We're going to observe the Lord's
table tonight. I have entitled the message for
this morning, Many Women. Now, why would I use that title?
Because at the cross, many women stood Far off, some closer, but
many women were at the cross. How many men? One, John. Many women, one man. All of the others were
in hiding while these women stood with the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 26 verse 56 says,
all the disciples forsook him and fled. Where was Peter? Where was Nathanael? Where was
Philip? Where was Andrew? In hiding,
scared to death. But many women were there Peter calls women the weaker
vessel, and indeed they are physically weaker, but here around the cross,
they seem to be stronger than the men. Many women. They stood, and that word stand
means much more than standing upright. We read, this is the
true grace of God wherein you stand. By faith, you stand. God is able to make him stand,
that brother that you're judging. God is able to make him stand. Why do you judge your brother?
Why do you set it not your brother? And the scripture says they stood
afar off, and that was also the posture of the publican in the
temple, wasn't it? He stood afar off, beating his
breast, And it appears that these women outnumbered the men. Turn
to Luke chapter eight. These are the same women described
here in Luke chapter eight that were around the cross. Verse
two. Luke chapter eight, verse two.
And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and
infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,
and Joanna, the wife of Chusa, Herod's servant, Susanna, and
many others, which ministered unto him of their substance. Now these women, and many of
them, I have no doubt that they outnumbered the men, followed
the Lord around just the way the 12 disciples did. and they
ministered to Him of their substance, and they believed like the disciples
that He was the Christ, the Son of the living God, and their
life was to follow Him around. And when it comes time for the
Lord to be nailed to the cross, the disciples were gone. Many women stood with Him. Some within hearing distance
of his voice. Now you think about this. We'll
first turn to John chapter 19. I want you to see this. Verse 25. John chapter 19, verse 25. Now they're stood by the cross
of Jesus. And remember who was around the
cross, those hardened Roman soldiers, the Jews who hated the Lord Jesus
and desired his death, the crowd who was crying, crucify him.
They were all there, but these women stood right there. Now they're stood by the cross
of Jesus, his mother, Can you imagine what she must have been
going through at this time? Probably in her 40s by now. And his mother's sister, Mary,
the wife of Cleophas, either her sister or sister-in-law,
and Mary Magdalene. They all stood at the cross in
the sense that they could hear what the Lord was saying. That's
how close they were because you'll remember that the Lord said,
to Mary, woman, behold thy son. And then he looked at John and
said, behold thy mother. John was the only disciple who
was there. Everyone else was in hiding,
but we read that many women were there. Some think that there
were actually four women at the cross, John's mother being included. There's another scripture that
seems to imply that, but John, in his typical modesty when he
writes, doesn't mention her, just like he won't mention his
own name. He always called himself that disciple that Jesus loved.
He didn't even mention that his mother was there. Now we know
for sure of three Marys that stood at the cross. Mary, the
mother of the Lord Jesus. watching her son nailed to a
cross and die. We read of Mary Magdalene, the
one out of whom the Lord cast out seven demons. She was under
complete demon possession, under the grip of evil, and could not
in any way deliver herself. Mary Magdalene. I think it's
interesting that Mary Magdalene is mentioned more than nine of
the 12 disciples in the New Testament. She was a very significant person
in the New Testament. Mary Magdalene, who's the first
one the Lord appeared to? Well, Mark tells us that he first
appeared to Mary Magdalene. He appeared to her before he
did John or Peter or any of those people. He first appeared to
Mary Magdalene. And then Mary, who is called
this title in Matthew chapter 28, the other Mary, the other
Mary. Three Marys. stood at the cross with the Lord
Jesus. And in these three women, I've
got three points. Mary, the mother of the Lord. We see in this woman, the grace
of grace. Mary Magdalene, the woman who
was possessed by seven demons and could not in any way deliver
herself from that under the complete power and grip of evil. In Mary Magdalene, we see the
power of grace. And in this third Mary called
the other Mary, I like that, the other Mary, we see the evidence
of grace. So there's the three points,
the grace of grace, the power of grace, and the evidence of
grace. We see that in these three women
standing by the cross. Mary, the mother of the Lord
Jesus Christ. standing at the foot of the cross
where her son had been nailed, watching him die. Turn to Luke chapter 1. Mary is experiencing what Simeon said to her some
33 years before. A sword shall pierce through
thine own soul also. Can you imagine the pain she
experienced at watching her son who she understood was the son
of God? Ladies, can you imagine what
you would feel like if the God of glory chose you to be the
bearer of his son. How would you feel if God chose
you to be the bearer of his son? Now remember, Jesus Christ had
to be born of a virgin. If he were not born of a virgin,
that means he would have Adam's sinful nature. Adam's seed. That cannot be. He was born of
a virgin and the scripture said, behold, a virgin 700 years before
it took place. Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14,
behold, a virgin shall be with child. Well, how can a virgin
have a child with God? Nothing shall be impossible.
