The Start of Something Special

This is a season for preparation. We are busy decorating, buying and wrapping gifts, preparing to visit family and friends or preparing for those to visit us. It is a busy time of year. There's another kind of preparation we really want to focus on this morning, the most important preparation, and that is for our hearts. to be prepared to worship Christ. Next week, we will be celebrating and remembering not just the resurrection of Christ, but it's coming down to save sinners. We need to be preparing our hearts. There's something important about us being expectant. We need to be an expectant people. And this is a season to train ourselves to be expectant. Expectancy is one of the most important virtues of Christianity because faith is necessarily tied to expectancy. When we pray in faith, we expect God to answer. When we go to God in faith, we expect God to tell us and comfort us and care for us. We need to be expected that Christ is coming back. My wife, as I was walking through some of the points I was going to make in the sermon, she reminded me that there's a group of monks. At 2 a.m. every night, a bell rings and everyone goes outside, looks in the sky to see if Christ has come back. And when he hasn't, they go back to bed. Now, I'm not not suggesting or prescribing this, but it's a pattern life that's expected. They're training themselves to always expect Christ's return. We need to teach ourselves to be expectant of what God is going to do. And next Sunday we get to rejoice in his fulfilling of his promise and looking ahead to when he will return. We're going to leave Exodus for a few weeks here. We're going to be in Luke, so you can turn to the Gospel of Luke. If you don't have a Bible, there are Bibles at the end of the pews. Just ask your neighbor. They'll pass it down. Luke is in the New Testament and will be in Luke 1. And I'm not going to read it, but Luke 1 verses 1 through 5, it's Luke just explaining what he's doing and more importantly for us, how he's doing it. Luke is wanting to give an orderly account of the life of Christ, what he came to do, who he was and what he said. He's looked at eyewitnesses. Luke is a historian and that's important for us. Because every culture is defined by stories. Stories help shape us and then they teach us how to think and how to feel. I look at most of you and you're of the age where you've been shaped by Star Wars. Star Wars is a worldview shaping kind of movie or story. It's a fantastic, awesome story. But it's not true. It didn't happen. It's grand ideas that would explain all the world if it were only true. None of that happened. Whereas this story, it can shape and change the world. It is and has changed the world. It's true. Christ died on a cross. Most importantly, Christ rose again. If they ever find the bones of Jesus, this is done. It's tied to the historical person and work of Christ. If you're not a Christian, let that be the challenge we start out with. If this is true, it changes everything. Is Christ risen? See, Christianity presents some of the most important ideas. For those in Connecticut, they need to know about the ideas the Bible presents in terms of sin and justice. When we see that we're sinners, we need to see these grand declarations of God, of his grace and forgiveness. They're not just ideas. They teach us, they shape us and they change us. Our message is the same as the whole message of Luke. Jesus came to seek and to save sinners. We're going to be looking at verses six through 45. Particularly, I want to point out that Luke is actually made verse chapter one, verse six through chapter two, verse 42, a single unit. The unit begins in the temple and it begins and ends in the temple. Zechariah is in the temple to begin this unit. Jesus is in the temple as a young boy to end the unit. So it's a nice structured unit for the folks who like to see the literature of the Bible. Zechariah and It forms an inclusio. There are three main scenes here. First, Gabriel visits Zechariah. Secondly, Gabriel visits Mary. And then third, Elizabeth visits Mary. And the first two, Gabriel coming and speaking to Zechariah and then Gabriel coming to speak to Mary, they're amazingly similar. And I want you to be listening for these things. Gabriel appears to both. They both were afraid. They were both told the future of their sons. They were both told their son's names and both be told their son's roles. Both births are related to the Holy Spirit and both are called great. So listen, as I read Luke one beginning in verse five and I will go through verse forty five. And as much as I'm sorry, that's verse one, I knew I was going to do that verse five. In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years. Now, while he was serving as priest before God, when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by a lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at their hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him. And fear fell upon him, but the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, their God. And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready. For the Lord, a people prepared. Zechariah said to the angel, how how shall I know this? For I'm an old man and my wife has advanced in years and the angel answered him. I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering in his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them. And they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple and he kept making signs to them and remained mute. When his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days, his wife, Elizabeth, conceived for five months, she kept herself hidden, saying, Thus, the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among people. In the sixth month, The angel Gabriel was sent from God 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 and he came to her and said greetings all favored one the Lord is with you she was greatly troubled at the same and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be and the angel said to her do not be afraid Mary For you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and be called the son of the Most High and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom and of his kingdom. There shall be no end. And Mary said to the angel, how will this