Behold, The Virgin Birth-- Luke 1:26-38

Andrew McClure

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Introduction

Jenga

I don’t mind playing some boardgames, but there is one that I absolutely despise and almost always refuse to play.

JENGA.

If you’re unfamiliar, Jenga begins with a tower of 54 individual blocks, and each player takes turn removing a block at a time and placing it on top of the tower.

So as the game progresses, the tower becomes more and more unstable, until it comes crashing down spraying the blocks in every direction like shrapnel.

It’s the absolute worse, and feel this way for 2 primary reasons.

First, I guess due to my caffeine consumption my hands have an ever so subtle micro shake.

Its hidden to the naked eye, but fully exposed every time I approach a Jenga tower lol.

Secondly, the game just gives me anxiety!

Every time a player goes to remove a block I just know its about to come crashing down and scare the bejesus out of me and probably send somebody to the hopsital.

So I just refuse to play it.

But that’s just a boardgame, so not a huge deal to step away, and refuse to play. But unfortunately many Christians treat their faith like I treat JENGA.

On the surface everything seems sturcturally sound, stable, and secure. A solid tower of faith.

But ever so slowly, as your life progresses, rather its circumstances, the interrogations of others, or just inner doubts begin toemerge that make you feel like your tower of faith is wobbly, and about to fall..

And to avoid that feeling… we refuse to play. We just shove those thoughts and doubts away.

We ignore some of the more challenging doctrines of the faith, all because we’re afraid of what it may do to our tower.

But church, its actually this refusal to wrestle with the truths of your faith, that puts us in this position!

As the late Tim Keller once wrote,

“A person’s faith can collapse almost overnight if she has failed over the years to listen patiently to her own doubts.”

We shouldn’t be afraid to wrestle through the challenges of our faith, because its in that process we emerge with a stronger tower.

Church, I want you to play this proverbial JENGA. To not hide, or run from the deeper doctrinal mysteries of Christ, because as G.K. Chesteron the English apologist rightly said,

“The Christian Ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult, and left untried.”

Don’t refuse to play… Chew. Study. Think. Wrestle.

And as you do I believe your faith will emerge a stronger tower.

Today our text is going to force us to play…

What we have here is the announcement of Gabriel to Mary concerning the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ.

A doctrine, that is quiet honestly mind stretching, and mysterious but one on which the entire structure of our faith either stands or falls.

You see, to deny the virgin birth, is to compromise the authority of the Bible, which clearly asserts it.

To deny the virgin birth, is to deny the divinity of Christ.

To deny the virgin birth, is to also deny the humanity of Christ.

To deny the virgin birth, is to reject the Son of God as the only one Mighty enough to atone for the sins of all &

to reject the Son of Man as the only one satisfactory enough to serve as a substitue for the sins of all.

I cannot overstate the importance of the doctrine of the Virgin Birth.

With it the Gospel stands or falls, along with your faith.

So although, difficult, and mind stretching, and laced with mystery we must not walk away… let’s play.

First, let’s look at the Unexpected Context.

The Unexpected Context

Luke 1:26–27 “In the sixth month

The 6th month here refers to Luke’s previous narrative that we looked at last week. Namely, Gabriel’s announcement to Zechariah and Elizabeth that she will conceive and bear a son named John, who will go on to be John the Baptist.

So in the 6th month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy…

“the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,”

Now this is totally Unexpected Context!

Nazareth is a no name town, out in the middle of nowhere Judea.

Jerusalem was where the religious establishment was.

Jerusalem was where the Temple was, where Kings sat, where the Throne of David was located.

And yet, Gabriel is dispatched to a tiny village called Nazareth.

I don’t intend for this to be mean to all of our friends from Sunbury, but Sunbury is probably what Nazareth was like.

You Sunbury-ians, when you meet somebody for the first time and they ask you, “Where are you from!”

You don’t answer “sunbury” do you! No, because nobody knows where that is… so instead you say Savannah so that you can avoid explaining where Sunbury is located.

