The Annunciation
Christmas According to Luke December 7, 2025 Luke 1:26-38 Notes
Like Mary, many of us struggle to understand that God wants to do something significant in our lives. We look at our resumes, our past mistakes, or our current limitations, and we think, “God couldn’t possibly use me. I’m nothing special.” We tend to think God’s favor is something we have to earn, achieve, or qualify for. We need to know today that God’s activity in our lives isn’t based on our performance, but on His unmerited favor. If we miss this, we miss the heart of the Gospel.
Luke’s account shows us a different way. It shows us that God breaks into ordinary history to reveal His extraordinary, unmerited grace to ordinary people.
In the gospel according to Luke, he recorded how the angel Gabriel announced God’s gracious favor to Mary, revealing the miraculous conception of God’s Son and assuring her through God’s Word and power so that she might respond in faithful submission.
Audio
Now let's dig in. We're going to be in the book of Luke, chapter one. We've entitled this message, “The Annunciation.” And the word, “annunciation,” is just a big fancy word for “the announcement.” It means announcement.
And it's where the angel Gabriel came and announced the coming of the birth of Jesus to Mary. But you know, when I think about birth announcements, I see so many humorous ones on social media, don't you? You see these birth announcements, people announcing that they're expecting a child. Some of these look like this. Look at this first one I found on the Internet.
Here's the boss, right? This is the boss. And now they're finding out they've got another one coming. This is going to be an assistant. This is going to be the assistant to the regional manager.
You know, everybody knows when you get a three year old, he or she's the regional manager of your house. Look at the next one. What's one more? That's right. Well, you already have chaos.
You might as well just, you know, you can't make it any worse, have another one. And then this next one I thought was pretty humorous too. We just decided we were tired of sleeping in. Okay, that's a great way to make an announcement. And then this one's really funny.
This is a quote from Bob Ross, the painter, “There are no mistakes in life, just happy little accidents.” Painting a little tree there on her, that's pretty funny. And then these birth announcements for after the baby's already born. Look at this, my latest tax deduction.
This is Jason Alinger. You know, that's pretty good. And then we have this one just set free, just escaping from the womb. And then finally, here's a dad that's really proud of his son, right? You know, better lock up your daughters.
And so birth announcements can be humorous, they can be funny. And there's a reason for that. It's one of the most joyous moments in a parent's life, in a family's life. Yet for Mary, I don't think it started out as joy. I think it started out as fear and confusion.
And that's often the way we feel when we first hear God's word, when we first hear him speak into our life, we often feel fear and then sometimes we'll feel confusion. That was her first response. There was a reason for her having this response. You know, Mary was probably only around 13, 14 years old according to the time that a young woman would be betrothed in those days. And she was young.
And the news that was being brought to her could be scandalous because she was a virgin, she was not married. And so, of course, she had confusion and fear. But some of us, like Mary, we struggle, because when we look at our resumes, when we look at our past, especially when we look at some of our limitations or past mistakes, we might feel that when God speaks to us and calls us to give birth to something new in our lives through the power of His Word, we might feel inadequate, we might feel confused, we might feel afraid to say yes to God. And so, as we hear the Word today, I want us to kind of put ourselves in the place of Mary hearing this word, because God's Word is still speaking to us today. And so as we hear the Christmas story that we know so well, I pray that it speaks to you personally in a fresh new way today.
Well, let's look at the text. Here's what we believe in the book of Luke, that Luke recorded that the angel Gabriel came and brought a word to Mary announcing God's gracious favor to her, revealing the miraculous conception of God's Son, and gave her the assurance that enabled her to give humble submission to His Word. And I believe in this announcement to Mary that we too can submit humbly to God's Word and receive his unmerited favor, his grace. And as we look at the text today, I think we'll see four ways that we can see this unmerited favor from God.
So let's look at it. We're in the book of Luke, chapter one, starting at verse 26, Luke 1:26-38 (ESV) 26 “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.
28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant[e] of the Lord;
let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.” This is God's word. We're looking for four ways God has revealed his unmerited favor to us. Here's the first way.
1. By the announcement of His grace.
By the announcement of his grace. That's what this is. This is a birth announcement. It's a surprising one.
It's an extraordinary birth announcement in a very ordinary time. And to a very ordinary young woman. It begins with this greeting in verse 28.
28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” “The Lord is with you” in Hebrew would have been Immanuel. God is with you, O favored one. Favor. We saw it a couple of times. He repeats it again in verse 30,
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” That word favor in the first instance, oh, favored one. It's in a verbal form. It's surprising a little bit, because we usually see the Greek word charis. If your name is Charis, it means grace or favored one.
But here it's in the verb form
and so it's the idea that doesn't make sense in English, but you are graced, you are favored. This is how it sounds. And so it's this idea of Mary. God has decided to show you favor.
It's not something that Mary earned. It's not because Mary was wealthy or overly wise. It wasn't because she was sinless. It was because God chose her as the recipient of his favor. Because grace or favor from God is not something we can earn.
It's only something we can humbly receive. You see, I learned this acronym when I was a young man. I heard a preacher teach it that grace is God's Redemption At Christ's Expense. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. Not only can't you earn it, but you've actually earned a different wage.
You earn wages, you receive a gift. The wages that we have earned according to the Scripture, according to our sin, as for the wages of sin, has earned us death. But what we can receive through grace is eternal life. He comes to Mary and he announces God's favor. Not because of her, but because of Him.
Just like every other little girl born to a Jewish family in this particular age, I bet everyone who was born to the house of David, born into the tribe of Judah, but particularly to the house of David, probably thought, I wonder if I will be the one who gives birth to the Messiah. The one thing about this, as we know from the Old Testament, from the Hebrew Bible, that this one that was to come had to be born to the tribe of Judah and had to be born even more specifically to the house of David, to the lineage of David. Notice how it begins here.
It tells us some things - “in the sixth month.” Well, what is that about? Well, he tells us down in verse 36 that it's the sixth month of Mary's relative, Elizabeth, who had been barren. She's six months pregnant now and she's in her sixth month. So that's what that refers to “In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel…”
Now, what in the world? We know a name here. There are only a couple angels named in the Bible, Gabriel and Michael, both of them first appearing by name in the book of Daniel. We also have another angel, a fallen angel, Lucifer, whose name means son of the morning or morning star. But of angels, only Gabriel and Michael are named, and they are in the book of Daniel.
But here we see him again in the book of Luke. I don't think it's an accident. The book of Daniel was a book filled with messianic promises and often used a phrase to describe himself. The one who was to come, Son of man, heard this phrase, son of man, which is the favorite phrase that Jesus calls himself in the book of Luke. There's no accident here.
The same Gabriel who explained so many wonderful prophecies to Daniel is here to explain this word of God to Mary. His name means hero of God or strength of God. Anytime you see a Hebrew name with either the prefix or the suffix el, it's a shortened way of saying God. And then they'll attach some other name to give it fuller meaning. Here it's Strength of God or hero of God.
This is Gabriel. He is one who comes and brings a word. When he was coming to Daniel, Daniel had gotten a prophecy from the Lord that was so startling and so overwhelming that it made him sick. And he went to bed for a couple of weeks, and God sent Gabriel to explain it to him. Gabriel's the one who explains things.
