00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
Luke chapter 1. We're returning to this chapter
that we've been in for the last number of weeks, and as wonderful
as the birth announcement was that we considered last two weeks
of John there in verses 5 through 25, it is surpassed this morning
by the announcement of Jesus' birth in verse 26 through 38. There is no greater birth announcement
than this. This is an announcement of the
gift of God's grace. This is an announcement of the
gift of God's grace that's found in the fulfillment of His promise
that was made all the way back in Genesis 3. If you'll remember,
to the man and the woman there in the garden, that a seed would
come to strike a mortal blow to the head of the serpent, Genesis
3.15. This is a gift of God's grace, it's the fulfillment of
the promise of Abraham's seed who would be a blessing to all
the families of the earth after centuries of waiting for his
arrival, starting there in Genesis 12 verse 3, he is coming now. This is the fulfillment of the
prophecies of the star out of Jacob in Numbers 24 and the prophet
of Deuteronomy 18. and the descendant of David who
would reign forever, 2 Samuel 7. This is the fulfillment of
the prophecies about the Redeemer in Job 19, the Son of God in
Psalm 2, the cornerstone, Psalm 118, and God with us in Isaiah
7, and many, many other prophecies throughout the Old Testament.
Not only then is this an announcement, a grand birth announcement of
Jesus' coming, and that's grand on the stage of biblical history
and salvation history, there's a magnitude to all this that
relates to every individual Christian that's gathered here this morning.
This is the gift of God's grace that's found in this announcement
of Christ's birth that is very personal because Christ is your
salvation. And He is yours, and because
He is yours, He is what is most precious to you. Precious is
a word I was talking with someone about last night that I don't
use very often, and you probably know that. It means to have great
value, to see something as highly treasured, highly esteemed. And
it's most appropriate, I think, to describe what's going on and
what we find in the text this morning. In the providence of
God, I came across a Spurgeon quote that related to this, where
he highlights for us the meaning and the definition of what is
precious. He says, for a thing to be called precious, it should
have three qualities. One, it should be rare. Two, it should have an intrinsic
value of its own. And three, it should possess
useful and important properties. He says, all of these three things
meet in our adorable Lord and make Him precious to discerning
minds. I want you to think as we read
through this text now of how it's telling us what it is that's
precious about this child whose birth is being announced. Verse
26. Now, in the sixth month, the
angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the
descendants of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And
coming in, he said to her, greetings favored one, the Lord is with
you. But she was very perplexed at
this statement and kept pondering what kind of a salutation this
was. 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 name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him
the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house
of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.' Mary said
to the angel, "'How can this be, since I am a virgin?' The
angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon
you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And
for that reason, the holy child shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative
Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age, and she
who was called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing
will be impossible with God." Mary said, "'Behold, the bondslave
of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word.' And
the angel departed from her." Now I want to take a moment and
I want you to think about an overview of Luke's gospel to this point
because it's important to consider where we came from to where we're
at this morning. In those opening four verses,
Luke gave us the subject of his gospel. He told us he's going
to be talking about Jesus. And he told us his purpose for
writing was to strengthen the conviction of Christians that
Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah and the fulfillment of God's
promise and plan of salvation. He's writing then to you as a
Christian that you would be edified, encouraged, and that you would
be assured of your salvation being complete in the person
and work of Jesus Christ. Then you'll remember the last
two weeks he started by telling us the account of Jesus' life
by going all the way to the beginning and giving us the announcement
of the forerunner to Jesus, John the Baptist. And our conviction
there was strengthened that God answers prayer, God governs all
things, God is faithful, God can be trusted and He offers
real joy. And then last week we considered
the reasons that the angel's proclamation about John's birth
are a cause for joy and how faith is dependent upon joy. Faith
is essential for joy. And that brings us then to those
verses I just read to you a moment ago, where the angel Gabriel
is now giving us a greater birth announcement. The greater proclamation
of one who is greater that's coming into the world, and he's
announcing it to Mary. He's announcing that God is sending
this precious gift of His grace into the world. And within that
announcement of God sending this gift, it's not only a declaration
that He's coming and how He's coming, that's all there and
we'll see that, but this is a declaration of who is coming. And within
that announcement of who is coming, that's where we learn of why
Jesus is precious to His people, why He's your greatest treasure,
because we find those three qualities that Spurgeon highlighted. What
comes here in the angel's announcement shows us that He's precious,
but there are treasures along the way before we get to that
angel's announcement. The first thing Luke presents
here is a rather modest scene in verse 26. Verse 26, now in
the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in
Galilee called Nazareth. This is the sixth month, not
in terms of the year, but in terms of Elizabeth's pregnancy.
