Allen Jackson - Breakthrough... Alone In The Desert - Part 1
We’ve been doing a study on breakthroughs and I want to continue that series another session or two. The title for this session is «Alone in the Desert,» and it’s really a companion piece with the previous session. We looked at Zechariah and Elizabeth and the breakthrough God brought to their lives, and I want to continue it in this session really with the outcome of that. I think there’s a hopeful message there, but for just a moment, I’ve been encouraging you for quite a while now to embrace this little paradigm of watch and listen and think and act. Not just to live your life, but to do it with attentiveness.
There’s some things that will be essential. Jesus warned us as we approached the end of the age that deception would increase dramatically, and there’s some things you can do to limit your vulnerability to being deceived. One is read your Bible on a regular basis. That there’s just not a replacement for that, folks. If you’re not doing it, you’ve almost surrendered completely. Read your Bible on a regular, but you can join us in our reading plan, we’d be delighted. If you don’t want to do that, you can pick one. But 10 or 15 minutes a day, you can read through your whole Bible in the course of a year. It’s a worthwhile investment of time. It will change you. And if you’ve read it once, twice will be better. If you’ve read it 10 times, the 11th will be better.
Okay, the second thing is community. You need like-minded people that you spend some time with. It’s hard to admit your parents were right when you were a kid. But your friends really do have an enormous impact on your life. You need a community of people who have a faith in God. They will help you a great deal. And the third thing is this little paradigm, you’ve gotta watch and listen. You actually have to pay attention a bit. There’s a temptation to want to kind of cocoon, go into a cave, and, you know, it’s just distressing. You don’t know who to believe or what to believe, but you have to pay a little bit of attention. Then you have to think a little bit, I know. And then be willing to act. You can’t just be an observer or a professional critic. We’re not Olympic judges, we’re in the arena. And there’s a big difference.
I think if you’ll do those things, it’ll help you avoid deception and fulfill God’s purposes for your lives, and ultimately that’s the target. We are witnesses to a season of tremendous change, unparalleled change in my lifetime, and I don’t mean because of this election. I really think it started in a dramatic way with COVID. God began to shake the earth. There have been multiple tremors since then. October the 7th, the attack by Hamas on Israel and the boiling antisemitism in our own nation. Very unexpected things. God is shaking the earth and I trust that at the end of it, we’ll be in a place that he has led us to. So it isn’t frightening, it’s kind of exciting to me, but it’s a great contest between the values of the kingdom of God and the values of this present age. You’re gonna have to decide. You can’t stay in the middle much longer.
Tragically in the church we have capitulated for so long. We’ve been silent for so long. We’ve been timid for so long that now it feels almost inappropriate to express our support for a Judeo-Christian worldview. Should we say that? Are we allowed to say that? What if I offend someone? Look, the truth is helpful. Imagine going to a doctor that doesn’t want to give you the real diagnosis because it might make you feel blue. We call that malpractice. In the Christian world we call it apostasy. If you won’t align with the truth because you don’t know if it’ll be received well, that’s not just a personal choice or kindness or mercy, it is a false gospel, it’s false faith. And we don’t want to be there and we’ve lived dangerously close to that. It’s not inappropriate to agree with God’s Word.
In fact, it’s necessary, it’s helpful even if it puts you at odds with some rather revered places like Harvard or Yale or the purveyors of conventional wisdom. We live in a world where the truth really isn’t so… you don’t have to be very clever any longer, it’s just a little bit of awareness. I mean, lately we see the reports and pictures and videos of swarms of drones hanging above us. Well, government officials say, «Nothing there. It’s just a small airplane». Oh, thank you. Or they’ll tell us that biological sex is confusing. No, it really isn’t. Not really, it’s not that tough. I grew up on a farm. It isn’t confusing. I’m not suggesting there aren’t people that don’t struggle with confusion, but if you’re confused about something that’s that fundamental, that’s not a good place, that’s not something to be celebrated. And we certainly wouldn’t want to abandon our children to be mutilated by people that think that kind of confusion is helpful.
So this idea of breakthroughs, this notion of when God intervenes in our lives, we are a culture in need of breakthroughs from the kingdom of God. We’ve drifted a long way into places that are confusing and where the truth isn’t celebrated and integrity is no longer held in high esteem. No matter where you sit on the political spectrum, you could say amen to that. That’s just the reality. And the change for that isn’t coming from an election, the change for that will come from the heart of God’s people, breakthroughs. When God intervenes in our lives, most of us… one of the reasons I decided to do this series is I engaged with the community of faith here sufficiently enough to know that there are hundreds of us that are in a desperate place.
