Let it be to me

Well, we are going to start a new series today. If you like titles, the title of today's sermon message, let it be to me. Let it be to me. And I invite you to open your Bibles once again together, let's turn to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. We're going to begin in verse 26.

Luke 1 verse 26 we will read through verse 38 in just a moment.

And in turning and opening to this chapter of Luke's Gospel, we are starting a new series of studies, a chapter-by-chapter sermon series with the Gospel of Luke. And our hope will be that we'll move through with this story flow, this wonderful Gospel attempting to not get bogged down with the peripheral, rather to keep our focus on the central theme, the coming of Jesus Christ and the message that he brought from his father.

As we think about the Gospel of Luke, it's interesting to think regarding this writer, Luke, that this book, along with the other book that Luke wrote, namely the Book of Acts, with that, Luke is responsible for over a quarter of the whole of the New Testament material. And in fact, the Book of Luke, the Gospel of Luke itself, is the longest book in the New Testament. It will demand our attention over a period of time here, but again, we will look to move forward swiftly and carefully, pausing at the moments that need our most attention.

It begins with the announcement of John the Baptist, proceeds all the way through the ascension of Jesus Christ, covers a tremendous amount of material, but I wanted to begin at this dramatic moment here.

So let's read this together. This is Gabriel's birth announcement to Mary. Look at this. Luke 1, beginning in verse 26. Now, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the House of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice highly favored one.

The Lord is with you. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then 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 bring forth the Son and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the highest. And the Lord God will give 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. Then, verse 34, Mary said to the How can this be, since I do not know a man?

And the angel answered and said to her, Indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age. And this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible. Verse 38, Then Mary said, Behold, the maidservant of the Lord. Here it is. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. So let's stop there. Well, quite a dramatic passage, isn't it? And again, I thought it best we start here in chapter one with this particular passage here, which contains this account of the virgin birth.

That's what we refer to it as. But I think more accurately, we might refer to it as the virgin conception. If you think about it, there really wasn't anything unnatural about the birth of Jesus Christ as it's recorded for us. He came into this world, the natural and the normal fashion, it was delivered just like any other healthy baby would.

So his birth, if you will, was entirely natural. It is, however, instead his conception, which was supernatural. And this passage of Scripture before us, it confronts us with the truth right off the bat, which is frankly awesome. It's mind-stretching. It's mind-boggling. It is the truth that Jesus was born of a human mother without any human father. So he became flesh through being conceived, as it says there in verse 35, by the overshadowing of the power of the Holy Spirit.

So seemingly unbelievable. Unbelievable. Now, having said that, we want to immediately remind ourselves of the fact of what Luke has already told us in penning this gospel here. And he's told us that this gospel, his gospel, is a product of careful investigation. Okay? So if you allow your eyes to go up to verses 1 through 3, we see Luke's statement on that very fact.

Look at verses 1 through 3 here, staying in chapter 1. Luke begins his gospel by saying, "...inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those sayings which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us." Luke says, "...it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write you an orderly account." Let's stop there.

So, eyewitnesses had been given to him, and he had paid careful attention to those eyewitnesses. And the phraseology here suggests that he scrutinized them. And on the basis of doing so, he found that it was incumbent upon him to provide what he refers to there in verse 3 as an orderly account. So, you have someone here in Luke who was a doctor, he was a physician, therefore he was the kind of person by nature who would pay special attention, especially when it came to matters of physical birth and physical conception and so on.

And he is an individual who, in writing this gospel, clearly understands himself as reporting fact. Fact. A staggering fact, nonetheless. Fact. And there's no notion here whatsoever that Luke or any of the other gospel writers are somehow dabbling in myth here. Rather, this is the orderly account of fact that he's recording here.

