Lets open our Bibles up to the Book of Luke, the first chapter. Let me just remind you of where we left off. Last week, the angel, Gabriel, had come to bring news of a miraculous baby boy-two different baby boys, born to two different households and two very different circumstances. The first was a priest by the name of Zechariah, who was very old, and his wife, Elizabeth. Theyd tried to conceive for many years and could not. A prayer long since forgotten, Zechariah had asked for a son. When the angel Gabriel came, he reminded him of the prayer. He said, God has heard your prayer. God never forgets our prayers-even the ones we long forget. God was faithful to answer that prayer, so he said, Youre going to have a son. Zechariah sees an angel. He hears this incredible news. The angel describes in great detail the name of his son and what he will be like and what he will do, and Zechariah says, How can I be sure? Having an angel come wasnt quite convincing enough for him. He wanted more information, so he responds in doubt. Mary, on the other hand, a young woman just starting out in life, wants a child-but not until after shes married. When she receives the news that shes going to give birth to a son, instead of responding with doubt, she responds in faith and says, How will this be since I am a virgin? She asks the question, I dont question that its going to happen; I simply want to know how. So God, through the angel, tells her what is going to happen to her. One responded in doubt; one responded in faith. Both received very different news. Life was going to take a very unexpected twist, and you might say an unwanted twist-especially for Zechariah. Mary doesnt want to have a baby before shes married. Zechariah doesnt want to have a child when hes well up in years; chasing around that little booger when youre ready to retire is no picnic. How do we handle it when God throws us a curve ball? Has God ever thrown you a curve ball? Life took an unexpected twist in the road? Your prayers were answered in an unexpected way? Or has God ever asked you to do something you didnt want to do, go where you didnt want to go and say something you didnt want to say? How did you handle it? We said its analogous to a flying trapeze in which there is the flyer and the catcher. The flyer has to let go of the trapeze bar, sail through the air, and be caught by the catcher who is hanging upside down. We said thats faith. Faith is when you let go of the bar. Once you are caught, you no longer need faith. Once Elizabeth became pregnant-once Mary became pregnant-they no longer needed faith to believe the words of the angel. So once God manifests a promise, we are not any longer in faith because the answer is here. We, as a congregation, are believing for a new sanctuary. Thats faith. We believed for this one, and were in it! We dont need faith anymore. So faith comes the moment you let go of the bar until you are caught. We said sometimes we dont let go of the bar. Were afraid if we let go of the bar, were going to fall. When we look down, it looks like a long way down; so we dont want to take that risk, and we hold on. We said once you let go, your job is to, what? Is it to catch the catcher? No. Its to be still and let the catcher catch you. If you try to catch the catcher, chances are you are going to fall. You have to be still. You have to yield and let the catcher catch you. We said God has never dropped anyone. So this morning, we are at the yield phase. Last week, I was trying to convince you to let go of some things. I hope you did. This week, Im talking to you about what it means to yield and allow God-trust God-to catch you. When we pick up the story, Mary takes this news to a relative, Elizabeth, and shes excited. We dont know how shes related to Mary; we just know that theyre related. When she gets there, Elizabeth says, Oh, the baby, who is John the Baptist, it leaped for joy in my womb when it heard your voice. She says in [Luke Chapter 1] Verse 43 (page 1013 of pew Bibles), Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? The mother of my Lord…Does Elizabeth know who is in Marys womb? The mother of my Lord… The Lord is going to be born into this world. Thats the Lord in your womb! Does Mary correct her and say, Well, Im just going to have a special child. Hes going to be a prophet. Hes going to be a great man, but Hes not the Lord. Does she correct Elizabeth? No. Because Elizabeth is correct. Mary understands who was in her womb: The Lord. Jehovah is coming into this world. The Diety is going to be made into flesh. They understand that. Mary begins to sing Gods praise. Its called The Magnificent. Its the Song of Mary. She talks about the praise of God, and in one particular verse here-verse 48, she says, From now on all generations will call me blessed… Does Mary understand the impact of this birth? Does she understand the significance of who is in her womb? She does. In other words, Until the end of time, Mary says, everybody is going to