his beauty dressed and that is
wonderful. Well if you would go back to
the book of Luke and the first chapter Luke chapter 1. Let's ask God's blessing once again
upon the service Lord, we bow before you as a
people who want to hear from you through your word. We are so helpless and have no
ability, Lord, to receive anything spiritual except it be given
to us from above. O Spirit of grace, you who gave
to Luke the words to write, and then you've preserved this all
through these hundreds and hundreds of years, we ask that you give
us understanding of what Our sister in the Lord, Mary, was
inspired to say as she spoke in lofty words of
our Redeemer and our Savior. Let us today worship this One
who is God, over all, blessed forever. Let us bow before him
in our heart of hearts. As the hymn writer said, O come,
let us adore him, this one who is Christ the Lord. Bless these who sit before me
and those who are watching by way of the internet. Lord, give
to each of us a spirit of worship, a spirit of reverence. This is
a very special hour that we meet together to open the Scriptures
as your people, and we seek to look on and listen to a message
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Bless those of our congregation
who are sick, those who are watching, Lord, in localities many, many miles away. We ask that you'd provide for
their needs, even as we ask that you'll do the same for us. Give
us a blessed hour of worship as we seek to exalt you. We thank you for all things. We confess our neediness, we
confess our sinfulness, and we're so thankful that the blood of
the Lord Jesus does indeed cleanse us from all iniquities. Magnify, O God, your name and
bring us down low. Bring us to true humility and
give us faith to believe the Son of God. We ask these things
in his name and for his sake. Amen. all of the Old Testament people
of God. They lived in expectation of
the coming of our Lord Jesus into this world. They look forward
to Emmanuel, God, with us. In fact, as soon as Adam sinned,
our Lord spoke to our fallen parents, and actually speaking
to Satan, but our fallen parents overheard what they had to say,
that there would enter into this world that one who is the seed
of the woman, and he would bruise the serpent's head. and his own
heel would be bruised in that encounter. And from that very
moment there in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, all of the saints
of God throughout all the Old Testament looked for him. They
longed for his coming. Actually, when Eve gave birth
to her firstborn son, she thought that was the promised seed of
the woman, and she said, I have gotten a man, the Lord. But he wasn't the Lord. He was
very much anti-Christ. but she longed for the Savior. And as you go through the Old
Testament scriptures, you'll find that all the children of
God look for the coming of Messiah. Isaiah said his name would be
Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace. And throughout all the 4,000
years covered by the Old Testament, all of the saints of God, all
of the elect of God, all of those who would be redeemed by the
blood of the Lord Jesus, they all lived in expectation of His
coming. And none of them were fully satisfied
because they didn't see His coming. But they were redeemed in this
sense, they were redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus that
he would shed, and they were justified by God. God justified
them. You read of Lot in the book of
2 Peter. Peter tells us of Lot being a
just man, just Lot, justified Lot. He was righteous in the
Lord Jesus even before the Savior came into the world. You see,
the people of God have always been justified by the grace of
God and based upon the doing and the dying of our Lord Jesus. And they believed Him, they looked
for Him, they longed for Him. But they didn't live to see their
faith come to reality. But they longed for Him. Throughout
the Old Testament, we see one promise of God after another
concerning the entrance of the Son of God into this world. Micah said he'll be born in Bethlehem. In the book of Genesis, Moses
wrote he'll be of the tribe of Judah. Psalm 72 says, when he comes,
great kings will honor him. Genesis 22, Moses again wrote
that he would be the seed of Abraham. Jeremiah, the prophet
of God, he wrote he'll be the son of David. Isaiah said he'll
be born of a virgin. You see, all of the Old Testament,
it tailor makes a garment that only fit one, Jesus of Nazareth. The scripture says that when
he would be born, that lots of children would die. Jeremiah 31 says that. Hosea tells us for his safety,
he would be taken into Egypt, this Messiah. Psalm 2 tells us
he's the son of God. Isaiah 40 says his coming will
be introduced by John the Baptist, a forerunner. Isaiah also tells
us he'll be filled with the Holy Spirit. He said he'll be filled
with the Holy Spirit of understanding, counsel, might, and knowledge. And Isaiah also tells us he'll
be a great preacher. And he'll do many wonderful works. And there are lots of other prophecies
concerning the coming of the Son of God. Those people in the
Old Testament, they longed for Him to come. They wanted Him
to come. They believed Him. They rested
in Him. They fully relied on this one
who would enter into the world. This seed of the woman who was
promised way back in the garden. And word passed from generation
to generation among the people of God, that God Himself had
spoken to our first parents, Adam and Eve. And God had said,
the seed of the woman is coming. And so all of them, down through
the years, they looked for Him. They lived in expectation of
His coming. Four thousand years go by. Malachi wrote as that last prophet
of God who wrote the scriptures. Malachi, it's like he said what
all of the rest of them had been saying. He said, He shall come. And then 400 years go by and
there's no word from God. There's no message from above. And all of the saints of God
then were saying still, when will He come? Oh, that He would
come. We look for Him. We want Him
to come. This One who will save us from
our sins. This One who will get us out
of this mess that we're in. Oh, what to God that He would
come. Four hundred years come and go. And then, God breaks the silence. He breaks the silence in Matthew
chapter one, and we're instructed that Jesus is born in Bethlehem. Now, all of those saints of God
in the Old Testament, they were believers, and they were saved. They were saved. But they weren't
saved by obedience to God's law. Nobody's ever saved that way.
