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Bro. Bill Nichols
Okay, we're going to begin with Luke chapter 46, but before we do that, I'm going to backtrack a little bit and read some of the background quickly and then go forward. What did I say? Yes, Luke chapter 1, verse 46.
I mean, we can't be in Luke 46, we are still in Luke 1, and that would be way out of character. This time next year, maybe we'll be in Luke 46. Sorry, totally my fault. But we're going to start at Luke 1 .30.
I'm just going to read a little bit, and then we're going to pick up with Mary's song. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
And he shall be great, and he shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
And the angel answered her and said, 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 thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her who is called barren. For with God nothing is impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaiden of the Lord, be ye unto me according to thy word.
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, saying, 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 blessed is she that believeth, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. Let us pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day and thank you for all your many blessings.
Thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit to allow us to read your word and to understand it. Thank you for giving us this place. Thank you for giving us this time. Thank you for giving us Brother David and all of the congregation.
Bless us and keep us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Chuck Missler described the passage that we will begin with today as the second of five Christmas songs presented in Luke. The others being the one delivered by Elizabeth that we just read in Luke 1, 42 and 45, Zacharias a little later in chapter 1 of Luke, the angels in Luke 2, and Simeon also in Luke 2.
These are benedictions or songs. They don't seem like songs as we would see them, but they're all themed about Christmas and Christ. And Mary said, this is Mary's song, and Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior, for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done great things, and holy is his name, and his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
He hath showed strength with his arm. He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent away empty.
He hath opened his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever. John MacArthur describes that passage this way. Verses 46 through 55 are filled with Old Testament allusions and quotations.
They reveal that Mary's heart and mind were saturated with the word of God. They contain repeated echoes of Hannah's prayer when she brought Samuel to the temple to dedicate him to the Lord. These verses contain numerous allusions to the law, the Psalms, and the prophets.
The entire passage is a point-by-point reciting of the covenant promises of God. So we're going to look at them line by line, item by item. Verse 46, Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.
John MacArthur still said this, Mary referred to God as Savior, indicating both that she recognized her own need for a Savior, and that she knew the true God as her Savior. Nothing here or anywhere else in the scripture indicates that Mary thought of herself as immaculate, that is, free from the taint of original sin.
Quite the opposite is true. She employed the language typical of someone whose only hope for salvation is divine grace. Nothing in this passage lends its support to the notion that Mary herself ought to be an object of adoration.
In fact, the quality of Mary that shines most clearly through this passage is a deep sense of humility. Verse 48, For he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
She identifies herself as a maidservant, that's a female slave. Others might call her blessed, but she knows what she is. She is a lowly female slave in as great a need of salvation as any other human being, and just as unable to do anything about it.
That makes her totally dependent upon her son, who will also be her Savior, to provide her with his unmerited favor or his amazing grace. I had thought at this time, if the congregation, if the group had been a little bit larger, that we would actually sing Amazing Grace.
But I'm going to be left up here singing it by myself, so I'm not going to do that today. I'm just going to read it. If you want to read along, it's on page 104 of your hymnal. I actually was prepared to do that.
Maybe I should even try to sing it. How about that? How about we try to sing it? And if it really blows up on us, we'll stop and start reading it. I can't promise anything, except I will make a joyful noise.
It is 401. 104. 104, that's dyslexia for you. Page 104. Everybody found it? All right. Just the first one. Just the first one. Just the first verse, set of verses. Ready? Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. I guess I was going to do it all. T 'was grace that taught my heart to fear. And grace my fears relieved. How precious did that grace appear.
The hour I first believed. I've had enough. That's just for you guys to tell everyone that they missed a divine appointment this morning. Okay. I'm going to read the very last verse. The earth shall soon dissolve like snow.
The sun forbear to shine. But God who called me here below will be forever mine. When we've been there 10 ,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun.
Well, that is an amazing thing. And now I just see our song leader came in with his wife. So we'll trap him for the next one. Yeah, he was late. Okay, we're back to verse 49. That was an adventure for me, I promise you.
For he that is mighty hath done to me great things. And holy is my name. Mary does not seek honor for herself. Only honor for God. We're back in Luke 1, verse 49. Mary does not seek honor for herself.
Only for God. And that is, as a matter of fact, one way of discerning a true servant for God. When what is done, whatever is done, who gets the glory? If it's the person that gets the glory, it's not of God.
