Good morning, brethren. Let's
turn our Bibles to Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one. Our subject is highly favored. Verse 28, and the angel came
and unto Mary and said, Hail, thou that are highly favored.
The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast
in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel
said unto her, fear not, Mary, for thou has found favor with
God. And behold, thou shall conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name
Jesus. Mary was a sinner, just like
all God's elect who he saves. She was a sinner saved by grace.
It's sad to have to say that, but the papacy have exalted Mary to the point of being an idol,
to the point of deity. They make her the intercessor.
One of the principal so-called prayers in the Catholic Church
is the Hail Mary, and it comes from these verses. They say,
hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Hail is a
greeting. It's like we would say hello.
It means rejoice and be glad. Rejoice and be glad. Full of
grace, that's what they say. Hail Mary, full of grace. That's
not what the angel said to Mary. The angel said, highly favored
of God. You're highly favored of God.
You're blessed of God. Mary, thou hast found favor with
God. And then they say, blessed art
thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Now the angel did say, blessed art thou amongst women. And indeed,
Mary was highly blessed of God to carry the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's no doubt about that. But the scripture never says,
blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. That's not what the angel
said. Then they say, Holy Mary. Mary
was holy. She was holy. But it was the
grace of God in Christ that made her holy. The angel called the
Savior that holy thing. He never said, called Mary holy. He spoke of Christ being the
holy one. And listen to the humble spirit
the Lord gave Mary. Let's hear who Mary exalted.
Look down at verse 46. And Mary said, my soul doth magnify
the Lord. My spirit hath rejoiced in God
my Savior, for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. That's what she said. Verse 49,
he that is mighty had done to me great things,
and holy is his name. That's what Mary said. She didn't
worship Mary. She worshiped God, her savior.
She said holy is his name. And then in that so-called prayer,
they call Mary the mother of God. Now Mary's not called the
mother of God in scripture. Elizabeth called her the mother
of my Lord. She's called the mother of Jesus.
But the angel said this, he shall be great. Speaking of Christ,
he shall be great and should be called the son of the highest. Verse 35, that holy thing which
should be born of these should be called the son of God. He
never called her the mother of God. The son of God created Mary. The one that, there's a body
prepared for him in her womb. The son of God who took that
body created Mary. And then he came through Mary
as a man. Just like it says of David, Christ
was the root and the offspring of Mary. He created Mary, then
he came in human flesh through Mary. But he was her creator,
he was her God. Mary was simply a vessel used
of God. And then they pray to Mary. And
they ask, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. They make Mary the mediator.
They make Mary the intercessor. They consider the Pope a vicar,
a substitute. And there's a lot of so-called
churches that do this. The Roman Catholic, the Eastern
Orthodox, the Anglican, the Church of England, Episcopalians in
America, Lutherans, they all consider their preachers vicars,
substitutes. Christ is the only mediator.
He's the only substitute. He's the only one who has power
with God to intercede on behalf of his elect. There's one God
and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. It didn't say between God and
man. That would take in all of mankind. It says between God
and men, that's his elect. He intercedes between God and
his elect, and if he does it for his elect. And there's salvation
in no other name. Mary is not the intercessor. The Pope's not the vicar. There's
salvation in no other name but the Lord Jesus. There's no other
name among men whereby we must be saved but the Lord Jesus.
Now, with that as the introduction, I want you to just look at these
three things. I wanna show you how every sinner
God saves is saved the same exact way. Just like, and Mary was
too. First of all, every sinner God
saves is saved by God's grace. Mary was a sinner saved by the
grace of God. That's so of everybody God saves. Sinners saved by the grace of
God. Mary indeed was highly favored. She was highly favored. She was
chosen by God to carry the Lord Jesus. But Mary had no original
inherent grace in her. This didn't come of her. It was
not something of her or something due to her. She was born of Adam. So Mary was a sinner just like
everybody else that comes from Adam. Now, in Genesis 6, 5, you
know this verse, but the Lord, God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. That's so of
Mary. Now, some Catholic may hear that
and pass out, but before anybody starts defending Mary, understand
that's so of you. That's so of me, that's so of
every sinner God saves, that's so of us. By nature, we're wicked. By nature, every imagination
of the thoughts of our heart are only evil continually. That's so. That's so of me, that's
so of you. When the angel said, hail, rejoice,
be glad, the reason was because you are highly favored of God.
