Why the Praise of God is Appropriate” Part #2
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“The Salvation Song”
“The Salvation Song”
Good morning. Would you turn in your Bibles with me to Luke chapter 1. Let us begin this morning by starting in verse 77. Luke chapter 1 and verse 77.
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
This is the Word of God.
When we stop and take a look around this world that we live in we have forgotten that we don’t have a political, psychological or social problem, we have a sin problem. Here is what Paul said.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We have ALL sinned and we live in a sin infested world and there is no amount of strength or will-power to obey that can enable us as sinners to keep the 10 commandments perfectly. As we come to rightly understand God’s Word and His righteous rules we come to an understanding of our sin and our need to be forgiven of sin, because if left unchecked, our sin leads to death. As the Old Testament saints went through these different covenants they continued to hope that God would provide another covenant, one that would provide both forgiveness and the power to obey. What I mean by that is the personal work of God to forgive sin, to cleanse our hearts and minds and provide spiritual power.
Here in our text today we see that Zechariah and his people were ready and anticipated the Messiah and through his song we see that this reality was now playing out before their eyes.
John would be called the prophet of the most High. He would go before the Lord and help prepare the way for His earthly ministry. John was the one referred to by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of the one crying out in the wilderness make ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John’s life and his mission was to prepare people for the Salvation that had come to earth in the form of Christ Jesus.
So, let me begin with this question. What is Salvation?
Answer = Salvation is being reconciled to God. Because of what Christ has done for us we can have a relationship with the Father. As we now come to the second part of this song, we see how God bings His redemptive purpose about. John goes before the Lord, in order to prepare his way. And God’s agent of redemption will give light to Guide our way.
Let us look at 3 ways that we see God’s Salvation today.
1. Salvation is God’s Forgiveness of Sin.
1. Salvation is God’s Forgiveness of Sin.
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
For so many years God’s people when dealing with sin would take an animal down to the temple and offer it up as a sacrifice for their sins. This was repeated over and over again. What this shows us is that the Old Covenant was for a purpose, however with the coming of Christ there would be a New and Better Covenant. A complete Covenant.
I want to begin here by helping us understand that before anyone can come to know Christ and be saved, God must first circumcise their hearts. Now that may sound really awkward and funny, but this is what we see in Deuteronomy.
6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
My point here is that there must be a spiritual surgery performed on our sinful hearts, in order for there to be a radical transformation over the power of the law of sin, and allow us to follow the Lord. God promised His people that in the New Covenant He would put His law within them and write it on their hearts.
33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
He now does this for His bride the church.
I think that many Christians today believe that Jesus’ purpose in coming was only do miracles and preach some really good messages. And He certainly did all of these things. But, the question I want you to begin to think on is what did Jesus come to save us from? When we consider our sin today, and the question of how do we escape the curse for violating God’s law this can be a very weighty thing. How do we get around the reality that our sin deserves the punishment of hell? Can any of us today do something on our own merit that would be enough to get us into heaven? Verse 77 tells us here the key. The key is that God gives us a knowledge of salvation, and this personal knowledge comes by the forgiveness of sins. Many Christians know that they are saved, but often forget that because of God’s wrath Christ had to atone for our sin in order for us to stand before God someday and be declared righteous.
The knowledge of salvation for us as believers comes through and by the remission of our sins. Think about someone you know who is going through cancer. For cancer patients there is no better news than when the doctor tells them, “your disease is in remission.” That means that it’s gone away. Of course, it doesn’t always stay away. Many of us are familiar with the crushing disappointment some people experience when cancer comes back. But with the remission of sins, it never comes back. When God forgives a sinner, He forgives he or she forever.
If you are here today and don’t know Christ as Lord and Savior, if you have never surrendered your life to Christ than call out to Him and ask God to forgive you of your sins. When you do this you will experience God’s forgiveness and you will begin to truly understand what joy and peace are all about. No one can have their sins remitted and remain the same.
The way of salvation is the same in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament. It is the way of God’s grace to us through faith.
2. Salvation is God’s Mercy.
2. Salvation is God’s Mercy.
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
“The Tender Mercy of our God.” This is such an encouraging phrase here. In fact, this phrase shows us God’s compassion towards lost sinners. God’s Mercy is a wonderful attribute that we see is celebrated all throughout Scripture.
15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Earlier in this song of Zechariah’s we see how he spoke of God’s past mercy to Israel.
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
And in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4 we see that God is rich in His mercy that He redeems lost sinners. God showed us His mercy by sending us His very own Son Jesus. Because of this we can give God our praise today.
The Puritan Ralph Venning said, “Take notice not only of the mercies of God, but of God in the mercies. Mercies are never so savoury as when they savour of a Savior.”
God is a holy and just God, and He had the right to condemn all sinners to eternal punishment in hell for violating just one part of His law. But God chose to have mercy on the hopeless, God chose to have mercy on the helpless sinner in our grief and despair He gave His son to be our forgiveness in order that we may be made righteous. This is truly a beautiful picture of God’s tender mercy.
3. Salvation is God’s Blessing.
3. Salvation is God’s Blessing.
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Here we see God’s Blessings to us in several ways.
a. First, God’s blessings bring light and life.
God’s salvation that has been given to us through His Son is a light to our dark path. The Sunrise that shall visit us is speaking of Christ. In fact, the light is the very presence of God.
1 Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
As the dawn or sun comes up this is a wonderful picture to us of redemption that brings light and guides our feet. The salvation that Christ offers gives light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
Some of you are sitting in darkness and death today. You are sitting in the darkness of alcohol, the darkness of depression, the darkness of sexual sin and the only way to be free of that is to call out to Christ, turn from those sinful things and fully surrender to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
-Second, God’s blessings bring guidance and peace.
This path of darkness in contrasted with the way of peace. When God truly changes your life, you will have a true and genuine peace, a peace that passes all understanding. Have you ever stopped to see that when people choose to walk in sinful ways and disregard God’s Word they often find that there is this dark path of destruction. A pathway that is full of anxiety, worry, unfulfillment and that eventually leads to death. So, what are we to do? Get on your knees and call out to the Lord. Confess your sin to Him. Cast your worries on the Lord and know that He will forgive you and ultimately that He cares for you.
7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Do you have peace today in your life? Have you fully surrendered to Christ and cast your worry, anxiety and sin to Him, trusting that He will set you free from this? Call out to Christ today because He does care for you.
Conclusion:
Verse 80. Like any normal child John grew up and became a man. As we know both Elizabeth and Zechariah were well advanced in their years as John is born. With this knowledge many Bible scholars believe that eventually John became an orphan very early in life which may have contributed to him living in the wilderness. Nonetheless, John both physically and spiritually grew up into a man whom God used. John became strong in spirit, filled with excellent mental, moral and spiritual qualities.
The desert was a traditional meeting place between man and God. It was the desert that Elijah fled for refuge. It was there that God fed him by the ravens providing food, and it was there that God provided him a cave to live in. John the Baptist lived in the desert where God provided locusts and honey for him to eat. As John grew stronger and stronger he eventually came to the time where he says, “Prepare the way of the Lord is here.”
3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.