Jesus the Son of God, the Son of Mary

I invite you to open your Bibles to the God-saturated book of Luke, chapter 1, verse 1. There's only one place in the gospel of Luke where the author speaks in the first person, and he does it three times in these first four verses. Let's read them. Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me, also having followed all things closely from some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. Now, never again does he talk like that in this gospel. He never introduces himself again. Why here? And I think it's very plain, very plain. He wants to be crystal clear up front why he personally is writing the book. Verse 4, that you, Theophilus, you, John Piper, and you, TGC, attender who are very much like Theophilus, perhaps, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. So, there is no doubt why he wrote the first two chapters. That's my assignment. My assignment is to open the first two chapters of the book of Luke, and now he's told me why he wrote them. He wrote them that Theophilus and others who will read this might have certainty. I'm going to linger over this for a few minutes with you so that we can set the stage for how I'll approach the rest of the chapters. Behind the translation, that you may have certainty, would be a translation a bit more literal that goes like this, that you may know the security, the safety, the stability of what you've been taught. The word is asphalion. I'm going to teach you a Greek word. Only one I'm going to teach you. I'm going to use it over and over again so you'll know a Greek word when you leave. Asphalion. Translated here, certainty. It's used two other times in the New Testament. I'm going to read them because I'm going to try to capture the nuances of this word as we open these two chapters. Acts chapter 5 verse 23. We found the prison locked in all asphalion. Usually translated securely locked. We found this prison locked in all security and solidity and nailed shut. Or 1 Thessalonians 5.3. While people are saying there's peace and asphalion, then sudden destruction will come upon them. Usually translated peace and security. Nineteen times used in the Greek Old Testament. All of them, except maybe one, means safety. So, the idea in Luke 1.4 seems to be, Theophilus, you've been taught many things. You know them. But I want you to know them differently than you know them. I want you to know the asphalion of them. I want you to know them as locked down, secure, unshakable, solid, stable, immovable reality. And I stress this because not only does he put it first as his purpose. He's not just saying I want you to know something. He's saying I want you to know the asphalion of something. The reason I'm lingering over this is not only because he did, but because we live in a time, it seems to me, where people know things but don't know the asphalion of things. They don't know them a certain way. People have in their heads, Christians, so many Christians have in their heads, views of God, Christ, sin, right and wrong, and they know them like clouds, not mountains. And those clouds are hovering there in their mind. And if you ask them what they think, they tell you the cloud truth. But along comes some resistance and some wind, and they get blown away and a new cloud lodges in their Christian mind because it's now much more convenient to believe this cloud than that cloud. That's the way a lot of people know doctrine. Luke is tackling that. I want you to know the asphalion of the doctrine. I want you to know it nailed down, solid, unshakable, sure, immovable, like a mountain, not like a cloud. He doesn't want you or Theophilus to just know things in any old way. He wants you to know them that way, the safety of them, the security of them, the bolted down, shut door, this is never changing truth of them. They are safe from being stolen out of your head. They are safe from being changed by the culture. They are safe from ceasing to be what they are. They are safe from becoming unimportant or irrelevant. They are safe to be what they are forever, Theophilus. These things that you know about the truth will always be the truth. I want a mountain of truth in your head, not clouds floating around ready to be blown away. So this is the kind of knowing that we want to have. The other kind of knowing, that's different. The kind of knowing that wrecks churches. Let me illustrate. Luke knows what it is to be a most excellent Theophilus. He's the one who wrote to us about most excellent Festus, Acts 26. He's the one who wrote to us about most excellent Felix. What did he say about those most excellent types? How did they know Felix? Luke tells us that he, quote, had a rather accurate knowledge of the way, but he was alarmed at the preaching of Paul and sent him away and hoped for a bribe. That's the kind of knowing that destroys churches. That's the kind of doctrinal knowledge that leaves courageous Christians in jail. That's the kind of knowing that brings reproach upon the Christian movement. Luke was Paul's physician. He had seen his back, where those thirty-nine times five lashes had laid him bare. He had helped him when he came out of countless imprisonments and beatings that Paul couldn't even count. Luke knew the kind of knowledge that sustains obedience. And he meant to put it into Theophilus by every means he could. And I want it in your head. I want it in your heart. I don't want you to be a cloud head. When Paul preached to Festus, most excellent Festus, he raised his loud voice, Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great learning is driving you out of your mind, Acts 26, 24. And Paul