Well, let's turn again together
to God's word this evening. And this evening turn to the
gospel according to Luke and chapter one. And I want to consider
together the song of Mary found from verse 46 to verse 40, sorry,
55, verse 46 to verse 55. I'll read together verse 46 just
by way to focus our thoughts, but I really want to go through
this song together this evening. Verse 46 reads, Mary said, my
soul doth magnify the Lord. Well, this morning we were looking
at Elizabeth's song found in the verses before here, Mary's
song, and we were considering how this song of Elizabeth was
so full of faith. It was full of looking forward,
holding God's promises, holding that wonderful blessing of her
child as yet unborn and Mary's child as yet unborn, believing
that there would be a performance of those things which were told
her from the Lord. And we were considering how important
it was, indeed how vital it is, that we also have true faith,
faith that the Son of God has come, the Saviour of sinners,
the Lord Jesus Christ, faith that He is our Saviour, faith
to believe that he has spoken and will keep his promises, and
that that faith also has an effect upon us. And as James says, faith
is seen and known by its works. So here we have in Elizabeth
one who took the events and looked forward to those things which
were promised being performed. when it is true that the believer,
by faith, looks forward. We look forward to the ultimate
blessing of full salvation when we are found in glory. And we
are saved from this world, saved from our sins, saved from death
and from Satan, and we find ourselves fully redeemed in glory before
the Lord forever. Our faith looks forward. We take
the promises we have now, and we believe that they will come
to pass. But the Christian does not only
look forward. Because it is right to say that
for God's people, the Lord has done something now. He has done
something for us that we know and experience now, not just
that which we hope for in the future to come. We think, don't we, in Psalm
126, we have that wonderful description of the Lord setting free the
captivity of Zion. When the Lord turned again the
captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream, we're told. Then was our mouth filled with
laughter and our tongue with singing. Then said they among
the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord
hath done great things for us, where we are glad. You see, the
Psalmists, as they joined in singing this song, they had something
that God had done for them, not just something that they looked
forward to. And this is a psalm that all
of God's people can sing. Maybe in lesser and greater degrees,
depending on their experience at the time. But they can rightly
sing, the Lord hath done great things for us. He has turned
our captivity. So Mary, different from Elizabeth,
Mary focuses largely on what God has done. what he has done
now and what he has done in her. Again, let us remind ourselves
of what he has done. Mary, an ordinary young lady,
probably in her mid-teens, has been going about her duties and
her normal daily routine in Nazareth. And she is visited by the angel. And as we read together, she
was unsurprisingly afraid of what these things meant. It was
not a usual occurrence for angels to appear to these people. And she was told, fear not. Thou
hast found favor with God. Behold, thou shalt conceive in
thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus. Now for Mary this was of course
the most startling message because Mary was as yet unmarried. Mary
knew that in bearing a child there would be the obvious questions
involved about how these things had happened and what she had
been doing. And she cannot quite understand how these things shall
be. The angel says, 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. Now this, of course,
for Mary was an astounding message. In the Old Testament, there had
of course been those people who had miraculously conceived. And she would have been well-versed
with the likes of Sarah and Abraham, and that she had conceived, in
her old age, Isaac. She would have known about Manoah
and his wife, and the conception of Samson. And therefore, in
one sense, as amazing and unbelievable, we could say as it may have felt,
she was aware that God could work miracles in the conception
of children. Indeed, as she is told later on, she hears that
Elizabeth, also in her old age, has conceived and is carrying
a son. So she knows from history that God at times works miracles
in the conception of children. And therefore, although this
was utterly unique and had not been known before, for the virgin
to conceive was not beyond the possibility of what she knew
of the power of God. But you see, she was told more
than just that she was going to bear a son. She was told that
he would be called the Son of God. So for Mary in Nazareth
that day, she received this amazing news from the angel that she
is conceiving the miraculous conception of the Virgin, but
that also she was carrying the Son of God. She was carrying
the wondrous second person of the Trinity. She was carrying
the Son of God, the Messiah. And for her, things had been
done. Yes, things were to be done still.
