Let us turn in our Bibles today to Luke chapter 1. We began last Sunday looking at three announcements three announcements that angels brought concerning the birth and the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into this world. We looked at the first last week when the angel came to Zacharias. And the thing that I wanted to point out especially was that the birth of John the Baptist of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In verses 16 and 17 of this chapter, John the Baptist was to be the forerunner of he who is the Lord, who is God, and him. And each one of these titles tells us something about him. This morning, I want us to look at the announcement that the angel made to Mary concerning the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Next week, God willing, we'll look at the announcement that the angels made to the shepherds at the birth of Christ.

Now this morning, what I want to do, I want to read through verses 26 through 38 making a few comments as I read through them. Then I want to come back and point out three things from these verses which are revealed about the Savior, about Christ.

Beginning with verse 26. And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto 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. Let me just mention here that Mary was a spouse to Joseph, and both of them, both Mary and Joseph, were of the lineage of David. And they were living in Galilee in a city by the name of Nazareth. And as far as the Jews were concerned, Nazareth was a poor place and a very despised place. I want you to think about the fact that here are two descendants of a man who was a mighty king, that is, King David, lived in a palace, had servants, had many under him. and was a man after God's own heart, but now we find his descendants living in a place of poverty, a place of relative obscurity they were living in.

You might think that's strange, but it fulfills a prophecy. God had foretold that this would take place by the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah lived some 600 years before the Lord Jesus came into this world, and he foretold that this would be the case. We read this in Isaiah chapter 11. There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse. Now Jesse, of course, was David's father. There shall come a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of its roots. A branch shall grow out of its roots. I like to think of this as David represented by some mighty and great tree. But the tree's been cut down. And all that is there is a stump. But out of that stump, out of the roots, comes the branch. And that's one of the names of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's one of his names, the branch.

And the minor prophet Zechariah, he wrote, I will bring forth my servant, the branch. My servant, God's servant. He who is above all came into this world not to be ministered unto, but to minister, to be a servant, to be the servant of God Almighty, the God-man, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Read verse 28 with me. And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou that are highly favored, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Now, notice what the angel did not say to Mary. What he did not say. He did not say, Hail, thou art full of grace. He didn't say that. That's what Antichrist teaches. That she was full of grace and has grace to give unto others. Now God's people, God's children, we are all recipients of grace. Because no one is saved apart from grace. For by grace are you saved. And every one of God's children, and Mary was one, We read further in her song in this chapter how she rejoiced in God, her Savior, but none of God's children have any extra grace. Do you have any extra grace? Of course not. All the grace, and God is the God of all grace, and we need all the grace that he gives us, each and every child of God. We need all the grace that he gives us. We have nothing else to depend upon but the grace of God.

So the angel didn't say like Antichrist teaches. You say, what do you mean by Antichrist? I mean against Christ. against Christ, those who teach things which are against Christ, which would take the glory that belongs only to the Lord Jesus Christ and give it to some creature. That's anti-Christ. That's against Christ. I don't care if it's a person or if it's a church or whatever it might be. All the glory, all the praise For the salvation of every sinner, it all belongs to Jesus Christ, our Lord. To him alone we give praise.

And notice something else the angel did not say. He did not say, blessed art thou above women. That's another thing that antichrist religion teaches. that somehow she's above. No, the angel said, blessed art thou among women. Yes, she was highly favored. She was greatly graced, as the scripture says here. No doubt to be the mother of the God-man.

But remember this, one time when, this is in the gospels, one time the Lord was in a house and he was teaching. And his mother and his brothers, they came outside the house and wanted to talk with him. And they sent word in to the Lord Jesus Christ and said, your mother and your brothers want to see you. And you know this story, what he said, who is my mother? Who is my mother? And who are my brothers? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples. If he were here where I am now, he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples. Who is my mother? Who is my brother? He that doeth the will of my father which has sent me. And what is the will of his father which sent him? That you believe on him whom he has sent.

