless them.

There had been multiple fulfillments of this prophecy. That in the nation of Israel, all the people of the world would be blessed. And there's both physical and spiritual fulfillment of this prophecy.

Jim Showers, president of the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, wrote this. In science, medicine, communications, agriculture, and computing, Israel leads the world in innovations that save lives and improve living standards. Were it not for Israel, we would not enjoy many of the technologies we take for granted today.

I didn't take a lot of time to study this, but it's just a few of the examples of the innovations and the things that Israel has done that we benefit from today, would be the development of drip irrigation in agriculture. Probably, I realize that many of us are not involved in agriculture anymore, but we still probably are aware that drip irrigation has become very common. And it's, that's the technology that Israel developed.

Israel was the ones that developed the USB flash drive technology that many of us use today. We use them here in the Bible school. We put all the sermons on one little flash drive that someone can plug into the computer, take them home, listen to.

Israel was the nation, or it was in Israel that the Waze application was developed. The navigation that we so often just take for granted. Waze was purchased by Google in 2013 from that Israeli company.

And some of that technology is integrated into Google Maps, which a lot of us depend on today. Those are just a few examples of how nation, the nation of Israel has been a blessing to us even in our day. But much more importantly, we are blessed through Israel because of his son who came through the line of David.

This promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And in Jesus, all nations of the world are blessed. All those who put their faith in Christ, Jew or Gentile can experience the blessing that comes, the salvation that comes through Jesus.

So Zacharias recognized that prophecy was being fulfilled in his day. And he spoke of it freely. And as I alluded to earlier, prophecy is also being fulfilled in our day.

Are we noticing? Are we excited about it? What effect will that have on our children? What kind of child shall this be that recognizes that God is at work? Not only many hundreds of years ago or thousands of years ago in the miracles we read about in the Bible, but he's at work today and his promises are being fulfilled. Let's go on here. Zacharias goes on to say in verse seventy four that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.

Zacharias recognized that a new era was dawning. A new dispensation was coming wherein men would serve God without fear. So Zacharias may have been speaking here of deliverance from their physical enemies, but this is also referring to spiritual deliverance.

Hebrews 2, 14 and 15 says, For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. He came to deliver us out of the hand of our archenemy Satan.

He came to deliver us that we might serve the Lord and no longer be under the bondage of fear. Now as I mentioned earlier, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and we ought to fear the Lord. But you know, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

God wants us to move on from that. Move on from relating to him in fear and relating to him as our loving heavenly father. Romans 8, 15 says, For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

God wants us to relate to him as a loving heavenly father. Yes, we ought to fear him in the sense of having reverence and stand in awe of him and we should not treat him in our relationship with him flippantly, but it's a love relationship. It's a recognition that God loves me and cares for me.

Jesus spoke of God as his father over and over again. He referred to him as his father. And you know, you have a little bit of reference to that in the Old Testament, but when you come to the New Testament, that concept of God as father is so much stronger than what we see in the Old Testament.

That is part of the New Covenant. God wants us to see him that way. Fathers, it's critical that we as fathers demonstrate to our children what kind of father God is.

If we're harsh with our children, they will tend to see God in that same light. If we make it hard for our children to please us, our children will tend to think that it's hard to please God. So it's critical that we display the characteristics, the heart of God, in how we relate to our children.

And I believe Zacharias did that to his son John. Because of Jesus, we are delivered from the power and bondage of sin and empowered to live a holy and a righteous life. He comes alongside, God comes alongside and empowers us.

He doesn't just tell us to repent and turn from sin, but he gives us the power to overcome. And as we teach our children, God calls us to come alongside them and help them as we train them to obey and live a life that brings glory to God. Verse 76.

Now, Zacharias prophesied specifically concerning this little son of his. He says, Thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge and salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins. John, this little baby, would grow up to be a prophet, a prophet of the highest.

Now, this was a startling prophecy. Think about it. It had been nearly 400 years since there had been a prophet in the land.

Malachi was the last prophet on the scene, and there was basically 400 years of silence in the prophetic voice from God. In fact, Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, which I believe was the most recent one of the prophets, he ended with this prophecy. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

And if you recall, when we looked at the announcement that Gabriel gave to Zacharias back in verse 17, we see that he referenced this very prophecy. If you want to read that again, verse 17, Gabriel speaking to Zacharias, he shall go before him, this child, 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. That prophecy was about to be fulfilled, and Zacharias recognized that, and he says, thou child shalt be this prophet.

