Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Nov. 23 sermon from Clifford Baptist Church, 6:35 Fletcher's Level Road in Amherst. Today's scripture is Luke, chapter one, verses 68 through 80. And the sermon is entitled Standing on the Promises, delivered today by Pastor Jeffrey Campbell. I'm grateful for an opportunity to open God's word. If I make it to the end of the sermon, we will close Luke chapter one today. And so it has been seven sermons just in this one chapter. And in it we have seen the praises of God and the people of God looking for God to show back up. Remember, the time period between the Old Testament and the New Testament offers 400 years that God has not spoken. He has been silent. His people have been faithful, but God has been silent. So maybe today you're here and you are experiencing a season of silence.
[00:00:55] Here's the reality.
[00:00:57] Sometimes it could be a lifetime of silence.
[00:01:02] And you wonder, okay, God, are you really there?
[00:01:06] One of the big take homes from the pastor out of this chapter is this. God is at work. God is still working. No matter whether you feel him or not, whether you think he is or not, God is still at work.
[00:01:21] And so I pray that as we ended last week, you saw that God was at work. We're going to be introduced to another song, and it comes from Zacharias we saw last week as got his speech back and his first words off of his tongue were praise to God.
[00:01:42] And as he understands that he and Elizabeth, they are older now, they are up in years, and yet God is gonna bless them with a child. His name is John.
[00:01:54] Remember he spoke or he wrote that out last week. His name is John.
[00:01:59] John the Baptist will come to Zacharias and Elizabeth. He will be born and we're gonna hear this song. But here's what I need you to know.
[00:02:08] Sometimes all of us have a song. I watch two young people who think they're in love.
[00:02:15] Many of you were there one time, you know, you were still are. Praise God for that. And you know on that radio when that love song comes on, you might slide a little closer or squeeze a little hand a little harder or something along that maybe that's you. Some of you have a song of love in your heart. Some of you who have been married for a long time and maybe a little bit of age on you, you have a song of Thanksgiving. Maybe you're in that years of raising kids, and maybe this is the years that you have prayed for. And it doesn't seem like that because these years are hectic. There's still a song in your heart of thanksgiving of what God is doing. And so as we think about the song in our heart, there's a song in an old man's heart that prayed for God to work, that wondered if God would ever work, that served God continuously and faithfully. And then God has shown up. And this song, out of that well of gratitude and thanksgiving, because God is at work, I want you to hear a song from an old man I gathered at a funeral this week. An older lady in our community just took a hymnbook and she flipped to a song that many of us know. No instrument needed out in the At a graveside service, she sang praise to God. It reminded me of this sermon this week that, hey, every one of us has a song in our heart. And if you are a child of God, you can return that song to God in praise and thanksgiving for what he has done. But you need to know where that song's coming from. This is not a top 10 hit on the radio. No, this is one old man who served day after day and year after year and a lifetime just waiting and wanting God to do something in his life. And God did it. And so what do you do when God does it? You've got to sing a song of praise. We've seen the story of an old man, faithful and true. But what I hope you see that is greater than the man is his God who is faithful and true. And today, if you don't take anything from this sermon, leave this room knowing God is faithful and true and hears you as you pray, listen to the song Luke, chapter number one, starting in verse number 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people. And he hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servants David. And he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us. We gather and at times we sing Standing, standing, that little refrain of standing on the promises of God my Savior. Standing, standing, I'm standing on the promises of God. We sing those faithful words of faithful songs. And sometimes I believe that Christians sing the words but forget their meaning.
[00:05:40] And the truth of that song that I've titled this sermon is this that you can stand on the promises of God. You can stand on the promises. His word is truth. And today I believe our churches and our world and our Christians need to stand on God's promises. This Benedictus, it is the Latin Term of blessed.
[00:06:08] He's not just singing the song because God restored his speech.
[00:06:13] Remember, God silenced his tongue for nine months at least.
[00:06:18] He's not just happy because God gave him his speech back.
[00:06:21] He's not just happy because God gave him a child.
[00:06:26] He's happy because his life has been lived for the Lord. And the Lord has been found faithful even at times when he doubted. The first point in this sermon today of standing on the promises that you need to understand and that you need to put in our hearts. We need to put in our hearts is we are a redeemed people. We are a redeemed people.
[00:06:50] As Joseph begins this song, he states that reason of why that song is in his heart because God has visited and redeemed his people. Do you see that in verse number 68? Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people. It's amazing when you know God is at work and you let him work and you just obey what he asks you to do. And as Zacharias sees that, he wants others to know that God is working even though he has been silent. He's working to redeem man.
[00:07:28] A silent tongue now sings of his Redeemer.
