Well, it's good to see you this morning. Appreciate you being here today to worship with us. I would invite you to take the Bible up into Luke. Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one. Okay. We'll start a reading in verse 26. Luke chapter 1, verse 26. You'll recognize the story, of course. I'm going to ask that you stand with me if you're able to, and we'll reverence the reading of the Word of God this morning. Beginning in 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, and 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 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 call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the 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. Well, amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for what we have just read, and we thank you especially for all these things that happened according to great prophecies. Every single thing came true. Every single prophecy was fulfilled. And that which was born of the Virgin Mary was indeed the Son of God who came to die on the cross and then three days later to be resurrected out of the tomb. All of this fulfilling your great promise whereby men could be saved and have eternal life. Not only is it something that happened 2,000 years ago, but its effects are for today. And its effects upon us who are saved and who have received the Son of God as our personal Savior. We continue telling the story to those who need to hear it. Help us to be bold and courageous and to tell the truth in love. In Christ's name we pray, amen. I still read the story, and I've read it a lot, but I'm always amazed at how powerful it is. Every time I read it, it never gets old. I don't know about you, maybe you read it and you say, okay, you know, we're gonna read this Christmas story again, and we're gonna go over it again, yeah, and it's wonderful. I like to read it slow. It's like soaking stuff in that's good. And that's the way I feel about it when I read this story. Well, it is Christmas, and our country has a lot of different Christmas traditions. You know, America's called the melting pot, and it is, because people from all over the world have come to the United States of America to be a part of our country. But along with them, they brought, of course, their own traditions, their own traditions. And so we have a melting pot, not only of people, but we have a melting pot of traditions. And a lot of them are surrounding the traditions that we observe and take for granted at Christmas time. Let me remind you of some of those traditions. Most people in our country still know, still know, and I realize it's becoming less and less, but most people in our country still know that Christmas is still something that Christians celebrate, and we tie it closely to the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, not everybody's willing to admit that, but I think to some degree that That little piece of information is still out there in the back of people's minds. The birth of Jesus Christ was so significant that it stands as the great divide in the recording of human history. Up until recently, human history was divided between B.C. You know, and A.D., B.C. standing for before Christ, and A.D. standing for anno domini, which is Latin for the year of our Lord. Until recently, those were the basic was the basic terminology into which all human history was divided. Today you often see BCE, which means before the common error, and then you hear the other CE, which is the common error. However you want to slice it, however you want to cut it, it doesn't make any difference. The fact of the matter is they are still The reason there is a division in human history and the recording of human history is because of the birth of Jesus Christ. They may call it a different name, but the reason it's there, the reason the divide is there is because of Christ, no matter what you might call it. Even the great kings of the first century realized this division and the importance of the 25th day of December. Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, William the Conqueror, all of these and many more great kings and great officials in history at that particular time, many of them recognized that the 25th day of December was important and many of them were either baptized or coronated. on the 25th day of December because they wanted to be tied in with Jesus Christ. They understood the importance of Jesus Christ. The idea of giving gifts, of course, was something that goes way back in history to the 3rd century. There was a bishop by the name of Nicholas of Berry, who the tradition goes that he would go down the street and he would anonymously throw these bags of gold coins through the windows of the poor people, and these bags of gold coins would land into the stockings or the shoes that were hung up by the fireplace to be dried. And somehow or another, he had that kind of precision. You know, he would just throw the gold coin bag through the window and it would land in the stockings, it would land in the shoes that were drying by the fireplaces. And so obviously, that's where we get the tradition, you know, of the filling of the stockings. Well, after Nicholas died, he was declared to be a saint. Obviously, this is not Baptist history we're talking about here, okay? We're talking about Catholicism here, but he was declared to be a saint. I'm just talking about traditions. And so he was, you know, he died and he was declared to be a saint, but he was so popular among, you know, what was called Christianity, which was basically Catholicism at that particular point. But he was making a positive impact and so his fame spread all across Europe and everywhere his fame would go there would be a new tradition added to something that he had done or a contribution to the story. And so in Germany, The idea of putting evergreens into your houses, and people were doing this already. They were putting evergreen trees in their houses already. But it was this reformer by the name of Martin Luther that started a new tradition. And what he did was he