I thought about when Don wrote
this, he was looking forward to being with the Lord. This
is such a good hymn that he doesn't have to look forward anymore.
This is not just words on paper. This is his and so many of the
dear saints that have gone on before. This is their reality
looking upon Christ. Turn with me please for our scripture
reading today to the book of Luke chapter 1. We'll begin our reading in verse
26 of Luke chapter 1. And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
to a virgin a spouse 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 are highly favored.
The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled, it is saying, and cast
in her mind what manner of salutation This should be. And 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 shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great. He 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. Then said Mary unto the angel,
How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered
and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth,
She hath also conceived a son in her old age. And this is a
six month with her who was called barren. For with God, nothing
shall be impossible. And Mary said, behold, thy handmaid
of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed
from her. 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. Whence is it to me that the mother
of my Lord should come to me? That's an amazing verse. And
lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ear,
the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that
believeth, for there shall be a performance of those things
which were told her from the Lord. And Mary said, My soul
doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my
Savior, for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
And he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy
is his name. And his mercy is on them that
fear him from generation to generation. He has showed strength with his
arm. He has scattered the proud in their imaginations of their
hearts. He has put down the mighty from their seats and exalted
them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with
good things, and the rich hath he sent away empty. And he hath
opened his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. And
he spake to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. And
Mary abode with her about three months and returned to her own
house. This is an incredible story that
we have just read, how that an angel from God came to a young
woman. We're told her name was Mary.
And he told her of things that were to come to pass. And this
is one of the most shining examples of God's election. How he chose
this one to be the mother of his only begotten son and left
all the others in anonymity. Not because anything was special
about Mary, but simply because it seemed right in his eyes.
And further, it's an example of what Paul told the Corinthians,
how that God uses the nobodies of this world to accomplish his
purpose. Now, human thinking would be
that if God was going to come to this earth, he would certainly
be born into royalty, be born in a king's house instead of
a stable. But God's thoughts are not our
thoughts, so he chooses a young virgin of no reputation at all,
no lineage to be proud of, to be the mother of his only begotten
son. And we're told that this angel's
name was Gabriel. He's only mentioned four times
in all of scripture, twice in the book of Daniel and twice
in this first chapter of Luke. And several months before he
comes to Mary, he pays a visit to the future father of John
the Baptist. We read about this earlier. in
chapter 1. We won't read it for sake of
time. But he tells Zacharias that he, Gabriel, stands before
God and that he's there to tell him of good tidings, of glad
tidings, and to show him the things that were to come to pass. And he also tells Zacharias that
even though his wife Elizabeth had been barren her entire life
and was well past childbearing age, that they were going to
have a son. Then six months later, we read
of where Gabriel pays another visit to Earth, this time to
the city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a young virgin, espoused to
Joseph. Now this entire first chapter
is an incredible story full of God's goodness demonstrated to
undeserving sinners. But of all these verses that
we just read, I want to focus on two in particular. I want
to read them again, verse 32 and verse 33. Speaking of Christ,
He shall be great, and He shall be called the Son of the Highest,
and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father
David. He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of
His kingdom there shall be no end. I've titled this message,
Five promises to Mary concerning her son. But these promises were
not made exclusively to Mary. They are made to every one of
God's chosen people. So let's look at these one by
one. Promise number one, speaking of our Lord. I know when men
come to preach here, I exalt them to brag on Christ. And that is what I'm going to
try to do today, if the Lord will enable me. Promise number
one that we find, he shall Be great. Great means having exceptional
knowledge, experience, or skill in a particular field of endeavor.
Adept, proficient, accomplished, masterful. All which describe
in detail our Lord Jesus Christ. Many times in the Psalms we find
David writing about how great our God is. He just is lost for
words, so he continues to use this word great Let me read a
few of those. Psalm 147.5, Great is our Lord
and of great power. His understanding is infinite. He is of great power. That power
that our Lord told His disciples in Matthew 28 was all given to
Him. Psalm 77.13, Thy way, O God,
is in the sanctuary. who is so great a God as our
God. Many verses in God's Word tell
us this very thing. Jeremiah 10, 6, For as much as
there is none like unto thee, O Lord, thou art great, and thy
name is great in might. Psalm 95, 3, For the Lord is
great and a great King above all gods. Another psalm tells us, Great
is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is
unsearchable. That is so far beyond our ability
to understand is the greatness of our God that we worship and
adore. He tells us that His thoughts
are not our thoughts, but He instructs us that no matter
how much we seek to understand His doings, We are completely
incapable of even the slightest understanding of his thoughts.
