Your Ride Has Arrived
Notes
Transcript
26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be. 30 Then the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 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 David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.” 34 Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” 35 The angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 And consider your relative Elizabeth—even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called childless. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 “See, I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary. “May it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
YOUR RIDE HAS ARRIVED
Uber in Denver story
we thought we almost got kidnapped...
There was eventually alert that said your ride has arrived.
It seemed like it took forever. But eventually it let me know. What I had been waiting for was finally there. And we were so relieved. We hadn’t slept. We hadn’t eaten. We were tired. I was sick. I had just spent a whole week preaching at a summer camp and there was no AC. This is 2022 why is there no AC?
I have never been happier to get in the car with a stranger. That man saved my life. I got out of that car and walked into that Holiday Inn a changed man.
If you have ever waited forever for something you know what it feels like. Remember as a kid the day after Christmas thinking… so how long till we get to do this again? I remember every year making a paper chain to count down the days till Christmas cause I couldn’t wait but at first it’s discouraging. Cause that chain is so long. How long do I have to wait?
Nothing makes me more upset than feeling like I waited for something only for it not to happen. It’s the worst. I would have rather just not hoped for it at all. I remember when Emily and I moved to Tennessee to start the church and one of our first stops was the seventh layer of Hell itself or as we call it the DMV. We went to franklin cause someone lied and told us it wouldn’t be busy. We showed up 30 minutes before they opened and there was a line down the street. But we stayed and it took almost an hour just to get inside the doors. And when we got in you tell them why you are there, they ask for the documents, and then let you know awesome you got everything you need head in. and then you gotta wait another hour maybe longer. So Emily walks up. they check the papers. Good to go clearance granted. Then they look at my papers. and the lady goes “we gotta problem. You’re gonna have to get this fixed and come back”. And apparently I was missing this one paper I needed. I waited all this time, in this line, in the cold, suffering… and it was wasted time.
Now more than ever it’s hard to wait for anything because everything is so instant. Amazon can deliver stuff to your house in two hours sometimes and some days that doesn’t feel soon enough. I want it now. You wanna watch a movie? No more blockbuster. Put your membership card away. You can stream it. I can microwave meals may not be as good but i can have it in 2 1/2 minutes.
When we look at the time before Jesus’ arrival, Israel had been waiting forever for a savior. You see they were raised memorizing scripture that told them that one day a messiah would come. but also they regularly would hear from God through prophets. God would use these people and speak through them. He would speak through them to guide his people, discipline his people, Rebuke his people, speak his love and favor over his people. He would do this regularly. 1,239 times in the Old Testament. That’s how many times God had something to say.
But when we see Mary being told she is going to give birth to the savior, it’s been 400 years since the last time God spoke through a prophet. And what He had to say wasn’t good. It was mostly a rebuke. God spoke through the prophet Malachi and rebuked his people for turning from God. And that’s the last thing they heard.
I thought us sitting in the airport delayed for 8 hours was bad. Imagine 400 years going by. At this point there is no one alive, generations have lived and died and never heard a word from God. At this point hearing from God probably just seems like a rumor, a fairy tale, a legend. Parents are telling their children about the things their great great great great great grandparents heard from God.
You ever feel like that? You hear stories of what God can do. Maybe your parents or you come to church one weekend and you hear something and you feel like “Yeah i’ve heard it but I haven’t seen it”. If Israel had a choice, no one is choosing to wait 400 years for Jesus to come. I don’t want a delay. I don’t want to wait. But God had a plan.
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME
That’s interesting. Because God’s time and my time seem to not be synced up. But What i’ve learned is that a lot of time our hope isn’t in God it’s in what we want Him to do. A lot of times our hope is in the outcome not in the God of the outcome. Our hope is in the result not in the God who causes it to happen.
What do you do when you feel like you are in a waiting period. Because we all have an amount of time that we are willing to wait until we decide to take over. You do this at restaurants. You have an amount of time you are willing to wait until you go somewhere else. It’s a math equation. It’s “HOW GOOD IS THIS RESTAURANT - HOW LONG IS THE WAIT = WILL I WAIT OR LEAVE. 2 1/2 HOUR ON VACATION STORY.
When you have to wait you have a decision to make. Is my hope in God? Or just in the outcome? Because if my hope is in God I will wait as long as it takes. But if my hope is in the outcome, then the moment the wait exceeds my limit and what I think is appropriate I will take over and do it my own way.
And just like Israel God will often putting us in a waiting period until our hope is in Him instead of what we want Him to do.
And it’s here that Jesus enters into the world. A dark world, where there feels like there is no hope, Rome has overtaken the Israelites. And this is the time God sends His son Jesus to pronounce hope.
MARY is getting ready to give birth to Jesus and during this time there is also a census. So pregnant Mary has to travel with Joseph to their hometown.
Luke 2:1–11 (CSB)
Luke 2:1–11 (CSB)
1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered.
2 This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.
3 So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.
4 Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David,
5 to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant.
6 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
7 Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
Can you imagine being Mary in this moment? You’ve heard the stories. You know the scripture. And after 400 years of silence you are holding the answer.
HOPE HAD FINALLY COME
HOPE HAD FINALLY COME
8 In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.
9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people:
11 Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
AND THIS IS ONE OF THE MANY AMAZING THINGS ABOUT JESUS
That silence. That time where we didn’t know what God was up to. Where there was no hope. That time where people needed direction. Felt like they had no connection with God. Jesus' birth, death and resurrection declared that time was over. No longer would you have to wonder what God thought about you because He gave his son for you. No longer would you have to wonder if you could have a relationship with God because Jesus made a way for you. No longer would you have to wonder if you are good enough because through Jesus you receive the righteousness of God. No longer would we have to feel hopeless because Jesus birth declared hope has now come!!!
THE BIG WORD IS DELIVERANCE.
A delivery is taking something from where it is, to where it needs to be. From the place it is now, to where the person that paid for it says it needs to be.
We are born separated from God. We are born sinful. We are born in need. But Jesus through the cross, paid for us to get to where we need to be. In a relationship with God, free from the chains of sin, no longer in need because we have a savior. Come on Jesus was born for our deliverance.
13 He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.
14 In him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
THIS IS WHY JESUS CAME, YOUR HOPE HAS ARRIVED.
No more waiting. No more trying aimlessly to make a way yourself. No more wondering if you’re good enough. No more trying and failing to make your own way. No more lost. Hope has arrived and Jesus has made a way.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us,
5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!
6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—
9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
The Eerdmans Companion to the Bible (2 Salvation by Grace)
Moral deadness—the condition of humans resulting from the initial transgression of Adam—enslaves every person to sin. Because of people’s “disobedience [to God]” by automatically indulging their sinful inclinations, all deserve God’s righteous “wrath”. Yet in exchange for faith alone God bestows on doomed sinners the gift of spiritual life with the resurrected Christ...
You cannot make it on your own. Just like I couldn’t make it to the one hotel that was open within two hours of Denver. Jesus is the only way. And God sent Jesus, His only son to be born into the world so that He could make a way for you. Your hope has arrived and it’s up to you to jump in.