Salvation Promised

distract us from Christmas? So as we enter into this Advent season, we've got our first Advent service, I want to challenge you to think about how you can simplify your preparations to worship Jesus Christ being born of a virgin, the celebration we have as Christians, as a church. God has come down to walk among us. One of the things you can do to help prepare yourself for Christmas is take the bulletin home. Meditate upon the words we were singing today. The Advent songs that we'll be singing. Meditating upon what God has done. For December, in order to help us prepare for Christmas, we're gonna be looking at Luke. So if you look in front of you, Chris has already pointed it out, but in case you came in later, you didn't see it, there should be a card that has the Luke sermon series. And so we're gonna be looking through the Gospel of Luke, that first chapter, and today we're looking at the birth of John the Baptist. Now ultimately we're celebrating the birth of Christ, but today we're gonna meditate upon a different promise of a child. We're looking at John the Baptist. Now John the Baptist, he's best known as the guy who wore weird clothes, out in the wilderness, having a weird diet. He's best known for kind of those oddities. He's far out, he's out in the wilderness, who just seems a little strange. He's very bold. But we have to remember, from Luke, we realize he's a relative of Jesus. From Luke, we're gonna see that he's actually the last Old Testament prophet. One of the things I love about Christmas, and this is extremely important for our children to see, Christmas really helps us see, the Christmas season, the promises that are being fulfilled, it helps us see that the Bible is full of history. God has been building up a story, God has been building up an expectation, and now after 400 years of silence, the last Old Testament prophet will be born. And he's not like all the other Old Testament prophets who's gonna say he's coming, he's coming. This Old Testament prophet's gonna say he's here. Behold the Lamb of God. It's encouraging to see how important John the Baptist is in all of the Gospels. What we're gonna see this morning is really his calling and his message, and his message is this, one word, repent. We're gonna be meditating upon repentance this morning. Now there's a lot in the story, but the middle of this passage, the focus of who John is and what he will do, it's turning. the children of Israel to the Lord, it's turning people away from their sin and to the wisdom of God. And so I wanna encourage you and challenge you this morning. The best thing you can do to prepare yourself to worship Christ as we think about Christmas is repent. The best thing we can do to prepare ourselves for worship and to truly appreciate that our sin was so bad that God himself had to come down to save us is to consider our sin. Repent of that sin so that we are ready to worship the one who saved us from that sin. If you're looking at scripture, we're gonna be on Luke. We're gonna consider Luke's gospel, and we're on page 854 or 855. If you don't have a Bible, and there's a Pew Bible in front of you, I hope. If not, just keep tapping shoulders until somebody gives you one. Take that home with you. So we're in Luke, and I just wanna read verses one to four, the introduction. And as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, notice Luke is very convinced that things have been done, just as those from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us. Things have been seen and reported, It seemed good to me, also, having followed all things closely for some time past. Luke's a historian, he's paying attention. To write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you, here's the purpose, he's put together an orderly account of all things that have been reported, seen, he's been keeping up with these things, and now he's written this orderly account so that you may have certainty concerning the things that you've been taught. Luke is writing to help convince Theophilus even more of all the great things God has done. Now as we look at Luke, I want to point out, Mark doesn't actually talk about the Christmas narrative. But Mark does begin right off, John the Baptist was the prophet sent to prepare the way. Then Matthew, Matthew begins with a genealogy. to show that historically, God has made promises, and there's a story behind Jesus. He just doesn't show up out of nowhere. There's generations of anticipation. There's generations of promise. And interesting, in Matthew's gospel, most of the conversation is with Joseph. Joseph, I have given Mary that child. His name will be Jesus because He will save His people, my people, from their sins. Then there's John. Doesn't really go into the details. There's no manger. Speaking of the Virgin, it's much higher kind of theology. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen His glory. Glory as the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Luke gives us yet another view. Same story, same truth. And he begins it with John the Baptist. And he connects the story of John the Baptist with Jesus Christ because they're intimately tied together. As we look at this particular section, I wanna lay out the four points. There's a problem, there's the promise, there's punishment, and there's praise. There's a problem, there's the promise, There's punishment and there's praise. And as you've already heard it read, I want us to see that this family, Zachariah and Elizabeth, God is going to use them and their problem to demonstrate how he is sovereign over all the world to bring about all of his promises for all of us. Their particular situation, their story is gonna be changed. And it's part of God's bigger plan of bringing about salvation for all people. So let's look, verse five. A setting is declared in the days of Herod, king of Judah. Okay, well there's our setting. Herod was a king at the time of Jesus' birth. We know that he was a very wicked king. You can turn to Matthew chapter two and see the wickedness Because he is afraid of Jesus, who is the competing king, he has all the baby males born in Bethlehem slaughtered. He's a man who would have his own wife and two of his own children murdered. He was a wicked man. And this is the time that Christ, and here specifically John the Baptist is born. Okay, so there's a setting. We know when it took place. Now the primary characters are introduced. There was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. So here we have Zechariah and Elizabeth. And listen to this description. They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and the statutes of the Lord. What does that mean? They were righteous and they were blameless in the commandments. Now does that mean that they were not sinners? I think that's impossible. Paul said all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. They are sinners, but I believe what Luke is trying to point to is that they are faithful followers. They have not gone about the practicing of sin. They have committed themselves to God and his commandments. They're above reproach. Then we have an immediate problem declared. This couple who are righteous before God, they've been walking blamelessly for seven. The problem. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years. The problem is a very painful one. Elizabeth's womb is closed. She cannot have children, and as we see there in verse 25 at the very bottom, it brought about reproach. There was a certain shame about that in this culture, that they saw any kind of physical problem as a curse. There must be something you've done to deserve that. There's a shame connected to the barrenness. It's a painful problem. Now, I just want to make a quick, immediate observation. They're righteous. She has no child. Her suffering is not based upon her sin. She did not sin to bring about this suffering. It's actually all about God's plan. God has set up this whole problem. God has set up this whole story to change their story so that they will greatly rejoice and so that we can see how God is working silently through history. Their story's changed and the whole story of creation's changing all at once. God has ordained these two people in this setting to demonstrate his power and his care for his people. Now the setting's interesting. In the days of Herod, the king, that's the whole setting for the whole chapter, we're gonna have the king of glory, the king of peace, being born under the rule of this wicked king. That's one interesting line that we could take if we wanted to look at the the scarlet thread of King Christ the true King is going to come and it's in contrast to this horrible King We also see there's an echo of of Abraham and Sarah here in verse 7 Remember they were advanced in age her womb was closed and God promised a son He fulfilled that promise, but we'll think about that a little bit more later But I want us to just notice here verses five to seven, there is a real painful problem among real people. And God is a real God who really cares and he's going to help these people. He's a God who cares for us. Let's continue to look at our story. We're gonna spend most of our time here in the promise as God brings a resolution to the problem. A new character's gonna be introduced in this particular section. Let's just jump on down to verse 13. So we saw the problem, now we're gonna see the promise and the new character that's going to bring about the resolution, verse 13. But the angel said to him. The new character brings a significant contribution that's going to change not just their story, but the entirety of the story. God sent his angel to speak. It's a message of good news. What's the significance of the problem for this family? God's going to use it to highlight what he's doing up throughout creation. Okay, let's jump back up to verses 8 to 10. Notice there's a priest named Zechariah in verse 5. Well, that priest, he's just doing what a priest does. He goes to work when he's called to do work. Now, he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty. According to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by a lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. He's just going to work. Doesn't seem like there's anything unusual today. He's going to go in. He's going to do his duty and there's