And so God condescends. Look in Luke chapter one, beginning in verse 26. And in the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth
to a virgin, espoused, engaged 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 art highly favored. My marginal reading says much
graced. If God appeared to you and said
that holy son of God was going to be born of you, would you
not feel like you had been much graced? Much graced. And the angel came
in unto her and said, Hail, thou art highly favored. The Lord
is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast
in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel
said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor, grace,
with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call his
name Jesus, he shall be great and should 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 should be no end. Then
said Mary unto the angel, How should this be? Sing, I know
not a man. She was a virgin. 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. I love the way the angel almost
can't come up with a name for the Lord. He says 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 the
sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God,
nothing shall be impossible. Is anything too hard for the
Lord? But what I want us to particularly
pay attention to in verse 28, hail thou art highly favored, much graced. Now this word highly favored
is only found one other time in the New Testament. And you
can imagine how Mary must have felt. She knew she was a sinner.
People talk about Mary not being a sinner and so on. That's ridiculous. She was just as sinful as you
and I are. And she felt so humbled and amazed
that God would choose her to bear his only begotten and well-beloved
son. much grace. Now turn with me
to Ephesians chapter 1. This is the only other time this
word is used. And like I said, Mary is an example
to us of the grace of grace. The grace of grace. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 6. To the praise of the glory of
his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted. That's the exact same word as
highly favored. He hath made us accepted in the beloved. Now, the first
question that I have with regard to this verse is who is the us? He hath made us accepted in the
beloved. Who is the us? Am I included
in this us? Well, it's the same us that Paul
spoke of when he said, if God be for us, who can be against
us? If the us means every man without
exception, Some of those people end up going
to hell. That us is meaningless, isn't it? What if he did make
us accepted and we end up being damned anyway or being going
to hell anyway? That doesn't do anybody any good,
does it? So who is the us? He hath made us accepted. He hath made us highly favored. He hath much graced us. Who is the us? Look back up at verse 3 of Ephesians
chapter 1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us. The us is those
whom he hath blessed, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now the us are those
whom the Father has blessed with all spiritual blessings. Now
listen to me. If you're a believer, you have
all spiritual blessings right now. You can't get any more blessed than you are. Now blessing is
what God does. And people say, have a blessed
day and so on. Be careful how you use that word.
This is God's blessing. He hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings, justification, sanctification, redemption, adoption, calling,
faith, whatever blessing there is. He hath blessed us. with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ. This is where all God's blessings
are. They're in Christ. They're given for Christ's sake,
not because you deserve them. You don't earn a blessing. Oh,
I've been blessed by God. Well, you've been blessed by
God in Christ. Let's go on reading. And here's what these heavenly
blessings every believer possesses are. Verse four, according And
here's the first blessing he mentions. According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. Now the first blessing
he mentions is election. Being chosen, all elect means
is chosen. Being chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. Now let me just say something
about election. The elect love the election. Nobody else does. But the elect
love the election. I love that God chose me. And let me tell you why I love
this. Because I know that if He didn't choose me, I would
never choose him. I know myself well enough, I
think, to know that if God leads me to myself and doesn't do something
for me and choose me and cause me to believe, I know I'll never
choose him. And you know, the Lord said to
his disciples in John chapter 15, verse 16, you have not chosen
me, but I have chosen you. How's that line up with your
experience? I know that's so. Somebody says, well, we choose
him because he chose us. No, you don't. Lord said you
did not choose me, but I chose you. What a blessing to be chosen
by God before the foundation of the world. And you know you
don't deserve it. You know it's pure grace that
chose you. Don't you know that? What if
God had to look for some reason in you to choose you? If you
know yourself, you know there wouldn't be one. Now, if you
don't know yourself, you can find all kinds of reasons why
he chose you. But if you know yourself, you know, "'Tis not
that I did choose thee, for Lord, that could not be. My heart would
still refuse thee, but thou hast chosen me.'" What a blessing
of grace. Go on reading. Verse 4. According as he hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before him. Now what a blessing. Holy. Holy. That is what every believer is
in Christ Jesus. Holy. You saying you're holy? Yes, I am. If Christ died for
me, I am. Every believer is. Now, holiness doesn't know degrees. Here's a holy person, here's
a person that's a little more holy, and here's a person that's a
little less holy. That's a denial of what holiness is in the first
place. Every believer was chosen that he should be holy and without
blame. I can see so much to blame myself
for, but when God sees me, there's nothing to blame. It's called
justification. Christ put away my sin. They're gone. I have
perfect righteousness. Nothing to blame me for. Before Him, in love having predestinated
us, there's the love of God. What a blessing to have God love
you. Really love you. so much so that He predestinates
that you're going to be just like His Son. Now if I had the
power to predestinate somebody to be saved, I'd do it. But I don't have that power.
