[0:00] We begin in Luke chapter 1, starting in verse 26. The Word of God says, Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.
[0:17] And coming in, he said to her, Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
[0:30] And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
[0:41] And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I am a virgin? The angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
[0:55] And for that reason, the holy child shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.
[1:06] For nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, Behold, the bond slave of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. Matthew chapter 1, starting in verse 18.
[1:17] Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.
[1:29] And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
[1:46] She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, and he will save his people from their sins. Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us.
[2:02] And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son, and he called his name Jesus.
[2:13] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for this word. We thank you for your scripture that you've given us that we can read and be encouraged. And Lord, we can be reminded of the season which we are in.
[2:26] But Lord, I pray that as we have read it this morning and we hear it, that we would hear it afresh. God, that the wonder of it would sweep over us once again, that we would see the glory not of the season we're in, but we'll see the glory of you, and we'll see the beauty of the promise being fulfilled, and we would be enamored by the love and the mercy that caused you to come down to us.
[2:48] Lord, we pray that you would be glorified, and we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. We are looking at the miracle of Christmas, and this morning we are looking at the reality of this miracle, that the impossible is accomplished.
[3:05] The virgin birth of Jesus to Mary is one of the most astounding things throughout history. It is actually a stumbling block for many to come to faith. It is something that many biblical scholars, and do not let the term biblical scholar, lead you to think that they are necessarily a believer, born-again believer, because there are a number of scholars who study the Bible in an academic process to see its historical realities, which, by the way, historically, everything that it speaks of can find its place in history, but they also study it just to gain information.
[3:37] And there are a number of scholars who try to rectify this passage and say, well, she wasn't really a virgin because the prophecy that is being fulfilled that came out of the book of Isaiah had its fulfillment in Isaiah, and it did.
[3:50] Don't let anyone mislead you. There was a fulfillment that Isaiah 7.14 speaks of during the time of Isaiah, so this can't necessarily be that. But what we find here is what Matthew is doing is something that is very common throughout Scripture.
[4:04] It is taking a previous prophecy and seeing that it might have had a short-term fulfillment, but God was always pointing to a long-term accomplishment. And then some will say, well, the word virgin in Isaiah 7.14 was speaking of a young woman.
[4:19] It didn't necessarily mean one who had not had sexual relations with her husband or a man. It was speaking just, it was another word for a young woman. So some say, well, Mary was a young woman, and her and Joseph had really already, you know, come together and consummated their marriage, and it was just a very natural process.
[4:36] But that, again, runs contrary to what we see in Scripture. We are really looking at an impossible event, being accomplished before our eyes for our glory and for our redemption.
[4:47] And we want to see this as it is. And we take the word of God literally, that when the Bible says that Mary was a virgin, and it tells us over and over again, by the way, this is one of the pinnacles of the faith, that Jesus was born of a virgin.
[4:59] This is absolutely necessary to fulfill everything else because sin was passed down through man, right? The seed of man shall have sin. And Jesus was not the seed of man. Rather, he was the seed of a woman.
[5:10] He was the Son of God. And it is this beautiful picture we see over and over again. But I want you to see just three truths that we take away from the impossible being accomplished.
[5:21] And we are reminded of this, especially this time of year, when we read the Christmas story and we read the Christmas account. Number one, we see that this is a continuation of the work of God.
[5:34] The miraculous or the impossible being accomplished is nothing other than just a continuation of what God has always been doing.
[5:45] It is just a continuation of the work of God. Many people will say they don't believe in miracles, that miracles are an impossibility, that there's no such thing as the supernatural, that there's no such thing as something that cannot be explained scientifically.
[5:59] But I love science and I understand history and I see all these things. And what I also understand is that many of the great scientists who are kind of the forefathers of science believed in the supernatural.
[6:14] They believed in a creator. They believed in a heavenly being because science itself testifies that there has to be something outside of science. The fact that everything works according to perfect order and everything seems to go in perfect sequence and there is order and it's not in chaos and everything seems to work in connection with one another.
