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Imagine the electric moment when a young virgin encounters her elderly cousin, both carrying miraculous pregnancies that signal the dawn of God's redemptive plan—how does such an encounter ignite uncontainable joy and prophetic praise? As these women overflow with gratitude for divine favor shining upon them and their nation, their words echo ancient promises while pointing to a transformative future. Explore this sermon by Pastor Mark Hudson to uncover what their heartfelt response reveals about recognizing God's grace in everyday life and how it might reshape your own expressions of thankfulness.
📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/faith-brings-blessings
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📝 Study Notes, Scripture List, Transcript, and more: https://medicallake.church/sermons/faith-brings-blessings
#mlcc #church #churchonline
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00:00A gentleman went to a, he was visiting a church.
00:02It was a very former liturgical church.
00:04And the pastor was preaching, and he really liked what the pastor was saying
00:08out of the Bible, something talking about God.
00:10And the man goes, amen, hallelujah.
00:14And people turned around and looked at him.
00:17And he thought, and then the pastor said something really good
00:19out of the Bible again, something about God's faithfulness.
00:21And he said, amen, hallelujah.
00:23And everyone turns around and looks at him again.
00:26So finally, after the service is over, someone comes up to him and goes,
00:30you're new here, right?
00:30And he goes, yeah, this is my first time here.
00:32Well, we just want you to know that we don't do that praise the Lord thing
00:35here in this church.
00:38And he goes, okay.
00:39And then someone taps the person on the shoulder and goes, oh, wait a second.
00:42Yes, we do.
00:42It's on page 15 of the lectionary.
00:44We can.
00:50Alexander White was a Scottish preacher, and he always was encouraging
00:53when he prayed.
00:54He always had an expression of gratitude.
00:56And one morning, as the church was meeting together, there had been weeks
01:00and weeks of just gloomy days in Scotland, you can imagine.
01:03In fact, I think we've had gloomy days in Medical Lake for a while, too.
01:07And so the people in the congregation were wondering, how is he going to pray
01:10this morning?
01:11I mean, how he always has expressions of gratitude.
01:13So he gets up and prays, and he says this, we thank thee, O Lord, that it is not always
01:19like this.
01:21He just had a sense of gratitude all the time.
01:24In fact, it is said that gratitude is what always spoils life when it is left out.
01:31I'll read it again.
01:32Gratitude is what always spoils life when it is left out.
01:37Praising God, having a heart full of gratitude and thankfulness for what God has done and
01:43what God is going to do.
01:44And that's actually what we're going to talk about in the text today with these two women
01:48that we're going to talk about.
01:49They're talking about what God has done and what God is going to do, and they're just
01:53overflowing in praise.
01:56They just can't help giving thanks to God for what he has done.
01:59So we're going to see here at the end of chapter one, we're going to see that when God comes
02:07and shows you and your nation his favor, he shines his face upon you, thank him in praise.
02:14That is the response when God comes and shows his favor to us, that we respond back with
02:18praise, with thankfulness, with gratitudes in our hearts.
02:23Sometimes you and I get so busy, we forget that God has favored us.
02:28It's the word grace.
02:29God has shown grace to us.
02:31And we get so busy that we forget that God has graced us, that God has favored us.
02:34We kind of just go on in life and we kind of forget, oh yeah, oh yeah, until we, remember
02:39the hymn, count your many blessings, name them one by one.
02:43When we sit down and think about what God has done, it just brings a sense of gratitude in
02:49our hearts.
02:49We left off last week with the angel Gabriel coming to Mary, the virgin, and saying, the
02:58Holy Spirit's going to overshadow you and the child that you're going to give birth to is
03:02going to be the savior.
03:03He's going to sit on his father's throne, David, sit on the throne of David.
03:08He will be the savior of the world.
03:09All of this announcement that we saw last weekend, Mary concluded with, so be it, the handmaiden
03:16of the Lord or the servant of the Lord or the slave of the Lord, whatever you want to
03:20do, God, I'm fully in.
03:21This is your plan.
03:22I'm glad I get to be part of it.
03:24Thank you, God.
03:25That's when we kind of left off last week.
03:27We found out that the angel had told Mary that her cousin Elizabeth was six months along
03:33in her pregnancy.
03:35So Mary goes to visit Elizabeth.
03:39And some would say, oh, she's just trying to escape the scrutiny of the people in the
03:42village of Nazareth that would be making fun of her and calling her names and talking behind
03:46her back.
03:47Probably not.
03:48She's just pregnant.
03:50And I'm not a woman.
03:51I've never been pregnant.
03:51But I don't think immediately you start showing so people wouldn't know unless a period of
03:55time had happened.
03:56So she's not running away to avoid the scrutiny of the people when she visits her cousin Elizabeth.
