Luke 1 26 and in the sixth month
the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named
Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph
of the house of David and the virgin's name was Mary and the
angel came in unto her and said hail thou that art highly favored
the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women And when
she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her
mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel
said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with
God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth
a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and
shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall
give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign
over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall
be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel,
How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered
and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. Let's pray together. Gracious Father, I pray this
morning, Lord, as we gather before you and open your word, Lord,
and read this, of this miracle of your grace, the miracle of
God with us. May we not overlook it, Lord.
May we not miss it because we're so familiar with the language
or with the the idea that God would come where we are and be
with us not only as a man but be for us as your people. To come where we are and to take
upon flesh and having taken upon Yourself
our nature, Lord, you took upon yourself our sin and bore our
sins in your own body on a cursed tree so that the angels might indeed
declare and with resounding voice shout peace, peace on earth, goodwill toward
men, toward sinners. I pray, Lord, that by your grace
through faith in your son, that we would rejoice with those angels
who rejoice before your throne. Rejoice in the knowledge of the
son of God. And how that our sins are forgiven.
Our sins washed away. And we stand before you perfect
and blameless and holy in him. Cause us to rejoice in him. In
his precious name we ask, Amen. The angel said thou shall bring
forth a son. Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 9-6 unto
us a child is born. Thou shalt bring forth a son,
Gabriel said, and this is a baby being born, born like any other
baby, beginning as a single cell, they say, and that cell multiplying into
a group of cells, and about four weeks after conception, that
baby is the size, they say, of a poppy seed. And in another week it grows
to the size of a peppercorn. And people ask and argue and
debate and fight over this question. When did it become a person and
not just a group of cells? God said to Jeremiah, before
I formed thee in the belly, I knew you. And I ordained you, and I sanctified
you. And Jeremiah was only a human
child. He had a human father and a human
mother. But God said, I formed you in
your mama's belly, and I knew you before that. And I set you
apart as holy before you were ever born. And I ordained you
as my prophet. So when our Lord was born, another
baby was born into this world in much the same way that Every
other baby was born into this world, but there was a difference,
a very important difference. When men and women have children
the way that God made us to and told us to multiply and replenish
this earth, that child is the product, for lack of a better
word, it's the child, the offspring of the man and the woman. And that child will likely have
characteristics of both his father and his mother. Vicki and I have
had quite a few people say to us through the years that Eric
looks exactly like his mama. And somebody told Eric and I
just, what, two weeks ago, you look just like your dad. Well, it's kind of both, isn't
it? He's a little of both. When the Lord Jesus was born, It was what we would call a natural
birth in most ways, but his conception is what's different. God used the body of a woman,
Mary, to conceive and to incubate and to give birth to his child. There was no human man involved. Verse 34 tells us that. She said,
how can I have a baby? There's no man. Mary knew that people can't have
a baby without both the man and the woman but with God With God verse 37 With God nothing shall be impossible
Does that remind you Of another verse of Scripture What was our
Lord talking about when he said to his disciples after the rich
young ruler hung his head and walked away sorrowful? And he
said, they said, who can be saved? If that man, he came, he wanted
to go to heaven when he died. Who then can be saved? With men,
it's impossible. Mary said, I can't have a baby. It's impossible. But with God. What's he talking about there?
Well, he's talking about a birth. What was he talking about back
then? He was talking about a birth. With God, all things are possible.
Now look at verse 35. And the angel answered and said
unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power
of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God the Son of God it says in Matthew chapter 1
verse 20 a different account of this same story while while
Joseph thought on these things and the things that Joseph was
thinking on was the fact that He was told that his betrothed
was about to have a baby, and he wasn't involved in it. That
would give him something to think about, wouldn't you imagine?
That would be something to think about. While he was thinking
on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto
him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to
take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost. It's not another man, Joseph.
Don't you imagine he was thinking about that? That's the only way. No, it's
not. Take unto her, Mary. Take unto
thee, Mary, thy wife. So our Lord's birth was like
that of any other baby. Unto us a child is born. But
Isaiah didn't stop there. He said, unto us a son is given. There's a gift. There's a birth,
but there's also a gift. Unto us a son is given. That
holy thing which shall be born of thee, we just read, shall
be called the son of God. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. Unspeakable. I've gotten some
gifts. I've been the recipient of generosity
in this life just in a temporal sense that's left me speechless. But you talk about unspeakable. God loves so much that he gave
his only begotten son. Who did our Lord look like then,
you reckon? Who did he look like? Who did
he have the genetic characteristics of? Did he look a little bit
like Mary, maybe? I know one thing, he didn't look
like Joseph. He didn't look like Joseph, did
he? Paul wrote, here's what I know, here's what I know. Paul wrote
in Hebrews 1.3 that Christ was the brightness of God's glory
and the express image of his person. Here's what I know. Who did he look like? He looked like God. He looked
like God. He said, if you've seen me, You've
seen God Almighty. What did that look like? Well,
there was no beauty about him. That we should desire him, Isaiah
also wrote. He was not beautiful to man,
at least not to man by nature. Our eyes that we are born with
could see nothing special about him. But if God ever gives you
eyes to see, If he ever says to you from his word, blessed
are your eyes, for they see. You'll see what Simeon saw just
eight days after he was born. Simeon, just eight days after that baby was born, looked
into that baby's face and said, I've seen God's salvation. Now
that's beautiful. I'd say that's beauty, wouldn't
you? Simeon saw something of his beauty. The thief on the
cross looked at his swollen, broken, bloody, beaten face and saw the king of glory about
to ascend his throne. That's beautiful. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4,
6, for God who commanded the light To shine out of darkness
has shined in our hearts. Our hearts. Blessed are your
eyes. Blessed are your ears. Blessed
are your hearts. And here's why he did it. To
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. And where
do we see that? You know where. In the face of
Jesus Christ. Is there any beauty about him
in your eyes? It says when they crucified him
that they sat down at the foot of the cross and beheld him there.
What do you see when you look at him? I look like my dad. If you saw
some pictures of my dad before he died, beard and all look exactly
like him. Who does he look like to you?
Who does the Lord Jesus Christ look like to you? God gave him
unto us a son is given. God gave him. God conceived him. He is holy. The sin of Adam is not passed
down to him. You can't get clean water from
a dirty fountain. And so God bypassed the fountain
of Adam and his sinful race, and by his Holy Spirit conceived
his holy child, Jesus. God gave him, God conceived him,
and God named him. He said thou shalt call his name
Jesus. Matthew 121 says she shall bring
forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save
his people from their sins. Now I prayed earlier that God
would not allow us to overlook the miracle the glory
Because of familiarity. We've seen this before, we've
read this before, you've heard this before. But have you heard
it? Have I heard it? Do I really understand? The impossible is going to happen. And the impossible has a name.
Salvation has a name. Because salvation is somebody.
His name is Jesus because of salvation. And his name is Jesus because
of certain salvation. He shall save. And I want you to notice that
word shall. What our Lord came to do, God
gave him, God sent him into this world. And he said early, didn't
he? As a youngster, I must be about
my father's business. That's the first words that we
have of our Savior recorded in Scripture. He said to his mom
and dad when they searched for him, didn't you know that I must
be about my father's business? The angel said to Mary what he
came to do, he shall do it. And when he had done it, he said
it's done. It's complete. It's finished.
It's perfect. There are a lot of ways to answer
the question regarding our Lord's final words from the cross. He
said it's finished. There are various ways to answer
that question. What did he finish? And that
question has been asked and answered many times different ways, but
the simple answer is found in our text. He saved his people. And then what'd he do? It's done. He saved his people. The first thing we learn about
him, his name, Well, that he's holy, that he's
God's son, and then his name is Jesus because he shall do
something. And the last thing he said is,
it's done. Now the religion in this world
teaches that Christ did all that he could and then left it up
to you and I to finish it. But our Lord said in John 639,
my father's will is that I should lose none of those that he's
given me. He said I came to do the will of him that sent me.
What is that? He shall save. Of all those he's given me, I
should lose none. I'm going to save them. I'm going
to raise them up again at the last day. It all starts with
that simple phrase. Thou shalt call his name Jesus.
For he shall save. And all through his life. Didn't
you know it must be about my father's business? What's that?
He shall save. I must work the work of him that
sent me while in his day. What are you doing, Lord? He
shall save. It's finished. What is, Lord?