We need a breakthrough from God. Physically, emotionally, in our family systems, in our businesses, in many, many ways. There’s only a God solution can result in an outcome that will be satisfactory, otherwise we’re just treading water, holding our space. We need a breakthrough. And God gratefully does intervene in our lives. But we have had a little bit, I believe, of a misunderstanding and preachers like myself have contributed to this. We like to tell the miracle stories. We like to talk about the victories that took place and that’s not inappropriate, but it’s inappropriate unless we tell the larger story. And the breakthroughs that God presents to us are not just victory stories, there’s a backstory that go with them.
I started with a verse of Scripture in your notes. There’s hope, it’s Isaiah 40 in verse 3. It says, «A voice of one calling: 'In the desert, prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.'» That verse from Isaiah 40 is quoted in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There are very few things recorded in all four of the gospels. That verse is. And each time it’s presented, it’s presented in conjunction with John the Baptist and his life message. He was a voice of one calling in the wilderness.
See, I don’t really wanna be a voice of one. I wanna be a voice of a big choir, right? It’s fun to find 12,000 people that are all saying, «Jesus is Lord,» and slip in with them and go, «Yes». It’s not so much fun to be in a group of 12,000 people that are not in favor of that and you’re standing there going, «Jesus is Lord». John was willing to be a voice of one calling in the wilderness. I wanna look at that. He’s a breakthrough, he’s the one who was to prepare the way for Jesus in his life and his ministry and all he did. See, when I imagine a breakthrough, apart from doing any study of… what I want out of a breakthrough is I want a resolution to my problem. I got a bad diagnosis, I want it to go away. I want the doctor to say, «I blew it».
If there’s a relational struggle, you want it to be resolved, you want everybody to be at peace, whatever the breakthrough, you just want the problem to evaporate and the goodness of God to make it all a big happy point. Nothing wrong with that imagination, it’s just not particularly biblical. Breakthroughs result in transformation. They change your perspective. They leave you with insight and understandings different than you had before the intervention of God so you don’t just return to your old shape. You walk in a new way, you interact in a new way. Breakthroughs change everything. Are you ready for that? Those of us that need a breakthrough, are you ready for a different cadence in your life? Are you ready for a rearrangement of authority? Are you ready for a transformation of priorities? Or do you just want God to do what you want him to do so you can keep doing what you wanna do?
If I get really honest, that, yeah that’s really what I want. But truthfully, God loves us too much. Like my Bible says that if God loves you, he will discipline you. I don’t want to grow up in the Lord. I mean, I’ve learned to, I’ve learned to value that, but I mean if you just left me to myself, the truth is not, I’d really like just to have my way. I remember as a kid, you know, we’d come to these life junctures. And my parents would have these very misshapen ideas. That at some point in our growth and development and maturing that my brothers and I should accept responsibilities. And we were like, «No, really, we’re good, irresponsible works for us. We don’t need a job, don’t want to clean a stall». It’ll be good for you. «No, I tried it. I got dirty, it smells awful. Horses are mean, they spew and spit, and they look kind of threatening to me. I’m really good. Television works for me and air conditioning».
And time after time as I walked through that maturing, they would come to these places and say, «Oh, this will be good for you». I’m like, «Nah». It never felt good for me in the moment. Yeah, maybe looking back on it, now that I’m into my thirties, I can see there was some benefit to those things. Don’t mock. Well, I feel the same way with the Lord. You know, you’re born again. You’re an infant, you’re a new creation in Christ. It’s a wonderful thing. It’s an amazing thing. It’s worth whatever effort, it changes everything. But the general tendency at that point is to go, «You know, I’m good now. I got my ticket punched. I’m in. I’ve learned the secret handshake». And God says, «Now I’m gonna help you to grow up». And I’m going, «No, not really, I’m good, thank you. Feed me, change me, burp me, protect me, provide for me, watch over me, care for me. Except that I don’t want you watching so I can do what me wants». And God said, «No, I love you. I’m gonna help you grow up».
That’s really the question on the table today. To what extent are you willing to grow in the Lord? I’m gonna suggest that it has an impact not only for you, but for the generations who follow you. In fact, if we start with Zechariah and Elizabeth and I have, this couple who were childless, and they’re past the age where they’re gonna bear children, it’s just not reasonable anymore, nobody has the expectation. They had those prayers, but they had them a long time ago and then the announcement comes. Gabriel the Archangel shows up and says, «You’re gonna have a child and you’re gonna name him John». And they’re like, «What are you talking about»? I mean, Zechariah has enough questions that he gets struck mute for nine months. Teach you to talk back.