04:03And another thing we don't know is at this point, does Joseph know?
04:07Does Joseph know that she's pregnant?
04:10We know later on the angel comes and tells him, don't be afraid to marry her because the
04:14child is of God and it's the son of God.
04:16But does he know at this time?
04:17I'm not sure.
04:18Bible doesn't say.
04:19Or her parents.
04:20Do her parents know at this time?
04:22Are they aware of what's going on with Mary?
04:24I mean, you would think that she may have told them.
04:26Could you imagine having that conversation with a child?
04:30Hey, I'm pregnant.
04:32Yeah?
04:32Well, but it's God.
04:33I mean, God overshadowed me and I'm, oh, right.
04:37Yeah.
04:37I mean, can you imagine that conversation?
04:39Nothing like that has ever happened before.
04:42So Joseph probably doesn't know.
04:44I think he finds out after she comes back.
04:46She's there three months with Elizabeth.
04:48I think he finds out then.
04:49Parents, we don't know.
04:50We don't know who else, but she's not showing yet.
04:53So not many people really know what's going on.
04:55When we look at the whole passage we're going to look at, the major theme that jumps out is joy.
05:00They're so full of joy that they rejoice.
05:02They give thanks.
05:03Their heart's full of gratitude for what God has done and what God is about to do.
05:07So if you open up your Bibles, if not, there's a Bible in the chair in front of you if you need one.
05:12We want to look at, this is God's words and we want to look at it together.
05:15We're going to pick up where we left off last week in verse number 39.
05:18In those days, that's Luke's way of saying a new idea is coming up.
05:24He's going to be talking about something new.
05:25It's his way of kind of moving us from one place to another.
05:28He likes to use that phrase.
05:30In those days, Mary arose and went with haste, quickly, into the hill country to a town in Judah.
05:38Town's not named.
05:40Somewhere in Judah.
05:41And she entered the house of Zachariah and greeted Elizabeth.
05:44Now you say, who is Zachariah and Elizabeth?
05:46They come in the first part of the chapter.
05:49Gabriel goes to Zachariah while he's performing his duties as a priest and tells him,
05:53your wife, who has been barren, never had a child, past childbearing age.
05:57An older woman is going to become pregnant and that child is going to be the forerunner of the Messiah.
06:02He's going to be John the Baptist.
06:03Name him John.
06:04He'll be the forerunner of the Messiah.
06:06That's this Elizabeth and Zachariah.
06:09Elizabeth is a lady.
06:09She was past childbearing age.
06:11Now she's pregnant.
06:13Six months, we were told.
06:15And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, so Mary comes into the house and says,
06:19probably shalom or whatever the greeting is of that day, shalom.
06:23When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.
06:30Now, a six-month-old baby moves around a lot, but this is different.
06:34And Elizabeth recognizes that it's different.
06:38The baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
06:42So the Holy Spirit comes upon her.
06:43And what she says now is almost like a prophecy.
06:47It's inspired by the Spirit.
06:49And she exclaimed with a loud cry.
06:51She cried out loudly,
06:52Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
06:58And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
07:04That's humility.
07:05I mean, your son's going to be a great person, one of the greatest, actually, before the coming of the Messiah.
07:12But why should I see something like this?
07:15For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, shalom or whatever it was,
07:21the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
07:24And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.
07:30In other words, your faith was great, Mary.
07:32I'm glad that you believed exactly what God said to you.
07:36What's interesting is she probably was traveling to Hebron.
07:40It's a city in Judah.
07:41It's a priestly city.
07:43Zechariah was a priest.
07:44It's possible he lived there.
07:45But wherever, the journey was about three days.
07:49Now remember, Mary is probably 14, 15 tops.
07:54She's just a young lady.
07:56Three-day journey.
07:57There are no airplanes.
07:58There are no cars.
08:00There are no trains.
08:01Likely, you're not going to stay in the inn.
08:03Maybe someone would invite you into their home with hospitality.
08:06But likely, you're going to have to stay outside for a three-day journey.
08:11And I thought, a 14-year-old girl all by herself for three days?
08:16Did somebody escort her?
08:19Did a family member go with her?
08:20I can't imagine her parents would release her for a three-day journey to travel all by herself
08:25for three days down to the city in Judah.
08:29Likely, perhaps somebody in her family went with her and escorted her.
08:33Or maybe there was a group going down to the area that Mary's parents could entrust her to them.
08:39But I can't imagine a 14-year-old be traveling all by herself.
08:42And Elizabeth, who's going to have the John the Baptist that we know him for, the forerunner of the Messiah,
08:50the one who's going to announce his coming, we're told here that she's filled with the Holy Spirit,
08:55that the Holy Spirit comes upon her and fills her.
