And so I invite you now to take your copy of
God's word and open up. To the gospel, according
to Luke. Luke, chapter one. We're going to be
in verses 26 through 38 today, and what we're
doing is really. Working backwards. Because in
the sermon series, we have seen the miracles
that Jesus has done. Lord willing we'll see more
that he does as we continue through this but
we have seen Jesus perform healings we have seen
him casting out demons we have seen even Jesus
raise the dead here but now we're going backwards
just a little bit call it Benjamin Button style
backwards to see not the miracle that Jesus performs
today but instead to see the miracle of Jesus
And so would you give your attention to the reading
of God's holy word, Luke 1, 26 through 38. 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. the Virgin's name was
Mary and he came to her and said greetings who
favored one the Lord is with you but she was
greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern
what sort of greeting this might be and the angels
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 forever
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 will be impossible with God.
And Mary said, behold, I am your servant of the
Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.
And the angel departed from her. The grass withers
and the flower fades, but God's word stands forever.
Let's pray. Father in heaven, this is your word.
And we thank you for it. We thank you that it's
true. We thank you that it's inspired by your
spirit. We thank you that it's inerrant and it's
infallible. It will accomplish its purposes.
Father we ask that you would help us to hide
this word deep in our hearts and grant us understanding
these things we ask in Christ's name amen When
we began this sermon series on the miracles of
Jesus I talked about how about a hundred years
ago Liberalism was on the rise in America within
the American Church and that there were Christians
who were denying very important components of
our faith. And there was a group of so -called
ministers who published something called the
Auburn Affirmation in which they rejected the
miracles of Jesus. They said, you don't got to
believe in the miracles of Jesus. Those aren't
necessary. Probably doesn't surprise anyone to
also learn that those people rejected the virgin
birth. Well, today, 100 years later, not much
has changed. People continue to reject the virgin
birth. But friends, if you reject the virgin
birth, you reject Christ himself. We need to
receive this truth of Scripture like Mary does.
She essentially says, thy will be done. And so
within this passage, we see the faith of Mary.
we see the submission of Mary, and these things
need to characterize who we are as Christians.
Faith and obedience. But as we look at this you
might wonder, well why is the virgin birth so
important? What are the implications of this?
What would be lost if we denied the virgin birth?
And what is so necessary to see? This is what
we want to look at. Look at verse 26. the sixth
month the angel Gabriel was sent from God. The
sixth month is simply referring us back to verse
24. After these days his wife Elizabeth, this
is Zachariah's wife Elizabeth, conceived and
for five months she kept herself hidden. And
so the events of 26 through 38 happen during
the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy. Now,
where is this happening? We see the when, but
where? Gabriel was sent from God to a city of
Galilee named Nazareth. Nazareth. Later on, Jesus'
disciple, Nathaniel, would ask this question,
can anything good come out of Nazareth? And the
answer is supplied here, yes, Jesus comes out
of Nazareth. This is where Mary is. We should
understand something about Mary. And I like the
way another pastor, R. Kent Hughes, put it. He
said, Mary is a nobody in a nothing town in the
middle of nowhere. Nazareth isn't much to write
home about. And Mary is not well known here.
She is young. She's probably poor here. But you
also see this about her. She is betrothed to
Joseph. We need to understand betrothal in Jesus'
day. When we talk about that, we're talking about
legal engagement, all right? These days, if a
couple wants to get married, but then they break
it off before they get married, that's pretty
easy to do. You could do that with a text message
or over Facebook or something. You can't do that
in Mary's day. We know this from Matthew's account
that Joseph, before he knew all that was happening,
Joseph resolved to divorce quietly Mary. But
thank the Lord, he intervenes with the angel
Gabriel. And so look in verse 28. Gabriel greets
Mary, saying, Greetings, O favored one, the Lord
is with you. Now, friends, it's better to be
favored than unfavored. but no doubt Mary here
is scared. She is frightened, right? Sometimes
we read these stories around Christmas and we've
heard them so many times that we breeze right
through important moments. The moment of an angel
appearing and greeting a human being, this is
not all that common. the scriptures but when
it does happen it's monumental and so Gabriel
greets her and Gabriel has been well trained
as an angel because he knows what to say he offers
these comforting words Mary do not be afraid
angels communicate what God would have them to
say and so Gabriel uses these this this common
language here Do not be afraid. Now, why does
Gabriel visit Mary? Well, say this. It's one
thing to be visited by an angel. It's a whole
other thing to hear what Gabriel has for her.
Look in verse 31. And imagine this is you. Gabriel
says, Behold, you will conceive in your womb
and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
This is incredible. Jesus is the greatest name.