That’s Nazareth!

Just an no-name village, in the middle of nowhere Judea.

In fact, when one of the disciples learned that the Messiah was from Nazareth he just blurted out, “Can any good thing come from Nazareth!”

Becuase he and everybody else knew… nothing good comes from there. Nobody of significance could come from Nazareth.

An Unexpected Context.

but let’s keep reading

“to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.”

Now here too we see an Unexpected Context.

Gabriel wasn’t sent to royalty, or some mover and shaker with high social status.

But to a Virgin Betrothed.

Bethrothal meant a little more then, than it does today.

It was a formal agreement solidified by the families of the couple.

It would have been a legally and financially binding agreement, and any sexual contact by the bride to be would be treated as adultery, which was punishable by death according to the Law of Moses.

And because she was only betrothed or engaged she probably wasn’t at the age of reproduction, or suited for marriage yet.

So we are looking at a nobody 13 or 14 year old, from a nobody town, engaged to a carpenter.

And to put a cherry on top, her name was Mary.

Could this have been any more boring?

For those who have read through the NT, how many Mary’s have you come across!?

It seems like almost every other female in the Bible was named Mary. So just common. A common girl, with a common life, from a common town, with a common name.

Visited by an angel…

That’s an Unexpected Context

But let’s look now at the Unprecedented Conversation, and this is where we will need to spend the most of our time.

The Unprecedented Conversation

Luke 1:28–29 “And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.”

I mean picture poor Mary here…

Have you ever been out in public and you see somebody walking toward you, and they wave!

And you don’t think you know them, but you don’t want to be rude and you wave back!

But in that moment you realize they’re actually waving at somebody behind you?

Oh my goodness, you just want to dissappear!

That’s what I picture with Mary… just a dumb stare, knowing that this Archangel couldn’t possibly be waving at me!

Because this is an Unprecedented Conversation.

And he tells her that she is FAVORED.

He actually says it again, look at vs. 30

Luke 1:30 “And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

He’s like, “No… I’m talking to you Mary.” It’s you, the unexpected nobody from nobody nazareth, that I’m here to talk with.”

And It’s you that has found favor with God.

Now we need to pause here.

That she is Favored, or has found favor with God is not because of any special worthiness on Mary’s part.

This is not because she possesses any particular piety or holiness of life that has merited or earned a visit from Gabriel.

It is only because God, in His Grace, has sovereignly chosen Mary for this particular purpose.

And this is how God works right.

As 1 Corinthians 1:26–29 states,“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.”

God works by Grace. Ephesians 2:8–9 “ And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Mary was favored because of God’s grace, not Mary’s own piety.

And this is an area where some of our neighbors in the faith have gone wrong.

The Vulgate, or the latin translation of the Bible translates this greeting as, “Hail Mary, full of Grace” and understand the words to mean that Mary would be a source of grace to other people. Because of her own personal piety, she had merited favor.

And they believe that because of this, we should pray to her.

And to that I say… NO.

We should not pray to her, yet we can praise God for her, for as we will see at the end of today’s sermon she serves as a great example of faith.

So what we have here is an Unprecedented Conversation between the Archangel Gabriel, and a very Unexpecting Mary.

But let’s look at the content of the conversation, because that is really what is unprecedented here.

Luke 1:31–35 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will 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 of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”

Oh, there is so much to unpack. This is totally unpredencted. Yet here, we learn why Mary was blessed. Why she was favored. Why God had graciously chosen her.

Namely, to bear a son.

But not any Son, but a Son who will be called JESUS.

Jesus

There is no waste in God’s economy church, and if God chooses a name, it is for a reason, and Matthew’s account let’s us in on the significance of the name.

Matthew 1:21 “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.””

Jesus means to save, to rescue, or to deliver.

The Name communicates the Destiny.

Just as Abram’s name was changed to Abraham communicating he’d be the father of many nations.

