The Savior is Promised

Christmas. It's always winter, never Christmas. And this was the description of Narnia, while it was still under the curse of the witch. It really captures so much truth here, in that if it were always winter, there would be no hope. Winter is a bleak season. It's gray, it's cold, there's no growth. And just to be very clear, there's two good things that happen in winter. Christmas and snow. As a southerner, I have a love-hate relationship with snow. Right now, thinking about it makes me count how much bread and milk do I have. Where's the closest grocery store to plunder the bread and the milk before everyone else does it? With snow, which is wonderful at winter, it's fun, but it's only good for a little while and it needs to go away. Christmas, though. Christmas is what we anticipate. Christmas is exciting. The festivities, the celebration. Let's just be honest. If you were to take away what we do as Christians for Christmas and you just look at what the secular world does, it's still pretty exciting and magical and mysterious. What we should be doing is better because what we know is the true meaning of Christmas. But Christmas brings a sweetness to winter. Because winter is cold. gray. There's no growth. The quote from Lewis captures a cursed world where you have nothing to look forward to. You don't look forward to spring. You don't look forward to something growing. You don't look forward to something change. It really captures what the world is under the curse if God had not stepped in and given his promise that brings hope. You see, if it were not for Christmas, and I'm speaking here of Jesus Christ coming to be born of a virgin, to then walk the life and live the life that we could not live, to die on the cross for the sins we've committed, and rising again, that is all captured there in Christmas, we'd be wandering in hopeless winter. That there would be no promise that justice will ultimately be settled by a just judge. Their death would remain terrifying. I appreciate the audible angst and pain of hearing that one of our members' moms is passing away. But we have hope in the resurrection. We grieve with hope that she's believed in Jesus Christ. But apart from Christmas, death is just absolutely terrifying. only sad. Without Christmas there's no hope that you can even overcome sin and its power. So this time of year we really want to celebrate God has changed our story. God has changed our hope. God has changed the way we live that we now have great expectation. If you've been here with us the last two weeks, or if you haven't been, you can look to Luke 1, page 855. If you don't have a Bible, there should be a pew Bible either in front of you or behind you. On page 855 is our passage. We've been looking at John the Baptist the last two weeks. He's the last Old Testament prophet. He's the final prophet that gets to say, here he is, the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world. Today we're gonna be looking now specifically at Jesus. We've had Gabriel come and speak to Zechariah and Elizabeth, telling them of a prophet who will be born, who will prepare the way for the Lord. Now we're going to hear about the Lord who's coming. In Luke 1, 26 through 38, we're going to see that God himself is coming to save the world. As we look at our text, I want us to first notice there's a very clear setting. We change settings in verse 26 very clearly, because Luke is giving us a good, orderly account, as he promised, in verses one to five. In the sixth month, okay, this is six months after Elizabeth has conceived, we're six months later. The angel Gabriel, the same angel who was standing, whose eternal position is in the presence of God, but he's come down from God, and he goes to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. Okay, so six months into Elizabeth's pregnancy, and then where? Well, Nazareth. This is an odd place. We don't have a lot about Nazareth in the Old Testament, but in John 1 46, it says, as it was promised, or as the prophecy must be fulfilled, he would be in Nazarene. Well, as we know from other passages of scripture, what good ever came from Nazareth? It's kind of a nowhere city. It had a bad reputation. And I believe it's important here to remember Joseph is from Bethlehem, but he's living in this nowhere place. What good would ever come from Nazareth? Well, the Savior, he's going to come with no worldly greatness. The Savior who's going to come is going to come with nothing of a reputation. He's going to be despised. That's what it means to come from Nazareth. We have a number of characters. We have mentioned Gabriel. He is the angel who stands in the presence of God. He's now coming to speak to Mary, who's described as a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph. Joseph is from Bethlehem. They're going to go back there so Jesus can fulfill the promise that he'll be born in Bethlehem, the city of David. Joseph is engaged and you can look at Matthew 1 later because Matthew 1, the angel comes, we don't know the angel's name that goes to Matthew, maybe Gabriel. And what happens in Matthew obviously comes after this story because in Matthew, the angel comes to Joseph and says, do not divorce Mary. Don't divorce her. Joseph had been thinking about divorcing her quietly because having a child out of wedlock was a scandal. It would have brought great shame upon her, and so he's trying to figure out, okay, well, she's obviously not been faithful, I'm gonna put her away, but do so kindly, and the angel comes and says to Joseph, no, God has blessed her