Jesus is the name above all names. And Jesus's
name is not an arbitrary name. Gabriel doesn't
look through a baby book and find a name. No,
the name Jesus has the utmost significance to
it. But what does it mean? I want everybody in
here, everybody in this sanctuary. to know this
and to memorize this. The name of Jesus means
Yahweh saves. I want everyone to know that. There
will be a test as you exit the sanctuary doors.
Yahweh saves. This name has so much significance
to it. And I believe that Mary would have known
what Gabriel was saying. Gabriel is speaking
her language and this, while she is young, She
is no doubt a good Jew. And she knows what creation
has longed for. She knows that they have been
in need of a savior. And so, Gabriel, are you
telling me right now that the savior of the world,
that Yahweh saves, is going to be conceived and
born of me? I would be thinking, I think you
got the wrong person in the wrong town, right?
And yet Gabriel continues to explain, to help
her understand this, look in verse 32. He will
be great and will be called the son of the most
high. This is Old Testament language, this name
of the most high. This is harkening all the way
back to, do you remember when Melchizedek visited
Abraham and blessed him? And he used the same
words, the blessing of the Most High God. And
so Jews would have understood this kind of language.
But just in case that gets past her, look in
verse 33. And he will reign over the house of
Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be
no end. This is harkening back to 2 Samuel chapter
7, the Davidic covenant. That there would be
one coming from David's line who would be king.
forever. So again, you're telling me, Gabriel,
the King of Kings is going to be in my womb.
I'm going to birth him. So you see, we cannot
read this just like it's just another day. Been
there, done that, heard that. No. Friends, this
time of year, it's a beautiful time. It's a wonderful
time. We've We've seen it before. We've had the
lights. We've had the trees. We've sang the carols.
We've given the presents. But friends, what Jesus
does as he takes on flesh is the moment when
God busts into all of creation and does the very
thing that he promised throughout redemptive
history. Jesus came for Mary. Jesus also came
for the shepherds in the field. Jesus came for
an old devout Jew named Simeon in the temple.
Jesus came to an old widow named Anna, according
to the Scriptures. And guess what? Jesus also
came for you. He came to save you from your sins.
Jesus came to save those who are weighed down
by their sins and could not save themselves.
And all of this comes through the Virgin Mary.
Now, at that point, you might say, well, hold
on a second. Just stop a minute. Time out. How
does this happen? How does this happen? And what
would be lost if there were no virgin birth?
Three essential reasons the virgin birth is so
necessary. One, because it was prophesied about
in the Old Testament. And so this gets to our
doctrine of Scripture. We're going to look, Lord
willing, at Isaiah 714 a little bit next Sunday.
But the prediction that the Christ would come
through a virgin. And so if we dismiss the virgin
birth, we dismiss really the truth of Scripture.
Additionally, we would dismiss the whole purpose
for Luke writing this gospel. Look in Luke chapter
one. One through four. This gives you the purpose
for why the Holy Spirit had Luke write all of
this down. Luke one, one through four. In as
much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative
of the things that have been accomplished among
us, just as those who from the beginning were
eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered
them to us. It seemed good to me also. having
followed all things closely for some time past,
to write an orderly account for you, most excellent
theophilists, that you may have certainty concerning
the things you have been taught. Why did Luke
write all of this down? He wrote it down for
the sake of history, so that you would believe.
Luke, who was a physician, by the way, writes
this down to give an orderly and historical account
of the events of Jesus. And so what would be
lost if we dismiss the virgin birth, what would
be lost is the truthfulness of Scripture. Secondly
though, what would be lost if we dismissed it
would be the historical faith of Christianity.
Because from the time that Jesus was, from the
time that Jesus was born, Christians, people,
believers, followers of Jesus have always understood
the birth to be a virgin birth. Consider the
affirmation of faith that we'll say in a few
minutes. The Apostles' Creed, born of the Virgin
Mary. And so what would be lost is the historical
Christian faith. But thirdly, what would be lost
would be our salvation. Yes, our salvation depends
upon the virgin birth. We need all of Christ.
Not a little bit of him. Not most of him. We
need all of Christ from eternity past to conception
to birth to ministry to crucifixion to resurrection
to ascension to his return. We need all of Christ
and how does Christ save us? Christ saves us
really there's two facets to it in his life.
his death both being substitutionary Jesus lives
for us and Jesus dies for us but without the
spirit birth neither is accomplished I like how
church father Irenaeus put it he said if one
does not accept the son of God's birth from a
virgin how can he accept his resurrection from
the dead we believe as Christians that Jesus
really did die on the cross for us. But if we
get it wrong from the beginning, we will always
have it wrong. We will be off track. And so look
at verse 35. There's nothing sexual about this.
