Lord I Believe, Help My Unbelief

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church.

Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota.

We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message.

From Pastor Chris Roseberg.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke the first chapter.

In the days of Herod the king of Judea 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 and they were both

righteous before God walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord but

they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years.

Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty according to the custom of the priesthood

he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and to burn incense and the whole

multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense and there appeared to him an

angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense and Zechariah was troubled

when he saw him and fear fell upon him but the angel said to him do not be afraid

Zechariah for your prayers have been heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and

you shall call his name John and you will have joy and gladness and

many will rejoice at his birth for he will be great before the Lord and he must

not drink wine or strong drink and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his

mother's womb.

And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God and he will go before him in the spirit of

power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient

to the wisdom of the just and to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.

And Zechariah said to the angel how shall I know this.

For I'm an old man and my wife is advanced in years and the angel answered him

I am Gabriel I stand in the presence of God and I was sent to speak to you and to bring

you this good news.

And behold you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take

place because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their time.

And the people were waiting for Zechariah and they were wondering at his delay in the temple and when he came out

he was unable to speak to them and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple and he kept making

signs to them and remained mute.

And when his time of service was ended he went to his home.

And after these days his wife Elizabeth conceived and for five months she kept herself

hidden saying thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked upon me to take away

my reproach among the people in the name of Jesus.

I'm reminded of that account when Jesus comes down from the Mount of Transfiguration and he finds

a kerfuffle.

You know how kerfuffles go.

Usually people are talking loudly to each other.

There's words going back and forth and there's a little bit of pandemonium a wee bit of mayhem.

And what has happened is that a man has brought his young son who has a

demon to Jesus his disciples the ones who were remaining at the base of the Mount of

Transfiguration while Jesus took Peter James and John up and they saw Christ transformed

before their eyes.

And Moses and Elijah happened to show up.

But when they get down to the bottom the disciples who were left well the kerfuffle is going on.

And well they're in a fight.

The Pharisees are screaming at the disciples.

The disciples are probably yelling back all because this fellow brought this boy who had a demon and they

couldn't cast it out.

And when Jesus shows up at this kerfuffle what ends up happening

is the boy manifests the demon shows itself and the kid goes into a full

convulsion.

I kind of imagine it kind of like the Exorcist or one of those kind of movies.

He's down there going doing whatever demon -possessed people do.

And Jesus rather than tending the boy tends to the father first.

You'll note the fathers are important.

So Jesus said to him how long has this been going on.

And you can almost see the guy going.

You're not doing anything yet.

You're gonna ask me we're doing this now you know.

And so the follow says well ever since he was a small boy the demon has tried to destroy him throwing him into

water and into flame.

And and he.

And then the fellow says this if you can help us please do.

And Jesus says if if all things are possible for the one who

believes and the man blurts out Lord I believe help

my unbelief.

It's an important phrase.

And you're gonna note here that God does help our unbelief.

Think about Zechariah.

Think about his wife Elizabeth all right.

They started off life together probably fairly young back then it wasn't

uncommon for kids to get married in their teens because well the average life

expectancy wasn't all that long.

You know 40 ish.

If you get to 50 you're really old.

Right.

That's that's how they're thinking at this point.

And so they started off their life together and they had their wedding ceremony just like every other young couple in

Israel.

And it was probably beautiful bride was gorgeous.

The groom was excited.

They came together with the expectation that they were going to start a

family together because this is what happens.

But no kids not one.

And back in those days if you're not burying kids as a woman

well as Elizabeth says in our gospel text she was bearing reproach among her own people.

The murmurings begin now is there something wrong.

What's going on here.

Maybe they're cursed from God.

Maybe maybe God is angry with them.

Maybe maybe me.

And this just goes on and on and on and on and on and well she has to

surreptitiously raise other people's kids.

It's kind of a it's a well it's a bum deal.

And all of this if you were to think about it is kind of a big result of the consequence of sin.

But this is a common theme throughout the scriptures.

Women who are barren who then conceived.

She's in good company if you think of Abraham and Sarah.

Sarah also she didn't conceive until she was well advanced in years way past the age of

childbearing.

And Elizabeth seems to be following suit.

But all of those barren wombs of the Old Testament and here of Elizabeth's

all point to that miracle that God's going to do in bringing us the virgin -born Son of God our

Savior.

And so what happened with well Elizabeth and Zechariah is that

weeks turned into months months turned into years years turned into decades and somewhere

along the line probably all along the line up until a particular point

there were that just cut out that area.

There were prayers and their prayers were probably to the effect of Lord have mercy please grant us

children.

