Now, if you have your Bibles
open there to Luke chapter 1, this morning I want to talk to
you a little bit about Mary's song of praise. It begins in
verse 46 of Luke chapter 1. Mary's song of praise. Now, first of all, let me just
say a few words about this. You know, one of the saddest
things about this fallen human race is that it will always,
men and women will always seek in some way to corrupt and they
do it ignorantly to corrupt the word of God and the message of
the gospel and they do it several ways We read the scriptures from
Genesis to Revelation. This is a book of Christ, the
glory of Christ, the salvation that God has freely provided
for his people through Christ by his grace. The man will always
try to corrupt it with his philosophy and ideas. And it always involves
in some way, to some degree, at some stage, salvation by works. That's what man believes in some
way. I mean, even when he calls it
grace, it's a cleverly disguised system of works. You see, the
Bible teaches us plainly that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Paul said, of whom I am chief.
And that's the kind of people that need salvation. Christ didn't
come into the world. He wasn't born. He didn't live. And he didn't die and was buried
and rose again the third day for good people. He came for
sinners who cannot save ourselves. And that's the issue. His name
shall be called Jesus. Look there at verse 31 of Luke
1. Behold thou shalt conceive in
thy womb and bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name
Jesus. And then over in Matthew, Chapter 1 and verse 21, I'll
just read it to you. When it said that to Joseph,
Matthew interprets the name, Jesus. And he says it this way,
verse 21, for he shall save his people from their sins. That's
who salvation is for, sinners. Christ said, I came not to call
the righteous under repentance, but sinners. The Pharisees who
considered themselves righteous, they criticized the Lord for
consorting and eating with publicans and sinners. And he told them,
he said, well, that's the kind of people that the Savior come
to save. Those who are whole need not
a physician. They who are sick. The man wants to think more highly
of himself than he is. I know because I was there. Still
have to fight that. Even as a believer, still have
to fight that, don't you? That's part of that warfare of
the flesh and the spirit. We all think more highly of ourselves
than we are. We just really don't have any
idea of what we are in the eyes of a holy God. Isaiah got a glimpse
of it, didn't he? In Isaiah 6, when he saw the
Lord high and lifted up, his train filled the temple, and
he said, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. And he said, I'm
undone. I'm cut off. I'm alienated from
God. I have nothing to recommend me
unto God. I have no works to present to
God. He said I'm a man of unclean
lips. And keep in mind that the Bible
teaches that what comes out of the lips flows from the heart.
What Isaiah was saying there is I'm wretched and corrupt from
the inside out. I'm a man of unclean lips and
I dwell amidst a people of unclean lips. The whole human race fallen
in Adam, ruined in Adam. Secondly, man will corrupt the
word of God and corrupt the gospel with myth and tradition and legend. Boy, don't we know that this
time of year. A lot of myth, a lot of legend, a lot of traditions
of men. And some are innocuous, some
are harmless in a sense, but a lot of them go too far. And
I think that probably around this woman here, Mary, who is
the mother of the humanity of Christ. There's more mythology,
more legend, more lies told on her, not only this time of year,
but throughout the year, by false religion and anybody else other
than the Lord Jesus himself. Mariology. For example, they
call her the mother of God. She is not the mother of God.
She is not the mother of God. Now you may think I'm splitting
hairs this morning, but I'm not. First of all, God has no mother.
You had a mother. You have a birthday, don't you?
God has no mother and you don't have a birthday. I know we talk
about the birthday of Christ. We don't really know when it
is, but we're talking about His humanity exclusively there. God has no beginning and no end.
God cannot be created. So when we speak of his birth,
we're speaking of strictly of his humanity and Mary is the
mother of the humanity of Christ. In Genesis chapter 3, 15, it
was prophesied that the Messiah would be the seed of woman. Well,
here's the woman. But it's speaking of womankind
there. And she was the mother of his
humanity, his perfect sinless humanity. And it was a miraculous
birth. Look at verse 27. This is the
angel Gabriel came to her. said in verse 27, to a virgin,
this, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of
the house of David, the Bible says he was made of the seed
of David according to the flesh, and it says, and the virgin's
name was Mary. So she had not known a man. This
was a miraculous birth. She was, the humanity of Christ
was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit. And that's what was told her. And when she heard the good news
of the incarnation, listen to what happened. Look at verse
28. It says, And the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou
art highly favored. Now that word hail there is not
a term of worship. The hail Mary. That's what people
do when they hail Mary. They worship her. That's not
a term of worship. That's the same as saying rejoice.