people outside praying outside. Things seem normal. Then verse 11, and there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. Zechariah, he's troubled. He saw him and fear fell upon him. Now, this man was just described as righteous and blameless, and yet he is terrified when he comes face to face with a glorious angel. He realizes his place. Now, it's important here that verse 13, the angel speaks. Right, so Zechariah is terrified. Our imagination can get away from us, right? So the event could be interpreted just by his own thoughts and his own fear, but no, the angel speaks. He gives verbal clarity to interpret what's taking place. Notice what he says first. Do not be afraid. All right, everybody look, I want us to make sure we see verse 13. The first thing the angel says is, do not be afraid. I haven't gone back to verify this, but I'm pretty sure anytime an angel of the Lord shows up, two things happen. The person the angel is talking to is terrified, and the angel says, do not be afraid. If you ever think you have an encounter with an angel, and you're not terrified, and he does not say, do not be afraid, you're misunderstanding what's taking place. It's just the pattern that's always set up in Scripture. Angels are terrifying. We see the glory reflected of God in them. But then they give us a word of peace because they're, well, he's doing what an angel does. An angel's a messenger. He's bringing a message from God. Okay, so do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayers have been heard. Let's just think about that for a moment. This guy's old. I can only assume they've been praying for years. Lord, bless us with a child. For years they've been praying and longing and wanting to have a child. And what we hear next in this particular declaration, God not only speaks, God listens. Your prayers. Zachariah, you've been doing this for a long time. You've been praying. You're old. You've probably given up. It feels like your prayers are hitting the ceiling. But no, I just want to assure you, God has been listening. You have been heard. It's encouraging for us today. Your prayers have been heard. It hasn't fallen on a deaf ear. It hasn't worked out in the timeline you hoped it would be. But just know, God has heard you. His ears have been turned towards you. Look what he says next. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. What good news? The thing this couple has been waiting for so long, the one thing they've probably given up on at this point. As we'll see later, Zechariah, he doubts this. The weariness, the waiting, the burden. The perseverance of the pain now probably just resolving the one thing we've wanted we're not gonna have. He now hears the promise, you're gonna have a son. That the pain that's been upon you because of the barrenness of your wife's womb, the closeness of the wife's womb, it's gonna be removed. And look at verse 14. And you will have joy and gladness. Many will rejoice. And instead of the reproach, instead of the disgrace, instead of the pain, there's gladness and joy and rejoicing because God is changing the story. Because He's a good God. Let's look back at verse 13. You will bear a son and you shall call his name John. Now, this may not seem like real significant. John means God is gracious, so that pretty much fits the story, that God is being gracious, he's changing their story, he's changing the story of the Bible. But I wonder if the naming here is significant, not because of his name and what it means, but more in the fact that his name isn't Junior. His name isn't Little Zach. You see, oftentimes in this culture, a father has a son and that son becomes junior. He does exactly what the father does. There's not a lot of occupational options. If your dad's a craftsman, you become a craftsman. If your dad's a priest, you become a priest. And many would expect, okay, he's born a line of a priest, he's gonna do what his dad did, he's gonna be a little Zachariah, he's gonna be junior. But we've got here saying, He's your blessing, but he belongs to me. He's gonna have a unique job. The son is a blessing for you, but he belongs to me. I am setting him aside for unique work. He's not a junior. He's going to have a different job. We'll look at that name a little bit more later next week. As he continues to describe him, do not be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. You shall call his name John. You will have great joy and gladness and many rejoices at his birth. Verse 15. For he will be great before the Lord. Why will there be great rejoicing? Because he will be great before the Lord. Let's pause here and just talk about greatness for a moment. We all think about greatness, right? If you're young, you're thinking, how can I be great? If you're older, maybe you're thinking, how can I help my kids be great, or my grandkids? Or maybe we're just asking, how do I measure if I am truly great? When you think about greatness, what comes to mind? What's the measure? I think usually when we think about greatness, we think, okay, somebody who has accomplished a lot and is well accepted. Usually greatness means you're well-liked and you're well-accomplished. Well, let's