with child. She has not been unfaithful to you. You will remain married to her, and the child that you will have, that she will have, will be named Jesus, because he will save the world from their sin. It's important that Joseph is from Bethlehem. It's important he's from Judah. It's important that he's from the line of David, because God has been answering a promise. There's going to be a son born, and he has to fulfill these qualifications. He has to be of the tribe of Judah. As Genesis 49 says, the scepter will not leave the tribe of Judah. A king will be born from the tribe of Judah, and then more specifically, of the house of David. Now we come to our key character here, Mary. And notice how it's very emphatic. He came to a virgin. That's how she's first described. She has not yet known a man. She is not yet married to Joseph. Verse 27, she's a virgin. And the way he sets it up, he makes it very clear. And the virgin's name was Mary. The way he builds this up is very climactic. What we're seeing here in the Virgin Mary is how this child will not only be born in a unique way or be conceived in a unique way, he's going to be a unique son, a unique human. The master and creator of the world is going to come from this woman. So that's our setting. We have Joseph, Mary, Gabriel. It's six months after Elizabeth has been given her good news. And now let's look at verse 28, the angel speaks. He came to her and said, good news. This is all good news. Greetings, oh favored one, the Lord is with you. So the first thing the angel says is greetings. There's nothing unique about this particular greeting, this way of introducing yourself, other than the fact that it's coming from an angel. It's the way anyone would have greeted someone else, greetings. But here we have this declaration, oh favored one. Now we need to be careful here as to how we understand this because the word favor, it comes from the same word we use for grace. And really a good translation for oh favored one is you have been graced. Greetings you who have been grace. It's not greetings you who have been so good God's going to come down to you and give a good gift. No, greetings to you who God has directed Himself toward to show grace. To be favored means to have God's face turn towards you for you. And that favored one is further explained. The Lord is with you. This is part of the covenant promise of God to Israel. I am with you, I am for you. To be favored is to have God committed to be with you. It's kindness. Now Mary has the appropriate response at this greeting. She's troubled. Now notice here, I just wanna point out something that Luke does as a historian. Remember, he's going to give a detailed account The way he tells the story, it actually sounds like he interviewed Mary. We may have here the interview data points from Mary, because how else would he know other than the Spirit just letting him know, but it's written as if firsthand almost. She was troubled. It's as if Mary tells him this, or you can turn to Luke 2.19, she treasured and pondered these things. Mary would have to tell Luke that. So we see here the historical account of Luke, because of research, because of interviewing, because of what he learned, most likely, from Mary, I think. But notice here, Mary has the typical response. Remember, we mentioned this in Zechariah. There's a formula. An angel appears, the person's terrified, the angel says, do not fear. That's what happens when an angel appears to God's people. So the angel continues to speak, and now we have the good news more explicitly explained or declared. Do not be afraid, Mary, for again you have found favor with God. God has looked upon you with kindness. Verse 31. Behold. When you see behold in Luke's writings, Luke and Acts, he's saying, hey, watch out, something's about to happen. When he uses references to sight, behold, look, see, he's trying to draw your attention. Behold, big news is about to happen. You will conceive in your womb and bear a son. Now, most likely Mary is 13 to 15 years old. A young girl. She is betrothed to Mary, she is a virgin. Here she is, a 13 to 15 year old, and she's just heard from an angel, you're going to conceive and have a son. It's big news when anyone finds out they're pregnant, but this is startling. This is a significant declaration that had to be somewhat exciting and terrifying So it's a good thing the angel said, do not be afraid. Here's a young gal who's now going to conceive when she's not yet married, she's engaged. Look further as to what the angel says. You're going to call his name Jesus. He will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. There's a few things we can see that's unique about this son. First, his name is Jesus. Translated, that means Yahweh saves. God saves. Jesus is a declaration that God is bringing about a salvation for his people, finally. And so we could ask, Mary, did you know that your little baby boy was going to save the sons and daughters? Yes, indeed, she knew. The angel told her. Then we could say he will be great. Now, if you were here a couple weeks ago, John the Baptist, he was declared he would be great. And Jesus is going to be great in a similar way he's not gonna have a lot of fancy, he's not gonna have a great education, he's not gonna have fancy clothes, a big house, he's not gonna show up with amazing power to lead the world in the way the world would expect. No, he's gonna suffer. The greatest moment of Christ's life here on earth was on the cross. And remember, his mother was there watching him suffer to die. His greatness is that he came