This is the first Sunday of Advent, and I will be preaching from Luke's gospel during our entire Advent season. The theme is good news of great joy, and that is based on Luke chapter 2 and verse 10. Good news of great joy. Today, we're going to look at the angelic announcements in Luke chapter 1. In 1977, Marie Rubio of Southeast New Mexico was fixing breakfast for her family. It was six o'clock in the morning, and she was making tortillas, and she was turning the tortillas over out of the pan and onto the counter before she was going to fill them. And she noticed the third one had some burn marks on it that seemed unusual. She looked closely at it, but she wasn't sure she could believe what she was seeing. So she called her adult daughter, Rosa, and she asked her to look at it and tell her what she saw. And she affirmed, yes, she could see the face of Jesus Christ. They called the priest, and he came over. and looked at the tortilla and he blessed it. He told a few people about the unusual or even perhaps miraculous incident of the face of Christ on the tortilla and word spread. By the end of that day, several hundred people were at their house to see it and to seek healing by venerating the image of Christ in the tortilla. The family built a shrine in the yard to house the tortilla. This was 1977. By 1979, Maria's home had been visited by more than 35,000 people bearing flowers and pictures of loved ones who were sick, hoping for healing. Maria was able to quit her job as a maid and became a full-time attendant to the Shrine of the Tortilla. Family members were hosted on the Phil Donahoe Show and the Oprah Winfrey Show. Now, when I heard this story, I was reminded of Jesus' warning in Matthew 24. If anyone says to you, look, here is the Christ, do not believe it. For false prophets and false Christ will lead you astray. They will arise and lead you astray. Well, where can we see the true Jesus? And the answer is in the fourfold gospel. You wanna see Jesus, don't watch him on television. No, look for Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. If you want to see the real Christ, you must see him by faith in the word of God. Don't be led astray. You see, it is in the Word that we see the image and the glory of Christ in Scripture, that moral glory. Even in his own day, Isaiah had foretold it, that there was no beauty in him that anyone would desire him. People did not believe that he was the Messiah. They did not see his glory except for those who by faith had their eyes opened to the glory of Christ. So John writes, and we beheld, that is we believers, we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. It is the eye of faith that sees the image and the glory of God. And we see the image and the glory of the living word in the written word. And so that is where we're going to look. In Luke chapter one, I want to take a moment here, I'm going to give you three parts to this, but I want to take a moment at this beginning paragraph, verses one through four of Luke one, to tell you about Luke and the gospel story. Luke and the gospel story, that's number one. Scripture says, In as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. Let me just say three things here briefly about this paragraph. Luke's gospel, the whole gospel here, is the fulfillment of prophecy. And incidentally, there's only one gospel, and it is historically told to us, revealed to us, through four gospels. So it's the fourfold gospel, right? It's the fourfold gospel. The gospel is the same. but the gospel story is told by the four gospelers, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And so Luke's gospel is the fulfillment of prophecy. Do you notice we have something here that is called the divine passive. In the first verse, he says that many had undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us. Now, that have been, that's a passive verb here, right? That have been accomplished. It is a passive verb. And this is called a divine passive because we ask the question, what things? Well, everything that was prophesied in the Old Testament concerning the coming of Messiah. And who accomplished that? Well, God accomplished them. The God who spoke them through the prophets is the one who accomplished them. And they call this form the divine passive. If Jesus says, your sins are forgiven you, then it is the divine passive. It is God who is forgiving the sins, right? If he says that the creation was subjected in futility, who subjected it? Well, it was the Lord who subjected it in the vanity of the fall and the curse. And you have these expressions maybe less than a hundred times, but nearly a hundred times in the New Testament. So it is the Lord who has accomplished these things, and this is Luke's record. The Lord did it by his transcendent and sovereign providence over all things. So other people, right? Unbelief scans his work in vain. We won't see it unless it is revealed to us, but Luke tells us it was God who did this. It was his sovereign providence. He's recording that this is God's fulfillment of his plan. And he explains that he investigated and prepared this narrative about God's accomplishment of