In the sermon 'Faith That Lays Hold' by Peter Allison, the speaker delves into the biblical account of the angel Gabriel's announcement to Mary in Luke 1:26-38. The sermon emphasizes the nature of faith as demonstrated by Mary, highlighting her response to Gabriel's message. Mary, a virgin betrothed to Joseph, is told she will conceive Jesus, the Son of God, through the Holy Spirit. This event marks a significant moment in biblical history after a long period of silence from God. The sermon stresses that faith is not only about hearing God's word but also involves thinking, believing, and resting in God's promises. Mary exemplifies this faith by accepting the seemingly impossible message with trust in God's ability. The sermon also addresses theological debates, particularly the virgin birth, stating that the miraculous nature of Jesus' conception is a testament to God's power over human understanding and scientific reasoning. It draws parallels between the Old Testament concept of 'Jehovah saves' and Jesus' role as the Savior. Ultimately, the sermon encourages believers to rest in the assurance that with God, nothing is impossible, and faith allows them to embrace God's call and challenges with confidence.

Please turn in your copy of God's Word to Luke chapter 1. 1, verse 26 Now in the sixth month, Angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, to the house of David. The Virgin's name was Mary and having come in the angel said to her rejoice highly favored one the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women. But when she saw him she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then 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 bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus.

He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give 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.' Then Mary said to the angel, �How can this be, since I do not know a man?� the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore, also that holy one who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived the son in her old age, and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren, for with God nothing will be impossible.' Then Mary said, Behold the maid servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word, and the angel departed from her." May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing of his word and give to us faith. And give to us faith. Heavenly Father, I ask now that you would sanctify these sinful lips and this vessel of clay that your glory and your riches and your salvation might be proclaimed.

We would see Jesus this morning, our Savior lifted up and offered to us in your Word the good news. We ask Lord for faith to hear your Word, to receive it, to believe it, to lay it up in our hearts and practice it in our lives. Through Jesus Christ, amen. Well, this first chapter contains two visits by the angel Gabriel. We've been looking the last couple of weeks at the first visit as Gabriel visited Zechariah as he stood in the holy place of the temple offering incense to the Lord and made an announcement to him, an announcement that to Zechariah seemed very hard to believe.

He doubted That God could indeed do such a thing as to enable his wife, who was advanced in years beyond the time of bearing children, that the Lord would give her a son. And so he was struck with dumbness, being unable to speak. And now it is but six months later. We read it is in the sixth month. That's the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy.

Gabriel says that to Mary, that Elizabeth had conceived, and she was in her sixth month. So it's the sixth month since John the Baptist has been conceived and Gabriel is now appearing to another person. It's been 400 years Since there have been any word from the Lord at all from anyone It's been even longer than that We know of that Gabriel had appeared to anyone last we read in the scriptures. He had appeared to Daniel probably closer to Closer to almost 500 years ago And And this has been a long silence. And now within six months, Gabriel has been sent.

Gabriel, this messenger angel, the one who is used in the Scriptures to bring God's Word to specific people. Unlike Michael, the warrior angel who is fighting, who fights against Satan. Gabriel is sent now to Mary. He is sent with a message to her. He sent by God, and as we remember from what he told Zechariah, Gabriel is the one who stands in the presence of God.

He is the one who stands before God's throne. And God says, sent him now to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph. She is a virgin. She has not known a man. This is not just a young maiden.

The word in Isaiah that says a virgin shall conceive might be a young woman, a young lady, but this word is very specifically someone who has not known a man. Mary was such a virgin. She was betrothed to Joseph. Joseph was her betrothed husband, she was his betrothed wife. This was a marriage that had been agreed to, there was probably an exchange of gifts of some sort, there is a formal promise, a commitment to marry each other, to be married.

But the marriage has not been yet consummated and they are not cohabiting together yet. This was a serious matter. To break a betrothal was to break your word to be married. And so the only grounds for breaking one's word to be married were the same grounds for breaking a marriage. Unfaithfulness, infidelity of some sort.

Fornication, pornea. And the angel comes to Mary and he greets her. The New King James says, rejoice. The King James says, hail. Other versions may say greetings.

The word literally does mean rejoice, but it's a word when it's used this way, it's a greeting. It's like the Hebrew shalom, peace, or in our hello Or our greetings. The angel Gabriel greets her with a word for rejoice or hail. Hello. Highly favored.

