Book of Luke - Ch. 1, Vs. 34-48 (10/20/2002)

Amen that was good gentlemen Luke chapter 1 and I think we're on verse 35 is that right

I hope 34 okay well I've got 34 here okay let's have a word of prayer and we'll begin father we thank you for our day to get together a day that you've ordained for us to meet and be encouraged by the mutual faith of each other but to to be taught by your spirit to be moved to praise by your son

Jesus in our hearts as he praises you in us and Lord we ask that you also teach us today the things that we ought to learn we ask it in Jesus name

Amen then said Mary unto the angel how shall this be seeing

I know not a man I want us to look at this word no for a moment now the adults in the room know the old

English meaning of that when she said how could I have a child seeing

I know not a man so we know that that word no carries the connotation of love not just knowledge but close intimate personal love and it's the

Greek word gnosco which literally means to know but it carries that connotation of of a loving relationship not just mental knowledge of something in Luke chapter 10 verse 14

Jesus said I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep and I am known of mine carries the same close intimate relationship idea and so when we speak of the foreknowledge of God for knowledge of our

Lord Jesus he knew us before the foundation of the world in really the same sense of the word know that we see in Luke chapter 1 verse 34 it's an intimate knowledge relationship that is beyond any physical relationship that we could think of in this life now verse 35

Luke 135 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 the Holy Ghost holy is a geos which means an awful thing literally literal meaning is an awful thing now when they use the word awful they mean awesome that's our modern word awesome an awe -inspiring thing and it comes to mean a sacred thing it means that which is totally separated from sin in the world and the ways of this world and ghost is the word pneuma which means breath literally but by analogy and figuratively it means spirit so when we see the word spirit it's usually translated from this word pneuma and so it's the

Holy Spirit the awesome sacred spirit and that is the

Spirit of God now this word for power is dunamis which means miraculous power the literal meaning of the word is force but it's a miraculous force as of only the kind of power that God has and the word highest now notice this the angel answered and said to her the

Holy Ghost shall come upon thee the power of the highest shall overshadow thee now in the plain language of this sentence structure it would occur to me that whoever is being spoken of in the first part of that phrase is the same that's being spoken of in the second part of the phrase so where it says the

Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the power of the highest this word highest means these it's the word that's used for the

Supreme God the highest it always means God the highest God the power of the highest shall overshadow you so this is the same thing or the same

I'll call it thing but we know that we're dealing with the Spirit of God so it's a person it is

God himself so truly whoever the highest is is who

Jesus father was are you with me so some people are confused about whether it's the

Holy Spirit or whether it's the father the truth is the

Holy Spirit is the spirit of the father so this is the father who is the the father of Jesus Christ the language here he shall overshadow you literally means to cast a shade upon you therefore also the holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the

Son of God so makes it very clear that there is no human father here this is the highest this is

God the father who is the father of Jesus Christ now as far as how the father came into space and time where Mary was do you notice that he did so by his spirit so as far as we know the

Holy Spirit and Jesus are the two ways that the father will transcend into this arena so this is his method this is his way of doing it his way of being with us here in space and time because if you think about it the father is not in time he's already seen the end from the beginning and all of those things that we talk about so often and we love those doctrines but he can project himself into time by his spirit or by his son

Jesus sometimes the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of God many times hundreds hundreds of times but sometimes the

Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ you ever notice that and when you go into the book of Revelation where John was allowed to see the things of the heavenlies some of which were unspeakable you know but others he was told to reveal to us one of the things he was told to reveal to us was that the father was seated on a throne and John saw something there now

I'm not saying you look like a man like like we do but he saw an entity on the throne he saw a lamb or that which he at least pictured he discussed as a lamb because he knew we would know that was

Jesus the Son of God and he saw these the Holy Spirit at the front of the throne of God but also in the eyes of Jesus both places the same spirit so the

Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of the Son and this is his way of projecting into space and time and in a sense then being bound by time isn't that interesting because there's no way the

Holy Spirit could be grieved if he were not in time because to be grieved you have to respond to something that occurred prior in time ever thought about that you can't be grieved by something that hasn't happened yet so there has to be a time line so the