Rejoice, Mary! That's what the angels are saying.
Rejoice, Mary, thou that art highly favoured. And she was
highly favoured. She's highly favoured in two
ways here. Number one, she's highly favoured by the grace
of God in her own salvation. We'll talk more about that in
a minute. She's highly favoured in that she was the human instrument
to bring the humanity of Christ, the incarnation, into being. The Word made flesh and dwelling
among us. She was the instrument that God
used. And so she was highly favored.
If you have a concordance in your Bible, it says she was graciously
accepted. That's a good way to put it.
Much grace. With thee, she said, the Lord
is with thee. Jehovah. Now the word Lord there
is Jehovah. That's Savior. What's that teaching
us? Mary needed a Savior. We'll look
back. He says, Blessed art thou among women. She was much blessed. And we don't want to diminish
that. I don't want for a minute to diminish the great and miraculous,
marvelous blessing that was put on this woman in that she was
chosen of God to be the human instrument. Verse 29 says, 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. Don't be afraid. You can imagine
how this scared her. But don't be afraid, he says,
you found favor with God. Verse 31, And behold, thou shalt
conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his
name Jesus. And I always make that point.
Joseph and Mary did not name this child. God did. Because
this child is the Son of God. And that name means something.
He shall save His people from their sins. Matthew recorded
on the next two verses. that his name shall be called
Emmanuel, which being interpreted as God with us. That's who Jesus
Christ is. He is God with us. He's not just
God. He's not just man. He's God with
us. He's God man. That's who he is. And so it says in verse 32, he
shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest. That's
the Messiah there. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. He's going to be the fulfillment
of all the prophecies and types and pictures of David on that
throne, the spiritual kingdom, the greater son of David. Not
an earthly throne, but a heavenly. Verse 33, He shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever. And you know there's some significance
there when the Lord, when He speaks of these prophecies being
fulfilled. And he uses certain names. Now
we know Jacob's name was changed to Israel. Israel meaning favorite
of God, the prince of God. And Jacob was an infamous sinner. And so what is emphasized here
is that he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. What
he's talking about is sinners saved by the grace of God. So
again, He didn't come to call the right... There's none righteous,
no, not one. There's none that do a good,
no, not one. That's man by nature. That's why we need salvation.
You see, if you're righteous in yourself, you don't need salvation. If you're good within yourself,
you don't need salvation. Now, I'm a sinner. I need salvation.
That's what the church is. It's a hospital for sinners.
It's not some kind of a religious country club for good people.
It's a hospital for those who are sick with sin, ruined, who
have a deadly disease. And that's what it's for. And
he says here in verse 33, and of his kingdom there shall be
no end. That means he's not going to fail. There's not going to
be any empty seats in heaven. not going to be anyone missing
all whom he redeemed he said all that the father giveth me
shall come to me and him that cometh me I will in no wise cast
out he said this is the will of him that sent me that of all
which he hath given me I should lose nothing but raise it up
again at the last day sin demanded his death for them his righteousness
demands their salvation verse 34 it says then said Mary unto
the angel how shall this be seen I know not a man she was a virgin
verse 35 and the angel answered and said unto her that the Holy
Ghost the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the power of the
highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born in you see this this that holy thing now
that's not a derogatory way of speaking of Jesus Christ It's
a way that sets forth His uniqueness. There's nothing like Him. No
one like Him. Who is Jesus Christ? No one like
Him. He's God-man, you see. And He
said, We shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.
Now, as you know in this, if you've read the whole thing,
you know that there's also the miraculous birth of John the
Baptist. that's foretold here, the forerunner
of Christ. Now John was not born in the
same way as the humanity of Jesus of Nazareth. You see, Christ
was born without the aid of man. John was not. John had a father
and a mother. His mother here's name is Elizabeth.
