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Luke 1:26-38
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
When was the last time you were so excited to give someone a gift you could barely contain it…
*Think of God- his love is so great… He couldn’t wait to send his son- his greatest gift.
Troubled: diatarassó - I want to except this but I just can’t.
*Maybe that is the biggest problem in followers of Christ today!
30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.
- Fear is the opposite of Faith…
- Where there is fear, faith cannot operate.
Perfect love casts out all fear.
*WHICH IS WHY AFTER HE SAYS DO NOT FEAR HE SAYS YOU HAVE FOUND FAVOR - Grace!
FAVOR: Eph. 1:5-7
28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Just a few verses before Gabriel meets up with Zacharia and tells him his wife is going to have a son. He tells him do not be afraid.
HE IS NOT. HE JUST SIMPLY CHOOSES NOT TO BELIVE.
SO HE IS STRUCK DUMB/MUTE.
FEAR AND UNBELIEF ARE THE BIGGEST THIEFS IN THE CHRISTIAN WALK!
V.31-33 encapsulate the same conundrum we face. There is a whole lot to believe if we choose to take on the son of God as our savior.
She is a virgin - it not only NOT in her, but she is not capable.
Christ in her will change the world.
His kingdom will reign forever- you will be a part of a kingdom that goes beyond earth, it goes to eternity.
She is 14, I am not capable…
She is in a podunk little town
She is a nobody
But what she had going for her:
She knew scripture
She was willing - God would not have come to her otherwise
She was obedient
She was open to the ridicule and the mockery
She knew God
V. 38 I accept your word unto me.
Nothing can be done until we accept the word.
Mary didn’t realize she was saying I accept your word… and the word was Jesus.
John 1 in the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was God!
Rhema - Gods spoken word.
B. This surrender to the will of God will be costly in terms of personal suffering.
1. First of all the man she is engaged to will not understand her pregnancy, and will doubt her story at the beginning.
2. There will be whispering among the people as to her sudden pregnancy.
a. When Jesus was speaking to the Pharisee's they accused Him of being born of fornication.
b. So all of her life a cloud of suspicion will hang over her.
3. When she came to the Temple to present her Son Jesus to the Lord, a devout Godly man named Simeon will prophesy to her that a sword would pierce through her own soul.
4. She was to watch this perfect child and man, whom she loved more than her own life, as He is mocked, despised, and rejected by the Jews, and then be hung upon the cross to die.
C. I believe that she somehow understood this as she said, "Be it unto me according to thy word.”
The passage tells us four things about Mary: The facts of Mary's life, the fear in Mary's heart, the wonder in Mary's mind, and the submission in Mary's spirit.
She said YES!