This is a work of the Holy Spirit in the womb
of the Virgin Mary that the child will be called
holy. And so contrast your birth with Jesus's
birth. And what is different? We are born in
iniquity. Every single one of us born in sin.
Consider David's words from Psalm 51. Behold,
I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did
my mother conceive me. All of us. born with a
sinful nature, but not Christ. He was not born
of natural generation and no sin then was born
in him. Jesus is born of the Spirit. I love how
Westminster Larger Catechism 37 puts this, Christ
the Son of God became man by taking to himself
a true body and a reasonable soul. being conceived
by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of
the Virgin Mary of her substance and born of
her yet without sin. Friends, if Jesus is born
in sin, he cannot be our savior. And so what
would be lost by a natural birth here, it would
be our salvation. And so you see the virgin birth
is of critical importance. This strikes at the
fundamentals of our religion to deny this, right?
And yet I also understand. It's difficult to
understand, isn't it? It can be difficult to
wrap our minds around this. Well, guess what?
If it's difficult for you to understand, you're
in the right boat. Look at verse 34. And Mary
said to the angel, how will this be since I am
a virgin? How will this be? Mary knows how these
things work. But please notice this. Mary is
not questioning God on this. She is simply asking
the question that we would all ask, how will
this be? I think we can know that she's not questioning
God on this because of her response. Look down
at verse 38. And Mary said, behold, I am the
servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according
to your word. Mary has faith. Mary has faith.
But you also see this kindness of God in here
to assure her of her faith, because look at verse
36, and behold, your relative Elizabeth in her
old age has also conceived a son, and this is
the sixth month with her who is called barren,
for nothing will be impossible with God. And
so whether it's the barrenness, or whether it's
the virgin birth, Gabriel says this important,
crucial statement, nothing will be impossible
with God. Friends, I don't know what all you
have going on. I know some of your stories. I
know some of the things that you struggle with.
But perhaps there are things that are just weighing
you down and you wonder, God, can you do anything
about this? Will you do anything about this?
I'm thinking most specifically of family and
friends and co -workers people that you long
to see believe in Jesus Christ and maybe you
think they will never believe Nothing will be
impossible with God Consider Jesus's words from
John 6 40 for this is the will of my father in
heaven That everyone who looks on the Sun and
believes in him should have eternal life and
I will raise him up on the last day everybody
who believes in the name of Jesus will be saved
and so keep praying for those loved ones keep
sharing the gospel keep seeking to reach the
community for Christ keep going after those people
that you think are too far gone because scripture
shows us time and time again how Jesus saves
people that we would have said that person is
unsavable because really What happens when you
think about it? What happens with Jesus physically
is what happens with us spiritually. Let's look
at Romans 5 for just a minute. Romans 5, 18 through
19. Romans 5, 18 through 19. Therefore, as one
trespass led to condemnation for all men, So
one act of righteousness leads to justification
and life for all men. For as by the one man's
disobedience the many were made sinners, so by
the one man's obedience the many will be made
righteous. Jesus for the believer undoes the
curse. He undoes the curse and he regenerates
us. We are born again. But Romans 5 leads to
Romans 6. Justification to sanctification. That
we who are born again, we must live like it.
We must live like people who are born again because
you are no longer a slave to sin. You are a servant
of the Most High. And God doesn't bring people
to himself kicking and screaming with gritted
teeth. He doesn't do that. Instead, he changes
the inclinations of our hearts such that we can
love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.
I have seen this in so many of you, your sanctification,
your growth in Christ. God is at work in your
lives. And just in case you're not sure, just
in case you wonder, is God really working in
our lives? Is God really changing hearts? I want
to share a story. as I begin to close from one
of you, a story from one of you this week, and
I won't say any names, but this is a remarkable
and yet simple and common and wonderful story.
There was once a believing woman, a Christian,
and she was married to an unbelieving husband.
Her husband had no interest in Christ, he had
no interest in the church, but the wife, she
was faithful. and she went to church every single
Sunday and every Sunday that she sat on that
pew, she prayed and she longed for God to bring
her husband with her to worship. She longed for
God to change her husband's heart. One Sunday
she was getting ready and she was putting on
her Sunday best and she gathered her things and
she walked out the door and do you know what
she saw? She saw her husband sitting in the car.
ready to go to church. And he rarely ever missed
a Sunday after that. Friends, nothing will be
impossible with God. God changes our hearts to
believe in him and serve him in such a way that
we can say along with Mary, I am yours, oh Lord.
Let it be to me according to your word. Let's
pray.