The Son of Man // The Announcement of the Coming Christ [Luke 1:26-38] (Sam Crosbie)

We have come into this place and we have gathered in His name to

worship Him. Are we going to invite Sam up?

Because Sam is going to speak very, very soon, and Sunday

school, you're going to be gaping it after this.

So can I invite the Sunday school to come and join me?

So Sam and I am by ourselves, just a bit lonely.

So Sunday school, one to the front.

I know it's not normal. Then from here you can fly out

the door. Come on up.

That's a keep coming. Come on.

Come on, Hayden, Let's go. Ohh, that is so.

Cool, you're gonna be full. Ohh, just so should we pray 1st

and then shall we get it? Come on.

Come back here. This way here.

Come on kitties, this has been well rehearsed and well

organised. Let's pray, shall we?

As a family, our God and our Father.

Thank you so much, Lord, for who you are and that we can gather

together in this building together as brothers and sisters

in Christ and Lord, just to be able to sing together, to sing

of your praise and your worship. And as we now just go into our

time of ministry, I just pray for Sam.

May you be with them, may you guide them and direct him.

May he be. May you be his all and all,

Lord, and for our children as I give it to Sunday school today,

Lord, may they just enjoy their Sunday school.

May they just enjoy the drawings, the readings, and the

stories that they will share together.

And Lord, we just pray for the teachers as well out there that

you'll just be with them. We thank you for their

encouragement. We thank you for their time and

preparation that they do for such a time as this.

As we have gathered this morning, Lord, we just say thank

you. Lord, we give you thanks, the

name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

See you later, kids. When you're right, we are

continuing our series on Luke this morning.

So if you want to open up your Bibles, we're gonna be in Luke

Luke 1 · chapter mention

Chapter 1. And this morning we'll be

looking at versus 26 through the 38.

If you're unsure of the date this morning, it is still

August. We are not in Christmas season

yet in December, but we have a text before us which we

associate very much with Christmas.

It's the beginning of the Christmas story.

Some of my friends think that's a little funny that I'm

preaching a message related to Christmas.

I'm known as the Grinch. For some people, that is not

true. I love celebrating Christmas on

Christmas Day. This takes we're looking at this

morning and it's one of the most familiar in the Bible.

I took a very thorough survey this week of maybe a dozen

people and asked them what do you think the most well known?

Sorry, and all the Bibles and after me prompting them, the

consensus was definitely Christmas.

And we're not looking at the entirety of the Christmas story

this morning. We're just looking at this very

first portion of it. But what I want to emphasise as

we just come into it this morning is that this familiarity

we have with the Christmas story, it's excellent.

It's great, but it very much has become the Christmas story.

Now, in the case of the Bible, we actually have two stories

that we get our Christmas story from, right?

We have the account given in Matthew and we have the account

given in Luke. And these are two individual and

unique stories. And this morning, we're

concerned with Luke and what Luke is writing, not necessarily

with Christmas and the events that we know from it.

As Dan talked about in the intro, each gospel writer has a

unique purpose. They have a unique intent in

what they're writing, and they choose to include different

stories and teachings as a result of that.

And this story that we're looking at this morning where

Gabriel comes and announces Mary's coming child, it's not

even mentioned in the story of Matthew, right?

Luke has a unique and individual intent for including it, and

that is our concern for this morning.

So with that in mind, let us read our texts.

Luke chapter 1 from verse 26. Now in the six months the Angel

Luke 1 · chapter mention

Gabriel was sent by 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 having come in, the Angel said to her, Rejoice, highly

favoured one, the Lord is with you, Blessed are you among

women. But when she saw him, she was

troubled at her saying, and considered what manner of

greeting this was. Then the Angel said to her, Do

not be afraid Mary, for you have found favour with God, and

behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a

Son, and shall call his name Jesus.

He will be great, and we record Son of the Highest, and the Lord

God will give 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. Then Mary said to the Angel, How

can this be, since I do not know a man?

And the Angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will

come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you.

Therefore also that holy One who is to be born will be called the

Son of God. Now indeed Elizabeth your

relative has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is

now the 6th month for her who was called Baron.

