I want you to turn back in your
Bibles to Luke chapter 1. If you could ever get behind
some of these hymns and actually learn the story of those hymns,
you would see that the people who wrote those hymns decades
ago, and in some cases, centuries ago, had such a fantastic revelation
of the glory of God. And they put together these hymns
in a way that actually tells the story. Heart to the bell,
heart to the bell. Jesus is here. Just a wonderful,
wonderful opportunity for us to reflect upon what we are dealing
with even today, the incarnation. I love Christmas time personally.
And not because it's not filled with all of the problems that
humanity endeavors with and struggles through. Interestingly enough,
if you follow the narrative of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
with regards to the birth of Christ, the one thing that you
won't find is that it's a fairy tale story absent of conflict,
absent of trouble, absent of suffering. The birth of Christ
is not one of these Pollyanna accounts where everything goes
right, and in fact, What's marvelous about the birth of Christ is
that it takes place in the midst of absolute chaos, darkness,
and trouble. This is the light shining out
of darkness. And I was talking with my sister
today and I was talking with my brother today as we were preparing
for today's service as to how important it is for us to realize
that the celebration of the birth of Christ is also a spiritual
battle. It's a spiritual battle. And
what I mean by that is the enemy would have it his way, and that
would be that we would never ever even make mention of the
God-man Jesus Christ. That we wouldn't feel compelled
to do something uniquely and prodigiously different on this
day than on any other day. He'd have us to go about our
lives in a very mundane, secular way as if the world wasn't changed
by the incarnation of God. He'd have you and I to believe
that His birth is no more celebrating than ours. You see, this is the
goal of the adversary and you and I live in a generation right
now where they have stripped the celebration of Christ from
everything essential, everything redemptive, everything God exalting,
Christ exalting, everything biblical. We have a pathetic expression
of the birth of Christ in today's secular world. Am I making some
sense? Well, that's the adversary, ladies
and gentlemen. Don't you ever contemplate for
one moment that the whole of your salvation does not hang
on God saying, yes, to becoming like you and me. Don't you ever
doubt that your whole salvation hangs on the second person of
the glorious Godhead, choosing before the world began to take
on our nature, to redeem us from darkness, sin, death, and hell. Don't you ever contemplate whether
or not it's worthy of a unique setting apart of time to reflect
upon the greatest act that God could commit. And that is to
take to himself our humanity that he might redeem us. Don't
ever contemplate it. How glorious it is. And when
I say trouble, we are in a world filled with trouble today, are
we not? And uniquely and curiously enough, we are going through
some of the same sufferings that our master's culture and his
world went through in the first century. Let me see if I can
explain that. They were in political upheaval
in that time as they are in the Middle East right now. in the
same way in which the Middle East now is struggling through
identity, economic crisis, and spiritual crisis. So it was for
our master. Don't miss the point. Israel
was in flux. Rome was struggling with a lot
of things. There were a lot of troubles.
And then on a more social and domestic level, there were troubles
as well. You read the narrative. Herod
was so disturbed by the birth of Christ that he went around
killing children too. This is called the adversary
seeking to kill the seed. The seed. Because children are
the seed. Every time children are brought
into the world, we have one more opportunity for a savior, a hero. a leader, a light, a prophet,
a revelation of the glory of God to penetrate a culture and
change society and bring men and women back to God every time
a child comes into this world. The devil knows this. The devil
knows this. On Friday we were in here preparing
for today's worship and they had school here because many
of you know we are on the premises of a high school here and they
are still having school. They had a bomb threat called
into the school. A bomb threat, again, targeting
the schools. And so the children had to file
out of all the classes. We got locked down. Police came
and everything. And interestingly enough, they
had the opportunity to flee to this sanctuary to be protected
for a season. And I said, look at God. Our
Lord is a strong power. The righteous run their end and
are what? Saved. And we can talk to you
about the testimonies that went on at that point in time too.
But here's what I'm getting at. In those dark periods of time,
God's always given a witness. So don't you buy into the culture.
Don't you buy into this world system. Don't you act like you
are people without hope and without knowledge and without a purpose
in this world. Don't you act that way. Act like
you know God. Act like you know God. Act like
you know God. So today I wanna talk to you
about a conversation between two sisters. Can I do that? This
is just a dialogue between two sisters. In fact, I should call
it a dialogue between two pregnant sisters. This is a conversation between
two pregnant women. Luke's narrative is a wonderful
account of the Savior's birth and the people that he chooses
to build insight as to the context in the history is profound and
rich. And I've said it to you since
for years now, that the opening chapters of Luke is the most
spirit filled of all the gospels. It's permeated with the presence
of the Spirit of God and the work of the Spirit of God in
some of the most unique ways. People ask me, why do we celebrate
the birth of Jesus Christ? Because the angels did. Because
heaven did. Because glory did. The shepherds
did. The people of God did. Because the whole heavens rang
out at the birth of Christ. Can you believe that? The angels
heard the whole of the host of heaven ringing with joy at the
incarnation of the God man. But on this day, at the same
time, while all that's taking place, two sisters are having
a conversation. So we entitled this message Mary
and Elizabeth, two sisters talking. Again, I want to add two pregnant
sisters talking. Have you ever heard two pregnant
women talking? See, all kind of stuff starts
going through your head, doesn't it? I'm talking about two pregnant
women. Pregnant for the first time. Not the second time or
the third time. This is no ordinary scenario.
This is not a third event or a fourth event. As for my wife,
an eighth event. After a while, this stuff gets
real common, I'm here to tell you. I mean, you know, we really
need to be careful about the uniqueness of having children,
but it can get real common after two or three, you know, routine,
kind of just mundane. Let's get this thing over with.
You know, that's the mentality. But this is the first one of
both of them. And there are some lessons to
derive from their dialogue, from their conversation for you and
me. Remember now, we are talking about celebrating the birth of
Christ and acknowledging the redemptive implications of the
birth of Christ and recognizing that this is a unique epic in
history and not denying that this is a special one-time event.
