12.7.25 - The Promised King - Luke 1:26-38

Amen. Amen. All right. Thank you. Uh,

you probably know the name David, the

biblical figure. And whether or not you

are like super biblically knowledgeable

or maybe less so, you know David because

of the famous fight he had with Goliath,

right? It is the stuff of underdogs

defeating the um the overdog,

the favorite. Um

David ends up being the fir uh not the

first but the second king of Israel.

And for the first, call it 20 years of

his 40-year reign, it's really

successful. Like he is conquering all

the neighboring enemies of Israel,

expanding the territory. It's win after

win after win. And then David gets it in

his head. He's like, "You know what? I

want to build a building for God. I want

to build a temple." See, up to that

point, since the Exodus and Moses, the

people of Israel had been meeting with

God in a tabernacle, an elaborate tent.

And David said, "That's not right. All

these other gods of these lands I've

conquered, they've got buildings for

their God. Our God should have a

building." And so he tells the prophet

Nathan, he's like, "That's what I'm

going to do." Nathan's like, "Go for

it." And then that night, God's like,

"Nathan, go back to David." And this is

what God says to him.

He says, "David, I took you from the

pasture from following sheep, that you

should be prince over my people Israel,

and I've been with you wherever you

went, and have cut off all your enemies

from before you. and I will make for you

a great name like the name of the great

ones of the earth. What's the reason why

you know who David is? Who he was king

3,000 years ago of a tiny country. He's

no Alexander the Great. How why do you

know him? Well, because of what God said

there. God said, "I'm going to give you

a name."

And then he goes on, God says, "And I

will appoint a place for my people and

will plant them so that they may dwell

in their own place and be disturbed no

more and violent men shall afflict them

no more as formerly from the time that I

appointed judges over my people Israel.

And I will give you rest from all your

enemies." And then he says this,

"Moreover, the Lord declares to you,

David, that the Lord will make you a

house." And what God does is he he turns

he he's playing with the words a little

bit. It doesn't mean house building. He

means house dynasty. He goes, "I'm going

to build you a lineage."

And then God says, "When your days are

fulfilled and you lie down with your

fathers, I will raise up your offspring

after you shall come from your body and

I will establish his kingdom. He shall

build a house for my name." That's going

to be Solomon. But then he's going to

shift it again. And God's going to look

forward. And he says, "I will establish

the throne of his kingdom forever." And

God closes with this verse 16, 2 Samuel

7. And your house, your lineage, and

your kingdom shall be made sure forever

before me, and your throne shall be

established forever.

And what does that have to do with

Christmas? If you're a Jew in the first

century, this is the promise you've been

waiting for.

And you've been waiting for 1,000

years.

And here was the challenge in the first

century. Most of the Jews, they missed

it.

They missed the king. The king came and

they didn't even notice. Why? They were

looking for the wrong king.

Why? Well, you're a Jew in the first

century. You know what? You want your

king to be? Giant slayer.

Why? I'm tired of these Romans. I'm

tired of Caesar ruling over us. I'm

tired of paying taxes to him. I want to

govern myself. Any American want to do

that? I don't need a king. I can do it.

So all the Jews in the first century, if

you come to them and say, "What kind of

king are you looking for?" One like

David, just like uh 2 Samuel 7 says,

that's gonna man wipe the Romans off the

map. Let's get on with this thing.

And isn't that what God said?

Well, yes and no. For sure, the king

that's going to come is going to set

right everything that needs to get set

right. And anyone who stands against him

is going to get what's coming.

And no,

because what people missed is that the

biggest giant they needed slayed was not

outside of them. The Romans weren't

actually their biggest problem.

Which leaves us where? You know what

happens in 2025?

Most people miss this king, too.

Why? Well, you've got stuff in your life

you need fixing.

You know what? We all We all want a

giant slayer. We all want a king who's

going to come and set right what needs

to get set right. And all the people who

need to get told what for get told what

for.

And everyone who's looking for that

first

is going to miss him.

But not you.

Not this year. Because we're going to

look for this promised king in the way

that he shows up in the story that

likely you are very familiar with that I

hope like if we if we took the diamond

and and just turned it a little and you

saw it in a different facet and you saw

the light refracted a little differently

that this story would become new because

you know what? You need the promised

king just as much. And guess what? He

actually came. So, grab your vi uh

Bibles. We're going to be in Luke

Luke 1 · chapter mention

chapter 1 and we're going to look at who

this promised king actually is, what

he's come to do and how it matters for

us. We're going to be in uh Luke

Luke 1:26

1 verse 26

and we're going to go through 38.

But the first truth that Luke is going

to help us unpack is that the promised

king is gracious.

This promised king

is gracious.

So again, Luke 1, starting in verse 26,

God's word says that 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.

Luke, the historian, physician, always

puts in certain details. And he says,

first, it's the sixth month. Um, Jewish

calendars offset from ours a little bit.

June is our sixth month. Here, think

August, September. Their first month was

later according to our calendar. And

this angel is Gabriel. If you'd been

reading your Old Testament, again,

chronologically, you had about a th000

BC. David comes to the throne. In 600

BC, Gabriel is sent to a prophet named

Daniel in order to deliver another

message. And then Daniel shows up here

with Mary and she lives in a little town

called Nazareth. It's in the north of

the country. It's where Galilee is, the

Sea of Galilee, if you ever heard that

term. And it's a backwater town. It's a

one-stoplight town. One saloon. I don't

know if they had a saloon.

But it's also one of those towns where

it's like you're trying to get out of

there. If you're a high school student,

you you want to you want to you're tired

of small little Nazareth. And it's also

one of those towns where like people in

the big city would would thumb their

nose at little Podunk Nazareth. It's

important to know that. We'll come back

to that.

But notice this. It'll you'll start to

hear the echoes of 2 Samuel 7

because this virgin is betrod to a man

whose name is Joseph of the house of

David. He is in the line. He is a

descendant, a blood descendant of David,

which means that whatever son comes from

this family is in that line that he

needs to come. So verse 28, this is the

message that Gabriel has. And he came to

her and said, "Greetings,

oh favored one." Underline that,

highlight it. The Lord is with you. But

she was greatly troubled at the saying

and tried to discern what sort of

greeting this might be. The angel said

to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you

have found second time favor with God.

And behold, you will conceive in your

womb and bear a son, and you shall call

his name Jesus." In Hebrew, Yeshua

basically means the Lord saves.

So, you can imagine, put yourself in the

story. You're Mary. You're a teenage

girl. You're betrothed. You're looking

forward to your wedding to Joseph. Could

be the next 6 to 12 months. You don't

know. You're so excited. You're

scrolling Instagram for wedding dress

ideas.

You see your post from your brother.

You're like, I don't know what 67 means.

What is this?

All right. Maybe a little imagination

there. Probably didn't have Instagram

then. Um, and this all of a sudden a

warrior angel of light shows up in her

living room, which makes sense why she's

greatly disturbed trying to figure out

what in the world is going on here. Why?

Two reasons. It's the wrong setting and

it's the wrong message.

What do I mean? Um, you know what the

right setting is for Gabriel to show up

at? He should be in Rome.

He should be showing up in the Senate

with Caesar on the throne and all the

Roman senators around in order to

deliver this message. Your time has

come.

The king is coming. And if you don't

bend your knee, he's going to bend your

knee.

Again, if you're a Jew in the first

century, that's exactly the setting and

the message you want.

That's the Goliath slayer you're looking

for.

But where is he?

He's in a backwater town.

Teenage girl.

Nobody knows her name.

And this is where God sends his

messenger. The same messenger he sent to

Daniel.

Why? Well, it's what he says.

Because this king first comes with

favor.

He first comes the Greek word there uh

translated favor is chorus. Um most

times in the New Testament it's

translated

grace.

Why do you know what you need and I need

more than a giant slayer king?

The king who comes first with grace.

And there's Mary trying to parse in real

time like this news. She got she got

news that was like, "What is going on

here?" But the message is one of grace.

Um, have you ever been in a relationship

and the person you're in the

relationship says this to you? We need

to talk. Have you ever been there?

What's What's your first thought when

you get the we need to talk message? Oh,

it's probably good. Probably gonna give

me an attab boy for something.

Love the we need to talk message. Or or

maybe this version. Uh you're at work,

someone swings by your office and says,

"Hey, boss needs to see you."

What did I do? I didn't do it. I wasn't

even there. I couldn't be like I all my

stuff's in on time. Like what? Anybody

else's blood pressure go up? Just me.

