The Announcement of the Savior (Luke 1:26-38) | Worship Service

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Good morning, and welcome to Kootenai Church. We're glad that you're here today.

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Would you please stand as we begin our service this morning with the reading from John chapter 3 and it says in John 3 .16

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-19, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

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For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

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He who believes in him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten

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Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men love their darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil.

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We're going to begin our music service this morning, and we're going to sing, Sing We the Song of Emmanuel. Sing we the song of Emmanuel, this the

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Christ who was long foretold. Oh, in the shadows of Bethlehem, promise of dawn, now our eyes behold.

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God most high in the manger laid, lift your voices and now proclaim, great and glorious love has come to us, join now with hosts of heaven.

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Come we to welcome Emmanuel, King who came with no crown or throne, helplessly lay the invincible, maker of Mary, now

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Mary's son. Home of wisdom to save us all, shepherds, sages before him call.

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Grace and majesty, what humility, come on and we adore him.

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Go spread the news of Emmanuel, joy and peace for the weary heart.

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Lift up your heads for your King has come, sing for the light overwhelms the dark.

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Glory shining for all to see, hope alive let the gospel ring.

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God has made a way, he will have the praise, tell the world his name is

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Jesus. Glory shining for all to see, hope alive let the gospel ring.

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God has made a way, he will have the praise, tell the world his name is

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Jesus. Glory shining for all to see, hope alive let the gospel ring.

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God has made a way, he will have the praise, tell the world his name is

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Jesus. Come thou long expected

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Jesus, born to set thy people free.

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From our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.

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Israel strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art.

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Dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.

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Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a king.

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Born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring.

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By thine own eternal spirit, rule in all our hearts alone.

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By thine own sufficient merit, raise us to thy glorious throne.

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How low was our redeemer brought, the king who held the stars.

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Lay helpless in a maiden's arms, and pressed against her heart.

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While sheep and cattle raised their voice, the babe could speak no words.

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The ever flowing spring of joy, had come to share our third.

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How low was our redeemer brought, the Lord the world's obeyed.

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Would stumble as he learned to walk, upon the ground he made.

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The one the angels bowed before, would kneel to wash our feet.

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And be at home among the poor, though he owned everything.

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Gloria, Gloria, in the highest.

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Gloria, Gloria, in the highest.

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How low was our redeemer brought, to raise us from our shame.

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And now the highest praise of all, belongs to Jesus' name.

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The healer wounded on a tree, to bear our grief and sin.

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The king gave up his crown so we, could ever reign with him.

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Gloria, Gloria, in the highest.

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Gloria, Gloria, in the highest.

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Gloria, Gloria, in the highest.

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Gloria, Gloria, in the highest.

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Gloria, Gloria, in the highest.

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Gloria, Gloria, in the highest. How low was our redeemer brought, to raise us from our shame.

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And now the highest praise of all, belongs to Jesus' name.

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He taught us to love one, and his gospel is peace.

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Shall we pray for the slave, is our brother.

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And in his name, all oppression shall cease.

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Sweet hymns of joy, in grateful chorus raise we.

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Let all us, praise his holy name.

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Christ is the Lord, his name forever, his power to claim.

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And just one announcement, and that is that tonight is our Christmas Eve evening service at 6 .30

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p .m. tonight. Turn now please, if you will, to the

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Gospel of Matthew chapter one. There are two portions of scripture that describe the birth of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. One is in Matthew and one is in Luke, and later on we're going to be looking at the one in Luke for the sermon, both today, this morning, and this evening.

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And so I will ask you to turn to Matthew chapter one, and we'll begin reading at verse 18, and we'll read through the end of the chapter, verse 25.

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Matthew chapter one, beginning at verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows.

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When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child by the

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Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

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But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take

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Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name

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Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the

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Lord through the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name

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Immanuel, which translated means God with us. And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the

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Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son, and he called his name

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Jesus. You stand with me as we pray. Let's bow our heads.

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Our Father, what a marvelous love that you have had for mankind, this fallen race of Adam, that you would send your son into this world to live in our stead and to die in our place so that we may have eternal life.

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We come together today to reflect upon the great and marvelous promise of the incarnation and the fulfillment of that promise in the person of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. We are grateful that you have sent a Savior who will save your people from their sins.

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Thank you that his life is sufficient to merit our righteousness, the righteousness that we need to stand before you on the final day, and his death is sufficient to pay the price for our infinite sin debt that we owed for our violation of the law, for all of our transgressions and our iniquity.

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We were hopeless and ruined in Adam's sin, in our lost condition, unwilling and unable to change our condition and our hearts, unable to do anything that merited even the slightest bit of grace from your hands.

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But you, our God, our blessed and triune God, has seen fit to redeem a people for your own glory and to draw an innumerable company to your

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Son, and then upon him to lay all of their sin. And so we thank you for that sacrifice, and we thank you for the coming of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. And as your people, we are grateful to look back upon his first coming, and we look forward to his return with great expectation, with great hope, for in his return we are going to find the fulfillment of all your promises that you have promised us.

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And we ask that you would comfort and encourage our hearts in this time, in this day, as we wait for that fulfillment of those promises.

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As your people, we love you and we thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, for his coming, for his sacrifice, for his life, for his resurrection, and for his reign and rule in heaven even now.

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And we ask that you would comfort and encourage our hearts through these truths. Bless our time of worship and fellowship as we meditate upon them, we ask in Christ's name.