Yes, every believer is a member of the Lord Jesus Christ, a member of his body. We're in the family, the household of God. That's humbling, isn't it? Isn't it? It is to me to think that I'm a part of the family of God, that you're a part of God's family. You say, well, you deserve it. No, no, no. No way, right? Would anyone stand up and say, well, hey, here I am, I deserve to be a part of the family of God. No, not none of God's children. We'd all stand up and say the same thing. It's grace, it's grace that has made us a part of the family of God. And thank God we may call him our father, and we know the Lord Jesus Christ is our brother.

Let's read some more, verse 29. And when he saw him, or 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.

Notice the first thing we are told is that Mary was troubled at his saying. I looked at this and if you look back, we saw this last week when the same angel appeared to Zacharias in verse number 11. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled. Now it doesn't say the same about Mary. It doesn't say that she was troubled when she saw him, but it does tell us she was troubled at his saying. She was troubled at what she heard.

Now two thoughts I would bring to us on that, from what I've read at least in that society, for a young woman, a young virgin, probably still in her teens, we don't know for sure about that, but it just was not accepted that a man that she didn't know, and this angel appeared in the form of a man, we believe, at his resurrection, that a man would speak to her, someone she had never met, it would be troubling. in that society. That's just something that was taboo. That just didn't happen.

And the second thing, no doubt was troubling, when he told her, you're going to have a son. You're going to have a son. And she knew that in her state, her virgin state at that time, that was not possible. That was not possible that she should conceive and bear a son. And she asked, she asked how that could be. Read on 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. 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.

God made the first man, Adam, and that's what Adam means. The Hebrew term Adam means man. God made the first man without father or mother. And now he's going to make the second man. Remember, God deals with all men and these two men. Think of these two men as a root. And everyone connected with that first root that grows out of that first root, Adam, in Adam all die. And we know that's so. We come into this world and we're dead spiritually, morally. Our life that Adam had is gone. That spiritual life that he had with God is gone. And Christ is a second Adam. a second root, and all in Christ shall be made alive.

God deals with all men, you, me, and everyone else who's ever walked on the face of his earth. He's dealt with us all in these two men. You read about it in Romans chapter five, beginning with verse 12, it's so clear. And I love that passage of scripture, especially where it says where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Amen. Where sin abounded. It abounded in me, it abounded in you, but where sin abounded, grace doth much more abound. Yes.

Well, He, as I said, he created the first man without father or mother, and now he's going to make the second man from a woman. It's important to notice that word fame in verse 35. You read through that and you wonder, I know I did for years, why? Why would he be called a thing? I remember preaching a wedding service one time, and I think it was my youngest daughter's wedding. And I quoted a scripture from Proverbs, I believe it is, that tells us, he that findeth a wife, findeth a good thing. And someone was offended. calling a woman a thing. Well, I didn't. That's what the scripture says. But why, why would the angel tell Mary that the Holy Ghost is gonna come upon thee and that which shall be born of thee, this thing, shall be called the son of the highest?

It's important to know this, if I can mention it this morning, is that just as soon as this human was conceived in the womb of Mary, it was immediately united to the second person in the Godhead, that is the eternal Son of God. And why is that important? Because if it is said, that boy that shall be born of thee, well, that would mean he was two persons. He's one person. He's one person. Yes, two natures. God, Almighty God, equal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, but he's also man. He's called the Son of the Highest. The Son of the Highest. This God-man is called the Son of the Highest.

Therefore, because he's one, there are things that he did that could only be spoken of as something humanity, a man could do. And some things that he did that could only be true of one who is God, but they're spoken of him, the person, because he is both God and man. For instance, when the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20 speaks about God purchasing the church with his blood, his own blood. You know God doesn't have blood. God is spirit. But yet, as a man, he could bleed and die, and yet that union, man and God, is what gives efficacy, power, ability to wash away sin, to cleanse sin.

Our conscience as we come into this world, thank God, if God's going to have mercy upon us, he's going to convict us of our sins. And all of God's children go through this. The good news comes to a person, first of all, not necessarily so good. Well, you've got to hear the bad news first before you hear the good news. And what's the bad news? We're lost. We're lost. We cannot help ourselves. We cannot save ourselves. If God doesn't do something for us, we'll perish eternally in hell. The bad news first. That prepares you for the good news. There's a Savior! There's a Savior that has been promised here to come from Mary. Amen?

