A Christian Nation Luke 1:67-80
Christians live in nations awaiting the coming Christian nation. ‣ A Christian Nation Confesses Jesus as King. (1:67-71) ‣ A Christian Nation Worships Jesus as God. (1:72-75) ‣ A Christian Nation Receives Jesus as Saviour. (1:76-80)
Confesses Jesus as King Luke 1:67-71 • Zechariah’s praise to God contains three themes within it that revolve around three covenants. - Davidic Covenant, Abrahamic Covenant, and New Covenant. • A covenant is an oath-bound promise whereby one party solemnly pledges to bless another party in some specified way. It implies relationship, promise and expectation.
Confesses Jesus as King Luke 1:67-71 • Zechariah praises God because God has raised up the promised eternal King.
“And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” ~2 Samuel 7:10–13, ESV
Worships Jesus as God Luke 1:72-75 • Zechariah praises God because God has gathered his people to worship and serve him.
“And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” ~Genesis 17:7–8, ESV
Worships Jesus as God Luke 1:72-75 • Zechariah praises God because God has gathered his people to worship and serve him.
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” ~Galatians 4:4–7, ESV
Receives Jesus as Savior Luke 1:76-79 • Zechariah praises God because God has provided for final forgiveness of sin.
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah… 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. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” ~Jeremiah 31:31–34, ESV
• Realize that we can never have a Christian nation prior to the return of Christ Jesus.
• Pray for national leaders to repent and turn to Christ Jesus.
• Serve Christ Jesus without fear of those around you.
“The great design of gospel grace is not to discharge us from, but to engage us to, and encourage us in, the service of God. Under this notion Christianity was always to be looked upon, as intended to make us truly religious, to admit us into the service of God, to bind us to it, and to quicken us in it. We are therefore delivered from the iron yoke of sin, that our necks may be put under the sweet and easy yoke of the Lord Jesus.” ~Matthew Henry
• Involve yourself in society for the glory of God.
“We must believe, as clear-thinking Christians in every age have believed, that it is the will and plan of God for all wrong relationships, political as well as spiritual, eventually to be put right. We include therefore in our preaching of salvation the need for the righting of wrong social structures and physical conditions. But we keep at its centre the need for the cleansing of sinful human hearts. That is the primary concern of the people of God.” ~Michael Wilcock
• Anticipate the return of Christ Jesus our King.
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