[6:33] I mean, I was reading this week how vegetables can be grown in other parts of the world where the soil is not good by using fish tanks that have trout in it. Because the feces of the trout actually fertilizes the plant.
[6:46] So now all of a sudden they have these fish tanks with trout and the trout eat the food and use the bathroom. And what they do, they use the bathroom, it feeds the plant and nourishes the plants. And all of a sudden they have stuff. Everything is just working in perfect order.
[6:57] And the fact that the science works testifies to the fact that something had to create that science. And the miraculous is nothing other than the creator working outside his creation.
[7:11] Right? It is, if something had to create everything, then that something or someone who we refer to as God, Elohim, has the right to be outside of it and can intervene in it, in what we would call the miraculous, at any time he sees fit.
[7:27] And what we have seen throughout history and what we have seen even throughout biblical history, is that God often intervenes. He accomplishes the impossible.
[7:37] And when we read the Christmas account and we read of Mary and the virgin birth of Christ, we are not scared away from it because in actuality all we see is this is just God doing what he has always been doing.
[7:52] This is a continuation of the work of God. And we see it very quickly in the book of Luke. It says, God does hear your prayers and God is speaking to you in connection with your prayers.
[8:33] And now six months later, I want you to see that God is just still doing. By the way, we saw this kind of a little bit last week. I know I'm speaking fast, but stay with me. We saw this a little bit last week.
[8:44] The first thing God said in New Testament doctrine was what? Just the same thing he had been saying at the very end of the Old Testament doctrine, right? In the book of Malachi, God says, A forerunner is coming who will go in the name of Elijah, and he will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children, and he will prepare the way of the Lord.
[9:00] And Zechariah is standing in the temple, and God's been silent for over 400 years, twice as long as our nation's been in existence, just about, right? And he says what? Your son is going to be the forerunner who comes in the power and spirit of Elijah, and he's going to be the one who prepares the way of the Son of God.
[9:14] And it's the same thing, right? God just continues to speak the same thing. He says it over and over again. This is why I have confidence to continue preaching the same messages over and over again and continue preaching from the same book, and I never have to come up with anything new because God is always saying the same thing over and over again, right?
[9:30] We just need to approach it in a new heart and a new mind. But what we see here is now six months later, now in the sixth month since that happened, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth.
[9:42] Now this is important because this is the same angel that went to Zechariah in Jerusalem at the temple. It is just God continuing to do what he's already started doing.
[9:52] God opened the door into what we call the church age when he showed up through his messenger, the angel Gabriel, in the temple, and now all of a sudden he's just continuing to do that. He moves forward. Six months later, Gabriel, the same angel, stands in the presence of Mary.
[10:06] He's not in the temple. Now he's in Nazareth. Now that doesn't seem to make sense. It doesn't make sense unless you read your Old Testament where it makes perfect sense because God said out of Nazareth one would come, right? That he who was despised would be exalted.
[10:18] And all of a sudden we see all these places that are fulfilled in Scripture. Micah 5, 2 speaks of Bethlehem. We'll see that later. And all these beautiful passages that seem to take place.
[10:28] And again, God is just continuing to do this. It says, The angel Gabriel, six months later, was sent from God. The very first thing we need to understand about this impossible situation is that this impossible situation finds its answer from the presence of the throne room of heaven.
[10:46] God is addressing the impossible situation. God sends his angel, which is Gabriel, who is a messenger. Angel just literally means messenger. sends his messenger Gabriel to handle or to confront.
[10:59] Actually, if you read it literally, he is creating an impossible situation which God will answer. God always accomplishes the impossible. It says, Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city of Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David.
[11:15] Now this isn't saying that Joseph is of the descendants of David. It's actually saying that Mary is of the descendants of David. I'll show you this thing really quick in just a minute. And the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, Greetings, everyone.
[11:26] The Lord is with you. And she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. Now I want you to see something here. That all throughout the announcement of this birth, this man David keeps being brought up, right?
