The Long Awaited Message

Jacob Winters

Advent 23 • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Luke 1:26–38

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Notes

Transcript

Introduction

Scripture

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can more like You, and more made into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all to often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possible can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged,to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be.

30 Then the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.”

34 Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?”

35 The angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 And consider your relative Elizabeth—even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”

38 “See, I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary. “May it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her. [1]

Context

This week, we begin the Christmas season with an Advent Sermon Series! I’m excited to get to spend this time with you over the next few weeks, recounting and telling the story of Jesus birth, His first coming to Earth, all which begins the long narrative of Jesus life and ultimately death to save ourselves from Sin, making it available to us to be forgiven and whole before God.

As we enter this time, I want you to remember something. That even though this account may seem old and familiar to us, it was not to the people of the time. To everyone we read about today, Joseph and Mary; this was real life. This was really happening to them and through them, and it was new and uncharted waters for them. In fact, it was new and uncharted waters for all of mankind. Yes, through God’s word and His prophets and the record in Scripture, man knew that God would come and save us from sin, by sending a child, by sending a Messiah; a savior. But, keep this in mind. At this point in history, at Jesus birth, mankind had not heard a new word from God in almost 400 years, the last time being through the prophet Malichi. Malichi’s book itself is filled with God’s statements that Isael had time and time again broke covenant with Him. However, looking in chapter 3, we see that God had no intention on breaking covenant with Israel. Flash forward nearly 400 years, and we see that covenant, that promise of one being sent come into play.

This child coming, this Jesus who Mary was told about, wasn’t just important to them at that time. He was and is and will remain the single most important person in every person’s life, whether they know it or not or accept His free gift or not. His coming made and makes the treasures and riches of being in God’s Presence available for us, for all that would repent of their rebellion from God, and instead would turn towards God and Jesus sacrifice to pay the penalty for your sin. This was true for the ancient world, and it remains true for us today and will until Christ returns. So, from the text today, I want you to hear and know these truths about just that, The Long-Awaited Message.

Message

The Greatest Message from God. (26-29)

We jump in, one thing to know is that this six month that is referred is of Elizabeth’s (Mary’s Cousin, John the Baptist’s Mother’s) pregnancy. At this time, One of God’s angel’s named Gabriel was sent to the town of Nazareth to deliver a message. That is, God sent one of His messengers to deliver a message, a great message. This message was delivered to a young woman, Mary; who was betrothed to a man named Joseph. Something to know and keep in mind for the future is that Jewish betrothal itself, was a very serious matter in this time and to these people. In fact, it was a serious as marriage; though they did not live together yet until after the wedding. So serious was it, that to end a betrothal or engagement, would be equal to a divorce or if your spouse-to-be died, you would be considered a widow or widower.

So, Gabrial the angel greeted Mary to deliver this message! Now, it would have been shocking for Mary to be greeted by anyone without her husband/fiancé or Father present, as it was the strong held custom of the time that a man would never greet or introduce himself to another woman without first greeting the men; let alone, a heavenly being, an angel! Gabriel’s presence (even though the words were all positive) would have been very troubling and shocking for Mary.

As we look around and go around our day to day lives, messages are all around us. We might literally get them on our phones, the corn or beans looking a certain way tells us whether or not we need to do something soon. Through our TVs, screens, and app, advertisers give us a message that we need (and should) buy their products. Heck, some messages are so effective that the second we are given the opportunity to do so, we do it. Ever notice how long the line a McDonalds usually is? Their advertisement and messages are so effective, that if you are like most Americans, any time you go by the M shaped yellow arches, you ask yourself. Hmmm, do I want McDonalds right now? And if you’ve ever been that person who impulse drove in the parking lot (or rather your car seemed to drive itself in), then you know that messages have important and big effects and control on us. Some are a good thing, others are a bad thing.

Believer, you have to ask yourself. Are you receiving God’s messages to you in your life? Are you even seeking them? Now, there are some messages that go out to everyone, such as Believe in the Lord Jesus and Repent of your sin, your rebellion against God. But, are you hearing the particular messages that God has to you as He is working in and speaking to you in your life? (believe in what about Him, repent from What?) And let me give you a little pro tip, often it has something to do with that believe and repent thing or have more faith or trust in God. But, are you listening for what God is calling on you to do. Are you listening to what God is pushing you towards, which has much more good for you then whatever it is that you are pushing yourself towards. I’ll tell you what, I’m sure glad that Mary was willing able to receive the message that was given to her by God; because She was about to hear and Know about the Greatest Message from God; the long awaited message, and this message was about the coming of:

Jesus, Son of the Most-High. (30-33)

Gabrial calms Mary, telling her to not be afraid; don’t worry, you have found favor with God, God is not against you; you have nothing to fear by me being here. I’ve got something to tell you, you will give birth to a son and you will name Him Jesus. This Child, this Jesus will be great. He will fulfill all the promises made to your fathers from God for redemption. He will be the Son of the Must High, He will take the throne of the great king of Israel; David. Even more, his reign will never end, His kingdom has no end. He will be and is King Forever. This Jesus, this son you will bear; is the Son of the Most-High God. God Himself sends this message to you today.

