Turn with me for our scripture
reading to Luke chapter 2. This is not our text. In a moment you'll see why we're
reading this. Luke chapter 2 verse 1 says,
And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree
from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And
this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, every
one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from
Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea unto the city of David,
which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage
of David, to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great
with child. And so it was that while they
were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for
them in the inn. And there were in the same country
shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock
by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord
came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about
them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them,
fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And
this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped
in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising
God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth,
peace, goodwill toward men. And it came to pass as the angels
were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one
to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing
which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto
us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and
the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they
made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning
this child. And 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 the shepherds
returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they
had heard and seen as it was told unto them. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we
come before you tonight. Praising and glorifying you for
all of the things that you have revealed to us. And said to us
in your word, Lord, we're truly a blessed people. And we pray,
Lord, that you might enable us to come and Worship our Lord,
worship our Savior that was born into this world. Lord, we pray
that you might enable us to truly gather in his name and truly
meet right now with a sincere heart of bowing and worshiping and
praising and honoring and glorifying. Lord, would you enable us to
worship? Without you, it is impossible. We need you so desperately and
we beg for your presence. Lord, we beg for your help. Please
help us to meet with you. We pray, Lord, that you will
help all of your people everywhere that meet tonight or whenever
that may be. Lord, help your people and bless
your word. We pray for this service right
now. We pray for the service that
will be held tomorrow. We pray for the services that
will be held Sunday. Lord, would you please meet with
us and don't leave us to ourselves and don't let us go. We pray
for all of the men who will stand and declare the glory of the
gospel. Lord, help them, strengthen them, encourage them, comfort
them, give a message to them, and then bless it to the hearts
of your people, if you would be willing. Lord, we pray for
our loved ones that are going through great trials. We have
so many that are going through different illnesses and Some
going through them themselves, and some have loved ones who
are going through them. Lord, we pray for each one. We pray
that you'll be with your people and touch them and heal them,
Lord, according to your will. Whether that healing is physical
in this life or for all of us, one day it will be the eternal
healing to come, Lord. Just comfort us through it, we
pray. Be with our children, Lord. Be
with our families. Or please show great mercy if
you would be willing, Lord, we would ask for a revival of your
word. We would ask, Lord, that you
would. Raise up a true hearing of your
word, Lord, we pray that you have sheep. We pray that you
have people, Lord, that are yet to come to you. Would you please
call them if that be the case? Lord, you are able your if you
are willing, Lord, we would give you all honor and glory. Please
help us tonight, Lord, we ask once more, please be with us.
Focus our minds, our ears, our hearts, our eyes, Lord. Help
us and forgive us all, for Christ's sake we pray, amen. Turn with me to 463, and let's
all stand together again. 463. ? Who can cheer the heart like
Jesus ? ? By His presence on the earth ? Oh, how blessed to call Him mine
All that thrills my soul is Jesus He is more than life to me And
the fairest of ten thousand In my blessed Lord I sing Love of
Christ so freely given Grace of God beyond degree Mercy higher
than the heaven Deeper than the deepest sea All that thrills
my soul is Jesus He is more than life to me ah ah ah ? All that thrills my soul is Jesus
? He is more than life to me ? And the fairest of 10,000 ?
In my blessed Lord I see ? Every need His hands supplying ? Every
good in Him I see ? His strength in my relying ?
He is all in all to me ? All that throws my soul is Jesus
? He is more than life to me ? And the fairest of 10,000 ?
In my blessing, Lord, I see ? By the crystal flowing river
? ? With the ransomed I will sing ? ? And forever and forever
? ? Praised and glorified the King ? ? All that fills my soul
is Jesus ? ? He is more than life to me ? Turn with me, if
you would, to Psalm 34. Psalm 34. Last Sunday night, Brother William
brought a message to us from Psalm 34. And it blessed my heart so much.
I asked him after the service was over if he would mind if
I preached the same thing again Wednesday night. Psalm 34, the
exact same thing. I'm not going to do that. I was
joking. But not really. Every verse that he read It blessed
me so much. Honestly, it blessed me so much.
