Luke chapter 1, beginning in verse 46, this is God's word, eternally true. And Mary said, my soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the mighty one has done great things for me, holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who are proud in their inn most thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel remembering to be merciful, to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers. Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then returned home. When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy and they shared her joy. On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father, Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, no, he is to be called John. Now skip down to verse 67, verse 67, John the Baptist's father speaks. His father, Zechariah, was filled with Holy Spirit and prophesied, praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel. As he has come and has redeemed his people, he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he said through his holy prophets a long ago. Salvation from our enemies, and 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 and holiness and righteousness before him all our days. And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the most high, for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God by which the rising sun 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. Now go down a little further to chapter 2 and verse 4, verse 4, so Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child while they were there the time came for the baby to be born and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby keeping watch over their flocks at night and angel the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shown around them and they were terrified, but the angel said to them, do not be afraid, for I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. Christ will be assigned to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lined in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests. Here ends our reading. There is a responsive thankfulness that is printed for you there in your bulletin, the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Thanks indeed. Let's pray. We've been talking about good news of great joy. That's what the angel says to these shepherds in the field and why is this good news? What is the good news and why is it a thing of great joy to talk last week of this being good news for us and that good news was a term from the Old Testament that Isaiah had used. It was the proclamation of someone coming back and giving an earlier report of victory in battle. So when the Israelites troops had gone out in battle in a foreign country, a messenger would come back and he would speak to Jerusalem and say, we've won the battle and that was good news of great joy and blessed and beautiful are the feet of the people, of the person who brings that news. And so we talked last week about how this is good news because Jesus came to earth not to give us Christmas, which I heard last night on Rudolph the red reindeer, can be canceled for bad weather. So apparently bad weather can cancel out whether Jesus was born or not, right? We'll have to cancel Christmas, thanks to Rudolph. All right, no, but so Christmas is before us and Jesus didn't come to give us a Christmas holiday though it's fine to celebrate his birth of course, but Jesus came to fight for us like the Israelites troops used to fight and to fight against our chief enemy Satan and his army of death that was coming against us and was in his approaching all of us, each day of our lives getting closer and closer and closer and Jesus came to fight death and he faced death and he fought it and he overcame it for us. So that's good news for us, a battle has been won. But the other bit of good news for us, we get a hint of in Matthew chapter 2. We see that Herod the king, he was not an Israelite king, he was a king representing the Romans and he's threatened by the news of another king who has been born in Bethlehem, Jesus. And so he sends out his troops to kill all the male babies in Bethlehem, two years old and younger and the response that we see there is a quote from Jeremiah. Matthew puts that in us, in there for us, that the voice that is heard is Rachel weeping for her children for there no more. What in the world is that mean? Well Jeremiah was talking about that Rachel's children, Rachel was the mother of Israel, and Israel's children were no more because they were often Babylon. That's what Jeremiah was talking about, a foreign king had come in and either killed them or exiled them to a foreign land so they couldn't live in the promised land anymore, the land of God's blessings. And so what we see here and what we learn in Matthew 2 is that when Jesus arrives the people are still really in exile even though they've come back to the land. Right here in this passage we see there's good news come to us. There was great suffering that was going on in Jesus' day including the suffering in Bethlehem with the children being killed but you know suffering in your own life from finals to take to your dad dying by a crystal went through yesterday. Do jobs being lost to health issues going on to children and grandchildren who have lost their way and you care for more for them than they care for themselves that's suffering and that's pain for us and we're in the church. But those who are outside the church they have even more of this coming to them and that they experience in their lives but what we see today is that the world in a sense and even us that we're still people in exile. We're still people who are outside of heaven, outside of the new heavens and the earth. In the Old Testament the promised land was the place of God's blessings