WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.780 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. It is wonderful 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:20.780 that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, either 00:00:20.780 --> 00:00:24.920 by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray 00:00:24.920 --> 00:00:31.520 for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:37.939 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, we really, 00:00:38.179 --> 00:00:42.579 I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible, 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:48.760 they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will 00:00:48.760 --> 00:00:54.560 do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:59.340 non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't 00:00:59.340 --> 00:01:04.219 hesitate to send us questions. It helps me, actually, to know, as I'm preaching, how to 00:01:04.219 --> 00:01:07.760 deal with the types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:12.079 --> 00:01:17.540 Stanley, let's just bow our heads in prayer for a moment, please. Father, as we come to 00:01:17.540 --> 00:01:24.540 your Word, we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would use your Word to help us to see ourselves 00:01:24.540 --> 00:01:30.180 ourselves and to understand ourselves, to recognize ourselves. And we ask, Father, as well, that your 00:01:30.180 --> 00:01:37.100 Holy Spirit would use your Word to help us to understand you, your heart, your plans, your 00:01:37.100 --> 00:01:43.200 purposes for us. And we ask all of these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:44.640 Please be seated. 00:01:44.640 --> 00:01:52.939 So one of the ways, if you, there's lots of ways, obviously, to insult Canadians. No lack of ways to 00:01:52.939 --> 00:01:58.480 insult Canadians. But one way that you could insult most Canadians is if you were to say to them, 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:07.280 you completely, you lack curiosity. You're an incurious person. I can guarantee that. If you're, if you 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:10.819 don't believe me, just say to your neighbors over the next couple of weeks, by the way, you're an 00:02:10.819 --> 00:02:15.759 incurious person. You have no curiosity. And they will not like you for saying that. It's a way to 00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:23.579 insult Canadians. Now, I think whether or not many of our friends and neighbors would say this, I think 00:02:23.579 --> 00:02:31.579 it's probably a fairly common belief amongst many Canadians that Christians by nature are not very 00:02:31.579 --> 00:02:38.439 curious. I think many Canadians would say something like this, we haven't made any particular decision 00:02:38.439 --> 00:02:46.259 about God or anything like that. We, we're open. We're searching. We're curious. Christianity, 00:02:46.659 --> 00:02:51.280 become a Christian, you have to believe in dogma and all these beliefs, and you have to sort of believe 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:55.280 them and all of that. And, and once you have to believe these certain types of things, then you can 00:02:55.280 --> 00:03:01.439 no longer be curious. Whether or not they say it very clearly, for many Canadians, I think that they 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:13.620 would believe that Christianity is where curiosity goes to die. Now, I guess just a couple of things. 00:03:13.719 --> 00:03:21.680 First of all, curiosity is a wonderful thing. And we should try to be as curious as possible. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:27.599 But the question is, do I say that just because I'm trying to be a very good Canadian? 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:33.340 Or am I saying that because I want to be a good Christian? We have to acknowledge that there are 00:03:33.340 --> 00:03:38.939 many Christians, just like there are many Canadians who aren't Christians, who are in fact not curious 00:03:38.939 --> 00:03:46.240 at all. Curiosity has died within them. But is not being curious a feature of Christianity, 00:03:46.659 --> 00:03:52.280 or something which shows that we're not being a good Christian? The text that we're going to look at 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:58.659 today, believe it or not, is a, says a lot about curiosity and what it means to be a Christian. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:03.400 So if you would turn with me, we're looking at Luke chapter 1, verse 26 and following. 