Well, that was a blessing. I was thinking. It is a pretty
good. I hate to use the word better
chance, but it's a pretty good better chance that not many people.
This evening in August are going to be speaking on the birth of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But I'm very excited about bringing
this message, it was such a blessing to me to consider it. Now, we were given the promise
in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15, that the seed of woman should
bruise, should crush the serpent's head. Now, who is the seed of
woman? Turn to Isaiah chapter 7, verse
14. Why did he make the distinction,
the seed of woman? Why didn't he say the seed of
man, the seed of woman? Well, here's the answer to that
question. In Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14, Therefore, the Lord
himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin, one who has
never known a man, shall conceive and bear a son and shall call
his name Immanuel. God with us. So that is why he's called the
seed of woman. Now, was it necessary for Christ
to be born of a virgin? Absolutely. And here's the reason. If Joseph would have been his
biological father, he would have Joseph's evil nature. And that
can't be. He's born of a virgin that he
might be born sinless, perfect and holy. I turned to Luke chapter
one. The seed of woman was prophesied
right after the fall, and we understand that it's the seed
of woman because it was not the seed of Adam. It was not the
seed of man, the holy seed. Now look at Luke chapter one.
Let's begin reading in verse twenty six. And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel, the same one who appeared to Elizabeth and Zacharias with
regard to John the Baptist. In the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God into the city of Galilee, named Nazareth. Remember when John, or it was
a Philip who said, can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
It was not a very progressive place. And he came to a virgin, verse
27, espoused to a man whose name was Joseph. She was engaged to
Joseph of the house of David. Remember, he's the son of David.
He comes from the seat of David. Now, at this time, it wasn't
any big deal to be of the house of David. She was a poor girl. Joseph was a poor boy. And there
was no power in the nation at this time. So to be of the house
of David meant nothing at this time as far as social advantage. And the Virgin's name was Mary. And I have no doubt that she
was a teenager, a people of guessed anywhere between 13 and 16 years
of age, a young girl. Verse 28, and the angel came
in unto her. and said, Hail, thou art highly
favored. Much graced is the word. Much graced. The Lord is with
you. Now, the fact that she was much
graced tells us that she was a sinner. Only a sinner needs
grace in this sense. God's unmerited favor. And he
tells Her that she was much grace to understand this about Mary.
Mary was a special young woman, and the Lord blessed her in an
unusual way. And we're thankful for that.
And can you imagine you ladies? Can you imagine this angel appearing
to you and saying this to you that you're going to be the mother
of the promise seed? And she didn't understand anything
about this promise that's found in Isaiah 714, that a virgin
shall be with child. And yet he appears to her, and
he says, You're much grace. Here's the answer to the ancient
prophecy of Isaiah 714. You're much grace. Now, she was
a blessed woman, but understand, she had the nature of In other
words, she had a sinful nature. Mary was a sinner just like you
and I are. Now, people have made a Savior
out of Mary, called the mother of God and so on. And you're
aware of that, all the Mariology. It's idolatry. Mary was a sinner
like you and I are, who was highly favored, much grace by God. And what a blessing she experienced. Now let's go on reading. Verse
28. And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail! Thou art
highly favored, thou art much graced, the Lord is with thee,
blessed art thou among women." Now, in some respects, you could
say that she's the most blessed lady to ever live, can't you?
To think of what the Lord did with her. Verse 29, And when
she saw him, she was troubled to the saying, And cast in her
mind what manner of salutation this should be, she wasn't just,
oh great, she was scared. She was afraid. And like I said,
any time, I said this last week, any time somebody from heaven
comes to speak to a human and they have some idea of their
own sinfulness and their lack of worthiness, they're troubled.
As a matter of fact, this is the only time this word is used
in the New Testament. She was greatly troubled. She
was scared to death. What does all this mean? She
didn't know what to think, and she was very troubled about this. Verse 30, And the angel said
unto her, Fear not, Mary. And Mary was scared. You can
bet. Can you imagine if a Gabriel appeared to you and said something
like this to you? You'd be scared to death. And
the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found
favor. And that word favor is grace.
Thou hast found grace with God. Just like Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. He found grace, didn't he? He
was in and of himself nothing but a sinful man, but the scripture
says he found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And Mary found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. And what grace she found. We read in verse 31, And behold,
thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son,
and shalt call his name Jesus. I love Matthew's account. That's
right. When Joseph, the angel appears
to Joseph. Now, before I go on, can you
think of how Joseph felt when Mary came and told him, I'm with
child and an angel came and told me that I'm going to be with
child of the Holy Ghost. And he looked at her, and he didn't
believe her. And you wouldn't believe her
either. There's no way he could believe something like that.