And yet that prayer went unanswered for a long

long time.

And then Elizabeth well her hormones love her hormone levels went out

of whack she started having hot flashes and then she was past the age she's

dried up.

That's how this all goes.

And at that point all hope is lost and you just hope on finishing your

course.

Well but see God had other plans in mind.

God actually intended to answer their prayer but answer their prayer way beyond

what they would have even imagined.

You know see God is able to answer our prayers far more abundantly than we can

imagine.

And he oftentimes does because God was up to something big if you think about the the Old

Testament the very last page of the Old Testament of the Tanakh in the prophet

Malachi Malachi my servant my messenger is his name

Malachi he's God's messenger.

He prophesied that one would come in the spirit of Elijah.

And Malachi's prophecy makes it sound like it's soon.

It's like just on the cusp and you get the feeling that with God what he thinks is soon

is like nothing related to like what we think is soon.

I mean if if I didn't know better I would accuse God of being late at times in my

life you know if he had showed up just a little bit earlier things wouldn't have gotten as crazy as they did.

But always and again God is never late.

He knows exactly what he's doing.

And so four hundred years after Malachi told that one would come to

prepare the way of the Lord and they would come in the spirit of Elijah.

God took that prophecy which had 400 years of dust on it blew

the dust off and breathed new life into it.

God was up to something.

And he was up to something more than removing the reproach that well

Elizabeth felt because she was unable to bear children he was about to send

the Son of God.

He was going to prepare the way for his own son who had come to earth for the purpose of

taking away our reproach our sin our iniquity and

reconciling us to God and to each other.

And so in a very classic Old Testament kind of way God then

does something spectacular.

He sends the angel Gabriel.

What a great name by the way.

Gabriel.

Gaviria.

Gaviria.

All right.

The Lord is my hero.

That's it's a good way to put it.

You know Gabriel means the Lord is my hero.

You know.

It's a great name for this archangel.

And so our text then begins that in the days of Herod the king of Judea there was a priest named

Zechariah of the division of Abijah.

He had a wife and the daughters of Aaron.

Her name was Elizabeth.

They were both righteous before God walking blamelessly in all the commandments and the statutes of the Lord.

Now important to note here I think the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to put this in here

to make it very clear to every generation that would follow that the reason why

Elizabeth was barren had nothing to do with the fact that she didn't have enough faith or that she was somehow

being punished by God both her and her husband.

They walk blamelessly in all the commandments and the statutes of the Lord.

And they were righteous before God.

That means they had faith.

They had no children because Elizabeth was barren.

Both were advanced in years.

And while he was serving as priest before God his division was on duty according to the custom the

priesthood he was chosen by Lot to enter the temple of the Lord and to burn

incense over and again when lots are thrown the in the idea is Lord who is the one

you have chosen to do this duty today and on this particular day well God

chose specifically Zechariah to go in and burn the incense.

This is the time of the evening prayer.

Let my prayer rise before you as incense the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

And so he goes in.

And by the way it's always well a little bit of a scary thing

to go in to the temple of God because you never know what's going to happen.

And according to the Mosaic Covenant the priests who would go in to serve inside of the temple part of

their ephod was they had little jingle bells on the bottom of their of their vestments.

Why.

Because if God was not happy with what they did and they do it and didn't do it.

Right.

God had the prerogative and well the right if you wanted to to strike somebody down.

And so you can always tell a priest hasn't made it.

When you hear chink.

Oh and what do you do you.

Well there's a rope around his ankle.

You just drag the body out and send somebody else in.

Right.

You know this is the days before OSHA.

Right.

Could you imagine the law the lawsuits today.

But yeah right you get the idea.

So you do not volunteer for these these duties.

Instead you have to be chosen.

He's chosen and he goes in.

And you have to know based upon what an awesome thing this is that he

is not doing this willy -nilly.

He's a man of faith.

He knows very well.

He needs to dot his eyes and cross his T's and make sure that he doesn't do anything out of bounds so that he doesn't

displease the God displeased God.

And here's what happened.

There appeared to him an angel.

We know the angels name is Gabriel angel the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him and fear fell him.

I cannot make this point strong enough.

That is the standard operating procedure when a human being comes in the presence of a holy

angel.

Today when people say oh yeah there's angels everywhere.

I met one for lunch the other day.

They are lying to you.

Okay.

And the way you can tell they're lying is how flippantly they talk about meeting with angels.

Everybody meets with an angel in scripture.

Their first thing that they do is their knees are knocking.

They're completely afraid.

And you'll know what what Gabriel has to say.

He says first thing don't be afraid Zechariah.

And then hear these words.

Your prayer has been heard.

What.

Which one you can.

Almost.

What do you mean.

My prayer has been heard.

Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son.

We prayed for that three decades ago.

For maybe I don't know.

We don't know how old they are.

Right.

We prayed for that decades ago you see.

But God doesn't forget our prayers.

The prayer of a righteous one.

It's precious in the sight of God.

And so these words actually should help us see a little bit of something that we need to keep in mind.

And that is that God hears our prayers.

Does it feel like when you pray the prayers bounce off the ceiling.

Does it feel like when you pray God hasn't heard you have you prayed and wonder where is he.

He's heard your prayers.

He knows exactly what he's doing.

And the suffering that you may you may be going through is still designed to create a new character

and hope.

That's the purpose of these things.

So do not cast away your faith in God because God hasn't answered your prayer in

what you believe is a timely manner.

It may be that he is going to answer your prayer at a time and in a way that you

would have never even foresaw.

So the angel said to him don't be afraid.

Your prayers have been heard.

Your wife Elizabeth will bear a son.

You shall call his name John.

And you will have joy and gladness.

And many will rejoice at his birth.

For he will be great before the Lord.

And he must not drink wine or strong drink.

And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb.

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 the power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the

fathers to the children the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready

for the Lord of people who are prepared prepare

the way of the Lord.

Now this coming Sunday we're going to hear the preaching of John the Baptist.

And I must confess by today's standards it's a wee bit bumpy somewhat rough

politically incorrect extremely necessary.

Yes because to make ready a people who are prepared for the Lord

requires God's law to go out and to confront people in their

faces with their iniquity with their sin with their hard -heartedness with their false

religion their idolatry and all the ways in which they are guilty before

God.

It is necessary because before the gospel comes the law must convict us of our sin.

And exactly what Gabriel said what happened is exactly what

happened.

Because Gabriel wasn't giving these words because he was sharing his opinion with Zechariah.

He was sent from God with an actual message.

And he delivered the message.

And when God says is going to happen is going to happen.

And nobody can stop it.

And nobody can turn away the words of God.

His words cannot be broken.

And we take solace in this.

So Zechariah upon hearing this amazing

amazing word from God delivered by the archangel Gabriel.

Gabriel by the way also showed up in the Old Testament twice in the book of Daniel

he shows up.

He actually explained a vision to Daniel in Daniel chapter 9 and was there in

Daniel chapter 8.

This is a well -known angel.

So it wasn't just an angel.

This is the one that actually spoke to Daniel.

And rather than sit there and go this is amazing.

Praise God.

Thank you Lord for hearing my prayer.

Zechariah goes well.

How shall I know this.

For I'm an old man and my wife is advanced in years.

Is anything too hard for the Lord.

Are you familiar with what happened with Sarah.

What about Samson's mother.

How about Hannah.

Right.

There's great examples in the Old Testament.

Why are you doubting this.

You were experiencing the fear of being in the presence of the angel.

And now you're kind of going.

Well I don't know who does this.

Well the reality is is that I think we all do this.

You sit there.

Well I haven't had an angel appear to me.

Yeah.

I know.

Neither have I.

But I think we have something a little stronger than that.

We have the eyewitness accounts of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after he

was crucified under Pontius Pilate.

And you know what a big doubt that people struggle with as Christians.

I don't know if God can really forgive me.

Seriously Jesus is risen from the dead.

And you have doubts regarding that.

Well you don't understand what I've done.

It's so really.

No I do.

And so you'll note we struggle along these lines.

And what happens next I think is a kind punishment.

Lord I believe help my unbelief.

Right.

So Gabriel you can almost hear the indignation in his voice.

But he's there to deliver good news.

He's not there to smite Gabe.

To smite Zechariah.

Zechariah didn't fall over dead.

And the jingle bells go off.

And then having to drag his corpse out that he was kind to him in that sense.

Instead the angel answered him and said.

And you can just see this.

I am Gabriel.

I stand in the presence of God.

Right.

You can always hear this the indignation.

And I was sent to speak to you to bring you this good news.

And this is great news.

Do you not recognize the significance of what it is.

I just told you your son is the fulfillment of prophecy the very

last page of the Tanakh and that.

Right.

You just hear Gabriel.

Right.

He says all right.

Behold you're gonna be silent and unable to speak until the day

that these things take place.

Because you did not believe my words which we will be fulfilled in their time.

So at this point Zechariah isn't believing it.

He's not trusting the angel Gabriel.

Gabriel says.

Fine silence.