You've been given grace by God. Fear not, Mary, thou hast found
favor with God. She was like Noah. Noah was no
different than anybody else in his generation by nature. But
scripture says, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. So what is it to be favored of
God? What is this? Well, it's for God to be gracious
toward the sinner. It's grace. It's grace. Favor is grace. Now, God's grace,
his favor, it's sovereign, eternal grace. Sovereign, eternal grace. In eternity, God chose who he
would save entirely by grace. Not based on anything in us,
entirely by grace. God choosing to save Mary was
by grace. God choosing for the Son of God
to come through her was by God's grace. God choosing his people
is his sovereign grace. He chooses whom he will and passes
by whom he will. Now let's go to Romans 9 and
see this. And if you wanna hold your place
in Romans, we're gonna come back to Romans 11 here in a moment.
But Romans 9, verse 10, it says, when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even
by our father Isaac, for the children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God," now here's why, the purpose of God, according to election
might stand, not of works, but of God that calleth. That's the
purpose. It gives God all the glory. Sovereign grace, electing grace,
gives God all the glory. It was said unto her that elders
shall serve the younger, as it's written, Jacob have I loved,
but he shall have I hated. What shall we say then? Aren't
you thankful the Spirit of God knows exactly what man's sinful
objections will be, and he answers them for us? This is the first
objection you usually hear when you declare this wonderful truth
of God's grace. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? That's not right, that's not
fair. God forbid, there's no unrighteousness with God. For
he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. So then, it's not of him that
willeth, so much for man's free will, so much for salvation by
the will of man. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, so much for it being of your works. It's
not of him that runneth. Salvation is of God that showeth
mercy. For the scripture saith unto
Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have I raised thee up. God said
that to Pharaoh. For this same purpose have I
raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee. that my
name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, here's
another objection, well why does he find fault then? Who's resisted
his will? If we don't do anything but what
is the will of God, and we can't resist his will, why does he
find fault with anybody then? No, oh man, who art thou that
replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, wisest thou made me thus? Hath not the potter
power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel an honor
and another dishonor? So that's the first thing. Hail
Mary, be glad and rejoice. God has given you his sovereign,
eternal, electing grace. You've been highly favored. You've
been chosen by God. Well, God's grace is immutable.
His grace is immutable. God does not change, and so his
grace doesn't change. He favored us in eternity, and
if he favored you in eternity, he will save you in time. His
grace doesn't change. Grace, God didn't choose you
because of something in you, and something in you will not
make God stop loving those He chose by grace. You see that? He didn't choose you by something
new. It was all of grace. And so because
it's all of grace, He's not gonna reject you when you sin. He said,
I'm the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. He said, every good gift and
every perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights with
whom is no variableness, that means no change, neither shadow
of turning. Whom God chose, whom God showed
grace, he always shows grace. He will save those he chose by
grace. The mercy of the Lord is from
everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness
unto children's children. His mercy's not upon us because
we fear Him. His mercy upon us is what made
us fear Him and reverence Him. That's right, and then the grace
of God includes all spiritual blessings. It includes all physical blessings
as far as just Him providing things for us in His life, but
spiritually, eternally, salvation, it applies to everything needed
to save us. Everything is of God's grace.
It's in Christ and it's by the Holy Spirit. Go with me to Romans
8 and look here. Look at this now, it's all of
God. This is from eternity throughout
time to glory. This is all of God right here.
Look, Romans 8, 29, for whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate. to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called. And whom
he justified, I'm sorry, whom he did predestinate, them he
also called, and whom he called, them he also justified. And whom
he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? That right there is what grace
is. God being for you. And if God is for you, nobody
may be against you. That's grace. He said, he that
spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? Whatever you need,
he will provide it. And then he says in verse 39,
nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. You see, everything about salvation
is by grace. He does it all, every bit of
it. And it's apart from our works.
Now look at Romans 11. It's apart from our works. Look
here, Romans 11, three. Elijah prayed and said, Lord,
they've killed thy prophets, they've digged down thine altars,
and I'm left alone and they seek my life. But what saith the answer
of God to him? I have reserved to myself 7,000
men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so
then, at this present time also, there is a remnant according
to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it's no
more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace.
