Good evening. I'd like to return
to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. Tonight I want
to look at Mary's visit with her cousin Elizabeth. And there's
three divisions in our text. These are how they're broken
up. First, Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth. And then
the second thing is Elizabeth responds to the salutation of
Mary, and then we have Mary's response to Elizabeth. Now, when the angel Gabriel was
departing from Mary, he told her something that she didn't
know. No one in at least Nazareth knew
about this. Elizabeth had hidden herself
for five months. And now it was the sixth month,
so maybe things were beginning to be said there among her family
and friends where she lived, but certainly Mary didn't know
this, and the angel said this. The angel spoke this to Mary,
saying in verse 36, chapter 1, 36 and 37, Behold, thy cousin
Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age. And this
is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with
God, nothing shall be impossible. And these words are spoken to
her with purpose. They're not trivial. They're
not just something that happens to be mentioned. They're spoken
to her with purpose. And I'm certainly also touched
by this very truth here that we, that by nature are barren,
are given life by the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives life. And what the angel is saying
here is she's been given life in her womb. She that was barren,
she that could not have children, now has a child in her womb. And so this is meant to lead
Mary to go. This is spoken so that Mary will
go. And he gives her a desire. The
Lord gives her a desire to see this thing which the Lord hath
proclaimed to her that nobody knew about, that her cousin Elizabeth
was with child. And so she believed that word.
And it says in verse 38, Mary said, behold, the handmaid of
the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed
from her. And so everything that the angel
said, she did believe. She heard it and believed. And this word was given to her to
confirm that faith that was given to her. God didn't leave her
to herself. God didn't leave her to the strength
of her flesh to remember these things and to think of these
things. God gave this word with purpose. Because here, her faith
was going to be confirmed and strengthened. Everything that
the angel said would come to pass, she was going to experience
that word. She was going to experience it.
And so, the thing that we see here in this is that she looked
after those things that the Lord spoke to her. When you hear a
comforting word, when you hear a word according to this gospel,
do you look after those things? Do you pray to the Lord, Lord,
I've heard wonderful things this evening, or I've heard wonderful
things this morning, or Lord, I've read something so wonderful
in your word. Reveal this to my heart, Lord.
Don't let me grow cold and hard and distant from these things.
Reveal these things to me." And Mary looked after these things.
She was moved by what she heard, and she looked after them. And
in doing so, the Lord had purpose to confirm her faith. That word
that she believed, He was going to confirm it to her. And so
his words, leaving a strong impression upon her heart, she left. She wanted to go see her barren
cousin who was now with child. And she said, I want to go see
those things. I want to see those things which the angel spake
unto me. And what the Lord's showing us
is that we're not to leave that seat on just a hard pavement. I know that we don't have the
strength or the power for that. The Spirit prepares us. But he
stirs us up in hearing this word, and he makes us to desire, Lord,
I want to see this. I want to see these glorious
truths that you're revealing in the hearts of your people
that you declared here. I want to know the power of the
Spirit. Paul said, I want to know the
power of the resurrection. I want your righteousness, not
my own righteousness. I want to see these things, Lord,
and I want to know what you're talking about in your word."
And Mary wanted to know. She wanted to look after those
things. She wanted to see those things spoken to her. And so
we read now in verse 39 and 40, and Mary arose in those days
and went into the hill country with haste. With haste. She wasn't disobedient to the
word that she heard. She went off with haste into
a city of Judah. She wasn't slothful. She moved
with haste to see those things that the Lord had spoken to her
heart. And that, at a minimum, is an
encouragement to the child of God to pray concerning those
things that we've heard. As you're driving home, when
you have a few moments just to your own self, you're not speaking
to anyone, pray about these things. Lord, sow these things in my
heart. Let them find good, good ground
prepared by your spirit and my heart to receive your word that
it just not die and disappear. Because it blessed my heart.