I sat right there in your spot, third row. And every verse he read, I sat there
thinking, I would love to say that again. I would love to preach
that. I was so jealous of William Sunday night. I was sitting there
thinking, I wish I was standing there saying that. It was so good. Monday morning,
I was still thinking about it, so I turned back to Psalm 34,
and I read the first three verses again. They say, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together. Oh, magnify the Lord with me.
William asked us Sunday night, by way of preaching this, if
we would magnify the Lord with him. And I thought, there is
honestly nothing I'd rather do. There is nothing I would rather
do. There is nothing more enjoyable for God's people than magnifying
the Lord together. Isn't that true? Exalting his name together, making
our boast in him together. That's what every child of God
wants to do. That's what every believer wants
to do. And as I was reading this Monday
morning, I turned back over here as I was reading this and thinking
about how enjoyable it is every time you find a brother or a
sister who desires to do that with you. While I was reading
this, I found one more. While I was listening to Brother
William preach this, I was thinking, I want to join in. Oh, magnify
the Lord with me. Yes, I want to join in. Let me be counted among the number
who boast in the Lord. And then as I look back over
this Monday morning, I found another believer who wants to
join in. I was looking at the references in the center margin,
if your Bible has those. And in verse two, I have a little
M next to make her boast in the Lord. And that little M says
to go to Luke chapter one, verse 46. So I did that. And when I got
there, this is what I found. Turn with me over to Luke chapter
one. This will be our text tonight. Luke chapter 1 verse 46 says,
And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord. My soul magnifies the Lord. David
said it. Mary said it. William said it. I say it. And you say it too,
don't you? Oh, come. Let's all do this together. Is this not the most precious
thing that we have on this earth? Let's all do this together. Let's
all say this together. Every child of God will say,
me too. Me too. Count me in too. I want to magnify him. I want to exalt him. I want to
boast in everything that he has done for me. Me too. We got to listen Sunday night
to David's boast there in Psalm 34. I want us to listen in tonight
to Mary's boast. I've titled this message and
Mary said, That's the title of this message. And Mary said,
now, you know this story, but just to remind you of the circumstance
here, this is the moment when the angel Gabriel first announced
to Mary that she would be with child. Look at verse 26, Luke
one, verse 26, it says, And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth
to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the
house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her
and said, hail thou that art highly favored. I love that. Thou that art highly favored."
Again, if you have a center margin in your Bible, you'll see that
means graciously accepted. Much graced. Thou that art much
graced. Verse 28, the angel came in unto
her and said, Hail thou that art 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 hast found favor with God. And behold,
thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt
call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be
called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be
no end. And just like when those wise
men came after our Lord was born and told Mary and Joseph what
all they had heard and seen. And it says Mary pondered these
things in her heart. You know that after this encounter
with God's angel, after these things were revealed to her,
she pondered these things in her heart. And based on what
she ended up saying, we can clearly see that God gave her faith to
believe it. These things were told to her. And we can see God
gave her faith to believe it. Look at verse 30 again. It says,
the angel said unto her, fear not Mary, for thou has found
favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus.
He shall be great. and shall be called the Son of
the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall
be no end." He said, Mary, a child will be born, a son will be given, but make no mistake about it,
this is no ordinary child. The government is going to be
on his shoulder. His name shall be called Jesus, and His name
shall be called Emmanuel, God-Man, Man-God, the God-Man. And that's because His name is
called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. And then right here the angel
said, Mary, you're not the only one who's found favor with God.