started putting candles on the tree. And he would tell his children, you know, that the candles on the tree to him reminded him of the stars that were over the city of Bethlehem the night that Jesus Christ was born. And so that was the the tradition behind the lighting of the trees. You've heard the story of Santa Claus checking his list for those who are naughty and nice, of course, you know. Well, actually, that tradition came out of some guy reading the book of Revelation. Strangely enough. And so the idea was that they got Saint Nick involved in this tradition. And the idea was that Jesus Christ was supposed to come back. He's going to reward those who are good and punish those who are bad. That kind of thing. The naughty and nice theme going on there. Well, the idea was that Saint Nicholas came back early. would be riding a horse. This came out of Revelation where Jesus Christ came back on a white horse, you know, with judgment. But they plugged Saint Nicholas in there and they said, okay, you know Saint Nicholas is the one who is going to come back before Christ and he is going to be riding a horse. He is going to go through all the towns and he is going to be checking up and then he is going to make a list of those who are naughty and nice and he is going to take that list back to Jesus Christ. That's kind of where that idea originated at that particular time. So, What happens in America? These are some of the traditions that were brought to us from other countries. In 1823, a professor at the Protestant Episcopal Seminary by the name of Clement Moore wrote a poem for his children. And the poem went like this. "'Twas the night before Christmas, the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas would soon be there." Okay. So he kind of takes it all and puts it all together in a poem. Well, the poem caught on like wildfire, and every child could sooner or later quote it by heart. And then came the advent of the TV set. With the advent of the TV, Christmas movies were developed. And even today, it seems like You know, every time we have Christmas, every year there's Christmas, a new Christmas movie comes out in some form or another. Well, you can never go wrong when you take the simplicity of the Word of God when you're looking at Christmas. A lot of traditions out there, no doubt about it. And you can probably, you know, hook some kind of a biblical meaning up to every tradition, you know. The candy cane has some kind of a biblical meaning to it, you know. The giving of gifts, of course, has some kind of biblical meaning to it, you know. The tree, you can attach some kind of biblical meaning to the tree. And you can attach some kind of biblical meaning to the lights on the tree, you know. And you might even attach some kind of biblical meaning to St. Nick. But you can't go wrong when you just take the Bible. And that's what we're going to do. We're beginning in Luke chapter 1 and verse 26. And it goes like this. Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth. In the sixth month of what? Well, I haven't given you the background, but it's the sixth month of the pregnancy of her cousin, Elizabeth. that sixth month. God had gotten the attention of all of that particular area and the whole family actually because Gabriel had come to Zacharias earlier and said, your wife Elizabeth is going to bear a child and that's not so unusual except that Zacharias and Elizabeth were way beyond childbearing age. And so what was happening here was amazing. And so Elizabeth's pregnancy had become the talk of the town in all the area around. But however, we realized that Elizabeth's pregnancy was just a prelude to what was really going to happen in about six months. And so Luke tells us that Gabriel was sent from God. And don't overlook the importance of that phrase. Gabriel was sent from the very presence of God. Back up. If you've got your Bible, open to Luke chapter 1 there. Just back up a little bit and I want to show you the preview in verse 19. And it says, The angel answered and said to him, speaking to Zacharias, and Zacharias was having a little hard time accepting the reality that his wife was going to become pregnant because of her age, and so he's arguing a little bit here, and the angel comes and says to Zacharias, I'm Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. And I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news." And so Gabriel makes it absolutely clear where he has come from. The very presence of God. This wasn't a mission that he decided that he would do on his own. This wasn't a mission that was by some man. This was a mission that God himself had directed. I am from God. Now I don't think Gabriel had any inkling about what God was going to say to him. I think God summoned Gabriel and said, come here Gabriel, I want to tell you something. And then he tells Gabriel exactly what he wanted him to know. I don't think Gabriel knew before this particular time what God had in mind. And so God commissions him. And he prepares the time for the coming of the Son of God. Six months later, he calls Gabriel back, and he commissions him with another message. And once again, he leaves the very presence of God. And the Bible tells us that he goes specifically to Galilee. And not only does he go to Galilee, the Bible tells us specifically, I want you to go to Nazareth, because the time has come for the Son of God to be born. That's what he's saying there. This was an accumulation of 4,000 years of planning on God's part. Now Gabriel didn't know exactly what was going on, but God knew exactly what was going on. This was not some shot in the dark. This was not some chance playing out here. This was the very moment that God had been planning for for thousands and thousands of years. This was the precise moment. Gabriel, you are sent from God. I am in control here. The whole picture here is that God's in control. God's in control. And he's masterminding the whole thing and it's under folding before our very eyes. And Luke spells out that he's sent to the city in Galilee called Nazareth. That was by God's