I rejoice in it, Lord. I want to rejoice in it more. And then it says, she entered
into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth. Now, let me
just say, I never noticed this before until I was studying this
passage, but we're told that Zacharias and Elizabeth lived
in the hill country in the city of Judah. That's what it says
there in verse 39. They lived in the hill country in the city
of Judah. And it turns out that the Old
Testament actually tells us what city this is. It actually says
what city this is, when Joshua was giving out the lots to the
tribes. And it was falling out to them.
And he had given out all the lots. Now he was giving to the
Levites, to the priests, their cities. And in Judah, they were
giving out a city. And it says, they gave them the
city of Arba, the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in the
hill country of Judah. with the suburbs thereof round
about it. That's in Joshua 21 verse 11. And so that says, it sounds like
they lived in Hebron, around and near that city of Hebron. And Hebron, if that sounds familiar
to you, it is the inheritance that Caleb got. He got the surrounding
areas around it and the priests took Hebron. But that was the
place that the Lord had brought Abraham to. after he departed
from Lot. He went and dwelt in Hebron,
and the Lord blessed Abraham in Hebron. That's the place where
he and Sarah were buried. Hebron is the place where Isaac
and Rebekah were buried. Hebron is the place where Jacob
and Leah were buried. Hebron is the place where David,
when he became king of Judah, that was the capital city of
his kingdom, Hebron, over Judah, until all the tribes united under
him, and then he moved it to Jerusalem. But it was there in
Hebron, and this is where the Lord brings Mary. He brings Mary
here to Hebron. Now, we're not told explicitly
when Mary conceived the child Jesus in her womb. We're not
told specifically when it actually occurred. We don't know exactly
when it occurred. But we do know that she asked
this question, how shall this be? We don't know when, we don't
know where necessarily, but she did say, how shall this be? And the angel, in verse 35, Luke
1, 35, the angel answered and said unto her, 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. And so these here that we're
looking at tonight are the successive events. These are the following
events that followed immediately upon the angel telling her that
you're going to bear him that is great. Him that will be called
the Son of the Most High God. You're going to bear the Christ. There's going to be an over,
there shall be an overshadowing by the highest, and then you're
going to be with child. That's what was told her. So
pay attention to this text. Pay attention to the words here
in this text because this is the very next thing that Mary
shared with Luke that the Holy Spirit recorded for us to hear.
These are the things that Mary pondered in her heart and remembered
that the Lord did to her. So I'm going to leave you to
meditate on it, whether or not this is where the Lord gives
her the child, in her womb, in Mary's womb. I can't say that
it is, but something wonderful happens here. When Mary salutes
Elizabeth, something wonderful happens. And there's a powerful
display of the Holy Ghost, first from Elizabeth, which was given
to prepare Mary and to confirm Mary's faith. And then there's
a glorious response from Mary, who's filled with the Holy Ghost.
So let's first look at Elizabeth in verse 41. And 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. God moved powerfully in that
moment. He moved powerfully in that moment.
As soon as Mary entered and saluted Elizabeth, she was filled with
the Holy Ghost. And not her only, but the child
in her womb. The child in her womb was filled
with the Holy Ghost. Look back at verse 15. This is
where the angel Gabriel is speaking to Zacharias about John the Baptist,
about his child John, saying, for he shall be great in the
sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong
drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from
his mother's womb. And so is this the moment when
John was filled with the Holy Ghost in the womb of his mother? Well, there's definitely a testimony
of the Lord here to these women concerning their conceptions.