In the next verses, the angel said, your cousin Elizabeth has
been with child for six months now. She didn't know it, but
she was carrying John the Baptist. So after the angel told her that
it says, Mary ran to a city of Judah to see her cousin Elizabeth. And the moment that she entered
into Elizabeth's house, and I've told you all how much I love
this. Every time I think about this, this is just so glorious
to me. The moment that Mary entered
into Elizabeth's house, John, John the Baptist, leaped in her
womb for joy. Just absolutely leaped for joy. There's another one. I found
another one. John said, soon as Mary walked
into that house, John said, count me in. Count me in. My soul magnifies the Lord. That's what he was saying in
that womb. My soul magnifies the Lord. I exalt Him right there
in that womb. I exalt Him. I make my boast in Him. I make
my boast in Him too. That womb confined his body,
but it couldn't confine his joy. It couldn't confine his worship. Couldn't confine his desire to
magnify the Lord with all the saints of God. Look at verse
39. And Mary arose in those days
and went into the hill country with haste into a city of Judah
and entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth. 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. And she
spake out with a loud voice and said, Blessed art thou among
women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this
to me that the mother of my Lord should come unto me? There's
another one. Elizabeth said, me too. Me too. I've titled this message, and
Mary said, because that's the reference that led me over here
to all of this in the first place. But I could have titled this,
me too. Me too. Count me in too. I have to boast too. I have to
exalt and magnify Him too. I have to do it too. Is it not so that every child
of God desires the same thing? Every child of God cries the
same thing. We're about to, you know, end
the message here by looking at what Mary said. This is what
we're trying to get to. And Mary said, see if you don't say the same
thing. See if your heart doesn't cry the same thing. Even though
John couldn't talk yet, John said it. Elizabeth said it, look
at verse 43. Elizabeth said, and whence is
this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 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
believes. Blessed is the sinner who is
given faith to believe. For there shall be a performance
of those things which were told her from the Lord. She said,
if God said it, it'll be so. Verse 46 says, and Mary said. All the prophets. All the law
givers, the Psalm writers, All the brethren of the Old Testament,
they had their opportunity to say their boast all through the
Old Testament. They all had their opportunity.
John had his opportunity to say his boast. Elizabeth had her
opportunity to say her boast. And now Mary says, and I pray
we have been given the opportunity by God to say the same thing
with her. Verse 46, and Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord. There's a reference right there
to Hannah. If you have a reference, you
see by my soul, that little A. It says 1st Samuel chapter two,
verse one. That's a reference to Hannah,
Samuel's mother. We don't have time to veer off
over there, but Hannah said, me too. Me too. Hannah prayed and said,
my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. My strength, my horn is exalted
in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. Me too. My soul doth magnify the Lord
too. All glory goes to him. All honor
goes to Him. All praise goes to Him. Me too. Verse 46, And Mary said, My soul
doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my
Savior, Jesus Christ. Mary said, I rejoice in Jesus
Christ. Let it be known. I rejoice in
the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul told the Philippians,
he said, we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
He said, everything that used to be gained to me, I counted
all dung that I might win Christ and be found in him. What he
was saying was, me too. I rejoice in him too. Why? Why Mary? Why do you say
this? Look at verse 48. She said, for
he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. My soul doth
magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior
for he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. She said it's because he looked
on me. He was mindful of me. Let me
ask you a question. Do you realize how easy it would
have been for him to pass you by? You realize that? Do I realize how easy it would
have been for him to pass me by? Do we realize how many people
he is passing by in Kingsport, Tennessee? She said, my soul magnifies him
because he looked on me. He was mindful of me. I magnify him because in my low
estate, she said, my sinful estate, my ruined condition, he regarded
me. Once my soul was astray from
the heavenly way and was wretched and vile as could be, but my
savior in love gave me peace from above when he reached out
his hand for me. One of these days, we're going
to really enter into the glory of that. We really will. I can't
believe that he reached down for me. Verse 46, Mary said, My soul
doth magnify the Lord Jehovah. Verse 47, and my spirit hath
rejoiced in God, my Savior Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse
48, for he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth, all generations shall call me
blessed. And we do, don't we? That's what
all of God's people call themselves and call each other blessed. So blessed. If we have received
the gift of Christ. If we've received the gift of
mercy and grace and peace with God through the salvation that
is in Christ Jesus, our Lord, then that's all that can be said. That's all we can say. We're
just blessed, so blessed. It's amazing to think that God,
Christ would enter the womb of that woman and be in that woman.
