Watching by Faith (12/24/2000)

I don't want to sing the special now. Am I okay here? I know we're gonna have a lot of music in the afternoon service, so Let's go to Luke chapter 1

This morning, and I want us to look starting with about verse 34 and I It's a two -part message.

We'll do one part today, and then I'm gonna Do the other part next week the

Lord willing and didn't make up for saying the bad word there, but I did add the Lord willing We're not supposed to use

The word that looks like this Is what we learned at Sunday school for a week we're gonna try not to use

That word and I already messed up so do I get to start over and you sorry okay good Well, I can just go ahead and use it because I'm out

I'm out what would you say? Oh, no, I would have been out anyway well

That's not fair because this sermon was already done before Sunday school, so I'll try on the fact next next week's is too but We're gonna speak on the topic of watching by faith watching by faith and It's really all one message.

There's just not time for it all in one service so today We're gonna talk about the first advent and the things that were being watched for for especially by people like Mary and Anna and Simeon and then next time we're gonna talk about the second advent and Make some real application for the truths.

We learned this morning next week We'll make application to our own lives in our time of these same truths, so It's difficult because I wish

I could do the whole thing at once But there's no way that we would have time With the election that we've just been through and some of you've commented to me that it's like the spiritual warfare became visible almost

I would agree with that with Our new president elect saying that there are ominous signs on the horizon for our economy

With the turmoil in the Middle East sometimes it's gone on for so many years now We just don't pay much attention to it anymore

But I can remember back in the 70s I paid very close attention to it and it's worse right now than it was then it's just that I'm used to it

How about you? so That is a continuing thing that really needs to be watched it's very important in the

The scenario that God is bringing together in the last days What about the calling of Good evil and the calling of evil good in this world and in our society.

What about the slaughter of? Thousands and thousands and thousands thousands in the millions of innocent unborn children

What about the move towards gun control in this country little things like that?

Are they important? Do they have anything to do with prophecy? What about the international currency and the euro dollar some of you may not have read this because it's fairly new information

But I read in National Review magazine recently that there is now a European Rapid deployment force of over 200 ,000 soldiers that is not a part of NATO, which means we are not involved with it

It's Germany France in particular I'm sure England is involved which they wouldn't have been had they still been under Margaret Thatcher But they probably are involved.

And so this is a rapid deployment force that can deploy itself without the United States Being even a part of it

I also read this week in National Review magazine that if you count all of the dimpled chads

And you count all of the votes that were thrown out because some of the people really were too stupid to know how to vote

But they did want to vote for mr. Gore That 53 % of the country would have in fact voted for him fact did try to vote for him now

The fact is that that percentage is not going to change probably it's probably if it does it will probably increase where More than 50 % of the population of this country will be voting for people who are for slaughtering unborn children

They'll be voting for people who are for the one world government they'll be voting for people who are against prayer in the schools and That's more than the majority if you hadn't figured that out and we're going to see more and more of that In fact, you may have just witnessed

The last Conservative president in your lifetime if the statistics are true, and I believe they are true

Now you need to all realize that in fact, mr. Gore Was elected by the people of this country

But mr. Bush was elected by a sovereign God Who made things work out in such a way that all the votes were not legal

But the mind of those people I am convinced that mr. Gore is right when he says they really voted for me

They just didn't know how to punch the right hole Wonder why the confusion happened you ever read any stories in the

Bible where the enemies of God? Turn and kill themselves. I love that story where it says and the army woke up the next day and they were all dead corpses

It's true God brought confusion and they turned on themselves and slaughtered one another and God's army didn't even have to touch him

That's what happened in this election But Bush didn't really win if you look at the mind of the people of the nation you're living in So we'd better look at that because four years from now you're going to see that you're gonna see that mind express itself

So we've been given four years perhaps Of Time to work for our

Lord. We don't know how many years or moments We may not have until the sermons over to work for him

But we need to be very Watchful of The things that are happening now, that's some of the things that we'll get more into next message the

Lord willing but today I want us to go into Luke chapter 1 and Start with verse 34 and look at some of the things that were happening around the time of Jesus's first advent

Next week. We'll talk about the second coming of the Lord Luke chapter 1 verse 34

Then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be seeing? I know not a man

Now I want you to place yourselves in this story or else you'll just read over it because you've read it so many times

But be Mary in this incident Be Mary and think about as a human being you've just been told

That you are going to carry the Son of God in your womb and you're not married and you're a pure woman

You don't believe in fornication and adultery and all the things that we discussed in Sunday school That's not part of your lifestyle

But you've been told that you're going to be with child and you're not married yet Imagine how she must have felt and she says how shall this be?