Two verses earlier, we were told she was in her fifth month, and
there towards the end of all this, in verse 36, the angel
highlights again she's in her sixth month. In this sixth month,
then, of Elizabeth's pregnancy, this angel Gabriel is tasked
here with another mission. This angel showed up in the Old
Testament. We were told the last two weeks that he is one who
stands in the presence of God, he speaks on behalf of God, and
he's the one that was sent to Zacharias with this message of
good news there in verse 13 through 20. Remember, when he's sent
to Zacharias, Zacharias is serving in the temple on this rather
extraordinary assignment for a priest similar to that. Gabriel is sent on an extraordinary
assignment here. Think about what he's tasked
to do. This angel is given the responsibility
of proclaiming that the long-awaited Messiah is coming. Now you might
think that would be a moment of great fanfare where dignitaries
and crowds gathered in the city for this announcement, but again
what you find here is a most modest scene. It's modest compared
to what we just read last week. It's modest whereas before his
previous assignment was sent there to the temple in the city
of Jerusalem, sent to a priest who is noted for his being righteous
in the sight of God and walking blamelessly in the commandments
of God. This scene that I just read to you a moment ago occurs
in a far off place, 80 to 90 miles north of Jerusalem in a
tiny village called Nazareth that consisted of maybe 100 people. It's rural and it's obscure. so insignificant that the Old
Testament never mentions Nazareth. The historian Josephus doesn't
mention Nazareth. It's not on any major trade routes
of the time, and all the important roads bypassed Nazareth. And then instead of a dignitary
or notable figure that is the recipient of this great and wonderful
message of God's grace, he comes to a humble young teenage girl
engaged to be married. One commentator said, the great
God of heaven sends the gift of salvation to humans in a serene,
unadorned package of simplicity. Everything about this surrounding
the message of the angel bespeaks of humility, lowliness. The angel here is dispatched
to take a message from God to Mary. And if you think about
Luke's doing a careful investigation, he told us that in the first
four verses, his careful investigation tells us Mary is a virgin. She's
never had sexual relations. Would you just look at the verse
there? That's going to be emphasized again in that verse, again in
her response in verse 34, again in the angel's response in verse
35, and then if you were to read Matthew's account of all of this
from Matthew 1, it would be emphasized again. The New Testament wants
to make this very clear. This needs to be settled in your
mind and believed. This is an essential truth of the Christian
faith that Mary was a virgin. It's critical because it's going
to speak in a moment to the work of the Spirit And what the Spirit
is doing in this moment, and it speaks to the person of Christ
and His being a sufficient Savior. Luke tells you here that she
was engaged, note that word, to a man whose name was Joseph
of the descendants of David. Jewish custom divided marriage
into two components. You had engagement followed by
marriage, and to us that sounds very familiar, but there were
some significant differences. One scholar notes this, engagement,
as we're thinking about it here, this is what's different. Engagement
involved a formal agreement initiated by a father seeking a wife for
his son. The next most important person
was the father of the bride. A son's opinion would be sought
more often in the process than the daughter's opinion. Upon
payment of a purchase price to the bride's father, because he
was losing a daughter and a helper, whereas the son's family was
gaining one, and upon a written agreement and an oath by the
son, the couple was engaged. Engagement, he tells us, was
legally binding, you could only sever the contract by death or
divorce, and any sexual conduct with another person was considered
adultery. In all of that scene of engagement
that you're thinking about there, Mary's most likely no more than
15 years old when she's engaged, and she's probably even closer
to 13. That was customary, that was normal. Would you note here,
Luke tells you the man she's engaged to is Joseph, and then
he tells you something about Joseph. He's a descendant of
David. Luke's preparing you for what's about to come. what the
