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[0:00] Before you turn to Luke 2, you can turn there and keep your place there. But I'd like you to have you turn to the Old Testament, to the book of Genesis.

[0:14] The book of Genesis, chapter 3.

[0:35] As we look at Genesis, chapter 3, follow along as I read verses 8 to 15. This is speaking of Adam and Eve, after they partake into the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

[0:56] And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

[1:09] But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Where are you? And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.

[1:24] He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? The man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.

[1:41] Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this that you have done? The woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.

[1:52] The Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field.

[2:03] On your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.

[2:16] He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. Now, the whole of the Old Testament, starting with this very passage, points to what we're going to look at today.

[2:32] Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 is called the Protevangelium. It's the first giving of the gospel. And it's kind of an awkward thing.

[2:42] It's kind of a, doesn't make sense. It's worded differently than things that are spoken of in relation to an heir. Spoken of in relation to generations.

[2:55] It's worded differently, but it's worded differently on purpose. We're going to see how the first and one of the most puzzling pieces of our Redeemer is fulfilled as we look at Luke today.

[3:12] In the garden, man ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and he fell. But God, in his grace, made a promise.

[3:24] The seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. There would come a deliverer. Eve said, now I've gotten a man-child from the Lord.

[3:38] He said, now I'm going to be the one. When she had Cain and named him Cain, she thought, by the phraseology of what she said, this is the deliverer.

[3:50] And then he was killed. And then she had Seth, at least the third child, probably further down the line than that. He's the one.

[4:03] No deliverer. No one knew the time, the circumstances, or the manner of the coming of the seed of the woman.

[4:15] Thousands of years had gone by. Every woman hoped that her son would be the one. Over time, a few things were made clear.

[4:25] The seed of the woman would come through Abraham. And then clearer through Isaac. And then clearer through Jacob.

[4:37] And then clearer through Judah. Not much was said for a while. Many centuries went by before the promise was narrowed then from the tribe of Judah to the family of David.

[4:50] And then even further to Solomon. And so they looked for this seed. Over time, though, the focus seemed to change.

[5:03] They were, they had been looking for the seed of the woman. The serpent crusher. It had changed to where they were soon looking for the land inheritor.

[5:17] For a king. And finally, in Jesus' day, they were looking for the one who would come to throw off Rome and take the throne of David. They weren't looking for a serpent crusher.

[5:30] They were looking for a king to make their life better. God didn't forget any of these promises. Not the one we read in Genesis 3.15.

[5:42] And not the thousands or hundreds. It's probably a better way of saying it. Hundreds of promises throughout the Old Testament. God never forgot any of those promises. And here in Luke 1, we are watching God work to fulfill many of these promises.

[5:58] Through a young virgin girl, a spouse to Joseph, in an obscure village called Nazareth, would finally enter the seed of the woman.

[6:12] And so let's go to our text today from Luke chapter 1, starting in verse 26. Now I'll just remind you before I read this, that we have, and we'll talk more about this in a minute.

[6:24] But we've talked about John the Baptist. And in the way this is set up, the birth of John the Baptist and the birth of Jesus are compared. We're not going to take a lot of time to talk about that.

[6:34] It could be a whole message on its own. We'll just make a couple of quick comments. But they're compared. And so as we read our account today, I want you to remember what we looked at last week.

[6:48] And how God announced the coming of the messenger. So let's go to Luke chapter 1 in verse 26. Luke chapter 1 in verse 26.

[7:26] Luke chapter 1 in verse 26.

[7:56] Luke chapter 1 in verse 27.

[8:26] Let's pray together.

[8:56] I pray that you would be with us. You, in your word, are about to unlock one of the greatest mysteries that have been hidden from the foundation of the world.

[9:08] And it concerns that one of whom we have to do. It concerns our Savior. And Lord, I pray that you would be with us.

