Well, good morning, everyone. It's good to see everybody out this morning. If you would open your Bibles with me to Book of Luke, that's where our lesson will be taken from this morning. Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one. Before we begin, let's bow before our Lord together in prayer.

Our Father, we're so thankful that you have given us both the desire and the ability to be here this morning. Pray, Father, for those who can't be here this morning because of health issues and other problems. Father, we pray that you would be with them, that you'd strengthen them, that you'd comfort their hearts with your presence, and that you'd be pleased to return them to us again quickly. Father, we're gathered here together this morning to hear a word from thee, not to hear the thoughts and the ideas of men but Father, to hear a word from thee and how I beg of you that you'd be pleased to speak to us this morning through your word and that you would reveal to each heart here this morning the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, cause us to believe him, cause us to rest in him, cause us to see that he is our all and in all.

He is all we need. Father, our constant prayer is show us your glory. Show us your redemptive glory through the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. And let us be taken up with him. Let us be taken up with the blesser, not just the blessings, but the blesser, the savior of sinners.

Father, bless us this morning as we attempt to worship for Christ's sake. And we pray for our Children's class father that you would bless this time. I pray she'd bless Dan and teaching that you'd bless our Children and hearing that father this would be a time that you'd be pleased to plant the seeds of faith in their hearts. Let them one day be like young Timothy that they've known the scriptures from their youth, which are able to make them wise unto salvation. Father, bless us again, we pray. enable us to see Christ, to see our need, and to see that He is everything we need as we look into your word this morning. For it's in His precious name we pray and give thanks. Amen. Now, I've titled the lesson this morning, Much Graced. Much Graced.

And I'd like to read the passage and then come back and look at it a little bit, beginning in Luke 1, verse 26. And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin, a spouse 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 are highly favored.

And that word phrase highly favored could be translated much graced. Thou art much graced. 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 favor 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. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age, And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God, nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Now this is a passage that unfortunately men have twisted and pulled out of place and made things that are not so. They make Mary out to be, you know, sinless and, you know, on a plane, you know, well above all the rest of us mere mortals. But she wasn't. She wasn't. Now, Mary was a virgin, but I find this very interesting that people in false religion call her the Virgin Mary. That's not in scripture, the virgin. She was a virgin at this time, but not anymore.

I mean, we know after our Lord was born, she had a number of other children. And besides that, every virgin is a natural born sinner anyway. That doesn't make us sinless in any way. If you're an unmarried person, that's very good to be a virgin, but it doesn't make you sinless.

A funny story Janet told me about when she was a little thing, she was probably about four years old, in Doris Mahan's Sunday school class, and Doris was going over teaching this passage of scripture to the children in that class. And Janet asked her, what's a virgin? And without missing a beat, Doris said, an unmarried woman, an unmarried woman. And this is, you know, Mary at this time.

But even though she was a virgin at this time, Mary needed a savior to be born of a virgin just as much as you and I do. She needed a Savior to be born of a virgin, without the help of a man, without the seed of a sinful man, so that that Savior did not partake in Adam's sin. The reason all of us are sinners is we're conceived from the seed of a sinful father, a seed that traces its roots all the way back to Adam, so that we're born with Adam's nature. But the Savior was born without the seed of a man.

He was, so that he could be the second Adam. So that he could make his people righteous the same way Adam made his people, his race, unrighteous. By representation. By doing what our representative did. All of us are born sinners because we partook in Adam's sin. But our Savior, and so that when Adam disobeyed the law, we did too. But the Savior was born with a nature without sin. And when he obeyed the law, so did all of his people. So did all of his people that were in him. And that's why that we can be made righteous because our representative was righteous. Because our representative never sinned. And that's why scripture is so insistent on the virgin birth. Christ could not be our savior unless he's separate from Adam's seed. So this is how he was born.

And Mary needed that just as much as you and me do. Then another thing about I hate to point out all this error, but I want us to be well taught in this area. Mary is not a co-mediator with Christ. People make her out to be a co-mediator, and all that is is a fleshly way of thinking. It's applying the flesh to God. People think, well, if you can get somebody's mother to want something, then she can get her son to do it. Not the Lord Jesus. He's not a mama's boy. Now, he loved his mother. He respected his mother. And he submitted to her rule as a child. And he honored her even to his dying breath. But she's not in control of him. She's not in control. She's not a co-mediator. And aren't you glad? Aren't you thankful?

We have a whole lot better mediator than another sinful person. Our mediator is the Lord Jesus Christ, and Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 2 verse 5, there's just one God, and there's just one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. That's who we need as our mediator, a sinless one, not another sinless woman like Mary.