And he explains some things. He doesn't just announce them, but he explains some things to Mary. So this is the one who comes. He comes to Nazareth. It's a little town.
I've been here before. It's kind of a busy city when you're downtown. But you don't have to go far to the outskirts to find yourself in the country. And it's not unusual to see a shepherd with a flock of sheep out there in Nazareth even today. And that's where she's at.
She's a small town girl, she's a country girl, and she's a virgin. She's never been with a man. Verse 27, “to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.” She's betrothed to a man whose name is Joseph. This is important information because he is from the house of David.
It's important because the Messianic promise is that the Messiah would be born to the house of David. But since Jesus will be born to Mary without a man, conceived of the Holy Spirit, he still needs a legal right to the throne. And so what we have, I believe when you look at the lineage in the book of Matthew, you have Joseph's lineage, which proves his legal right to the throne. And I believe when we read the lineage later in the book of Luke, we have Mary's lineage, which shows his physical right to the throne. I think this is important information Luke is capturing here.
He's from the house of David, which shows he has a right to the throne of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. Now, have you ever thought about this? There are four Gospels, not just one, there are four. And they each give us a unique perspective of the Messiah of Christ.
And so Matthew portrays him as the king. He's the king, and so he gives him the legal lineage to the throne of David. The imagery of a king is of a lion, and so he's called the lion of Judah. And when Judah went out from the wilderness, when they would break camp in the wilderness and they would go out under the banner of Judah, there would be a lion on the banner of Judah, right? And then Mark, which is arranged just after Matthew, sees him as a servant, Mark portrays him as a doer.
He's always doing miracles. Suddenly and immediately, therefore, it's very quick. It's like an action movie, the book of Mark. And if you look at the banner that Reuben goes out under as the tribe, it's the banner of the ox, which is the, the banner of a servant, right? And then the book of Luke shows us his humanity.
He’s very human. He's the son of man. In fact, the lineage goes all the way back to Adam in the book of Luke. It's very interesting. And so the banner that we see in the wilderness, the third banner is the face of a man on it, a human face.
And then finally, we have the book of John, which portrays Jesus as God. And so that final banner that we see in the wilderness is the banner with an eagle on it, portraying the imagery of God. We don't just see this in the Old Testament. We have four gospels that seem to portray the same thing. And then we go over to the book of Revelation, and we see these beings in heaven that they look one way and they have the face of a lion, they look the other way, they have a face of an ox, and they look the other way, and they have the face of a man, and they look the other way and they have a face of an eagle.
There's something going on here, isn't there? Here he is. Here comes Jesus. All of it's foretold. Every thread is now being tied together in a single knot.
Here he comes. She's hearing this now. How does she respond? Well, we know how she responds. It says in verse 29 that she was greatly troubled.
Wow. That's the response everybody seems to have in the Bible. When an angel shows up, the first thing an angel always has to say to us is, fear not. There's something about the presence of a holy messenger from God that brings fear. And that's how she was greatly troubled.
She's like, what sort of greeting is this? Highly favored one.
That's kind of how Gabriel would greet Daniel if you read the book of Daniel. Except he used a different language there. I think it was personal to each of them. I think Mary needed to hear that, that she was highly favored. I think what Daniel needed to hear after those terrifying images that he had seen in those prophecies, he needed to hear Gabriel say this.
You are greatly loved by God. God sure loves you, Daniel. That's Gabriel giving this word. It's a wonderful word. You know, this idea of Christ, the Messiah being born to a virgin was not news.
It should not be news to us. It was prophesied all the way back in the book of Isaiah, chapter 7. Isaiah 7:14 (ESV) "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” It was prophesied that he would be born to a virgin.
The idea of being betrothed now is of interest. Can I take a pause and talk to you about betrothal? It's not engagement. They didn't date in the first century. This is a modern invention in the idea of dating.
In the first century, especially among Jewish families, the fathers would get together and the families would get together and they would make a match and they would study each other's families and did they have the right religious background and did it fit what they wanted for their son or daughter? And they would arrange a marriage. And according to 1st century Jewish rabbinic writings, a woman, a young woman, was eligible for betrothal when she was 12 years and one day old. 12 years. And so she might know from the time she was young who her future husband was going to be because they'd already started working it out.
But on her birthday plus one day, the families would come together and there would be a formal agreement written out about a betrothal. And then they weren't married yet, though betrothal, it had the power of marriage without the consummation of marriage. And so the betrothed husband, future husband would then return to his father's home and the bride, the future bride would stay with her father and they would remain pure. And then he would go and prepare a home for her.
And usually it took about a year, and he would go, usually add on a room or two to the house, to his father's house. When I've traveled to the Middle East many times, I finally made an observation with someone there that was from the area, and I'd say, how come every house I see in Jordan or Turkey or in the Middle East, I'll see these houses and they've got flat roofs and they have these sticks of iron sticking up, you know, above all the corners. Why don't they finish it off?
And they say, well, that's because the next son will add on to the roof. They've got to get it ready to go. And I say, okay, well, I guess that's what it is. And so they just add onto the house.
I don't know if they did it in those days the same way, but he would go home and he would add on to his house. And then after he had a home ready for her. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention. The rabbinic writings during the first century suggest that a husband, a prospective husband, should be at a minimum 16 years old, but preferably 18 in one day.
And so we know Joseph was older. We don't know how much older we suspect he was because we don't hear of him again later in the Gospels. He must have passed away. So he's probably an older man, 18 plus, she's probably somewhere between 12 and 14.
And this betrothal has the power of a marriage. If they break the marriage vow, the betrothal vow, it is considered adultery, and it can only be broken by divorce. Do you understand the predicament that this puts Mary and Joseph in? This is why, when you read the book of Matthew, that Joseph, being a righteous man, was going to divorce her quietly.
Why that language? Because that's what would be necessary legally to break the betrothal. It had that kind of power. After a year, the wedding day would come, and the bridegroom with his family and the bridegroom's party would travel from his house to her house and come and take her. And they would celebrate and take her home to his house.
But until that day, she stayed in her father's house, which is a beautiful picture. Of what? Of Christ returning to us someday. And so we see this beautiful picture. Well, it's all right there, isn't it?
This betrothal. Understand the importance of it. And this announcement. No wonder she's greatly troubled. And she gets even more troubled as we continue.
But at this point, she's hearing about the favor from God. You know, it says in Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV) 8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” And so we know this, that grace is a free gift. It comes to those that are highly favored.
Can you imagine receiving an Olympic gold medal in a race you never even ran? Well, Jesus ran the race for you. Can you imagine receiving the Nobel Peace Prize when you never even accomplished anything to make that happen? Well, Jesus has one peace between God and man on our behalf. And so we receive freely.
That's grace. That's God's favor, that. Stop trying to earn God's love. Stop trying to be good enough. You'll fail.
Just receive Jesus. He's good enough. He's better than good enough. And he shows favor to us through Jesus. He still makes that announcement today.
That's the announcement of Christmas today. God is showing his favor to us because he gave us Jesus. What have you done with Jesus? I'm reminded of a song, one of the first songs I learned to play on the guitar at church. I think I played it when I was like 14 in my youth group with one of my best friends.