[9:20] Help us to understand your word. Help us to grow in grace and knowledge of you as we look at what you have done in providing for us. We pray in Jesus' name.

[9:31] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, the setting. We mentioned last week, we mentioned last week there were 400 years of silence. And God breaks that silence.

[9:42] And God breaks that silence by sending Gabriel to promise a son to an old barren couple. And this son would be the promised forerunner of the Messiah.

[9:53] Zachariah doubted. Zachariah doubted. But God was gracious. And at the point that we've begun reading today, Elizabeth, who is old and barren, is now six months pregnant.

[10:09] So six months had gone by since any word from the Lord. And so God sends Gabriel again to make another announcement. And this time he sends him to a small village called Nazareth in the land of Galilee.

[10:25] That's in the northern part. It's off the beaten path. Nazareth is a city or a village at that time of probably 400 or 500 people.

[10:38] David Garland called it Nowheresville. Okay. I was trying to think. I think Freeland is bigger than Nazareth.

[10:50] I was trying to think. I couldn't pin down a town in the area that was the same size as Nazareth. And it was a despised town in the sense that nobody figured anything would come there.

[11:03] Remember at one point when they announced that Jesus was from Nazareth? One of the would-be disciples says, what good thing comes from Nazareth? Well, actually there was.

[11:14] We won't get into the history of that. You can look up stuff about Elijah and learn more about that. But God sends this angel to a small village called Nazareth to a woman, probably a teenager.

[11:30] And she was a virgin. That means she had not married yet. And she had kept herself pure. And that woman, though, was betrothed to a man named Joseph.

[11:47] Now betrothal is more binding than engagement. Today if you get engaged, you can get unengaged without any consequences, relatively, except for emotions.

[12:01] There are no legal consequences. In that time, betrothal was marriage without being together.

[12:13] It was just as legal. When you were betrothed, you could not be unbetrothed except there was a divorce. And divorce was not something that they just did for people who didn't want to be betrothed.

[12:25] It wasn't like, oh, will you marry me? Yes, I'll marry you. And now we're betrothed. And three months later, yeah, you know, I don't like this anymore. No, we're not betrothed anymore. It was binding.

[12:37] And to break it was by divorce. But it was dangerous to do that. We'll see that more as we consider Joseph later.

[12:50] The betrothal would start with an engagement between two parties. And there would be this ceremony. And then there would be a one-year, usually a one-year waiting period, where the two would not live together.

[13:06] The man would go off and prepare his bride a home. And when she was ready, sounds like Jesus going to prepare a place for us. And when the groom was ready, he would come at a time that the bride knew not and take her to be with him.

[13:24] And that was the time at which Gabriel came to this young virgin. Now, the passage also mentions that he was of the house of David.

[13:37] He was of the family of David. Luke gives a genealogy. Joseph is not mentioned in that genealogy. Or maybe, yes, Joseph is mentioned in that genealogy.

[13:53] It's Matthew that he's not mentioned in. Anyway, one mentions Joseph, one does not mention Joseph. And that is, it points to the fact that, genealogy points to the fact that Joseph was of the house and lineage of David.

[14:09] What did that mean? In the course of history, it would have been a legal right for Joseph to sit on the throne as king of Israel.

[14:20] Now, I'm sure there were many people in that circumstance. And I'm not saying thousands. I'm talking, maybe there were 15 or 10 or 5 people in the family of David.

[14:33] I don't know how many. But there were multiple people who do that. Joseph was one of them. But no one knew him. And no one was looking for a way to try to make him king.

[14:47] He was a carpenter. In that place, in that time, now, I'm just thinking here, some of you have done carpentry stuff.

[15:02] I'm not picking out that any of necessarily, I think a few of you have been carpenters. We don't look at carpenters as being a lowly job. Now, I know some customers sometimes do.

[15:13] But generally, we look at carpenters as relatively smart people who know how to run a business and know how to build things. And in Joseph's day, that was not so much the case.