know my name, and theyre going to know about the child that is in my womb. She understood that it was not just some regional thing that was going to go away with a generation. She understood that this event was going to change the world. She understood the Lord was coming into her womb. In fact, Zechariah-were going to read soon-at one point is prophesying to the people when he gets his voice box back; but then he picks up his son, John, and he holds him up and he starts prophesying into his life. He says, Youre going to prepare the way for the Lord. Does Zechariah understand who is coming into the world? The Lord is going to come into the world. Isnt it amazing? Everybody who lived the events understood exactly who was coming into the world, but now weve got some liberal scholars, some revisionists-historians going, Well, you know the deity of Christ, its just… They didnt really understand that when Jesus was born, they understood Him to be just a man. It wasnt until centuries later that we began to create this idea of Him being divine. Does that sound to you like that is what Mary believes? Or Zechariah? Or Elizabeth? Not at all…Not at all. They understood the historical and spiritual significance as much as they could to that point. Then we change scenes to Zechariah who still cannot speak, and his son is eight days old. Zechariah has to wonder here, Hey, you said as soon as this child comes into the world, I could speak again. Hes been here eight days, and I still cant talk. I have some jokes to tell. I have some things I want to say. So Zechariahs son is eight days old, and theyre going to name him Zechariah. Elizabeth says, No, his name is John. They say, Well, theres nobody in your family named John. They said, Well ask Zechariah. Zechariah gets a tablet and writes, His name is John. Immediately he begins to speak, and, boy, does he speak. Not only does he speak, the Bible says he starts to prophesize. He starts to foretell the future. We pick up the words in Verse 68 [Luke, Chapter 1, page 1014 of pew Bibles], filled with the Holy Spirit, he said, Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. Notice Zechariah uses the past tense, has come, has redeemed. Has Jesus been born yet? No. Has he redeemed yet? No. But in the prophetic, you speak of the future as though it is past because if God is in charge of it, and God said its so, then it is so. Its a certainty. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us… The horn was symbolic of strength. …a horn of salvation in the house of his servant David. This is the fulfillment of the prophesy, the messianic prophesy, that salvation would come. Now when he says the word salvation, he is literally thinking of deliverance. Thats what the word means. Salvation means deliverance. So you have to look at the context and decide what you are being delivered from. Zechariah is going to talk about three kinds of salvation or three kinds of deliverance in this passage. The first kind he will speak of is that of physical deliverance. He said in Verse 71, …salvation from our enemies, from the hand of all who hate us-to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. In other words, hes talking about a literal physical, visual deliverance in which Israels enemies are defeated, and were able to worship and serve God in peace without any fear. Is that the aspect of salvation that Jesus had come to bring at this first coming? No. We studied this. He came to bring a spiritual salvation, but the physical salvation is something that will come, but not yet. The Book of Revelation talks about that. Revelation 21 is one of my favorite passages. In fact, its hard to imagine a passage better than this one. Revelation 21:1, …a new Heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be His people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who is seated on the throne said, I am making everything new! Then he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. God has spoken to them, and they will come to pass. There will come a time of physical manifestation of salvation. We will be delivered totally and completely from sin, death, pain, and heartache. Zechariah looks forward to that day, and so do we. That day is not yet. Then he talks about a second type of salvation. In Verse 76, remember he transitions to his son. He picks his little son up, eight days old, in his arms. He holds him high, and he looks him in the eye. With a smile on his face, and enthusiasm in his voice, he says, And you, my child, you will be called a prophet of the Most High, and you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him to give His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. That is a spiritual salvation, that the Messiah when He comes is going to enable you and me to have our sins forgiven. Somehow, some way, Zechariah doesnt fully understand how, but somehow this child that you will usher in will bring about the forgiveness of sins-a spiritual deliverance. The first deliverance