[11:37] I mean, David keeps being brought up. This really isn't about David, is it? I mean, why is David such a big deal? Why is David such a great guy? Because God had made a promise to David that said, David, one of your descendants will sit on the throne forever.
[11:49] It's pretty astounding. That's an astounding promise that God made to David. He said, David, one of your descendants will reign forever. And David did what many of us says. Well, that's great. So there would just be this successive lineage of kings.
[12:00] And the first one would be my son Solomon. And then after him, his son. And then after him, his son. And after him, his son. But then we find that there is a problem in the Old Testament. This is why you have two lineages of Jesus.
[12:12] And I know I've taken you there before. I don't have time to take you there right now. But I'm going to trust you'll look at them. You have a lineage of Jesus found in the book of Matthew. And you have a lineage of Jesus found in the book of Luke.
[12:24] Matthew's lineage is traced through Joseph. Why? Because Matthew was writing to the Jewish people. And they could... Sorry, ladies. I don't mean to be harsh here. The Jewish people could care less who you were from.
[12:36] They didn't care where your mama was from. They only cared where your daddy was from. Right? Because the lineage was always traced through the male in the Jewish society. And the right to the throne was always attained through the male in Jewish society.
[12:50] Now, Luke is writing to the Gentiles. He's writing to just the population of all believers. And he uses Mary's genealogy. Now, this is exactly strategically important.
[13:01] Because God did this for a reason. Because what you find... Now, again, this is where I step back and I just get amazed. And maybe you don't get amazed. But you just need to understand that God's in control of every impossible situation.
[13:14] Because according to the Old Testament, it's going to be impossible for one of the descendants of David to reign on the throne. Why? Because right before the Babylonian captivity, the king that was reigning, who was a descendant of David, God pronounced a curse on that king and said, None of your descendants will ever sit on this throne.
[13:35] Now, that king has the legal right to the throne. So, the Jewish people are looking for someone from that man because he's the legal right. Again, they don't care what God said.
[13:48] They care what the law says. And the law says he has to be born from that man. That descendant of David. Because we know David had a lot of children, right? A lot of wives, a lot of concubines, a lot of children.
[13:58] We're not here to justify that. We're just here to say that, right? So, they're pointing to that man. It has to be from him. But God says it can't be from him because I pronounced a curse on him. Here's one of the wonderful things.
[14:10] David's in that man's lineage. So, legally, by the law, Joseph is in that man's lineage. Joseph's descendants have a right legally to the throne.
[14:21] But the problem is Joseph's descendants have no right spiritually to the throne. Mary is of the descendants of David through another son of David. Not through that man.
[14:35] Not through the one who God cursed. But through another one of the sons of David who never sat on the throne. By the way, God says, David, your descendant will always sit on the throne.
[14:46] But he did not signify which descendant. So, what we see here is that Mary is the key to the impossible situation that nobody was ever going to have a right to the throne. But what I want you to see, okay? All this stuff that is just, why do all these facts matter?
[14:59] It's because this whole scene is full of impossibilities. Mary is a virgin. Joseph is of the wrong family. I mean, he's of the right family, David. But he's got the wrong great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather.
[15:12] His family's been cursed, right? According to law, they can rule. But they can't according to God. They can't do that. Mary is of the right one. And Mary has the right lineage. And so, it can't be through Joseph.
[15:24] It has to be through Mary. And it has to be through God. And we see all these impossible situations. But what I want you to see is that the whole reason David was brought up, the whole reason Nazareth was brought up, the whole reason Gabriel showed up, is because this impossible situation, this circumstance, shows us that God is just doing what God always has done.
[15:45] He always accomplishes the impossible. Always. It is just a continuation of the work of God. God is doing the same thing all the time.
[15:57] God does not change. Friend, listen to me. It's impossible that a bush catches on fire and it does not burn up. It's impossible. It's impossible for a donkey to turn around and talk to you. If you came to me and told me you were riding on a donkey and that donkey turned around and started talking to you, I would call you crazy.