and so you didn't want to be out in exile to be out in exile was to be in the midst of suffering and so we live in our lives with deep needs and if you'd like to fill up lengths in an outline you can do that here we live in with great need in our lives an exile of a type in number one God says to us this human beings apart from Jesus human beings apart from Jesus live outside the realm of God's blessing and an realm of deep need human beings apart from Jesus live outside the realm of God's blessing and a realm of deep need they live outside the promised land which today is the church the church is this place that you come to in all your neighbors like us sitting here right now profess faith in Jesus the son of David and that's the way things were in the promised land you had a son of David who was over you as king and you were in this promised land and all who were in the promised land either truly believed in the one true God who had made all things or they at least didn't give a fight to that they weren't allowed to fight against that there were no idols allowed in the promised land and so the church is that today we don't have a section of the seats here for people who are Buddhist in a section for people who are Hindus in a section for those who we want to declare there's no God this is the promised land this is the land set apart where there's belief in the one true God who has communicated him to our cell to us in this book telling us about his grace and his goodness through Jesus our condition though as human beings now is described with many facets of who we are here in this passage in Luke and what we see in the shepherd's condition and what we see and what Mary communicates about her condition and what we see and what Zechariah communicates about Israel's condition when Jesus arrived so here are conditions that we have today that are addressed in this passage to which Jesus is the answer in the good news first thing a we are in need of mercy so being outside of heaven being outside of the new heavens and new earth we are people who need mercy and this is true for us this is true obviously for non-believers in a bigger way too but we are in need of mercy and we see this this word repeated for us throughout this passage look at verse 54 chapter 154 chapter 172 mercy again chapter 178 mercy again this was a need for God to show his mercy to his people and we need this mercy in a couple of ways one there near outline a one we need this mercy eternally all human beings are in need of God's mercy eternally because at final judgment we need mercy because of our sins we need mercy eternally we need mercy at final judgment because of our sins we don't have a perfect record of faithfulness to God so we're subject to his judgment we need his mercy and then number two we need his mercy in our lives because we are experiencing in our lives the consequences of our not loving God and our not loving neighbor David talks about this in Psalm 103 10 he says God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our inequities now we do have things that happen to us because of our sins it's just David it's saying it's not the full brunt it's not the full what I should get for the sinful things I do God extends his grace to us day after day and and we do things that are selfish and people don't always know that we did something that was selfish that has affected them right God has this grace over us and we don't receive what we deserve but Galatians 6.7 Paul is very clear he says God is not mocked we reap what we sow and we sow according to the sin nature and the harvest of that is not good so we're in need of mercy because we have reaped we have or sorry we have sown toward our sin nature we have done sin and so we're in need of God's mercy in our lives so that we don't experience the consequences to to their full extent and then be be in addition to needing mercy we are in need of salvation and rescue from our enemies we're in need of salvation and rescue from our enemies and we see these terms salvation and rescue repeated here in these verses 169 171 and then in verse 74 as well and then in verse 77 as well and then the words of the angel in chapter 2 verse 11 salvation rescue from our enemies and number one there we need this salvation we need this rescue in an eternal sense so that's your blank there we need this eternally that is apart from forgiveness our enemy Satan has he has us right where he wants us he has a sinning and he has developed for us a record of sins all the sins we've committed and he has us deserving eternal judgment so we need salvation from the eternal judgment that our enemy has come against us to bring bringing us temptations one after another after and he's trying to Satan is compound upon us as many temptations as he can to bring us into as many sins as he can get us into so that we are storing up wrath against ourselves in final judgment
and so we need rescue from this don't we we need salvation from our enemies for when final judgment comes because we have earned the wrath of God but we also need salvation and rescue from our enemies in our lives that's your number two in our lives we need rescue from our enemies temptations