he speaks of is a deliverance of oppression, a physical salvation. This is a spiritual salvation, the deliverance from sin. Now that kind of salvation, spiritual salvation, has three components to it as well. The first component we would call redemption. Redemption was a word that was used to purchase the freedom of a slave, to redeem-to buy back. Redemption means that you and I have been purchased; we have been paid for. That happened on the cross. That happened in the past, didnt it? In the Book of 1 Peter 3:18 (page 1202), it says that Christ died once for all, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. With the death and the body that we might be made alive in the spirit. Once and for all. Its an event in the past that is completed and done. It does not need to be repeated again. Thats called the perfect tense. In John, when he says, It is finished, to tetelastai; that is in the perfect tense. This is a one-time deal. Its done and its completed. Jesus paid the price for our sins in the past. So when you, by faith, receive Christ, you are redeemed. You are set free from the penalty and the power of sin. Now, when you become a Christian, whether its at age four like Lindsey, or whether its as an adult, are you perfect? Are you spiritually perfect? No. Theres work to be done, isnt there? Thats a process called sanctification. That is the work of the Spirit, whereas the work of the Son is in the past, the work of the Spirit is in the present. The Holy Spirit works in our lives to bring us to maturity. Philippians 1:6 (page 1161) says, …He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. In that same book, Chapter 2:12-13 (page 1162), he says, …work out not work for …your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. So God is at work in us, and He is conforming us to Christ. There are bad attitudes and behaviors and actions. There is sin in us, a sin nature. The process of bringing us into submission and bringing us into Christ likeness is until the day we die. Thats called sanctification. Theres a third aspect which is Future. That is the work of the Father. Thats called Glorification. That has not yet happened, believe me. Glorification is when we literally are in the image of Jesus. In 1 John 3:2 (page 1208), it says, Now we are the children of God, but has not yet appeared what we shall be. But when we see Him, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. We are going to be transformed. Paul talks about that in 1 Corinthians 15:42 (page 1140). He talks about our body. He says it was sown or died, put into the earth; a perishable body-its risen imperishable. Its sown in dishonor; its raised in glory. Its raised in power. It is sown a natural, physical body. It is raised a spiritual body. We will experience a glorification. We dont know exactly how that looks, but well have a body like Jesus had. Its an amazing thing to think about. How many of you watch Extreme Home Makeover? Compare it to a house. You buy a house, you redeem a house, you purchase a house: thats a one-time event in the past. When you buy that house, even when you build a house, there are things that need to be done, things that need to be repaired, things that need to be improved, things that need to be removed, right? That old carpet needs to be removed; that wall needs to be repainted; that fixture needs to be replaced. You start working on improving that house. Does it ever end if you own a house? Do you ever sit back and go, You know what? There is nothing else to do to this house. Everything is just the way I like it, and it will always be so. Isnt that great? How many of you have ever gotten to that point, where there is absolutely nothing else you can do in your house? No cleaning, no improvements, no repairs. Nobody? Neither will you get to the point where you look in the mirror one day and say, You know what, this is perfect-right here. My attitude is right exactly; Im as godly as I could possibly be. Nothing left to fix; nothing left to improve or remove. All right, now I just have to keep it that way. It doesnt happen. So that could be compared to sanctification. Youre always working on that house, always trying to improve it and make it better. Its ongoing as long as you own your house, but what if that TV show called you, and they surprised you? While you were gone, they gutted your house. You came back, and there were new cabinets, new flooring, new walls, the old walls are gone, new exterior, new everything! New appliances! They decked it out, and they transformed that house so its barely recognizable as your house! Thats the glorification part! When what we cant do ourselves, someone else does do, you cannot sanctify yourself. You cannot redeem yourself, and you cannot glorify yourself. It is the work of the Son; it is the work of the Spirit; and it is the work of the Father. It is past; it is present; and it is future. Those are all part of the salvation, the spiritual renewal that has been promised for us in