Kennystix's podcast
The Child to Be Born Will Be Called Holy — the Son of God
The following resource is from desiringGod.org. John's message this morning is taken from Luke chapter 1 verses 26 through 38. In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David and the virgin's name was Mary and he came to her and said greetings O favored one the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the same and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be and 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 son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the Most High and the Lord God will give to 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 and Mary said to the angel how will this be since I am a virgin and the angel answered her the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you therefore the child to be born will be called holy the son of God and behold your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived the son and this is the sixth month with her who is called barren for nothing will be impossible with God and Mary said behold I am the servant of the Lord let it be to me according to your word and the angel departed from her. Father I love Christ and I am so thankful that you sent him and that he came the way he came and lived the way he lived and died the horrible way he died and rose the way he rose and rained the way he rained and I love the people of God I love gathering on the Lord's day Christmas with your people there is no place on planet earth I would rather be than right here right now and so Lord my life is full and I am thankful for the gift of this moment and I pray for those who have been hearing the word of God in these days leading up to Christmas and now in this hour who are without Christ he is not their savior and not their king and I ask that that would change by the power of your Holy Spirit and that you would save sinners and sanctify saints and give hope to the discouraged and guidance to the perplexed and reconciliation to those who feel alienated and peace to those who are anxious come and help me now please open this word concerning your son in his name I pray Amen verse 26 in the sixth month that is the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy with John the Baptist in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God I think that's the most fundamental thing you can say about the meaning of Christmas that it originates with God starts with God has to do with God God sent this angel God got this thing started there is a meaning of Christmas without God there's no biblical meaning of Christmas without God and there's no historical meaning of Christmas without God but there's an American meaning of Christmas without God and and there's a European meaning of Christmas without God and I got an email this week that informed me that there's a Buddhist meaning of Christmas in Bangkok with all the frills minus God that's a remarkable thing but there is no biblical true historical meaning of Christmas without God in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God Christmas is about the creator of the universe who is not part of the universe we're not pantheists it's about the creator of the universe distinct from his creation creating what is not he and then in a way that we're going to ponder penetrating to become become part of it without ceasing to be the uncreated non-part of it that he is that's Christmas he's radically different realities you remember how God identified himself named himself in Exodus 3 14 when he sent Moses to deliver his people and Moses said they're gonna ask me who did this and he said you tell them I am who I am sent you what does that mean it means God is absolute reality he doesn't come into existence he doesn't become what he's not he doesn't get better today than he was yesterday there is zero development in the divine being he simply is before you were I am galaxies were or anything that could cause a big bang was he was is will be no beginning no ending no development no becoming absolute non-created reality without that no Christmas and then he created what is not God a universe and on Christmas he entered it so what I want to do is let the gospel of Luke teach us two things about that one how did he do that and two who came of it and in asking the question who came of it I want to be real practical and say so so what what difference does it make for us let me add one more thing to increase the astonishment that we should feel at this this universe the moral part of it the personhood part of it the person us the personal part of it is in rebellion against the king we're in rebellion against God so when he's coming he's not just coming to hang out there's a problem he's coming to deal with and we're in for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life for God sent not the son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved that's why he's coming so let's go to Luke one 26 to 38 and ask two questions one how did he do it and two who came of it and so what number one how did he do it how did the creator of the universe break into his universe there are four answers to that question maybe more if you group them differently number one he broke into the universe by doing what is impossible to do verse 37 for nothing will be impossible with God nothing will be impossible with God that's words of Gabriel to marry when she's perplexed about how this can come about which he's describing when all of our objections are over when we've said everything there is to say by way if this can't happen this is mythology there remains one sovereign sentence nothing will be impossible with God God has been getting ready for this for thousands of years Genesis 18 14 is anything too hard for the Lord that's two thousand years before it happened Job 42 - I know that you can do all things and no purpose of yours can be thwarted Jeremiah 32 17 oh Lord God it is you who made the heavens and the earth and by your great power in your stretched fourth arm nothing is too hard for you and then the time came the fullness of time for the most impossible thing among all impossible things to happen and God did the impossible that's the first thing we should just settle it this cannot happen and God says I can make it happen number two he broke into the universe how by choosing to enter through a virgin verse 26 and 27 in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin then in verse 31 the angel says you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and Mary responds in verse 34 how would this be since I am a virgin literally I know no man I haven't had sexual relations with anybody excuse me mr. Gabriel Joseph and I are engaged we're not married I can't have a baby that's beautiful you hear that young people just let that's not the point of this message but it's just too beautiful to pass over don't you understand mr. angel we're engaged we're not married I can't have a baby receive that message young people it's beautiful virginity is beautiful don't let the world shape you into its mold God made this choice you see that God sent an angel to a virgin he could have sent an angel to a sweet godly Jewish married girl