Luke chapter 1 verse 39. I want to bring a message from
verse 39 down to verse 45. Verse 39 down to verse 45 of
Luke chapter 1. And I'm entitling the message
from the words that Elizabeth declares being full of the Spirit
of God. Down in verse 45, she says, blessed
is she that believed. For there shall be a performance
of those things which was told her from the Lord." Salvation
is based upon a performance. Not yours, His. The Lord's performance. He has performed all things for
me. Now we could entitle the message,
The Lord's Performance. But instead, I've entitled the
message, Blessed is the Believer. Blessed is the believer. Remember
the words of Elizabeth's son, the baby that she's carrying
here that leaped in her womb. Remember the message of Elizabeth's
son, his name was John the Baptist. He was also filled with the Holy
Spirit from the womb. And he writes over in John chapter
3, if you want to turn over there with me, he writes about the
blessedness of being a believer. In John chapter 3, these are
the words of God's prophet, speaking the words that God would have
us hear. In John 3 verse 36, verse 35, The Father loveth the Son, and
hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life. That's the blessedness of the
believer. And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life.
but rather, but the wrath of God abides on him." Now you see
the blessedness of being a believer? A believer has eternal life in
the Lord Jesus Christ. What a great privilege it is
to be so blessed of God, to not only to hear the gospel, but
to be given ears to hear it, and a heart to believe it, and
receive it in the heart. It's a privilege. that God gives
His people to believe the gospel of God concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ. It says there in verse 39 of
Luke 1, Mary, Mary, this is the lady that conceived the body
that the Lord Jesus Christ would inhabit, Mary the virgin. The power of God overshadowed
her and she conceived and brought forth a son. Mary arose in those
days and went into the hill country with haste into a city of Judah. And she entered into the house
of Zacharias and Elizabeth. Now, Elizabeth is her cousin.
Whether they were first cousins, second, third, or fourth, I don't
know, but they were family. And it came to pass that when
Elizabeth heard the salutation, the greeting of Mary, that the
babe leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the
Spirit of God. After Mary had received the good
news of the coming of the Messiah through her body, she could not
wait to share that good news with her cousin, Elizabeth. And she said, the Messiah is
coming. The Messiah is coming. Now, you
know how anxious you are yourself when you hear something that's
just such good news. I mean, it's just such good news.
What do you like to do? Well, the first person you run
into, you say, you know what I heard today? You want to tell
somebody the good news that you have heard. And Mary here seeks
out her cousin, Elizabeth, and she says, the Messiah is coming,
the long-awaited Christ of God, the Messiah is coming. It reminds
me of this scripture that we read recently, don't turn if
you don't want to, but over here in John chapter 1, when the Lord
Jesus Christ found Philip in John 1.43, the day following
the Lord Jesus would go forth into Galilee and find the Philip
and saith unto him, you follow me. Now notice the Lord found
him. Now, Philip was of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter. And Philip finds Nathanael and
says to him, We have found him. Now, who found who? But he said,
We found him of whom Moses and the law and the prophets did
write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. You see, it was
good news to him, wasn't it? Oh, he couldn't wait to tell
it. And that's like Mary. The Messiah is coming. The Christ
is coming. Nathanael said unto him, Can
there any good thing come out of Nazareth? And Philip said,
You just come and see. You just come and take a look
at this. Now, we see here in verse 39 down to verse 41, here's
my first point I want to make. We see the blessedness of the
believers' communion with one another. The believers' fellowship
with one another. These two women, Mary and Elizabeth,
We're so blessed of God, so blessed of God. Elizabeth was a very
old woman, stricken in years, you remember? In verse 7 it says,
back in this same chapter, they had no child because Elizabeth
was barren. They were both well now stricken,
well stricken in years. Elizabeth a very old woman, Mary
a very young woman, but both received salvation by the grace
of God. Both believed the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Both rested in the Lord Jesus
Christ for all of their salvation. Our Lord prayed this in John
17, "...this is eternal life, that they might know Thee, the
only true God, Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." You see,
this is how salvation is received. Whosoever believes that Jesus
is the Christ, he's born of God. Faith does not accomplish salvation. Faith received the Lord Jesus
Christ who did accomplish salvation. That's the faith of God's elect
being justified by faith. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Elizabeth and Mary. Elizabeth
was very old, Mary very young, maybe in the prime of her years,
no doubt. Seemingly, they would not have much in common. Naturally,
probably true. But they had much in common spiritually,
and they enjoyed communion and fellowship together, rejoicing
in the Lord's mercy extended to them. They both believed God,
and they sought one another's company and fellowship, and they
rejoiced in the Lord Jesus Christ. Their fellowship was more than
just being my cousin. Their fellowship was among a
fellowship of faith. Their communion was a communion
of grace through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. This fellowship
among believers, one old writer said this, The fellowship among
believers, isn't it so sweet? Hey, it is so sweet. You know,
it's closer than family relationship. It's closer than brother and
sister naturally. One old writer said this about
this fellowship among believers. It's the nearest approach that
we can make on earth to joy in heaven. fellowship around the
gospel, a fellowship and communion of believers around the gospel.