[15:24] A carpenter was not an elevated position. It was a lowly position. And we know that because of his job and the position he had, he was poor. How do you know he was poor?

[15:34] However, later in the account, when they bring Jesus to be circumcised, or when he was offered in the temple, they were to bring offerings.

[15:46] And all they could bring were the two turtle doves, or two doves, which was the offering of the poor. And so Joseph was not a man of means.

[15:57] No one was looking to say, hey, have you considered Joseph? I think we ought to grab him. He's rich. He can take over the kingdom and be a good ruler. It was not the case at all.

[16:10] In fact, it's interesting. We don't have time to get into all this. But as I mentioned, there's a lot of comparison between Zachariah and Elizabeth and Mary. The account of John the Baptist being conceived and the account of Christ being conceived.

[16:24] There are a lot of comparisons. And one of them is an opposite and equal comparison. Zachariah was a priest, and he got to serve in the temple. Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth and were poor, and no one knew them.

[16:38] And no one would know them for a long time, for the most part. And it says that the virgin's name was Mary. But then in verse 28, her life changed.

[16:52] However old she was, anywhere from 13 to 18 or 19. We don't know where she was. We don't know what she was doing. We don't know what her childhood is like.

[17:03] We don't know her habits as a teenager. We don't know anything. We tend to assume some things because as the angel comes, he uses a term that we think is saying God really likes her.

[17:21] And no doubt God likes her. He chose her for a particular purpose. But there's nothing. It speaks of Zachariah and Elizabeth and says, They lived a righteous life, and they sought the Lord, and they served him all their days.

[17:36] Not one thing like that is said about Mary. It says she's a virgin, espoused, and that's it.

[17:49] We know nothing. And so all of a sudden, here's this girl. We don't know what she's doing. We don't know where she is. We don't know anything of the situation. But sometimes, somehow, in the midst of her life, the angel appears to her and starts out by saying, Hail, do not be afraid.

[18:12] Which is the obvious response. When the angel comes into the presence, the first thing that the angel needs to say is, Do not be afraid, because it's an awesome sight. But he says, Then Mary, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

[18:29] You have found favor of God. So as I mentioned, there's no mention that she was righteous before God. There's no mention that she walked blameless in the commandments and statutes of the Lord.

[18:41] Maybe this is why she found the greeting troubling. And I'm not trying to say something about Mary, that she was, you know, a rebellious teenager.

[18:54] But all of a sudden, here's this angel. You know, some people in this world think they've lived the kind of life that if an angel come and said, Hail, so and so, you're favored by God.

[19:08] They'd go, yeah, it's about time God recognized this. But Mary doesn't. I think she wasn't acclaimed for her life.

[19:21] It may have been great. But she found favor, not because she was good, but because God was gracious. I think that's why all her past was left out.

[19:35] Think of it. Who in this world do you know that is worthy to carry the Son of God in their womb?

[19:47] Not one. Only the one God chooses to be gracious to. Now, you can liken that to our salvation.

[19:59] What one of us deserves? The Son of God to die for us. No one. But God chooses to be gracious to us. Just as he chose to be gracious to Mary.

[20:12] He says, you've found favor with God. You will bear a son. Now, I want you to kind of think along the lines of Mary. She's told you will bear a son.

[20:26] And we'll talk about what I think she was actually understanding. But at first, the first thing, the angel appears to you and says you're going to bear a son. And she's betrothed. And she's thinking, oh, that's great.

[20:40] But what he said, by reason of the questions that she asked, she doesn't think, oh, when I get married and I'm with Joseph, I'm going to have a son.

[20:56] The angel's statement puzzled her. I think it puzzled her because she understood the angel's announcement was not talking about her bearing a son later after she was married.

[21:11] Because if she thought he was talking about a son later after she was married, the question she asked makes no sense. How shall this be? Seeing I'm a virgin.