00:04:04.259 --> 00:04:12.819 Luke chapter 1, verse 26 and following. And we'll begin by reading verse 26. And just in terms of the 00:04:12.819 --> 00:04:19.120 context, if you go back later on and read the first 25 verses, the book of Luke is an ancient 00:04:19.120 --> 00:04:26.780 eyewitness-based biography of Jesus, written by someone who was not an eyewitness, but interviewed 00:04:26.780 --> 00:04:33.860 eyewitnesses, and wrote when many, many eyewitnesses were still alive. So that's what the book of Luke 00:04:33.860 --> 00:04:39.180 is. That's what it began as. Later on, it came to be recognized as scripture, but it began as this 00:04:39.180 --> 00:04:44.259 ancient biography. And what's just happened is Luke just basically tells us what I just said, like how he 00:04:44.259 --> 00:04:48.920 searched out these things to find the truth and give a good account. And then there's this story of a 00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:55.379 very elderly man named Zechariah who has this angel come and appear to him and promise that his 00:04:55.379 --> 00:05:01.980 elderly wife is going to get conceived and have a baby. And that actually happens. But Zechariah 00:05:01.980 --> 00:05:07.700 doesn't believe it and he's struck dumb. And this is the next story in the Gospel of Luke. And it begins 00:05:07.700 --> 00:05:16.660 like this. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 00:05:16.660 --> 00:05:23.560 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:32.879 was Mary. Now, just a couple of things here. The first thing is this. The word virgin here is, 00:05:33.220 --> 00:05:41.060 in a sense, a biological description. It is not a title. It is referring just the way we would 00:05:41.060 --> 00:05:47.199 understand it today. It's a woman who's not had any type of sexual knowing at all. She's a virgin. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:52.480 And that's who Mary is. And the second thing is that for many people, if they were hearing this 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:57.920 story for the very, very first time, they would think, oh, okay, this is going to be interesting. 00:05:58.040 --> 00:06:04.920 I understand how stories like this work because it's part of the story of how religions in general 00:06:04.920 --> 00:06:13.280 work. Religions in general are often based on private revelations with no external corroboration. 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:21.500 If you think about it, that Mormonism is started by these tablets that nobody's ever seen and an 00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:25.660 angel talking to somebody, and nobody ever saw that. You just have to take, I think it's Joseph 00:06:25.660 --> 00:06:31.939 Smith's word on it. You just have to take Muhammad's word on the fact that the angel spoke on behalf of 00:06:31.939 --> 00:06:37.959 Gabriel, on behalf of Allah and spoke to him. You have to, in a sense, take Gautama Buddha's word 00:06:37.959 --> 00:06:42.399 that he hadn't achieved enlightenment. You just have these private things that have happened to 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:49.040 people. And some people, many people end up going along with it. And so in some ways, as this story 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:54.360 happens, we need to think about it, that on one level, this sounds, okay, we're in familiar territory 00:06:54.360 --> 00:07:01.360 here. You know, this is how things work in Hinduism and Buddhism and Islam and lots of other 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:05.840 religions. There's going to be a private revelation, and we're sort of set to hear it. 00:07:07.100 --> 00:07:11.720 But, and in fact, the rest of the story shows that this is, in fact, what does happen. This is, 00:07:11.860 --> 00:07:18.139 in fact, a private revelation to Mary. Look at what happens in verse 28. And he came to her, 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:24.699 and by the way, in the original language, came to her implies entering a house in the original 00:07:24.699 --> 00:07:31.139 language. So she's by herself, and the angel appears to her, and the angel speaks to her. 00:07:31.500 --> 00:07:36.000 And what does he say? Well, he came to her, verse 28, and said, Greetings, O favored one, 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:42.459 the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of 00:07:42.459 --> 00:07:51.019 greeting this might be. Now, just, I'm just going to want to take a bit of a one-minute aside. 00:07:53.379 --> 00:07:59.639 As we're going to see as we go through the story, Christians, in a sense, are unique amongst the world 00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:07.439 religions, because our religion is based on Jesus and the Bible, in that it's not based on a private 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:13.660 revelation, but on things that can be corroborated by history. Because, as I said, the book itself is a 00:08:13.660 --> 00:08:20.399 biography, historical biography of Jesus, based on eyewitness accounts written while eyewitnesses 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:25.019 were still alive. It's, in many ways, more like reading the newspaper, although nowadays, I think 00:08:25.019 --> 00:08:30.659 increasingly, newspapers are more like myths and fantasies than they used to be many, many years ago. 00:08:30.779 --> 00:08:34.279 But back in the day, when they were, in fact, trying to tell you what actually happened, 00:08:34.279 --> 00:08:40.100 that it's more like a newspaper type of account. The only reason that we believe Mary, by the way, 00:08:40.139 --> 00:08:45.259 is because of the resurrection of Jesus, which is an event in history that can be corroborated. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:53.039 And if Jesus rising from the dead changes everything, it's as simple as that. And if, 00:08:53.139 --> 00:08:58.059 in fact, Jesus really did predict that he was going to die in that manner, he really did die, 00:08:58.339 --> 00:09:03.000 the tomb is empty, he did rise from the dead, he did appear to people, if that's true, 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:08.860 then all of these other things are looked at in a very different light. The fact is, there are other 00:09:08.860 --> 00:09:15.519 types of reasons to believe Mary that fit with this. Mary does become pregnant, and we all know 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:21.899 that dreams don't make you pregnant. And the second thing is that later on, we have different times 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:27.940 when Jesus's enemies said, well, at least we know who our daddy is, implying that there were questions 00:09:27.940 --> 00:09:35.960 about the fatherhood, so to speak, who begat Jesus. But we believe this story ultimately because of the 00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:43.040 resurrection, and it fits. But there's another thing in here as well. Some of you hearing this story of, 00:09:43.340 --> 00:09:51.340 oh, you know, a favored one, there's a very, very common genre of books and movies where something like 00:09:51.340 --> 00:09:58.040 this happens. It could be any one of you, and one day somebody comes, and it's from the future or 00:09:58.040 --> 00:10:02.660 whatever, and you just think you're an ordinary person. But actually, you're originally from some 00:10:02.660 --> 00:10:08.360 faraway planet, and you have some special powers or something like that. And in fact, the whole history 00:10:08.360 --> 00:10:14.280 and the whole saving of the world depends upon you finally realizing your real nature and your real 00:10:14.280 --> 00:10:18.860 destiny. And this angel comes and picks you out, and that you're not actually ordinary, you're actually 00:10:18.860 --> 00:10:25.879 very, very special. And it's a very, very common genre. Many, many books and movies are all based 00:10:25.879 --> 00:10:33.340 around this type of genre. That's not what's going on here. It's far more obvious in the original 00:10:33.340 --> 00:10:40.200 language, but it's not that there's anything special about Mary. In fact, partly what is going to trouble 00:10:40.200 --> 00:10:46.879 Mary is that Mary knows she's not special. And when it says, oh, favored one, it doesn't mean that she's 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:53.639 sort of a source of grace, that she has this power that she didn't realize up until this moment where 00:10:53.639 --> 00:10:59.059 she could bestow grace on people and favor on people. What it's saying very clearly in the original 00:10:59.059 --> 00:11:06.480 language is she's receiving it from God. So it's not that type of a story that we're very, very familiar. 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:14.980 So what is it about? What is it that the angel is going to say about Mary? Apart from the fact that 00:11:14.980 --> 00:11:20.519 God is bestowing great grace upon her, what is it that's going to happen with Mary? Well, we know the 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:26.480 story, but listen to how they put it. It begins in verses 30 to 30. It's in verses 30 to 33. 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:33.180 And the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. It's the second 00:11:33.180 --> 00:11:39.920 way time that the angel says this. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, 00:11:40.519 --> 00:11:46.680 and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high. 00:11:47.300 --> 00:11:52.399 And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house 00:11:52.399 --> 00:12:00.439 of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom, there will be no end. Now we just have to pause here. We see on 00:12:00.439 --> 00:12:05.419 one hand that the baby is going to be very clearly a human baby. It says, if you notice, that he's going 00:12:05.419 --> 00:12:13.019 to have the throne of his father, David, which means forefather. So there is, in fact, a biological 00:12:13.019 --> 00:12:20.500 continuity, just like there is with any one of us, with our forebears that go before it. But there's a 00:12:20.500 --> 00:12:26.019 very massive claim which has been made in these simple words, which are lost to us in our day and 00:12:26.019 --> 00:12:30.500 age because we don't think about it very much. If you could put up the first image, Claire, that would 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:37.519 be very helpful. So hopefully you can see that. What the image is showing is that there's only one God 00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:43.980 hyphen the most high. And then underneath that is a line. And underneath the line is everything else. 00:12:43.980 --> 00:12:50.659 And so that is what, in a sense, the Tanakh, the Old Testament, teaches us. It's also, 00:12:51.220 --> 00:12:57.580 on one level, what the New Testament teaches us, that there's this very, very solid line. On one side 00:12:57.580 --> 00:13:02.440 of the line is the most high God. On the other side of the line is everything else. It doesn't matter if 00:13:02.440 --> 00:13:08.500 that everything else. It could be angels, demons, everything