Rejoice. Highly favored one. Rejoice, highly favored one. This is the very verse that is used as a reference, as a basis of the theology of those who pray to Mary. This prayer you probably have all heard, no matter what your background is, the phrase, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, this comes from this passage, Hail, highly favored one, Hail Mary, full of grace.

But that theology that sees Mary as full of grace, sees Mary as full of grace to be able to bestow grace. But this word here, highly favored, this verb is a passive verb, not an active verb. Meaning that Mary is the recipient of grace. She is full of grace which she has received. It does not mean that she is full of grace which she has received.

It does not mean that she is full of grace which she has to bestow. The angel is telling her that she has received grace. That means that she is a sinner in need of God's grace Not somebody That we ask for grace because they have been given this abundant store of grace or because they have some special favor that brings them closer to God than we can be. No, Gabriel is in his very announcement saying just the opposite, that she is one who has received, she is a passive recipient of God's grace to her as a sinner. He greets her, this standard greeting.

In fact, this is the same greeting that the apostles use in Acts 15 when after the ecumenical council they write a letter to all of the churches. They open that letter with a word of greeting and they use this exact same word, which literally is rejoice or hail. Hail, rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you. Now this is an awesome statement, The Lord is with you. This is what Jehovah told Isaac when he told him to go down to Egypt for he would be with him.

I'm sorry, he told him not to go down to Egypt in the famine for he, Jehovah, would be with him. It's what Jehovah told him when here's Isaac as this one person in a foreign land where he's sojourning in the land of Canaan And the Philistines are stopping up all his wells and he is moving around trying to find a place that he can settle and live in peace. He must have been frustrated and God says, I will be with you. This is what God told Jacob as he was fleeing Esau. It's what he told Jacob later on in his life as he was about to go down into Egypt.

God, Jehovah said to him, I will be with you, go down. This is what Jehovah told Moses when he was calling him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt to deliver them from the mighty arm of Pharaoh. Moses doesn't want to do it. Moses is fearful. This is a great task.

Moses has fled from Pharaoh for his life and now God is calling him to not only go back to that land where he fled, but to lead the children of Israel out under Pharaoh's thumb. And he is afraid. And God says, I will be with you. This is what Moses told Joshua as he was preparing to turn over to Joshua the responsibility for the nation of Israel to go in and to conquer the land of Canaan. Remember, this is the people that were described as giants and were but grasshoppers.

And Moses said, God's word to Joshua through Moses was, the Lord, Jehovah will be with you. It's what Jehovah said to Gideon when he came to him to call him to deliver the Israelites from the Midianites. Gideon who is trampling out, threshing the wheat in his wine vat. Why? Because he's trying to hide from the Midianites.

That's how dangerous it was just to thresh your own grain in the land at the time. And God's coming to him and saying, Gideon, I'm calling you to deliver the Israelites from Midian. And God said, I will be with you. I will be with you. This must probably have come to Mary's mind as the Gabriel stands in her presence and says, rejoice, favored one, highly favored one, the Lord is with you.

Blessed are you among women. She was chosen to be the mother of the human Jesus Christ. She was blessed. Faith hears. Faith hears this word.

Mary hears what has been said. She in some way has understood that something great is going to be asked of her. And she is troubled. But she's not troubled, she's not fearful as Zacharias was that she is standing in the presence of Gabriel. She is troubled at what he says.

She's troubled at his words. This greeting that he's given to her. But unlike Zachariah, she doesn't say anything. She doesn't say anything. She thinks.

She thinks. She thinks it through in her mind. She ponders it. What does this mean? Why am I being told this?" But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was.

That's an intensive word for to think about something. It literally means to think through something. When you want to sit down and You have a complex matter that's before you. We talk about, we want to sit down and think it through. That's exactly the preposition that's put in front of this verb.

It means to think through something, to sit down and to ponder it and to try to put it in order to try to understand it, to try to fathom what is being said. Because you see, faith not only hears, But saving faith is a thinking faith. She thinks about this announcement. She ponders. She considers what manner of greeting this was.

She believes. And Gabriel goes on. And he says to her, do not be afraid, Mary. Do not be afraid. He calls her by her name, Mary.

Do not be afraid, Mary. For you have found favor with God. You are accepted in the beloved. Noah is said to have found favor with God. This is grace.

He is reassuring her That God has been gracious to her. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus." Mary, a young woman who had never known a man, Gabriel is saying she would conceive in her womb, a very specific statement. A virgin would conceive in her womb a son, a male child, and you shall call him Jesus. Jesus is the Greek word for the Hebrew Yehoshua, which means Jehovah Saves. To say that the name of this son is Yehoshua, Jesus, or Jehovah saves, is to connect this son with all of the Old Testament teaching about Jehovah saving.

People say that the Old Testament, if you just sing the Psalms, then you don't have the name of Christ. But this is just not true. In fact, did you notice in our scripture reading earlier today in Samuel That Christ's name is in that text Samuel said to them Jehovah is a witness against you and his anointed. What is that word? That's the Messiah That's Christ Messiah is the Hebrew word for anointed Christ is the Greek word for anointed.

The Lord is witness against you. His Christ is witness this day. But Christ's name and Jesus name is also throughout the Bible. What does the Bible teach about Jehovah saving? Surely Mary would have remembered.

Well let me just give you a few things from what the Old Testament teaches about Jehovah saving. The Psalms teach that Jehovah saves through faith, that He saves by grace, that He saves those who call upon Him, that He saves those who repent, that He saves by His name, that He saves his people. Jehovah saves, Psalm 55-16. As for me, I will call upon God, and Jehovah shall save me. Psalm 80-19.

Turn us again, O Jehovah, God of hosts, cause thy faith to shine and we will be saved. Jehovah saves by grace. Psalm 6 for return, O Jehovah, deliver my soul, O save me for your mercy's sake. Jehovah saves. That's Jesus name.

Jesus name is Savior, that's what it means. Psalm 44, for they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them but your right hand your arm and the light of your countenance because you had favor Unto them Jehovah saves by grace Jehovah had favor Jehovah saved that's Jesus name He saves by grace He saves through faith Psalm 86 to preserve my soul for I am holy. Oh, thou my God, save your servant that trusts in you. There's salvation by faith. Jehovah saves, and he does so by faith.

Jehovah saves those who call upon Him. Psalm 55, 16, As for me, I will call upon God, and Jehovah shall save me. There is Jesus' name. I'm just reading a few. I have many, many more that we could read this morning, many other texts.

This poor man cried and Jehovah heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. They that believe may be delivered. Then they cried unto Jehovah in their trouble and he saved them. Jehovah saves those who repent. Psalm 3418, Jehovah is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saved such as be of a contrite spirit.

Jehovah saves by His name, or for His namesake. Save me, O God, by Your name. Psalm 54.1. Psalm 106.8. Nevertheless, He saved them for His namesake, that He might make His mighty power known to them.

Save them by His name. Jehovah saves His people. Psalm 28, Jehovah is the strength of His people. He is the saving refuge of His anointed. Save your people and bless your inheritance.

Feed them also and lift them up forever. For God will save Zion and will build the cities of Judah. For you will save the afflicted people, but bring down high looks. Jehovah saves his people." Mary must have remembered all of this in the Old Testament and what it meant, what the Old Testament taught that Jehovah saves. And here Gabriel is now telling her that she would have a son, she who had never known a man would have a son and his name would be Jehovah saves.

Gabriel goes on to say that he will be great. And then he lists all the ways in which her son, born conceived in her womb, her son would be great. He is going to be the son of the Most High. This son of David is going to be the son of man, fully human, conceived and born as a human would be born, but not conceived as an ordinary human. He would have two natures, that of divine nature as the Son of God, Son of the Most High and the Son of David.

And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He'll be the king. God had promised David that There would never cease to sit upon His throne, one from His own body." We'll look more at that later because God cut off the kingly line of David and said that they would never sit on the throne again because of their wickedness. And yet God still keeps his promise to David that there would not fail to sit upon his throne, one from his own body. And so the Lord will give him the throne of his father, David.

David was the human father of Jesus. Jesus is descendant from David in the flesh. And he then is going to sit on this throne of David. He will reign over the house of Jacob. Remember God will reign over His people.

The Psalms taught us that. God reigns over His people. He will save His people. Jesus said in Luke 17 that the Kingdom of God is in you. The kingdom of God is in you.

Because this reign is in our hearts. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. To reject Christ's rule is to reject Christ. He is the anointed who reigns over the house of Jacob, over Zion, over the church. If He doesn't reign over you, then He's not your Savior.

If He doesn't rule in your heart and in your life, if He's not your King, if His Word is not your law, if His commandments are not what you are governed by, then you are not saved. He is not your Savior. If He is not your Savior, you are still in your sins. Jesus will reign over the house of Jacob forever. He is our King.