be, since I am a virgin? The angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth is old in her age, has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her, who is called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. In those days, Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth, and when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, and why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when she When the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. Well, first, we want to introduce some characters, Zechariah and Elizabeth. Luke gives us background. He's a historian. He's a good storyteller. He gives us background that's important. They are righteous before God. They walk blamelessly. We see that in verse 6. That doesn't mean that they're without sin. What it means is that they have trusted God. They have been faithful to God and He has shown them favor. Second, we see the status of their family. There's no child. They're advanced in years. She is barren. Now, this should remind us of Abraham to begin with. Abraham in chapter 12 of Genesis, it's amazing how God's story is so tied to the curse that has affected the womb. Abraham was advanced in years, they were childless and God promised a child and he delivered that promise. Here is Zechariah, he's just like them. At the right time, he goes into the temple and a promise is made. Verse 8 shows how God is sovereign over this. The lots were cast. Everything was in order. When Zechariah goes in, God meets with him. And notice what the angel says. Do not be afraid. That's a typical way of a revelation has begun because a fear comes when the messenger of the Lord of the Lord himself speaks. Do not be afraid. God has heard your prayer. Now we're introduced to John. You will have a son. They'll be great rejoicing. Verse 14, verse 15, he will be great before the Lord. He will be greatly equipped. He'll be a great man. He will do great things, but he is not the greatest. He will not have strong grain. Now, some people have thought this is the Nazarite vow. There's nothing about his hair here, so it's not clear, but that would seem to be implied. Oftentimes, a New Testament author will just reference, just like the Elijah passage is referenced here. What he is doing is alluding to it so that you have the whole passage in mind. So it's very likely that it is the Nazarite vow, even though the hair is not mentioned. He'll be filled with the spirit in the womb. Now, this is where it begins to be very unusual. Not only is a child to be born of this barren woman, a woman who is obviously not going to have a child. She's advanced in years beyond the age of having children. Now the spirit will be with this child. This is unusual. This is a regular. This is not a regular part of what God is doing. It's something special. He will be an instrument. Those last passages referencing Elijah and turning their hearts. The key issue there is they will be prepared because they will be turned. They have to turn away from their sin and pursuing it, and they have to turn to God and look for what he's going to do. They must be turned so when Christ comes, they're looking the right way. So verse 18. It begins Zechariah's response. How shall I know? I'm old. My wife is old. Now, first of all, you don't say that ever. More so, he's questioning God. This is a priest. He should know the story of Abram. He should know how God has been sovereign over the womb. He should know that if Gabriel has come, if God himself has sent his messenger to speak, he can do this. As Gabriel makes clear to Mary, all things are possible with God. I love Gabriel's response. First, I am Gabriel. Let me give you my credentials. I stand in the presence of God. I am one who gets to regularly and routinely enjoy the beauty and holiness and glory of God. And I have come down to share this good news with you. I was with God. He sent me to declare the good news to you. I have come to speak it to you because you have doubted you will no longer speak. That's the consequence. Behold. You will no longer speak. You will be silent. That is the proof since you asked for proof. The people are waiting. He's taking longer than normal. He comes out and they know that something has happened. Now, there's two applications I want to point out from this particular scene. First, God is faithful even when we are faithless. Zechariah, who should have known better. He's an older, wiser, godly man who's a priest. He's been studying the word. He should know to trust the word of God here and trust the promise of God. It's interesting, not only the similarities stories I pointed out earlier, but the contrast between Zechariah, the older man who should have known the word of God, and Mary, the young virgin who has faith. But if you look at Zechariah, God's plan is never challenged. God's plan will always happen. He is able to accomplish what he wants. He wants to use us. But our faithlessness does not keep him from being faithful. Our faithlessness just keeps us from rejoicing in God's faithfulness. That's what Zechariah was robbed of because of his lack of faith. He wasn't able to go out and sing the praise of God and declare to the people what God has just said, knowing that this one who is preparing the hearts, he's preparing the hearts for the Savior. His lack of faith keeps him from truly experiencing the joy that comes from God. It does not keep God's plan from happening. It keeps him from rejoicing fully in it. The second application we can think of, and this is something I've said before, and I want to say it every time I possibly can, this passage is so clear on how women should respond to the pain and difficulty in childbearing. Notice Elizabeth, when this promise comes to her, she praises God for taking away her reproach among the people. One of the consequences of the fall is pain and difficulty in childbearing. That includes miscarriages, it includes stillbirths, it includes being barren and unable to have children. And in my experience, which is limited, but it's been fairly full of this kind of ministry, the woman's first inclination, their first thought is to blame themselves. To take upon extra guilt in the middle of the pain and agony of this and think, what's wrong with me that this child died in my womb? Or what's wrong with me that I can have