He shall save. The angel announced at the Lord's
birth what he was going to do. And with every step he took,
with every word he spoke, with every drop of blood that he shed,
he did it. And when our Lord made his soul
an offering for my sin, being made of a woman, made under the
law that he might redeem them that were under the law, When
he redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us on the cursed tree. When he obtained eternal redemption
for us by the once for all offering of his own precious blood unto
God for our sins, he cried, it's finished. Finished. It is perfect. It is complete. It is accomplished. It is finished. He did not provide
salvation. He finished salvation. He didn't
make salvation possible or available. He finished it. He came to save
his people from their sins. And he was successful and victorious
in that mission. And that's just simple, clear,
plain, basic, undeniable truth. And everybody in this world,
except just for a few, are denying that truth. He did not come to save everybody.
Gabriel said he shall save his people. He shall not save all of mankind. He did not intercede for all
of mankind in his high priestly prayer in John 17 as he was going
to the cross to finish salvation for his people. He said, I pray
not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me. This
is my father's will that those whom he's given me. I'm not going
to lose any of them. I'm going to save them and I'm
going to raise them up. And he said, I don't pray for
anybody but them. And I'm going to save them. When
he died, he was doing what he said in John 10 that he was going
to do when he said, I laid down my life for my sheep. That's
what he did. What does that mean he should
say? That's how he saves. He lays down his life. He makes
his soul an offering for sin. Nobody takes it from him. He
lays it down of his own will. And he said, I lay down my life
for my sheep and they're never going to perish. He said in John 10 to the religious
Jews, the reason you do not believe on me is because you are not
my sheep. He said, I lay down my life for my sheep. The good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. I know my sheep, and
they know me. They hear my voice. They follow
me, and they shall never perish. And they're in my hand, and they're
in my Father's hand, and they can't be touched. He shall save
his people from their sins. And he's able to save to the
uttermost. That's kind of sounded like the
uttermost, didn't it? John 10, read that chapter. the
uttermost, those that come unto God by Him. We don't need a chance to be
saved. We need to be saved. Paul said
of the religious Jews in Romans chapter 10 that they were going
about trying to establish their own righteousness before God.
They're doing what everybody else in this world is doing except
those whom God has revealed Christ to. They're trying to work their
way to heaven. They sing about it. They talk
about it. They go about it to establish their own righteousness
before God, not being willing to submit to the righteousness
of God in Christ. That's what they're doing. And
you know what else he said about him? He said, Oh, my heart's
desire and prayer to God is that he might save them. That's what
needs to happen. to somebody that's trying to
please God by their own works. They need to be saved. They don't need better doctrine,
they need to be saved. And then their doctrine will
be Christ and His Word. When Simon Peter was bidden to
walk on the water to come to our Lord Jesus Christ, what a
picture of coming to Christ. No man can. He said no man can. Can you walk on water? Yeah,
me neither. No man can come to me, but come
to me, Peter. And Peter kind of knew that,
didn't he? Because he said, Lord, you bid me come and I'll come.
He didn't just jump out, did he? I don't think I would have
by his grace. I wouldn't have. Lord, you bid
me come and I'll come. And the Lord said, come. Peter
can't do that. And when he began to walk on
the water and took his eyes off of Christ. You know how I know
he wasn't looking at Christ? Because it says he was looking
at the waves and the winds. And he began to sink. And I tell you what he didn't
say. He didn't say, Lord give me a chance. He didn't say, Lord I've come
to a decision. He said, Lord, save me. That's
what sinners say when they're sinking under the waves of their
own sin. Lord, save me, and that's what
every son of Adam needs. For the one who is able to save,
who is mighty to save, who came to save, who shall save. Lord, let me add one word to
that, me. Oh Lord, you can save. You came to save
and you're going to save. Will you save me? If Christ is the one who shall
save, how do I know if he'll save me? The word shall in our text is
not the only shall in the word of God. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. You cry, Lord save me and see
what happens. And this is a heart cry now,
it's not just words. This is the cry of a sinner who's
sinking and knows it. Who's spent all that they have
and are just worse. When you say, Chris, that whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord, are you saying that it's
up to me? No. Thank God it's not up to you.
Thank God it's not. John 6 30 said, All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. They shall come. There's another shall. They shall
come. It's up to God. Before you were
ever born now, it was up to God. And him that cometh to me. Who's
that? All that the Father giveth me. And when they come. He said they
shall. It doesn't say when they're in
the scripture. Yeah it does. It said they shall. So when they
come. He said I'll never cast them
out. I'll never cast one out. Do you
need him? Come to him. I can't. I know
that. But I came to him. With God,
nothing shall be impossible. If he bids you come, if he says
stretch forth your hand, you sure enough stretch forth your
hand. If he says rise, take up your bed and walk, Lord, that's
the one thing I can do. I can sing you, I can't do that. I
can sing you a song. I can, you know, make excuses
for my sin. The one thing I can't do is walk. That's the one thing you must
do. You must come to Him. The one thing you must do, you
can't do. But with God, nothing shall be
impossible. And He bids you come. If He bids
you come, then come. And with that command goes the
power to obey it. Lazarus, come forth. No man can come to Christ except
the father which sent Christ and gave sinners to Christ draw
him and if you come to him You'll know this to be true Do you think when Peter you think
about that experience he's walking he said Lord You won't do you want me to come
to you I Sure would like to come to do you want me to is it okay
with you? Peter come come And here he comes,
walking on the water and he began to realize, I can't walk on no
water. And he sank. And what happened then? The Lord
immediately stretched forth his hand and took hold of him and
lifted him up out of the water. You reckon when that was all
said and done, he sat around saying, bragging to the disciples,
I can walk on water. We're probably stupid enough
to say that if the Lord leaves us alone, but I got a feeling That probably wasn't the story. I think the story probably was
this. I cried, Lord save me, and he did. He did. He bid me to come, and I couldn't
do it, but he saved me anyway. He saved me anyway. What do we need to be saved from?
He shall save his people from their sins. Our sins have separated between
us and our God. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned. And this is not us doing bad
things sometimes. Everybody admits, well, I've
done some bad things. Sometimes I do bad things. All
we do is bad things. And that's because we are a bad
thing. The natural man, Romans chapter
8, is not at enmity with God. He is enmity with God. Our problem
is what we are. Our Lord was born of a virgin
because everyone born of man is a sinner like the first man.
Our nature is sin. It's what we are. David said,
in sin did my mother conceive me. I was a liar the day I was
born, he said. And by nature we all are the
children of wrath, even as others, but God. But bless God, He is
rich in mercy. Bless Him for that great love
wherewith He loved us in Christ. How shall Jesus save His people
from their sins? By burying their sins in His
own body on the tree, He redeemed them from the curse of the law
being made a curse for him. Isaiah 53 11 he shall see of
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many. How is he going to do that? How is he going to make guilty
sinners not guilty? He shall bear their iniquities.
That's how he justifies us freely. were justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. How shall he save us from our
sins? By redeeming us from our sins with his precious blood.
Romans 3 24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus whom God has set forth to be a sin
offering. That word propitiation just means
sin offering. Through faith in his blood to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past. Through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, how? For he shall bear their iniquities. God can be just and justify sinners
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus But what about
me? We read that there too, through
faith in his blood. Do you believe in his blood? Do you believe that Christ is
the sufficient, the sufficient, satisfactory, victorious sacrifice
for sin? Do you say as the publican, God
be propitious to me at the mercy seat. Have mercy on me, the sinner. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He shall.
He did. He does. He will. Hebrews 10, 11. And every priest
standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sin. That's the old covenant.
Pictures now pick a beautiful picture, but that's all it is
Sin will never be taken away like that or by any religious
activity like it But this man after he had offered one Sacrifice
for sins forever sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool For by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified By one
offering, He made somebody perfect. Who do you reckon that is? He
shall save His people. Of all that the Father has given
me, I lose none. Not a single one. I don't pray
for this world. I pray for those the Father gave
me. He obtained eternal redemption for us. He perfected forever
somebody. And that word perfected. By one
offering for sin he perfected forever. You know that word perfected
in Hebrews there? It's the same word translated
it is finished in John 19 30. God's will is perfectly accomplished. Now listen to me, listen to me
for the next 15 seconds here. God's will is perfectly accomplished. God's eternal purpose of the
salvation of his elect is perfectly fulfilled and God's people are
perfect, spotless, holy, and just, all by the precious blood
of the Son of God. Our Savior hung there, covered
in his own blood, as it fell to the earth. It was flowing
from his head, it was flowing from his back, it was flowing
from his hands and his feet. and eventually flowed from his
side, the rest of it flowed from his side. And as that blood was pouring
from him to this earth, what a picture that is, he cried perfect. The angel said he shall, he said
I did in John 17 and at the cross and we sing. By faith, by grace
through faith, we sing under the blood of Jesus, safe. Safe. The word safe sounds a
lot like saved, doesn't it? That's how we're safe, we've
been saved. Saved by his precious blood. John said in Revelation
1 5, he washed us from our sins in that precious blood. God loved
us from eternity And herein is that love. God loved us from eternity. You
know we say that? I say God loved you from eternity. And that sounds great, doesn't
it? I'm glad he did, but that's hard
to enter into, isn't it? What does that look like? I know
what it looks like. Here's how you enter into that.