Someone said, let us first seek the face of God in Christ. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God, and then let us seek the face of those who are believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who believe the gospel
are blessed. They have all things, think about
this, they have all things in common. Those who are believers
have all things in common. It says that in Acts chapter
2 and Acts chapter 4 that the early church, they had all things
in common. What did they have in common?
What do believers have in common? What do we have in common? Turn
to Titus chapter 1. The book of Titus chapter 1. That's not the scripture I want
right now. I'll get to that in a minute.
Turn to Jude chapter 1. That's the one I want. Jude chapter
1. What is it that we have in common?
Right before the revelation, Jude chapter 1, verse 1. Jude,
the servant of Jesus Christ, the brother of James, to them
that are sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Christ Jesus
and called, mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied.
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation. What do we have in common? Salvation. We have the same salvation believers
do by the sovereign purpose and grace of God in Christ. The common
salvation which it was needful for me to write unto you and
exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith that is
once delivered unto the saints. The common salvation that we
enjoy is Christ Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
That was Simeon's hope. Turn to Luke chapter 2. He remembers
Simeon waiting for the consolation of the Lord, waiting for the
coming of the Messiah. And he took that eight-day-old
baby that came into the temple, was brought to be circumcised
in Luke chapter 2 verse 28, then took him up in his arms and blessed
God and said, Lord, now let us, thy servant, depart in peace
according to thy word. mine eyes have seen thy salvation."
All believers have the same salvation and it's by the grace of God
in the Lord Jesus Christ and we receive it by faith. There
is salvation in no other, is there? The Lord said, I am the
way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the Father but
by and through me. Now the book of Titus. Turn over
there to Titus chapter 1. Not only do we have common salvation,
but you know what else we have? We have common faith. In Titus
chapter 1, verse 1, Paul, a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
according to the faith of God's elect, and acknowledging of a
truth which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life, which
God that cannot lie promised, but hath in due times manifested
his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according
to the commandment of God our Saviour, to tautest my own son
after the common faith." You see, we have common salvation.
It's all in Christ. Christ is all and in all, and
we have common faith. The faith of God's elect, the
foundation of that is the Word of God. The object of this common
faith is looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the author
and finisher of our faith. So we have a common faith, we
have common salvation. You see how much we have to rejoice
in? Not only that, we have the common
or the same election of grace. We've been chosen of God in that
eternal covenant of grace. This is common to all of God's
elect. He chose a people from before
the foundation of the world, and in due time He gives them
faith to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. the common election of grace,
the same election of grace. We have the one and same only
atonement for our sin. And that one atonement that puts
away all of our sin is none other than Christ himself. He obtained
eternal redemption for us with his own blood. We all have the
same Redeemer. We all have the same Savior.
He's God my Savior. We all have one common Hope. Our hope is Christ, isn't it?
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Do you have any other hope of
salvation but Christ? A believer doesn't. You see,
these are the things that we have in common. We have a good
hope. an everlasting consolation and
good hope through grace. Christ in you is the hope we
have, the hope of glory. And we have a common inheritance.
