Celebrating The Birth Of Christ - From Perplexity to Praise

Yeah, well, let me invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to Luke. Luke chapter one. Luke chapter 1 for our time of study and God's word this morning. Normally what we do for the Christmas service is, there are 4, major, passages that make up the Christmas narrative that we find in the gospel accounts, and we try to cycle through those, every 4 years, and today, we come to Luke chapter 1.

verse 26, and my goal today is to try to at least take some look at verses 26 through 56 today. And the title of the, message is from Perplexity to praise. From Perplexity, to praise. I'll start off with a confession this morning.

I am a sucker for heart stirring videos on the internet. I'm always watching them and always saying to my kids, hey, come watch this, and now they roll their eyes and that's. not as interested as I might be in seeing all these videos, but there's a lot of really great stuff to watch and be stirred by, and a few weeks ago, I saw a video of a woman in Illinois who was pulled over. By a local sheriff's officer, and the officer, having pulled her over, approached her car and asked her to step outside the vehicle.

she did, and he then asked her to stand behind her car facing towards her car. And the video footage that I was watching showed that the woman was clearly distressed. And miserable over having been pulled over by this officer. At that point, she would have said that her day was not going well at all.

What she did not know was that her boyfriend was sitting in the police car. He was a soldier who had just returned from Iraq, but she did not know that. this soldier had arranged with the police officer that this would be the way that he would let her know. That he had returned and so with her standing there behind her car with her back to the police car, this serviceman approached her from behind and he grabbed her arm and turned her around.

When she saw that it was her boyfriend, her countenance completely changed from one of distress to one of extreme joy. And then the man dropped to one knee. And asked her to marry him. Then she was really a mess.

And I myself got something in my eye. That was 9 years ago that this happened and This woman whose name is Jennifer remembers the moment this way. She says, I was having a rough day and had not heard from my boyfriend in days. When the sheriff asked me to step out.

I was picturing a night in jail trying to figure out what in the world was going on. It was such a whirlwind, and indeed it was. But I start with that this morning because if the story of Luke chapter 1 verse 26 through 56 were a video, it would be an amazing one. To watch.

At the beginning of the story, a heavenly sheriff named Gabriel shows up and surprises Mary. Mary is extremely agitated and she is afraid, but as the story unfolds, we observe her fear turning into perplexity and then her perplexity. Transforming into joy and ecstatic praise of God. And today, we get to watch this video as we look at this passage in Luke chapter one.

The story that we're going to observe today should resonate with us for a variety of reasons. one of those reasons is that the good news that Gabriel is going to announce to Mary is good news for us. We really need a savior who is going to be born into this world who could bring us salvation from Jehovah God. But also this story should resonate with us because often we find ourselves agitated and afraid, fearful, and as we see Mary make the journey from agitation to worship, from perplexity to praise, we can learn how to let God take us on that same journey.

as well and bring us to the same place of joy and worship where Mary ended up by the time our story is over. So if today you're here and maybe you're not as festive as everybody else and you're experiencing a lot of fear, agitation, you got a lot of questions, this is the right place for you to be, because Mary, the mother of Jesus, would say, I get that. I experienced that, but let me tell you the story of what God did to move me to a different place. The way we're gonna frame things this morning is we're going to observe 6 responses of Mary to the good news that Gabriel speaks to her.

In Luke chapter one. And so we'll chronicle the unfolding of the story in this way. hinging things on how Mary is responding. The first response that we see in Mary is that she fears.

She fears. As she is introduced to us, we find her afraid. Beginning in verse 26, let's read the text. Luke says now in the 6th month.

Earlier in chapter one, the angel Gabriel had appeared to Zacharias and told him that his elderly wife, Elizabeth was going to conceive and bear a son, and he was to name him John and that John would be the forerunner to the Messiah. Elizabeth is now in verse 26, 6 months pregnant with John. Now in the 6th month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin. This is a woman who has never had physical relations with a man.

She was engaged to a man whose name was Joseph. So she is in the engagement period of her relationship with Joseph. They are not yet living together under the same roof as husband and wife, and of the descendants of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. Literally, the Greek text is Miriam, which means excellent.

