I invite you to turn this morning to Luke's Gospel, Luke chapter 1, Luke chapter 1. If you're looking for that, you'll find that on page 1,088 in your Bibles in front of you, 1,088. Last time we considered Zechariah, this first account here right after the dedication to theophilus this first account with zachariah and elizabeth now we're considering the visit of gabriel uh to to mary and we will read at verse 26 through 38 this is the word of the lord let's give our attention to it 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 oh 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 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 forever and of his kingdom there will be no end and Mary said to the angel how will this be since I'm 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 the servant of the Lord let it be to me according to your word and the angel departed from her there is the reading of god's word as we celebrate uh the first coming of our lord and savior jesus christ we're looking at of course at this time of year his birth it's even hard to communicate how wonderful uh this truth really is when we look at a world that is so broken and in such misery and people's lives so empty and the tragic effects of the fall that we see happen you would think that everyone would stop and listen to what is being proclaimed to them that God has announced to the ends of the earth now for thousands of years that He has given an answer to all of our misery. You all know the pain. You all know how things are. And you know whatever it is, for some reason, things are always worse at this season. Think of that. The time we celebrate the birth of our Messiah, the time that Jesus has come is the time when we see every pain and every sorrow amplified in ways that is surprising to us. And of course, there are various reasons for that. Sometimes it's wrong expectations. Also, Satan is at work and he certainly wants us never to think about God's answer. So every form of distraction that he can give, he works hard to accomplish. Removing all the tensile, removing all of the superficiality of it all we see god's gift to the world announced to us in luke chapter one come for one great purpose as matthew's gospel opened up the great purpose the aim of the ministry of this son of god would be to save all of his people from their sins that's the heart of the christian ministry that's the heart of what he came to do even though we're all distracted on that basic question of what is christian ministry it was announced right from the beginning that the gospel is about the remission and the forgiveness of sins that's the ministry and here we are as we are looking at this here the lord is is come to show us that he has come to save every last one of his people not one of them will be lost it's this truth that should capture our hearts into the celebration as we enter into the celebration of what we call christmas this morning we have now the second scene here which is really the visit of the angel gabriel to mary and it's really an announcement of who this child is who is coming into her womb it's announcement that the king is coming and of course this is a loaded announcement isn't it all the promises that were made throughout the old testament and all the promises that were made to david her descendant well all of this would come through her womb it's remarkable this is no ordinary child of course this is god in human flesh taking on our nature becoming one of us into the womb of the virgin to pay for our sins luke while telling us this and the marvel of this has the purpose here of showing us who this son is and capturing for us the response of mary but not the response that has been typically taken up by so many throughout history of how they treated mary mary has been the most misunderstood figure throughout history in Christianity. Mary is really clearly here one of the greatest examples of in scripture of faith. If Abraham is our father according to faith, Mary is our mother according to faith. Some have tried to make her a co-redeemer. Some have tried to make her a sinless woman worthy of this great honor. But here what we see in fulfillment. And I say that in fulfillment now as the time has come. We're looking at her in fulfillment, the example of how to receive this great gift. She shines in that way. Contrary to Zachariah. And that's what I want to focus on this morning. The announcement made to Mary, the question that she asks, and then the responses that follow. And it's a really clear breakdown as we see that all outlined right here at the beginning. And I have found as I was working through this particular passage, Luke chapter 1, a little bit challenging to preach because it's just so wonderful. You always fear as a pastor that you'll never really accomplish the intention of the Spirit. In other words, it is so wonderful when you read it. It gives you everything beautiful you need to know. A pastor can come along and do a lot of damage to it. Did you know that? So we don't want to do that this morning. The contrast here is striking. It's meant to be contrasted, the two narratives. They're meant to be set side by side, juxtaposed, so that you will look at the two narratives and see many things that are similar, but the things that should stand out are the things that are different. That's what's going on here. One pastor writes, Mary is conscious of her virginity, marvels at the fruit hidden in her belly, while Elizabeth, conscious of her old age blush that her womb is heavy with the one she has conceived gabriel comes and announces to both don't be afraid a son is coming he gives them the name to call the purpose is not to hear so capture these similarities but i want you to see that there are two striking differences in these two narratives that should not be missed it helps us to know how to look at this and how to preach and how to consider it. One of the children is great before the Lord. The