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Amen. strong slept the sovereign son of god lord of the universe breathing the dust of her earth wonderful counselor mighty god our messiah name above every name glory once upon a splintered cross jesus died to rescue us all of our shame and sin nailed to the tree with him wonderful counselor mighty god our messiah name above every day glory in the highest heaven and nature sing praise to the king of kings oh mighty ♪

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In the highest name above ♪ ♪

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Every name in the highest name above ♪

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In Matthew chapter 11, it says, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

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Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls.

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For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. We're gonna end our music service this morning and sing,

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O come all you unfaithful. ♪

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O come all you unfaithful ♪ ♪ Come weak and unstable ♪ ♪

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Come, know you are not alone ♪ ♪

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O come, barren and waiting ones ♪ ♪

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Weary of praying ♪ ♪ Come, see what your

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God has done ♪ ♪

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Christ is born, Christ is born,

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Christ is born for you ♪ ♪

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You ♪ ♪

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O come, bitter and broken ♪ ♪ Come, with fears unspoken ♪ ♪

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Come, taste of His birth and come ♪ ♪

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O come, guilty and hiding ones ♪ ♪

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There is no need to run ♪ ♪ See what your God has done ♪ ♪

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Christ is born, Christ is born,

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Christ is born for you ♪ ♪

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He's the lamb who was given, slain for our pardon ♪ ♪

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His promise is peace for those who believe ♪ ♪

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He's the lamb who was given, slain for our pardon ♪ ♪

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His promise is peace for those who believe ♪ ♪

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So come, though you have nothing, come ♪ ♪

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He is the offering, come, see what your

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God has done ♪ ♪

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Christ is born, Christ is born,

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Christ is born for you ♪ ♪

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Christ is born, Christ is born,

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Christ is born for you ♪

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You may be seated. You will need your

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Bible open to the gospel of Luke chapter one, Luke chapter one.

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Before we read and get started, let's bow our heads and ask the Lord's blessing upon our time. Father, Christ is born.

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What a glorious declaration that is. It is as if we were to say that he is risen as well.

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For the resurrection of the body depends upon the incarnation of our great God and Savior, the

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Lord Jesus Christ. A second person of the blessed trinity became flesh for our sake so that he might redeem us and bring glory to the triune

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God and to redeem a people for his own sake, for his own glory, and do us good all in that process.

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And we thank you for that. He is born, he has died, he was buried, and he rose again.

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And for this great and glorious gospel truth, we adore you and thank you.

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And we pray now your blessing upon our study of your word and are looking at the gospel of Luke and his record of what transpired there.

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May you be honored through our time and our meditation here. In Christ's name we pray, amen.

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Well, it is Christmas Eve and so this morning's service as well as the one tonight kind of bring to a conclusion mini series that we have been working through, looking at the

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Old Testament promises of a Messiah. And today we're going to be in Luke's gospel in chapter one, looking at part of the fulfillment of that.

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And I say part of the fulfillment because not everything that was promised in the Old Testament was fulfilled in the first coming of our

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Lord. Galatians chapter four, verse four says, when the fullness of time came,

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God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

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When the fullness of time came, when the long expected culmination of all of those promises came to the time, the ripeness of that time to be fulfilled, then

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God sent forth his son to be born of a woman. And we have been waiting now for the second coming of the

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Lord Jesus Christ for 2000 years, which seems like a long time until you realize that prior to his coming, humanity had been waiting for 4000 years for the fulfillment of those promises made back as early as in the garden of Eden, right after the fall of man.

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And one of the benefits of our brief survey of Old Testament history of the promises and the prophecies regarding Christ is that it reminds us that God is always at work to accomplish his purposes.

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He is always at work to fulfill his word and to bring to pass what he has promised to us. And this is where we started back a few weeks ago in Genesis chapter three, verse 15.

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And just to bring you up to speed with what we have looked at so far, we started with that passage, which is the first mention of gospel truth and gospel promise.

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It regarded the seed of the woman and it was spoken in the context of the curse upon the serpent, where the

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Lord promised that a seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent and he would be bruised, his heel would be bruised as a result of that triumph.

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And we looked there at the virgin birth of our Lord, the vicarious suffering that was promised there and also the victory over the serpent.

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Then a couple weeks ago, we looked at the indicators of the Old Testament that the seed of the woman would be fully manned and that this was necessary in order for him to represent us and to live on our behalf for the sake of our righteousness.

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And we saw his humanity and his lineage and his suffering and then in his eventual rule and reign as the promised descendant of David.

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Then last week, we looked at the indications from the Old Testament that the coming seed of the woman was going to be fully divine.

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He needed to be God in order to pay the infinite debt of sin that you and I owe. Even one of us in this room owes an infinite sin debt and we have an infinite debt of righteousness that we do not have.

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So we needed one who is infinitely righteous, perfectly so, and impeccably so, and one who was fully

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God so that he could provide for us the full righteousness that we need as well as pay the debt, the full debt of the sin that we had heaped up by our lawbreaking.

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So he had to be fully man and fully divine. And we saw that this one from David's line would be divine through his eternality, his origin, his goings forth,

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Micah 5, verse two. His names indicate that he would be divine. He's the wonderful counselor, the mighty God.

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And then we looked at his rule and his reign as an indication of his divine nature. Now, you might expect with all of that in hindsight, now you might expect that with all of those pieces on the table, with all of that information about the

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Messiah that the Jews had, and I mentioned to you a couple of weeks ago, we could go back into the Old Testament and go a hundred different directions with the promises made regarding Christ.