[16:12] I mean, I just would. It's impossible that you would walk up to the Red Sea at flood stage and see it part and you cross on dry ground. I've seen shows where they try to prove it scientifically. But every time I've seen that show that when the water parts, guess what's at the bottom of the Red Sea?
[16:28] It's mud, right? You don't cross on dry ground. The Bible says they crossed on dry ground. It says it intentionally, right? It's impossible that a sea could part and you could cross on dry ground. It's impossible that you could do all these things.
[16:42] It's impossible that manna would come down out of heaven and feed you. It's impossible. It's impossible that all these circumstances that take place throughout history over and over and over and over again.
[16:54] It's impossible that Daniel could be thrown into the lion's den. And while he's in the middle of the lion's den, the lions which are starving don't eat him. But as soon as somebody else gets thrown in there, they get eaten. It's impossible that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego could be thrown into the fiery furnace that killed the man that threw him in there.
[17:08] But they stand in there and they don't even have the smell of smoke on them. Now how many of you know you cooked breakfast this morning and you're upset because you left the house with the smell of bacon on you? I can say that. I don't ever put my church shirt on until after breakfast because whatever I'm cooking gets on me.
[17:22] They stood in the middle of the fiery furnace and didn't even smell like smoke. That's impossible. What you see is God always accomplishes the impossible. And when we come to this in the New Testament, we are not surprised to see the virgin birth of Jesus through Mary because this is just what God does.
[17:43] It is just a continuation of the work of God. My friend, listen to me. Every one of us are faced with impossibilities. It's impossible for you to be right in the sight of a holy God.
[17:58] It's impossible for God to look upon you as you are righteous. It's impossible for him to see, yeah, you haven't done anything wrong because we have all fallen short of the glory of God, the Bible tells us.
[18:11] But the good news is, is God is in the habit of doing the impossible, right? He's in the habit of accomplishing that which man cannot figure out. And the redemption of mankind, the salvation of man, is an impossible situation which God has already accomplished through the death of his son, Jesus Christ, on the cross.
[18:28] It is just a continuation of the work of God. Number two, we see that the impossible being accomplished is this great miraculous event because it gives conviction to the purposes of God.
[18:41] It gives conviction. It's not only a continuation to the work of God. It gives conviction to the purposes of God. God had said that a descendant of David was sitting on the throne forever. By man's standards, it looked like it wasn't going to happen.
[18:53] But guess what? God made it happen. He didn't go through a loophole. He did it exactly how he said he was going to do it, right? Because it says in Genesis 3, by the way, that it would be the seed of a woman who would stomp on the head of Satan.
[19:06] So God had said that. And then he told David that it would be one of his descendants. It would be his that went on there. I mean, it's just amazing when you read the thread throughout Scripture and you see how God, the purposes of God come about.
[19:18] And when we see that God just continues to do these things, it gives us a conviction or a steadfast heart to the purposes of God. Mary is sitting here and the angel says in verse 30, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
[19:32] And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. I don't have the time to take you to the Old Testament prophecies just in those couple of verses.
[19:46] It says, And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. Look at verse 34. Now, we have the tendency to read this and say, wait a minute, God's not fair because Zacharias said, how will it be?
[20:00] And she's saying, how can it be? And Zacharias is saying, how will I know for sure this is going to happen? And Zacharias was made deaf, or not deaf, but mute, right, for nine months. He couldn't speak. And the angel Gabriel kind of just rebuked him and chastised him, and he got in trouble.
[20:14] Why doesn't Mary get in trouble? Well, because what they said is two completely different things. We don't catch it so much in our English, but when Zacharias is told about the coming of his son, Zacharias says, that's an impossibility.
[20:25] Now, let's just put it in our own words. He said, this will never happen. I'm old, and my wife is advanced in years. Remember that, right? This is not going to happen. He spoke in doubt. Mary, when she is told the similar thing, that you will conceive a child, she does not say, this will never happen.
[20:40] She's literally saying, how is it going to happen? She's asking a question with an expectation to its fulfillment. She's not saying, that can never happen. She said, would you just tell me how?