his Old Testament promises. He wants us to understand that his story is the continuation of the Old Testament story. He picks up where Malachi left off. Now secondly, with regard to Luke and the gospel story, Luke's gospel is based on eyewitness testimony. He mentions this as well in verse 2, just as those who have from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us. He mentioned that he gathered eyewitness testimony to the things that we have believed. And as we read the gospel, it seems that he had special access to maybe the household of Herod. Perhaps he also knew Mary personally, or at least knew Jude and James, the Lord's brothers, because he mentions things that would not have been known outside of the family of Jesus. And so his gospel is based on eyewitness testimony, firsthand testimonies, those who saw Jesus and walked with him and were with him in his ministry. And then a third thing about Luke and the gospel story is Luke's purpose. His purpose was to give assurance to a young disciple named Theophilus. And I believe, right, by the Holy Spirit, His purpose is to give us assurance of the historic truths of the birth, the life, the works, the sufferings, the death, the resurrection, the ascension, and the mission of Jesus that has been given to his church. He wants Theophilus to know the certainty, to have assurance concerning the things that he has been taught. He has been discipled in the truths of the person and work of Christ. That's what this gospel is about, the person and work of Christ. He's been discipled in it. He wants him to have the assurance of it by having this account at his disposal. Can you imagine when Theophilus read this for the first time? This carefully organized record of eyewitness testimony and fulfilled prophecy and how strengthened he was by it. Now listen, If you listen to the world or you neglect the Word, or both, right? If you listen to the world and you neglect the Word, you are going to doubt, you are going to question, you are going to live in fear that all you have is a ritual and not the real thing. But it is through the Word that the Holy Spirit will give you the surety, the certainty of those things that you have believed. Do not allow yourself to be dragged away from the Word and become a victim of Satan's strategies to destroy your faith, to overthrow your faith. And so what is the story that he is telling us here? How does the Lord, in this consummate moment of redemptive history, how does he destroy the works of the devil? How does he conquer sin and death and hell? Well, Luke opens the gospel with the story of two families, an older couple who have suffered the long heartache of being childless. and a young godly couple engaged to be married. Now, does it surprise you that God's instrument in this climactic moment of redemptive history is the family? In fact, I would say the Christian family may be the greatest apologetic for the gospel that is in use in culture. God overthrows the wisdom of this world. He mocks their absurd arguments for abortion, for homosexual marriage, for transgender ideology, for perversion and sexual immorality. How does he do this? By biblical marriage, by the sacredness of the family, by children, by consecrated singleness for the glory of his kingdom, by the distinction between men and women that he created. The entire unbelieving culture is satirized by the sacredness of the family. And I'm throwing this in, so don't get me started. This is the story of two miraculous births, but one far more miraculous than the other. The stories here of the angel Gabriel, his visit, his conversation with Zachariah, and his conversation with Mary. And these Luke has arranged in an intentionally parallel way. He wants you to compare and contrast these stories. And I'll mention three major points of comparison in these first stories. They both describe a miraculous birth of two boys. and the one far more miraculous than the other. And the second, the angel tells or gives the names, God-given names of the boys, John and Jesus. And thirdly, he describes the significance of their life and ministry, and one far more significant than the other. And so he gives us these parallel stories, but the supremacy and the preeminence of Jesus, the son of God, stands out. In fact, that's where he's taking us. He wants us to see the glory of the person of Christ. And that brings us to number two, the first story, John the Baptist and the gospel story. John the Baptist and the gospel story. This is verses five through 25. And I may not read all these verses, but I want you to get the story. He introduces us to Zachariah and Elizabeth in these first few verses. And Zachariah is a priest of the lineage of Aaron. This is the heritage. And his wife Elizabeth also is of the daughters of Aaron. This is a holy family consecrated by God to the work of ministry. And he is, as David had arranged it, part of the division of Abijah. And so he has specific assignments for specific times of the year when he is responsible to serve at the temple. We're also told regarding their character that they were both righteous before God, and I take that as a statement of their