Lessons for Life with James Long, Jr.
Are you longing to find answers to the deeper issues of life? Join James, a pastor, counselor, and university professor with over 30 years of experience. Hear James as he tackles some of life's biggest questions and helps us find God's solutions to life's struggles. Learn the power of living by God's grace and for His glory. Experience the joy of forgiveness and freedom found in Jesus Christ alone. If you are on a search for freedom, you will love being part of this conversation. Subscribe, and enjoy the show!
Lessons for Life with James Long, Jr.
Luke 1:67-79 - "The Dawn of Peace"
Discover the enduring faithfulness of God's promises, where ancient stories breathe life into our present-day struggles. We'll examine Zechariah's transformative song of praise, shedding light on the profound hope offered by Christ, the ultimate redeemer. As we peel back layers of doubt and anxiety, we invite listeners to consider how salvation through Jesus Christ offers freedom and unwavering peace, transcending financial worries and broken relationships.
As ambassadors for peace in a troubled world, we explore the powerful call to share Christ's light with others. Inspired by figures like John the Baptist, we'll discuss how true peace isn't found in political power or material wealth but in embracing our divine purpose and serving without fear. Through prayer and reflection, let's celebrate God's tender mercy and commit to embodying and sharing His promise of peace with a world that desperately needs it.
ABOUT JAMES AND LESSONS FOR LIFE
Are you longing to find answers to the deeper issues of life? Join Dr. James Long, Jr., a pastor, counselor, and university professor with over 30 years of experience. Hear James as he tackles some of life’s biggest questions and helps us find God’s solutions to life’s struggles. Learn the power of living by God’s grace and for His glory. Experience the joy of forgiveness and freedom found in Jesus Christ alone. If you are in search of freedom, you will love being part of this conversation. Subscribe, and enjoy the show!
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Would you be seated? The psalmist said bless the Lord, o my soul and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, o my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles? Would you pray with me, father?
Speaker 1:I love this time of the year we come out of Thanksgiving and just being able to celebrate you and to thank you, to have just gratitude in our hearts for what you've done for us. You've done for us in your son, the lord jesus christ, what you've done for us by your holy spirit, and what you continue to do in our lives and what you will do. We praise you and the father. We go into the Advent season being able to focus on hope, lord, focus on the hope that you've given us in the person and work of your Son. I thank you for the joy that we can have in this Christmas season, father, I thank you for the love that we can display to one another, because you've displayed the greatest love to us and we get to display that to a world that desperately needs it. And, lord, today, as we talk about the topic of peace, I pray that you would help us not to have just a superficial peace, a surface level of peace, a temporal level of peace. Father. Give us a peace that is deep and rooted on your son. Father, when the winds and the waves come, father, I pray that we be firmly planted on this firm salvation, that we have the salvation in Christ.
Speaker 1:Father, for those that are here that are struggling, struggling with grief, struggling with emotional difficulties, relational difficulties, financial difficulties, whatever it may be, medical difficulties in their lives, father, the problems seem so big, so overwhelming. I pray that they would see that nothing is bigger than you. So, lord, I pray that you would speak comfort in their lives. I pray that you would speak mercy and grace in their lives. Talk to us through your word today. Help us to see your son today. Fill us with your spirit today. Help us to reflect you today in Jesus' matchless, holy and powerful name. We pray Amen and amen. Well, children, you could be dismissed for your classes and for the rest of us. Would you turn in your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Luke? The Gospel of Luke to the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel of Luke.
Speaker 1:We are in our Advent season here, and last week we heard about hope and today I get the privilege of speaking to you about peace. So let's be honest. We live in a world today that is struggling with hope and struggling with peace. You may feel it. It may feel the pressure that is there, heavy in your life. I could feel it as well.
Speaker 1:And as you look at the headlines, as you pull up your app on your phone, you see the headlines. The headlines are filled with division, it's filled with hatred, it's filled with conflict. That's the world that we live in. There's this us versus them mindset. It's this camped mindset where we are with our own groups and we struggle. We struggle with relationships, we struggle with anxiety, we struggle with depression, time after time. So many of us struggle with broken relationships.