But He does. Now this is the grace of grace.
Mary, the grace of grace. She's Highly favored, she's much
graced, she's accepted and a beloved, and the acceptance and the high
favor that she has, every believer has. Mary's not more highly favored
than any believer, because every believer enjoys all these blessings. That we should be holy and without
blame before him in love having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ to himself. I'm a child. According to the good pleasure
of His will, or the will of His will. Why does God do this? Because
He wills to. That's the only reason that's
needed. He doesn't do this because He sees that I'm going to be
a certain way. No, He does it because He wills
to. Why does the Lord love you? Because He loves you. That's
just who He is. to the praise, verse six, to
the praise of the glory of His grace. Now, when I'm brought
into glory, it's gonna be to the praise of the glory of His
grace. I know that. I do know that. When I'm in heaven, I'm gonna
know that the only reason I'm there is His grace. Do you know that? Do you believe
that? Wherein He hath made us accepted
in the Beloved. This is my Beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. He hath made us accepted. He
hath graced us in the Beloved. Now here's what this means as
clearly as I know how to say it. All of my acceptance is simply
because I am in Jesus Christ. That's all of my acceptance.
All of God's favor toward me is for this one reason, because
I am in Jesus Christ. He hath made us, notice the strength
of that language, he hath made us accepted in the Mary, 16 years old, has the angel
come to her and tell her that she's going to have a baby, even
though she's a virgin. How can this be? The power of
the highest shall overshadow thee. One thing Mary understood,
this is grace. Grace. the grace of grace. It really is grace. Salvation really is all of grace. And every believer is just like
Mary. They've been much graced. They've
been made accepted in the Beloved. In the Beloved accepted am I. I can't get any more accepted,
I can't get any more loved, I can't get any more justified, I can't
get any more sanctified than I am right now in the Beloved. Mary, the mother of our Lord,
is a testimony of the grace of grace. Then we have Mary Magdalene. As I said, this woman is very
significant in the scripture. She's mentioned more in the New
Testament than nine of the 12 apostles. And she was the very
first one the Lord appeared to. I think that is of such significance. He didn't first appear to John
or Peter or James or any of the disciples. He first appeared
to Mary Magdalene. And the scripture says, She's
the one out of whom the Lord cast seven demons. And this woman was demon possessed. What all does that mean? I don't
know, but it's bad. She was under the complete control
of demons. Seven being the number of completion. That means she was under the
complete grip and control of wickedness and evil. And there's
nothing she could do to deliver herself. You know anybody else
like that? Somebody under the complete control
of sin and wickedness. And there's not one single thing
you can do. to deliver yourself. I know somebody
else like that. Mary Magdalene. There's been all kinds of theories
about this woman. Some think she was the woman
that was a sinner in Luke chapter 7. Some think she was a prostitute,
just given over to every kind of vice and wickedness. That
could be true, but the Bible doesn't tell us. All of that
stuff is speculation. But we know this about her. She
was under the complete dominion of demons. Seven. And the Lord cast those seven
demons out of her. I think it's interesting if you
read in the scriptures, no one that was ever possessed by demons
asked for mercy. Not one of them. When the Lord
would approach somebody and cast demons out, how did it begin?