[21:22] The easy answer, if she was thinking about when she'd be married, is I can't wait till I get married and this comes true. She is not seeing what the angel is saying as something that will happen with her and Joseph.

[21:36] She recognizes it as something that will happen right soon to this point. I almost said now, but I don't know if it was. Many think that Mary, the baby was conceived in her as soon as the angel was done.

[21:52] We don't know how God worked all that. But the angel's statement puzzled her because she's seeing this as something that's going to happen very soon.

[22:07] And the angel did indeed mean that she would conceive before marriage, before her and Joseph would come together. She's getting the understanding that this is going to be something different.

[22:21] This is going to be something unusual. And it puzzles her. I don't understand this. And the angel goes on to mention some other amazing things.

[22:32] You will call his name Jesus, which is the same as the Old Testament Joshua. God will deliver. Now that's a common name. It was a common name in that day.

[22:44] Still a common name. But I think it really means something. When an angel appears before you and says, Don't be afraid. You are favored.

[22:56] And you're going to have a son. And you're going to call him Jesus. At that point you're starting to think, This is not normal. Something amazing is going on here.

[23:07] And so he not only mentions that his name will be Jesus, But he mentions he will be great. One of us don't want our children to succeed.

[23:21] But it's more than that. He will be great. He will be the son of the most high. That would make you think a bit.

[23:37] What do you mean? There were hints. Of what he's getting at in the Old Testament.

[23:49] But who would have ever guessed. That the one that Mary was going to bear. Would be the son of the most high. And he will reign as king.

[24:02] In the line of David. And so here is this virgin girl. Had not been with a man.

[24:13] Was going to be pregnant. Without being with a man. And he's going to be great. And he's going to rule. In Israel.

[24:25] Reign as king. Reign over the whole nation. And it says his kingdom will have no end. I think that's referencing two things. It's eternal. And it's over the whole world.

[24:39] And I think. Of course Luke probably got this account from Mary himself. Herself. It's the only way he could have gotten all these details. Probably. And so he gets the account.

[24:50] And as she tells him this. I think as a Gentile. Man. He's thinking. This is great. This is not. Because the Jews.

[25:00] Saw Jesus. As a king for Israel only. And ultimately. As a redeemer for Israel only. But here Luke is hearing words.

[25:12] That fit with some of the other scriptures. That point to this one that Mary is going to have. As being king over the whole earth. And so the natural response.

[25:25] I'm sorry. I'm laughing. I say natural response. The seemingly appropriate response. To a young girl. Who's been met by an angel. Who's saying you're going to have a child.

[25:36] Before you're with your husband. And that child is going to be great. He's going to be son of the most high. And I don't think she totally understood all that. Gabriel's going to give her more.

[25:48] But he's going to be son of the most high. He's going to reign over all Israel. And the whole earth forever. However. I think it's pretty appropriate. For the next question to be. How will this be?

[26:03] There is. There are accounts of things. Like what Elizabeth went through. In the Old Testament. What Mary is facing.

[26:14] There are no other accounts of this. A child born. With no human father. How will this be?

[26:26] As I mentioned earlier. This argument points to the fact. That Gabriel meant this. And Mary understood this. This is not waiting for Joseph. To be her husband. This is going to be something.

[26:37] That happens soon. And without a man. How can this be? Since I am a virgin. Now. Many of the new translations.

[26:49] And it's fine. It is good. But let me just explain. Many of the new translations. Use the term. Since I am a virgin. If you go to some of the older translations.

[27:00] You'll find that that's not. What's there. If you go to the Greek. And I know all of you can just break out your Greek. And go through it. But if you go to the Greek. You'll find. That it is a euphemism.

[27:11] That can point to being a virgin. But it literally is saying that. I'm not married yet. And I have not. I don't have the situation. I'm not with a man.

[27:22] Nor can I be with a man. And so she's saying. Okay. You're saying all this is going to happen. It's a little hard to comprehend.

