Turn to Acts, not Acts, I'm still
in Bible class. Luke chapter one. Luke chapter one, the title of the message is Mary's
song. Mary's song is the song of every
believer. And as we look at this, every
believer will say, that's my song. That's my song. After the angel told Mary that
she would have a child, and that child would be the son
of the highest, the Son of God, she understood that. This child
is no ordinary child. This child is the son of God.
This child is God. She understood that. And after he had told her this
and she had gone to visit her cousin Elizabeth, she breaks
out into this song. And she says, starting in verse
46, My soul doth magnify the Lord. Here is the spirit of true
worship. True worship begins when you
and I, in our hearts, begin to magnify the Lord. when He begins
to increase and you and I begin to decrease. To magnify means
to make larger. Now, we know we don't make God
larger. We don't do that. But in our
estimation, He becomes greater and greater. And I find this
to be so in my life as a believer, and in the life of others that
I have confidence in that are believers, that God just grows
greater and greater and greater. Christ grows greater and greater
and greater in their life, in their estimation, in their thoughts,
and in their hearts. He becomes everything, doesn't
He? He becomes everything. He's all in all. Without Him,
I don't have a reason to exist. I know that. All things are made
by Him and for Him. I'm His. And listen, I'm His. And you are His, whether we believe
Him or not. We're His. We're His to do with
as He will. The Son gives life, it says,
to whom He will. And my soul, she says, my soul
does magnify the Lord. This spirit of worship, this
spirit of magnification of God is in every one of God's children.
And it comes from within. True worship starts from within
and comes out. It comes out in praise. We sang
the two songs this morning. I hope that I, and you sang those
two songs with praise, I mean, real praise from the heart, not
just singing, but to sing as unto the Lord. We are singing
to Him. We are not singing about Him. A song service is not singing
about the Lord, though we do, but it's not about that. A song
service, that's truly a song service, of worship is singing
unto Him. We are singing to Him this morning,
just like those who are around the throne right now. They are
praising Him. They are singing unto Him as
He sits before them, as they look upon Him. They sing to Him.
And that's exactly the attitude we have. We sing to Him. and we sing songs of praise to
Him, and we sing it from our soul, it's from our very being. Now, I want you to notice also
here that Mary recognized in this who she's singing to, or
who she's worshiping, who she's speaking to. She says, My soul
does magnify the Lord. She recognizes Him as the Lord. Not the man upstairs. Not my
co-pilot. It's my Lord and my Savior, my
Sovereign. That's when she says here, Lord,
capital L with a little O-R-D, that's my Sovereign. My soul
doth magnify my Sovereign. He is the King of kings and Lord
of lords. And He's the one I magnify and
worship this morning. and my spirit hath rejoiced in
God my Saviour." You see, we are made up as body, soul, and
spirit. That's what we're made up of,
body, soul, and spirit. And the whole person, My whole
being recognizes that God is my Savior. She's recognizing
that the One in her that's going to be brought through her womb,
created in her womb and is going to be born into this world, is
God her Savior. She's recognizing the incarnation
of God. But there's something else interesting
here. She says, "...my spirit hath rejoiced in God, My Savior. I need a Savior. So many people
look upon Mary as the Virgin Mary, this person without sin. She needed Jesus Christ to die
for her as much as the worst person on this earth. The Virgin
Mary needed the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ as much as Mary
Magdalene whom the Lord cast out seven devils. She would have
perished and went to hell had Christ not died for her. That
One that's been formed in her womb is God her Savior. And she rejoiced in Him. She
said, My soul rejoices in God my Savior. She recognized not
only God, but the God-Man. She recognized the Man, Christ
Jesus, as well as God. You know, listen, I thought about
this. In the Old Testament, we have
to have both. In our salvation, we have to
have both. We have to have God, and we have
to have the real man, a holy, one who knows no sin. We have
to have both. And in the Old Testament, this
is represented by the altar. The altar was made of wood, but
what was it covered over with? Gold. That represents God. The wood represents His humanity. The gold represents His deity.