justification that they were declared righteous before God by their faith in the provision that he had made. And more than that, he tells us of their character because they walked blamelessly in all the commandments and the statutes of the Lord. But they also were a family that knew suffering. He says they had no child. Elizabeth was barren and they were both advanced in years. So, you know, it doesn't seem like it's possible. We know from the last verse in this section, verse 25, that after Elizabeth's conception, verse 25, thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me. to take away my reproach among the people. We know that in their culture, that to be childless was looked upon as a curse. And so they had suffered, they had suffered the reproach of people who had judged them as under God's wrath, under God's displeasure, because they did not have children. And they had endured that. for years. I feel sure that when Mary goes to see Elizabeth, she found in her a friend who could give her the guidance that she needed. Mary's world was turned upside down, and now she is going to be an unmarried mother. And she is going to endure the judgmental thoughts of people They are going to think all kinds of things about her. There's nothing she can do about that. But she has this older friend, a relative, who can guide her, who has her whole life suffered under the reproach of those who were judging her and putting her down and thinking about her in a negative way and talking about her in a sinful way. And so you can imagine when Mary went to see, because as soon as the angel gave her the news, right, she made haste and hurried to go see Elizabeth. And the conversations. So maybe when we get to glory, we can hear the conversations between these two godly ladies. Here's something of what is not revealed here, but what by, I think, godly imagination we know would be true spirit-filled conversations as Elizabeth prepares Mary for what she's going to endure. And as they both commit what is an amazing moment, both the object of God's miraculous favor and that God is going to do something marvelous. And so this is the story of those two births. So number two, John the Baptist and the gospel story. So Zachariah is serving in the temple. And a priest could serve his whole life in the temple without ever having the opportunity, or maybe once in a lifetime, have the opportunity to offer incense at the golden altar inside of the holy place. You remember that the temple had an outer court, but then there was the holy place and the holy of holies. And in the holy place, in the center, there before the veil, the curtain, that separated the Ark of the Covenant from the holy place, was the golden altar, the altar of golden incense. And during the time of prayer, the people would be praying outside and the priest would offer incense on that golden altar. When he was chosen, he would have also chosen two priests to help him. And so when they went into the holy place, the first priest would go forward and remove the embers from the coals the day before. He would gather them from off of the golden altar and he would worship and he would back away and go out. And then the second priest who was with Zachariah would take the coals that he had brought from the brazen altar, the altar of sacrifice, and he would put those, he would spread those out on the altar to the very edges. And then The Zachariah, after that priest had departed, would go forward and he would sprinkle the incense on the altar and it would create smoke. And the people who were praying outside would see the smoke of the incense going up to God. So it was a symbol of prayer being offered to God. And in this instance, it's a symbol of answered prayer because Zacharias prayer is answered. That's the first thing that Gabriel tells him. He says, your prayers have been answered. They have been praying for a child. The prayers probably have stopped for some time. But God has heard their prayer, even though it seemed like an impossible event. Now God has heard their prayer. He has answered their prayer. But the prayers of the people as well, and many perhaps praying also for the hope of Israel, for the coming of Messiah. And God is answering that prayer as well. And so when we look at this amazing promise of the Lord's return, we see it symbolized here that God is accomplishing, He's fulfilling this work even through the element of the incense that's being offered. Normally, the priest, Zechariah in this case, would himself bow in worship and then back away and go out of the veil. But this time he's shocked and surprised because on the right side of the golden altar, the angel Gabriel appears to him there. And he was troubled. Yes, he was afraid. Fear fell upon him. But the angel said, don't be afraid, your prayer is heard. Your Elizabeth will bear a son. And you know, this is all amazing. And he says to him, you shall call his name John. John is the Lord's favor. That's what it means, the Lord's favor. Some other kinds of definitions as well, but that's basically it. And he tells him, you're going to have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth. And