Well, I want us to look the rest of the time at three things that are said here about this boy, this man, this baby that Mary is going to have. First of all, his name in verse 31. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. You notice there that every letter in that name is capitalized? Same is true in Matthew's gospel when the angel spoke to Joseph and told him that they should name this baby that Mary would have Jesus. And the reason for that is, as the angel told Joseph, thou shalt call his name Jesus. Why would you call him Jesus? Because that name means something. That name means Savior. That name means Jehovah saves, Jehoshua. It's the same name as Joshua in the Old Testament.

And when you think about Joshua in the Old Testament, you remember that the children of Israel were under the hand of Moses. For so long, they come up to the promised land and Moses cannot take them in. Why is that? Because Moses is a type of the law, right? A picture of the law. God gave the law through Moses. And everyone who is depending upon their keeping of the law will not enter into the promised land, into heaven. So many people are deceived like that, thinking, well, I'm just going to keep the Ten Commandments. Well, first of all, you're not going to. You never have, and you never will. Not perfectly. But even if you could, that would not take you into the promised land. The law cannot save. It was not given to save. You say, well, why was the law given? It was given to show us that we're sinners. That's the reason. For by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Oh, but who took a man to the promised land? Joshua. Joshua. That's that name. Jehovah saves. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. We know that Jesus is the surety of those who were given to him by his father and that everlasting covenant, that eternal covenant. And he came on purpose to save each and every one of them from their sins, from the penalty of their sins.

His people were given to him as his sheep. He's the good shepherd who gives his life. for the sheep. His people were given to him as his bride, and he's the husband, the beloved, and his people were given to him as members of his body. And we know that every one of his sheep, every one, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost.

And yes, his sheep, when we come into this world, if you're one of his sheep, we're lost sheep. We're lost. If God leads us to ourself, we just go farther and farther and farther and farther away from God. That's the nature of a sheep, and that's the nature of a sinner. But the shepherd comes, and he seeks. Not only does he seek, but he finds. He may find one here today. What a thrill that would be. He might find one of his sheep here this morning. You came into this building lost. You don't know God. You're without hope. You're on your way to hell. And if you're one of his sheep, he may find you. And if he does, he's going to pick you up, put you on his shoulders, carry you all the way home.

People say, well, I don't know if I can hold out. You can't. It's not you holding on to Him. It's Him holding you, keeping you. And every one of His bride, those who make up His bride, we're all going to be presented faultless before His throne one day. Yeah, He shall save. Call His name Jesus. Jehovah saves. He shall save His people from their sins. and everyone who's a member of his body will be there.

You think the church is his body, that is, those who are saved and make up the church or the body of Christ? You think he's gonna have an arm missing? You think he's gonna have maybe a few toes on this foot over here missing? If we think of his church like a body, and that's the way it's pictured in the scripture? No, the body's going to be complete. There's not going to be one member missing. If God makes me one of his toes, that's fine with me. I just want to be part of his body, don't you? Amen.

Well, the second thing I point out, not only his name, but he shall be great in verse 32. He shall be great. And let me just mention quickly seven ways in which he's great. There's many, many more, I'm sure, but first of all, he's great in his person. Great in his person. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. I spoke about his person a few minutes ago, about his deity and humanity, but who is sufficient to explain how that's possible, how that with man is not possible? He's great. He said, His name shall be called Counselor, Wonderful, the Mighty God. And that word mighty God means to go between, the one between. And we know that he is the one mediator between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus.

So first of all, he shall be great in his person. He shall be great in his mission. There used to be a program, television program years ago called Mission Impossible. Some of you are old enough to remember that. Mission impossible. And these agents, I guess they were government agents, they were given a mission that was basically impossible. But they always were able to do it, somehow.

Well, the Lord Jesus Christ, he was sent into this world on a mission, a great mission. What was it? It was to do what the first man, the first Adam, did not do. The first Adam, he disobeyed God. He did not glorify God. But the Lord Jesus Christ was sent here on a mission, and he fulfilled that mission. He was able to say the night before his crucifixion, Father, I have glorified Thee on the earth.

