Today we'll hear from God's Word from Luke chapter 1 and verses 26 to 38. Luke chapter 1 verse 26 to 38. Let's give our attention now to the reading of God's holy inerrant and inspired Word. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, Greetings, O favored one. The Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 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. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of His kingdom there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin? 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. 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. For nothing will be impossible with God. 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." That's the reading of God's holy word. May He bless it to our hearts now. Well, announcements are often a big deal. There are certain announcements that are really a big deal. If the Prime Minister or the Government of Canada says, you know, the Prime Minister is going to make a big announcement this Friday, it's going to be broadcast live, lots of people are going to tune in to see what this announcement is all about. For those who may be, you know, techies out there, Apple nerds, if there's a, you know, announcement that there's going to be, Apple has an announcement, you know, people get all excited, there's all these rumors, could it be the next iPhone? Or, you know, if you're a sports fanatic or a Rough Riders fan and the Rough Riders say they have some big announcement to make, people start to get all excited. Maybe there's this new star player they recruited or a better coach or whatever. Announcements are a big deal. And it's hard, though, to top a berth announcement. We just got to experience and hear a birth announcement last week, and we rejoiced to hear that Ron Anderson's going to be a grandpa, Kristen's going to be an aunt, as L'Oreal is pregnant. And so we rejoiced with that. It's hard to top a birth announcement. People just love to hear about new life and to hear how God has blessed somebody with child. And what we have in our passage this morning really is the biggest birth announcement that has ever been made in the history of the human race. And yet it came in a very unexpected way. We might expect the biggest announcement to come in the age of the internet and television. And we might expect the biggest announcement ever to come in a huge city like Rome in those days, or today in a place like Toronto or New York, however you feel about those cities. Those tend to be where lots of things happen. We might expect it to be more publicized than a Star Wars movie or a US presidential election. And we might expect the most important people to hear this announcement. That it would first gold to the rich and those who are high in society. And then over time maybe trickle down to the poor and marginalized people of society. And yet we see in these birth narratives of our Lord that God's ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. In fact, His thoughts and His ways are way higher than ours and way more glorious and greater than our ways. And we see this in this announcement of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so notice with me the greatest birth announcement that's ever been made in our text here. And we'll see five things here as we work our way through this passage. First, we'll see that there is an unlikely recipient of this announcement. And then we'll see the unexpected announcement itself. And then we'll thirdly see that there's this understandable question that Mary asks. And then fourthly, we'll see the angel's response where he gives this unfathomable mystery. And then finally, we'll see Mary's unwavering faith in this passage. But first notice with me this unlikely recipient. Beginning in verse 26, we read that in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. Now these opening verses are the setting of this scene. And the sixth month here refers to the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy. Elizabeth was Mary's elderly relative who was pregnant with John the Baptist, that if you read earlier in Luke 1, you'll read that story of the announcement of John the Baptist. John the Baptist, as you know, was the forerunner of Jesus. He came first as the final Old Testament prophet. to announce the coming king. He was the herald of the king. And what Luke does in these opening chapters is he lays out the birth narrative of each of these men to show how their lives connect and also to set up a contrast between the two of them. What Luke wants us to see is that as great as John the Baptist is, Jesus is far greater even. And before we continue with our passage, this is the setting of the scene here that Luke gives us, but it's important that we also consider the overall setting of the whole Bible in the history of redemption. Remember that God originally created Adam and Eve in the garden in His image, good and upright, in perfect blessedness and righteousness and holiness. God told them that they could actually eat of every tree in the Garden of Eden except for one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And we know how the story goes. The devil tempted Eve. And then Adam, who was there all along, also took that fruit and ate. And they disobeyed God. And through Adam's transgressions, sin and death entered this world. But immediately right after the fall, right after Adam had made this tragic mistake in sinning against God and plunging Him in all of His posterity into condemnation, we saw in Genesis 3.15 the first unexpected announcement there. Instead of God condemning Adam in all his posterity into eternal condemnation, We read the first unexpected announcement. Some surprising good news in Genesis 3.15 where God says, 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. This was the first gospel announcement where God said to the serpent, the devil himself, that there's going to be this enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. And