Something Borrowed To Make You New

Luke 1:26-33; 2:1-7; 23:53

Something Borrowed to Make You New

INTRO:

The place was Dallas, TX; the year, 1987; there are at least 500 people standing behind police barricades trying to catch a glimpse of what is happening. Paul Tavilla holds the world record for grape catching. He catches grapes in his mouth. His world record is that he caught a grape in his mouth after it fell 660 feet off the top of a 52-story building in Tokyo, Japan. But now we are in Dallas. The new record attempt is 72-stories. A hush falls on the crowd as a man on top drops the first grape. It falls and splats on the sidewalk. Grape after grape falls, sometimes into the crowd. Gusty wind that day. Now, only one grape left. The crowd watches anxiously. At about the 10th floor a gust of wind carries the grape well off course into the crowd.

The crowd applauds with courtesy, and Paul Tavilla bows, gets into a limo, and drives away.

But the story doesn’t end there. TV cameras surround the guy in which the grape hit. It had hit him right below the eye…it was a little puffy. The reporter asked, "Are you all right?" "Yes". "Are you disappointed that you didn’t get to see a record broken today?" "No", he said, "What really bothered me is that if I had just moved my head 3 inches back and opened my mouth, I could be the new world record holder." [Taken from Proclaim, summer 2000 issue, p.34]

I like his attitude. Optimistic. Even in a bad situation, he saw unlimited possibilities for something good to happen. But what I really want you to see in this story is- what are the odds of Tavilla catching the grape, on a windy day, or this guy or anyone else? Slim and none. You probably have a better chance of getting struck by lighting.

Well, in the Bible, there are over 300 separate predictions about the Messiah. What are the odds of one Man fulfilling them all? Think of each of the 300 messianic prophecies as a filter that strains out everyone who does not meet its requirements, and you will quickly realize how unlikely it is for just anyone to pass through all 300. If you try calculating the odds of someone fulfilling all 300 you end up with one out of a number with 125 zeros behind it. [article from John Hagee study Bible, p.1063]

What I want us to do today is look at 3, not 300, but 3 prophecies that means so much to us today. Let’s boil it down to 3 important prophecies and these 3 all have to do with something borrowed.

1. THE BORROWED WOMB Lk. 1:31

The angel told Mary she would conceive in her womb and bring forth a Son and call Him Jesus. She said how can this be since I don’t know a man. In other words intimately. She was engaged, but not yet married. The dating procedure in the first century was much different from ours today. Many times weddings were predetermined by the parents when the children were small. Today, we date and even get married on a whim. In fact Sandie and I met on a blind date. She later told me that blind dates is kind of like deep sea fishing. You never know what you’ve got until you get it in the boat. You know what the definition of a blind date is? You expect to meet a vision, but she (he) turns out to be a sight……Any way, Sandie tell me we have strange and wonderful relationship. She says I’m strange and she’s wonderful.

Point is, Mary is a virgin. This fulfills prophetic Scripture. Matthew 1:22-23

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Literally means behold the virgin is pregnant. The borrowed womb. Now why is this prophecy so important?

Rom.3:23, 6:23a. All have sinned and penalty is death. We need a Savior, a sinless perfect sacrifice. Only One who qualifies is God. But now we’ve got a problem. God can’t die. So Jesus becomes a man. John 1:1, 14. This baby that is born is the everlasting Son of God. Micah 5:2

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Without the incarnation we’d have no hope, no Savior. The law cannot save us. Romans 8:3