Luke 1:8-17
To Make A Difference
Last Sunday morning, we saw the conditions which surrounded the birth
of Jesus the Christ. We summed it up in three words:
1. Sin - Israel had sinned tremendously against God.
2. Subjugation - Israel had sinned so much that God had given
them over to their enemies. First, to the nations that
bordered them, but then to greater and more powerful nations
from much further away. Israel had been subjugated for some
750 years.
3. Silence - For the previous 400 years of that subjugation, God
had been silent to Israel. No known prophets and no written
word. It was 400 years of pure spiritual darkness.
Then came Luke 1 and God broke the darkness. It was the beginning of
the SON Rise. Not that the Son was to come yet, but before the sun
does rise, its light begins to brighten the horizon. So the Son Rise
started when an angel was sent to an elderly couple with word that
they would conceive a child.
This morning, I want to ask a question. What kind of a child was God
to give that could change the conditions of this nation? Darkness,
sinfulness, silence - what kind of man must this child become to have
an influence on that world? The answers were given by the angel and
proclaimed by Zacharias before the child was ever born. Let’s
consider him this morning.
I. John’s Connection - It would take a man connected to God to
make a difference in that kind of world. John was certainly
connected to God.
A. John and Jesus were cousins.
1. \\#36\\ When Gabriel was sent to Mary and she needed
some encouragement, the angel told Mary that her
cousin, Elisabeth, who was barren was now with child.
2. If Mary and Elizabeth were first cousins (as some
think), then Jesus and John would have been second
cousins—all of that on their mother’s side.
B. John was Jesus’ forerunner.
1. Isaiah had prophesied John’s coming 750 years before.
Isa 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make
straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every
mountain and hill shall be made low: and the
crooked shall be made straight, and the rough
places plain:
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together: for the
mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
a. While this prophecy does not name John, it
definitely describes what he would do.
b. Coming from the wilderness, he would make a
highway for God; that is, he would make it easier
for Jesus to be recognized.
c. The prophecy compares what John did to building a
highway for Jesus to walk on, he build a road,
tearing down the hills, building up the valleys,
and smoothing out the rough places.
d. So John prepared the people for Jesus’ coming.
a. Who?
b. He preached repentance to the people and
pointed the people to Jesus.
2. It is impossible that John was a forerunner of Jesus
without being a believer in Jesus.
a. Here is the connection that would make a
difference.
b. Not being a cousin to Jesus but a brother to
Jesus.
c. You can and must have that connection if you are
to make a difference.
d. We had a politician run for office and he promised
change. All of his changes have been to take us
away from God, but it is not his fault. He is
not connected to God through Jesus Christ and the
only difference you can make without a connection
to Jesus is for the bad!
3. This connection is stronger than you might think.
a. Sadly, John was not completely successful in his
calling.
b. The people did not respond as God desired. In
fact, you and I know that the Jews rejected Jesus
and crucified Him.
c. Because of that, God is not finished with the
Jews.
(1) They will receive Jesus as Messiah for God
has determined that the Jews will be His
people and will honor Him.
(2) So Jesus is to come to the earth again and
before He comes, He will have again have a
forerunner.
(3) Again, the Bible does not tell us WHO that
forerunner will be but there are only three
possibilities.
(a) God will either raise Elijah to be fore-
runner.
(b) God will raise John the Baptist to be
the forerunner.
(c) Or, and I think this is the most likely,
God will raise up someone like Elijah
and John the Baptist (i.e. with their
spirit and power).
(4) But the point is, there is still a connection
between Jesus and His forerunner.
4. However, I want to point out something else.
a. Last week, we looked in the book of Malachi,
written before the 400 years of silence began,
and noted that God gave a promise telling the
people it would end with the SON rise.
b. Here we are looking at the book of Isaiah, which
was written before the 750 plus years of
subjugation began; and here is a promise from
God telling us that He will send both Messiah and
a forerunner to prepare the way for Him.
c. And if we chose to do so, we could look in Genesis
3, the time when sin began, and see that God gave
a promise to send One who stamp on the head of
the serpent.
d. Here are the three things that afflicted Israel,
sin, subjugation, and God’s silence, and before
or at the beginning of each of these, God gave a
promise as to how it would end.
e. I said it last week and I will say it again this
week, that God does not give a period of darkness
without first giving a promise of light at the
end of the tunnel.
f. And I cannot help but to notice that the same
promise is giving to all three of these.