Well, God has entered the soul of every one of his children.
blessed. Verse 49 says, for he that is
mighty hath done to me great things. This is a wonderful message. She preached a wonderful message
right here. Can we say that with Mary? Can
we go and tell how great things the Lord has done for us? Like
that Gadarene lunatic who, after the Lord clothed him, sat him
down and put him in his right mind, he went around telling
everybody, me too. Me too. Oh, he has done great
things for me too. That's all we can say. That's
our message. That is our witness. That's our testimony, if you
will. Let me show you. I don't know
if you know this, but I want to show you what the testimony
is of Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church. OK. Hold your place right
here and turn over to Psalm 126. Psalm 126. If anybody ever asked you, what
is, what is y'all's testimony down there? What is your creed?
You know, what's your statement of faith? Tell them it's Psalm 126 verse
three. It says, the Lord hath done great
things for us whereof we are glad. That's it. That's it. It's already done. God did it. And we're happy about
it. That's exactly what Mary said.
Go back to our text. Verse 49 Luke 1 verse 49. She said. For he that is mighty. Hath done. To me. Great things. Oh, the great things of the cross,
the great things of redemption, the great things of justification,
the great things of satisfying God on our behalf. Mary said
at the end of that verse, holy is his name. Holy, holy, holy. Reverend is his name and his
name alone. Holy and Reverend. Verse 50 says, She said, And
His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. Thank God. She said, This is
why I magnify Him. His mercy is on them that fear
Him from generation to generation, every soul that's caused to fear
the Lord. Every soul that has been given
wisdom from above, the wisdom to fear this holy God. She said,
thank God, His mercy has not run out and it never will. This
is why I magnify Him. His mercy is so abundant, there
is plenty to extend to generation upon generation until generations
are no more. I want our children to hear this.
I don't know if the Lord's coming back in, in five minutes or 500
years, but until that time comes, I
pray the Lord would save us and our children and our grandchildren
and our great grandchildren. Verse 51, she said, he hath showed
strength with his arm. The strength of salvation by
the right hand and the holy arm of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. Isaiah 52 says, the Lord hath
made bare his holy arm. That's Christ. The saving strength of God. He
hath showed strength with his arm. He hath scattered the proud
in the imagination of their hearts. Those who walk in pride, He's
able to abase. Verse 52, He hath put down the
mighty from their seats. The self-mighty, the proud, the
self-righteous. And she went on to say, He has
exalted them of low degree. Mary said, I exalt Him and I
magnify Him. And I boast in Him and it's all
because He exalted His lowly sinful people in Himself. When He was lifted up, we were
lifted up in Him from the cross of condemnation all the way to
the throne of His glory, His eternal glory. Verse 53, she said, He hath filled
the hungry with good things. And the rich hath he sent away
empty. He hath filled the hungry with good things." What has he
filled us with? Christ. The bread of life. The water
of life. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Verse 54, He hath helped. He hath opened His servant Israel
in remembrance of His mercy. As He spake to our fathers, to
Abraham and to his seed forever. Mary said He has filled us, He
has helped us, He has spoken to us, He has spoken peace to
us through His blood. Can we not say that with Mary?
In verse 55 she said, He spoke that to Abraham and to all of
his chosen seed. forever. That's his promise forever. And hearing that, what does that
make us want to say? I'll tell you what it makes me want to
say. Me, too. Me, too. Me, too, Lord, please
extend that to me, too. Thank God, along with every redeemed
soul in Christ, I make my boast in him, too. Thank God. By God's
grace, we can say that. We say it fearfully, humbly,
but we say it. I make my boast in him. And I
love it every time I hear someone say, Oh, magnify the Lord with
me. Let us exalt his name together. Magnify the Lord with me. Let's
exalt him together. That makes me say amen. There's
nothing I would rather do. May God give us the ability to
do that. For his glory, for our good,
amen. All right, let's all stand together.