08:58We were told earlier in chapter 1 that John the Baptist, the one who's a forerunner of the Christ,
09:02was to be filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother's womb, from the womb.
09:06Luke 1, 15.
09:07For he will be great before the Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink,
09:11and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.
09:15So even in the womb, the baby, the baby's six months old right now.
09:19And the baby is then praising God.
09:21He's filled already with the Spirit, John the Baptist is.
09:24If you think about it, John's mission was to announce the coming Messiah.
09:27What's he doing right here?
09:28He's announcing the coming Messiah.
09:30Here he is right here in Mary's womb, the coming Messiah.
09:33He's already announcing him before he even goes into his ministry.
09:38Six-month-old John was not just a mere fetus,
09:41but a living person who recognized his Lord, leaped in his mother's womb.
09:47Elizabeth knew of Mary's pregnancy before Mary announced it to her.
09:51Mary didn't even get a chance to say, hey, guess what?
09:53I'm pregnant.
09:54She knew just because the baby leaped in her womb,
09:57and the Holy Spirit filled her and knew what was going.
09:59She knew what was going on at that point.
10:00Yes, you.
10:02You are the one who's carrying the Christ child.
10:04It's you, Mary.
10:05Mary, Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit.
10:08In the text that she cried out, it was loud.
10:10It wasn't just, hey.
10:11It was like, ah, really loud.
10:13She cries out, blessed are you among women.
10:16Blessed is the fruit of your womb.
10:18She cries out.
10:19God has blessed you.
10:21She was filled with the Spirit.
10:23You thought, well, you know, believers in the New Testament are filled with the Spirit.
10:25That sounds familiar, but the Old Testament was different.
10:28The Spirit didn't indwell believers in the Old Testament like He does today.
10:33He doesn't seal believers to the day of redemption like He seals us in the New Covenant.
10:38In the Old Covenant, the Spirit could come upon a person and then leave a person.
10:41And normally when the person's responsibility or duty was done, then the Holy Spirit would go.
10:46The Holy Spirit came to help.
10:47Here's an example when they were preparing the tabernacle in the Old Testament.
10:53Exodus 31.
10:53The Lord said to Moses,
10:56See, I have called by name Baziel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,
11:03and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge
11:08and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze,
11:13in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood to work in every craft.
11:16So the Spirit comes upon him.
11:18He's able to produce all of these things.
11:20And when he's done with that, then the Spirit leaves him.
11:22So now the Spirit has come upon Elizabeth, this righteous person, we're told in the beginning
11:26of chapter 1.
11:27She's a righteous person.
11:28She believes in the consolation of Israel, that God is coming someday.
11:32He fills her.
11:34She makes this proclamation, God's favor is resting on you, Mary.
11:38God's favor is on you.
11:40The blessing of Mary was not due to her own piety.
11:43We talked about that last week.
11:46But by the son who will be born to her.
11:49That's where this blessing has come.
11:51We talked about Mary wasn't chosen last week because of her piety.
11:56She's a special instrument that God has chosen to bring salvation into the world.
11:59But she wasn't chosen because of her piety.
12:03But that doesn't mean that she wasn't a pious person.
12:05She was.
12:06She was also one of those waiting for the consolation of Israel.
12:09She was one that loved the word of God and loved God and wanted to see God's will done
12:14in this world.
12:14So, Trent Butler wrote,
12:17She had God's grace and presence in unique measure.
12:21That's verse 28.
12:22But not in measure that lifted her up for eternal praise and worship.
12:26Mary's blessing came not from who she was or would become.
12:30Mary's blessing came from the holy baby whom she carried in her womb.
12:35She is a recipient of God's grace.
12:36His favor has shined upon her.
12:40And her response to that is thankfulness and gratitude and praise for what God has done
12:44and what God will continue to do.
12:46He's at work.
12:47She wasn't perfect.
12:49And we all ought to be grateful that God chooses imperfect people to work his way in this world.
12:54Because if he's looking for perfect people, guess what?
12:57All of us are excluded.
12:59Well, at least I'm excluded.
13:00You may be okay.
13:01I'm not in.
13:02He uses imperfect people.
13:04It's great.
13:05She's not perfect just like us.
13:06But she was part of God's plan and she submitted to that and she believed God's word.
13:12Those whom God chooses and places his favor upon are not chosen because of their piety,
13:16but by God's sovereign choice, his grace.
13:19It's his grace.
13:20She is a faithful follower of the Lord.
13:24She's blessed.
13:26She stands in a state of being blessed, favored.
13:31The focus of this whole thing, whether we're looking at the first part of this section or
13:35the second part with Mary, the focus is on the Christ child and not on the women.
13:41They're important women.
13:42Yes, God chose them for a purpose, but the focus should be on Christ, not the women.