could have done it that way he didn't do it that way he chose a virgin why now why questions are really good questions but if you push them too hard you might go beyond the bible but let's push on it Luke why and he answers verse 35 the angel answered her the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you now note this next word therefore therefore the child born like this this way will be called holy the son of god God chose to be conceived in a virgin so that the fatherhood of this child would be absolutely unique there never has been another human being born like that God means to signal loud and clear the virginity of merry signals he's my son not joseph's biological son my son son of god it's very significant that he chose a virgin he wanted to make crystal clear the fatherhood of this child is different than the fatherhood of every other child that's ever left god is uniquely the father of this child answer number three how does god break into this universe he broke into the universe by choosing for his son a legal human father who would be heir of david and king of israel the king of israel heir of david the king of israel verse 26 and 27 in the six month the angel gabriel went was sent from god to a city named galadine in galadine named nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was joseph of the house of david that's very important he's not his biological father but he will be his legal father and the legal line must stand with david for two thousand years god has been working with the jewish people promise after promise after promise a messiah will come and he will be the son of david and you'll sit upon david's throne he's going to be in that line it's going to be legal it's going to be done right all things ordered and secure by covenant so i will find a virgin i will make a virgin engaged to an heir of the throne of david that must be god did not break into the universe as a generic human being there are no generic human beings he came as a Jew awesome god entered history as a Jew son of david so that all the jews would glorify god someday for his truthfulness in keeping all the promises and and he was a human that all the nations might see in him who they are and they're representative as well so the third answer to the question how is he chose a father legally for his son who would be an heir of the of the throne of david finally number four god broke into the universe by sending his holy spirit with divine power to impregnate the virgin mary with a divine child verse 34 she says to the angel how will this be since i am a virgin i think the next verse is probably it's about the most important sentence that could ever be written before i read it do you remember she asked how can this be when zechariah got his visitation from the angel and the angel said you are going to have a baby and she's barren and they're old he said how can i know this is going to happen and the angel did not like that question and he shot his mouth what's wrong why does he why is he okay with mary's question it's because mary didn't call him into question not in this least mary just says this is strange how is this going to happen i think how questions are just fine just don't say to god prove it say to god i don't understand my life i don't know what you're doing i'm really confused and i would like some help to understand what's going on and i think god's okay with that kind of question here's the answer that he gives the holy spirit will come upon you this is how it's going to happen mary listen carefully the holy spirit is going to come upon you and the power of the most high will will overshadow you and therefore the child to be born will be called holy the son of god so mary god himself in the third person of the trinity the holy spirit is going to come he's going to come with impossibility working power and there's going to be an overshadowing and within that sweet dark safe shadow chased pure holy it's going to make you pregnant i don't think we should go any further than that it's under shadow it's quiet it's pure it's right beautiful it's good no more speculation and a child happens so those are the four answers one god breaks into this universe by doing the impossible he does it by choosing a virgin he does it by choosing a legal father in the line of king david and he does it by the holy spirit overshadowing and impregnating mary with god now the question is who came of it and so what who came of it now i want to begin with a controversial answer and then define it four ways the controversial answer is a king came let's get that clear before i tell you why it's controversial luke 132 in the middle of the verse the lord god will give to him the throne of his father david and he will rain over the house of jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end so do you see the three words that make it crystal clear we're talking about a king first word throne the lord will give to him the throne of his father david second word rain he will rain over the house of jacob forever third word kingdom and of his kingdom there will be no end now that's controversial for this reason you don't like kings you don't like monarchy you like democracy we're in iraq shedding blood for democracy we don't like the system in saudi arabia democracy is the modern way monarchy is ancient less civilized not suitable for what we have become in history we don't want kings we want to vote that's a problem because he didn't come to be elected he elects we don't get a vote now let me respond to that simply soberly with a sentence that i have on my sheet here crossed out written in crossed out written in trying to get it just right so i'm gonna read it and i i think i can stand by this one you know when you use word only and never and always you better be careful so here we go the only legitimate reason that kingship is not attractive to us is because in this age this world the only kings available are finite and sinful cs louis said at least three times in three different places that i could find why he loved democracy he died the same day john f Kennedy died so he can orient him up to 1963 so mid 20th century in england and a lover of democracy don't don't quibble with me here about republic versus democracy we're talking alternative to monarchy and having a say in the government here's what he wrote it's very good very good i agree with it totally a great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from ideas of people like russo who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that everyone deserved a share in the government the danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they are not true i just love cs louis it's just so clear straight forward there's no haze it says wrong russo i find they are not true he says without looking further than myself i don't deserve a share in governing a hen roost much less a nation the real reason for democracy is mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows arrist ottel said that some people were only fit to be slaves i do not contradict him but i reject slavery because i see no man fit to be masters however if there could be a king not limited in wisdom not limited in power not