* Let it Be

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Let it be to me according to your word, and the angel departed from her. In other words, Mary's response is one of full faith and assurance in what the angel said.

She says basically, I am the Lord's. Behold, referring to herself, the maidservant of the Lord, God can do with me whatever he wishes. So Mary, make a note of this, she had zero doubt. This incredible message, she had zero doubt that it was true.

She believed the angel's word because the angel's words were what? They were the words of God. The angel is just the messenger. Okay, so remember, Gabriel is God's messenger. So if you take notes, write this down.

Faith, Diligent Seeking, and Obedience as the Path to Favor with God

These are sort of the three main points. Number one, in order to have favor with God, this is what we've learned. In order to have favor with God, like Mary, she believed, right? So number one, we must have faith.

If you want favor with God, you must have faith in God. And without faith, the scripture says what? That no one can please God. Hebrews 1 verse 6, without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

So in order to have God's favor, number one, you need what? Faith. You need faith in God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what we just read in Hebrews 1 6, he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

So number two, in order to have favor with God, and I would argue this is part of having faith. It's more than just an intellectual belief in your mind that God is there. And yes, Jesus is his son. In order to have God's favor, we must diligently seek him.

We need to make God a priority. We need to set our heart upon him. So Mary is going to have a child and her relative Elizabeth and her husband Zacharias. They are also going to bring forth a child and that child will grow up to be who?

John the Baptist. This story about Zacharias and Elizabeth is sort of reminiscent of an Old Testament story between two people. Think of an older woman, well past childbearing age, who all of a sudden finds out, get this message that she's going to have a child.

Who is that? Sarah, right? There's Abraham and Sarah. So this should remind you of Abraham and Sarah. That's significant. I think we'll see that in a moment. Look at Luke 1 verse 6. It says that Zacharias and Elizabeth were what?

This will be our third point. They were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless. You say, well, that's a pretty high bar to reach. Right, right, it is.

So this is the third thing we see. Those who have favor with God, number one, have faith. Number two, diligently seek the Lord. And number three, at least with Zacharias and Elizabeth, they kept God's commandments.

Now, before you get too discouraged and think, well, I'm having a hard time keeping all of God's commandments blameless. We also know that the scripture says that all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.

So don't understand this to mean that Zacharias and Elizabeth were perfect or without sin, because that wasn't the case. But we'll get into this. Is it possible to walk before the Lord blameless in this general sense?

And I actually think that it is. You say, well, I don't know about that. Well, it says they did, right? It does. Okay, verse seven. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and they were both well advanced in years.

So it was that while he was serving, that is Zacharias, while he was serving as priest before God in the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

And the whole multitude of the people was praying outside at the hour of incense. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was what trouble?

Yeah, you bet he was trouble. We're seeing a theme here. Zacharias sees the angel. He's troubled.

He's afraid.

Mary sees the angel. She's afraid. So Zacharias was troubled and fear, it says, fell upon him. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid. This is one thing you see with Jesus throughout the gospels.

When his disciples were afraid, he's constantly telling them, don't be afraid. Fear not. Let not your heart be troubled. And I think that's a message for us today. When you are afraid, when fear strikes your heart, God doesn't want you to be afraid.

Verse 14. And you will have joy, Zacharias, and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. I think I skipped verse 13. But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard.

And your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call him John. And you shall have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall neither drink wine nor strong drink, and will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will also go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

And Zacharias said to the angel, how shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years. You can look at this two ways. Either one, he just wants to know. Or the other, which I think is what's happening, he's like, I don't think so.

I don't know, this can't happen. Is that really the response? Well, look at verse 19. And the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings.

But behold, you will be mute and not be able to speak until the day that these things take place. Because why? You did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time. So you see a contrast between Mary, who said, let it be.

Yes, I'm God's to do with whatever he wants. And then Zacharias is like, well, yeah,.

I don't know about this.