Yeah, there's a very famous reference Bible. The Schofield Bible, Schofield
reference Bible. When I was growing up, if you
didn't have a Schofield reference Bible, you needed, well the old
saying was, sell your boots and buy you one. I always wanted
a Schofield reference Bible. I well remember the Christmas
that I was expecting a new Schofield reference Bible and I didn't
get it. And I went to my mom and dad's room and I said, I
crawled up in the bed and I said, I didn't get a Scofield reference
Bible. Well, I got one for my birthday. My birthday's in January,
so I got one for my birthday. But be cautious of those notes. Because what that teaches is,
in the Old Testament, you were saved by obedience to the law. Legal obedience. Whereas in the
New Testament, saved by grace. Now listen to me. All who are
saved are all saved by grace. Not by our obedience. not by
our obeying God's law. Well, the scripture says, by
the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in God's
sight. Not by works, for by grace are
you saved through faith. That's what the Apostle Paul
said. By grace are you saved through faith. And that's not
of yourselves. It's not of yourselves. It's
a gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. This salvation is all of grace
and all in Christ Jesus. And all of the Old Testament
saints of God, they were forgiven. They were made righteous. They
were God's people. And they were as saved as any
of us are saved. And they were saved the exact
same way. By the grace of God. And they
looked to that One who would come. Even as we look to that
One who has come. And they anticipated His great
sacrifice for sin. And we look back on His great
sacrifice for sin, and we see that in His death, there's our
life. In His sufferings, there's our
salvation. In His bearing all of our sins,
in His own body on the tree, there's our substitute. And as
God wounds him and bruises him, there we see justice fully satisfied
and poured out on our substitute. And we look back upon the death
of our Lord Jesus Christ and want to say, thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord, for saving us by the sacrifice of our Lord
Jesus. Now listen, if all of those Old
Testament people of God, if they were saved, and they were, and
if they had assurance of their relationship with God through
that One who would come into the world, oh, how much more
confident should we have that all is well between us and a
holy God, because our Lord Jesus, He has come. He has obeyed the
law. He has died under the wrath of
God. He has suffered all the condemnation
that our sins deserved and therefore we deserve to suffer forever
and ever. He has settled the issue. If
they could believe God before our Lord Jesus came, oh, shall
we not believe God since he has come? And since it's recorded
in the word of God, that we're justified freely by God's grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And so all of
the Old Testament saints lived in expectation of his coming,
fully believing the words of God concerning his son who would
come into the world. Even in the very next chapter
of Luke, we have two individuals, Simeon and Anna. They were looking
for Him and they were waiting for Him. And then when Mary and
Joseph bring the Lord Jesus to the temple, it's Simeon who sees
Him and he says, mine eyes have seen thy salvation. He's been
looking for him after all the Holy Ghost said, you're not gonna
die till you see God's salvation. And then over to the, somewhere
in the temple, Anna saw him and she spoke of redemption to all
who were in the temple, to everybody else who was interested in him.