And I'll tell you another reason to be thankful that Christ is our intercessor. Whoever it is that the Lord Jesus Christ is making intercession for, They're saved. The writer to the Hebrew said in chapter 7 verse 25, wherefore, he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to do what? Make intercession for them.

So Mary, she's a sinner just like us. She needed a savior born of a virgin just like we do. The Savior to be the Holy One who can make intercession for her the same way we do. But now Mary unquestionably was blessed of God, wasn't she? Blessed of God to be the mother of our Savior. Now that's an honor. That's an honor that one woman in the history of mankind had, to be the Savior, or to be the mother of the Savior.

And in verse 28, the angel told her, you're much graced The angel said unto her, hail thou that are highly favored. You're much graced. The Lord is with thee. There is no doubt about it. Mary was much graced, but here's what I want us to get from this passage this morning. If you're a believer here this morning, Mary, the mother of our savior is not more graced than you. You are just as much graced. as Mary was, and I'll show you a few examples of that. Number one is this. Mary was a sinner and she needed a savior. And because of his much grace, God sent her a savior. The word Mary, the name Mary, it means their rebellion or a bitter rebel. And that's what all of us are by nature in Adam, aren't we? We're bitter rebels against God. bitter rebels. We have joined in the rebellion of Adam and we're bitter rebels.

But Mary was still an object of God's mercy and grace. God saved her and he did it through the sacrifice of her son. And from the get-go, Mary understood that. Look at verse 46 of this same chapter. Here's Mary's song of thanksgiving. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord.

My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. I'm not rejoicing in the fact that I'm giving birth to the Savior. I'm rejoicing in God my Savior. I mean, there's a lot in that statement. She had some understanding that the baby boy she was gonna give birth to was God. God in human flesh. But you know what? You're much grace, too. If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, you know why you believe? You're an object of God's grace, and he sent the Savior to you. This phrase, highly favored, it also means made lovely, made agreeable, made accepted. That's what every believer is.

By the new birth, when we're born with a new nature, the Holy Spirit causes a new nature to be born in us, So that we're forced to live with two natures. We still have to live with the flesh that we're born with, but now we also have a new nature. And that nature is holy. It's righteous. It cannot sin because it's born from incorruptible seed. And that's the nature that God will accept. That's how he makes his people accepted. That's how he makes them lovely.

It's by causing them to be born again with the spirit of Christ. Now, if sinners like you and me, are going to be born again. I mean, you think of the magnitude of this blessing, to be born again with a nature that believes Christ, that trusts Christ, that won't quit trusting him, a nature that cannot sin, a nature that can never be rejected of God. That takes much grace, much grace. And that makes me glad to read that our God is the God of all grace, the God of all grace. Here's what I promise you. God's got enough grace to save even you and me, even you and me. The second Mary was much graced in divine election. The angel told her, blessed art thou among women, among women. You're not blessed over and above other women. You're not blessed differently than other women. You're blessed from among women.

And you think of Mary at this time, she's of the house and lineage of David, but she's a poor girl. The house of David, scripture calls it a root out of a dry ground, it looks dead, it looks gone. Nobody in David's lineage is laying claim to the throne of Israel, are they? They're forgotten, completely forgotten. She's just a nobody. Nobody would even care if she's of the house and lineage of David. She's nobody.

And that's who God chose to be the mother of our Savior. Of all the women on earth that he could have chosen, it was this poor, insignificant, unknown woman. That's much graced. But every believer is much graced in the very same way in divine election. Before time began, the father chose a people out of Adam's fallen race. He chose a people out of that race to save. He chose them unto salvation. He gave them to his son to save.

Now, not one of those people is deserving of the least of God's mercy. None of those people did something to make them stand out from the rest of Adam's fallen race. They didn't do something to make them so they're somehow deserving for God to choose them. They're undeserving in every way.

We're like what Mary's name means. We're born bitter rebels, bitter rebels against God. We're spiritually poor, we're bankrupt, we're no count. We've grown from the dead root of Adam. We're born dead in sin. and God elected to save those people anyway. He knew that we would be born doing nothing but sin against Him. We would be the ones shaking our fist in the face of God Almighty and say, I'll not have this man to reign over me. Crucify him, away with him, destroy Jesus. And that's who God chose to save anyway. Much grace. Much grace, wasn't it? And then third, this angel came and told Mary, you're going to give birth to the Savior. She was made part of the family of the Lord Jesus, his mother.

And that seems, you know, I just wonder about all those silent years where our Lord was growing up, what it was like, you know, to be in the house with the Lord. I mean, I just, it just is beyond my mind to be able to think about it. And that had to be, you know, such a blessing. But you know what?

Every believer is as much graced as Mary was. If you believe on Christ, if God's given you faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're part of the family of God. The family of God. Look at a couple scriptures back at Mark chapter three. Mark chapter three, verse 31.