because when we do sin consequences come to us if I'm not kind if I have harsh words I damage my relationships if I do something that's unfaithful then I reap the consequences of that and I need rescue from that in my life rescue from my own sin nature that wants to sin over and over and bring harmful consequences to my life just because you're a believer just because I'm a believer doesn't mean I can sin and everything's going to be okay when I sin the results of that sin come to me now David says not as I deserve them to come to me but they come to me we've been looking at David in his life and our ordinary preaching of the word in the past months and we'll see David has great consequences negative consequences that come to his life because of his sins when he needs rescue he needs rescue from that again Galatians 6 God is not mocked a man reads what he says proverb 626 talks about sin reduces you and I to a loaf of bread and it prays upon our very lives Proverbs 626 or you saw Luke 15 this morning how'd that life of sin work out for that son who took half of the or all of his inheritance half of what his father owned how'd sin work out for him he winds up losing it all having to work and realizing that his work conditions were much worse than his father's servants work conditions so we need rescue from our own sin natures in our lives because our enemy wants to hurt our lives take away our blessing through bringing us to sin third thing we're in need of so we're in need we're in need of mercy we're in need of rescue we're in need also to be free of fear
we see this here in this passage in chapter 1 verse 74 Zechariah mentions that they lived in fear think about that they were under Roman oppression Roman occupation they didn't have their own king fighting for them no one was protecting them the Romans could do whatever they wanted to including killing all the male male children in Bethlehem two years old and younger no consequences the Rome for doing that they could do it just because they could so we have lives that have fear uh chapter 2 verses 9 and 10 speak about this as well the the shepherds out there with their reaction fear and they have to be told being out afraid you know when we're in heaven we won't fear or in the new heavens and north we won't fear but now our lives are our full of fear and God wants us to have freedom from that we have fear today in our lives number one there coming up there of death are the writer of Hebrews says every person lives except for Christians because we don't have to anymore every person lives in fear of death all their lives it's like a slave master coming death is like a slave master and people live in fear of that coming death that's Hebrews 2 14 and 15 or John puts it this way in 1 John 4 18 he says we have fear because fear is a result of coming punishment and every person knows who doesn't have Christ they know and their souls Romans 1 and 2 that punishment is coming and so they have fear of death every time they do something wrong they're conscience bothers them because they know it's wrong because the law of God is imprinted on their hearts they know they're supposed to be loving God they know they're supposed to be loving their neighbors and they're not and so they have fear of death because with death comes punishment but there's also fear that every person has in life and that's your viewpoint in life
we have fears Christians Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3 12 and indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted so you know that as you let unless you're living in a monastery or you never leave your home and all your family members or believers you know every time you walk out the door you can get persecuted you can get made at fun of for your faith and so you know when the topic of religion comes up you get a little bit of fear inside of you right we live we live in fear and this is the fear Paul talks about we will be persecuted but there's this there's this fear that we can have that things just won't work out bad things will happen to us and why not you know non-believers they say and we talk about this a lot non-believers say to comfort each other and they say don't worry it'll work out it may not if there's not a sovereign god who cares for them controlling all things there's no guarantee it may work out or it may get much worse they don't know there's no Romans 828 for the non-believer and even for us as we believe who is the greatest believer in Job Job's day Job and all the kids are killed and all stuff is killed all stuff is taken away and is treated worse than the worst of sinners during his day so there could be fear in life anything anything could happen and then D last thing so we need freedom from fear because there are a lot of things in life that can make us fearful and there are sins that we've committed that make us rightly fearful of punishment and judgment apart from Christ but then D D we are also in need of guidance we're in need of guidance so that we might live having peace this was I think much less so 30 years ago 50 years ago it's so depressing to me because no one knows how to parent their kids because we're now to the generation where those who are parenting had parents you didn't have a clue so they had no example of this and that's not criticism that's for our compassion on people no guidance and it's it's beyond just should I spank or should I not spank that was the big question when Dobson was big right back in the 80s and 90s but but now it's it's beyond that what if I tell my kid no will he hate me forever TV if you don't have scripture you don't know what's going to happen everything is untested theory people need guidance but as a society we've rejected guidance you can't tell me anything's right or wrong that's the mantra of our society that's the one universal truth that is absolute in our society that you can't tell me what's right and what's wrong and that sounds great at the beginning because we get to do anything we want but that's not great when someone's trying to steal something from us who are you to tell me I can't take this from you big it right get it doesn't work there is right and wrong there's a right way to do things in a wrong way to do things there's a moral way to do things in an immoral way to do things an immoral immorality leads to harmful consequences but we need guidance in our