So God lifts up two women, two sisters, and bring them together
and allow them to have a conversation that's worthy of our ear hustling. It's worthy of our getting in
on that conversation and learning some things. And I might add
that when you are regarding these two women talking, we are not
today going to be gender specific. While there are two women here
talking and you ladies can derive from this all you want to, what
we are really dealing with is the character and nature of true
believers. The character and nature of true
believers. when men and women are truly
born of God. I want you to hear me now. What
we're talking about today, and you can follow me in your outline,
is really the characteristics of people who are born of God. So I want to challenge you, because
next week we'll be talking about preparation for the new year.
But today I want to talk to you about how people communicate. who know God. How people communicate
who've had an encounter with the true and the living God.
I'm talking about the kind of conversation that people who
have been impacted by the gospel have. Distinctly different than
the kind of communication that people who don't know God have.
That's what I want to talk to you about today. I want to just
lift out a number of points to call your attention to what I
know was pleasing to God It should also be something we covet and
desire because we should always covet and desire good things,
right? This is what I want to lift out today. So a number of
points I want to call your attention to. As you observe these two
sisters talking, I want you to ask yourself the question, is
this me? We have a remarkable manifestation
of faith on the part of both of these women. and more particularly
our sister Mary, I'll get into her in a little bit more particularly,
but we, according to our texts have started out with Mary rising
up, verse 39, rising up and heading over to her cousin, Elizabeth's
house, right? Verse 39 and 40, and Mary arose
in those days and went into the hill country with haste, with
urgency, with urgency into a city of Judah and entered into the
house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth. Now what's taking
place here? What's taking place on the part
of Mary is that she has now had an experience at length by which
God has spoken to her. She has just had a lengthy conversation
with the angel of the Lord and he has revealed to her his redemptive
purposes in Christ. He has given her special revelation. Mary has been brought to a place
in this context where she is now privileged to be the bearer
of news with regards to the salvation of sinners, which requires her
cooperation. Mary has been impacted by God's
redemptive purpose in Christ, and she is at this point compelled
to go and share it with someone else. who has also been impacted
by the same gospel. See, Mary, if you don't really
know, is an extremely astute young lady. And when I say astute,
here's what I mean. She was not simply a religious
person who went to church. She was not simply a young lady.
She's about 16, 17 years old at best, if not 14 or 15. She
was not one of these young ladies that was just simply culturally
primed and busy about earthly and secular tasks. The reality
is, is when you do a composite sketch of Sister Mary, you find
out that she was deep in her thinking. And she was committed
to Christ. And she loved the word of God.
And she was a young woman whose heart was filled with faith. And because these were attributes
in her life, God was able to position her to be the means
by which Messiah comes into the world. Let me say this again. Mary wasn't simply your regular
woman who basically is overwhelmed by the cares and tasks of this
life, who reads her Bible maybe once a month. Mary was much more
committed to the glory of God than that. She was much more
committed to the truth of God than that. If you go back to
the accounts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and you consider
how she was impacted by the presence of the Lord and what he said
to her, do you know how we could sum up what she said to all the
revelation that was given to her? Now listen, the stuff that
the angel said to Mary would blow you and me away. I'm talking
about at our age now. Because it was impossible stuff.
It was stuff beyond the capacity of human beings to actually even
comprehend on a scientific level, let alone on a level of miracles. Everything that the angel said
to Mary was in the realm of the miracle. And you know what she
said? Now watch this. After he was
done, she said this, be it unto your servant according to the
word of the Lord. Now that's deep. Let the word of the Lord
come to pass in my life. I'm saying it was no accident
that this young lady was the means by which Messiah came into
the world. And I'm saying that is no accident
that she is now moving out to someone with whom she could talk
to on this occasion. It's a cousin. So their family
with a lot of genealogical and biblical reasons with whom she
could speak to. Let me submit to you that she's
being moved by the spirit to go talk to her cousin Elizabeth
because her cousin Elizabeth is also with child. So you got
two people who have received special revelation from God.
One of them is the object of a miracle. The other is the object
of a work of supernatural grace. Do you know the distinction?
We've talked about it before. A miracle is that which God does
which only God can do without any human intervention or human
usefulness or participation, so that when that miracle is
performed, everybody has to say, God did that. Now, supernatural
things may or may not be God's using earthly things or material
things as part of the fulfillment of his purpose, but when it's
done, We must conclude if we are people of faith that God
did that too. However, on the supernatural
realm, you can deny the supernatural because of a lack of empirical
data or empirical evidence or necessary evidence, but you can't
deny a miracle. In any way, God works miracles
and he works supernaturally, does he not? The birth of Christ
is a miracle. The birth of John the Baptist
is supernatural. The birth of Christ is a miracle.
The rebirth of sinners like you and me is supernatural. People can deny the empirical
evidence, but one day they have to deal with the facts that we've
been born again. Am I making some sense? See,
a miracle is my hand being withered and God healing it and the evidence
is a healed hand. You got that? But a supernatural
thing is my mind being torn up, filled with devils and demons,
given over to darkness, and God renewing my mind and making me
think God's thoughts after Him. That's a supernatural work of
grace. So we've got one sister who is the object of a miracle,
another sister who is the object of a supernatural work of grace,
and I want you to hear what the outcome of that kind of gospel
impact makes in the conversation. Did I set the table? So we got
two people in dialogue and I want you to hear what Mary says to
Elizabeth and Elizabeth says to Mary over in verse 41 and
it came to pass. I'm sorry, verse 40. And as Mary
entered into the house of Zachariah, she saluted Elizabeth. Now, I don't know what the word
salute fully entails, but it's more than hi, Elizabeth. Okay? It's a little bit more
extensive than that. The idea of saluting Elizabeth
in this context gives us some insight into, watch this now,
how much believing men and women respect other believing men and
women. How that when we gather together,
we don't play each other down, disregard each other as insignificant
and common, We are glad to see one another and our embrace is
sincere and our thoughts towards one another are deep and profound
and earnest. And I am so glad to see you.
