God Gives Great Grace • Luke 1:26-38
1:02:07 Teaching begins
Notes
Imagine you are God. You are bringing Your Son into the world to save the world and fulfil Your promises. Who is going to make a good mother for the Messiah? What kind of a person do you look for?
You look for a servant of God, because Your Son is going to be the Servant of God. You look for a humble person who thinks more about others than herself, because Your Son will represent Your exact character, which is, You think more about others than You do Yourself.
That person does not exist naturally. God worked supernaturally to make a woman be the right person for her calling. He gave Mary great grace.
I’m reading in Luke 1, from verse 26.
1. We are told the time, place, and circumstances of what is called the Annunciation to Mary, vv. 26-27.
A. The sixth month is the time, and that refers to Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy with the future John the Baptist. Gabriel confirms this in verse 36.
B. God sends the angel Gabriel to Nazareth in Galilee, to an engaged virgin.
1. Engagement was as binding and as sacred as marriage itself. It could only be broken by divorce. Any breach of the betrothal would be considered adultery. They are considered as married but they’re not. They are protected in a relationship in which they can’t mess around with each other or anyone else. That could last up to a year before they were married. Mary was protected against any possibility of impropriety. No man could have touched her.
2. Her betrothed Joseph is of the descendants of David. This is important because God promised David that one of his descendants would sit on his throne forever. That legal right to the throne of David is inherited from Joseph, him being one of David’s descendants. This shows that Mary is also descended from David. Joseph is not going to be the father of Jesus. Therefore Mary is going to provide the humanity, so that Jesus will truly be descended from David on her side, not Joseph’s.
2. Gabriel announces what will happen to Mary, vv. 28-33.
A. He greets her: Greetings, favoured one, the Lord is with you.
1. The Latin translation Hail Mary, full of grace, sounds like Mary has an abundance of grace in herself that she can bestow on others as they have need. But that is a wrong understanding of what the angel said.
2. The word translated “highly favoured one” is a perfect participle passive. It’s not what she has, it’s what’s happened to her. It means that she has been highly favoured by God. She is not the source of that grace. She has received great grace from God.
B. The angel appearing like this was surprising and the greeting perplexing to her. Who, me? Notice she begins to ponder this, to think carefully, to grasp understanding. She didn’t just then begin to do that, that’s a characteristic response, that’s who she is. We’ll look more at this in a minute.
C. The angel announces. It’s not to get Mary’s approval. It’s a decree of God that the angel announces.
1. He emphasises again to her that she has found favour with God. He has accepted her, received her willingly.
2. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son and you shall name Him Jesus. That’s the Greek rendering of the Hebrew Joshua, Yeshua, which means Yahweh is saviour.
3. He will be great. Remember the definition of greatness is not forcing everyone to say you’re great and climb to the top and stay at the top and tell everyone what to do. That’s what the devil does. God is different. He thinks of others and serves them. The greatest is he who serves God and serves men. This one will be the Servant spoken of in Isaiah 42 and other chapters.
4. And will be called the Son of the Most High. Not only is He going to be humble and a servant, He is going to be exalted to the highest place, with all authority in heaven and on earth.
5. And the Lord will give Him the throne of His father David. He will reign over Israel forever. He will reign over all the Gentiles forever. His kingdom shall have no end.
3. Mary responds to the angel twice, vv. 34-38.
A. Her first response is to ask how is this going to happen? She is a virgin who is in a protected betrothal.
1. The angel says the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. This Greek word was used in Exodus 40:34-35. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
2. That’s what’s going to happen to Mary. This is a miracle, not an ordinary natural biological procedure. This is not sex. Anyone who interprets this as a sexual act is deliberately ignoring what is written. If a person wants to be blasphemous they’re going to have to stand before God and He is going to deal with them.
3. And the angel goes on to say even your relative Elizabeth is in her sixth month, for no word of God will ever fail. That’s what it literally says. She was barren but because God said, “You’re going to bear a son,” she is going to bear a child.
B. Mary’s second response is, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord.” Bondslave of the Lord.
1. The angel hasn’t gone into a lot of detail, he’s just said God is going to do it by His power and His Spirit.
2. Mary trusts God that it will be all right and she submits. “I serve the Lord completely. Here I am.”
4. Mary’s submission and her happiness came from receiving God’s grace.
A. God gave Mary great grace and made her a woman who was completely submitted to the will of God, His bondslave.
B. As she accepted what God made her she shared in God’s goodness.
5. What kind of grace did God give Mary? I see two things.
A. He gave her a heart to ponder and meditate.
1. Here and in chapter two we have three incidents that Mary treasures up in her heart and thinks deeply about. This is her practice, to grasp the significance of what she is experiencing and to know God. I’m sure she had access to the Scriptures and meditated on them because of what comes next, what we know as the Magnificat. There’s so much Scripture in it and it didn’t come in one blinding instant. It’s the result of knowing and meditating and thinking deeply about the things of God.