lives because we don't have the wisdom of God in our head and in our hearts and that's why we care about this book the Bible Proverbs talks about wisdom Proverbs is really just talking about God's commands those terms are almost synonymous and Proverbs read Proverbs that way and you'll see it works to have wisdom is to have the commands of God and to walk in them that's what Solomon's saying okay God's given us plenty of commands plenty of case falls and all that kind of thing so that we have enough for life and godliness as Peter says and second Peter but we have this great need for guidance in our lives and think about this even faithful Jews during the day in which Jesus was born as Zechariah who was a priest he says we're walking in darkness and in the shadow of death he says in that verse we are in need of guidance we're in need of light so we know how to walk how to behave how do I treat my wife so we see this idea of guidance in 179 that as Zechariah mentions there we need to be guided our feet need to be guided in the path of peace or chapter two verse 14 glory to God in the highest on earth peace on two men on whom his favor rests we need the peace that comes from guidance there's not peace if we're not guided we try something we say hope this works it's like me I'm trying to fix our vacuum cleaner right now I don't know you know those things are just disposable so you can't even find good answers on the internet on those things you can find great answers on car repair but not on vacuum repair just throw it out and get another one but I really like this vacuum cleaner all right and it's like well try something see if it works it's cheaper to throw parts at it than it is to actually get it get it fixed you know deal with the $70 appraisal fee but number one here we need guidance so that we may live in peace eternally we need guidance so that we may live in peace eternally we need to be guided regarding how we may here's your blank receive God's mercy we need guidance as to how we can and every person on earth needs guidance on how they can receive God's mercy God is merciful praise be to the Lord he is merciful but the question is are you going to receive God's mercy or his wrath and so every human being needs guidance on how to receive how to receive God's mercy to be rescued to be freed from fear and then Zechariah also says there that we need guidance in life so it's it's true for us it's true for people in life he says we live in darkness we need to have guidance in life so that our here's your blank so our relationships with people and God himself are at peace that's a big area in which our guidance if we don't have guidance our relationships fall apart there are other areas too so number two so here's the good news so we brought these areas of need that are brought out by by Mary and by Zechariah and by the angel speaking angels then speaking all these areas of need that we have areas for for mercy for salvation and rescue from our enemies from those who hate us we're in need to be free of fear which is a part of our lives every day and we're in need of peace that comes through guidance and here's the good news of great joy number two God ends the exile God ends the exile the previously missing king Jesus the previously missing king Jesus gets his people into the realm of God's blessing securing all these deep needs for his people we'll say that again the good news of great joy is that the previously missing king Jesus gets his people into the realm of God's blessing securing all these deep needs for his people you see God had sent his people into exile he told his people he would do this in Leviticus 26 and in Deuteronomy 28 and then through the prophet said if you have a long extended time of disregarding me and worshiping other gods not following me if he closed down the temple which the people did from time to time then the worst of all covenant curses would you was that you would be exiled and so the people had gone into Babylon they'd been exiled Daniel was one of these people and they live in Babylon for years and then God brings them back to the promised land and we see that at Ezra 1 and at the end of second Chronicles and so they they come back to the land and but being back from exile being completely restored consisted of three things being completely restored from exile consisted of one being back in the land that's the obvious thing and so God's people had come back they were back in the land and so Jesus is born in the land the promised land but also you have to have the temple up and running and when exile happened the temple was flattened never can answer the king flattened the temple burns it down and so when the people come back from exile from Babylon the first thing they do one of the first things they do is in their first 20 some years 23 years they rebuild the temple and so that's up and running but the third thing that people needed to be back from exile fully was the son of David raining over them as king and the prophets talked about these three things when you go into exile when you come back God will restore these three things from you or to you so that you'll be completely back from exile but when Jesus arrives the king is herod it's not a son of David whose job was to protect God's people it was another king a king who represented the Romans who was doing violence to God's people and so this lament of Jeremiah is brought up in Matthew here we are we're back in the land the temple's up but we have no king to protect this no son of David but there's good news of great joy you see in this passage this reminder again and again that this childhood born in Bethlehem is tied to David he's a son of David and so we see these mentionings of David throughout throughout this time Zechariah says this and in 