Or Simon changed to Peter communicating he’d be PETRA or ROCK that the church is built upon.

JESUS’ name communicates his destiny, HE WILL BE A DELIVERER

And this is exactly what he was prophecied to be.

About 715 years before this Unpredecented Conversation there was a wicked King sitting on the throne of David named Ahaz.

But Ahaz was in big trouble. The Powerful Assyrian Empire was pushing South, and to resist them the Northern Kingdom of Israel established an alliance with the kingdom of Syria. And these two nations wanted King Ahaz and the Kingdom ofJudah to join them.

But Ahaz refused, so these two bullies to the North said, “Fine, we’ll conquer you first then we will fight Assyria.”

So Coward Ahaz, scared to death, runs to the Mighty Assyria and begs for help. But God intervenes through the prophet Isaiah and says don’t!

“Don’t look to Assyria for deliverance, instead look to me. And God says, “Ask for a sign Ahaz, and I’ll give you one. I’ll give you a sign to confirm my promise of deliverance.”

But Ahaz being the dumby that he was, said no!

And God says, Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

And Isaiah continues to speak to Ahaz about this son born of a virgin and says, Isaiah 9:6–7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

A DELIVERER.

That’s what Gabriel says in the Unpredencted Communication. That Mary will have a son, the son, whose name would be Jesus, that will deliver people…

not from Assyria, or Syria, or the Northern tribes of Israel. And not from the Persians, or the Greeks, or the Romans, or the Russians, or the Chinese… but from an enemy that spans all these geographies and all spans of time…

The common enemy of all humanity- sin.

Jesus would be born to deliver all mankind from SIN.

But most people aren’t even aware of the problem of sin. Most don’t even think they need deliverance.

But we do. We all do.

So let me talk about sin for a moment.

SIN

As we all know, mankind represented by Adam and Eve were created in the Image of God.

An Image that mirrors HIS holiness, and righteousness, and moral purity.

But when Adam sinned, that image was corrupted. A Breaking occurred. A separation, as seen in God kicking Adam out of the garden of Eden, and the way back was barred by Cherubim and their flaming swords.

And what’s really important for us to know, is that although Adam was made in the image of God, every descendent of Adam and Eve, was made in the image of man.

The broken image, the sinful image is what has been passed down from generation to generation

This is the JENGA BLOCK, or DOCTRINE of ORIGINAL SIN, although I prefer the phrase INHERITED SIN.

We have all inherited the guilt and nature of Sin through Adam who was mankinds first representative.

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—”

Romans 5:18 “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men,

We have all inherited SIN, even from our mother’s womb, Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

I mean think about it… as parents why do we have to work so hard to teach our kids what is right!?

Like why don’t they inherently know!?

Why don’t we work equally as hard to teach them what is wrong… It’s because by nature they know exactly what is wrong. To learn what is right is contrary to our sin nature.

Now this JENGA BLOCK of Original Sin hasled many to reject Christ because they cannot accept that God, being good, would impute one man’s sin to the life of all.

And I have an answer for that in a second, but I do want to remind you that each and every one of you has personally committed voluntary sins which God holds you guilty for. And according to scripture it is these individual sins that will be the primary basis for your judgement on the last day as God will render to every man and woman according to their works (Romans 2:6/Colossians 3:25).

So… even if you reject original sin, can you not at least agree that you have sinned!?

But the consequences for Adam’s SIN, and your invidivual sins, are far reaching.

First, a seperation has occurred between you and God. Remember the Cherubim.

You are seperated and alienated from God, all becuase of SIN, and consequently everything else in all of life is just falling apart!

Without the wholeness that comes from a nearness to God, everything in life just falls apart.

Tim Keller once said, “Our world is falling apart, because it is seperated from God’s World.”

He said think about it…

You can refrigerate food, but that food will still fall apart… just more slowly.

You can exercise, but your body will fall apart… just more slowly.

You can use cosmetics to hide your body falling apart, but it will still decay.