children? And my first inclination is to say, it's not your fault. My first inclination is to say, it's not your fault. Don't blame yourself. But we have to realize that there's a bigger picture here and that the fall, the sinfulness that's affected us all, it's affected your room. And it's a very personal, difficult consequence of the fall because we were created to procreate. We were created to have children and to love them and to celebrate. And the fall, it affects that. There's a consequence from the fall that affects the wound. And there's others, just to give some parallels. Some people can't eat gluten. Some people can't drink milk. We were created to enjoy these things, but the fall has affected all of our bodies. And I hate that the particular effect is a consequence of the wound because it's so personal. But here's this comfort. God has so intentionally tied the gospel message to the womb to help you see that he's sovereign over it. To help you see that he is the God of comfort in the midst of despair. He promised Abraham, who should not have been able to have children, that he would have a child, showing that he's sovereign over the womb, that salvation is going to come from a child. God has been sovereign over Zechariah and Elizabeth. He's sovereign over Mary. The gospel message is so tied to his sovereignty and care for the woman and the difficulty of childbearing. Don't ask, what is wrong with me? Don't ask that question, it's not personally wrong with you. Look and see that this is just the consequence of sin and start to hate that sin. Don't hate yourself. Realize that sin is what has caused this difficulty and look forward to the coming of Christ when he will abolish this sin that causes our grief and sorrow. Now, let's look to the promise of the coming of our Savior. In the sixth month, Gabriel was sent by God to the city of Galilee. Now, these stories are already so tied together because now Luke is keeping track of time based upon Elizabeth's birth, the conception of the birth. Elizabeth is in her sixth month. Luke is keeping time for us based upon the birth. These two narratives are tied together because Well, and then, obviously, the very end of our section, these are tied together. Gabriel goes to was sent from God to see a virgin betrothed to a man, a virgin who is engaged to a man named Joseph. He is at the house of David. The Virgin's name is Mary. And listen to the Gabriel's greeting. It's different. It's not. Do not be afraid. He starts differently. Greetings of favored one. The Lord is with you. This is a friendly, powerful greeting. It's unusual. Even Mary says, what sort of greeting might this be? And it troubled her. Greetings, O favored one. God has looked upon you and shown you grace and shown you favor. The Lord is with you. Those of us who have been in Exodus for months, this is a powerful declaration. God has committed himself to you, to your well-being. He is with you. He is for you. He loves you. He will not leave you. But here he is with you. It's a very powerful declaration, as we'll see, that he's going to be with Mary in a very unique way. She was troubled. So the angel, then he says, do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. And you will call his name Jesus. Now, names matter here. This is Yahshua. Yahweh saves. That is going to be the name of her son. He will be great. Now, if John had said he will be great before the Lord, here there's no qualifier. He will be great. He's contrasted with John here. John was great before the Lord. He was given great gifts by the Lord. But here he is just simply great and it gets more intense. He will be called the son of the Most High. This is the son of God and the Lord will give to him the throne of his father, David. That's why it's important that Joseph is the head of the home. It's through his lineage that we have a connection to David. In 2 Samuel 7, it was promised to David that one of his sons would always reign Would always have the throne, would always be king. There will be no end. Mary says to this angel, how shall this be? I'm a virgin. Now, her complication is a lot greater than Zechariah's. I'm a virgin. How will I have a son? And the angel said, the Holy Spirit will overcome you. He will shadow you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy. The son of God. Now, let's just step back, there's a lot of technical words here, but I want to walk through and just kind of list out what Mary has just been told. And it's really a trajectory, it gets more intense. First, this young virgin, 12, 12, 14, 15, 16, 16 of the oldest. She's just been revealed a revelation from God has just been written, been given to her. First, you're going to give birth to a king. Now, this is pretty incredible. You are going to give birth to a king. This would be a great promise. This is a great rags to riches story. She's a poor girl from the city of Nazareth. She's gotten very little, and now she's told she's going to be the mother of a king. That would be a great promise. A great work of God and a great promise, but it really gets more intense from there. You will conceive without knowing a man. This is why the virgin birth is so essential. It's a clear miracle of God. This heightens the problem. This heightens the promise. Mary has to be challenged by this. Not only would we be giving birth to a king, you're going to give birth without knowing a man. God is going to bring about the conception. While this is physically impossible, God assures her all things are possible with God. So, she's going to give birth to a king, she's going to give birth as a virgin, and the third one's really where it steps up. She's going to give birth to God. Mary has just been told she's going to give birth to God. Eve was promised that there would be pain and childbearing. If I'm, if I'm Mary, I'm thinking, what is that going to be like? The almighty infinite God is going to come down and put himself in this finite creature. The one who put the stars in place is placing himself inside of her. The one who is sovereign over all of life is going to put himself in a position where he's dependent upon her. He's going to take upon her blood. He's going to need her milk. He's going to be dependent upon her care. The infinite creator is going to come and be with her, take up his residence. in her womb. Now, that's