We both learned to sing this thing and it just came out. I still have the sheet music with Kris Kristofferson's face on the front. And it's “Why me, Lord.” Why me, Lord?
What have I ever done to deserve even one of your promises to me? It reminds me of that song. I've not done anything. But Christ has done it all by the announcement of his grace. Well, that's the first way that we can see God's unmerited favor toward us.
2. By the advent of His Son.
By the advent of his Son. We're looking at verses 31 through 33 now. 31 through 33, she's already a little bit troubled, but boy, it's going to come on now.
30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” I'm not sure she heard anything else after. You will conceive and give birth to a son. I bet her brain froze at that point,
don't you think? Like just hearing that far. But he keeps talking and you're going to bear a son.
And his name will be Jesus, which in Hebrew he would have said Yeshua, which means God's salvation. Your son's going to be called Yeshua and he will be great. Of interest there is
the word great; in Greek is megas. He will be megas. 32 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,” In other words, he's the Messiah.
This is clearly him being identified as the Messiah. Here she is. Now, picture her. If you're a teenage girl here, just picture this. 12, 13, 14 years old.
You're going to give birth to the Messiah. She knows what this is. She recognizes this language. I guarantee it. Every little Jewish girl knew what this was; you're about to bear
the one whose name is Yeshua, the son of the Most High God who received the throne of his father David. My goodness. Overwhelming information. This is coming her way. And then he says, 33 “and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom there will be no end.” He's announcing here the advent of the Son of God. The word advent just means coming. It comes from a Greek word, Adventus, which means coming.
So he's announcing the coming. That's the long awaited coming that first was mentioned in the book of Genesis, chapter three, when it says that the seed of the woman, that the serpent, he will bruise your heel, but you'll crush his head from then on. All through the Scriptures, it's announced that this one is coming. And here he comes. Here he comes.
This is the advent of the son. This is according to the promise that God gave David. We see it in 2 Samuel 7:12-13 (NKJV) 12 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” He's talking about an eternal kingdom, a heavenly kingdom. He's talking about the kingdom of God that will be established by King Jesus. And so we see the coming of his Son. He has come, and he is coming again.
Here's a question to ask today. First of all, have you received the grace of God? Have you received the free, unmerited favor of God? Have you heard the announcement and said, yes, I received that. And having received it, have you decided to make Jesus king?
Do you recognize his authority over your life? And so he's saying to Mary here, you're going to give birth to the King of Glory, to the Most High, to the Great One, the Holy One. He goes on, he's not finished. He keeps describing this one who's to come.
He's going to be the Great One. And so she has an opportunity here. How will she respond to this? Which brings us to the third way that we can respond to God's unmerited favor:
3. By the assurance of His power.
By the assurance of his power. Now, Mary has a very practical question at this point. I think perhaps most of us would have such a question, a very practical question. I don't think it shows doubt. Do you think it shows doubt?
I don't think it's doubt. I think it's, now, how's this going to work? Now, remember, she's a country girl. Nazareth is far away from the city lights of Jerusalem, the capital. That's a country girl.
She knows where babies come from, okay? She knows that. They have animals over there. She knows.
She knows. And so she's young, but she's not naive. And I don't think this is doubt. I think this is, how's this going to work? 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be,
since I am a virgin?” She wants to know how it's going to work. Because I'm betrothed to Joseph, how's this going to be? This question has all kinds of implied things behind it, too. How's this going to work out?
What kind of a stigma is going to come with this? You have to just picture her day and time. How's this going to work? Well, this is Gabriel.
This is the same Gabriel that God sent to explain very complicated prophecies to Daniel about coming kingdoms and images. He explains how this will happen. That's still mysterious, but let's listen. ” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” The father of this child is God himself. The Holy Spirit's going to come on you, and the Most High God is going to overshadow you. Very particular language, overshadow. It literally means to envelop in a haze or a cloud of brilliance.
Now, did this happen in a visual way? It doesn't say. When we get to the next passage, Mary's traveling to see Elizabeth, her relative. We don't know if she experienced this, but this imagery is certainly Old Testament imagery, this idea of the presence of God enveloping, overshadowing with a cloud. All we have to do is to look into the wilderness stories in the book of Exodus and see how a cloud representing the presence of God overshadows the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, and how it lifts and turns into a pillar of fire and leads them.
And then when it's time to camp, it stops. And then it rests again as a cloud. How when Solomon first builds his temple and they are having the grand opening of the temple and they offer the first sacrifice, that a cloud of God's presence fills the temple and the priests have to come running out because of the glory of God being present. That's the word here. He will overshadow you and you will bear a son, and he will be holy.
The word holy means not of this world, set apart for special purpose. Pure, sinless; holy.
That's his explanation. And behold, because he can see her face, he can see your eyes, and he knows she's going to need a little extra encouragement.
36 “And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren” Every family reunion she went to, she was sitting over in a corner holding somebody else's baby with a little bit of a tear in her eye, wondering why not me, Lord, why have you never helped me? But now God has offered a double miracle, one that precedes. He opens up a barren woman's womb and then he opens up a virgin’s womb.
A double miracle so that John the Baptist is born to Elizabeth. The precursor, the forerunner to Jesus that would announce his coming. Like someone who would say, here he comes, here comes the king as the announcer. And now you're the one who will bring the son.
I think she needed that. I think she needed to know there's another woman who's bearing a child that happens to be a relative. I'm going to go see her first thing in the morning.
Guys, men. Have you ever seen women get together and talk about being pregnant? I usually leave the room about that time. They start talking about things that I have no conception of other than I've witnessed it three times.
It's an amazing thing. But I can't participate. But here goes, Mary. We'll cover that next week. She's going to head to see Elizabeth. I'm glad Gabriel gave her that.
That really helped her. And then he says this to her, though this is the key thing. He says, 37 “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Nothing will be impossible with God. Mary, the fact that you've never been with a man doesn't stop him. He made the first man. He made the first woman. He's sending God's son.
You will bear God's son.
This is why the prophet Jeremiah says this in Jeremiah 32:17 (NKJV) “Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.” What are you saying today is impossible? Have you been praying prayers that haven't been answered?
And now you say it must be impossible. You've stopped praying impossible prayers. Is it some financial situation? Is it a broken relationship? Is it a prodigal child?
Is it a medical diagnosis, a financial mountain?
Nothing is impossible with God. Or we can say it, all things are possible with God. Where have you stopped praying, stopped believing? At that very place, would you hear the angel, the word of God, spoken to Mary, spoken to you?
Nothing is impossible with God. Don't quit. Don't give up. Keep believing. And then finally we have the fourth way that we can see God's unmerited favor:
4. By the affirmation of His Word.
We're on the final verse, verse 38. We see the climax of the passage. How will Mary respond? How will she respond?
And so she responds like this. She says this, 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant[e] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. What in the world? Who is this young woman?
You see, I don't think they had teenagers in those days. Teenagers. That's a modern invention, by the way. They used to be children and adults, and that was it. You were a child, and then you were an adult.
We have this thing called the teenage years. I think they last till 30 now, someone told me that; all the way to 30. But in those days, you helped around the house. Your parents had 12 kids, and you helped. And if you were one of the oldest ones, you helped raise them.
And then you were ready to get out of that house. No one had to tell you, get out of that house. I need to get out of this house. And that's how it used to be.