She's probably wanting to say I'm not sure I want this to look like it's going to look To these people.

I mean she lived in the most legalistic society that there's ever been on the face of the world

The most critical judgmental legalistic group of people that was her people and now she's going to be with child and apparently without a

Husband, how is that gonna look? And she knows exactly how it's going to look and she says to the

Lord questions him and says how can this be? I know not a man I've never been with a man verse 35 and the angel answered and said to her the

Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and The power of the highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the

Son of God and Behold the husband cousin Elizabeth Thy cousin

Elizabeth. She hath also conceived a son in her old age and this is the sixth month with her Who was called barren?

For with God nothing shall be impossible I think this might have been one of the things is accomplished

Of course, John the Baptist is going to be the forerunner but also Mary saw that this woman who had been barren was with child, which is in fact a miracle and It is in a sense a sign unto

Mary so that she might be comforted To know that what the Lord is telling her is in fact going to take place for With God nothing shall be impossible

This is the message that she received and Mary said behold the handmaid of the

Lord Be it unto me according to thy words see the humility there her life and purpose in life was to be the handmaid of the

Lord and that should be our purpose and the angel departed from her and Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste into a city of Judah and entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted

Elizabeth and it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary the babe leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the

Holy Ghost and she spake out with a loud voice and said blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb and Whence is this to me that the mother of my

Lord should come to me for lo as soon as the voice of thy Salutation sounded in mine ears the babe leaped in my womb for joy and verse 45 is the main verse in the passage for this morning and for next week and it says this and Blessed is she that believed

Who did she believe? God Blessed is she that believed for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the

Lord I want to look at that verse and just talk about it this morning because that's all we'll have time to do but there's a lot in that verse for us and We'll need to apply it next week as we look at the things that the

Lord has told us if we take the written Finished Word of God this canon and we read everything it tells us about the future

God has told us far more than he told Mary about the future and We have more things that we can choose to believe

God when he said them or not to believe him Then she had But she chose to believe that what

God said was true And that's what faith is to believing that what God says is true and right and will come to pass

So what a marvelous example of faith this woman is Well, first of all, let's look at the promise of performance

Luke chapter 1 verse 45 and blessed is she that believed For there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the

Lord. First of all, she believed This is an interesting word in the Greek and it's far more Descriptive word than the

English word believe is especially our usage of the word nowadays It comes from a root word

P though, which means to be convinced or to rely upon with inward certainty and Then there is another word that comes from that word called peace

DS which means persuasion or Conviction or reliance upon and then the actual word that is used in this verse for the word believed came which came from those

Two little words is the word peace duo and it means this and I want you to get this because it's maybe a little different Idea than what you thought of before but peace duo means to entrust

One's spiritual well -being To God, I Mean, that's what it means in this sense

To try it doesn't mean Just to trust God now if you go to the root words

It means that the root word P though means to be convinced by God now

Listen, it's not that you just all of a sudden work yourself up where you can believe something But you are convinced by the evidence that God places in your heart by faith

And when I say evidence, he does use historical evidence. He will use Circumstantial evidence around you, but he'll also use the evidence of faith and allow you to see things with your eyes your spiritual eyes

I mean not your I eyes, but your spiritual eyes. I said it twice right there in one sentence I'm out the game.