But if it be of works, then it's no more grace, otherwise work
is no more work. What then? Israel, natural Israel,
political Israel, just children of the flesh, hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it,
and the rest were blinded. Blinded by God. Sinners are saved
by God. You see that? We're saved by
God. And we're saved by grace. Grace. God saves in time all
those he chose in eternity, and he will not lose one. It's all
of grace. Now secondly, the sinner that
God chose grace is saved by the person and the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The person God chose to save
by grace is saved by the person and the work of our Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the same as Mary. Luke
1.32, he said, and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and
bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. You see the depravity, you see
the blindness of the natural heart. Here's the angel of the
Lord declaring she is going to have a child named the Savior. And men worship Mary rather than
the Savior. That's the whole point of this
passage, is to show us Christ is the Savior. Matthew records
it and says, the reason his name is Jesus, Savior, for he shall
save his people from their sins. The focus of this passage is
not Mary, it's Christ. Just like all the passages of
Scripture, Jesus means Savior. Now if he's gonna have that name,
he's gonna have to save. That's what he does. The angel
said he should be called Jesus for a reason, for he shall. He
shall. The work is Christ's work. He
shall. No possibility he'll fail. He
shall. For he shall save his people.
Christ didn't come to save every sinner without exception. He did not come to save every
sinner without exception. There was a lot of people already
in hell when He died. He didn't come to save every
sinner without exception. He came to save His people. He shall save His people from
their sin. Those God chose by grace and
gave to Christ to bring to Him perfect. Christ prayed in John
17 too. He prayed to the Father. He said,
thou has given me power over all flesh that I should give
eternal life to as many as thou has given me, to as many as thou
has given me. He said in John 10, 15, I want
you to look at this, John 10, 15. He said, as the father knoweth
me, Even so, know I the Father, and I laid down my life for the
sheep. He said, other sheep I have which
are not of this fold, them I must bring, and they shall hear my
voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Who's
this other fold? It's the Gentiles. He had some
elect among the Gentiles. He was preaching right then to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. That was the fold he
was speaking to. But he said, I have other sheep,
that are not of this fold, they're of the Gentiles. But what I've
done, there's gonna be one fold and one shepherd. Look down at
verse 26. He told the Pharisees that came
to him, he said, you believe not because ye are not of my
sheep, as I said unto you. He did not give them faith to
believe because they were not his sheep. The only way we believe
is him giving us faith to believe. Look at the next word he says
there. He says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them. I know them. He makes you know
him by him knowing you, by him regenerating you, making you
hear his voice. And he said, and I give unto
them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. He laid down His life for the
sheep. He shall save His people from their sin. And that's what
He saves us from, from our sins. The only thing me and you contribute,
the only thing anybody God saves, contributes is sin. That's the
only thing, sin. We can't boast of anything at
all and take glory or credit for anything except sin, except
sin. was taking a fleshly body, this
whole passage, he's taking a fleshly body that he might be the last
Adam, representing all those the father trusted to him. He
was made under the law to redeem them, his sheep that were under
that law, under the curse. He went to that cross and was
made sin for us and made a curse for us, and by that, he justified
his people. He redeemed us From the curse
of the law, he made us the righteousness of God in him. That's what he
did. He saved us from our sins. He comes to you and speaks that
voice, that powerful voice, and makes you hear him, and he makes
you know he's your holiness in whom you're separated, in whom
you're complete, and he's your justification. That's what Christ
accomplished for his people. only For his people only you
see I've tried to say this To say he died for everybody
and Yet we know not everybody believes the Lord We know there
are many who passed from this life never trust in the Lord
and to say he died for them and yet did not save them and makes
him to have died in vain. It makes him to be a failure.
And that's not so. The Lord said in Isaiah 42, he
shall not fail till he has set judgment in the earth. He shall
not fail. Now, the reason we preach this
is it's in the word of God. It's the truth of God. You can't
preach the gospel without preaching that God chose a people and that's
who Christ died for and that's who Christ saved. You can't preach
the gospel without declaring. When Christ came, he came knowing
who he was coming to save, and he went to that cross. That high
priest went into the holiest of holies with the names of the
12 tribes of Israel on his breastplate. Christ went to that cross with
the names of every individual elect child on his heart. He
knew who he was dying for. There was a lot of nations around
Israel at that time, a whole bunch of nations. And God never
revealed himself to him, never. And brethren, there's a whole
lot of people in this world that God just never reveals himself
to. And the reason he doesn't is
just what Christ said, you believe not because you're not machine.