She was still to give birth to this child in Bethlehem. She
was still to care and nurture him in the family unit. She was
still to see him grow and develop. She was still then to hear his
teaching and his ministry and witness his works and his power.
And she was still to come to stand ultimately at the cross
and watch her son die. There were still things to come.
And she believed that they would come, as Elizabeth said. But
for her, when she comes to visit Elizabeth, she has already known
great things to have been done. And it is interesting when you
read through her song, that there are eight times she uses the
words, he hath. He hath done, he hath regarded,
he hath showed strength. You see, she focuses on what
he has done. Now we believe in the blessings
to come. We believe in God's promises
and hold to them. And that is in some sense the
basis of our faith. We cling to the promises and
the word of God. We cling to his invitations.
We cling to his mercy. We cling to his faithfulness. But the Christian can say, that
he has done something for me. Not just he will, he has done
something for me. And I hope we can all praise
him for his work and join with Mary, he hath, he hath, he hath
done these things. And this evening, going through
this song, I want to really consider those eight times that she uses
that word, he hath. The first time she says these
things is in verse 48. Let us just read the beginning. He says, My soul doth magnify
the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Let us just notice here, first
of all, like we considered and noticed this morning, that the
focus is not on Mary. It is not her that is exalted. It is not her that is regarded,
although she is of course blessed. but she acknowledges it even
in the opening section of her song that God is her saviour
also. He hath my spirit hath rejoiced
in God my saviour. So we do not believe in the sinless
state of Mary. It's quite clear here that Mary
needed a saviour and she believed in God as her saviour and she
believed that her child was the saviour. And then she says in
verse 48, having rejoiced and magnified the Lord, he hath regarded
the lowest state of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all
generations shall call me blessed. So firstly, he hath regarded
the lowest state of his handmaiden. Mary was not a rich lady. Mary was, it would seem, an ordinary
person living a young person's life in Nazareth. Nazareth was
a town where people looked down on them. As Nathaniel said, can
any good thing come out of Nazareth? So she did not come from a high
status. She did not come from a important town. And she was
not an important person in her own right. She was a virgin,
and therefore she had no particular status as a married woman. She
was still under the control, authority of her parents, and
she was espoused, promised to Joseph, but as yet unmarried. And if you had met Mary, Walking
through the streets of Nazareth, you would not have turned your
head particularly. There was nothing noticeable, particularly
different about her. She was clearly a woman of faith,
clearly a woman of God, and trusted Him as her Saviour. But in the
outward appearance and in her ordinary life, she was like many
others. And yet, God regarded her. He regarded her in her lowest
state. He looked upon her and he chose her. Not through anything
she had done or any tests that she had passed, but he saw her
where she was and he chose her and he loved her. And he chose
and had eternally chosen that it would be that woman and that
woman alone who would bear the privilege of carrying his son. And the many women blessed and
privileged as they were in their lives. We can think scripturally
of so many, of Sarah, or of Rebecca, or of Ruth, and so many others,
who were blessed and privileged, and godly women. And yet God
had a role for them, but did not have this role for them.
And he looked on Mary of Nazareth, And she regarded herself to be
in the lowest state and she regarded herself to be a servant, a handmaiden
of the Lord. One who went about her duty to
honour the Lord. And she was called. And she was chosen and she was
loved and the angel came to her and to no one else. He hath regarded the lowest state
of his handmaiden. So this is something which God
had done. As she comes to Elizabeth, it had been done already. He
hath regarded me. This is where I was, this is
who I am, this is the situation I'm in socially, and he has regarded
me. He hath done it. This is, of course, something
that every believer can say also, isn't it? He hath regarded the
lower state of his handmaiden. He has looked on me. He has seen
me low, unimportant and unimpressive. Indeed worse than that, he has
seen me dead, spiritually dead, unable to act, unable to move,
unable to contribute or to do anything. He has seen me enjoying
sin and reveling in the world. He has seen me walking in pride
and rebellion. He has seen me in my lowest state. Though I may have thought I was
important, in the sight of God I was lowly and I was nothing.