There came then his brethren and his mother, and standing without, sent unto him calling him. And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, behold thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answered them saying, who is my mother or my brethren? And he looked round about on them which sat about him and said, behold my mother and my brethren. These people here who believe on me, this is my mother and my brethren. This is my family. For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same as my brother and my sister and mother.

Now what is it to do the will of God? The will of God is to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the commandment of God. That's the will of God. The purpose of God is to save his people out of Adam's fallen race, to send his son to suffer and die for them and to reveal by faith his son to every last one of them and to bring them all to be with him in glory when the Lord's ready to wrap this thing up. That is the will of God, the purpose of God. So to do the will of God is to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

A group of smart alecks asked the Lord one time, well, what work should we do that we would work the work of God? And they thought he would give them a work, like the law, tithing, and keeping the Sabbath, and not lying, and honor your mother and father. And Lord told him, this is the work of God, that you believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you how, what a blessing it is to be part of the family of God believes on Christ. The family of God trusts Christ. Now you're much graced. Because you can't make yourself believe God. You can't make yourself trust on Christ. You can't make yourself trust him to be your righteousness. If you believe him, you know why you do? God the Holy Spirit gave you the free gift of faith in Christ.

Oh, you're much graced. Much graced. Look at Ephesians chapter three. Ephesians chapter three. Verse 14, for this cause I bow my knees unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. The family of God is all named after our God.

Named after him, to bear his name. This is the name, Jeremiah said, wherewith she shall be called the bride of Christ. This is her name. Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness, to bear his name, to not bear the sinful name of Adam anymore, to not have to be known by my sinful name anymore, but be called the same name as the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord our righteousness.

Oh, that's much graced, much graced. And I'll tell you something about a family. I thank God for my family every day. I love them so much. And here's the thing about a family. A family is always welcome. Jan and I are empty nesters now, but anytime, I mean anytime, I don't care when, day or night, anytime, our girls or our sons want to come home, the door's open. And when you get there, Jan's got hot food on the table.

She's got a fresh bed for you upstairs. She's got, I mean, stuff that girls like, smell good stuff, and bath beads, and bath bombs, and just, you know, and I'll go upstairs. We got this great big old tub, you know, iron tub, iron cast, whatever it is. Go up there and draw you a hot bath and lay down.

You're family. You're welcome at any time. The family of God are the ones who can come before his throne of grace at all times, in any time of need to find grace and help in time of trouble. That's the family of God. We've been made the family of God, and this is even, well, it's the same blessing spiritually that Mary, I was gonna say more much grace, but more much grace than just being the physical mother of our Lord, Christ is the bridegroom, and we're the bride. He has married himself to us, and he didn't choose the prettiest girl in class. He chose the ugliest one. He chose the poorest one. He chose the most rebellious one to make her his bride.

Now, if we're married to Christ Jesus, we're much graced. Much grace to have a union with him that's eternal. To never have to worry about him telling you, I don't love you anymore. I've loved you, he said, with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn you. There's never a separation from him. There's never a divorce from him.

He's the bridegroom, and as his bride, Don't we rejoice in the bridegroom to be married to him? It's greater than the human mind can comprehend. But then we're also his child. What I want us to see is the depth of this relationship that a believer has being made part of the family of God. We're his bride, but we're also his child. If you're still there in Ephesians, look back at chapter one.

We've been adopted into God's family on purpose, on purpose, chosen by name on purpose to be adopted into his family. Ephesians 1 verse 4, according as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. That's why I said a little bit ago that the Father didn't choose us because we were holy or because we were less full of blame than somebody else. He chose us that He would make us, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will. He predestinated all of His sinful people unto the adoption of children. He chose us on purpose. You think of the young mother or young man and woman coming to the orphanage and they want to adopt a child. Almost invariably, you know what they do?

They choose a cute little baby, maybe a little toddler, but you know, one that's cute or a little baby. The rebellious teenager over here, Scowling in the corner is not the one that they choose. That just doesn't seem like that's going to make my house a pleasant place to be.

God Almighty chose to adopt the scowling teenager over there. That's you and me. The one who, if he didn't give us a new nature, we'd turn heaven into hell. We would ruin his house, but the father chose rebels to adopt into his family. and make part of his family.

And this is a special, special relationship. Look at Romans chapter eight. What a special relationship it is to be adopted into the family of God. Romans chapter eight, verse 15. For we've not received the spirit of bondage again to fear But we've received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

And I'm told that that is a cry of a child, a small child that has such a close relationship. It's Papa, Papa, Daddy, Daddy. This is a close, intimate relationship that we have with our father because he chose to put us in his family. Much graced. But now look at 1 Peter 1.