You see how much we have as believers in common? We have a common inheritance. We've been made heirs of God
and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have an inheritance
that Peter writes about. Don't turn let me just read it
to you in first Peter. We studied it when we went through
first Peter in first Peter chapter 1 Blessed be the God and father
of our Lord Jesus Christ Who according to his abundant mercy
has begotten us again into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead to an inheritance is incorruptible It's undefiled. It fades not away. It's reserved
for you in heaven who are kept by the power of God. You see,
we have so much in common as believers, just like Mary and
Elizabeth. It was more than just a relationship,
oh, she's my cousin. No, they were rejoicing around
the coming of the Messiah and rejoicing that salvation was
found in Christ alone. We have a common Family. We are born into the household
of God. We have received the adoption
of sons by His grace. You see, we have the same Father,
born of the same Spirit. God has given us the same Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ. and he presents us faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, we should
always regard the fellowship of God's people around the gospel
as one of the greatest privileges we have on this earth right now. That's why the scriptures teach,
forsake not the assembling of ourselves together as a manner
of some is. What a privilege it is to come
together to worship God, to read His Word, to preach His Gospel,
and to be blessed of God, to hear the Gospel of God's grace. Mary, like every believer, it
says down there in verse 42 of Luke 1, blessed art thou among
women. Remember over in verse 28, the
angel came into her, hailed thou art highly favored, The Lord
is with thee, blessed art thou among women, not above women. Every believer is blessed just
like Mary was blessed. We're blessed with all spiritual
blessing in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. Mary,
like every believer, was blessed by the sovereign Lord who loved
her eternally. chose her in that electing covenant
of grace, redeemed her through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and God had mercy on her for Christ's sake. And that's true
of everyone who believes the gospel. We are blessed. Do you
realize all we have in Christ? And all believers, now listen
to this, you don't have more than I have. I don't have more
than you have. All believers are equally blessed
the same in Christ. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and in Christ we stand complete." You
see, we're not serving the Lord to get bigger rewards. That's
nonsense. That's work salvation. You see,
the Lord Jesus Christ, He is our reward. You look that word
up in Scripture. In reference to believers, it's
never found in the plural, it's always singular. Christ is my
exceeding great reward. Your reward is Christ. The same
is my reward. The Lord Jesus Christ. You see,
believers are all blessed the same. In Him, He's my wisdom,
He's my righteousness, He's my sanctification, He's my redemption.
That's true of all who believe the gospel concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're complete in Him. Christ
is all and in all. We're all rewarded the same.
Of His fullness have we all received grace, for grace. And there you
find the reason for grace. The reason for grace is what?
Grace. Grace. Now here's a second point. In verse 43, in verse 44 of Luke
chapter 1, here we see the believer's confession. In verse 43, Whence
is this to me that the mother of my Lord is come to me." Now
what was her confession? This is the same as every believer's
confession. He's my Lord. It's just not that he's Lord,
and he is, but it's personal. He's my Lord. My Lord. Notice
what it says over here in Luke chapter 1 verse 46. Mary said,
My soul doth magnify the Lord. My spirit hath rejoiced in God
my Savior. All through the Psalms, David
says many times, the Lord is my light. and my salvation. The Lord is my rock. He's my
salvation. He is my refuge. Trust in Him
at all times, you people. You see, the Lord is my salvation. And that's the confession of
the believers. He is my Lord. He is my God. And He is my Savior. And we confess him as such. Turn
to Romans chapter 10, what it says right here in Romans 10. The righteousness which is of
faith, verse 6, speaketh on this wise. Say not in thy heart, Romans
10, 6, who shall ascend into heaven? That is to bring Christ
down from above. Or who shall descend into the
deep? That is to bring up Christ again
from the dead. But what saith it? That is the
righteousness which is of faith. What saith it? The word is nigh
thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of
faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, or Jesus to be Lord, and believe in thine heart
that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Is
he your Lord? For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. Read on. For the Scripture says,
Whosoever believes on Him shall not be ashamed, for there is
no difference between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord over
all is written to all that call upon Him. Now look at verse 13. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. You see, it's the Lord Jesus
Christ that saves. He is my Lord. If you notice,
I'm very careful. When I read scripture, a lot
of times, if the scripture just says Jesus, I usually add Lord. But I never, in my general conversation
in my preaching, refer to Him just as Jesus. Because He's my
Lord, Jesus Christ. He's mine. He's the Lord Jesus
Christ that saves. When Ralph Barnard the old preacher
from West Texas, when he came to Ashland, Kentucky in 1950,