All the way from the beginning of the fall of man, our fall into a state of sin in the Garden of Eden. God had been working and putting the pieces together for this event. This was the coming of the second person of the Holy Trinity, The Christ, Jesus, God the Son. A quick look through Genesis 3 shows us that a child was to come who would one day destroy the power of sin and the serpent (Satan) and now (in today’s text) we see another important step in that process, that the Christ is (was, for us) coming.

The truth is, that God loves mankind, God loves you so much that He would and has would do anything so that his most precious, treasured, and important creation (mankind), could experience fellowship with Him. He did this by coming down from His throne in Heaven to be with us, and pay the penalty for that great separator between God and Man, and that great separator is our sin; our unholy rebellion against Him. As a result, If ever there was a man that was born to die, it was Jesus. Jesus, God the Son, Jesus the righteous and Holy. And, willfully and lovingly He died so that His blood could pay the sin debt that you (that all) people are born with for anyone that would turn to Him. It is because of Jesus, Son of the Most-High that we can and are set free when we put our faith in Him and follow Him in our life.

Another truth to know and hear is that: Nothing is impossible with God. (34-38)

34 Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?”

38 “See, I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary. “May it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her

Mary asks a question. How is that even possible? I haven’t known a man yet. The angel told her, The son, Jesus, will come, but not the way you are thinking. God will be present with you, and cause you to be pregnant, you will not know a man. This son, will be both God and Man. He will be the promised Son of God. He then tells her, for proof, you are being given a sign. Your cousin, the long barren one, Elizabeth. She is pregnant as well, and she will bear a child well past the time she should have. What she knew was impossible, is happening. What you thought was impossible, is going to happen as well. Nothing is impossible with God. These things are both possible with Him, and are going to happen. Mary responds, in just the right way, as you have said, may it happen. But, I don’t want you to think that was an easy thing to say (even with an Angel’s testimony). This was a HUGE act of faith by Mary. She knew that becoming pregnant (even with the son of God), would cause people to talk. It would cause people (and even her husband) to make assumptions about her. Assumptions that under normal circumstances would be well founded. This means, that her husband (finance) Joseph, had every right to divorce her; which would essentially leave her an outcast and destitute for the rest of her life. This was a response from a woman of Great faith and love of God.

With this scene of faith by Mary, it’s so fitting that the son she was about to bear, Jesus, would later say something very similar to His disciples regarding faith in Him, faith in God. This happened in Matthew 17, while the disciples were trying to remove a Deamon from a man, and had no results, where before they could. They asked Jesus privately why they couldn’t do it and Jesus replied, 20 “Because of your little faith,” he told them. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”[2] Nothing is impossible for you when your faith is well placed, when it is put in God.

In reality to us today, we know this, we know because we have heard that “Nothing is impossible with God.” But, it’s kind of hard to really understand or believe. I can affirm this myself, if you’re like me; you’re a skeptic at heart about most things. I need proof, and I make decisions based off of what I can see and what I can understand, and put little thought or reverence into what a Great Big God in the equation means. I know through many conversations with everyone here, that we all struggle with that. So, the next time you are seeking the kingdom, the next time you are praying and asking God to align your thoughts with those of Christ’s, remember and expect this, watch for this, nothing is impossible for God, so nothing is impossible for those with faith in God.

Conclusion

Beloved, as we enter this Christmas Season, this advent season. Keep your eyes on the prize. Keep your eyes on what really matters, Jesus. Yes, many other things are great like family but don’t let them be a distraction from realizing why we celebrate. We celebrate God the Son coming to Earth, God dwelling with us and as a man. We celebrate the long awaited message, get ready, here He comes message being given; we celebrate that God’s great love was so deep for us that God came to us in the seemingly impossible ways. Why? Because we serve a God is specializes in making the impossible, possible. All things are possible to the all powerful creator of the universe. So, keep your eyes on God, keep your eyes on Jesus this Christmas season and find and do things that will help you grow in the understanding and love of Him all the more and more.

With all of that being said, I would be remised if I didn’t share the Gospel (or the Good News) of Jesus Christ with you today, for the benefit of both believer and non-believer in the room. This begins all the way back at the beginning, God created everything, and he created all things good. He gave His most treasured creation (us, mankind) the ability of free will, the ability to choose Him or rebellion. Man was deceived by Satan and desired to be like God and sinned (or rebelled against God). This brought the curse of sin and death into the world and it remains with us to this day; which separates us from God. God though, loved His creation (mankind) so much that He worked through history to redeem all mankind that would turn to Him from sin so that we can experience a full and perfect relationship with Him again. This was through the perfect and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the pay for sins. Accepting this free gift from God, makes you new and forgiven. All you have to do accept this free gift by repenting and believing in the Lord Jesus and you will get to experience the good side of God’s justice forever. So, now that you know this, you can no longer plead ignorance. I invite and urge you to respond today non-believer and apply this to every part of your life believers in the audience today.

With that, Let’s conclude. Brothers and Sisters, I love you all. During our last song together, if you need prayer, or want to talk more about Jesus, or have something you want to talk about, I’ll be here, don’t be afraid to come on down. Let’s pray. Father God, we thank You for who You are and what You are doing to us here in this place. May whatever it is that You are doing in each of heart here, continue as we leave go out into the world this week. Change us, mold us, make us, re-arrange us, that we can be both better lovers of You and better showers of You. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

[1] Christian Standard Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2020, p. Lk 1:26–38. [2] Christian Standard Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2020, p. Mt 17:20.

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