Speaker 1:Maybe some of you that are here, maybe you're struggling with anxiety, maybe you're struggling with restlessness and you lack the peace. And you hear it. You hear about this Prince of Peace and you hear about the things that he wants to do in your life, but for some reason, you know it intellectually, but experientially, you struggle. I was in my devotional this morning talking about this theme of practical atheism. That was my devotional this morning and it's like it's knowing God intellectually but struggling to know him personally and relationally. And many of us are there very honestly and the chaos that we see around us. We keep hearing people say peace, peace, and we think that if we get a political leader we'll have peace, or if we have money in the bank we'll have peace, or we get a good report from a doctor, we'll have peace. And it kind of harkens back to what Jeremiah said, that peace, peace where there is no, what? No? Peace that the people are longing for peace deeply in their hearts and they just don't have it and they cling for all of these things and they struggle with finding it.
Speaker 1:What we see here today is a story of Zacharias. Now, zachariah is a priest in his time, just before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is an old man and I'm feeling older each day, but not that old. He's really old and as he's feeling old, he doesn't have a child and he's now doing his priestly duties and God says I'm going to give you a son. It's been 400 years of silence. God has not said anything prophetically to the nation of Israel for 400 years. That's a long time. And out of that silence, god breaks through and he says I want to give you peace. So Zechariah, today, is going to give us a song. He's going to sing a song to us. He's going to praise God for what God has done. So we want to look at that song today and we want to understand what God is offering to us today.
Speaker 1:So, if you're here today and you're struggling with peace and there's this chaos and this confusion and this brokenness in your heart, I want you to hear that God is the Prince of Peace, that he wants to speak to the struggles that you have, he wants to give you hope, he wants to give you joy, he wants to give you a satisfaction, a security that there is a firm foundation, a rock on which you stand. Would you pray with me? So, lord, I pray today for you to be present in our lives. Father, through all the chaos that is here, I pray that you bring us peace. I pray that you would open our eyes today to hear from you, to see from you, to hear from your word, to show us our need, but to show us that you answer that need in your son. So fill us today with your presence and help us to honor you and reflect you In Jesus' matchless, holy and powerful name. We pray Amen and amen.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I'm going to be focusing on Luke, chapter 1, verses 67 to 79. But before we get there, let's just kind of do an eagle's eye view of what was happening in Zechariah's time. If you go back to verse 26, you'll see that the angel Gabriel comes. And the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man who was named Joseph, in the house of David. And the virgin's name was who? Mary.
Speaker 1:So we see the story and the story begins here in verse 26, that the angel comes to Mary and says that I have great news for you, that you are going to give birth to a son. And Mary's sitting there saying well, I'm a virgin, how is that possible? And she has these questions, but in her heart she responds in faith and she says let it be according to your word, whatever you want, do it in me and do it through me. And he's saying that the angel told her that the Lord, jesus Christ, is going to be coming out of your womb and then she also. She was also told that her relative, her relative Elizabeth, was also with child. Now Elizabeth was old and it's like she's with child. It's like miracle after miracle. I haven't even been with a man and now I'm pregnant and Elizabeth is pregnant. So what Mary does is she gets on the road and she goes and visits Elizabeth and now, amazingly, when Elizabeth is there and Mary comes into their home, the baby that's in Elizabeth's womb leaps for joy home. The baby that's in Elizabeth's womb leaps for joy celebration worship. He couldn't contain himself within her womb and it talks about Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and says that you are blessed Mary among women, and these two women are responding and out of the song.
Speaker 1:I love Luke. Luke is this wonderful book where he begins with all these songs. He begins with the song, the Magnificat, you know, mary's praise to God, and then we have Simeon's song that we read about in Luke, we have the angel's song, glory to God, and we have this song by Zacharias. I guess they really like music and Luke really likes music, which I can agree with and Zachah is writing this song in a world that's not really much different than ours. It's a world that is broken. It's a world that is in desperate need of healing. It's a world that is in desperate need of peace. It's a world that is crying out. Maybe there's oppression that is happening in his world, which it was injustice and a longing for deliverance. You and I are experiencing the same thing.
Speaker 1:We've gone through a political season and some of us got our candidate and some of us did not, and some of us are thinking that this candidate is going to bring healing and righteousness. Well, the reality is none of them ultimately will, because they cannot produce what only Christ can. So it's a world that's not much different than ours. It's a world that is longing for peace, as I said in Jeremiah. In Jeremiah, chapter 6, verse 14, it says they have healed the wounds of my people lightly. God says Peace, peace where there is no peace.