Herein is that love. That eternal, electing, distinguishing
love. Herein is love. Not that we have
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the sin offering
for our sins. God was a baby. He took on Him our nature. He
took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took upon Himself
my nature, so that He might take upon Himself my sin, and save
me from my sin, so that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him, so that we might be able to say with Paul, who
is He that condemneth? Christ died. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. How can you say that Paul? How
can you say that God can't condemn you for your sin? Very simple. Christ died for me. The one who is great, our text
said he shall be great. He's always been great. But you
know why it says he shall be great? Because as a man, as my
mediator, as my representative, as my last Adam, he should be
great. That hadn't happened yet. It
has now, but not then. Now it has. And in God's eternal
purpose, the works are finished from the foundation of the world. The one who is God's eternal,
well-beloved, only begotten son, The one who's on the throne.
Did you notice that in the text? I don't want to take long this
morning, but it said the government He's going he's going to sit
on the throne of Jacob his people The one upon whose shoulders
Isaiah said all of the government of God's universe and all of
the government of God's purpose of grace toward his people all
of the government of the covenant Rests upon him it is he that
has saved me from my sins He died for my sins according to
the scriptures and by his grace, I believe I believe we're saved
by great through faith And I want to show you something about that
in our text and I'll be through look at Luke 1 again In our text
in verse 28 The angel said to Mary Let's
look at it together verse 28. I The angel came in unto her and
said, Hail thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Now some say that that means
that Mary being the mother of God, that she was some kind of
a special mediator, that she was a special, that she was sinless,
that she was holy or else the Lord. No, the Bible doesn't say
that. It doesn't say she's holy, it
doesn't say she's sinless, it doesn't say she's a mediator
between God and men, it doesn't say she's a saint in the sense
that this world considers sinners to be saints. In fact, just the
use of her body to function as the mother of God's son did not
guarantee that she even knew God or his son. That's just physical. How is Mary blessed then? Blessed
art thou. Well, she's blessed the same
way every other sinner who God blesses is blessed. Look at it
in the text. Look at verse 30. How is Mary blessed? The angel
said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with
God. You know what that word favor
means? Grace. Noah found grace. Mary found
grace. Where was it? It wasn't in Mary's
eyes or Noah's eyes, it was in the eyes of God. God's eyes shone
with grace upon them. That's how sinners are saved
right there, by grace. But that's not all the scripture
says about that. Thou hast found grace with God,
and by grace you are saved. But also, all sinners are saved
by grace, but by grace are you saved through what? Look at verse
45. Blessed is she that believed. Blessed are your eyes for they
see. Blessed are your ears for they
hear. Blessed is the heart of the sinner
that believed. Blessed is she that believed. Not blessed because she believed.
She believed because she was blessed. She was highly favored
of God. And by grace, through faith,
she was blessed of God. Mary was not blessed because
she was the mother of Jesus. You notice the Lord never called
her that? There's nothing wrong with saying that in an earthly
sense that I can see. But our Lord always said, woman,
not in a cold way. Oh, he was a perfect son. And he loved and respected his
mother. But she wasn't saved because
she was the mother of Jesus. She was blessed by the free grace
of God through faith in the one who was conceived in her by the
Holy Ghost. She was saved the same way Noah
was, the same way Abraham was, the same way Moses was, the same
way you were, by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Mary said in Luke 1 46, My
soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God
my Savior. My Savior. I've seen God's salvation. How about you? Are you rejoicing
in Him? I pray God will give us grace
to do so this morning. Let's pray together.