[20:52] By the way, God doesn't have a problem with our questions. He has a problem with our doubt. Never has a problem with our questions. God, since you said this is going to come about, since you say these things are going to happen, Mary says, how is it going to happen?
[21:07] Now, God is not obliged to answer us, but he is faithful to respond. He's not obliged to tell us his plans and his ways, but we see in grace and mercy, he responds here. And Mary is asking with a conviction that it will happen, not a doubt that it's going to happen.
[21:22] And friend, that is a big difference. Every possible situation in our lives leaves us with questions. It leaves us with unanswered questions. And we must not approach them the way Zacharias did and say, this can't happen.
[21:36] Rather, we must approach them the way Mary did and say, I wonder how it's going to happen. Because that is the eye of confidence and the eye of doubt, my friend.
[21:47] When we read scripture and we see that God is in the habit of doing the impossible, and we see that God is in the habit of accomplishing and bringing about his purposes, when God has purposed and promised you things in your life, guess what?
[22:02] They will happen. This is not a name it and claim it theology. This is not what this is. This is not me saying, so you ought to be able to name anything you want, and God's going to bring it about to you.
[22:13] No, this is me saying, get in the word of God and see what God has promised you in his word, according to his word. See what the purposes of God are for you in this world, according to his word.
[22:24] And I promise you this, God will bring every one of them about. I don't know how, but I have a conviction that he will.
[22:37] It is a certainty. My conviction is not based on my importance, and my conviction is not based upon the fact that I have the strength to do it. My conviction is based upon the fact that even if I read things in Scripture that I can't wrap my mind around, if I read things in Scripture that seem to make no sense to me, but yet I see that God says this is how it's going to happen, and guess what?
[22:59] I am confident it's going to happen that way. Because the fact that God has done things over and over again throughout history, this is why you need to know what the word of God says about the purposes of God.
[23:12] Do you know what the purposes of God are? Do you know what the plans of God are? We are in the middle of Lottie Moon, right? We don't really speak a lot of it, as much as we should, and I probably should bring it up a little bit more, but we are in the middle of Lottie Moon right now, and we have those prayer cards in your pews, and I encouraged you last week, take time to pray for these.
[23:29] By the way, that's not just a pastor's encouragement. That is a pastor's encouragement. This pastor named John encouraged some believers to do that one time. You may know John. It was John that was real young, and he leaned upon the chest of Jesus at that Last Supper.
[23:43] You know John, the one that was on the island of Patmos. You know John, the one that was exiled and wrote the book of Revelation. That John, John says in 3 John, pray for those who went out from us with nothing expecting but going to proclaim the name of Jesus, and we ought to join them in their work in supporting them so that we can have a part and a portion in their work.
[24:02] By the way, it was not the Southern Baptist Convention that came up with this idea of the cooperative program. That was the Bible. I'm glad the Southern Baptist Convention does it, but it was John who wrote to the church in 3 John. You need to partner with those who go out from you so that you can have a part in the work they're doing, and you need to pray for them because they're stepping out in faith to proclaim the name of Jesus.
[24:23] God is always doing these things. By the way, it's going to happen. That's the purpose of God. And if the church doesn't get on board with the purposes and the plans of God, it is not that God won't do them. It's just that we miss out on the benefit of seeing Him do them through us.
[24:37] And we see this over and over again. Whatever we find in Scripture, that what God has planned and what God has purposed, we see that it is our conviction that these things will come about.
[24:47] The Bible tells us that His name will be proclaimed throughout the heavens and the earth. The Bible tells us that every tongue will confess that He is Christ the Lord. Some for the first time and then to everlasting condemnation. Some to all of eternity for everlasting glory.
[25:00] These things are going to happen. There is a heaven. There is a hell. There is a reality of all these things. And it is my conviction that God is going to do everything He says He's going to do according to His Word.