limited in goodness not limited in his love for his subjects only a fool or rebel would not want that king this is an amazing thing i've just been trembling with this insight it may not be as big as it feels to me maybe i'll write the star article about it try to get my thoughts clearer but just bring you into where i'm thinking right now what this means is that democracy is exactly right for now and wicked for later so if you try to absolutize democracy as the ultimate form treason against king jesus is the only thing that can be spoken over you i think historically humanity has grown up into something better than what once was with the kind of totalitarianism that so marked so many civilizations gone before i say thank you god for the progression into a modern system of giving human beings say in who rules them on fallen planet earth amen thank you god for america and many other states and that system for which i'm so grateful is the embodiment of evil if you try to stretch it into the kingdom of christ which is coming it's one of the reasons it's so hard to spread christianity on planet earth we got this crazy out-of-date notion that there should be a king someday and a personal king now over all your autonomy it's worth thinking about now here's what i have to do toward closing all i have done is to say there's a controversial answer to the question who came of it answer a king came of it take it or leave it but that's that's not all it's just not take it or leave it it's what kind of king tell us what kind of king is it a king we would want to have or is it a king we would be afraid of having and there are four words in this paragraph that answer that question and i'll just give them to you briefly number one first word holy verse 35 the holy spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you and therefore the child will be to be born will be called holy let that land on you with good news it's good news because it means that by the time he's ready to die this holy holy holy child grown up into be a holy holy holy man will be an absolutely perfect lamb of god with no blemish and no stain so that when he lays himself out on the cross it will not be for his own sin but whose mine yours the holiness of Jesus is a gift of unparalleled worth it is so great so pure so undefiled it can bear the sin of the world and secondly when he rises having made purification for sins he will be a flawless king holy holy holy in his dying for us and holy holy holy in his ruling over us that's the first word holy second word son son of god verse 35 again the holy spirit will come upon you and the power the most high will overshadow you and therefore the child to be born will be called holy the son of god he is God God creates humans like us God begets God that's another quote from cslurs little rabbits have little rabbits little frogs have tadpoles that become frogs and God has God he makes sculptures like him he begets deity so the second thing to say about this king is not only is he holy holy holy but he is divine let that land on you for the kind of king you might want because if you have a king who is pledged to care for you and protect you and guard you from all enemies that would bring you to ruin you want a king who has the kind of power that has no supreme and God has no body above him so if the king is God you're safe number three the word Jesus verse 31 oh how precious this name is behold Mary you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus God did not leave it up to Mary to choose to name this boy he didn't leave it up to Joseph I will decide what my son will be named and he will be named Jesus why the sound of it rings with the last name no jesus Jesus is an English transliteration of the Greek jesus just change the eye to a j and jesus in greek is the counterpart in Hebrew to yeshua which means joshua which means deliverer savior so when God chooses to name his son he says name my boy savior it's exactly what it says in Matthew 1 21 you will call his name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins he gave him a name just let that land on you I name him savior I name him savior I name my god man son savior could a purpose be any clearer he did not come to judge that will come if we reject the first coming but for now it's I'm coming to save my name is jesus josua savior helper deliverer that's the third thing to know about the king first he's holy second he's god third he's coming to save last the word forever verse 33 he will reign over the house of jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end no reelection no successors to the throne of jesus he's done dying he has his life by virtue of an indestructible resurrection he took his seat on the throne of god and he reigns forever which means that all of his holiness and all of his divinity and all of his jesus like saving mercy counts for you forever there will never come a day when he will be replaced on the throne of the universe never and so methem i commend to you a better alternative in the end than democracy i don't want to vote i just want to submit i want this king i wanted to be my king my savior my god forever i don't want to vote i think the way the lord would have me close is to say this in the name of god i beseech you to receive the amnesty that is still in force for your rebellion against king jesus i think god would say to me what he said to paul in second carinthians five you're my ambassador this morning this is the day of salvation go say in my name there is an amnesty it is still in force and the amnesty is this if you any of you will lay down your sword lay down your weaponry of rebellion against me just drop it in your heart right now just drop it and then kneel or fall or lie down like a little baby and receive my forgiveness for all the rebellion against my kingship it's free i paid for it with my son's blood and then swear allegiance to me as king and if you will do that you will be a child of god and you will live forever and there will be a wall of fire around you called god and in the midst will be the glory and you will enjoy the revelation of god forever and ever and ever and death will be a portal into paradise but if you will not drop your sword if you insist on being your king you will perish because he's going to win don't do that we prayed downstairs just a few minutes ago we prayed up at the north campus a couple hours ago wouldn't it be the greatest memory of your life to say Christmas 2005 i saw the king and i submitted my life to him let's pray father is so real when the sky splits someday soon and the trumpet sounds and the lord stands forth in visible glory millions are going to say why didn't i believe that preacher and it will be too late so father i pray that the beauty of christ your son his holiness his deity his saving mercy his eternality all defining his kingship would appear to everyone in this room as self-evidently true and valuable beyond words we adore you father thank you for listening to this resource from 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Though the world in darkness lay, God entered into the universe this Christmas day. For sinners he came to save, and forevermore King Jesus will reign.