Speaker 1:Now I was trying to think about how the world seeks peace, and the world seeks peace through political rebellion, right? So if I can get political power, if my person can be in office, then I can have peace. That's what some of us believed as we went to the voting booth just four weeks ago, and the reality is that political rebellion or political overthrow or political leadership doesn't provide peace. People were thinking that if they could overthrow the Roman oppressors during this time that they would get peace. They didn't. Some people not only seek political power, but some look for peace through religious legalism. They think if I do the right things that God will be happy with me. God will be satisfied. So if I go to church, if I read my Bible, if I give enough at church, then guess what? God will be happy with me. And they're seeking peace through religious things and it becomes legalism in their lives. So some seek it through political power, some seek it through legalism, some seek it through just compromise. I'm not going to fight the world anymore. I'm just going to kind of do what the world does. I'm going to think what the world thinks, I'm going to speak like the world speaks and if I kind of go along with the world I'll have peace. Those are faulty ways that people have sought peace.
Speaker 1:But because the root problem for our lack of peace in life is a three-letter word and that word is what Sin? It's been that reason that sin has caused the break that is there between us and God and between us and one another, that sin that is in our lives has been a byproduct of the lack of peace. Sin separates us from God. Sin hinders our relationship with one another. Sin causes a brokenness within. Sin affects you and me constantly, and all of those remedies political power, religious work or compromising with the world will never solve this root issue that you and I have.
Speaker 1:The root issue is sin, and Zechariah, as I said, is speaking to a people that has waited for 400 years for God to speak to them. In that 400 years, there has been no prophet, no fresh word from God. Just waiting. They've been waiting in silence, waiting for God to answer them. What's amazing is this.
Speaker 1:I think we at times think that when we don't hear from God, that God is not working. It's a complete lie. God is working. We see it working through the miraculous pregnancies with Mary and Elizabeth. We see it working through the miraculous pregnancies with Mary and Elizabeth. We see it working through the fact that I'm going to hinder you, zechariah, from speaking for months. See it working through the fact that God has a sovereign plan to bring about real peace and hope in your life. He wants to transform you, he wants to change you, he wants to change your status with him and he wants to change you from the inside out.
Speaker 1:For nine months as well, zechariah hasn't been able to speak. That would be hard, I'm telling you, because I mean, some of us really like to talk but he wouldn't be able to speak. Some say he wasn't even able to hear for nine months. And that was a judgment. You know, when Mary heard from the angel Gabriel, she believed him and says do whatever you want, I'm here as your vessel. When Zechariah heard, zechariah says I don't believe that can happen. This is a priest of God. He wasn't sure that this could happen. And God says okay, you don't trust me, let me show you. And what does he do? He makes him silent for nine months. Let's think about that. For nine months he's sitting there because of his doubt. It's the judgment that God, the consequence For nine months.
Speaker 1:He is now seeing with his eyes. He's watching God fulfill the promises, one promise after another promise after another promise, and he's unable to speak. I know when you have some joy that's happening in your life, you can't help but speak. Like Pastor Doug, he couldn't help but speak about his grandchild that was being born. We can't help it. And he could not speak.
Speaker 1:Zacharias had to hold on to this month after month. I was wondering as he went through that silence. It probably filled him with a level of regret and repentance that Lord please forgive me for doubting you. Maybe it filled him with anticipation Wow, I can't imagine. I can't wait to see. Maybe it filled him with reflect. In that nine-month period of time he did not turn bitter.
Speaker 1:What we see is that Zachariah came to a place where he exploded with joy and what he talks about in this song, three things that I want to show you in it. But what he talks about in this song is not fleeting peace that the world offers you. It's a true and lasting peace that comes from one person, the person and work of the Lord, jesus Christ. So let's look at the passage and let's look at his song. We're going to break it down into three steps. The three steps are this that God answers your need for peace. See, god sees your need for peace and he answers your need for peace. He sees it and he answers it. Number one. Number two that is answered only through the precious work of his son. That he is the dawn of peace, he is the light of peace, he's the sunrise of peace. So God knows your need for peace, that it is answered alone through the dawn of peace, the Lord Jesus Christ, and then you and I, if we're believers, are called to live in peace. So those are the three things I want to try to look at today.