Now, I spend a little time with that because this is fairly demanding material here that we're entering into. And we take time in thinking about this here at the beginning because we know that there are people who have denied this. And they continue to deny the virgin conception as being fact. And if you look around and pay any attention, there's even a growing segment of society, even so-called Christian society, which suggests that if we're going to make an impact on preaching the gospel, that we're going to have to abandon all parts of the New Testament, which are difficult or unbelievable. They've already abandoned the Old Testament, but there's a new movement coming that says, let's abandon these difficult parts or these unbelievable parts. So if we're going to make an impact with the message of the gospel, again, they suggest that we're going to have to abandon all these frankly unbelievable parts here.

And we could start with the virgin conception. And instead, they say, let's simply put our efforts into expressing other, easier aspects of the gospel. Let's focus on love, for example. It is, they say, to proclaim a gospel which is more acceptable, understandable, absorbable. And in that way, we're going to make the gospel message more appealing. We're going to reach a broader audience. We're going to reach those agnostics. We're going to reach those unbelieving. So you eliminate the logical and metaphysical difficulties, right? Thereby create a more acceptable version of the gospel message. Now, make no doubt this is erroneous logic. It's erroneous thinking. But we need to think about and understand the challenges here that we face. And we need to think about the way society thinks. And even mainstream Christianity is beginning to think. We need to know what kind of unsound reasoning that we're up against so that we can present and proclaim against these notions and effectively proclaim all of the gospel. All of it, you see. The easily absorbable parts as well as the not so easily absorbable parts. So let's ask, in preparing ourselves for this, let's ask, what is it, you think, that provides the mindset or produces the mindset, the mindset that questions or doubts the reality of the virgin conception?

You know, what lends people to doubt Luke's account here? What is it that moves people to this doubt?

There might be several reasons. I believe one of the primary reasons is because those who reason in this fashion, they are largely conditioned to and largely thinking in scientific terms. In other words, their thinking is only in the realm of science. Because science tells us that before you can accept that any event took place, you need to verify that that event can happen again and again and again. You see, it is a it's really a scientific way of thinking. So if there was an event that cannot reproduce itself, then it wasn't an event at all, they will say. That's why scientists or scientific thinking in that way, they get so frustrated with unique events. Because by and large, the scientific community spend their days trying to reproduce the same set of circumstances over and over and over again. And then on the basis of repetition, well then you can make your deductions, they will say. And so they say, if an event by definition is unrepeatable, then it is unverifiable. And therefore, the logic says we conclude then, for example, there is no virgin conception. Because by very definition, it is unique and unrepeatable. Now, if you had virgin conception as a regular event, as seen by obstetricians, let's say, on a weekly basis, well then there would be no difficulty in accepting the notion of Jesus of Nazareth being born in this way, would there? I mean, people would say, oh, there's another virgin conception. You know, that's the seventh one I've seen all year, you know. So, if that were the case, people would say, fine, there was a virgin conception. No big deal. But it's the very fact that there are not those things which makes this so remarkable. So, for us to describe Christ's arrival in this way with the virgin conception, it is to punctuate, absolutely punctuate, who Jesus really is. That's why it's so important. It's why it's so important to understand the means of his arrival. Without it, without the virgin conception, he would not be distinguished from any and all other arrivals, would he? Without it, there would be nothing in his coming that would say anything substantial about the nature of Jesus Christ. Without the virgin conception, what would we say? Well, he was born of a Galilean woman. Okay, so was a lot of others. Well, he was born in not-so-suitable conditions. Okay, so were many others at that time.

So, what is the thing that stands out? Where's the difficulty in the passage which leads us to the conclusion that there's something striking about what's going on here? It is this, that there's no human explanation for the way in which the Son of God became incarnate.

So, Luke, understandably, gives serious treatment as a doctor on this supernatural entry of Jesus Christ. Later, we'll see Luke give serious treatment of Christ's supernatural exit from this world. And he does so because these events were totally out of the ordinary. They were outside the natural. But that's why they're here, and that's why they're so important. Because Luke, having conducted a careful investigation and in listening and scrutinizing eyewitness reports and having taken his background as a doctor and bringing it all to bear on the subject, he sits down to write an orderly account. And here at the very outside of it all, he just writes this most mind-boggling report here of notions, this virgin conception.