And Christ is said in Hebrews to be our altar. He's our altar. He's our Savior, the God-Man. And the cause for her praise
is found in verse 48. For he hath regarded the lowest
state of his handmaiden, his bond-slave. He's looked upon
me. He's looked upon me in mercy,
in grace, in love. You know, he has regarded the
lowest state of his handmaiden. You know, most are regarded for
their high achievements. Aren't they? Nobody regards a
poor person. Nobody takes a poor person and
exalts them and brags on them. You don't read books written
by poor people, do you? You don't read books by poor
people. They don't write books. It's those who've had real achievements. But she says here, the Lord,
the Creator of heaven and earth, none greater than God Almighty,
He has regarded my low estate He has looked upon me in my lowest
state. Hannah prayed this. He lest the
beggar from the dunghill. David said, I am poor and needy,
yet the Lord thinketh upon me. He doesn't think upon me because
I'm the king. He thinks upon me because I'm
poor and needy and he thinks upon me. When the Lord was thinking
upon David, first of all, David wasn't even born yet. And then
secondly, David was out there keeping the sheep. There was
nothing about David that would cause God to think upon David. The reason that God loved me
and loved you and called you is found in God Himself. It's
not found in me. What condescending love, what
condescending grace that God would pass by kings. He passed
by many and and love me." She couldn't get over that. You
who believe, you understand this. You understand her song of praise
that God did not pass by you, but He could have. She said, He hath regarded
the lowest state of His handmaid. David said in one place, Who
am I and what is my house? Everyone in here who believes
God knows what he's talking about. Who am I and what is my house?
That God would think upon me, that God would love me, that
God would call me by his grace, that he would save my soul. You know, Mary, she saw herself like
that root out of dry ground spoken of in Isaiah 53. Like a root
out of dry ground, he has no form of comeliness. David's house
at that time was like a root out of dry ground. It was all
but forgotten. The house of David was all but
forgotten at that time. And then here's Mary, this poor
woman, and God chose her to have His Son, to come into this world
through her womb. She couldn't get over it. She
couldn't get over it. And no one whom God saves ever
gets over it. You never get over it. He favored her because he loved
her. The same reason he favors everyone
whom he saves. He loves them. He loves them. And he considers their lowest
state. What's the lowest state? I am a sinner. I am a sinful
man. Peter said, Lord, depart from
me. I'm a sinful man. That's what he said one time.
Paul said, I am a wretch. Oh, wretched man that I am. He considered me in my lowest
state." Don't ever be afraid or ashamed of being called a
sinner. They are the only ones whom the Lord saves. He doesn't
save anything or anyone but sinners. And don't ever get over being
one. Don't ever get over being one. Because that's all we are. Look here in verse 49, she looks
at this and she says, for he that is mighty, and that word
means sovereign, has done to me great things. Have you ever sat around and
really sat around by yourself and considered what God has done
for you? What he has done for you, what he has done in you,
what he's done to you. Have you ever really sat down
and considered that, what the Lord has done for me? Samuel
told Israel, he said, consider what great things God has done
for you. Here she says, he that is sovereign
hath done to me great things, great things. He that is sovereign,
you know what that means? Here's what this means. He didn't
have to. He didn't have to. The one thing that stands out
with me so strongly when I heard the Gospel, when I heard Henry
preaching the Gospel, the first thing I believe that really stood
out with me is God didn't have to save me. And that scared me
to death. Nothing in my life ever scared
me like God didn't have to save me. I understood, I understood
that God could be a just God, God could be God Almighty and
not save my soul. That He could leave me alone.
Now that's to me, I look back now, that's when true worship
begins to happen. When you realize that you are
at the mercy of God. God's not at your mercy, He's
not at my mercy. God's not waiting to see if you
and I are going to accept Him. My faith is not the missing ingredient. There is no missing ingredient
in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There's no missing
ingredient. Faith is a gift of God, it's
not the missing ingredient. that makes effectual the blood
of Jesus Christ. His blood is effectual because
it's His blood, the blood of God. That's what Paul calls it
in Acts. It's the blood of God. You were
purchased by the blood of God. And when I realized that, when
I realized that God didn't have to save me, He could leave me
alone. For the first time, I fell on
my face and I begged God to save me. I understood what loss meant. I understood what it meant. I
understood what sovereignty meant. I understood what grace meant
for the first time in my life. I understood what mercy, and
I understood for the first time my need of mercy and grace. Oh, for He that is mighty hath
done great things to me. He did to me. He came to me.