design. By God's design. Nothing is chance here. And he's sent not only to Nazareth, but he's sent to a specific house, and not only is he sent to a specific house, he's sent to a specific room in the house, and he's sent to a specific person who's in the room of that house. God is orchestrating all the details of the times surrounding the coming of his son Jesus Christ. Design. I see design of God. I see the power of God. I see the providence of God. I see the glory of God surrounding specifically the coming of his son. I see nothing here but the plans of the almighty God unfolding in this verse. Verse 27. To a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. I am so, every time I read verses like this, it's like, oh man, God has this whole thing under control. Every aspect of what's going on here is clearly God at work. Nothing left to chance. This is as exact and precise as you can get. There's only one version that was chosen by God to bear his son. You say, were there other virgins in Nazareth? You bet there was. Were there other virgins in Israel? You bet, probably hundreds of other virgins were out there. But only one, only one was chosen by God. for this mission of bringing his son into the world. We are not told the exact specific reason why God chose Mary. Now, when you read the Manificat, which is a little bit later, which is Mary praising God. When you read the Manificant, you see some of her character and you see some of her nature and you understand the humbleness of this person He chose. And so you begin maybe to get a little insight into the person of Mary, and you see, reading from her words there, she was pure, and you see there that she was truly humble, but you understand from reading the Word of God that the main reason God chose Mary was because she was a virgin. I mean, you see that over and over, she was a virgin. Okay? She had never had an intimate relationship with any man, and therefore it was impossible for her to have conceived a child in a normal way. That's the emphasis. The emphasis on the impossibility of what was about to happen through normal circumstances. It had to be an act of God. Verse 28. 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 salutation this was. The angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. You know, I look at this and I try to soak in what it says. The King James Version says here, and the angel came in unto her. And we're not told anything about the timing of this. We don't know whether it was morning, we don't know whether it was at lunch, we don't know whether it was at supper, we don't know whether it was at night. We're not told anything. It simply says, the angel came And it was a surprise to her. It wasn't normal. Whatever time Gabriel appeared, she was taken back by what was happening. And Gabriel says, you're the favored one. That's the first thing that Gabriel says. You're God's favored one. Now I'm pretty sure that nobody had ever addressed her like that before. I don't think she lived in an abusive household. I think Mary lived in a nice house and her parents were good parents. But I don't think anybody ever come to her and said before, you are the favored one. And being humble, as she was, I think this humbled her even more by saying, you're the chosen one, you're the favorite one. Normally, if you address somebody that's filled with pride, if you would tell them this, their ego might be elevated a little bit. But I don't think her ego was affected whatsoever, except for the fact that she realized that, wait a minute, this is a time for me to even sense a deeper sense of humility. And it may be in a sense of unworthiness of being called upon. I don't think she is suffering from inferiority, but I think she's genuinely humbled by what she's hearing here, that she's the favored one of God. Did you notice in verse 30 that he repeated it? In verse 30 he said, you have found favor with God. Why did the angel find it necessary to repeat it? I think it's because God wants her to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is worthy. God isn't trying to build up her ego here. He's trying to build up her faith. And her faith in His choice of her. You're my vessel. You're the one. The only thing that God wants you to be focused on is Him and what He is doing and His power at work. He says, the Lord is with you. You know, that's something that God often calls His servants when He calls them to do extraordinary things. The Lord is with you. Why? There's nothing more comforting than to know that God is with you. There's nothing more comforting than to know that God is with you, and God's presence is equal to his protection. And so this is what he's trying to convey to Mary, the Lord is with you, you know, and that's comforting to her, and it also serves as a protection, because she's going to need to know that the Lord is with her. When David was writing, the 23rd Psalm, he says, yea, though I walk through the valley of the death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me." It was comforting to know that the Lord was with him. He had nothing to fear. Mary was about to face a time of unprecedented ridicule, a time of suspicion and gossip. Her reputation was about to be destroyed. And she was going to be bullied to the ultimate. She was going to be laughed at. She was going to be scorned. She was going to be jeered. But she was comforted by the reality. The Lord said, He is with me. He is going to protect me. He is going to give me the strength. He is going to carry me through whatever this is. The Lord is with you. Verse 31. Verse 31. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. And you shall call, and you shall name him Jesus. And he will be great, and will be called the 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." Whoa. That's a lot. That's a lot. But I think the thing that really stood out to her in all of this at first was when Gabriel said at the end of verse 31, "'And you shall name him Jesus.'" Even before she had conceived, even before she could feel the baby in her womb, she was told by Gabriel, "'You shall name him Jesus. Now the name Jesus was a common name. It was a common name. A lot of Jesus's running around. But she knew from this circumstances here that this Jesus wasn't just a Jesus. He was the Messiah. He was the promised Son of God. He was going to be their Savior. She understood that the name Jesus here was to be equated with the Savior of Israel. She understood that. Because of the circumstances, always, and because of the context in which the angel was talking here, in just a day or two, Gabriel had another mission, and his mission this time was to a guy by the name of Joseph. You remember that? A few days later, the angel Gabriel went to Joseph. And this time we know the time was night, and the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, The angel Gabriel gave the same message to Joseph and he said you shall call his name Jesus For he will save his people from their sins God put Joseph and Mary on the same page you you will call this child Jesus because he's going to save his people from their sin God left out No detail God covered all of his bases. He was very precise in his message to Joseph, and it was very precise in his message to Mary, you know. God knew exactly what he was doing. God knew what he was doing here because he knew what the problem was. God was taking care of the problem. You say, what was the problem? He told Joseph that he will be called Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. There was the problem. Every facet of this narrative that I've shared with you this morning was built around the problem. And the problem is sin. Gabriel came from God because God saw the problem. And the Lord appeared to Joseph because God saw the problem. The problem is we need a Savior. That's the problem. We need a Savior. We need someone to save us from our sins. And there was only one qualified to do that and his name was Jesus. Did you notice how God has initiated this whole thing here? Did you notice how God was controlling this whole thing here? Everything was happening according to God's design. Everything was happening according to God's purpose. God is initiating every aspect of our salvation. He's taking care of every part of it. This whole thing was started by God on our behalf. You see, that's what love does, though. That's what love does. When love sees suffering, when love sees pain, when love sees misery, when love sees death, when love sees those things, it tries to relieve it. And God saw sin and God saw the result of sin. He saw the misery that sin brings. He saw the ultimate death that sin brings. He saw that sin is ultimately going to result in a place called hell. And God is providing a way out through the Savior, Jesus Christ. And God made the way out because we couldn't make our own way out. The price for our sins had to be paid for. The judgment of God had to be satisfied. And the only way to do that is through Jesus Christ. We stand under the eternal condemnation of a holy God. We miss that. Our sin reaps eternal consequences. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin so that he could maintain his deity, and the reason he could maintain his deity is so that he could pay an eternal price, which is what God requires. Our sin is an eternal offense, and the only way to be paid for is by an eternal Savior or an eternal sacrifice, which is Jesus Christ. His deity, his death on the cross and his deity satisfies the eternal justice of God. The Bible says this, We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, 1 John 4.14. We are incapable of satisfying God's justice, folks. We don't have the kind of righteousness that God is going to accept. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. We have nothing to offer Him. The world still needs Jesus, and we still need to tell the world they need Jesus too. That's our mission today. The qualifying question today for you is, do you have the Savior? Do you know the child that was laid in the manger, celebrated by the angels, worshipped by the shepherds, died on the cross? Do you know him as your personal Savior today? That's the question. That's the ultimate question. I'm going to ask Brother Doyle to come and to help us with an invitation hymn. The Bible tells us and reminds us that if you've just, you say, well, I'm not so bad. I, you know, I don't know that I can't take care of myself. The Bible tells us in James that if you have broken one law, you are just as guilty as you've broken all the laws. Do you understand what that means for you? You're just as guilty as you've broken all the laws. Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for your sins. You have to repent. You put your faith in Jesus Christ, your personal Savior. Receive the gift of eternal life. That's God's plan. That's all there is to it for you this morning. I'm going to ask that you stand with me today. Would you do that? And let's bow our heads. Let's pray together real quickly. And then we'll have an invitation. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity to be here today and worship you and praise your holy name. We thank you for our Savior, Jesus Christ. We thank you, Heavenly Father, that you had such a wonderful, detailed plan in place to pay for our sins. Lord, I pray today every one of us will take an inventory of our lives. Where we stand with you, do we know Jesus Christ as our personal Savior? That is the ultimate question for us this morning. And secondly, those of us who claim to know Him, who have a relationship with you through Him, Are we sharing the gospel, the light of Jesus Christ, with those that we come into contact with? And if we're not, if we're not being faithful to you, I pray, Heavenly Father, that we will make a decision that, yes, you know, when I leave this house today, I am going to be a brighter light for the light, Jesus Christ. Lord, empower us to do that. Help us to take seriously this morning the decisions that we are making right now in this place, at this time, at this hour. In Christ's name we pray, amen. 518. While we pray and while we plead, while you see your souls be made,