The Lord is confirming them and saying to them, I've done this. This is not of man. This is of
my hand. I mean, Elizabeth's child is
from Zacharias, but the miracle is of the Lord. And the child
conceived in Mary's womb is by the overshadowing of the Holy
Ghost. And so the Lord is testifying
to them and he's testifying to you that these things are so. This is the Christ. This is the
Savior who was promised to come into the world. Look to Him. Behold My servant, God said by
the prophet Isaiah. Behold My servant. Look to Him. This is Him whom I have sent
to save My people from their sins. Everything you need for
your salvation, I have committed it to His care, and He hath performed
it wonderfully. everything necessary Christ has
accomplished for the redemption of his people and the Lord our
God Testified it to these women and he testifies to it of it
to you You that hear his word to you that look for his coming
who look for his salvation. Lord, reveal this to me. Testify
to me. Show me these things, Lord. You're
the God who hears prayer. You're the God who delights to
save your people. Save me, Lord. Don't pass me
by. Save me. Save me. And so, it's
something for us to hear and rejoice in, brethren. What a
wonderful work that God has done. What a wonderful work that God
has done here. Now look at what it says in Luke
2. Turn over to Luke 2 in verse
18 and 19. This is when the shepherds came
in who heard from the angels that Christ was born in Bethlehem. And it says, all they, verse
18, all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told
them by the shepherds. but Mary kept all these things
and pondered them in her heart. And so everything that we're
seeing here is the testimony of what Mary pondered in her
heart. These are the things that the Holy Ghost had impressed
upon her heart. And she, because Luke said, I
went to find out these things. I went to gather up all these
things and to tell you of them, Theophilus, you that love God,
to declare these things to you. And so these are the testimony
that the Holy Spirit impressed upon Mary's heart here. This
is what she pondered concerning the birth of Christ. And so Luke,
though, mind you, he records a few other times in the scriptures.
I think it's Luke 4 and Luke 9 where the people wondered. The people wondered at what they
saw and what they heard, but it didn't profit them. We can
wonder at things, we can hear things for a time. There were
people that rejoiced in the light of John the Baptist for a time
and then they departed. There were people that rejoiced
in what Christ said and were his disciples for a time and
up through John chapter six until he said things that they couldn't
hear. They couldn't hear them. They
were too hard for them. And so they departed from them.
So we can wonder at things, but be very careless and indifferent
to the things that we hear, and they're soon forgotten. But Mary
pondered them in her heart. And these are given for you to
know these precious things of what the Lord has done for his
people in providing a Savior. This is the Savior. This is the
promised Christ. Hear him. There's no other salvation. All our works are stinking works. All our works come short. We
come short of the glory of God by our righteousnesses and what
we do. We try religious things, we do
many things to try and impress the Lord, but if we're being
honest, we know we come short. We come far short of the glory
of God. We're sinners. We don't have
a righteousness that we would dare bring before God except
Jesus Christ. That's the righteousness we want
to be found in. That's the righteousness that
we come before our God boldly, boldly entering His presence
in the blood righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
we see from these examples that the Lord is pleased to confirm
His word to His people. Read His Word. I encourage you
to read His Word, hear His Word preached, know His Word, memorize
His Word, because the Lord does testify these things. Look to
the Lord, revealing and manifesting these things to your hearts. Lay them before Him. pray to
him, Lord, show me, show me your word. Teach me what you teach
your people in your word. He says that those who seek him
find him, that those who ask receive, that those who knock,
the door shall be open. He said by the prophet Jeremiah
in 29, verse 13 to 14, ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall
search for me with all your heart. The Lord opens our heart. We
need the Lord to open our heart, to soften our heart, to give
us a heart that receives that word, which is prepared and ready
to hear it, because there are so many distractions, there's
so many things to turn us from what's needful. The Lord Jesus
Christ and to set our focus on things unimportant. But Mary
moved with haste, she went with haste to see these things which
the Lord said. And he said by Jeremiah, I will
be found of you, sayeth the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity.
and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the
places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord, and I will
bring you again into the place which is from which I caused
you to be carried away captive." All those distractions become
nothing in the power of God. I know what it is to be distracted
and have my attention taken away, but our God is able. he turns
us and he shows us the one thing needful is Christ. Now Elizabeth, if you think about
this, does Elizabeth know anything of what the angel said to Mary?