As a matter of fact, the scripture says he was a just man, and he put her
away privately because he didn't want her to be humiliated. He
was going to bring her away somewhere else, but he didn't believe her.
And then the angel appeared to him and said, she shall bring
forth a son. And thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." What
a precious name. How precious is the name of Jesus. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
and here's why. He shall. He shall save his people
from their sins. Behold, thou shalt conceive in
thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus. He shall be Great. Oh, to think of the greatness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, greatness person. Now that one that she
was bearing in her womb that. So small, she went through the
gestation, is that the word gestation for nine months, having the Son
of God in her, he should be great, great in his person. This is
the God man. This is. The creator of the universe
in the flesh. He should be great in his offices. What a prophet he is. He doesn't
simply bring the word of God. He is the word of God. Oh, what
a priest. If he brings you into the Father's
presence, you must be saved. What a king who rules and reigns. He shall be great. He shall be
great in his achievements. He's going to keep God's law
perfectly. He's not going to see it. He'll
be great in the achievement of putting away sin. When he dies
on Calvary's tree, he's going to make it to where everybody
he died for has no sin. He'll be great in his resurrection
when he raises himself from the dead. He shall be great. Boy,
is that an understatement? He shall be great. And he shall
be called, verse 32, the son of the highest. And the Lord
God shall give unto him the throne of his father, David. the son
of David, David's son and David's Lord. And verse 33, he shall
reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom,
there shall be no end. Now, there's going to be an end
of every other kingdom, but of his kingdom, there shall be no
end. Verse 34. Then Mary gives an
obvious response. Mary said unto the angel, How
shall this be? Saying, I know not a man. Now
this wasn't unbelief, like Zacharias. He didn't say, how can I know
this is going to take place? She didn't say that. She knew it was going
to take place, but she was a virgin. And she said, how can this be?
I mean, I don't understand this. How is it that I'm going to have
a child? 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,
he was at a loss for words when he described the Lord Jesus Christ,
that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth,
she also has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the
sixth month with her who is called barren, for with God nothing
shall be impossible. You're going to have a baby for
this reason. With God nothing shall be impossible. The incarnation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this at this time after this,
we know from Matthew's account, he goes to Joseph and gives him
this information. Now let's go on reading verse
38. And Mary said, behold, the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto
me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her
and Mary rose in those days. and went into the hill country
with haste into a city of Judah, and entered into the house of
Zacharias, and soon eluded Elizabeth. And it came to pass that when
Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe, John the Baptist,
leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with
the Holy Ghost, and she spake out with a loud voice and said,
Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy
womb. And whence is this to me, that
the mother of my Lord should come to me? For lo, as soon as
the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped
in my womb for joy, and blessed is she that believed. For there
shall be a performance of those things which are told her from
the Lord." And then we have the song of Mary's thanksgiving.
And Mary said, and this is amazing to me to look at what this woman
said. She was a teenager. But oh, how taught of the Lord
she was. You think of what all the Lord communicated to her
at this time. It's just a teenager speaking like this. It's beautiful,
it's glorious. Verse 46, And Mary said, My soul
doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my
Savior. Now there once again, only a
sinner needs a Savior. Remember, thou shalt call his
name Jesus, Savior. That's what Jesus means, Savior,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And that's what
he would come to do, to save his people from their sins. And
that's exactly what he did. He saved his people from their
sins. When he said it is finished, the salvation of all of his people
was accomplished. And she's magnifying her Savior.
Once again, that shows she was not sinless. She was a sinner
like you and I, needing a Savior. But boy, she was blessed by God.
She was taught by God. And this is so beautiful. Look
at verse 48. For he hath regarded the lowest
state. the lowest state of his handmaiden.