13:46I heard a lot of sermons this week or bits of sermons on the radio this week
13:50and talking about Mary and her song and Elizabeth.
13:53And it seemed to be, and it could, it's not fair because it's just a small tidbit of what
13:57I heard, but it seemed like the important thing for these preachers were the two women.
14:01And I'm saying the most important thing was the Christ child that Mary carried in her
14:06womb.
14:07He's the most important thing.
14:08And so they're giving him praise and God praise at the same time.
14:12One anonymous author wrote, on one occasion, an orchestra presented Handel's Messiah.
14:19I hope you've seen that before.
14:20It's wonderful.
14:22So beautifully that the applause was thunderous and everyone turned toward the composer.
14:27Way to go, Handel.
14:29Good job.
14:30Text says, Handel stood up and with his finger pointing upward, silently indicated that the
14:36glory should be given to God and not himself.
14:39That's exactly what Mary is saying.
14:40Don't give me the glory.
14:41Give God the glory.
14:42God is the one who's doing great things.
14:44It's God who's acting on our behalf.
14:46It is God that we need to praise.
14:50Elizabeth carrying the forerunner of the Messiah and then Mary carrying the Messiah.
14:56There's no competition between the women.
14:58Oh, I'm better than you are.
15:00You're less than I.
15:00No, there's no competition between the women.
15:02Both are part of God's plan, have submitted to God's plan, wanting to do what God's will
15:06is in this world.
15:07And Elizabeth recognized the deity of the baby in Mary's womb by calling him Lord.
15:14Not sir or master, but Lord in equivalence to the Old Testament idea of Yahweh, the self-existing
15:19one.
15:20Lord, our Lord has come to us.
15:22Of course, the Holy Spirit is filling her.
15:24So she's proclaiming this by the Spirit.
15:28Mary's womb was the conception of a previously existing person.
15:32The Son of God came into the world.
15:33He didn't come into existence when he was born.
15:36He was already in existence and then born through Mary.
15:41Faith, her faith, it says, blessed are you that believed there would be a fulfillment.
15:46Her faith, her faith was a blessing.
15:50Faith is a blessing.
15:51Believing God, there's a blessing attached to believing God.
15:55God says that without faith, it is impossible to please him.
15:58For everyone who comes to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of all
16:02those who diligently seek him.
16:06Faith brings blessing in our lives.
16:09Believing and doing God's word.
16:11We must exercise faith in God's word and promises.
16:15That's what it means to be blessed.
16:17Faith brings blessings.
16:19Now, Mary goes into a song of praise.
16:23She's lifting up her voice and she's praising God for what he has done.
16:27That's why the name of the sermon is God has dot dot dot.
16:30All the things that God has done.
16:32Look with me in verse number 46.
16:35And Mary said,
16:37My soul magnifies the Lord.
16:40In other words, my soul, everything that is about me, my whole personhood,
16:44magnifies the Lord.
16:45And my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.
16:50For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
16:53For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.
16:57For he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.
17:02The first strophe of the song, Mary saying,
17:05this is what God has done in me or with me or for me.
17:09The second strophe is what God has done in Israel,
17:12fulfilling his promises.
17:13Verse number 50.
17:17And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
17:22He has shown strength with his arm.
17:24He has scattered the proud and the thoughts of their hearts.
17:27He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.
17:32He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.
17:36Do you see this reversal going on?
17:38He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers,
17:46to Abraham and to his offspring forever.
17:50And that concludes her song.
17:51And then Luke gives us some more information.
17:54Mary remained with her.
17:55That's Elizabeth.
17:56About three months and returned home.
17:57So she's right at the end of giving birth.
18:00Elizabeth is.
18:01Nine months is over with.
18:02She's about ready to give birth.
18:03And Mary returns back to Nazareth.
18:07When you look at this song, if you remember Hannah in the Old Testament,
18:12she was the mother of Samuel.
18:14Hannah didn't, wasn't, she was barren.
18:16She couldn't have children.
18:17And her husband had another wife and the other wife used to provoke her and taunt her and
18:23make fun of her all the time.
18:25Every time they went up to Jerusalem and Hannah one time went to the, to the tabernacle and
18:30she prayed and she was praying so much.
18:32Her mouth was moving, but no words were coming out of her mouth.
18:35And Eli, the, the, the, the, the, the, the high priest thought that she's drunk.
18:40This woman's just out here drunk.
18:41And Eli says, what are you drunk?
18:44Go home and drink, drink wine in your own house.
18:46She goes, I'm not drunk.
18:47My soul is pouring out itself to the Lord because I'm barren and I'm asking the Lord to give
18:52me a child.
18:52And if he gives me a child, I'll give him back to, to him for forever.
18:56That's the Hannah.