If it's God that gets the glory, then it has a chance to be from God. That's how you can tell when you look at a person and discern whether they are a true servant of God or a servant of themselves. Verse 50.
And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. Mary recognizes as each of us should. It is his mercy, not mine. It is his grace, not mine. She goes on to say, He hath shown strength with his arm.
He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. It is he that has shown the strength and scattered the proud. It's nothing that I did. He did it, not I. This is Mary speaking. He hath put down the mighty from their seats and has exalted them of low degree.
He can bring down the mighty. He can elevate the lowly. All by his power, not by mine. He hath filled the hungry with good things. And the rich he hath sent empty away. It is he, not I. Oh, here's a great verse.
He hath opened his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. Any of you know what the word hoping means? You know, that was used quite often back in the old country where I came from. They would say, do you want me to hope you?
And I thought that was just really bad, really weird. What they're trying to say is, what it's saying is, he hath helped his servant Israel in the remembrance of his mercy. But the old word was hope, H-O-L-P, which I always thought was hope when they said it.
So I totally misunderstood it. That's kind of what I was thinking, but the word was hope, H-O-L-P, not H-O-P-E. You just missed it, Brother Ron. You did. Oh, now I like that. Well, at least one thing we know.
Any honor goes to the Lord, not to me. As he spoke to our father, to Abraham, and to his seed forever. And that ends Mary's song. And Mary abode with her, that's with Elizabeth, about three months, and returned to her own house.
Mary arrived in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy. So evidently, she stayed until John the Baptist was born. So the six before she arrived and the three after she arrived would give the nine months necessary for John to be born.
At this point, Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but not yet living in his house. So what does it say? She went home to her house. Now Luke is ready to switch directions again, but before he does, we're going to once again go to Matthew's account.
And when I'm here, I can't help but note how consistently Luke and Matthew look at the same event through different eyes. Matthew looks at the birth of Jesus from Joseph's perspective, while Luke looks at the same event from that of Mary.
Matthew makes the case for the legal right of Jesus to be king, while Luke presents the blood right. Some commentators think that Luke interviewed Mary because Mary was still alive, that Luke interviewed Mary as he prepared this book, and that interview colored his account.
Those are liberal commentators who don't believe that everything in the Scripture is inspired. There are people, and even good, strong Baptist people will say, well, do you believe more what's in the red letters or what's in the black letters?
Have you heard people say that? Well, if we want to believe something is true, we ought to look at the red letters because Jesus said that. No, that's the account of that writer of what they remembered Jesus having said.
And it is no more or no less inspired than the other things that they wrote. If it's in the Bible, it's inspired, and it is, I think, all true. That's just to short-circuit what might happen. And that interview colored his account, and though it may very well be the case that he interviewed Mary, I don't think that the reason the role of Mary and other women are emphasized, I don't think that's the reason.
I think Luke's emphasis is to establish his linkage of Jesus through David, through the bloodline of Mary, not through the legal line of Joseph as Matthew does. So it's two different thoughts presented parallel, one by Matthew and one by Luke.
And you've got to have them both to get a full account. So now we're in Matthew chapter 1, verse 18. Matthew chapter 1, verse 18. Matthew chapter 1, verse 18. I'm pretty sure that one's right. Okay, now the birth of Jesus, there you go.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. When as his mother Mary was a spouse to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately.
See, already he shifted the focus from Mary to Joseph. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
And she shall bring forth a son, and that shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all of this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us.
Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden and took unto him his wife. It was only now that Mary left her father's house and moved into the house of Joseph. Verse 25 goes on to say,.
And he knew her not, until she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. Before we go back to Luke's account, consider this. The description of her son was her firstborn son, not her only son.
That implies that Mary will have more sons. Now we know she did. We know she's got James, her son, and she's got, was it Judah? Jesus has several half-brothers. I know, that's why I put that in. Just in case there's any reforming Catholics amongst us.
It's not her only son. It's only her firstborn son. Though none will be like Jesus, conceived of the Holy Spirit. He'll be the only one that is special, the only one that's the Messiah. So now we're back in Luke, and I thought we were going to go straight away to a different topic, but we don't.