Well, she was in a low estate socially. She was in a low estate
economically. But most especially, she was
in a low estate as a sinner. And she understood that. For
he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. For behold,
from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Here we
are 2,000 years. Call her blessed. Indeed, she
was blessed of the Lord, wasn't she? In an unusual, amazing way. Verse 49, for he that is mighty
hath done to me great things. And indeed, holy is his name
and his mercy. Mary needed mercy. And his mercy
is on them that fear him from generation to generation. He
had showed strength with his arm, and what a show of strength,
that God could become the seed of woman, that God could live
in a womb nine months, that God could be raised up as a small
infant. That God could, in His human
flesh, keep the law perfectly. That God in the flesh could put
away sin. That God in the flesh could raise
Himself from the dead. What a show of strength! He has
showed strength with His arm. He has scattered the proud in
the imaginations of their own hearts. He has put down the mighty
from their seats and exalted them of low degree. Now, who
are the proud? Everybody who's proud. Everybody
who doesn't believe. That's who the proud are. Everybody
who doesn't believe. You see, one thing about every
believer, every believer is humble. You know, when I was in Mexico
this week, I was around Brother Walter Groover. It was such a
blessing to be around him. And I said to his son, Cody,
I said, one thing that's clear about that man, he's a very humble,
nonjudgmental man. Could you give a higher recommendation
of somebody? a very humble and non-judgmental
man. And that's the way all of God's
people are. You see, God has taught them that they're a sinner
and they don't have anything to be proud of. Now, they're
proud of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're proud of His grace. They're
proud of His righteousness. They're proud of Him. But they
don't have anything in themselves to be proud of. They realize
that they're nothing but sinners, saved by the grace of God, and
they really believe that. All of God's people are humble. The proud are those who are not
humble. They think their salvation has
something to do with them, or at least, even if they're not
saved, they think if they are saved, it'll have something to
do with them. They don't really believe grace. They're the proud,
and God resists them. God resists the proud and gives
grace to the humble. Verse 52, He hath put down the
mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. That's just the way the Lord
operates. And you can just write this down. God always resists
the proud, and He always gives grace to the humble. Verse 53, He has filled the hungry
with good things. Now, this is not just talking
about physical hunger. This is talking about hungering
and thirsting after Christ. Hungering and thirsting after
righteousness. He's filled the hungry with good
things. And the rich, those who think
they have something, He has sent away empty. He had hope in his
servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spake to our
fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. She knew something
about covenant mercy, didn't she? She knew of the special
mercy promised to her fathers, the covenant of grace. And Mary
abode with her about three months and returned to her own house. Now, six months later, look in
chapter two. And it came to pass in those
days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all
the world should be taxed. Now this heathen king, Caesar
Augustus, had no idea that he was a puppet in God's hand. He
thought he was the top dog. And he wanted to make sure he
got everybody's money. So he sent out a decree that
everybody in that known world would have to pay taxes to him.
And the way you would have to pay those taxes is you'd have
to go back to your hometown where you were born and pay those taxes. And he had no idea that he was
simply doing God's will. had no idea, but that's what
he was doing. And you know, the men of this world have no idea
that they're simply performing his will, that his purposes might
be done. They have no idea that that's
going on, but that's exactly what's going on. Caesar makes
this decree. Now, Joseph and Mary live in
Nazareth. And for that baby to be born
in Nazareth would have gone against what the scripture said. Because
Micah chapter 5 verse 2 says that Christ has to be born in
Bethlehem. Listen to this scripture. But thou Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of
thee shall come forth to me, he that is to be ruler in Israel,
in whose goings forth have been from old from everlasting. Now
this is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ being born in Bethlehem. Now here, Mary is nine months
pregnant, almost, and she's living in Nazareth. How's she going
to be born in Bethlehem? Well, that heathen king makes
that decree that all the world's going to be taxed, and she's
going to go back to Bethlehem and be taxed, her and Joseph,
according to God's decree. Remember, the king's heart, where
is it? It's in the hand of the Lord.
as the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will." So
Mary and Joseph go there to pay their taxes. Verse 2, and this
taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria, and it
all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. And Joseph
also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into
Judea, into the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. You
see, the Lord said he's going to be born in Bethlehem, so he's
going to get Mary and Joseph into Bethlehem because he was
of the house and lineage of David to be taxed with Mary, his espoused
wife, being great with child. And it was so that while they
were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes and laid him in a manger. in a barn, in a stable, with
the smell of manure in the air, because there was no room for
them in the inn. He was born in poverty. Now, he could have been born
in a palace. He could have been born in some
kind of great way. But the Lord purposed for him
to be born in poverty. There wasn't even room for him
in the inn. You know, no human being by nature has any room
for him. They're just not interested. Go back out into the barn where
you belong. And there she goes and has the baby wrapped in swaddling
clothes. Verse 8. And there was in the
same country at that time shepherds abiding in the field, keeping
watch over the flock by night. Some humble shepherds. And lo,
the angel of the Lord came upon them. The same Gabriel who had
appeared to Zacharias and Elizabeth, who appeared to Mary and Joseph,
now he comes to these shepherds. I think it's really neat that
he didn't come to kings, he didn't come to philosophers, he didn't
come to rich men, he didn't come to politicians. He came to a
bunch of insignificant shepherds that nobody knew anything about,
but there they were minding their own business, tending the flocks.