You can work hard to keep your family from falling apart, but it doesn’t work. They grow up. They move away. They die.

Everything falls apart.

Our world is falling apart, because we are seperated from God’s World.

But not God’s world. There everything remains in perfect farmony, and existing forever. But not here… in our world all is falling apart.

Keller brilliantly goes on and says,

Think about a fish. Did you know that fish never feel out of place in water. They don’t even know they are “in water”, becuase they are perfectly at home being made for water. But if this world is all there is, why do we feel so out of place?

He says, “We feel wet in this world, because we are not from here. We are made to be in another world.

and that is all because of SIN.

The true common enemy of all of humanity.

So how can this be fixed? Well God took it upon Himself, and HE SENT A DELIVERER

A SON, but not a Son of this World like Adam, but a Son of the God’s world— Luke 1:32 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. and again Luke 1:35 “ the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”

So A SON of that World, broke into our world.

The transcendnet became intimate.

The eternal Son of God, became the temporal Son of Man.

He who was Above, came to be below.

The MOST HIGH, became the MOST LOW.

God became a Man.

And Gabriel says, this deliverer will be great.”

You see many people reject this JENGA block called the INCARNATION because they say it projects a God that is weak or small. What type of God would stoop so low they say?

But it is in the very act of the Incarnation, the MOST High becoming the MOST Low that God’s Greatness is clearly seen.

A long time ago I heard a story of Billy Graham who we all know was a good, good man. Preached to tens of millions, and many believe that up to 11 million people have been converted under his ministry. A good man.

But one day a custodian of the BG Cove Ministry Center spilled a cup of tea, and rushed to the kitchen to grab a rag. But when she returned, to her shock, she found the aged Billy Graham, in his cleanly pressed suit, on his knees sponging up the spill.

IT was in stooping low, that Billy Graham showed he wasn’t just a good man, but a great man!

And the Son of the Most HIgh breaking into the lowliness of our world to deliver us, shows how great he truly is!

But How he came into the world is also essential!

Becuase if he didn’t come the way he did, he couldn’t have done what he came to do.

Let me say that again, if he didn’t come the way he did, he couldn’t have done what he came to do.

He came by a Virgin’s Birth

Virgin Birth

Luke 1:34 “And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?””

How, how can I give birth to a Son who will deliver us from sin, when I have not known a man she asks.

Luke 1:35 “And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;

This language mirrors the creation of God’s World.

In Genesis 1 verse 2 we read, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep… and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”

In the same way the angel Gabriel says, “Mary, your womb barren, dark, without form and void… but the Holy Spirit and Power of God will hover over you. And just as He created the earth out of nothing, he will create a Son in the virgin womb, out of nothing.

But then he goes on to say...

therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.”

Did you catch that!

Because the baby will be born of a virgin, he will be holy.

His Holiness is directly correlated to the method of his conception.

Son of God

You see being born of a virgin, ensured that Jesus, the Son of God, would be sinless.

Up til this point the sin nature of Adam had been passed down through all of mankind through Adam who was mankind’s representative.

But Not Jesus

In Jesus, the line of Adam was partially interrupted, because he wasn’t born of Adam, He was born of the Holy Spirit and Mary.

Paul would later confirm this in writing, 1 Corinthians 15:47 “The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.”

And the Scriptural writers are Judicious to uphold this JENGA BLOCK of the Virgin Birth,

Matthew 1:16 “and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.”

Joseph was just Mary’s husband, who “knew her not until she had given birth (Matthew 1:25).”

Matthew is driving the point home that Joseph wasn’t Jesus’ father, but the husband of mary.

And consequenlty Jesus bypassed Inherited Sin, and was Born SINLESS, the image of God, the exact imprint of His nature.

So when Jesus later argues with the Pharisees he emphatically declares, John 8:29 “ I always do the things that are pleasing to the Father. So which one of you convicts me of sin (vs. 43).””