there's going to come a climactic day where it'll appear that the seed of the woman has lost because his heel will be bruised. And yet he will crush the serpent's head. And think about this, think about how many women from that point on who knew of that announcement in Genesis 3.15 would have thought whenever they conceived if perhaps this would be the one. Perhaps millions of women would have thought maybe this child in my womb will be the Genesis 3.15 offspring. who will crush the serpent's head. And as history went on, God's people would have struggled with being patient with God. They would have thought, is he ever gonna fulfill his promises to his people? And at this point in redemptive history, in Luke 1, where we pick up, God had actually been silent for 400 years. Between the prophet Malachi and the New Testament, there's what we call in this intertestamental period, the 400-year silence. That's a long time. I was trying to get my Sunday school class last week to think about this, about how glorious this good news in these birth narratives is. I mean, I asked my kids, how old are you? And you know, they were like 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 years old. And think about that in light of 100 years, or 400 years, or thousands of years from the time of Genesis 3.15. And so this announcement is huge. Salvation has finally arrived. The offspring of the woman of Genesis 3.15 is finally here. In the fullness of time, in God's infinite and perfect wisdom. And it came through the angel Gabriel to this unlikely recipient in an unlikely location. Gabriel probably couldn't have found a more unlikely person to share this good news with. Mary was this lowly girl and she was possibly as young as 12 or 13 years old. Amazing. 12 or 13 years old, and she's the one chosen. She was also a poor peasant girl with hardly anything to call her own. She also lived in the middle of nowhere in a small country town. This isn't Rome, this is Nazareth. And as we saw in John's gospel in John 1 46, they would have said at that time, can anything good come out of Nazareth? It's kind of like she's from a small town in Saskatchewan, right? Like Wolseley or Gold Lake. Finally, Mary was a female in a culture that discounted women. So she's perhaps the most insignificant person to receive this announcement. As one commentator put it, Mary's a nobody in a nothing town in the middle of nowhere. And yet Mary was given the greatest honor that any woman has ever been given. in the history of the world. She was chosen to be the woman who would bear the offspring of Genesis 3.15, the one who would crush the serpent's head. She was chosen to be the mother of Jesus, the eternal Son of God, the offspring of Abraham, and the rightful heir to King David's eternal throne. How remarkable that Mary is chosen of all the women And it was all part of God's sovereign plan to glorify himself by redeeming his people in the most unexpected yet glorious way. We should marvel at the ways of God here. And think about the humiliation and sufferings of our Lord. Even in the birth narratives we already see the humiliation of Jesus and how He would truly suffer from the time He was conceived to the time He would die on the cross for our sins. This is the beginning of Jesus' humiliation for you and me. Martin Luther once said that God could have gone to Jerusalem and picked out Caiaphas, the high priest's daughter. No doubt she would have been one of the most important women in Jerusalem. She was rich. She was beautiful. She was well-educated. She was important. But in the words of Luther, God chose a lowly maid from a mean town. But this is what Jesus would go through for us. This is how much He loves you and me. Before he's exalted to the Father's right hand, he first humbled himself for our salvation. And so too, brothers and sisters, are we to be conformed to the image of our humble Savior. We're called in Christ to be humble towards others, to associate with the lowly, as Paul puts it in Romans 12. In humility, to count others as more significant than ourselves. I wonder if a girl like Mary were to walk into our church building, how we would treat her. Or when we run across her in society, how we would treat her. And yet a girl like Mary, the lowly and unlikely person in society, God chooses to bear. Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Sadly, we tend to be self-absorbed and self-promoting, and so we sinfully exalt ourselves, and so God has to humble us. But Christ shows us that the way up in the Christian life is the way down, that God exalts the humble. Are you thankful for Jesus' humiliation at this Christmas season? Well, one way to show your thankfulness is to be humble towards others, to follow Jesus in His humility. Jesus is our humble Savior, we see here. And Mary, we see, herself needed a Savior as well. Mary wasn't a sinless person who was full of grace, as so many Roman Catholics pray in the Hail Mary prayer. Rather, Mary received grace, we see here. This is what Gabriel means when he says in verse 28, And he came to her and said, Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you. We see in this verse that salvation is a gift of grace, a gift of free grace to sinners, even Mary. In fact, the word that Gabriel uses here for favor is the same Greek word that Paul uses whenever he talks about grace, that we're saved by grace alone, that it is... by God's unmerited favor that we're saved. That's the same word that is used by Gabriel here towards Mary. God has shown grace upon her. This is a gracious blessing that the angel pronounces upon her. Gabriel's greeting her and saying, you have received God's undeserved kindness. And so in the words of one commentator, Mary is not a source of grace. She's an object of grace. She's not a repository of grace. She's a recipient of grace. Now Mary's taken back by this greeting. Notice she says she was greatly troubled in verse 29 of the saying. And who among us wouldn't be troubled when an angel appears and greets us in this way? She tried to discern though what sort of greeting this might be. So let's notice then this announcement that he makes. So we've seen that this unlikely recipient in Mary. Notice next to the unexpected announcement. In verse 30, the angel Gabriel says to her, don't be afraid. Mary, for you found favor with God. Now, before we go on, just put yourself in Mary's shoes. You're this teenage girl. You're this poor peasant girl from a nowhere town. You're a nobody in society. And Gabriel just lays on. This amazing announcement after announcement. It's as if he just lays it on. Just one of these things would have been amazing for her to hear, but listen to what she hears now. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. What? And then next, then you shall call his name Jesus. 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. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and ever. And of his kingdom there will be no end." Imagine being Mary. You want to run that by me again, Gabriel? Did I hear you correctly? But with these words, we have the greatest announcement in the history of mankind. But what's so great about this announcement? Who is this son that Mary would bear in her womb? Well, this announcement reveals the person and work of Christ. 1st Gabriel says that she is to name him Jesus. Now, as we've seen in our afternoon service, he's called Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. That's, as we look at Matthew 1, the announcement to Joseph, the angel there says, Joseph, you shall call his name Jesus because he'll save his people from their sins. The name Jesus comes from the Old Testament name Joshua, which basically means Yahweh, or God, is salvation. So this child that Mary's going to bear will be the Savior. He'll be the Savior of the world. And next, Gabriel announces in verse 32 that he'll be great. Now when Gabriel announced the coming of John the Baptist, he said that John would be great before the Lord. But Jesus is simply great. There's nothing to qualify his greatness. He's not great before the Lord. He simply is great because he is the Lord. And in the Old Testament, especially the Psalms, whenever someone is described as great, without qualification, it almost always refers to God. And no one would match the greatness of our Lord, who would cast out demons, who would heal the diseased, who would raise the dead, who would still the storm, who would feed the 5,000, who would silence the religious leaders. And the list could go on and on. Jesus will be great because He is Immanuel, God with us. As Gabriel continues, He will be called the Son of the Most High. This is also a reference to His deity. As we just confessed in the Nicene Creed, He is begotten of the Father before all ages, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God. begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. And so Jesus is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, the Son of the Most High. And finally, Gabriel says that he will be an eternal king. Notice verse 32, the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there will be no end. In other words, there will be no term limits with Jesus. He is currently reigning at the Father's right hand. And as the hallelujah chorus goes, He shall reign forever and ever. Think about how many kings there have been in the history of the human race that have come and gone. And how long have they reigned for? Maybe five years, maybe 10 years, 20. If you were to look it up on Wikipedia, that reliable source, the longest rain by exact date is King Sebuza II of Swaziland, who rained from December 10, 1899 to August 21, 1982. That's 82 years, 254 days. 82 years is the longest verifiable rain. that you have according to Wikipedia. Still, some ancient Egyptologists, and it's debated, talk about Pepe II, Nefekhari, who reigned as king of ancient Egypt for 94 years. So perhaps the longest reigning king ever has been for 94 years. But the world has seen the reign of these two men come and go, and every other king in the history of the world, and will continue to see the reign of any king today come and go. But there's one who will reign forever and ever, and that's our Lord Jesus Christ, and He's already reigning. All authority in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and power has been given to Him. And he will come again. Jesus came to fulfill the promise that God made to David in 2 Samuel 7 that he would have a son who would sit upon his throne forever. And so Jesus is great David's greater son. The one whom David says in Psalm 110 is his Lord. And so Jesus is the Son of the Most High and He's the Son of David. He's fully God and fully man. And because He's fully God and fully man and a righteous man, He's the only one who can save us from our sins. And so He's called Jesus. And so you see, all wrapped up in this announcement is the essence of who Jesus is and what He came to do. As one commentator puts it, already we see the strange juxtaposition of meekness and majesty that define the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. He was born in the humblest of circumstances. While on earth he suffered the humiliation of poverty, loneliness, homelessness, rejection, persecution, and torture. Jesus humbled himself to the very death. Yet he was still the divine Son of God, and God exalted him back to greatness by raising him from the dead. This is who Mary bears in her womb. Now Mary hears this announcement, and she has a very understandable question. And so we've seen the unlikely recipient, and we've seen this unexpected announcement. Now notice Mary's understandable question in verse 34. How will this be? Because I'm a virgin. Yeah, that's pretty understandable to ask that question. And this doesn't express doubt on Mary's part. This is a humble question. This is faith really seeking understanding. Mary believes, but she