else. There's God on one side of the 00:13:08.500 --> 00:13:14.620 line. Underneath the line, there is only, there's everything else. And it's one of the things which 00:13:14.620 --> 00:13:20.320 made Judaism massively unique in the ancient world. There was no other religion that had that type of 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:27.220 a very, very clear distinction. And it was so unique that constantly the Jewish people were being sucked 00:13:27.220 --> 00:13:31.379 back to believe that, well, there's the most high God, there's a whole pile of other gods and goddesses 00:13:31.379 --> 00:13:36.940 and demigods, et cetera, et cetera, all above the line with complicated relationships and lots of other 00:13:36.940 --> 00:13:41.900 lines and all that type of stuff. But that's a very, very simple way to put it. But when it says 00:13:41.900 --> 00:13:48.900 that what's going to be conceived in Mary is the son of the most high God, if you could put up the 00:13:48.900 --> 00:13:54.800 second figure, this is now what is being said. On the top of the line, they're still saying there's 00:13:54.800 --> 00:13:59.420 only one God. If you read through the rest of the book of Luke, it's a very clear, consistent message. 00:13:59.420 --> 00:14:06.400 There is only one God. But now there's a hyphen, and with that is the most high and his son. 00:14:06.940 --> 00:14:11.300 And everything underneath the line, and underneath the line is everything else. 00:14:12.180 --> 00:14:18.180 Now, someday you might take a theology course with somebody like Steve here, who's a very good 00:14:18.180 --> 00:14:24.000 person at teaching theology. And when he teaches his Christology systematic theology, he will tell 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:30.280 you that in some ways, the whole first four centuries of debate or five centuries about Jesus 00:14:30.280 --> 00:14:35.900 was all of them trying to find language to get that and keep it straight and solid. But that's now 00:14:35.899 --> 00:14:41.079 what's being claimed. Why do I say that? Well, some of you know, maybe all of you know, I have nine 00:14:41.079 --> 00:14:46.740 kids. They have the same nature as me. They are my sons and daughters. They have the same nature as me. 00:14:47.579 --> 00:14:53.620 And so when, and it's going to be emphasized again in the next little bit, the angel says that 00:14:53.620 --> 00:14:58.819 something's going to happen, and what's conceived in you is the son of the most high God. That's 00:14:58.820 --> 00:15:08.700 what the angel is saying. It's a radical, radical, a radical new way of understanding things. 00:15:09.700 --> 00:15:15.040 Now, by the way, I'm going to talk about this again in a moment, but there's something else you 00:15:15.040 --> 00:15:20.780 need to understand here, because this is the beginning of a story that's going to end quite a 00:15:20.779 --> 00:15:26.600 few chapters later. And what this is saying is that when you see Jesus dying on the cross, 00:15:27.179 --> 00:15:31.679 who is dying on the cross? God is dying on the cross. 00:15:34.959 --> 00:15:42.240 God is dying on the cross. That's what the story is telling you. We'll return to that in a moment. 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:51.879 Now, I love the next verse. I love verse 34. In fact, if I was to give this title like a really 00:15:51.879 --> 00:15:59.100 boring title, why George loves verse 34 and verse 38. I love these two verses. And both of these two 00:15:59.100 --> 00:16:04.360 verses, they just completely and utterly transform your understanding of what Christianity is all about. 00:16:05.100 --> 00:16:11.360 Verse 34 and verse 38. What's verse 34? Well, this is Mary's answer, right? So the angels just said this to 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:20.680 her, and she responds, and Mary said to the angel, how will this be since I am a virgin? And literally, 00:16:20.840 --> 00:16:26.639 it says, since I have never sexually known a man. Now, there's something about this whole encounter 00:16:26.639 --> 00:16:32.960 which makes Mary realize that there's something urgent about it. But here's why I love this. And this 00:16:32.960 --> 00:16:40.800 is what transforms, to be gripped by this sentence is to begin to be gripped by how 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:49.759 revolutionary it is to embark on following Jesus. The first thing is it shows she's not gullible. 00:16:51.459 --> 00:16:56.979 She's not gullible. She knows how babies come about. We have a couple of babies here today. 00:16:57.500 --> 00:17:03.219 We all know. If one of the moms told us, by the way, I had a dream, and the next morning I was 00:17:03.219 --> 00:17:07.460 pregnant, like none of us would believe her. And Mary's not stupid. She's not gullible. 00:17:07.460 --> 00:17:14.700 And one of the things which is so wonderful about this is, as you're going to see, Mary is in many 00:17:14.700 --> 00:17:19.940 ways, in this chapter, Mary is the archetype of the perfect disciple of Jesus. 00:17:22.059 --> 00:17:24.519 So that means God doesn't want you to be gullible. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:29.059 Gullible is not a fruit of the Spirit. 