She was the older cousin of Mary. But she was in her old age. Look
at verse 36. Here's the miracle part of John's
birth. Look at verse 36. And behold,
thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old
age. Kind of reminds you of Abraham
and Sarah, doesn't it? When Sarah was like, what, 99,
98 or something, okay? Abraham was 100. Well, Elizabeth,
And her husband was named Zacharias. They were in their old age. And
she conceived in her old age. And it said this is the sixth
month with her. She was six months pregnant.
She was called barren before then. She had no children. Verse
37, for with God nothing shall be impossible. If God can save
a sinner and bring that sinner to life, He can do this. He can create a world. 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 Mary arose in those days. Now, here she's going to go to
Elizabeth. 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, her cousin. And it came to pass that when
Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her
womb. That's John the Baptist, leaped in her womb. Now, you
can speculate about that all you want. I choose not to. I
know people will go through that and they'll say, well, see there,
what happened to John? I had a fellow down south who told
me what happened to John happened to him. And I said, well, how
do you know that? Well, you know how babies kick
in the womb and how they do all that? Well, all babies do that. But I mean that's just silly.
There were all kinds of physical manifestations of these great
miraculous events. Not just this one. But you know
I mean think about the birth of Christ. Think about the star
that shone in the sky that led the wise men. They say there
were three. You know the only reason they
say there were three because there were three gifts. You know but we
don't know. Maybe more. I don't know. But the thing about
it is the wise men came from the east. And there was that
star. And think about what the shepherds
went through. All that, those were physical manifestations
of the glory of God in accomplishing these prophetic events in time. Think about the death of our
Savior. When He gave up the ghost, the sun was darkened and the
sky, it became dark. And how the veil in the temple
was torn in two from top to... Those were physical things. And
many of the dead, like Lazarus, rose out of the grave. like Lazarus
come forth. So don't be alarmed at these
physical manifestations, but don't try to develop some kind
of a theological position around them, because it's just not stated
here. This happened. Look at verse
41, it says, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. Verse 42,
she spake out with a loud voice and said, Blessed art thou among
women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, speaking to Mary.
Convinces this to me that the mother of my Lord should come
to me And she says in verse 44 for lo and see that speaking
of him as God man now again She's the mother of his humanity But
she can be called the mother of my Lord in the sense that
that she is the mother of his humanity He's the God-man. So for lo, as soon as the voice
of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in
my womb for joy. Verse 45, and blessed is she
that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things
which were told her from the Lord. Now here begins Mary's
song. And I want you to notice several
things about it. Number one, Mary sings praise
to the Lord for sending her a savior. Now listen to what Mary says
here. My soul doth magnify the Lord. She's worshipping, you
see. She's worshipping God. She's
not being worshipped. Mary's not to be worshipped.
Mary's not a mediator between God and men. There's one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Mary needed a mediator. And so she says, I magnify the
Lord. The word Lord there, remember
it's Jehovah, that's Savior, God my Savior. And she says it
in verse 47, and my spirit hath rejoiced, now I'll underscore
this, in God my Savior. Mary needed a Savior. Now who
needs a Savior? Sinners. You see, if Mary was perfect,
you know, some people believe that Mary was born perfect and
innocent, born of a miraculously, without sin, and never sinned
in her life. If that's true, then why is she
crying out, God, my savior? Only sinners need a savior. Mary
was a sinner saved by the grace of God. The very blood of the
one who was in her womb would be shed on Calvary's cross to
put away her sins. Mary had no righteousness but
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ who existed as God-man
in her womb at that very point. That's right. When He was made
sin, when the sins of His people were charged, accounted to Him,
Mary was part of that, her sins, my sins, the sins of His people.
When we're made the righteousness of God in Him, Mary was part
of that. This is worship and praise. This is the worship and praise
of one who's been born again by the Holy Spirit. Mary was
born dead in trespasses and sins, spiritually dead just like you
and me. When Christ looked at Nicodemus and said, you must
be born again, the same thing could be said of Mary. You must
be born again. So this is the worship and praise
of a born-again person who sees both her need of a Savior and
the glory of God in that salvation. My soul doth magnify Jehovah,
God my Savior. Who needs a Savior? Sinners.
Mary was a sinner, praising God as her Savior. Now that's something, isn't it?
That puts it in perspective. That doesn't diminish the blessing
that was put upon her. That doesn't diminish the favor
that she was given by God. Highly favored. That's what it
said. Blessed art thou among women,
Mary. She was blessed in such a way
that we can't even imagine. But the greatest blessing that
fell on this woman is the same blessing that fell on that old
publican who stood outside the temple and beat upon his breast
and said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. You see that? That's her song of praise. This
kind of praise comes from one who's highly favored, a sinner
saved by grace. Look at the next thing. Mary's
song of praise is praise to God for assuming human nature without
sin. Look at verse 32 again. He shall
be great. Luke 1.32, 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. You see
that? He shall reign over the house
of Jacob forever. She knew this was an eternal
kingdom. Somebody asked me last week, what do you think Mary
knew? Well, right here it tells us. And of His kingdom there
shall be no end. She wasn't looking for an earthly
kingdom here. Somebody said, well, she's the
queen of heaven. No, she's not. She's a citizen of heaven, just
like every sinner saved by the grace of God. Verse 34, then
said Mary 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 high shall overshadow
thee, and therefore also that holy thing. That's the sinless
humanity of Christ, the sinless God-man right there. That's a
term that could not be used for any other human being. But Christ, the God-man, which
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. She praised
Him for assuming human nature. Look over at verse 48. We'll read this again in just
a moment. She says, For he hath regarded the lowest state of
his handmaid, for behold, from henceforth all generations shall
call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done
to me great things, and holy is his name. This is holiness,
you see. Look over at Hebrews chapter
2 with me. This tells you, and there's other
passages we could go to, but this tells you why Christ had
to assume human nature, and it tells you why He had to be sinless
in every attribute of His being, both God and man. He was truly
in every way human without sin. And he remained so in himself.
Now he had our sins, the sins of his people, charged to him.
He was made a curse. We'll see that in just a moment.
But look at verse 14. Here's why he did it. Verse 14
of Hebrews 2. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood. Now who are the children there?
That's his people. That's God's elect. That's his
church. That's his sheep. Now who are
they? Flesh and blood. Isn't that what you are? Flesh
and blood. Now you're more than flesh and blood, but you are
flesh and blood. It says he also himself likewise
took part of the same. What? Flesh and blood. Why? That through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is the devil. He had to
assume flesh and blood. We have flesh and blood, but
we're born in sin. He assumed flesh and blood without
sin. His humanity. Why? To die. Because in his death
he would destroy the work of the devil. That's back in the
garden when the devil was instrumental in bringing the whole human race
down into condemnation. and the work of Christ on the
cross as the substitute of his people, the God man, his death
overturned that and justified every one of his people. Instead
of being condemned, in Christ we're justified, we're not guilty,
we're righteous in God's sight. He took our sins, charged him,
and he gave us his righteousness, charged us. And verse 15, and
deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage, that bondage is works religion, Because that's
all that is, it's bondage. If you have to work, listen,
salvation is dependent upon your works at any time, at any stage,
to any degree, that's bondage. And let me tell you something,
if you believe that and you think you've made it, that's self-righteousness. That's what it is. But we're
delivered from that bondage when we see the grace of God in saving
sinners like us. It's what Mary's stating back
there in her song of praise. God my Savior. Verse 16 of Hebrews
2. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Now we'll talk about the seed of Abraham in a minute. Wherefore
in all things it behooved him And that's a word in the original
language that means debt. He took upon him a debt. That's
what that literally means. That word is debt. It was put
to his charge. He became indebted. You see,
that's what sin does. There's several words for sin
in the New Testament. One of them has to do with running
up a debt. There's a debt against you. You
owe that debt to God's law and justice. We can't pay the debt. We're sinners, you see. That's
why we need someone to redeem us, to ransom us, to pay the
price, to pay the debt. And Christ paid the debt in full,
you see. So it behooved him to be made
like unto his brethren, his people, that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation,
or literally propitiation, that's satisfaction, means he paid the
debt for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered
being tempted, he is able to succor or comfort them that are
tempted. That's why he did all that. So Mary back here in Luke
1 now, she praises God for assuming human nature. We'll look back
here, look at verse 48 again, Luke 1. Here's the third thing.