(1) The sin, the subjugation, and the silence
all end with Jesus.
(2) Not only was that a promise to Israel but it
is the promise to you as well!
(3) If you are find yourself in the bonds of
sin, subjugation, or silence, turn to Jesus
Christ!
II. John’s Character - It would take a man with a unique character
to make a difference in that kind of world.
A. \\#15\\ Angel told John’s father what type of
character John would have.
1. He would be great in the sight of God.
a. That is a tremendous statement. Everyone, even
the unregenerated, should want to be great in
God’s sight.
Mt 11:11 Verily I say unto you, Among them that
are born of women there hath not risen a greater
than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that
is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater
than he.
b. However, does it take to be great in God’s sight?
(1) Do good works?
(2) Be a very religious person?
(3) No. Those are not what would make a person
great in God’s sight.
c. Then what?
(1) There is not but one thing that would make a
person great in God’s sight.
(2) Be willing. Be willing to do whatever God
might ask of you.
(3) It might come as a shock to know that there
is no predetermined list.
(4) No doubt some of the things God has asked of
others He will ask of you, but then again,
God may ask of you something He has never
asked of another.
2. He will drink neither wine nor strong drink.
a. When we read a passage like this, we often under-
stand it as God saying John was not to partake of
anything that might inebriate or drunken him.
(1) That is what is meant by the term "strong"
drink.
(2) Of course, we have added many things to the
list of the things that might inebriate or
drunken a man.
(a) The Jews did not have barley and the
beer, ale, whiskey made from it.
(b) Neither did they have access to
marijuana, heroine, oxycontin, or any
of the other drugs—whether natural or
synthetic that man has made to make
himself high.
(c) Anything that would make a person "high"
would be something that John was
forbidden to have.
(3) And why? Because it is God’s desire that a
person be under the influence of Jesus
Christ and not strong drink.
Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein
is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
(4) John the Baptist was to be a man who had
never known any other power or influence in
his life other than the Holy Ghost of God.
b. However, it was not just "strong" drink John was
forbidden to have. It was any product of the
vine.
(1) The term that is used is "wine or strong
drink."
(2) Wine does not mean fermented wine. It means
any product that comes from the vine.
(a) This was a time before other beverages
had been invented - Coke, Pepsi, Mt.
Dew; tea and coffee had not yet been
introduced to the Jews.
(b) Their sole drink was water, unfermented
juices, and strong drink.
(c) The angel told Zacharias that all John
could ever drink was water.
(d) Was there anything wrong with juice? No.
It was just something John was not to
drink.
(3) And why?
(a) The Bible does not tell us, but I
suspect it was for the same reason that
John lived in the dessert instead of
the more comfortable city, wore camel’s
hair for clothing instead of the
softer wool garments, ate honey and
locusts instead of beans and meat.
(b) God wanted John to be a man detached
from this world.
(c) John was not be friends with this world
on any level.
i. He was not to love its comforts,
its pleasures, or its luxuries.
ii. He was to be a man who was
dependent upon God and nothing
else.
(d) That way John would be able to preach
what God said without any other
loyalties.
c. This is the kind of child and man it takes to
reach a world darkened by sin. One totally
detached from the world.
(1) People are looking for the "extremes," at
least that was the term being used a few
years back.
(2) So is God. God wants to find a man or a
woman extremely determined to live for Him
and extremely determined to be separated
from the corrupt influences of this world.
3. He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost from him
mother’s womb.
a. Not only was John NOT to be under the world’s
influence, He was to be under God’s.
b. Not from his salvation, nor even from his birth,
but from his conception, John was to be filled
with the Holy Ghost of God.
c. If the Bible did not have this detail written
about John the Baptist, I would have said it was
not possible to be filled with the Holy Ghost
from conception.
d. Such revealed truths help us to see that the
things we think are impossible with God are
actually quite possible.