He came to me. And He did a mighty work of grace
in me. Here's what He did for me. He
considered my lowest state. As we sing, He saw me plunged
in deep distress and flew to my rescue. He gave me to His
Son and He said to His Son, bring Him home. Bring this prodigal
home. Go and live for Him, die for
Him, shed your blood for Him, and bring Him home spotless." You know what we call that? Fetching
grace. Fetching grace. Remember David
said, if it was any of the house of Saul, and they said, Jonathan,
he said, go fetch Him. Go fetch Him. And that's exactly what
happens. When the Lord saves a sinner,
He goes and He fetches that sinner, and He saves that sinner. That's
what happens. And why did He do this? Why did
He do this? Why does God save sinners? Why
does He look upon the lowest state of sinners? Here's why. Verse 49. Here's why. Holy is
His name. You would think, and this is
the way most people think, that holy turns him away. I want you to get this. I understood
this some years ago and it was a blessing. The holiness of God
lies in everything he does. Because God is holy, he's perfect. He's perfect in love. You see,
his love is holy, his mercy is holy. Because God is holy, he
must show his love. He must show His mercy. He must
do it. He's holy. He's holy. What is love if you never show
it? What is mercy if you never show it? The very fact that God
is holy ensures that He's going to show it. The very fact that He's holy
ensures that He's going to show and demonstrate His love. It
ensures it. Because He's holy. But now listen, He'll show that
mercy and He'll show that love in a sovereign manner. You know, A.W. Pink, writing
on the sovereignty of God, he said this, and I'm going to paraphrase
it, until we see the sovereignty of God, we will bargain. We will bargain at all of the
thrones. until we see God's sovereignty,
and then we'll fall down and worship. All others we'll bargain
with. I'll do this, Lord, if you do this, I'll do this, if
you say... We bargain. But there's no bargaining at
a sovereign throne. I tell you, you know what there
is at a sovereign throne? Begging. You know what a criminal does
that's being caught? Someone who's been caught red-handed.
You've murdered someone, you've been caught red-handed. You know
what you do at a sovereign throne, in a sovereign court? You beg. You beg. You beg for mercy. And God delights to show mercy
in Jesus Christ. Now Mary goes from her being
highly favored to others being highly favored. See, she starts
with what God has done for her. You can't really speak to others,
you can't speak to others about God, Christ, mercy, love, grace,
until you've tasted it yourself. Until you have tasted that the
Lord is gracious. Then you can tell others about
it. Then you can tell others. If you've experienced spiritual
healing, then you can tell others about the great physician. Until
then, you don't know anything. And so what she does here now,
in verse 50, she says, His mercy shall continue on them that fear
Him. Oh, His mercy is on them that
fear Him from generation to generation. The blessing of mercies she received
is the same on all those who fear Him." And here's the mark
of God's children from generation to generation. First of all, they believe. They
believe the gospel. And secondly, they fear Him.
They have a respect, they have an awe of God Almighty. I mean, it comes from the heart.
It's not a fear of just being punished. If I don't do this,
I'm going to be punished. It's a fear that is respectful
of who He is. Who He is. It's a real genuine
fear of Him in a right manner. In a right manner. And she says,
He has showed strength with His arm. Well, we know who that arm
is. It says in Isaiah 53, to whom
is the arm of the Lord revealed? The arm of the Lord is Jesus
Christ. That's who the arm of the Lord
is. And she says, He has showed strength with His arm. By Him, He has brought salvation
to His people. By Him, by Jesus Christ, God
has brought salvation to us Gentiles. He's overcome our sinful nature. He's overcome our natural hatred
of Him. The natural mind is enmity with
God. He's overcome that. He's overcome the power of Satan. No one has more power than Satan
but God. You don't want to deal with him.
I don't want to deal with him. I don't want to deal with him at all. Even the archangel, was it Michael,
the archangel? The devil wanted to argue over
the body of Moses. You know what he was going to
do? He's going to find that body and he's going to get those Israelites
to worship Moses. They'd all be making a trip to
the grave of Moses every year. They would make it a point of
worship. And Michael wouldn't even argue
with him. The Lord rebuked you. The Lord
rebuked you. These guys on television, tell
Satan to do this, tell Satan to do that. Satan is speaking through those
men. Isn't it weird how Satan can
take... I mean, it's crafty. It ain't
weird. It's just the craftiness of Satan. He'll take religion and twist people's minds on their
thoughts of who he is and how he works. He has showed strength with his
arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. I kept thinking, what does that
mean? What does that mean? He has scattered the proud and
imagined the thoughts of their hearts. How many people, you
see all these different so-called churches all over the place,
I mean, they're everywhere. How many people hear the gospel
and in their mind, in their heart, they say, that's not the way
it is. and they pack their bags, and
they leave. And they go start, you know,
something somewhere else, and then something somewhere else,
and here somewhere else. You have all these different
places. Here's why. It's all these unbelievers, they're
religious, religious but lost. That's what Paul says in Romans
10 about the Jews. They were religious but lost.
When they hear the gospel, Their thoughts is no. What did you
say? We will not have this man reign
over us. That's not it. And they scatter, they leave,
they leave. And God lets them leave. through the thoughts of their
own heart. This is the way I think salvation is. This is the way
I think God is. God's not the way I think He
is. God is the way He is. And I better find out the way
He is. I better find out who He is.
You know, it's like, I am who I am. There's people who may
think I'm this or that or whatever, but I am who I am. And God is
who He is. And I want to know who He is.