Nothing less than excellent would do for the mother of the Messiah. Now this is not stated in the text, but In all likelihood, just so you can get a visual of Mary, Mary was almost certainly a teenager at this particular point in time. Typically in this society, in the Old Testament days as well as here, at this point of the New Testament in Jewish culture, it was typical for a Jewish gal to get married somewhere between the age of 13 and 17. In fact, in this culture, if you were a gal and you were 18 years old and unmarried, 18 years old and unmarried, you were considered an old maid.

Imagine living in a culture like that. in fact, just to help us with this, if, if you are a girl, and you are ages 13 to 17, just raise your hand. Raise your hand high. All right, look around and stare at these girls.

By looking at those who had their hands up, you can get an idea of about how old Mary was at this point of her life. If Mary was attending Cornerstone, she'd be a part of our church's junior high or senior high ministry. And Gabriel comes to her. The narrative continues verse 28 and coming in, just that language there tells us that Mary was indoors somewhere, probably in her own house, and Gabriel comes into whatever room that she is in and just appears.

And to help us get a visual of this, the name Gabriel is from the Hebrew word Gabor, Gabor Ale, which means strong one of God, or mighty one of God or warrior of God. In the Old Testament, there are passages talking about David's mighty men. And the Hebrew that is translated mighty men is this Hebrew word Gabor. And so, I would imagine that Gabriel looked the part.

This is not some sissy looking angel. He would have been an imposing presence and boom, he just appears in whatever room that Mary is in, in her house or what have you. One of the things you notice in the New Testament, gospel accounts is that whenever an angel appears, They always freak people out. Like one of the first things that angels have to say is stop being afraid.

And I am sure Gabriel was thinking, when I appeared to Zacharias, I freaked him out, so I'm not gonna freak out Mary. I'm going to be very positive, I'm gonna be very gentle, I'm not going to frighten her. And so he comes in and he says the most positive, the most gentle, the most favorable thing an angel could ever say to a human being. Look at what he says.

He said to her, rejoice, favored one, the Lord is with you. He's saying three things to her. First of all, be rejoicing, you are a graced one. And the Lord is with you.

If you are ever greeted by an angel, this is the best and the highest and the most positive greeting that you could ever receive from an angelic being. Nonetheless, it troubles Mary. Look at her response, but she was very troubled at this statement. The word that is translated very troubled means to be agitated through and through by the statement that Gabriel is making.

No doubt she's agitated by a man showing up in her home, and this man seems to be more than human. He looks like a warrior. He's speaking directly to her, which was unusual in this day for a man to speak to a woman. Directly in this manner, and the words he speaks are rejoice, you're a favored one, the Lord is with you.

He's acting like he knows Mary. But she's never met him before. Plus no man has ever spoken to her in this way, and she is left agitated through and through by the statement that he makes to her. This is no casual perplexity on Mary's part.

In verse 30, we see that Gabriel has to say to her, literally, stop being afraid. So she is fearful at this point, filled with fear, even at this positive, gentle greeting that Gabriel, the strong one of God delivers to her. And she's troubled at the statement. That he is making.

Some suggest that Mary in her modesty did not understand why a heavenly visitor such as this would greet her in such exalted terms. She's not accustomed to being greeted this way and spoken of so highly by a man and definitely not by one who seems to be an angelic being. To Mary's credit, though she's afraid and she's agitated and troubled, she doesn't stop at her fear. The text tells us that she does something else, and that is she ponders.

She ponders, says that she was very troubled at the statement and kept pondering what salutation this was. She didn't just stop at her fear, her agitation was not the end of the story like it may often be for us. Her fear provoked her to think and to go deep. In her thoughts and to go deeper with God.

The text literally says she was pondering what salutation this was. The word pondering. The Greek words the word we get our English word dialogue from. There's an N-word dialogue taking place inside of Mary's mind and heart, and she's going one way with her mind, thinking she might understand the salutation, but then she's like, no, it can't be that, and she goes the other way and she's casting back and forth trying to come to terms with this salutation that Gabriel has just delivered to her, and the tense of the verb indicates.

That she kept on pondering. This isn't just a pondering for a second or two. It indicates there was some time that elapsed here. There was an awkward silence between Mary and Gabriel, and Gabriel's just standing there giving her this wonderful gentle, positive greeting, and he's getting nothing from her.

And I'm I'm just thinking about Mary and she's thinking, who is this man? He seems to know me, but I don't know him. Why is he greeting me like this? Is he human?

