This sermon delves into the significance of Mary's virginity and the purity it represents, emphasizing the importance of trust, love, and constancy in relationships. It challenges the erosion of values in society and the need to uphold purity and trust, drawing parallels to the current questioning of Christian principles. The message highlights the call to trust in Jesus for purity and love, despite societal challenges and moral decay, and encourages obedience to God's commands, as exemplified by Mary's response to Jesus' instructions.

There is this artless, simple question, and this of course is the first utterance of Mary that is recorded for us. How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? How shall this be? Now, you know, we like to have an address, don't we? Some form of special designation, and how was Mary designated? Here was Gabriel sent to Mary, and you know always you look for an address and you look for a person, and all that the designation which characterized Mary was this, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph. My, today this has come to be a debatable point to our licentious age. Is virginity necessary? Girls of thirteen and fourteen on the BBC say, oh the church is expecting too much from us. I am referring to an interview on the BBC given to a girl of fourteen in Italy, and this could be true of many other countries today, if not most of the world. Now is it some church which is expecting this standard? Does not the birth of our Lord through a virgin elevate womanhood to the highest pinnacle that God can count on a woman to be that clean that his own son can inhabit her womb and be born of her? And this was prophesied seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, and today we stand at a crucial point in history when Christmas should bear a very special relevance to us and to the whole world. All those values which were labeled as Christian are now being questioned so that the family is rocked by volcanic explosions and tremors. Now when the family is rocked, the children's nerves are rocked. When purity is banished, then trust vanishes. Where can trust be found when purity is not even given lip service today? Not even lip service. It has become a dirty word, which is laughed at all over the place. But the Bible tells us, keep yourself pure, yes? I've seen moral rakes, people who had lived with total abandon, say when it came to marriage, they would say, but you know I would love to marry a virgin, yes? They want someone trustworthy, pure. And so here we begin with this designation, sent to a virgin. And so we are told, Hail Mary, you're highly favored. The Lord is with you. The Lord is with you. Now my dear friends, is it only some distant hope? My father used to say, heaven is here. You begin to live in heaven right here. But you know how dysfunctional families have gotten to be. That love, that togetherness, that beautiful trust, which comes to us through Jesus. Can we dare banish it from our homes? Love, that gives meaning to life. Mary, you're highly favored. Now my dear friends, we like to have all kinds of gifts and all kinds of favors at this time of the year. But to Mary, this approbation or commendation did not come with a million dollar check. No, it came to her with a lot of infamy, if I might say that. The very man to whom she was engaged to marry fell into a great doubt. If he should proceed at all with this projected marriage. And of course, there was the death penalty levied at that time in situations like that. But Mary's purity was immediately trusted by that young man, Joseph. Fear not, Joseph, to take on to you. Mary, he acted on those words. You know, my dear friends, do we trust that through Jesus, purity is possible today? And that love can be constant? You know, I was speaking in a Bible college, large Bible college in Nashville. And some of the students said to me, our pastor, assistant pastor was married recently. And they went off on their honeymoon. And from there, he rang the other girl saying, I made a mistake. Can you think of such barbarity, such inconstancy? But when these boys told me that, this is what our very popular youth pastor did. And it got into the town through the telephone exchange or something. Well, well, I was appalled. I was grieved that young people today are exposed to such situations. Where they say, hey, does love really last? Can there be constancy? Is this real? Or are we following some old fable? My dear people, I feel very strongly the challenge, the gauntlet which is thrown out by Islam today. I must recognize that we have failed in history to take the word of God to them. Out of fear, out of cowardice, out of indifference. With the result that you could have your head cut off merely by saying that Jesus Christ is the son of God. One friend of mine in New York said to me that for some years he sat on the borders of Afghanistan. Unable to get an entry into Afghanistan. Today, if some of the forces, some of our forces there celebrate Christmas. And if contrary to being politically correct, some of them give out the Bibles or New Testaments. Of course, such a thing was unheard of. I was told of President Ike Eisenhower who said to the king of Afghanistan. Well, we have a mosque in Washington. And why not a church here? In Kabul. And they said, all right, provided the steeple of the church does not exceed the height of the minarets. But of course, it has been pulled down since the time of Ike. Well, my dear people, so I've moved with people of great compassion. And today, you know, this friend of mine whom I met in New York, with whom I ministered together with him. He was still a very young man. It was back in 58, 59. 1959. And he told me how he waited and waited on the borders of Afghanistan, but failed to penetrate the border. And when Mr. Bush, the president, has had the courage to go in and say, this must be fixed, how few are the people to back him. It is all a question of politics. The question of morality and love no longer carries much weight in the country. This to us should be a shocking fact. Shocking fact. Because America is the only country in the world's history whose origin was freedom to worship God, which, however, has been misinterpreted by the courts. To me, that religion should have no part, whatever, in governance. If truth, which is born of Jesus. You see, my dear friends, having moved with Muslims, I know when it comes to money, there is no honesty. They can speak lies. But as a Christian, when it comes to a billion dollars, would you dare speak a lie and endanger your soul for eternity? This is a different morality which Jesus brings. We are elevated to a different plateau of holiness, of love, because of Calvary. So, this question of Mary, how can these things be? And she had to be assured by Gabriel, there is nothing impossible with God. That which shall be born of you shall be called the son of the highest. And lastly, the other utterance of Mary, which I want to bring to you, is what she said to the Lord Jesus, you know, after he started just on the verge of his ministry. In fact, she spoke these words to the servants at the marriage feast. Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. What marvelous words. If only we would just do that. Whatsoever he says to you, do it. Those words cannot be contradicted. Those words are pregnant with power. Those words will do the job. Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And they did it at that marriage feast. With the result that their confusion was gone. So, we live in a very confused world today. And every one of us who wants to do the best job that we are capable of. You know, the best job begins with the family. That's where the best job begins. My dear friends, all of us would love to do the best job. And you know, failure in doing a good job in the family has got far flung repercussions. They carry very far. They will carry into history long after you are gone. Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. What we see in the word of God, do it. Seek first my kingdom and my righteousness. And all these things will be added unto you. Do it. You know, as a young man I started doing that. I put God, Jesus, ahead of my games. Ahead of everything in my life. My affections. The first place in my time. And the manner in which I use my time. I made his kingdom the first thing in my life. And let me tell you, my dear friends, I don't regret it at all. What it did for me was, I was a waster by nature. A very foolish person. But, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. Put me in the right gear. And eliminated a great deal of wastage from my life. How wonderful to just step back into that simplicity of Christmas. Into the purity that Christ sets before us. Just to step back. And say, Lord, I want to do what you say. And that's best for me. And the world around me. May God bless you richly, dear people. And grant you to have that inward peace. Which puts your life into a dynamism. Which cannot be countered. Let us pray. Holy Father. We do thank you and praise you. That we can come before you. And find in the cross of Jesus Christ. The cure. The perfect remedy. For all our ills. Yes, we have failed you much. We confess with sorrow and grief. Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. Even as she herself did it. Mary herself. Did what the angel said. Oh, Lord, my God. What blessing will come out of each one of these precious people. So help us, Father. However much we grieved your heart. Hitherto. We come to you. We want to kiss the sun. Albeit. In the lowly manger. We want to humble ourselves. So that. He will guide us. For the rest of our days. We ask this in Jesus' holy name. Amen.