I'm out of the contest It was EIE though that time

To be totally convinced so that you then can rely upon The one that you believe that is the root meaning it means to be persuaded that what the one you believe is telling you is true

So that therefore you rely upon him But as you take those root meanings into the actual word that we find in this verse, which is peace

Duo, it doesn't just mean to Believe in God what it are to trust

God what it means is to entrust yourself into his hands. I Wish I could find a better example than this because this is so worn out and you've all heard

Probably ten different preachers give this example, but I'm gonna use it because it's so good But do you remember the man who was the tightrope artist and he put that he strung it across Niagara Falls He goes out across it with you know that all he has is the bar and he goes out and makes it down there and back and The crowd just goes crazy and then he goes over and he gets a wheelbarrow

He puts the bar down that's supposed to give him the balance and he just takes the Wheelbarrow and he puts that wheel on that little wire and he pushes that thing across and back and he makes it safely in the

Crowd just goes crazy and he looks at the crowd and he says now how many of you believe? That I can put you in the wheelbarrow and do it again

And a couple of guys raised their hand. He said get in the wheelbarrow and they wouldn't do it

Why well, they trusted the man, but they didn't trust themselves with the man. Do you see the difference?

Mary trusted her entire Integrity her future her life

Everything she had on this earth and everything within her heart and soul all of that She entrusted with this messenger who brought her a message from God.

This by the way is our messenger Because the Bible says in these last days he hath already

Spoken to us by his son. Do you trust the message? Do you trust the message enough to entrust yourself?

Into the life. I mean, I mean into the arms and hands of the one who wrote the message and sent it to you

That's what this word peace to you all means. So she I think I think we define it this way she entrusted

Or you could use the word yielded her life into God's hands being persuaded

Convinced and confident that she could rely upon him with all of her inward certainty

That takes all the different definitional words into that word puts it into one sentence, but that's what she did

Now as we go on back at the verse, we see that the result of this is in verse 45

She is blessed Blessed is she that believed? this word blessed is

Macario's which literally means supremely blessed She was supremely blessed.

It can be translated. She was extremely well off She was extremely blessed because of her belief the promise of Performance now is where we come next look at verse 45 and blessed is she that believed for there shall be a performance

The promise of performance there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the

Lord This word performance is the word teleos, which means completion But I want to give you w e vines definition of it because it takes it a little bit further into the depth of the word

Vine says that this word for performance, which is translated Fulfill complete different other ways in the

New Testament is Not merely to terminate a thing as in to finish a thing

But to carry out a thing to the full So teleos means to something that is started

Shall be continued and carried out to the full and that's what the word means is when it is finally carried out to the full and so the

Bible says that blessed is she that believeth for there shall be a Carrying out to the full of everything that God told her

We see this same word used in many places I want to give you a couple examples ones revelation 10 7 where it says but in the days of the voice of the seventh

Angel when he shall begin to sound the mystery of God shall be finished

The word finished is teleos It means all the mysteries that God has given to the prophets down through all of time shall come to fruition at this stage in the tribulation period all of the judgments on the world system that were prophesied by every prophet starting all the way back with Adam who was a prophet when?

Genesis 315 was told to him. I Was the prophet in that case all the way through down to every?

Prophet that ever spoke of this it will be fulfilled at that time Revelation 15 1 says and I saw another sign in heaven great and marvelous seven angels having the seven last plagues

For endem is filled up the wrath of God the phrase filled up is teleos

All of the wrath of God will come to full fruition at this moment in history

Mark 13 -4 uses the word and we will come back to this next week In fact, this will be the beginning verse for the message next week mark 13 -4 says tell us when shall these things be?

And what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled the word fulfilled is teleos the same word so what we're going to do is tie in verse 44 where where Mary was promised that there would be a performance a

Fulfillment a carrying out to the full of everything God told her the same thing is told to us in mark 13 for that all of the

Things that God says about the second coming the second advent of Jesus Christ to the jot and to the tittle every bit of it will be fulfilled and We will see it come to pass from one vantage point or another

Now let's go back to Mary now for a moment though And let's look at the mode of the promise performance.

The mode is Look at this and back in verse 45 and blessed is she that believed

For there shall be a performance of those things that were told

The mode was the words were told Now what is it that will be performed in her life the things that were told her by God The phrase were told is in the perfect Passive tense, which is important because in the

Greek and in the English in the perfect tense It means this something that has been completed in the past once and for all never to be repeated

You hear me say that again and again, but we'll get it eventually where everybody can quote it That's what the perfect tense means.

So the tense itself speaks volumes This word that was given her was told to her once It didn't have to be told to her again

This book has been given to us once and God does not have to authenticate it again because he authenticated it with signs and wonders in the lives of the

Apostles and the writers who gave us this from the Lord it was Fully authenticated.

He does not go back and reauthenticate anything. That's why you don't see miracles on every page of the

Bible you see miracles In cycles during times when God is authenticating his message, especially when he changes the message or adds some new revelation

So with the coming of the New Testament truths We had miracles all over the place by Jesus and the

Apostles and those who penned the New Testament But I'll tell you this when the last page of the book of Revelation was finished and written

He has spoken It's in the perfect tense it's done once never to be repeated again

God has spoken and we need to understand that what means and what comes next is the performance of it

Everything that God has said is going to come to pass. Do we believe that like Mary believed it?

Now what is the source of the promise? Well, the source is very obvious because it says in the last part of verse 45 those things which were told her from The Lord So the

Lord is the source of these words Now I want to go change ideas for a moment

There are some conditions to this promise performance many times when God gives us a promise in the

Bible There are conditions that go with it We can think you have you ever seen the little book what's called prompt

Charlotte what's that book called promises prayer promises or God's promises that has

I don't know if it has them all but it's got hundreds of promises out of the Bible And that's a wonderful book.

We Charlotte likes to give it as a gift We've done that many times but you have to be a little careful with them because they're not just like a blank check

Sometimes sometimes God says if you do this Then I will do this and it is a promise but it's based on the if and that's called a conditional promise

What does the one say in John 15 where it says If you abide in me and I in you

Then you can ask what you will and it shall be done now Is that a promise that says you can ask for anything you want life and God just make it happen

He's a genie in a bottle and he's I need this I need that or is there a condition to the promise?

The promise says if you abide in me, that means live in me dwell in me and my words abide in you

Then you may ask what you will and it shall be done. What does it mean to have his word abiding in you're in it? Every day you're in his word and he's abiding you so there are conditions now

I want to talk for a few moments about some of the conditions that we see in Mary's life that made this promise

That there would be a performance be possible look first at Well, we will review a little bit verse 45 the whole idea is she had faith so we've already kind of covered that She had faith and it says blessed is she that believeth but look at verse 46 it gives us another

Attribute in her life Mary said by soul doth magnify the

Lord Now look at the next verse that gives another one Verse 47 and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my

Savior Now there's a difference between the soul and the spirit So here we have a woman who has

God -given faith She has a magnifying soul a soul that magnifies

God and she has a rejoicing spirit These are things that need to be found in the life of the believer if many of God's Promises are going to come forth

Now God is working always as we'll see a little bit later To create those things within us and to make them come to maturity within us

But first of all, what is a magnifying soul? Well, Mary said my soul doth magnify the

Lord the word soul here is the word souqay Now there are several words for soul in the

New Testament and we have to be a little careful with which word we're talking about Because they can mean slightly different ideas

But this word souqay is not the word Zoe which is sometimes translated into the word soul which simply means life

So sometimes where you see soul in the English, it just means that you're alive You have been given the breath of life would be a good thing to say, but that this word is not that word

Nor is this the word pneuma which is normally translated spirit This is the word souqay which is nearly always translated soul and what it means is the sentient

Principle only now, let me give you the definition for a sentient sentient means feeling or sensation as distinguished from perception or thought

Now think about that a minute feeling or sensation as distinguished from perception and thought

When we understand the definition of the word soul we talk about our soul what we understand is that the words

Our soul is that which makes us able to connect with a physical world

We are in fact a spiritual being But we live in a physical world and we live in a physical body a tent a tabernacle if you will and the thing that is the interface between the spiritual you and The physical body that is your servant that you live in that takes you from place to place to serve.

God is your soul If you didn't have a soul the spirit could not connect with the body.

I assume and So the soul is not what we sometimes think it is sometimes we talk about our soul

We really mean we're also encompassing the spirit and that's okay to use those terms because even in the

Bible sometimes it uses the terms As synonyms, but when you get down to the specific meanings and specific verses that differentiate the two

Such as where it says that the Word of God is a two -edged sword that can split the spirit from the soul

We see they are two different things. The soul is that part of you which relates to the outer world?