We're giving some insight into his thoughts in the word that
we have before us. But for us to say that we understand
them is a gigantic presumption. We just read that his greatness
is unsearchable. Paul told the Romans this in
chapter 11 of his letter to them in verse 33. Oh, the depth of
the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how
unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. Try as we may, it is not going
to happen. And as the Lord is great, so
also are his mercy and his grace toward his chosen people. Psalm
108, for thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth reacheth
unto the clouds. David here states that as spectacular
as the stars in the night sky are, they pale in comparison
to the greatness of God's mercy toward sinners. We stand in awe
of the fact that we look up in that sky and look at a universe
that of all the satellites and all the technology that man has,
they've yet to find the edges of this universe and they never
will. But we stand in awe looking at those stars that our God spoke
that into being. But much more, we stand in awe
of the magnitude of His unimaginable mercy toward us in Christ. Psalm 117, 2, For His merciful
kindness is great toward us, and the truth of the Lord endureth
forever. His merciful kindness that lovingly
brings us to a saving knowledge of Himself. Psalm 119, 156, Great
are Thy tender mercies, O Lord, quicken me according to Thy judgments.
Not just mercies, but they're called tender mercies. How He gently deals with His
lost wandering sheep, how He's pictured as pursuing them, finding
them, putting them on his shoulder, and returning them to the foal.
Psalm 31, 19, O how great is thy goodness, which thou hast
laid up for them that fear him. Not just goodness in this life,
but eternal goodness laid up for us to enjoy forever. Psalm 86, 13, I particularly
like this one. For great is thy mercy toward
me, For thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell." Delivered us from an eternal
horror that is too terrible for the mind to imagine. David calls
it the lowest hell. And Psalm 126.3 tells us this,
The Lord hath done great things for us whereof we are glad. And what great things has He
done for us? If we stayed here for the next couple of days,
I could probably get a good start on listing those things that
our Lord has done for us. But it would be impossible for
me to list them all, because the thing is, we don't even know
most of the things that our God has done for us. Things that
we'll never know in this life, but perhaps our Lord will reveal
them to us in eternity. Things that were done long before
we were ever born. done for us, how the generation
after generation after generation, all the way back to our father
Adam, our ancestors and forefathers were kept alive through perilous
times, through disease, through plagues, through war, so that
that lineage would not be broken and we would one day be born
and later be brought to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Promise number two that we read, he shall be called the son of
the highest, not a son of the highest, but the son of the highest. God, our father, we know only
has one begotten son. But thankfully, God, the father
has an innumerable number of adopted sons. Those chosen in
the begotten son before this world ever was spoken into being.
Now, when we talk of the elevation of mountain peaks in this world,
there's only one that can be the highest. Others may come
close, but there's only one that is the highest, not so with our
God. When he is called the highest,
it doesn't mean that there's others that are almost as high. It's telling us that there is
no being in this universe equal to him in greatness and power
and majesty and in glory. Because the scriptures tell us
that there is no God like unto our God. Our God is the highest
in holiness. In First Samuel 2, 2, it reads,
there is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee,
neither is there any rock like unto our God. Our God is absolutely
holy beyond our comprehension. He is the highest in holiness. meaning that He will not overlook
sin. Yet, because we read so many
times that He is a great God, He has purposed a way to be both
just and the justifier of him that believeth on Christ. Turn
over to Micah with me. This is so wonderfully declared
in the last few verses of the book of Micah. It's a small little
book near the end of the New Testament. A minute to find it. Book of Micah chapter 7. We're talking about the highest,
the holiness of our God. But in Micah chapter 7, starting
in verse 18, we read this. This is one of my favorite passages
in all of God's Word. Who is a God like unto thee?
that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage. He retaineth not his anger forever.