He saw me enjoying the sins of the world with no concern for
God, living in the home in the here and now of this world, and
walking in the fast road to destruction. And he saw me in that low place.
and regarded me. You see, this is the thing, isn't
this tremendous? He's seen us in our lower state,
but he's regarded me in my lower state. Not only has he seen us
and noted us, but he's regarded us. He's looked upon us in a
sense of concern, and he's chosen. And this is where each Christian
must remember where we've come from and where the Lord has brought
us to. We were in this low place, we
were in this dead place, we were in this impossible place where
we have earned nothing and given nothing and we can present nothing
to the Lord of our own doings. And yet he regarded us, he hath
done it. And this is something he has
done. If we're a Christian this evening,
a true believer, we can join with her. He hath regarded me. The apostle told the Romans,
doesn't he, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. While we were yet sinners, when
we were in a state when we were unconcerned in our sin and enjoying
our sin and lost in our sin, While we were there, before we
ever turned to Him, Christ died for us. You see, He saw us in
our lower state and He regarded us. Like the prodigal walking in
his stinking filth, having been feeding the pigs. And even before
he had taken many steps on the long journey back to his father's
house, his father saw him and ran to greet him. He regarded
him in his lowest state when his son had nothing to bring
or to offer. This is the first thing God has
done for his people. He hath regarded the lowest state
of his handmaiden for behold from henceforth all generations
shall call me blessed. And of course that's true as
well, isn't it? That all generations should call us blessed. We are
blessed if we're of the Lord's. We have the privilege, don't
we, sometimes to pick up a biography of one of God's people in years
gone by, and we can also, a future generation, we can say they were
blessed. They knew the Lord, they had life in their soul,
and the next generation says they were blessed. I very much
doubt that very many people will have written biographies about
us in the years to come. But if they did, I hope they
could all look at our lives and say they were blessed. They were
blessed because God loved them, and called them, and chose them,
and regarded them in their lowest state. He hath regarded the lowest
state of his handmaiden. Secondly, in verse 49, she says,
he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is
his name. He has regarded me, and he hath
done great things." Of course, Mary knew great things. She had miraculously conceived
of the Holy Spirit, this child that she was to bear. And for
Mary, her life was never to be the same again. Yes, she would
go on to marry Joseph, and yes, she would go on to have further
children, but Mary's now life was to be marked with this event. She was to be the mother of the
Lord, and that would change, naturally speaking, the course
of her life that she thought that it would have worked out.
But the Lord had done great things for her, physically, and of course,
spiritually in blessing her with this privilege. of carrying the
Messiah. He hath done great things for
me. Well, this is another thing that
the Christian can say. He hath done to me great things. And hasn't he done great things? The greatest thing. Something
that we could never do and something we could never do for anyone
else. He has done, as he told Nicodemus, the wind bloweth where
it listeth, and ye hear the sound thereof, knoweth not whither
it goeth or whither it cometh. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit. What has he done? He has given
them a new life. He has given them a new birth.
As Paul tells the Ephesians, he has quickened them. You hath
he quickened who were dead. He's made them alive. He hath
done great things. And that is the greatest thing,
isn't it? We see God's wondrous power and goodness in the natural
birth of a child. And we can perhaps, as we see
scans and a child growing and starting to move and then being
born, we can marvel at God's amazing power and the conception
of a child and its growth and development and how amazing and
detailed it is. And it's a great thing. But it's
a far greater thing when God brings a dead soul into life
and when God takes a helpless soul and brings it into spiritual
liberty. That is a great thing, isn't
it? And again, if we look back, and I hope we all can, look back
to a day when we were sadly dead and uninterested and lost in
our sin, and we can say, but now there's a change, and now
there's life, and now there's something different about me.
