We Have Been Justified
Notes
Transcript
Thus far we’ve seen that Christmas is a time to acknowledge the life giving divine intrusion of God’s Grace (His Unmerited favor to His people)
Also, Christmas is a time to reflect upon and declare the hope of reconciliation betwen man and God through a child who would be born both truly man and truly God(divine)
Today we will be looking at how Christmas is a time to trust and submit to the mysterious and powerful work of the divine/ Holy Spirit who works out the purposes of God to save His people through a truly man truly divine baby born to a virgin
READ THE TEXT
Why is it easy to say happy holidays and not Merry Christmas
Besides the culture of political correctness and obedience to the 11th commandment “Thou shalt be nice”
I think it’s because it implies an admission to the reality of an exclusive incomprehensible fact of God becoming like people through an unprecedented method of conception.
Post Post Modern man doesn’t want to admit or concede the possibility of supernatural intervention into the natural
That’s only reserved for the screens or the unsophisticated religious people
In a way it makes sense
How can you explain the supernatural becoming a art of the natural without compromising His deity?
Do you have a grid through which you can explain or even comprehend such a reality?
In our text it appears neither did Mary
Hence she asks the question
How is this possible/ I don't understand
Based on her experience and her reasoning it is impossible such a thing could happen
Surely she’s heard of Sara, Rachel, Hannah, and Manoah’s wife(Samson’s Mother)
But all these other women had something in common- They were all married and known a man. They weren’t virgins
If we’re honest that reasoning is correct/ air tight
No one can reasonably say “why would she ask such a question?”
Because she based her question on a simple but concrete human/natural reality
I am a virgin and virgins do’t get pregnant unless they've had relations with a man.
Not only her question but who she’s asking is also important to notice
She asks the divine messenger to give her insight to this perplexing mystery that doesn’t fit with the laws of nature
The natural must always look to the divine revelation/ to what is revealed for wisdom and insight
Such is the will of God for His creation
The things revealed belong to man so that he could base his life upon it
but there are things that are not revealed that only belong to God
“The secret things belong to Yahweh our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
At this point what Mary didn't realize but soon will and by extension what you & I must reckon is that she was standing on the brink of a new dispensation of divine revelation
Where the divine mystery of the Work of the Holy Spirit in the world is abut to be introduced
The fulfilment of Joel 2:28–29 ““And it will be afterwards That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; Your old men will dream dreams; Your young men will see visions. “Even on the male slaves and female slaves I will in those days pour out My Spirit.”
We see this in the angel’s response
As he tells the means by which this incomprehensible/ unprecedented event/ conception/ pregnancy will take place
Notice How the angel doesn’t appeal to reason/science/ or anything within the realm of the natural world to explain this truth
He appeals to the supernatural/ the one who can not be seen nor measured by human/natural means to explain the truth
He sticks to the script/ the heavenly reality that he knows from being in the presence of God remember Luke 1:19 “And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands before God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.”
Practical implication about how you are to receive the truth of the gospel and share it with others
Not from the human/natural perspective but your primary source of truth should flow from your intimacy with God and His divinely inspired word in scripture sealed in your heart by the Holy Spirit
So the angel says the same Holy Spirit who was hovering the water at creation in Genesis 1:2 “And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”
The one who who rightly owns all of creation as He is the power by which all creation came to exist- Including Mary_ will indeed come into Mary’s personal space with His unsearchable/ Mysterious power
The divine/mysterious power/ influence that flows from God the Father (the Most High) is applied by the personal interaction of the Holy Spirit who accomplishes the conception Flawless/ Sinless/ mysterious/ supernatural Son
What is revealed here to Mary and to us is that this is the result of Supernatural and Mysterious operation of the Holy Spirit
Although mysterious it doesn’t mean that it’s unreasonable
The Logic tracks
If the Son is to be called the Son of the most High some incomprehensible divine mystery has to be involved
There’s is a sense we are partakers of this reality
think of your salvation/your sanctification/ your assurance of salvation/ your battle and victory against sin/ your convictions about who God is/ your desire to do His will in your life
How can you explain these realities that are in yur life and not in others
Who do you think is there working this things out in your life? The Holy Spirit
Yet you cannot breakdown the details of His workings
You see the effects of His work in reality
“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
Hence the angel Jumps to the natural realm to show how this divine mystery fits with reality by pointing to Elizabeth
Then he delivers the knock out blow
He says the reason this is possible is that Nothing is impossible with God
Ultimately the buck stops with the source of divine power/ wisdom/ and will
In that realm impossibility doesn’t exist
We have that word in out vocabulary because of our limitations/ our finite power/wisdom/will
But God is infinite in Power/ wisdom/ will therefor that word impossible doesn’t exist in Him
How can you argue with that?
Your response would be Like Mary’s
True joy giving/ saving/ fulfilling trust and obedience
May it be done TO ME (Not for Me)
To me who found divine favor/ a reception of grace/
To me without violating my will instead with joyful eagerness (the girls and tickling)
To me in a personal intimate way
According to God’s own word
According to His faithfulness
According to His will
Not according to my understanding
This is the divine mystery of Christmas reveals and if you’ve believed in the one who was born to Mary the Holy Spirit Has revealed this mystery to you
If you have not Pray that He would reveal His divine mystery to your heart today