My heart has been rejoicing at the fact that we would get together.
Do you know I have been walking or riding a camel or an ass or
whatever it took for her to get the 50 or 60 or 70 miles to meet
Elizabeth? I am so glad to see you today,
sister. That's what I'm talking about.
Now, come on now. doesn't that feel good sometimes
when a brother or sister is able to actually say from the heart
and their initial welcoming of you how glad they are to see
you and that should be the status of all believers we ought to
greet one another with a holy kiss that's what the bible said
we're very we're very common today aren't we very secular
very we live a low life as believers you cannot tell the truth We
are so shallow. We so disregard the body of Christ,
don't we? Just low, low people. We got
a lot to learn. Now notice the response of Elizabeth
because of Mary's salutation. Notice what it says in verse
41. And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation
of Mary, listen, watch this now, just heard it. She heard her
sister. expressed thanksgiving and gladness
to come into the house, and the babe leaped in her womb. The baby jumped in her womb.
Not only that, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. Can
you see that? What's going on here? Well, what's
taking place is an act of God. affirming and approving the love
that two people have both for God and one another. It's the
act of God affirming and approving the character that all believers
ought to have one towards another, especially if you and I are impregnated
with God in our life, which is the nature of the new birth.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Here, these two are meeting.
Mary's conversation is sincere, deep, and profound. It touches
Elizabeth so much that she enters into the worship of God. She's
filled with the Spirit of God. And guess what? John is too.
Now, for years, I've asked the question, what does it mean to
leap in the womb? Did this boy do back flips in
the womb? Having had several children,
essentially that's probably not what happened, but he jumped.
Elizabeth felt it, which means that that child somehow was moved
by God to recognize the presence of his Savior in the womb of
his mother's cousin. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And I'm telling you God did all this. God brought these two together,
men and women who know God, women who know God, women who are filled
with the Spirit, men and women who have the hope of glory in
them and who know how to talk to one another in a way that's
edifying and encouraging and lifting up and building up. Does
that make some sense to you? This is what's taking place.
I want to be like Mary and Elizabeth. I want to be able to talk to
people from that place in my soul where God means something
to me. And I wanna be able to speak
to other men and women in a way in which because God means so
much to me, I want it to impact them where they end up realizing
that God means much to them too. That's what I want. See, we are
still talking about the Christmas story. We are still talking about
the Christmas story. We are talking about the presence
of the Savior, even though He's in the womb of a woman, making
an impact all around Him. So Mary speaks to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth responds to Mary. They are both in jubilation.
They are both excited. They are both delighted. They
are both enjoying fellowship with one another. And let me
remind you what the Bible says about that as we look at point
number two, unity in the Spirit. Doesn't the Bible call us to
that? Unity in the spirit. Let us keep the unity of the
spirit in the bond of peace Let those of us who are believers
in Christ walk in the manifestation of the kingdom of God Which is
Romans 14 17 righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Let
our lips be filled with a knowledge of God. Let our speech be seasoned
with grace Let our conversation be so full of Christ that God
is able to use our everyday words to quicken a man or a woman into
worship that our words would be able to lift men and women
up out of the pit, out of their despair, out of their bondage,
out of their trouble, out of the dark myopic thinking that
we often get into. Anybody know what I'm talking
about? You know how we have some bad days, and then you'll get
a phone call from somebody, and that'll just change the whole
day, won't it? Now be honest now, when you are super duper
carnal, you don't want to hear from a believer. And so the lesson here is this,
that the heart has to be prepared to hear from God through your
brother or your sister, like Elizabeth's heart was prepared
to hear from God through her cousin Mary. See, that kind of
mutual exchange, oh, how good and pleasant it is for brethren
to dwell together in unity. Oh, how good and pleasant it
is. When was the last time? I want to ask you the question
before I move on. We're talking about the birth of Christ now
and the impact of Christ in the life of the people of God. And
we're talking about it from the standpoint of two women that
are expecting the birth of their baby boys. When was the last
time you really had a profoundly moving dialogue with a brother
or a sister in Christ? that encouraged you and moved
you into a greater level of obedience and thankfulness to Christ? That's
a good question, isn't it? When was the last time a brother
or a sister talked to me in such a way that it raised my level
of consciousness toward the God of mercy and the God of grace
and it caused me from the inside out to worship God? When was the last time? When
was the last time God used somebody to speak to your soul, to tow
you out of the ditch, to raise you up out of the pit, to show
you the light of the glory of God, to impact your heart, to
change your mind, to cause you to rejoice and worship God? When
was the last time that happened? When was the last time you were
used to be that kind of vehicle? We're talking about the birth
of Christ. We're talking about the birth of Christ. And we're
talking about what takes place when God from glory enters into
this world and into this room, even though he is in the womb.
a woman point number two says unity in the spirit the beauty
and fragrance of a spiritual understanding good news from
a far country that's how I have it in my outline the beauty and
fragrance of a spiritual understanding see as I'm reading through the
narrative and listening to their conversation I am unavoidably
committed to to have to contemplate the fact that their words were
not only gracious, their words were not only cordial, but they
were deeply theological. I'm talking deeply theological. From the salutation to the point
where Luke says, now they hanging out talking like this for three
months. I'm saying, Lord, help me understand
something like this. Help me get this because see
the fruit of the lips giving thanks unto God and praise unto
God as Sacrifices and offerings is something God has to create,
you know And I know that out of the abundance of the heart
that the mouth speak Don't y'all know that don't you know what
goes in comes out? I mean you can go only so long
with pretending to be holy but after a while the filth is gonna
come out or The lack of biblical substance is gonna come out.
I When you can't hold a conversation with a brother or sister for
30 minutes around the gospel, you're in trouble. Am I telling
the truth? Can we talk about this today?