And that's a great thing that I never did and never could have
done for myself. And like Mary, our life has never
been the same again. Yes, we may have fallen into
sin again. And yes, in a natural sense, we may have continued
in a similar path that we thought we might have done. But really,
our life has never been the same again, because now we have a
different focus. We have a different relationship
with God. Indeed, we didn't have one at all before. Yes, we may
still mourn our sin from time to time, but now we join with
the man, don't we, who said, one thing I know, Whereas I was
blind, now I see. I'm changed. I'm renewed. I made
a new creature. He has done a great thing. This is something he has done,
not just something we look forward to. He hath regarded the lowest
state of his handmaiden. He hath done to me great things. Thirdly, verse 51, she says,
he hath showed strength with his arm. He hath. showed strength with his arm. Or this word strength could also
be translated dominion. He showed dominion with his arm. Now he showed great strength,
didn't he? In Mary's life. Yes, again physically, but spiritually
in her life. As she says, she knew him to
be her saviour. that the great strength of God
had cast out the sin in her life and has saved her and forgiven
her and washed her. And the Christian knows the great
strength and dominion of God in casting out our sin, casting
out the power of sin, casting out the condemnation of sin. Now as we go on through our Christian
life, we may not always feel that sin has been cast out. You
may feel that it is often there and feels to be reigning. But
if we're the Lords, it does not reign. It is not in charge anymore. Christ reigns in the heart of
his people. Christ has dominion in the hearts
of his people. Not the sin and not Satan. The
great strength and dominion of His arm has conquered and cast
out that sin, and He has entered in. The Apostle in writing to the
Romans said that when we were the servants of sin, we were
free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those
things whereof ye are now shamed? For the end of those things is
death. But now, being made free from sin and become the servants
of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting
life. This is what the church in Rome
was and this is what they are today. You are free from sin
and you are servants to God. Now again, you might not always
feel that. Sin hasn't gone completely away, but his arm, his strength,
his dominion is now in the hearts of his people. He reigns and
he of course will have the victory. So she knew that he showed strength
with his arm. Each believer can say that he
in his strength and dominion has cast out the sin that once
reigned and he has put his throne there. He hath showed strength. Fourthly, still in verse 51,
she says, he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their
hearts. He hath scattered the proud. How proud Satan was in the Garden
of Eden in Genesis chapter three. How pleased he was as he caused
God's creation to fall, as he caused Adam and Eve to disobey
the Lord and to take the fruit. How pleased he was as the curse
entered in and the judgment of God was pronounced. How pleased
he was as he thought he had regained the victory under God's highest
creation and he reigned now over the earth. But as we know, God
gave the promise the seed of the woman would bruise his head
and the proud Satan was to be crushed and the proud Satan was
doomed ultimately to fail and was doomed to destruction was
doomed to everlasting hell proud Satan was to be brought down
he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts
now Mary of course is not only thinking of of the devil, she's
thinking of others who were lifted up in their own pride and imagination,
but I want to think of it tonight in that sense of the proud devil. The proud devil who has reigned
in our hearts and been happy to be there. A proud devil who
believed he had us in his grasp and would drag us to hell. The
devil who thought he had victory over God's creation. And yet
the Lord, when he looked upon us in love and when he came and
dwelt within our hearts, he cast him out and scattered him. Again,
the Christian may know the work of the devil. He may know the
power of the devil. He will know the temptations
of the devil. But we cannot be destroyed. We cannot be controlled
by him. He no longer has dominion over
the Lord's people. He no longer controls us. The
Lord has destroyed the works and the power of the devil and
cast him out. And the devil no longer has the
control that he once did. He can only roar, but he cannot
destroy. Oh, our victorious Lord, victorious
Lord Jesus Christ, who has scattered the devil. And you see, we look
forward to a day, we look forward to a day when Satan will be completely
cast out, when we will know complete freedom, and no more sin, and
no more temptations, and no more distractions, and no more assaults
of the devil. We look forward like Elizabeth
did. But we need to remember the state we are in. He hath
scattered the proud. he hath cast him out. For as much then, writes the
Hebrews, for as much then as the children are partakers of
flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same,
that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death
were all their lifetime subject to bondage. He has destroyed
the power of the devil. Do we realize that? You know,
that's a good thing to remember and a good thing to throw back
at the devil when he's tempting us, when he feels to be so powerful,
when he feels to be so strong, and we're so weak. Turn back. You do not reign here. You can
attack, you can assault, but you do not reign here. Christ
has cast you out. Christ has destroyed the power
of the devil. Christ has scattered the proud.