Verse 9, And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and
the glory of the Lord shone round about them, And, of course, they're
scared to death. I think this is interesting.
Every time even this angel appears, men go, hey, this is great. No,
they're scared to death. They don't know what's going
to happen. And the angel said unto them, verse 10, Fear not,
for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall
be to all people. Now, this is everybody's gospel.
This is everybody's gospel. This is the gospel. If you're
going to hear the gospel, this is it. This is for everybody.
I don't get it. This is a faithful saying it's
worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought to believe this.
Everybody ought to rejoice in this. This is God becoming flesh
to save sinners. This is the only gospel there
is. This is the gospel to any man. This is good news to everybody. And the angel said, feared often,
Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be
to all people. For unto you, unto you is born
this day in the city of David a Savior." Now that's what I
need. I need a Savior. I need to be
saved. I can't save myself. I can't
do anything to save myself. What I need is a Savior. Thank
God unto you is born this day a Savior, Christ, God's prophet,
God's priest, God's king, the Lord, the dictator, the Lord
of creation, the Lord of providence, the Lord of salvation. He's the
Lord. And this shall be a sign unto
you, verse 12, You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes, lying at a manger. And suddenly there was with the
angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God. Can you imagine what that must
have sounded like? I don't know if they could see angels. Maybe
it was just coming from the sky, but they heard this mighty chorus
singing, glory to God in the highest. Now I read Charles Spurgeon
make a statement upon this particular part of this passage of scripture,
and he said, this shows us that there are no Arminian angels.
I like that. They give all the glory to God.
They just automatically give all the glory to God. Glory to
God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men, peace
on earth. Now, I remember I had a When
I was in school, I remember a professor talking about how this was a
revolutionary idea that, you know, she talked about Jesus
bringing in, you know, he's bringing in peace, you know, promoting
peace between men and goodwill when everybody was fighting.
That had nothing to do with what this means. Christ Jesus made
peace. Colossians 120 says, having made
peace through the blood of his cross. He made peace. And now, because of Christ Jesus
the Lord, because of His death on Calvary Street, God looks
at me, and there's no reason for Him to be mad at me. You
see, Christ accomplished my peace. I have no sin. It's been blotted
out. It's been washed away. And peace There isn't anything so peaceful
as knowing that I have peace with God through what Christ
did. It didn't have anything to do with me. It was accomplished
outside of my personal subjective experience. Peace on earth and
goodwill toward men. This is talking about God's goodwill
toward men. You know, God delights in saving
men. He delights in saving sinners. Goodwill toward men. This is
good news. I'm sure that they were astounded
as they listened to this heavenly host sing. You know, God's goodwill
toward men. Most people think that God's
goodwill toward men is an entitlement. Of course God has goodwill toward
men. We're his creatures and he owes
us that. And they don't look at themselves as being sinners
and rebels against his authority and people that ought to be sent
to hell. But I'll tell you what, to a sinner, to hear of God's
goodwill toward men, this is amazing, amazing grace. How sweet
the sound that saved a wretch like me. Now, verse 15. And it came to pass as the angels
were gone away from them into heaven. Since it's the angels, I guess
all those angels were right there. I never really noticed that it
wasn't just Gabriel. I guess a bunch of angels came
down and they heard this glorious song. And it came to pass that
the angels were gone away from them into heaven. The shepherds
said one to another, let's go even now into Bethlehem and see
this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made
known unto us. And they came with haste and
found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger." And
you know, Mary and Joseph and the babe, the Lord Jesus Christ,
weren't the only ones there. Remember in Matthew chapter 2,
where we read of those wise men from the east that came? Now,
who are these wise men from the East? Well, the East is where
Babylon was. This is where Daniel was. And some four hundred, four hundred
ninety years before this took place, Daniel said in four hundred
ninety years, he's coming. And they said, well, it's been
four hundred ninety years. So they came to see him, too.
These wise men. Where is he that's born king
of the Jews? And they all came, verse 16,
they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe
lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they
made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning
the child. They became the first Christian missionaries. These
shepherds, they made known to everybody they could everything
that they had heard. And when they heard it, and all
they that heard it wondered at those things which were told
them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things.
and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying
and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen
as it was told unto them. Now, what a wonderful, the greatest
story ever told, isn't it? The incarnation of the Son of
God. And He came for this purpose,
to save His people. from their sins. And that is
precisely what he did when he said it is finished. The mission
was accomplished. His people were saved from their
sins. Let's pray together.