You know why this is offensive to man? Because man thinks God
owes us something. Man thinks that we deserve for
God to save us. So man throws out the objections
we saw in Romans 9. Well, that's unrighteous for
God not to save me. Or how can God, how's God gonna
make it without me? No, it's not unrighteous for
God to pass by whom he will and to save whom he will. And then
man throws out his objections. Well, if who's resisted his will? Nobody's resisted his will. He
does His will. He works His will. If that's
so, then why blame us? We can't believe without Him
giving us a willing heart and a new heart to believe. So why,
how can He condemn us if we don't believe? That's, God said, who
are you? Who are you, man, to reply against
God? You see, that's the problem.
This is why it's offensive. Man thinks too highly of ourselves. But the purpose, the purpose
of election and of particular redemption, of limited atonement
for his people only. The purpose is to humble us. The purpose is to make you and
me see we are at God's mercy. If we're gonna be saved, it's
gonna be by the mercy and grace of God so that we bow down and
thank him and praise him. He went on to say in Romans 9,
what if God willing to show you who he chose? What if he's willing
to show you his great mercy and the exceeding riches of his grace?
What if he endured with much long-suffering the vessels of
wrath fit to destruction so that he might show you who he chose
and who he prepared before the foundation of the world, that
he might show you the riches of his grace? You see, when he
does that and shows you that He could have left you just like
he left everybody else, but he came to you and he saved you
and he made you to see what he did for you because he chose
you and Christ died for you. That just exalts him to the highest. It magnifies his grace and his
mercy and it causes us to bow down and give him all the glory.
That's where we gotta be brought. We gotta be made to see. God
does not owe us anything but judgment and justice, that's
all. We've sinned against him. But oh, thankfully, he chose
people by grace and his son came and redeemed us. Now lastly,
sinners who God chose grace, sinners for whom Christ died,
they're gonna undergo something similar to what Mary underwent. When we're born again, Christ
is formed in us spiritually like he was formed in Mary physically.
Spiritually, I'm saying. But it's somewhat similar in
what we see here. Verse 34, Luke 1, 34. Then said
Mary to the angel, how shall this be, seeing I know not a
man? What did Nicodemus say when the Lord said you must be born
again? He said, how can I be born again? I don't have any
ability to do that. I can't enter my mother's womb
a second time. Mary said, how am I going to bear a child? I
don't know a man. And he said, The Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow
thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of
thee shall be called the Son of God. Sinners are just that,
we're sinners, dead in sin. Absolutely. So no sinner can
make ourselves be born again. We can't do it. We just can't
do it. Both Mary and Nicodemus acknowledged
they didn't have any ability to do what they were being told. We don't have any ability. to
make herself be born again, to make herself righteous, to make
herself holy, to save herself, to be accepted of God. We don't
have the ability to do it. Mary was a virgin, and we saw
why, but Mary couldn't form Christ in herself. She couldn't do it. You and I can't form him in ourself
either. The Holy Ghost came upon Mary.
The Holy Spirit of God came upon Mary, and in the new birth, the
Holy Spirit comes upon the sinner. He comes upon us. And the new
birth's irresistible. He said, the power of the highest
shall overshadow thee. And when the power of the highest
overshadows the sinner, he's gonna have his way. The Lord's
gonna have his way. He said, that holy thing that's
formed in you should be called the Son of God. And the holy
thing that's formed in us in the new birth is the Son of God. Go with me to John 3, let's see
what our Lord told Nicodemus. This is an irresistible grace
of our God to quicken us and form Christ in us. Paul said,
he told the Galatians, I travail to Christ be formed in you. Look
here, John 3, 5. He'd already told him he had
to be born again, he couldn't see the kingdom of God. And that's
so of us, we can't even see Christ until we're born again. John
3, 5, he said, Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee,
except a man be born of water, that's the water of the word,
that's the gospel of Christ that gives God and Christ all the
glory and man none. We have to be born of the water
of the word and of the Holy Spirit, only then Until then, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. That
never ceases to be. When you're born again, that
which was born of Adam, the flesh is still flesh, still sinful,
and that which is born of the spirit of God is spiritual, a
new holy man. But look here, verse seven. Marvel
not that I said unto thee, you must be born again. The wind
bloweth where it listeth, irresistibly. The power of the highest is irresistible. You can't hear the sound thereof,
you can't tell whence it cometh and where it goeth, so is everyone
that is born of the Spirit. Now let's go back to Luke 1.