Speaker 1:Let's look at this Benedictus. It's called the Benedictus because he is a benediction, a prayer benediction. Let's look at verse 68 and let's see where he starts. He says blessed be the Lord, god of Israel. Blessed I love that word, blessed. He's talking about worship. He is talking about the fact that God is worthy of praise. That's exactly what worship is. It's a blessing. He's worthy of worship. He says blessed be the Lord, god of Israel, for watch. He has visited and redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant, david, as he spoke by the mouths of the holy prophets from old, that we should be saved from our enemies and that from the hand of those who hate us. To show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember the holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham to grant us that we may be delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the most high, for you will go before the Lord and prepare his way to give him the knowledge of salvation to his people, in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness, the shadow of death, and to guide their feet in the way of peace. Pray that the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word. Point number one I want you to consider is that God answers our need for peace in verses 68 through 75.
Speaker 1:Now Zechariah's song begins with this fact that God is not silent. God has not abandoned you. God is with you, and he does that first by seeing that God has visited us and redeemed us. These two things, I think, are so important. What he talks about is he looks to the character of God Now, out of nine months of silence. He doesn't hold on to bitterness and resentment. What he does is he bursts out in praise, and he's not talking about himself. Let me tell you what it's been like for nine months. He doesn't do that. What he does is he bursts out in praise and honor and glory to God. He talks about how God has visited his people.
Speaker 1:I thought it was interesting that if you go to the root word for visit, it connects to the idea of vision, of seeing. It's not that just God has arrived on the surface, but God sees you. You know, some of us are gonna go to work tomorrow and when we go to work tomorrow we are going to have somebody who is our super. What Visor? What does a supervisor do? The supervisor sees you and is over you. Supervisor Well, jesus Christ is the great supervisor, he's the epi-supervisor. He sees you. He doesn't just come to be with us. He knows everything that you're going through. He knows every struggle that you are enduring. He knows every pain, he knows every sin, he knows every thought, he knows every difficulty that you are dealing with, even the things that people do not know. God knows, he sees, and when he comes to visit you, he comes to visit you and he says I see you and I'm still coming to find you because I love you. But he doesn't just come to see you and visit you, he is coming to redeem them.
Speaker 1:And what Zacharias hearkens back to is, I think, the Exodus. Back in the Exodus, when his people were in Egypt, what was happening? These people were crying out for God to set them free. They desperately wanted to be free and they were enslaved for 400 years, enslaved and they could not get out. And they cried out time after time please give me a redeemer, please. And God hears them and he sees them and he sends Moses. And he sees them and he sends Moses and he says let my people what Go. And God does a miraculous work to not only visit them but to redeem them. It's a small thing, looking forward to what Jesus Christ is going to do.
Speaker 1:Jesus Christ came to this world 2,000 years ago. The second person in the Trinity, who has always existed, took on human flesh 2,000 years ago and became the human being, the Lord Jesus Christ, truly God and truly man. And he walked on earth and he saw us, he knew us deeply. He saw Nathaniel over there. I see you over there. I know things. I know things about you. Yet I come and I pursue you because I love you. So the first thing I want you to see is that God visited his people and redeemed his people in verse 68. And I should tell you that redemption is not with silver and gold. Redemption is with what the perfect blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:Verse 69 tells us that he talks about this horn of salvation. Watch what he says here. And he raised up for us a horn of salvation for us in the house of our servant, david. So he's now connecting to David, and David is the. Jesus Christ is going to be the son of David. He's gonna be in the lineage of David. That, the promise that God had given to David thousands of years before, is this that somebody is going to be on your throne forever and ever and ever. And Jesus Christ has become that one.
Speaker 1:But he talks about this horn, and the horn here is this powerful image, and it's drawn from the Old Testament, and it's a powerful image of strength and victory, that the God that you serve, the leader that you seek peace from, is not a weak person. He is the ultimately strong person and he is the one who has provided ultimate victory. And so he's looking and saying that you know what? You're not going to get your ultimate victory through a political party or political power. You're going to get it through the one who conquered sin, conquered Satan and conquered death the Lord Jesus Christ. He's conquered. Him I was thinking about like a champion who comes in after his battle, and as he comes in after this battle, he's not coming in with some fragile shield, he's not coming in with some weak sword. He's coming in with an unshakable power, and that's what Jesus Christ does for you. He is the ultimate might and he's the ultimate mercy. So I wonder for you do you trust in the strength of God?
