Now open your Bibles again to
Luke chapter 1. It's unfortunate, but it's true, because of Catholicism's perversion
of the role of Mary. There are several Mary's mentioned
in the scripture, but this one of whom we speak this morning
was the woman who bore the Lord Jesus Christ. In the fullness
of time, God sent forth His Son into the world, made of a woman,
made under the law to redeem them who were under the law.
But because Catholicism has perverted her role. They've given her a
place that she doesn't occupy. Talked about her sinlessness,
her bodily ascension to heaven and things like that. And because
they have done this and it's so prevalent, the worship of
Mary and the exaltation of Mary and the praise given to Mary,
many preachers tend to ignore her, don't mention her at all. And while I and you refuse to
give her the place of preeminence, it's not hers, it's Christ's. He hath all preeminence. And all worship and praise and
glory belongs only to Christ. But nevertheless, I recognize
Mary in the same fashion as the angel recognized her in verse
28. Look at verse 28. The angel said
unto her, Hail, greetings. So I'm highly favored. My, she
was highly favored. Extremely so. But that can be
said of every person here who knows Christ. We are highly favored,
highly favored. The Lord has put a difference
between Israel and Egypt, between the sheep and the goats. Put
a difference between you and the world. John said, we are
of God, the whole world, life and wickedness. Highly favored. Secondly, the angel said, the
Lord is with thee. The Lord is with you. You have
his presence. And you have his presence. The
Lord with you. The Lord be with you. That's
a salutation we give. The Lord be with you. God be
with you till we meet again. The Lord's with you. If the Lord's
with you, you're highly favored. He hasn't left you alone. He
hasn't passed you by. The angel said, you're highly
favored. The Lord's with you. And then
he said, blessed, blessed art thou among women. There's a key
word, among women. That's what Elizabeth said to
her, not above women, among women. No creatures to be worshipped,
no creatures to be bowed before, not even a representative of
religious denominations. I don't ever bow to a man. The most ridiculous thing in
this world is what went on here in this country a few days ago.
You know, let me show you this. Turn to Acts chapter 10. In Acts
chapter 10, in verse 25. Acts chapter 10,
verse 25. And this is Peter. Peter was the first pope, and
all of these fellows that are on the scene now and have been
a descendant of Peter. But I want you to notice Peter's
reaction when a man bowed before him. In verse 25 of Acts 10, and as
Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him and fell down at his
feet and worshiped him. And Peter took him up, saying, I myself also am a man, and that's
all I am, a man. Look at Revelation 19. Now here
we get Peter was an apostle. He was a disciple of Christ.
But we're climbing a little higher than that right now in Revelation
19, and we see an angel. Even angels refuse worship. people
bowing to him. In Revelation 19, verse 9, here's
the angel speaking to John. In Revelation 19, verse 9, he
said to me, Write, Blessed are they which are called to the
marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are
the true sayings of God. And I fell at his feet to worship
him. And he said, See thou do it not. Don't do that. I am thy fellow servant, and
of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus, worship God."
Don't worship even an angel. Worship God. That would be our
tendency too. If an angel appeared to us, that
would be the tendency. But down over in Revelation 22,
just a few verses over, the same thing happened again. Verse 8,
Revelation 22, And I, John, saw these things, and heard them,
and he was overcome, overwhelmed with the majesty of surrounding
him. And when I had seen, heard, and
seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel,
which showed me these things. And he said unto me, See thou
do it not, I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets,
and them which keep the saying of this book." Two good words
to remember. Worship God. Worship God. Worship God. Turn back to my text in Luke
1. See, Mary called herself the
handmaid of the Lord. In verse 38, when the Lord said
to her that she would bear a son, his name would be called Jesus.
He'd be son of the highest, and the Lord God would give him the
throne of David forever. She said in verse 38, Mary said,
Behold the handmaid of the Lord. You look that up. That's a female
servant. A female slave. That's what that
is. I'm your slave. Bond slave. Servant. She's not the mother of God.
She's the mother of a man in whom God dwells. God was in Christ. But she bore a child of flesh
and bones and blood. She's the mother of a man, not
the mother of God. She's the servant of God, the
handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to your
word. Mothers don't talk that way to
their sons. They say, be it unto you as I
will. But here she's a servant. She's a slave. She said, do with
me what you will. I'm your slave. And our Lord Jesus Christ, now
let me pause here, our Lord Jesus Christ, while He was here on
this earth, He showed great courtesy to Mary. Great courtesy. He set an example for every son,
every daughter. He showed great respect and great
courtesy and great love to this woman who bore Him. But nowhere in the Scriptures,
nowhere, nowhere, Is there any indication that she had any special
powers with him or anybody else? She was blessed. She was respected.