For with God nothing will be impossible.

Then Mary said, Behold the maid servant of the Lord, let it be

to me, according to your word. And the Angel departed from her.

This is a narrative, and we're going to be looking at a lot of

narrative as we go through the book of Luke.

And a difficult part of reading a narrative is that the author

doesn't necessarily write exactly what they want us to

always pick up from this story. They write their story from a

particular angle and with particular details with the

intention that we'll pick up what they're putting down.

Now, that's not really annoying of them, although it might seem

that way. When we read the Bible, it's

just the normal part of how we talk and how we communicate,

right? We infer the details.

We do this in everyday life, right?

For example, if we read the sentence, he pushed his plate

away with half the food still on it, we can infer a bunch of

potential details. We don't have much context.

So we could say that this person is pushing their food away

because they were already full, or maybe they were upset and

they didn't want to eat anymore, or something more interesting

was happening and they decided to stop eating and do that.

Right? And it's very normal for us to

infer details. Happens in scripture as well.

Here's an example from Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that

they were naked, and they sowed figleaves together and made

themselves coverings. Now we talked about this, and we

always refer to the fact that they felt shame.

We infer that even though the text doesn't explicitly say it.

But look at this in another translation which makes the

inference for us. At that moment their eyes were

opened and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness, so

they sued for Glees together to cover themselves.

So it's very normal for us to infer details into a narrative,

and that's a good thing to do. We don't just want to take

everything at face value. We want to understand what the

author is putting down for us to pick up.

And that is what we are going to be doing this morning as we look

at Luke. Our structure for this morning

is going to look very similar to last week.

We're just going to work our way back through the text.

I'm going to comment on it as we go and we're going to look for

some things. But before we actually start, I

want to tell you what I think we're going to find so that you

can be looking with me. So there's four key truths that

we're going to be looking for this morning.

The first are these. They explicit facts that the

text says very, very clearly within them.

And it doesn't take much for us to infer.

Luke just puts them right out there for us.

And that is the virgin birth and the Davidic heritage that Jesus

has. They're realities of the event.

And then there's 2 themes of Luke, which I think he is

putting in there for us to pick U.

And I think we're going to see them throughout his book as

well, not just here oo Firstly, we're going to see Jesus.

Jesus superiority to John. John was a forerunner and Jesus

is the fulfilment. We're going to see that a lot,

particularly for through the 1st 3 chapters of this gospel.

This story is going to be told parallel throughout it for us to

see. And secondly, this gospel, this

good news is for everyone. And God is using the lowly and

the humble to bring it about. So let's get back into our text,

our first 2 verses. Now.

In the six month, the Angel Gabriel was sent by 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. So 1st 2 verses they give us the

setting for which the story is occurring in and note that the

first thing Luke does is he connects it to the prior story

about John's conception in the six month is in a reference to a

period of time in the year. It's not referencing June or

wherever it was in the calendar they were using.

It's a reference to Elizabeth's pregnancy, the same Angel

Gabriel as also prison, which continues this link.

Luke wants his reader to connect these two stories.

He wants us to compare them. He wants us to contrast them.

And like I said, the first 3 chapters of his gospel are all

like this. So tell John side of the story.

Tell Jesus side of the story. So right, Gabriel's profit

prophecy to Zechariah, right? Gabriel's prophecy to Miri,

right, the story of John birth, John's birth right, the story of

Jesus birth introduce John's ministry, introduced Jesus

ministry. So we're going to see this

contrast over the next few weeks as well.

Luke wants us to be comparing the two of them not to show 1 as

good and one is bad, but to distinguish their roles.

Make it clear that one is the forerunner and one is the

fulfilment. 1 is preparing the way for the Lord. 1 is that

Lord? So having established that

connection and that first sentence there, we see an

immediate contrast between these two stories.

Gabriel, if we remember from last week, appeared to Zechariah

standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

Jeff talked about the significance of that.

The Jewish legend there was a part of that.

And we also saw some incredible timing, right?

Jeff talked about how and over the course of somebody's life, a

priest, they actually spent very little time in this position.

So maybe of the two weeks or the month that they might spend

their entire lives doing this. So happens that when Zechariah

is standing in the most central location of Jewish worship, that

is where Gabriel appears to him. By contrast, Gabriel's second

expedition has him somewhere far less expected generally, as

you'll see on this map here, it's far to the north of Israel.

I'm not sure how big that is for you.

So Galilee is our region up and purple towards the top half of

the map. Jerusalem is right down in the

middle of this pink area. So Galilee, it is a Jewish

province. The colours there are just

dividing who's in charge of them during this period of time, but

that's not relevant to us. Galilee is a Jewish area.

It's not like Samaria, which is in between Judea and Galilee,

which is obviously enemies of the juice.

It's a Jewish area, but it's looked down upon by Jews from

Judea. They're considered to be far

more under the influence of Greco Roman culture.

If you've heard of the Decapolis cities, they're in that area and

they have an immense influence on the region of Galilee.

So it's considered to be a little bit unclean that people

there aren't considered to be as pious, and it's far less

expected for where Jewish faithful are and for where

angelic messages are going to be coming to.

Now, within that, Nazareth is so insignificant that it's

identified by its province, right?

So it's Nazareth to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, right?

We only identify places by their province affair and significant.

I don't say to you, my friend is in now living in London, in

England. I just say London and you know

where it is. Maybe if I identified a

different place, I would have to identify we would come from,

right? So if I said I'm from Petadu,

many of you might know where that is because it's the city of

the future. Ohh, I might have to identify it

by it's in the South Waikato. So we know that Nazareth is

insignificant. So what Luke has done here and

setting the story out is he's made it apparent that this is a

nobody from a nowhere place. OK, so Mary is an insignificant

person from an insignificant place, a lowly Jewish town.

And as we head into our next verse, we see two points of

identification about Mary, and they are parallel directly to

the two truths that I mentioned earlier for us to pick up.

Pick up on. Mary is a virgin and she's

betrothed to a man of David's line.

Betrothal and Jewish culture is essentially just a year long

engagement. There's a commitment there, but

there is no sexual relations. We'll talk about the

significance of both the virgin birth and the developed heritage

as we go. But what I just want to note

while we're on this verse is what Luke chooses not to include

about Mary. So last week when we were

introduced to Zechariah and to Elizabeth, we were given the

heritage. Zechariah was a priest of

Abidjan's division, and Elizabeth was a descendant of

Aaron, and they were also described as righteous.

Mary gets no such introduction. Mary is really being pictured as

a nobody from a nowhere place. So then we get into our

greeting. This is 28 and 29.

And having come in, the Angel said to her, Rejoice, highly

favoured one, the Lord is, whether you blessed are you

among women? But when she saw him, she was

troubled at her saying and considered of what manner of

greeting this was. O Mary, this character who Luke

is portraying as insignificant and we should understand to be

insignificant, gets quite the greeting, right?

Begins with rejoice, so that anticipates that what Gabriel is

going to say is good news. The following three declarations

are certainly good news. Highly favoured one.

The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.

Pretty good things to have said about you, right?

Luke, though, gives no basis for why Mary is getting these

honours. We don't have a description of

her righteousness like we did of Zechariah and Elizabeth.

And angels aren't really known for turning up and delivering

kind words that people for no apparent reason, right?

We don't have a record of that throughout the Old Testament.

Or an Angel shows up, shower somebody with praise, takes off.

Because we don't have a description of Mary's

righteousness with that, we can confidently say that Mary's

favour that she's finding with God this blessing and the Lord

being with her is nothing about her present state, but about

what God is about to announce and do through her.

That's important to realise because we don't want to ascribe

to Miri our honour that she's not due, right?

That's the mistake of the Roman Catholic Church.

Rather, we can say this. God has given his favour to one

who had no claim to worthy status, raised her up from a

position of loneliness and has chosen her to have a central

role in salvation history. Why?