[25:11] And the reason it's my conviction is because I have not found one impossible situation yet that God did not accomplish that act the way He said He was going to. And we are reminded, friend, that when we see God do things in the past and we see Him continuing to do them in the present, that we need to have a conviction moving forward in the future that He is going to do what He says He's going to do.
[25:31] And there are, by the way, a lot of things that we see in Scripture that, wow, you mean God's going to do that? I need to get on board and not say, that will never happen, but rather say with an expectant heart, I wonder how it's going to happen.
[25:44] And we see this in Mary. Third and finally, we not only see a continuation of the work of God at this impossible situation being accomplished, we not only have the conviction of the purposes of God, number three, we have comfort to His people in uncertain times.
[26:02] In God accomplishing the impossible, we are comforted in the midst of uncertain times. Now you go with me to the book of Matthew. If there was ever a man in history who found himself in an uncertain situation, it was probably Joseph.
[26:16] No one had ever been here before and no one's ever went here since, right? You have Joseph, a man who is betrothed to Mary. And Joseph is a righteous man. I love this. He is a righteous man.
[26:27] And all of a sudden, Mary shows up pregnant. Now, there's only one answer as to why Mary is pregnant. At least it appears that way. And Joseph is faced with an uncertainty.
[26:40] What to do? And the uncertainty is this, that according to the law, Mary would be stoned. She would be killed. According to the law, she was pregnant, and she was pregnant out of wedlock.
[26:51] She had committed adultery, even though she wasn't married yet, because the engagement process in the time of Christ, or at this time, the engagement process lasted over a year, and it was more binding than even our marriages today.
[27:05] If you are betrothed or you are engaged, you are just as much married as anything else. You had just not consummated that marriage, and you had not had that seven-day festival yet. The groom was preparing the house, and he was going to go get his bride, and whenever his house was ready, he would show up and get his bride, and then seven days of celebration would start.
[27:23] And man, I'm thankful we don't do it that way here now. One day of celebration is enough for that. But it goes on, and we see this great party that takes place. But during that year of waiting, you were just as much married as anything else.
[27:37] I mean, you were betrothed, and Mary was found with child. So the only reasonable answer was adultery. And according to the law, she would be stoned. And if one was caught with her, he would be stoned too.
[27:47] But now that we don't know who he was, we can just stone Mary. She is condemned. But it says, but Joseph, being a righteous man, and not wanting to cause her any harm, was going to put her out secretly, because only one could bring you an accusation.
[27:59] No matter what anybody else said, no matter what anybody else, all the rumor mill going around, only Joseph had the power to bring you an accusation. And if Joseph never made an accusation, then no law could ever be, or no penalty could ever be executed on her.
[28:13] That's good news, by the way, because no matter what anybody says about you, no matter how much people gossip about you, there's only one that could ever accuse you, and he says you're forgiven. That was a good time. Somebody should have got a little bit more excited than just, amen, well, amen.
[28:26] Amen. Because, I mean, in reality, we live in a world where people gossip, and people talk, and people like to mock, and people like to make fun, and we don't always fit into everybody's window, and sometimes when we push outside their boundaries, they like to bring accusations against us, and we stumble, and we fall, and we trip, and we mess up, and we all have scars, and we all have bruises, and we're all imperfect, and people seem to magnify our imperfections.
[28:48] But the good news is, I'm just going to go ahead and say it again, that in Christ, there's only one who can accuse you, and that is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and in Christ, the one who can accuse you says you're perfect, and you're forgiven.
[29:00] And no matter what anybody else says, that's okay. And Joseph is the only one that can bring you an accusation against Mary. And Joseph is a righteous man, by the way, he says, I'm not going to do it, I'm going to put her out secretly.
[29:11] And while he was considering this, what is that? An uncertain time. Friend, listen to me. He didn't know what to do. Right? His righteousness, and what seems to be her unrighteousness, now all of a sudden, don't fit together.
[29:23] And while he is considering this an angel, we don't know that this is Gabriel, we would like to say it is, but it could have been any one of them, since he's not named, we don't know. An angel, from where? From the Lord.