angel is going to say in verse 31 through 33 that has to do
with a descendant of David. Luke's preparing you to understand
why it is Joseph is traveling to Bethlehem in chapter 2 verse
4 when the child is about to be born. Joseph could trace his
lineage, his heritage to King David. Luke emphasizes here at
the end of this section that, again, she is a virgin when he's
even telling you what her name is. The virgin's name was Mary. So in this modest scene, Luke
is introducing you here at the very beginning before he gives
you this major announcement to all the characters in this place
where the angelic visit is occurring, and it's very humble. Now comes
the magnificent announcement, verse 28, and coming in, he,
this angel Gabriel, said to her, "'Greetings, favored one, the
Lord is with you.'" Luke doesn't tell you where Mary's at as she's
receiving this message. Most likely, she's at home, and
she's doing the ordinary chores of an ordinary day that didn't
seem like anything about this day stuck out when Gabriel arrives,
and he announces his arrival there with the word, greeting.
Mary would have heard that salutation over and over again, very common
when a person entered a room. It can be translated, as some
of your Bibles say, rejoice. But it was most likely always
received just like when somebody walks into your house, they say,
hello. It's what the angel says next that's perplexing to Mary.
He calls her favored one. For you grammar nerds out there,
it's a verbal adjective, and it's describing Mary. Mary's
the favored one. It's a word that means to bestow
favor on, to highly favor, to be blessed, to be shown grace. That's describing Mary. The angel's
saying, she has been shown grace. She doesn't yet know why she's
been shown grace. That's about to come in verse
31. What that means comes in verse 31 and what follows. But
the angel is expressing here she's favored. And given the
nature of that word describing her, it isn't because her life
merited this great privilege. This word is closely associated,
as I said a moment ago, to grace. So it is expressing that there
is no particular worthiness here on Mary's part. We'll consider
that a bit more next week. But for now, Luke records those
words because he wants you to see that what is about to happen
with Mary is God's grace upon her life. And that would have
been reassuring. You've just been startled by
an angel as you're going about your normal day here. Those words
would have been comforting when the angel decides to say something
to you. All this is frightening in this moment, and he says,
favored one. And he also says, would you know
here, the Lord is with you. So Gabriel is coming along and
one of the first things that he's doing is he's comforting
this young girl who is in a most terrifying moment. The Lord is
with you, Mary, meaning He's at your side. He will be with
you through everything that's about to take place. He will
be your helper who gives you aid through all that is about
to transpire that at this very moment you don't yet know anything
about. All of this would be a lot for
anybody to take in, much less a 13-year-old girl. from Nazareth." So you get verse
29, but she was very perplexed at this statement, and she kept
pondering what kind of greeting this was. He describes her response
as very perplexed. Some of your translations translate
that with the words, greatly troubled. She's disturbed. She's confused. She couldn't
imagine in her wildest dreams why an angel from heaven would
visit her and why God would show her grace. It wasn't like she
was waiting around for more reward from God because she knew of
her great piety. She wasn't expecting to be part
of God's plan for saving sinners. Nothing about her past indicated
that in a moment like this, this was going to happen. Certainly
she's not divine and she is not omniscient. This is a surprise
to her. God isn't surprised. This is
confusing to her. God is never confused. She's
pondering what kind of a salutation this was. She's trying to figure
out what's going on. What does all of this mean? And would you note here, before
the angel tells her what's going on, he's going to answer that
question. He again mercifully reassures her to console her
greatly troubled and greatly confused heart there in verse
30. The angel said to her, do not be afraid, for you have found
favor with God. You must not fear Mary. Fear
is a normal response. We looked at that a couple of
weeks ago. If an angel shows up, you probably will be terrified.
