God Of Impossibilities - Luke 1:26-38 Series

Luke is coming to his account number two, and we're so glad to have visitors today. We have been going through the gospel of Luke. The Lord is helping us as we traverse at a quite steady pace, taking large sections. I'm much more comfortable with a verse or half a verse, but I pray that this has been beneficial to us all. Both of these accounts have involved a majestic angel. an angel by the name of Gabriel. Both seem to be parallel accounts as they relate to us and are organized such as Luke has brought these together.

Let's pray before we begin. Father, as we Read your word as we sit under the preaching of it. I pray that you would cause our ears to be open, our minds to be clear, and our hearts to be receptive to your wondrous truth. Lord, may you cause each one of us to realize the magnitude of the word before us today. May we each behold the Savior, and may we praise to our God in Jesus' name. Amen.

As we read in the response of reading our text, I considered not reading it, but as is the habit of ours, I want to read the scripture and then preach, if nothing else, for my own benefit and for my own soul, but I know it would be for your benefit as well. And so let's read our text once again this morning from Luke.

Now in the sixth month, that is the sixth month of Elizabeth, remember the news had come to Elizabeth, 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. 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 he 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.

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. And Mary said, behold, the bond slave of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. May God write his eternal truth upon our hearts this morning. May the Holy Spirit do a work in each and all of us.

The God of impossibilities is who we are looking at this morning and every Lord's day. Without a doubt, the greatest announcement ever made, ever delivered. We come across this many times at the time of Christmas, which is nearing upon us. But as we go through the Gospels, and we look in Matthew, and we look in Luke, and we see the importance of what's occurring here in the whole scope of the Gospel. But this greatest news is the greatest news that the world has ever heard or ever will hear. This news that Luke is narrating of this second event, if you will, in redemptive history.

Remember, Luke, the doctor Luke, the historian Luke, says, I want to give you this account from the very beginning. And he started with the announcement to Zechariah. that she would bear a son in her old age and him in his old age. Bear a son through natural conception, natural childbirth. And then six months later, the same angel comes here to this humble, very young virgin. This one who, no doubt, was somewhere 12, 13, 14 years old. We're going to look more at this, but the context is in the sixth month. Remember, Elizabeth is pregnant, and so I want us to look at this portion of Scripture with three headings. First, we want to see an angel, secondly, a virgin, and third, a God of impossibilities.

We look at the angel, here's this angelic visitation. These are not angels like you might see in some cartoon sketch of a little fat baby. No, these are fearful, angelic beings who have come delivered from God, who leave the presence of God and come down to man, and there is always fear. associated with this. And so the angel is going to say in very similar language to Mary as he did to Zacharias, as he did to Daniel, as he did to the shepherds, and on and on, do not fear. But notice here who this angel is, Gabriel. This is the same angel that came to Zacharias. If you wonder when have we heard of Gabriel, we heard of him in Daniel. And there was a time when Daniel was praying for the salvation of his people and the deliverance of his people, and he prayed and he fasted, and not only did he pray and fast, he confessed the sins of the people, much like we ought to do, is confess our own sins as we do corporately many times, as we ought to privately often. Why often? Because we sin often. You can't confess our sins often enough, I think.