Advent 2023: Blessed Among Women is the Mother of Our Lord

Introduction

Open to Luke 1:26-38 this evening

The silence Broken

Zechariah and Elizabeth righteous people, blameless in all the commandments.

Blameless before the world but short before got.

Adultery of the heart.

The way an Elder should be blameless.

The way Job should be blameless.

“the spirit and power of Elijah” (Lk 1:17 ESV)

Prophecy fulfilment

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” (Mal 4:5, ESV)

Isn’t it cool that we have the last prophet in the old testament and at the first event we have in the new we have the Angle saying.

Lets Read

Luke 1:26–38 ESV

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

May God bless the Reading of His Holy, Infallible, and Sufficient Word

Let’s Pray

Transition

I have a question, if someone asked to to describe from Memory the events surrounding the birth of Jesus, could you do it?

I am not taking about perfect some people have better memories than others, come are better story tellers

Could you get all the salient points

Now I have another questions, this one might hurt a little

What about your favorite movie, book, TV series, sports team.

I personally know several Christians that could tell you all about a lot of things but could not from memory give a coherent recounting of the birth of Christ.

What or who are you an ambassador for?

Who or what to your evangelize for?

We all evangelize for a lot of thing, what’s your favorite restaurant, what’s your favorite food?

I avoided commentaries this evening because this is the core of where we need to get.

We need don’t need to go tot he world and say this is what Calvin thought, or anyone else, the question is, what do you say about Jesus. Can you represent him accurately to the world?

Yes that is your job, christian.

you may not be a preacher, and evangelist,

you might be a house wife,

you might be bed ridden,

no mater where you are it is your job to be able to give an answer “hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15) that hope has a name. It’s Jesus.

Body

Gabriel was sent to the Virgin

Luke 1:26–29 ESV

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.

(Sixth Month)

Early Church, church history, some interpret this as the six Jewish month. (this is march)

This is one of the reason we celibate in Dec

I think its the sixth month after John’s

Sent from God

Have you considered the centrality of the virginity of Mary in this story.

The story could have said, Joseph was betrothed to Mary, and how side note, Mary was a virgin.

Mary’s name is actually the side note.

Notice how God word’s things in away to make Mary virginity central to the story.

Later one we are given a definition of virgin so we cannot just say, well back then virgin ment an incert any meaning.

Verse 34 “And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Lk 1:34, ESV)

a note about Bible study here, not everyone has to tools to do a dive into the greek.

“Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?’ (Lk 1:34, ESV)

You are so blessed to have such a wealth of bibles available.

Think about it, there are christian from history that never got to read the bible for themselves ever!

“Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

Notice the Lord is with you, that is the source of favor.

How do we describe this favor?

She was prophesied in Genesis

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Ge 3:15, ESV)

The angle comes saying You are that woman Mary.

Mary, was fully aware of what the Angle ment.

She was greatly troubled

Transition

I hope you are seeing some of those salient points as we go here.

(Sixth Month)

Sent from God

centrality of the virginity of Mary

O favored one

She was greatly troubled

“you will conceive in your womb”

Luke 1:30–33 ESV

30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Do not be afraid

Veneration of Mary

conceive in your womb

The clear and the not clear

shall call his name Jesus

Notice the author writes Jesus,

The Gospels were written first in Greek

Scripture sufficiency

“Son of the Most High”

“the throne of his father David”

Is David the most high? No, so we see the two nature of Christ right here.

“of his kingdom there will be no end”

Transition

(Sixth Month)

Sent from God

centrality of the virginity of Mary

O favored one

She was greatly troubled

Conceive in your womb

His name Jesus

Son of the Most High

The throne of his father David

His kingdom there will be no end

Mary’s Beautiful Answer

Luke 1:34–38 ESV

34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

There is that text in 34 we saw before. “I have not known a man”

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you”

Dispelling Gnostic and Pagan Ideas of the Birth of Christ.

Reasoned Faith,

“Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son”

“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word”

What an answer,

Think about the potential costs?

A scarlet letter

Divorce

Death

Conclusion

So far we have

(Sixth Month)

Sent from God

centrality of the virginity of Mary

O favored one

She was greatly troubled

Conceive in your womb

His name Jesus

Son of the Most High

The throne of his father David

His kingdom there will be no end

The faithfulness of Mary

We have not even got the manger yet.

If you knowledge of the birth of Jesus start with a manger scene it is more likely you learned about Jesus from Populate than you did the scriptures.

I want to be absolutely clear here, No I could not perfectly resound from memory the evens surrounding my Lords birth.

This sermon is as convicting for me as it should be for you.

That is why I am thankful for Advent season

I will commit to do better, my question for you is, will you?

Enjoy this time of Advent my dear family in Christ as we got to meditate on the most wholesome of all wholesome things.

Benediction

Hebrews 13:20–21 ESV

20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.