00:17:29.059 --> 00:17:37.720 It is, in fact, a refusal to follow Jesus, if you're gullible. And here's the second thing, 00:17:37.839 --> 00:17:44.399 which is so wonderful about this story. She's curious. Like, if you go back later on and read 00:17:44.399 --> 00:17:49.899 Zechariah's response, Zechariah's response is almost identical to Mary's. But as we know with 00:17:49.899 --> 00:17:55.079 languages, this is the problem with emails. This is the problem with transcripts, is that somebody can 00:17:55.079 --> 00:17:59.379 say a sentence, and you don't know if they're being snarky, if they're being mean, if they're 00:17:59.379 --> 00:18:03.500 trying to put you down, if they hate your guts, if they're making a joke, if they're saying it with 00:18:03.500 --> 00:18:07.659 affection. You don't know any of those types of things. And that's one of the things. It's so hard 00:18:07.659 --> 00:18:12.240 to have conversations with people who are still wearing masks. You lose most of that other stuff 00:18:12.240 --> 00:18:17.740 that communicates, whether they say it to you and they're smiling, you know, or they say it to you 00:18:17.740 --> 00:18:22.359 with a frowny, angry face that you can't pick up. Well, it makes all the difference in the world. 00:18:22.359 --> 00:18:27.139 And so what if you see the two things as the angel picks up that when Zechariah says something like 00:18:27.139 --> 00:18:35.559 that, he realizes that Zechariah is actually being, oh yeah? But Mary's not. Mary's curious. 00:18:36.019 --> 00:18:43.619 You know, in a sense, Zechariah is standing like this. Oh yeah? Oh yeah? Mary's like, really? How's 00:18:43.619 --> 00:18:50.859 that going to happen? If you could put up the first slide, the first point. Here's one of the 00:18:50.859 --> 00:18:56.919 things which is so wonderful. The Lord does not want his children to be gullible. He does want his 00:18:56.919 --> 00:19:04.159 children to be curious. The Lord does not want his children to be gullible. He does want his 00:19:04.159 --> 00:19:10.979 children to be curious. If you're an incurious Christian, you need to follow Jesus. 00:19:10.980 --> 00:19:19.559 Jesus will lead you in the way of curiosity. Curiosity is a great virtue. 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:28.319 Now, one of the things, this next bit of the story, you know, if anybody, I really recommend 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:33.620 you try to read Tom Holland's book, Dominion, which is too long. If you can't read it, just watch some 00:19:33.619 --> 00:19:40.019 things online about Tom Holland or read Glenn Scrivener's The Air We Breathe. And one of the 00:19:40.019 --> 00:19:46.339 things they and guys like Douglas Murray have brought out is how deeply influenced we are by 00:19:46.339 --> 00:19:52.979 the Christian worldview. And that comes with what happens next. So we have an angel who's come to 00:19:52.979 --> 00:20:00.159 Mary who says that Mary's going to conceive and have a particular special baby. Now, of course, 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:05.600 we all know the story, but in the Roman world, hearing this for the first time, so if you were 00:20:05.600 --> 00:20:12.000 an ancient, the Roman Empire, it doesn't matter what type of background you are, whether you're 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:18.519 a Roman citizen or one of the other, you know, pagan people that they had all conquered, if you hear 00:20:18.519 --> 00:20:25.580 this story, you instantly can start to place stories like this and how they work. Just as we, in a sense, 00:20:25.640 --> 00:20:30.019 if we think about it, we can place private revelation stories and we put that, okay, we have a 00:20:30.019 --> 00:20:35.619 category for that, okay, Christianity fits, right? Or then we hear this, you have your favorite and, 00:20:35.879 --> 00:20:40.879 oh, okay, we have stories about special powers. We have, you know, but the Bible blows both of those 00:20:40.879 --> 00:20:46.500 all up. That she's not special in having any type of power and it's not, the private revelation is 00:20:46.500 --> 00:20:50.799 going to be dealt with with proof and all of that. But now we come to another story in the ancient 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:56.119 world. They are all very familiar with stories like this. And in stories like this in the ancient world, 00:20:56.119 --> 00:21:10.679 the god rapes the woman. The god rapes the woman. What is the founding myth that the Roman Empire is 00:21:10.679 --> 00:21:18.899 based on? The founding rape, that the founding myth of the Roman Empire is of the rape of Romulus and 00:21:18.900 --> 00:21:29.940 Remus' mother by the god Mars and then Romulus murdering his brother Remus. That is the founding myth 00:21:29.940 --> 00:21:34.700 of Rome is based on rape and murder. 00:21:40.100 --> 00:21:45.299 That's the founding myth of the Roman Empire, the great Roman Empire, rape and murder. 