And he teaches his disciples to abide in His love, saying, “Just as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and always abide in His love.” (John 15:10).

And finally as he stands on trial Pilate throws up his hands in expaseration and decries, “I find no guilt in Him.

HE WAS SINLESS, HE CAME AS THE SON OF GOD!

But that’s not all…

Son of Man

Because being born as a human, or as Paul says, being born in the likness of sinful flesh, he also came as the SON OF MAN!

You see, it was mankind that was seperated from God.

It’s Mankind that was destined to die, or fall apart, as a penalty for sin.

It was Mankind that was under the wrath of God.

But if Jesus was solely the SON OF GOD, he couldn’t die. God is immortal. God is eternal spirit, without beginning or end.

But sin demands a death.

So Only a Representative of MAN could die in our place to pay the penalty that was due.

But not just anybody can take your place.

Your buddy Bill can’t volunteer as Tribute.

Neither can your mom, or dad, or grandmother, or any other children of Adam

Why!?

Because they are all in the same boat, deserving of the same death for sin!

We need a Human representative. A SON OF MAN,

but one who is unlike all other humans, one who is sinless, a SON OF GOD.

This is why Hebrews 2:16–17 says“ Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”

The Virgin Birth made both of these realities possible in the One Man Jesus Christ.

He had to come the way He did, so that he could do what he came to do.

But let me quickly revisit those who just cannot accept the JENGA BLOCK OF Original Sin.

You say it’s unfair. How can a God that is Good allow Adam to represent all of us, and impute all of his sin to me?

It is to magnify His Grace for His Glory

Paul says in Romans 5:15 “For if many died through one man’s trespass (ADAM), much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.”

Romans 5:18 “Therefore, as one trespass (ADAMS) led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness (JESUS’s) leads to justification and life for all men.”

And church, listen… If you cannot accept the Bad News of Adam’s failed representation, than you will never be able to fathom the UNPREDENTED GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ’s representation!

But if you’ll just accept Him as your substitue, as your represnetative, than you can be forgiven of your sins, and restored back to the Father’s World.

The place you were created to live. The place we all long to be.

and this is what Gabriel was saying in the Unprecedented Conversation…

“there will be a baby, named Jesus who will be called the Son of the Most High, who will sit on the throne of his father david, and reign forever— the child who will be the Son of God, but die as the Son of Man.”

That was the Unprecedented Conversation

But let me close by pointing you to mary’s Unrestricted Confession.

The Unrestricted Confession

There in the Unexpected Context, after having an Unprecedented Conversation, Mary says…

Luke 1:38 “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.”

Here we have an exmplary response to an experience of the grace of God.

It was grace that bestowed favor on Mary.

It was grace brought forth the God Man, Jesus Christ.

It was grace that delivered us from sin, and restored us to God.

And the only thing required of you or me, or anybody is an Unrestricted Confession of “let it be as you say!”

To say to God, “Let it be according to your word.”

Not according to my works, or my effort, or the strain of my strength to clean the sin out of my life.

Instead, like Mary we must not limit our trust, and with unrestricted confssion call out to God and say, “Let it be according to your word.”

Church, He came the way He did, so that he could accomplish what he came to do.

In an Unexpected Context, an Unprecedented Conversation took place, that resulted in an Unrestricted Confession

So, two things:

If you have never understood the depth of God’s grace in the sending of His Son, to die your death, so that you can have the life you were made for… My prayer is that today, would be the day that with unrestricted confession you make Jesus the Lord of your life, and say… “May my life be lived in accordance to your word.”

Recieve the forgivness he purchased.

Be delivered from your sin.

And begin today to live for His kingdom.

But all of you who made that unrestricted confession long ago, my prayer is that today would be an example of the joy of JENGA.

That you’ve seen today that Christian doctrine has not been tried and found wanting, but just found difficult and therefore untried.

But today you’ve seen that if you study, and look, and ponder, and try… the structure of your faith will be solid, immoveable, and enduring forever.