You'll be shaking. Mary is told here, there is no
reason for you to fear. You have nothing to fear about
what's fixing to take place. You have found favor with God.
That's emphasizing God's choosing Mary, His choosing her out of
His good pleasure. Nothing about the announcement
says anything about Mary's worthiness, nothing about the announcement
says anything about Mary's character. When you think about what Luke
has already told us, he's told us way more that's commendable
about Zacharias and Elizabeth than what he's telling us is
commendable about Mary. The only reason she is a beneficiary
of God's grace is because of the good pleasure of a sovereign
God who chose to show His favor to this young woman. By all accounts,
when you think about Mary here, she would have appeared to be
the least likely candidate to be an instrument through which
he would bring his only begotten son into the world to redeem
his people. The only recognition that Mary might receive is for
the lowliest person, the weakest person, the most insignificant.
She's a teenage girl in a time and in a culture that didn't
value women much at all. She's the least likely suspect
for God to choose. She's a bit like a lowly and
weak and insignificant nation enslaved to one of the strongest
nations on earth in the Old Testament. She's a bit like a lowly shepherd
boy who was the youngest among his brothers and really not even
in the starting lineup whenever the prophet showed up to find
a king. I think 1 Corinthians 1.27 may be helpful to understand
what we see taking place here, where Paul writes, but God has
chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise,
and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things
which are strong, and the base things of the world, and the
despised God has chosen the things that are not so that he may nullify
the things that are so that no man may boast before God. Of all that's about to transpire,
The only one you can boast about in all of this is God. Son of
God is going to come into the world here in the most humble
way through the womb of the lowest of the low. And when he exits
this life, you'll remember it will be in the most humbling
fashion nailed to a cross, Philippians 2.8. And all of it from beginning
to end highlights what's most lowly and humble to emphasize
what's most important. The great glory of God is in
salvation. This will be His work. No man,
no woman can boast in and of themselves. He alone is to receive
all glory, honor, and praise. So a lowly young lady receives
this world-changing message. And it's a message that gives
us eight qualities here that show us Christ is precious, treasured,
valued among His people. All that was the introduction.
Here's the eight qualities that are rare, valuable, and useful
about Jesus. Eight reasons that Christ is
precious to His people and a gift of grace, that there's no one
else that could ever be described with such a high and lofty description
as what the angel says here about the person of Jesus. Certainly,
you know that there have been those that are born amongst women
who would inherit riches and kingdoms and thrones and powers
and all sorts of influence, but all of them combined are inferior
to what the angel tells you about the child in verse 31 through
35. Eight reasons Jesus is precious to His people. He is, number
one, born of a virgin. The child will be born of a virgin.
Verse 31, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. In
case you missed it, I hope you didn't, but in case you missed
it, the angel is telling a young woman who is a virgin that she
is going to have a child. If something is precious because
something is rare, then what is more rare than a virgin having
a son? Joseph, the man that she was
engaged to, he knew this does not happen. That's why you have
Matthew 1, when Joseph finds out that the woman he was engaged
to was with child, he planned to send her away secretly in
Matthew 1 verse 19. This was so unthinkable to him.
that this was even possible. This is so unthinkable to righteous
Joseph that the Lord had to mercifully send an angel to him to tell
him what's going on there in Matthew 1 verse 20, "'Joseph,
son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for
the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.'"
Matthew chapter 1 verse 22 and 23 adds that this is a fulfillment
of Isaiah 7.14, therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a
sign. Behold, a virgin will be with
child and bear a son. That was foretold, this was going
to happen. Jesus is the child of a virgin.
Who else could claim that? God's gift of grace comes through
a means that's impossible to man. unimaginable and unthinkable
to man. And we'll consider in a moment
why that's necessary. Reason number two, the child
is named Jesus. The child is named Jesus. He's
given the name Jesus there in verse 31. You shall name him
Jesus. That's a common Hebrew name.
