The book of Luke. Luke was a physician according
to scripture. He was a man who followed the
apostle Paul throughout his ministry and tended to many of his needs. Very, very faithful man in scripture. He was used by God to write this
gospel, the book of Luke, and also the book of Acts. And if
you read those two things, the book of Acts and the gospel of
Luke, you'll see that Luke was a very detail-oriented man. And I have some comfort in knowing
that he, long chapters, The first chapter of his book is 80 verses
long. So I'm not going to try to read
all of it right now. But anyway, Luke was a beloved
physician, and he speaks in chapter one. He says, for as much as
many have taken in hand to set forth an order, a declaration
of those things which are most surely believed among us, Even
as they delivered them to us, which from the beginning were
eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me
also, having had perfect understanding of all these things from the
very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus."
So you can see that the book of Luke begins with a declaration
by this man, and this is by the inspiration of the Spirit of
God, so we know it's true, that he had a perfect understanding
of these things. And he was, as I said, a detail-oriented
man. And so he gives us the beginning
of the gospel of Jesus Christ here. He begins with the account
of the angel Gabriel coming to a man named Zacharias. Zacharias
was a priest. His wife's name was Elizabeth.
And Zacharias and Elizabeth were both old. They were well beyond
the age of bearing children. Not only that, but Elizabeth
had never born children because she was barren. And an angel,
the angel Gabriel, appeared to Zacharias while he was going
about his business as the priest, appeared to him in the temple,
and Gabriel told Zacharias that he would have a son, he and his
wife Elizabeth would have a son, and they would name him John.
And of course, since Elizabeth was barren and they were both
old, Zacharias was not only surprised, but couldn't believe what he
heard. So he asked the angel, how do
I know these things are going to be true? The angel then told
him that because he did not believe his word, because he was one
who stood in the very presence of God and therefore was holy,
because God could not allow anyone to stand in his presence who
was not holy, and because God gave him this message and told
Gabriel to go to Zechariah to tell him of these things, that
Zechariah would not be able to speak until the baby was born.
And so after John was born, and they were about to circumcise
him, they were there, and the people asked Elizabeth, because
Zechariah couldn't speak, what is his name? And they thought
they should name him after his father, Zacharias, but Elizabeth
said, no, his name should be John. And they didn't agree with
her, and so they asked Zacharias, who couldn't talk, and he asked
for something to write on, and he wrote, his name is John. And
right then, he could speak again, and he prophesied. So this is
the very beginning of the revelation from God about the birth of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The first thing we see here is
that the message did not depend on the greatness of the persons
to whom it came. This man heard the message but
he didn't believe it, and yet God is true. Because God's Word
doesn't depend on our strength, it doesn't depend on our goodness,
it doesn't depend upon us at all. It depends on God. And God
does what is impossible. It was impossible for Elizabeth
to bear children. It was impossible for men. And
it was impossible for Zacharias. It was not possible for any except
God. God does the impossible and God
doesn't do anything that's possible for men. He only does the impossible,
and he always does good. And so this is the first part
of this that we see here. John, who's called John the Baptist
in scripture, was sent before Christ. It says in the Old Testament
that he was sent to prepare the way of the Lord. Now, Elizabeth
did conceive. She did conceive, and she was
pregnant with the son named John, who would be named John. And
while she was pregnant, in fact when she was six months pregnant,
the same angel Gabriel came to Mary. And Mary lived in Galilee
in a city called Nazareth within the region of Galilee. Galilee
is called Galilee of the Gentiles because it was on the peripheral
part of the nation of Israel. The region of Galilee had a town
called Nazareth in it, and that town was not a town anyone expected
any good thing to come out of. In John chapter 1, Nathanael
asked Philip, when Philip told him about Jesus, Nathanael said,
can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? It was a surprise. It would be like saying, really? Someone great came out of Olivehurst? That's the way it is, see? Because
God doesn't come to people based on their greatness. He doesn't
bless us based on what we are. The blessings of God do not depend
on us, but depend on God who gives them according to His will. according to his purpose. And
almost all the time, God uses things that are insignificant,
without strength, without any notoriety among men, in order
to accomplish his work so that he might silence the wisdom and
the strength of men, so that no flesh shall glory in his presence. And so in Luke chapter one, in
verse 26, I want to pick it up there. This is the second time
the angel comes and speaks of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. First to Zacharias when he told
Zacharias that his son John would go before Christ and prepare
his way. Now that same angel comes to
Mary and this is what he says to Mary. And I've entitled this
sermon, Mary's Salvation and Savior. because Mary needed a
Savior. She said so. She said, my soul
doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my
Savior. No one needs a Savior unless
they are a sinner. And so here we see something
about Mary. This is surprising in our world today when many
in religion believe Mary was somehow holy and because of her
character she was chosen to bear Christ. That is not the case.
God chooses the weak things of this world, the things that are
despised, the things that are nothing, to bring to nothing
things that are, so that no flesh shall glory in his presence.
And that's what we're gonna see here. Look at Luke chapter one
and verse 26. In the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God unto the city of Galilee named Nazareth,
a city of Galilee named Nazareth, the sixth month of Elizabeth's
pregnancy. Verse 27, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name
was Joseph. Mary had never been married.
She had never known a man intimately. She was a virgin, but she was
pledged, she was promised to be the wife of Joseph. And they
both lived in this place in Nazareth of Galilee. So she was espoused
to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David and the
virgin's name was Mary. An insignificant place and an
insignificant woman. except in God's eyes. In the
eyes of men, totally insignificant. But God had a purpose, and that's
why she was significant. Verse 28, 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.
Why was she so blessed? Because she was highly favored
by God. Now the words highly favored here are also used in
another place of scripture. In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
6 it says that God has made us, God our Father has made us accepted
in the beloved. Same word, accepted. In the beloved
is the same word here as highly favored. And I make note of that
to show you that What we're gonna learn here about Mary applies
in a much broader way, and we'll see in her how God saves sinners. So, she was highly favored, God
had favored her, and therefore she was blessed, and blessed
among women because of what is about to happen. Verse 29, blessed
among women, verse 29. And when she saw him, saw the
angel Gabriel, she was troubled at his saying. troubled at his
saying because God came to her. Through the angel, with this
message to her, you are accepted, you are highly favored with the
Lord. And so she's wondering, what
is this all about? And she casts in her mind what
manner of salutation this should be, this greeting of the angel.
What does this mean? The magnitude, the significance
of this message is beyond belief, absolutely beyond conception,
human conception. This is historically so significant
that it was promised from the beginning of the world and now
after thousands of years has finally come to pass. This is
the fullness of time. This is a place in history that
marks a break in time, even in our own calendar. You know the
designation that they give to time before Christ and the time
after Christ refers to Christ. B.C. before Christ, and A.D. in the year of our Lord, as it
means. The Latin is Anno Domini, but
it means in the year of our Lord. Why do you think the world has
tried to change B.C. and A.D. to C.E.? The Common
Era. Because they cannot stand to
hear the utterance of the name Christ and to own Him as Lord. That's it. They've had to compromise
that truth in order to welcome in the international acceptance
of their calendar. So they change it from B.C. and A.D. to C.E. That's a shameful thing, isn't
it? And so, this is a significant time in history. The message
sent from God by Gabriel the angel is inconceivably significant. And so it's no wonder that this
young woman who had never known a man or had been married would
be troubled at his saying because she's wondering, what does this
mean? Really, what does this mean? Verse 30. And the angel
said to her, fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with
God. Now this word here means grace. You have found grace with God. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. All of God's people find grace,
isn't it true? That's the way we're saved, by
grace. You are saved by grace. Otherwise, we cannot be saved.
If God doesn't choose to be gracious to us, we will be left to receive
what we deserve, grace. Grace is not something we earn.