What have I to do with thee, Jesus thou Son of the Most High
God? Have you come to torment me before
the time? Not one of them ever asked for
mercy. You remember even that Gadarene
Denmonic who was so demon possessed that the demons went into 2,000
pigs. When he came to the Lord at first,
he didn't come asking for mercy. What have I to do with thee,
Jesus thou Son of the Most High God? What connection is there
between me and you? Nothing. That's how they came. And she, like that man, was under
the complete dominion of sin. Mary Magdalene, the only thing
that could deliver her is the omnipotence of Jesus Christ. Now, what does omnipotence mean? power. Anything that Jesus Christ wills,
he has the power to perform it. Only omnipotent, omnipotent could
deliver one such as Mary Magdalene. I love the fact that Christ first
appeared to her before he appeared to anyone else. Now let's, let's
consider, we were thinking about the grace of grace in Mary, the
mother of our Lord. Let's consider the power of grace,
the power of grace. Now, when I talk about the power
of grace, the first thing I'm going to go to and thinking about
this is the power of choice. the power of choice. Christ chose
to be merciful to her. And there is an infinite difference
between his choice and our choice. We say things like, I choose
to do this. Oh, do you now? Do you now? I choose to not sin. I choose to be holy. I choose not to be sick. I choose to never die. I'm not
gonna die. I choose... What's your choice
mean? Absolutely, positively nothing. I choose to not catch a cold.
How's that gonna work? Our choice means nothing. You believe that? When he says, I choose, what
power is in his choice? You did not choose me, but I
chose you. And that is said to Mary Magdalene. What power there is in his choice. If he chooses you, His will is
such that He can make sure you're perfect in His sight. That's
the power of His choice. I've had people say to me, well,
I choose to do this, and I choose to do that, and I remember I'm
always thinking, oh, okay, okay, let's see, your choice is so
weak and meaningless and powerless, but if He, the power of His choice,
if He chooses you to be saved, you know what? You are saved.
Not you will be saved. His will is such that when He
wills it, it becomes past tense before it takes place. That's
how powerful His choice and His will is. He's God. He's not like
me and you. I think of the power that is
exerted in redemption. When He redeemed me on Calvary
Street, you know what He did? He made it to where my sin is
no longer. All the sin that I feel so guilty
about right now. Somebody says, you have sin in
your life? Do you have sin in your life? All the sin that I
feel so guilty about right now has been made not to be. When he had by himself purged
our sins. Made them not to be. You know, it's said that what power is involved in creating
something from nothing? That's how God created. He brought
into existence that which was not simply by an act of his will.
Only omnipotence can do that. Somebody said, you know, I'm
a creative person. Well, you've already got something to work
with. If you are, I'm glad you are creative. But God gave you that ability
to do that. He gave you the materials to
work with and all those things. Really, there's no such thing
as a created person. Only God can create. It takes omnipotence
to create. And it's also said that matter
cannot be taken away. Once matter's in the universe,
it's there for good. It can't be gone. It might change
forms. It might turn from wood to fire burning the ashes, the
energy goes up and the fire turned ashes but the matter is still
there somehow. Only omnipotence can make matter not to be. Now here's what the omnipotent
grace of Christ did. He made me to be what I was not. He made me justified. He made
me perfect. He made me righteous. This is
omnipotent grace. This is what Mary Magdalene needed.
Omnipotent grace. And He made my sins not to be
so that I stand before God without guilt. Are you ready to die? Well, I
am if what I said is just so. He made me without guilt, and
he made my sins not to be. What power is seen in regeneration?
You know, the same power used in raising Christ from the dead
is used in bringing a sinner to a new life, a life that was
not there before, a new heart. The same power that was used
in raising Christ from the dead gives life to a sinner dead in
sins. What power is involved in His
grace? You think of the power that's
involved in keeping me. The scripture says we're kept
by the power of God through faith and to salvation. You know the
reason why I haven't fallen away? Why I haven't gone back to the
world or whatever all that stuff means? There's only one reason.
It's because I'm kept. by the power of God through faith
unto salvation ready to be revealed at the last time. Now, we have
in Mary, the mother of the Lord, the grace of grace. We have in
Mary Magdalene, the woman who was possessed by seven demons
and couldn't deliver herself. We have the power of grace. What
power is involved in the grace? The power of God. The power of
God, this is far beyond any kind of human power, isn't it? And
then we have the other Mary. She demonstrates the evidence
of grace. Now, I want to know if I've been
given the same grace Mary has been given. I want to know if
he has exerted his mighty power, the power of his grace upon me.