What's the evidence in a sinner when they have been saved by
the grace of God, when Christ has been formed in them? and
they've been made to behold Christ and see him. What's the evidence
that this has happened? There's one evidence. One evidence. It's one commandment God gives.
Two parts to it. They believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and they love him. And they love those forgotten
of him. And this is the one evidence. Believe the Lord. And you know
what that is? That means you give him all the
glory for every single aspect, every work of salvation. You
give him all the glory. And that's what Mary did. Look
here in Luke 1 46. Mary said, my soul does magnify the Lord
and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my savior. For he hath regarded
the lowest state of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all
generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done
to me great things. And holy is his name. And his
mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
He has showed strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud
in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from
their seats and exalted them of low degree. He has filled
the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent empty away. So you see here, brethren, Mary
didn't give herself glory. We shouldn't be praying to Mary
and exalting Mary. Mary's a sinner. She's our sister
in Christ, a sinner saved by grace just like we are. Mary
gave all the glory to God. all the glory to God, and that's
what all do who are saved by God's grace. What are we saying
here? Salvation is of the Lord. Salvation
is of the Lord. By God the Father's grace toward
helpless sinners, choosing us in Christ, salvation by the Lord
Jesus, coming and working all things, fulfilling the law, putting
away all the sin of his people, making us righteous and just
before God. Salvation's by the Holy Spirit
of God coming and forming Christ in you and making you behold
Him. And Christ, in the day of His
power, He makes you willing to trust Him and believe Him. And
the evidence is this, it's faith, giving all the glory to God,
just like Mary did. That's how God saves. That's
why we gather here is to hear all about his mighty works, to
hear all about what he has done for his people, what he is doing
for his people, what he shall do for his people. Our purpose
in gathering here is to worship him. You know what worship is?
Worship in the scriptures often translated bowing down, bowing
down. That's what worship is, bowing.
by hitting our face at the feet of our Lord God, our Lord Jesus,
and honoring Him and praising Him with the calves of our lips,
giving Him all the glory and the praise for saving wretched,
hell-deserving sinners like us. That's what we gather for. And
you know, we're so helpless, we can't even worship Him unless
He gives you a heart to worship Him. I mean, you that believe,
we don't just come in and worship. He has to really and truly speak
into your heart and by His power, give you a heart to bow and worship
Him. Everything's of Him. Oh, how
thankful we are that salvation is all by grace in our Lord Jesus. Let's go to Him. Oh, our gracious God, What an
amazing grace that we can call you our Heavenly Father. Lord, how thankful we are. Oh, that we could be even more
thankful. One day, Lord, we will praise you perfectly. We'll praise
you like you should be praised. But Lord, we do. By your grace
and mercy, we thank you. We give you the glory. Thank
you so much for your son. Lord to us by your grace, heaven
so much more than just being saved from sin, it's. Being with
you, being with our Redeemer, knowing him. Holding him in perfection
and. Learning of him all our days.
What would greater? What greater thing could anybody
want than to know Christ as he knows us? Lord, we pray you keep
us, keep us together, keep us here, keep us having the gospel. Whatever your will is, Lord,
cause us to bow and trust you. Keep us walking by faith. Lord,
we're so sinful, we fall in sin, we say things and think things
and how thankful we are that you never cease to forgive us
for Christ's sake and keep us looking to him only. We pray
this for your lost sheep everywhere. Pray, Lord, that you quicken
them and give them this wonderful good news. And we pray, Lord,
for your sheep here that you've called and for those that are
not with us here today, that you'd keep us and preserve us.
Don't let us look to ourselves. Keep us looking to Christ. Thank
you so much, Father. Thank you so much. We pray this
in Christ's name. Amen.