00:21:47.860 --> 00:21:53.580 Those of you who have a classical education will tell you that the constant, the gods are always raping 00:21:53.579 --> 00:22:04.319 women. You see, we have here for the ancient Romans, they're now prepared. Okay, we know what happens 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:11.000 next. And you know what? In the ancient Roman world? And we're fine with it. We're fine with having the 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:15.439 myth that governs our story be based on rape and murder. Like, we're fine with it. We're just expecting 00:22:15.439 --> 00:22:19.980 a Christian retelling of that, right? Like, a lot of the Greek myths and the Roman myths are just 00:22:19.980 --> 00:22:24.799 retelling of Greek myths. We're all prepared now for a Christian retelling of this myth. But the 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:33.559 Christian telling of this is completely and utterly different. And it's only in that that you begin to 00:22:33.559 --> 00:22:43.200 understand how much the modern world is dependent upon Christianity. To be political for a moment, 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:53.620 the general, but not overwhelming, but the large revulsion of what Hamas did shows a Christian 00:22:53.620 --> 00:23:00.360 mindset, even if it is said by people who think they definitely, they don't even like Christians. 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:07.960 They reject founding a nation on murder and rape. That's a Christian insight. 00:23:07.960 --> 00:23:13.019 In fact, what's the Christian story going to be? The Christian story going to be, in a second, 00:23:13.180 --> 00:23:22.920 is that the Lord God, the Triune God, requires Mary's consent. And in this very simple story, 00:23:23.160 --> 00:23:30.779 a radically different worldview of the integrity of women is created and established at a very deep 00:23:30.779 --> 00:23:43.379 level. Mary has to consent. And the governing story for Christians isn't murder, but God, the Son of God, 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:57.639 dying for murderers. It's such a beautiful story. It's so wise and so beautiful. 00:23:57.640 --> 00:24:07.740 Look what happens. Verse 35, and the angel answered her, right? This is now where the Romans are going 00:24:07.740 --> 00:24:14.640 to be gobsmacked. The angel answers her, well, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the 00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:20.720 Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy. Again, look, the Son of 00:24:20.720 --> 00:24:26.880 God. Behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age is also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:33.280 her who was called barren, for nothing will be impossible with God. And everything within this, 00:24:33.300 --> 00:24:39.820 and we're going to see in a moment, the implication is that Mary has to say yes. Her consent is needed. 00:24:41.520 --> 00:24:48.300 Now, just a couple of things about this. How do we understand that? Well, the language of the 00:24:48.299 --> 00:24:57.019 Holy Spirit coming upon you, that's a very, very, that would, for Jewish years, resonate with the 00:24:57.019 --> 00:25:04.399 creation stories in Genesis 1 of the Holy Spirit coming and being an agent of creation, and the power 00:25:04.399 --> 00:25:11.279 of the Most High overshadowing you. There's a whole range of Old Testament references, including poetry, 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:19.839 and it implies God's presence that changes things coming upon you. And the way for us to understand 00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:24.700 this today, by the way, is, I think, is to understand that God creates ex nihilo, out of 00:25:24.700 --> 00:25:30.539 nothing. God creates out of nothing a zygote. That's a fertilized egg. He creates out of nothing a 00:25:30.539 --> 00:25:38.759 zygote and implants it in the womb of Mary. That's the request. Will you say yes? And now, with our 00:25:38.759 --> 00:25:43.720 knowledge of biology, that's, in fact, what's happening, it's a creation out of nothing of 00:25:43.720 --> 00:25:51.400 a zygote, a fertilized egg, implanted in the womb of Mary. You see, here's another thing to 00:25:51.400 --> 00:25:55.240 understand about this. If you read the book of Romans, and they talk about Jesus being the 00:25:55.240 --> 00:26:00.140 second Adam, the reason they can say that is because of this. You see, Adam was created 00:26:00.140 --> 00:26:08.619 out of nothing, and Jesus was created out of nothing. And just as Adam and Eve rebelled against 00:26:08.619 --> 00:26:15.719 God, defied God, and brought death into the world, the second Adam comes, setting aside 00:26:15.719 --> 00:26:22.639 his glory and prerogatives to even appear like God. And in love of God, and a love of us, 00:26:22.759 --> 00:26:31.959 and obedience to him, he dies to bring life. And that's a lot of the reason why a lot of the 00:26:31.959 --> 00:26:37.000 language of Christianity is about how you're to receive Christ. And there's this language, 00:26:37.000 --> 00:26:40.799 that there's all sorts of different images that the New Testament uses about receiving 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:45.839 Christ, but one of the images is of being transferred, that in a sense, I'm no longer 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:52.960 under Adam, I'm now under the second Adam, the Adam that reverses the fall, deals with 00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:58.299 the curse, and brings life. That he is to be my Adam, it's to be Jesus. 