These two individuals, they looked for him and they were satisfied
because they saw him face to face. this glorious Savior. But there was one individual
who looked for him in a more, I don't know, maybe I could say
specific way, ever since Gabriel informed her that there would
be a life formed within her. And this would be the son of
God. And of course she didn't understand,
how can this be? And as you read earlier in the
passage that Ron read to us, she said, this can't be, I've
never known a man. And the messenger of God said,
well, the spirit of God's gonna come upon you. And that which shall be born
of you, that holy thing which shall be born of you, should
be called the Son of God. And from then on out to nine
months, she looked for him. Just like you moms. I'm looking
at all these moms in here this morning. And when you found out
you were pregnant, You're looking for, you're anticipating, you're
expecting that baby. What about Mary? How did she
feel? As she's been informed of God
through this messenger, through Gabriel, that this one who would
be born in her would be born by the power of the Holy Ghost. That this is the Savior. This
is the Redeemer. Mary, you're gonna give birth
to that one all of the Old Testament saints looked for for 4,000 years. He's gonna be formed in your
womb. Now, she really lived in expectation of his birth. And by miracle of God, She became
the mother of our Lord's human nature. Now remember several
things about Mary. We're thankful for her. God highly
favored her. God graced her. But remember
several things. Number one, she is not the mother
of God. And we just need to, we need
to understand that. She is not the mother of God. God is forever, God is eternal. He's without beginning of days
or end of days. He's the everlasting God. From
everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. Mary is not the mother
of God. Another thing we need to remember
is this, Mary was herself a sinful woman. She was a sinner. We know that
because as Ron read to us down there in verse 47, she said,
my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my savior. And I liked the way
that she worded that and she worded it by the inspiration
of the spirit of God. This came right out of our heart.
He's my savior. Well, who needs a savior but
a sinner? She's a sinful woman. She's born
a sinner, just like you, guilty before God. She had to be saved
by the grace of God. And she rejoiced in God. She said, in God, my savior,
to whom I will give birth. I will give birth to my savior. My soul doth rejoice, my spirit
hath rejoiced, it hath rejoiced. My spirit rejoiced in Him before
He was ever formed in my womb. And my spirit rejoices in Him
now, that I shall bear and then bring into this world that one
who is the seed of the woman. that one who is of my seed, the Lord Jesus. She was a sinful
woman. Like all the rest of us, she
needed forgiveness. Like all of the rest of us, she
had to have righteousness. Like all of the rest of us, she
had to have spiritual life. And this one who would be her
firstborn son would provide and he would accomplish everything
she needed to be accepted with God. Mary would make no contribution
to this forming of the Son of God in her womb. the Son of Man. And then the
third thing I want to say is this, Mary is not the way to
our Lord Jesus and she is not the way to God. She is not the way to Christ.
You don't go to Christ through Mary. And I know there are many
people and they're well-meaning and they're very sincere, but
they're absolutely wrong. And it is heretical. So what
are you jumping on the Catholics for? I jump on anybody. I'm going to take issue with
anybody who puts anyone ahead of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
what they say is that God the Father is stern and he's a God
of anger. And the one who speaks to him
is his son and he kind of softens God up. But Jesus Himself, He
will be addressed through His mother. And His mother will then,
on your behalf, ask Him to ask God to do something for people. Now listen, folks. Mary, Mary. She's not a mediator. She's not
the way to God. She's not the way to Christ.
Well, listen, if words mean anything, and I brought this out one day
this past week when I had the graveside funeral down in South
Point. Here's what the scripture says.
Our Lord said in John 14, six. You just can't get any more simpler
than this. He said, I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. Now listen to him. No man, no
man cometh unto the father but by me. He never mentioned his
mother. She's not a go-between. She's
not a mediator. She had to have a mediator, and
listen, that one she gave birth to is her mediator. Yes, he's
the son of her womb, but he's the Lord of glory, and he's the
only one who can make intercession to God for us. He is our great
high priest. Mary's not a high priest. She
needed a high priest. She needed righteousness. She
needed forgiveness. She needed acceptance with God
and she was accepted in the beloved even before God made the world.
Ephesians chapter one says that. And so here we have Mary speaking
of lofty things. Here is Mary. as someone described
it, Mary's song of praise. Mary's song of praise here in
Luke chapter one. But I want to show you, let me
show you several things here as time allows. Number one, Mary
was an object of divine grace. Look back with me in verse 28. Now here's the angel, Gabriel,
and I do believe that Gabriel is our Lord Jesus in pre-incarnate
form, because Gabriel means the man of God, or one who stands
in God's presence. All of the regular angels, they
bow in the presence of God. Gabriel, he stands in God's presence. And the angel came unto her and
said, Hail, thou art highly favored, thou art graced. is literally
what he's saying. God has shown you grace. The
Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. The Lord is
with thee. That's Immanuel, by the way.