2. Meditating enables you to grasp ideas and understand. You are thinking about the living and active word of God. The Holy Spirit is right there to teach you as you depend on Him. You can ask Him questions and get answers. He is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3. She learned to do this at an early age and it transformed her.
B. Meditation was probably encouraged by another grace that I think God gave her, only I don’t know if we would see it as grace. God gave Mary difficulties growing up. He used those difficulties to humble Mary greatly and make her dependent on Him.
1. One difficulty hinted at in Luke is poverty. It’s likely Mary grew up not having much in the way of things, not all of her needs were met. It didn’t seem to change when she married Joseph. At least at the beginning we know that they were living on a low economic level, barely making ends meet. Luke records that after Mary delivered Jesus and the time for purification had ended she offered the bare minimum sacrifices that the law of Moses required in Leviticus 12:8 ‘But if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’” They offered the pigeons because they couldn’t afford a lamb for the sacrifice. That’s all they could do!
2. You learn something when you don’t have much. You depend on God to provide for you. You learn the truth: He is faithful to hear the cry of the afflicted and the poor. You also become thankful for what God provides and you don’t complain because He’s God and you’re still alive. You realise you don’t need everything you want, but you do get everything you need. You let go of asking “why?” because God has already explained Himself in His word. That word is enough. You submit, and in that submission you have peace.
C. A mind that ponders and meditates comes to this conclusion: it’s better that I get the Lord and become dependent on Him than to get all the things that I want. It’s better for me to trust in God than to look for reasons because reasons don’t help, but God helps. I’d rather have God than riches or anything else.
D. Mary has already endured humbling in her life and also known God’s goodness. When He comes to her and says, this is what’s going to happen, she has received so much grace from God that she is humble and ready to obey. She is happy to be the bondslave of the Lord.
6. This attitude of being a bondslave is an amazingly mature attitude to have at such an early age.
A. Paul begins Romans, “Paul, a bondslave of Jesus Christ.” He’s a mature apostle, missionary, church planter, teacher, with decades of experience.
B. James begins his epistle the same way. So do Peter and Jude. All the apostles act like that even if they didn’t write it: they are all bondslaves of Jesus Christ.
C. Abraham was the servant of God, which you can easily translate “slave”. So was Moses, so was David, and so were all the prophets.
D. How old is Mary? 20? 16? She’s already there. Behold your bondslave! That’s who she is already!
E. God has prepared this woman to mother and raise the Messiah. She has received His grace and submitted to Him in return. She depends on Him, not on her own understanding, but she seeks to grow in her understanding and grasp of God.
7. So what?
A. The point of receiving Jesus as your saviour is present yourself to God as a bondslave.
1. Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
2. “Acceptable to God” means He has received you fully, just like He received Mary.
3. This is how you respond to God. Behold Your bondslave. Be it done to me according to Your word.
B. This is where I experience resistance. I don’t want to be anyone’s bondslave. You have to deal with sin and rebellion. I’m not such a good bondslave.
C. So what do you do? The biblical answer is to receive more grace.
1. James 4:6-10 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:“God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
2. I have been reading Isaiah at night, and it’s amazing how the Lord has been giving me grace.
a. Isaiah 46:3-4 “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, you who have been borne by Me from birth and have been carried from the womb; even to your old age I will be the same, and even to your graying years I will bear you! I have done it, and I will carry you; and I will bear you and I will deliver you.
b. Isaiah 49:14-16 But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me.
c. Isaiah 54:11-13 “O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and your foundations I will lay in sapphires. Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones. All your sons will be taught of the LORD; and the well-being of your sons will be great.
D. My reaction to those verses is, that’s more than I deserve from God. I haven’t done enough for God to care for me like He says here. Can I really expect God to think of me in this way? The answer is, YES! This is not about how good I am, it’s how good God is. When you find it too good to be true, then you know: that’s grace.
E. You are “highly favoured” just like Mary. That word is used only one other place in the Bible, Ephesians 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. “Freely bestowed” is the same word as “highly favoured”. “Highly favoured” applies only to Mary and all those who are in Christ!
F. When you realise God’s goodness to you, you are happy to be His bondslave. That’s how it works. Can you receive more grace from God, and grace upon grace? Then you can do this.
Let’s pray.