frightening. That's frightening. Not only am I going to give birth as a virgin, I'm going to give birth to God? Well, there's a fourth one that I think actually may stretch her mind even a little bit more. Mary has just received the first private theological lesson on the Trinity. Now, this girl has been raised on the Shema, Deuteronomy 6, 4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. The one thing about Israel is that there is one God. But here she said the Son of the Most High, which actually means that the Most High is the Father. The Father and the Son. The Son is going to come take residence in your womb and the Spirit is there. The baptism of Jesus is the first public revelation of the Trinity. Mary just got the first full disclosure of the Trinity. This has to be challenging every idea she's ever had. God as a son, God as a father, God as a spirit. And these three persons. have come down and are working in Mary so that Jesus takes upon flesh so that he can seek and save sinners. I want to focus on the one aspect here. How will this be? We rarely get answers to the how. But here we get a great answer from the angel beginning at 35. Mary's question at 34. How will this be since I'm a virgin? The angel answers. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. The Holy Spirit will enter her womb first. The Holy Spirit will indwell her before the Son, because when the Holy Spirit comes in, he's going to function like a filter. He's going to be taking Mary's flesh, Mary's body, and adding that to God, the Son. And it's a filter because the Spirit is there to make sure that the sin nature that we all inherit from one another, from our parents, it does not attach itself to this child. He'll be a child born innocent. He'll be a child born without a sin nature. He will be a child who is perfect and righteous. from the very beginning. The Spirit is there to make sure that he is perfectly like us as human beings, as we were originally created to be, and yet without sin. This is important, as was very clear from Chip's testimony. Jesus has to be like us because he has to die as our substitute. He has to be like us because someone has to pay for our sin. We have sinned against God and God is just and it's good that he will punish our sin. And so Jesus has become like us so that he can take our place. Jesus has to be sinless so that when God looks down upon him who is sinless and counts our sin against him, our sin is taken off of our account and put upon him and this righteousness that is in his account. is put upon us. He's our substitute. That's why it's so important that Jesus Christ is a man, that Mary gave birth to God, that the declaration that she gave him the human nature he needs to be our Savior. This is an incredible truth. It's amazing to me that Mary responds the way she does. I am the Lord's maidservant. Let me just contrast that with Zechariah, who should have known better. How can this be? My wife's old. I'm old. No, Mary, she doesn't come up with a problem. She says, whatever the Lord says is good. And I am his servant. We very rarely get to see models of faithfulness in scripture, but here Mary is a model of faithfulness. I really don't think she comprehended the Trinity. I really don't think she had a full understanding of what God was as three, but she believed she was given the good news by God's messenger. She said, whatever you say is good. Even when I can't wrap my head around, even when I can't make sense of it, my faith in you and your goodness and what you proclaim is sure because you are a sure foundation. Our last scene. Verses 39 through 45. Mary arose and went with haste to the hill country, to the town of Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She exclaimed with a loud cry. We see here how these two These the prophet and the Savior, they're so connected because they're both in the womb and already the prophets excited about seeing the Savior come. He's already prepared for worship because the Spirit has uniquely blessed him. Elizabeth exclaims with a loud cry, Mary, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me for behold, when the son of your greeting came to my ears, the baby mom leaped for joy and blessed as she who believed that there will be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. It was the Elizabeth recognizing she believed that she is blessed for believing in contrast to her own husband. The blessed is the fruit of your womb, the most Amazing proclamation from Elizabeth here is in verse 43. You are the mother of my Lord. She's recognizing God is in her womb. She can look and say that's where God is uniquely in a precious, intimate, humble way. She's declaring the Lord is there in flesh. taking up a residence with Mary so that he can come and be the perfect Savior and the perfect substitute. And then she recounts how the baby has left for joy. Friends, we are called to rejoice in what God has said and how God has fulfilled what he has said. We are called to believe him, to trust him and to rejoice in him. Again, getting back to Zechariah. It is our lack of faith that keeps us from rejoicing. It's our lack of preparation to worship that keeps us from truly rejoicing and knowing the joy of the Lord. Friends, this season, if you have already done so, begin reading all the accounts and all the promises of who Christ would be and who he came to be. Read and meditate and prepare your heart to worship The God who came down, who took on flesh, who died in our place, who is risen and he's coming again. Let's go to the Lord and pray. Father, as we see your promises and your fulfillment being played out before our very eyes and in your stories, in your truth, Lord, help us rejoice. Help us to see that you are faithful. Help us, Lord, to see that in the midst of our trials and difficulties, you are faithful. We can trust you. You are the rock upon which we should build our lives. You are the God of which we can rejoice and know your truth and praise your name. Teach us. Lord, turn us. Turn us from our ways of sin. Turn us from our selfishness. Turn us to serve others. Turn us to look up, to praise you. Turn us so that we begin to anticipate and expect your return and we make ourselves pure. We purify ourselves in preparation for that return. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.