Sermon Tone Analysis

Prayer

Intro

If you would, please open your Bibles to Luke's Gospel.

We'll read verses 26 through 38 of chapter 1 today.

Throughout this season, typically called "Advent," we have been looking at particular signs of Christmas.

We've seen the star of Bethlehem, the gifts of the Magi, and the humility of Christ.

Today we will see a powerful sign in the virgin birth of Christ.

I read an article that shares an interesting statistic: A study was done in 2015, and it found that 1% of expectant mothers in America claim to be virgin mothers.

Some of those are ultimately the result of tragic circumstances, but we would be right to be skeptical of such claims of a virgin birth.

Why, then, are we prone to believe that Mary, a Jewish teenager who gave birth while claiming not to have been with her betrothed?

With Mary, the death and resurrection of Jesus vindicated her testimony of Jesus's miraculous conception.

Scripture records, for us, the nature of the birth of Christ and the miracle of this sign is worth studying together.

The virgin birth of Jesus Christ is an essential doctrine of the Christian church, and belief in it is critical for Christians.

By application, the presence of Jesus in the womb shows us the preciousness of life, and we, therefore, ought to value, honor, and protect it.

One of Rachel's favorite Christmas movies, "Scrooge," the musical with Albert Finney, has a song called "I Like Life."

Here's how it starts, with the Ghost of Christmas Present saying:

"Ebenezer Scrooge,

The sins of man are huge;

A never-ending symphony

Of villainy and infamy,

Duplicity, deceit, and subterfuge,

And no one's worse than Ebenezer Scrooge.

Though man's a handy candidate for Hell,

I must admit life sometimes has its brighter side as well.

I like life.

Life likes me.

Life and I fairly fully agree.

Life is fine.

Life is good,

'Specially mine, which is just as it should be.

I like pouring the wine, and why not?

Life's a pleasure; that I deny not.

I like life here and now.

Life and I made a mutual vow:

Till I die, life and I,

We'll both try to be better somehow;

And if life were a woman, she would be my wife."

While it's a strange ending to that verse, the point is that life is a gift meant to be enjoyed.

As Christians, we are to live life to the fullest, to the glory of God, of course.

Only in Christ do we find that life has any meaning; it is through Christ's birth and subsequent life on Earth that the path toward redemption was opened.

With that said, let’s turn our attention to the Word.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Scripture Slides

Let's read our Scripture passage together, again, in Luke 1:26-38

What a great passage!

Let's dig into several keywords, statements, or phrases this morning.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - A Virgin Betrothed

"A virgin betrothed."

As we study this passage, I want to highlight that Luke describes Mary as a "Virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph."

In verse 26, we find that Gabriel, an angel from the Lord, was sent to a virgin in a city called Nazareth.

Luke gives his readers this important detail, indicating that the original readers may have been from somewhere other than Palestine and, therefore, wouldn't have been familiar with that region.

Two quick points to make here if Luke were making this story up, as has been claimed by skeptics and critics alike:

First, he would not have given that location.

Someone might be able to travel to Nazareth and ask questions about a potential virgin giving birth, and if this were all a made-up story, it would be quickly unraveled.

Second, Luke would not have kicked off his story with something so scandalous if he were trying to get in some traction with his account.

Indicating that Mary was a "betrothed virgin" would have been huge at the time.

In that culture, to be betrothed was more substantial than a simple engagement.

In fact, a betrothal was considered so binding that while the marriage had not been finalized, nor would the couple be living together, a divorce decree was required to break it.

As an aside, this should remind us that there ought not to be fear in telling the truth.

Luke and Matthew boldly proclaimed the truth of Christ's birth.

Children, one of the things I want you to learn from Luke today is that you should never be afraid to tell the truth.

There will always be bigger problems and greater trouble if you tell a lie or make up a story, but we can trust that the truth will always come out anyway, so we should be honest.

Now, we'll come back to the idea of Mary being a virgin a little later on, but moving through the text, we see that despite the negative connotations, Luke was inspired to share, not hide, the details concerning the birth of Christ.

Mary had not been married, nor had she been with Joseph, or anyone else for that matter, and yet, she was pregnant.

Luke tells us that Mary was greatly troubled when Gabriel addressed her, saying, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!"

**CHANGE SLIDE** - "O Favored One"

"O Favored One."

In the original language, Luke used a single word translated, in the ESV, as "O Favored One," or "highly favored" in other translations.

In Greek, it's a word that essentially means "much grace."

Gabriel was announcing that Mary had received much of God's Grace.

Some, primarily Catholics, have translated that to read "Full of Grace."

This can be a problematic translation because it might, as it often has, lead some to conclude that Mary is a source of Grace toward others.

Mary is indeed a recipient of Grace, which is God's unmerited kindness.

She is not, however, a source of God's Grace.

God's unmerited favor or kindness comes directly from Him, and we show reflections of it when we show others Grace.

Hearing that she was highly favored, Mary was greatly troubled by the Angel's greeting.

Understandably, she was humbled and puzzled that Gabriel would say she was "Favored" by God.

Luke tells us that she tried to discern what type of greeting he might be bringing her.

I do think it's interesting that in most places throughout the Bible when a human encountered an angel, they fell down and trembled with fear.

When Mary, most likely only being about 12-14 years old, mind you, met an Angel, she was troubled but began to wonder.

Naturally, Mary wanted to know what this meant.

What was happening?

Why was an angel talking to her? What had he come to say?

Thankfully, Gabriel did not leave Mary in suspense but followed his greeting with an announcement, that came in two parts, split by Mary's question in verse 34.

In the first part, Gabriel stated,

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Luke 1:30-33

I know that's a lot all on one screen, but I want to get verses 30-33 together.

We'll walk quickly through these verses as I highlight several things.

I will quickly highlight seven pieces in the first part of the announcement.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Emphasis on "you have found favor."

First, we see, as we've discussed: God chose to extend Grace to Mary, as Gabriel told her she had found favor with God.

God chose this young but godly girl to carry Emmanuel, "God with us," Christ - the Messiah.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Emphasis on And behold, you will conceive...

Second, Gabriel told Mary that she would conceive and bear a son.

This is crucial, as Luke has already informed his readers that Mary is a virgin.

Undoubtedly, this is the most shocking piece of the announcement.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Emphasis on "call His name Jesus."

Third, we see that not only was Mary told that she'd have a child, but she would have a son, and she was instructed to name Him Jesus, which means "Yahweh is salvation."

This is the first indication that the Messiah would come through Mary.

**CHANGE SLIDE** - Emphasis on He will be Great

Fourth, we understand that in verse 15 of the same Chapter, Luke records that the Angel told Zechariah that John would be great before the Lord.