other child is just great. Period. It's really a marvel. One is filled with the Holy Spirit. The other is conceived by the Holy Spirit. One is preparing the way. The other is God in flesh. The greatest contrast, of course, that is going on here is for us to see that this is the Son. This is the one through whom all the promises will come. The other major shocking difference between the two texts is something you should see by now. One was faithless, the other was complete faith. Mary responds the way, and that should be a bright light to us of what the Lord is telling us how we respond to receive our King. now this is important this morning we'll look at in verse 26 we read that in the sixth month the angel gabriel was sent from god to a city of galilee named nazareth to a virgin betroth to a man whose name was joseph of the house of david and the virgin's name was mary remember that when gabriel came to zachariah it said something shocking right at the beginning it gave us some character descriptions of Zachariah, and the first thing that it said of Zachariah is that he was righteous and that he was absolutely blameless in keeping the law. And that has puzzled a lot of people throughout history as to what exactly is this, who is this figure, and is he somebody to emulate? Is he somebody that we really want to be? And I couldn't help but stand back from these two accounts and say no because what good is any of it apart from faith or heidelberg says that the greatest works you do are nothing apart from faith and so here we have this this contrast that was given of zachariah's uprightness what a moral upstanding blameless according to the law figure we had right at the beginning the prototype israelite i've made this point throughout the gospels haven't we that you could have the most upstanding the most upright outstanding christian citizen you can get citizen of the year for your basic morality and there are many many many many many people like this in the churches who have not entered the kingdom. That's a shock. It's a shock. Because they've refused to listen to what God is saying to us. You cannot meet God's righteous standard yourself. Zechariah proved it. But now here's Gabriel. Now coming to somebody else. And it's such a shocking contrast from Zechariah to Mary. He comes to one here who is, she says, a servant. She will say in her prayer that you have regarded me a lowly servant. Remember, she says that. You've looked upon the humble estate of me. She's an absolute nobody. She's a woman. Not valued in that culture. She's about 13 years old. She's in the terrible teens. I know all about it. I mean it. They were a little more mature in those days. If you drove down the five, south, north. If you drove north, you come to this little town called Farmersville. It's an awful town. You never want to drink the water. This is like the angel Gabriel passing through San Diego, passing through L.A., going to Farmersville. singling out a little 13-year-old girl whom nobody knows, who is a virgin, and saying, you're the one. You're the one. You're the one through whom God's love will be announced to all the world. If you've ever struggled with the teaching of election, I think you have it right here in its most powerful display. Big contrast. From righteous Zechariah in Israel, the priest doing all the priestly duties with no faith to the most needy, chosen to receive the greatest gift. Well, what's this saying to us? What is this message to us? If you begin to look at it, you see it. John did the same thing in his gospel in a different way. The gospel writers are always doing it. You think of Jesus, his first discourse in his ministry was with Nicodemus. And here was the Pharisee, the great servant in the kingdom, the teacher in Israel, who had no idea he needed to be born again, but according to the law, blameless. And in the very next scene, you've got the woman at the well, by their standards, the prostitute who had had five husbands. Contrasts are everywhere. What do we think of these people? Jesus was constantly drawing the contrast to make it very plain for us both needed salvation uh but what do we think of the lowly the disregarded the weak the vulnerable the sick the blind uh the deaf the nobodies the foolish what do we think of them not much so we distance ourselves it's a mess but the rich the righteous the strong the privileged the morally superior the obeyers of the law the good people always in church on sundays who are confident in themselves, these are often the toughest soil to reap. Did you know that? Israel proves it. Who in the Scriptures is presented as having the hardest time entering the kingdom? It's not the lowly. It's not because status and money and success are all the things that culture is putting out in this intersectionality discussion, all this stuff. It's not these things that are wrong in and of themselves. It's the false confidences that these things create in us that make it incredibly hard for us to hear that we have great spiritual poverty as great as anyone else's before God. We're no better than the homeless. It's the hardest message for the upright, the most moral, the upstanding, the obedient, the busy, the doers in the kingdom to hear that their righteousness is as a filthy garment. Isn't it something that the women typically respond in the Scriptures more than the men? why is the lord capturing that by far are the women it seems not the men you'll notice here often the women are highlighted as the sort of broken contrite struggling ones who receive salvation in the face of their total helplessness and their willingness to see it how many marys do we have to make this how many marys do you need to make the point one who will dump an alabaster flask over his head while the disciples stand there criticizing. One who will come and cry on his feet, Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary. It's not that those who are lowly or who are rich or who are high status people are incapable of receiving salvation. It's that all of these accounts in the scripture are pressing us to see that before God, no matter privilege, none of us puts us in a better position all of us together are alike under sin and all of it can become barriers to hearing that all peoples even peoples who are righteous are in the same predicament utter beggars before god upon his mercies to receive them on those who know their lowliest state these receive the answer these received the answer do you realize how needy you are none of us look that needy but do you realize how needy you are well god come coming to mary captures for us who the gospel is for in other words it's for everyone but this is who receives this gospel and this is what the angel says to her he comes and he says greetings oh favored one the lord is with you what is the angel saying not what rome says you know what rome says hail mary full of grace the lord is with thee blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb holy mary mother of god pray for us sinners now and at the hour of death that is absolutely stupid and offensive i mean that what have they done you should be righteously angry they've shamed their mother mary is full of sin and mary needs a savior mary is not full of grace she's not a dispenser of grace that's why we don't pray to mary she's a receiver she's a receiver of grace when the angel says to her that here she noticed the response favored one she's deeply troubled in her heart why is she so troubled she knows what she is she she's like the syrophoenician woman we considered two weeks ago i know when jesus poked her and pressed her to show up i can't drive this woman away no matter how much i push her i don't feed what is holy and give to the dogs i know i'm a dog but a dog has to eat. It's Mary. I know what I am. Her cry is, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Well, here we have Mary, who is of faith, says, why would you ever show this kind of grace to one so unworthy as I? That's the heart of this soil. This is the heart of the one whom Gabriel has come to. and she's trying to answer, as she's trying to answer that question, Gabriel responds, Gabriel responds, 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 he 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. That's the greatest announcement ever in the scripture. That's the greatest gospel announcement now come in the time of fulfillment. Jesus, the Savior Mary, you give him that name, is coming. And that throne that was promised to David forever and ever and a kingdom without end. All those promises are now that Israel has been waiting for for all of these years. He is now here and He's coming through your womb. The Son of the Highest. He is great. He will be great. And every promise that was ever made to David from his own body that a king would come, that time has come. And the kingdom that will never, ever, ever end is inaugurated in His coming. Now it's just glorious enough to hear God has given us a child to save us from our sins. But think of everything now that is announced, of everything that Israel looked for, all hope and all consolation. Mary's thinking one thing. Think of Zechariah. Total unbelief response Gabriel exposed. How do you expect me to believe this? Mary's response is this, how is God going to come in my womb? I believe it. How? How is the Son of the Highest coming? How is this possible? Explain it to me. Mary is so taken by the angel's word, which came from heaven. Remember, the angel's preaching the gospel from heaven. How could God's Son come into my womb, the eternal Son of God? How can it be? I'm a virgin. I believe it. Help me understand it. And Gabriel launches into a beautiful explanation, doesn't he? It's not the question of unbelief. It's the question from faith. Gabriel answers her. Mary put this together. Remember Genesis 1. The creation, the Spirit hovered over the waters. Remember the tabernacle. You know your history. You remember when the Spirit descended and hovered over that tabernacle in the wilderness and overshadowed that place. You remember all of this. This is exactly what's going to happen to your womb. The Holy Spirit will overshadow your womb so that you, being a virgin, will conceive and bear your own Messiah, the Son of God. Nothing's impossible with God. There's the verse to always repeat. Nothing's impossible. Nothing's impossible. And all of these hardships and all of these sorrows, when everything is twisted and turned and nothing seems to be fulfilled according to what God said He would do. As we looked at last time with prayer and everything with Zachariah, nothing's impossible with him. You say that to yourself. You remember that. Nothing's impossible. That's the greatest encouragement this season, isn't it? What he just explained is the heart of everything that we're celebrating at this time of year think about this had this child come from joseph there's no way in that conception that sin would not have been transmitted that that here the holy spirit is so sanctifying and overshadowing the womb keeping it free from all the stain of original sin so that this child would be in every way like us except for sin to do what taking on our human nature becoming one of us in every way like us except for sin he would with a spotless life drive forward to fulfill the law carrying all your burdens all your sorrows having the destination for the cross to take away the curse and give you back life you know i i've pointed this out a few times but when you turn to look over at Luke 2 when the angels speak to the shepherds in verse 12. It's such an important verse. I now have to rehearse it every season. And this will be the sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped and swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Why is that a sign? Because of what it showed. It showed at his birth, his death. He's wrapped in grave clothes. Luke picks that up later. He's set in a cement-like tomb from the beginning. He's going into the grave. It's a sign. And he's going to resurrect out of there for you. This is what we're celebrating. This is the sign. That's what the shepherd saw and rejoiced. This son would come to do that in a little cement tomb. and it would pierce Mary's own heart that 30 years from now, she would look upon her son on that cross, crying out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? All of your sorrow, all of your pain, come through this woman to save you from all your sins. Now, I want us to think today of what these two narratives have done for us here for just a moment. Zechariah heard the announcement and he didn't believe. We spent a lot of time with that last time. And he faced the curse of unbelief. But from this lowly virgin from Nazareth who hears this overwhelming announcement, what's her response? Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Here it is. It's the greatest response in the Gospel. Let it be according to your word. That's the answer of faith. That's the answer of belief. This is everything the Scriptures are pressing you to. They're pressing me to. They're pressing me as a pastor to. I want you to know. There's no doubt a pastor can be faithless. They're pressing me to faith. They're pressing you to faith. what your word says, let it be so. I believe it. I receive it. Here I am. I'm your servant. We have Mary all wrong. We've had Mary wrong for a long time. In fact, did you know Jesus met a Roman Catholic one day? You get nervous when I talk about Roman Catholics. I'm not saying a Roman Catholic can't be saved. You understand that, right? When we do any critique, people get so bothered in our day. But I want you to know how offensive it was to Jesus. Look over at Luke 11 for a minute. Verse 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. A merry worshiper. Right there. Jesus met one. But he said, Blessed rather. Yea, rather, are those who hear the Word of God and keep it. What did Mary just say? Let it be according to Your Word. They weren't listening to the Word. They were giving the glory everywhere else. They weren't listening to the Word. And Jesus, in all of the Scriptures, everything that had been foretold, all throughout the Law and the Prophets, all in the Psalms, all in the Old Testament, the time of fulfillment had come and everyone is saying, all the angels are saying, it's here. Believe it. Mary leaves us the greatest testimony. Not her holiness. Not being full of grace. Not a blessed womb in and of herself that she earned it. Not a stainless, sinless nature. Not a designated co-redeemer with Jesus, but a response in the exact opposite way of everything that's been pushed on us about Mary. I am unworthy. I can't believe that you considered a lowly maidservant such as me. But you did. And I believe your word. I believe your gospel. I hear your word and believe that you said, may it be so. That, beloved, is faith. And you see, this is what the Lord is calling you to today. No matter your position, no matter who you are, no matter your struggles in life, no matter any of it, the Lord is saying, listen to my word. I've given you my promise, and the time of fulfillment is at hand. He's come. And we're not celebrating looking for a Savior. We're at the very end of history. He's already come. He's already paid the debt. the next thing on god's calendar is the return to make a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness shall dwell let it be according to your word lord i believe here i am your servant use me until then abraham is the father of those who believe well then mary is certainly the mother of those who believe she shows us what a humble contrite christian looks like not according to the world, but rather disregarded by the world, a sinner loved by the Savior whom God decided to bless and send His eternal Son to save. And here's the beautiful thing today to close. The same promise is made to you. I mean that. If you've come to believe the gospel, this same blessing is yours that's the beauty of this the same blessing of mary is the blessing that's yours what do i mean rejoice highly favored ones the lord is with you blessed are you among all peoples is this not true blessed are you among all peoples for you have found grace in the eyes of the lord and he's given you a son and he has come to save you and he's done everything necessary to deliver you believe it trust me says the lord we learn from zachariah the curse of unbelief but from mary the blessing that results from god upon those who believe the gospel receive your king this season and forever do not be unbelieving but believing lift up your head says the lord for the redemption of your souls draws nigh may it be all oh lord according to your word may it be every last one here at the escondido urc says we believe your word Let it be so. We are your servants. And that's the celebration of Christmas that really matters to the Lord. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we praise you for giving us such a beautiful text for understanding who has come to us and how we should receive him. Give us, Lord, confidence in your gospel and your word to us. No matter how much we are pulled this way and that way and how many people are trying to take us away from this truth and how many attacks of the evil one upon us. Your word endures forever. What you say, you do. And as we celebrate this season, the coming of the Savior, we look forward to a second return to come and put an end to all of the tears, all of the sorrow, all of the misery, all of the unbelief. And that there will forever be this kingdom that here has been inaugurated through his person and work forever a kingdom that can never be shaken with one on the throne who is our god we praise you oh lord for your wonderful salvation and like mary we say we are your servants let it be according to your word in jesus name we pray amen