Luke 1 - Miraculous births — Luke 1

0:00 It's good to see everybody this morning and this is a real privilege to be able to have the opportunity to speak about the lord Jesus Christ, the one who's really changed our lives and gives us hope and we're going to be continuing on in our study of Luke. I was thinking about we have... It was already announced. We have a special program for tonight and that brought brought back memories of I don't if I asked this question, I might get an answer. Does anybody remember when we had the children's program years ago here?

0:36 The little children in their little lambs outfits. I can still picture them in my mind. Some of those kids, I don't know if Mason was one of them or not, but some of them are have grown up and have kids that are owned by now. But, I think probably, did anybody have it? No.

0:54 But, it was always a cute thing to see those little lamb outfits. And looking forward to tonight's program. We have some people here with beautiful singing voices and and we had a fantastic program. What was it? A few months back in the summertime with all the different piano playing and singing.

1:16 So looking forward to tonight. Well, this is the third message in our series on Luke. And we're gonna be covering the area that the chapter exactly that Todd read this morning, you know, which was he didn't know. But we're gonna be starting in about verse 26 of Luke chapter one. Before we do though, we're gonna do a little bit of review.

1:43 I know sometimes when our brother Dave was speaking up here, the review would last almost as long as the message. So we're gonna review a little bit. We started off with Denzel with a fantastic, do you call that thing? In Focus display of slides and stuff like that on the first chapter of Luke and mentioning, you know, that just Luke was one that there were still people who were eyewitnesses to the savior's death and burial that were alive. Looking at some rough dates, I read, I think it was an iron sides book.

2:25 It was approximately thirty three AD when the Lord was crucified and risen approximately. And they figured that Luke was was written somewhere around the time of sixty AD. It had to be before seventy AD because in seventy AD Jerusalem was destroyed. And so a lot of these things had to happen before that. But it's really interesting though that Luke also wrote the book of Luke or book of Acts, sorry, and he mentions a number of places in there.

2:58 He uses a phrase, you know, when we heard this, we did that. You know, you can tell. He uses the word we a lot of times. Or if it was they, then he wasn't part of that group. But there was a slide and it's still available, I'm sure, from Denzel.

3:15 If you can look it up online, it'll give you all the different references of that expression used there. But we're continuing our review a little bit. In Luke, you know, it could have been eyewitnesses. In the four gospels, actually, there were some two of the four gospels for sure. Those that wrote in Matthew and John were eyewitnesses of the Lord Himself.

3:45 And... But main point I wanted to bring up is that really it was a spirit of God working to inspire the scriptures, to give Luke the information what to write down. And if we look back just quickly at a verse in John 14, I believe it is. John 14. Let's see.

4:16 Should have had this marked. John 14. Let's see. Is it? I'm sorry.

4:37 Verse 26, John fourteen twenty six, but the comforter which is the holy ghost whom the father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I've said unto you. So another place too, it says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Is God breathed? So as these writers wrote the New Testament books and the Old Testament books, they were moved by God to do that. It was not just an ordinary book that disappeared somewhere.

5:09 It was God's working behind the scenes. And so not only do we believe in the divine inspiration of scripture, but we believe in the divine preservation of scriptures. God has preserved His word for us even though many times in the past history there were efforts to, burn people that had Bibles and so forth and it's just amazing to trace a little bit of a history how we are blessed to have the Word of God. And you can trace even Paul near the end of his life was in Rome And from Rome, the truth of the gospel spread up into Europe, other places like that. Martin Luther translated the Bible at that time into German.

5:53 And another one who's well known to English people is Tyndale. William Tyndale was also one of the early ones used to translate the scriptures from Greek into English. So we're blessed to have the word of God with us today. And the Lord says in another place, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. So what a blessing it is to have.

6:46 You know, some of us maybe have had experiences in our life where we thought, this is an impossible thing. I don't see how it's ever gonna work out. We need to remember nothing is impossible with God. And Ray spoke about Elizabeth and Zacharias being up in years. And he said at that time, you know, they were probably in their fifties or sixties, something like that.

7:11 You know, that doesn't sound that old to me anymore. But then again, I was wondering, I got to thinking about that and I wondered, I'm sure they knew the story of Abraham and Sarah. And Abraham was what? 100 years old? 100 years old when Isaac was born?