Does Elizabeth know anything No, she doesn't know anything. All that's happened at this point,
up to this point, is that Mary has announced herself to Elizabeth. She's coming there and said,
Elizabeth, it's your cousin, Mary. Is everything well? How
are you? I've come to see you. And that's all that's been said.
at this point that's the only thing that's been said and at
that the babe leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with
the holy ghost and so striking and powerful was this testimony
of the spirit in her that Elizabeth knew by revelation the mystery
was revealed to her she knew and understood You're going to bear. You're
the one chosen to bear my Lord, the Christ. She knew this thing
suddenly there. She understood that. Mary didn't
tell anyone yet. From what we can see in the scriptures,
Mary said nothing to anyone, not even her parents, and yet
by the Holy Ghost, Elizabeth knows. She knows, and here's
what she says in verse 42. She spake out with a loud voice. Now that word loud doesn't necessarily
mean volume. It's not necessarily talking
about how loud someone speaks. It's speaking of a great voice.
a moving voice, one that overstepped the normal expectation, is what
it means. She's speaking by authority,
with the power of God that's come upon her, and she's speaking
by the Holy Ghost. And so she spake with a loud
voice and said, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the
fruit of thy womb. Now mind you, Mary said nothing
yet of what the Lord by the angels said to her. Nothing happened. She didn't say anything. So that
had to strike Mary as a confirmation. The angel told her these things
and says, your cousin who was barren is now with child. She
goes there to see it. And the first thing out of Elizabeth's
mouth is, you're blessed among women. Blessed is the fruit of
thy womb. so that it was a confirmation.
God gave her a confirmation of those things that she had heard
by the Lord. And I believe it was done by
the Lord to prepare her and to give her that testimony, to assure
her and to comfort her heart. And the angel was the first one
to say, blessed art thou among women. And now here's Elizabeth
saying, blessed art thou among women. And everything here is
testifying to Mary that everything that God said by the angel, He's
bringing to pass. Just as He said it. Trust Him. Believe Him. Rest in Him. He
is the God of your salvation. And when He speaks, He means
it. And when He speaks, He speaks with purpose. And He fulfills
and brings to pass all His will according to purpose. And that's
a delightful thought for us. Lord, whenever we hear this word
preached, would you testify to it with such power, by attending
it with your spirit, making it effectual in my heart, making
me to hear this, Lord, I need this salvation. I need you to
reveal yourself to me in your word. and to bring it home to
my heart, that it not just bounce off and fall on the ground and
go away, but Lord, that it be fruitful, and that it yield fruit,
and that it not be choked out by fear of persecution, by fear
or worry of this world, but that it would be fruitful, and that
it would be productive in your kingdom, and yield that fruit
for which you've purposed to give it. And then she says here
in verse 43, and whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord
should come to me? And we hear there, there's humility
in the voice of Elizabeth. She's not boasting or bragging,
she's actually touched that the mother of her Lord would come
to someone so low and mean as her. And she genuinely believes
that she's of low esteem in the eyes of the world, but that Mary
should come and visit here. There's no entitlement of what
she says. She said, whence is this to me that the mother of
my Lord should come to me? I don't deserve a visit from
you. And there's something very Christ-like
in Mary's visit, in her visiting Elizabeth. You know, Mary is,
of course, she's the younger one. She's probably more healthy
and more fit, and she may not even be pregnant. Certainly Elizabeth
is pregnant here. She's six months pregnant, but
who's the greater in the esteem of what they're doing? According
to the Word, she's saying, you're bearing my Lord, and yet you're
coming and visiting me. I'm bearing a servant to the
Lord, and you're bearing the Lord himself. You're bearing
the King, the Son of God, the Redeemer of His people. And yet,
Mary comes and serves Elizabeth. Mary comes and does for Elizabeth,
so that Elizabeth isn't put out. So Elizabeth doesn't have to
travel to see Mary if she would. And in that we see Christ, because
didn't our Lord say, but I am among you, as him that serveth. I've come as a servant." And
he did. Christ came. Him who is Almighty
God. Him who is in the bosom of the
Father from all eternity. Him who is the Word of God, the
Son of God. He who knows the Father and has
enjoyed eternal fellowship with the Father. He humbled himself
and came as the servant of his people to lay down his life for
their sins, to die for his people that are sinners and enemies
of God. hating God, and hating one another,
and doing wickedly, yet Christ came and willingly laid down
His life to save His people, to put away their sins, to obtain
forgiveness for them, and to deliver them from death and darkness,
and to give them inheritance, the inheritance of the saints