169 there he says the God was bringing in Jesus' birth to his people a horn of salvation from the house of David Zechariah was rejoicing because Mary to send an of David was bringing forth this child and then his own son Zechariah's own son John the Baptist would herald the king's coming but this king was from David a horn of salvation and horn in Old Testament times it just means strength like a ram's horn or a hippo's horn you don't want to mess with someone who has horns or a bull's horn right they're not a hippo's horn a rhino's horn yeah a rhino is a hippo with a horn right basically there we go but it's from David and we see this this reference to this too that Joseph in chapter two he's from this he goes to the town of David because he belonged to the house and line of David and then we see the angel's message in verse 10 don't be afraid I bring you good news a great joy that'll be for all the people why is this good news because today in the town of David a savior has been born you he is Christ the Lord that's a lot of religious terms but we know Christ means it's a great word meaning anointed one the Hebrew translation of Messiah and the English translation is just anointed one so if you're speaking English you say anointed one if you're speaking Hebrew you say Messiah if you're speaking Greek you say Christ what was the angel communicating here the anointed one has come well who is the anointed one in his brow well they had anointed ones who were priests they were already up and running that was Zechariah and his priestly brothers John the Baptist was being born he was a prophet prophets were anointed but the third class of people an Old Testament who were anointed were kings and there was no anointed king and that's what the angels talking about here from the house of David a king an anointed one the Christ and what does the king do for his people just like David always did he saves them and if you don't have a king you're like Bethlehem with a one-year-old child male child unprotected but yet if you have a son of David as your king you're protected and so this is good news of great joy that God has ended the exile with Jesus God's people can be safe God's people can have their needs that Mary and Zechariah and the angels speak God meant and so a a without a king that's your blank without a king discipline and oppression ensue without a king discipline and oppression ensue and this was the case in the days of Mary and Zechariah who speak these words it's the case in the days when Jesus was born just God's discipline upon the people and oppression had ensued and if you don't have Jesus is your king you do sinful things you don't have guidance and your life is oppressed
be with the king with the king God meets the deep meets of his downtrodden in this era of people and you know we're downtrodden in this era until Jesus comes back or until you're in your souls in heaven with him you're downtrodden Jesus was downtrodden Paul was downtrodden Peter was downtrodden Job was downtrodden God's people suffer in this life Jesus said to disciples in John 1633 in this world you have tribulation but take courage I've overcome the world so how does Jesus meet our needs what needs needs is Jesus meet number one here he meets your deep need for mercy he meets your deep need need for mercy verse 54 verse 72 verse 78 these words that word highlighted their mercy so hey how is the king Jesus a source of mercy for you well he gives you a sinner he gives you a sinner eternal mercy eternal mercy at final judgment we read about this in Ephesians 2 4 but God who is rich in mercy when you were dead in your transgressions and sins made you alive in Christ he forgave all your sins Colossians 2 13 John 15 16 very similarly Jesus shows us his mercy he says you did not choose me but I chose you this is God being merciful Titus 35 God saved us because not because of righteous things we had done but because of his mercy how are you saved by the mercy of God good news of great joy God is merciful to you he chose you to show you his mercy and then be and in his mercy in your life he does not punish your sins as they deserve like David spoke of and then see instead of mercy instead instead instead in mercy he forgives you he forgives you
decor I speak to this in verse 77 knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins the forgiveness of sins God owed to nobody God didn't owe to anybody to forgive sins it was completely an act of mercy the number two Jesus meets your deep need for salvation and rescue from your enemies do you Jesus meets your deep need for salvation and rescue from your enemies in the words salvation and rescue and enemies are in these verses here I've listed for you what does this mean well eternally it means he rescues you from hell and the like of fire Jesus rescues his people from hell and from the lake of fire which we have deserved and in your life that's be in your life he rescues you in your facing the enemy's temptations this is a big one that we care about right now he rescues us as we face temptation your king went to heaven he sent his spirit to you john 526 and you have and you can walk now in a way that you don't gratify the desires of your sinful nature relations 516 this is your king rescuing you this is your king rescuing you from temptations giving you his spirit so that you can not walk according to his court to your sinful nature and then 1 Corinthians 10 13 no temptation has seized you but that which is common to me and God is faithful and in your temptation he will provide the way of escape also so that you may be able to endure it this is your sovereign king guaranteeing that your circumstances in temptation will never be more than you can bear and that you with his spirit whom he has sent to you can always say no