And I think we could ask, why would we expect anything different than mind-boggling?

This is the arrival of the very Son of God himself. And as we go through this material, what's most of it just is incredible, we realize that it's not inconsistent with the fact that the one who was both the Son of God and man should make his entry in a supernatural way. In fact, if you think about it, what would be inconsistent is if the Son of God came without any sense of immense drama. That would be inconsistent, I think. So why would there be any difficulty for the Father to bring his son into the incarnate by means of a virgin conception? This is the Creator stepping into his creation.

Of course there's mystery. Of course there's drama here.

So we can't abandon these difficult parts. We say to people, I believe. I believe it all. I believe the more difficult parts, I believe the more understandable parts, I believe it all. And we resist the temptation to avoid or be silent on this incarnation or any other difficult parts of the Bible. We can't reduce Christianity to some easily digested, bland soup. If we do so, we'll leave men and women ultimately hungry, for sure. So why don't men and women, increasingly so, believe this? Why don't they believe Luke's account here that we're reading?

Well, the fact of the matter is, Jesus says, the Lord of the universe has hidden these things. He's hidden this understanding, and He's hidden it particularly from the wise.

And He's revealed them to instead the children. We're going to come back to chapter one. If you want to just flip forward to chapter 10 and verse 21. So Luke chapter 10 and verse 21, we see that very thing. Luke, record later here that these very things have been hidden from those whom deem themselves as wise. Look at this. Luke 10 verse 21. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and revealed them to babes, even so, Father, for so it would seem good in your sight. It's not there. So God the Father has actually hidden this understanding from the wise. So the individual who says, I'm far too smart to accept the virgin conception. Well, we answer, you're absolutely right. You are too smart. Or, you know, I've got too many degrees to bow down to some silly notion of a virgin conception.

You're absolutely right. You're too wise. But I hope you'll keep listening, you know, because you'll never come to faith until you bow down like a child. Not in childlessness, but in childlike trust. We've seen that. We felt it, you know, childlike trust.

And reach out to the Lord of heaven and earth. Ask him to remove the veil of our own wise intellect and to supernaturally reveal these things to us. So, as we begin this great gospel, it's important for us to take a moment to recognize that we are called to wrestle with these factual historical data given to us by Luke. In doing so, it is to consider that progress will ultimately be made by coming to Scripture in childlike trust. That's where progress will be made. So, back to chapter one. We actually find in chapter one, one who actually provides us an illustration of childlike trust, where Mary, again in chapter one, verse 38, when this whole encounter is concluded, remarkably, verse 38, then Mary said, speaking of herself, Behold the maidservant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. Let it be to me. That is the ultimate of childlike trust. This is the conclusion of it all. And this is where we need to be today. It's where we need to be today.