After all, we're talking about the birth of our Savior. And
we're talking about how God in the womb can make an impact on
the soul. But He's making an impact for
us by two women that are prepared to receive God, prepared to receive
the blessings of God. And as I said, this is not a
gender-specific message. This is for all of us. But oh,
how I would love to ear hustle in on my sisters when they talk
about God to one another and hear the mutual, encouraging,
uplifting, God-exalting terminology that says they believe the gospel.
How encouraging wouldn't that be, fellas? And how encouraging
would it be, sisters, to be able to hear men talk about God on
Sunday instead of the football game. How encouraging that would
be. Two believers in dialogue, unity
in the spirit is that work that God does by bringing two people
who have a lot in common together. You know, how can two walk together
except they be agreed? How can you have real spiritual
dialogue with somebody that doesn't know Christ? You can't. You can't,
right? The two don't work, right? Darkness
and light don't work together. The table of Christ and the table
of Satan don't work together, right? If that man or that woman
doesn't have in them the hope of glory and the word of God
and the truth of the gospel and a love for the truth, it's not
coming out, is it? So you can't have the mutual
thing. You can't have the mutual thing. This is an absolutely
beautiful thing. So now watch how this unpacks. Because they
have made this marvelous introduction into each other's lives. The
first person to now elaborate on this wonderful setting is
Elizabeth over in verse 41 through verse 43. Now watch this. Now
it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary,
the babe leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the
Holy Ghost. Now watch this. Here's what it means to be filled
with the Holy Ghost. and she spake out. Got it? See, the Bible is very
clear, very clear that the primary, not exclusive, effect of biblical
truth when the Spirit of God is working in your life is you
being able to open your mouth and tell somebody about God. That's one of the chief, not
exclusive, evidences of you being full of the Spirit of God. You
go through the book of Acts and even the men prayed for it. Peter
said, Lord, fill your servants with boldness that we may open
our mouth and proclaim Christ confidently to the world. So
Elizabeth is filled with the Spirit and she cries out, watch
this, she speaks aloud. And this is terminology, this
speaking aloud is terminology that is really Used of the angels
if you go to the book of revelation you read it and the angel spake
with a loud voice May I submit to you today that elizabeth is
taking on the role of an angel She speaks out and she said watch
this now blessed are you among women? Blessed are you among
women watch this and blessed is the fruit of your womb Blessed
are you among women and blessed are the fruit of your womb. And
whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come
to me? And so I want to share with you
three things that comes out of this under humility and the honor
of Christ. The blessing of the mouth of
Elizabeth pours out what I consider three important factors. She
says, blessed art thou among women. Now why is she saying
this? One might argue that this was just the consequence of sort
of Jewish cultural terminology where you shalom people, you
bless people when they come in. But she said, blessed are you
among women. Now stay with me for a moment,
sisters. Stay with me. This is a Christmas message.
Christmas is not possible without a woman. Christmas is not possible
without a woman. May I submit to you that when
Elizabeth says, blessed are you among women, what she was doing
was talking to Mary and affirming to Mary what they both know. And that's this, that in the
beginning God created them, male and female, in the image of God
created He them. Watch this, and God blessed them. and he told them to be fruitful
and multiply. So that Elizabeth's response
to Mary's spirit-filled salutation is her taking up the first Genesis
blessing given to mankind. Genesis chapter one, verse 28.
Blessed are you among women. Why? Not because she merely fulfilled
her role in proliferating and propagating children, although
that's true. And if you are a believer in
Christ, ladies and gentlemen, don't you ever play down the
birth of children. Don't be like this world. See,
this world, not only does it despise God, it despises the
children that remind us that there's a God. And thus it despises
proliferation. It despises having children.
It does everything it can to stop the proliferation of children
because children represent new beginning. It represents the
resurrection. It represents God starting all
over again when we mess up. Children are God's arrows in
his quiver ready to shoot out the enemy when the enemy has
thought he has killed off all the children. There's another
child born, another child in the womb, another promise, another
blessing, another hope. Are you hearing me? And so our
sisters who inadvertently if not intentionally, become pregnant
apart from a recognition that this is a primary reason for
which you were created, for which from the depths of your soul
you should thank God that you even have the capacity to do
so, that he would allow you to be part of his grand redemptive
plan to bring some savior, some judge, some ruler, some man into
the world who might be the Messiah. This is what the hope of all
the Jewish women were going all the way back to Genesis. Am I
making some sense? Pastor Walt, what about today? God has in
the womb of men and women children of God for whom He has purpose
to bring into this world, make an impact into this world, and
then go on in the glory. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
and you and I have no right to determine which one lives and
which one dies as if we know the next Abraham Lincoln. Am
I making some sense? So we get, you and I are so bound
and limited and blinded by carnal values. Don't ever play down
the birth of children. You have no idea what the potential
of that seed capable of doing in fact as I begin to expand
on Elizabeth's blessing she says to Mary blessed are thou among
women because Mary now is fulfilling the Genesis 3 verse 15 text where
God told Eve you gonna have a child a seed that's coming out of you
that's going to rule this world and gonna save my people That
seed is going to make war with the serpent and with his seed.
And he is going to destroy the serpent with his seed and take
dominion over the world. But be very clear, God chose
to do it through a woman. Through a woman. God's prerogative
was to have women in the world right along with men from the
beginning of time, male and female, created he them in the image
of God. So that one day out of all of the billions of children
that are born, the Savior would come into the world. And you
and I are still part of a great plan of redemption by which God
is bringing men and women into the world who are going to serve
the cause of Christ, live in their generation according to
the glory of God, men and women, and change environments and change
minds and bear record to the truth. and then leave this world
a testimony of the glory of God. Do you guys see that? This is
the reason why you should and you must raise your sons and
daughters in the fear and the nurture of the Lord. It's not
an option. It's not an option. It's not
an option to teach them the truth. It's not an option to pray for
them. It's not an option to live for their glory. It's not an
option to teach them the ways of God. Am I making some sense?