Not a word from you for nine whole months.

Lord I believe help my unbelief.

And at the end of those nine months I do find it fascinating that.

Well Zechariah is a full -blown believer.

I would have to fast forward a little bit so he's not able to talk.

But here's the account then of the birth of John the Baptist later in this text.

Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth and she bore a son.

Just like the angel Gabriel said surprise surprise.

They didn't even have to like have an ultrasound to figure out the sex of the child.

They knew before he was even conceived that it was gonna be a boy.

Right.

And she bore a son.

Uh -huh.

And by the way Zechariah no talking up to this point and her neighbors and her

relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her and they

rejoiced with her.

Just like the angel Gabriel said I'm seeing a pattern here God speaks

and look at it happens.

Right.

So on the eighth day.

Ah that eighth day stuff is important first day of the new creation.

Right.

They came to circumcise the child and they would have called him Zechariah after his father.

But his mother answered no he shall be called John.

And now Zechariah is not able to speak at this point right.

So you'll note that Elizabeth she's standing her ground.

She knows that his name is gonna be John.

How is she figured out.

Because well good old Zechariah had to scrawl it out for her.

You know that he had like a little wax tablet and the angel said to me.

And this had to take forever.

Right.

His name is going to be John.

And you could just see her going.

Ah this is great.

No his name is John.

So she's heard the word of the Lord at this point.

And remember the angel is helping his unbelief.

So they said to her well none of your relatives is called this name.

And so they made signs to his father.

We're gonna talk some sense into you Elizabeth.

Let's let's go to the patriarchy.

What do you have to say.

They want what.

Inquiring what he wanted him to be called he asked for writing tablet and he wrote

his name is John.

And they all wondered.

And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed.

And listen to the words that come out of his mouth.

He spoke blessing to God.

You see although the angel Gabriel silenced him it was to help his unbelief.

And now Zechariah fulfills part of the words of the good news that were given by the

angel Gabriel and he says blessed be the Lord God the maker of heaven and earth.

Now fear came upon all the neighbors and these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea and all

who heard them laid them up in their heart saying what then will this child be.

For the hand of the Lord was with him in brothers and sisters as we

prepare to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Let us hear the words of scripture.

Let us hear the words of John the Baptist.

They come they're coming on Sunday.

And let us not turn away from them.

Let us not say what a crazy loon this guy is.

What kind of diet is it that he's eating.

And what is our what's that uniform that he's wearing.

Let us not be offended by his words.

Because as the angel Gabriel said he is the one whom God sent to prepare the way of

the Lord.

And he is coming this Sunday to prepare us for the coming of Christ.

He will not be here physically but his sermon will be preached.

His message will be here.

And I assure you if you do not turn away.

If you take heart and take heed you are well prepared for the arrival of

Jesus.

John will make you uncomfortable.

He will lay bare your sin.

He will cause you to feel grief.

And he might even remind you of the reproach that comes because of sin and iniquity.

But fear not.

Don't let that shake you.

Because John has come to prepare us for the arrival of Christ who has not come to condemn us

not in his first Advent.

He has come to save us.

Our king is going to come well in diapers small

and humble and obedient.

And he will go all the way to the cross to bear your reproach so that you do not have to bear it on the last

day.

So as we consider this first Advent message the

sermon series on the angels.

Note.

Then Gabriel brought good news and in kindness he

helped Zechariah's unbelief.

And now let me come back to this.

God helps our unbelief too if you struggle with believing that you are forgiven

or struggling with knowing that God hears your prayers you're not alone.

Many Christians struggle with these things.

Take heart.

Christ is here to assure you and comfort you that you are forgiven in him and that you are

reconciled to the father because of all that he has done for you.

So you too can cry out Lord I believe help my unbelief.

And he will help you.

He will not send you away.

So well you better sort that out yourself and don't you dare come to church until you got that worked out.

Instead he welcomes you here to hear his words and take note.

Let the words sink in and let your fears melt

away to the comfort and confidence that is in Christ for you that you are

forgiven because of his great sacrifice on the cross for your sins.

And he is not here to condemn you.

He's here to save you.

And he promises to give you eternal life as a gift.

You do not need to fear Christ in his first advent.

He's come to give you comfort and forgiveness mercy and reconciliation.

Hang on to those words and note the pattern when God speaks his words come true even if it's

through an angel or an apostle or a prophet.

And he has assured us that we are forgiven in him.

And it is absolutely true.

So we need not bear our reproach alone and we can be forgiven.

So let us then have our unbelief.

Give way to believe as God helps us in the name.

Of Jesus.

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