in light, with fellowship and and being restored and reconciled
to the Holy God once again. He said, our Lord said, that
he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to
give his life a ransom for many. And here he is right here, sending
his mother, according to the flesh, to minister to another,
just as he would minister to his people. He said, therefore,
he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger. Mary's
the younger. And he that is chief, as he that
doth serve. Now Mary, Elizabeth, continues
in verse 44 and 45, for lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation
sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And
blessed is she that believed. And this is another reason why
many believe this is where the Lord filled Mary. This is where
the Holy Spirit overshadowed her because of what Elizabeth
said. She said, for there shall be
a performance of those things which were told her from the
Lord. And the spirit of the angel laid
it out saying, you shall, there's going to be, what does it say
there? Let me just look at it in verse 35. And the angel answered
her and said, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the highest shall overshadow thee. And then that's how it's
going to happen. She said, how is this going to
happen? I don't know, man. How is this going to happen? This is
how it's going to happen. You're going to be overshadowed
by the Holy Spirit. He shall do it. There's going
to be a time when it comes. And then Elizabeth says, there
shall be a performance of those things which were told her from
the Lord. Now, that's very telling. It's powerful that immediately,
as soon as Elizabeth says these things, and this had to come
as a testimony to Mary, that without saying anything, she's
testifying to her of everything that the angel said to her, and
now Mary echoes the same voice back to her, the Holy Ghost filling
her, filling her. Mary said, my soul doth magnify
the Lord. I'm glorifying the Lord. I'm
rejoicing in what He has done. And my spirit hath rejoiced in
God my Savior, for He hath regarded the lowest state of His handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth, right now, all generations shall
call me blessed. And she probably was thinking,
well, in the flesh, she probably was thinking, I didn't know what
to expect when I was coming here. But now I see. Now I know. Now
I know why the angel told me and why I've come. Now I see
why I came here. For he that is mighty hath done
to me great things, and holy is his name. For all I know,
it was transacted right then and there. The Holy Spirit came
upon her. with power and glory and now
she glorified and boasted in the Lord and what he had done
for her. If it was done sooner, which
it could have been, even so she's convinced of it now. Now she
knows. She knows it and she's convinced
this is of the Lord regardless of when it occurred. She knows
and she knows God has indeed fulfilled his word to me and
brought it to pass exactly as he said that he would do it.
And that's what he's saying to us. He is Almighty God. He is the El Shaddai who spoke
to Abraham, who confirmed the covenant with Abraham, who brings
to pass all that he has promised for his people to save us, to
give us an expected end in Christ. He said it back in the garden
and brought it to pass. And he confirmed that covenant
to Abraham and he brought it to pass and he He kept and maintained
His people all throughout their history, and He brought it to
pass. He brought Christ to pass. He
brought Him in the flesh just as He promised to do, and He
went to that cross faithfully, willingly, and laid down His
life to save His people from their sins. To pay the price,
the demanded price, to ransom us, to deliver us unto the hand
of God. to deliver us out of the hand
of justice, and to deliver us in grace and mercy, accepted
of the Father, spotless, holy, righteous before him, and washed
in the blood of Christ. He's done it all. He's done it
all. And also, you have to think, this is what Mary pondered in
her heart. If there had been another time, she didn't share
it. But this is what she shared. This is what she said would happen. And this is what the Lord impressed
on her heart. And she knew this was the power
of the Lord that did this. And I remember it. And here's
what I'm telling you, Luke. And here's what Luke is writing
by the Spirit unto you. Unto you, to comfort you. And
so he's performed it now. These are great things that God
hath done to me. And so that mystery of it aligns
with what Our Lord does in salvation for us. We don't necessarily,
it's not clear necessarily and we don't always know. Very few
times are we sure when we were saved. We don't know. All we
know is that I was dead in trespasses and sins and now I'm alive. I
couldn't hear these things before, and I couldn't speak of these
things before, but now I hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches, and now I can testify to them, because he's done it
in my heart. I was blind, but now I see. I don't know when
it happened. All I know is that whatever that
was before is no more, and now I'm dead in Christ, but I live,
and the life I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who
loved me and gave himself for me. And that's my testimony and
that's the testimony of all you that believe. Lord, I don't know
exactly when. All I know is that you did it.