It's not an option. Because if we don't, they're
going to hell. See, and we might as well right now believe God,
like Mary believed God and Elizabeth believed God for the children
that were in the womb. For the children that were in
the womb. Both boys would grow up to be enormously controversial. But you know, you sisters have
been putting up with that for a long time, haven't you? The
humility and the honor out of the blessing. The first blessing
is that Mary Acknowledged. I mean Elizabeth acknowledges
that Mary is a uniquely gifted woman and that she's fulfilling
first of all the Genesis 1 28 verse secondly, she is fulfilling
the unique Opportunity to fulfill Genesis 3 15 and then notice
what it says and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Do you see
that? She bestows a blessing on Mary. She bestows a blessing
on her conception and then she bestows a blessing on the child
Bless the child Are you hearing me? Bless the child. See? These ladies are spiritual. They are thinking from God's
perspective. Thinking from God's perspective.
Both Mary and Elizabeth understand that they are at the brink of
the fulfillment of the Jewish promise. They are overwhelmed
with two things. Let's get ready to move us into
our next point. Watch this. God, awe of God, awe of God. When was the last time God awed
you? When was the last time you were
awed by God? When was the last time the awesome
God, the awesome God overwhelmed you with the act of providence
and showed you once again that he rules everything? and that
there's a purpose for you. When was the last time you were
awed by God? See, they're both awed by God.
They're awed by God. And when you get awed by God,
listen to me, you are humbled by the God that awes you. See,
because this glorious being called God in the greatness of His infinity
is also eminently close to you and me, able to work with people,
watch this, like you and me, That's what causes us to be odd.
Why would God even look upon me? But see, both of these women
are odd. Elizabeth is odd. A-W-E-D. Because it's just as old. She's been rolling for a long
time without fruit in her womb. And everybody has been able to
say, We know God's purpose for Elizabeth. She has no hope of
being in the line of Messiah, because she can't bring four
children. She has had to live with that ignominy and that sort
of shame all her life. And come to find out three months
ago, God, before the world began, chose to make her an echo of
her great-great-great-great-grandmama Sarah. You know, God does things two
or three times because we're so slow. Am I telling the truth? Now, you remember Sister Sarah,
right? Now, Sister Sarah was old. And when the news came to
her, she was ear hustling. Remember, she's in the tent ear
hustling. Y'all act like you're not listening, but you're listening
to men talk. And God was talking to Abraham
about Sarah conceiving and Sarah laughed. You got to be kidding. It was almost derisive. And God
said, tell Sarah, you can laugh all you want to, but when I'm
done, I'm going to get the last laugh. And watch this. And you're
going to name your boy Isaac, which means laughter. So we're
going to see who's going to laugh. Because God loves to do things
that people can't do. like have old people being fruitful
and productive when they wade past their fruit-bearing years.
God can do stuff like that. That's why you have to be careful
about when we get past our normative stages into those realms where
we think we're just about done. If you are a sound Bible-believing
Christian, you ain't done till you breathe your last breath. See, he's the God that quickens
stuff. He's the God of the living, not
the God of the dead. So if a thing looks dead, it's
only dead for the glory of God. Until you breathe your last breath,
someone say, well, you can't have babies. Well, that's what
you say. That's not what God says. It's only dead till you
breathe your last breath. So Elizabeth right now is rejoicing
over her enemies like Sarah did and like Sister Hannah did. This
is why she could say to her young cousin, Mary, you are a blessing. I am a blessing in you. You are
a blessing. I am a blessing with you. You
are a blessing. I am a blessing for you because
my child will be the forerunner for your child. And our names
will go down in history. Their hearts are filled with
the presence and the power and the hope of the gospel, which
allows their conversation to be so rich with biblical truth. May this be the case for you
and me. Watch this now, verse 43. And whence is this come to
me that the mother of my Lord should come to my house? See
how appreciative she was that Mary would even come to her house,
that Mary would come there. For lo, as soon as the voice
of your salutation sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my
womb for what? Now, who gave her that revelation?
God had to give it to her. God said to Elizabeth, you and
John have rejoiced at the presence of God, your Savior. Isn't that
unique? Isn't that a blessing? Again,
one of the evidences that you and I are mature and growing
in Christ is our ability to rejoice in all things. This is something
that we'll pick up next week. I want to move on to our next
point, and that is Mary's response to Elizabeth's response we read
over and verse 45 let me let me let me deal with verse 45
and blessed is she that believes this is the last thing that Elizabeth
says to Mary after having recapitulated what happened when she came in
blessed is she that what Believe for there shall be a performance
of those things which were told her from the lord again. What's
happening here? Elizabeth is overcome by the
spirit of god and she is actually prophesying to mary About what
mary had heard the angel say to mary about the coming of christ
See, she's so full of the spirit that she is prophesying concerning
the success of God's purpose in Christ in the womb of her
little cousin. Now here's the operative word
I want you to get before we get to the last set of points. Blessed
is she that what? Believes. Blessed is she that
believes. We bless Elizabeth in our heart
for making that statement because really and truly at all times
in human history where God's redemptive work is being manifested
in the world, what it requires on the part of his people is
faith. We thank Elizabeth for making
this last qualifying statement before her mouth is shut and
we move on to the next person because what Elizabeth says is
this, Mary, the reason you are at my house today is because
you believe God. The reason why you are in the
condition you are in is because you believe God. The reason why
the fruit in your womb is the Son of God is because you believe
God. The reason why you and I are
now dialoguing about what will transpire tomorrow, three months
from now, yay, 30-something years from now, is because you believe
God. Now, children of God, what they
are getting ready to go through is a lot of trouble. But that's
what occurs when you take sides with God. When you take sides
with God, you know what you're doing? You're going countercultural. When you take sides with God,
God is asking you to stop walking by sight and start walking by
faith. God is asking you to believe
in his promises and not in what you see. God is asking you to
believe in his purposes and in his process the same way you
got to believe in the seed being sown into the ground See they
got two seeds in them Both of those seeds are an act of power
See a seed has power in it. It has potential in it and it
has promise in it But so long as it's only a seed It's just
power, potential, and promise. But for that seed to bear fruit,
the soil has to be believing soil. Believing soil. Am I making some sense? And the
seed that was sown on good ground bore forth fruit 30-fold, 60-fold,
and 100-fold. And I've told you before, you
and I are like seed. We are the children of the kingdom,
are we not? And God has sown us into this world. And the world
don't see us for who we really are. We're still in seed form,
are you not? Now, a seed doesn't look like
much in seed form. But here's three things the seed
has. It has power. It has potential. And it has
promise. All that's required is for the
seed to execute the process until the day it brings forth fruit
of its own kind. Am I making some sense? Now that
whole process, ladies and gentlemen, requires faith. We sow in faith,
we plow in faith, we hope in faith. Am I making some sense?