She says, “Behold,” You know, she talks like a grown woman to me. She talks like a woman who's ready. She'd been afraid. She'd been confused.
She's heard the word of the Lord. Now she goes, you know what? Amen and amen. You know what amen means? It doesn't just mean I agree with it.
It doesn't just mean, oh, that's true. It means, may it be so in me. It's so true that I want it in me. So don't say amen lightly. If you say amen, you're saying, I agree with that.
“May it be so in me according to your word.” I want all of that. I don't want half of that. I don't want part of that.
I want all that that you said over me, Lord. I want all of it. Amen. That's what she said when she heard Gabriel finish up there.
She says, “I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” In the King James, it says, “I am the Lord's handmaiden, may it be unto me according to thy word.”
Oh, I want to be like that. You know, sometimes we're afraid to make too much of Mary. You know, we're Protestants, but let's not be afraid to make much of her faith response. Look, she wasn't sinless. She wasn't perfect.
Neither am I. Neither are you. God showed her favor nonetheless. Right? But we can learn from her response.
She had a choice right here. She could say, you know what will happen to me? They stone people for committing adultery. If I break my betrothal, if I show up pregnant, do you know what's going to happen to me,God?” She could have said all that.
She doesn't say a word of that. “May it be unto me. ” Where's that kind of faith come from? Where have you said no to God? Where have you said to God?
I'm afraid I don't think I can do that. I don't think I have the right gifting to do that. I'm afraid you don't know my background. You don't know how many mistakes I've made. Where have you said no to God?
Because that's where your Christian life is stuck right now. That's why you haven't moved forward any farther. That's why you're still right there. Until you say God, may it be unto me as you have said according to your word, I am your servant.
Now, when I pray to God, I sometimes am guilty of trying to help God.
I tell God. That's the problem right there, by the way, God. Now if you work it out this way, I think that'd be a good result. And I pray good prayers now, y'all. I don't pray selfish prayers.
I pray good prayers. Now, God, if you make this happen and this happen, then I'll come through over here and this will all work out. But that kind of prayer is scary.
God, you be God, you do in me whatever you want to do.
If you want to break me, break me. If you want to lift me up, lift me up. If you want to press me down, press me down. If you want me to go over there, I'll go over there. If you want me to sell all I have and do this if you want to, Lord, I'm your servant.
You do what you want to do in me, I will do it. Now that's a harder prayer, and that's the one she says, “may it be unto me, just as you have said.” You know, for many of us, the reason we haven't seen the miracles, the reason we haven't received the glory of God in our lives, the reason we don't have the experience of ongoing faith, is because we've not said yes to all that God wants for us. We're still going, but that's impossible and I don't know how, rather than just saying, I don't know how you're going to do it, Lord, but you're God and I'm not.
May it be unto me, as you have said, according to your word, I want all that you have.
And so in the book of Luke, chapter 11, Jesus heals a mute. He sets him free from the demonic and he gives him his voice. And a woman in the crowd raised her voice, it says, and said to him, Luke 11:27-28 (ESV) 27 “As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!”
She was fired up about somebody getting to be your mama.
28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Yeah, she was blessed. Mary was blessed. But she's no more blessed than you are. She came to him.
Christ came to him. But he has come to you. He has come to us. And that's what Christmas is about. “Unto us a son is given.
Unto us a child is born.” He's ours. What do you do with Jesus? I think that's the only question God's going to ask us someday. He's not going to ask you if you were good enough, because you weren't.
He's going to ask you, what did you do with my son? What did you do with Jesus? I pray that you say, may it be unto me, just as you have said, let's pray. Lord, thank you for Jesus.
Thank you for giving us Jesus. Thank you for your grace and your forgiveness. Your mercy, unmerited favor. I pray for the one that's here today. You've never given your life to Jesus.
Would you do it? Right now, right in your seat? Would you do it? Would you speak to him? Just like this.
You can pray just like this. Dear Lord Jesus, I'm a sinner. I believe you died on the cross for my sins. That you were raised from the grave and that you live today. Come and live in me.
Adopt me into your family. I recognize you as my Lord and Savior. I give you my life. I desire to serve you with my life. My yes is on the table.
Come and save me. Make me a child of God. I want to follow you. If you're praying that prayer of faith believing he'll answer your prayer. Others are here today.
And you're a believer. You're a follower of Jesus. But you've been trying to make deals with God. You've been saying no to him in certain areas. You've been holding back.
Would you put your yes on the table today? Would you say, here I am. I'm your servant. May it be unto me, just as you have said in your word. I want all that you want from me, Lord.
My yes is yes, yes and Amen. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Audio
Morning, church. It's good to see all of you this morning. I'm very thankful you're here. We're starting a new series this week as we go through the month of December together and go through this Christmas holiday together. We've called this series Christmas According to Luke.
So we're going to spend the next four weeks in the first few chapters of the Book of Luke. Hopefully the screen doesn't blow your mind as there's just going to be tons of words up there. The backdrop is the second chapter of Luke there, I believe. So we're going to be in Luke for a few weeks and this wonderful, powerful story of the incarnation of God, of the God of the universe, that he came and became one of us so that we might be free and might have new life. But let me start by sharing just a couple of things with you, a couple of important things.
First of all, in a few weeks on December 21, we are going to attempt to have a large Sunday up here to really have a gospel presentation to you, your friends, to your family, to your co workers. It's the first time we're going to do two services up here at the Rocky Mount campus. And so we're expecting God to do great things. We're asking him to seek and save the lost in our lives, in our communities and so take this opportunity. I can promise you this, it's not going to be one of those weird or spooky Sundays.
I know some of you have told me in the past, why is it every time I invite a friend you do something strange? I don't mean to do that, but I guess it happens sometimes. Here's what I can guarantee that Sunday is going to have Christmas all over it. The story of Jesus all over it. Everything we sing, everything we preach will point to the Savior and so you can trust us with your friends and loved ones that day.
So invite. On a second note, though, attenders and members, I'm popping up a QR code for you right now. I give you permission right now to get your phones out if you haven't signed up yet to start serving. We need you that Sunday. We're asking all of our people to serve one and attend one.
We're doing two services that day. You're not going to miss anything. In fact, you're going to gain something by getting a chance to serve others and help us. We need you in order to help others hear and clearly hear the gospel that day. And kids we're expecting, who knows, we've got 40 kids, some weeks back there, we might have 60 that Sunday.
We're going to need help. And so go ahead and sign up to serve one and attend one. And then lastly, last announcement before I dig into Luke is on the 21st. We're going to come collect our Christmas missions offering. We have missionaries in several places around the world right now who are in deep need.
Some of them need transportation, some of them need help and housing. It's been a tough year on some of our missionaries. And so we're raising some funds at the end of the year to help them. And so be prepared, plan to give back to the Lord. It is, after all, Jesus birthday.
So let's give him a gift this season because I know what he wants. He wants the nations to hear. And so bring your friends. Let's celebrate the birth of Christ together in a few weeks. Now we're digging into the book of Luke today in the very first chapter in a message that we've called the Annunciation.
