Gabriel announces births to Zacharias and Mary. Zacharias doubts and is struck mute; Mary asks how but accepts God's will. The difference shows doubt brings judgment while faith brings favor.
Morning everybody, just wanted to give you a quick moment of truth here. I want to talk, continue about the talking about Mary, the Virgin Mary, but I want to go back to Gabriel and his— he had an initial visit with Zacharias. And Zacharias, we find out later that Zacharias and Elizabeth, his wife, were a relative of Mary's. But anyway, they both had a question that he announced a pregnancy to both Mary and Zacharias, and both had a question, but Gabriel reacted totally different to each question. And so I want to go over that real quick. I want to show you, I just want to read you. Now you can find the whole story Again, I want to encourage you to do that. You can find the whole story in Luke, the first chapter of Luke. I think it's verses 5 through 38. But I'm going to pick up in Luke 1:18, "And Zacharias said to the angel, 'How shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is well advanced in years.' And the angel Gabriel answered and said to him, 'I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.'" But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time. And then I'm going to tell you, we're going to go over to what Mary said in Luke 1:34 with that on our mind. Then Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I do not know a man? And 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 the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a 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 maidservant of the Lord, let it be done, let it be to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her. Now we see a similar announcement but two totally different reactions, and I just want to cover real quick, you know, my thought on why, why it was a totally different reaction. One, Zacharias was an old man, and I think, you know, they prayed for a son. Elizabeth was barren, and back in the day, you know, that was a bad deal. It was a bad sign, you know, it was, it It was a blessing if you had children. So they had prayed and prayed, I'm sure, for kids, and I would say that they'd probably just given up on it. Based on Zacharias' answer, I think that that's probably a pretty good conclusion, is that they're like, "You know, let's just quit praying for this." And that may have been years ago, and I want to encourage you that God hears your prayer, and he may not answer it right then, You know, he don't have a magic wand or a genie. I mean, he answers it in his time and in his way. But Zacharias, they prayed for a son, and Gabriel announced that. And then Zacharias said, how can that be? You know, I'm an old man and my wife's up in age, up in years. And so what he was coming at Gabriel, he was coming at him with unbelief. So he was saying, you know, this, that's a bunch of crud. You know, I mean, that's not what he said, but that was in his heart, and God judges your heart. Remember, when he picked David, he said he don't look at the outer appearance, God looks at the inward. God sees his ways are not our, but I mean, God knew that Zacharias was coming at him with unbelief. And so he, for lack of a better word, he slapped him down, he made him mute, and said, you're not gonna speak until this baby is born. Gabriel proclaimed that, and so that's what happened. Now, um, Mary, totally different. Same kind of, how can this be? You know, it's the same kind of question, like, I don't understand. But Mary was coming at it from a, I don't understand how this could be, you know, because I've not been with a man. I mean, she knew kind of how the things worked and that, you know, they had to, you know, you had to be with a man to get pregnant. But the angel then said, you know, the Holy Spirit will come upon, will overshadow you, and the Holy One, God, you know, God, with God nothing's impossible. So I just want to show you that, you know, you can, and I want to encourage you, you can question God, um, you know, while you're talking to him, while you're praying, but God doesn't, he don't really get real fired up about unbelief. And that's a big deal. And when you're praying or when you're looking at the promises of God, if you want to accept those things and if you want to ever accomplish anything for God, you have to use your faith, but you've got to get rid of unbelief. And I'm sure we'll talk about that in additional lessons coming up. But I just wanted to give you something to think about today. That was I just find that very unique and it kind of shows the different ways that God can and will react to. All through the Bible, he frowns on and punishes unbelief. So I want to encourage you to, when you're reading your Bible today, just read it with a belief. Even if you can question it, wow, I wonder how that happened, but don't come at God saying, I don't think that happened. Coming in and asking, you know, father-son relationship, "Dad, how'd that work?" You know, there's a totally different— there's a right way and a wrong way to ask a question. So that's kind of all I got for today. Hope you're all having a great week, and I will see you tomorrow.
When you pick a side you must choose to be a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness
