26 Now in the sixth month of her pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you!” 29 Startled by his statement, she tried to figure out what his greeting meant.
30 Then the angel told her, “Stop being afraid, Mary, because you have found favor with God. 31 Listen! You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.”
34 Mary asked the angel, “How can this happen, since I have not had relations with a man?”
35 The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come over you, and the power of the Most High will surround you. Therefore, the child will be holy and will be called the Son of God. 36 And listen! Elizabeth, your relative, has herself conceived a son in her old age, this woman who was rumored to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 Nothing is impossible with respect to any of God’s promises.”
38 Then Mary
said, “Truly I am the Lord’s servant. Let everything you have said happen to
me.” Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:26-38 ISV)
The
Holy Spirit conceives in us new spiritual life. He regenerates us in a way that
raises us from the dead spiritually.
Jesus answered, “I assure you,
everyone must be born again. Anyone who is not born again cannot be in God’s
kingdom.” (John 3:3, ERV)
No
one enters God’s kingdom without experiencing a birth.
It is not the flesh that gives a person life.
It is the spirit that gives life. The words I told you are spirit, and so they
give life. (John 6:63, ICB)
The Holy Spirit breathes into us
new spiritual life, and that’s what makes us able to respond to the gospel.
At one time you
were like a dead person because of the things you did wrong and your offenses
against God. 2 You
used to live like people of this world. You followed the rule of a destructive
spiritual power. This is the spirit of disobedience to God’s will that is now
at work in persons whose lives are characterized by disobedience. 3 At one time you were like those persons. All of
you used to do whatever felt good and whatever you thought you wanted so that
you were children headed for punishment just like everyone else.
4-5 However, God is rich in mercy. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace. (Ephesians 2:1-5 CEB)
The
Holy Spirit in your life is three things:
1. His work is unassisted. (See Ephesians 2:4-5 above)
2. His work is gracious.
8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is
God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. 9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud
of. (Ephesians 2:8-9, CEB)
3. His work is positive.
God will continually revitalize
you, implanting within you the passion to do what pleases him. (Philippians 2:13, TPT)
“Why does the sinner choose a
life of sinful indulgence because he prefers it? Man chooses that which is
according to his nature, and therefore, before he will ever choose or prefer
that which is Divine and spiritual, a new nature must be imparted to him; in
other words, he must be born again.” (A. W. Pink, 1886-1952)[i]
[i] Inspired by the sermon “Conceiving:
Christmas Spirit, “(installment two) Sunday December 8,
2019, Pastor Dave Jansen, CenterPoint Gahanna Church Gahanna, OH.
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