She was favored of God. She was treated with the deepest
love and courtesy, but she had no office. She had no special
powers. She had no influence over Christ or with Him. Woman, what have
I to do with thee? If you'll turn to Matthew 12,
I'll show you a powerful example of this. I read a book one time that this
man was justifying his praying to Mary and asking Mary, Hail
Mary, Mother of God, full of grace and truth, pray for us
poor sinners. And he was justifying doing that
and he said, If you really wanted a favor
of someone, ask his mother to go to him. She's got more influence
over him than you have. That's the reasoning that he
used. That instead of him coming to
the Lord, he sends his mother, the Lord's so-called mother.
And if she prays for you, his love for her will cause him to
do something for you. Well, let's see that. Matthew
12. Let's see if that's really true. Matthew 12, verse 46. You
know, our Lord was in a building speaking to a large crowd of
people. Verse 46 says, "...while he yet
talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren..."
That's his brothers and sisters. You see, Mary did not know Joseph
until after Christ was born. But after Christ was born, she
had several other children. She had Josie and Judah and several
girls. She had several children. Our
Lord had several half-brothers and sisters. He wasn't the son of Joseph,
he was the son of Mary. These children were sons and
daughters of Joseph. But there were several brethren
in that household and sisters. Now here the family comes to
see Him. He's preaching and the family comes to see Him. And
behold, his mother and his brethren stood outside desiring to speak
to him. He was speaking, and they were
out here in the yard wanting to talk to him. And then one
said unto him, Behold, your mother and your brothers stand without
desiring to speak with you. But he answered and said unto
them, and told him that, Who is my mother? Who are my brethren? He stretched
forth his hand toward his disciples and he said, behold, my mother
and my brethren. This is my family. These are
the ones whom I love. These are the ones that have
power with me, influence. These are the ones that have
access to my arms and my blessings. His brethren didn't even believe
on him. But whosoever shall do the will
of God which is in heaven, same as my mother, my brothers, and
my sisters." That ought to pretty well wind
it up, shouldn't it? But it won't do it. It just won't do it. There's something sentimental.
You see, Americans and untaught, ignorant, pagan people all over
the world They don't know the Scriptures. You do err not knowing
the Scriptures nor the power of God, nor the character of
God, nor the person of God. And it's not going to do it.
You can read that to the whole world and they'll go right on
about this sentimental, emotional, foolish worship of Mary and baptism
and crosses and sprinkled water and all this other stuff because
it appeals to the flesh. They'll keep using the atmosphere of religion that appeals
to the flesh. Now, one other scripture in Acts
chapter 1, this is the last time Mary is
mentioned in the Bible. This is the last time mentioned
in the New Testament. The early church didn't pray
to her, nor preach her name, nor exalt her, nor magnify her.
The last time we hear of her, she's in a prayer meeting. Acts
1 verse 14, these all continued with one accord in prayer and
supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and
with his brethren. His brethren came to believe
on him later, but these women And the brothers and everybody,
they were in prayer, not to Mary. She was in prayer with them.
With them. Instead of, Hail Mary, Mother
of God, full of grace and truth, pray for us poor sinners, Mary
herself leads us here now as poor sinners in praise to a great
Savior. Let me show you her song of praise.
Let me show you what she had to say, beginning with verse
in that Luke chapter 1, verse 46. Here is Mary leading poor
sinners in a song of praise, thanksgiving to the living God,
her Savior too. She has a Savior. Here, this song has, let's see
how many verses, I've got six verses to this song. Six verses. The first one is in verse 46.
And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord. My soul doth magnify the Lord. What does the word magnify mean? We use it all the time. You know,
David said, Come and magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt
His name together. What does the word magnify mean?
When we think of magnifying, it's to make something greater,
make something appear greater. We take a magnifying glass and
it's a small word here or it's a small object and we want it
to appear bigger so that we can work on it. A jeweler works with
a magnifying glass to make it look bigger. That's magnifying. Or we use a microscope. A doctor
takes a microscope and he looks at germs or blood vessels and
things like that, and they appear greater. Well, when we say, when
she says, my soul doth magnify the Lord, no way she can make
Him greater, is there? You can't make God greater than
He is. I can't even comprehend His greatness. How great thou art! I can't even comprehend His greatness. and his majesty. So what are
we talking about here? My soul does magnify the Lord. I'll tell you what. I'll tell
you what David is saying too. When he said, Oh magnify the
Lord with me. I'll tell you what he's saying.