he begins to describe to him the significance of this boy's life. So down in verse 15, he says, he will be great before the Lord. He's going to live in the presence of God. Right? Coram Deo. He is going to live before the face of God, and God's favor on this boy is going to make him great. Not great in the eyes of men, not great in the eyes of Herod and Herodias, no. Not great in the eyes of Pharisee, but great before the face of God. And that's what counts, right? Not greatness before the eyes of this world. So he will be great before God. And he must not drink strong drink, wine or strong drink. And perhaps he was a Nazirite. In fact, the great Jewish scholar, Alfred Edersheim, in his classic work, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, he says that like Samson and like Samuel, that he was a lifetime Nazirite devoted to God, and perhaps that is the case here. But he was not going to be controlled by wine or strong drink, as Paul says in Ephesians 5 where in his debauchery. You know, Paul brings these two things together as well. He says, do not be drunk with wine wherein is debauchery or excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. And we're told here that he will not, he must not drink wine or strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit. He won't be controlled by alcohol or drugs. He's not gonna be under the influence of those things. He's gonna be under the influence of the Holy Spirit. John is a spiritual man. And he tells us more and he is taking us back to Malachi chapter 4. Because it speaks of Elijah coming before the day of the Lord. And he tells us now that he is coming, that this is a fulfillment. He uses many of the same expressions. This is what Luke wants us to see. God is fulfilling his prophetic word. And so he says in verse 16, he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before him and the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord a prepared people. John would be great in a different way than Elijah was great. We're told in John chapter 10, Jesus said, John did no sign. In other words, John did not work miracles. Elijah, lots of miracles. John did not work miracles, but he, by his preaching of repentance, caused people, he was the instrument by which the Spirit of God that filled him penetrated the hearts of people and turned them to the Lord. And thousands, hundreds were turned away from sin to the Lord. Fathers were turned toward their children, toward their families. And fools, the disobedient, were turned to the wisdom of the just. This was a work of the Spirit of God that was being accomplished here to prepare the way for the coming of Christ. And notice in verse 17, because it is so important, he says, And he will go before him. Well, you can almost just read over it and not even see it there. He will go before him. Who is that? Who is the him? Well, verse 16, right? And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go before him. in the spirit and power of Elijah. In fact, if I turn back to Malachi chapter 3, we read, Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me. Here's the Lord speaking. Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts." So the Lord speaks of the coming of the Lord, right? This is the doctrine of the Trinity here in Malachi chapter 3, but he mentions that he is sending a messenger who will prepare the way before me. This passage is quoted Matthew 11 and verse 10, Mark chapter 1 and verse 2, Luke chapter 7, verse 27. And so this is John the Baptist that he's talking about. And that means also the deity of Christ, that he is the Lord. And so he will go before him to prepare the people. That's the great work. that he does. God calls us to repent through John, through the ministry, through what we read here, through his witness. He was calling Theophilus also. His calling calls us to repentance. Now, that's not the end of the story here, because Zechariah says to the angel, look, how can these things be? And he questions that. He says, because, well, first of all, I'm old. And second of all, My wife's old. How can these things be? And Gabriel is, I don't know if we could say he was shocked, but his answer certainly is a rebuke. He says, well, first of all, I'm Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. And I was sent here to give you this good news. Is that reason enough to believe? Instead of wondering how it's going to be, who promised that it would be? Right? And so, Gabriel gives him a sign. He says, Behold, verse 20, notice that constantly, Behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. We know from reading throughout the passage here that not only was Zachariah mute, but he also was deaf. Not only could he not speak, which is evident right away, because he goes outside and he tries to talk to the people. He cannot talk. And so he makes signs. This is the first sign language. He's trying to make signs. And they are getting that he can't talk, and he must have seen a vision in the temple. And so in a way, he is a sign also to the people who are there. But later, after the birth of John, at his dedication and circumcision, It is at that moment that they