[27:33] How do I understand it? How is it going to happen? If this is going to happen. How am I going to have a son. Without physical relations.

[27:45] And the response is. That it will be a miracle. How? The angel answers back. The Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit.

[27:56] I'm sorry. The King James comes over me. Sometimes. He says. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. And the power of the Most High. Will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born.

[28:07] Will be called. Holy. The Son of God. Mary. The child that's going to be born. Or conceived in you. Will be conceived of the Holy Spirit.

[28:18] The Holy Spirit. This is not a physical relationship. This is. Don't think like the ancient. Greek myths. And all their false things.

[28:29] Where the deity would come down. And have physical relations. With a woman. And there would be a demagogue. That would be. The production of that. Union. That's not the case.

[28:41] The Holy Spirit. Will by the power of God. Cause a supernatural. Conception. To take place. Within your womb. The word used here.

[28:53] Come upon. And. And. Overshadow. Are words that are spoken of. In Genesis 1. When the Spirit.

[29:03] Overshadowed the waters. And he created. In that overshadowing. There's no. There's no perversion. In this. There's no demagoguery. Kind of stuff going on.

[29:14] This is God. Working a miracle. And he says. Your son. Will be the son of God. God. A child.

[29:25] A child. A child. Born. Of a woman. Who's never had physical relations. A child.

[29:36] Who was conceived. By the Holy Spirit. Your son. Will be the son of God. Think.

[29:49] Seed. Of the woman. All genealogies. In scripture. Speak of offspring. As being the seed of man. A man was involved. In every birth.

[30:00] On this planet. Up to this point. Except for one. Genesis 3. 15. Spoke of our deliverer. Being.

[30:11] The seed. Of a woman. And as a young man. I often like. I don't understand. Why does he say. Seed. Of a woman. It's because.

[30:23] Jesus. Was conceived. Miraculously. By. The Holy Spirit. There was no. Man. Involved. Every man.

[30:35] After Adam. And as a result. Of Adam. Was born. As a result. Of a man and woman. Being. Together. And the man. Passed on.

[30:46] As the headship. Would pass on. The sin. The sin. Nature. That came from Adam. We. Could not have. A redeemer.

[30:57] Who had a sin. Nature. Who would sin. Like. We do. We needed. Something. Different. And that. Something. Different. Was. Pronounced.

[31:08] By God. Right. After. After. Man. Fell. And no one. Until the angel. Revealed it.

[31:19] And explained it. To Mary. No one. Understood. There were. Prophecies. Of her being. A virgin. The mother. Of. Of the Messiah. But no one.

[31:30] Understood. Until the angel. Came to Mary. And explained. That this conception. Is going to be. By the Holy Spirit. And so that your child.

[31:41] I'm putting words. Into the angel's mouth. Your child Mary. Will be. Truly man. And truly God. Because.

[31:52] That's what you need. And that is what he's promised. Jesus was not a sinner. Because he was.

[32:03] Not born of the seed of man. But born of the seed of the woman. And so the seed of the woman. Is our. Deliverer. I don't know if this is appropriate.

[32:17] But I call it. Having. The seed of the woman. Being on scene. Means the serpent crusher. Is on scene. The kind of savior.

[32:28] That we needed. Can you imagine. You're sitting there. Hearing this. And it's like. Drinking from a fire hose. Turned on high.

[32:41] And you're going. I can't comprehend it. I can't comprehend it. I can't comprehend it. And God in his grace. Gave Gabriel. More. But it was something.

[32:51] That she could more easily relate to. To encourage her faith. He says. You know your relative.

[33:05] Elizabeth. And in her mind. Maybe she's going. Elizabeth. Elizabeth. Yeah. The barren one. Elizabeth. Is six months pregnant.

[33:16] Wait. I'm picking an age out of the hat. She's 80. Or she's 75. Or even she's 55. I don't know how old. But she's passed.