Let us think great thoughts of God. Let us think great thoughts of
God. Elevate your thinking about God. How great is your God? How mighty
is your God. How sovereign is your God. Let
us think great thoughts of God. And then let us speak great words
about God. Magnify the Lord with me. Exalt
His name. I listen to some preachers and
some people talking. Their God doesn't seem their
great. He doesn't seem very mighty,
does He? He's an impotent God, poor God,
poor Jesus. Let us, as best we can, exalt
His name. And when we speak of Him, speak
of Him in His majesty and glory and greatness and power like
David did in Psalm 104. Turn over there. I thought about
this psalm when I read this statement of Mary here. my soul doth magnify
the Lord." Listen, here's our God. Psalm 104 verse 1, bless
the Lord. Oh my soul, oh Lord my God art
very great, art clothed with honor and majesty, who covers
thyself with light as with a garment, as our Lord dressed. The light is his garment, who
stretches out the heavens like a curtain, who layeth the beams
of his chambers in the waters, who maketh the clouds his chariot,
who walketh upon the wings of the wind, who maketh his angels'
spirits his ministers of flaming fire, who laid the foundations
of the earth, they shall not be removed forever. Thou cover'st
it with a deep as with a garment, the waters stood above the mountains,
If thou rebuke, the waters fled. If thou voice, the voice of thy
thunder, they hasten away." Talking about the waters, the rain obeying
His voice. Have you entered the treasures
of the snow? Each plate is different. God designed each one specifically. No two are alike. No two fingerprints
are alike. No two people are alike. No two
stars are alike. There are billions of them. He said, At your rebuke, verse
7, the waters fled. At your voice of your thunder,
they hasted away. They go up by the mountains,
they go down by the valleys, into the place where thou hast
found it parted. Who keeps the water in check
to keep it from flooding the world again? God does. Thou hast set a bound that they
may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth. He sends the springs into the
valley, which run among the hills. They give drink to every beast
of the field, the wild asses quench their thirst. By them
shall the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which
sing among the branches." God gives a drink to every little
creature, every little insect, every flea, every fly, every bird. The earth
is the Lord's Fulness thou of the world, and they that dwell
therein. He founded it upon the seas. And here David in the Psalms
is just taking one thing, water, water, water, water, and showed
the majesty and the power and the sovereignty and the omnipotence
of God. Now take the food, and take the air and breath,
and take birth, living creatures, Telling my class about those
crocodiles laying those eggs, you know. And then the crocodile
knew how to cover the eggs. Wonder who taught her how to
cover those eggs? Wonder who taught that little bird how to
build that nest? Who told him to go south in the winter? And
who showed him the map? Who made the trip take on that
journey? And he never gets off. And then people tell me, well,
He wants to bless you, and you won't let Him. He wants to do
this, and men won't let Him. He wills, and He can't. No. Great thoughts. They said, David, where's your
God? He said, My God's in the heavens. And He hath done whatsoever
He pleased. In the heavens and the earth
and the seas. No, that's my God. Coming back. That's what Mary
said. My soul, Magnify the Lord. And then the second verse she
said, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. My spirit. Do you suppose Mary understood
what she was saying? My spirit rejoices in God my
Saviour. Now I know God my Creator. She
did too. And I know God my King. She did
too, and I know God my Judge. She did too, and I know God my
Provider, the Lord will provide. And I know God my Sovereign.
But my spirit knows God my Saviour, Jehovah, that's His name, God
my Saviour. My spirit knows God came into
the world in human flesh. God inhabited a body. Unto us
a child is born, a son is given, and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father.
God was in Christ. I know that. My spirit rejoices
in God my Savior. And the more I think about God
who descended, the same one descended who ascended. They talk about
Mary ascended. Oh no. There's just one who ascended,
the same as descended. That's what Scripture says, just
one. But my soul, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. You suppose
she really knew what she was talking about? I know she did. Joseph. The angel told her and
Joseph told her. Turn back to Matthew 1. She was
engaged to this man Joseph. And he was going to put her away
privately, you remember? She was expecting a child, and
he didn't want her to be embarrassed. He hadn't known her. He wasn't
the father of that child. He knew that. And he was going
to put her away privately so that nobody would know this.
And the angel of God came to him and said, hold it, Joseph,
wait a minute. Matthew 1, verse 20. And verse 19, Joseph, her husband,
being a just man and willing and not willing to make her a
public example, was going to put her away. And while he thought
on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to
him in a dream and said, Joseph, thy son of David, don't you be
afraid to take Mary to be your wife. That which is conceived
in her is of God the Holy Ghost. And she'll bring forth a son,
and you call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people
from their sin. Now all this was done that it
might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,
saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and call his name Immanuel, which is being interpreted,
God with us. You reckon Joseph told her about
that? I know he did. He said, Mary, the Messiah is coming. He's in
your womb. He's the Messiah. The Christ,
God's coming! And that's where she said, my
spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. I'm going to tell you about Simeon
tonight. He didn't see the cross. He didn't see the empty tomb.