Is he angelic? How do I respond to a greeting from an angel? Clearly, this is, what do you say to an angel? Hi?

Thank you. This is clearly something her parents never went over with her. They never sat her down and had the how to respond to Gabriel talk. So she has no response, she's frozen, but inwardly, she's in motion, casting back and forth trying to figure out what this means.

So, sensing the awkwardness of the moment, Gabriel breaks the ice and he speaks. The text says in verse 30, so the angel said to her, do not be afraid or literally stop being afraid, Mary, for you have found grace with God. This is an amazing statement that Gabriel is making to Mary here in this passage. You have found favor with God.

This statement recognizes Mary as someone who was seeking God's favor above all. Mary was the teenager who wanted God's favor more than anyone else's favor. She didn't live to please other people as much as she lived to please God and to gain his favor. That's all she cared about and Gabriel is saying to her, you have found the favor with God that you have been seeking after.

This word translated favor is the word for grace in the New Testament, which speaks of the undeserved favor. Of God. Mary knew that she needed grace from God. Being a sinner herself like the rest of us, she knew that she needed a favor that she did not deserve from God, and Gabriel says to her, you are a graced one.

You have found this grace with God that you have sought from him. This is an astounding statement from Gabriel to Mary. You have found favor with God. We find this expression in another place in scripture, and that is with regard to Noah.

When the world was corrupt and God was going to destroy the earth and everything that breathed upon it, the text says in the Book of Genesis, but Noah found grace. He found favor in the eyes of the Lord. And so for Gabriel to say to Mary, you have found grace with God or in his eyes. One writer says that this language signifies God's gracious choice of someone through whom God is going to do something very special.

And now Mary is taking her place alongside of Noah and Gabriel is saying, you have found grace with God, Mary, God is gonna use you. In a very significant way that ranks up there with how he used Noah. And here's how he's going to use you. Gabriel goes on to speak to her and he says, and behold, You will conceive in your womb.

There's a strong sense of imminence here. He's not saying eventually this is going to happen to you. That would not have been startling to Mary. She's engaged and no doubt planning to have children one day, but what he's saying is this conception in your womb will happen very, very soon.

In fact, like today. And what will be conceived in your womb will be a boy, and that boy will grow to full term in your womb. You will give birth, look at the text. You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and when he is born, you shall call or you shall name him Jesus.

In other words, Joshua, Yehoshua would have been Jesus' Hebrew name, which means Jehovah saves or Jehovah is salvation. You're going to conceive in your womb imminently, like today, you will eventually give birth to a son, and you will name him Jehovah Saves. Verse 32, he will be great. Right now there is Herod the Great, but he, your son will be the great one, the greatest of the great, and he will be called the son of the Most High.

This is a royal messianic title indicating that her son, Who's going to be named Jesus or Joshua, Jehovah saves, is actually going to be the Messiah, the king that the Jews have longed for, for many, many centuries. Mary is being told here, you will be the mother of the long awaited Messiah. Gabriel continues, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. This is a loaded statement.

There is no throne of David that is in operation at this particular time. The Romans are in control, but Mary would know from what the angel is saying that at some point the Romans will be overthrown from power and the throne of David will be reestablished by God, and her son is going to be the one who sits on that throne. Of his father, David. And when he does sit on that throne, he's not just gonna reign for 40 years or so like David did, but look what Gabriel says in verse 33, he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.

The term of his service as king will be forever. It will never end. And not only that, verse 33 in his kingdom will have no end. Most likely, the angel is not saying simply the kingdom will have no end in time, but even spatially that his kingdom will have no end.

There will be no outer borders. Of his kingdom, no one will be able to reach. The outer borders of the kingdom over which he is going to reign. He's alerting Mary to the fact that this one will rule the world, and there'll be nowhere anyone can go on the planet that is beyond his jurisdiction.

In fact, later in the Gospels, Jesus himself says, all authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Ultimately, even if you left planet Earth, you're not leaving his rule. He will be the sovereign king of the entire physical and spiritual universe, and Gabriel is speaking this mouthful to Mary. How amazing.

Just a few moments earlier, Mary is doing her chores in her home. And an angel appears to her and says these amazing things that Gabriel is speaking to her about this conception that will happen imminently in her womb, and she'll give birth to a son. He will be the Messiah. And he will reign forever, and there will be no outer borders of his kingdom.