Speaker 1:I was thinking about this for myself this week, as I was thinking about why is it that I lack peace at times? And I think I lack peace at times in my life because there are things that I need to deal with in my life. Maybe you're there, maybe there's some sin in your life that is there and you know about it and you need to deal with it. Maybe there's some sin in your life that is there and you know about it and you need to deal with it. Maybe there's some struggles in your life that you don't even know and you need some help to deal with it. But the lack of peace that we oftentimes struggle with is a byproduct of the fact that we are looking for hope and healing in something else other than trusting in the strength of God. Or maybe, as most of us struggle with maybe, we're trying to fight the battle on our own, without going to the mercy and might of Christ. And without the mercy and might of Christ, you will fight your battle, but you will get temporal peace, but you will not get real peace. I love this in verse 70.
Speaker 1:He talks here about the fact of God's faithfulness. He says in verse 70 through 73, as he spoke from the mouths of the holy prophets from old, that we should be saved from our enemies and that from the hands of all those who hate us, to show mercy promised to our forefathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham to grant us. So what he does is he goes now to the fact that God's faithfulness is his covenant. See, the God that you serve is a God who is a promise keeper. I will sometimes make promises that I don't fulfill, unfortunately. Things that I really wanted to get done I couldn't get done because either I didn't have the will or the might or the willingness to do it. And you all have done the same thing You've made promises and have not been able to fulfill them.
Speaker 1:But when God promises you something, the amazing thing here is this, and this is what was blowing Zacharias' mind that as he's seeing his wife pregnant and he sees Mary filled with a baby, he looks back to what God has promised hundreds and even thousands of years ago. And he goes back and he says God, you are the ultimate promise keeper, the unchangeable nature of God's promises. He can't lie, it's not possible for him to lie. So when he promises you something, you could trust it. When he offers an oath, you could trust it, trust his word. And so he's looking back and he says wow, even back to my father, father Abraham, thousands of years before Abraham, who had no children. But God says I'm going to give you a child. And then they tried to figure it out with this human effort to get Ishmael. And he says that's not the one. I'm going to give you one through your wife, and I'm going to give you Isaac. And he says that's not the one. I'm going to give you one through your wife, and I'm going to give you Isaac. And that Isaac looked forward to not only Isaac, but every single one of you that are in Christ. They're all children of our father Abraham.
Speaker 1:So when Zechariah is praising God here, he's looking back to the fact that God is a covenant keeper. He's a promise keeper you could trust. So, whether it's a promise to Abraham thousands of years ago or a promise to David, it is now being fulfilled in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our world easily breaks promises easily. Maybe you do as well. I want you to know this for certainty, that God doesn't ever break a promise to you. I say this often to my people that I have this phrase. It goes I can't, he can. He has in the past, he does right now, he will in the future. I can only in him. And when you start to think about the fact that my inability I can't, but I can in him is the rock on which we stand, because that is peace.
Speaker 1:Verses 74 and 75 not only tell us about God's faithfulness to his covenant, but it talks about the fact that you've been delivered for a purpose. Watch what it says in verse 74. It says that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. Some of us wonder very honestly what's the purpose of our lives? Why am I here? Why do I exist? Why am I here, god? Why did you create me? For some people, they've gotten to the place where they don't see any purpose to their lives and they want to end their lives. And God says I have created you with a purpose. Before this world was ever existed, I had planned you and, for those of you that know Christ, god has, before this world was ever decided, he had chosen to pick you to be part of his family. You have an amazing purpose, because God has not only delivered you from his enemies, but he wants you to serve him. Watch what he says. Serve him without fear.
Speaker 1:How many of us struggle with a lack of peace because we're constantly worried that God is not happy with us? How many of us struggle with a lack of peace because we struggle with sin in our lives? We feel guilt and condemnation constantly. Maybe you're feeling it, and what God says is this I want you to know that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Nothing will ever separate you from his love. I don't want you to live in constant fear that you're going to lose everything. I want you to be so assured that I am yours and you are secure in my hands. That will give you amazing peace.