18:58God does give her a child.
19:00She gives birth.
19:01She was barren though that was barren.
19:03And she brings Samuel back to the Lord and presents him there in the tabernacle to Eli.
19:08And he stays there and becomes the first prophet really of Israel, the greatest prophet of
19:12Israel.
19:12After all of that takes place, Hannah breaks out in a song in first Samuel chapter two.
19:20And there is a strong resemblance of Mary's song here to the song of Hannah in first Samuel
19:26chapter two.
19:27Don't look at it right now.
19:28You can go home and take a look at it later.
19:29There's a lot of things that are very similar in the two songs.
19:32Like Hannah, the prophet Samuel's mother, Mary praises God for what he's about to do and
19:38that she gets to be part of this plan that God is doing.
19:41She's included in it.
19:43I'm part of it.
19:45And in this song, we see Mary's humility and knowledge of the Old Testament.
19:52There's passages from the Psalms and there's passages that allude to the, to the prophets
19:56and the passages that allude to the, to the first five books of Moses, the Torah.
20:00It's almost like the entirety of the Old Testament.
20:03She has this knowledge of, she must've paid good attention when the Torah, when the scriptures
20:08were being read, she knew them.
20:11She had a deep knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures and a living relationship with God.
20:16She had certainly hidden God's word in her heart.
20:21Oh, that's such a valuable thing to hide his word in our hearts.
20:26That's what the really, what that Wanna Club is all about is, is, is hiding the word of God
20:29in our heart and the children's hearts so that when tough times come in their life, they can
20:33remember what God has said and believe what God has said and trust the promises of God.
20:38So hiding God's word in your heart, what a valuable thing that is.
20:42Psalm 119.11 says,
20:43I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
20:49Oh, hiding God's word in our hearts.
20:51It's so vile, viable and important to us.
20:55This really is a song, but it's also a prayer.
20:58And really it's the highest form of prayer.
21:00Do you know why it's the highest form of prayer?
21:03She doesn't ask anything of God.
21:05She just praises him.
21:08She didn't say, Hey, I need a new donkey.
21:10I need a new, she didn't say anything.
21:12She's just thanking him for what he has done.
21:15It's the highest form of prayer.
21:18Mary understands the universal condition of all humanity.
21:22She says, God, my savior.
21:25She understands that all of us are in a fallen state and that we need a savior.
21:29All of us do.
21:30Every one of us.
21:31None of us have the ability to, to achieve our own salvation, to make ourself right with
21:35God.
21:35Only Christ can make us right with God.
21:38She understood it.
21:39We are sinners in the need of a savior.
21:42She understood that from the fall that we are separated from God and that we need God
21:47to come and make reconciliation to bring us back together.
21:49And that's what the Messiah is going to do.
21:51He's going to restore a relationship with mankind through his son, the Messiah.
21:58And then she says, he's my savior.
22:00She understood she needs a savior too.
22:02He's my savior also.
22:04She's one from society.
22:07She comes from Nazareth.
22:09Remember what Philip said?
22:10What good thing can come out of Nazareth?
22:13Nazareth was one of those backward towns.
22:15You know, we would call it Hickville, if you want to say that.
22:18Don't know.
22:19I'm sure they had kind of their own little dialect.
22:21I mean, it's typical in a nation.
22:23You have different dialects all over the place, but it was a very backward country town.
22:28Who comes from Nazareth?
22:29Why couldn't anything good come out of Nazareth?
22:31For society's point of view, she was in a lowly state.
22:36Just a small young girl in a backward city that hardly anyone ever knew about.
22:42Yet God has chosen her in her lowly condition and exalted her.
22:47There's a principle there for us.
22:50Martin Luther comments on Mary's song.
22:52Mary confesses that the foremost work God did for her was that he regarded her.
22:58That means he had favor on her.
23:00He graced her, which is indeed the greatest of his works, on which all the rest depend
23:06and from which they all derive.
23:09For where it comes to pass that God turns his face towards one to regard him,
23:13there is nothing but grace and salvation, and all gifts and works must follow.
23:20When God shines his face upon us, there's nothing better than that.
23:24That we who are under the wrath of God now through Christ that has been removed
23:29and his face shines on us and blesses us in Christ.
23:33Oh.
23:35I get God bumps when I think about it because when I'm saying this stuff,
23:40I'm thinking about me.
23:42And I know me.
23:43I know me better than you know me.
23:45And I'm thinking, how could God ever shine his face on me?
23:51But he did in Christ.
23:53Not because I'm some special person at all, but because he is the righteous, holy God.
24:01So we saw stropha one, Mary praised God for what he did for her.
24:04Stropha two, what his holiness and power has done for Israel.
24:09But there are people who are proud, exalting themselves.