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All the stuff that we've looked at in the last three weeks, it's just scratching the surface of a wealth, an embarrassment of riches when it comes to what is predicted and promised in the

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Old Testament. So much that is there. So you would think then that the Jews, having hundreds of years to meditate upon that, to think it out, to reason it out, to put the pieces together, to kind of follow the trajectory of Old Testament revelation with all the promises that unfolded over time, to examine

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Micah, and Zechariah, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and all of the passages, all of the

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Psalms, all of the types and shadows in the Old Testament, the sacrifices, the feast, the tabernacle, and all of that, the promises of the kingdom rule, you would think that the

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Jews, with all of that information on the table, would have had a pretty consistent, pretty comprehensive understanding of what to expect in their

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Messiah. You would think that that would be the case. They had hundreds of years to think about it, to put it together, to reason it out, to consult commentaries, to pray about it, to study the

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Scriptures, but what was, what was the early first century

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Jewish expectation of a Messiah? Did they have a unanimous understanding of what that would look like?

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Not at all. Not at all, actually. You would think that they would, but they didn't.

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There's an old adage that says, if you ask three Jews for their opinion, you'll get four, yeah, if you ask three

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Jews for their opinion, you get four opinions. You wanna know what a Jew thinks? Get prepared for two or three different opinions.

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This was the same way in the first century. With all that information, they had all kinds of different ideas of what that Messianic fulfillment would look like.

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One thing that they all agreed upon, one thing that every Jew agreed together about was that when, that the

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Old Testament predicted a Messianic figure. That they got. There's a

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Redeemer that is promised, Genesis chapter three, we get that. You have the prophecies regarding the king and the kingdom, we get that.

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Prophecies regarding sacrifice, atonement, we get that. There's a Messianic figure coming. What that looked like, how it would be fulfilled, that they did not agree upon.

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And there were a number of different ideas of just how this would be fulfilled. For instance, some Jews believed that the

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Messianic promises was just an idealistic, mythological kind of ideal.

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It was an idea, it was a Messianic idea. So they would take all the promises regarding the

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Messiah and they would say this is to be understood metaphorically or allegorically, or he's kind of a symbol, like we have our symbols of deliverers and redeemers and heroes in our own culture, like Superman, Iron Man, Batman, et cetera.

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These are kind of cultural, mythological figures that we look at as being higher ideals of higher virtues.

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That's what the Messiah is, some Jews would have said. He's just a mythological figure, kind of a

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Messiah figure, a redeemer figure, somebody to put your hope in, and not that these things are ever gonna take place actually, literally, physically in front of our eyes, but it's kind of an idealized understanding of, it's like sacrifice and redemption anthropomorphized.

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Always wanted to say that word, that's a big word. Anthropomorphized, put into sort of human language and human ideals.

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They would have said that the idea of sacrifice is to be understood allegorically, or just kind of as a spiritual metaphor, the idea of a reign was just really a picture of God's ultimate sovereign rulership over all of creation, and the deity references in the

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Messiah in the Old Testament, those were just indicators that Yahweh was the one who was going to sort of bring together this messianic idea of redemption and salvation, that none of that should be taken literally or historically.

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Second, some Jews viewed the coming Messiah as a military leader.

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They were expecting someone to come and to gather together the forces to lead a revolt against Gentile nations, to put down Gentile powers, to crush the nations with a rod of iron, to establish a

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Davidic kingdom, and to make Israel the center of the world, world commerce, world worship, world ruler and reign.

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They expected that he would crush the wicked rulers of the earth, and those who rage and plot together. We can kind of understand why they would have thought that.

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Psalm 2, ask of me and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession.

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You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall shatter them like earthenware. Psalm 110, the

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Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Lord will stretch forth your strong scepter from Zion, saying, rule in the midst of your enemies.

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We can understand why they would expect a military victorious conquering king who would establish a kingdom.

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Why would they have expected that? Spoiler alert, it's because that's what the Old Testament promised.

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Some Jews would have expected that when the Messiah would come, those roles of the

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Messiah that are predicted in the Old Testament would actually be fulfilled by more than one person. They thought that there would be one figure who would come and fulfill the messianic prophecies regarding sacrifice.

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Isaiah 53, he would die, he would be crushed for our iniquities. Psalm 22, there would be one who would come and they would gamble for his garments and they would pierce his hands and his feet and he would suffer in the stead of his people.

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They expected that. But then they had these prophecies regarding one who would also rule and reign over David's kingdom and David's throne.

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So they thought this must be two different people. One who dies as a sacrifice, cannot possibly come and also reign forever.

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So therefore there's going to be one person to come and to offer the sacrifice and another Messiah figure who would come and rule and reign from David's throne forever.

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And we can understand why they would think that, can't we? Because these are both things that the Old Testament predicted and promised that the

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Messiah would do. Now with all of that background and all of that commentary, as needless as you might think that it is,

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I want you to look at Luke chapter one beginning at verse 26. We're gonna look at how Gabriel announces the fulfillment of these promises to Mary.

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Luke chapter one, we're gonna read verses 26 through 38 and that entire passage is going to be our text for this morning.

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So we will get through all of this before we are done. Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called

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Nazareth to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David and the virgin's name was

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Mary. And coming in, he said to her greetings favored one, the Lord is with you.

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But she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.

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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

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Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the

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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.

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Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I am a virgin? The angel answered and said to her, the

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Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. And for that reason, the

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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.