She praised, gave praise to God for his particular distinguishing
grace. For he hath regarded the low
estate of his handmaid." In other words, he didn't come down here
and look for somebody who was worthy because of their goodness
or their righteousness, but the low estate. Now, some people
say, well, that just refers to her poverty. Well, that's part
of it. But here you have a picture of
the kind of people that Christ came to save. Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners. There's no lower estate than
that. And she says, for behold, from
henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. First, God chose
her before the foundation of the world for salvation in and
by the Lord Jesus Christ. And then secondly, God chose
her to be the mother of the humanity of Christ and she was blessed
of God in Christ. She was blessed because Christ,
that holy thing, was conceived in her womb by a supernatural
work of grace and power by God the Holy Spirit Here is the seed
of woman quoted back here from Isaiah
chapter 7 verse 14. Therefore the Lord himself shall
give you a sign. Talking to Israel there. And
here is the sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Telling Judah
actually that the Messiah is coming and here is how he is
coming. Mary is called blessed because of God's goodness to
her as the object of His grace. I'll tell you something, we who
are the objects of God's special love and grace, distinguishing
grace, we have reason to praise, sing His praises, worship God. We act like sometimes worshiping
God is a burden to us, as if it almost gets in our way. But it ought not be that way.
Think about this from your heart. This is the greatest privilege
that man has ever been blessed with on this earth. Look at verse
49 of Luke chapter 1. Here's the fourth thing. She
praised God for His great holiness. It says in verse 49, For He that
is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is His name.
You see, it's in light of the holiness of God that God the
Holy Spirit brings us to see our sin and our need of a Savior.
I mentioned it earlier, Isaiah. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. God is righteous. He must punish
sin. He cannot overlook it. He cannot
deny it. He cannot just pass over it.
God must be just when He justifies. Holy is His name. He must be
both a righteous judge as well as a loving Father and a merciful
Savior. We talk about God's love and
His mercy and grace, but not outside the context of His justice
and His righteousness and His holiness. Holy is His name. Holiness seen through the bloodshed
at Calvary is the most comforting thing in the world. Holiness
without Christ is the most terrible thing in the world. God's praise. That's what she's saying. I've
seen mercy and truth meet together. I've seen righteousness and peace
kiss each other. This one who was in her womb
is the Lord her righteousness. That's how Mary and any other
sinner who comes to God through Christ can approach God and be
accepted. forever and ever, accepted in
the beloved. It's through the blood of Jesus
Christ that we're washed clean from all our sins. It's through
His righteousness that we stand justified before a holy God. Outside of Him, there's nothing
but justice and wrath. Outside of Him, there's no love,
there's no grace, there's no mercy. If you want mercy, you
better come to the mercy seat. Right here, He's residing in
the womb of the Virgin, but He doesn't stay there. He must live. He must die. He must be buried. He must be raised again the third
day. He must ascend unto his father
to ever live to make intercession for us. Look at verse 49 again. Mary praises God for the great
things he has done. I love this. Listen to this.
He says, for he that is mighty hath done to me great things.
You see, Mary's talking about things that she didn't deserve
and didn't earn. This is grace, folks. This is
the power of God. And holy is His name, verse 50,
and His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. His mercy endures forever, the
psalmist said, over and over again. It's not a time thing.
There's no time limit on His mercy while we exist here on
this earth. Now, there'll be a time when the day of mercy
will be over. That's when Christ comes again.