All those who have Him and know Him as their Savior know Him as our King. It is He who as our King subdued our rebellious hearts to Himself. It is He who reigns in our heart. He reigns over the house of Jacob forever and His kingdom will have no end. Saying the same thing.

He reigns forever and his kingdom will have no end. He will never be defeated. He will never be overthrown. What a comfort that is. What a comfort that is.

There is nothing that can ever happen in this land, in the world, in this country, in our government. There is nothing that will ever overthrow His reign. Nothing that will ever thwart His purpose. Yes, that means we can face even death in His service knowing that our sacrifice is never in vain. We can die knowing that we haven't died in vain.

We can suffer knowing that our suffering will not be in vain even if we cannot see the end of our suffering. Even if we cannot, don't know the end of our sacrifice, we can know this, that it is never, never in vain. Think of all the people who died fighting, losing wars. As Christians, as those in Christ's army, we can give our life to Christ and never have to worry about that sacrifice. Never have to worry that our efforts will ever be futile or wasted.

His kingdom has no end. Every other kingdom, every other kingdom upon earth will end. Christ never does. He will reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet, every single one, even death. Mary believes because faith believes.

The Word of God, even when it seems impossible, even when it seems unlikely, especially when it seems unlikely. Faith believes. Faith hears. And faith thinks, faith believes the Word of God, and then faith wants to know more. Wants to know more.

Faith in Christ wants to know more, wants to know more about Christ's work. Mary says to the angel, how can this be since I haven't known a man? How can a virgin conceive a child? Mary knew that that was scientifically impossible. And yet she believes this wonderful work and she inquires into it.

Because all those who know the Lord and take pleasure in His works want to study those works. They want to study what God is doing, his wonderful works. And so Mary asks the question, how can that be? How can that be? She inquires, she wants to know more.

And Gabriel gives a simple answer that defies our comprehension. He told her the Holy Spirit would come upon Mary, and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, and therefore the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. So Mary is going to conceive, she has a part in this, But in a process that we cannot explain, we cannot understand. God created, God brought forth in her womb, this Son. This is the means by which Jesus took to himself a human body.

Now heresy often comes from unbelief, which leads to a desire to eliminate the mystery of God's works, and to arrogantly say that if something contradicts science then it must not be true, instead of saying that God's Word is true even if it contradicts our science that we know. Now a hundred years ago this very issue was a major battle in the church of Jesus Christ because the church had in large part rejected the Word of God. In 1924, there were over 1, 200 ministers in the Presbyterian Church, yes, our spiritual ancestors. 1, 200 ministers signed a document which has come to be known as the Auburn Affirmation. And they complained that what had happened the previous year in their general assembly, the meeting that we just had last week, and the week before last, they complained that that, that body was forcing them to believe certain theories concerning The inspiration of the Bible, the incarnation, the atonement, the resurrection, and the power of Jesus Christ.

Now what were those theories that these people were complaining about, having to believe That the church was forcing them to believe something contrary to their conscience? What were those theories about the inspiration of the Bible, the incarnation, and so forth? Here's where the theories were. That they were complaining about having to believe, First, that the Scriptures were without error. Secondly, that Christ was born of a virgin, His vicarious atonement, His bodily resurrection, and the miracles that were recorded in the Scriptures.

They were complaining about having to believe that. Now why? Well, they said we all hold most earnestly to these great facts and doctrines. In other words, they believe in the, they say they believe in the incarnation, but they didn't believe in a virgin birth. Well, you can believe that if you want, but we don't think you have to believe that.

We believe with all of our hearts that the writers of the Bible were inspired that Jesus Christ was God manifest in the flesh. You see how subtle they are twisting the words. They are complaining about the virgin birth while trying to believe that Jesus was God manifested in the flesh. That God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and through him we have redemption, that having died for our sins, he rose from the dead. But they don't want to believe in a vicarious atonement That Christ died in our place on the cross that his blood was shed in place of our blood and that in his earthly ministry he wrought many mighty works and he is able to save to the uttermost.

They say some of us regard the particular theories and What are these particular theories? The inerrancy of Scripture, the virgin birth, the vicarious atonement, the miracles of the New Testament. Some of us believe these theories as satisfactory explanations of facts and doctrines, but we are united in believing that These are not the only theories allowed by scripture in our standards as explanations of the facts and doctrines of our religion. And they think that everybody, whether they hold to these truths or not, the virgin birth, the inerrancy of scripture, the vicarious atonement, That whether you believe that or not you should be welcomed into their fellowship and leadership. Now what's their main reason for not wanting to believe these things?