Um, I'm sitting in the squadron spaces

at my desk one day and the phone on my

desk rings. Uh, sorry. Phones used to be

these boxes with buttons that you pushed

on them. The really old ones you did

this number and then you picked up a

thing and there was a cord and that's

how you talk to people. And uh, it was

Colonel Shahada and Colonel Shahada

said, "Hey Creekmore, get down to my

office." Roger that, sir. I hung up and

then freaked out. That's what I did.

That's what I did. Why? Bec. Let me tell

you something you already know. All

right. Uh, Marine Lieutenant Colonel

Fighter Squadron commanding officers

aren't like the Hey buddy, how are you

doing? Like, it never happened to me one

time ever. So, I'm walking down the

hallway trying to do the mental

gymnastics of what' I do? I didn't do

it.

I get to the office and it gets worse.

Why? because he gave me this number.

Close the door. Ah,

now we're closing the door. Oh, this is

no good.

I sit down and he's got the flight

schedule in front of him. And he says,

"Uh, later today I fly with Lieutenant

Smith. You flew with him yesterday. What

does he need to work on?"

Couldn't you have told me I wasn't in

trouble when you said come down?

I was like, "Yeah, Smith needs to work

on this. This and he's a new guy, new

pilot squadron.

I got grace."

He didn't catch me on the things I did

mess up. Um,

do you know what you need in your king?

You need him to come with grace first.

Why? Because the Romans aren't your

biggest problem.

That's what the Jews missed. The Jews

thought, "You know what? Rome's our

biggest problem." And God was like,

"Rome's not your biggest problem."

Who's your biggest problem? Don't answer

that.

I'll answer it. You know who my biggest

problem in life is? Me.

You know who the biggest problem in my

marriage is? Me. You know who my biggest

problem is in my parenting?

me. Like, if I could just get me to do

what I'm supposed to do, my life would

go a lot easier, would it not?

What's the problem you have? You think

something else is the problem?

If he came as a giant slayer, you know

what we would all do? Run.

But that's not how he comes.

That's not how he comes.

How does he come to you?

Grace.

Grace. Why do we know this conversation

between Mary and Gabriel that there were

no other witnesses to?

Because God thought that you needed to

hear it.

So, this is my favorite part in this

message right now.

because I'm going to get to do it.

Greetings, O favored one. The Lord is

with you.

You have found favor with God.

Greetings, O favored one. The Lord is

with you.

Greetings, oh faithful Lord. You have

found favor with God.

It's the most important thing you're

ever going to hear in your life.

And notice that's where he starts.

He's going to get to all the giants.

They're going to get what's coming. I

promise you.

It's just not where he's going to start.

Why?

Because that's what you need.

That's what I need.

Who does God need to work on more than

anybody else in your life?

How does he work on you?

Like a giant slayer.

Better get your act together.

No

favored one.

Grace recipient.

Now the question that should be coming

up in your head and heart is what kind

of response should you and I have if

that's how our king comes.

Hold that thought. That's point three.

Because point two is the promised king

is God himself. Look at verse 32.

Gabriel goes on. He says of this king,

he will be great and will be called son

of the most high and the Lord God. And

now you're going to start to hear the

echoes even more clearly of second se uh

2 Samuel 7. And the Lord God will give

to him the throne of his father David.

Check. That's number one. We need the

king to do that. Then verse 33. And he

will reign over the house of Jacob,

which is shorthand for Israel or God's

people. You and I can include ourselves

there. And he will reign over the house

of Jacob. How long? Forever.

Check. Number three. And of his kingdom

there will be no end. Yes, that's what

I'm talking about. That's what we need.

That's exactly what God said to David.

But there was a piece in here that

Gabriel added that wasn't in 2 Samuel 7.

Did you catch it?

How does he start? He will be great and

would be called what? The son of the

most high. This this king, he's not just

going to be a son of David. Who's he

going to be a son of? God.

Um,

since you and I have the challenge

likely of of being too familiar with the

Christmas story, that doesn't shock you

the way it should shock you.

Hold on. You mean to tell me God's

coming? Like, that was good when it was

like like another Solomon in David's

lineage, but God's going to show up. You

realize this is the only place in the

world

in history where this happens. Here's

what I mean. If you are a founder of a

religion, do you know what you have

always said? I am here from God and I'm

here to give you God's instructions of

how you get right with him and get to

him. That's what every other

religion founder, belief system founder

has said. So what did Muhammad do that

founded Islam? He came. He said, 'I

talked to an angel. Angel gave me the

instructions and I'm here to tell you

how you get right with Allah so Allah

will accept you. Joseph Smith, who was

the founder of Mormonism,

not a Christian religion.

I'll unpack that in a future sermon.

Very interesting. Guess what Joseph

Smith did? He ran into an angel in

upstate New York. I kid you not. And

what did he say? This is the

instructions for how you become godlike

like Jesus. That's what he said today.

The the spirit of the age that you and I

live in is what I call secular humanism.

This is the you bump into it all the

time. You do you, right? Search your

heart. Pull out your your greatest

passion and desires and live your best

life. Right? Notice it's all the same

play. Satan only has a few cards and he

plays them on repeat. Why? Because all

the gurus of today tell you is what?

Here are your instructions in order to

work your way in order to have a great

life. Do you see the thread

versus

this is the only story where God says

I'm coming.

Which means what?

It's actually not about the rules.

What does he want?

Relationship.

Every other guru, everyone else, it's

about the rules. How do you work your

way? Work your way. Earn your way. Do

right.

Only this king, he says, I'm coming

myself because I want to come for you.

The rules will come. But it starts with

relationship. We looked at this verse

last week, John 17. And this is eternal

life. Or another way of saying, what

makes for salvation? How do I get saved

that they know you? Notice it doesn't

say this is eternal life that they kept

the rules. This is eternal life that

they climbed the mountain. This is

eternal life that they worked really

hard. No, this is eternal life that they

know you.

The only true God. How do I know the

true God? Well, it's through Jesus

Christ whom you have sent.

Why?

The giant slayer doesn't come to be your

buddy,

but your king does.

Do um do you remember co

remember this?

Um that was fun, wasn't it? Oh my gosh.

Some I don't know about you, but

sometimes like I like I'll have like a

COVID flashback and I'll be like, did

that really happen? Like was that a bad

dream? I think it was a bad

Um, do you remember fighting over masks?

That was fun, wasn't it? That was a good

time. Or, um, social distancing. Do you

remember this? Couldn't be within six

feet of someone else. That was a good

time. Um,

I I do as I as I thought about it, there

was at least the beginning some good

things maybe. Uh, do you remember not

having to sit in traffic for a couple

months?

I was a fan of that. Um, remember how

you could just like roll out of bed, put

on basically a shirt,

hopefully it was ironed, and just open

your laptop and you're at work. Remember

that after you learned how to use Zoom?

That was that was okay, right? I

basically shaved less. I was like, "Oh,

this is there's all the introverts, they

didn't tell you because they're

introverted, but then they're like, let

me get this straight. We're all just

going to stay home.

So good. So good. Um,

but then what happened? I don't know.

Like some of you, you've been working

remote for years and you're like,

"That's my happy place. I love it." Um,

you know what? I got to the point like I

hate Zoom. Like if I get on a Zoom call

now, like,

and then I'm really thankful that it's

not Zoom call after Zoom call after Zoom

call for eight hours. I'm really I'm

sorry if you like that. I pray for you.

Um I don't know how you do it. I don't

know. But here's what's interesting. And

even more recently, companies started um

going this route. What do they What do

you Can you stay home anymore? No.

Making you come in, right? Why?

It's actually better to be together.

is the same thing God thought.

It's actually better to be together.

Again, our familiarity with the story,

you know, Jesus is God's son.

You also know that he came.

There's no other story like this.

There's no other story like this

that he saw. Like, if you were the only

person that was going to believe, he

still would have come.

like you were that important to him that

he left heaven to come for you.

Just one brief application. If you ever

struggle with um being rejected,

being dismissed,

friends don't get you, family doesn't

get you, um overlooked,

passed over.

I think for all of us, we'll find

relationships and seasons where that's

us.

Just look back to Christmas

and the God who came for you

that he thought it was important enough

for him. He's like, I'm coming. Why?

Because it's not about you keeping the

rules.

He loves you without the rules. And then

an amazing thing that only the gospel,

only God could have figured out. You

mean to tell me that like after I'm in

relationship with you, then I'm going to

want to do right? Yes.

Yes.

So, this promised king is gracious. This

promised king is God himself. And this

promised king, what should we respond

with? Humility. We should respond with

humility. Look at verse 34.

And Mary said to the angel, "How will

this be since I'm a virgin?" Great

question.