I know that you were kind and gracious and merciful and faithful
to lead me all the way through and to deliver me out of dead
religion and wicked works and from death in the flesh and other
wicked things. And Lord, you brought me out
of all of them. not because of anything I did, but because you
would be gracious to me for Christ's sake. Lord, thank you. And he
brings that in his people. He teaches that to his people. And our Lord said it that way
in John 3, 8, when he said to Nicodemus, the wind bloweth where
it listeth, where it wants, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth.
So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. And so we don't see
it, right? You couldn't see that there was
a child in her womb. You couldn't know, but you saw
the effects of it. And she testified of it. And
she glorified God in it. And that's what he does in us.
You can't see the new man. You can't see the Holy Spirit
in his people. But you see the effects of the
Holy Spirit. And you hear his voice, and you
hear him testifying that this is my child because he testifies
of Christ. And we declare what Christ has
done for us. And that's how you know that
if you look at Mary, who does she give the glory to? She doesn't
talk about herself. She speaks of what the Lord hath
done, and she glorifies God her Savior. And that's what he does. He glorifies Christ in the hearts
of his people. He makes us to know who it is
that gave himself for me, that who it is that saved me, that
I didn't do this, and I didn't earn it, and I'm not worthy of
his mercy and grace, yet he did it. Yet he did it. And so when
God saves a man, that man is gonna glory in the Lord. You can hear when someone saved
themselves, they'll tell you when they got saved and what
they did, how they walked the aisle, how they gave their heart
to Jesus. And they'll tell you all the things that they did.
But when the Lord does it, they tell you what God has done, what
the Lord did, how he saved me. And they begin to let those things,
their testimony of what they did, that falls away and they
speak of what God has done. I don't know how it happened,
except that I heard his word. I heard what he accomplished,
and I believe. And I believe. And I trust him.
And I rest in him. He's done it. And we glorify
and testify of what he has done. Mary said, my soul doth magnify
the Lord, for he that is mighty Sorry, for he that is mighty
hath done to me great things, and holy is his name. That's
how we speak. He that is mighty hath done great
things to me. He did this to me. He made me
to believe Christ. He delivered me from death and
darkness. And now that God has done this glorious and gracious
work in her, she begins, now you see, a turning where now
she glorified the Lord and now she begins to testify of what
Christ shall do for his people. Now she begins to declare the
gospel. And what he shall do, look at
verse 50, and his mercy is on them that fear him from generation
to generation. This is an eternal salvation,
brethren. And it's from generation to generation
to generation to generation. There is no other savior. God
has provided one salvation, one savior, who is sufficient to
save all his people from the beginning to the end. And it
doesn't matter who you are, male or female, rich or poor, educated
or uneducated. It doesn't matter your race.
your color or creed, what you came from, what family you're
from, or nationality, the Lord saves whom he will. And there's
one Savior, one Savior for all of his people. Verse 51 and 52,
he hath showed strength with his arm, he hath scattered the
proud in the imagination of their hearts, he hath put down the
mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree. And what
he's saying there is, this is who Christ came to save. The
poor, the weak, the lowly, you that have nothing to give or
to boast of before God, he came for the sinner. Our Lord said,
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. That's who I came for, sinners.