That's a word I know we don't use a whole lot, but it's kind of a formal word for a big announcement. A big announcement occurs in Luke chapter one. The biggest, I would argue the biggest announcement that has ever happened in human history and will ever happen until Christ comes again. This announcement is this wild moment where the Angel Gabriel shows up to this teenage girl and says, you're about to have the Savior of the world. Do I have any teenage girls in the room this morning?
Imagine that. Imagine an angel appearing to you and saying, hey, you're about to give birth to the Savior of the world. And you know good and well that's impossible. There's no way that's happening to me. And that's what's happening in our story today.
Birth announcements can be a whole lot of fun, right? I've seen some good ones lately. Some of you have done some pretty incredible things. Like it used to be just like people would pop balloons and like, one would be blue and one would be pink and cool stuff like that. I think, Brother Marcus, I think you threw a baseball or something and made something explode and found out you were having a boy, which was a very manly way to find out you were having a boy.
And just been some really great ones like that. I love that. And people have. It should be fun, right? These gender reveals.
It's such a pleasure to finally say, or send it in the mail, hey, we're having a baby. And some of you know, just. It was even more dramatic for some of you. It took longer. Maybe there were Problems and being able to announce that was huge for you and that's normally the case.
Yet for Mary, this was a scandal. You understand what I'm saying to you? This is an issue. When the angel comes and tells her this. It took her a while for her to feel joy about this because this announcement comes as a shock.
It didn't come in the mail, it didn't come through social media or some new normal avenue of information. It comes through a spooky angel and she's like 13 newly betrothed, just been promised to Joseph in marriage and marriage, and she's never been with a man. This makes no sense. This is very serious. Like Mary, though, many of us, we struggle to understand what God wants in our lives, right?
This is a surprise to her, certainly a confusing time for her. A lot of us are in a very same boat. We don't understand what God wants and how that is a significant part of our lives. We look at our resumes as Mary kind of does, as you'll see. You know, who am I?
What, what have I done to deserve this? You know, that's what she's thinking. We think the same thing. We're just like her. What about my resume?
What about my past mistakes? What about my mess, my limitations, my weaknesses? How in the world could some of you are saying this today? How in the world could God possibly use me? Okay, Jonathan, you want me to bring my friends and my family and my co workers to come hear the gospel, but you think they're going to listen to me?
Yeah, I think they're definitely going to listen to you. Probably more likely than them listening to me because I'm not normal. They think I'm something. He is the church or something, which I'm just, you know, I hate to break it to people, I'm just another broken man like the rest of us. How in the world my limitations, my mistakes, how could God use me?
I'm nothing special. That's how Mary feels. That's how we feel. But I have great news today. The great news of Luke chapter one is this.
The angel Gabriel shows up and says to Mary, he says, oh, favored one. Why does he say it? Is it because she's incredible? She's done great things. She's 13.
What has she done up to this point? Perhaps she's been obedient to her parents. Perhaps she's been following in the ways of the law. Perhaps we don't know. Bible doesn't tell us.
We just know. Gabriel shows up and says, O favored one. And I would argue, and I think many would argue, the reason for that is God shows favor to his people, regardless of them. This is what it means to have grace. The word favor here is the same word we have for grace, unmerited favor.
So God shows up through an angel here and shows her favor and shows you and I favor in the same way. We didn't have to qualify for it. We didn't have to earn it. In fact, we could not. This is the news of the announcement of the birth of Jesus.
It comes with saying, dear friends, all of you in the room, God loves you and has provided a gift for you. Not because of your goodness, but because of His. Not because of your performance, but because of his grace. Amen to that, right? Hallelujah.
I'm thankful for that because guess what? I'm just like you. I'm a mess. I didn't deserve this. And yet he gave.
This is grace. Oh, favored one, I pray you'll hear this today. Hear it in yours. Hear it spoken to you. O Jonathan, O Nate, oh Marcus, O favored one, hear that.
Hear the voice of Jesus today. God breaks through ordinary history today, as we'll see in the Gospel according to Luke, he recorded. Luke here records that the angel Gabriel announced God's word gracious favor first to Mary and then to us, revealing this miraculous conception of God's Son. In this announcement, we can see God in the way he reveals himself and the way he reveals his unmerited favor. I pray today that you'll be able to hear this announcement and how it reveals four ways that God has revealed his merit, his unmerited favor to you and I.
So let's dig in a handful of verses today. Luke, chapter one, verses 26 through 38. It says this. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, greetings, O favored one.
The Lord is with you. But she was, listen to this, greatly troubled. So you and I would be greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his Father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob, for and of his kingdom there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I am a virgin? And the angel answered her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth, in her old age, has also conceived a son. And this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren for nothing. Listen to this church. Nothing will be impossible with God.
And Mary said, behold, I love this church. I want to be like Mary, and so should you. Mary says, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her.
This is the word of God. Amen. I pray this encourages you today and challenges you where you need it. God has revealed unmerited favor to us. The first way in which he's revealed it is by the announcement of his grace.
He's been announcing this kind of grace since Genesis. He's always been about it. In one passage of Scripture, in fact, it says Christ was, or God was planning to show us grace before the foundation of the world. He was planning to sacrifice to show his love for us sacrificially, long before he ever created. That's baffling.
That's who God is to us. He has shown us grace. Now he has shown it in a more clear and specific way in the person of Jesus. Notice how Gabriel greets. He says, greetings, O favored one.
I want you to hear that today for yourself. Greetings, O favored one. This word is, in fact, it's from the same word, Charis. Some of you might have a friend named Charis. That name means grace.
This word then means to show grace to. To give unmerited favor towards unmerited favor. Mary hadn't necessarily done anything up to this point. God just loves and shows up for her and shows up to her. And then it starts by saying, oh, favored one.
And we get. This whole thing is tied around the beginning, which Sundays in the sixth month. And you might be thinking, well, I don't know, is that June? What are we talking about here? We talking about June?
First of all, the Jewish calendar is different than ours, so you'd be a little off anyway. But that's not what this is speaking of here. It's actually speaking of the hint it gives us later. If you look down in verse 36, you'll also see Elizabeth has conceived a son and is in her sixth month. This is about that.
In the sixth month of the womb of Elizabeth, if you will. Now an angel appears to Mary. We know this because the story right before the story of Jesus foretelling is the story of John the Baptist and his immaculate conception in a different kind of way, for she had been barren. So this is the announcement. He's saying, hey, look, in the sixth month, this is all coming around.
And one of the evidences that God is going to do something miraculous for you is that God has already done miraculous things. When you go and visit your friend, your cousin or relative, we don't know exactly. We think probably a cousin, certainly a relative is what it's put here. When you go and visit her, you're going to find out she's with child. And you know, you've been hearing it for years.
When the family gets together, everybody goes, oh, poor Elizabeth, so sweet. Husband's a priest, but they just can't get pregnant. They just can't make a child. You've been hearing it for years, but guess what? You're going to show up over there and find out she's with child.
Why? Because nothing is impossible with God. So this is the evidence that is given so you can believe. Hey, what's about to occur to you is going to happen. Gabriel here shows up.
Gabriel only appears a few times in the Bible, and every time it's with some big news. He shows up in Daniel chapter eight and nine to tell Daniel some phenomenal imagery about what is to come. He shows up. Then again, we don't see him again until Luke, although there may be other places where it is Gabriel, and his name's not mentioned. But he shows up to Zechariah and says, hey, you're about to have child.