think about John the Baptist. His parents are of no reputation. They're actually been kind of outsiders of society, having reproach among the people. He has no special education that we know of. He lives in the wilderness. He's an outcast of society. He does not have fancy clothes. He doesn't have a fancy diet. Jesus describes him as somebody who's a reed blown by the wind. He's nothing to look at. He's actually going to be a bit of a troublemaker. He's going to be arrested by the king. He's eventually going to be beheaded to entertain a party. But he will be great before the Lord. He's going to abound in this calling that God has given him. His greatness is seen in his trust in what God has said, and his faithfulness in doing what God has said. To be great here, according to what God is saying about John the Baptist, and Jesus is also going to affirm that John is great in Luke 7, 28, is his faithfulness. His faithfulness to the mission of God, his faithfulness to Christ, his faithfulness to constantly remember, Christ must increase and I must decrease. He's gonna constantly remember, I am unworthy to even untie his sandals, but I'm called to the great commission of proclaiming He is the Lamb of God. When we consider greatness, we oftentimes think of accomplishment. I don't think God thinks of greatness this way. I think God simply thinks of greatness as faithfulness. being faithful to Him and what He has said and what He's commanded us. Being faithful is hard, it's frustrating, it's fatiguing, but here being filled with the Spirit allows John to be faithful, he'll be great. Now as we look to this next section, the rest of verse 15 and 16, we really see what looks like a job description. He will be great. We've got a bit of a job requirement. He must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. All right, so he'll be filled with the Holy Spirit even from the mother's womb. Even in the text, that sounds like it's very unusual. There's gonna be something about John having the power of God filling him from the very beginning. And we see this kind of played out soon in Luke. Right, John's gonna start doing some somersaults in the womb when he gets near Jesus. in the womb of Mary. We see he's going to have this power already. But another thing about this, he's not going to have to drink wine or strong drink. This may be that he's already committed to a Nazarite vow. He may already be committed to that kind of a vow where he doesn't eat meat, he doesn't drink wine, and he doesn't cut his hair. What actually is interesting to me is the connection. He will not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. These two things seem to be connected together, and what's really interesting is Paul connects them together in Ephesians. Do not be drunk with wine, be filled with the Holy Spirit. There seems to be something connected to a selfish consumption of something that's not always good for you. And being filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, let's be very clear here. We're gonna have Welch's grape juice a little later on. There was no such thing as Welch's grape juice. If there was something from the fruit of the vine, it was necessarily fermented, and what he's being told here, you will have nothing that's fermented whatsoever. In order to be filled with the Spirit. Now, there's nothing wrong with a fermented juice. Jesus drank wine. But there's something about him being set apart and being filled with the Spirit that should challenge us to think about this selfish consumption and the being filled with the power of God to do his work. Let's look at his work, verse 16 and 17. And I want to jump right down to the very end. The main goal of all of his work is to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. All right, John the Baptist, he's the forerunner. He comes before Christ. He's the last Old Testament prophet that gets to say, here he is. He's supposed to go and make ready a people prepared for the Lord. It's not quite clear what all this means yet, probably for Zechariah. I think Elizabeth will get a better understanding when she visits Mary. But his main job is preparing people because God's about people. Jesus Christ is coming to save a people. Those people need to be prepared so that when he comes, they're ready to worship him. Well, what will he do to prepare a people? Let's go all the way back. I'm gonna read this entire section. And listen for the turning. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just so that he can make ready a people prepared with the Lord. Something that's assumed there in that making ready is that we're not. In our own power, apart from the grace of God, we're just not ready. We need to be prepared. By God's grace, he sends his word to prepare us And that preparation is turning. There's a turning required. Turning the children of Israel. That's all Israelites. They need to be turned to the Lord their God. What does that assume? Right, whenever your GPS says turn around, you missed the exit. Right, you're recalculating. You're going the wrong way, you turn around. This assumes they're turned the wrong way. The children of Israel, they're going the wrong way. They're not going according to the ways of God. They need to be turned back to the Lord, their God. And He'll go before Him, the Lord that is. In the spirit and power of Elijah. I believe this is just for, because Elijah was a bold prophet. And there was a promise that we'll see later from Malachi. that there will be a man who comes like Elijah, who's going to turn the father's hearts to the children, and turn the children's hearts to the father's. This is exactly what we see in this text, alluded to. He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Now we could see this as just very literal, that dads are gonna love their kids again, and kids are gonna love their dads again. I don't think that's actually what it's talking about. I believe this is an idiom in Malachi. that points that there's actually going to be multi-generational faithfulness. That the turning of the hearts of the fathers and the children to each other, that they're all turning to the Lord together. God's goal isn't just that there be a good, happy family that loves each other. God's goal is that there be a family that loves God together. And this is significant. Can you think of two generations back to back that worshiped God faithfully in the Old Testament? Can you think of one? The whole generation. But if you look at the history of Israel, this king did wickedness, this king did wickedness, this king did wickedness. Okay, there was one king that actually followed God, and then what happened? This king did wickedness, this king did wickedness. You don't have a continuation of God's people being faithful. And I believe here this promise in Malachi. It's God saying, I'm going to have a generational continuity. There's going to be faithfulness, that these generations are going to love one another and promote godliness together, as I have always designed. Going back to Deuteronomy 6. As we look at this turning to the Lord, turning the hearts, turning the disobedient to the wisdom, to make ready a people for the Lord, I want us to see that the one word that really summarizes John's messages Repent. Turn around. You're going the wrong way. You need to have a change of direction. There's a tendency that we have that our hearts are constantly longing for things that are not God. It's so easy to go the wrong way. There's a strong sinful tendency to always be focused on the wrong thing, and that's why I challenge you here at Christmas. Repent. Think about how you can repent now to prepare yourself to praise the King who comes down to save you. Christmas isn't the only time to repent, but what an opportunity to reflect upon our sin. Repentance requires that we admit I have been doing the wrong thing the wrong way. I've been doing something wrong in the wrong way for the wrong reasons. And I'm going to turn, I'm going to do an about face, I'm going to change, I'm going to not try to figure out what I need to do better, I'm gonna just turn and say, God, what do you want me to do? I just wanna acknowledge this change is hard because we sure do love our sin. Repentance is hard. Because sin brings a certain kind of comfort that we learn to adopt as normal. I mean, let's just admit it. Sin functions as a coping device. It functions as a coping device that actually works at some level. Right? It helps numb the pain. It helps distract us. We like to sulk whenever something happens to us so that we can really feel the pleasure. Somebody's done us wrong and we're going to really, really, really sulk in it. Or we withhold grace so that we can control the situation. The sinful actions are coping devices that actually work, but here's what they never do. They never heal. They simply let us cope. They numb. The sinful patterns that Israel needed to repent of, they were things that Israel had learned to love and to trust and to grasp hold of. And God's saying, they're not gonna help you. They're not gonna heal you. I'm gonna send my son to do that. Turn away from those things you love that will not help you so that when my son comes, he will heal you. One of the things we need to realize as we think about Christmas Jesus came even while we were sinners He doesn't love those who are on the right way already That's the glory of the gospel He sees how we're running so fast in the wrong way for the wrong reasons and he says stop I'm gonna send my son down To to heal you to help you to to turn you around so that you run the right way in my grace for for true glory That is his glory The gospel is for sinners who realize their sin, who realize their need for forgiveness, and realize they need to be turned around. So John is going to go before Christ to preach a gospel of repentance so that his people are ready to receive him. And we see that happen. Many of John's disciples become Jesus' disciples. Now let's look at the third section. Punishment. Punishment. I want you to ask, before we go into this section, how would you respond to this angel's message? We're at church. We've gotten dressed up. We're thinking things, hopefully rightly, a little more than usual. And we may have an outside perspective here. We already know what's going to happen. But if an angel showed