And He reigns in this heart. You see, the Lord has come and
He has given this strength, this life in the soul to cast out
sin and cast out the devil. He hath done it. Fifthly, we're
told in verse 52, that he hath put down the mighty from their
seats and exalted them of low degree. He hath put down the
mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree. There were many priests throughout
the ages of Israel. There were many scribes and Pharisees
and elders. There were many kings. And at
this time there were powerful emperors in the Roman world. There were many rich people and
many mighty people, but they were passed by. God chose a girl in Nazareth
to be the mother of Christ. God chose fishermen and tax collectors
to be his disciples and missionaries to the world. God chose widows
and beggars and the sick and the lepers to be his people and
the crowd around him that followed him. God poured down the mighty and
exalted them of low degree. God walked. Jesus lived against
all human wisdom, contrary to all human wisdom. Human wisdom
that exalted the rich and the powerful and the mighty. And
Jesus turned all that on its head and exalted the poor and
the lame and the sick. And exalted them of low degree. We today know that Jesus has
not come to the righteous, that is the self-righteous. Jesus
has come to call sinners to repentance. Jesus has come to live and to
eat and to commune with sinners and save them and love them and
embrace them into his church. Now we may be proud of our religion.
Many today are proud of their religion and of their walk with
God in an outward sense but you know they may be mighty and on
mighty seats even in places of church governance and church
leadership and yet God if they are simply there for their own
pride will bring them down and exalt those who humanly speaking
are nothing and looked over. The wondrous gospel is that Jesus
receives the worst of sinners whose sorrow and repent. And
that Jesus looks at those who are lost and dead in their lowest
state and lifts them up. And this is something he still
does today. He hath, you see, he hath pulled down the mighty
from their seats and exalted them of low degree. You may feel
to be of low degree. You may think that's exactly
what I am in the things of God. Those are the people he looks
on. Those are the people he cares for and he calls. he hath lifted
up and exalted them of low degree. Sixthly, verse 53, he hath filled
the hungry with good things. He has filled the hungry with
good things. We read together, didn't we,
in chapter two of how when the shepherds had left and they were
praising God, that Mary, she pondered. She kept all these
things and pondered them in her heart. And as she went through
her life and thought on what she had heard and seen, I'm sure
it was food for her soul. It was something to think about.
And she gave thanks. And of course, she does so in
this song here. In times to come, surely she gave thanks for those
things to think on, for those things that were good for her
soul. She pondered them. He hath filled the hungry with
good things. The Lord has filled the spiritually
hungry. The great glorious bread of life
himself has come and fills the spiritually hungry. Do we know
a day, remember a day when we were hungry? You didn't quite
know what you wanted. You didn't quite know what you
needed. You didn't quite understand or explain how you felt, but
you needed something, something real, something from God. You needed food. to put it that
way and the Lord he's filled the hungry with good things what
a glorious thing it is he fills us with he fills us with the
gospel he fills us with the good news of salvation he fills us
with his presence of his spirit He fills us with His person.