I don't want my thoughts of God being of this flesh. I want it
to be Him revealing Himself to me. And we have that in the pages
of His book. He says here in verse 51, 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. Those who are well-established?
You know, in Jerusalem at that time, there were many who were
well-established. Those Pharisees, it was just
like they inherited their seats. You know, one, their sons, and
just so on. And then one day God puts them
down. One day God dethrones them. Look at history. Look at history.
Look at those who are leaders. Look at Hitler and Saddam Hussein. I mean, just go through history.
and all these people who were in power and it looked like they
would never be taken out of power. And then all of a sudden, they're
gone. They're gone. God dethrones them. But look here. He's put down
the mighty from their seat and exalted them of low degree. Where
did David come from? The sheep. They're taking care
of the sheep. He made him king. I'm looking at believers here,
I'm looking at men and women, now listen, who have been made
kings and priests under God. We have been exalted to the very
throne of God. We are seated at God's right
hand right now. He has exalted us who are sinners,
nothing but sinners, and He has exalted us to His throne. His
throne! Not some earthly throne, His
throne. Only God can do that. He has
filled the hungry with good things. If you came here this morning
hungry, if you really came hungry now, He will fill you with good
things, spiritual things, spiritual nourishment, things that you
need. You know, He's given to us in Christ all that we need,
wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption. That's the things
you and I need. And He's given it to us. Listen, He's filled us with it. We are full of the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. There's no more room for any
other righteousness. We're filled with it. Everything
God gives us, He gives us to the full. He has filled the hungry with
good things, and the rich He has sent away empty." My mind
automatically went to that rich young ruler. He went away empty. He came and he spoke to God Almighty
face to face. Face to face, he's standing there
speaking to God. And the Lord is telling him, to sell all you
have, follow me. You'll be saved. You'll have
eternal life. And he went away sorrowful because he was very
rich. The Lord said, Go sell all you have and come follow
me. He went away empty, didn't he? He didn't go away full. He went away a poor man. He had
nothing. What is it the Lord said to that
church in Laodicea? You're rich, increased with goods,
and have needed nothing, yet you're poor, blind, naked, dead. You don't even know it. You don't
know how poor you are, how naked you are. Rich and increased with goods, those things don't touch the
soul. They don't make you rich spiritually. And He hath helped, listen, He
hath helped His servant Israel, Jacob. He has helped all His
Jacobs in remembrance of His mercy. In all our ups and downs,
in all our failings, He helps us in remembrance of His mercy.
He helps us in remembrance of that covenant of grace that He
made with His Son Jesus Christ concerning us. Look over in verse
72 of that chapter. To perform the mercy promised
to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which
He swore to our father Abraham. Now go back up to verse 54. He hath helped his servant Israel
in remembrance of his mercy as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham
and to his seed forever. You see, God's dealings with
me and you in mercy and grace, it goes way back before our time. Until I heard Henry preach the
gospel, I never heard anything of that covenant of grace. And that covenant of grace is something you want to look
into. God never breaks His covenant. And listen, everything that God
has done, is doing, will do with us, All has to do with that covenant
He made with His Son before the world began. That covenant of
grace. You go through the Old Testament.
You go even through the New Testament. And it speaks of a covenant,
a covenant. God is a covenant God. God's
a covenant God. You go read in Ezekiel, and I'm
going to close here. You go read in Ezekiel of that
baby that was cast out into the field. And he spread his skirt
over, over that baby, and he said, the time was love, and
I said unto thee, live, and that baby lived. But you go read the
rest of the story. See, most of the time, we don't
get the rest of the story. Like Paul Harvey used to say,
and now the rest of the story. The rest of the story is, the
baby grows up, she grows up. And she grows up to the time
where now she's at the age of being married, and he can marry
her. And you know what she does? She
plays the harlot. She ends up playing the harlot.
And through that story, going through all of it, at the end
of that story, God deals with her, but He speaks of that covenant
that I made with her. years earlier, and he would not
break that covenant, even though she played the harlot, he wouldn't
break that covenant. There's probably not a husband
in here that if your wife played the harlot, you're gonna break
that covenant. God wouldn't do it. Instead,
he brings her around to himself. You can read that, I believe
it's in Ezekiel. God is a covenant God. He will
not break the covenant. Isn't that great? Because you
and I commit spiritual adultery. We start to look and lust after
other things. Our hearts will go after other
things. As believers, we fall into that
trap, don't we? When we start to really get our
attention on other things, and we start to eye other things,
and start to go after other things, that's spiritual adultery. And
yet God never breaks that covenant. He never breaks it. That's one
amazing God. What an amazing God. And as Elizabeth said to Mary
in verse 45, Blessed is she that believe, for there shall be a
performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
Because He will not break His covenant.