Mary's response in verse 34 brings us to her third response that we see in this story, and that is She questions and we get that, right? I think most of us, if an announcement like this were made to us, we would have our hands up before Gabriel was done. Saying I've got some questions, but I am amazed that Mary, though she does ask a question, she only has one question. Most of us would have had a million questions.

Mary has only one, and it's a mechanical question, a biological question. A logistical question. The angel has just told her that you're going to give birth to the Messiah, who's gonna rule forever over the spiritual and physical universe, and when he's done, Mary's only question is, how can this be since I'm a virgin? That's her only issue.

In other words, the only thing that she's having trouble with. And what Gabriel says to her is the part about her conceiving in her womb. Everything else is not a problem for Mary. It's simply the conception part, the part that has to do with her.

And so her response is, how can this be since I am a virgin. I'm not engaging in physical relations with any man, so how can this be? In asking this question, Mary is not doubting the angel, she's not unbelieving of what the angel is saying to her. It's just that she understands biology.

Her mom and dad have had the talk. With her. She knows how this thing normally works. In normal biology, she knows that in order to be conceived, she needs to be physically involved with a man, and so she's hearing what Gabriel is saying and she's believing him, but she's wanting to know what am I supposed to do?

How can this be? How can I eminently conceive a child in my womb when I am not engaging in physical relations with a man? This is a totally fair question, and Gabriel gives her an answer. In verse 35, look what he says, and 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. Now what's noticeable here, Gabriel still isn't saying a whole lot to Mary, by way of addressing her question, but he's telling her enough for her to know. The radical truth that the biological father of this child will be God. Wow.

A few moments earlier, she's in her house doing whatever and now she's visited by Gabriel, the strong one of God, and he's announcing this amazing truth to her. You will miraculously, as a virgin conceive a child in your womb and he's going to be great. He will be the Messiah, his rule will be forever, and there will be no outer borders of his kingdom. The angel continues verse 36, 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 6th month, for nothing will be impossible with God.

Gabriel is telling Mary that on top of her own miracle, her elderly relative Elizabeth is pregnant also. Mary would not have known that she's pregnant with the forerunner of the Messiah, but she would have known from the fact that Gabriel is telling her this, that somehow what's happened to Elizabeth has something to do. With what is happening to Mary herself. And so all in all, Gabriel makes this announcement to Mary.

Mary says, I got one question. She asked the question. Gabriel answers her question. And what?

Mary has no more questions. No more questions. That brings us to her 4th response to Gabriel's message, and that is she believes. She believes, you say, well, when I read the text here, I don't see anything said about her believing, but there is a reason we know that Mary believed and that is because Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, tells us.

That Mary believed. Mary, we see as the story unfolds, ran to go spend time with Elizabeth and Judah, and as Mary, shows up wherever Elizabeth was living, Mary greets Elizabeth. And when she does so, the baby in Elizabeth's womb leaps for joy, and Elizabeth begins, just filled with the spirit, begins to speak a blessing over Mary. And look what she says in verse 42.

let's see where we're at. Yeah, there we are. She says to Mary, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, and then Elizabeth says to Mary, and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. Elizabeth is filled with the spirit.

The spirit is taking control of her tongue, so this is the spirit of God commending Mary. Blessed are you, Mary. Blessed is the fruit of your womb, and blessed is she who believed the word from Gabriel that was spoken to her. Elizabeth is saying, Mary, you're so blessed to be the mother of the Messiah, and not only that, but you're blessed because you believe what you were told by the angel when he made the announcement to you.

This raises a question, and that is why is that a big deal to Elizabeth, that Mary believed. The message of the angel. Why does Elizabeth make a big deal out of the fact that Mary believed the words that Gabriel had spoken to her? Why does she say, Mary, you are blessed because you actually believed what you were told?

Well, to appreciate Elizabeth's appreciation of Mary's belief in the angelic announcement, you have to go earlier in Luke chapter 16 months prior to this moment in the narrative, Gabriel appeared to Elizabeth's husband, Zacharias, and basically said to him, I know you're old, and I know that your wife is old and barren, but God is going to give you a son. Your wife Elizabeth is going to conceive and she's going to give birth and you're supposed to call him John, and he will be the forerunner to the Messiah.