Aren’t you glad we all don’t get struck mute when we question the Lord? And, you know, pastor will be signing the message this morning. And John’s born. And Zechariah and Elizabeth really step out of the scene completely after their time in the temple and, taking John, they step out of the story, but John steps onto the stage. And that’s where I want to start. It’s in Luke chapter 3. It’s right in the middle of this Christmas narrative. Zechariah and Elizabeth and John the Baptist are very much a part of the Christmas story. During the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the Word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the desert. Nobody knew why they were calling him John. Because God said to.
That was the message they got in the temple, when Gabriel came to Zechariah said, «You name him John». «No, no, no,» all the people said when it was time to name him, they said «He’ll be Zechariah. It’s the family, there’s nobody named John in your family». And Elizabeth and Zechariah together said, «No, this is a new thing. This is a breakthrough. His name’s John». So John, the son of Zechariah, in the desert, «He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: 'A voice of one calling in the desert. Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked road shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God’s salvation.'»
Gee, that’s not a big assignment. Go prepare the way for the Messiah so that all of humankind can see the way to salvation. And «John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, 'You bunch of snakes. Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? '» Just as a beginning point, I think a simple observation, we’ve been trying to stack some ideas, some breakthrough hacks, if you will. In this case, the breakthrough begins in the desert. John is a voice crying in the desert. He’s not a voice crying in the temple, he’s not in Jerusalem. Isaiah was a prophet of the court, he was comfortable in the palace. Jeremiah spoke to heads of state and the leaders of nations. John is a voice in the desert, a voice crying in the wilderness, a voice of one crying in the wilderness. Wearing clothes made of camel’s hair and eating locusts, not bugs, it’s a fruit that grows on a tree. I know you’re disappointed.
Breakthroughs often emerge in the desert. Seems odd to us, the desert’s a remote part for most of us in our nation. If you live in Israel or the Middle East, I can tell you from my Jewish friends, the desert is not a place of punishment, it’s a place of renewal, it’s a place of place of refreshing, it’s a place where God meets you. If they have a day off, they go into the desert. And from the biblical perspective, the desert is a place of renewal. I tell you that because if you’re in a desert season, it doesn’t feel so feel so fruitful. It doesn’t feel quite as opulent as you had hoped it might, if it’s a lean time.
I would submit to you that there’s a very high degree of probability that that’s a breakthrough season. God hasn’t abandoned you. In the desert there’s a stillness, in the desert there’s a quietness, in the desert it’s much easier to hear. I don’t believe God has left you. There’s a component of John the Baptist that I don’t want us to miss. Jesus said he was the greatest of those born among women. A very revered character. But John the Baptist is an impossibility without the faithfulness of Zechariah and Elizabeth. What made John the Baptist ministry possible, his life story possible, his impact possible, were the decisions that were made by his parents, by Zechariah and Elizabeth. Upright people, godly people, people who overcame disappointment, people who had to have their life plans rewritten, their life schedule didn’t emerge in the way they had hoped it would.
While their friends were building nurseries and welcoming children, they weren’t. And so they prayed and they sought God and they still didn’t. And it became very obvious that that wasn’t gonna happen, it wasn’t in their future, that just wasn’t a part of their journey. And they managed to overcome that disappointment and not be defined by it. Zechariah is still serving in the temple. Elizabeth is still honoring the Lord, listening to the Spirit of God. And then Gabriel shows up and said, «Hey, I got some news for you. You’re gonna have a son». Except now it’s, like, disruptive. Zechariah, I mean, he says, «I am old. And Elizabeth»? He was gracious. He said, «She’s well along in years».
Gabriel, have you seen Lizzie? In fact, it’s a little bit of a moment, you know, Gabriel’s delivering this message with some rather lofty language about John and Zechariah says, «Hang on a minute. I’m old». And Gabriel says, «And you’re gonna be quiet for nine months». Again, I’m very grateful God has not responded to me that way. How many times have you held up your hand to the Lord? Well, not me. No, thank you. I don’t even like church. So John the Baptist and his ministry emerges from the faithfulness of Zechariah and Elizabeth, are willing to embrace their breakthrough, to reorder their lives, to be unique, to overcome disappointment. If they had not made those choices, John doesn’t have a story to tell.