Because that is who God is. He pours out blessing and grace

on those who are undeserving. He delights in the humble and

the lowly. Mary is lovely and humble within

society. She is not righteous or perfect.

Now, Mary's initial reaction to this is not to rejoice like

Gabriel has suggested. Instead, she's troubled because

she considers the type of greeting that it is.

She knows that she isn't worthy of the things that Gabriel has

just said about her. She knows that she's not

deserving of God's favour. She says in her song, which

Billy will be preaching on next week, that God is her Saviour

and praises her, praises him for it.

She recognises, as I've just explained, that this bestowing

of God's favour is not about her present state, but about what

God is going to do through her. And to be troubled by that is

fear. Throughout the Old Testament,

when angels show up, the person they talk to is often tasked

with something difficult. Gideon was tasked with

overthrowing the Midianites, Manoa and his wife with raising

a Nazarite son. If I suddenly appeared by my

wife's side and showered her with compliments, she would also

probably look at me troubled and wonder what it was I was about

to ask her to do. It's a natural response, and so

Mary, she's considering this type of greeting that she's

getting, and she's troubled for what she might now hear.

And this is what Gabriel announces to her.

Then the Angel said to her, Do not be afraid Mary, for you have

found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in

your womb, and bring forth the sun, and shall call his name

Jesus. He will be great.

And we recalled the Son of the Highest and the Lord God will

give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign

over the House of Jacob Forever and his of his Kingdom.

There will be no end. Even after an Angel showing up.

I don't think Mary could have anticipated this news, right?

It's very strange news. And in the case of Zechariah, he

had been praying and he had been crying out to God for the

barrenness of his wife to open her womb.

And with Mary, there's no apparent problem given there is

no prayer for anything. There's angels just shows up and

gives some very unexpected and unanticipated news.

Mary was a virgin. She would not have been praying

for children. Now these are important notes.

Firstly, because at furthers that contrast that we're making

between Jesus and John, but secondly, and perhaps more

importantly, it highlights that Jesus coming was God's

initiative in the world and God's alone.

God is the author of salvation. He has planned it from maternity

past and he alone dictates us coming, coming to pass.

Salvation belongs to the Lord, right?

This is not being put forward by three years of men.

It is not being ushered in by the righteousness of a

particular person. This is God's plan, God's

working in the world and his alone.

So what we actually have in this verse, verse 30, Gabriel

reassures Mary, don't be afraid, there's 31.

Gabriel announces the birth of a child, and verses 32 and 33

described the ministry of the coming child.

He'll be great. That's a contrast to John the

Baptist, who was described as being great in the sight of the

Lord. And verse 15, he'll be called

Son of the highest. That's regal language.

It gives the idea that he'll be a king, which is further

supported by the remainder of this announcement saying he will

sit on David's throne and rule over the House of Jacob Forever.

Gabriel is using this language which brings to mind the

covenant found in 2nd 7/7. Mary's a nobody in Jewish

society, but she would have known the government this

expectation that when the Messiah came, he would have been

of David's line and he would restore Israel to even greater

glory and splendour than they'd been when David rained over

them. So if we look at Sick and Samuel

7 next to our passage here, this is 12 to 16, and we will see

some of these comparisons. If you'd like to turn there,

reading from verse 12. When your days are fulfilled and

you rest with your father's, I will set up your seed after you,

who will come from your body. I will establish his Kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the

throne of his Kingdom forever. I will be his father and he

shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will

chase chasing him with the rod of men and with the blows of the

sons of men. But my mercy shall not depart

from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before

you. And your house and your Kingdom

shall be established forever before you.

Your throne shall be established forever.

O We see a lot of similarities in these two texts, words that

Gabriel is specifically using to bring this to mind, right?

So I've drawn some parallels for us here.

Firstly, we have this idea of sunship going across both of

them. Son of the highest and Luke, and

shall be my son and sick and Samuel.

We have the establishing of his throne mentioned several times,

particularly in Second Samuel, and once in Luke, and we have a

Kingdom that never ends right. The the parallels are clear.

This is a fulfilment of what's being talked about in Second

Samuel 7 and that's a lot for Mary to take on.

