Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning, and welcome again to Fellowship.

WE are so glad you’re here!

We are on a Christmas Journey together, studying this beautiful Season - as we have seen, is full of God’s grace.

Several weeks ago, we started our journey with an emphasis on our need for Grace as we studied Genesis 2-3 and the fall of Adam and Eve.

1. Sin is severe and results in judgement

2. Sin separates us from a Holy God

3. Sin has been defeated by Jesus

Then in week 2 we looked at the provision of Grace in Jesus

He was not a plan B to man’s mess up in the garden, But how He was the plan from the foundation of the world.

It was God’s plan for Christ to come and die and rise again for the redemption of the lost.

Man was and is in need of grace, and God met that desperate need in the person of Jesus.

Last week, we enjoyed the beautiful cantata our choir presented and focused on our response to this wonderful grace of God extended through Jesus.

And how it is not enough to simply know the facts about the Gospel, but that we must personally and genuinely respond to it.

That response is two-fold:

Repentance

Faith

So, we have looked at:

Our desperate need for Grace

God’s provision of Grace - through the Gospel

Our response to this Grace - repentance and faith

NOW WHAT?

Now that God has reached down and woken you up to your need of Him and you have responded to the Gospel - what now?

Do we continue to live like before the Gospel confrontation?

Is our relationship with the Lord initiated by God, but then we continue on our own?

Now What?

Well, the Christmas story is particularly helpful with answering the question, and we will look into and learn from the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus, to find a good example of what’s next.

So today, I’d like for us to consider our response to this grace.

That response is perseverance.

Look with me this morning in the Gospel according to Luke.

Luke’s purpose in writing is to give an orderly account of the life of Christ and to present the Lord’s perfect blend of divinity and humanity to strengthen the faith of believers and challenge the misconceptions of unbelievers.

from vv. 5-25 we learn of a lady named Elizabeth and her husband Zacharias who weren’t able to have children.

They are old and for the most part, have accepted the reality of not being able to have biological children.

However, as they were living their lives, and as Zacharias was serving in the temple, an angel appeared and told him about God’s plan - they would indeed have a child and it would be the forerunner of the Messiah - His name was to be John.

Pick up with me now in Luke 1:26

Pretty shocking events going on!

Can you imagine all the thoughts and quetions… Mary had one.

Now, in my mind that didn’t answer all of my questions.

I’m thinking:

What is Joseph going to think?

Who’s going to throw the babyshower?

At this point, why haven’t they invented disposable diapers yet?

There are a host of unanswered questions for a young lady to consider, but notice her response in v. 38

In essence, “Ok.” “Whatever you say I will do.”

If this is God’s plan, I am all in.

Although I don’t have all the answers, I don’t need all the answers.

God knows what He’s doing, therefore I will trust Him.

Her response of faith is the result of God’s grace.

So Mary went to visit Elizabeth, and stayed for through the first trimester - then returned home.

Everything is moving right along, progressing like normal and:

As Caesar Augustus thinks he is flexing His political muscles - but is actually just fulfilling prophecy from centuries before in Micah 5:2 - which states that the Messiah would be born there.

And just as if things don’t happen for a reason, Mary is ready to deliver.

The town is full and so is the inn.

Joseph should have used the Holiday Inn App, right!?!

So Mary is led to deliver this baby in a humble stable, wraps him in pieces of cloth to keep Christ warm, and lays Him in a feeding trough.

Two words to take note of:

Kept (treasured - preserved - stored up)

Pondered (meditated)

Mary held on to all that was going on, and spent some time thinking about it.

In spite of all the extraordinary details of what is going on, she perseveres.

She continually lives by faith in God’s revealed plan to her.

Day by day, moment by moment, step by step - she is continuing to have faith in God.

Despite the change of plans:

Her plans were to marry Joseph and start a family - by natural means

Her plans were to settle down in Nazareth

Her plans were to faithfully live out God’s plan (within the constraints of normalcy)

God changed her plans - and her response was here I am.

And throughout the narrative of her pregnancy, delivery, and post-natal account - the faith continued.

And as she continued, she preserved the actions of God and pondered on them.

And that is where we will take home this example to help as we depend on God to help us persevere.

In all of God’s grace to you this past year, spend some time this Christmas season to store them up.

Perhaps it’s with pen and paper.

Maybe it is digitally typing it up.

Perhaps you have a good memory and you can just remember back and treasure it there.

Whatever that looks like for you, spend some time consciously making notes of God’s grace and:

Spend some time thinking on it.

In all of the hustle and bustle of the Christmas Season, take some time throughout the day and reflect on God and His grace to you.

Has it been a trying year?

Reflect on it, but not separate from God’s grace that sustained you through it.

Paul said in romans 5:

The reality of what Mary experienced and what Paul is attesting to is the sustaining, perseverant grace of God.

Dear friend,

Do you see your need for the grace of God?

Do you understand that God’s plan to meet your deepest need is found in Jesus?

Have you yet to respond in repentance and faith to the Gospel?

Will you choose to respond to His continual grace and keep trusting Him?

—Spurgeon once said, “By perseverance the snail reached the Ark.”

And as cute as that is, I believe that is true!

But we can’t forget that God was enabling that conquest - and God will enable you.

So: treasure God and His grace to you this Christmas - store it up and keep it.

And spend some time pondering on Him.

Through all the continued busyness of the next few weeks, plan to purpose to dwell in Him.