[29:35] By the way, this is good news. Every impossible situation you ever face, finds its answer in the throne room of God, and every uncertain situation you find yourself in the midst of, is always answered from the throne room of God.
[29:49] An angel, from the Lord, comes to Joseph, in the middle of a dream, and says, Joseph, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child in her has been conceived of the Holy Spirit, and she will give birth to the Son, and you will name him Jesus.
[30:00] It will be he who saves and redeems his people from their sins. It says, and Joseph woke up, and he took Mary as his wife, but he kept her a virgin until the birth of Jesus. What do we find here? We find comfort, in the midst of uncertainty.
[30:15] Joseph was in the middle of an uncertain situation, but the only comfort that could be offered him, was the reality, that God can do the impossible. Because while he laid upon his bed, an angel spoke in his mind, and said, I know it doesn't make sense, but she hasn't committed adultery.
[30:34] That's an angel. The Holy Spirit has overcome her, and she is pregnant with the child of God. My friend, we were reading this on this side of the cross, and we're like, yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah, put yourself in Joseph's shoes.
[30:48] We don't find a yeah, right. We don't find that that doesn't make sense. We find Joseph, a righteous man, who says, I guess that's just like God, to do the impossible, so I'll take him at his word.
[31:02] But unfortunately, now that we're on this side of the cross, and we are on this side of the empty tomb, and we've seen God do more impossible things, than Joseph ever has, I mean, we saw the son of God.
[31:13] We saw Emmanuel live among us. We read, and we didn't see it physically, but we had the conviction. We have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. We read the testimonies of him doing the impossible, feeding the multitudes, walking on the water, dying on the cross, raising on the third day, appearing to more than 500 at one time.
[31:30] We see all these things. We have this great cloud of witnesses, Hebrews chapter 12 tells us, and we're surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, and then we find ourselves in an uncertain time, and we don't wait on an angel to come to us, because we have the word of God, and we open up the word of God, and we have the spirit of God inside of us, to help us illuminate the word of God, right?
[31:49] So we don't have to have a messenger come to us, that's an angel. We have the person of God inside of us, right? So in the middle of an uncertain situation, we open up the Bible, and we read the Bible, and all of a sudden, something inside of us begins to speak to us, and that is God himself, through the spirit of God speaking to us, as if audibly, and that is a miraculous event, and we're in the middle of that, stay with me, uncertain situation, don't know what to do, and the word of God addresses us, and we have seen God do the impossible, but too often we do this, yeah, right.
[32:22] Not me. And what we've just done, is we have forsaken the comfort that God offered us, in the middle of an uncertain time. Friend, listen to me.
[32:35] Every one of us, are faced with uncertain seasons. Each one of us. Each one of us are faced with impossible circumstances.
[32:47] And the answer is always found, in the throne room of heaven. But the good news is, is that we live in a more miraculous time, because God is shouting to us, from his throne.
[33:01] Saying, I have an answer. Will you accept that answer? And will you take me at my word, and walk in the faith that it offers you? Will you find comfort, in the midst of uncertainty?
[33:15] Joseph did. And so many others throughout history have. And what a miraculous event it is, to be faced with all those things, and yet know, God's still doing, what he's always done.
[33:30] Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much. Lord, I thank you for this day. I thank you for your word. God, I know this is the passage we have read so often, we've heard so often.
[33:41] Lord, I pray, that the truth that it contains, will just wash over us again. Lord, would you remind me, once again, of your power, your authority, over every situation, circumstance in my life.
[33:56] Lord, I, I don't know, maybe there's some here today. Lord, I just have a sense, Lord, that there's, situations going on today, that need, your comfort.
[34:07] Lord, I pray, that by the power and presence of your spirit, you would bring comfort down, based on your promises, and your certainty, Lord, that there be a conviction, that God is going to do, what he said he was going to do, for his glory, and your honor.
[34:26] We ask it all, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.
[35:07] Amen. Amen.
[36:07] Amen. Amen.
[37:07] Amen. Amen.
[38:07] Amen.