By definition, grace means we don't deserve it. Grace saves
us when we are ill-deserving, when we do not deserve favor
from God. God gives us favor without any
cause found in us. That's grace. And not only is
grace unmerited favor, but it also does for us and does in
us things we cannot do. We can't do what grace alone
can do. Verse 31. And the angel goes
on, not only and says, thou hast found favor or grace with God,
but in verse 31, and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb. Now he's very specific here about
what he meant earlier. He says, you shall conceive in
your womb and bring forth a son. So you're going to conceive,
you're going to conceive a son and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be
called the Son of the Highest. Even though he's going to be
conceived in your womb, the one conceived in you who is a son,
whose name is Jesus, and shall be great, so great that he is
the Son of God, the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall
give unto him the throne of his father David. In other words,
he's going to be the king. God's going to make him the king
and give him a throne over which he will rule because he is the
son of David. He's going to be given the promised
throne of David, which was, as it goes on, he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever. This is not a mere human king. This king is going to reign without
end forever, everlastingly. And of his kingdom there shall
be no end. So he's going to be king. The
one born to you is not only the Son of God, He's going to be
born the son of David, son of God, son of man. As son of man,
he was a descendant from David, but he's going to sit on David's
throne and he will reign on that throne over the house of Jacob
forever. Now Jacob, we know the name Jacob.
What does it mean? He was a cheat. He was someone
who manipulated things in his life to get what he wanted. He
describes us perfectly, doesn't he? All of our lives we live
for ourselves. We're trying to manipulate things
in order to get things to go our way. It's just human nature. It's fallen human nature. The
fact that the Lord Jesus would reign over the house of Jacob
means he came to save what kind of people? Sinners. I didn't
come, Jesus said, I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners
to repentance. And this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. That's what this Jacob is referring
to here. Those Christ came to save who are in themselves sinners,
but the Lord was gracious to them. He says in verse 34, Then
said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be seen? I know not
a man. Now, when Zacharias heard the
prophecy of the angel from God, he did not believe. Even though
Gabriel was this great angel, an archangel, who stood in the
presence of God and was sent by God with this message to that
man, he didn't believe. It doesn't matter how great the
messenger is. The problem is with us. We don't
believe because we don't, we're not able to believe apart from
God's grace. Romans chapter three says, there
is none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. By nature, we don't understand
and we can't believe what we don't know, what we don't perceive.
And so here we see that in Zacharias' case, no matter the fact that
the angel was great and his message was tremendous, he did not believe. Yet in this case, the same angel
with an equally great message comes to her and she does believe.
So we learn from this that it's not the greatness of the messenger
or the greatness of the person to whom the message is given,
but it's the greatness of God's grace that attends the message
and takes the word from God and accomplishes God's word when
it's spoken. That's the way creation was made.
God spoke and it was done. And so the power is with God,
not with the person to whom the word has come. Not their wisdom,
not their goodness, not their faith, nothing about the person.
but the Word of God accomplishes God's will. And this is fundamental
not only throughout scripture and time, but especially here
in this case. Mary said to the angel, how shall
this be seen? I know not a man. And the angel
answered, I'm going to explain it to you. The Holy Ghost, or
the Holy Spirit of God, who is God, shall come upon thee, and
the power of the highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also
that holy The word thing is not in the original. You can just
say that holy which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. Why would the one born to her
be holy? Because Mary was holy? That's not what he says here,
is it? He says the power of the highest,
the Holy Spirit of God is going to come upon you, this is the
way you'll conceive, The power of the Holy Spirit of God will
come upon you, therefore the holy that is born to you will
be called the Son of God. He who was born to her is the
Son of God and therefore holy, but the man born to her, the
baby who would grow up to be a man, that man would be holy
because he was born of not a man, but of God. Well, this teaches
us several things. Number one, it wasn't Mary's
holiness that was the cause for God to say Christ was holy. This
is in contradiction to what the Catholics teach and believe.
Mary wasn't holy in herself. That's not why Christ was holy.