24:14Those are the ones who don't fear God.
24:17They don't have a reverence for God.
24:18They don't care about God.
24:19They lift themselves up as if they themselves are God.
24:22You've probably worked for people like that before, right?
24:26They're away or the highway.
24:27They're God.
24:29Psalm 14, we read this.
24:32The fool says in his heart, there is no God.
24:35You say, well, yeah, okay, but what does that mean?
24:37Well, what it means is Paul told us clearly, creation displays the handiwork of God.
24:44All creation makes it plain to humanity that there is a creator.
24:48We look at the creation.
24:49We say there has to be a creator and his power is known and his wisdom is known in his creation.
24:54There must be all of it.
24:56It's plain to us.
24:57But the fool says, no, there's no God.
24:59Why is he a fool?
25:00Because he rejects what's right before his eyes.
25:03Makes him a fool.
25:05They are corrupt.
25:06They do abominable deeds.
25:07There's none that does good.
25:09Those who think they ought to rule the arrogant are brought down.
25:14Matthew Henry talking about humility said this.
25:17Humility, though it should expose us to contempt in the world, being humble people that is,
25:22yet while it recommends us to the favor of God, qualifies us for his gracious visits,
25:29prepares us for his glory, secures us from many temptations.
25:33It's all about humility and preserves the quiet and repose of our souls is much better than
25:39that high spiritedness, which though it carry away the honor and wealth of the world, makes
25:45God a man's enemy and the devil his master.
25:49Humility.
25:49Humility.
25:50We have a hard time with humility.
25:52I do.
25:53I have a hard time with humility.
25:55Something I think that's in us deeply.
25:57We're very proud people as human beings.
26:00She says, no, the proud will be brought down.
26:03The lowly will be raised up.
26:06This is one of the great laws in the kingdom of God.
26:08It's called the reversal.
26:09The poor will become wealthy.
26:13The hungry will be fed.
26:15The exalted ones will be brought down and the lowly ones will be exalted.
26:18It's the great reversal to bring down the mighty from their thrones and exalt those of
26:23humble estate.
26:25In Psalm 147, we read this, the Lord lifts up the humble.
26:29He casts the wicked to the ground.
26:31It's the great reversal.
26:32Those who are so important in this world and looked upon, those arrogant, proud people,
26:39one day God will humble them and the lowly he will lift up and show his favor upon.
26:46Both Hannah and Mary's song reflect a reversal of outcomes.
26:50The lowly are exalted.
26:52The haughty are brought down.
26:56Anonymous author, actually it should be Melvin Newland, but I think he's writing about Melvin
27:02Newland.
27:02He said, most Christians even struggle with pride from time to time.
27:05I think we do.
27:06We struggle with pride from time to time.
27:08He said, I know I do.
27:11Melvin Newland told the story of another preacher who got a Christmas card one year.
27:15He's a pastor of a mega church, large church.
27:18He got a Christmas card from one of the people in the congregation and he opens it up and in
27:22the Christmas card, this lady wrote it.
27:24She was very complimentary about his preaching and even compared him to Billy Graham.
27:29Ooh.
27:30And then she concluded this by saying, I think you are one of the great and really, you're
27:36one of the really great preachers of all time.
27:40So he set the card down and his wife comes in later on, picks up the card and reads it
27:44and she says, who, she doesn't know who it is.
27:46I mean, it's a large congregation.
27:48She doesn't know who it is.
27:49So she said, well, who is this person?
27:51And then the pastor responded back, well, she is a very intelligent woman in the congregation
27:57who loves great preaching.
28:00The wife kind of looks at him.
28:02And then he asked his wife, how many great preachers do you suppose there really are in
28:07the world?
28:08And calmly, she responded back, one less than you think there are.
28:15Humility.
28:15God raises up the lowly and he brings down the arrogant.
28:21It's a great reversal of all times.
28:23Our president, Andrew Jackson said this, none are so empty as those who are full of themselves.
28:31So Mary is praising God for what he has done with her and to her and for her and what he's
28:36going to do to the nation and to the world to fulfill his promises.
28:39And even what she talks about almost sounds a little bit like it's a sermon on the mount,
28:43the reversals.
28:45Look at Matthew chapter five.
28:46It's almost like the reversals here.
28:48Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
28:51Lowly, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
28:53Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.
28:55This is great reversal that's going on back and forth.
28:59And these statements that she reads right here show the help of God promised to Israel by
29:03all of the prophets.
29:04It's what God has promised over the ages now is being fulfilled in the Messiah that's coming
29:09through Mary.
29:11And she says, oh, thank you for his mercy in remembrance of his mercy.
29:17Mercy.
29:19Mercy means not getting what we deserve.
29:23Mercy.