Why? Because he delighteth in mercy. God gets delight, immense satisfaction
of showing mercy to worthless sinners. The verse continues,
he will turn again, he will have compassion upon us, he will subdue
our iniquities, and thou will cast all their sins into the
depth of the sea. Thou will perform the truth to
Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old. So as our God is the highest
when it comes to holiness, he is also the highest when it comes
to mercy. Now, if you study all the religions
of this world, you will find that the God of those religions
all demand that those followers do something in order to obtain
entry into whatever utopia it is that they promise. Throughout
the ages, these gods have demanded strict obedience. sometimes even
demanding the sacrifice of one's children. Not so with our God. Is it any wonder that Micah asked
in amazement, Who is a God like unto thee? Our God is not a God
who demands that we sacrifice our children. He is a God who
sacrificed His own child. And what's amazing is He sacrificed
Him for a bunch of worthless sinners. There is absolutely
no other God after this manner. All the other gods motivate their
followers with fear, fear of punishment. But our God motivates
his followers with promises of mercy, of goodness, and of blessings
beyond our imagination, a promise of rest from all of our labors. This is what makes our God the
highest among all gods. There is none that can compare
with Him in power, in greatness, in mercy, in love, in holiness,
in majesty, in righteousness, and in grace. He is indeed the
highest of all gods, and He is our Savior, the Son of the Highest. Promise number three that we
find here in Luke chapter one. The Lord God shall give unto
Him the throne of His father, David. Now we know that the Lord
Jesus Christ was not the actual son of David, but many times
in the scriptures, the Lord Jesus Christ is called the son of David. The book of Matthew begins with
these words, the book of the generations of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham. And as the Lord was
writing into Jerusalem in Matthew chapter 21, verse nine records
this, and the multitudes that went before and that followed
cried saying, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he that
cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Blind Bartimaeus, we find, cried
out to the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou Son of David, have mercy
upon me. Romans 1.3 declares that Christ
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, which
means that he was a descendant of David, but not his actual
son. There is actually 28 generations
between David and the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, yet He
is still called the Son of David. In Isaiah 9, if you'd like to
turn over there or just listen as I read it. Isaiah 9, verses
6 and 7. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government
and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and
upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment
and justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the Lord
of hosts will perform this. This verse describes how God
the Father will give to his son the throne of David, as promised
to Mary in our text. And in Jeremiah 23, we read a
similar promise. It says, Behold, the days come,
saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch,
capital B, and a king, capital K, speaking of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute
Judgment and justice in the earth the same two words that we just
read in Isaiah 9 judgment and justice in verse 6 continues
in his day Judas shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. This is the name whereby he shall
be called the Lord our righteousness. Jeremiah 33 17 tells us David
shall never want he shall never lack A man to sit upon the throne
of the house of Israel, that throne of David that is established
forever. Turn over with me to the book
of 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7. I'm going to begin reading in
verse 29 and skip through some verses down to verse, or I'm
sorry, I'm going to begin reading in verse 5 and skip down through
verse 29. I won't read all these verses
for sake of time. But here in 2 Samuel chapter
7, we find the Lord speaking to David himself through the
prophet Nathan. And beginning in verse 5, we
read this. God told Nathan, go and tell
my servant David, thus saith the Lord. Shall thou build me
a house to dwell in? Whereas I have not dwelt in any
house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out
of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and a tabernacle. Verse 10. Moreover, will I appoint
a place for my people Israel and will plant them that they
may dwell in a place of their own and move no more. Neither
shall the children of wickedness afflict them anymore. Verse 12,
And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy
fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed
out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. And he
shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne
of his kingdom forever. Verse 16, And thy house and thy
kingdom shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne
shall be established forever. Verse 24. For thou hast confirmed to thyself
thy people Israel to be a people unto thee forever, and thou,
Lord, art become their God. And now, O Lord God, the word
that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his
house, establish it forever and do as thou hast said. Verse 29,
Therefore, now let it please thee to bless the house of thy
servant, that it may continue forever before thee. For thou,
O Lord God, hast spoken it, and with thy blessings let the house
of thy servant be blessed forever. These verses, of course, speak
both of the physical house of David and the spiritual house
of David, that everlasting kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. In
the last words of this chapter, David said, the house of thy
servant be established forever. And indeed it shall, because
promise number four that we find here in the book of Luke concerning
Mary's son is this, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob
forever. This is spoken of in Isaiah 10,
starting in verse 20. And it shall come to pass in
that day that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped
of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon them
that smote them, but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of
Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even
the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. Many times the chosen
people of God are called a remnant. Romans 11 five. Even so, at this
present time, also there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. We just read in Micah, who is