Holy Spirit is in time when he's grieving the father you know it's hard to say he would be grieved what do you think brother

Otis could he be grieved I wouldn't think so because he'd have to be in time to do that so at least the way we understand it and I know we don't understand it but I think we can clearly see that the

Holy Spirit is the way that the father became Jesus's father in time and in space what an amazing thing anyone who denies the virgin birth is an infidel now verse 36 and behold thy cousin

Elizabeth she hath also conceived a son in her old age this is the sixth month with her who was called barren for with God nothing shall be impossible what a lesson for us nothing is impossible that always gives us hope doesn't it doesn't mean

God is going to do everything we want him to do or ask him to do or hope he'll do but you know what it does mean he can and he might so it gives us hope hope is virtually the same thing as faith it's used as a synonym and sometimes the

English word hope is translated from peace to O which is the same Greek word faith and belief all three come from from time to time so it's kind of like we talked about in the sermon this morning it's not sight so it doesn't mean you're going to see

God do what you want him to do every time but you can always hope he will and that's powerful that's faith it means that you trust

God whether he does or not you know it reminds me of the Hebrew children when they were threatening him and they said you can throw us in this oven but we know that our

God can save us through the fire but even if he doesn't we're not going to worship you you know they said he may or he may not we don't know because we can't tell the future we have a hope that he will but we have a clear knowledge that he can and he might and that was that hope and that faith that carried them into that oven bravely that's the greatest thing that a

Christian young man can have that the world's young man can that's courage because you have hope that God can do anything he wants to do you could literally be in battle and be shot right through and just live right through it and just go home and survive it and be fine the whole rest of your life and the next guy next to you be shot through and killed immediately because God can do anything and hope stirs from this

God with God nothing shall be impossible even when you think you're at the place where everything is impossible and you cannot be saved or survive not true you could be and you might be

Mary said behold the handmaid of the Lord be it unto me according to thy word and the angel departed from her look at this attitude that she has that Mary has you can tell me whatever you want to tell me that God is going to do to me and I just say well

I'm his handmaid so that's why I'm here let it be so whatever it is 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 leapt within her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the

Holy Ghost but so was the babe so was the fetus what does that tell you about a fetus is it a person or is it a mass of tissue that can be eliminated whenever a doctor wants to well it's not only a person it was a spirit -filled person it was

John the John the Baptist and what a great teaching in this cause of anti -abortion and so the babe leapt 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 into me what an interesting phrase the Catholics try to use that to teach that Mary is the mother of God and they crossed the line because in this case they should distinguish between the father and the son and they don't make that distinction right that's right and this teaches us that in our study of the word in obeying the command to rightly divide the word of truth as we study that there are times when we are to view a difference between the son and the father there are times when we're to view the deity of the son that he is

God but there are other times when we ought to view the distinctive nature between the father and the son this is one of those times

Mary is the mother of Jesus not the mother of God now so they pervert this verse but what a beautiful verse where where Elizabeth says you know how how awesome this is that I can come into your presence the mother of my

Lord and my Lord the Messiah is within your womb and I'm in his presence what an awesome thing she says why should this come to me for lo as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears the babe left in my womb for joy and blessed is she that believed for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the

Lord and I want you to put a star by that little verse and remember that verse because it's one of the greatest definitions in the whole

Bible of the result of God -given faith now think about that with me just a moment the result in your life when you truly believe and when that belief is given to you by God and it's true heavenly faith look at it blessed is she that believed now this isn't just talking about human belief this is talking about where God caused her to believe and she was blessed because anytime there is that kind of belief that comes from God look at this there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the

Lord so when God puts the belief in your heart whatever it is he caused you to believe he will perform it it will come to pass in space and time that's powerful very powerful when you're praying for someone or for something and God places the belief in your heart that it is going to come to pass then you have it maybe not yet but it's as good as if you have it because there will be a performance of those things which are told you by the

Lord so if it's the Lord that told you that and gave you the belief you will have it by the way

Paul that is the exact meaning of that verse you were studying the other day where it said you can ask what you believe and it shall be done which