to that temptation and that's good news because when you say yes to temptation consequences come guilt comes so he rescues us from our enemies from our enemies Satan who's prowling about seeking someone to devour in our lives now and then 3 Christ meets your deep need to be free of fear he meets your deep need to be free of fear I there's an alley that I go by in Delaware Ohio where I grew up from sixth grade through until I got married at 22 that when I go by it I still have this feeling of fear and it's the alley that existed between the sixth grade building of the middle school Frank B Willis says high school up there because it used to be the high school but it was junior high when I was in it Frank B Willis was running for president against brother B. Hay or not not for B. Hayes against Franklin Delano Roosevelt he died on the campaign trail in my hometown had a big meal gave a speech walked off to the side had a heart attack and died but I went to Willis junior high school and there's this there's this alley between the school and the Episcopal Church and he had to walk in this alley all the way down and I was a kid who was late my mom would take me to school and I'd be late so no one was around and so just be me walking down this alley there's this kid named Mike Lewis and Mike was huge he was huge he asked he friend requested me on Facebook and I haven't responded yet I'm still a little scared now I'm walking along as a kid and I've got my Minnesota Vikings gym bag there go vikes and I've got my clarinet my other hand and they're weighing me down on this little seventh grade or sixth grader walking through this alley and he came out from behind the dumpster literally behind the dumpster and he got me in a headlock I'm in the headlock here bent over like this still holding my clarinet my gym bag with my books in it and my gym clothes and I said don't hurt me and he and Mercy he just he just let me go but I always had fear from then on walking down that alley then Mike Lewis well he was a great above me so when I was an eighth grader I didn't have that fear anymore but that feeling still got in me but but we have fear in our lives in Jesus release is nice from this fear in a couple of ways he releases us from this fear in a couple of ways because of Christ a you no longer need to fear death we talked about that last week and this is Hebrews 2 14 and 15 Jesus bore in his body first Peter 2.24 he bore in his body all your sins all the sins of you if you are his one of his people he bore in his body all your sins and he was penalized for them so you don't have to fear final judgment anymore you don't have to fear dying you don't have to fear punishment this is what John is talking about in 1 John 4 he said if you're fearing that's wrong if you're a believer because fear is is is worrying about punishment and if you're a believer you have no punishment coming to you Jesus frees us from the fear of death death is like bring it on man take this world away because things will be good for you in death things are good for crystals dad today he's not suffering from Parkinson's disease anymore he's a believer and now all the more so by sight and not by faith and hope anymore those have disappeared so that's a good thing it's just awful for those who are left for crystal and all her family it's awful for them okay but he frees us from fear of death and this is why crystal and her family were able to sing him after her father's death yesterday because they didn't have to fear where their father was okay so that's a good thing and then be Jesus releases us from our fear in life in life be in life because Jesus as king Jesus as king is sovereign he sovereign overall things for the sake of each of his people so Romans 828 becomes true for those he has called according to his purpose for those who he has called out of this world to be set apart in the church he is making all things work together for your good so you don't have to fear even when things happen that you didn't want to happen even when things happen that are difficult for you and it's okay to say these things are difficult and these things stink David's doing it consistently in the Psalms it's okay that things stink and to communicate that that thing that things stink but you know in your soul and in your mind that this is the sovereign king Jesus Ephesians 122 under whom under whose feet have been put all things by the father and he is ruling over all things for the sake of his church so if you're a part of the church you don't have to fear life anymore you don't have to fear the day you die you don't have to fear different circumstances that come up in your life you don't have to fear when you lose your job because God will take care of you it'll be in lots of ways that you don't expect lots of ways that you can't predict but you will be cared for and so you don't have to fear life it's like when I've told some of you this joke before I was first in Orlando I was I went to the seminary and I saw this this sheet on the on the bulletin board and it said Arcy Sprold tates his radio sessions for his radio show renewing your mind and he likes to do it in front of a live audience and he does and so it's a group of retirees were in Florida right it's a group of retirees who sit in front of him in you know about three four five rows of chairs and he literally sits up there with I don't know if he's still while he's dead now but he had a chalkboard there and you could hear so he's not doing this in heaven he had a chalkboard there and you could hear the chalk you know there and it maybe would convert it to a white board before he died I'm not sure but but I so I went to the studio where it said you could show up at 9.30 and just be part of the the non-live student while we were live but you