There'll be no salvation then. But see, Mary's talking about
a God of mercy because that's what she needed, mercy. Verse
51, He hath showed strength with His arm. Anytime the Bible talks
about God's arm, it's talking about His power. He's omnipotent. He hath scattered the proud in
the imagination of their hearts. That's the self-righteous. Verse
52, He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted
them of low degree. He's the Savior of sinners. He's
the Savior of wretches. That's what He is. Verse 53,
He hath filled the hungry with good things. Christ said in Sermon
on the Mount, Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled. Well, God has filled the hungry
with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty away. You
see? Those who are rich before God in their religion, in their
self-righteousness, in their supposed self-proclaimed goodness,
He sends away. But those who come in their true
character as sinners seeking mercy, He fills with good things. That's the power of the Holy
Spirit to give life. Now you think about this. Certainly
the incarnation and birth of Christ is a powerful work of
God. And I'm sure she has that in mind. But it's not the incarnation
as an end in and of itself so that we can have a good time
one day a year one day. It's been like three months.
But think about it. It's not the incarnation in and
of itself as an end in and of itself, but as the goal of that
incarnation, which we read about in Hebrews 2, which is the salvation
of God's people. Mary praised God because she
saw clearly that God in His holiness had provided a holy sacrifice,
a Savior. God's love provided what His
holiness and justice demands. Over in Psalm 22, the psalm of
the cross, let me read you this. You know, that's the psalm that
starts out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Christ
quoted that on the cross to show the fulfillment of that in His
redemptive work on Calvary to save His people from their sins.
Let me show you how it ends. Psalm 22 and verse 30. Listen
to this. It says, a seed shall serve him. That's his generation. It shall
be accounted to the Lord for a generation. That's his children.
They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people
that shall be born that he hath done this. Mary's praising God
for the great work he's done. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
not of man. It's not of Mary. It's not of
the saints. It's of Christ. Oh, that men
would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful
works to the children of Israel. Well, one last thing. Mary gave
praise to God for His unfailing help. Look at verse 54 of Luke
chapter 1. He hath hopened. That means He's
helped His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy as He
spake to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. That
word hopin' means to place one's hand under the fallen prostrate
one and lift him to his feet. Like Hannah's prayer, he lifts
the beggar off the dung heap. Not only does he save us by his
grace, but he keeps us by his grace. But think about this. Turn to Galatians chapter 3. We'll conclude with this. She
spoke of Abraham's seed there. He fulfilled that promise to
Abraham and to his seed forever. What is Abraham's seed? Who is
Abraham's seed? Well, here in Galatians 3, look
at verse 13. He says, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. That's
our substitute, Christ, who went under the curse of the law for
our sins, the sins of His sheep, imputed, charged to Him. where
it's written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. Now why
did he do it? Verse 14. That the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. Now that tells
you something there. It tells you that the seed of
Abraham is not just the physical Jewish nation. Because Gentiles
are not a part of that physical Jewish nation. You see, Abraham
had a physical seed. I actually had two physical seeds.
You could talk about the people of the nation Israel, but you
could talk about Jesus Christ and his humanity because he was
born of the seed of Abraham, and I'll show you that in just
a moment. But he has a spiritual seed. But look at this. He said that the blessing of
Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we
might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Now,
what's the promise of the Spirit? That's salvation by Jesus Christ. And how do we see that? Through
God-given faith. And he says, Brethren, I speak
after the manner of men, though it be but a man's covenant, yet
if it be confirmed, no man disanoth, or addeth to. Now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. Now listen to this. To
Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He said, and not
unto seeds, plural, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed
which is Christ." Christ is Abraham's seed. But Christ is not a private
person. Christ is a representative. He's
a substitute. He's a surety. He's a savior
of a nation, His people. What nation? The physical nation?
No. A spiritual nation. Now jump
across to verse 26. You can read the verses in between,
but look here. For you are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. You see that? For as many of
you as have been baptized into Christ, that means united to
Christ, that's not talking about water baptism, have put on Christ,
if you've been united to Christ, you'll believe on Him, there's
neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free, there's
neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ, if you
belong to Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according
to the promise. When we think about Mary's song
of praise, we can think about the woman's seed, Christ Jesus
himself, the lamb provided, but we can also think about the blessings
of grace that come upon all his seed, his generation, his people, who were fallen in Adam, ruined
in Adam, who were redeemed by the blood, and who will be regenerated
by the Spirit, kept by the power of God, brought unto glory with
Him.