ask, what do you want his name to be? They want to name him Zachariah, after his father and his mother says his name is John. And they make signs to Zachariah. So the fact that they had to make signs to him, and then he asked for a writing implement, and he writes his name as John, it means that he was both deaf and mute as part of God's judgment shut up to think about these things, to meditate on these things until he is ready to burst with praise, which we'll see in a coming sermon. And so God calls us to repent. Zachariah goes home and Elizabeth conceives and God is doing a wondrous work. That brings us to number three. Jesus and the gospel story. Jesus and the gospel story. Here, Luke chapter one again, verse 26 through 38. I'll just say, there's no salvation without the virgin birth. No salvation without the virgin birth. There are pastors preaching this morning who do not believe in the virgin birth. They will not affirm it. Their people may not even know it. But you cannot be saved except that the child born to Mary is a virgin-born child. So when we read here of the angel's visit to Mary and his announcement to her that she is going to bear a child. And she, like Zachariah, is troubled at the greeting of Gabriel. And she's trying to understand what's going on. And the angel says, do not be afraid, right? Verse 30, you found favor with God. You're going to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. And so he gives him the name of the Lord is salvation, Jehovah saves. Jesus, he will be great, right? But greater, much greater than John. He will be called the Son of the Most High. He's the Son of God. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. She is of the tribe of Judah. He is royal line also from Joseph as his adopted father. And so he is of the tribe of Judah and He is going to be great. He'll be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father, David. I'll say more about this in just a moment. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. Of his kingdom, there will be no end. Many references to Isaiah 11, to Psalm 89, to 2 Samuel 7, to so many passages that Luke is hinting at as he gives these words that the angel spoke. So what is the fulfillment that is here? Well, Jesus fulfills Genesis 3.15, the first preaching of the gospel. Remember that there was promise in Genesis 3.15, the seed of the woman, the descendant of the woman. Well, here is the descendant of the woman. In that expression, the seed of the woman in Genesis 3.15, you have the hint at the virgin birth, where the Lord is in the garden is speaking to the serpent and he says, and behold, I put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed and you will bruise his heel, but he's gonna crush your head, right? Or he will crush your head and you will bruise his heel. And so he is speaking of the work that will be accomplished, that the Lord Jesus was revealed, John says, to destroy the works of the devil. He crushes the head of the serpent at the cross. And not only that, but he fulfills Isaiah 7, 14. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. And Matthew says this is fulfilled. This prophecy is fulfilled in the virgin birth there in Matthew chapter 1. Now, there are several things that are affirmed by the virgin birth. I want to mention these. First, it affirms the inerrancy of Scripture and the power of God. It affirms not only that what God has said is what takes place and nothing can stop the Word of God. As Jesus says in John 10, the Word of God cannot be broken. This is the inerrant Word of God. We don't hide behind language that we have a high view of Scripture. We do have a high view of Scripture, but we believe that it is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. Read our doctrinal statement. Luke believed in the inerrant Word of God, and he is writing these things so that it will be affirmed to us that we can know the certainty of the Word of God fulfilled in the virgin birth. When Mary asked the question, in verse 35, he answers. She says, verse 34, how will this be since I am a virgin? Notice the explanation of of Gabriel, 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 so here we have the supernatural event of the virgin birth explained by Gabriel. It is the work of the Holy Spirit who will create the body of Jesus within the womb of the virgin. And there's no human father. God creates anything that he wants and he creates the baby. In Psalm 40, quoted in Hebrews, we read that the Lord Jesus in eternity past spoke with the father and they agreed together on the work of salvation. And he says, I am coming into the world. He says, a body you have prepared for me. And just as the physical body of Jesus was prepared in the womb of the Virgin by the Holy Spirit, so the Holy Spirit even now is preparing the spiritual body of Jesus by the saving of souls. And so the Virgin birth affirms the inerrancy of Scripture and the power of God. It also, a second thing, it affirms the deity and the humanity of Christ. So he says that he is called the son of God, but he also says that he is the son of David. This is the deity and the humanity of Christ. He is begotten from