He didn't see the risen conquering Messiah. He saw an infant. And that's all he needed to see.
And Mary knew in her womb was an infant. No man produced it. She knew who produced it. God
did. She knew that. She told that angel that. She
wouldn't lie to an angel. She said, I don't know a man.
Ain't no way for me to have a baby. There is if God gives it to you. That's right. She knew. And you
know, this dispels this thing about our praying to her. She's a sinner. She's a sinner. Only a sinner
needs a Savior. And great sinners need a great
Savior. And only God can save real sinners. And that's what she said, my
spirit rejoices in, it takes God to save me. God my Savior. She knew the Son of God became
a Son of Man. She knew He who made her was
being made in her womb. She knew the ancient of days
was becoming an infinite of days. She knew the eternal God would
one day stand on earth to man. Begotten of God, born of woman. God my Savior. And the more you
think about that, the more your spirit rejoices. Here's the third
thing. Listen to her. Here's the third
verse. Verse 48, "...for he hath regarded the low estate of his
servant." Now, you know, men speak so loftily of Mary. It's
sad. It's so sad. But she never speaks loftily
of herself. She says, I'm a female servant
of low estate. Low estate. The Lord hath regarded
the low, low estate of this poor little girl. They wouldn't even
let them in the inn, in the motel. She's nine months pregnant, about
to deliver a child, and they wouldn't even let... She was
a nobody. They sent her and her husband
down to a stable to have her first child. That's a nobody,
isn't it? That's a nobody. But there's
not a child of God in this Bible that speaks highly of himself.
Other people do. But not these people who found... Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord, and he knew it. Abraham kept saying, now, Lord,
if I found grace in your eyes... Moses kept saying that, Lord,
if I found grace in your eyes, Job said, I repent in sackcloth
and ashes. And yet everybody brags on Job.
He didn't. Isaiah, oh how we praise Isaiah. He didn't. Woe is me. Everybody
praises David. He was a man after God's own
heart. But David said, my sins are ever before me. The Apostle
Paul, everybody exalts Paul and praises Paul. And when you ask
Paul, who are you? He said, the chief of sinners. Well, aren't you somebody? Yeah,
I'm less than the least of all the saints. Find the least of
all the saints and put me right beneath them. The lowest state.
God resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble.
That's what she says. He hath regarded the lowest state
of his handmaid. For behold, from henceforth all
generations shall call me blessed." Yeah, blessed to know God. Blessed to know your sinner.
You know sinners are blessed. If you're sitting out there this
morning, and I'm standing up here, with humble thoughts about
ourselves and low, a low estimation of ourselves, our worthiness,
anything about us before God, less than the least, unworthy
of the least of His papers. If you have that thought and
that understanding, you're blessed. Boy, you're blessed. It takes God to make a sinner. Do you know that? Just like it
takes God to make a saint. But He's going to make a saint
out of every sinner. If He ever makes a man a sinner, He'll make
him a saint. If He ever gets a man lost, He'll find him. If
He ever strips a fellow, He'll clothe him. If He ever humbles
a man, He'll exhaust him. Someday, if He ever brings him
down, He's not doing it for nothing. She said, He's regarded my lowest
state. And everybody's going to say,
She's blessed. We're blessed to know the gospel.
I tell you, a man or a woman is not blessed. They're not blessed
of God, who are proud religionists. They're not blessed. They're
cursed. A person robed in his own righteousness is cursed.
I tell you, the lower a man can feel, the more unworthy, the
more The more sinful, the more wretched, the more guilty, the
more blessed he is. Because I tell you, everybody,
he healed everybody that was in need of healing. Everybody
that came to Christ came with a need. Everybody that came to
him when he was here on this earth, walking in the flesh,
came with a need. And the people that didn't have
a need, he said, leave them alone. Leave them alone. Didn't he,
Pharisee? Oh, whoo! I tell you, that woman
with the issue of blood was blessed. That Canaanite woman was blessed.
That thief on the cross? Boy, you see, you can't call
him blessed. Preacher, they killed him. They sent him to glory,
too. He was blessed because he sought. That other
one wasn't blessed. Alright, verse 49, the fourth verse. He
that is mighty hath done to me great things. Now, he hath done
great things for me and to me. I tell you, Mary, he put the
life of God in her. The Holy Ghost came upon her.