still has this question. She obviously understands that Gabriel is telling her that she will conceive before she knows a man sexually. And at this point, she is betrothed to Joseph. And the way it worked back then is that one would be betrothed in a formal ceremony, and usually during this betrothal period, it lasted about a year. And during that time, the couple would sometimes be referred to as husband and wife, and infidelity was treated as adultery. And that's why in Matthew's account, Joseph sought to divorce her quietly. He thought she had been fooling around. But that wasn't the case. She was a virgin when she conceived. Now, many people mock the doctrine of the virgin conception. People say, we all know that virgins don't conceive. But that's only true if you presuppose a naturalistic worldview. And sadly, some churches have gone on to deny this truth. But the virgin conception is a necessary doctrine of the Christian faith. And we confess this truth with the people of God in the Apostles' Creed and in the Nicene Creed that we confess that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. This is an article which is of the essence of the Christian faith. But what's the big deal about the virgin conception? Why does it really matter? Does it really matter if we confess this or not? Well, yes, it does matter. In fact, we ask this question in our Heidelberg Catechism in Lourdes Day 14. What benefit do you receive from the holy conception and birth of Christ? And the answer is not, well, it doesn't really matter. No, the answer is that he is our mediator and with his innocence and perfect holiness covers in the sight of God my sin wherein I was conceived. You see, the Bible teaches us in Romans 5 that we are all guilty in Adam. And in Psalm 51, David says, behold, I was conceived and born in sin. All of us enter this world guilty in Adam and conceived and born in sin with a corrupt sin nature from which all of our actual sins flow. But Adam was not Jesus' representative. Jesus came as our second and final Adam. And Jesus was not conceived and born in sin. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. And there's something about that that is necessary for our salvation, that assures us that He is truly our mediator, who is free from the stain of original sin in Adam. And we'll explore this a bit more on January 1st in our afternoon service, because in God's providence, we'll be in that Lord's Day that talks about that. But one more thing that this virgin conception teaches us is that salvation is of the Lord. It's His sovereign initiative. Throughout redemptive history, whenever God's about to deliver and save His people, He often saves them through the son of a barren woman. through a woman who is beyond childbearing years, to demonstrate His sovereignty in salvation, and to demonstrate that He is able to fulfill His promises without man's help. Think of Abraham's wife, Sarah, how she was barren for so many years and she had Isaac when she was 90 years old and Abraham was 100. Or think of Samson's mom who was barren until the Lord caused her to conceive a son to deliver Israel during that time of oppression. You see, when God saves His people through a barren woman who's unable to conceive, He demonstrates that salvation is His sovereign initiative, that He doesn't need our help to save us from oppression. But what is greater than causing a barren woman in her old age to conceive who's beyond childbearing years? Well, how about a virgin? How about a virgin conception? This virgin conception shows that salvation is of the Lord more than any other miraculous conception before it, and it shows that Jesus is the greatest Savior that God's ever raised up for his people. And this will be the greatest salvation that God has ever accomplished for his people. And if you have a hard time believing the virgin conception is possible, isn't that the point? Isn't that what Gabriel says, that nothing will be impossible with God? And so Gabriel then answers Mary's understandable question with this unfathomable mystery. So notice in our fourth point here, this unfathomable mystery. In verse 35, 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. Now notice how discreet this account is. Luke, like a good historian, just gives the facts. How will the Virgin Mary conceive? Put simply, the Holy Spirit. By the power of the Holy Spirit. And notice Gabriel says that the power of the Most High will overshadow Mary. Now this term overshadow is an important term in the Bible. This is not the first time that it's been used. This term overshadow really has a back story, if you will. This is an echo of the Holy Spirit hovering over the waters at creation in Genesis 1 verse 2. And so what this announcement means is that God is bringing about a new creation through this conception. Furthermore, this is the same term that is used of the Holy Spirit in the exodus of Israel, when the Spirit overshadowed the tabernacle in that cloud, that glory cloud. This same spirit now overshadows Mary, showing that Jesus is the new tabernacle and temple who brings about a greater exodus for God's people. And this same spirit later overshadows Jesus at his baptism, anointing him and empowering him for his earthly ministry. And this same spirit overshadows Jesus and the disciples at his transfiguration when his glory is revealed to that inner circle, Peter, James, and John. And it was by the same Spirit that Jesus would make atonement for our sins according to Hebrews 9.14. And it was by the same Spirit that Jesus would be raised from the dead according to Romans 1.4. It's that same spirit that Jesus then sends and pours out upon His church in Acts at Pentecost. The point is this, that in Christ, God is bringing about a new creation, a new exodus, and that the Holy Spirit is necessary for these things. That our redemption is Trinitarian through and through. That the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all working together