How can I know? What is the evidence of grace? Now this Mary, the other Mary,
mentioned in John chapter 19, verse 25, she heard the Lord say on at
least three different occasions, I'm going to be crucified. I'm
going to be slain. Three days later, I'm going to
be raised from the dead. Even the enemies of the Lord
knew he had said that. We read in Matthew's account
where they said, the chief ruler said, we know that this deceiver,
while he was alive, said that he would be raised from the third
day from the dead. So we need you to put a watch
on the tomb, make it as sure as you can, because we know what
he said. The disciples heard these same words, same words
that Mary did. Well, Mary remembered these words.
She heard what had been said. And so when the Lord died and
when Joseph of Arimathea took his body down from the cross,
she followed. She wanted to find out where
it was he was being placed, where the sepulcher was. She followed
and she was there and watched, the scripture says. She watched,
those women watched where they lay. And on that Sunday morning,
you know who was back fairly early at the tomb? The other
Mary. Now did she know that the Lord
was going to be raised from the dead? Well, There's no reason
to think she didn't because I think of that, the woman who broke
the alabaster box of ointment and the Lord on the Lord's feet
anointed him and they criticized her for it. And the Lord said,
she did this to anoint my body for the bearing. She knew exactly
what she's doing. She heard what I said and she
was anointing my body for the bearing. She intelligently did
this. And so there's, I believe Mary,
believed that Christ would be raised from the dead. And she
was there waiting. Now, what is the evidence of
grace? There's one evidence. What if I said the evidence that
God has given you much grace? and that you've been highly favored
and that the power of his grace has been exerted in you. What
if I said the evidence of that is how holy you're becoming, how righteous you are, how much you've grown, how you're
living the Christian life. I said to the Sunday school class
this morning, one phrase you never find in the scripture is
living the Christian life. How are you doing living the
Christian life? I mean, that's the, is that the evidence of
God's grace to you, how holy you are, how well you're doing
and living the Christian life? The one evidence of God's grace
to you and me is faith. as many as were ordained to eternal
life believed. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, how can I know
that God has been gracious to me? That He's made me accepted
in the Beloved. That the power of His grace,
almighty, powerful grace has been exerted upon me. How can
I know? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? If you do, if your answer is
yes, I know I say this a lot, but let me say it again. I'm
not asking you if you know you're saved. I'm not asking you if
you know you're one of the elect. I'm not asking you if you've
been regenerated and born again. I'm not asking you anything but
this one question. What think ye of Christ? Do you believe he's God's Christ?
Do you believe he's the son of the living God? Do you believe
that whatever he does must be successful? Is your only hope that he died for you? That's
your only hope. Your only hope of being accepted
is for him to represent you before the Father. You've got nothing
else. You look only to Him. That's
called faith. And if you believe, yes, you've
had the same grace that Mary did, the grace of grace, the
same power of grace that Mary Magdalene had, the same evidence
of grace that Mary did. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. Now, Can I see that I'm justified? I remember justifications without
guilt. Can I see that I'm justified? No. I can't look at my life and
say, yeah, you're justified. You don't have any guilt. Faith
is the evidence that I'm justified. Can I see that I'm one of the
elect? Can I somehow get into heaven and read the Lamb's book
of life? No, I can't. What is the evidence that I'm
one of the elect? As many as were ordained to eternal life
believed. I do believe the gospel. I am
relying on the Lord Jesus Christ right now as everything in my
salvation. What is the evidence that I've
been redeemed? The evidence is faith. If you believe the gospel,
you've had, like Mary, the grace of grace. You've been made accepted. you have, like Mary Magdalene,
the power of grace, complete deliverance by what he did. May
the Lord give us this simple faith that these dear women had. And there's something I think
that is glorious about the fact that there were a bunch of women
there. Many women. One man. Many women. Let's pray. Lord, I ask that you would unite
our hearts together in this prayer that we might pray as one. Lord, we ask that We might be
just like these three Marys and know the grace of your grace
and the power of your grace and the evidence of grace. Lord,
we ask in Christ's name that you would create a new heart
within each of us. that believes your gospel and
that looks to your son only as everything in salvation. Oh Lord,
we yearn to be accepted in the beloved. We yearn to have your
power exercised over us that we might be delivered from our
sins and be made to look to thy son only. Lord, do this for us
and in us for Christ's sake. Bless the word that was preached. Lord, my words are feeble and
powerless and can accomplish absolutely nothing of any spiritual
benefit. So Lord, we ask that you would
be pleased to bless your word and make it effectual to our
hearts. In Christ's name we pray, amen.