What about that name is so precious? Yeshua, meaning Yahweh, saves. Remember when his name is announced
to Joseph, Matthew 121, the angel added, for he will save his people
from their sins. That name may have been common,
not rare, not unusual, but here's the only man who lived up to
that name. That's rare. His name is going to identify
him. His name is going to identify His work. His name is going to
identify where it is that salvation comes from. Every time you hear
the name Jesus, we ought to remember Acts chapter 4 verse 12, there
is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under
heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. No name has greater value. No
name is more useful. It tells you where salvation
is found, and it's here assigned to the one child who lived up
to the name. He's named Jesus. Number three, he's identified
as great. The child is identified as great. Verse 32, he will be
great. Perhaps you remember from the
last two weeks that description connected to John there in chapter
1 verse 15, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. The
angel doesn't say that here. Jesus' greatness is unqualified
here. He's greater than John the Baptist.
What do you mean he'd be great in the sight of the Lord? He
is the Lord. When that word great, magos, is used by itself in the
Old Testament, it's used in a way in which it refers only to God.
That's happening here. The only possible qualifications
we could attach to his being great, his being described as
great here, is going to come in what else the angel says about
the child here in a moment. And then perhaps you could identify
what's great about him and what Luke tells you about the child
throughout his life as it unfolds there in Luke's gospel, all of
which is conveying the same truth. The nature of this child is divine.
All of this is saying He is God in flesh. His greatness is demonstrated
in His role, we'll see that. He's superior as a prophet, priest,
king, sacrifice, teacher, servant, master, healer, redeemer, Savior,
counselor, shepherd. He's superior as a friend. None
are greater than Jesus. His greatness is demonstrated
in His nature, His love, and His mercy, and His grace, and
His goodness, and His wisdom, and power, and authority, all
are superior. There's none who has greater
love and more perfect love, and sinless and holy love than Jesus,
and mercy, and grace, and goodness, and power, and so forth. Luke
describing Jesus as great, on qualified greatness, is a critical
quality of this child is to be deemed precious to His people,
a gift of grace. Number four, the child is called
a son. The child will be son of the Most High there in verse
32, will be called son of the Most High. In verse 76, John
is a prophet of the Most High. In verse 32, Jesus is greater.
He is called the son of the Most High. The angel, do you see what
he's doing here? He's announcing Jesus' divine
sonship before his Davidic sonship. This phrase was common in regal
context to announce the coming of a king, to announce the birth
of a future king, but here there's one that's even greater. The
regal context is coming and what follows, but here it's announcing
the coming of the Son of God, stated there again in verse 35. And if the Son of God as He is
described, our Son of the Most High, then He is like His Father. And if He is like His Father,
then the Son is divine. This is the divine Son, God of
God, light of light, very God of very God, being of one substance
with the Father. Go back to what makes something
precious. What did Spurgeon say? Rare, intrinsic value, useful,
and important properties. Who then is precious like the
Son? The Son of the Most High. Number five, given a throne.
Given a throne. They're in verse 32. This is
Davidic sonship now being announced. The Lord God will give him the
throne of his father David. Now it's coming together. Why?