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And Mary said, behold, the bond slave of the Lord may it be done to me according to your word and the angel departed from her.

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We're gonna notice three things here about Gabriel's conversation with Mary.

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First, his arrival, second, his announcement and then his answer to her question. That's gonna be our outline for this morning.

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Notice in Luke chapter one, verse 26 and 27 that Luke tells us that this thing happened, this announcement happened in the sixth month.

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The sixth month of what? Not the sixth month of Mary's pregnancy because Gabriel speaking in terms of future, what was about to happen.

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So it's not in the sixth month of her pregnancy, nor is it in the sixth month of her engagement to Joseph.

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It is in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, which is mentioned in verses 24 to 25, which we didn't get to, but look at verse 24.

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After these things, Elizabeth, his wife became pregnant and she kept herself in seclusion for five months saying, this is the way the

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Lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked with favor upon me to take away my disgrace among men.

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Elizabeth was a cousin of sorts, a relative, a kin to Mary and Gabriel had already given an announcement to Elizabeth who was on up in age in years and she had been barren up until that point and Gabriel said, look, you're going to have a son, you're going to be pregnant and you remember

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Zechariah was a priest serving in the temple at the time and Zechariah was struck dumb, speechless because he questioned that and had doubt and the

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Lord sort of struck him and then after John, this is the prophecy of John the Baptist's birth and then after John was born, then

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Zechariah got his speech back. So this is in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy and this angelic assignment had to be one that for Gabriel was a choice assignment.

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Keep in mind that humanity had been waiting for this for 6 ,000 years and I don't know how it unfolded,

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I hope to find out someday, I would love to have a conversation with Gabriel and find out what was it like that day when you were finally told, all right, this is it.

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You've been waiting for four millennia, the time has come, you need to go visit this woman, she is a virgin and give her this message and Gabriel's commissioned to do that.

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He gave the message to Elizabeth and now he's commissioned to go to Mary and where does he go? To Tarsus, the educational center of the world?

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Nope. Does he go to Antioch, the commercial metropolitan center of the world?

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Nope. Caesarea, the sort of seat of Roman rule and authority there in Israel?

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Not there. And certainly not to Jerusalem, which is where you might expect for the Spirit of God to find a virgin and impregnate her in Jerusalem.

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Not in Jerusalem, but to Nazareth. Nazareth. Now last week, we talked about backwater hick towns that were of no significance and Bethlehem was certainly one of those.

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Nazareth was on that list as well. Nazareth was on the list of places you didn't put on lists because it was that insignificant.

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And the angel Gabriel is sent to a woman who is not yet with child, she is a virgin, she has been engaged but has not been married and she is awaiting that consummation of the marriage in the due time as things would progress over the course of many months.

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And she is engaged to a man named Joseph and living in a town called

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Nazareth, which was on nobody's radar. In fact, Nazareth was the butt of jokes.

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It was what you said to joke about things. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

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Remember, that was an actual saying. They talked about something coming out of Nazareth. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

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Nobody would have expected that. And yet this is where Mary lived. She is not a princess, she's not an heiress, she's not wealthy, she's living in an indescript little town up in Galilee, far away from Jerusalem.

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And she is a virgin which is going to fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14. Therefore, the

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Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall be with child and bear a son and she will call his name

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Immanuel. This is how the prophecy of the seed of the woman would be fulfilled.

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The seed of the woman. You remember that is an odd phrase to see anywhere. And it described one who would come from the woman but not be the direct product of the seed of the man.

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So the Lord Jesus is described as the seed of the woman for he would be conceived in a unique way, born of the woman without the involvement of any human male seed.

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And yet because he is Mary's child, he would be physically a descendant of David. Now this is significant.

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He would be physically a descendant of David but he would not be legally a descendant of David because he would not be the offspring of the

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Davidic line through Joseph. But he could take the throne of David because he was

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David's legal descendant by adoption through Joseph but not the physical descendant through Joseph.

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He was the physical descendant of David through Mary. So one of the gospel genealogies traces the lineage of Jesus through Mary to David to show that Jesus is the physical descendant of David.

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Therefore he had the physical right to take the throne but because he wasn't Joseph's son but only in an adoptive sense, he had no legal right to take the throne.

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And so in this masterful way, the spirit of God and the providence of God orchestrated a way to make

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Jesus Christ not the physical descendant of David through Joseph, legally he was so he could take the throne but make him the physical descendant through Mary.

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So he is in the seat of the woman who has the legal right to take David's throne. And this is particularly interesting when you remember that in Joseph's lineage, there was a king who was cursed with a promise that nobody would sit upon, from his line would sit upon the throne.

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And you take that king who bore that curse, the promise from God that nobody would sit from his line upon that throne and you trace that down and you get to Joseph and you say, now this is a conundrum.

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No physical descendant of that king can sit on David's throne. Joseph is the physical descendant of that king.

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And so how does the Lord work that out? By making him the physical descendant of Mary who did not descend from that king but from another part of David's line but make him the legal descendant through Joseph.

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So he has the legal right to take the throne from Joseph, the physical right to take the throne from Mary. Oh, the wisdom, the knowledge and the providence of God.

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Tell me that that is not a perfect plan. That is a perfect plan. Notice the angel's greeting, verse 28.

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Coming in he said to her, greetings favored one, the Lord is with you. She was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.

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The word favored one or the phrase favored one, there is a translation of a word that means one who is granted great grace or favor.

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The fact that Mary is perplexed at this greeting is an indication of just what kind of a woman she was. A pious woman, a godly woman.