So, after that introduction, long introduction, and the remaining time we have left, let's go through the story briefly here. It's a fascinating story. Let me give you a quick summary of the preceding verses here. Luke, in beginning this Gospel, has first provided us with the news of the arrival of the one who would be the herald of Jesus Christ's coming, namely, John the Baptist, who would be born of Elizabeth and Zacharias. The storyline is found there in verses 5-25. We'll look to get to that to John the Baptist in a future study. But Luke sets Mary's conception in the context of letting us know that cousin Elizabeth, again, in the previous narrative here, is now verse 26 in her sixth month of pregnancy with John, the one who would become John the Baptist. And then in verse 24, Luke tells us that Elizabeth, pregnant with baby John, she had previously gone and hid. She was in seclusion. Well, now that seclusion is over with, I'm sure she's beginning to show. So it's time to let everyone know. Gabriel, the angel here, was involved previously in discussing that with Elizabeth in the opening verses, is now dispatched to Nazareth in verse 26 to the home of this young girl named Mary, who's engaged to the village carpenter Joseph. We could pause here. I won't pause except to say, if you and I were designing the way in which we would have the human origins of the Son of God and how they would unfold, I don't think we would come up with this that we're about to read. I think if I was designing this and thinking about this, I would have the angel come down to the Queen, you know, the palace, and to this wonderful, wealthy family, you know, and some kind of come down to some woman of nobility, you know, in that way, maybe a queen of some sorts. And the palace, of course, is where the king of all ages would be born. Now, God's thoughts are not our thoughts, mercifully. Instead, Gabriel comes to this young woman. God has chosen the foolish to the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. In the incarnation, he does the same here. He doesn't go and get someone prominent where everybody would have said, well, of course, oh, she's from that wealthy, prominent family. Of course, that makes sense, you know. No, none of that. The people would have said, Mary? Mary. And isn't she betrothed to my carpenter, Joe? You know, it was unbelievable. Verse 27, she was pledged or betrothed, engaged, we could say, to Joseph. It's a little bit more than engagement. Betrothed means that she made a solemn commitment in front of witnesses. They hadn't yet had the marriage feast. They hadn't yet taken the marriage bed, of course, but they're linked together, absolutely committed to one another. And in that context, Gabriel the angel comes in his initial greeting here, verse 28. Verse 28 again, and having come in, the angel said to her, rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women.

So let's stop there. So six months earlier, Gabriel was sent to Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah was beyond the age. Elizabeth was barren. Six months earlier, he had exclaimed to them that a baby John was coming. Now Gabriel must be thanking to himself. I thought that was pretty awesome. You know, now this. So he goes on to say, greetings to you, Mary. You highly, you're highly favored. Let me just pause at this moment. We won't, we'll just say this in passing. There is a Latin Vulgate translation of this greeting from the angel here, Gabriel, and it's a mistranslation, and it contributes to a misunderstanding in this way. This greeting in the Latin Vulgate translation has been mistranslated to Hail Mary, full of grace. Hail Mary, full of grace. This leading to the misunderstanding, the mis-doctrine, believing that those these words from Gabriel mean that Mary was and is a source of grace to people. Okay? A source of grace. She's not. She's not.

That's not what the angel says. The angel says, the Lord is with you. You're blessed. We could say God's grace rests upon her, but in no way does that determine, as some would have you believe, that Mary is a source of grace. Many in the Catholic community, in particular, take these words and this greeting by Gabriel to authorize worship of Mary. Not so. Not so. This doesn't give any authorization to that. She no doubt received God's grace, but she, Mary, is not to be elevated any higher as a source of grace. All right? I just want to make that clear that that is this is a part of Scripture in which is greatly mistranslated, at least to a big mis-doctrine, of course. Moving along, verse 29. No surprise. Mary is troubled here. Verse 29. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered. She thought about what manner of greeting this was.

Next comes the standard phrase, seemingly from all angels. This is what they say in many cases. Verse 30. Do not be afraid. And then in almost a matter-of-fact way, the angel declares this staggering news. Verse 31. You will conceive in your womb and bring forth the sun. Staggering. Remember, we can place Mary's age to be a teenager, just merely a teenager. So there was no thought of being with child. She had not been with a man. This is out of the ordinary, absolutely extraordinary, not natural, supernatural. You will be with son.