We kind of linger here a bit. Now Elizabeth's full time came that she should be delivered, and she brought forth a son. Now remember, that's three months later than Elizabeth arose on the stage. Not Elizabeth, but Mary.
Mary met with Elizabeth three months earlier than this. She brought forth a son, John. Later to be known as John the Baptist. A man that leapt with joy while still in his mother's womb. When she greeted Mary, shortly after Mary had her conversation with Gabriel.
Now, if you pay attention, and I know you do, you will note that both Mary and Elizabeth are now with child. When Mary is speaking to Elizabeth, she has already spoken to Gabriel, she has already been found to be with child.
So she's with child, Jesus, and Mary is with, Elizabeth is with child, John. Mary a few days with child, and Elizabeth about six months. And the unborn Jesus, John, and the unborn John recognizes and responds to the presence of the unborn Jesus.
Now I brought that up just to ask this question. There's a great debate right now in the world of politics that says, when does life begin? I think you have a choice in this verse. You can say life begins at six months when John leapt in the womb, or life begins at three days when Jesus' presence is what inspired it.
I think life begins at conception. That's just me. If you want to run with that, you can. Any comments or questions? I didn't think there'd be any debate. I thought maybe somebody would want to add something.
Okay. And her neighbors, this is back to Elizabeth, and her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed mercy, had showed great mercy upon her, and they rejoiced with her. Now it's talking about Elizabeth.
Mary is gone now. Elizabeth is remaining. Her son is born. It's eight days later, and they're getting ready to circumcise John, and they're getting ready to name John. And it came to pass that on the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child, and they, that's the neighbors and her cousins, called him Zacharias after the name of his father.
It had become customary to name a child at circumcision. The ritual brought together the family and friends who, in this case, pressured the parents to give the baby the name of the father, probably intending this as a gesture of respect to Zacharias.
But Zacharias had been given a different set of instructions. You remember that from earlier. Moreover, Elizabeth had learned from Zacharias in writing everything that Gabriel had said to him. So his mother, Elizabeth, answered and said, Not so, but he shall be called John.
That didn't sit so well with the neighbors and the cousins, so they appealed to Zacharias. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And as we were going over this last night with Diane and Clarence, Diane just broke up giggling right here.
She said, That's exactly what Clarence's parents and my parents said about Georgette. There is nobody in our family that's named Georgette. Where did that come from? I thought I'd just throw that in. That's like free for nothing.
And I wouldn't have done that if Diane had been here today. Which hopefully she's going to start coming very soon. And they made signs to his father how he would have him called. From this we earlier inferred that Zacharias was both deaf as well as dumb.
He couldn't hear and he couldn't speak. So they couldn't say, Zacharias, what do you want to call him? They had to make signals and say, How do you want to call him? And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote saying, His name is John.
And they marveled all. Well, the first thing they marveled at is, How could Zacharias know what his wife had just said? He couldn't hear nor could he speak. How could he possibly have known what Mary said?
But that was not enough. If that was not enough to marvel at, the very next thing certainly will be. Verse 64. And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosened, and he spake and praised God.
Now he didn't say that he could now hear as well as speak, but it doesn't say otherwise, so I assume he can now both hear and speak. Verse 65. And fear came on all that dwell round about them, and all these sayings were noised about throughout all the hill country of Judea.
That's Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. John the Baptist's reputation began to spread from the time he was eight days old. That's going to be important later on. And I'll give you another little insight.
Diane broke in here and wanted to talk about the Pharisees coming to visit John in the desert. Why they would come. Well, that's the reason they were willing to come to John down in the desert. Why else would they come?
Because he was a famous man. The fact that he was out in the desert didn't matter. They would go where he was. And I just grinned because I got to that same passage a little bit later. And so we went on.
And all they that heard him lay them up in their hearts saying, What manner of child shall this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him. All were anticipating something special with regard to John. And they're going to go through a litany of things in a few minutes with regard to who it is that John would turn out to be.
Now, verse 67. And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people. In every case where someone was spirit-filled, in Luke's nativity account, the result was a spirit-directed worship or a song.
Zacharias was struck mute in the temple back in verse 20. He was supposed to deliver a benediction, which he couldn't do because he couldn't speak. So it's fitting that when his speech was restored, the first words out of his mouth were this inspired benediction.
And this is it. He hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. The horn is a symbol of strength. These words were clearly not meant to exalt John the Baptist, since both Zacharias and Elizabeth were Levites.