He fills us with a message of hope. He fills us with a way
of salvation. He fills us with renewing strength
day by day as we know His blessing. He is fed and filled, not just
fed, but filled the hungry with good things. Oh, do we know something
of the wonderful blessing of, like Mary, pondering these things
in our heart. What food there is to sit and
to meditate and to think and to consider Him. What feeding
He hath. You see, each Christian can say
this to a lesser or greater degree. He hath filled the hungry with
good things. He has fed my soul, filled me
with something. Seventh, the rich He hath sent
empty away. the rich he hath sent empty away. Many people in Israel perhaps
thought they were worthy to be the mother of the Lord. They
thought they were good, they were honourable, they were worthy
to carry the Messiah. Many wanted and many good women
wanted to be the mother of the Lord and yet they were looked
over. But many people thought they
were rich in themselves. And yet Mary wasn't one of those
people. But those who thought they were rich, they were sent
empty away. They didn't receive what they thought they would. You see, here is a very serious
truth. The Lord God is glorified in
His mercy. He is glorified in His grace
and goodness to sinners. And we particularly can think
on that, can't we? But you know the Lord is also
glorified in His justice. He is also glorified in His wrath
and in His anger. He is glorified in His faithfulness
to His words of warning. And He is glorified even in sending
away the rich, who are rich in themselves. When that terrible awful day
of judgment comes. God will be glorified as he receives
his people into his kingdom. But he will also be glorified
in his justice in sending the lost to hell. It will still be
God who's on the throne, it will still be God who is working,
and no one will be able to say that that is unjust, and no one
will be able to accuse him to being unfair. He will have warned
and he will be carrying out the warnings that he spoke. He is
glorified in his justice and he is glorified even in his sending
the rich empty away. And those in this world, and
maybe there are some here, I don't know, who are rich in themselves,
you have been warned. You have heard the warnings of
God that it is not yourself who can save yourself. It is not
your righteousness which gets you to heaven. You have been
warned, and God will, and I hope it will not be true, but God
will be glorified even in his condemnation if it comes to that. You see, the Lord, he has sent
away. He has sent the rich empty away. something he has done and continues
to do. And then finally, he hath opened
his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. He hath helped
or supported his servant Israel. Mary knew this in her life, She
knew that God had appeared for Israel, but she knew that God
had also appeared for her personally. He had given her the faith that
she had, and what great faith she had, we thought this morning.
And he had given the support and the strength she needed to
faithfully follow the Lord. And he gave her and helped her
through her life as she witnessed the Lord in her family home.
And she acted in that role as his mother. And then she was
given strength as she had to stand at the foot of the cross
and see her son die the most agonising of deaths. And this was because the Lord
helped her and remembered his mercy. And so us. If we're a believer this evening,
who can say he's regarded my lower state? He's done a great
thing for me. He showed his strength over sin
in my life. He showed his dominion over Satan
in my heart. He has lifted me up when I was
of low degree. He has filled me with the satisfying
food of Christ. And he has sent the rich who
thought they were powerful in themselves empty away. If we
can say that, then we can also say, he that has helped me hitherto
will help me all my journey through. He is hope and his servant Israel. He's given strength to this day
and maintained me to this point. And though I have stumbled and
though they have tripped up at times, I have not fallen beyond
His mercy. I have not fallen beyond His
care. And I've been kept by the power of God. He has helped His
servant Israel. You know, there are so many dangers
around us, more temptations and dangers than we're even aware.
God has protected us. God has preserved us. And we're
still found in the house of the Lord this evening. And we're
still found, I hope, with a desire and an interest in these things.
He's kept us because of his mercy. So here are these eight things
that Mary knew the Lord had done. And she bows herself and she
worships the Lord. And because of what God had done
for her, She could say, my soul doth magnify the Lord, and my
spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. So we can look forward. Do we have the faith that Elizabeth
had to hold the promises of God's salvation and look forward to
their fulfilment? But can we join with Mary as
well? and say, as low degree and low estate as I am, He has
done something for me. He has loved me, changed me,
called me and blessed me. He has done something for us. Then, like Mary, we are blessed. Mary was uniquely blessed to
be the mother of the Lord. But each child of God also is
personally and individually blessed. He that is mighty has done great
things for me. What greater blessing can you
need?