[33:28] And she's hearing news. From an angel of God. Sent from God's very presence. Saying. Your relative is pregnant. She's six months pregnant.

[33:39] And then he uses a phrase. Gabriel uses a phrase. That is. Really found. Initially.

[33:50] In Genesis 18. 14. And it's the account. Of Abraham and Sarah. Who. Were in the same. Kind of situation. As Elizabeth.

[34:01] In that. Sarah was barren. And past childbearing years. And Abraham was past childbearing years. But at 99.

[34:13] Well. At 90 and 100. They both gave birth. Or they gave birth. Because. God told him. He would restore to them.

[34:24] And the statement. Come out. As the angel. Is speaking to Abraham. Is anything. Too hard for God. And so.

[34:35] The angel. Is encouraging Mary. Having drunk. From this fire hose. Having heard things. Like. How. How. How can this be. And he says.

[34:46] Your relative's pregnant. And he flashes back. To where. Sarah. At 90. Gave birth.

[34:57] Is anything. Too hard. For God. God. And as she. Begins to roll. All this around. In her head. She's thinking. If God. Can do that.

[35:09] He can do. What he said. He would do. For me. And so. This angel. Encouraged her. And so. Her response. In verse 38. And Mary said.

[35:20] Behold. I am the servant. Of the Lord. Let it be. To me. According. To your word. Mary was willing. She was willing.

[35:32] To be. And to do. What God. Desired. Of her. Now. This was not. Without consequences. Think about.

[35:45] What. They said. Of Mary. Think about. What they said. Of Jesus. They said.

[35:55] She's committed. Adultery. Joseph. Excuse me. Thought. She committed. Adultery. I mean. He had. Irrefutable. Proof.

[36:07] Because. No one's pregnant. Without. There being. A man. So. She would be. Accused. Of adultery.

[36:19] She. Would. End up. Having. Probably. Being. At least. Divorced. From Joseph. She could have. Legally. Been. Stoned. And so.

[36:30] She's saying. I am. Willing. Do what. The Lord. Wants. To do. And. She could have. Been. Destitute.

[36:40] For the rest. Of her life. As a single mom. With what. Would have. What was assumed. By many people. As a bastard. Child. What.

[36:53] She was. Willing. To do it. I think. Because. God. Gave her. Grace. I don't. Think. She was. A super. Christian. I think.

[37:04] She was. A regular. Truster. In God. That God. Enabled. To do. This kind. Of thing. I say that. Because. Sometimes. We say. I can't. Do it. I'm not. A super.

[37:14] Christian. If God. Calls you. To do something. He's going to. Give you. The grace. To do it. Mary. Was willing. She said. I'm the servant. The Lord.

[37:24] Let it be. According to my word. To thy word. And that falls. In line. With the kind. Of stuff. That goes on. In Hebrews 11. She counted. God. Faithful. To do. What he had promised.

[37:37] And so. For the sake. I know. People vary. On the amount. Of time. But for the sake. Of just. Putting a number. Out there. Four thousand.

[37:47] Years. Had gone by. Since that initial promise. Was made. A promise. That no one could understand. How it could happen.

[37:58] Or even understood. What was meant. When it would be. The seed of the woman. God. Did it. God provided. The kind of Messiah.

[38:08] That we needed. So. The obvious. And most important thing. We should. Well. There's so many things. We should see. God is God.

[38:18] In this. We should see. God is gracious. In this. Providing for us. The kind of redeemer. That we needed. We needed. A sinless redeemer. We needed a redeemer.

[38:29] That was both man and God. Man that he could be close to us. And represent us. And take our sins. Upon himself. But we needed him to be God. To be of such value. That he could pay for the sins.

[38:41] All the sins. How many sins. How many. Tens of thousands. Millions of. Hundreds of millions of sins. Do we commit in a day. Lifetime. And all of them.