to serve and to save. Well, we'll think about that a little bit later. Now, the next declaration is even more startling than the declaration you will conceive. He will be the son of the most high. This is getting very difficult. This is getting into some very thick theology, and we need to remember, this is being told to a teenager. This is being told to a 13 to 15 year old. This is God declaring some heavy truth to this young girl, and so we need to be saying we can receive this. God help us understand. He's going to be the son of the most high. What this is saying, and we'll explain a little bit more later, You're going to give birth to God, Mary. Okay, that whole thing about being a virgin doesn't seem to be that difficult anymore. This seems difficult. You're going to conceive without knowing a man, and that child in your womb, not only be the Savior, he's going to be God. Look at verse 35, it affirms the same thing. The power of the most high will overshadow you, therefore the child be born holy, he's the son of God. Here we see the beauty of Jesus Christ. Jesus will be born of Mary. He'll be fully human because God is going to give Jesus, put on Jesus a full humanity that's brought to him from Mary, At the same time, He's fully God because He is and always has been the Son of the Most High. He's fully God and fully man. And then finally, He's going to be the Son that was promised to David years of old, 2 Samuel 7. He's going to have an eternal reign as the King over Israel. So here we see a A lot of deep, heavy truths being told to this teenage gal who's just engaged. And so we see here, she has a proper response. How will this be? Since I am a virgin. She gathers that something unique and very different is happening, and so she asks a good, clear, logical question. Now again, if we go back, God told Zechariah something that was miraculous. You're gonna have a son, and Zechariah, he questioned, he said, how will I know? And the angel makes it very clear that what Zechariah's doing in that moment, at the beginning of Luke 1, is he's doubting. He wants confirmation that what's being said is true. The angel himself, who's come down from God, him saying it isn't sufficient for Zechariah. Notice Mary isn't doubting, she's inquiring. She's not questioning, how can I know this? She's just asking, all right, I know how things normally work, all right? It takes two. How will this be I'm a virgin? The answer's startling. And the angels ready to give an answer the God who has sent the angel down has prepared the angel for it with an answer The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you If we just back out for a moment God has first revealed himself right now and clearly and fully as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit for the first time to marry. For the first time in all the world, in all the history of creation, this is the first time He's done so so clearly in one time, Father, Son, Spirit. He's done so now to this young girl. There's a Son of the Most High, which means there's a Father and the Holy Spirit. He's going to come. And He's going to overshadow you. He's going to come upon you. The coming upon, that's like anointing language. Overshadowing, that is, I believe that's referring to the Holy Spirit who's going to be in the womb, like a sifter. Because I believe this is important for why Jesus is sinless as a human being. The Son of God is going to add to Himself, is going to be added to Him every part of humanity yet he will not be added, added to him will not be sin. He will be like us in every way, yet without sin. The Holy Spirit is in the womb of Mary to make sure that this baby will be fully human, humanity from Mary, but yet without sin. You see, we have the Trinity here because the father is not the son. The Father does not become incarnate, the Son becomes incarnate. That the Spirit is not the Father or the Son, the Spirit does not become incarnate, the Spirit overshadows bringing about the incarnation. You have three distinct persons doing three distinct things, but they're all doing them for the same reason, to bring about the salvation of man. We then see in verse 36, He informs her of Elizabeth. Behold, your relative Elizabeth. She's in her old age and she's about to conceive. She was barren. So he's updating Mary on the news of the previous section. And then verse 37. A great big truth that's worthy of our memorization today. If you're a child, you're looking for a verse to write down, this is it. For nothing will be impossible with God. Everything that has just been revealed to this young girl seems overwhelming. Put yourself in her shoes. She's just been told you're gonna have a child. It's going to be God. He's going to be a king. The Holy Spirit's gonna come inside of you and overshadow you and bring about this conception. Be assured nothing is impossible with God. And it ends with Mary's response. Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. As we reflect upon this story, let's ask first and foremost, because it's the most important part of the story, who is this son? Who is this Son? And so let's just walk through and pull out the truths we hear about who the Son's going to be. He's great. He will be great. Greatness again, as it was with John the Baptist, is seen in his obedience to God the Father. His faithfulness to a mission, it's spending his life in service of others. He did not come to be served, he came to serve. God is redefining what greatness is. It's not riches, it's not reputation, it's not accomplishment, it's not being accepted, it's serving others in the mission of God. Jesus was despised by men, rejected, even murdered. If you want to reflect upon greatness, and you want to reflect upon Christ this Christmas season, go to Philippians 2. It's a great declaration of a hymn. He did not count himself. He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but he added to himself humanity. He lowered himself. He's great because he came to serve according to the will of God. Let's consider this declaration. He's the Son of the Most High. The Son of Mary will be called the Son of the Most High. Now, I was born a human being because my parents were human beings. I assume all of you are human beings because your parents were human beings. You were birthed from human beings. This is what happens, like begets like. As we hear this declaration that there is a Son of God, there's only one conclusion, and that He has the same nature as God. Which means we're getting into some heavy lifting, and again, we need to be very clear about this. There's one God. There's one creator, and that one creator has now been revealed, not just as the father, but as the father and the son. You see, you can't even have the father without the son. They're mutually dependent upon their identities. If there's a son of the Most High, there must be a father of the Most High. Because a father and son, they have that eternal identity together. This is why the early church declared Jesus was begotten of the Father, not created. See, He's begotten. He is just like His Father in His nature because He was begotten. He was not created. We're created, we're different. Jesus is fully God. And it's important for us to recognize this Father-Son language. The Father is implied, the Son is very explicit here. The son has always existed, the father's always existed. It's important because one of the ways we're going to celebrate salvation as Christians is that we're adopted into this pre-existing eternal family. We're not given some generic adoption. No, we are given the same adoption. Jesus Christ, the son, has come that he might give us the right of love with the father that he has always enjoyed. Here we see that He is the Son of the Most High. He Himself is Almighty God, and He's going to do the things God does. In John 5, Jesus says, you know that I am the Son of the Father because I do the things my Father does. In John 1, He's going to make it very clear, nothing was created apart from the Son. He is not part of the creation. He's one of the creators. He is the creator. Or maybe even more explicit, you can look at Mark 2. Remember the story where there's a paralytic and his friends can't get him in the front door so they tear the roof off the place to drop him in on Jesus? And Jesus says to him, your sins are forgiven. And everyone's upset, how can he say that? Only God can forgive sins. They're right. That was a true statement. They declared only God can forgive sins. Jesus just declared, your sins are forgiven, and then he says, in order for you to know that I have the power to forgive sins, what does he do? Get up and walk. Jesus is doing things that only God can do. It's important for us to confess that Mary gave birth to God. The Greek word that the church used to describe Mary in this way is Theotokos, the God-bearer. He is fully God because God himself had to come to save us. He's fully man. He had to become like us in every way so that he could die for us. What's amazing is that he lowered himself to save us. We see here another theme that we looked at last week. He's the king. He will reign forever in the house of Jacob. His kingdom shall have no end like it's on the throne of his father David. As we looked at last week, God promised that there will be a child born of David that would come and save his people. I wanna spend most of our time here in his name. He's the son of the most high, he's the king, he's great. His name is Yahshua. Yahweh saves. In Matthew chapter one, verse 21, when the angel talks to Joseph and says, you're gonna name the child Jesus, he makes it very clear, he will save his people from their sins. Mary is going to have a child, and it's a very promised child. If we go back to Genesis 3.15, Genesis one through 13 is how Adam and Eve, they rebelled against God. That they took fruit from the one tree that God said not to take fruit from. And then just verses later, it's amazing. We ruined everything so quickly in creation. We brought about the curse that has brought what would be an eternal winter upon this world if it weren't for God very quickly in Genesis 3.15, Giving a promise. And God gives Satan, the serpent, a promise. A seed of yours is going to strike the heel of a seed of the woman, but a seed of the woman is going to crush your head. That is what we call the Proto-Evangelium. The first declaration of the good news. And I want us to just ponder for a second In Genesis 3, it took God just a matter of words to get to giving the promise that He's going to reverse everything we just messed up. It's so sweet to see the character of God, while He's going to give some harsh judgment, He's going to explain very clearly the consequence of our sin. He is so quick to show grace, to make a promise. All right, they messed up, but I'm going to reverse this. There's going to be a son born of Eve. He will be struck, but he's going to crush the curse. It's amazing. Eve is promised a child in Genesis 3. And this is why if you read the Old Testament, and you're like, I used to be, and you look at these genealogies, and you're like, oh, wow, there's so many genealogies. All those genealogies