It has feelings it can sense the things that are around you and so forth, but it is not your spirit

So your soul can lean towards the flesh or it can lean towards the spiritual self. It's just the go -between in between the two

So for a person to be like we talked in Sunday school this morning brother Otis said he talked about the body and how it should be a servant of the new man

Who is a servant servant and in unity with the Holy Spirit of God? So that if the new man is as one with the

Holy Spirit Then the new man should control this body and it becomes Merely a vehicle to take you to the place where God wants you to be to do

God's work And that's what the body's meant to be the body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body

The Bible said in the Sunday school lesson happens to be in the sermon this morning as so often happens

I wish the sermon could come first and the Sunday school lesson second and then we'd do it the other way around But I think it's great

But you think about all that now she she's talking about her soul right now She is saying that her soul magnifies the

Lord now Let me look at the word magnifying and I'll come back to talk about the soul again. The word magnify is

Megaluno, which means to make great or to show great or to declare something to be great

To cause to be held in greater esteem or respect to intensify Now think about this.

Can you make God bigger than he is? You really can't but let me ask you this in this world in the sight of other men

Could you magnify the Lord? Could you make him bigger in their mind than he had been the day before by something you say or by your own?

Walk with the Lord we better be able to and In fact we can and in fact that is exactly what

Mary was doing and she did it with her soul now Isn't that interesting because the soul is that part of you which can?

relate to a physical world and bring the spiritual you into Action and doing things in the physical world through works of the body

So if we're going to magnify God in a physical world with predominantly carnal people and We want them to be thinking about God.

Whereas yesterday they didn't have a thought of him Then then our soul must be such that it magnifies

God it has to be in the under the control of our spirit who is one with the

Lord and Then it controls the body So it is in fact a spirit control soul control body

I Heard that in a sermon once and then it's true. It's a good analogy. And so now here's what

Mary had She was a person who had a magnifying soul now look at the second thing she says in verse 47 and My spirit hath rejoiced in God my

Savior now, we're going to another level We're talking about her spirit, which is the word Pneuma, which is always translated the word spirit

And it means the rational soul now use the word soul there just to mean being the rational being fight the vital principle the mental disposition so we see the difference here, whereas the the soul is the feelings and the sensation

The spirit brings forth the perception the thought The ability to have some of the qualities that God had because we were made in his image and all of those things

It is that part of her which rejoiced in God and my Savior that's why it's so important that that spirit be fed that spiritual man be fed the

Word of God and That there be a relationship between us and the Lord and through prayer and so forth so that we have a rejoicing

Spirit the word rejoiced is a beautiful word here. It's Agalya Agalya Oh, which means literally to jump for joy.

That's what the word means To jump for joy. So we see that Mary was a woman of faith

She was a person whose soul magnified the Lord in this physical world among other men and She was a person whose spirit was jumping for joy

Now There's another thing about her that we see here though And that is this look at verse 48

For he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden She was a an humble person she

Through perhaps circumstances in her life. I don't know how the Lord worked this into her life

But I know it came from him because none of us in the flesh are humble So neither was Mary but God worked this into her life and She had humility and there are proofs of it and I want to give those to you before we stop this morning because all of these things are

Characteristics we need to have in our lives as the second advent approaches we need to have these same characteristics that Mary had if we're going to see

God doing the things around us and If we're going to hear his voice in the word as he has already revealed what's going to happen sometimes we're not enlightened to it as he begins to speak to our hearts more and more and Enlightens the truths of the second coming and the rapture and all those things as we study the word and we become

More aware of what God is speaking to us Then we need to know there will be a performance of these things

But we have to be in this place to be this type of servant who receives these things before we get the promise of the performance

And so look at this humility that she has First of all in verse 48 it is because of the presence of God in her life

I mean this is shown by the fact that she is carrying the Lord Jesus Christ in her womb But it is is it not true that we carry the

Lord Jesus Christ within ourselves as well He is in us as he was in her and so she becomes a beautiful type of the fact that she is

Blessed because of God's presence. She said blessed above all women. Will I be because Jesus is in me?