And he's going to bring about the news of the Savior. And then he shows up, Gabriel again to Mary. In Luke, chapter one, we believe perhaps he shows up also in the dream of Joseph and Matthew. But nevertheless, he shows up with big news every time. Now he's showing up with the biggest news of all.
And he's following Scripture because it says he shows up to this little girl who. Who's still a virgin. That's purposeful. It's not accidental. It's not just a weird piece of scripture.
It's a foretelling of something that has been coming for hundreds of years. In Isaiah, chapter seven, it says, therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Here's what the sign is. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And you shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us.
Okay. I don't know how much the people were expecting such a sign. I wonder if they thought maybe it's symbolic, you know, how can a virgin bear a son? This makes no sense. Maybe it's symbolic of something.
No, it was literal. It was literal and she's confused. I'd be confused too, right? Wouldn't you? Why me?
First of all, why me? I'm young. None of this makes sense. I'm spooked. I mean, there's.
I feel all these feelings. I've just been betrothed in marriage. That's a word we don't use a whole lot today because we don't really treat marriage in the same kind of way. A betrothal was more than an engagement. It was a legally binding covenant between two people.
Joseph and Mary had been given to one another. Legally. This was a binding contract. And so for her to say, yes, let it be unto me also meant her saying, this is a scandal. I'm about to have a baby and I don't understand all of this.
And what's Joseph going to think? This is a mess.
In the first century, Jewish tradition was, you know, betrothal was the first stage of marriage. And after this, Joseph, the groom here, he's going to spend some time preparing a home for his bride. Part of his task was getting ready for the wedding, getting ready to take care of this girl. The common thing in the day was the betrothal for a girl was somewhere around 13, 14. For the man somewhere around 18, because he would have had to at least be of age to really care for.
And so this is the case here. Now, you might think, ew, that's kind of gross. You might be thinking, that's strange. That's because we have created something in modern culture called adolescence, we which did not exist 100 years ago. I'm not sure.
I'll say it a different way. I'm confident it's not a good thing. We're teaching our children to be children until they're 30. This isn't great. Do we need to go back to this tradition?
No, I'm not saying that at all. But I just want you to know, a 13 year old girl in the first century would have looked a little bit more like a 20 year old girl in modern days in the way that she behaved. She would know how to cook, clean, take care of things. She had siblings. She's been taken care of.
She was one of the key workers in her family's house would have been far more mature than most of our little 13 year olds. And that's no offense to you parents, we're all struggling with that together. But I just want you to acknowledge something. This was a different situation. It says of Joseph, in fact, that he was of the house of David.
What's interesting about these two individuals is both of them are from the house of David. This is very important. The line of Jesus is both spiritually, legally of the line of David, which means he's the King of Judah, and it's physically of the line of David. This Jesus is the Messiah, prophesied in every way.
It says of Mary, she was greatly troubled, but then she reacts appropriately later. You know, God's grace and his faith, they show up to us. Perhaps at first very troubling. I imagine for some of you today it feels that way. You know, what am I supposed to do with this news that God himself loves me?
Maybe you've not seen a lot of evidence of that in your life, but it is true, oh favored one. He sent his son to die on a cross for your sake. Not just mine, not just the thousands before us. For you. It says that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish.
Who does he love? The whole world. He loves you, O favored one. But the next step is, what do I do with this? It shows up and troubles us.
Ephesians, chapter 2. It says, for by grace you've been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is a gift of God. Not as a result of works, but so that no one may boast.
You won't hear me or anyone else get up on this stage and say, look how great we are that we get to walk in Christ. No, look how great he is that I get to walk in him. This is amazing. I didn't deserve it. He did everything.
The apostle Paul here reminds us that God operates with all of us. Just as Mary was the recipient of this favor, all of us are recipients of salvation that we did not deserve. So step one, my friend, step one is this. Sure, you can be troubled, sure you can be confused, but listen to the words of scripture today. God loves you, O favored one, has sent his son for you, has died on account of your sin.
And it is paid for by faith. Believe and receive.
It would be a real shame to hear this wonderful announcement, the biggest announcement of all time, and just say, eh, whatever. I mean, you can do that all day when your neighbors and when your family members, when your friends send you things in the mail that say, oh, hey, we're getting married soon, that announcement, or, oh, we're about to have a baby, and you go, oh, that's nice. Meh. This isn't like that, friend. This announcement is eternal, has an eternal value, and is life changing.
There's nothing like this. I pray you won't dismiss it. Imagine winning some kind of prestigious award. Like suddenly you get the Nobel Peace Prize or you get an Olympic gold medal sent in the mail to you. All of us would be going, what in the world?
Jonathan Combs, you know, fastest in the 400 meter in Paris or wherever it was, Paris. I think I'd get that in the mail and go, there's been a mistake. You know, I think something's happened here. All of us will be so confused by that. This is the kind of news that's happening to you and me today.
Do you understand what I'm saying to you? This is the news that first came to Mary and now comes to you. You have won the lottery. You've won. And what did you do?
Nothing.
Step one is looking at it and going, wow, why me? But looking past that and going, it's not about me.
He's a good God now. Does this mean I continue living in the way I live? No, no, no, no. That's not at all. There's more to the story than that.
But it starts here, friend. It starts with this. By faith. Thank you, God. I receive it now.
I want to be obedient under it because that will change my life. The simple answer is this Grace. Stop trying to earn it. Stop trying to earn his love. Stop trying to earn the love from others and trying to be something.
Make something of yourselves outside of the will of God. No. Come to Christ today. Here's the second way. The second way in which God reveals his unmerited favor by the advent of his Son.
Another cool word here. Advent. This is the season of Advent. God reveals his favor to us by telling us, guess what? I'm sending you a boy.
I'm sending you a person. I'm thankful for this church. This isn't some abstract idea. The message of faith in Christ Jesus is a. Is a person.
It's not some kind of, hey, come to a place of nirvana. It's not some kind of strange way of getting. No, it's come to a man named Jesus. Look upon the cross and say, I need that too. It is tangible.
It is physical. He interacted with the very world he created. He didn't do something way foreign. He said, I'm coming. This is what the incarnation is all about, the advent of his Son.
He said, I'm sending a boy and his name will be Jesus. This name itself means Yahweh saves, Jehovah, saves. In fact, it's the same name as our dear friend Joshua, who we've hired recently. Great name. Too powerful for any man.
So good luck with that name. Joshua literally is the same name in Hebrew as Yeshua, which means Jesus or God saves, Jehovah, saves great name. This isn't just any baby announcement. This is a prophetic voice that is telling us now. Guess what?
The Savior, who you've always needed, he's showing up to rescue you. And the king you've always needed is coming to righteously rule. Hallelujah. Receive that today. His name is Jesus.
His name will be great. He gives us all these symbolic words here. He says, the Son of the Most High. This, this goes back to tons of scripture. The throne of his father, David.
We already talked about this, both legally and biologically. He inherits the throne of David. He is in the line of Judah. He has the right to a throne. But there's something different about his throne.
You know, God promises David, hey, someone's going to sit on the throne of David forever. But this one, this one, this kingdom will never have an end. Look at that. In verse 33, telos is the word there in the Greek. It means eternal, a thing that will never finish.