It's one thing to be preparing for marriage, right?

That takes mental and emotional toll on somebody.

It's another thing for an Angel to turn up at the most to the

most unsuspecting of people in an unsuspecting place, right?

That's a lot for one person to be taking on.

To then be told by that Angel that you're going to conceive

when you're a virgin is more news that might overwhelm you a

little bit. And then finally, on top of

that, that that child that you are going to conceive and bear

is the long-awaited Davidic Messiah.

It's a lot to take on, but Mary, bless her soul, she doesn't miss

a beat, right? She doesn't sit staring at

Gabriel in shock, she doesn't have an emotional breakdown, and

she asked a very practical and logical question given the

circumstances. How can this be since I have not

known a man? Good question.

Unlike Zechariah's question last week, which Gabriel interpreted

as being 1 of disbelief, Mary's question is not a sign of

disbelief. It's just a question it's a

pondering over. This is a weird situation, this

is a weird thing, and I have questions.

Fair enough. She's inquisitive about how this

is gonna work. And fair enough.

Virgins don't conceive. It hadn't happened prior.

It hasn't happened since, and I want to talk Doctrine of the

Virgin Birth here, just for a second.

OK, so we're gonna not stray from our text, but get a little

bit more specific with this O the virgin birth, or more

accurately, the virginal conception is a doctrine of

orthodox Christianity, and we should understand it.

And I recognise that there's very few passengers in Scripture

which talk about the virgin birth, and it's probably going

to be a long time before Hockney has one of these passages again.

So I thought we better cover it at least somewhat.

So let's start with this. The doctrine of the virgin birth

is supernatural. There is nothing natural about

the virgin birth. We do not conceive for this way.

This was a one time thing. It was unique.

If you want an explanation for how the virgin birth is

possible, we know we're not going to find one.

We're just going to get told God does this thing, all right?

That's the explanation we get. But Scripture, and this passage

in particular, is abundantly clear that the virgin birth is

what happens. It doesn't leave room for any

other sort of interpretation of what's going on.

Alright, so if we consider the Bible as our source of

authority, we can consider the virgin birth to be a fact even

though we don't understand it. Now that's not a new

interpretation of scripture that has existed since the beginning

of the church, right? We have documents going as far

back as the Church Father Iranians in the 2nd century, or

the Apostles Creed, a touchstone of faith since the 2nd century

that attests to Mary being a virgin.

So what's left to discuss is not how, but why.

And the majority of the answer are lies in the uniqueness of

the virgin birth, because the Bible has a lot of accounts of

barren woman at whom God comes to and opens their womb and they

conceive, right? Jeff talked about some of the

parallels last week between Elizabeth and Sarah.

All right, so that's one example of somebody who was born in the

Old Testament. God opens their womb and they

conceive and the book of Genesis that makes a point of God's

faithfulness to his covenant by having so many barren woman and

Abraham's line that would prevent that promised seed from

continuing. But again and again God

overcomes the the natural barrenness.

If God is faithful to Abraham, then he must have the sentence

right? But his wife Sarah is Baron when

he finally has a son Isaac, Isaac's wife Rebecca as Baron,

then Jacob's wife Rachel is also Baron.

But each of these Baron women have children after God

intervenes. God is intervening again in the

story we're looking at this morning, but it's in a unique

way for a unique child in this situation.

God is intervening in a place where no human is crying out for

him to intervene like the patriots were for their wives.

And he's also overcoming the greatest natural obstacle to

conceiving the lack of male sperm.

And again we ask why? Because the uniqueness of the

virgin birth protects the humanity and the divinity of

Jesus from coming under accusation.

It would be hard to recognise just the divinity if he was a

child of Joseph and Mary, and it would be equally hard to

recognise his humanity if he had no parents at all.

But it also makes unequivocally clear that God is the one

controlling redemptive history. The way for God to work with

humanity and restoring harmony between himself and us is no

longer by providing children to barren women to build up a

nation. It is by taking on human forms

that divinity and humanity intersect in a new and unique

way which they have never done so before.

God enters the human story and a new and unique way to achieve

His unique purposes. This, this, this distinguishes

Jesus from the outset as being far greater than all the

biblical heroes who have come before him, who were born out of

barrenness. He is greater than Isaac.

He is greater than Jacob. He is greater than Judah.

He is greater than Samuel. He is greater than John the

Baptist. And it's all good and well for

us to look at the story and have these details and see the

significance of the virgin birth.

Mary doesn't get this explanation from Gabriel.

Instead, she gets this from this. 35 And the Angel answered

and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the

power of the highest will overshadow you.

Therefore also that Holy One is to be born would be called the

Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth, your

relative has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is

now the 6th month for her, who was called Baron.

For with God, nothing will be impossible.

So as we've just discussed, the hell and Mary's question can

only be answered by supernatural means.

The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most

High will overshadow you. Isn't a medical explanation for

the virgin birth, it's just saying God is doing his thing.

Mary has given a sign of confirmation that this is going

to happen in the form of Elizabeth's pregnancy.

Once again, connecting this narrative to the previous one,

this also gives us some new information about Mary, right,

So earlier I said she gets no genealogy, there's no

information given about her. But now we see that she's

actually Elizabeth's cousin, meaning it's likely that she's

also from Aaron's line. Does that contradict to what we

said earlier about what Luke was doing to make her as

insignificant as possible? No, it probably furthers the

argument because it shows that although Luke knew that, he

chose not to include any sort of introduction about Mary, but

chose to make her as insignificant as possible.

Rather, he just uses that information as a necessary link

to what's going on. Then a grand introduction.

It's also worth noting that Miri, who's just a young girl in

Galilee, is the one whose question to Gabriel is not met

with punishment for disobedience.

Zechariah, who was a priest, would be the one who was

expected to of the two to respond to a meeting with an

Angel with faith. But there's a priest who doubts

and as a consequence is made mute.

It is the lonely woman who responds in faith and is given a

sign that doesn't cause her any harm.

In the mean time, that brings us about to the end of our text,

right? So let's do a quick recap before

we look at this last verse, our full key truths.

Hopefully you have seen them as we've gone along.

Mary was a virgin. The text is that three times.

It gives no room for any other sort of interpretation.

The man she was betrothed to was of David's line.

Despite Joseph not playing any role in the conception of the

child, he's still considered the father and the child.

Jesus will take on his heritage. Gabriel's announcement make that

makes that super clear. The Lord God will give him the

throne of his father, David, despite despite Joseph's absence

and that conception, he passes his family connection to the

child. Luke also makes clear through

the style of writing that we should be making the comparison

between John and Jesus. Their stories are interwoven and

designed to be read together. He also makes clear that they're

not merely related, but they play an important role in the

lives of each other. John is a forerunner who

prepares the way for the Messiah.

Jesus is that Messiah for John and for the whole world.

Luke also makes great effort to show the people who God is using

to bring about His plan. He's already shown us in his

previous passage. He's using the high and

righteous of society and Zachariah and Elizabeth.

But he's not just working with people in those positions.

He's working with the lowly and the humble as well.

God is showing His power through the week in the world, not the

strong. It is the lowly and humble who

is bringing about the greater child.

Not to the priests. He does not need people of high

standing and earthly power. He uses whomever he chooses and

they are considered from thereafter the highly favoured.

What I want to do as we come to a close is take a look at our

final verse. I think it brings us to a

natural challenge because if we could summarise what we've

looked at in these previous 11 verses, we could talk about it's

it's summing up how God is bringing about salvation in the

world. It's talking about His plan, and

it's talking about to one specific person, Mary.

So what is the response of this blessed woman, the highly

favoured Mary, to the God who has chosen her to play a crucial

role in His redemptive plan? Behold, the maid servant of the

Lord, let it be to me. According to Your word, Mary

counts the cost, identifies with the Lord, and submits to Him.

There's all at stake for her here.

She's about to fall pregnant. During the time of her

betrothal, she's not told that Joseph will be made aware of the

situation. She can only expect that she

will be considered adulterous, that she'll be shamed, and that

she'll have no type of certainty for anything in the future.