up, and you've been waiting for this one thing for your whole life, it seems way in the distance now. There's just no way. How would you respond? All right, 18, this is how Zechariah responds. How shall I know this? You hear the doubt, right? How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years. Now, this seems so very logical. Mary's gonna say something very similar. I hear you say you're gonna bless me with a baby, but I haven't been with a man. I know that's not how it works. He knows it's close to impossible. I'm old, she's old, we've been married, we've been asking her. How will I know? I can really appreciate Zachariah here. We waited a long time to have children. And I remember the first time I was told we were gonna have a child, it took a long time to believe it. It took a long time for that to register. Especially our last baby, who, medically speaking, is a miracle. And I remember Lisa telling me about Edith and that she was pregnant with Edith, and I still feel bad about the blank stare I had for at least like two weeks. Like I could not believe it. And so I appreciate Zachariah, like I, how shall I know? This seems impossible, based upon everything I know. Verse 19, and the angel answered him, I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and bring to you this good news. What a bold declaration. Here's who I am. I am Gabriel. I am from the very presence of God. He sent me down here to proclaim to you a message of this good news. It's almost like you're asking the wrong question, Zechariah. Realize who's talking and that you should be listening. And then, for just some wonderful irony, and behold, you'll be silent and unable to speak until the days that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. Notice verse 19, I was sent to speak to you, and you ask me, how shall you know? Well, you will not be able to speak. That's how you'll know. I came speaking the good news. You ask me how will you know? You cannot speak until this child is born. That's how you'll know. And he left unable to speak. He will not say a word until the end of Luke 1, after the child is born. I want to reflect here on Zechariah and this lack of faith. I mean, it's very clear Because you did not believe my words. Let's go back for a moment to verse 6. They were righteous before God. They were walking blamelessly. This is not a fickle believer. This is a faithful believer. And yet, he's told something that's hard to believe. And what's amazing is one, we all go through seasons where we're going to doubt something. Be encouraged by Zachariah today. Be mostly encouraged that our lack of faith does not keep God from being faithful. Just because He would not hear and receive it quickly does not mean God is going to change His mind. God's Word stands firm. He is faithful when we are faithless. Finally, let's look at the praise. Very important, he goes home, she gets pregnant. Verse 24, after these days his wife conceived. And for five months she kept herself hidden. This old woman who's seen by everyone as a disgrace. Disgrace to her husband a disgrace to her family unable to do the one thing she's supposed to do and that is have children based upon what society said Verse 25 her prayer Thus the Lord has done for me the days when He looked on me. Looking on is the way God shows His blessing. It's throughout Psalms. When God looks at you, His favor is towards you. What God has done for me now in these days, when He looked upon me in favor, to take away my reproach among people. The problem stated is she has no child. The promise given by God is that you will have a child. And now we see Elizabeth pregnant and rejoicing as the angels said they would with great gladness. You have taken away my reproach. You've turned my reproach among the people to rejoicing in you, the great God who has seen me, who has heard me, who has loved me, who has cared for me. Rejoice! Now, as we look at this story in itself, it's such a wonderful story that God does for these two people. Reproach turns to rejoicing for these two people at this time. But I want to back out for a moment, because this really captures one of my favorite themes in Scripture. It's the glory of the womb. Right? So real quick. The word hysterical and hysterectomy, they sound similar, right? That's because they're from the same word. Because the Greeks did not have any respect for women. If you look through the history of the world, there's only one book that has had a regular commitment to the dignity and value and honor of woman, and it's God's word. Every other culture has looked down upon them. Here we see the most pro-woman book in all the world is, of course, God's book, because He values women, because He created them in His own image. And one of the most amazing things about the woman is the womb. In Genesis 1, the creation mandate. Go and fill the earth. Procreate, so that there's more image-bearers throughout all of creation. Well, Adam was made first and he needs help for this, so God brings him woman. Adam rejoices greatly at woman. And the woman's body is designed to carry and care for a baby that's just remarkable and an incredible blessing. There's a glory to the