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She refers to herself down in verse 38 as a bond slave or a slave of the Lord. She says, the slave of the

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Lord may it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her, verse 38. She calls God her savior later on in this chapter.

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She calls God her savior and understands her own sin and unworthiness. So Mary is a humble woman, a pious woman, one who understood that she and her plans and her reputation were all to be laid on the line in service to Yahweh and his purposes.

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And so she is perplexed that the angel would come in and regard her as one who is divinely favored.

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He said, her perplexity is somewhat understandable when you remember that she's living in Nazareth, hardly a place of divine favor.

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She's not sitting on a princess's throne somewhere in Jerusalem. She's not eating lavish banquets in the palace of a king.

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She's not enjoying any of those things. She's not even well known at all, probably not known too far outside of Nazareth.

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And yet the angel refers to her as a favored one. She's engaged not to a king, not to a prince, not to nobility in any earthly sense, but she is engaged to a carpenter, not a king, a carpenter.

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And the only thing that she could expect from such humble circumstances is simply to live out her days as any other

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Jewish woman in Nazareth engaged to a carpenter would have lived out her days in a small house attached to a wood shop of some sort where Joseph did his thing and she'd kept the house and the animals and they worked together and lived and died and died in ignominy, unknown.

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That's what she could have expected. So to have an angel show up to somebody in Nazareth and say, you're divinely favored, would have struck her as quite odd for certain.

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She is the most unlikely of persons to bear the one who is the creator of time itself.

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She is the most unlikely of persons to have such a noble calling and such a noble task.

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And this is the way the Lord works in exalting the lowly. Psalm 138, verse six, though the Lord is exalted, he regards the lowly.

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He sees the proud from a long ways away. In Isaiah 66, verse two, on this one, the

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Lord says, I will look to him who is humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at my word. That's the type of person

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Mary was. James four, verse six, says God is opposed to the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

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Everything about the incarnation of our Lord is a testimony to humility. It is a testimony to service and to sacrifice and to humility.

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Mary was a humble woman who was surprised to find out that she could have any part at all in the fulfillment of God's promises.

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And so she wonders, what can all of this possibly mean? And now we look at Gabriel's explanation or his announcement in verse 30 through 33.

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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

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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,

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David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And his kingdom will have no end. Now here, we see all of the themes that we've been looking at for the last several weeks all come together.

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They all come to fruition. You have the one who is the seed of the woman. She is a virgin. She is virgin. And so Jesus is going to be virgin born.

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That's the theme of Genesis chapter three. We have the theme here of his humanity. She's going to bear a son.

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You have the theme of his deity. He's going to be called the most high God. And you have the theme of his reign and his rule, which we've looked at for the last two weeks in that he is going to be given the throne of his father,

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David, and reign over the house of Jacob forever. And his kingdom will have no end. All of it now comes together in this one announcement.

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But you need to notice three important things about this baby. First, he would be a son. Verse 31, behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him

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Jesus. That language is intentional by the angel because it is the same language that is used in the

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Old Testament prophecies regarding the coming savior. In other words, Gabriel is recalling to Mary the language that was used of the

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Old Testament concerning the coming Messiah. Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14, therefore the

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Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son. And she will call his name

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Emmanuel. See, the very language that Gabriel is using is calling back to Mary's mind the very promises of the

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Old Testament that she was to fulfill, where a virgin would give birth to a son. Isaiah nine, verse six, 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

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Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace. And she would know the significance from the designation you will bear a son, she would know the significance of what the angel was announcing to her just from the language that Gabriel was using.

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She would bear the one who is the son of David because she knew that she was a descendant of David and she would bear the one who is called the son of the

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Most High God. This describes, again, the humanity of the Lord Jesus, that he didn't descend in a comet, he didn't come down from a chariot of fire from heaven, not like a

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Superman figure of some sort from outer space, but rather he was born into human history as a normal child, normal in the sense of nothing about his appearance would strike you as odd, normal in the sense that he came into the world as every other person has come into the world who has come into the world, born fully man into humanity in the normal way through a typical labor.

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This is the humility of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was the creator of everything, he stepped into this creation and he lived among us for 30 years.

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The one who knew everything, had unlimited knowledge, veiled that knowledge, veiled that ability to access that knowledge so that he might learn the law and learn the culture and learn to speak and learn to do math and learn to walk.

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The Lord Jesus had to learn all of that. Normal humanity, untouched by sin, but fully man.

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How low was our Redeemer brought? The Lord the world's obeyed would stumble as he learned to walk upon the ground he'd made.

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The one the angels bowed before would kneel to wash our feet and be at home among the poor, though he owned everything.

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That's what we sang just a few minutes ago. He would be known as Joseph's son, the son of a carpenter, the one born to Mary, Jesus of Nazareth.

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That's how he was referred to. He would be a son. Second, he would be a savior. This is contained in his name,

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Jesus. Verse 31, behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus. The word

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Jesus is the Greek form of the word Joshua, which means God will save or God saves. And this is in fact the promise that the angel made, whichever angel it was that announced this to Joseph in a dream, when he had considered this,

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Joseph, Matthew 1, verse 20, when he had considered putting away Mary, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying,

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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

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Holy Spirit. She will bear a son. Notice the language from the Old Testament prophecies. In that vision again, and you shall name him

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Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. He will give birth to a savior. Luke chapter two, verse 11, when the shepherds appear out in the fields on the night of the

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Lord's birth, they proclaim to the shepherds, today in the city of David, there has been born for you a savior who is

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Christ the Lord. There is salvation in no one else for no one else has done what is necessary to redeem mankind.