Luke was telling us that Mary is engaged to a man who's a descendant
of David. This child will be an heir to
the throne of David. He must be a descendant of David
if Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise made to David. What
we read a moment ago in 2 Samuel 7, 12, I will raise up your descendant
after you who will come forth from you and I will establish
his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name and I will establish
the throne of his kingdom forever. He must be given the throne of
his father David if he is to be the horn of salvation in the
house of David as Zacharias prophesied in chapter 1 verse 67 here in
Luke's gospel. This is also why he must be born
in the city of David in Luke chapter 2 verse 11. So there
is a regal quality that's being described here that will prove
useful. But this child is the fulfillment
then of Israel's hope for a ruler and a redeemer. He is qualified
to be Messiah. He is qualified to be king. He
is qualified to be Savior. Number six, qualities identifying
Jesus as precious. He is bestowed authority. Verse 33, and He will reign over
the house of Jacob forever. The house of Jacob is the name
given to Israel in Exodus 19, 3, Isaiah 2, 8, 48, chapter 48,
verse 1 of Isaiah. Hear this, O house of Jacob,
who are named Israel." So not only does He have a throne, but
He has a people, and His reign over them is eternal. the house
of Jacob forever, so He must possess useful and important
properties such as being eternal and being sovereign if He is
to reign over them forever. All of this was foretold Psalm
89 verse 29 reads, so I will establish His descendants forever
and His throne is the days of heaven. That is what? Forever. It's foretold in Isaiah chapter
9 verse 7, there will be no end to the increase of his government
or of peace on the throne of David over his kingdom to establish
it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on
and forevermore the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish
this. Bestowed authority. Number seven, he's presented
an eternal kingdom. Presented an eternal kingdom,
verse 33, and his kingdom will have no end. The great Roman
Empire that was ruling over all of the people there, as Luke
is writing this account, had an end. The Babylonian Empire
had an end. The Egyptian Empire had an end.
No other kingdom is everlasting. But what Luke and the angel here
are telling us is nothing can overcome this king. Nothing can
bring his reign to an end. Nothing can take his people from
him. No one can defeat him. Therefore,
his kingdom has no end. What could possibly end it? In
fact, this king frees people from a tyrant who is over another
kingdom of darkness, and Jesus makes them citizens of His kingdom. He will reign forever, therefore
His kingdom will exist forever, just as 2 Samuel 7, 16 says it
will. when the Lord made the promise to David, never to be
defeated, never to come to ruin, never to be overthrown, he will
never be impeached or deposed, meaning he must be powerful,
he must be wise, he must be sovereign to squelch every threat against
his kingdom. That would have to be some king who possesses
such useful and important properties. When the text is telling us Jesus
is such a king, Gabriel is saying this child that is coming is
such a king, such a king as was prophesied in Isaiah 9 verse
6. A child will be born to us, a
son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his
shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Such a king and such
a kingdom as is anticipated in Revelation 11, verse 15, where
the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord
and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. Kingdom's existence is only as
secure as its king. This kingdom is everlasting because
this king is divine and will reign forever. Wonderful news
to Mary. But would you note there in verse
34, Mary identifies a very serious problem. Mary said to the angel,
how, that's a key word, how can this be since I'm a virgin? There's your problem. The literal
translation of Mary's words, since I know no man. Luke's already established this
fact. Matthew's gospel establishes this fact. How can one have a
child if no sexual relations have occurred? Meaning, how is
this possible? Because it's impossible. Now,
if you'll note here, Mary says this in a way that doesn't express
the same doubt and unbelief that we considered in Zacharias. There's no rebuke going to come
here from the angel. Instead, the angel is going to
answer Mary's question and tell her how it's possible. And this
is where we get the eighth precious truth about Jesus. Number eight,
conceived by the Holy Spirit. The child will be conceived by
the power of the Spirit. This is going to be a work of
the divine. Verse 35, the angel answered
and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power
of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the
holy child shall be called the Son of God. The angel's answering
the question that's not only on Mary's heart, but that actually
came out of her mouth, and the very first person that the angel
points to is the power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit's all
throughout Luke's gospel. The Spirit was upon Simeon who
blessed Jesus in Luke 2. The Spirit descended upon Christ
at his baptism in Luke 3, filled Jesus leading him into the wilderness
in Luke 4, ministered through Jesus in Luke 4.14. It was the
Spirit that Jesus preached about in His first sermon there in
Luke's gospel in Luke 4.18, the same Spirit who is present and
active and whose creative power is displayed here at conception. The Holy Spirit who was at work
all the way back, if you think back weeks ago, to Genesis chapter
1 verse 2 is an agent of creation, is again a powerful agent of
creation. And as that creation was an act
of the triune God, this creation is an act of the triune God,
His sovereign action in and through the Virgin Mary. God is going
to create humanity in Mary's womb. The language there, the
Holy Spirit will come upon you, frames all of this in the context
of creation, overshadow their And in the Old Testament, that
word frequently refers to the Shekinah cloud that rested on
the tabernacle, or to God's presence in protecting His people. In
Luke chapter 9 verse 34, it's going to refer to the cloud of
the transfiguration overshadowing the disciples. What is being
described by the angel here in Luke's gospel is the incarnation. This is the mystery that we sung
about a moment ago. This is the Word becoming flesh,
John 1 14. More specifically, Luke is telling
us, detailing for us here how it happened. The Word is eternal. Word becomes flesh. Word is eternal.