are sacred and so precious. Because we're tracing that promised child all the way to Jesus with those genealogies. We have to know which child is going to finally fulfill that promise that a child will be born who's going to crush Satan, who's going to crush death, who's going to crush the power of sin. Thousands of years later, God is faithful to that promise. And it's quite sweet to think about it this way. Eve is promised a child that she's longing for and will not see in her life. She holds the apple of guilt. She holds in her mind, her memory, her actions, what it led to, but yet she has hope that one day some child born of some woman is going to undo all this And now we see Mary, another woman. Another woman who God has shown favor to. Another woman who now is gonna have a child that's going to reverse all of that curse. Jesus is born to defeat sin and death. Now it could be that the people who read Genesis 3.15, you're expecting a mighty warrior who's going to come and give a great demonstration of power to conquer the world in a way that's obviously and clearly showing a power to rule with righteousness. But that's not what Jesus did. Again, his greatest moment here on earth was the cross. He looks powerless. He's nailed to a cross. He's mocked. He's spat upon. He's falsely accused. He's beaten. He's given a crown of thorns to bring about a mockery. But there, when he breathes his last, when he says, it is finished, he is undoing all the curse. He is bringing about a fulfillment of all the promises that God has made in the Old Testament. Because if we think about death, as we'll sing later, death is defeated in the death of Christ. When he dies, he overcomes death's hold on us so that we now can have a hope that there's eternal life because Christ defeated death with his own death and then he rose again. He comes to save us from our great enemy, which is terrifying. He also comes to save us from our great enemy, sin. Sin has enslaving power. Okay, if you're a youth, if you're a human being, I want you to make sure you hear this. When you choose sin, you are submitting to be its slave. You don't have any power over it. It pretends that you're choosing. It pretends that it's going to free you, but no, when sin enters into your actions, and then you choose, I'm going to enjoy this sin, you think you're entering into freedom, but no, you are enslaving yourself. It has now power over you, and you have no power to break its bonds, except for Christ. Christ is able to free you. Christ died to break the power of sin so that we no longer have to submit to it. And finally, he's a savior from God's wrath. This is truly the most terrifying enemy we have. Not that we would just die, but they would die and face a righteous judge and have to give an account for all the things we've done. But Christ, when He dies as the sinless man, taking upon Himself all the consequences of our sin, what happens when we come face to face with that righteous God is He says, Father, I paid the penalty for their sin. Your wrath has been satisfied because it has been poured out upon Me. He's our Savior. If you're a Christian this morning, If you're a believer, if you're wrestling with what is Christmas and what does it mean to be a Christian, you're just like everyone else in this room at one point, at one level. We're all sinners, we've all rejected God, we've all rebelled against God, we're all worthy of God's wrath, but Jesus, he has come to live the life that none of us have lived in perfect obedience to God so that when he dies on the cross, he dies in our place as a substitute. so that all the wrath of God that we deserve is poured upon him. And then he gives us his sonship so that we no longer have a relationship of fear of the wrath of God, but we're welcome to the love of God. You must believe you're a sinner, helpless and hopeless, apart from Christ, and believe that he died on the cross for you and your sin and rose again. Please do not leave here without talking to somebody about that today. As we also think about this salvation, do you remember what Adam did when God approached him in the garden, Christian? What was Adam's first response after they first sinned and God approached them in the garden? They hid. It's actually gotta be somewhat of a comedic scene here, that the God who knows everything and designed the garden, his two humans, are they're hiding from him. Why are they hiding? Because of fear and shame. The beautiful power of Jesus Christ to save you, Christian, is that you no longer have to live in fear or shame. The power of Jesus Christ and his salvation is that we are no longer afraid of being sinners and talking about our sin and confessing it. That is the wonderful power of Christianity, is the wonderful power of the Savior, is that we know we're sinners. And we get to be invited into the opportunity to confess it, knowing that it is forgiven. The beauty of Christianity is that we're not afraid of talking about our sin. We're not so ashamed of it that we try to hide it and protect it. No, we confess it and we're honest and we recognize that Christ has died for us and we show each other grace as we confess it. That's the beauty of what Christ came to save us for and to be as a people of God. We're not pretending we're better than we are. We shouldn't be. It's foolish. Now we're sinners saved by a great Savior. There's one last truth that we want to look at here about God. Jesus is the Son of God, He's the Most High. We see Him as the Savior and the King. But I wanna think about here as we conclude, nothing is impossible with God, that this is a grand declaration in the midst of all these very specific promises that that's important. Now, I'm a little surprised that you don't see athletes with this written on their armbands or under their eyes. It fits a little bit better than Philippians 4.13. Maybe it's because it's written to a young virgin that it doesn't feel masculine or sporty enough, I'm not sure. But this passage, it really goes well with Philippians 4.13. Luke 1.13 is a declaration of there's nothing impossible, and 4.13 of Philippians is I can do all things. It's the positive and the negative of this great truth that God is able. Now, if we look at this passage, it's saying God can do whatever he wants to do. Nothing is impossible with God. So let's just have a little fun. Can God make a square circle? No, because God doesn't want to. God created a square to be a square and he created a circle to be a circle. He doesn't do that because he created those things to be what they are and he's not going to make them the same thing because that's illogical. What we're talking about here is that God is able to do even the impossible. A woman is going to conceive without knowing a man because the Holy Spirit is gonna come upon her and bring this about. So as we look at this, we think about Mary especially. She hears this truth, nothing is impossible with God. There's an affirmation, God is powerful to keep his promise. He is able. Now, that is a great truth that Gabriel already knew he needed to tell her because one of the first things we're gonna ask whenever we hear something from God about a command or an identity declaration, oh, is God really able to do that? He's already cutting right at one of the first self-deceptions and doubts. Is God able? Is He powerful? Now the other main doubt, he's already caught out as well. You have found favor. God is giving you grace. God is with you. Put these two truths together here. There's nothing impossible with God. Nothing is impossible with God, and he is with you. He's showing you grace. He's good and he wants to do what's good for you. These are the two truths that we need to remember that help Mary believe and trust. God is able and God is with you. God is powerful and God is for you. These two truths go hand in hand as we know who he is and that he has directed himself for our good. The last thing we see in our passage The right response. Mary says, and again, we're drawing our attention here. Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. This is just simple submission. It's a simple submission for this young girl to simply say, all right, whatever you say, let it be. I am your servant. I will trust you. At the same time, this is a robust resolution. This is a robust resolve. Because let's remember, Elizabeth had reproached because she had not had a child for so long. If Mary's going to have a child out of wedlock, what's going to come upon her? Reproach from the world. There is a lack of fear of man here because she has a greater fear of God. She is willing to suffer whatever the consequences are. Lord, I trust that you are with me, I trust that you are for me, and I trust that you are able to do whatever it is. And whatever it is you want to do, it's gotta be good. This is incredible submission and resolution for this young girl. She's going to suffer silently. She's going to trust God. She's going to believe. As we look over at Luke 2.19, I believe that this truth, that this declaration, she pondered these things and she treasured them. I believe it's referring to the entire birth narrative. Think about the moments of meditation that she must have had changing the baby. Nursing, caring, talking to, training, treasuring. Who this child is and what he's going to be. She had these deep truths of God declared to her. She received them, not with understanding probably, but by faith. Christian, I'm concerned that we too often don't ponder and treasure the truths of God well. What Mary had to receive by faith, we actually receive by faith with more understanding because we know now Christ, how he died to save us from our sin, how he rose. We have the Holy Spirit that indwells us. I fear there's a sin that there's a sense of sin that we're afraid of removing ourselves from sin. We're afraid of truly following Christ and letting these deep truths change us and form us. When we choose to not ponder the truths of God and treasure them, we're really choosing to live as if it's always gonna be winter. We're gonna choose not to grow. We're gonna choose not to let the power of God who can do all things, He can remove these idols, He can remove these practices, He can remove these desires. God has chosen to show His people favor, to give Himself over to us so that we can have hope that our sin doesn't have to be the way it's always going to be. He gives us hope that we can be delivered and then we can grow up in Him. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you for sending your Son and your Spirit, your Son to redeem us, to deliver us, to save us, your Spirit to transform our hearts, to help us see these great truths that you've declared, I pray we would treasure them. That in the midst of all of life that bogs us down with to-do lists and worry and fear and anxiety, you would help us, Lord, to rejoice greatly because we get to treasure the truths that you've revealed. Your son has come, your promise is fulfilled. Death is defeated, you've given us new life. Give us the grace we need to rejoice in who you are and what you've done for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.