Verse 35, 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."

Again, don't ask me how that works or

how that happened. God knew. God figured

it out.

But in just a again tremendous grace to

Mary, look at what verse 36 says. And

behold, your relative Elizabeth,

probably an aunt, maybe a cousin, in her

old age, has conceived a son, and this

is the sixth month with her who was

called barren. So Elizabeth can't have

kids and now is miraculously going to

have a kid. Who's her son? John the

Baptist. Right? So in in Luke's gospel

in the first several chapters, there's

these parallel birth narratives. The

birth narrative of Jesus and the birth

narrative of John the Baptist. And the

grace to these two women that they would

be in the same family line or however

they were related that they like who

else is going to get you ladies? How'd

you get pregnant?

They have each other.

Look what God did with you. Look what

God did with me,

man.

Look, he he gets all the details.

And then verse 37, if you don't have

this highlighted already or underlined,

how can this be? Well, for nothing will

be impossible with God.

And then verse 38, and Mary said,

"Behold,"

here's here's probably the most humble

statement in the Bible.

And Mary said, "Behold,

I'm the servant of the Lord. Let it be

to me according to your word."

We um we've said in our new church that

our mission is help people make the

trade. If you haven't heard that it

we're helping people, hey, trade a life

apart from Jesus for a life with him.

What does Mary say? I've made the trade.

Why? Because most people, like I've been

doing this for a number of years. You

know where most people get stuck? They

want to stay the king.

What happens for most people and where

they don't make the trade is they come

to passages of scripture and they stay

like this. They're like, "Oh, that's

interesting. Oh, you know what? I'll

consider it. You know, is this something

I want to do? Is this going to mess up

my life too much? Can I fit it in?"

And again, the people who miss it, the

people who miss the king want to stay

the king. That's the problem.

And Mary says, "Behold,

I'm a servant of the Lord. Let it be to

me according to your word."

My uh my wife, she uh she writes books

and through her writing, uh she's had

ladies over the years reach out to her

because of what she talks about in her

books. They're like, "I struggle with

that. Can you help me?" And so what

started as just trying to tell her story

like has led to a lot of coaching. And

so ladies will reach out to work with my

wife. And uh it's been interesting over

the years to see how um my wife comes

out of her office after one of her

initial coaching calls which are on

Zoom. So I guess it is helpful. Um

because she either comes out of the

office like

right or

like that. And here's what I've learned.

Right. There's basically two groups of

people and two groups of clients that

she works with. Group one we'll call

basically put together.

I got my stuff handled. I could use a

little help in this area, a little help

in this area. Let me see if this lady

here can help me. Right?

Group two are people who on that first

Zoom call usually say something like,

"I've been battling this for years and I

can't fix it and can you help me

please?"

Now,

I put it to your reasonable people.

Which group do you think sees more

change?

Do you need to pray about it?

No. No.

Why? It's always the humble people.

It's always the people who like Mary can

say, "It's not about me.

Lord, whatever you want to do, I'm in

for that."

Imagine this.

Lord,

in my marriage,

I'm just a servant.

Let my marriage be according to your

word.

Lord, I'm a mom. I'm a dad.

I'm just a servant.

Let my parenting be according to your

word.

God, I have this job. I have this

career, but I'm just a servant.

Let me do my career according to your

word.

Lord, I'm in my retirement years,

but I'm your servant.

Let these years be according to your

word.

Lord, I have these gifts, these

abilities,

but I'm just a servant.

Let me use them according to your word.

I'm a student. I'm in high school. I'm

in college. Lord,

I'm your servant.

Let me use these years according to your

word.

Let me tell you something you already

know.

The life that you and I want to live is

on the other side of Mary's statement.

the more there's only room, you know

this, there's only room on the throne

for how many kings,

which means you and I need to get off.

If you were a Jew in the first century,

like us today,

you were hoping for a Goliath slayer.

Guess what? You got something better.

and you still got a Goliath slayer.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for

this morning. We thank you for your

word. We thank you for your goodness and

kindness to us. We thank you that you

are doing far more than we can ask or

imagine. I pray for my own heart. But I

pray for my brothers and sisters that

you would continue little by little,

grace by grace to take the truth of who

Jesus is as king

and may it change us.

And may we be a people who little by

little and grace by grace look more like

him this Christmas season. And we give

you all the praise. And everyone said,

"Amen.