Pastor Mahan was a young religious leader, 24 years old, Henry Mahan. And Brother Barnard hit town
the same day Pastor Mahan hit town. Same day. And Rob Barnard,
when he came and preached that meeting there in Ashland back
in 1950, he said, don't tell me who your Savior is, tell me
who your Lord is. If He's not your Lord, He's not
your Savior. You see, it's the Lord Jesus
Christ that saves sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ. If He's
not the Lord our God who came and died for our sins, then we
have no salvation. You see, it's who He is that
gives infinite merit, value, and power to what He did. Mary
said, My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. The Apostle Paul in Acts 20 said
that God purchased the church, bought the church with His own
blood. The point I'm making is this.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And every believer's confession
is this. He's my Lord. my righteousness, my salvation. Now let me show you a good example
of that. Turn to Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 5 verse 12. You remember the leper that came
to the Lord Jesus Christ? Full of leprosy. In Luke chapter
5 verse 12, it came to pass when a He was in a certain city, and
behold, a man full of leprosy, who seeing Jesus, that is, the
Lord Jesus, fell on his face, and beside him sang, sang, what
did he say? Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. You see, it's all according to
the will of the Lord. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth. Lord, if it's your will, you
can make me clean. How did he approach him? On his
face, confessing that he is the Lord. Look at verse 13, "...and
he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy departed
from him." You see, this leper, full of leprosy, came to the
Lord Jesus Christ and said, Lord, if you will. It's who He is that
gives infinite merit to what He did. Now, I remember years
ago when I was just a pup, 27, 28 years old, just beginning
to understand the gospel of God's grace. And I had the privilege
of sitting under Pastor Mahan's ministry there in Ashland for
12 years or so. But there was an old preacher
that came from West Virginia, and I always thought those folks
from West Virginia don't know a whole lot. But this fellow
knew the gospel, and he knew God. His name was Brother Scott
Richardson. And I remember the first time
I heard him preach. And I said this to him just recently,
a few years back before he passed away. And I said, I remember
the first message I ever heard you preach. He said, yeah, what
was it? I said, Romans 14, 9. For to this end, Christ both
died and rose and revived. To this end, to this purpose,
Christ both died, rose, and revived that he might be Lord. dead and
of the living. You see, every knee is going
to bow, every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. In John 13, as the Lord
stooped to wash the disciples' feet, He said, you call me Lord
and Master and you say, well, well that's what I am. Thomas
confessed You're my Lord and you're my God. Peter preached
on Pentecost, this same Jesus whom you crucified, God has made
him both Lord and Christ. As Lord, he is sovereign in salvation. As Lord, he is king in salvation. He will have mercy on whom he
will have mercy. The dying thief, we read about
in Luke 23. The Lord Jesus Christ, nailed
to the tree, beaten to a pulp, blood running everywhere. He
sure didn't look like a king. He sure didn't look like a Lord.
But the dying thief was granted faith to see in that dying man,
and he dressed him as Lord in salvation. Lord, remember me
when you come into that kingdom. And the Lord said back to him
today, you'll be with me in paradise. You see, you remember the words
placed upon His cross? This is the King of the Jews. He's King of kings and Lord of
lords. So there's the believer's communion.
We have fellowship with one another and we have fellowship with Him.
Union with Him. And there we see the believer's
confession. He's my Lord. That's your confession? He's not my co-pilot. I beg your
pardon. He's my Lord. He's my God. He's my Savior. He's my all in
all. Now here's the last thing. The
believer's confidence. The believer's confidence. In
verse 45. Blessed is she that believed,
for there shall be a performance of those things which were told
her from the Lord. This is the Lord's message. There
shall be a performance. of those things. Here's the believer's
confidence. Faith is nothing more, nothing
less, nothing else than confidence and reliance upon God Himself. When the Apostle Paul described
the believer, he said, we are the true Israel which worship
God in the Spirit, that rejoice in Christ Jesus, and we have
no confidence in the flesh. The believer's confidence is
in Christ. He's our confidence. The just
shall live by faith. The foundation of faith is the
word of the Lord, and the object of faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. One old writer said, better a
thousand times to be rich in faith than to be rich in gold. Which would you rather? Abraham
believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Saving faith as the gift of God
is not natural to this flesh. This flesh loves darkness, not
light. Faith is the sovereign gift of
God and He gives that faith. It's called the precious gift
of God. He gives that to whom He will. Faith that is genuine
believes the truth. We read a moment ago in Titus
1.1, the faith of God's elect acknowledges the truth. We not
only acknowledge the truth, we believe the truth. There is a
blessedness that comes with, now listen to me, there is a
blessedness that comes with believing God. Let me show you that. Turn to Acts chapter 10. There's
a blessedness in believing God. In Acts chapter 10. This is Peter
preaching to Cornelius in his house. In Acts chapter 10 verse