And here's the third thing. He is great in his sufferings, great in his sufferings. We cannot even begin, as Brother Streeter mentioned this morning in his class, we cannot even begin to begin to begin to understand the sufferings of the Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ, what he suffered to redeem his people. Think about the suffering of just living here. If God were to take you today to some places here in Houston, squalor, dirt, filth, sickness, and set you down there, you'd suffer. Just living there. Not what you're used to. What about him? Coming from the realms of glory. Place of absolute holiness. Always hearing the praises of the holy angels. Coming into this world of sin. Suffering. He's great in his suffering.

And that doesn't even begin to talk about his sufferings when he was made to be sin for his people. He's great in his resurrection, number four. Great in his resurrection, having defeated, conquered, dared, saved, gave Satan that death blow. Yes, his heel was wounded, but Satan's head was destroyed. And he's great in his session at the Father's right hand today. We have a great high priest who ever lives to make intercession for all of us who come unto God by him. And oh, how we need the work of a high priest, an advocate. We sin many times we don't even realize it. Sins of ignorance. Yet he's always there. Doesn't excuse our sin, but he's always there. And his wounds always plead. for his people.

Number six, he saves great sinners. He saves great sinners. I was preparing these notes and I remembered a story I read years ago in reading the journal and the life of George Whitefield. George Whitefield was a man that God greatly used both in England and here in the United States. He was a contemporary with the Westleys. But he was preaching, and he preached in the open air a lot. But he was preaching one day, and I think it was the Lord's Day, if I remember right. He was preaching, and he said, God is willing to save sinners. He'll even save the devil's castaways. And after the service ended and they went to where they were eating, dining, someone there at the table took issue with him. Said, Mr. Whitfield, what you said this morning, that the Lord Jesus will save even the devils cast away, he said, are you sure about making a statement like that? And you know in the providence of God, At that very moment, two women knocked at the door of the house where they were, wanting to see Mr. Whitfield. And he went out to see them. And here was their question. You said that God will save even the devil's castaways. Is that true? Is that true? Well, yes. Would he save even us? Two prostitutes. Would he? Yes. Yes. He saves great sinners.

And you know the problem, the problem as I see it, the sad truth is that most people never see themselves to even consider that they might be too bad to be saved. Most people see themselves as being so good they don't need a savior. Oh, but he saves great sinners. That old slave trader, John Newton, how he could be saved and write that wonderful hymn, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound. Saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see. Saved him. He was a blasphemer. Put him into the ministry. Preached the gospel. Wrote hymns. And how he's been used of God, a great sinner, and God's used.

The truth is, really, he only saves great sinners. That's the bottom line, isn't it? He only saves great sinners.

The last thing, the seventh thing, He gives great salvation to all who come to Him in faith and repentance. That word salvation's a big word, isn't it? I said he gives great salvation to all who come to him in faith and repentance. What's included in that? Well, first of all, forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins. Acceptance. Acceptance with God. Adoption. A home in heaven. We could just go on and on. Yes, a great salvation.

Here's a third thing I wanted to point out. Look in verse 33, and I'll be very brief. His kingdom, his kingdom, his kingdom is forever. You know there are two kingdoms in this world, and everybody, Every person, every person in this room, every person outside of this room, we are either in one kingdom or the other. There's two kingdoms. One is a kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of the prince of the darkness, of darkness rather, the prince of the air, that is Satan. And when we come into this world, we are all born into that kingdom, kingdom of darkness. And the only way, the other kingdom is this kingdom of God's, the son of his love. And the only way a person is translated from one kingdom out of that kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son is by the new birth.

That's the reason The Lord Jesus told Nicodemus, he was a religious person, but not born again. You must be born again to see the kingdom of God, to perceive the thing. A lost man can take this Bible, just like you have in your hands, he can read it and he can understand a lot of facts and even about the gospel. He can understand a lot about the gospel. But it's only God the Holy Spirit who quickens a person, births a person, so that a man can understand spiritually the things of the kingdom of God. It's a mystery. It's a miracle.

I see I've taken too long, but I'm going to quit trying to find the hymn. Here we go. We're going to sing this hymn.