00:26:58.299 --> 00:27:11.539 Jesus. The gods rape and murder to build an empire on. God asks for Mary to say yes, and 00:27:11.539 --> 00:27:12.399 then he dies. 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:18.700 And then there's, remember I said I could rename this whole sermon, Why George Loves, verse 00:27:18.700 --> 00:27:24.200 34 and verse 38. Well, we have to hear verse 38. This is such a, this, you know, once again, 00:27:24.200 --> 00:27:30.440 you understand verse 34, you understand verse 38, you understand why Mary is the archetype 00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:37.940 of the disciple of Christ. What does she say in verse 38? And Mary said, Behold, I am the 00:27:37.940 --> 00:27:46.319 servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. Brothers and sisters, friends, 00:27:46.720 --> 00:27:51.380 on one level, remember I've said that in one level, I've said before that when you read 00:27:51.380 --> 00:27:55.680 narratives, in some ways we're many of the different characters in the story, not just 00:27:55.680 --> 00:28:03.120 one. And in some ways, what Gabriel is, is to be a model for us. As hard as it might be 00:28:03.120 --> 00:28:11.920 in a world like today, our job is to proclaim what God says. Even if it, even if people reject 00:28:11.920 --> 00:28:15.960 it, even if people think we're nuts or hate our guts, that's our job, just to be like Gabriel. 00:28:15.960 --> 00:28:23.120 He passed on God's message. That's what we're to do. On the other hand, we're more importantly 00:28:23.120 --> 00:28:32.779 and primary, and first, to be like Mary. You see, in some ways, Mary's prayer is the conversion 00:28:32.779 --> 00:28:39.799 prayer to move you from being outside of Christ, inside of Christ. Why do I say that? Well, you 00:28:39.799 --> 00:28:45.779 see, in a sense, God comes to us, whether it's through completely and utterly imperfect people 00:28:45.779 --> 00:28:52.940 like me or any one of you, and we tell people this very wonderful good news, that God loves you, 00:28:53.659 --> 00:28:58.940 and he sees that you cannot make yourself right with God and that you're destined for death 00:28:58.940 --> 00:29:05.359 and judgment. And then God, out of his great love for you, that God, the Son of God, he left heaven's 00:29:05.359 --> 00:29:11.199 splendors and set aside his divine prerogatives and appearance as God, but still remaining God. 00:29:11.299 --> 00:29:16.899 He takes into himself our human nature, and he was God with us. He walked amongst us in all of our mess, 00:29:17.439 --> 00:29:21.459 out of love for us, and he never sinned. He never rebelled against God. He was always obedient 00:29:21.459 --> 00:29:28.279 to God. The obedience that you and I should give to God but cannot, he did. And then he ultimately, 00:29:28.279 --> 00:29:31.579 even though he had done nothing wrong, he dies on the cross. He dies on the cross 00:29:31.579 --> 00:29:38.199 as your substitute. In a sense, the judgment that you deserve falls on him, and the destiny and the 00:29:38.199 --> 00:29:45.019 grace that he deserves is offered to you. Will you accept this? Will you accept him? 00:29:47.299 --> 00:29:51.559 And the Christian life begins, in a sense, when I said, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. 00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:59.480 Let it be to me according to your word. And how do we grow as a Christian? We grow as a Christian that 00:29:59.480 --> 00:30:05.980 we now belong to Jesus, and we're part of a small group. We come to church. We maybe have somebody 00:30:05.980 --> 00:30:11.160 who mentors us. We do our private devotions, and we hear more about the different things that the 00:30:11.160 --> 00:30:16.519 Bible says. We hear about what the Bible says about financial generosity and the problems we have 00:30:16.519 --> 00:30:22.319 making money in idol. We hear a little bit about the importance of not just seeking power for power's 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:28.480 sake, but to serve. We hear about how we're to rejoice with others and weep with others. And 00:30:28.480 --> 00:30:37.099 we learn about what the Bible says about sexuality, just as it talks about money. And it goes against 00:30:37.099 --> 00:30:42.039 the grain of our culture, and we learn about prayer. And as we learn about these different things, 00:30:42.039 --> 00:30:48.159 and we hear them, how do we grow? We grow when we say to these teachings, behold, I am the servant of 00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:59.500 the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. That's how we grow. Lord, I'm not your spin doctor. 00:31:00.160 --> 00:31:05.900 I'm not your boss. I'm not the one who knows how to say things better than you. I'm not the one who 00:31:05.900 --> 00:31:14.120 created everything. I'm your servant. And I've heard what your word said. Let that be for me. Let me live 00:31:14.119 --> 00:31:27.579 that and grow in that. If you could put up the next point. In a sense, I'm just sort of wrapping 00:31:27.579 --> 00:31:32.079 this up now, just a couple of points. And just as I've talked about, behold, I am the servant of the 00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:36.239 Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. You know, if you're, I'm not into tattoos, but if you're 00:31:36.239 --> 00:31:39.939 going to have a tattoo, put that on your hand. That would be a great thing. That's a tattoo you won't be 00:31:39.940 --> 00:31:47.420 embarrassed about, like, 5, 10, 20, 30, 50 years about, like, you know, it's all right to have some 00:31:47.420 --> 00:31:50.860 of those things in your arms, and your arms are big and muscly. They'll look pretty ridiculous when 00:31:50.860 --> 00:31:56.740 you get old eventually, and they all look flabby or something like that and wrinkly. That's a keeper. 