Now, I find that when I stare over in that place, I get a little bit of a brain hurt. I'm just going to go ahead and say that a little bit of, you know, that hurts me a little bit to go, how long is eternity exactly? Well, good luck with that question. That place makes me go, ugh, I'm getting confused. I don't know what God's going to be up to for all of eternity, but I know this.
On this side of heaven, we can believe and hope and a kingdom that will never end. And what he's going to have us doing, I'm only excited about. I think. No eye has seen, no ear is heard. We can't possibly imagine it.
It's beyond good, though. This was according to the promise that God had first to David. This is a long answered promise. It says in 2 Samuel, chapter 7, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your own 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. This is the news that is now being answered. So there's really two questions now that we're trying to answer. We've got four questions in a way to answer. We've answered the first one, which is, what do I do with this announcement?
I receive it. The grace of Christ. Yes, I want it. The second one is this. Hey, the son who saves the world, the King, the most High, the one who's taking the throne of his father.
Have you made the decision that Jesus is king? Oh, I'm good with him being savior. This is a wonderful thing for us as believers, as the church, to come in here and interact with because it's really easy for most people to say, hey, I know I need a rescue. You, I'm happy to have this Jesus who can save me from my sins, but do I want this same Jesus to be king? There's plenty of you in the room right now, myself included, at times, who are saying, hey, thank you for who you are to me, setting me free.
But how often do I say thank you for righteously ruling in my life and pointing at things sometimes and saying, hey, Jonathan, that right there, you got to cut that out. That is not who we are. The way you're speaking to your friends, to your loved ones, the way you speak, not okay. Oh, you know, a little curse word here or there. No, no, I'm not about that.
This is what Christ is doing in my life. Hey, the way you just thought. I know. No one else knows what you just thought, but I saw it. Can we talk about that?
Hey, is Jesus king of your life? Have you made the determination? I'm not my own ruler. This throne, if it were a throne at all, I'm not sitting on it. Jesus is king.
Gabriel said, there's a kingdom coming that will never end. It will never fade, and you are not its king.
I think if I took a tally today and asked everybody, who wants to go to heaven, I imagine, and if you were willing to raise your hand, you'd probably say, sign me up for the up. I don't want to go down. Most of you are good with that. What if I follow that question up by saying, yeah, but in that place, you aren't king. You good with eternity with someone that is the true king that isn't you, isn't even someone you interact with, you know, physically every day.
It's not your spouse, it's not your parents. It's not the person you love most in this life. No. None of Us are king. I just want you to get this perspective in mind.
Hey, yeah, Sign me up for heaven. Yeah, but heaven's a place where Christ is king. You sure? I am.
Here's the third way in which God has showed us his unmerited favor by assurance of his power. This is a very mysterious piece of scripture. Here we see in a few verses it says the 34 through 37. Mary asks a very good question. I don't blame her at all for this question.
She says, how in the world is this possible? For I'm a virgin, alright? Don't get me wrong. I'm young Gabriel, but I don't think I've done the right stuff. Right, I shouldn't be pregnant.
How is this going to happen? And the Holy Spirit gives some very powerful words here which might be strange to you, but I promise you this, they are loaded with meaning. It says, in fact, that the Spirit of God will overshadow you. This is a great piece of scripture, one that reflects back to so many symbolic moments in the Old Testament. And then he goes on to say, hey, when you go see Elizabeth.
And he doesn't right out say it, but I get the impression he's saying, hey, you need to go pay her a visit, because guess what, she's having a baby. And that's literally what Mary does next. Goes and visits. And you're going to find out she's no longer barren, she's having a son. And I do all things.
Nothing's impossible with me. The prophet Jeremiah echoes this truth of God's power. In Jeremiah chapter 32, he says, Ah, Lord God, behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you. Nothing's impossible.
Mary says, hey, I don't get this. How's this going to happen? This makes no sense to me. The Spirit of God is going to overshadow you. This word overshadow appears many times in the Old Testament like a cloud.
You see the cloud of God's glory resting over the tabernacle. It's a very similar word in a Hebraic way. This cloud overshadows the tabernacle. There's this other place, and I think this may be the most accurate one that Luke is pointing to. It says that the ark was overshadowed by a cloud of glory.
You can see this in Exodus chapter 25. This caused a lot of early Christians to say something compelling. This was a learning for me this week. Honestly, I'd not heard this before, but man, what a valuable lesson Luke's trying to teach. The early Christians saw Mary as a kind of ark.
The word overshadowed here, the shadowed by a cloud of glory is meant to point us to the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant carried the written word of God. Mary carried the incarnate word of God. This is how Christianity has seen it. What a beautiful image.
Now, did Mary experience this? Was their emotion? Was their feeling involved? We don't know. You know what I've noticed here about the writer, Luke?
He didn't mention it, which meant you and I, we're curious. We'd love to know. Did she experience something and then go, oh, I think. I don't know. We'll have to ask her.
Those of us who go into glory where Christ is king, perhaps we'll get a moment at some point to say, mary. What was that like? Because I can't picture it. Luke doesn't go there. Instead, what we see is this beautiful imagery of the cloud of glory, first over the ark and now over the person Mary.
Today, God wants us to abide in the spirit of Christ. This is the third thing going on. Will you receive the announcement? Will you hear it and say, yes unto me? Let it be.
Christ is king. Absolutely. I will be obedient. You are ruler in my life. Yes.
And now I'm going to abide in the Holy Spirit. Yeah. All of this isn't going to make a lot of sense. Every day there's going to be times, guess what? God doesn't immediately.
When you come to Christ, he doesn't immediately pluck you up out of the world of sin. He doesn't do it. It's not how it works at all. In fact, sometimes things get harder. I don't know if anybody else has observed this.
The more you commit yourself to Christ, sometimes the odds get tougher. I don't know exactly why he does this or allows this, but it's the case. So he doesn't immediately pluck you out of your problems. Instead, he empowers you to face them. You might have this whole thing twisted anyway, where you're thinking, hey, when I come to Christ, things are going to get easy.
That's never been promised. No, things are going to get meaningful. Don't be surprised by this at all, friends. He set you apart, O favored one, for a purpose. Where you are in your work, where you are in your family, where you are in your life right now.
He's not plucking you out of there. He's empowering you to be a lighthouse right there. He desires you, where you are. It's purposeful. He wants you to bear witness.
This is what Mary's life becomes. A light of the Gospel, an ark of the incarnate Word. And here's the fourth and final way that God reveals his unmerited favor by affirmation of His Word.
Now, I could spend the rest of the day talking about God affirming His Word over and over again, but this is the nature of the announcement to Marius. The prophecies you've heard as a little girl up till now. I'm answering most of them. There's some stuff still left out there for Christ's return and the end of days and all of that. But so much of the prophecy of the Messiah is occurring now, Mary.
And for us, it's happened. He's affirmed His Word. And then guess what Mary does. She affirms His Word. Friends, I've got great news for you today.
It's not all that complex. Walking in Christ Jesus. Yeah. I'm not saying it's easy. I'm not even saying that there won't be times where you're confused like Mary, or even troubled like Mary.
That's life.