We see the church of the living God right now all over the world.
We're a seed. Listen, the world doesn't see
the glory of God in us. It didn't see the glory of God
in him. Did not tell you that when he was walking on this earth?
People didn't see Jesus in Jesus. They just saw man. We see the glory of God by faith. Mary sees the glory of God by
faith. Elizabeth sees the glory of God
by faith. I hope you are learning something
about this. It's important for you and I to believe God if we're
going to see the things that God has purposed to come to pass.
Now let's listen to Mary's dialogue on this and see how she responds
and see what we can derive from this. And I start out with Mary
by using the phrase point number four, from the inside out. From the inside out. You guys
got that? You know what I'm doing? I'm
still talking seed doctrine. I'm still talking seed doctrine.
I'm talking about the way God has purposed to bring forth fruit
for his glory in our edification. He doesn't just plop out of the
heavens watermelons and cabbage and greens and corn. God doesn't
do that, does he? You know what God does? He gives
you seed. And you know what he tells you
to do with the seed? Get your lazy butt up, go out into the
field, break up the fallow ground, remove the stones, get rid of
the thorns, follow that ground, prepare that soil, plant your
seed, believe in God, and wait for the promise. Now that's how
you gonna eat. Now see, God's just not gonna,
you know, Lord, feed me today. Now if you ask him to feed you
today, you better be ready for the process. Cause you know what's
going to happen? Somebody's going to knock on
your door and says, you know, I heard there was a job down the street
and they're hiring. There's only 10 people that can
get the job. Now, if you hurry up down there,
I got one of the jobs. I'll put a good word in for you.
That's how God's going to feed you. Listen, the Ravens ain't,
the Ravens ain't flying by no more. They're not dropping off
chicken and hot biscuits anymore. We're in the seed-sowing process.
We're in the seed-sowing process. Are you with me? And see, this
is what's so important. When Mary starts talking, what
she's reminding us is that faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things what? She don't see the Messiah. Elizabeth
don't see the Messiah. In fact, she don't see John.
He's on the inside. Jesus is on the inside. But they're
talking as if it is evidently sure. Because it is. Because
it is. Am I making some sense? This
is what faith does. See, if God would be pleased to sow Christ
in our hearts, we can talk about Christ with the greatest confidence. So listen to Mary for a few minutes.
How does Mary respond when our sister gives that prophetic word
that God's going to do everything he told you that he would do,
my sister? Verse 46. Are you there? And Mary said,
My soul doth magnify the Lord. Do you see that? See, it was
only two words between Elizabeth's commentary and where we are now,
the salutation of Mary, and now Mary saying, my soul, my soul. Elizabeth, can I tell you something
about my soul? Can I share with you right now
what's going on in my soul. Are you hearing me? See, this
is where the kingdom is. It's on the inside. Christ in
you. The hope of glory. Elizabeth,
can I tell you what's going on? Right now, my soul is magnifying
the Lord. You may not see it, but my soul
is magnified. My soul is making God large.
My soul is exalting Christ. My soul is magnifying God. My soul is contemplating the
infinite nature of God. My soul is thinking about the
glory of God. My soul is praising the largeness
of God. My soul is magnifying God. Oh, that's good stuff, isn't
it? My soul, Sister Elizabeth, my
soul is magnifying the God that showed up a few months ago telling
me that I would be the one to bear the Son of God. My soul has seen the angel of
the Lord. My soul has heard the word of
the Lord. My soul has heard the gospel,
and my soul has received the gospel. My soul has been made
a partaker of the gospel, and my soul right now is just magnifying
God from the inside. From the inside, it's getting
ready to come out. I just want to let you know,
Mary, Elizabeth, my soul It's so full of God right now. Can
you bear what I'm about to say? That's what she's saying. I just
want to let you know what's getting ready to come out of my mouth.
I want you to know I'm getting ready to tell you something.
And this again is the sister that I told you earlier. She
doesn't cut corners with God. She'd been waiting on God for
a long time. This little 14, 16 year old sister been waiting
on God. Hallelujah. I'm talking about
a 14-year-old girl waiting on God, waiting on God. Do you understand the blessing
of waiting on God, young people? Listen to me. This is a word
of promise to you. If you wait on the Lord, He'll
show up. He'll show up if you wait on
God. She waited on God. She was a
child that believed the gospel. She trusted the promises. She
was part of the Commonwealth of Israel. She went to church,
but she took church seriously. She didn't play church. She didn't
play church. Her heart was so positioned that
when God showed up in the person of Gabriel, she was ready to
hear from him. See what I'm getting at? You
can play church, but God knows the heart. God knows the heart. I want you to hear what she says.
Watch it now. This is what she says. My soul
doth magnify the Lord. So I'm taking my place with Hannah.
Because if you read Hannah's song, Hannah's song is very common
and familiar and similar to Sister Mary's song. They both are rejoicing. And what makes this remarkable
is, now watch this, Mary is a virgin. She's a single woman, 1460. Hannah's
22, 23, 25, 27, 30 years old, struggling with a knucklehead
husband and polygamy. Remember that? Won't they have
a baby and couldn't have a baby and her enemy is putting her
down. And then all of a sudden God gave her conception, right?