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I said it earlier, we needed a perfect man who could live a perfect life, the life that we were required to live, but we have failed to live.

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And then we needed a one who is perfectly God, infinite in his righteousness, to live that life so that he might credit that righteousness to you and I, who have no righteousness.

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And then we needed one who is infinite in his person, in his ability to save, one who is God in human flesh, who could represent us on the cross and pay the infinite price for our sin.

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You wanna know why there is salvation in no one else? Not Muhammad, not any other religious teacher who has ever lived.

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It is because nobody else has done what is necessary to redeem man. If a hundred other men had done what was necessary to redeem mankind, there would be salvation in a hundred other paths.

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But there's only salvation in one path, in one name, in one person, because only one person lived a perfect life and died a perfect death and rose again so that he might redeem people.

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And so if you are to be saved, you must be saved. It can only be saved through Christ and Christ alone. You need righteousness.

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There's only one person who can provide that. Your sin needs to be atoned for. There's only one person who is atoned for it.

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And therefore salvation for mankind is as narrow as the person through whom individual, it was brought about, it was provided.

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And that is in Christ and Christ alone. He is uniquely qualified to save and thus he is the object of saving faith.

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And we are commanded to repent and to turn from our sin and to place our faith in that one, the

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Lord Jesus Christ, if we are to have salvation. And reject him and you will perish in your own sin everlastingly.

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He is the one who will bear the sin of his people. He is the one who stood in our place. He is the one who would redeem us from the serpent's dominion and his power.

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And he is the one who has crushed the serpent's head. He is the one who has fulfilled all of those prophecies concerning his coming.

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Isaiah 53, as a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied by his knowledge, my righteous one, my servant will justify the many as he will bear their iniquities.

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Therefore, I will allot him a portion with the great and he will divide the booty with the strong. And listen to these words spoken, written 700 years before Jesus was born, because he poured out himself to death.

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He was numbered with the transgressors, yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors.

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He'd be a savior, not only a son, but a savior. And not just a savior, but also a sovereign.

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Look at verse 32, 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,

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David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end. He will be great.

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Alexander thought he was great. You know why? Because he was called Alexander the

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Great. But as it turns out, Alexander the Great wasn't that great. He certainly wasn't as great as Jesus the

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Great. He will be great. Julius Caesar, Nero, the pharaohs,

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Nebuchadnezzar, Artaxerxes, these are the men upon whom we think, the world thinks, that history turns.

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These are the men who ruled the nation. Well, we serve one who will rule all the nations.

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We serve one whose birth dates every event that came before it and every event that has come after it.

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We serve one who reigns supreme in heaven right now, sits at the Father's right hand.

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If anybody is great, it is Jesus the Great. Not Caesar, not Artaxerxes, not

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Nebuchadnezzar, certainly not Alexander. The seed of the woman would be the one who would be attacked and hated by the serpent and he has been,

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Jesus, has been hated by more people and loved by more people than any other figure of human history.

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You know why? Because he is the great. He will be great and he'll be called the son of the most high.

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Look at verse 32. 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.

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We keep coming back to this idea of king and throne and kingship and rule and reign, et cetera.

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Why is it that we come back to that? Because salvation is tied up in this king. Salvation is tied up in his rule and in his reign and him fulfilling the promises that God made to David.

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Notice the details of this sovereign's reign. He will be given the throne of his father

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David, that is Jesus, again, is a physical descendant of David through Mary, legal descendant of David through Joseph and so this one,

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Jesus, will take the throne of his father David. As David's descendant, he would fulfill the promises that were made to David.

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Now, here's what's perplexing about the words of the angel. It would have been perplexing enough to hear that the government of David's kingdom would rest upon his shoulders.

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In Isaiah chapter seven and nine, that would have been perplexing enough given that in Isaiah's day, the

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Davidic monarchy had been non -existent for a couple hundred years. But in, sorry, in Isaiah's day, the

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Davidic monarchy was coming to an end and they were prophesying the extinction of that monarchy through the

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Babylonian destruction. But in Mary's day, the Davidic monarchy had been non -existent for hundreds of years.

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They had been, there was no throne in Jerusalem. David's throne was not there.

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David's kingdom didn't exist. And so Mary hears that this one who was to be born of her would take the throne of his father

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David and reign over the house of Jacob forever and that his kingdom would have no end.

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That's perplexing. By the way, this would have been a perfect place for the angel to inform

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Mary if there had been a change of eschatological plans. It would have been right here. This would have been the perfect place.

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And I don't mean to pick on my all -millennial and post -millennial friends, but this would have been the perfect place for the angel to say, hold on a second.

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The whole thing we talked about, you know, hundreds of years ago, David, his kingdom, his throne, his government, et cetera.

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We're revamping that. I know it was confusing when God said it'll be David's throne. What he meant was the throne of heaven.

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When he said David's kingdom, what he meant was a spiritual kingdom. I know it's very confusing, but this is the opportunity to clarify. We're not talking about a physical kingdom.

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We're not talking about literal fulfillment of these promises. No, no, we're talking about spiritual realities. We're talking about heavenly realities, metaphorical, allegorical.

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We need to allegorize these things. This would have been the perfect opportunity for an angel to clarify that. The angel doesn't. He uses the very same language from the

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Old Testament. Why? Because the plan had not changed. The plan was still the same. The plan is still the same.