He's the Son of God. And the Holy Spirit conceived
his human nature in the womb of Mary without any contribution
from any man. And what does that teach us?
that what God does doesn't depend on man. It was without a man. That's the significant thing
here. Over the thousands of years since creation and the fall of
man, there was no Savior until God created the human nature
of the man, Christ Jesus, who is, before he was born, was already
the Son of God. He came as the Son of God. He
wasn't born as Son of God, but he came as Son of God and was
born as the Son of Man, the Son of David. And so he was conceived
in the womb without a man because our salvation is without our
contribution. It's without our strength. It
says here, the power of the highest. It wasn't Mary's power. It wasn't
her holiness. It was God's power. If Mary could
take some credit for the birth of Christ, then where would the
glory go? It would have to be divided,
wouldn't it? Between the Holy Spirit of God and a woman? You see how ludicrous, how ugly
that kind of a concept would be? To claim virtue for Mary,
when the Spirit of God was required to do what was impossible in
this woman who was in a town of nothingness herself. She was
nothing and insignificant. She was a woman God chose to
bless, God chose to show grace to, God chose to make accepted
in the beloved. And so we read on in verse 36,
and behold, the angel goes on, thy cousin Elizabeth, she also
hath conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month
with her, who was called barren. Here's the point, verse 37, of
both Elizabeth and Mary, for with God, Nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, notice, this is
the confession of faith. Behold, the handmaid of the Lord,
be it unto me according to thy word. In other words, Lord, do
what you have said. She just submitted to the testimony
of God concerning his son. Isn't that what the angel said?
This is what God is going to do and this is the significance
of it. It has to do with his son. The
angel of God directed Mary to Christ, to the son of God who
would be born. And so Mary said, Lord, behold,
I'm your servant, the handmaiden of the Lord. Do as it seems good
to you. Do as you have said. You see,
the whole focus shifts to Christ and to God's will and power. It's to His holiness, not to
Mary's. Now when we think about this,
There's so many questions that need to be raised. First and
foremost is why. Why did God send his son into
the world? Why did he do that? The second
question is why did he choose this woman who was a virgin? And why is it significant that
he did this in this way? Well, let me just address the
first question, and I'll try to address this more fully next
week. Why did Jesus come into the world? The answer to this question would
fill more pages than can fit in this world, don't you know?
In John chapter 20 and verse 30 and 31, the apostle John said,
the things that I've written here about the Lord Jesus Christ
If I were to have written everything that he said and did, I suppose
the world itself couldn't contain the books that were written.
And so we're not surprised that it's difficult to simply state
what the reason why Jesus came into the world, isn't it? As
soon as we start to describe it, we find ourselves falling
short. Remember the words of the song,
the love of God? The love of God, it's higher,
it is greater than human tongue or pen can tell. It goes beyond
the highest star and reaches to the deepest hell. if all the
world, if all the world, all the stocks on the world were
a quill and every man in the world was a scribe by profession,
by trade, and if the ocean was filled with ink and the sky was
the parchment, then it would drain the ocean dry to write
the love of God, you see. So to answer the question, why
did Christ come into this world? The first reason God gives is
to save his people from their sins. And he says, hereby we
know the love of God. That God gave his son to be the
propitiation for our sins. That's the way we know the love
of God. So the first question, the answer comes to mind is the
love of God. which cannot be written. It's measureless and kind. It's the love of God to sinful
men. That's the first reason, but what we find in scripture
saying many things about this. In Hebrews chapter two, it says
this. We see Jesus who was made a little
lower than the angels for the suffering of death. He was made
lower for a time. While he was on earth, he was
made lower because he was made in the likeness of sinful flesh.
But after that, no, he's greater. He was always greater, but he
humbled himself and he laid aside his reputation and was made lower.