00:31:59.720 --> 00:32:04.779 But the other thing, just in wrapping this up, I don't know if you noticed what happens in verse 37 00:32:04.779 --> 00:32:14.599 and verse 38, and it's part of the emotional power of walking with Christ, is captured in what's said 00:32:14.599 --> 00:32:22.119 in verse 37 and verse 38. Listen again. In verse 37, the angel says, for nothing will be impossible 00:32:22.119 --> 00:32:27.839 with God. And Mary said in verse 38, behold, I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according 00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:33.559 to your word. If you could put up the J.C. Ryle quote, there's this wonderful quote by J.C. Ryle 00:32:33.559 --> 00:32:42.039 that says, faith never rests so calmly as that when it lays its head on the pillow of God's omnipotence. 00:32:43.139 --> 00:32:50.740 Faith never rests so calmly as when it lays its head on the pillow of God's omnipotence. See, 00:32:50.779 --> 00:32:57.659 what's so beautiful about 37 and 38 being together is it shows this wonderful way that God wants us to 00:32:57.660 --> 00:33:08.279 understand the world? Pray big prayers. Pray impossible things. Pray that there be a lasting peace in Israel. 00:33:10.940 --> 00:33:17.800 Pray that the culture of death gets overturned in Canada. A little bit smaller than all of those. 00:33:17.800 --> 00:33:26.779 Pray we get a building one day. What's six million dollars for God? Pray for a parking spot. 00:33:27.660 --> 00:33:33.600 Pray big prayers. Pray big prayers. But at the same time that you're encouraged to pray big prayers, 00:33:33.700 --> 00:33:38.040 you're also encouraged to say at the end of the day to have a basic confidence. God, let it be according 00:33:38.040 --> 00:33:44.360 to me. Let it be to me according to your word. I'll take your no. I'll take your not yet. I'll take that 00:33:44.360 --> 00:33:51.380 too. See the beautiful emotional power to both encourage you to pray big prayers, but also to 00:33:51.380 --> 00:33:57.800 encourage you to trust and rest in God and his great care and love for you. If I could put it up as a 00:33:57.800 --> 00:34:03.900 point, that would be good. Claire, almighty God, please make the good news of the person and work 00:34:03.900 --> 00:34:11.340 of Jesus more and more real to my heart so that I will both pray to you and serve you knowing that you 00:34:11.340 --> 00:34:17.079 are almighty. And I should have added, and loving. And then just one final thing to bring it to an end. 00:34:17.079 --> 00:34:23.400 If you could put up the final point, Claire, that would be wonderful. Almighty God, please deliver 00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:31.460 me from being gullible and grow within me a great curiosity. Boy, if there's one thing we need in this 00:34:31.460 --> 00:34:38.259 world right now is people who are going to ask tough questions and not be gullible. And you know what? 00:34:38.420 --> 00:34:45.440 Science can't grow without curiosity. Love can't grow without curiosity. Beauty can't flourish without 00:34:45.440 --> 00:34:51.940 curiosity. Let's pray this big prayer as well for each of us. Lord, deliver me from being gullible. 00:34:52.659 --> 00:34:57.800 And please grow within me a great curiosity. Invite you to stand right now. Let's pray. 00:34:58.519 --> 00:35:05.940 Just stand and pray. Hopefully the kids are going to be ready in a moment for the pageant. 00:35:05.940 --> 00:35:11.380 If not, we'll just keep praying. No, I'm just joking. Let's pray. Father, 00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:17.280 Father, help us to be more like Mary. 00:35:19.059 --> 00:35:22.240 Help us to be curious. Help us not to be gullible. 00:35:23.220 --> 00:35:30.760 Help us, Father, to be like her and say, yes, God, be it to me according to your word. I am your servant. 00:35:30.760 --> 00:35:37.700 Father, help to grow within us that spirit, that attitude, that heart, that desire, 00:35:38.580 --> 00:35:43.200 that way of looking into the world and just that habit of being. May you grow those within us. 00:35:44.380 --> 00:35:48.900 And we ask these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. 00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:03.500 Amen. 00:36:03.900 --> 00:36:04.080 Amen. 00:36:04.180 --> 00:36:12.280 Amen. 00:36:12.380 --> 00:36:12.400 Amen. 00:36:12.820 --> 00:36:14.900 Amen. 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:15.480 Amen. 00:36:17.700 --> 00:36:17.880 Amen. 00:36:18.040 --> 00:36:18.940 Amen. 00:36:19.840 --> 00:36:20.500 Amen. 00:36:20.920 --> 00:36:21.100 Amen. 00:36:21.220 --> 00:36:21.720 Amen. 00:36:21.800 --> 00:36:22.600 Amen. 00:36:22.700 --> 00:36:23.040 Amen. 00:36:23.260 --> 00:36:23.540 Amen. 00:36:23.960 --> 00:36:25.800 Amen. 00:36:28.600 --> 00:36:30.100 Amen. 00:36:30.580 --> 00:36:30.640 Amen.