He'll be a boy. Here's his name. So in just a matter of a few phrases, the angel cuts through a lot of the dilemma, typically faced with new mothers. You know, generally when you find out you're conceived, that you've conceived a baby and you're pregnant, often you have to come up with two sets of baby names, you know, until you find out what it's going to be. You know, the normal standard practice. Here, the angel cuts right through it all and says, well, you're going to have a baby. It's going to be a boy. And oh, by the way, I'm even going to give you his name. Then, Gabriel adds this wonderful succession of phrases here for us. Look at this, verse 32 and 33. It's almost as if he just, this just pours out of him. Gabriel exclaims, verse 32, he will be great. He will be called the son of the highest, and the Lord God will give 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. It's not there. We can't pass by this. You know, why would the angel say these things? I think, surely, it's to anchor in the minds of the initial readers and to us today, the fact that this is, that Jesus Christ is in direct line, and there's a continuity that's unfolding here that's been a continuity since the beginning, since the Old Testament. And it's the same phraseology used here that's most often seen in the Old Testament, as it's pointing forward to one coming. You know, those prophetic writers in the Old Testament they were on their tippy toes, you know, looking to see who's this going to be, you know, they were writing about this future fulfillment, and the fulfillment of Jesus Christ coming. Remember, Luke has set out to write an orderly account of things based on careful investigation by eyewitness reports. He's not providing some haphazard emotional record concerning Jesus of Nazareth. Rather, he's carefully laying it down verse by verse here so that as he goes on to write his gospel and the great panorama unfolds in the ministry of Jesus Christ, it's going to begin in the correct way, with the means by which the Creator steps into his creation. So, this provides us this continuous storyline in harmony with everything that's been written prior.

We don't have time to work through these phrases fully, but you will notice first, he will be great. Who is this Jesus Christ to come? He will be great. Great in a far more significant way than John the Baptist. Allow your eyes to go up to verse 15. You will see that the angel came to Zachariah previously, saying of John the Baptist, verse 15, that he, John the Baptist, quote, will be great in the sight of the Lord. Now, verse 32, he comes and he says, Jesus will be great. The definition of greatness. The herald is great in the sight of the Lord. The Messiah is the definition of greatness, you see. His name will be above all names. Every knee will bow. He will have a title, verse 32, son of the highest. Verse 32, he will have a throne. The Lord will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And his kingdom will, there will be no end.

This is the word of God, of course, given previously to David the king. And when the covenant was being established with David, we won't have time to go there, but David was told in setting up David's kingdom, I will set up your seed after you. One will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. For your notes, if you'd like to look this up later, you can see those words regarding to David in, I'll give you two references, 2 Samuel 7.12, 2 Samuel 7.12, and 1 Chronicles 17.11.

1 Chronicles 17.11. You can see where the promise is given of the seed who would come and from David's body would be the one in which he would establish his kingdom from those two references. So when people say, you know, did he come just out of nowhere? Did he just drop out down in a moment of time? Not at all. This is the whole of redemption history moving forward to this event and this news which Gabriel is providing to this unexpecting, bewildering, pondering young woman Mary. And Gabriel is declaring that his kingdom, this baby, his kingdom will be unlike all dynasties of man throughout history. His rule will last forever. So are these details significant? Profoundly. Profoundly significant. Again, we can't proclaim Jesus Christ in our revelation of him in any other way than how Luke is proclaiming him here. We cannot simply set aside the factual historical record which Luke is putting forth. Christ, you will find, just do a little research, in mainstream churches. He's being pronounced in the most easily digestible way that they can, presented merely as an infant in a manger, you know, dismissing him. It's just a child, no power. We can't set aside the king of all kings, Lord of all lords. Now after this strong proclamation by the angel, not surprising, Mary asked the inevitable question, how would this be? Verse 34, you see it there. Verse 34, Mary said to the angel, how can this be? Since I do not know a man. How will this be? How will this be? So later we're going to see that Mary's willing for this declaration to happen, but she's just trying to figure she can't comprehend how this is going to be accomplished. In the angel's response, verse 35, verse 35, and the angel answered and said to her again, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the highest will overshadow you, therefore also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. In other words, the angel makes it clear here, this birth is not going to be by any ordinary method of human generation, but the total unparalleled action of the power of the Holy Spirit. And again, science can only deal with material which can be produced and reproduced time and time again. But this unparalleled, unrepeatable, absolutely unique event, science doesn't have the ability to speak anything upon it. And there's a mystery to this, of course. There's an absolute mystery to this. But as I was thinking about this, and as we think about this, the fact of the matter is, ordinary human conception is a mystery. Man is able to analyze, man is able to describe the process of human conception and birth. Ultimately, it's even outside of true understanding. They can observe it, they can pontificate. Ultimately, science doesn't even have all the answers. There's still so many questions that remain. Despite knowing all that we know about DNA and all these other things, human conception is still remarkable mystery. And if we cannot even grapple with it and get our minds fully beneath it to totally comprehend it naturally and physically, why would it be a surprise if we're left in the realm of mystery with regards to the incarnation of the Son of God Himself? And by the way, neither God nor Gabriel demanded Mary to understand everything.