But notice, he was made lower than angels for the suffering
of death. crowned with glory and honor that he might, by the
grace of God, he should taste death for every, for every, for
every one for whom he died. It says in the King James Version,
for every man, the word man again is not in the original and the
context shows it became him, for whom are all things and by
whom are all things to bringing many sons to glory, to make the
captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For whom
is he the captain? Those he saves, the captain of
their salvation. And who are they? They're the
ones that please God to make his sons. Why did God send his
son into the world? That he might bring many sons
to glory. And he would do that by making
his son, Christ, lower for a time than the angels in order that
he, by his death, might taste death for them. and he would
not be ashamed to call them brethren. He would become their high priest
and as their high priest would offer himself in that body, that
human nature, he would offer himself to God in sacrifice to
make a full satisfaction for their sins that he would bear
himself. So that's the first thing we
ask when we think about this. Why did he come? It was because
God would save his people in order that he might have a people
for himself who were holy and without blame, but for him in
love, that he might make them his sons. And he did that through
the death of his son. That's the love of God. That's
the holy character. That's the reputation. That's
the way we know God. How do we know him? in what he
did in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. But I want to go back
to consider Mary for a moment here. Mary was a virgin, and
you know how the world has idolized Mary. But Mary would be completely
ashamed of such idolatry. Mary has no power. Mary is just
a woman. She was blessed because God chose
to show grace to her. And this is the reason why God
did it this way, in order to teach us that the woman blessed
of God is all of his people collectively and each of them individually.
We are all saved in the same way that God blessed Mary. This
is the point of scripture. For whom did Jesus come and give
himself? It says in Ephesians 5, 25, Christ
loved the church and gave himself for it. And the church is in
that chapter of Ephesians. Chapter 5 is described as being
one body, one flesh, one bones with her husband, Christ. That's
the woman. He came to say, the church, every
believer, collectively, all together, without any left out, make up
that body of Christ. And in 1 Corinthians 6, it says,
don't you know that your body is the temple of the Spirit of
God? And that Christ is in you? And
that your body are the members of Christ? Let me read this to
you so that you hear it straight from the text. In 1 Corinthians
6, and I say this to show you the nature of the birth of Christ
carries over and teaches a consistent message of no less miracle than
the birth of every believer in the spiritual sense. 1 Corinthians
6, verse 15. Know ye not that your bodies
are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members
of Christ and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid. You
see how significant our bodies are? Because Christ is in us.
Look at verse 17. He that is joined to the Lord
Christ is one spirit. Now think about that. One spirit
with Christ? What does that mean? It means
that the Lord Jesus Christ, by His Holy Spirit, dwells in every
believer. What did the Spirit of God say?
I mean, what did the angels say? that the Spirit of God would
do for Mary. He would overshadow her and she would conceive in
her the Lord Jesus Christ. He already existed, but in his
human nature. And now the believer dwelling
in us, in our bodies, is the Spirit of Christ. And unless
we have the Spirit of Christ, we are not part of Christ. And
if we are, then we're joined to the Lord and we are one spirit.
There's a unity between the believer and Christ that's so intimate. Scripture says we're one spirit,
one, members of his flesh and of his body and of his bones,
Ephesians 5, verse 30-31. And he goes on in verse 19 of
1 Corinthians 6. What? Know ye not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which you have
of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with
a price, the blood of Christ, of course. Therefore glorify
God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. You're
bought with a price. You're not your own. Christ is
in you. And let me read this to you from
Galatians chapter 2. The Apostle Paul says this, and
it's true of every believer, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Amazing,
huh? How could I be crucified and
dead and yet live? Because I was crucified with
him and he rose. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless
I live, yet not I, I don't live, but Christ lives in me by his
Spirit, and the life which I now live in the flesh, my body, I
live by the faith of the Son of God who gave himself for me."
That is a miracle, isn't it? And this is true of every believer,
and of all believers, and all of them in scripture are referred
to as the wife, the bride, the woman Christ married. And they
are therefore holy, and the Apostle Paul, I think it's 2 Corinthians
11, says, I have espoused you to one husband, to Christ. And
so, we see here that in Mary, we see the whole body of Christ,
like we read last week in Revelation chapter 12, the people of God
were the ones through whom, after the flesh, Christ came into the
world. He was promised, what, as the
seed of the woman. Genesis 3.15, from the beginning
God promised that He would send the seed of the woman to bruise
the serpent's head. And that woman wasn't Eve. And though it was Mary in the
physical body, it was the whole body of believers through whom
Christ came into the world. and Christ lives in them. So
when we look at Luke chapter 1, what we're seeing here is
not only the birth of Christ, but the miracle of salvation
in every individual believer and all of them together as the
body of Christ. And notice that in this view
of things, when we look at Mary, it makes a lot more sense to
us because God chose the insignificant and the weak things of this world,
the things that are despised in order to silence the things
of the world, to bring the world's wisdom to foolishness and the
world's strength to weakness. in order that no flesh should
glory in God's presence. If Mary had something to boast
in, as many in religion today say she does, in other words,
about herself, then that statement can't be true, that God saves
us in a way so that no flesh should glory in his presence.