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Just as David understood these promises, so Mary would understand these promises, and so it is that you and I are to understand these promises.

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I'll get off the amillennial, postmillennial thing here in just a second, but give me one more swing at the ball while it's up on the tee, okay?

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Amillennialists and postmillennialists. I love my brethren who hold that theology, but they make the very same mistake that the early first century

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Jews did, but in reverse order. See, the first century Jews took the promises concerning the second coming of Christ, and they said those must be understood literally, for these things will literally happen.

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And then you would ask them, what about the promises regarding the sacrifice? What about the promises regarding suffering and dying?

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Those need to be spiritual. Those are spiritual realities, spiritual ideas. Postmillennialists and amillennialists do the exact opposite.

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They say regarding the promises with Christ's first coming, we need to take those literally because they were fulfilled literally, but the ones regarding his second coming need to be understood spiritually or as heavenly realities.

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It's the same hermeneutical, exegetical error made on two sides of the coin.

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All of that was just on the side where we were at. Yes, Isaiah 9, verse 7, says there will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom.

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So notice what the angel says. On the throne of David, he will reign over the house of Jacob.

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There was no throne of David in Mary's day, but it would come through this line.

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Jesus would come from David's line, and he would be the ruler who would come out of Bethlehem, Ephrathah. Now, Mary understood exactly what

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Gabriel was promising. Gabriel does not revise the promises, reinterpret their promises, renege upon the promises.

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He doesn't suggest some unforeseen way that these things would be fulfilled in a spiritual sense.

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He quotes right from the Old Testament, the exact same promises using the exact same language because he wanted to communicate something.

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That hope, what David believed, is going to take place through this child. Mary had no way of understanding how that could possibly happen, and I will tell you how it will happen.

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It will happen because he will not come and assume a throne that is already there. He will establish that kingdom.

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He will establish it. He will be the first one to sit upon it, and because he is the king promised from David's line, it will be

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David's throne. It will be David's kingdom in the city of David, and he will be known as David's king who rules the throne of David in the city of David over the kingdom of David and the whole house of Jacob.

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He's going to set it up. He's not gonna just kind of assume the throne because somebody died ahead of him, and so he just kind of gets inaugurated.

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Instead, he is going to establish that very kingdom and throne that was promised as the descendant of David.

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He will set it up. He will establish it. Mary would give birth to a king, and he is the long -awaited -for son from David's line.

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He is the promised savior from the garden. He is the redeemer. He will save his people from their sins.

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That's first coming, and he will establish David's throne and his kingdom and rule and reign over the house of Jacob forever at his second coming.

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Now look third at Gabriel's answer to Mary's question in chapter one, verse 34. This raises some questions.

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As you might expect, there's no throne. There's no kingdom, so Mary says to him in verse 34 to the angel, how can this be since I am a virgin?

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Now she's not wondering if it will be. She's wondering how this could be.

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She's not doubting. She's not saying to the angel, I just don't believe anything you're saying to me. She's just wanting clarification on one little particular detail.

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Out of everything that he said, she wants clarification on this one detail. How can this be since I am a virgin?

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Now Mary understands biology, so she understands how conception normally works and what precedes that and how all of that functions.

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Further, Mary apparently understood that this was going to be something that took place on her, in her, before she is married to Joseph.

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Even though Gabriel doesn't say that, the question that she raises obviously indicates she understood that this was gonna happen soon.

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She understands that Gabriel's not telling her something's gonna happen 15, 20 years from now, like your sixth child is gonna be the one who will take

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David's throne or anything like that. Mary understands that this is all gonna take place before she comes together with Joseph, before she is married and the engagement comes to fruition.

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Gabriel has communicated some amazing things. Your child will be called the son of the most high

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God. He'll be called God. That's pretty amazing. She has been told that he will be great, that he will establish

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David's throne, which did not exist and was not ruling Israel at the time, that he would rule forever, something that seems inconceivable for a man born of a woman to do.

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She is told that the government will rest upon his shoulders and that he will establish a kingdom which will have no end. And what does she want clarification on?

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Does she want clarification on how it is that David's throne would come back into existence when the monarchy had been nonexistent for several hundred years?

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She want clarification on that? No. Does she ask for clarification on how he can rule forever? How can a man live forever?

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That wouldn't make any sense. She doesn't ask for clarification on that. She doesn't wonder about how he's going to establish the kingdom when

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Rome currently ruled Israel and Jerusalem. She doesn't wonder how it is that he will be called the son of God.

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I mean, wouldn't that be blasphemy for them to call him the son of the most high God? That doesn't raise her curiosity at all.

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What does she ask? How can this be since I am a virgin? And again, I say to you, she understood everything about the promises and what the angel was saying, except for that detail.

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And notice Gabriel's answer. Verse 35, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you.

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And for that reason, the holy child should be called the son of God. The Holy Spirit would create the fertilization inside of Mary's womb, taking the egg furnished by her normal, natural bodily processes.

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And the Holy Spirit would create in that egg and upon that egg, some sort of a miraculous conception.

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Now, what I picture in my mind happening is that there is within the egg, the

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DNA chromosomes, and it needs the other matching set of chromosomes provided, the other complimentary,

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I would say, set of chromosomes provided by the male in order for that to match up and to create that helix.