7:30 And Sarah was 90. Of course, they lived longer than Abraham lived to be 175. And Sarah, I think was 127. You can look that up in Genesis. But they were told that they would have a child, and that the child was that Zacharias was told he would be dumb and not able to speak because he kinda doubted it.

7:58 And he said there would be a performance of those things which were spoken to them. Let's turn back to Luke now in that first chapter. And this was the angel Gabriel, going back to what Ray was talking about, who was sent to speak to them. And Gabriel was one who, you know, angels don't age. And so, he had been mentioned probably at least four hundred years before.

8:34 In the book of Daniel, he's mentioned a couple times. And here he is again in the New Testament. He's mentioned in Luke, and he's also mentioned... Luke one and Luke two, excuse me. I get dry throat up here.

8:58 But Gabriel had the position that says, I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God. And that's Luke nineteen nineteen. Angels don't age. They don't die. But the fact that he was standing there speaks to me like he was ready for whatever the Lord told him to do.

10:02 Blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled, that is saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, fear not Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest.

10:30 And the Lord God will give unto him the throne of his father David. He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end. And then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be? Seeing I know not a man. And the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee.

10:53 Therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Well, here we need to realize everything is working according to God's plan. It was all part of God's plan to send His Son into this world. If we were to look back in Isaiah, hold your place here and turn back into Isaiah, I believe it's 14. Isaiah 14.

11:34 Let's see. Maybe I've got the wrong verse here. Isaiah 40. I'm sorry. I mean, that's it.

11:47 Isaiah 40. Now, let's see. I'm looking for the part about the virgin birth. Where is it? Isaiah seven.

12:01 I'm sorry. Isaiah seven fourteen. As you know, I'm not a professional speaker up here, so... Isaiah seven fourteen. Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign.

12:18 Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call His name Immanuel. So there it was prophesied hundreds of years before it actually happened. And also about the one that was to be born, about John, we know a few things about him. He was spoken of as the voice of one crying in the wilderness. You find that in Isaiah chapter 40.

12:53 Isaiah 40 and verse three says, the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord and make straight in the desert a highway for our God. So that was the assignment really that John the Baptist was given. He was to be born of Zacharias and Elizabeth. Anyway, just have to thank the Lord for all these things that are working according to His plan, His plan of salvation. God who is holy, who looked out in this world and see that all of us are sinners and there's no way for us to be saved on our own.

13:44 He tells us, you know, very plainly that that salvation is not by our works, but it's by what the Lord Jesus has done for us on the cross by His perfect salvation. And we just have to realize that there's nothing too hard nothing too hard for the Lord to do. And that was one of the things going back to Genesis there. And when God told Abraham and Sarah that they were gonna have a child. Back to Genesis.

14:21 Let's see. I gotta find it here. Let's see. Sorry. From chapter 16 of Genesis.

15:04 Well, let's see. Verse chapter 17, when Abram was 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abraham fell on his face and God talked with him saying, as for me, behold my covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

15:31 Neither shall thy name anymore be called Abram, but thy name shall be called Abraham for a father of many nations have I made thee. The verse I was looking for is in the eighteenth chapter when God told Sarah that she would have a child and she laughed which was a maybe understandable reaction. Verse 14 says, is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard for the Lord? And that's an important thing for all of us to remember.

16:05 It doesn't matter what we might be going through in our life, you know, the Lord can give us the strength to go through anything really. I know I've experienced in my own life, thought there was no way out of a situation many years ago and God by His grace reached out and brought me to Himself. And so, we have this all through scripture that God is not limited in any way. We could look farther back at in Isaiah. I'm sorry, Jeremiah.

17:21 Into Babylon. And then verse 32... Or excuse me, chapter 32 verse 17 says, ah, Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee. Nothing too hard for the Lord. And right over there, it also says in the same area.

17:44 Verse 27, Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? So we have the record in the scripture that God has said there's nothing too hard for Him to do no matter what our situation or what He may call us to go through. So that's a real blessing to know that. And Mary was told that she was going to have a son and that His name should be called Jesus, which means savior.

18:18 And it says, verse 31 in a chapter, He shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give unto Him the throne of His father David. And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end. So back in Luke one, Our Lord Jesus had the right. He was the genealogy. He had the right actually to the throne.