29:23In other words, when you and I need a kick in the backside, God gives us grace and mercy
29:29instead.
29:30He gives us blessing instead of the kick in the backside.
29:33In other words, it's not getting what we deserve, mercy.
29:38We've all been there.
29:40Now, Luke is writing in Greek, obviously.
29:42He's writing in Greek to the Greek speaking people, but Mary is a Hebrew.
29:46So she's thinking of mercy in the Hebrew understanding of mercy in the Old Testament.
29:52Mercy in the Old Testament speaks about God's steadfast love.
29:56He loves his people.
29:57You can't break him from his love for his people.
30:01Talks about his covenant faithfulness.
30:02He's made a covenant with his people.
30:03He'll fulfill his side of the covenant.
30:05He will do what he promised to do.
30:07Covenant faithfulness.
30:10Talks about mercy or loyalty, loyal love.
30:15That's wrapped up in this big word called chesed.
30:17It's just a Hebrew word for mercy.
30:19And it's translated various different ways.
30:21It's translated mercy, covenant loyalty, loyal love, faithfulness, and favor.
30:27It's God's steadfast love to us.
30:30Psalm 119 in Deuteronomy talks about this.
30:33He sent redemption to his people.
30:35He has commanded his covenant forever.
30:38Holy and awesome is his name.
30:41Deuteronomy 7.
30:41Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast
30:47love, chesed, with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.
30:53So God is a God who gives us mercy when we don't deserve mercy.
30:57We deserve judgment.
30:58He gives us mercy instead.
31:00He gives grace that which we don't deserve.
31:02The history of the nation of Israel is a lesson in God's mercy.
31:09Read the Old Testament.
31:10We go through the Old Testament and we find out that Israel always did what God asked them to do.
31:15God says, hey, will you follow my word?
31:16Israel says, absolutely.
31:17We will always follow your word.
31:19And throughout the history of Israel, they always did what God wanted them to do.
31:22Those of you who read the Old Testament know that that is not true.
31:26They were a stiff-necked and rebellious people.
31:29There were times that God could have been...
31:30In fact, one time he said to Moses, I'm just going to wipe them all out.
31:33I'll make a new nation out of you.
31:34And Moses said, no, God, you made promises.
31:36You can't do that.
31:37And obviously God was testing Moses here in this case.
31:42It's God's mercy that's always been poured out.
31:45Even in the exiles when they were sent off to Assyrian exile and Babylonian exile,
31:49it was an act of God's mercy on the nation instead of destroying them completely.
31:55He's been so merciful to the nation of Israel.
31:58And think about us.
32:01I bet you this week...
32:03I shouldn't bet.
32:03That sounds like I'm making a wager.
32:05I'm guessing this week you and I experienced God's mercy, didn't we?
32:10We should have been kicked in the backside.
32:12Instead, he gave us mercy.
32:14He picked us up and said, come on.
32:17He's so good, isn't he?
32:18When we're down, he picks us up in a sense and he kind of points us in the right direction.
32:23He says, this is where you need to go.
32:25This is the way to walk right here.
32:27Or there are times that you and I are just super down.
32:29Maybe we've been disobedient.
32:31Maybe we're just down.
32:32And in a sense, it's like he picks us up and he sets us down like a father on his lap and he just wraps his arms around us and he just loves us.
32:41He gives us mercy and grace.
32:44Oh, how we need that daily.
32:48Mary speaks about God's never-ending faithfulness to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
32:54And now, God is fulfilling the promise he made to Abraham centuries prior when he promised him,
33:01in you shall all the nations of the world be blessed.
33:05In you.
33:06And then we found out it was through Isaac and Jacob.
33:08Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
33:10And Jacob was given that promise, through you will all the nations of the world be blessed.
33:14Someone is coming through you that's going to be a blessing to all of the world.
33:20Paul talks about this in Galatians chapter 3.
33:24Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.
33:27It doesn't say, and to offsprings.
33:29That would be many children.
33:30Referring to many.
33:32But who is this offspring that God was talking about to Abraham?
33:35But referring to one and to your offspring, who is Christ.
33:40The promise made to Abraham was through you, all the nations of the world be blessed.
33:43And the Messiah does bless all the nations.
33:45Get to the book of the Revelation and what do we find?
33:48Every nation and tongue and language and people group are in heaven praising God.
33:55He's been a blessing to all the earth.
33:58That's his promise.
33:59And now he's fulfilling it through Mary.
34:01And not only that, Mary looks forward and sees the future restoration of justice in Israel under the Messiah.
34:10The righteous king.
34:13The one who is going to do right for his people.
34:16Right for the world.
34:17He's not going to take bribes.
34:19He's not going to show partiality.
34:21It's going to be God Almighty dwelling in our midst.
34:24Isaiah wrote about this.