Isn't that what Immanuel means? God with us? Immanuel, God is
with you. She's an object of divine grace. God has highly favored her. You've
been blessed of God. You've been graced by God. In
fact, the exact same wording, at least in the original, is
brought out there in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 6, where
it says, made thee accepted. You've been accepted by God. You've been highly favored by
God. You've been graced by God. Blessed art thou among women. God did something for Mary. He gave her his grace. Grace,
listen, is not an offer. It's not an offer of grace. This
is not an opportunity to be saved. That's not what grace is. Grace
is given to Mary and grace is given to us. Guess when grace
was given to us? Second Timothy chapter one in
verse nine says grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Mary was an object of divine
grace. Grace. Grace is everlasting. Grace is immutable. Grace is
unchangeable. Malachi wrote, quoting the Lord,
I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Grace is effectual, always gets
the job done. Grace is sovereign. God said
I will be gracious to whom I'll be gracious. Here's Mary, one
of the thousands of women in Judah. But God set her aside. He isolated her and said, you're
the one I choose. That's not being unfair to all
the rest of the women in Judah. This is God's sovereign choice. This was his determination. He
uses whom he willed and God chose before the world began. He chose
Mary under salvation in Christ Jesus. And then God chose Mary
that she would be that instrument, that vessel through whom he would
send his son into this world. She was an object of divine grace.
Secondly, Mary was passive in this work of conception. Good
verses 34 and 35. the angel having informed her
that she would have a son called his name Jesus. Verse 34, then
Mary said unto the angel, how shall this be, seeing I know
not a man? 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. Mary
will be passive in this. It's God acting upon her. Christ
was formed in her by the power of the Spirit of Grace. And that's
very much typical of regeneration. In regeneration, that is the
new birth, the quickening, the Lord said you must be born again,
in that we're passive. God is active. The message is
not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be born again. The
message is not repeat the sinner's prayer, and then if you do, we
believe that you just got born again. No, the new birth, regeneration
is the work of the Spirit of God within the soul, within the
heart, creating life within us. And as a result of that life,
we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The formation of the
Son of God in the womb of Mary had nothing to do with her as
far as her input or her doing something. She's absolutely passive. Even so, regeneration is of God. The new birth. It's God doing
something for us. I'm not asking, have you done
something for God? I'm asking, has God done something
for you? What is the evidence of regeneration? What is the evidence of being
born again? And it is this, believing on
the Lord Jesus. Believing who He is as God and
man. Believing what He did as the
Savior, as He satisfied all of the divine demands and requirements
for our salvation. This salvation work is God's
work throughout the Word of God. You never find salvation attributed
to us. From the very beginning, from
the conception of salvation in eternity past to the perfection
of salvation in eternity future, it's all of God. And in no point
along the way do you Or me, or anyone else, do we ever do anything
toward contributing to that salvation? Thirdly, Mary magnified the Lord
for his sovereign grace. Notice what she says down here
in her song in verse 46. And Mary said, my soul doth magnify
the Lord. What does magnify mean? Well,
literally it means to make larger. Those kids in school you know
about, and the rest of us have done this. Take a microscope,
you put something under the lens and you look at it, and it magnifies,
right? It takes something that's real
little, and it magnifies it and makes it bigger. Well now, we
can't make God bigger than he is. We can't add anything to
the glory of God. We can't add anything to his
largeness. He fills all things. So we can't
add anything in that sense. But by the grace of God, our
ideas of God are magnified. You see, we had low thoughts
of God. We think very highly of God,
but when the Spirit of God does a work of grace within us, then
all of a sudden we magnify the Lord. He becomes larger, not
in Himself, but He becomes larger to us. And we begin to have a
greater understanding of His attributes, of who He is, in
His holiness, in His justice, in His righteousness. in His
love and in His grace. Do you remember the days in your
unconverted state when you had low thoughts of God? And then the Spirit of God began
to work in you through the Word of the Lord. And all of a sudden
your ideas of God, they began to drastically change. And no
longer was God one who needed you, needed your assistance,
needed your help. He was no longer to you a needy
God, but before this great God, you were the needy one. That's
what happens. You see, as God is magnified
in your heart and in your soul, you must therefore be brought
low. By nature, we have low thoughts
of God and high thoughts of self. But when the spirit of grace
begins to deal with us, all of a sudden, self goes down. And
if self goes down, God goes up. It always works that way. And
she said, my spirit, my spirit, hath rejoiced in God my Savior,
this one whom I magnify." I magnify. And notice again, she did rejoice
in God her Savior. I'm certain she could also say,
I rejoice in God my Creator. I do, don't you? I rejoice in God my Creator. I rejoice in God my Provider. I rejoice in God, my guide. I rejoice in God, my friend. I rejoice in my God in each of