And she says, ah, now let my enemies laugh. The Lord has been
good to my soul. My soul doth exalt God my Savior. She's doing the same thing. Only
Mary is remarkable because again she's a 14, 15 year old girl. Unique. Unique. Unique. Here Elizabeth, my cousin, my
much older cousin, let me share something with you what's going
on in me. Not only do I cry out with our great granddaddy David,
my soul doth magnify the Lord. Not only do we cry out with David
throughout the Psalms where he talked about, oh, magnify the
Lord with me. My soul doth rejoice in God,
my savior. Oh, my soul, magnify the Lord
for all of its benefits towards me. See, David's soul magnified
God a lot, didn't it? This is Mary. My soul is magnifying
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God. My what? Savior. See, this is coming from
a place of redemption. This is not just from a place
of miracles. Ladies and gentlemen, if you don't know Christ today,
understand this. You can't rejoice in these things until God becomes
your Savior. Until you understand your sin
need and recognize that Christ marvelously meets your sin need. That your troubles and your issues
are really rooted in our sin. and that until you see what God
has done to remedy our sin, you won't be able to call God your
Savior. This sister is talking about
the God who has revealed himself to her for the purpose of not
saving merely the world. Are you ready? Watch this now.
God, my Savior. You better write that down. God
shows up to you tells you what he's going to do for the world,
you receive it as if he's only going to do it for you. This
is God, my Savior. The gospel has been sown in my
heart. Christ, the hope of glory, is
in my soul. The promise of his redemption
is in me. His death is for me. His resurrection
is for me. His exaltation is for me. That's
the way Mary's talking. Now you can have him too. And
then you can say, he's your savior. But right now she's saying he's
mine. See, she's owning the gospel.
Are you hearing me? She's owning it. Yeah. As a pastor,
I've been talking to people for 25, 30 years, you know, doing
examinations, bringing people into the church. I get a chance
to hear folks testimony. The testimony that worries me,
when people talk about God our Savior and what Christ did for
his people and I never hear God my Savior and what Christ did
for me while I'm listening to that testimony I'm trying to
see did they have a revelation of the gospel in their own heart
so that the Spirit of God bears record with their spirit that
they are a son or daughter of God and can own Christ and If
nobody else owns them, they can own them. Am I making some sense?
See, until I hear that, you haven't actually given me the witness
that you've been born of God. Because the goal of the Spirit
is to take the things of Christ and show them to you and give
them to you to own as yours if nobody else in the world owns
it. If nobody else in the world owns Christ, I own him. That's
what Mary is saying. Listen to her. Listen to her.
She says, for he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaid
see verse 48 it starts off with a four we call that a purpose
clause my soul's rejoicing my spirit is rejoicing my soul's
magnifying god because god hath regarded my estate see how deeply
personal mary is making this he's regarding my estate Now,
let me preach the gospel here, because she understands it. She
understands that from the time that she was aware that she was
a human being, that she was a sinner, she had no way of delivering
herself or relieving herself of that reality until she heard
the word of the Lord. And when the word of the Lord
came, it told her that the wages of sin is what? But the gift
of God is what? Eternal life through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. She heard it with the hearing
of the ear. And then the angel of the Lord showed up and said,
this day you're going to be overshadowed by the Holy Ghost. And that holy
thing in you will be called the son of God, the son of the highest. the Savior of the world. And
his name shall be called what? Jesus. For he shall save his
people from their sins. And she heard it like this. And
his name shall be called Jesus. For he shall save Mary from her
sins. And she went to worship in God.
Do you see that? Do you see that? She took it
personally. See, she took it personally.
And that's the way the gospel has to come personally. She knows
now that God has regarded her from eternity throughout time
to this moment and has come with the remedy of her sin need. You
and I need a savior. And Mary has the savior with
her and in her of whom she is speaking. Listen to what she
says. For God has regarded the low
estate of his wife. Do you know what the word is
literally? Female slave. Female slave. Do you see that?
This is what I'm talking about This is justice opposing attention
in the revelation of this glorious being called God Who to be honest
with you most of the time? He's so far above our comprehension
That we can't sense his immediacy or his presence because he's
so large stay with me now Mary says he hath regarded the low
estate of this slave girl. Now, will you hear me? She wasn't
talking about being a slave of the Roman Empire. She was talking
about, watch it now, watch it now, being a slave of God. Do you hear me? She had owned
God as her master, as her ruler, as her king, as her Lord. God can do with me whatever he
wants to do. I'm God's slave. By the way,
you are too. And she marvels that God would
come to her, her slave in her lowest state, her sinfulness,
her depravity, her bondage. Anybody know what I'm talking
about? Her weakness, her flaws, her inadequacies, her sinful
propensities. But what she acknowledges is
all this mess that I am, I'm God's. I'm a slave. That's the word doulos. And it
means a bond slave of God. When God owns you as a slave,
you can be sure he's going to make you a free man and a free
woman. This is what she's rejoicing
in. And now she's getting ready to tell the truth about this
God who looked over heaven and earth to see if there would be
anyone that would cry out to God. After all, He is the God
that sits on the circuit of the universe. He's the God that fills
heaven and earth. He is the high and lofty God
that dwells with the broken and the contrite to revive the humble
I'm talking about a 14-year-old girl toiling in her soul wanting
God. 14. Mary is remarkable, isn't
she? 14 years old talking like this.
14 years old struggling with her sins. 14 years old saying,
Lord, deliver me. I know I'm not right. I know
I'm not what I should be. I know I'm not doing the things
I should. Lord, help a sister. And boy, how does God help a
sister. He comes to her with the promise of the Gospels. Not
only am I going to deliver you, but through you I'm going to
deliver everybody else. See, she's stuck. This is a mess. God has done great things past
finding out. Stay with me a few more minutes.