18:56 He was related to David in that way. And as it says there in chapter one again, that he shall reign over the house of Jacob, verse 33, forever. He shall be great, verse 32, and shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God will give unto him the throne of his father, David. And farther on, it says verse 47, Mary said, my soul doth magnify the Lord.

19:38 My spirit hath rejoiced in God, my savior. Mary was one who she needed a Savior as well as us. And she realized that He was the one who was born to be the Savior. Mary's attitude was, Lord, whatever You want, that's what I'm willing to do. And verse 38, I'll read verse 37 since we've talking about that.

20:06 Luke one, For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. And Mary rose in those days and went into the hill country with haste into the city of Judah, entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost.

20:38 I've never seen a baby actually leap in a womb, but this child that she was carrying was excited. And I have experienced movement of a child in mother's womb. We've had six children by the grace of God. Seven, one is with the Lord. It was a joyful experience.

21:04 And here she says, you know that Elizabeth feels like this baby is excited because she's meeting the one who was carrying the Lord Himself. Well, just a few other things here. I wanted to mention about what did Joseph think of all all the situation that, you know, in those days, somebody who was pregnant, who wasn't married, you know, could have actually under law could have been put to death. It was a serious serious thing. And Matthew one verse 18 to 23.

22:39 So Joseph was assured what happened was of the Lord and this answered all his questions that he had regarding that. So it's all part of God's plan though, and he is working it all out still today according to His plan. He has sent His son into the world, and I want us to look for a minute to first John chapter four. First John chapter four and verse 14. We think about the Lord Jesus coming into the world at this time of year and this verse often comes to mind.

24:13 The Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world. Where would we be without the Lord Jesus? There'd be no hope for us. None whatsoever. And just a couple other verses here, John three seventeen.

24:43 These are near some pretty well known verses. John three seventeen, this verse kind of was on my heart this morning. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. I know sometimes we throw around that term, be saved.

25:19 And for years, I never really even knew what that meant. Sometimes you would be at a church service somewhere or you might hear it. I usually connected it with Baptist groups. I wasn't part of that group at the time. But I thought my teenagers, what does it mean to be saved?

25:39 What is that? What is that talking about? Is this some kind of religious experience? And to kind of define it, best way I know how is when a person acknowledges their sin before God, that they're lost, that they're a sinner before God, and that they want to have their sins washed away. They want to be forgiven.

26:02 And God will come in if they you know another place in Romans we won't turn to it, but it says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. When we believe, when we really believe, you know, and it's got to be a believing in your heart. You know, it it says another place in the scripture, well, the devils also believe and tremble but that's that's not a heart belief there. But to believe in our heart, we're willing to acknowledge that we've sinned and that our sins will separate us from God and we'll be forever shut out from heaven if we die in our sins. And I got to read this verse that's right in front of it that most of us know and have known by heart but it says verse 16 of John three, for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

27:04 God so loved the world. How do we define his love? It's it's beyond our comprehension. I I don't know how to define his love just to say he loves us in spite of ourselves. He he loves us in spite of all of our sins and failures and he was willing to give the greatest gift of all his life for us on the cross and that's what we celebrate this time of year and not just this time of year, every day really throughout the year.

27:33 We don't know exactly when the Lord Jesus was born, but we rejoice in the fact that He was and it all went according to God's plan. And one day we'll all see Him face to face. But the question is, we going to see Him as our judge because we rejected Christ or are we going to see Him as our savior who has cleansed us from our sins? It's His desire that all of us would be saved, all of us would believe in our hearts on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is ready.

28:11 He's willing to forgive. It says in Psalm 86, He wants us to come to Him. He invites us to come to Him. And that's why He came into the world to die on the cross for our sins. It says, He bare our sins in His own body on the cross.

28:30 So it's our desire today and I know I've stumbled up here, but the message is clear. God's Word is clear. He loves us. He wants us to be saved. If we're not.

28:43 And He is willing to give us eternal life and cleanse us from all our sins if we will just trust in Him. And let's close in prayer. Our dear God and heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace that you've shown to us. We know your word is living and powerful and can speak to our hearts. Thank you for your salvation.

29:11 Thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying on the cross for us and that we can have eternal life through believing in you. We just pray for each one here tonight this afternoon, Lord, that all of us may have that personal relationship with you. You are the one who is working to draw souls to yourself. It's all your work, Lord, and we just thank you now and pray in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.