a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage. The imputed righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ toward his remnant is spoken of in Zephaniah
3 13. The remnant of Israel, listen
to the wording of this. The remnant of Israel shall not
do iniquity nor speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found
in their mouth for they shall feed and lie down and none shall
make them afraid. This can only be referring to
a people who have been made righteous by an imputed righteousness of
the Savior because those described here cannot be so in and of themselves,
no man or woman possibly can. And we know from numerous verses
in the Scripture that this house of Jacob is the house of the
elect, the true church of God, the holy Israel, the bride of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 41, I want to look over
there, Isaiah 41. I know we're looking at a lot
of scriptures, but I want you to, as Don used to say, I want
you to see this. Isaiah 41, starting in verse 8, we'll read
through verse 14. Speaking of the house of Jacob,
But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the
seed of Abraham, my friend. Thou whom I have taken from the
ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof,
and said unto thee, Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee,
and not cast thee away. Fear thou not, for I am with
thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee. Yea,
I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with
the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all that are incensed
against thee shall be ashamed and confounded. They shall be
as nothing, and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shall seek them and shall
not find them, even them that contended with thee. They that
war against thee shall be as nothing and as a thing of naught. For I, the Lord thy God, will
hold thy right hand saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee. Fear not, thy worm Jacob, and
ye men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." And our God makes
this promise in Malachi 2.6, For I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Aren't you glad? And God promised the mother of
our Lord Jesus Christ. He promised her that our Lord
would rule over this house of Jacob, his chosen bride forever,
which ties in with promise number five that was made to Mary. Of his kingdom, there shall be
no end. Now, when our Lord promises eternal
life to his people, he can do so because his kingdom has both
no beginning and shall have no end. As the God that we serve
is eternal, so is his kingdom. It only stands to reason. Now,
every earthly king, as great as they thought they were at
the time, had a start to their reign and a finish to their reign. They come and they go. History
is littered with the remnants of great kingdoms. Babylon, that
once magnificent city, so incredible that it was listed as one of
the wonders of the ancient world, is now nothing but ruins covered
in sand. And all of these great empires
of the past are but a memory, a footnote in the history books. But this man, The Lord Jesus
Christ sits on an eternal throne, seated at the right hand of the
majesty on high. We already read in Isaiah 9 of
how there will be no end to the increase of his government, of
his rule. Daniel chapter 2 verse 44 also speaks of the kingdom
of our Lord and Savior. It says this, And in the days
of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which
shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be
left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume
all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. David knew that
the kingdom of our God was an eternal kingdom when he wrote
the last word of Psalm 23, and I will dwell in the house of
the Lord forever. You cannot dwell in a house forever
if it is not an eternal house, a house that has no end. So like
every other promise found in the word of God, these promises
that were made to Mary and that were made to us stand sure. He shall be great. He shall be
called the son of the highest. And the Lord 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. Now, before I close, I want to
speak a word to those of you that have not yet been given
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. I know there's many that are
listening over streaming and that will hear this message in
the future. And some of those that hear it
may be yet without faith. And as those promises that we
looked at in God's Word stand sure, There are also many promises
in God's Word that stand sure, but those promises do not have
to do with mercy and goodness. They have to do with judgment
and justice. With wrath and with a terror
that cannot be imagined, when our Lord walked the earth robed
in human flesh, He spoke much. of the wrath of God. He told
us in John 3.36, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not on
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Dear soul, if you had Any idea of what awaits the damned, you
would not be able to function in your day-to-day life. The scriptures describe a place
of unimaginable torment, a lake of fire, a place where
men and women pray for a death that will never come. As I said, the horror of this
place is beyond any imagination of the human mind. And the most
dreadful thing about it is that it will never end. Ten million
years in this place is the first second of eternity. Once there, there is no escape.
These poor souls are without hope. They have nothing else
to look forward to. that eternal suffering. But here's
the good news, Moss Manor woman, there is yet hope to be found
as long as you are breathing God's air. This man that I've
been talking about, this man called Jesus Christ, was called
that because we're told he shall save his people from their sins. This man is described as mighty,
to say there is no sinner so far gone that the power and grace
of this man cannot reach that sinner and redeem him or her. But you need to understand this,
lost man or woman, your eternal fate is not in your
hands. It's not up to you making a choice
to accept Jesus as your personal Savior. You need to understand
that your very eternal soul is in the hands of a God who is
completely sovereign. He can give you the gift of faith
or He can leave you in your willful unbelief to perish forever. It is not up to you, it is up
to Him to show you mercy. But there is one thing that you
can do if God will give you grace to do so. You can cry out in
your heart as many did when the Lord walked this earth, Have
mercy on me. If you will, you can make me
clean. And maybe, just maybe, our God
who delights in mercy will show you mercy. As that on Him I can
but perish if I go, I am resigned to try. I ask that the Lord will bless
His Word. Billy, come lead us in a song, please.