That's the announcement that Gabriel makes to Zacharias. He appears in front of him and makes this announcement to Zacharias about the fact that his wife will conceive and give birth to a son who will be the forerunner of the Messiah.

Amazingly, guess how Zacharias responds to this announcement from Gabriel. Look at what the text says, verse 18. Zacharias said to the angel, how will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.

By the way, I love Zacharias' tact here. He describes himself as an old man and his wife has advanced in years. Smart man. But look what he says.

How will I know this for certain? Do you see the difference between his question and Mary's question? Mary's question is simply, how can this be since I am a virgin? Zacharias's question is, how can I know this for sure?

What he's saying is, I'm not really sure that what you're telling me, Gabriel, is actually going to happen. Can you give me something like a sign maybe that will help me to know for sure what you're saying to me will actually happen. That's what he's doing. He's asking for a sign.

That can help him to know for sure. Just a word of advice for all of you. If Gabriel. Ever appears to you in his heavenly glory and announces to you that something amazing is going to happen, don't stand in front of Gabriel and say, can you give me a sign?

That would help me to know for sure that what you're saying will actually happen. That's a guaranteed way to offend Gabriel. why? Because Gabriel is the sign.

In fact, look at how Gabriel responds verse 19, and the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. Gabriel is saying, what do you think I am? Chopped liver? I, Gabriel, come to you from the very presence of God Almighty, and I make this announcement to you and you wanna sign?

This is not some normal prophet showing up and announcing this to you. I am Gabriel, I am the sign. But since you asked for a sign, I will bestow that upon you. Verse 20 behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak.

Until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time. And so from that moment on, Zacharias is dumb. He's not able to speak at all. He would have come home from work that day and Elizabeth would have said, how was your day?

And he wouldn't have been able to talk to her. And reply to her question. He would have had to sit down and communicate through writing, telling her what happened and he would have had to admit, Gabriel made this announcement to me and I didn't believe him and I asked him for a sign. So I can't talk anymore until we've had the child and named him.

And I can just imagine Elizabeth, like you ask Gabriel for a sign. Now tell me this story again. I'm reading this wrong here. You asked Gabriel for a sign.

Gabriel. You asked him for a sign. I'm sure for Christmas the next year, she got him a t-shirt that said, I asked Gabriel for a sign. whenever Zacharias would encounter anyone, I'm sure Elizabeth, everyone's like, why can't he talk?

Why can't he talk? She, he asked Gabriel for a sign. My husband asked Gabriel for a sign. And so poor Elizabeth has been living for six months with a husband who can't speak.

Maybe for some of you ladies, that's not a bad thing. Or maybe that pretty much describes the last six months of your Marriage. Maybe your husband has seen an angel. But for 6 months, Elizabeth has been living in silence with a husband who can't speak because he didn't believe, and now Mary shows up and Elizabeth says, Blessed are you, look at the text, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, and now look at this, blessed is she.

Meaning Elizabeth isn't really talking directly to Mary at this point. I think she's casting a sideways glance at Zacharias. Saying blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her. And Elizabeth would have felt very free to talk this way, knowing that Zacharias could not respond.

But she is excited. Mary, you believed and blessed are you because you believe. She's commending Mary. And guys, just observe the contrast.

Zacharias is an elderly man with a lot of experience with God. He was a righteous and a godly man. We don't want to take that away from him at all, and he is indeed given a pretty amazing announcement from Gabriel that his barren, childless wife is going to conceive in her old age. That would be hard.

To believe But then we come to a teenage girl who's given an even more amazing announcement that she's going to experience a virgin conception in her womb and the child that she gives birth to is going to be the eternal ruler of heaven and earth, and Mary says, OK. OK. And Elizabeth is saying, Mary. You teenage girl, you blow me away.

Blessed is she. Who believed. May God give us this faith. What we are asked to believe is not nearly as amazing as what Mary was asked to believe.

On the front end of all these amazing things that still had not yet happened. Mary did not just believe there's 1/5 response and that is she surrenders. She surrenders. Verse 38, we come back into The narrative in verse 38, and Mary said, so she asked the question, Gabriel answers, and then Mary says, behold the bond slave of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word.

This is amazing. She had one question, she gets the answer, and then she's, OK, Lord, I'm your bond slave. I am surrendered to you. May it be done to me according to your word.

