Magnifying the Lord or Magnifying Your Problems? (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name's Mike Ebendroff and I'm your host today. I heard somebody say the other day, they're talking about podcasts, the pod. I have to do the pod. No, we don't do that.

No pod on here. It's the podcast. When I think of pods, I think of, what's that show where they put the pod people, they put a pod next to the side of your bed and it would take you over invasion of the body snatchers.

I think that originally was written to talk about communists. You know, you wake up one morning, it looks like the person, but they're not the person anymore because they're a communist. And how many of those have been out?

The old black and white one, where they break through the screen at the very end, I think somewhere in San Francisco, guy in the truck or the bridge or something like that. Then there was one with Spock, Leonard Nimoy.

Then there was a one with, I think the third one was with Nicole Kidman. All that to say, it's not movie reviews. Although one time I did at a place called Gorky's, a little kind of Russian avant-garde breakfast place that people would go to 24 hours a day.

And you go out clubbing and then you go to Gorky's in downtown Los Angeles. And once someone said to me, can you pass the creamer? I knew who it was. It was Leonard Nimoy. So he was standing right next to me.

I handed it to him. I looked at his ears. They seemed normal. Talking about singing. I'm singing, I'm singing. How do you sing with joyful hearts in a fallen world? That's today on No Compromise Radio Ministry.

I know American Gospel 3 is coming out sometime soon. I recorded two and a half hours worth of material. So let's see if I make the cut. October 6th, 7th, and 8th, I believe, Pat Abendroth at the Pactum Conference is gonna be in Omaha.

I'm Michael Beck, D .G. Hart. Pat Abendroth and myself. Lord willing, I've been scheduled to speak in Omaha in the past and have been on deathbed. So who knows what'll happen? I'm looking at the book of Luke, the gospel of Jesus according to Luke.

Mary’s Magnificat in Luke

And we're in Mary's song of praise. Luke is one of these books that has all kinds of songs in it. And here's one of the most famous ones, the Magnificat. And it is called that because the first word in Latin that Mary says is magnification.

And of course in Greek, it's the same first word too, where we get the word magnify or to make great. And here in this poem, she says, my soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God, my savior.

And soul and spirit is just another way to say my inward being praises God kind of like Psalm 34, like Psalm 103. This is one of the last Psalms before the resurrection, if you want to put it like that, as some scholars have.

And so I kind of set everything up last time, pushing to this point, driving to this point. How do you sing for joy with Mary in a fallen world? That's what I'm after. And I'm gonna write that down right now so I can remember that when I preach it.

A fallen world. Well, one of the first things I think we should do to increase our praise and have more joy is a simple one. And it seems maybe more negative, but I think we have to come to terms with this as Christians, even on a regular basis.

Remembering Our Lost Condition

What did Mary say? Verse 46, my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior. One of the things we have to do, number one, is to remember our lost condition. We have to remember what it was like before we were Christians.

And here in this song of praise, you're going to see flickers of our condition. Jesus is, of course, prophesied of the Old Testament. He's now in the womb of Mary. And of course, we know the Holy Spirit is helping her with this song.

This is under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And we come to the passage and we say, she says stuff like savior, humble state, mercy, holiness, all in this passage. Mary calls God my savior, my personal savior.

God is her savior, not a savior, not the savior. He's her savior. Mary believed in the promises of God. Mary was a believer. Mary was hoping for the Messiah to come. She was anticipating the Messiah and she needed a savior.

Every person needs a savior, unless you're the Lord Jesus who perfectly obeys the law. Jesus is the only sinless one. And Mary knew she needed a savior to save her from her guilt, from her condemnation.

Now the word savior could mean rescuer, a deliverer, preserver, protector, healer. That's true. And lots of times you think of savior in the Old Testament as the one who delivers Israel from Egypt. That's true.

The name Jesus even means Jehovah or Yahweh saves because he'll save his people from their sins, Matthew 1 .21. Jesus here is the one who is the sinless one. And Mary acknowledges her need for a savior.