Jesus is divine nature. No beginning, no end. But when
He becomes flesh, taking on a human nature, there is a beginning.
And that is the creation sense that you have here. Luke is telling
us that the Son taking a human nature is by the work of the
Spirit. Remember Philippians chapter
2 verse 6, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard
equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself.
You get a sense of Jesus acting there, His work there, taking
the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of
man. Luke is telling us of the Spirit's work in that. And he
tells us, for that reason, the Holy Child shall be called the
Son of God, the only begotten Son of God, begotten, not made,
being of one substance with the Father. Think back to number
four, conceived here by the Holy Spirit, verse 35. Luke is telling
us that the Spirit is the reason that we can say of Jesus, truly
God and truly man, two natures, one person, and also say, so
that in all things likened to us, yet without sin. Go back to what I mentioned before
that this is in the context of creation. Finally here is another
sinless man like we saw in Genesis 1 and 2. Finally here is a true
and better Adam. Through the first Adam all die,
through this Adam all live. How is that possible? The only
way this is possible is through a virgin birth and the Spirit
working. Why is Christ precious to His
people? Because He is uniquely qualified
to be your Savior. Christian, I hope you see this.
I hope you see that all of these precious truths have to do with
your salvation. I hope you see that this is the
rare and valuable child that is able to save. I hope that
you see that he alone possesses useful and important properties. Truly God, truly man, holy, sinless,
blameless, a life-giving Adam. I hope you see that what the
angel proclaims is that all the qualities that make something
precious converge in the person of Christ like they do nowhere
else. The angel tells Mary there's
a sign to confirm all of this, verse 36. Mary! A great miracle has already occurred
with Elizabeth, and her child is going to be great. Conceiving
a child in her old age, that seems like it's impossible. But
Mary, something more seemingly impossible is going to take place.
A greater miracle is going to involve you, a virgin birth.
Your child is going to be even greater. And Elizabeth is proof of that. But
the definitive statement And an answer to Mary's question
of how comes here in verse 37. For nothing will be impossible
with God. Lots of things are impossible
with humanity that leads to the perplexity of how's a lady who's
advanced in age going to have a baby? How's a virgin going
to have a baby? Lots of things are impossible
for men. Humanity could never produce its own Savior, but nothing
is impossible with God. Mankind could never produce anything
with the qualities required to bring about a precious savior,
redeemer. But praise be to God, the angel
is announcing nothing will be impossible with God. What does
Mary do with all this? Look at verse 38. Mary said,
behold, the bond slave or just slave of the Lord. She calls
herself the slave of the Lord. May it be done to me according
to your word. and the angel departed her. Mary
willingly and faithfully accepts what the Lord has revealed to
her through the angel, what God's will is for her life here. She's
not fighting against it. She's not constantly questioning
it. She accepts it. She's a wonderful example of
thinking, acting, and believing, Psalm 119 verse 38, that reads,
you'll remember, establish your word to your servant as that
which produces reverence for you. The word of God has been
given to Mary here, and she's received it, and it has produced
reverence, and she says, I'll accept what you've said, not
arguing with you at all. The servant of God has received
the Word of God, and the servant here is revering her God, and
her response and her life demonstrate this. I mean, what child is this? The most precious child. And
Mary's response indicates she gets it. And the question I have
for you is, do you get it? This child is he who is most
precious to his people. Nothing and no one else in the
entirety of the universe is on par with him. This child is unlike
anything before or since, and the way the angel describes him
highlights why he is precious and why he is to be treasured.