Ladies, how would you have responded? Imagine Being engaged. Imagine hypothetically being Engaged and in a few months you have Your wedding and you have all these dreams about what it's going to be like and how special it's going to be. Your life together with your husband to be, you've been talking about it, you've been planning for it, and imagine during your engagement that an angel shows up and says, today, you're gonna conceive in your womb.

And you will 9 months from now be giving birth to the Messiah who will reign forever, and the biological father is going to be God. How would you respond, ladies? I think a part of you would be thrilled and honored. But would not a part of you start having other thoughts?

Like, What about my wedding? What about my dreams as I have been dreaming them? This means that I'm going to be pregnant at the altar. This is not what I had imagined.

Would you say, Lord, I appreciate the honor, but could you ask somebody else who is not already engaged? Or could you ask someone else who doesn't have their life planned out as I have mine already planned out? Lord, you gotta understand this is gonna alter my life in a million ways. Would you say, Lord, I'm inclined to say yes, but could you at least give me a day to think it over?

this is a lot to think over and to pray about and to weigh all the ramifications of, of what you're telling me. Can, can you give me a day to pray? Would you say, Lord, I'm inclined to say yes, but does this have to happen right now, imminently? Perhaps, Lord, I can conceive after my husband and I are married and we're living under the same roof, that way no one would suspect that my child is an illegitimate child.

I don't know, Lord, if you thought about that, but actually the timing would be so much better a few months from now rather than right now. Would you try to modify the timing and the details? Would you ask a million questions before saying yes? Would you want assurances from The angel and from the Lord, would you be asking, what about my parents?

What are they going to think? They're not gonna believe this. And tell me, Lord, first, how you're gonna work this out with my husband, cause he's not gonna believe this. And how about the townspeople?

You have to explain this to me, Lord, you can't just come to me and tell me that these things will happen to me and expect me to give you an answer right away. I need answers and I need assurances. I think many would respond in some of these ways, but Mary. Doesn't do any of this.

She says, OK. I am your bond slave. May it be done to me according to your word. She just submits.

And what this tells me about Mary? Listen very closely. It tells me that Mary was not just some teenage girl living for herself, and then an angel shows up and Mary's like, oh, I think I'd better slip into surrender mode here. OK, Lord, I submit.

That's not what's happening here. This is a girl who the day before woke up and said, Lord, I'm your servant. You own me. How do you want me to live my life today?

And this very morning, she wakes up before the angel even appeared, and in her prayer time would say, Lord, I'm your servant, owned and operated by you. You own me. I do not exist to fulfill my purposes and my dreams, I exist to fulfill your desires. How do you want me to live today, Lord?

Do with me as you please. This is a gal who is already in surrender mode, living in a state of surrender everyday. And she wakes up on this particular morning, surrenders afresh. God, I give you every right and my permission to rearrange my life in any way that you see fit for my good and for your glory, and boom, an angel shows up and says, here's what's gonna happen to you, and Mary just continues in that surrender.

I'm your bondsley. May it be done to me. According to your word. Mary was surrendered, she trusted her master, and she didn't just believe these things were going to happen.

But she trusted God with all the details of them. Whatever the details there are in this, God has already thought about them, and I'm gonna trust him. I'm gonna surrender now to him knowing he's got it all worked out. There's one final thing that Mary does.

In this narrative, and that is she worships. She worships. When she does rush to go see Elizabeth, she meets up with Elizabeth and Elizabeth says, blessed are you, Mary, and Mary immediately turns the focus away from her on to God. And begins to worship, verse 46, my soul exalts the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my savior, for he has had regard for the humble state of his bond slave, for behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.

For the mighty one has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him. He's given help to Israel, his servant, and remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever. She's a pretty astute theologian.

And her theology informs this rich expression of spontaneous worship of God. Her spirit is rejoicing in God, her savior. God is the mighty one. He's holy, and he's merciful, and he has done great things.

The amazing thing about Mary here is she no doubt has a million questions. So many questions are still left unanswered, but she is fully surrendered. And she's worshiping God. She would say, I don't know all the details.

I don't know how all the details are going to work out in the days to come, but I'm worshiping the one who holds all those details in the palm of his hand, and he's the mighty one, the merciful one. He's the one that I worship. Mary started off. At the beginning of this narrative in a place of agitation.