[00:07:34] God has visited and redeemed his recognition that God has come to set them free. What does redemption mean? Redeemed is a word of salvation.
[00:07:46] It is a word that means simply this. The price has been paid to set you free.
[00:07:52] If you redeem a coupon, you go to Hardee's, you buy one biscuit, you redeem that coupon and you get one free. But what about Jesus? What does it mean that Jesus has redeemed you?
[00:08:05] Jesus took. I mean, God took his son Jesus and put him on a cross to take your place so you and I don't have to go there.
[00:08:14] You have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. And today, when we understand that we owe somebody something, but the price has been paid. We owe God our Father, our life because of sin. Death is what is expected.
[00:08:31] Yet we have been redeemed. As Zacharias sings this song, he sings about God's planned Redeemer to set his people free.
[00:08:45] It is a song of prophecy, a song looking forward. And it's summed up by three Hs. Those three Hs are simply the horn, the house and the hand.
[00:08:57] Stay with me.
[00:08:58] The horn, the house and the hand.
[00:09:01] In these couple verses that we read, here's what the redeemer looks like. Here's what the visitor of God has promised to his people. Look at verse number 69.
[00:09:14] And he hath raised up a horn of salvation for us. As Zacharias is singing about what God is doing, he said, there is a horn of salvation that is coming.
[00:09:28] Now, he's not referring to a musical horn here. He is referring to a horn on an animal. I want you to think of the horn on an ox, that horn that comes down and flows. I've recently been able to be up close to a long horn cow. Those horns spanned six to seven feet. It was amazing.
[00:09:50] But you know what I did? I observed them from over here. Right? You observe them from further away because that horn carries power.
[00:10:00] And so here's what Zacharias song says. There's a horn of salvation that is coming to us. And that horn is one of strength and power.
[00:10:11] Yes. Zacharias knew his Old Testament scripture and he uses this image to point out the coming Redeemer will be one of power and victory.
[00:10:22] And that's why people looked for a army leader.
[00:10:29] That's why they looked for a commander.
[00:10:32] When people were looking for this Redeemer, they looked to the political world that out of that would rise out this horn of salvation.
[00:10:42] But that's not what God had in mind.
[00:10:45] This horn would offer strength and power to God's people.
[00:10:52] Verse number 69 at the end of it also means, also says this. It's from the house of his servant David.
[00:11:00] So the house of his servant David points to the family line of which this Redeemer would come. Now remember, Zacharias is singing a song, but. But it's a song of prophecy, of what's going to happen. This man is going to be a man of power, but he's going to come through the line of King David. Now remember, they're still looking for that military king, that power, that leader that's going to rise up.
[00:11:25] But out of this line of the servant David, is that Redeemer going to come? What this does is it rules out his own son.
[00:11:36] So how many of us fathers would boast and sing of our own, our proud baby boys and how proud we are? That's what humans do know.
[00:11:45] That's what we do in the flesh.
[00:11:47] But what Zacharias is doing, he's singing about not only not his own son just yet, he's singing about another.
[00:11:55] Another baby that's going to come. And this young baby will come out of that line and out of the house David, he will carry the news of salvation and that horn and that power will come through that line. But you See also In verse number 71, it says that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us.
[00:12:20] So not only is this Redeemer going to be powerful, not only is he going to come through the line of David, but he will be the one that. That saves from the hand of the enemies. Now listen, if that happened in 2024, we're looking at who can be our next president, right? Many of us, even in churches think the Savior and what's gonna turn our nation around is gonna come through a political party. It will not. Until people look for Jesus and who he is and allow Jesus to change their hearts and lives, our world is just going down.
[00:12:54] The Savior is not a political party. The Savior is not a movement. The Savior is Jesus. And we must look to Him. And so today it is a reminder that the hand of the enemy.
[00:13:08] What's going to save us?
[00:13:10] The reality is this. You cannot save yourself. And a political party isn't going to save you. The only one that can save you, Jesus.
[00:13:22] But who is your enemy? What do you want to be saved from? That's the question.
[00:13:28] There are three things that are the enemy. Satan, sin, and the war against the soul. That is the enemy that you fight every single day. That's the enemy that I fight every single day. Satan, sin, and the war for my soul.
[00:13:45] That's what's on the. That's what I wake up to every day.
[00:13:49] Welcome to being a Christian, Right?
[00:13:51] This is what you signed up for when you said yes to Jesus. But that hand, there's only one hand that will save from the enemy.
[00:14:02] And I want you to know that the hand of an enemy may feel like it's got its grips on you today.