And so, you that come to Christ, you come to Christ as a sinner. Everyone that believes Christ
has come to Christ as a sinner. Otherwise, you haven't come to
Him at all. If you come to Him with anything else, trusting
anything else, but I did this, Lord, and I did that, and I did
it this way for you, and I did that, Lord, receive me for those
things. No, we don't come with that. We come to Christ as a
sinner needing 100% grace, needing all of his salvation and nothing
of us. And that's why the Pharisees
wouldn't come to him because they had a righteousness. They
had something to give to God and they didn't want to let it
go. But when Christ breaks the heart, he delivers us from trusting
those things and holding on to those things which cannot save.
Nicodemus and Joseph hid their faith in Christ for a long time. They were secret disciples for
a long time and it wasn't until Christ's death that they came
out publicly to claim the body of Christ and to give his body
a proper burial. And that picture there for us
is until the death of Christ is revealed in our hearts, until
it's manifested to us and we see that He died for me. This isn't just some religious
game or just a little picture here. He bore my sin. He bore
my trespasses and my transgressions. He died in my place, my death,
bearing my shame and my humiliation and the wrath of God, which was
mine to bear. He bore it for me. And then when
that death is revealed in our hearts to know that's why he
died, that's why he was there. That's when we come out like
Nicodemus and Joseph and come out publicly and say, I'll take
the body, Lord. I'll take the body and Lord save
me, save me. And that's when they came out
of hiding was at the death of Christ. And so that's when the
Lord shows us I'm the sinner. And we're thankful then that
he saves those of low degree and those who have nothing to
boast in. And Luke 153, he hath filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he hath sent away empty. What you're saying there
is whatever you think by the world, by what the world teaches
you, and says this is great, and this is what pleases God.
Well, it's the opposite of that. God shows us that's not. My ways
are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts. We think
this is that God's pleased with one thing, and the Lord shows
his people that he saves sinners. He saved the publicans. He saved
those that had lived riotously. And the Pharisees don't like
it because it's saying, you're telling me that there's no punishment,
that there's no just, that they don't get what they deserve and
that there's no consequences for their sins and their actions.
But the gospel says, oh, there was a consequence. There was
justice was meted out. It was meted out on the Savior
for his people. Christ paid the price for the
sins of his people. And now they live by him. And he gives them his spirit
and delivers them from that death and darkness and fills them with
his righteousness. Giving them, bearing in them,
like these women, the picture for us is that we bear that seed
of Christ. There's a new man born again
by the Spirit of God in us and he's done that mighty work. He's
wrought this salvation in us. God's done that and he confirms
it to you every time the gospel is preached to comfort your hearts.
And we come And I pray every time, Lord, pour out your spirit
upon us. Bless your people. Help us to
hear this. Cause this word to enter our
hearts into the good ground. Me also. And don't pass me by,
because I need to hear the same thing that you, brethren, need.
and that comforts your heart. These are the things that comfort
me is knowing what our God has done for us. And so Mary confirms
that this child she carries is the promised seed spoken in the
garden and confirmed to the fathers and the prophets before. And
it says there in closing, he hath helped his servant Israel
in remembrance of his mercy, as he spake to our fathers, to
Abraham and to his seed forever. And Mary abode with her about
three months and returned to her own house. And you can imagine,
when she got home, questions were gonna come up. She was gonna
have to explain it to her parents, and her parents probably were
gonna have to go and talk to Joseph, because Joseph was minded
to put her away. He probably figured something
happened while she was away and he was a righteous man and he
wanted to do it quietly, but he was going to do it until the
angel appeared to him in Matthew chapter 1. But she was now filled
with the Holy Spirit and knew whatever the consequences, whatever
it costs, I know this is of the Lord and that's what he gives
you through the gospel. Whatever the consequences, whatever
it costs, He makes you to know this word is of the Lord. He's testifying to it over and
over and over that this Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and
He hath accomplished my salvation. He's put away my sins. And you
that believe Him, you've been equipped and are ready to face
whatever comes. Now you can't imagine it, but
you'll have grace for that day when that day comes, whatever
it is. And I pray He does. I love you
brethren in the Lord and I'm thankful for each one of you
who rejoice in this Christ, our Christ, the Lord and Savior.
Amen.