Speaker 1:But he doesn't just say without fear. He says in holiness and righteousness. So what happens in salvation is this when God comes into your life and saves you, he changes your position. You go from enemy to family. You go from rebel to the righteous. You go from out of the world, out of a relationship with him, to in a relationship. You are justified by faith, by God's grace in your life, because of Christ. And what God does amazingly is he takes my record and your record and he applies that to Christ. And then he takes Christ's record and he applies it to you. When God looks at you, he looks at you as though you live the perfect and righteous life of Christ. But very truly, I'm not that way. And so what God does is this he doesn't want to just free you from the standard and the condemnation. He wants to set you free in holiness and righteousness. He wants to transform you.
Speaker 1:So when he freed the people in Exodus, he didn't just free them to do whatever they wanted. He freed them because he wanted them to worship. He took them from Egypt to Mount Sinai. He wanted them to worship him, he wanted them to commune with him. And he says that I want to grant you peace in amazing ways. So the first thing I want you to see, that's a longer section. I want you to see that God hears your need for peace. The second is that Jesus alone is the dawn of peace.
Speaker 1:Look at verses 76 into 79. It says and you, child, will be called the prophet and the most high, for you will go before him, the Lord, to prepare his way, to give him the knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of God. I'll stop there. So what he does is he looks at the sunrise and he says you know, in the darkness that is happening around this world, he wants you to know that God's peace isn't just a concept. God's peace is a person. God's peace is not temporal, god's peace is eternal. God wants to give you a real peace. And he looks Zacharias has been focusing on God. Now he looks at his son, his son that he's probably holding in his hands, and he's looking at that son and he says God has got amazing things for you I can't imagine to be able to know, before the child is even born, that God has already told you that God is going to use your boy to be the preparer of the way for the Messiah is even born, that God has already told you that God is going to use your boy to be the preparer of the way for the Messiah. I mean, it's like I can't even imagine what Zacharias and Elizabeth must have been experiencing. And this son, he is called the prophet of the most high.
Speaker 1:John was the last and the greatest of the Old Testament prophets and it talks about the fact that he's going to prepare the way. John wasn't a ministry about himself. It was a ministry about Christ and he's pointing people to Christ. And he talks here about the knowledge of salvation. So I want you to know this this morning that salvation is not from your political enemies or earthly struggles. Salvation is found in being rescued from the greatest issue that you have sin, and rescued in your relationship with God. Humanity's deepest need isn't about circumstances, but it's about being restored into communion with God. I love this word.
Speaker 1:He talks about the tender mercy of God in verse 78, because of the tender mercy of God, that what God is doing for you and me is not because of human effort, it's not because I'm a good guy. It's the fact that God's heart has been so captured and so compassionately loves us. He moves to us on our behalf. He didn't wait for us to come to him. He came to us through Christ. He came and he broke out of the darkness and he came into the darkness of our lives to bring the sunrise. And he visits us.
Speaker 1:I was out for a walk this morning and it was cold. But I was out for a walk and it was just before the sun had risen and it was dark outside, a little bit darker outside, and as I looked around you could kind of see certain things. But then all of a sudden the sun starts to rise and I got to start to see things in a different way, a majestic way, as the sun is rising and that it's symbolic of what God does. He doesn't just arrive, he arrives with a purpose, he wants to illuminate things. He says I see the struggles that you're having, but I want to point you to the one that is going to set you free. Jesus Christ brings clarity, he brings hope, he brings healing in his wings.
Speaker 1:In Malachi, chapter 4, verse 2, malachi says this the son of righteousness rises with healing in his wings. He talks also about the fact that there's light in the darkness, that the darkness that people are struggling verse 79, to give light to those who sit in darkness, in the shadow of death, and to guide their feet in the way of peace. So the first thing I want you to know is this that God knows your need and he answers your greatest need for peace. Second, I want you to know very deeply that Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone, is the dawn of peace. You cannot get peace through anyone or anything other than him. But the third thing I want you to consider before we leave today is this I want you to know that, as a result, you, as God's people, are called to live in light of peace. We're called to live in light of shalom. See, peace is given to you as a gift. It says to give life. That gift is given.