(1) Maybe you are thinking that God could never
use you… that it is too late for you…
that you are beyond God’s reach.
(2) God reached into a mother’s womb and poured
His Holy Spirit upon a baby not even born yet.
(3) I certainly think God can reach you.
e. One thing is for certain. Anyone who is going to
reach a world shrouded in darkness will have to
be filled with the Holy Ghost, if not from the
womb then most certainly before he do a great
work for God.
B. This is the type of character that will be required to
influence and win and world in darkness.
1. From where you are, that kind of character might seem
far out of your reach; however, it isn’t.
2. The beautiful things about God, His Son, and their
salvation is that it makes new creatures out of old
creeps.
3. It doesn’t matter what you were when you walked in,
you can be something entirely different when you walk
out. You can be a man, a woman, a child that God
sees as a great in His sight.
III. \\#16-17\\ John’s Calling - It would take a man with a
calling from God.
A. God created and called John to do some rather amazing
things.
1. A call from God is God revealing to a person what it
He created them to do.
2. Every human being ever born has had a calling, a
reason for being created by God, including you.
3. It is true that most people never get close enough to
God to find out what they were created to do but
that does not mean there was no reason, it only
means they never heard the call.
B. The angel also told Zacharias what John would be called
to do.
1. \\#16\\ Overall, John would be called to turn the
nation of Israel to God.
a. That was a monumental task.
b. This is the nation that had been steeped in sin
for hundreds of years.
c. Truth of the matter is that John did not succeed
in his call.
2. \\#17\\ This calling would be accomplished in three
ways.
a. John’s ministry would touch the home.
17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and
power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children,
(1) No nation can be godly that defies and
destroys the home.
(2) God created man to need others.
(a) Even Adam, created in the image of God
and without sin, needed a helpmeet.
(b) How much more a sin-crippled race of
human beings?
(c) This need, although helped, is not met
by good friends.
(d) We need family - mothers, fathers,
wives, husbands, and children - to
complete our lives.
(3) Satan and sin always attempts to destroy the
home first (i.e. Satan’s second major
attack on mankind was getting Cain to rise
up and slay his brother Abel).
(4) John would have a ministry to turn the hearts
of fathers toward their sons, that is to
make fathers love their children again.
(5) God is telling us through this text how Satan
works in the hearts of fathers.
(a) Men are proud and so tend to be selfish,
putting themselves ahead of others.
(b) John’s calling would reverse that
destructive tendency.
(6) Here is what is interesting.
(a) We don’t have a single gospel record of
John ever preaching a message on the
home, doing family counseling, or in
any way directly ministering to the
home.
(b) As far as we know, John just preached
against sin and promoted Jesus.
(c) Yet, that ministry, would help fathers’
hearts turn to their children.
(7) There is nothing that will fix the ills of
the home and society more than preaching
against sin and exalting Jesus!
b. John’s ministry would touch the foolish.
17 … and the disobedient to the wisdom of
the just…
(1) When sin rules and reigns, one of the first
things that goes is wisdom, plain old commons
sense.
(2) You can see it in our society.
(a) Take God out and violence, rebellion,
crime, suicide, abortion, broken homes,
drug addition, and every wrong and evil
behavior increases.
(b) Yet no one, not even most of the
churches, advocate going back to God.
(3) Again, John will not run for political office;
he will not write national laws; he will not
teach at a university.
(4) He will effect his nation by preaching!
c. John’s ministry would prepare people to accept the
Lord.
17 … to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
(1) And in this statement is the cure for all of
societies’ problems.
(2) It is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
(3) And not only is Jesus the cure for the whole
of society, He is also the cure for you life
and your problems.
The angel was telling Zacharias that John would make a difference in
the dark world that he was being born into. Christian, you and I can
also make a difference. We need a connection with Jesus, a holy
character, and a calling from God. Let’s purpose to that difference
today.
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