Then you can go eat. Now watch this. Verse 49. I'm sorry. Behold,
from this point on, verse 48, All generations shall call me
what? Not only did Elizabeth call her
blessed, but Mary said, I'm going to be called blessed by all generations. Did she know what was inside
her womb? You better know she did. Here it is again, verse
49. For he that is mighty hath done. He does his personal thing to
me. Great thing. Holy is his name. You see, she worship it. Holy
is his name. Elizabeth at this point go and
get her a glass of water because she in it. She in it now. Holy
is his name. Holy is his name. I told you
sister my soul is magnifying God. He's done great things for
me. Can you talk like that child
of God? Holy is his name and his mercy is on them that what? from generation to generation.
See, this is why I said in point number four, from the inside
out, from the inside out, from the inside out, the gospel must
be yours. The truth must be yours. You
must own it. You must claim it. You must rejoice
in it. It must be yours to benefit first.
And then you can bless all the other people. You see what she's
saying from generation to generation. Now they can be blessed because
it's the God that owns me. And this is a God that I own.
What a word. What a word. Now here's what
she means by the blessing and the mercy upon them that fear
him from generation to generation, verse 51. He hath showed strength
with his arms. See that? See, that's a metaphor
in the Bible for his power, for his might. Isn't that right?
He has shown strength with his arms. You know what we call that
in the New Testament? The power of the gospel. The power of the
gospel. Who hath believed our report? To whom hath the arm of the Lord
been revealed? We're talking about Jesus Christ,
the wisdom of God, and the what? Power of God. Mary is saying,
God has revealed Christ to me. He hath scattered the proud in
the imagination of their hearts. You guys see that? Well, why
is she talking like that? Because from generation to generation
to generation to generation to generation to generation, 40
generations, ever since King Saul. All those knucklehead kings sitting
on the throne, acting a fool, we know about them, it's in the
book, tried to take Christ's place. And God said, not you,
not you, not you, not you, not you, not you, not you, David,
not you, Solomon, not you, Asa, not you, Josiah, Mary, this is
the one. Are you hearing me? Her soul
is saying God has scattered all of the proud, carnal, earthly
men who would love to take the throne of this universe and run
the world and call themselves God and call themselves Savior.
But the real king of glory has now come in. The real king of
glory has now come in. I'm just helping you understand
the passage. He has scattered the proud in
the imagination of their heart. He had put down the mighty from
his seat. Watch it. And has exalted them
of low degree. Isn't that the way God works?
Doesn't he resist the proud? Doesn't he give grace to the
humble? And I warn you, church. I warn
us. I warn us. I warn us. Don't fight
against God. He doesn't change his nature.
He's not going to, he's not setting aside his rules for you and me.
If you're proud, God will not use you. Do you hear me? He will
not. See, and you can be proud in
your own little way, in ways nobody else see, but you and
God. But here's the evidence. Are
you ready? No impregnation, no seed, no promise, no potential,
no power, no prophecy, no proclamation, no process, no influence, no
joy, No joy. Where you and I are proud, God
does not come in to use you to be a blessing to other people. You better write this down. This
is a good Christmas sermon. See, see, Mary is blown away. She's blown away by the fact
that God would use her. See, it just doesn't make any
sense to her. You got that? She's blown away. She can't find
a reason why God would have chosen her. But she does recall this
one true. God uses the base things of the
world. This is a poor girl living in
the poorest part of Galilee. I told you over and over and
over and over and over and over again. She grew up in West Oakland. Hunters Point, South Richmond. Do you understand that? I'm talking
about the poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, poor, the poorest
of the poor country. Y'all follow me? The place you
and I as religious folks still won't go. We haven't witnessed
the gospel to them yet. That's where God works. I'm gonna
let you go in a minute, but I just want this to resonate. Our Savior, who is the most glorious
human being any mind can contemplate, came into the world through a
lowly slave girl who was in the clan, the lowest of the clan. You know what I mean? That hierarchy,
that echelon, she's the lowest in the clan. Now you know, when
God does something through the likes of you, And you're the
lowest in the clan? I mean, you know, you are the
lowest of the clan? You're getting ready to go through some heat,
aren't you? Because, see, you got a message that is just too
big for you. And they're going to look at
you, and they're going to think about your message, and they're going to go, no,
not you. But what they won't be able to deny is the pregnancy. Right? They might deny the origin
of it, but they can't deny the presence of it. And what they
won't be able to deny is the birth. They might deny the manner
in which the birth came, but they can't deny the birth. And
what they won't be able to deny is the maturity of that seed
that comes out and starts working wonders and preaching perfect
messages of redemption and salvation. and drawing sinners of every
kind to himself, and every day fulfilling every passage of Old
Testament Scripture that said Messiah would do this, He would
do that, He would do the other thing. They won't be able to
deny that. Are you hearing what I'm saying? And they won't be
able to deny this reality, that that boy is the child of that
woman, the fruit of her womb, the work of a glorious God who
is past finding out. and loves to mess folks' head
up with the people he chooses. That's what he does. He'll pick
the most scoundrel person just to mess your head up. And then
he'll lock you up to that person. He hath regarded the lowliest
state of my inmate. Watch this. And he hath filled
the hungry with what? Good things. Doesn't God fill
our soul? I am the bread of life, which
has come down from heaven. If any man eat of me, shall never
hunger again. If he drinks of me, he shall
what? Never thirst. But he sends the rich away empty.
There it is again. Remember the rich young ruler?
He couldn't get with Jesus because he had too much. God deals with
the poor and the needy. This is the message of the gospel.
He deals with the poor and the needy. The last statement, and
he had hoping his servant Israel in remembrance of his wife. See,
ladies and gentlemen, salvation is the mercy of God. When we
talk about the incarnation, we're talking about God being irretrievably,
irrevocably, undeniably for all eternity, a God of mercy, a God
of mercy, a God of mercy. to men and women like you and
I who need mercy. Salvation is an act of mercy. And you and I are waiting for
that mercy to manifest itself one day when Jesus comes again
to save us totally from our sins. Amen. Amen.