He's my savior because I'm a sinner. Luke uses this word savior, referring to Jesus in Acts two times, he is the one whom God exalted to his right hand as a prince and a savior to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

See the context there? Acts 13 .23, from the descendants of this man, according to the promise God has brought to Israel, a savior, Jesus. We're talking about spiritual saving from real sin. Acts two, but the angel said to them, do not be afraid for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people.

For today in the city of David, there has been born to you a savior who is Christ the Lord. So for all people, Jews and Gentiles. This is not talking about Israel needs to be saved out of Egypt or from the Babylonian hands or something like that.

This is spiritual salvation. Romans five, therefore justice through one man's sin entered into the world and death through sin. So death spread to all men because all sinned. That's everybody except Jesus, which means that's Mary as well.

When you come face to face with your own sin, it puts joy in your heart, knowing that you're not gonna have to pay for it, right? I think the answer to that is right. When you look at Ephesians two, and you see the black, dirty, filthy, awful description of sin, then when God comes to the rescue, oh, such a plight we were in makes the rescue even greater.

When we read when we were dead in trespasses and sins, and you think those words are very comprehensive. Our false steps, that is the trespasses, are sins missing the mark. Put together everything there and in between, positive and negative, active and passive.

We understand, oh, we were in a deep need. Jesus dead, God raised him and exalted him. We are dead, raised with God and exalted. Now Jesus physically dies for our sins. We are born into sin. We are inheriting Adam's sin, the first sin by federal representation, and consequently we were born sinners.

Spurgeon said, look back to what you used to be, to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. You hath he quickened, you who are dead in trespasses and sins. This is not rubbing noses in it in Ephesians chapter two.

This is to remind us of our former conditions so that we realize how wonderful our salvation is. One writer said in Hamilton, sometimes Christians need to be reminded of their past. They need not wallow in it, be crushed by it, or be nostalgic over it, but they should highlight how blessed and privileged they are in Christ.

Isn't that true? I don't want to lose my love for the Lord. And remember not the saving grace that he bestowed upon me. What were you like before God saved you? Now, when I look at the London Baptist Confession, Westminster Confession, Heidelberg, et cetera, and look at the sin sections, I just happen to have London Baptist Confession here, chapter six of the fall of man of sin and of the punishment thereof.

Can I talk any faster? I don't think I can. What's it say at point four? From this original corruption whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled and made opposite to all good and wholly, W-H, inclined to do all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.

I mean, that's language that Ephesians would call being darkened in their understanding, hardness of heart, callous, giving themselves over to sensuality, right? That's what that sounds like. That sounds like there's no one who understands, there's no one who seeks for God.

That sounds like the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God for it does not subject itself to the law of God for it is not even able to do so. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. That's what it sounds like.

Sounds like a natural man does not accept the things of the spirit of God for their foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them because they're spiritually appraised. We have lost all our ability to do anything good.

And we're dead in sins and we can't convert ourselves. And we are slaves. Now what's gonna happen? Well, what if we just were left in that condition? God would be just, that's true. But Ephesians goes on after verses one, two, and three.

John Gerstner said, could God help us? God, that's the most preposterous appeal of all. It's against him that we have done all this sinning. It was his law we violated. It was his commands we disobeyed.

It was his image we had ruined. It was his purposes we were seeking to frustrate. And it was under his wrath we now were. It was his awful judgment from which we were seeking escape. Why would God ever rescue us from the judgment in which he placed us?

If he's a just God, we must fear. There's no hope for us. Then with good news, Paul exclaims, magnifying the grace of God and his mercy and his wonderful character and nature. But God, I mean, isn't that the gospel basically there?

But God, I think that's what Lloyd-Jones said, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you've been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

So that in the coming ages, he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you've been saved through faith and this not of your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works that no one may boast.

I mean, just a little reflection upon the soul who sins will die, Ezekiel, makes us think, but God, I mean, doesn't say therefore God, doesn't say and God, so that God, it says, but God, there's a contrast.

Oh, here's that Lloyd-Jones quote, these two words, but God in and of themselves in a sense contain the whole of the gospel. I mean, that's the only way out for us. Homer Kent said, it points to the only conceivable answer to man's need and yet to the most unlikely answer.

After all, it was God whose righteousness had been offended. God commenced his own love toward us and that while we are yet sinners, Christ died for us. Here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us.

