TODAY'S MESSAGE: HE SEES YOU WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING

1. GOD IS WATCHING US AND HE KNOWS IF WE ARE RIGHTEOUS OR NOT.
LOOK CLOSELY AT VERSE 6  And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. 
• they were both righteous before God
• [they were both] walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.

WOULD YOU PLEASE TAKE THIS MINUTE AND CONSIDER WHAT VERSE 6 WOULD SAY IF IT WAS WRITTEN ABOUT YOU? WOULD IT SAY THAT YOU WERE RIGHTEOUS OR IN RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD? WOULD IT SAY THAT YOU ARE WALKING BLAMELESSLY IN ALL OF GOD’S COMMANDS AND STATUES?

1 Corinthians 11:23-29 (ESV)  For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24  and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25  In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26  For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27  Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28  Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29  For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. 

2 Corinthians 13:5-6 (ESV)  Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6  I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test.

2. GOD IS LISTENING TO THE PRAYERS OF THE RIGHTEOUS. 13  But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard
• CONTRAST THAT WITH THESE VERSES
Psalm 66:18 (ESV)  If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. 
Proverbs 15:29 (ESV)  The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. 

3. GOD HAS A CALLING FOR YOUR LIFE ALSO.
GOD HAD A POWERFUL CALLING ON JOHN’S LIFE.
15  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. 16  And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17  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, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

4. GOD DOESN’T LIKE IT WHEN YOU DOUBT HIM.18  And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
DOUBT IS THE OPPOSITE OF FAITH.

WHY DID ZECHARIAH DOUBT WHAT THE ANGEL SAID? BECAUSE HE WAS THINKING ABOUT HIS OWN ABILITY AND NOT THE LORD’S.

5. GOD PUNISHES THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE HIM. 20  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.” 

BECAUSE OF HIS DOUBT, ZECHARIAH WAS UNABLE TO SPEAK FROM THAT MOMENT UNTIL AFTER THE BIRTH OF HIS SON.
Luke 1:59 (ESV)  And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60  but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61  And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62  And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63  And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64  And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God.

6. GOD REWARDS THOSE WHO HAVE FAITH IN HIM.24  After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, 25  “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.” 

Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)  And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.