The one raised up in the house of David could not be John, but spoke of someone greater than he. Now, if you'll flip quickly to John chapter 1 verse 19. And this is the record of John. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?
You see, people were swarming down to John at the river Jordan to be baptized. And they wanted to know what was going on. So they came down and said, Who are you? Well, they knew it was John, but they wanted to know what his role was.
And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. That didn't satisfy them. And they asked of him, What then? Are thou Elijah? And he answered, I am not. And they said, Art thou that prophet?
There was a prophet in the image of Moses, I think, that was supposed to visit Israel before the coming of the Messiah. And they thought he might be that prophet. And he said, No, I'm not that one either.
Then they said unto him, Who art thou? That we might give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? And this is what he says of himself. I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.
Make straight the way of the Lord. As saith the prophet Isaiah. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou not be Christ, nor Elijah, neither that prophet?
And John answered them, saying, I baptize with water. But there standeth one among you, whom you know not. He it is who is coming after me, is preferred before me. Whose shoelatch I am not worthy to unloosen.
So that's John's account for himself. No, I'm not Elijah. No, I'm not Isaiah. No, I am not the prophet. No, I am not the Messiah. I am only one come to prepare the way for the one that is come. Now back to Luke.
Chapter 1, verse 69. And still Zechariah speaking. And he hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David. As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began.
And that someone greater than John will be none other than Jesus the Messiah. Spoken of by God's prophets since the world began. Way back in Genesis 3 when we introduced the seed of the woman. Zechariah goes on to say that we shall be saved from our enemies.
And from the hands of all that hate us. He will not only be the Messiah. He will also be the Savior and the grantor of mercy. Verse 72. To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant.
That holy covenant is the Abrahamic covenant with its promise of grace by salvation. Verse 73. The oath which he swore to our father Abraham. That he would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies might serve him without fear.
In holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. And now Zechariah speaking about his son John said. And thou child shall be called the prophet of the highest. For thou shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways.
That was John's role. Not to be the Savior but to prepare the way for the Savior. A prophet of the most high God. To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins. John gives the knowledge of salvation not the salvation.
That's left for Jesus to do. Forgiveness of sins is the heart of salvation. God saves the sinner from separation from him and from eternal hell. Only by atoning for and for forgiving their sins. And only Jesus can do that.
Oh and by the way. What kind of role do we have? Can we lead someone to salvation? We can point the way to Jesus who can. And our role is just like John's but just not in such a grand schedule. Is to point people to salvation.
Not to save them. We get it confused sometimes. We think we're supposed to bear our fruits to lead people to Christ to see that they're saved. We can't do that. Only Jesus can do that. Verse 78. Through the tender mercy of God whereby the day spring from high hath visited us.
That day spring from on high. That would be Jesus. To give to them that sit in darkness. I'm going to try one more time. To give light to them that sit in darkness. And in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.
John and we can point to Jesus. But only Jesus can guide our feet into the way of peace. Now I was stammering around there. Because I've come up with my next song. Brother Ron. Turn to page 447. And if you would.
Would you lead us in this song. 447. It should be. It is well with my soul. Attendeth my way. When sorrows like sea billows roll.
Whatever my lot.
Thou hast taught me to say.
It is well.
It is well. With my soul. It is well. With my soul. It is well. It is well. With my soul. Oh let's go through it all. We've got plenty of time. This is what we were laughing about when you walked in. You just missed me getting to do that.
So now it's your turn. Shall befit the trial should come. Let this blessed assurance control. That Christ has regarded my helpless estate. And has shed his own blood for my soul.
With my soul. It is well. It is well. It is well. With my soul. Oh the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin not in part.
But the whole.
Is nailed to the cross.
And I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Oh my soul.
With my soul. It is well. It is well. With my soul. My soul. With my soul. It is well. It is well. With my soul. Thank you Ron. I really appreciate that. That saved me a lot of misery. And everybody else a lot too.
There's only one more verse. I'm going to read it. Not to. This is kind of where I wanted to end. But the chapter didn't end here. It said in the child. That's John. John grew and waxed strong in spirit.
And was in the desert. Until the day of his showing in Israel. And that's the end. Of the chapter. Thanks a lot. John would you. Close with a prayer.