God has put on her an incredibly difficult task, but she doesn't

mention any of these challenges in her response.

She doesn't ask for God's favour or blessing in them or complain

about them. Instead, she identifies herself

as the maid servant of the Lord. In the Greco Roman world of the

1st century, servants were a part of the household that they

served. They were identified by the

household they belonged to, not the family that they came from.

As we are Miri and calling herself the Lord's maid servant

is showing her allegiance. Her place of belonging first and

foremost is not to her father's house.

It is not that to the House of her betrothed and Joseph, it is

to the Lords House, and it is out of this firm and shore

identity that she sees. Let it be to me according to

Your Word. She placed her faith in God's

provision, protection, and salvation in a situation that

gave her no basis for certainty. And the question that I want to

ask us this morning is what is our response to God bringing

about salvation in the world? What is our response to God

inviting us to be a part of it like he did with Mary?

Mary's role was unique and I don't want to draw parallels

that don't exist, but she's an excellent model of a faithful

response and we've all been given a message to respond to.

It has not been delivered to us by angels like Mary's was, but

it has been given to us. We don't need an Angel to come

and reveal the will of God to us.

We have the Word of God and it was given to us by the child

that she bears. And I want to read a summary of

that child and what he says to us later in Luke at the end of

his gospel. If you want to flip over to

chapter 24 right in the end of Luke's account, this is after

Jesus resurrection. He's with his disciples.

He appears to them in the upper room, and it says this, and

versus 46 to 49. Then He said to them, Thus it is

written. And thus it was necessary for

the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and

that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His

name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

And you are witness of this, witnesses of these things.

Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you.

But Terry, in the city of Jerusalem until you are in

endowed with power from on high. This passage sums up in a very

broad sense the salvation that God has brought about and His

offer for us to be a part of it, both in receiving it and in

participating in His mission. That's what Mary got right.

She got an image of what salvation from the Lord looked

like and her role in it. And what was her response?

Behold the the maid servant of the Lord.

Let it be to me, according to your word in this passage,

salvation looks a little different, right?

We're a little bit further along with a few more facts was

necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead on

the third day. We know that to be true and that

in repentance and faith in that message, we find forgiveness of

sins. That is where salvation comes

from. What is our response to it?

But this remissions of sins, this repentance, it should be

preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

And your witnesses of these things, behold, I send the

promise of my Father upon you. But Terry, in the city of

Jerusalem, until you're injured with power from on high, that is

the ministry that we are called to, right?

Mary was given the ministry of bearing the Son of God, a pretty

unique role. And we don't have that same one,

but we're given a mission to be a part of, and it's a part of

that same mission to preach his name beginning in Jerusalem and

to all the nations, right? And we're at 2000 years later,

right? Jerusalem has had it preached

through it. A lot of the nations have had

preached to it. We're not going to tell you guys

to go start in Jerusalem, but we're given this Ministry of

Reconciliation as well. What is our response to the God

who has invited us into his salvation and to be a part of

then sharing that salvation to all of the word Mary models what

it should be, counting the cost, identifying with the Lord and

submitting to him. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for the gift of your Word.

We thank You that it is sufficient for salvation and

godliness. Lord, You have given us

everything that we need within it that we can respond to You.

You have told us what we need to respond to.

You have told us our fault and our issue, and you have shown us

the way that you can change us and transform us from this miss

of sin that we have created to the salvation that you have won

for us at the cross. Well, we thank you for this

model of response that Mary gives us to count the cost to

identify with you and to submit to your will and your plan

lobby. Thank you that your plan reaches

to everyone as we've seen this text.

We thank you that it is not just to the Jew, it is not just to

the high of society, but it is to the lowly, to those who are

insignificant to the world, who live in insignificant places.

Your gospel goes to all of them and is powerful to all of them.

Would I pray that we would be a people who respond faithfully,

who repent faithfully, and then who take that message of

repentance and everywhere we go, thank you for the gift of your

Son that made this possible. In Jesus name we pray and.