to achieve our salvation. Now here's an application for you today. Perhaps you struggle with sin in the Christian life, as all Christians do, but you're frustrated at times. Will I ever find the power to resist this sin? Remember that the same Holy Spirit that effected the virgin conception now dwells within you. That's a lot of power. If you ever feel helpless in the Christian life, if you ever doubt if God's power will be enough to preserve you, if you ever feel like you don't have the power to put to death your sin, remember the virgin conception. The same powerful Holy Spirit that affected this miracle now dwells within you. And so walk by faith in God's promises and depend on the Spirit's strength. You can't do it in your own strength, but you have been given the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. Now, even though Mary doesn't ask for a sign of confirmation, God graciously gives her one in order to increase her faith and strengthen it. In verse 36, Gabriel says, 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. Amazing. I like how one commentator put it. We have in here, in these opening birth narratives, a senior citizen and a virgin teenager that have conceived. Mary would soon see visible evidence that God indeed has the power to grant conception even to those who shouldn't be able to conceive when she visits Elizabeth. And then Gabriel concludes his announcement with this great and memorable statement. He says in verse 37, for nothing will be impossible with God. It's a great statement to just pause upon and reflect upon and be strengthened by. What are you struggling with right now at this moment? Perhaps you think it seems impossible that God could forgive me. Perhaps you think it seems impossible that my dear friend or family member would ever come to saving faith in Christ. Or perhaps you think it seems impossible that I'll ever be free from this besetting sin. Or it seems impossible that I'll ever be healed from this disease. Or that God could fix my brokenness when I feel so unworthy. Or perhaps you think it seems impossible to raise my stubborn child in the faith. Or it seems impossible that God will take care of me when I just lost my job. Or it seems impossible that I'll ever be content with God's providence when everything seems to go wrong. Or it seems impossible that my husband or wife will ever change for the better. Whatever it is, this ought to comfort you, God's word for you today that says, for nothing will be impossible with God. Nothing. As J.C. Ryle once put it, a hearty reception of this great principle is of immense importance to our own inward peace. May God grant to us this day that we would trust this truth in our hearts. Finally, notice the unwavering faith of Mary here. In our fifth point, an unwavering faith. In verse 38, 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. What a remarkable faith. Consider Mary's faith here. I mean, she could have said, Are you crazy, Gabriel? I don't think so. I just want to, you know, have a peaceful, quiet, normal life and Mary Carpenter. I don't want this. Can I at least have a few days to think about it? I mean, she had to have known that her story would be questioned. Oh yeah, right, you didn't fool around. Even Joseph had his doubts at first. She could have been anxious about the death penalty, right? In the Old Testament, adulterers could be stoned to death. And yet she says, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. What an amazing example of submission to God's will teenage girl. And yet how many times have we kicked and screamed at God's will for our lives? We tend to be far more immature than this young teenage girl. But may we learn from her example. The Bible nowhere teaches us that she was sinless, but her faith is held out as a model for us insofar as she resembles Christ, who is our supreme example. This ought to be our response to whatever God's revealed will is for our life. Do you trust Romans 8, 28? That for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. Do you trust that He who did not spare His only Son, also with Him will graciously give you all things? Do you trust that nothing will ever separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? If you're struggling with this today, trust him now and submit to his will for your life as it's revealed in his word. And even as it's revealed in his providence, sometimes we don't like how providence goes. But we need to trust God's will for our life, that He will take care of us, that He has a good and sovereign plan. He has a good design through all the ups and downs of the Christian life, and He will not fail to fulfill even one of His promises towards you and me in Christ. For all His promises in Christ are yes and amen. He has given you the gift of His only Son. And so let us submit to His will out of thankfulness, because Christ first submitted to His Father's will perfectly to save us from all our sins. Jesus is the one who came and said, my food is to do the Father's will. And He's the one who was in agony in the garden of Gethsemane and said, not my will, but your will be done. And he's the one who suffered the just wrath of God on the cross in our place to pay the debt of all of our sins and said, it is finished. He fully submitted to his father's will and he fully accomplished our salvation. And so let us rest in him. for complete salvation for all of our sins. And let us receive this as a gift of free grace by faith alone. And then let us say with Mary, behold, I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. This announcement from the angel Gabriel is the greatest birth announcement ever. May we not leave this place today being unchanged by it. May we leave this place with wonder and joy in thanksgiving. May God increase our faith and our hope and may we be eager to share this hope with others this Christmas season as we look forward to the return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.