[00:14:07] There's one person that can break the grip of Satan. There's one person that can break the grip of sin. And there's one person that can break the grip of the war for your soul. And his name is Jesus.
[00:14:23] Jesus. You see, what a redeemer does is it takes you out of the hand of the enemy. He pays the price.
[00:14:31] So today you can stand on the promise that Jesus is the Redeemer. Today you can also know this as true as Jeffrey Campbell is standing here preaching.
[00:14:49] There is an enemy that seeks to defile and destroy. That the Bible says roars around and prowls around like a roaring lion seeking to devour your soul.
[00:15:03] There's somebody that can deliver you from that. That leads into our next point. Look at verses 72 through 75. To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swear unto our father Abraham that he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear and holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.
[00:15:36] Point number two, when we think about standing on the promises of. We stand on the promises of God as delivered people.
[00:15:45] Not only redeemed people, but delivered people.
[00:15:50] Zacharias looks back to faithful fathers of generations before.
[00:15:56] You know, the covenant promised to Abraham included multiple things, land and seed and blessing. If you read Genesis chapter 12 and verse Genesis chapter 17 and Genesis chapter 22, that Abraham would be the father of many nations. When we think about that, we see Zacharias looks all the way back to that initial promise to Abraham and that covenant he made with Abraham, that knowing him, that he would be the father of many nations. Zachariah says this God is merciful. How many of you believe that God is merciful? He doesn't give us what we deserve. That's what mercy is.
[00:16:39] And what we see from this old man is he's got a life to prove that God has shown him mercy over and over and over.
[00:16:49] Some of you younger folks here pick out somebody a little bit older.
[00:16:54] They might have gray hair in this room, but pick out somebody that's trusted the Lord year after year of their life and just sit down with them and hear how God has shown mercy over and over and over again.
[00:17:07] Just this week I sat down with my 91 year old grandmother and heard Jeffrey just keep on preaching because God is good and he's merciful.
[00:17:19] That's what she said.
[00:17:21] And at 91 years old, she says this, I don't deserve it.
[00:17:27] This old man sings a song that we don't deserve this.
[00:17:32] But we look back to what God has promised and we move forward that God is going to make that covenant with his people.
[00:17:42] God's mercy would lead us in the days ahead.
[00:17:47] But if you have read your Old Testament, you know that God had raised up deliverers before.
[00:17:53] But this coming Messiah, this new baby, this little baby would deliver once and for all.
[00:18:03] Zacharias recognizes the promise of deliverance, but he also recognizes this. Listen to me.
[00:18:12] With mercy comes responsibility.
[00:18:19] Listen to me.
[00:18:21] When you receive mercy, it carries with it responsibility.
[00:18:28] Listen how Zacharias says it.
[00:18:32] Look at verse 71, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham right Here that he would grant unto us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.
[00:19:03] Here's what Zechariah says.
[00:19:06] As an old man, God never spoke. God never answered. God never gave me any inclination whatsoever, but I served him every day of my life.
[00:19:18] And here's the challenge. A merciful God has shown us mercy. And so that we need to continue to serve him and and live for him every single day of our lives.
[00:19:30] Delivered people don't say, thank you for delivering me. It's over.
[00:19:37] We don't cash that in and say, hey, I'm over and done.
[00:19:41] I want to fast forward that to us. You can't just pray a prayer, God save me, and then continue on in your normal life because you don't understand what God's mercy is.
[00:19:55] God's mercy is this. I deserved hell.
[00:19:59] And Jesus says, no, my love is far greater than that.
[00:20:04] My son will take your place to give you life and hope and a future.
[00:20:13] But if I give you this mercy, you've got to give me the rest of your life.
[00:20:22] And I'm afraid we're missing that mark.
[00:20:25] A life devoted to the One who delivered you.
[00:20:31] The responsibility that we have today as believers is to serve the Lord all the days of our life. Don't just come to church on Sunday, one hour, and think, oh, I've done my duty. Hey, I'm good.
[00:20:46] I believe one moment can save a soul. But a lifetime proves that moment saved your soul.
[00:20:54] And so today, Clifford Baptist Church, are we living like delivered people?
[00:21:07] Understanding? Yes. God is merciful and God's mercy will perform something. But also, my life is now devoted to the one who showed me mercy.
[00:21:20] There's one more point.
[00:21:22] Verses 76 through 80.
[00:21:26] And thou, child, shall be called the prophet of the highest.
[00:21:32] For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. Notice the language has changed here. To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us.
[00:21:51] To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the desert till the day of his showing. Until Israel.
[00:22:08] The tone has changed.
[00:22:11] We're no longer talking about a coming baby. He's talking about his own child.