Well, if that's true, it's true of us We are first of all our humility shows

Because we have God's presence in our life and we begin to understand that we would not be blessed in and of ourselves

That the blessedness does not come from our power and our personality and our beauty and our abilities

And all the things we can do the blessedness comes from the fact that he is in us

And the second thing that that perhaps has brought humility in Mary's life is what

I would call pressure first We have the presence of God now. We have the pressure of God look at verse 49

For he that is mighty hath done to me great things Do you realize that If you're saved today

That the Lord is molding you with his hands and shaping you into From clay into the vessel that he wants you to be and that you will be

He was doing this in her life and she says the Lord has done things to me He has done great things to me and holy is his name

And do you know that the Lord is doing that in each one of you if you belong to him today? In fact, we see this given in Scripture In different ways, we see it discussed as if God the

Father is involved in this From the heavenlies. We see it discussed as if the

Son of God is involved in it both when he was here But also now from the heavenlies and we see it spoken of in the

Bible through the Holy Spirit in his ministry on this earth In our lives today. It says in 1st

Thessalonians 5 23 and the very God of peace sanctify you holy That's the father we see in Hebrews 13 12

Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gate

That's the Son of God and we see in 2nd Thessalonians 2 13 but we are bound to give thanks always to God for you brother and beloved of the

Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through Sanctification of the

Spirit that's the father going through the channel of his spirit into this world into this physical in -time dimension where we're living and sanctifying us

So it is God himself who makes us change from day to day to be more what he wants us to be

And he had done a work in Mary's life by this time. She says Mighty is he who has done great things to me.

He's doing great things to you Sometimes we don't know it because our own children we live with them every day

We don't see him growing but you know when you have a Relative who lives at a distance and maybe only comes in three times a year or friends from past life that come to see you

And what do they always say when they see your children? My my how they've grown And you're thinking they've been like this the last month

You know, they haven't changed that much. I haven't seen the change. Well, you know what that's true of you spiritually

You don't see the change, but we do We see the change in each other, especially if we've been together for a long long time some of us

We've seen the change in each other through the years. Haven't we? and Ephesians 1 19 says and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were he's doing mighty things in our life

Ephesians 3 7 says wherefore I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effectual

Working of his power. He's doing great things in our lives Ephesians 3 20 says now to him that is able to do exceedingly

Abundantly above all that we would ask and think according to the power that worketh in us

He's working in our lives. He's doing great things Just like he did with Mary Philippians 2 13 says for it is

God which worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure in Philippians 3 21 it says who shall change our vile body

That it may be fashion likened to his glorious body According to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself

The ultimate finished job is going to be at the rapture when we're changed in the air

Even the body will be made to conform with his will and his perfection in Colossians 1 10 being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God Strengthened with all might according to his

Glorious power unto all patience long -suffering and joyfulness that growth that you're seeing in each other

You don't see it in yourself because you're with you every day So you don't see the little incremental growth, but the growth that we have is coming by God working in us through the sanctification of the

Father himself from the heavenlies through the sanctification of the Son of God through the Sanctification of the

Holy Spirit as the Father extends himself into this arena in time and works in our lives first Thessalonians 2 13 says but as it is truth the

Word of God which effectually worketh also in you That believe is he doing great things in your life

Is he doing great things like Mary said he had done great things. Have you felt the pressure?

the molding pressure Well, that's a good question to ask

So we see that this humility comes from God's presence in her life. It comes from God's pressure on her life

It also comes from God's patience and mercy You see that in verse 50 and his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation

And so we see that the proud do not recognize God's mercy Mary recognizes mercy in her life the proud do not because the proud do not recognize

God's mercy They believe in merit You see the proud believe in merit they believe that they would be blessed because they work so hard for God or because they are so good or because they're so faithful and They don't see that this blessedness does not come from merit

But it comes from the presence of God in our lives and the work of God in us

So we see his presence his pressure his patience in verse 51

We see his great power and strength. He hath showed strength with his arm in her life

Have you seen God's strong arm in your life? If you have that's a very good sign

If you have seen God's strong arm in your life molding you Then you can understand that there's going to be a performance of the things.