We love him because he first loved us. But God, dead in sins, but God, dead in trespasses, but God, dominated by the world, Satan, the flesh, but God, doomed as children of wrath, but God. I wonder if that's worth singing about.

My soul rejoices in God, my savior. If you'd like to sing with joy no matter what, you can remember what you were owed and what you were graced with. If you were not able to pray, forgive us our debts, and God was not able to forgive you those debts by having Jesus pay for them, where would that leave us?

I mean, we can't save ourselves. Mary, verse 48, he's looked on a humble estate of his servants for behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. And certainly she was praising God because of God's grace and kindness towards this humble servant out in the middle of nowhere, a pregnant teenager, right?

What's she gonna sing about? Well, she's gonna sing about who the Lord is. He's had regard for the humble estate. He's looked with favor. He's kind. Ray Pritchard said, isn't that just like God to choose the most unlikely girl for the greatest privilege any woman would ever know?

No wonder Mary says, from now on all generations will call me blessed. She didn't know how true that statement was. After 2000 years, we're still talking about Mary. Outside of Elizabeth, can you name even one other mother who lived in Israel on Mary's day?

The rest are all forgotten, but Mary is remembered forever. Of course, Elizabeth said, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. That's true. Elizabeth said, blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.

That's true. For us, we see our humble estate, not a young woman, a young pregnant woman, a young pregnant woman in Nazareth, but humble estate of sinners. We realize we were in a, talk about the humblest of the humble estate.

And if you see everything in light of God and his holiness, it's even more humbling. Verse 49, for he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name. We're talking about there's no one holy like the Lord, 1 Samuel chapter two.

God is holy. He's perfect and he's transcendent. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory, Isaiah six. Revelation four, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the almighty who was and who is and who is to come.

This personal praise of Mary's should be our personal praise, right? Should it not be? Aren't you not tracking with me? Say, well, I've got bad circumstances. Yes, I've got health trials. Yes, it's all true.

I'm not saying it's all pie in the sky stuff. And this is not a one upsman contest at all. And I'm sure there are many people listening that have worse trials than I have been through, but I've been through some trials that were pretty big.

Again, you've got me topped, I'm sure many of you, but it's not like I don't know trials. And so therefore I'm not trying to say this by saying, you know what, the trials are light, the trials are few.

It's kind of like when you're 25 and every time you go to the doctor, you're like, what am I even going to the doctor for? I have perfect vision, perfect hearing, perfect blood pressure, perfect heart rate, perfect everything.

I would like to acknowledge God's greatness, shine a spotlight on him and magnify the Lord. Wouldn't you? I know you would. That's why you listen to No Compromise Radio. So how do you sing with joy and magnify the Lord even though circumstances are very, very difficult?

Answer, number one, you remember your lost condition. Had to have a savior, you're in a humble state, he's the holy God, yet he's saved you. Number two, so we're working up to number two. Show's almost over, but at least we got number two in.

Rehearsing God’s Names and Attributes

How to sing for joy in spite of, like Mary, how to magnify the Lord. Remember your lost condition, number one. Number two, rehearse the truths about who God is. Rehearse the truths about who God is. That is his names and his attributes, who he is.

Oh, number three is going to be praise God for what he's done and is doing and will do. But right now let's talk about who he is. So who he is and what he's done, those are going to be points two and three.

Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord. So there's something we could talk about here, who God is. Rejoices in God, my savior, who is mighty, verse 49. Holy is his name. What we're doing is we're making sure that we don't have the benefits of Jesus.

The benefits of the triune God somehow severed from the person of the triune God. St. Clair Ferguson said, thus in a subtle way, we become sensitive to the difference between offering the benefits of Christ and offering Christ himself.

What was at the heart of their gospel message, the Reformation? Calvin has a beautiful expression that summarizes it. The gospel is Christ clothed with his gospel. This to use an Augustinian term, Augustinian term, is totus Christus, the whole Christ.

The person in whom incarnation has been accomplished and in whom atonement, resurrection, ascension and heavenly reign are now realized. While we can distinguish Christ's person and work in analytical theological categories, they are inseparable from each other.