I know you already knew that was the meaning but this is talking about that verse there shall be a performance of those things which were told you from the

Lord it always works that way great definition of the result of true

God given faith it goes on says there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the

Lord and Mary said my soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my

Savior we have an important concept here we have two things happening her soul is magnifying and her spirit is rejoicing we have two different words for soul and spirit we have an idea or a teaching that there is a difference between your soul and your spirit though some theologians say there is no difference and there are good men who say that soul and spirit are synonyms and they're really the same thing but the greatest of them

I believe consider the fact that they are different because the Bible does say that the Word of God can separate between the soul and the spirit that wouldn't be possible if they were the same thing and in 1st

Thessalonians 5 it says I pray God that your whole body soul and spirit be preserved until the coming of the

Lord so why would it list both if they're the same thing it lists three things a body a soul in the spirit why wouldn't it have just said your whole body and soul if they're the same and so I think there is a difference distinction between the soul and the spirit the word soul here is suki which the literal meaning of the word itself is the word breath but in the

Greek dictionaries you'll find unanimously that they all say that this implies they call it this the animal sentient principle what that means is it is animal life as opposed to plant life but it would also include man's life so it's talking about something that is breathing and living not a plant but a something that has breath in it and breathes and so you can look at it and see that it's living and that's literally the word that's used here but it corresponds to the

Old Testament word nefesh which is translated soul throughout in the Old Testament there by the way there's a different Old Testament word for spirit so in both the

Old and the New Testament God has given a different word for the two again implying that they are different nefesh means a breathing creature or animal vitality or life used in many places to accommodate the sense of bodily but also mental life and that is our word for soul in the

Old Testament and the two are linked together in their synonym to that you wouldn't call them synonyms because they're in two different languages but they mean the same thing so when she says my soul magnifies the

Lord Lord she means the part of me that is alive and thinking the part of me that can magnify him is magnifying him

I liken the soul to the to the mind in the sense of that which connects our spiritual part with our body we know we can it's easy for us tell the difference between the body and the spirit the soul is where it comes in a little fuzzy what's what is the soul then if we kind of got a feeling for what the spirit is is that which can communicate with God it's the highest part of us and we know what the body is so what is the soul well to me it's where they meet it's where the two meet it's what allows the spirit to express itself in a physical world so the soul can go either way it can be carnal or it can be spiritual it is it is where the two meet actually and it means life but it really means more than just life because there is a different Greek word if we want to mean just life and it's the word

Zoe it spells zoe a zoology comes from that there's some other places where this word is used in other languages

Latin and different things but and in science but the word Zoe literally means life in other words mere vitality and it even applies to plants it just means something that's living as opposed to a rock so it means the life of a thing so when we see suitcase okay

I should say it means life but it's more than that it is the thinking life it is the thinking ability it's your to me it's your visit your organ called the brain it's more than that too because it uses let me put it this way it uses the brain it is an interface between the spirit and the flesh the brain is an organ as part of the flesh obviously so the soul is seated somewhere in the brain and it is an interface between your spiritual self and your physical self which includes your brain and your thought life your emotions and all that so the soul is is a fascinating part of us and what's interesting is a lot of people who don't study the difference sometimes will be feeling soulish and they'll think that means they're spiritual it doesn't always because the soul is in great part a seat of the emotions and so forth but when

Mary says my soul doth magnify thee we learn from this that the soul is not always carnal it can be led by the spiritual man to be used for the glory of God it can be that which brings emotions and clapping of hands and rejoicing and crying and shouting and laughing and praising

God outwardly it can lead the physical body to praise God which is not natural in our fallen you know in the human race is fallen so most men don't praise

God do they with their body so the body is an instrument that your spiritual self can move the soul to cause the body to then praise

God outwardly in a physical world does that mean anything to God yes it does because if it didn't he wouldn't have created us in such a way that we could work and move and cry and laugh and say things to him in a physical world he loves it and enjoys it otherwise we wouldn't be here so notice that it's this part of Mary called her soul that she magnifies

God with now let's look at this word magnify for a moment Megaluno it means to make something great or to increase something as our

