Let every heart prepare Him room

Choose No Other Way but to Trust and obey! In light of Christ’s coming… What was God doing? What did God expect of His people then? What does God expect of His people now?

I. What was God doing to prepare the way for His Son’s coming? Building on His past work, God worked through specific people at a specific time (verses 26-27, 34, 36) Verse 34b in the ESV = “since I am a virgin” Literal rendering of the Greek Text of verse 34b = “since I know no man” (a figure of speech Mary uses to indicate she has never been sexually intimate with a man)

I. What was God doing to prepare the way for His Son’s coming? Building on His past work, God worked through specific people at a specific time (verses 26-27, 34, 36) God worked according to His plan and purpose as revealed in His word (verses 31-33, 35) Luke 1:31 - “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” Isaiah 7:14 - “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (“God with us”)

I. What was God doing to prepare the way for His Son’s coming? Building on His past work, God worked through specific people at a specific time (verses 26-27, 34, 36) God worked according to His plan and purpose as revealed in His word (verses 31-33, 35) God was carefully attentive to His people as He worked among, in and through them (verses 28-30)

II. What did God expect of His people as He prepared the way for His Son’s coming? God expected His people to express their concerns through a lens of trust (verses 34-36) God expected His people to respond to His word in obedience (verses 37-38) ESV and most English translations of verse 37 = “For nothing will be impossible with God.” NIV translation of verse 37 = “For no word from God will ever fail”

“Often a work of God comes with two edges, great joy and great pain, and in that matter-of-fact response Mary embraced both. She was the first person to accept Jesus on his own terms, regardless of the personal cost.” Phillip Yancey

III. Choose no other way but to trust and obey Matthew 16:24 – “Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me’” Matthew 16:25-27 – “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done”

III. Choose no other way but to trust and obey “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase. This faith transforms the whirlwind of despair into a warm and reviving breeze of hope.” MLK Jr. King goes on to say “The words of a motto which a generation ago were commonly found on the wall in the homes of devout persons need to be etched on our hearts: ‘Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. There was no one there.’”