[00:22:17] He's talking about John the Baptist.
[00:22:20] In these last verses of his song. I believe this daddy is thankful to God for his baby, for his child. How many of you thankful to God for your family? You better raise your hand.
[00:22:31] Look, I can't control who God gave me, but I can love who God gave me. Okay?
[00:22:37] I know we all fit that mold. We can't control that. But that's who God gave me. And as your pastor, one of the things that I've learned over three and a half years is that I can't control who comes to my church.
[00:22:52] But I can be thankful to God that God has given me the opportunity to minister to them.
[00:22:58] As hard nosed as some people might be, and as hard nosed as your pastor might be sometimes, here's what I want to say. I simply love you.
[00:23:08] Thank you for the opportunity to minister to you and your family. I would not, if you offered me some sum of money, the dream profession of being a professional ball player, I wouldn't trade it for the world.
[00:23:23] I wouldn't trade it for the Lord. I've got the best job in the world.
[00:23:28] But here's what Zacharias song says.
[00:23:31] The third point is this is there are prepared people.
[00:23:37] So we are redeemed people.
[00:23:39] Yes, we are delivered people.
[00:23:42] Now this message comes to the church. Are we a prepared people?
[00:23:48] As the prophet of the highest, John the Baptist would be the one that would announce the coming of the Messiah.
[00:23:56] As you see that played out in verse number 76, this child shall be called the prophet of the highest.
[00:24:03] For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord and prepare his ways. John the Baptist would be the forerunner to Jesus. He would go before him and say, the Messiah is coming.
[00:24:14] Praise be to God for that.
[00:24:16] He would look down the street as Jesus would come his way. And here's what he would say.
[00:24:23] Here comes the Son of God, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
[00:24:31] He would not want any accolades himself, but one of his main jobs was to prepare the way of the Lord.
[00:24:41] As a prophet of the highest, he would announce that coming Messiah. And the message that he would speak all the days of his life would simply this point to Jesus.
[00:24:54] All right, church, listen to me. That's our job too.
[00:24:57] It's not my job to sit here and boast. Me boast, the church boast, you boast. My job is to speak of Jesus.
[00:25:04] That's my job.
[00:25:06] And that's your job too.
[00:25:09] It may not necessarily be behind a pulpit, but your job is to proclaim who Jesus is.
[00:25:17] The Lord is here, but what else? He would give knowledge. Look at verse number 77, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins.
[00:25:30] So this baby John the Baptist, his message will be one of salvation to people by remission of sin. To be redeemed, to be set free. Remember what that means? Redemption is what? Being set free by paying a price. What does the remission of sin mean?
[00:25:47] Here's what that means.
[00:25:50] That the cancellation of the debt has happened.
[00:25:55] Remission of sin. The debt has been canceled.
[00:25:59] Not only did Jesus pay the price to set you free, he canceled the debt that you owe.
[00:26:06] And that's something to praise him for.
[00:26:08] John would preach to people about the forgiveness that Jesus would offer.
[00:26:14] And as I said, he would offer those words. Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
[00:26:19] What a proclamation he would also show in verse number 78.
[00:26:25] Through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us.
[00:26:32] That mercy, that mercy of God would be displayed through John the Baptist's life, through his teaching and his preaching and pointing the way to Jesus.
[00:26:43] There was a new day dawning. There was a new day coming for the people of Israel.
[00:26:49] There was a new day coming for the Jewish believers. That day would not offer law or the temple.
[00:26:56] Remember that temple curtain would be torn when Jesus was crucified. There was a new covenant coming. And that new covenant looked like Jesus.
[00:27:05] Jesus would be that Messiah that they longed for, that they desperately needed. He would be salvation that the world needed to hear.
[00:27:15] But this little boy would prepare the way for Jesus coming. The end of this chapter, verse 79 and 80, says that this little baby would give light to them who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet in the way of peace.
[00:27:36] He writes simply about his. He sings about his little boy writes at the end, verse number 80, the child grew, waxed strong in spirit, was in the deserts until the day of his showing unto Israel. This little boy would grow up in a desert. And you know all the story about John the Baptist until he showed up, till he grew up. God taught him a lot in that desert. I believe God showed him a lot in the desert. But the one thing he showed him was this.
[00:28:02] There's a dark and dying world.
[00:28:04] A dark and dying world.
[00:28:06] But a new day was coming.
[00:28:08] The sun would rise.
[00:28:11] A new day was coming.
[00:28:13] And that day, spring was but a child.
[00:28:17] And his name was Jesus Church.
[00:28:20] I'm not asking you if you could preach a sermon.