those offices that he bears. But as I become aware of my neediness
as a sinner and then of the greatness of who he is and then what he
did for me upon the cross of Calvary, then I rejoice in God,
my Savior. Notice she words it this way,
I rejoice in God, my Savior, not in the man, my Savior. Now our Savior must be man to
satisfy, to suffer, to agonize, to die, but he must also be God. He must be God. My spirit hath
rejoiced in God, my Savior. Who's your Savior? God is. God is. No one less than God
could do the job. No one less than God could satisfy
God. Oh, she needed God to be her
Savior. No one else can save. The issues
of life and death belong to God. She rejoiced in Him, who is God
her Savior, and then She blessed God, look at verse 48, for regarding
her. These are sweet words, too. Verse
48, for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. He hath regarded me. He didn't
have to. He wasn't obligated to, except
according to his own eternal purpose, of course. But there
was nothing in Mary, and I would say there's nothing in me that
he would look upon me with eyes of love. You see, what does it
mean to regard in this context? It means to look upon with care,
with love, with grace. He's looked upon me. He's looked
upon me with pity, with eyes of mercy. He's regarded my low
estate. He's seen what I am. He's seen
what I am. Sin has ruined me. Sin has brought
me low. He's regarded my neediness. I'm fallen in Adam. I'm a rebel
against God. I'm in league with Satan. I've
been believing lies, religious lies all of my life, and yet
God regarded me. He turned His eyes of grace toward
me. He regarded me. And then Mary
blessed God for His power. Look at verse 49. For he that
is mighty, he that is mighty hath done to
me great things. This salvation has got to come
forth from one who is mighty, from one who has all power. She
blessed God for his power in saving her. Oh yes, his power
in creation, providence, but especially in salvation. And
then she says this in verse 49. She says, holy is his name. She blessed God for his holiness.
That which caused Moses and Isaiah and Daniel to tremble caused
Mary to rejoice. because she saw very, very clearly
by faith that God in His holiness had provided a holy substitute
and sacrifice for sinners. See, holiness is seen in the
bloody death of the Lord Jesus upon the cross of Calvary. Let
our hearts bring forth praise to our God We have seen mercy
and truth met together. We have witnessed righteousness
and peace kissing each other. God is too holy to save without
a sacrifice. He's too holy to save without
satisfaction to his own justice. What is his name? His name is
holy. And then Mary blessed God for
his providence. Look what she says in verse 49.
For he that is mighty hath done to
me great things. Are you a believer? Answer in your heart before God. Are you a true believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ? When you think of your welfare,
your salvation, that relationship between you and God, is it based
upon anything that you've ever done? Well, you know it isn't. You know why we bless Him? One
of the reasons we bless Him? Because He's done to each of
us great things. He's done great things. You know,
everything that God does is great, isn't it? There are no little
things with God. Everything is great. What He's
done for me and to me is great. He's done great things to us. Mary blessed the Lord for all
of His providential dealings with her. Is he merciful? It's been in great mercy. Has
he saved with the arm of his salvation? It's a great arm of
salvation. And then look at this. She blessed
God for his unfailing help. Look at verse 54. She said, he
had opened his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy.
He is hopin' Israel, that is spiritual Israel, all of His
people. What does it mean, the word hopin'? It means that the Lord puts His,
the word hopin' means, it's like the Lord putting His hands under
you, and here you are laying prostrate at His feet, dead in
your trespasses and sins, and ever so tenderly He lifts you
up, and He brings you to Himself.
The Lord has opened me. He's put His arms around me,
and He's lifted me up, and He has embraced me as one of His
own. And then lastly, Mary blessed
God for His unfailing covenant faithfulness. Notice the last
statement of verse 54 and then verse 55. He did all this in
remembrance of His mercy. That is, of the covenant or the
counsel of mercy. And verse 55, as he spake to
our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. It's all a
result of his covenant. And this is the covenant of grace
in which we rejoice. This is the covenant when our
names were written down in the Lamb's book of life. This is
when grace was given us in this covenant, the covenant of grace. and all the things that he does
for us, and all the things that he still is doing for us is in
remembrance of his covenant of mercy. And you think about, take
this home with you. He regarded you in your lowest
state. He regarded you in your lowest
state. Thank God for His grace and for
His mercy. Lord, we are truly thankful for
this great salvation that we have in the Lord Jesus, our Savior. May the things that have been
spoken of this morning May they receive a warm welcome within
the hearts of these who listen. Oh Lord, thank you for regarding
us. Thank you that you have opened
us. You put your arms of grace, your
loving arms of mercy around us. You lifted us out from the miry
clay. You set our feet upon the rock,
Christ Jesus. You've established our goings.
All that we are and all that we anticipate to be, we owe,
oh God, to your grace given to us in Christ Jesus in that everlasting
covenant, that council of peace. We bless you and we thank you
and we ask these things for Christ's sake