Christian, would you just consider this morning all that you have
in Christ? that there's a world out there
that's constantly bombarding you with all that you need and
all that you don't have. Would you remember this morning
all that you have already in Christ? There's a world out there
that's constantly taking from you of your time and your health
and your energy and your strength. Would you remember all that you
have in this child, the Lord Jesus Christ? Christian, Christ
is yours. and He's the rarest of the rare,
as we've already seen. He's the one way by which you
must be saved. He possesses the greatest intrinsic
value. He is God. He possesses the most
useful and important qualities and properties. He is God, and
He is man, and He is therefore uniquely qualified and useful.
He's singularly useful as it regards your salvation from your
sin. He's singularly useful as it
regards your eternal life. Christian rejoice. Christ, Christ
is precious and He's your greatest treasure. These eight qualities
here that Luke notes is coming from the angel are attributable
to no one else. And together they show you that
there is no greater treasure than the treasure you have in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christian, what child is this? This is your most precious treasure. What child is this? This child
is your riches that can never be lost. He is your manna that
will forever nourish your soul. He's your treasure that is worth
selling all to possess. He's your light illuminating
your way forward. He's your mediator always pleading
your cause. He's your redeemer securing your
ransom. He's your substitute standing
in your place. He's your strength carrying your
burdens. He's your access, your gate. He's your way to eternal
life. He's your great deliverer from
the wrath of God. Spurgeon went on to say about
this child, he is the one who emptied the quivers of hell,
quenched every fiery dart, and broke off the head of every arrow
of wrath. For who? For you, his people. He is your defender, destroying
the works of your enemy. He's your healer, mending your
wounds. He is your prophet, removing your ignorance. He's your priest,
putting away your sin. And He is your King, subduing
your rebellion and your defiance. This child is the death of your
death, and He is your eternal life, and He will one day wipe
away every tear from your eye when the first things have passed
away, and He will be your light for an eternity spent with Him.
Who do you have that is like Jesus? What do you have that
is like Jesus? Nothing else. He's most precious. And friend, one minute, when
you get to heaven, one minute in heaven, and it will be confirmed
forever to you, this child, Christ Jesus, was always and will forever
be your greatest treasure. Father, thank you for giving
us your Word that points us to the wonderful nature of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Father, I pray that it would
be settled forever in our mind and upon our heart that he is
most precious to us. I pray that we would look at
this text that's here before us this morning and that it would
remind us of all that we have in Christ and that it would fan
the flame of our affections for him and that all the things that
are drawing at our heart and tempting us and pulling at us
would be informed by this one singular truth that Christ is
our treasure and He is most treasured, most cherished, most valuable,
most precious to His people. Father, thank you for sending
your Son, your only begotten Son. Thank you for providing
salvation in a way that was unthinkable for man to come up with. Thank
you for providing your Son who is uniquely qualified to save
us from our sins. Most powerful God who the text
has told us nothing is impossible for you. Our prayer is that you
would change the hearts of sinners this morning. who've long been
in rebellion and defiance against you. Lord, it seems impossible
from a human perspective when we think about those that we
were praying for for their salvation. Nothing is impossible with you. And our prayer is that you'd
be merciful and gracious to those who don't deserve it, that you'd
be gracious like you were gracious to Mary who had no merit of her
own to fill the role that you called her to fill. Would you
be merciful and gracious and save those that we're praying
for to come to you to repent from their sins and to find Christ
most precious? All to the glory of your great
name we pray, amen.
What Child Is This
Series Luke
| Sermon ID | 1226243752982 |
| Duration | 45:56 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Luke 1:26-38 |
| Language | English |
Documents
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.