know the studio audience there and I actually got to listen on the radio to the the shows that they taped when I was watching but but we got there and we're in this reception area in this this building where they they record and so Arcy's there and he's he's this pastor's theologian guy if you don't know who Arcy Sprold is and and and and he's worked people are just talking and the conversation goes on and and and and it comes to the occasion where he says well you know that the difference between a Calvinist and an Arminian don't you now Calvinists believe that you know the Bible talks like 45 46 times in the New Testament made 48 about being chosen or elect and pre-ordained pre-ordained all that kind of stuff the Bible uses those words those are biblical but so Calvinist believes those things the Arminian doesn't and he says you know the difference between so Calvinist thinks God determines all things and and Arminian believes that man determines all things and so you know the difference between a Calvinist and Arminian when they fall down the stairs don't you and we all sit now and he said well the Arminian when he gets down the stairs he says I knew I should have looked closer at that second stair before I tripped he blames himself for falling down the stairs the Calvinist gets down the bottom of the stairs and says glad that's over God in his goodness has ordained all things for your life and he wants you to walk an obedience and to follow him and to take the blessing he wants to give to you but know that his sovereign care is over you and whether you fall down the stairs or whether you do something great that's all under his sovereign care for you and you don't have to fear one way one way or the other and then number four number four lastly Jesus meets your deep need for guidance he meets your deep need for guidance so that you can have peace again Zechariah says we're walking in darkness and we need guidance and the angel says in chapter two verse 14 and to those on whom God's favor rests they have peace so how is this
yes all Tarsus was blinded Paul before he became Paul he was blinded on the road to Damascus and when he was blinded he had to have people guide him along by the hand to get to Damascus and to meet Ananias who would speak to him and take away his blindness but Jesus guides us today into eternal peace into eternal peace and that's your A there Jesus guided you to eternal peace letting you know the only way to the Father was through him okay we talked about earlier every person needs guidance how do I receive the mercy of God how do I receive rescue from my enemies and rescue from death salvation from death how do I receive these things I need guidance in Jesus comes and he's point blank clear John 14 6 right I am the way and the truth in the life no one comes to the Father but through me or John 3 you know he who believes in me has already passed from death to life
Jesus said I'm the light of the world John 8 12 I'm the light of the world whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but what the light of life see he's the answer to Zechariah's moaning in prayer here it's not walking darkness so Jesus gives Jesus gives eternal peace letting us know to follow him Romans 5 1 says that those who have been justified by faith in Jesus have peace with God and then be apart from the living and darkness apart from Christ Jesus guides you in your life but a light of his word Jesus guides you in life but a light of his word this is good news you know just wonder you know how should I treat my kid is a should his friend should I get disciplinarian should I what consequences should come if any should I break up this fight between him and his sibling how should I work the note no guidance at all but Jesus gives us his word and this word guides us this word guides us in our lives he so he guides us in your life in our lives by the light of his word so that you can see the right path the path of peace in your relationship with others John writes and John first John 1 that to be a Christian is not only to be one who's constantly confessing our sins because we know we have forgiveness but it's also to be a person who's walking in the light walking according to God's commands and John said this is how we know someone's a believer that they're walking as Jesus did and when someone walks as Jesus did and when someone walks in this guidance that's given to us in this book the Bible John says that's walking in the light walking in the light that Jesus has given us so we're not walking in darkness I was walking in darkness about three days ago in the evening now Betsy wasn't in bed already I just walked in our bedroom and for some reason I just didn't turn the light on and there was a box on the floor and I didn't have my shoes on usually I've got these indoor shoes like Mr. Rogers and I'm on so yeah I stubbed my toe there you don't want to be walking in darkness because you stubbed your toe but Jesus gives us the light and that light is his word in the study the studies word you read his work and his situations come up to you in life you know the way to walk you know the way to walk Romans 12 14 through 18 says that we can have peace even with unbelievers as we walk in Christ way so our summary our summary so we look at this good news of great joy what is announced by Mary what is announced by John the Baptist's father Zechariah what is announced by the angels is this your most important needs your most important needs your need for mercy your need for rescue and salvation your need for freedom from fear and your need for guidance your most important needs Jesus your king Jesus your king has met for you these for the needs mentioned by Mary these for the needs mentioned by Zechariah these for the needs Jesus meets for you let's pray