womb. And then we see in Genesis 3, the passage that Mike read earlier. There's going to be enmity between the child of the woman and the child of Satan and there's gonna be one child born of the woman. The womb is the vehicle for salvation. There will be one child finally born who's going to crush Satan, who's going to reverse the curse, who's going to put away sin and death. The womb is the vehicle of salvation. You can look to Galatians 4. At the right time, he was born of a woman. Savior came at the right time, born of a woman. So we see there in Genesis 3 15 the Proto-Evangelium, the first declaration of the gospel and the vehicle of salvation is going to be the woman's womb, a child is born. But then we see something else in Genesis 3. When God speaks to the woman, there's going to be pain in childbearing. Now, I do believe this means that the act of birth is painful. I don't know that personally, but I hear so. I think it means more than that. I think it means the whole plan of God to fill the earth is going to be difficult now. Just as man's work is not gonna be difficult with sweat and thorns, the woman's glorious role of childbearing, the woman's glorious job of childbearing, it's gonna have difficulty. There's gonna be closed wounds. There's gonna be miscarriages. There's gonna be stillbirths. These things are so painful. These things are not the immediate cause of a particular sin, necessarily. They're the result and the consequence of our rebellion against God. It's part of the curse of the fall. And as we see this in Genesis 3, the promise that the womb is the vehicle of salvation, we also see now that the womb, it's part of the curse. One of the things that was supposed to be so delightful and joyful in procreation is now difficult. and even painful. And I don't believe it's any accident that if we fast forward to Genesis 12, one of the first promised children is to an older couple whose womb is closed, Abraham and Sarah. And if you go back to that narrative between chapter 12 and chapter 20, they doubt over and over again. I mean, God has to correct them. Sarah even laughs at God. At one of the promises that, no, I'm going to give you a child. But there I believe what he's doing is showing to the woman, I'm greater than this curse. I have a power over the womb that I know your pain, I know the suffering, and I'm going to bring about a glorious salvation through the womb to show you that I am the God of grace who cares for you and can protect you. It now comes to the story of Luke. The same thing, Elizabeth is barren and God shows, I am sovereign over this curse. I am sovereign over your pain. I'm sovereign over your suffering. My grace is sufficient for you. This is the God who's been in control of all of history to bring about this great message. As we conclude, I want to come back and just think about John the Baptist. There's been 400 years of silence. There has not been a prophet for some time. Malachi 6 promised there would be a prophet like Elijah. We now see that that's being fulfilled. And John the Baptist, he's going to be a prophet who gets to say, here he is, behold the Lamb of God. I'm not much into art, but one of my favorite pieces of art is Grunewald's depiction of the crucifixion. the Eisenheim altarpiece. It shows Christ on the cross, and there it just has John the Baptist standing, looking like a wreath that could be blown by the wind, and he just has this awkward, long, pointy finger, just pointing up to Jesus. A picture captures so much of what John's doing in his life. His whole life was doing one thing, pointing forward to Jesus. His whole life was not pointing to himself or to something else, it was pointing to Jesus. He realized that he must decrease so that he might increase. The whole of history is now accumulated into this one prophet who's going to say this is him. We can rejoice that God has done such a great work. I mentioned earlier that Jesus Christ himself in Luke 7, 28 says John the Baptist is great. He actually says, no one has been born of a woman who's greater. And then he says, but those who are least in the kingdom will be greater than John. If you're a believer here this morning, that's us. John the Baptist was great. He was faithful, he was filled with the Spirit, he was able to do a powerful work of pointing to Jesus, and Jesus says, you will be greater. How? I don't think it's gonna look that different than John the Baptist. Point to Jesus. We can do a work as great as John the Baptist, but we're not pointing towards Jesus in the future. We're pointing to Jesus in the past and saying, this is all he's accomplished. He died on the cross for sinners. He rose again in new life. But we just have to direct our lives and move our lives and say, we're going to point to Jesus. If you're a believer this morning, What are you pointing to? What is the testimony of your life? John the Baptist, it's amazing, he just keeps taking people and pushing them to somebody else. His whole life, all he does is push people away from him and to Jesus. That's kind of our job, to constantly be striving, to be faithful to the work God has given us, so that we're simply pushing people to Jesus.