42, the Lord commanded us to preach unto the people and to
testify that it was He which was ordained of God to be judge
of the living and the dead. To Him give all the prophets
witness that through His name whosoever believes in Him shall
receive the remission of sins. Are you interested in that? If
you're a sinner, you are the remission of sins received by
faith. Now, faith doesn't accomplish
salvation. Faith received the Lord Jesus Christ who did accomplish
salvation for us. Here's another Scripture. Find
Acts 13.38. Acts 13.38. Acts 13, 38, Be it known unto
you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him all that work, all
that labor, by him all that believe are justified from all things
which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Can you
imagine that? To have all your sin removed
and be justified before God? being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the blessedness of believing
God. Not only is faith confident and
reliant upon God, faith is confident and assured that God will perform. You see the second part of verse
45, there shall be a performance, a performance. He will perform. God who hath begun a good work
in you, He will perform it, perfect it. It says over here in verse
49 of Luke 1, He that is mighty hath done to me great things. Oh, great things. So great salvation. Faith is confident and assured
that God will perform all that He has promised. There shall
be a performance of these things. It's said again over here in
Luke chapter 1, verse 72, when Zacharias, when his mouth is
opened and he speaks, verse 68, Zacharias said, Blessed be the
Lord God of Israel, Luke 1, 68. For he hath visited and redeemed
his people, he hath raised up and horn of salvation, and power
of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spake
by the mouth of his holy prophets, which hath been since the world
began, that we should be saved from our enemies, from the hand
of all them that hate us, to perform the mercy promised to
our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant." There is
a performance of these things. All that God had promised, He
will perform. You remember it says in Romans
4, Abraham was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully
persuaded of all that God had promised. He promised a whole
lot, exceeding great and precious promises. Of all that He had
promised, all things He's able to bring to pass. He's able to
perform all that He has promised. He's able, able to save to the
uttermost. Our salvation, now listen to
me, what is different from the message that's preached here
versus the message that's preached down the road that way or up
the road that way? Our salvation and the message
that is preached here is based upon what Christ has done for
us, performed for us, not what we must do for Him. Most in religion
have this idea, God's done all He can do, now the rest is up
to you. My friend, that's not so. This
idea that God wants to and can't is totally contrary to Scripture. The Lord God shall perform all
His Word, all His promise. You remember in Luke chapter
2 verse 49, turn over there. When the Lord Jesus Christ, these
are His first recorded words, Luke 2 verse 49, How is it that
you sought Me? Which do you not know that I
must be about my Father's business?" Remember he said, I came to do
the work the Father had given me to do. He prayed in John 17,
Father, I have glorified Thee on the earth. I have finished
the work that You have given me to do. And at Calvary Street,
what did he say? It is finished. He has performed
salvation for us. Now I want you to turn in your
Bible. I want you to see this. Psalm 57. I quote this scripture
quite often because it speaks such peace to my heart. Aren't
you glad that salvation is not in your hands? That it's in His
hands? Aren't you glad that salvation
is not based upon what you do or do not do? That salvation
is based upon what He has done? Psalm 57, look at verse 1. Be merciful unto me, O God, be
merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the
shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge. There's that word
again, he's my refuge. Until these calamities be overpassed,
I will cry unto God most high. He's the Most High God, Sovereign
God, unto God that performeth all things for me. Read the next verse. He sent
from the highest resources possible. He shall send from heaven and
save me. Now, is there any possibility
that that's not going to happen? He's going to save His people
from their sin. He shall send from heaven and
save me from the reproach of him that will swallow me up.
God shall send forth His mercy and God shall send forth His
truth. There shall be a performance of these things. The covenant
of grace is ordered in all things and is sure, cannot fail. You see, This salvation that God has performed
for us, He also works it in us. Look at John chapter 6. John 6, 29. Look at this scripture and one
other I've got written down here. They said unto him, in verse
28, What shall we do that we might work the works of God?
This is John 6, 28, 29. And the Lord answered and said
unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him who
he hath sent. You see, faith is a gift of God. It's God who worketh in you both
the will and the do of His good purpose. One more scripture and
I'll let you go. Philippians chapter 1. Philippians
chapter 1, verse 29. For unto you it is
given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but
also to suffer for His namesake. It's given on the behalf of Christ
that you would believe on Him. Oh, may the Lord be pleased to
work the work of salvation in us. and cause us to love Him, to
see Him, to believe Him, to see our need of Him. If you ever
see your need of Him, you believe on Him. There shall be a performance
of these things.