God’s Great Grace
Notes
Transcript
Call to worship
Welcome everyone!
Announcements:
Next week is our Candlelight Service
The 31 is our final members meeting we will have for 2023 right after service.
LET US STAND AND WORSHIP!
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
PRAYER OF PRAISE FOR WHO GOD IS
Lord,
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION TO OPEN OUR HEARTS
Lord,
SERMON
Introduction
Turn with me to Luke 1:26–33
We have been looking studying the Christmas story from each gospel. We have studied Matthew who focused mainly on Joseph. Then last week we looked at Mark, who does not have the traditional Christmas story, but got right down to business calling the world to repent. Today we will look at the Christmas message from the gospel of Luke. And the subject today will be, “Vessels of Grace”.
Luke focuses primarily upon Mary who has been chosen by God, to bring Jesus into this world. And the angel Gabriel is the messenger of this good news to Mary. He gets her as “favored one” Which means “graced one”. And this grace is highlighted all the way down to verse 38.
What is grace? It is receiving something we don’t deserve
Simply put: Grace is God’s un-merited favor bestowed upon people
It comes in many forms from our salvation to gifts that the Lord gives us, to His mercy and kindness, God withholding judgement, God’s great patience
All of these things have to do with God’s grace
And the coming of Jesus into the world is all about the grace of God
We are going to tract this theme today down through Luke 1 and how God’s grace entered Mary’s life and changed her forever
I want to give you four principles from these passages about the Great Grace of God
1) God’s grace does not discriminate
1) God’s grace does not discriminate
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
The Angel Gabriel was sent from God to to Nazareth (verse 26)
We’ve all heard of Nazareth, but let me give you some facts about this little town
Nazareth had a population of about 480 at the beginning at the first century
It was about sixty acres
And compared to a city like Jerusalem who had around 100,000 people, it was really a hole in the wall
It would be like a Fruit Hill in our town
Or Gracey
And in those days, it mattered where you came from
Listen to Nathanael said about Nazareth
Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
People would have considered Mary a nobody because she came from the Nazareth
She would be out of consideration for such an honor as giving birth to the Lord Jesus from the world’s eyes
BUT, not only was a Mary a nobody, she was also poor
How do we know this?
In chapter 2 after Jesus is born, Mary goes to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice according to the LAW OF THE FIRSTBORN. And because this law required a lamb, God in His great grace made provisions for the poor who couldn’t afford a lamb to offer a pair of doves instead.
Do you know what Mary and Joseph offered? A pair of doves
Theses were not high class, honored people of society, they were poor people from nowhere
If they were living today, they would probably be on food stamps, and receiving government assistance
Bridge
We love to classify people
And you may not think you do, but we all do
We put people in classes according to what we think is important
And maybe even subconsciously reject people because of their social status, because of their last name, because of where they live or grew up, or who they associate with
BUT GOD DOES NOT LOOK AT PEOPLE THAT WAY!
God does not discriminate according to worldly things that we think are so important!
It does not matter where we grew up, how much money we have in the bank, how much the world has rejected us, none of that has to do with God’s grace reaching down into our lives.
God doesn’t care whether we are rich or poor, popular or rejected…God’s grace is available to all people
I think a truly healthy church will have people of all social classes
Poor
Rich
Young
Old
Popular
Rejected
I question churches that are filled with only the rich or only young popular people, or only people who have struggled with addiction
Do you know what that tells me? Those people are searching for a class of people, their kind of people, who they fit in with, not God’s will
One thing about the grace of God, it makes us all equal! We all need it just as much as the next person!
BUT There is one thing that will keep us from God’s Grace: PRIDE
But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
What the Lord is looking for is much different than what the world is looking for
He looking for people who have humble hearts.
People who have an accurate view of themselves, people who do not think too highly of themselves, people who do not think they are a cut above the rest, people who do not walk around this world as if they have everything under control and are in need of nothing. People who do not think they are so wise and so smart that God could never tell them anything!
God is looking for people who know they are sinners, and who know the only hope for them is if God would somehow reach down into their lives, and give them what they cannot do for themselves! And they know if God never even acknowledged them, they would completely understand because they do not deserve it.
Humility always reaches up from the ground, not down from a platform. And anyone can humble themselves. This is why Peter’s says, “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God”
2) God’s grace cannot be earned
2) God’s grace cannot be earned
Luke 1:28–33 (NASB95)
And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. 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 name Him Jesus. “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; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
Notice Mary’s response to Gabriel’s greeting (verse 29)
“But she was very perplexed”
Perplexed at what? THAT SHE HAD FOUND FAVOR WITH GOD
I can just imagine her saying in her mind, “What did I do to deserve this?”
Why did God choose me?
I am a nobody! I am the least of the people around me!
This is exactly what God’s grace is, it is unmerited favor from God. FAVOR THAT CANNOT BE EARNED
Mary did nothing to receive it.
Mary did nothing to deserve it.
It was this GRACE that she couldn’t understand..
And look at why Gabriel says God chose her? (verse 30)
“for you have found favor with God”
There was no mention of her holiness
There was no mention of her bloodlines
There was no mention of anything that she had done!!
It was real grace that reached down into her simple life SIMPLY BECAUSE THAT IS THE WAY GOD WANTED IT
And for us in here today, if you have been twice born by the life changing grace of God, it is 100% because God decided to offer it to you
Nothing else!
There is nothing that we did, there is no reason at all in our lives that persuaded God to save us!
In fact God made that decision before He ever created the heavens and the earth
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love
In God’s great plan for all the world, before the earth was ever established, out of every human that has ever walked this earth since the time of Adam to the 8 billion people that walk upon the earth today, God wanted you
God so arranged the circumstances in your and my life, even the painful ones, so He could humble us enough to look up to Him
God carefully removed the scales from our eyes so that we could see His magnificence and His glory and His greatness
And even after we rejected Him over and over, and sinned against him our entire lives, God STILL looked upon us with divine favor and said that’s the one I want. Right there.
When I think about that, I can understand a little better what a gift God’s grace is
None of my righteous deeds could ever earn!
None of the things I think are so great could ever cause me to deserve what God has done for me
And I never want to take that for granted!
I never want to think that somehow I could ever deserve this wonderful life that God has given me
WE MUST NEVER THINK GOD OWES US ANYTHING!
GOD HAS GIVEN US FAF MORE THAN WE COULD EVER GIOVE OURSELVES!
And no matter how hard things are, that great grace will always be there!
You may not be as spiritual as others, but that same grace covers you!
You may not be as excited as others but that same grace is given to you
You may not be as gifted, but you are still a recipient of the great grace of God
AND If God is calling you
And maybe He has been for a long time
It is an honor to be offered this great gift by the King of glory
Don’t let the invitation pass you by
3) God’s grace is an invitation to serve the God who can do anything
3) God’s grace is an invitation to serve the God who can do anything
Luke 1:34–37 (NASB95)
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. “And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Mary asked: “How can this be” (Verse 34)
Mary is not doubting, she wants to know how this could happen since she is a virgin
She cannot understand the ways of God
And Gabriel says: “Nothing is impossible with God” (Verse 37)
Meaning that what God can do is limitless
There is absolutely nothing He cannot do
And then Gabriel gives her an example of Elizabeth who has conceived a child in her old age
With God all things are possible
Mary is the favored one, and God invited her to come and join Him in His wonderful plans
And what the angel tells her is beyond her understanding
“How can this be”
And I love the response, “Nothing is impossible with God”
What a profound statement we need to be reminded of over and over again
There is nothing out of the possibility with God
I want you to just think about your life for a minute
All of us have things pressing against us, it is the nature of the world we live in
And we often live in such a way that we think there is no hope, no possibility of change to come
BUT ITS NOT THAT WAY WITH GOD
With God all things are possible
That person you have been praying for, God can save
That health issue, depression, whatever it is, God can change
Your sin, no matter how dark, how deep, how long you have been running, God can forgive it
Your current situation in life, regardless of what it is, IS NOTHING COMPARED TO WHAT GOD CAN DO
BUT DOES THAT MEAN GOD WILL SOLVE ALL OF MY PROBLEMS?
What the angel says in the Greek is literally “NOT ONE WORD IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD”
And what word is that?
The word Gabriel gave to Mary that she would conceive and give birth to a Son as a virgin
God does not solve all of our problems, though He can, but He knows best
And if we come to God thinking He is going to fix all our problems, we will be disappointed
BUT GOD WILL DO EXACTLY WHAT HE SAYS, EVEN IF IT IS HUMANLY IMPOSSIBLE
So all the promises of Scripture that seem impossible are Word from God to us
And there are times, when God will impart a Word to you that may seem impossible, but God will bring it to pass
Becuase not one word from the Lord will fall to the ground!
And the challenge to the world is: DO WE TRULY BELIEVE THIS?
Do we truly believe in this God in this way?
And does our life say that we do?
True belief in all powerful God will cause us to walk by faith
It will cause us to do things the world will say is foolish, but God will honor
It will cause us to pray differently expecting God to do things we ask for
And it will cause us to worship Him, in a much deeper and profound way
4) ONLY our complete surrender is sufficient to receive God’s great grace
4) ONLY our complete surrender is sufficient to receive God’s great grace
And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
“Let it be to me according to your word” (verse 38)
I love the response Mary gives to the angel
Gabriel comes with a message
Mary questions God’s ability to bring it to pass
Gabriel assures her that God can do anything, which includes creating life in her womb
And Mary hands over her life, and says “may it be done to me according to Your word”
So simple this interaction with the divine
If only it happened more often in our world today
And not the offer of God’s divine grace, but the reception of it
I hope you can see that Mary’s response was an response of acceptance
I am of the belief that God will never force Himself on anyone
There is no divine submission that forces people choose Him
Nearly every place in the Bible we see two things at work: God’s sovereignty and the human responsibility
He never comes to one and forces them to follow Him
It is alway by invitation
That is what we see with Mary and the angel
God inviting Mary to be a part of something much bigger than she could ever fathom
And that same gentle calling that has won so many, still calls people today
It is the inner pulling of the human heart
The gentle drawing from the Holy Spirit of God
And God presses deep within our hearts the offer of His grace to come follow Him
Notice what Mary had to do:
She put her marriage on the line. For she was engaged, not married and would have to explain this to Jospeh
She put her reputation on the line: the whole city would think she was an adulterous
She put her future on the line: what would this mean for the life that she had planned?
She had to trust God, and put everything in His hands and know He would work it all out
Conclusion
What is your response to the great grace of God?
Is it like Mary, who laid down her life at the feet of God and said take it, all it, as You will?
That is the only response that God will accept
To cling to our life is to reject the life that God has for us
What God wants is complete and total surrender to the Lord
~PRAYER~
RESPONSE
PUBLIC INVITATION
“What a beautiful Name”
Words and Music by Hillsong
OFFERING
We will now worship the Lord through our tithes and offering.
BENEDICTION
Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord cause His face to shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His face to you, And give you peace.’”