[00:28:23] I'm not asking if you could tell all about Jesus. Here's What I'm asking you, number one today, do you know this Redeemer?
[00:28:30] Do you know Jesus?
[00:28:33] Do you know him as your redeemer?
[00:28:36] As your deliverer, the one that has saved you?
[00:28:40] Is that how you identify Jesus in your life? My prayer is that yes, you have surrendered your life to him.
[00:28:49] Not only do you know him, have you surrendered your life to him.
[00:28:54] There are many that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, that need the peace of God in our world.
[00:29:02] And so, as you've heard the saying, we can stand on the promises and we can sit on the premises. But I'm calling Clifford Baptist Church to walk out into a dark and dying world because you have the hope of life. His name is Jesus. And it is our job to prepare the way for the second coming of our Savior.
[00:29:26] And will we do that with the rest of our lives?
[00:29:29] You have my commitment today.
[00:29:32] As long as God puts breath in these lungs, I want them to speak of Jesus.
[00:29:39] And I want to be your pastor.
[00:29:42] I want to lead you in that charge to love our community and to love our dark world. Not to condemn them, but just to reveal the light that is Jesus to them.
[00:29:54] But I can't do it by myself.
[00:29:57] I can't do it for 30 minutes on Sunday. 30 minutes on Sunday doesn't save the world.
[00:30:03] Jesus does.
[00:30:06] And you have the blessed hope that the world needs Christians today.
[00:30:13] Can we stand on the truth of who Jesus is? Not just for Zacharias and Elizabeth, not just for Mary and Joseph, not just for Israel, but the hope of the world is Jesus. Will we stand on that promise?
[00:30:32] Will we devote our life, every day of it, to living for Him?
[00:30:37] I believe the charge to the church comes from these verses, verses 74 and 75.
[00:30:47] That he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life?
[00:31:00] If I was a tattoo guy, I'd get that thing right here, boys.
[00:31:04] That has become my heart's desire, to serve him for the rest of my life.
[00:31:10] Can we do that together, Church?
[00:31:13] Will we do that together?
[00:31:15] Maybe there's somebody in this room today.
[00:31:18] You sit in an air conditioned sanctuary.
[00:31:21] The lights are on, but inside you feel the warring on your soul.
[00:31:28] You feel the darkness of death.
[00:31:31] You feel the darkness of this world.
[00:31:33] And there seems to be no hope in your heart.
[00:31:38] I will challenge you. If the Lord is drawing you, if the Lord is working in your heart today, don't let it be the twisting of an arm by A pastor? That's not my job.
[00:31:49] My job is this. I hope you have seen that Jesus is coming and Jesus came for you.
[00:31:57] If you're sitting here in this room in a dark place today, Jesus came to this world for you and he came to this world for me. My heart was a dark place at one time, desperately wicked, as the Bible says.
[00:32:11] Today, that darkness can be brought to light if you surrender to the work of Jesus, knowing that his death took your death.
[00:32:26] His life was given for your life.
[00:32:29] His blood shed in your place on a cross for sin.
[00:32:35] He was put in a borrowed tomb.
[00:32:38] He rose to life on the third day to defeat sin and death and to give hope and future to anyone who believe today.
[00:32:47] If you are in that dark place without Jesus, surrender to him.
[00:32:53] Turn from that sin, turn to Jesus and live for him for the rest of your days.
[00:33:02] Let's pray.
[00:33:03] Father. God, thank you.
[00:33:05] Thank you for the song from an old man of how good you are.
[00:33:11] God, maybe just in a moment of dedication, my brothers and sisters want to come to an altar and pray in thanksgiving about how good you have been, how faithful you have been.
[00:33:27] God, I pray, Lord, today if that's one person in this room that people would just bow before you in Thanksgiving, maybe they can stand at their seat, just say, thank you, Jesus, for what you've done.
[00:33:41] God, I pray for that one heart that's watching livestream, that's in this room, that's running, running to the world instead of to Jesus, that longs for the stuff of the world instead of the things of God.
[00:33:58] God, that you will turn that one heart to you.
[00:34:03] God, thank you for what you can do this week of thanksgiving. May you be glorified not only in our lives and our conversation, in our family, in our meals, but may you be glorified in our lives every single day.
[00:34:21] God, give us a heart for you.
[00:34:24] God, work on our church's heart for you.
[00:34:28] That we will live and love and serve you with all that we have for all of our days until you bring us home.
[00:34:37] That is our desire. That's my desire today. God, I pray that you just meet your people in this place in Jesus name.
[00:34:46] Clifford Baptist Church invites you to join us for worship every Sunday morning at 11aM for more information about our church, please call our church office at 434-946-0555.