Since there's no work of Christ that takes place abstracted from, and in that sense outside of his person, the blessings of his work cannot be appropriated apart from receiving Christ himself with all his benefits.

No wonder John Newton would say at 65 years old, as he writes to another minister, the older I grow, the more I'm drawn to preach much concerning the person, the atonement, the glory of the Savior and the influences of the Holy Spirit.

There are other truths important in their places, but unless beheld through the medium of the cross, they have but faint effect. And so you see what Mary is doing here. She's got these great titles of who God is, thinking about who he is and his attributes and he's the Lord, he's God, he's the creator, he's the Savior.

We talked about that earlier where she's a sinner and she needs a Savior. And here you can take a look at the mighty one, verse 49. Verse 49, the mighty one. The name is the mighty. The mighty has done great things for me.

I mean, he's so almighty, he can have a virgin conception, right? This is the mighty one that Jeremiah says, there's none like you, oh Lord, you are great and your name is might, mighty to save, Isaiah 63.

Mighty in battle, Psalm 24. Oh mighty one, Psalm 45. Psalm 89, oh mighty Lord. Zephaniah 3, great verse, verse 17. Lord, your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior, victorious, mighty. He will exult over you with joy.

He will be quiet in his love. He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. Kind of reminds me of that old song, Does It Not You? What a mighty God we serve. I think the second stanza is not too good theologically.

You can look that up on your own. But I remember as a kid clapping, what a mighty God we serve. What a mighty God we serve. What does it say? Angels bow before him, right? Heaven and earth adore him. What a mighty God we serve.

Mary is thinking about who God is. This is the key for us. This is the key for you. You're thinking about who God is, his names, his perfections, his attributes, his characteristics, his essence. Holy is his name.

I mean, so holy that the Holy Spirit made sure that Jesus is holy in the womb of Mary, praising God for his holiness. Some wouldn't want to praise God for his holiness because that's doom essentially for them.

But holy is his name. He's holy. He's different. He's exalted. It has nothing to do with circumstances. It has everything to do with thinking about God, his names and his attributes. My mother, when she had lung cancer, I just turned 63 yesterday.

My mom died at 66, dad at 55. So I made it past the middle part of that, 60 years old. No, barely. Anyway, she would rehearse some of the names and perfections of God through the alphabet to get her mind off of her problems because her problems were magnified.

And she had real problems, of course. And she would just start working through Almighty. And you'd think about God is bold or beautiful or I don't know what else we could think of when it comes to be brave.

C, he's compassionate. D, he's a deliverer. E, he's, see, I should write all these down, but I'm going off my memory. He's an encourager slash comforter. F, he fights battles for me. I mean, however you want to work through those.

I mean, by the time you get to X and Z is easy, zeal. X, I don't know what you're gonna do with X. Q, Q and X are harder. But just, I mean, get that Gerald Bray book on attributes. Study the Trinity, study the incarnation.

I mean, when you begin to do that, you just remember how great God is and that humbles us. And that turns it into praise. Why do we want to study who God is? I mean, there's lots of reasons. I hear, so here's a few.

When you study God, you're gonna be humble. John Flavel said, they that know God will be humble. And they that know themselves cannot be proud. That's true. I mean, in our day and age of self-esteem, self-righteousness, self, self, self, I've never forgotten the story of the man named Charles Haffey, who in 2002 legally changed his name to I am who I am.

He wanted to change his name to God. And I just think how awful that is. But, you know, we all struggle with the same thing. Studying the attributes of God, boasting. Let the wise man boast of his wisdom and let not a wise man boast of his wisdom and let not a mighty man boast of his might.

Let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth. For I delight in these things, declares the Lord.

Jeremiah chapter nine. Looking around, looking inside, looking at others. How about 2 Chronicles 20? Oh, our God, will you not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us.

Nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on you. And the thing is, when you study God, it just feeds on itself. You just wanna study him more and more and more. And it really is the only real thirst quencher when it comes to understanding the whole world and ourselves.

Closing Exhortation and Book Offer

Well, my name is Mike Abenroth, this is No Compromise Radio Ministry, talking a little bit about singing today. I'm singing, I'm singing. You can email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. The special is still on if you order Sexual Fidelity.

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