The power of God overshadowed her. And that holy thing begotten,
born in her, conceived in her, is the Son of God. And I tell
you, you folks right here who believe on Christ, one day the
Lord did great things to you. He passed by and saw you polluted
in your brotherhood, and He said, live. And that life begotten
by His Spirit and His Word in you is the child of God. Child
of God, He's done great, the Almighty. What did she call Him? The Almighty. He that is mighty. It takes a mighty God to give
life to a dead sinner. It takes a mighty, a sovereign,
an Almighty God to give new life to a sinner, doesn't it? He that's
mighty hath done, hath done what? Great things to me. And for me, I tell you to make
a covenant from eternity which cannot fail, that takes sovereignty,
might. I tell you to appoint an anoint
from eternity, a surety, a redeemer who cannot fail, that takes power. From eternity to choose a people
and give them to Christ as their surety and not one of them will
be lost, that's power. I tell you, to himself come into
this world, God, whom the heavens cannot contain, who inhabits
eternity, who was, is, and evermore shall be, the Almighty God. The heavens, his throne, the
earth, his footstool to confine himself to the body of a man.
That takes power. To die on a cross and satisfy
justice for all his elect And to rise from the grave by his
own power, that takes power. The Almighty hath done great
things to me and for me. And for me. Look at that next
line. And holy is his name. Now here's the thing about it.
Everything he did was consistent with his holiness. Think about that. In regarding
the lowest state of this deserted infant, and of this lowest state
of this human flesh, in his holiness, to make that sinner to be holy
like him, he has to do it consistent with his holiness. He has to
be just and justified. righteous and redeemer. He has
to be a pure savior and one who lifts the sinner. So she says,
he that's mighty, he's done great things to me. And he did it and
he's still holy. That's his name. He did it in
such a way that his holiness is magnified. His righteousness
And verse, look at verse, verse 50. And His mercy is on them
that fear Him from generation to generation. He'll never, never leave them. Never leave
them. Generation to generation. It's
an immutable, unchangeable grace and love. That takes a mighty
God. Now here's the last verse. It says in verse 51, and he's
put down, he showed strength with his arms, he scattered the
proud in his imagination. He's put down the mighty and
exalted them of low degree. I'm not come to call the righteous
but sinners, he said. He's filled the hungry with good
things. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst for righteousness. Let me fill. But the rich, rich
in this world, rich in their own righteousness, rich in their
own deeds, Lord, we've preached in your name and did many wonderful
works and cast out devils in your name. I never knew you.
He sent them away empty. Depart from me. Send them away. But I tell you, He spilled the
hungry, exalted them of a low degree. That's the reason I said,
The first step a man takes toward heaven in the providence of God
is not when he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not
the first step. The first step that a sinner
takes toward salvation is when he finds out he needs Christ. When he finds out he's lost.
When he finds out he's a sinner. That's the first move. God gets
a man lost before he gets him saved. Brings him down. Got to. He don't put his robe of righteousness
over our rags. He takes away the rags. We've
got to hold to them, you know. Don't leave me here naked. It's
got to all go. Rip it away. Rip it away. Every
thread of that old fig leaf apron. Rip it away and leave him standing
there embarrassed and ashamed and no place to hide and none
of him can look up and say, Oh God have mercy! Ah, but he will. Because he got you that way.
He will. He will. The hard part in this
preaching business It's easy to get people saved if they're
lost. Well, I tell you, if somebody's
hungry, you can give them bread. They'll take it. But not when they're full. You
try a bite of this. I'm just full. I don't want it.
You're hungry. You don't care what kind of tin
plate they serve it in either. You don't care what kind of tin.
You drink out of a tin can if you're thirsty enough. If you're
thirsty enough. Oh, everyone that's thirsty come
to the waters. But the hard thing to do is find
somebody that's thirsty. I got a wonderful message. I
could find somebody that needed it. I got a wonderful robe if
I find somebody that's naked. I got a wonderful If I could
find somebody that's a widow. The old man is dead. I got you a new husband if you
get rid of that and you're married to. You're married to the world. But that's our problem. Our problem
is not people coming to faith. Our problem is finding somebody
that needs it. That's what Mary says here. He
put down the mighty, exalted the low. He filled the hungry
with good things, and the rich He sent away empty. Now watch,
how has He done all this? Verse 54, He's helped His servant
Israel in remembrance of His mercy, His covenant, as He spake
to our fathers, to Abraham, to his seed forever. Mary knew something
about the covenant. David did. David said, God has
made with me a covenant, ordered in all things insured. And this
blessed woman here knew something about that covenant. He has been
merciful to us according to his promise to Abraham. What a song of thanksgiving.