But it is simple in this way that the words Mary says here are the simple words required of us. I'm a servant of the Lord. Let it be unto me.
Let it be unto me. Oh, Jonathan, I want you to go to Rocky Mountain. I want you to plant a church. It was almost that clear. It was close.
I said, pass. I'm good. I did, actually. I took another church for a season. I wasn't here at Rocky Mount at the time.
I was hearing, hey, Jonathan, be a. Be a church planner. I had been hearing that. And I said, yeah, no, I think I need more time, God, I'm going to go be an associate pastor somewhere else. Which became an absolute catastrophe in my life.
I think God allowed all that. I do, genuinely.
And I fought it and I fought it. And some of you have done this. You've been fighting the will of God. Maybe it hasn't been as plain as that, but there have been times where God said, hey, I want you to go speak. Hey, when you go home for the holidays, I want you to talk to your dad about this.
Hey, when you get back home this week, I want you to look at your mom and say, I forgive you.
I like this sermon. Until now. It's getting weird now. I don't want to. I want you to call your kids today and say, hey, I know we've been through a lot.
I just Want to know? I want you to know I love you. And I don't want there to be this between us. God says stuff like that to us all the time. Hey, that thing you've been doing, you did it last night.
You're trying to squeak into church today and pretend nothing happened. But something happened. Hey, me and you need to deal with that. This has got to die. That's how he interacts with my sin friends.
He doesn't say, hey, you need to probably kind of chill out. He says, you need to kill that. That part of you not. Okay, kill it.
Can we do it next week? God, I need my comfort. I don't want to forgive, not today. I need to hold on to this bitterness. It's all I have now, Mary, I want you to hear this.
Friends. Mary gets it right, and a lot of times little 13 year olds get it right because they're so. Sometimes so genuine. She says, I love what the King James says about this. Just hear this.
The King James version says of this line, behold, I'm the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word, the handmaid of the Lord. That's what we are. The word here is doulos. It means slave.
God, I am yours. I am your servant. I am your slave. You do according to your purpose. You made me for a reason.
Here's the great news, friends. He made you for a purpose in this life, and he loves you and it sets you apart for that. The response has to come from us. After witnessing Jesus heal a mute and setting him free from a demoniac, a woman then cries out, look at this story in Luke, chapter 11. It says, as he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed.
But he said, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it. You know, there's a habit for us to look and praise others. No. He says, hey, no. Hear the word of God and keep it.
Jesus again and again redirects. Attention. I want you to hear something very plain today. This isn't something that we deal with a whole lot inside of the church, but Mary is an amazing person in scripture. She absolutely is.
I think it's fine that we sing songs like Mary did, you know, and things about the magnificant, which is this wonderful poetry here in the book of Luke. But here's something also that Christians should be very aware of. We worship the incarnate word of God, who is Jesus, not the Ark, okay? The Ark of the Covenant. The people of God didn't worship the Ark of the Covenant.
They worshiped what was in it. They worshiped the Holy Spirit residing upon it. We are the same. We do not worship the One who brought the Son. Although she is amazing, she is a wonderful person.
Much like the disciples and the apostles. These are people that we should say, wow, God did wonders. But who do we worship? God. Christ Jesus His Son.
Let me end by helping you ponder this with me. Here's what Mary does that I pray you'll do today. And don't play around with this anymore. Here's what she does. She writes God a blank check.
Here's what you and I would really like to do. We'd like to get our life's checkbook out and say, God, I want to have a really pretty wife and really smart kids who are obedient and a job that pays well and a boss that isn't a jerk.
You know what? I'd like some days off too. You know, I would like that kind of job, you know? And God, you go ahead and if you will, you go ahead and sign that. That's how we'd like to write the check, right?
And we've been writing this check for a long time. It's not how Mary writes it.
She hands over a check that has nothing in the memo line and she just signs it. Write what you want. God. This is why I would say she's highly favored. And you and I are highly favored.
We don't say, hey, my life is not my own. It is yours. In fact, the writers of the New Testament say, you are not your own. You were bought with a price. Will you today?
Some of you need to take the first step and say, christ Jesus, I need you to save me. I need a rescue. I'm going to sign my name here. Free me. And then you start filling in the memo line.
Friend, I pray you'll do this today. Forgive those who need it. Reconcile to those who need it. Go where God has sent you. Say, yes.
Where God has said, I want to be your Lord and Savior. Make me your king. Yes. A sign on the bottom line. Be unto me.
I love this line. Pray it with Mary today. I pray you will, Lord, let it be unto me according to your word.
What is God asking of you today?
Where is he asking you to forgive or to give generously? Where is he asking you to move? Let's pray now together. CHURCH. Heavenly Father, we ask.
We ask that you would give us the grace necessary to follow through on the things you've called us to. We, first of all come to you saying, we praise you, we love you. We're thankful that God, what you did was love us first. The story of the gospel isn't, hey, mankind got it right. No, the story of the gospel is, God, you love and you give and you sacrifice.
Thank you, God, for who you are. I'm asking now, Lord Jesus, would you help me to receive that fully? I want to be like Mary today. I want to say, be unto me as you have said, according to your word. Whatever it is you ask of me, Lord, I will do.
You say jump, I say how high? You say go, I say, where? Let's go. God, I pray for that kind of faith, first for myself and then for your people, your church. And I know that if we become these kinds of people, you will set a city free.
I believe that. I just believe that wholeheartedly, that when the people of God say yes and write blank checks to God, the community is reached. And it could start here, right now. God, can I pray that boldly? Lord?
I just pray that boldly. Now, there's people all in this room that are inviting friends, that are hoping to bring others, that are praying for loved ones. God, would you save them this season? Use our church? Sure, I'd love to see that.
Let us be a beacon of hope. But Lord, in whatever way you see fit, bring people to salvation in this church, with this church. God, please. We're here really for that main purpose. First to glorify you, but then to bring others in alignment with you.
That's our purpose, to make disciples who love you. That's all we want to be. That's all we want to do. God, I recognize that someone is coming here today. They need to take step one.
I pray, Lord, they're ready today to say yes, to begin to write a blank check. Say, God, I've been trying to live on my own. I've been trying to do things my way. It's not working. I need a rescue.
If that's you, my friend, today, pray a simple prayer of confession with me. It says in the book of Romans, chapter 10, that when we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. It's a simple prayer of confession, but it's life changing.
If you're ready to say that with me today, pray these. Lord Jesus, I believe today that you died on the cross for my sin, that you rose from the grave to conquer death for us all. And Lord Jesus, I'm prepared today to make you king. King of my life. I know you're already king of all things.
I want you to be king in my life. Lord God, now would you guide me in the ways you've called me?
I just want to lift up a simple prayer like Mary, behold your servant. Let it be unto me according to your word.
Dear friend, if you prayed that with me just now, you've made a huge, huge leap in what God's doing in your life. Get ready.
He's got wonder in store for you like you couldn't imagine. There's also trouble, there's also up and down hills. God, I pray right now that you would encourage their faith, that you would embolden them, that you would show them how to walk with you. Do that in all of us. Lord Jesus, I pray this morning you would embolden our faith.
Help us to walk in step with your goodness and with your guidance, help us to be your church wherever we go. This week I pray in Jesus name, amen.