[38:52] Would be placed on Christ. And all the people. From the moment. Adam and Eve fell. Until he comes back. All those sins. Had to be placed. On. A worthy person.

[39:03] A person of such value. That he could pay for the sins. And so it couldn't be just a man. It had to be a man. To be close to us. It had to be God. To be able to withstand.

[39:15] God's wrath. It had to be God. To be able to be of value enough. To pay for the sins. Of all of his people. And so we have. An amazing. Gracious.

[39:27] God. A few other things. To consider. God's work. In and through us. Is always by his grace. As I mentioned.

[39:38] There is no listing. Of what kind of life she lived. She had not earned the privilege. Of being the mother of Jesus. No one could. God. Showed. Grace. And so anything God does for us.

[39:53] God's work in and through us. Is by his grace. And if you look at these two. And I believe Luke. Means for us to look at these two births.

[40:04] These two birth announcements. And compare them. Thinking about it. Zachariah. Doubted. God was still gracious.

[40:18] But he was under discipline. Mary. Heard this announcement. And she trusted. Now we shouldn't exalt Mary.

[40:29] So much. She's a normal person. But we should learn from these two things. That we should trust God's word. And that we should be willing. To serve him. No matter the cost.

[40:41] Because God is able. God is worthy. There's so much more we could look at. But time's getting away from us. Brothers and sisters. We're called to count the cost.

[40:51] Of following Christ. Mary counted the cost. And found. That God. Was willing. To show grace to her.

[41:02] In providing her a savior. I'm not just speaking about. Willing. To do this in her. But for her. God showed grace.

[41:13] In providing a savior. That was worth. Living for. Suffering for. And even dying for. Mary. We get caught up in.

[41:25] That she was. The carrier of the son of God. She was. But in thinking about this. This is something amazing. She was also. She also found grace.

[41:36] To be able to. To be under that situation. Of knowing. That she has a savior. Who is coming. Coming through her. Not a situation. Any of us. Can. Can.

[41:47] Say. Oh I know what. That's like. But. She has a savior. Who will be born of her. But. That savior. Savior. Because I need. That savior. Whatever it will cost me.

[41:58] Whether they call me. Names. All the rest of my life. Whether I am. Poor and destitute. All of my life. Whether. The man who. Said he loved me. And was going to marry me. Divorces me.

[42:09] Or worse. It's worth doing. What God has called me to do. Because God has provided. This amazing savior. And I'll just ask you.

[42:20] Are you willing to live for Christ. Even though it costs. Are you willing to suffer for Christ. Are you willing to die for your Christ. For Christ.

[42:30] Are you willing to say. Behold. I am the servant. Of the Lord. Let it be to me. According to your word. All you can have to do.

[42:43] Is think about what he did. To provide a. A redeemer for us. And friend. If you don't know Christ. This miraculous account today. Happened.

[42:54] In order that Christ might come. As the God man. As we spoke about. As the one who would live. A perfect life. And suffer and die. In the place of sinners. And he offers.

[43:05] To be the substitute. For your sins. The seed. Of the woman. Will pay the price. For your sins. If you trust him. Let's pray.

[43:17] Father. I thank you. That you promised. Something. That. Without the New Testament. We would have. Not had. Any kind of.

[43:28] Understanding. The grandness. Of what was promised. In Genesis 315. Thank you. Father. That you not only promised it. But you delivered.

[43:40] And the answer. Even as we read it. Is amazing. But Father. As we continue. To go through the gospel. What you've provided. Who you provided. Is such.

[43:52] Such an amazing blessing. Such an amazing. Display of grace. And love. I pray. That it would be. That which motivates us. To love. And to serve Christ. May it motivate us.

[44:03] To put off our sin. And to be like Christ. And I pray. That you would use. Your word. In our hearts today. And may we grow. I pray. That you would be. With those. Who don't know you today.

[44:14]  May they see this. Christ. As. Their redeemer. May they trust. In him. Today. We pray. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen.