Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to the Gospel according to Luke
chapter 2 and verse 19. But Mary kept all these things
and pondered them in her heart. Luke chapter 2 verse 19. Now the text begins with the
word but, and it is a contrast to what is recorded in the previous
verse, where we read, all they that heard it wondered at those
things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept
all these things, and pondered them in her heart. a distinct contrast. They all
heard the same things. And yet for some, they just wondered. Wondered at those things. And
you can think that they wondered, they passed on until something
else happened, and then they wondered at that. But that was
all. They just passed by If something
interesting, something that they couldn't understand, but something
that just passes on into history, is forgotten. But the contrast is with Mary,
she kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And
we need to ask ourselves regarding our lives, When we have things
that we hear, and we see, and they're things to be wondered
at, do we just wonder at them, or do we keep them, and keep
them in our heart, and do we then ponder over them in our
heart? is a big difference between these
two verses and how those that heard these things reacted and
how Mary reacted. And you might say, well, Mary
was directly concerned. This was her son. This was about
her life. The other people, they were seeing
things about someone else's life. So that is to be understood.
That is why Mary, it meant much more to her than what was to
them. They were just looking on at
what happened in someone else's life. And it is true that as
we go through life there will be those things that we see in
others' lives and we might Think it, a wonderful thing, you might
remark upon it, but then it is true, it is their life, not ours. But how is it when it does come
to those things that are concerning us? They are things in our life. They are things that directly
concern us. And when we think of that, we
think of Mary's son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. those
things that concern our soul, our need of a saviour, our need
of a divine work of grace in our own soul, then really those
things that happen in our lives do concern us and should have
the same effect as it was with Mary. But Mary kept all these
things and pondered them in her heart. In one way, It is a mark
upon us. If there are those things that
we are keeping and pondering, then it's as if God would put
a stamp on it and say, dear soul, the reason why you are keeping
and pondering over these things is because they directly concern
you. And you might think, well, is
the Lord working in my heart? Is he working in my life? Is
He performing? Am I His child? Is He calling
me by grace? And yet here is a mark of something
that in a way the Lord tells His children. This is the reaction
of one that the things really do concern them. Many will comment
on religion, many will comment on things on others' lives. But
when the Lord makes things personal to us, then it is because they
are personal to us. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And you can be sure that those
who have no interest in Christ or the things of God will just
go on and everything may be wondered at but nothing will be kept and
nothing will be pondered over. May the Lord give us such token
as Mary had. I want to look this evening at
three points. Firstly, a belief in a divine
plan being unfolded. This is why we sung our middle
hand. God moves in a mysterious way. I believe that Mary knew this. She knew of a divine plan being
unfolding. But then secondly, things to
keep in the heart. We might ask in this, how long
do we keep things in our heart? How long are they there? And then lastly, pondering or
thinking carefully about in our hearts those things that are
kept. But firstly, belief in a divine
plan being unfolded. We might often quote and say,
my life's minutest circumstance is subject to His eye, and that
we do not believe in chance, we believe in things that are
ordered, Those things that God does, He has planned. He has planned and purposed from
eternity. And He brings those things to
pass in the time that they are to be brought to pass and not
before. Our Lord on earth, He said that
your time is all where ready, my time is not yet. There is
a time to favour Zion and there is a time to bring things to
pass. We read this morning in the first
chapter in Matthew, and we commented on those three periods of fourteen
generations. And when we would be actually
in the lives of those people, all the things that were happening,
you couldn't stand back and see the wonderful ordering and plan
that then was seen in looking back when the Lord was born,
and you could see that ordering of the Lord in all that was happening
over those generations from Abraham. We may say we'll be going back
beyond that, but with Abraham were given the promises of our
Lord, and he was the first of the fathers and the first Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, Abraham who saw Christ's day and he rejoiced
at him. But belief in a divine plan being
unfolded is very important for us in our lives, very important
for us so that we're not over-anxious and concerned with all that we
see happening in the world, the wars and rumors of wars, the
nations that rise and those that rise, and we think, well, they've
got power to send nuclear and to do this or to do that. Well,
the Lord said, thou couldst have no power at all against me, except
it were given thee from heaven, he testified to Pilate. Pilate thought that he had power
to crucify the Lord or to release him. Our Lord corrected him on
that. And we should then remember that
all nations are in his hand. Who is he that saith and cometh
to pass when the Lord commandeth it not? And so we would expect
that we would see things happening in the nations, and when they
happen, then we see this is God's plan being unfolded. Right through the Old Testament,
we have many such things happening with the rise and fall of the
kingdoms that were then. And in many of the prophets,
not only was there things foretold of the children of Israel and
Judah, but also other nations round about. clearly showing
that God was ordering them and controlling them as well. And
so it is necessary for us to believe in a divine plan being
unfolded so we're not filled with anxious care, and so that
we do watch even the things of the nations. Our Lord reproved
those in His day that they could discern the face of the sky,
whether it was red sky at night, In effect, as the term we know
it, shepherd's delight, red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning.
And he said, you can do this, but you cannot discern the times. They couldn't compare what was
happening to what was written in the scripture. They weren't
noticing what was happening before their very eyes. They knew not
the day of their visitation. They couldn't recognize that
this was the Christ. Later on, when our Lord was crucified
and rose again, then the Holy Spirit was given and the disciples
did. They were able very clearly at
Pentecost to identify what was happening to them as what had
been foretold and in God's plan. And even when they were persecuted
for preaching the word, they could see that. They linked it
with Psalm 2. They could see that what was
happening It wasn't taking God by surprise, but he knew it and
it was appointed and had been foretold. So belief in a divine
plan should calm us and should make us to look above all of
those things that are happening in the world. But we would remember
as well and have a belief that there is a divine plan, a special
plan, for the people of God, for every one of them for whom
Christ died and suffered and bled at Calvary, there is a plan
where they shall be born, when they shall be born, to whom they
shall be born in the first place, whether they are a man or a woman,
whether they are to be Whatever they appointed in this life,
whether of servitude or being a master, in their position and
standing in life is all appointed. It doesn't just happen that men
occupy certain places or occupations. Then he's appointed the partners
in life who they marry, the children that they have. All things, a
divine plan is in place. And with God's children, that
plan will include when they shall be born again, when they shall
come to a knowledge of themselves as sinners, when they shall be
brought to seek the Lord, when they shall be brought to know
the Saviour. when it shall be brought to pass
what is said, he which hath begun a good work in you will perform
it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And we are to believe that there
is a divine plan for God's children, that nothing at all happens by
chance. We are told in Romans 8, we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them that are called according to his purpose. God tells us
this, that our lives are ordered by his hand. He is not the author
of sin. We are responsible and accountable
for our own sins. And, like David found, even though
one of the Lord's people, he had to reap the fruit of his
sinnership, the sword not departing from His house. But nevertheless,
even those things that are our sins, our failures, those are
manageable by God. There's no case too hard, too
difficult for the Lord to manage. And with His people, He will
conquer their hearts, He will deliver them out of Satan's hand,
and He will bring them to saving knowledge of Himself. And the
way of salvation is to be proclaimed to them, and they will hear it
and receive it and walk in it willingly and freely of their
own will that God has given them. By nature, our will will not
go for the things of God. The Lord says, thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. But it is to believe that
there is a plan in the five points of Calvinism. One of the points
that we believe in is the irresistible grace of God, that God will conquer
the hearts of his people, however hard they are, however opposed
they are to him, he will soften their hearts, he'll bring them
down. He's able to deal with Manasseh, He was able to deal
with Saul of Tarsus, and He was able to deal with me, and He
was able to deal with any of His children, to bring them out
of nature's darkness and into His marvellous light, to bring
them from being an enemy of God to a friend of God, to be alienated
from God, to want to seek Him, and to hear Him, and to follow
Him. And may we have then a real belief
in this plan. May we not abuse it. There are
some that, without any real knowledge of their sin or what it is to
be lost or as a sinner, will just say, well, God has a plan. If I'm saved, if I'm saved, if
I'm lost, I'm lost and there's nothing I can do, I will just
wait and hope God saves me. Well, I can assure you God will
not save you, not with that attitude. The Lord is able to turn it and
to change it, that if you and I die with that kind of a thought,
then we will perish eternally. That is fatalism. It's not believing
in election at all. And that heart is hardened, it
doesn't know what sin is, it doesn't know what it costs the
Lord, and it doesn't know what it deserves at all. And the Apostle
Paul was very clear in Romans 6, that we are not to sin that
grace might abound. Now wicked, evil, deceitful hearts
love to do that. And mankind, when things go well,
then, well, the Lord can be their God. But if things go wrong,
then they'll blame God. I think it was the King of Israel,
Jehoram, that was like that. When they went out into the wilderness
and there was no water, then Jehoshaphat, he wanted to seek
a prophet of the Lord. And as soon as he came, as soon
as Elisha came, then immediately King Jehoram is blaming God for
all that has happened. That is what natural man will
do. Instead of humbling himself before God, he will blame God. But the plan that God has for
His people is in spite of their sin, you might say it is because
of their sin, that His plan includes the coming of His beloved Son,
in His dealing with their sin on Calvary's tree, and in their
call by grace in His time and way, and for any that is concerned
for their soul. We say this concerning Mary because
when the angel appeared to her, she rejoiced in God her Saviour. We read in this passage the blessing
of Simeon upon them. Yea, a sword shall pierce through
thy own soul also. She had to be convinced of her
sin. She had to be brought the same
way to be called as any. She wasn't spotless, sinless. She needed a saviour the same,
and she had rejoiced in God her saviour. And he also said that
the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Well, in our text
we have the thinking, the meditating, and the subject of it. But first, before we move on
from that point, how is it with us? How clearly do we believe
in a divine plan? And that divine plan is being
unfolded. Unfolded in the world and unfolded
in our lives. And if we truly value our songs,
we want to look and see some tokens for good, some evidence
of the work of God in our hearts and in our lives. And it will
cause us concern and grief when we see the opposite. And time's
sake, can ever God dwell here? Or is it well with my soul? Go on to then look secondly at
the things to keep in the heart. We read concerning Mary, that
Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. What things did she keep? in
her heart when it says here, all these things. In one sense, it could be said
she believed that there was nothing insignificant. There was nothing
that was just added on. It's not really necessary. It could be dispensed with. It
was just something done as a whim. on the part of God but really
it wasn't really needed in his plan. Really she's saying are
all things. In one sense it's like getting
a jigsaw puzzle and you spread it out on the ground and we might
have all sorts of different shaped pieces. One seems a very odd,
very strange piece. We don't just discard it. We
keep it to one side, and we're looking, how will that piece
fit into this jigsaw puzzle? Maybe after quite a while and
quite a bit of the puzzles put together, suddenly you can see
where that piece fits in. But no one would think, well,
here are these pieces, and somehow the manufacturer has put in there
things that are not needed. You can just do without them. You still get the full picture.
We won't. And so when Mary said all these
things, not only does she believe in the divine plan, but it is
that minutest circumstance. But what things were they? They
were things that she had heard and seen. If we were just to
go back over, what she had seen. At first the angel had come to
her and told her that the Holy Spirit should overshadow her,
that she should bring forth a son. At first she wondered how that
could be because she knew not a man, but the angel had explained
how it should be, the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. Therefore
that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. She had experienced that. She
knew what it was then, when she had been told by the angel that
Elizabeth, her cousin, was expecting, and it was in the sixth month.
And so she goes to her, and sure enough, she is expecting. We
can easily pass over this and think, well, it was just as it was. But in
these passages, there's many things that we are told or we
hear. of being told and they go and
they find out it's exactly as was told them. The same with
the shepherds going and finding the babe in a manger. These things
are things to be wondered at. When Mary comes to Elizabeth
and Elizabeth says, the babe, John the Baptist, leapt in her
womb when the mother of my Lord is coming. She'd heard that and
how Mary had rejoiced and she had sung with praise as she believed,
as she realized what a blessing the Lord had blessed her with,
from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. She's
been through that. She'd heard when John Baptist
was born. No doubt that when she went to
Elizabeth, she would have known Zacharias could not speak. He
was dumb. And then when the baby born,
that he was not named Zacharias, he was named John. And those
things had all happened as well. Then there was the taxi. Just when she is pregnant and
ready to be delivered, she's got to make that long journey
from Nazareth to Bethlehem. And then while she is there,
the baby is born. the fact that there was no room
in the inn. She's got to go to be in the
manger, put the baby in the manger. But then she finds out that when
the shepherds come, the shepherds know that the baby's going to
be in the manger. They've been given that as a
sign, and they tell her that. And the message and all what
was said by the shepherds this unto you is born this day in
the city of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord." And that
sign then, the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a
manger. All of these things she had heard,
she had seen, others had spoken of them, things had been brought
to pass, other people had been viewing these things. And these
things are what she is keeping. But Mary kept all these things. You think of her in our lives.
Things that are done that cause us to wonder, things that we
cannot put a conclusion of. In one sense we might say all
of these things They're not finished things. They are things that are pointing
to what is going to be done. What is going to happen? A great
expectation. And that's something to be a
real encouragement to us. When we have things in our lives,
we can clearly see the Lord's hand, but we cannot see what
He is doing. We can't see the end of the matter.
There are things that are very puzzling, things that are very
perplexing. There are things that others
notice and others see, whether for good or for bad, not done
in a corner but openly. It's these things that, instead
of just passing by as a chance, there's no part in the plan,
There's no purpose that God's doing all these things. Instead
of that, we keep those things in the heart. How long? How long do we? What about Mary? At the end of this chapter, we
have, he went down with them, came to Nazareth and was subject
unto them, but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
That's 12 years later than this. 12 years later than our text. But she had to keep them for
some 33 years. And her husband had died and
passed away. 30 years after this time of our
text, then her son comes into the public ministry. But for
30 years, Apart from the instant there
when he was 12 is silence. Of no doubt there were things
that were done that were also kept by Mary. But she had to
wait for the full interpretation of them right until her son had
been crucified, risen again, appeared to them and then ascended
up into heaven and the Holy Spirit given. And then she, with the
apostles, would have known clearly what was the purpose and what
the Lord had done. The disciples, even when the
Lord ascended up into heaven, were saying, will thou at this
time restore the kingdom to Israel? The two on the way to Emmaus
were saying, we trusted it should have been he that should have
redeemed Israel. There were many thoughts, many
things that were going on. And we may say, with Mary here,
the keeping of these things, these parts to this jigsaw puzzle,
these parts in the providence and plan of God, were kept over
some 33 years. We might think, well, we've gone
20 years, or 25 years, and we cannot see what God is doing.
We cannot see God's purposes at all. But may we think from
this, Mary's example, how long she was keeping things that were
not joined together, didn't make sense, couldn't understand, not
interpreted yet, and that they're all part of a plan, and one day
would all be brought together and clearly seen as we see it
recorded in the inspired and sacred Word of God. Maybe something
that really gives us the mark, this is something to keep, when
it's something we cannot understand and cannot fathom. When it is something others notice, something that makes an impression
upon us, something that doesn't seem to have any relevance to
that particular time and we cannot see a purpose for it. And sometimes
we might think we see a purpose and yet don't really know the
purpose of it. And then later in our lives we
can. I remember when I was in engineering
The Torah was called into the ministry, and we had to do English. And we had an English teacher the
first year, and his favorite subject was public speaking.
The next temple paper, it's speaking without notes, without premeditation
often. And the second year, the teacher
who was supposed to have a different teacher went sick. So we had
the same teacher for two years, and for two years I had this
teacher, that this is what he majored upon. I didn't know at
the time, but since it's been a real help to me in the ministry. And things happen, we might wonder
at them, but not realize how needful they will be later on.
There's many things that now I have skills to do and I look
back over many, many years and think, well, I got that then.
I never thought then that I'd need it now. And yet God has
those things in his purpose and plan. And so there are some things
you might say we don't keep because we cannot see that they're relevant
at all. But really what it is, we're
thinking, there's not really a divine plan that includes this. What I should have thought at
that time was, well, this is a remarkable thing. And this
teacher has taken ill, and now we've got this second teacher.
Is there not a purpose and a reason for it? Not sure whether I did
at the time. So this is one of the marks.
Really, Mary says, what is said of her, she kept all these things. But it is especially those things
that may be, on the other hand, will be stumbling us and perplexing
us and troubling us, counting it as a mark against us, when
actually it may be a mark for us. Would we have it the other
way around? Would we have it that in our
lives, everything that happened, we could say, I know why that's
happened. I know why that's happened. That's going to fit it. That
means this is going to happen in the future. And this is going
to happen. Some do that. And they end up
patterning their lives, and sometimes in a sinful way, trying to map
out and order their providence and order their lives according
to not God's plan, but their plan. When God works, often he
takes good care to make sure we don't steady the ark, we don't
put our hands to it. What I do, the Lord said, to
Peter, to the disciples, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt
know hereafter. And if we've got perplexing things
tonight, and you've got those things that you Keep them as given by the Lord
in your life, brought to you to keep for some
future time. Sometimes people use a diary
and they write down things. But often these things that are
kept in this way have such a a mark and have such an effect on us. We don't need a diary, we can
remember them very clearly. And there's another reason why
we wouldn't as well. And that is our third point.
Because they're not only kept, but they're pondered as well. And it's not just kept in memory,
it's kept in the heart. But Mary kept all these things
and pondered them in her heart. That's deep within, not the fleshy
tables of the heart, of course, not the heart muscle, the pumping,
but it means really, in our very being, it's not just something
in memory, just learnt, but it's really made a real impression
upon us, affected us. And so then the third thing is
that she ponders. So pondering in our hearts those
things kept. And in that way they're kept
on being revived. Sometimes we might look upon
that as a negative thing. You say, well we've had these
problems and troubles and afflictions and trials and we cannot get
over them. We keep going over them and going
over them all the time. which we could leave that in
the past and leave it behind and forget it. But the Lord says,
no, these things are a purpose and a plan. You're not to forget
them, but you're to ponder over them, that is, to think carefully
about them. And I believe it would be pondering
in a way of prayer as too, laying them before the Lord and meditating
upon them, thinking upon those things. Perhaps in a short-term
way, you might think of Joseph. He hears that Mary, his wife-to-be,
is with child. And it's while he's thinking
over these things, while he's pondering these things and thinking
whether to put her away, that then the angel appears to him
and says to him, to fear not, to take unto thee Mary thy wife,
that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. It's a
good thing to ponder, to meditate, to go over, as in the sight of
God, those things that are being done. Perhaps you could even
put it the other way, and think, here is God working in the lives
of a person, and he views that person, and he says, that person
has taken no notice of what I've done. They're just forgetting
it. They're not thinking about it,
they're not meditating upon it, they never come to me in prayer
over it, and yet I've worked these things in their lives.
I know what I've worked in their lives, but I don't see any response
or any reaction from them. They go on as if they are completely
dead. But what if it is otherwise?
The Lord has given spiritual life, He's given exercise and
concern. When those things happen, the
Lord sees. He says that. Child of mine,
they are reacting, they are working. He will have regard unto the
work of His own hands. It's not only God that works
out His plan, it is God that puts in the heart like Mary to
keep it. and to ponder it, and bless God
if he's given you an eye that exercises so that we're not like
the wandering multitude, but we're like those that ponder
and meditate upon things in our heart. Sometimes the things that
will happen are because of our sin, and the Lord is calling
us to acknowledge that, to repent, to turn back from it. The Apostle
Paul, tall as he was, the Lord said, it is hard for thee to
kick against the pricks. And he was persecuting the people
of God, the things that he was doing. We're not told what pricks
of conscience he had or things that happened in his life. But
there were those things. So again, there's that benefit
and that profit in noticing and going over and meditating, pondering
those things in our heart. How long for? As long as they
are kept. Really it points to what is a
good meditating, a good exercise, a good thought. We need to be
aware, of course, That those things that we think and meditate
and ponder on don't gender in our hearts bitterness and malice
and hatred and fretting against the Lord. We need to watch very
carefully on that impatience or working against those that
may have been instrumental in bringing things about that are
hard for us to go through. And so the pondering must be
also examined by the word of God, how deceitful our hearts
often are. But if we have the aim in view,
the realization God has a divine plan. You know, we read of Joseph
in prison, until his time came the word of the Lord tried him.
You can read that in Psalm 105. And we don't know how clear he
saw. He'd had the dreams, but how
clearly he knew what God was doing. But there's no bitterness
in the end. He says to his brothers, it was
not you that sent me hither, but God, to preserve your lives
by great deliverance. Twenty or so years he had to
wait. to prove and to realize what
those dreams meant as he saw his brothers bow before him,
just as the dreams had indicated. God's people go through those
dark paths and even Jacob, right before the time when he was to
see Joseph alive, he says, all these things are against me.
These things. Mary had these things that she
was keeping up, and no doubt Jacob had never forgotten how
his son was taken from him, because he says, you have me, you have
bereaved of my children. Joseph is not. Simeon is not. He was locked up in prison. You
would take Benjamin as well. All these things are against
me. And yet they weren't. We read the end of the story,
the end of the account. They were working together for
good. Joseph could look back afterwards and testify of him. So dear friend be encouraged,
be encouraged by what is said here of Mary and may our keeping
and our pondering be without malice and bitterness, looking
at the Lord who is kind and gracious and merciful who is over all,
working all things according to the counsel of his own will,
take a special notice of those blessings, those tokens for good,
the sweets in the middle of the bitters, the balancing of the
clouds, those little things that are given to show the Lord's
good pleasure. We think of Psalm 107, So many
changes, but what ran through that psalm? Answers to prayer. Low places, very low places,
but then answers to prayer. And the Lord appearing and bringing
them up, and they know that men would praise the Lord for His
goodness. And what does it say at the end?
Whoso is wise and will observe these things. These things, again. all those changing things, those
patterns of prayer and answers to prayer, even they shall understand
the loving kindness of the Lord. Sometimes the Lord's kindness,
loving kindness, needs to be understood. The only way really
to fully understand it is to wait, to keep, to ponder, to
wait the Lord's appointed time, and then we shall see. Sometimes
it shall be in time, maybe others we shall wait until after this
full world, and we shall more clearly see God's plan, God's
purpose. But Mary kept all these things
and pondered them in her heart. I hope our desire is, and our
prayer is, Lord, work in my heart. and that our watching is for
this end, that this is the burden and desire and longing of our
soul above everything else, that we might be a child of God, and
that what the Lord is working in our lives is for our eternal,
our spiritual good, for the salvation of our souls, to bring us unto
Him and to bless our souls, and that that is the The divine plan,
that is what we're looking at above everything else, not what
job we'll have, or what wife, or what husband, or whatever,
though those things might feature, but the uppermost thing, the
object of my first desire, Jesus crucified for me, and that be
the thing that is the burden and concern of our soul, and
what we're watching for, praying over, keeping things, meditating
of things for that we might see this and see the Lord crown him
with his blessing and with his seal. This is my work, my hand. I have begun a good work in you
and I will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. The Lord
at his blessing. Amen.