And then deep thought and then questioning. And through the words of this message from Gabriel and then from Elizabeth, God moves her to a place of belief and surrender and worship of God. Just in closing, let me just throw a few things your way. We learned from this story that being perplexed and agitated does not disqualify a person from salvation or from blessing.

Mary was perplexed. She was agitated, she was afraid. But to her credit, she brought her perplexity to God. She brought her question to God.

And I, I would ask you this morning. To whom are you going with your perplexities? Who are you going to with your questions? Will you bring your questions, your agitation, your fears?

To God as Mary did. Also, I would ask you, will you listen to God? Will you ponder his words as Mary pondered what God was saying to her through the angel. Will you believe his words, especially his words of grace and salvation to you?

God comes to you today and he says, I love you. You cannot save yourself. I love you so much that I sent my son into the world to live the life that you have failed to live and to die the death that you deserve to die. So that through his shed blood, you can be saved and you can have your sins forgiven and you could be brought into relationship with me and have salvation and forgiveness of all of your sins.

Will you ponder deeply. What salutation this is that God is speaking to you today. Will you believe his words? As God says to you, I raised my son.

Who was crucified. I raised him from the dead. I've seated him at my own right hand, where he now has all authority in heaven and on earth to do as he pleases. And with that authority, he's giving out righteousness.

And love and freedom and power and forgiveness and healing. And righteousness to all those who see their bankruptcy and who look to him and say, you, Jesus, are the savior for me. I started this message this morning talking about the woman from Illinois who got pulled over by a sheriff and she thought her day had gone from bad to worse. Little did she know she was on the verge of the greatest day.

Of her life When Gabriel shows up at Mary's house, Mary was perplexed and afraid and agitated. She thought her life was in jeopardy. Little did she know that she was on the verge of the greatest news. Of her life And I would say if you're here today and you've never yet believed in Jesus, I would say to you that this morning, God is pulling you over by the side of the road.

He's the powerful sovereign God against whom you have sinned. You have great reason to fear him. If he was disposed to judge you. But instead, he speaks to you and he says, you have great reason to rejoice.

I am gracing you right now. I am with you right now, offering you salvation and forgiveness through my Son, who took your punishment for you, and he is right now ready to give you this salvation through His grace if you will but only receive it. Will you let this be the best day? Of your life.

Do you see, do you feel in your heart that God is in fact proposing? To you right now, wanting to be the eternal lover of your soul. And will you accept? That proposal Let's pray together If God is working in your heart and you God's spirit has Been stirring within you a desire and a hunger for Jesus.

For this salvation, this grace, this forgiveness, this relationship that comes to you from God through Him. Even right now where you're seated. There's no magical prayer. It's just respond positively to him.

Surrender to him And say, Lord, I've heard the truth this morning and I, I believe. I surrender And I worship you. Forgive me of my sins. And make me your child.

And just cry out to him in your heart. The Bible tells us that whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Jesus says, anyone who comes to me, I don't care what their history is, whoever comes to me, I will not, I will not, I will not cast them out. No one is too sinful for him.

There are people too righteous for him, but no one is too sinful for him. He will receive you and he will save you if you will come to Him in humility. And ask him to be your Lord and Savior and surrender to his love. If you have further questions, please come talk to us afterwards.

We've got a table with some resources that would be a help for you, that you'll see as you're walking out. Just talk to us at that table or anywhere that you might see me walking around. or anyone else with a smiling face, we would love to answer your questions. And help you to understand further how you can Become a child of God today.

Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for passages like this that are so utterly human. We're like Zacharias, in so many ways, we understand Mary's perplexity and her fear. We get it, Lord, and we just thank you that you condescend so low to love us and speak to us, to address our questions, our perplexities, and to just lovingly shepherd us from our perplexities.

To a place of faith and surrender and worship, you're a good God. There is no Lord like you. Who will never let us down and who always stands ready to forgive us when we let you down and to come alongside of us and to hold us up to keep us from letting you down. You are a great savior and a great Lord, and we're blessed to be in your presence today and to be bathed by your truth.

The truth of this good news about Christ. Work in our hearts, Lord, enrich our capacity to really enjoy the true meaning of what this season is all about. And make us worshippers, fully surrendered worshippers of you. We thank you for this opportunity to give of our offerings to you, Lord.

Receive these funds, do much with every penny that is given for the glory of Jesus. We ask these things in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said, Amen.