He's told you in his word in your life And what so we have presence pressure patience and power

Next we see God's protection look at verse 52 protection against spiritual enemies

He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree

The mighty those of the world who are mighty the demons who think that they have

Bring imaginations and exalt themselves against God all of that All of that we are protected from it because we have

God's protection and then we see also God's provision in verse 53 He hath filled the hungry with good things and the rich he hath sent empty away

Why does he do that because they tried to take care of it themselves? They thought that their money would buy all the things they need won't do it but He hath put down the mighty he hath filled the hungry with good things

There is God's provision for those who have this kind of faith and lastly we see that the humble are aware that they are part of God's promise and Destiny look at verses 45 and 50.

I'm sorry 54 and 55 He hath hoping his servant

Israel now, that's not a southern word. I don't know. What is I? Know some old black folks.

I've known that use that word. He he hoping me He hath hoping his servant

Israel in remembrance of his mercy now Look what God is remembering look at verse 55 as he spake to our fathers to Abraham and to his seed forever

So in summing this up we see That the angel comes to Mary it makes some amazing promises to her

He tells her that she's going to be with child and that this is going to be the Son of God Mary is a woman of faith.

She has a magnifying soul. She has a rejoicing spirit She has humility of heart which is evidenced by the presence of God the pressure of God the patience of God the power of God the provision of God and the promises of God that she's aware of And now when all this is in place and when a person is a true believer

And Walking closely with the Lord. He may understand this There shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the

Lord You know when that angel came and spoke to her

He told her some things that were a real problem in her legalistic society. I Mean they stoned people to death for fornication and adultery

How are they going to believe that she's with child when she's not married and that she is still at the same time pure You think that was a problem for Mary?

It absolutely was And she finds herself pregnant

She knows that she's pure and she knows this is of God and she and her husband are the only two and along with her cousin that really know this to be a fact and She's having to live with this in her society

Her husband even doubt her future husband doubted her at first until God had to show him and authenticate this in his life and So she's with the

Son of God Simeon comes and speaks to her in just a few verses after where we were reading a few moments ago

And he tells her you're going to have your heart pierced and he alludes to the death the crucifixion of Jesus Christ He alludes to it.

She wanders at it doesn't know what all it means But she has heard the message and she knows that there's going to be a performance of all these things

Can you imagine this woman at that state at that time in her life? Right after the angel spoke to her as we read about how would she feel but she had faith and she believed

God She not only believed God, but she believed in God enough to place herself in his hands

And that's what peace to old means. That's what true faith is. She Trusted herself into his hands.

She didn't just say I trust you And so what happens Her child grows up and as a little boy confounds the scholars as he teaches them the

Word of God He grows on and waxes strong and stature before man and God and before long she finds herself at a wedding

And she tells her son take care of this problem. They're out of wine And he turns the water into wine before her eyes in the eyes of everyone in attendance

She he heals the sick and the lame He raises the dead

He's confronted with demons on every hand almost every day of his ministry and has power over the demons

And then he is criticized He is crucified

But you know what? She got to become aware of the empty tomb She Got to realize that her son was risen and you know that most of his physical family did not believe in him during his earthly Ministry, but they did after the resurrection

James pretty powerful Jude wrote one of the books of the New Testament. They didn't even believe in his ministry really at first But after the resurrection they did

So was there in fact a performance of everything that God told Mary Absolutely, and we close with this thought this morning.

Will there be a performance of Everything God tells you and me in our generation in our time that he is about to do

Isaiah 7 14 therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name

Emmanuel and Isaiah 9 6 for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name

Shall be wonderful Counselor the mighty God the everlasting father the

Prince of Peace. That was the word she had did it come to pass? Yes, it did

And we have many words that will examine next Sunday the Lord willing That he's spoken to us in the book of Daniel the book of Revelations Throughout the scriptures concerning the second advent and the things surrounding it.

They're very important to us because we're living in those last days So let's spend some time this week

Not only not saying the word I which was our assignment from Sunday school if you're still in the contest but also asking the question

Am I a true believer? To the extent that I place my life in his hands and do