Speaker 1:You know, I had a birthday earlier this week, a couple of days ago, and guess what? I got some gifts, which was pretty cool. I like gifts, everybody likes gifts, right? And at Christmas time my wife says what do you want for Christmas, I mean? So it's like you know we love gifts, right, and those gifts are great, but those gifts end up usually broken eventually, or in a basement somewhere or in a trash can.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you about a gift that God wants to give you that will never leave you. It's a gift that you don't earn, you don't merit, you don't deserve. But God says I want to give you peace, I want to give you hope. I want to give you peace. I want to give you joy. I want to do something amazing in your life. I want to forgive you of your sins. I want to set you free from your sins. I want to give you a family when you feel broken and out of weight from a family. I want to give you a future. I want to give you real and lasting peace. It's given to you as a gift.
Speaker 1:But he says you can't just get this gift. I want you to walk out this gift, because that's important. He says to guide our feet in the way of peace. See, jesus doesn't just bring peace, he teaches us how to live in peace. So I want you to think about this as we close. If you are in Christ, you have peace with God already. Romans 5.1,. I love this verse. He says, therefore, since we've been justified by faith, we have peace with God. It's already yours If you are in Christ.
Speaker 1:When you feel in the guilt and the condemnation and the fears and the insecurities and the doubts, I want you to know that God says you have peace. It's objective, it's not based on your up and down feelings, it's not based on your up and down performance. It's based on Christ finished work. You have peace, peace with God. But then he says it's not just about peace with God, it should be peace with others. I should be a peacemaker. I should be looking to extend forgiveness and seek reconciliation.
Speaker 1:Are you at war with somebody in your life? If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, god calls you to be a peacemaker and so, as you have received peace, now you need to extend peace to others. But it's not just peace with God, it's not just peace with others, it's also peace within, and there's so many people, very honestly, that struggle with this brokenness within. I want you to trust God, no matter what the trials are, no matter what the struggles are that you're going through. Trust him. His word is sure, his promises never fail. He cannot lie. Trust him so practically. How do I live this out, james? How about seeking reconciliation? Maybe you know that you have a broken relationship or maybe you didn't know that there was a broken relationship. Seek that person out and try to make it right.
Speaker 1:Practice gratitude. I have my journal here. I love just writing down in the journal thank you God, thank you God, thank you God. I think that's what Zacharias was doing for nine months. Thank you God, thank you God, thank you God. I think that's what Zacharias was doing for nine months. Thank you God, thank you God, thank you God. And then, when he got an opportunity to say it, he couldn't help it. Thank you God. Be a person that is just so full of gratitude in your hearts because God has given you everything and you deserve nothing, and just thank him. Or how about this?
Speaker 1:I pray that you would consider just sharing the light with others. This is what John the Baptist was doing. Zacharias is modeling for his son. Nine months of silence. He then got an opportunity to share the light with others. John the Baptist is now going to live his life sharing the light with others, and you and I get the same privilege to what Share the light with others.
Speaker 1:So, as we leave here today, I pray that you would know that you're called to be an ambassador for shalom, ambassador for peace. You're called to know that your greatest need is peace, that the only one that is going to provide that peace is the Lord Jesus Christ and, as a result, we're called to live in light of that peace. Will you do that today? Would you pray with me? Father, I just want to thank you so much.
Speaker 1:We live in a world that is so broken, a world that is in desperate need of peace, father. For some, they believe that a political leader is going to give them peace. They won't. For some, they believe that religiosity is going to give them peace, making sure they do a bunch of checklist things, spiritual disciplines as great as spiritual disciplines are, those actions alone will not bring us ultimate peace. For some of us in this room, we have kowtowed to society, we have compromised with society and we figure that if we don't buck the system, we'll have peace. None of us will. None of that will bring peace. What will bring peace is the one that Zacharias sang about the dawn of peace.
Speaker 1:Your son, who is a visitor. He comes to us, he sees us. I praise you for that, even the sin that he sees in my life, he still loves me. In spite of that, and for every person here, I trust in him. He redeems us. He bought us back with his precious blood. He's the horn of our salvation, he's the power source. He is the promise keeper. He is the God that we get a chance to share the light with in the world. So, father, help us to reflect him. Help us to honor you In Jesus' matchless, holy and powerful name. We pray Amen and amen.