Have you ever noticed the absence of Mary spoken of around the
throne of God? That there's 24 elders, and there's
all of the angels, and they're all surrounding the throne of
the Father, God the Father, and of the Lamb, and there's the
Spirit of God. They're all there. And no mention is made of Mary.
If she was so prominent, why not mention her there? Because
every believer is represented by Mary. The whole church of
believers is represented in Scripture as the woman. The woman who gave
birth to the man-child. The woman who was saved by the
entrance of the Spirit of God into us. And let me read this
to you also. Galatians chapter four, my little
children, verse 19. Paul writes to the Galatians,
my little children of whom I travail and birth again until what? Christ
be formed in you. How is Christ formed in us? The
spirit of God births us as the sons of God. And that birth creates
what? It creates life in us. We are
his workmanship, Ephesians 2.10, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. We were created. He that is in
Christ is a new creation, 2 Corinthians 5.17. We were created, we were
birthed of God by his spirit, by the will of God, James 1.17
and 18, by the word of God. And the words that I speak to
you, Jesus said, are spirit and they are life. And that birth
raised us from spiritual death and our sins to give us a new
life. And that life in us is Christ.
Christ is our life, you see. So all of this having to do with
Mary, and it really happened, and it was real history. And
it was a miracle, impossible for men to even contribute to.
God did it all, is pointing forward to every believer. When the angel
came to Mary, and he said to her, hail, and this I'm reading
from Luke 1, verse 28. Hail thou that are highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed
art thou among women. And what did she do? She was
troubled. You know what, as a sinner, when
you hear the gospel as good news, and you find that all of your
thoughts of how you can make yourself right with God were
completely off base, not only off base, but idolatrous thoughts
of iniquity, because you thought that you could earn something
from God, that you could earn the gift that God gives through
the death of his son alone. When you realize that, what did
you think? How could God have saved me?
How could he say these things about me that I would be accepted
in Christ and for Christ's sake alone? Didn't it set you back? Didn't it overflow you with wonder
and joy that God would be so gracious as to say these things
of you? And then you found that it was
because of Christ? This is exactly the experience Mary has here.
God's favor is revealed that is towards her in grace, and
yet the message wrought is about the Son of God. It's not about
her. It's about what God is going
to do in her. And so the gospel comes to us.
It tells us about the Lord Jesus Christ. It tells us about the
reason He came to save His people from their sins. And we stand
before His cross and we look upon Him who took our sins and
owned them and blotted them out before God. And we're amazed
with open mouth awe inspired by God to worship Him. And we
don't think about what we're going to do. We're amazed that
Christ did it all and that he gets all the glory. And so we
say, Lord, I'm your servant. Do as you have said. This is
exactly what God is teaching here. The birth of Christ is
the birth of every believer with Him. And He's formed in us by
the Spirit of God. And we look to Him, as Mary did,
because we're insignificant and in ourselves weak and sinful,
and we need to say with Mary, my soul doth magnify the Lord,
my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my Savior. Amen, let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, our Lord. Let us never
be ashamed of him or compromise to try to lessen what he has
done or try to interject something of our own, but to always stand
in awe at His greatness, at His majesty, at His grace, His love,
His mercy, His judgments, that He would justify the ungodly
people that we are by His own blood and His own righteousness,
and that we would stand amazed in the presence of Jesus, the
Nazarene. In His name we pray, amen.