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So what I imagine happening is not the production inside of Mary of unfallen human seed, but what

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I picture happening here, the spirit, the word does not tell us, is that there is an instant creation inside of Mary's womb of the corresponding match to every single one of those

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DNA helix ends. In order that what is created by her in the womb, by the

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Holy, and created in her by the Holy Spirit is both fully man, because it is the genetic material of Mary, it is also the human genetic material unfallen, created out of thin air by the

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Holy Spirit at the moment of conception. It was a divine act of creation by the

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Holy Spirit, just as the Holy Spirit hovered over the waters of creation and was an active agent in the creation of all things, so the

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Spirit of God would come upon Mary and actively create in her, in that egg, what was necessary to fertilize it with the one who would be both

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God and man. Now, if you are sitting here today and you are thinking, because you are new here, and I know

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I see a lot of new faces, and you're thinking, this sounds crazy that this could happen. Let me say something to you.

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If Genesis 1 .1 is true, this is not crazy. If God created everything, said, let there be light, if in the beginning

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God created the heavens and the earth, this is the most rational and reasonable and true thing you've ever read.

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Only if evolution and atheistic nonsense is true does this sound fantastical.

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If God can create everything out of thin air, not even out of thin air, sorry, out of nothing, thin air is something, right?

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We're breathing it, it's something. If God can create everything out of nothing, simply ex nihilo, by the word of his power, if he can do that, he can fertilize an egg apart from human seed.

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That's not just possible, it's logical, it's rational, it's necessary, it's historical, and it happened.

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Luke 1 .1 verse 36, the angel gives Mary a proof or an evidence that what he is saying is true, what he's saying is real.

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He already did something that is beyond the natural in the womb of Elizabeth, then behold, even your relative

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Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age. John the Baptist was not virgin conceived, this is normal process, but she was barren and she is in her old age, so that makes this something of a work of God to do that already in Elizabeth's womb.

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Verse 37, for nothing will be impossible with God. That's it. Genesis 1 .1,

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Luke 1 .37, those are your two evidences that this happened. God created the heavens and the earth and with him nothing is impossible.

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Now all of the events of human history, all of them that transpired prior to the coming of the

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Lord Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary, every event prepared the world for the arrival of this king.

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The rise of every republic, the destruction of every dynasty, the coronation of every king, the march of every military, all of it set the stage in this world for he who was the

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God from eternity to come into human flesh and to be born out of the womb of a virgin.

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Everything that has happened in human history has set the stage that in the fullness of time, God would send forth his son born of a woman so that he could redeem us who were under the law.

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And since Christ has come and died and been buried and raised again to everlasting life, and since he has ascended to the right hand of the father where he waits until his enemies will be made a footstool for his feet and he will return again, this time not to make atonement, but this time to wage war against his enemies and the enemies of the truth and to establish his kingdom.

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He's coming the second time, not Jesus meek and mild in the manger. He's coming the second time with a sword on his hip and his word from his mouth in a robe dipped in blood and he is going to wage war and he is going to do everything that the

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Old Testament promised that he would do when he returns. And listen believer, everything that is transpiring in this world right now, the rise of every republic, the destruction of every dynasty, the coronation of every king and the march of every military is setting the stage in this world for the arrival of that king and the return of that king.

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And so we wait patiently, abiding until he comes. We obey this king, we worship this king.

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He is the object of our faith, our trust. He is the sole focus of our obedience for this is a king who died for his subjects, most kings require their subjects to die for them.

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This king dies for his subjects. Most kings rule and reign and live off of the backs of their subjects.

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This king gives life to his subjects. This king is Christ the Lord, Christ by highest heaven adored,

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Christ the everlasting Lord. Late in time behold him come, offspring of the virgin's womb, veiled in flesh the

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Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with men to dwell,

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Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king. Let's bow our heads.

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My father, we bow our heads and our hearts in awe and worship and wonder at so great a savior,

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Jesus, the one who is great, the son of David, the son of the most high God who has every right to take the throne and to reign and rule, the one who has fulfilled everything promised concerning his first coming will come again and fulfill every promise concerning his second coming, to take the throne of David, to establish it and to rule in justice and righteousness over the house of Jacob forever.

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There will be no end to his kingdom, to the increase of his government or to peace.

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And we long for that. And the literal fulfillment of your promises concerning his first coming, encourage our hearts to wait even more for him to return.

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May that blessed hope turn within our lifetime. May we see him whom we long to see soon.

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And may you be glorified through our steadfast faithfulness and obedience and trust in this king.

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We glorify you. We thank you, father, for the precious gift of your son and the incarnation which has secured our salvation everlastingly.

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It is in Christ's name and for his glory that we pray. Amen. Would you please stand and we'll end our service this morning and sing,

01:24:24

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day. ♪ I heard the bells on Christmas day ♪ ♪

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Their old familiar carols play ♪ ♪ And wild and sweet the words repeat ♪ ♪

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Of peace on earth, goodwill to men ♪ ♪

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I thought how as the day had come ♪ ♪

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The bough, breeze of all prisoned up ♪ ♪ Had rolled along the unbroken song ♪ ♪

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Of peace on earth, goodwill to men ♪ ♪

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In despair I bowed my head ♪ ♪ There is no peace on earth,

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I said ♪ ♪ For hate is strong and lost, the song of peace on earth ♪ ♪

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Goodwill to men ♪ ♪

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The bells more loud and deep, God is not dead nor does he sleep ♪ ♪

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The wrong shall fail, the right prevail ♪ ♪ With peace on earth, goodwill to men ♪

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And the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory.

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Glory as of the only begotten from the father full of grace and truth.