Can you imagine what that did to the heart of Zacharias and Elizabeth? This child has a purpose. God has a purpose for him, and this is what it is. This child would be the one to prepare the way of the Lord, to prepare the way of the Savior.

The previous chapter of Malachi says this, behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me. That messenger had just been born. And the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in.

Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. And there, that messenger is the Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus was about to appear in the scene, the Savior. But John, this little child, God had called to prepare the way of the Lord.

He will prepare the people for the Messiah by preaching repentance. He will be calling people to repent, turn away from their sin, and turn to God. Jumping ahead a little bit to chapter 3, verse 3, it says, and he, John, came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

We see here that repentance is critical for sins to be washed away. We recognize that it is the blood of Jesus that washes away our sins. But that only happens if we are truly sorry for them and we repent, we turn from those sins.

John prepared the way of the Lord by calling people to repentance, calling people to sorrow for their sin, calling people to turn from their sin. This was the calling to this little child. At 19, verse 4, Paul speaking, says, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

So John prepared the way of the Lord by preaching repentance because cleansing from sin by repentance is essential for salvation. This little child and his ministry, as he grew up and became an adult, it would proclaim the dawning of a new age. The day spring from on high was coming, verse 77, to give knowledge and salvation to his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us.

We don't usually use that word day spring, but day spring simply means when the day springs, when the sun begins to come up over the horizon and then the day dawns. So a new day was dawning and Zacharias recognized this. The sun was coming over the horizon.

Darkness was fleeing. A new era was dawning. Light was beginning to break upon the people.

After a time of great darkness, I had referenced a couple of verses there from Isaiah chapter 9 that were prophesied concerning the Messiah. But just before that, speaking of Galilee, it says in verse 2, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

And that's referring to Jesus, the Savior. His light was beginning to shine, or was about to shine. To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

The Messiah would come to guide our feet into the way of peace. He gives peace that no one else can. The world is looking for peace, but it can't be found outside of Jesus.

Jesus told his disciples in John 14, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. True peace can only be found in Jesus Christ, in the faith in Him.

Well, Zacharias had a vision. He had purpose as he raised this child. This kind of vision that, and this prophecy that he spoke of here, and no doubt affected the way that they trained and they raised this child, gave them purpose.

And as this little boy grew up, John no doubt knew that God had a special plan and a purpose for his life. I challenge all of us, myself included, as parents, do we raise our children with that sense of purpose? Son, daughter, God has a plan for your life. God created you.

God made you. God has something special for you. And not in such a way that it lifts them up or feeds their ego, but in such a way that it gives them a sense of purpose for life.

It says the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in the desert till the day of his showing unto Israel. So we don't know any more details about John's childhood than what it says right here. But we know by the backstory here what kind of home he was born into.

This child grew and waxed strong in spirit. He developed strong character. He was strengthened in spirit.

Strength is achieved by exercise. If we don't exercise ourselves and just sit around our couch potatoes, we are not very strong. But if we exercise ourselves and we're active, we become strong.

And so it is spiritually. First Timothy 4.8 says, for bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. Physical exercise has benefit.

In fact, I'm trying to be more intentional about that because my work doesn't often involve a lot of exercise. So I have to be intentional about exercising myself so I don't become weak. I have to be intentional.

And strength of character only comes about by being intentional. Parents, fathers, mothers, we must be intentional as we raise our children if we want them to grow up to be strong in spirit. Strength of character is developed through learning self-discipline.

And children normally do not learn self-discipline on their own. We have to help them. We have to bring discipline into their lives.

And when I say discipline, I'm talking about just regular activities of life. You know, if you just let your child sleep as long as he wants to and go to bed whenever he wants to, eat whatever he wants to, whenever he wants to, you are doing him a major disservice. Children need to be taught.

They need to be taught what is good for them and taught to go through with what they're asked to do even if they don't want to and if it doesn't feel good and is not appealing to them. We must train them. Training involves chastisement for doing wrong and blessing and reward for doing that which is right.

God calls us as parents to develop character in our children by teaching them, training them, spending time with them, and not just letting them grow up like weeds. There was no accident that this child grew and waxed strong in spirit. It was because of the parents he had who raised him.

They raised him with purpose. They raised him with vision. Since he was in the wilderness or in the deserts until the time of his showing unto Israel, until the time when he would begin his ministry.

You know, God often trains men in obscurity. Those who are in the limelight have a disservice to them. Character development is often hindered by being in the limelight, but God often trains men in obscurity.

I think of David out in the wilderness with his sheep, spending time with God. God was doing things there, training him, preparing him for a life of ministry. Think of Moses.