responded, I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. I am speaking what is true and rational. It is a dangerous thing to be a most excellent at anything. And I am looking out on most excellent people here. Wealthy people, powerful people in this world. And I will address you as most excellent Theophilus. You can't buy truth with wealth. You can't control truth with power, which is why rich and powerful people don't like it. It doesn't give them enough wiggle room. It is nailed down, rock solid, unchangeable, mountain like, and you submit or you perish. Rich, powerful people who are used to buying what they want and controlling life don't like Asphalion. And Theophilus is one of those, and you are too. And so, how does he do this? How does Luke build the Asphalion of the things he knows into his head so that they are locked down, unshakable, unchanging, absolute reality? Mountains, not clouds. Well, in the first two chapters, the way he does it is by paralleling John the Baptist and Jesus. Remarkable how much attention John the Baptist gets in the first two chapters. And I have speculated maybe Theophilus was part of the cult in Acts 19. We don't even know there is a Holy Spirit. What were you baptized into? We were baptized into John's baptism. Who were they? And was Theophilus influenced by that? And therefore, maybe the best way to help him along is to line up John the Baptist for a couple of chapters, Jesus for a couple of chapters, parallel their announcement in birth, parallel the way they are conceived, parallel the way they are born, parallel the songs that are sung over them by father and mother, even have a little encounter between John and Jesus before they were born. That's a great story. That's the way he's going about it. So as I step back then and say, okay, how do you do this? How do you preach on two chapters of the Bible? I like to preach on one verse of the Bible, one phrase of the Bible. So I've been assigned two chapters. How would you do it? And what I'm going to do is step back and deal with it thematically now and try to show how Luke helps Theophilus get asphalion into his chest concerning all the things he's been taught about God, about Jesus, about salvation, and about faith. Almost sounds like an outline of the gospel. It just fell out that way. So if you're writing down outlines, that's it. God, Jesus, salvation, faith. And you'll see them in the text. So here we go. I want you to know the asphalion, the unshakable, nailed down, unchanging, absolute, central reality of God. Listen. Zechariah was serving as a priest before God. Gabriel appeared to him and said, I stand in the presence of God. Your son will turn many to the Lord God. Gabriel was sent from God. You have found favor, Mary, with God. The Lord God will give you a son and put him on the throne of David. The child will be called the son of God. Nothing will be impossible with God. Mary sings, my spirit rejoices in God. John is born. Zechariah opens his mouth. Blessed be the Lord God. When Jesus is born, a multitude of angels say, in the heavenly host, praise God. Glory be to God in the highest. Jesus is presented in the temple. Simeon looks up at him and blesses God. Thanks be to God. And when the story is over, we're left with Jesus increasing in the favor of God. And lest Theophilus miss that, let's just do a run through with Lord. Zechariah and Elizabeth walked in the commandments of the Lord. There appeared to Zechariah an angel of the Lord. Your son will be great before the Lord. John, he will make people ready for the Lord. Elizabeth conceived, thus has the Lord done for me. Mary said, the Lord, the Lord. To Mary she says, the Lord is with you. No, the angel says to Mary, the Lord is with you. Blessed is she who believed what was spoken to her by the Lord. Mary sang over her son, my soul magnifies the Lord. All the friends of Elizabeth and Zechariah say that the Lord has done great things for her. The hand of the Lord was with John. His father prophesied, you will be called the prophet of the Most High. You will be going before the Lord. When Jesus was born, the angel of the Lord came to the shepherds. The Lord made this known to us, the shepherds said. And in the temple, Mary and Joseph present Jesus to the Lord according to what is written in the law of the Lord. Sometimes people wonder where phrases like God-saturated come from. Are you kidding me? They wonder where phrases like God-besotted or God-centered come from. They come from Bible stories like these. And we miss it. Like we miss air. God is the main actor in this story. God is central to this story. God is dominant in this story. God is all-pervasive in this story. And if you stretch your mind out over all of the Gospel of Luke, you find it confirmed. Matthew, which is almost identical in length to Luke, uses the word God and Lord together 59 times. Luke uses them 194 times. Three times as many. Three times as many as you have in Mark. 59 times more than in John. Luke is God-besotted. God-saturated. Get this, Theophilus. Nail this one down. God is... God is at the beginning, in the middle, at the end, central, overall, under all, the main actor in all of history. It is a remarkable thing what he does in his God-centeredness. Amazing. God sent his angel. God struck Zechariah dumb. God made Elizabeth, who is barren, and the virgin conceive. With God, Theophilus, nothing will be impossible. And then at the end of the story, if you jump over and let him sum it up himself, let Luke sum it up himself. Acts 2.23, Jesus was delivered according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. This is all planned. According to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. No wonder he's central. He planned it all. He's running it right to the end. Or Acts 4.27, Herod and Pontius Pilate and all the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel were gathered together to do whatever God's hand and God's plan had predestined to take place. Theophilus, mark it down. God is the main reality in the universe. God is the main reality in history. God is the main reality in my gospel, in the book of Acts. He's all planning, all pervasive, all powerful. Know the asphalion of the doctrine of God. Don't let God be like a cloud in your head. Let him be the mountain in your life. Everywhere you look, God. He is everywhere you look, in the gospel and in the world. Don't take him for granted. He does not like to be taken for granted. It didn't say he everywhere I read those texts. So that's number one, Theophilus. Know the asphalion. Number two, know the secure, solid, unshakable reality of Jesus. Turn with me to chapter one, verse 31, and we will read a section here, 31 to 35, to set this one up. Behold, 131. Behold, you will conceive in your womb, Mary, and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to 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. And Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin? And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God. Now, the first clue in this text that theophilus should attend to, that something really extraordinary is in the offing, is the statement, the word of Gabriel, that Jesus will reign over the house of Jacob forever. This child that is about to be born will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will have no end, which means his kingdom will outlast all kingdoms, which means it is not just a Jewish kingdom. It is a global, universal, eternal kingdom. To be sure, the texts are Old Testament laden, and everything hoped for is fulfilled here in Jesus. But this kingdom is more than a Jewish kingdom. Now, God could raise any one of you from the dead and make you king over that kingdom. Could he not? He's got the ability. You don't need to be virgin-born to be a king. But this is no ordinary installation of a king raised from the dead like we will be raised from the dead as king. And Luke is very intent on Theophilus knowing that. This is no ordinary installation of a human being raised from the dead to be an eternal king. It's not that. And the way Luke makes it crystal clear it's not that, it's these verses. Verse 35, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. He didn't take an ordinary man and make him king. God himself, by the Holy Spirit, brought into being a man who was not an ordinary man. He is infinitely more than a man. Not less. The therefore, at the beginning of verse, in the middle of verse 35, is absolutely crucial. The Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for this reason, this child is unique as the Son of God. It's not like us as sons of God. We're sons of God because we were born according to the flesh and reborn by the Spirit into the family. Jesus was not born according to the flesh. He never was fleshly. He didn't have to be born again. He was born and conceived by the Holy Spirit and Mary. Not like ours. What can this mean except that He had a human nature from Mary and He had a divine nature from the Holy Spirit? What else would this virgin birth by God Almighty without a husband mean? United in one person, Jesus. Mary contributes the humanity. The Holy Spirit contributes the divinity. And Jesus, the God-man, is born with a divine nature and a human nature in one person. There are two other pointers to this I'll show you in these two chapters. When pregnant Mary went to visit pregnant Elizabeth, John the Baptist in Elizabeth leaked in his mother's womb. And Elizabeth, it says, was filled with the Holy Spirit. We're at chapter 1, verse 43. And Elizabeth said, filled with the Holy Spirit, Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Lord? The word Lord is used 26 times in these two chapters. You heard them all almost. All of them refer to God. All of them. Even here, Elizabeth, it says, is speaking by the Holy Spirit. And in the same breath, she says, Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. The mother of my Lord was spoken to by the Lord that she would have a child that I call the Lord. So she uses the word Lord for the God who spoke through Gabriel. And she uses the word Lord for the child promised, which is what we would expect if the Holy Spirit, not a husband, caused this Son of God to come into being. Or consider the double use or the strange, interesting juxtaposition of Lord and Christ in Luke 2.26 and 2.11. Luke says, It's been revealed to Simeon that he would not, this is 2.26, that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. The Lord's Christ. And then 2.11, the angels say, Unto you this day is born in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. He's the Lord's Christ and he's Christ the Lord, which is what you would expect after verse 35 of chapter 1. So Theophilus, here's a second reality. I want you to lock this one down. Nail it. Not like a cloud in your head. A mountain filling the horizon of your mental and emotional life. There is a great God who pervades everything, rules everything, guides everything. And He came into history and caused a virgin to conceive His unique Son, the Lord Himself, this Asphalion. Let it rest in your heart and in your mind. Fill up your mental life, your emotional life with this second truth. There is a God-Man who has come into history and His name is Jesus. And there is none like Him in all the religions of the world. That's number two. Number three, Theophilus, know the unshakable, locked down, never to be altered reality that this Jesus will save His people from their sins by dying for them. Nail that one down. Know the Asphalion of salvation. God, Christ, salvation by the forgiveness of sins through the shedding of the blood of the King. Nail that one down. Chapter 2, verse 11, For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior. Chapter 1, verse 69, God has raised up a horn of salvation for us. Now how will that come? How will this saving be done? Zechariah, filled with the Holy Spirit, chapter 1, verse 67, said of John, You will go before the Lord to prepare His ways, to give the knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness of their sins. That's how it will come. Theophilus, you're a sinner. Most excellent Theophilus. You're a sinner. You need a Savior who will deal with your sins and forgive them. This Jesus that we just built this mountain in your mind, this Jesus, He will deal with your sins. He will set His face. Chapter 9, verse 22, The Son of Man must suffer many things. Be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, the scribes. Be killed and the third day rise again. This is the plan, Theophilus. You'll get to that. This is the plan. This is how the salvation is going to happen. This is how the forgiveness of sins is going to come. How will that happen? How will this Savior bring this salvation through the forgiveness of sins? He will do it by shedding the blood of the new covenant. The new covenant in Jeremiah goes like this. I will make a new covenant and I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more. So the day was promised. There's going to be a new covenant and part of the new covenant is that everybody in it has their sins forgiven. And then Luke 22, 20, Jesus lifts up the cup. This cup is poured out for you and it is the new covenant in my blood. That, Theophilus, is how sins are forgiven, producing salvation for a sinner. Most excellent, Theophilus. You do have to read the Gospels all the way through. I'm cheating because the first two chapters were never meant to be read by themselves. How could they assign me such a thing? Well, that's what you have to do. You have to break it up, but you cheat on each other. I won't go any further. I'll do the rest. I'll stay right here now. That's how it's going to happen, Theophilus. This is how a Savior, that's how Zechariah's prophecy will be fulfilled in chapter 1, 76 and 77. So, Theophilus, know the Asphalion, the locked down, absolutely secure, never-changing reality that your God became the God-man Jesus Christ to perform a salvation in the shedding of his blood for the forgiveness of sins. Know these things the way you know a mountain, not the way you know a cloud. Finally, number four, those in God, Christ, salvation. Theophilus, know this with rock-solid, nailed-down, unshakable, immovable, unchangeable solidity that not only did salvation come into history, but souls come into salvation a certain way. And not everybody does. And I want you in, Theophilus, most excellent Theophilus. I want you in. There is a way not to go in. And there is a way in. I want you in. So, I want you to know one more thing, how to get in. Just a note on that historical, objective dimension of salvation, getting in to history. It is real. It is historical. It's not mythological. It is totally fixed. God can't change the past. That's pretty solid. Herod, king of Judah. Zechariah, priest of the division of Abijah. Elizabeth, of the daughters of Aaron. Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor. Quirinius, the governor of Syria. Jesus, born in Bethlehem, raised in Jerusalem, dedicated in Jerusalem, raised in Nazareth, not Olympus. It's not myth. These are all dateable, fixable, knowable, touchable, feelable, historical people. So, salvation really did come into the world. Now, my last point, Theophilus, is there is a way in to that historical reality. Everybody's not in. You get in. And just as it is unalterable, historical, that it came in, it is unalterable how you get in. So, let's go here, Theophilus. Don't miss the difference between Zechariah's response to Gabriel and Mary's response to Gabriel. This is not unintentional. This is teaching. Gabriel was sent from God, chapter 1, verse 26, and he brought an old barren couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth, spectacular news. You're going to have a son, the long-expected Elijah-like person. It's going to be born to you and Elizabeth. The forerunner of the Messiah and Zechariah did not question. How shall I know this? That made Gabriel. It's not the way to respond. When the gospel news comes, Theophilus, that's not the way to respond. When God Almighty addresses you, that's not the way to respond. So, Gabriel, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. Behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day these things come to pass because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. Now, Theophilus, consider Mary. Chapter 1, verse 27 following. The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin whose name was Mary, verse 28. And he came to her and said, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to 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. And Mary did not say, How will I know this? This is what Zechariah said. Mary said, How can this be since I am a virgin? And the angel did not get angry. He answered her and told her how it would be. The Holy Spirit will do this thing because nothing will be impossible with God. Your relative, Elizabeth, has been barren all her life, and she's old, and she's pregnant. So I'm encouraging you, Mary. I'm encouraging your faith right now with that news to which Mary says, Behold, I am a servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. Now, what do you call that? What do you call that response? The angel called Zechariah's unbelief. Unbelief. You did not believe. What do you call this? Well, we're not left to guess. We're not left to guess. Chapter 1, Zechariah did not believe, but Mary, blessed is she. This is chapter 1, verse 45. Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. Zechariah didn't do that. Mary did that. And then, Theophilus, Mary sang. Zechariah, his mouth was sealed. Mary sang. It was what she sang. And Zechariah, I mean, Theophilus, this is for you. She sang this for you. She sang this for most excellent Theophilus. She sang this over her son for most excellent, wealthy, powerful Theophilus. Chapter 1, verse 48, the following. The Lord has looked upon the humble estate of His servant. Verse 50. His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation. End of verse 51. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones. He has exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich He has sent away empty. There's a way in, most excellent Theophilus. Be humbled. Be brought low before the might and the mercy of the God of Israel and the God-man, Jesus Christ. Let no office, let no power, let no wealth, let no pleasure, let no obstacle of any kind in your most excellent status keep you from being like Mary. There is one way in to this salvation, and it is not the way of wealth, and it's not the way of power, and it's surely not the way of doubt and suspicion of Gabriel and the Word of God. It is the way of faith. God is active, Theophilus. God is speaking. Trust Him. If you would go down to your house justified, I'm cheating again. Be like the publican. God have mercy upon me, a sinner. Chapter 17. But don't despair. You're not a Jew. Don't despair about that. This all sounds very Jewish to you, doesn't it? It is. Salvation is from the Jews. But don't despair because Simeon has made it clear that Jesus is for everyone. Chapter 2, verse 32. A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to the people Israel. There's hope for you, most excellent Roman Theophilus. But whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter. Chapter 18. Salvation has come into the world, Theophilus. Know this. Rock-solid, objective, unalterable factuality. And there's a way in. Enter by the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Chapter 13. Renounce all reliance upon wealth and power and office and uprightness and receive it like a child, like Mary. One more thing, Theophilus. Have you noticed this story rings with joy? The angel Zechariah, the angel to Zechariah. You will have joy and gladness and many will rejoice at John's birth. John couldn't wait to be born before he leaped. Mary, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, as the baby in my womb, leap for joy. He will say, my joy is now complete. He must increase and I must decrease. That's what makes my joy complete. Mary, my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. And when John is born, all the neighbors rejoiced with Elizabeth. And when Jesus was born, the angelic announcement, behold, I bring you good news of great joy. Do you hear this, Theophilus? This story rings with joy. Theophilus, back to the beginning. Have you ever heard of the Holy Spirit? Have you ever heard of the Holy Spirit? Or are you in that group from Acts 19? We never even heard there was a Holy Spirit. By Him, the Holy Spirit, the God-Man was conceived in the virgin's womb. All this joy you see is the great work of the Holy Spirit. John was filled with the Spirit. Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Simeon was covered with the Holy Spirit. Theophilus, you, do you have the Holy Spirit? Does He live in you producing joy in this stunning salvation? A God-Man come into the world to save Theophiluses, most excellent American Theophiluses from their sin by shedding the blood of the covenant and reigning on a throne forever and ever. Do you have the Holy Spirit? Does the Holy Spirit open that to you, blow you away? Or is it nothing? Affectionately, when He comes, the upshot of that joy is words like this. My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. That's the voice of the Holy Spirit in a human being. I magnify the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior. And His name is Jesus. Do you have the Holy Spirit? May the Holy Spirit come at TGC 13. May we not just enjoy talking. May we be filled with the Holy Spirit. Come, Holy Spirit. So, closing, last few lines. Know this, Theophilus, all you beloved American Theophiluses. Know this. It is locked down, rock solid, unshakable, unalterable reality that God is the great actor and the great goal of the story. At the beginning, He's planning. In the middle, He's governing. And at the end, He's being magnified by all the millions of Marys in the world. And Jesus Christ is His Son, the God-Man. And He came to save. And there is a way in. And it isn't money. And it isn't power. And it isn't doubt. It's Mary-like, be it done unto me, I'm yours. Childlike, massive reliance on the miracle-working power of God in Christ. Father, come by your Holy Spirit. Fill this room and these folks with the Holy Spirit. May all the halls ring with the joy of the Lord as we magnify God, our Savior, all through the Gospel of Luke. Beyond our singing now and in every session. Beyond what we do in our hotel rooms so that it is pure, blessed of the pure in heart. They will see the Lord and magnify Him with all their being. Don't leave us to ourselves. Do the Gospel of Luke in this conference.