So think about it. When you hear the word of God preached, when you read the word of God, what's your response? Are you like Mary and say, hey, whatever God says, let it be. And maybe, did she really understand all of it?

No.

And there's going to be some things we don't understand. But that should be our response.

Yes.

Whatever God says, yes. If it's hard to understand, OK, but yes. As opposed to Zacharias, who is not so sure. And again, I compared him and Elizabeth to Abraham and Sarah because Sarah also was an older woman who was barren.

How old was Sarah? Does anyone know off the top of their head?

Ninety.

Ninety.

Ninety nine.

Something like that. And God told her that she was going to have her. She overheard. Remember, she overheard the Lord telling Abraham that they would have a child. Remember what her response was? Yeah, she laughed.

I could read into that again that this struck her funny. But I don't think she really, yeah, I think it was another one of those responses like, yeah, right. The Bible says, and you can understand that, Genesis 21, verses 6 and 7 says,.

And Sarah said, God, this is when she gave birth to Isaac afterwards. She says, God has made me laugh. And all who hear will laugh with me. And some of you just did. It's a prophecy that came true. She also said, who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children?

Maybe that was the thought that she was laughing about. But she says, for I have born him a son in his old age. Now, I don't know if this is the difference between being highly favored and just favored.

But Mary said yes. And Zacharias and Sarah were not totally convinced. At least that's the way it seemed. So Mary was what? She found favor with God. That's the title of the message, favor with God. But Mary was highly favored.

Here's the thing for you. It shouldn't be the desire of every believer. It should be our desire to have and to walk in and to experience God's favor. Don't you want to know that you have God's favor? I suppose one might argue that every true believer just automatically has the favor of God.

After all, they're saved. Their sins are forgiven. Your name is written in heaven. Every believer has God's favor. The Greek word translated favor is charis. And it's usually translated grace. And certainly every true believer has received and experienced the grace of God.

But I think there's something about having God's favor or being highly favored that takes it to another level. And that's where your faith comes in. You know, there's some people that do have saving faith.

But then there's other people who have a strong faith. Don't we want that strong faith? There are some people who are seeking God. They're seeking God in their life. But then there's others that are diligently seeking God.

There are some who obey the commandments. You're living a Christian life. And you're being blessed to a certain degree. But there's a higher level of obedience. And with a higher level of obedience come greater blessing, greater favor.

So my point is don't just settle for second best. You should desire the favor of God. Another way it can be translated favor means that which affords joy. Do you want to be joyful? This is a season where we talk about joy.

There's signs and lights that read joy. We hear songs about joy. Joy is the gift of grace. We all want joy in our hearts. And that is possible when we have God's favor. Without God's favor can you really have joy?

I don't think you can. Another definition, the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, and increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of Christian virtues.

So if you want the favor of God, exercise Christian virtues. So one could argue that every true believer has God's favor. I think that there's some truth to that. But Christians can also grieve God's spirit.

And to truly have this favor, let's go back to our main points. Number one, you need to have? Okay, to have favor of God, you must have faith. Number two, we must what? Diligently seek God. And then number three, I would argue part of diligently seeking God is not just a feeling, it's not just making God a priority, but it's obedience.

Again, Zacharias and Elizabeth walked blameless before God. Mary was highly faithful. I know there's people who say that Mary was sinless, right? The perpetual virgin. We don't believe that. She did call God her savior, which we're going to read in a moment.

So it indicates Mary did need to be forgiven. She wasn't perfect. So we're not talking about perfection, but we're talking about living a life of obedience to God. That's how you find the Lord's favor.

So how can we do this? How can we do this? This is kind of basic, but on the other hand, we need to know how to implement this, how to receive God's favor. We can think about, is there a part of our life that we're holding back?

One thing that strikes me with Mary when she says, makes that statement, let it be, you know, yes, whatever God says, let it be. I don't get the sense that Mary was holding back on the Lord. I don't know about you, but I don't think she was.

So we can think about that. Is there any part of our life where we are holding back? Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Corner Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornerChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.