eternity in His deity. He is the eternal Son of God. He's not created. He is not made. He is without beginning, but He is in the beginning. In the beginning, He was, is what John says. He already was in the beginning. He's the Alpha and the Omega. And so he is the eternal son of God. So this is an affirmation of his deity. But he is born of the Virgin Mary in his humanity. He derives his humanity, his DNA, his human DNA comes from Mary. He is true man and he is truly tempted and he truly suffers and he truly dies because he is truly human. And unless there was the virgin birth, unless he was God, unless he was man, we could not be saved. This is how he is our Savior. Number three on the affirmations of the virgin birth, the virgin birth affirms the sinlessness of Christ. Since he did not have a human father, he was not a descendant of Adam. He did not have original sin. He did not have the guilt of Adam, the head of the human race. In Adam's fall, sinned we all. And Adam's fall, he sinned just as we would have sinned. We sinned in Adam. We are Christ rejecters in Adam. We are born in sin. But Jesus was not born in sin. He was born of a virgin without a human father. He was not in Adam. He is the new Adam. He is the last Adam. He is the representative of the new humanity. All who are in Christ have been transferred out of the condemnation that is in Adam, the head of the human race, to the head of the new race. Those who are in Christ, who are the forgiven, whose names are written in the Book of Life. So when Jesus lived, He did always those things that pleased the Father by His own testimony. Pilate, on a number of occasions, said, I find no fault in Him. I don't find any fault. I don't find any crime in Him. I find no reason of death in Him. I find no fault in Him. That's the faultlessness of Jesus. In 1 Peter 2.22, Peter says when Jesus suffered, he's our example, he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, no deceit found in his mouth. When he was being called names and interrogated and beaten, he did not threaten back, he says. He did no sin. And John chapter 3 and verse 5, so the apostle John gives testimony. He says that he came to destroy the works of the devil And he says that in him is no sin. So he did no sin, right, in his actions. In him is no sin. He has no sin nature. And Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 21, he who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And so he says he knew no sin. So the virgin birth affirms the sinlessness of Christ. And because he was human, he was able to take our place under the judgment of God, under the wrath of God. Our sins were imputed to him. And because he was sinless and perfectly righteous, He was a victim who could satisfy the demands of God's justice, who could bear the penalty of our sin with righteousness to spare, and who gives us and grants to us righteousness, imputes to us righteousness that we do not deserve when we believe in him. And he could not do that if he was not sinless. But the virgin for birth affirms the sinlessness of the Son of God. And number four, the virgin birth affirms that salvation is not achieved by man, but by God alone. I want you to notice verse 37, because these questions, how can this happen? How can this be? And the angel says in verse 37, for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary's response is the response that we all should have, right? In verse 38, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. There is this contentment, right? There's this resignation. There is this submission to God. Is that your heart? Is that my heart? Or are we looking at the circumstances that we're confronting with and we're in rebellion against God? And we are despising his hand in our life and what he is doing and what he subjected us to. And we're upset with God because things aren't the way we like them to be in the world. Right? Listen to Mary again. Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. But I didn't want to overlook that. Verse 37 is what she rests in. She rests in the God of the impossible. He says, for nothing will be impossible with God. I said that fourth affirmation is that salvation is not achieved by man, but by God alone. God does what man cannot. Listen, we are not willing, right? We are not willing to turn to Christ. We are not able to turn to Christ. We are neither willing nor able. We are totally depraved. We're the very opposite of Christ. We are born in sin. And as soon as we are born in sin, we begin our sinning. against God. We live lives of rebellion. There's nothing good in us. Psalm 14, the Lord looked down to see if there was any that did seek Him, that any did good. He says they've all gone out of the way. We've all turned aside. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all, Isaiah 53 tells us. It is a terrible, a terrible understanding, interpretation of scripture to think that we contribute anything to our salvation. It is only, it is the work of God and he can do it, why? Because nothing shall be impossible to God. And he accomplished it through Jesus Christ the Lord. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.