Their main reason for not believing in the virgin birth is that science has shown it's impossible for a human to be conceived outside the union of a man and a woman. Because science, they thought, had said that that's impossible, then They weren't going to believe in the virgin birth. Don't look down too much upon them because that same unbelief is still present in the church today. They had other reasons of course, but they were just excuses. That was the central reason.

Science said it's impossible. The virgin birth was the means that God used by which the Word became flesh. It was the way that God, the second person of the Trinity took to Himself a human nature, a true body and a reasonable soul, as our confession says. It's the way that he was rich, for our sakes became poor. Notice that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, did not take to himself another person He didn't take to himself a human person that would have been the result of a man and a woman Conceiving a child of another person but rather Jesus took to himself a human nature He took that the second person of the Trinity the Divine took to Himself a human nature as well.

Two distinct natures in one person forever. Unmixed, unmangled, distinct natures, but one person. Being conceived by a human, he shared our human nature. The incarnation is the adding of a human nature to the divine nature so that he remained but one person in two natures. This is the reason for the virgin birth.

This is the means that God used to bring about the Word becoming flesh. Now, it's not having a virgin give birth is not to prevent Jesus from being a sinner. Original sin is not passed biologically. It is imputed to all those who are descendant in Adam. Plus, not being made from the seed of a man but only from the seed of a woman would be insufficient to keep him from being a sinner if Strictly speaking because women are sinners, too Remember and that's why those who believe in praying to Mary have come up with the doctrine that she was sinless in an effort to try and keep sin from being passed to Jesus through the conception.

But that's not good enough because what about Mary's mother? She would have been sinless too. And You go all the way back to Eve and we know Eve actually was the first to be deceived. She sinned first. So Mary was a sinner.

We don't believe in an immaculate conception that Mary was without sin. Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, of the seed of the woman. Jesus was of the seed of the woman in his flesh. So Mary heard all of this. She heard this answer, which is a mystery.

How could this happen? We don't understand it, I don't understand it. But this is what the Bible says. So we believe it, and Mary believed it. Faith hears, faith thinks, faith inquires, wants to know more, but faith ultimately rests in Jesus Christ.

Faith rests. Mary believed even before there was a baby in her womb and she simply said in answer to Gabriel, behold the maidservant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word?" She rested. She rested in Christ. Faith rests. She had a thorough conviction that What Gabriel had said was absolutely true.

With God, for with God nothing, nothing will be impossible. That's a very important part, very important doctrine to our peace. Nothing will be impossible with God. There is no heart that is too hard for God to subdue. There is no person that is too hard for God to subdue.

There is no person that is too hard for God to subdue. We can pray. We can pray. While there is life, there is hope. No work is too hard for us as believers to do.

Because we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Nothing is impossible with God. There is no one too hard for us to love. There is no one too hard for us to forgive. There is nothing that knows no work that God calls for us to do that is too hard, that is impossible.

His grace is sufficient. All things are possible with God. And faith rests. Faith rests in Christ and in His power. That He can do all that He calls us to do.

That His strength is sufficient. That His resources, His grace is sufficient. Grace is sufficient. There is no trial that is too hard to bear. There is no sorrow that is too great.

God is able to strengthen us. God is able to give grace to His people, to uphold them in any trial that He sends to us. Faith rests in Christ with whom nothing is impossible. There is no promise that is too hard for God to fulfill. Nothing.

Now that can be hard for us. We look at these mighty giants in the field in front of us. How will God defeat them? How will they be conquered? We know that they will be, even if we don't know how.

Because God has promised that. He has promised never to leave us, never to forsake us, that nothing will defeat Him. He will reign forever. No enemy, even the gates of hell, cannot prevail before Him. There is no difficulty, no trial, no hardship that is too hard for God.

For with nothing is impossible. Faith rests in Christ. And says as Mary, let it be to me according to your word. Our Heavenly Father, we Ask your forgiveness Where we have doubted we asked that you would help our unbelief we asked Lord that You had uphold us Where we are weak That You would comfort us and strengthen us and teach us to look to You, to draw from You every grace that we need for whatever You call us to do. Lord may we pray with a faith that rests in you, knowing that nothing is impossible with you, believing that nothing is impossible with you.

Rest in you that seeks to know more of you that hears your voice Meditates upon your work. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.