Christ. There is a third kind of salvation, and thats found in the next verse. He still is speaking to his son. He says (Luke 1:78, page 1014), …because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun… This is speaking of Jesus, metaphorically, as a literal Son. …will come to us from Heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace. This third aspect of salvation is an intellectual salvation. It has to do with our minds. The Son will come and illuminate. We will understand God. Jesus came to make God known, John 1:18 says. But is that complete? Thats not complete either. So we know more about God than we did before, but Paul says there is coming a day when we will fully know God. In 1 Corinthians 13:12 says, For now we know in part, but then we shall know fully, even as we have been fully known. That our understanding of who God is will come into a full realization. So the Messiah will bring a salvation-or deliverance-from ignorance. Zechariah says, Were going to know God. Hes going to bring understanding like the sun shining drives away the darkness. Ignorance will be driven out. We will understand God when this child comes into the world. We do, but not like we will when we are glorified. So that is a present and a future fulfillment. If you think about it, think about what happened in our country in 1863. In 1863, a proclamation was made that changed history, the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln said slavery was wrong. Its not consistent with Gods laws. Its not consistent with our Constitution. It is abolished, and he made it legal. It was done. Just like on the cross, Christ won the victory. Sin was defeated, and He delivered us from the penalty-the power of sin. The slave had to be freed in his mind. He had to no longer see himself as a slave. Thats the sanctification part. You and I need to see ourselves as no longer slaves to sin, but alive to God. When Abraham Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation or wrote it, did it rid our world of hatred, prejudice, bigotry, discrimination? No, its still here, isnt it? When Christ paid the penalty on the cross to defeat the power of sin, is sin still present in this world? It is, but it will not always be so. There will come a day when the salvation of our God will be complete in the very presence of sin. Satan, himself, our sin nature will be done away with, and our salvation will be complete. Our salvation is in the past, through the work of the Son. It is in the present, the sanctification, the work of the Spirit; and it is in the end in that complete perfection in which the Father in the future brings the new Heaven and the new earth. Thats what we look toward. Zechariah looks toward that salvation that Jesus would bring. Zechariah, himself, goes through renewal, doesnt he? What kind of renewal does he go through? Well, look. This is the same guy who just nine months earlier just went um, how can I be sure, angels and all that, but I need more. Was there a transformation? The lesson to be learned here is if God can just shut our mouths for nine months, he can teach us a lot of things (congregation laughing). As soon as he shut his yapper, Zechariah learned a lot. Was it a good thing or a bad thing? How do you think he viewed losing his speech? A good thing or a bad thing? How would you feel if you got zapped, and you couldnt talk for nine months? Would that bother you? You couldnt laugh; you couldnt tell a joke. You couldnt tell somebody what you were feeling. It would be frustrating. It wasnt a bad thing for Elizabeth. Elizabeth probably kind of liked it (congregation laughing), and thought it was a good thing. But for Zechariah, it wasnt a good thing. Ultimately, it was a good thing because through that, God transformed that man. The man learned the importance of yielding. He let go, and he was yielding to God. Why is it that God waited until the eighth day, until that moment, to release his mouth? What happened? When he writes down on that paper, and he says his name is John, that was a yield. That was a yield right then and there. Right then and there, it was lifted, and he could speak. He had struggled with God, and as long as you struggle with God, you will not know the fullness of Gods blessing; but when you let go and you yield and trust yourself, turn yourself over to God, thats when youre going to experience the manifestation of His power and His provision. Its not a coincidence that the moment he writes down his name is John, that he can speak. Some of you who have been struggling, fighting God, do you know what you need to do? Just confess what he said. Confess his promise. Write it down. You know what? Thus say it the Lord. This is the way it is, and youll find that that is going to be your key to victory and release. Lets stand together as we close in prayer this morning. Were going to pick up where we left off. Were going to jump into Chapter 2 of Luke, so feel free to read on ahead and see where were going to be at.