God sent him to the backside of the desert. He was there for 40 years. God had to humble him, take him from the limelight where he had been.

He was the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. He went into the wilderness. God has ways of doing that.

And so it was with John the Baptist. He was a nobody. People didn't know about him until the time that God called him to his ministry.

So be careful. I think it's important to have our children be involved in ministry and doing what they can to bless others. But don't inflate their egos.

Don't make them just look like they're such great children to everyone that you get an opportunity to do that to. Yes, seek to make them a blessing, but don't promote them prematurely. Well, as we consider the story of John the Baptist's birth, you know, there was a lot of unusual events that surrounded it that caused people to say, what manner of child shall this be? We may not have that experience.

Maybe there's nothing so unusual about the birth of our son or daughter. But yet God is calling us to recognize the miraculous gift that God has given in each child. And as we recognize that, to raise that child with purpose, to raise that child with vision like Zacharias and Elizabeth did.

And then with that question ringing in our hearts, what kind of child shall this be? May we have that vision and purpose. And God bless each one. Well, we heard much to ponder today, didn't we? And hopefully grow in and be strengthened.

You know, we don't get through this Christian life by coasting or by just feeding off of what was way back when somewhere. We need to continually be fed. And God graciously fed us this morning.

If we had an appetite and had our mouths open, trust you all did. If there's anyone that would like to share anything, testimony, confession, whatever it might be, just raise your hand and a mic will be brought to you. Looks like you're all deep in thought.

Brother Brian up front here. I'd just like to say thank you, Brother Nathan and Harold, for sharing. Nathan, I appreciate how you wove into the message the very important subject, I'll say, of parenting with a vision.

I just really appreciate that. I have a hard time embracing the fact that I'm kind of on the other side of that now. But it's something that I just really have a burden for.

And I don't think there's, you know, I just say as young parents, I don't that there's a lot of other competing things out there to distract us from what I would call the most important. And if there's anything I would encourage young parents is make the worthwhile investment while you can. You will never regret it.

And God will be glorified on the other side. I actually feel that the message has flowed together well when I sit here looking at that word Golosanite up there, abandonment to God. And I think of surrender.

You know, oftentimes in my early Christian life, when I thought of surrender, I thought of, yeah, people who go to the mission field, they really surrender and they do. And other big and great and lofty things in our mind. OK, that's surrender.

That person there is really paying the price. And then a lot of things out there that are. But let's not let that devalue this very, very important thing, which is possibly more important than raising family and children.

I was reminded this week one day, my wife, I came home and my wife was was keeping one of her grandchildren that day and she commented to me that this little grandchild was heading towards something that was a whatever reason my wife didn't want her to have it. And she said no. And she took a look at my wife and went the other way.

And my wife said that didn't just happen. And when they're young, it's what an incredible opportunity to pour in love and training. And yet take advantage of it, young parents, you'll never regret it.

And God will be glorified. Amen. Thank you for that, brother.

And we all take it. Anyone else? Brother James. Yeah.

Thank you, Brother Nathan, for the message. I just think it's so important for each one of us to have a sense of purpose in life. You know, John the Baptist is kind of unique in that God gave him a purpose, a very clear purpose, and his parents knew that.

And I just think it's also important for a young person to personally grab a hold of the vision that God or the purpose that God has, even if they don't understand it. They don't know what's ahead of them. There's still purpose in their hearts.

Look, I want to follow God no matter what. I want to find the will of God no matter what. Yeah, I think that's a lesson we can pull out of the John's life.

Vision is truly key to getting anywhere good. Heidi, over on the ladies' side here. Alvin, do we have a mic here for Sister Heidi? I was just struck with a few thoughts, and I'm not a mom yet, but I just had to think about Elizabeth and knowing the path of former prophets and what it means, the cost to be a man who's giving everything for God and has a calling.

You know, usually it ends in, especially for the prophets before him. I had to wonder if she had to think about what his end might be in life and how her one and only son that God gave her, you know, she had to give him to God too. And Mary, the same as Mary, she saw him die on the cross.

And I'm just thinking, would I be willing to surrender my children to God? And even in my family, you know, surrendering them to God because I can't be in control of situations and things and just trust that God has everything in control. But yeah, it's just, I don't know, just some powerful thoughts going through my mind right now and just really thinking about the seriousness of it. And also not reflecting negatively on how I was raised, but it's a new generation and I want to make sure that the things that, you know, my parents gave me what they could with how they were raised.

I can't do it in my own strength and I know it's only God, but yeah, I don't know. It's just been some inspiring thoughts, something to think about. Thank you, Heidi.

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