Not only has God chosen to adopt his people into his family, if I can say it this way, that we would be called double children. Because we've been adopted into his family, but also all of God's people have been born as his children. Born into his family in the new birth. 1 Peter 1 verse 23. being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Earlier, I talked about that new nature, being born.

It's righteous, it's holy, it cannot sin. Why is that? How is that possible? Because Peter tells us we're born again of incorruptible seed. by the preaching of the word of God, that we preach, we sow, we spread this gospel, we spread this word of the Lord Jesus Christ, and when the Lord's pleased, he puts it in the heart of his people and causes it to grow a new nature that's holy and righteous, that's just like the seed that conceived it, incorruptible.

A child of God, to have the nature of our father. Usually, when our girls show the nature of their father, it's quickly pointed out to me, these are your kids, your kids. When they act sweet and lovely, Jan says, they're mine, you know. To have the nature of our father, oh, what a blessing. I always, always hate to see my nature in my kids. But our heavenly father is well pleased to see the nature of his son. in his people, and you know how it got there?

He put it there. Oh, much graced, much graced. And then the Lord Jesus Christ is our big brother, our elder brother. Look at John chapter 20. John chapter 20, verse 16. This is when our Lord has risen from the grave and made him, he appeared to Mary. In verse 16, Jesus said unto her, Mary. And she turned herself, now she recognized him and saith unto him, Rabboni, which is to say master. And Jesus said unto her, touch me not. He wasn't meaning she couldn't touch him. What he means is don't be clinging to me like I'm gonna go somewhere. I'm not going anywhere yet.

I'm not yet ascended to my father. But go to my brethren, my brothers and my sisters, and say unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father, to my God and to your God. If we trust Christ, we have the same father as the Lord Jesus Christ. He's our older brother.

When I was a little boy, when we lived in Danville, I had a good friend. His name was Stephen Summers. And while I had this friend, Stephen, there was also, going the other way out of our house, if I go out of our house and turn right, I'd go towards Stephen's house. If I go out of my driveway and turn left, there was a bully lived down there.

And he gave me lots and lots of trouble. And I always wished I had a big brother that would just go beat the snot out of that kid and make him quit bothering me, you know? Now, Stephen had a big brother. And I told Stephen one day, I wish I had a big brother. And he said, no, you don't, because all they do is pick on you. Not our big brother. Our big brother loves his little brothers and sisters so much that he gave himself to redeem Oh, what a big brother. You'll never face a problem your big brother can't handle for you. Oh, much graced to have the Lord of glory be our big brother. And then lastly, Mary was much graced when she heard the gospel of Christ.

Did you catch that? Verse 30, verse 31 in our text, Luke one, it says, And behold, thou shall conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. And he shall be great and 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.

In verse 38, Mary said, behold, the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. This angel came to Mary and he told her who the Lord Jesus Christ is. In this way, he preached the gospel to her. He told her who Christ is and what he's going to do for his people.

And she believed it. Now, she didn't know how it was going to happen. She said, how will this be? I know it on a man. She didn't know how God was going to do what he promised to do, but she believed he'd do it. And she believed her son was going to come and do everything that God told her he was going to do. She heard the gospel of Christ and she believed. Much graced. Wasn't she much graced?

Now you and I, we don't hear from an angel. We hear from another sinful man. We don't hear what Christ will do. We hear what he has done. And by God's grace, we believe him. Much graced, much graced. You think what a blessing it is that God sends you a messenger, not an angel, but another man to care for you, to care enough for you, to tell you the truth, to preach Christ to you every chance that he gets. And the Lord makes you hear the gospel from the lips of a sinful man and you believe on Christ. The only explanation for that is much grace, much grace, much power. And you know, for the great blessing that Mary had to be the mother of our Savior.

One day, she about had her heart ripped out as she watched her son hang between heaven and earth and make his soul an offering for sin. She saw her son fulfill this scripture and purchase her salvation with his own blood. A trial, I guess, is that what you call it? A trial of faith? What a painful experience, but much graced, much graced to see the redemption of her soul purchased by the blood of her son. Do you know if you believe Christ, you're much graced in the same way. By faith, you see Christ crucified. You see his blood as all it takes to wash away your sin.

And there's sorrow involved in that. I mean, there's unspeakable joy. But don't you hate to think about what your sin caused the Savior to suffer? I mean, I hate to think about that. But I sure am thankful, because that's my redemption. And by faith, we see that the same way that Mary. Mary was not redeemed because she saw the Lord crucified. Lots of people saw the Lord crucified and were not saved. Mary saw it by faith, the same way you and I do. And if we see that by faith, oh, we're much graced, much graced. And we should be a grateful and thankful people, shouldn't we? Much graced. All right. I hope the Lord bless you.