There’s a biblical principle here. I’m taking a moment with it because it’s very important and it’s essential, I believe, for the place that we find ourselves as a people right now. We need a generational story of godliness. We need a generational tale of a desire for righteousness and holiness and purity. We want a legacy of faith to be reestablished among us. Does that sound right? Why not let it begin with us and the aspirations that we have for our children and our grandchildren? I know we’re in church and the answer to every question is typically Jesus, but in the quiet places of your life, when you’re not in a church building and you’re not sitting in the midst of a group of people that have raised their hands to identify as Christ followers, what aspirations do you truly hold for your children and your grandchildren? Fame, success, wealth, none of those things are inappropriate in and of themselves, but they’ll be empty apart from a vibrant faith.
You see, we’ve almost been totally co-opted by a secular culture. Our aspirations have become secular aspirations, our dreams secular aspirations, our priorities secular priorities. And again, I’m not trying to remove us from the world, we’re in it, but the Bible says we shouldn’t be of it. There’s a difference. We have a different allegiance, a different set of objectives. It really is biblical, I can point to it. In 2 Timothy chapter 1 in verse 5, Paul is writing. Paul wrote the letter to a young man named Timothy, that’s why it bears his name. But he’s reminding him of what Paul knows of his life. He said, «I’ve been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I’m persuaded, now lives in you also». You’re third generation, Timothy, I know the stock from which you come.
You say, «Well, pastor, I don’t come from a family where there’s generations of faithful people to the Lord». Good, let’s start a new trend. Pastor, my story is a little more broken. Most of ours are, most of ours are. That’s why in the previous session we spent a great deal of time talking about a new name. Establishing a new heritage, a new legacy. John’s life isn’t gonna fit the normal pattern either. I don’t believe any parent has an aspiration that their child would walk the path that John walked. Forget his impact. I just can’t, it’s hard to imagine any parent raising their hand and saying, «That would be my aspiration». We’ll get to it in a moment, a generational legacy.
Look at 1 Samuel chapter 1. This is Hannah, she’s the mother of Samuel. At the point we’re stepping into the narrative, she is childless as well. «She said, 'I made a vow, ' saying, 'O Lord Almighty, if you’ll only look upon your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, no razor will ever be used on his head.'»
That last phrase could be a little blind to you. It’s a commitment within Judaism. There was a sect of people, they’re called Nazarites. Not Nazarenes, Nazarenes are people that come from the village of Nazareth. It’s a little community in the northern part of Israel in Galilee. Jesus was a Nazarene. Nazarites are a group of people who take a vow. A special effort at setting themselves apart for the purposes of the Lord. They won’t eat or drink anything that comes from the vine. They won’t drink wine, they won’t eat a grape, they won’t even eat a raisin, and they don’t cut their hair. Samuel, before he’s born, before he’s conceived, his mother said, «I will rear him as a young man set apart for the purposes of God. I will give him to serve the Lord».
Two books in the Bible bear the name of Samuel. He’s one of the most… even more so in Judaism than Christianity. He’s a very, very significant character, a very pivotal figure in the unfolding purposes of God. The last of the judges of Israel, he anoints the first kings of Israel. And it all begins, Samuel’s story begins with a prayer of Hannah, his mother, a generational faith, Timothy’s third generation. Paul said, «Listen, I know your family». I’ll give you one more example. Hebrews 11 is the hall of fame. That’s the listing of all these remarkable people of faith and what they’ve accomplished. Many of you know that God’s identified to us in the opening chapters of the Bible as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Imagine, you know, we read that kind of casually, like, «Oh, so what’s the big deal»? Well, just imagine he was the God of Allen, and Fred, and Frank. We’d go, «Wow, God borrowed us». The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Just take a half a beat and think of the implications. It’s Hebrews 11 in verse 17, «By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice». Abraham didn’t have a son. God had promised him he would make him into a mighty nation, and he didn’t have a son. Abraham complained bitterly about it. He said, «God, you made me this promise and I pushed all the chips into the middle of the table and here I am and everything I have is gonna go to a servant in my house and then he finally,» Sarah conceives and gives birth to Isaac. And God said, «How about offering him to me»? And really inexplicably, Abraham says, «All right».
Through the cross, you and I are given access to all the blessings in Christ Jesus, and through the cross we’re delivered from every curse, but we have to receive it. We have to come to the cross with our humility and accept what God has done for us. Let’s pray:
Father, I thank you that through the blood of Jesus I have been delivered out of the hand of the enemy. And that, in Jesus’s name, all the promises of God are yes and amen to me. I receive them, amen.