English word magnify that carries that sense very well doesn't it to its translated in some places in the

King James to enlarge something so Mary says that part of myself we're a

Trinity a body soul and spirit we see ourselves as one though and we are so we're one and we're three but if you want to if you want to academically study yourself that part of her which magnified

God on this planet was her soul because it's what leads the body to do things for God outwardly the body cannot do that in and of itself and won't it fights against it actually the only way that your body will ever clap its hands or shout with its tongue or shed tears for God is if your soul moves it to do that if your soul and your spirit course spirit leads the soul but if your soul together with your spirit brings your body under Lordship the

Lordship of Christ then your physical body can be used to praise and glorify

God David himself said that he said I said I worship God with my mind and my body which always thought was a strange verse because I didn't realize early in my

Christianity that our body could be used really for much good for God but he said David said

I do that with my whole self I praise God and worship God well it's only because the soul has the ability if it is led by the spirit which is in union with the

Holy Spirit our own spirit and union with the Holy Spirit is now powerful and takes control and Lordship over the soul and our soul then is moving the direction of God which is what it was created to do it pulls the body with it and then we can rejoice in the

Lord and that's what we see in each other think about it you don't see my spirit you don't see my heart my mind only through my eyes can you approximate seeing it and think you see it so what you see is you see my body and I see yours but when

I see you smile when certain things are said about Jesus or I see you shed a tear I see you shake your head or you know the little body language that I see we all have different personalities

I see it in different ways I know where it's coming from your body is in subjection to the soul and the spirit that's exactly where we're supposed to be that's what it means to be filled with the

Holy Spirit you know how when you're drunk Roger can explain this to us that you know how when you're drunk your body is that kind of in control of something else you're not in control but it's it's in control it's controlled by something else

God uses that as an illustration of what it's like to be spirit filled your body when it is spirit filled is not in control it is a servant to your spirit which is connected to God's spirit so it's a servant to God and it glorifies

God in that sense this is what Mary was doing Mary said my soul magnifies

God why does it say the soul magnifies God because in the physical world where other people are looking at us especially the lost world they can't see

God can they can they see even spiritual things no do they acknowledge them no can they see your body yes can they see us corporately as a church yes can they see our testimonies and how we act when we go out from here and go the post office or the grocery store

I mean get out of my way you know do we do that or are we patient we all fail sometimes but that's what they see so did you know that when you're filled with the

Holy Spirit and your soul is controlling your body that now you magnify God to these people you make

God larger than he was without you being there because they don't see him at all think about it so she says my soul doth magnify the

Lord now it goes on and talks about her spirit my spirit hath rejoiced in God my

Savior I was gonna comment on this word magnified it comes from a root word magus you've heard the word mega you put the word in front of stuff if you want to be something big magus means exceeding great so she says my soul makes

God exceeding great now you understand what she means she can't change

God or make God any greater than he is but to lost people looking she can make him appear greater to them because they don't see him at all unless they see him in Mary are you that's enough about that I think you got it my spirit hath rejoiced in God my

Savior so the spirit now is that which rejoices now it's interesting because it is the rejoicing of the spirit that moves on to the soul and causes it to get the body to magnify

God so it all starts with a rejoicing spirit that's amazing stuff this is a different Greek word is the word pneuma literally means a current of air or a breath but by analogy it universally comes to mean the spirit rather human spirit or same word is used for the

Holy Spirit it means that spiritual part the vital principle the mental rational disposition that part of a person who can know

God verse 48 for he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden this is why our spirit was rejoicing now is that enough today in our religious world to cause us to rejoice or do we have to have

God bless us with what financial wealth and health somebody tell me they heard of you there's a new preacher in Houston that's on TV now that's into this thing about money and wealth and all this but look what it was that caused her spirit to rejoice this simple thing he has regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden she has come under the attention of God and she realized that and that's all she needed to be rejoicing

God was aware that she existed God knew her personally really is what she's saying and that was enough cause for her to rejoice for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed well that ought to be enough for us this afternoon to go home and realize that God knows us ought to be enough because someday

Jesus is going to look at a huge crowd of people and perhaps individually one by one tell them depart from me