And if those are waiting, those of us are waiting to understand everything before becoming a committed follower of Christ, I've got news. You will never understand everything. And the journey is a journey of faith-seeking understanding. That's what it is. It's faith seeking understanding. Sometimes we get it reverse. It's not mindlessness. I'll tell you that. You don't check your brain at the door and come in and take a look at Luke's account here. It's not that at all.

It's the understanding that it is historical. It's rational. It's logical. It's the understanding that his mode of entry into this life is entirely in keeping with his identity and the purpose to which he came. Would it even make sense if he, who was it without beginning or end, would appear in such a way that we could just totally fathom it? Would that even make sense? No. So we ask, and Mary asks, how can this be? You know, it's an understandable question. And Gabriel's response, well, it's quite remarkable. It's going to be quite incredible. I was struck by verse 36 here. You know, again, the Holy Spirit's going to come upon you. Holy One will be born, the Son of God. And then look at verse 36. It's almost as if Gabriel pauses and maybe beneath his breath says verse 36, now indeed Elizabeth, your relative, she has also conceived a son in her old age.

So you're going to have a baby. It's going to be a boy. Here's his name. Holy Spirit come upon you, overshadowing you. Oh, by the way, your cousin who's barren, and she's going to have a baby as well. I just wanted to mention that, you know, to you. How can all this be? Verse 37, for with God nothing will be impossible. That's it. For with God nothing will be impossible. I wonder if you believe that. I wonder if you believe that. I hope you believe that.

So finally, to wrap this up, after taking it all into consideration, here it is, verse 38, an awesome statement. Verse 38, then Mary said, speaking of herself, behold the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. That's awesome. This is a girl, betrothed, young girl, getting married to her love, Joe, Joseph, moving on in their days, planning it all out. Suddenly an angel appears, gives her this news. What a humble heart. Okay, I'm the Lord's servant. Okay, okay. And let me just say, if you're having trouble with your faith, I'm going to tell you the way forward. I'm going to tell you the way forward. Get on your knees and say, I am the Lord's servant. Let it be to me according to your word. That is a powerful prayer. A powerful prayer. Some of us, perhaps, are being unable to come fully to Christ today simply because we haven't uttered those words. So, in conclusion, let's learn from Mary's humility, her bravery. She's a brave girl, not yet married to Joseph. Her response to a pregnancy should have been so strong. I know she was probably feeling it. She ran the risk of being prepared for suffering, ridicule, rumors, accusations, disgrace with this condition, still knowing all of that. She embraced the will of God, even though it was going to cost her personally. She surrendered herself, surrendered her reputation to do God's will. Self-sacrifice.

I think we're going to see in this series, that might be the theme. Self-sacrifice. In this lifetime, God's going to give everything to us in the next one, that's for sure. Self-sacrifice.

The great mystery of it all, the virgin conception, just at the right time, God looked down to bring about His plan of salvation through the most unlikely of girls. And I'm here to tell you today that God's will for you is to bring about His plan of salvation through you. Through you. Through you. How will you respond?

Respond as Mary did. Pray this tonight. Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.