34:26Isaiah wrote about a righteous king who was coming.
34:28And when Isaiah wrote this, they didn't have a bunch of righteous kings.
34:33Some were good.
34:34Some were bad.
34:35In fact, Assyria was going to come down and take the northern kingdom away into captivity.
34:40And even Isaiah prophesied about a Babylonian captivity that was going to come later after that.
34:46They never had good government for a long period of time.
34:50And things were just out of order.
34:52There were bribes being taken.
34:54There was injustices in the land.
34:55And Manasseh said they filled the whole Jerusalem with streets full of blood.
35:01She's longing for that righteous king to come.
35:04The one Isaiah writes about.
35:06For to us a child is born.
35:09To us a son is given.
35:11And the government shall be upon his shoulder.
35:14I'm not going to call him a politician because we don't like politicians.
35:17He's certainly a political figure though.
35:19He's a king.
35:19Government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
35:30That's who this one is.
35:32Of the increase of his government and of peace that will be no end.
35:35There's no going to be end to his government.
35:37And on the throne of David and over his kingdom, the righteous king will sit to establish it, the kingdom, and to uphold it, the kingdom, with justice and with righteousness.
35:49From this time forth and forevermore, the righteous king will come and he will reign.
35:55And the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
35:59And Mary and Elizabeth are both thinking, when God comes and shows you and your nation his favor, thank him and praise.
36:09Praise him.
36:10Sing about him.
36:12Talk about him.
36:14So as we're going through this, there's a couple of things that we saw as we went through here.
36:18And the first thing we saw was this.
36:19Faith brings blessing.
36:23Believing God brings blessing.
36:25For it is impossible to please God without faith.
36:27And those who draw near to him believe that he's a rewarder of those.
36:31God rewards faithfulness.
36:33Faith brings blessings.
36:35Believing God's word.
36:37Well, that implies something.
36:40And that's the next point.
36:42We have to know what God's word says to be able to believe it.
36:46So the next one is, we saw in Mary, she hid God's word in her heart.
36:51So it's a good admonition for us.
36:53Hide God's word in your heart.
36:55There's going to come a day you're going to need it.
36:57You're going to open up the word and you're going to say, God, I'm just so distraught and I don't know what to do and I need your wisdom.
37:07And you read through here and the Holy Spirit will bring back remembrance of words that you've read, his faithful promises to you.
37:14They will strengthen and they will encourage you.
37:17But we must hide it in our hearts.
37:21Third thing we see is this.
37:24Submission to the will of God in your life brings blessing.
37:28When God comes and says, this is my plan for your life.
37:33This is what I want you to do.
37:35This is the direction I want you to go.
37:37Submitting to that brings blessing in our life.
37:40Fighting against it just doesn't work well.
37:43Submitting brings blessing in our life.
37:46So faith brings blessing.
37:49We want to hide God's word in our heart.
37:51You know, maybe 2026 is a year you're going to make a commitment to read through the entire Bible.
37:57You've never done it before.
37:58You've never read the entire Bible before.
38:00But you're going to say in 2026, I'm going to read the entire Bible from Genesis to the Revelation,
38:05whichever Bible reading plan you want to use.
38:07But I'm going to do it.
38:08It's a commitment I'm going to make.
38:09I want God's word to be in my heart.
38:11And lastly, submission to the will of God brings blessings.
38:17Let's pray.
38:17Father, thank you.
38:19Thank you for Mary and Elizabeth.
38:20And thank you that they recognized what you were doing.
38:23And they focused on you and your past promises and your future blessings.
38:29And they submitted themselves to your will and plan in this world.
38:34And all they're doing in this text is praising you and thanking you.
38:38That's so like us, Father.
38:41What you have done in our lives by bringing us to you in Christ, showing your face, your favor upon us,
38:50giving us your grace and your mercy, your steadfast love in our lives.
38:56How can we not praise you?
38:58How can we not daily just get up in the morning and say,
39:01thank you, God, for what you have done for me in Christ.
39:04Thank you for your blessings in my life.
39:07Thank you for your faithfulness.
39:08Thank you for your word that strengthens me.
39:11How can we not praise you, Father, for what you have done?
39:15Oh, Father, work in us by your spirit these things that you would be honored and glorified
39:20and that the world would hear about your son who you brought through the Virgin Mary.
39:25We pray in Jesus' name.
39:27Amen.
39:27Amen.
39:27Amen.
39:27Amen.
39:27Amen.
39:28Amen.
39:28Amen.
39:28Amen.
39:28Amen.
39:28Amen.
39:28Amen.
39:29Amen.
39:29Amen.
39:29Amen.
39:29Amen.
39:29Amen.
39:29Amen.
39:29Amen.
39:29Amen.
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